Leendert Weeda Horace’s Sermones Book 1 Credentials For Maecenas Leendert Weeda HORACE’s SERMONES BOOK 1 CREDENTIALS FOR MAECENAS Managing Editor: Izabella Penier Associate Editor: Pablo Markin Language Editor: Adam Leverton ISBN 978-3-11-064262-9 e-ISBN 978-3-11-064263-6 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. © 2019 Leendert Weeda Published by De Gruyter Poland Ltd, Warsaw/Berlin Part of Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston The book is published with open access at www.degruyter.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. www.degruyter.com Cover illustration: gettyimages Contents Preface and Acknowledgements — VII 1 Horace, his Poetry, Maecenas — 1 1.1 General Introduction — 1 1.2 References — 8 1.2.1 The Literary Frame — 10 1.2.2 The Functional Frame — 11 1.3 Horace’s Life — 14 1.3.1 Autobiography in Horace’s Poetry — 14 1.3.2 Horace’s “Biography” — 17 1.4 Horace and Maecenas: Patronage or Amicitia? — 23 2 The Sermones (Satires): Preparing for the Future as a Political Commentator — 32 2.1 Introduction to the Chapter — 32 2.2 Sermones, Book 1: Conversation Pieces — 46 2.2.1 Sermones 1.1 and 1.2: The Cynical Ways of the Aristocracy and the Nouveau Riche — 47 2.2.2 Sermones 1.3 and 1.4: From Censuring the Elite and the Nouveau Riche to a Serious Conversation with Friends — 73 2.2.3 Sermones 1.5 and 1.6: Horace’s Credentials for Maecenas Continued: A Journey to Brundisium; Youth and Education in Venusia and Rome — 126 2.2.4 Sermones 1.7 and 1.8: Threats from the East: Parthia and Egypt — 166 2.2.5 Sermones 1.9 and 1.10: Maecenas’ Circle: No Place for Nouveau Riche. Horace’s Literary Programme for Several Genres; the Literary Schools Revisited — 190 3 Summary of Sermones Book 1: Horace’s Credentials Containing Political Commentary; Virgil’s Eclogae and Horace’s Sermones Book 1 Compared — 231 3.1 Introduction to the Chapter — 231 3.2 Summary of Sermones Book 1 — 231 3.3 The First Book of Sermones: Horace’s Credentials and His Political Commentary — 254 3.4 Virgil’s Eclogae and Horace’s Sermones Book 1 Compared — 263 Appendix — 269 Bibliography — 271 Index — 286 Preface and Acknowledgements In this book I present my interpretation of the first book of Sermones as a collection of Horace’s credentials for Maecenas and I will trace his efforts in getting accepted as an associate of the latter after his miscalculation joining Brutus. Although Sermones.1 contains quite a few of Horace’s reflections on his poetic orientation and of his views on the standards of good poetry, I do not regard those as his primary objective in writing the book. I will consider those within the context of his self-presentation. I will also examine his commentary on the main contemporary political themes which he presents in the book, which I see as part of his efforts to prove him to be a trustworthy member of Maecenas’ circle and which I also see as his first preparations for his future as a political commentator. I am grateful to the Department of Classical Languages and Cultures of the Faculty of Arts of Radboud University Nijmegen for their support and in particular to Marc van der Poel, professor of Latin Language and Literature and Mrs. Bé Breij, professor of Latin and ancient rhetoric for their continued interest and encouragement. I also acknowledge my thanks to the management and staff of the Radboud University Library for their help in making the digital library facilities available to me. This enabled me to write the book in my own study at home. I record with gratitude the professional support of De Gruyter which was very efficient and excelled in the quality of communicating. I am especially indebted to Dr. Izabella Penier, the managing editor for culture, for her attention and commitment and to Dr. Pablo Markin who managed the review process with great care. Further, I am very grateful to my daughter Dr. Claire Weeda for her help with a digital problem. My very special thanks go to my dear wife Marja who during the research for and writing of the book stimulated me by her thoughtful reactions when I discussed again a new idea. She has the wonderful capacity to keep me on the right track and to show the other side of the picture. Open Access. © 2019 Leendert Weeda, published by Sciendo. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License. https://doi.org/10.2478/9783110642636-001 1 Horace, his Poetry, Maecenas 1.1 General Introduction The focus of this book is on Horace’s Sermones book 1 (S.1), which he wrote between 38 – 35 B.C., when, after the death of Julius Caesar, the Republic came to an end and the transition to the Principate commenced.1 S.1 is part of Horace’s early work that he started at the age between twenty-two and twenty-seven.2 Some three to four years later in 39 or 38 B.C. he joined the circle of Maecenas, and from that time Horace lived and worked in the highly political ambience of the Roman social elite, near the centre of power. It is likely that in those early years of his association with Maecenas Horace was not close to, for example, Octavian, but members of the circle of Maecenas may have stimulated his interest in socio-political matters as a number of the first book’s sermones testify. Both the discussion about his views on socio-political issues and his self-presentation are not public ones, as he regularly asserts, but take place with his associates of the circle of Maecenas, which also explains his choice of the name Sermones (conversations or discussions). For example, when he mentions in S.1.3.52- 53 some of the characteristics of friendship he phrases those in words that can be seen as relating to discussions: outspoken (liber), frank and courageous (simplex fortisque), sharp (acer). He also affirms particularly in S.1.3.139-140 (dulces amici) his gratitude for being accepted in Maecenas’ circle, and in S.1.5.39-44 his appreciation of being with his friends in an intellectual milieu in which he feels comfortable, members of Philodemus’ Epicurean group.3 He speaks highly of Maecenas and his circle in S.1.9.48-53, and of course in S.1.10.81-90. We will see in the course of this study that Horace reveals his adhesion to Philodemus’ tenets at several places. He follows for example closely Philodemus’ writings in his handbook Περὶ παρρησίας (On Frank Criticism) in S.1.4.132-133 (liber amicus), when he mentions criticism among friends. My working assumption is that at the time Horace’s intention was to become an observer of and commentator on contemporary political issues, in addition to the writing of poetry differing in content and in genre. I postulate that Horace prepares himself in S.1 for his future role as political commentator. The efforts of the political 1 I use the word Sermones because this title is an appropriate representation of Horace’s intentions, more so than the title of Satires. The use of the title of Sermones conforms to Horsfall (1981, 108): “none is therefore adequate evidence for the independent titulature of Horace’s Sermones as ‘Satires’.” See also section 2.1, where I discuss more fully my arguments for using the title of Sermones. For reasons of consistency, I will also use the Latin titles for all works quoted. In the case of Horace the books of Carmina, Epodi, Epistulae, Ars Poetica and Carmen Saeculare. 2 Although the events described in S.1.7 probably refer to 43 or 42 B.C., it is unlikely that the poem was written at that time. I will argue in my discussion of the poem that it was likely fictitious and written after Horace joined the circle of Maecenas. 3 Conform Gowers (2012, 130): “simplex responds to liber (both refer to verbal candour).” Open Access. © 2019 Leendert Weeda, published by Sciendo. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 License. https://doi.org/10.2478/9783110642636-002 2 Horace, his Poetry, Maecenas commentator in statu nascendi in S.1 are primarily on the personal issue of his trustworthiness with Maecenas after his miscalculation joining Brutus. After all, he could just as well have been a Pompeian, as many survivors of Philippi joined Sextus Pompey. S.1 is, as it were, a collection of his credentials for Maecenas. Self- presentation being an element of S.1 is not unique to this author. For example, Gowers (2012, 1) states on the opening page of the introduction to her commentary on S.1, that it is also a unique cultural document, a blueprint for how to survive in uncertain times and an individual view of one man’s formation and emergence on the cusp between republic and empire. [...] Horace’s unassuming manner and easy self-presentation are harder these days to take at face value. The casual indirection and changing cast of characters are interpreted as tools for a sophisticated process of generic positioning [by Horace]. Gowers’ reference to S.1 as “a blueprint for how to survive in uncertain times” and her (2012, 2) observation that “it can still be fruitful to treat the account [S.1] as oblique ‘autobiography’, contrived and partial, like so many autobiographies: the self- presentation of a man from nowhere” prompted me to explore in detail whether the focus of S.1 could be self-presentation within the context of Horace’s efforts to find a safe environment at this crucial stage of his life.