7. Arrangement and Character of the Odes. In arranging hist lyrics for publication, Horace placed at the beginning eleven odes, each in a different metre, illustrating all the measures employed by him in the three books with the exception of the unique rhythms in 2, 18; 3, 12. Within this group certain other principles of arrangement can be detected. The first word is Maecenas, and the opening poem virtually dedicates the three books to their author's friend and patron, to whom he had already inscribed his Satires and Epodes. The second ode celebrates Octavian as the divine restorer of order in the state; the third is a farewell poem to Vergil; the fourth is addressed to Sestius, consul in the year of publication. The others are arranged to secure variety in subject as well as measure, a principle that is observed generally throughout the three books, so that grave themes are relieved by light, and a succession of similar metres is for the most part avoided. The second book opens with an ode to Asinius Pollio, celebrating his literary powers and touching sadly on the Civil Wars of which Pollio was about to undertake a history. In the first six odes of the third book, Horace comes forward as the teacher of the new generation, and deals earnestly with the problems and dangers of the state. This is the largest group of odes on related themes, and the Alcaic metre is used in all; but, as if to avoid wearying his reader, Horace did not insert another ode in the same measure until the seventeenth. He had also some regard for chronological sequence, but this was always subordinate to the principle of variety. Each book, too, has certain characteristics. In the first there are a larger number of studies from the Greek than in the other two; about half the odes are on themes of love and wine; nowhere is any serious philosophy of life presented; and only five (2, 12, 14, 35, 37) show deep concern with the state. As if to emphasize his character as the singer of light themes, and at the same time to offset the serious notes in odes 35 and 37, Horace 1 The tenth ode, while in Sapphic measure like the second, still exhibits certain metrical peculiarities.

the benefits conferred on him rather than lose his freedom in the

slightest degree.

6. The Odes. The second period of Horace's literary activity, 29-19 B.C., was devoted chiefly to lyric composition. He had long been a student of Greek poetry, and the models he now followed were chiefly Alcaeus and Sappho (600 B.C.), whose measures he adopted as his own, and from whose works he drew many themes. While these two poets had the greatest influence on him, still, as the notes to the odes will show, we find evidence of the influence of Homer, Pindar, Bacchylides, Anacreon, Stesichorus, and the three tragedians. He drew also from the Alexandrians, but chiefly from Callimachus and Theocritus. Yet he followed no model slavishly, and even in his closest studies from the Greek, he made the themes his own. The earliest ode to which a date can be assigned with certainty is 1, 37, written in 30 B.C., on hearing of the death of Cleopatra. A few may have been written before this, but not many. For seven years Horace gave himself almost exclusively to lyric verse. His mastery of form and language was now complete, and his developed taste set a high standard of perfection. The eighty-eight lyrics which belong to this period were never equaled in variety and perfection among the Romans, and alone would entitle their author to the immortality he has enjoyed. Many of these odes, Horace called them simply carmina, especially those addressed to friends, were privately circulated before they were collected into the present three books; these were published in 23 B.C., as is clear from internal evidence.1

1 The young Marcellus died at the end of 23 B.C., but it is hardly probable that Horace would have published the reference to him in 1, 12, 45 f. in its present form after his death; further, in 2, 10 (and possibly 3, 19), Horace mentions Licinius Murena, the brother-in-law of Maecenas, who was involved in a conspiracy against Augustus in the latter half of 23 B.C. The publication must have been earlier than the discovery of this plot. The latest reference is to the death of Quintilius Varus in 1, 24, which Hieronymus records in 23 B.C.; and it is probable that 1, 4, in which L. Sestius is addressed, was written about July, 23 B.C., when Sestius entered on his office as consul suffectus.

7. Arrangement and Character of the Odes. In arranging his lyrics for publication, Horace placed at the beginning eleven odes, each in a different metre, illustrating all the measures employed by him in the three books with the exception of the unique rhythms in 2, 18; 3, 12.1 Within this group certain other principles of arrangement can be detected. The first word is Maecenas, and the opening poem virtually dedicates the three books to their author's friend and patron, to whom he had already inscribed his Satires and Epodes. The second ode celebrates Octavian as the divine restorer of order in the state; the third is a farewell poem to Vergil; the fourth is addressed to Sestius, consul in the year of publication. The others are arranged to secure variety in subject as well as measure, a principle that is observed generally throughout the three books, so that grave themes are relieved by light, and a succession of similar metres is for the most part avoided. The second book opens with an ode to Asinius Pollio, celebrating his literary powers and touching sadly on the Civil Wars of which Pollio was about to undertake a history. In the first six odes of the third book, Horace comes forward as the teacher of the new generation, and deals earnestly with the problems and dangers of the state. This is the largest group of odes on related themes, and the Alcaic metre is used in all; but, as if to avoid wearying his reader, Horace did not insert another ode in the same measure until the seventeenth. He had also some regard for chronological sequence, but this was always subordinate to the principle of variety. Each book, too, has certain characteristics. there are a larger number of studies from the Greek than in the other two; about half the odes are on themes of love and wine; nowhere is any serious philosophy of life presented; and only five (2, 12, 14, 35, 37) show deep concern with the state. As if to emphasize his character as the singer of light themes, and at the same time to offset the serious notes in odes 35 and 37, Horace 1 The tenth ode, while in Sapphic measure like the second, still exhibits certain metrical peculiarities.

In the first

the benefits conferred on him rather than lose his freedom in the

slightest degree.

6. The Odes. The second period of Horace's literary activity, 29-19 B.C., was devoted chiefly to lyric composition. He had long been a student of Greek poetry, and the models he now followed were chiefly Alcaeus and Sappho (600 B.C.), whose measures he adopted as his own, and from whose works he drew many themes. While these two poets had the greatest influence on him, still, as the notes to the odes will show, we find evidence of the influence of Homer, Pindar, Bacchylides, Anacreon, Stesichorus, and the three tragedians. He drew also from the Alexandrians, but chiefly from Callimachus and Theocritus. Yet he followed no model slavishly, and even in his closest studies from the Greek, he made the themes his own. The earliest ode to which a date can be assigned with certainty is 1, 37, written in 30 B.C., on hearing of the death of Cleopatra. A few may have been written before this, but not many. For seven years Horace gave himself almost exclusively to lyric verse. His mastery of form and language was now complete, and his developed taste set a high standard of perfection. The eighty-eight lyrics which belong to this period were never equaled in variety and perfection among the Romans, and alone would entitle their author to the immortality he has enjoyed. Many of these odes, Horace called them simply carmina,especially those addressed to friends, were privately circulated before they were collected into the present three books; these were published in 23 B.C., as is clear from internal evidence.1

1 The young Marcellus died at the end of 23 B.C., but it is hardly probable that Horace would have published the reference to him in 1, 12, 45 f. in its present form after his death; further, in 2, 10 (and possibly 3, 19), Horace mentions Licinius Murena, the brother-in-law of Maecenas, who was involved in a conspiracy against Augustus in the latter half of 23 B.C. The publication must have been earlier than the discovery of this plot. The latest reference is to the death of Quintilius Varus in 1, 24, which Hieronymus records in 23 B.C.; and it is probable that 1, 4, in which L. Sestius is addressed, was written about July, 23 B.C., when Sestius entered on his office as consul suffectus.

7. Arrangement and Character of the Odes. In arranging his lyrics for publication, Horace placed at the beginning eleven odes, each in a different metre, illustrating all the measures employed by him in the three books with the exception of the unique rhythms in 2, 18; 3, 12. Within this group certain other principles of arrangement can be detected. The first word is Maecenas, and the opening poem virtually dedicates the three books to their author's friend and patron, to whom he had already inscribed his Satires and Epodes. The second ode celebrates Octavian as the divine restorer of order in the state; the third is a farewell poem to Vergil; the fourth is addressed to Sestius, consul in the year of publication. The others are arranged to secure variety in subject as well as measure, a principle that is observed generally throughout the three books, so that grave themes are relieved by light, and a succession of similar metres is for the most part avoided. The second book opens with an ode to Asinius Pollio, celebrating his literary powers and touching sadly on the Civil Wars of which Pollio was about to undertake a history. In the first six odes of the third book, Horace comes forward as the teacher of the new generation, and deals earnestly with the problems and dangers of the state. This is the largest group of odes on related themes, and the Alcaic metre is used in all; but, as if to avoid wearying his reader, Horace did not insert another ode in the same measure until the seventeenth. He had also some regard for chronological sequence, but this was always subordinate to the principle of variety. Each book, too, has certain characteristics. In the first there are a larger number of studies from the Greek than in the other two; about half the odes are on themes of love and wine; nowhere is any serious philosophy of life presented; and only five (2, 12, 14, 35, 37) show deep concern with the state. As if to emphasize his character as the singer of light themes, and at the same time to offset the serious notes in odes 35 and 37, Horace 1 The tenth ode, while in Sapphic measure like the second, still exhibits certain metrical peculiarities.