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3.4) Horace Epistle 1.7: Intro

1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 Horace has been away from Rome longer than he (and Maecenas) expected. He writes this letter to Maecenas to explain why he has been away and why he will be gone even longer. Horace then provides a fable, literary reference, and an exemplum that illuminate his perspective on the patron/client relationship and the freedom he must protect, even as the client of someone as powerful as Maecenas. Horace claims he would be willing to give back all that Maecenas has given him, if necessary. He values his own independence and self-control, and Maecenas surely understood this about his friend. It must be said that the long exemplum he gives about Volteius Mena and Philippus is not nearly as straightforward as the other advice and one should take the words of Dilke in mind: “Some recent writers have concluded that, despite some feeling for the lot of slaves, Horace has the outlook of a landlord. In this story there are no heroes. But of the two main characters, surely the underdog Volteius Mena, not the aristocrat Philippus, is the wise man” (1981.1854). This long letter responds to previous epistles in the collection and foreshadows later letters as well. Because it is written to Maecenas, it especially seems to take up from 1.1 (also addressed to Maecenas), and have links to the poetic concerns of 1.13 (to Augustus) and 1.19 (also to Maecenas). These intratexts help to weave the poems together as a larger whole and we will see how many of these concerns and concepts emerge throughout the collection.

Source: https://oberlinclassics.com/3-4-horace-epistle-1-7-intro/