LIFE OF HORACE. materials for Horace's life are derived almost entirely own works. A few additional facts are obtained from nemoir, attributed to Suetonius. as born on the 8th of December, A. U. c. 689 (в. с. 65), at Venusia * (Venosa), in the Apennines, on the borders of and Apulia. His father was a freedman,† having, as Le proves, been the slave of some person of the Horatia As Horace implies that he himself was ingenuus,‡ his must have obtained his freedom before his birth. He -ds followed the calling of a coactor,s a collector of money way or other, it is not known in what. He made, in acity, enough to purchase an estate, probably a small one, e above town, where the poet was born. We hear nothis mother, except that Horace speaks of both his parents Fection. || His father, probably seeing signs of talent in a child, was not content to have him educated at a proschool, but took him (at what age he does not say, but y about twelve) to Rome, where he became a pupil of - Pupillus, who had a school of much note, attended by good family, and whom Horace remembered all his life ritable teacher, given unnecessarily to the use of the rod. 1.4.9; C. iv. 9. 2; S. ii. 1. 34. 6.8. 6.96. † S. i. 6. 6. 46, 47. Epp. ii. 1. 71; ibid. 2. 41. With him he learnt grammar, the earlier Latin authors, and Homer. He attended other masters (of rhetoric, poetry, and music perhaps), as Roman boys were wont, and had the advantage (to which he afterwards looked back with gratitude) of his father's care and moral training during this part of his education. It was usual for young men of birth and ability to be sent to Athens, to finish their education by the study of Greek literature and philosophy under native teachers; and Horace went there too, at what age is not known, but probably when he was about twenty. Whether his father was alive at that time, or dead, is uncertain. If he went to Athens at twenty, it was in B. c. 45, the year before Julius Cæsar was assassinated. After that event, Brutus and Cassius left Rome and went to Greece. Foreseeing the struggle that was before them, they got round them many of the young men at that time studying at Athens, and Horace was appointed tribune* in the army of Brutus, a high command, for which he was not qualified. He went with Brutus into Asia Minor, and finally shared his defeat at Philippi, в. с. 42. He makes humorous allusion to this defeat in his Ode to Pompeius Varus (ii. 7). After the battle he came to Italy, having obtained permission to do so, like many others who were willing to give up a desperate cause and settle quietly at home. His patrimony,† however, was forfeited, and he seems to have had no means of subsistence, which induced him to employ himself in writing verses, with the view, perhaps, of bringing himself into notice, rather than for the purpose of making money by their sale. By some means he managed to get a place as scriba § in the Quæstor's office, whether by purchase or interest does not appear. In either case, we must suppose he contrived soon to make friends, though he could not do so by the course he pursued, * S. i. 6. 48. † Epp. ii. 2. 50. † Some persons reject this notion, supposing Horace to mean, in the passage on which it is founded (Epp. ii. 2. 51), that poverty made him desperate and careless of consequences, but that when he became comparatively rich he lost that stimulus. § Suet. Vit. S. ii. 6. 36. so making many enemies. His Satires are full of allue enmity his verses had raised up for him on all hands. e acquainted, among other literary persons, with Virgil s, who, about three years after his return (B. с. 39), him to Mæcenas, who was careful of receiving into his bune of Brutus, and one whose writings were of a kind new and unpopular. He accordingly saw nothing of r nine months after his introduction to him. He then im (в. с. 38), and from that time continued to be his 1 warmest friend. house, probably, Horace became intimate with Pollio, nany persons of consideration whose friendship he aphave enjoyed. Through Mæcenas, also, it is probable as introduced to Augustus; but when that happened is In в. с. 37, Mæcenas was deputed by Augustus to Antonius at Brundisium, and he took Horace with him urney, of which a detailed account is given in the fifth he first book. Horace appears to have parted from the ne company at Brundisium, and perhaps returned to - Tarentum and Venusia. (See S. i. 5, Introduction.) this journey and B. c. 32, Horace received from his present of a small estate in the valley of the Digentia , situated about thirty-four miles from Rome, and fourTibur, in the Sabine country. Of this property he Hescription in his Epistle to Quintius (i. 16), and he to have lived there a part of every year, and to have a of the place, which was very quiet and retired, being s from the nearest town, Varia (Vico Varo), a munierhaps, but not a place of any importance. During this me continued to write Satires and Epodes, but also, it apobable, some of the Odes, which some years later he , and others which he did not publish. These composidoubt, were seen by his friends, and were pretty well efore any of them were collected for publication. The = of the Satires was published probably in в. с. 35, the 1 в. с. 30, and the second book of Satires in the followwhen Horace was about thirty-five years old. |