1 Horace, His Poetry, Maecenas
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
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. Thus, the seeds of my understanding were already present in the scholarly literature, but I did not find any study that reads, as I do, S.1 consistently as a work in which Horace explains his past and gives a self-presentation for the benefit of his future. He also explores the characteristics of writing commentary poetry, which is not limited only to the genre of satire, and addresses in detail the issue as to how to deliver his future critical messages to different audiences. In the case of S.1, I will be looking for political content differing from the usual form. In addition to Horace’s relatively few obvious political pronouncements in the book – such as his opinions on contemporary issues, political statements, or references to political actors – I search in particular for a more concealed political content, that is the result of his efforts to find his place within his new milieu of the associates of Maecenas. Much of the scholarly literature is a good starting point for the purpose of uncovering the concealed content, but it is often not sufficient. Research of classical texts is often carried out from the perspective of a literary frame, where the scholar investigates the literary objectives of ancient authors: the latter are supposed to create a literary continuity with their paragon by referring to predecessors. But, ancient authors may also have been inspired by objectives other than purely literary ones, namely by functional objectives. I take full account of the results of the many studies within the literary frame, but I deliberately examine the poems within the historical socio-political context for themes that illustrate the poem’s political scope and thus add new facets to the debate of the poems’ meaning. Therefore, I analysed S.1 within, what I call, a functional frame. This starts from the notion that a poet may have two objectives, and therefore works within two frames of mind, at the same time creating both a literary and a functional poetic output, the latter being more latent General Introduction 3 than the first. In the functional frame, which I believe is Horace’s primary orientation, his main purpose is to deliver a specific political objective, namely his credentials. He achieves this by raising socio-political issues or describing contemporary events with a political relevance that are recognized by Maecenas, enabling the latter to judge the worth of Horace. In my study of Virgil’s political commentary (Weeda, 2015), I introduced the notion of a functional model that opens many new perspectives of the poet’s intentions and runs next to the literary model. I will explain the idea of the two models further in section 1.2. One scholar pointed out to me that applying to Horace’s earliest work the same formula as I used in my book on Virgil’s political commentary may be “tricky.” He argues that the Aeneis glorifying the gens Iulia and celebrating Roman greatness is manifestly political, and that “the same cannot be said of Horatian satire, which in many ways adheres to the Epicurean maxim ‘live unknown’,” and that Horatian satire is less political than the Aeneis. Some scholars advanced a similar argument comparing Virgil’s Eclogae and the Aeneis: the former was seen to be less political than the latter. At most five of the ten eclogae were considered having political content. Yet, I analyzed the Eclogae from a functional perspective, which yielded some interesting new insights. Contrary to the above view, I (2015, 83-84) concluded that Virgil gives commentary on contemporary political and social matters in each and every ecloga. 4 For example, I suggest that Mopsus in Ecl.8.26, who is generally seen as a shepherd and to whom the girl Nysa was given (Mopso Nysa datur), symbolizes a newcomer in the countryside, most likely a veteran soldier to whom a piece of land was given after Philippi, bringing Ecl.8 within the category of political poems about the destruction of rural communities.5 Ecl.10 also contains an important functional reference. By 4 For the political themes in Virgil’s Eclogae, see Weeda (2015, 54-84); Weeda & van der Poel (2016). Seven Eclogae concern directly the expropriations: 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Virgil refers especially to the expropriations and the expulsions in the Mantua region in Eclogae 1, 6, 9 and 10.