BOOK II I HORACE'S PARTING SHOT AT HIS CRITICS THIS Satire continues the subject of the fourth and tenth Satires of the First Book. That book had aroused much criticism, which the poet meets in this prologue to his Second Book. The Satire assumes the form of an imaginary dialogue between Horace and C. Trebatius Testa, a famous lawyer of Cicero's time, whose legal advice on the subject of satiric writing Horace is professedly anxious to secure. Trebatius advises him to give up writing altogether, or if that is impossible, to take up epic poetry (1-12). "I have no gift for the epic," says Horace, "and yet I must write, and must write satire, even as Lucilius used to do. I belong to a frontier stock but am armed for defence, not offence, using the pen when attacked as naturally as the bull its horns (13-60). TREBATIUS. Then you will come to grief. Some of your great friends will freeze you to death. HORACE. Did those of Lucilius desert him, when he attacked great and small? Nay, he lived on intimate terms with Scipio and Laelius, and though I fall short of him in social rank and ability, yet I, too, have illustrious friends (60-79). TRE. But let me remind you of the law. You are forbidden to write bad-that is, libellous— verses against anyone. HOR. Of course not. But what if they are good, like mine, and win Caesar's approval ? TRE. Then such a charge will be laughed out of court (79-86). In view of Caesaris invicti of 1. 11, it would seem that this Satire was written after the Battle of Actium, and therefore shortly before the publication of this Second Book in 30 B.C. Horace is now thirtyfive years of age and has won recognition and an assured position in Roman literature. He no longer finds it necessary to defend his satire very seriously, but, as Lejay, in his introduction to this Satire, has clearly shown, "the legal conditions under which satire could be produced in the Augustan age formed a very real restriction upon the freedom of speech traditional in satire. . . . There is a touch of serious anxiety beneath the jest upon the mala and bona carmina with which the Satire closes" (Fiske, Lucilius and Horace, p. 370). LIBER SECUNDUS I. Sunt quibus in satura videar1 nimis acer et ultra legem tendere opus; sine nervis altera, quidquid composui, pars esse putat similisque meorum mille die versus deduci2 posse. Trebati, transnanto Tiberim, somno quibus est opus alto, irriguumque mero sub noctem corpus habento. aut si tantus amor scribendi te rapit, aude Caesaris invicti res dicere, multa laborum praemia laturus." Cupidum, pater optime, vires deficiunt: neque enim quivis horrentia pilis agmina nec fracta pereuntis cuspide Gallos aut labentis equo describat3 volnera Parthi. 1 videor oy. 2 diduci, II. 3 describat aEM: -it D, II: -et K. 10 15 a We may infer from one letter of Cicero's (Ad fam. vii. 22) HORACE. There are some critics who think that I am too savage in my satire and strain the work beyond lawful bounds. The other half of them hold that all I have composed is "nerveless," and that verses as good as mine could be turned out a thousand a day. Give me advice, Trebatius. What am I to do? TREBATIUS. Take a rest. HOR. Not write verses at all, you mean ? HOR. Confound me, if that would not be best! But I cannot sleep. TRE. Let those who need sound sleep oil themselves and swim across the Tiber thrice; then, as night comes on, let them steep themselves in wine." Or if such a passion for writing carries you away, bravely tell of the feats of Caesar, the unvanquished. Many a reward for your pains will you gain. HOR. Would that I could, good father, but my strength fails me. Not everyone can paint ranks bristling with lances, or Gauls falling with spearheads shattered, or wounded Parthian slipping from his horse. that Trebatius was a hard drinker, and we learn from another (ib. vii. 10) that he was fond of swimming, studiosissimus homo natandi. Attamen et iustum poteras et scribere fortem, Scipiadam ut sapiens Lucilius." Haud mihi dero, cum res ipsa feret: nisi dextro tempore, Flacci verba per attentam non ibunt Caesaris aurem, cui male si palpere, recalcitrat1 undique tutus. 66 20 Quanto rectius hoc, quam tristi laedere versu Pantolabum scurram Nomentanumque2 nepotem, cum sibi quisque timet, quamquam est intactus, et odit." Quid faciam ? saltat Milonius, ut semel icto accessit fervor capiti numerusque lucernis; Castor gaudet equis, ovo prognatus eodem pugnis; quot capitum vivunt, totidem studiorum milia me pedibus delectat claudere verba Lucili ritu, nostrum melioris utroque. ille velut fidis arcana sodalibus olim credebat libris, neque si male cesserat,3 usquam decurrens alio, neque si bene; quo fit, ut omnis votiva pateat veluti descripta tabella vita senis. 25 30 Sequor hunc, Lucanus an Apulus, anceps: nam Venusinus arat finem sub utrumque colonus, 35 missus ad hoc, pulsis, vetus est ut fama, Sabellis, quo ne per vacuum Romano incurreret hostis, sive quod Apula gens seu quod Lucania bellum incuteret violenta. sed hic stilus haud petet ultro 1 recalcitret. 2 -que] -ve, II, Porph. 3 cesserat K: gesserat MSS. a A line quoted, with change of case, from Sat. i. 8. 11. Coming as he does of frontier stock, Horace humorously |