contentus paucis lectoribus.

vilibus1 in ludis dictari carmina malis?

an tua demens

75

non ego; nam satis est equitem mihi plaudere, ut audax,

contemptis aliis, explosa Arbuscula dixit.

Men moveat cimex Pantilius, aut cruciet quod vellicet absentem Demetrius, aut quod ineptus Fannius Hermogenis laedat conviva Tigelli ? Plotius et Varius, Maecenas Vergiliusque, Valgius et probet haec Octavius optimus atque Fuscus et haec utinam Viscorum laudet uterque ! ambitione relegata te dicere possum, Pollio, te, Messalla, tuo cum fratre, simulque vos, Bibule et Servi, simul his te, candide Furni, compluris alios, doctos ego quos et amicos prudens praetereo; quibus haec, sint qualiacumque, adridere velim, doliturus, si placeant spe deterius nostra. Demetri, teque, Tigelli, discipularum2 inter iubeo plorare cathedras.

I, puer, atque meo citus haec subscribe libello. 1 milibus . 2 discipularum мss. Porph.: discipulorum.

80

85

90

a i.e. Aristius Fuscus. Octavius is Octavius Musa, poet and historian.

The phrase iubeo plorare is a satiric substitute for iubeo valere ("I bid farewell to "). Cf. oluwse in Aristophanes, as in Plut. 257.

In this paragraph Horace contrasts writers of low literary standards, represented by Tigellius, with members of the three circles of Maecenas, Pollio and Messalla. He himself, like Virgil, belongs to the circle of Maecenas. Tibullus, a member of Messalla's circle, is perhaps at this time too young to be named. (See Ullman, C.P. x. (1910) pp. 270 ff.)

a The last verse, addressed to the slave who acts as secretary, serves as an epilogue to the whole book. "The farewell (or rather ‘fare-ill ') to Tigellius is the last shot in the war, and Tigellius is never mentioned again. The last

66

but be content with the few as your readers. What, would you be so foolish as to want your poems dictated in common schools? Not so I. "Tis enough if the knights applaud me "-to quote dauntless Arbuscula's scornful remark, when the rest of the house hissed her.

78 Am I to be stung by that louse Pantilius? Or tortured because Demetrius carps at me behind my back, or because silly Fannius, who sponges on Hermogenes Tigellius, girds at me? Let but Plotius and Varius approve of these verses; let Maecenas, Virgil, and Valgius; let Octavius and Fuscus," best of men; and let but the Viscus brothers give their praise! With no desire to flatter, I may name you, Pollio; you, Messalla, and your brother; also you, Bibulus and Servius; also you, honest Furnius, and many another scholar and friend, whom I purposely pass over. In their eyes I should like these verses, such as they are, to find favour, and I should be grieved if their pleasure were to fall short of my hopes. But you, Demetrius, and you, Tigellius, I bid you go whine' amidst the easy chairs of your pupils in petticoats!

92 Go, lad, and quickly add these lines to my little book.e

line of the first book represents the triumph of an artistic ideal (Ullman, loc. cit. p. 279).

99

99

• In connexion with this Satire reference may be made to articles mentioned on p. 61, as well as to the following: Hendrickson, G. L., "Horace and Lucilius. A Study of Horace, Serm. i. 10," in Gildersleeve Studies, pp. 151 ff.; Horace and Valerius Flaccus (three articles), C.P. xi. and xii.; B. L. Ullman, "Horace, Catullus and Tigellius,' C. P. x. pp. 270 ff.; E. K. Rand, "Catullus and the Augustans," Harv. St. xvii. pp. 15 ff.; C. F. Jackson, "Molle atque Facetum," Harv. St. xxiv. pp. 117 ff.

99

66

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).

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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, quid faciam, praescribe.

"Quiescas."

omnino versus ?

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Ne faciam, inquis,

Aio."

Peream male, si non optimum erat; verum nequeo dormire.

66 Ter uncti 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.

I

2 diduci, II. 3 describat aEM: -it D, II: -et K.

5

10

15

"We may infer from one letter of Cicero's (Ad fam. vii. 22)