The Country of Horace and Virgil (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: the delicacy of his character. So Maecenas loaded him with kindness and benefits. In 707, a year after he became acquainted with him, he took him on that journey to Brindisi, whither he was going to conclude peace between Antony and Octavius. A few years later, probably about 720, he gave him the estate in the Sabine Hills. WAS HORACE REALLY A LOVER OF NATURE?THE SECOND EPODE?HOW RESIDENCE IN ROME BECAME UNBEARABLE TO HIM?THE CONSEQUENCES FOR HIM OF HIS INTIMACY WITH MECENAS?BEGGARS AND BORES? THE JOY HE MUST HAVE FELT WHEN MAECENAS GAVE HIM THE ESTATE IN THE SABINE HILLS. The circumstances which led Maecenas to make his friend this handsome present are not well known to us; but a clever man like him doubtless possessed that quality which Seneca required before all in an intelligent benefactor?he knew how to give seasonably. He thought, then, that this estate would please Horace very much, and he certainly was not mistaken- Does this mean that Horace was altogether like his friend Virgil, and that he was only happy when among the fields ? I do not believe it. Without doubt Horace also liked to be in the country; he liked the fields and knew how to portray them. Nature, discreetly drawn, holds a great place in his poetry. He uses it, like Lucretius, to give more force and clearness to the exposition of his philosophical ideas. The recurrence of the seasons shows him that one must neither cherish hopes too vast, nor too enduring sorrows.1 The great trees bowed by the winds of winter, the lightning- smitten mountains, teach him that the highest fortunes are not safe from unforeseen accidents.2 The return of spring, "trembling in the zephyr-shaken leaves,"3 serves him to restore courage to the desperate by showing them that evil days do not last. When he desires to counsel so...