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THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY

406473

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FUNDATIONS 1903

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, to wit:

District Clerk's Office.

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the twenty-fifth day of August, A. D. 1828, and in the fifty-third year of the Independence of the United States of America, Hilliard, Gray, Little & Wilkins, of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following, to wit:—

"Quinti Horatii Flacci Opera. Accedunt Clavis Metrica et Notæ Anglica Juventuti accommodatæ. Cura B. A. Gould.”

In conformity to an act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned ;" and also to an act, entitled, "An Act supplementary to an act, entitled, 'An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned; and ex tending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."

JNO. W. DAVIS,

Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.

THE LIFE OF HORACE.

QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS was born at Venusium in Apulia, sixty-four years before Christ. His father was a freedman, and collector of the revenue; and gave his son a liberal education at Rome and Athens. After enjoying the best means of instruction that Rome afforded, at the age of about twenty-one, Horace was sent to Athens to complete his education. Whilst Horace was at Athens, Cæsar was assassinated; and Brutus and Cassius repaired to that city, in order to enlist in the cause of freedom the young Romans who were pursuing their studies there. Horace attached himself to Brutus, under whom he served nearly two years. He was in the battle of Philippi, with the rank of military tribune. He fled in the rout of that day, and was taken prisoner; but obtained a pardon, and afterwards was distinguished by the favor and friendship of Mecenas. He filled the office of a clerk to the treasury, and assisted the emperor as his private amanuensis. This appears from the fragment of a letter from Augustus to his minister. "I used to be equal to the writing of my own letters; but I am now so pressed with a multiplicity of business, and so infirm, that I wish you to bring me our friend Horace. Let him come, then, and leave that parasitical table for my palace, and assist me in writing my letters." Another fragment of a letter from Augustus to Horace, is expressed in terms of the most easy and playful familiarity. Dionysius has conveyed your little volume to me; which, not to quarrel with its brevity, I take in good part. But you seem to me fearful, lest your works should be bigger than yourself. However, what you want in height, is made up to you by that little round body of yours. You should, therefore, write such a roll, as may go, not round a stick, but a quart measure; and then the circumference of your volume may be squab and swollen, like the rotundity of your little belly." This is a pleasing personal trait. Horace has, himself, given us some interesting hints of his person and manners. He was gray before his time; fond of basking in the sun; and of taking a siesta on the bank of a river. He speaks of breaking stones and turning up the ground, when in the country; and when in town, of sauntering in the market, or riding out on a dock-tailed mule, which he sat awkwardly. He dined on a pancake and vegetables; and divided the rest of

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