UNIT 3 HORACE: TEXTUAL

ANALYSIS OF SATIRE 1: 4

Structure

3.0 Objectives

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Horace the Satirist

3.3 Satire 1:4: Text

3.4 Satire 1:4: Textual Analysis

3.5 Themes

3.5.1 The Horatian Satire

3.5.2 The Influences of Epicurean Philosophy & Ethics

3.5.3 Horace and His Father

3.6 Let Us Sum Up

3.7 Questions

3.8 Glossary

3.9 Suggested Readings & References

3.0 OBJECTIVES

In this Unit we introduce you to the following:

• the text and the analysis of Satire 1:4;

• the Horatian Satire;

• the influences of Epicurean Philosophy and Ethics; and

• the relationship between Horace and his Father.

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Of the two books of Satires, the first was completed in 35 BCE, the second towards 30 BCE. Horace calls these compositions ‘Sermones'. They were written at first for his circle of friends and derived from conversations and gatherings in which he participated, where he heard jokes, smart remarks, fable- telling, sharp exchanges of wit, and other interesting tales. Horace calls his satirical muse ‘pedestris' — a muse who goes afoot. The verse is hexameter, free, more natural than the heroic hexameter of Virgil and the Augustinian classics. The Italians have several good words for the title Horace gave these compositions; they might call these works ‘chiacchiera' (chatter, small talk) or ‘ghiribizzi' (bizarre chitchat, capriccios). According to Sidney Alexander, the Satires are realistic short stories, moral tales, and anecdotes with a preachy point. Let us look at Horace the satirist next.

3.2 HORACE THE SATIRIST

Some of the most important changes in the civil liberties in Rome took place while Horace wrote the first two books on satire. By positioning himself as a satirist and the successor of Lucilius, Horace draws attention to the changed political climate of Rome and the difficulties of writing satire. He also demonstrates how even the most casual and messy of genres could aspire to new standards of composition by promoting technical improvements such as

restraint, flexibility, and offensiveness. 23

Horace and Ovid The satires are addressed primarily to his patron Maecenas, which turns everyone else into eavesdroppers. However, Horace is also conversing with a small poetic coterie, including Virgil and Varius, and these two great poets are a part of the coterie to which he belongs. It must be noted that Horace is also constantly in touch through inter textual dialogue with the wider community of poets. Satire 1.4 is a defense of the Horatian satire. As a persona behind his “conversations,” Horace presents himself as well intentioned and self- improving.

As the first of the so-called “programmatic” satires, one prominent element of Satire1:4 is autobiography. However, that is not to say that we should take Horace's account of his humble origins and reluctant emergence completely literally. This is a personality attuned to the character of the genre – low key, quotidian, and, on the surface at least, deferential to authority. An unthreatening pose is not simply a literary device, however, but part of Horace's calculated public ‘face', designed to exemplify the modest front of the new regime. His seemingly casual revelations in the manner of Lucilius are in fact the controlled self-presentation of a self-made man. Let us look at the text of Satire 1:4 next. This text is taken from the Gutenberg project.

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5419/pg5419.html

3.3 SATIRE 1:4: TEXT

EUPOLIS ATQUE CRATINUS.

Cratinus, Aristophanes, and all

The elder comic poets, great and small, Iƒ e'er a worthy in those ancient times Deserved peculiar notice ƒor his crimes,

Adulterer, cut-throat, ne'er-do-well, or thieƒ, Portrayed him without ƒear in strong relieƒ.

From these, as lineal heir, Lucilius springs,

The same in all points save the tune he sings, A shrewd keen satirist, yet somewhat hard

And rugged, iƒ you view him as a bard.

For this was his mistake: he liked to stand, One leg beƒore him, leaning on one hand,

Pour ƒorth two hundred verses in an hour, And think such readiness a prooƒ oƒ power.

When like a torrent he bore down, you'd ƒind He leƒt a load oƒ reƒuse still behind:

Fluent, yet indolent, he would rebel

Against the toil oƒ writing, writing well, Not writing much; ƒor that I grant you.

See,

Here comes Crispinus, wants to bet with me, And oƒƒers odds: “A meeting, iƒ you please: Take we our tablets each, you those, I these: Name place, and time, and umpires: let us try

24 Who can compose the ƒaster, you or I.”

Thank Heaven, that ƒormed me oƒ unƒertile mind, My speech not copious, and my thoughts conƒined! But you, be like the bellows, iƒ you choose,

Still puƒƒing, puƒƒing, till the metal ƒuse,

And vent your windy nothings with a sound

That makes the depth they come ƒrom seem proƒound.

Happy is Fannius, with immortals classed, His bust and bookcase canonized at last,

While, as ƒor me, none reads the things I write.

Loath as I am in public to recite,

Knowing that satire ƒinds small ƒavour, since

Most men want whipping, and who want it, wince.

Choose ƒrom the crowd a casual wight, 'tis seen He's place-hunter or miser, vain or mean:

One raves oƒ others' wives: one stands agaze At silver dishes: bronze is Albius' craze: Another barters goods the whole world o'er, From distant east to ƒurthest western shore, Driving along like dust-cloud through the air To increase his capital or not impair:

These, one and all, the clink oƒ metre ƒly, And look on poets with a dragon's eye.

“Beware! he's vicious: so he gains his end, A selƒish laugh, he will not spare a ƒriend:

Whate'er he scrawls, the mean malignant rogue Is all alive to get it into vogue:

Give him a handle, and your tale is known To every giggling boy and maundering crone.”

A weighty accusation! now, permit

Some ƒew brieƒ words, and I will answer it: First, be it understood, I make no claim

To rank with those who bear a poet's name: 'Tis not enough to turn out lines complete,

Each with its proper quantum oƒ ƒive ƒeet; Colloquial verse a man may write like me, But (trust an author)'tis not poetry.

No; keep that name ƒor genius, ƒor a soul

Oƒ Heaven's own ƒire, ƒor words that grandly roll. Hence some have questioned iƒ the Muse we call The Comic Muse be really one at all:

Her subject ne'er aspires, her style ne'er glows, And, save that she talks metre, she talks prose. “Aye, but the angry ƒather shakes the stage, When on his graceless son he pours his rage, Who, smitten with the mistress oƒ the hour,

Rejects a well-born wiƒe with ample dower,

Gets drunk, and (worst oƒ all) in public sight Keels with a blazing ƒlambeau while 'tis light.”

Horace: Textual Analysis

of Satire 1:4

Horace and Ovid Well, could Pomponius' sire to liƒe return,

Think you he'd rate his son in tones less stern? So then 'tis not suƒƒicient to combine

Well-chosen words in a well-ordered line,

When, take away the rhythm, the selƒ-same words Would suit an angry ƒather oƒƒ the boards.

Strip what I write, or what Lucilius wrote, Oƒ cadence and succession, time and note, Reverse the order, put those words behind That went beƒore, no poetry you'll ƒind:

But break up this, “When Battle's brazen door Blood-boltered Discord ƒrom its ƒastenings tore,” 'Tis Orpheus mangled by the Maenads: still

The bard remains, unlimb him as you will.

Enough oƒ this: some other time we'll see Iƒ Satire is or is not poetry:

Today I take the question, iƒ 'tis just

That men like you should view it with distrust.

Sulcius and Caprius promenade in ƒorce, Each with his papers, virulently hoarse,

Bugbears to robbers both: but he that's true And decent-living may deƒy the two.

Say, you're ƒirst cousin to that goodly pair Caelius and Birrius, and their ƒoibles share: No Sulcius nor yet Caprius here you see

In your unworthy servant: why ƒear me?

No books oƒ mine on stall or counter stand, To tempt Tigellius' or some clammier hand,

Nor read I save to ƒriends, and that when pressed, Not to chance auditor or casual guest.

Others are less ƒastidious: some will air

Their last production in the public square:

Some choose the bathroom, ƒor the walls all round Make the voice sweeter and improve the sound: Weak brains, to whom the question ne'er occurred Iƒ what they do be vain, ill-timed, absurd.

“But you give pain: your habit is to bite,” Rejoins the ƒoe, “oƒ sot deliberate spite.”

Who broached that slander? oƒ the men I know, With whom I live, have any told you so?

He who maligns an absent ƒriend's ƒair ƒame, Who says no word ƒor him when others blame, Who courts a reckless laugh by random hits,

Just ƒor the sake oƒ ranking among wits,

Who ƒeigns what he ne'er saw, a secret blabs, Beware him, Roman! that man steals or stabs! Oƒt you may see three couches, ƒour on each,

26 Where all are wincing under one man's speech,

All, save the host: his turn too comes at last, When wine lets loose the humour shame held ƒast: And you, who hate malignity, can see

Nought here but pleasant talk, well-bred and ƒree.

I, iƒ I chance in laughing vein to note Ruƒillus' civet and Gargonius' goat,

Must I be toad or scorpion? Look at home: Suppose Petillius' theƒt, the talk oƒ Rome,

Named in your presence, mark how yon deƒend In your accustomed strain your absent ƒriend:

“Petillius? yes, I know him well: in truth

We have been ƒriends, companions, e'en ƒrom youth: A thousand times he's served me, and I joy

That he can walk the streets without annoy: Yet 'tis a puzzle, I conƒess, to me

How ƒrom that same aƒƒair he got oƒƒ ƒree.”

Here is the poison-bag oƒ malice, here

The gall oƒ ƒell detraction, pure and sheer:

And these, I'swear, iƒ man such pledge may give, My pen and heart shall keep ƒrom, while I live. But iƒ I still seem personal and bold,

Perhaps you'll pardon, when my story's told.

When my good ƒather taught me to be good, Scarecrows he took oƒ living ƒlesh and blood. Thus, iƒ he warned me not to spend but spare The moderate means I owe to his wise care,

' Twas, “See the liƒe that son oƒ Albius leads! Observe that Barrus, vilest oƒ ill weeds!

Plain beacons these ƒor heedless youth, whose taste Might lead them else a ƒair estate to waste:”

Iƒ lawless love were what he bade me shun,

“Avoid Scetanius' slough,” his words would run: “Wise men,” he'd add, “the reasons will explain Why you should ƒollow this, ƒrom that reƒrain: For me, iƒ I can train you in the ways

Trod by the worthy ƒolks oƒ earlier days,

And, while you need direction, keep your name And liƒe unspotted, I've attained my aim:

When riper years have seasoned brain and limb, You'll drop your corks, and like a Triton swim.”

' Twas thus he ƒormed my boyhood: iƒ he sought To make me do some action that I ought,

“You see your warrant there,” he'd say, and clench His word with some grave member oƒ the bench:

So too with things ƒorbidden: “can you doubt The deed's a deed an honest man should scout, When, just ƒor this same matter, these and those, Like open drains, are stinking ‘neath your nose?”

Horace: Textual Analysis

of Satire 1:4

Horace and Ovid Sick gluttons of a next-door funeral hear, And learn self-mastery in the school of fear: And so a neighbour’s scandal many a time

Has kept young minds from running into crime.

Thus I grew up, unstained by serious ill,

Though venial faults, I grant you, haunt me still: Yet items I could name retrenched e’en there

By time, plain speaking, individual care;

For, when I chance to stroll or lounge alone, I’m not without a Mentor of my own:

“This course were better: that might help to mend My daily life, improve me as a friend:

There some one showed ill-breeding: can I say I might not fall into the like one day?”

So with closed lips I ruminate, and then In leisure moments play with ink and pen:

For that’s an instance, I must needs avow, Of those small faults I hinted at just now:

Grant it your prompt indulgence, or a throng Of poets shall come up, some hundred strong, And by mere numbers, in your own despite, Force you, like Jews, to be our proselyte.

Notes:

Gaius Lucilius, was the founder of the Roman satire, and born in Campania, in 180 BCE; he wrote thirty books of satire, of which remain to us only fragments of about thirteen hundred lines. Horace seems to exaggerate his debt to Old Comedy.

Colloquial verse a man may write like me,

But (trust an author)’tis not poetry: Horace honestly judges his Satires to be closer to prose than to poetry.

Sulcius and Caprius, were professional informers, hoarse from shouting too much in court.

Hermogenes Tigellius is a literary critic.

3.4 SATIRE 1:4: TEXTUAL ANALYSIS

Horace, the persona, begins by praising the poets and dramatists of Greek and Latin literature; and their contribution to the Roman satire especially from Aristophanes' plays. Although the speaker admires his predecessor Lucilius for developing the Roman satire he also highlights his literary flaws. Lucilius was talented but clumsy and wrote hastily. He made errors that he wanted to revise later but he was also too verbose and lazy to write carefully and thoughtfully.

To focus on himself as a satirist and as a person of strong moral character, the speaker differentiates himself from Lucilius. Whenever he is called for irrational challenges by inferior poets like the fictional Crispinus, he turns them

down. Unlike Lucilius, he does not believe in writing innumerable verses for the sake of winning competitions.

The speaker claims his moral superiority as a satirist and as a person; accordingly, the two qualities are interdependent. He believes his personality is that of a modest and timid man who does not exhibit his writings and talent and that is his greatest virtue. He also claims his writings are not meant for the common masses. He prefers to be selective in his audience or listeners since he is uncomfortable exposing himself to general critics. Perhaps the speaker considers his writings are too honest to be read and circulated among the public; he is aware that he could be too critical of other's follies and vices.

Looking around the Roman population, the speaker sees people who are victims of wrong habits and choices, namely, avarice, adultery, homosexuality and the greed for riches. Excessive greed is blinding and creates anxiety. Here we can see the influences of Epicurean philosophy on the speaker which recognises fear and desires as enemy of peace of mind.

In an imaginary attack, the speaker compares poets to dangerous animals who are a threat to others:

— Beware! he’s vicious: so he gains his end, A selfish laugh, he will not spare a friend:

Whate’er he scrawls, the mean malignant rogue Is all alive to get it into vogue:

Give him a handle, and your tale is known To every giggling boy and maundering crone.

Satirical poets were accused of destroying the reputation of people and sometimes even close friends. In his defense to the accusations against him, the speaker argues that his poetry is more like prose:

First, be it understood, I make no claim

To rank with those who bear a poet’s name: ‘Tis not enough to turn out lines complete,

Each with its proper quantum of five feet; Colloquial verse a man may write like me, But (trust an author)’tis not poetry.

Poetry according to him is much more than putting words to

So then ’tis not sufficient to combine Well-chosen words in a well-ordered line,

When, take away the rhythm, the self-same words Would suit an angry father off the boards.

Poetry differs from ordinary speech and poets are geniuses who have heaven's fire for a soul out of which grand words flow continuously.

No; keep that name for genius, for a soul

Of Heaven’s own fire, for words that grandly roll.

Here the speaker also mentions the role of the father in the upbringing of a son, a theme he elaborates later in the poem.

Aye, but the angry father shakes the stage, When on his graceless son he pours his rage,

Horace: Textual Analysis

of Satire 1:4

Horace and Ovid Who, smitten with the mistress of the hour, Rejects a well-born wife with ample dower,

Gets drunk, and (worst of all) in public sight Keels with a blazing flambeau while ’tis light.

The speaker does not wish to further argue on the conflict between prose and poetry since this is not the central theme of the poem:

Enough of this: some other time we’ll see If Satire is or is not poetry:

Today I take the question, if ’tis just

That men like you should view it with distrust.

The speaker argues that there is a difference between satirical poets and professional court informers like “Caprius and Sulcius” who also expose criminals and the corrupt in public. The speaker remains a committed satirical poet who rejects popularity:

No books of mine on stall or counter stand, To tempt Tigellius’ or some clammier hand,

The above lines may also show the speaker's snobbery and insecurity at being published and read by the common people of Rome. He shares his writings only with friends –

Nor read I save to friends, and that when pressed, Not to chance auditor or casual guest.

The speaker also points out the common accusations laid against the satirists in Roman society:

Who broached that slander? of the men I know, With whom I live, have any told you so?

He who maligns an absent friend’s fair fame, Who says no word for him when others blame, Who courts a reckless laugh by random hits,

Just for the sake of ranking among wits,

Who feigns what he ne’er saw, a secret blabs, Beware him, Roman! that man steals or stabs!

The reputation of satirists is someone who exposes the follies of everyone, including their close friends:

Oft you may see three couches, four on each, Where all are wincing under one man’s speech, All, save the host: his turn too comes at last, When wine lets loose the humour shame held fast: And you, who hate malignity, can see

Nought here but pleasant talk, well-bred and free. (Satire 1:4)

His reputation as a good satirist is closely tied to his good upbringing by his father. The speaker credits his father for setting a good example of living with.

Thus, if he warned me not to spend but spare

30 The moderate means I owe to his wise care,

Here, the speaker's father's teachings are similar to philosophical teachings of Epicurean philosophy. His father would teach the young poet by example of others who lived with bad reputation. The father also stressed the importance of good education:

Why you should follow this, from that refrain: For me, if I can train you in the ways

Trod by the worthy folks of earlier days,

And, while you need direction, keep your name And life unspotted, I’ve attained my aim:

In highlighting the role of his biological father, the speaker distances himself from his literary father Lucilius whose satirical style he finds difficult to follow. Thus, warning by citing examples of others is the best method of teaching his father adopted:

Thus I grew up, unstained by serious ill,

Though venial faults, I grant you, haunt me still:

However, the speaker knows he is not free from all vices that could plague human nature; he maintains that he is open to correction unlike most people who do not wish to improve their behaviour. The most important quality the speaker possesses is his self-awareness or self-reflection:

This course were better: that might help to mend My daily life, improve me as a friend: …

The poem concludes with the speaker's affirmation of his superior moral position. Moreover, whenever he criticises he does “jokingly”.

Of those small faults I hinted at just now:

Grant it your prompt indulgence, or a throng Of poets shall come up, some hundred strong, And by mere numbers, in your own despite …

The speaker's criticism of others is often an afterthought not the focus; the focus is primarily self-improvement. Let's look at the themes in Horace's Satire 1:4 in the next section.

3.5 THEMES

The themes Horace deals with in his Satires and in particular Satire 1:4 are several, three of which are crucial to our study.

3.5.1 The Horatian Satire

According to Frances Muecke, in Satire 1: 4, Horace establishes himself as a satirist. The poem takes the form of an argument in reply to an imaginary hostile criticism. We do not know for sure if the speaker has been criticised or not. What matters is that Horace has adopted this strategy to explore certain issues that arise from the fact that he is now a writer of satire. For Horace, issues like the character of the satirist, the form and method of satire, both as writing and as social criticism and, the relationship of satire to life are all interdependent.

According to Horace, there is something special about social criticism; when he says that he is putting satire on a sound ethical footing. Horace praises

Horace: Textual Analysis

of Satire 1:4

Horace and Ovid the virtues of Lucilius before criticising his flaws. He claims that his practices as a writer are an intrinsic part of his own character and ethical commitment. His snobbery and fear at being exposed to the uneducated masses is a Callimachean attitude. Thus, Horace reinvents the political identity of satire arguing for ethics of moderation and poetry of polish and restraint.

Horace routinely criticises those who talk or write too much. This is expressed as an aesthetic flaw of Lucilius who composed two hundred lines in an hour standing on one leg. Horace seems to be anxious about the effects of too much free speech and loose talk, and his emphasis on the need for discretion, especially in dealing with the great and the powerful. Instead of Lucilian's frank and venomous speech, Horace stresses silence. When he does talk, it is about the everyday trivialities of friends and acquaintances preferring silence over political issues. In the next section we shall look at the Epicurean influence on Horace.

3.5.2 The Influences of Epicurean Philosophy and Ethics

The Satires and Epistles 1 are mainly preoccupied with ethics. Whether Horace's emphasis on moral issues are a part of a political message or a way of political engagement, it is undeniable that the issue of how to live well, and how far various philosophical schools can help or hinder that, is at the heart of Horace's poetry. Horace was influenced by many schools of philosophy

- the main influences being Stoicism and Epicureanism.

Horace himself may have been connected with a group of Epicureans based by the Bay of Naples which was centred on Philodemus and included Virgil, Varius Rufus, and Plotius Tucca, Horace's friends. There is certainly an Epicurean tone to his emphasis on moderation and his rejection of extreme Stoic doctrines like restraint of emotion, endurance, and public service, and its belief in a providential divine order.

Unlike Stoicism, Epicureanism was closely associated with a particular literary text and this influenced Horace's engagement both with that text and with the philosophy it espoused. In the 50s BCE Lucretius wrote one of the greatest and most challenging poems in Latin, On the Nature of the Universe (De rerum natura), setting out an explanation of Epicurean physics with a view to curing men's wonder at and fear of death, the gods, and natural phenomena, so that they could achieve the Epicurean ideal of ‘ataraxia' (‘freedom from anxiety'). The poem was immensely influential, and poets of the next and subsequent generations endlessly engaged with it in support or opposition.

One issue, which connects ethics with poetry, is the way in which Horace does not merely argue that reading the didactic content of poetry can help in the quest to live well but uses poetics and aesthetics as symbols and metaphors for the right way to live. The Callimachean aesthetic ideals of finely wrought, small-scale poetry, in antithesis to the bloated messiness of the Lucilian satire, can be read as a Horatian insistence on moderation and the avoidance of extremes and excess.

The Epicurean Philosophy adds depth to the poet's presentation and analysis of the many foibles of contemporary Roman society. It was Epicurus who

32 maintained that all sense impressions are true and therefore foundational for the

formation of knowledge and ethical decisions. According to Diogenes' account of Epicurean epistemology, ‘sensation' (aisthçseis) was one of the three ‘interpretive tools' (kritçria) for engaging with and reacting to the visible world, along with ‘anticipations' (prolçpseis) and ‘affections' (pathç).

Epicurus also rejected the alleged uselessness of theoretical speculation and instead laid particular stress on the importance of efficacy regarding his own philosophical teachings. In addition to this, he especially appreciated the pedagogical role and his willingness to provide followers with useful summaries of his doctrines. While both the Cynics and the Epicureans employed concise maxims for pedagogical purposes, it was the latter that placed more emphasis on the importance of brevity for the sake of memorisation and usefulness. Aside from being practical, the Epicurean doctrine is especially accessible because it transfers the source of knowledge from theoretical speculation to the familiar sense perceptions of everyday life.

3.5.3 Horace and His Father

Horace's father's role is important in the poem; following Lucilius is a matter of the choice of genre but following his father's instruction was a matter of character formation. Horace's description of his upbringing in Satire 1.4 is one of the most significant scenes particularly because it serves to establish the poet's ethical credentials and justify his role as professional critic. It also constructs the ethical persona of Horace by synthesising the various literary and philosophical influences in a parodic manner. Scholars have repeatedly shown the significant role of Roman comedy, especially Terence’s Adelphoe, in Horace's serio-comic portrayal of his father's training.

Horace pays tribute to his father by identifying him as the source of his moral purity. In referring to his father Horace distinguishes himself from Lucilius, his literary predecessor, who is clumsy and verbose and also manages to define the principles of the Horatian satire. However, Horace cannot completely overlook the satirical style of Lucilius when he frequently criticises individuals by calling out their names. Nevertheless, the major differences between Horace and Lucilius, especially about their distinct approaches to style and ethics, are widely recognised. These differences are communicated by the poet's shift from public criticism to more private concerns and stock characters reminiscent of New Comedy, which suggests that the Horatian satire would engage with moral deficiency in a light-hearted manner but at a more sophisticated and personal level.

Horace's father's concern for practicality is emphasised by his empirical method and reliance on sense perception, which involves exposure to the everyday details of life on the streets of Rome. As a young man, Horace's empirical training would have provideded him with an acute cognitive awareness of the vices, challenges, and temptations associated with living in contemporary Rome like political corruption, sexual promiscuity, and insatiable greed in addition to the economic and sexual vices mentioned in Satire 1.4. According to Horace's description, however, it was his father's verbal cues that allowed him to identify and ultimately communicate these realities. His father, therefore, is the origin not only of his moral integrity, but also of the moral vocabulary he employs in his satiric portraits.

Horace: Textual Analysis

of Satire 1:4

Horace and Ovid

3.6 LET US SUM UP

• We analysed the main arguments and discussions of Satire 1:4.

• We discussed the concept of the Horatian satire and the Lucilius satire.

• We studied the influence of Epicurean Philosophy on Horace's Satire 1:4.

• We examined the role of the father in the moral upbringing of his son,

Horace.

3.7 QUESTIONS

1) Discuss the important themes in the poem?

2) Why is it important for Horace to differentiate his Satires from the satires of Lucilius?

3) In what ways Horace’s father contributed to his role as a satirist?

3.8 GLOSSARY

Callimachus- (born c. 305 BCE, Cyrene, North Africa, died c. 240 BCE) He was a Greek poet and scholar, the most representative poet of the erudite and sophisticated Alexandrian school. Callimachus migrated to Alexandria, where King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt gave him employment in the Library of Alexandria, the most important such institution in the Hellenistic world.

Of Callimachus's voluminous writings, only 6 hymns, about 60 epigrams, and fragments survive, many of them discovered in the 20th century. His most famous poetic work, illustrative of his antiquarian interests, was the Aitia (Causes), probably produced between 270 and 245 BCE. The structure of the poem, with its short episodes loosely connected by a common theme, became the model for the Fasti and Metamorphoses of the Roman poet Ovid. Of his elegies for special occasions, the best known is the Lock of Berenice a polished piece of court poetry.

Callimachus raised the hexameter to new heights of order and euphony, and his poetry may well be considered the peak of refinement of Greek verse of the period. Of his prolific prose works, the most famous was the Pinakes (“Tables of Those Who Have Distinguished Themselves in Every Form of Culture and of What They Wrote”) in 120 books. This work consisted of an elaborate critical and biographical catalogue of the authors of the works held in the Library of Alexandria.

No other Greek poet except Homer is so often quoted by the grammarians of late antiquity. He was taken as a model by many Roman poets, notably Catullus and Propertius, and by the most sophisticated Greek poets, from Euphorion, Nicander, and Parthenius to Nonnus and his followers in the 5th century BCE.

Cratinus- A highly successful writer of Attic Old Comedy. Most of his works only survive in fragments unlike Aristophanes.

Cynics- The first Cynics, beginning most clearly with Diogenes of Sinope, embraced their title: they barked at those who displeased them, spurned Athenian etiquette, and lived from nature. In other words, what may have originated as a disparaging label became the designation of a philosophical vocation. Cynicism

denotes a way of living, it is inaccurate to equate Cynicism with the other schools of its day. The Cynics had no set space where they met and discoursed, such as the Garden, the Lyceum, or the Academy; the streets of Athens provide the setting for both their teaching and their training. The Cynics neglected, and very often ridiculed, speculative philosophy. They were especially harsh critics of dogmatic thought, theories they consider useless, and metaphysical essences.

Foremost for understanding the Cynic conception of ethics is that virtue is a life lived in accord with nature. Nature offers the clearest indication of how to live the good life, which is characterized by reason, self-sufficiency, and freedom. Social conventions can hinder the good life by compromising freedom and setting up a code of conduct that is opposed to nature and reason. Conventions are not inherently bad; however, for the Cynic, conventions are often absurd and worthy of ridicule.

When one has freed oneself from the strictures that impede an ethical life it is true freedom. As such, the Cynics advocate ‘askçsis', or practice, over theory as the means to free oneself from convention, promote self-sufficiency, and live in accord with nature. Such askçsis led the Cynic to live in poverty, embrace hardship and toil, and permits the Cynic to speak freely about the silly, and often vicious, way life is lived by his or her contemporaries.

Epicureanism- The philosophy by Epicurus (341–270 B.C.E.) believed in radical materialism and rejected the Platonic Ideas or Forms. He disapproved the possibility of the soul's survival after death. He regarded the fear of punishment and death as the primary cause of anxiety among the human beings which is the source of extreme and irrational desires. The elimination of the fears and corresponding desires would leave people free to pursue the pleasures, both physical and mental, to enjoy the peace of mind and achieve satisfaction. The major source for Epicurean doctrine is Diogenes Laertius' third-century C.E. Lives of Eminent Philosophers, a compilation of information on the lives and doctrines of the philosophers of classical Greece.

Epicurus understood the task of philosophy first and foremost as a form of therapy for life, since philosophy that does not heal the soul is no better than medicine that cannot cure the body. A life free of mental anxiety and open to the enjoyment of other pleasures was deemed equal to that of the gods.

Eupolis- One of the leading Athenian poets of the Old Comedy and a rival of Aristophanes. Eupolis grew up during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, and his first play was produced in 429 BCE.

Lucretius- 99— 55 B.C.E. (Titus Lucretius Carus) was a Roman poet and the author of the philosophical epic De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of the Universe), a comprehensive exposition of the Epicurean world-view. Very little is known of the poet's life, though a sense of his character and personality emerges vividly from his poem. The stress and tumult of his times stands in the background of his work and partly explains his personal attraction and commitment to Epicureanism, with its emphasis on intellectual pleasure and tranquillity of mind and its dim view of the world of social strife and political violence.

Stoicism- Stoicism was one of the new philosophical movements of the Hellenistic period. The name derives from the porch (stoa poikilê) in the Agora

Horace: Textual Analysis

of Satire 1:4

Horace and Ovid at Athens decorated with mural paintings, where the members of the school congregated, and their lectures were held.

The Stoics held that emotions like fear or envy or impassioned sexual attachments, or passionate love of anything either were, or arose from, false judgements and that the sage – a person who had attained moral and intellectual perfection – would not undergo them. The later Stoics of Roman Imperial times, Seneca and Epictetus, emphasised the doctrines that the sage is utterly immune to misfortune and that virtue is enough for happiness.

No complete works of the first three heads of the Stoic school survive: the ‘founder,' Zeno of Citium in Cyprus (344–262 BCE), Cleanthes (d. 232 BCE) or Chrysippus (d. ca. 206 BCE). The only complete works by Stoic philosophers are those by writers of Imperial times, Seneca (4 BCE–65 CE), Epictetus (c. 55–135) and the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121–180) and these works are principally focused on ethics.

Terence- Terence (195-159 B.C.E), or Publius Terentius Afer, was a Roman comic playwright. As a translator and adapter of the Greek New Comedy, produced about 336-250 B.C., he gave near-perfect form and expression in Latin to the comedy of manners.

3.9 SUGGESTED READINGS & REFERENCES

1. Baltzly, Dirk. “Stoicism.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 10 Apr. 2018, plato.stanford.edu/entries/stoicism/.

2. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Callimachus.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 8 Feb. 2018, www.britannica.com/ biography/Callimachus-Greek-poet-and-scholar.

3. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Eupolis.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 July 1998, www.britannica.com/biography/Eupolis.

4. Flaccus, Q. Horatius, et al. The Complete Odes and Satires of Horace.

Princeton University Press, 1999.

5. Freudenburg, Kirk. The Cambridge Companion to Roman Satire. Cambridge University Press, 2006.

6. Horace, and Davie, John. Satires and Epistles. Oxford University Press, 2011.

7. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/cynics/.

8. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/lucretiu/.

9. Konstan, David. “Epicurus.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 16 Apr. 2018, plato.stanford.edu/entries/epicurus/ #EpicLife.

10. Lloyd, James. “The Plays of Cratinus.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 21 Jan. 2019, www.ancient.eu/article/794/ the-plays-of-cratinus/.

11. Muecke, Frances. “Horace the Satirist: Form and Method in Satires 1:4.” Critical Quarterly, 1977.

12. “Terence.” The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th Ed, Encyclopedia.com, 2019, www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/classical-literature-

36 biographies/terence.

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Structure

3.0 OBJECTIVES

3.1 INTRODUCTION

3.2 HORACE THE SATIRIST

3.5 THEMES

3.5.1 The Horatian Satire

3.5.2 The Influences of Epicurean Philosophy and Ethics

3.5.3 Horace and His Father

3.6 LET US SUM UP

3.7 QUESTIONS

3.8 GLOSSARY

3.9 SUGGESTED READINGS & REFERENCES

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