A Companion to Horace

Few ancient poets have exerted as profound and enduring an influence on European literature as Horace. As a result of the generous patronage of Maecenas, wealthy friend and confidant to the Emperor Augustus, Horace produced a genre–spanning body of Latin literature that ranged from iambus and satire to odes and literary epistle. Reflecting continual and ongoing reassessments of this timeless Roman poet, A Companion to Horace features a thought–provoking collection of newly–commissioned interpretive essays by leading scholars in the field of Latin literature. With its primary focus on the entire generic range of Horace s monumental literary achievements –– Epodes, Odes, Satires, Carmen Saeculare, Epistles, and Ars Poetica –– some essays also touch upon salient aspects of the reception of a few of his major works in later European literature. Other essays challenge conventional views of the poet′s works and influences to expose readers to the most up–to–date perspectives. English translations are provided by the authors for Latin and Greek passages cited in the text, and there are helpful suggestions for further reading about the issues covered in each essay.

While casting fresh new light on the interpretation and reception of Horace, A Companion to Horace represents an invaluable contribution to the enduring legacy of one of the greatest poets of the Augustan Age of Latin literature.

List of Figures viii

Notes on Contributors ix

Abbreviations Used xiii

Author′s Note xv

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction 1

Part I Biographical and Social Contexts 5

1. The Biographical and Social Foundations of Horace′s Poetic Voice 7
David Armstrong

2. Horace′s Friendship: Adaptation of a Circular Argument 34
William Anderson

3. Horace and Imperial Patronage 53
Phebe Lowell Bowditch

4. The Roman Site Identified as Horace′s Villa at Licenza, Italy 75
Bernard Frischer

Part II Horatian Lyric: Literary Contexts 91

5. The Epodes: Genre, Themes, and Arrangement 93
David Mankin

6. Defi ning a Lyric Ethos: Archilochus lyricus and Horatian melos 105
Gregson Davis

7. Horace and Lesbian Lyric 128
Jenny Strauss Clay

8. Horace′s Debt to Pindar 147
William H. Race

9. Female Figures in Horace′s Odes 174
Ronnie Ancona

10. The Roman Odes 193
Hans Peter Syndikus

11. Horace: Odes 4 210
Michèle Lowrie

12. The Carmen Saeculare 231
Michael Putnam

Part III The Satires and Epistles 251

13. Horace and the Satirist s Mask: Shadowboxing with Lucilius 253
Catherine Schlegel

14. Horatius Anceps: Persona and Self–revelation in Satire and Song 271
Kirk Freudenburg

15. Return to Sender: Horace′s sermo from the Epistles to the Satires 291
Andrea Cucchiarelli

16. The Epistles 319
W. R. Johnson

Part IV Reception of Horace′s Poetry 335

17. The Reception of Horace′s Odes 337
Lowell Edmunds

18. The Metempsychosis of Horace: The Reception of the Satires and Epistles 367
Susanna Braund

19. Reception of Horace′s Ars Poetica 391
Leon Golden

Bibliography 414

Index 444

Gregson Davis is Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at Duke University. His publications include Polyhymnia: The Rhetoric of Horatian Lyric Discourse (1984) and Aimé Cesairé (1997).

"Highly recommended. Lower–division undergraduates through faculty." (Choice, 1 March 2011)

"This is a fine and well–organised work that every Horatian scholar will need to consult, and which students of Horace and colleagues from non–classical disciplines will also find useful". (Bmcreview, 17 January 2011)

"These essays are not simply summaries of earlier work, but raise new questions about Horace, making this much more than a reference work. Each essay has suggestions for further reading and there is also a comprehensive bibliography." (Book News Inc, November 2010)