HORATIUS FLACCUS was a native of Venusium [963], his father having been,
by his own account [964], a freedman and collector of taxes, but, as it
is generally believed, a dealer in salted (541) provisions; for some one
with whom Horace had a quarrel, jeered him, by saying; “How often have I
seen your father wiping his nose with his fist?” In the battle of
Philippi, he served as a military tribune [965], which post he filled at
the instance of Marcus Brutus [966], the general; and having obtained a
pardon, on the overthrow of his party, he purchased the office of scribe
to a quaestor. Afterwards insinuating himself first, into the good
graces of Mecaenas, and then of Augustus, he secured no small share in
the regard of both. And first, how much Mecaenas loved him may be seen
by the epigram in which he says:
Ni te visceribus meis, Horati,
Plus jam diligo, Titium sodalem,
Ginno tu videas strigosiorem. [967]
But it was more strongly exhibited by Augustus, in a short sentence
uttered in his last moments: “Be as mindful of Horatius Flaccus as you
are of me!” Augustus offered to appoint him his secretary, signifying
his wishes to Mecaenas in a letter to the following effect: “Hitherto I
have been able to write my own epistles to friends; but now I am too much
occupied, and in an infirm state of health. I wish, therefore, to
deprive you of our Horace: let him leave, therefore, your luxurious table
and come to the palace, and he shall assist me in writing my letters.”
And upon his refusing to accept the office, he neither exhibited the
smallest displeasure, nor ceased to heap upon him tokens of his regard.
Letters of his are extant, from which I will make some short extracts to
establish this: “Use your influence over me with the same freedom as you
would do if we were living together as friends. In so doing you will be
perfectly right, and guilty of no impropriety; for I could wish that our
intercourse should be on that footing, if your health admitted of it.”
And again: “How I hold you in memory you may learn (542) from our friend
Septimius [968], for I happened to mention you when he was present. And
if you are so proud as to scorn my friendship, that is no reason why I
should lightly esteem yours, in return.” Besides this, among other
drolleries, he often called him, “his most immaculate penis,” and “his
charming little man,” and loaded him from time to time with proofs of his
munificence. He admired his works so much, and was so convinced of their
enduring fame, that he directed him to compose the Secular Poem, as well
as that on the victory of his stepsons Tiberius and Drusus over the
Vindelici [969]; and for this purpose urged him to add, after a long
interval, a fourth book of Odes to the former three. After reading his
“Sermones,” in which he found no mention of himself, he complained in
these terms: “You must know that I am very angry with you, because in
most of your works of this description you do not choose to address
yourself to me. Are you afraid that, in times to come, your reputation
will suffer; in case it should appear that you lived on terms of intimate
friendship with me?” And he wrung from him the eulogy which begins with,
Cum tot sustineas, et tanta negotia solus:
Res Italas armis tuteris, moribus ornes,
Legibus emendes: in publica commoda peccem,
Si longo sermone morer tua tempora, Caesar.--Epist. ii. i.
While you alone sustain the important weight
Of Rome’s affairs, so various and so great;
While you the public weal with arms defend,
Adorn with morals, and with laws amend;
Shall not the tedious letter prove a crime,
That steals one moment of our Caesar’s time.--Francis.
In person, Horace was short and fat, as he is described by himself in his
Satires [970], and by Augustus in the following letter: “Dionysius has
brought me your small volume, which, little as it is, not to blame you
for that, I shall judge favourably. You seem to me, however, to be
afraid lest your volumes should be bigger than yourself. But if you are
short in stature, you are corpulent enough. You may, therefore, (543) if
you will, write in a quart, when the size of your volume is as large
round as your paunch.”
It is reported that he was immoderately addicted to venery. [For he is
said to have had obscene pictures so disposed in a bedchamber lined with
mirrors, that, whichever way he looked, lascivious images might present
themselves to his view.] [971] He lived for the most part in the
retirement of his farm [972], on the confines of the Sabine and Tiburtine
territories, and his house is shewn in the neighbourhood of a little wood
not far from Tibur. Some Elegies ascribed to him, and a prose Epistle
apparently written to commend himself to Mecaenas, have been handed down
to us; but I believe that neither of them are genuine works of his; for
the Elegies are commonplace, and the Epistle is wanting in perspicuity, a
fault which cannot be imputed to his style. He was born on the sixth of
the ides of December [27th December], in the consulship of Lucius Cotta
[973] and Lucius Torquatus; and died on the fifth of the calends of
December [27th November], in the consulship of Caius Marcius Censorinus
and Caius Asinius Gallus [974]; having completed his fifty-ninth year.
He made a nuncupatory will, declaring Augustus his heir, not being able,
from the violence of his disorder, to sign one in due form. He was
interred and lies buried on the skirts of the Esquiline Hill, near the
tomb of Mecaenas. [975]
(544) M. ANNAEUS LUCANUS, a native of Corduba [976], first tried the
powers of his genius in an encomium on Nero, at the Quinquennial games.
He afterwards recited his poem on the Civil War carried on between Pompey
and Caesar. His vanity was so immense, and he gave such liberty to his
tongue, that in some preface, comparing his age and his first efforts
with those of Virgil, he had the assurance to say: “And what now remains
for me is to deal with a gnat.” In his early youth, after being long
informed of the sort of life his father led in the country, in
consequence of an unhappy marriage [977], he was recalled from Athens by
Nero, who admitted him into the circle of his friends, and even gave him
the honour of the quaestorship; but he did not long remain in favour.
Smarting at this, and having publicly stated that Nero had withdrawn, all
of a sudden, without communicating with the senate, and without any other
motive than his own recreation, after this he did not cease to assail the
emperor both with foul words and with acts which are still notorious. So
that on one occasion, when easing his bowels in the common privy, there
being a louder explosion than usual, he gave vent to the nemistych of
Nero: “One would suppose it was thundering under ground,” in the hearing
of those who were sitting there for the same purpose, and who took to
their heels in much consternation [978]. In a poem also, which was in
every one’s hands, he severely lashed both the emperor and his most
powerful adherents.
At length, he became nearly the most active leader in Piso’s conspiracy
[979]; and while he dwelt without reserve in many quarters on the glory
of those who dipped their hands in the (545) blood of tyrants, he
launched out into open threats of violence, and carried them so far as to
boast that he would cast the emperor’s head at the feet of his
neighbours. When, however, the plot was discovered, he did not exhibit
any firmness of mind. A confession was wrung from him without much
difficulty; and, humbling himself to the most abject entreaties, he even
named his innocent mother as one of the conspirators [980]; hoping that
his want of natural affection would give him favour in the eyes of a
parricidal prince. Having obtained permission to choose his mode of
death [981], he wrote notes to his father, containing corrections of some
of his verses, and, having made a full meal, allowed a physician to open
the veins in his arm [982]. I have also heard it said that his poems
were offered for sale, and commented upon, not only with care and
diligence, but also in a trifling way. [983]