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3.3) Horace Epistle 1.6: Intro

1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 Horace gives us the “moral” in the first two words of the poem and then spends the body of the work testing out this idea in various ways. Horace claims that they way to make one blessed (and preserve that state) is to nil admirari “to marvel at nothing”. What this means, precisely, is put under the microscope as Horace moves from natural phenomena (which often were considered mirabilia and spurred philosophical thought) to more worldly concerns. While we do not know the precise identity of Numicius, he stands in for the Roman reader who would tend to admire the wealthy (31-48), the politically prominent (49-55), or those living a pleasurable life (56-66). Horace wonders if that is really the way to live rightly (recte vivere). The poem can frustrate the reader because Horace does not actively condemn the pursuits that he clearly finds wanting. His concluding statement even considers that Numicius may have some better advice (rectius), but, if not, to enjoy Horace’s pronouncements. This seems to be representative of the difference between his Epistles and his earlier Satires. While the Satires would more obviously state his censure of certain ways of life (the section about dining here certainly looks back to moments of the Satires, see Cucchiarelli ad loc.), in the Epistles Horace appears more open to providing a stream-of-consciousness “state of the question”. This sounds like a conversation, or one side of a conversation, and that is often the take-away of such literary letters (or so Artemon reports of Aristotle’s letters, see Demetrios De elocutione 223). So although Horace begins with the means to achieve happiness, the body of the letter is free to roam and offer illustrative stories (Gargilius the “hunter”), quotations from poets (Mimnermus), and contemporary exempla (Lucullus’ wealth). If one keeps in mind the poem’s frame (moral at the beginning, call to live and be well at the close), one will see that the denizens of the poem all give in to such “marveling” because of the conspicuous nature of the shame-culture of Roman society. Better to be off at one’s Sabine villa (as he will state in the following Epistle).

Source: https://oberlinclassics.com/3-3-horace-epistles-1-6-intro/