The works of Horace : with English notes, critical and ... - Cristo Raul

EPISTLES.
!t has been&eqaently discassed vrhether the Epistles of Horace should
be considered as a continnation of his satires, or, if they he not a aeqnel
to them, what forms the difference between these two sorts of composi-
tion? Gasauhon has maintained that the satires and epistles were orig-
inally comprised under the general name of Sermones ; bat that, in the
poems to which critics subsequently gave the name of satires, Horace has
attempted to extirpate prejudices, and in the epistles, to inculcate lessons
of virtue, so that the two works, united, form a complete course ofmorals.
This opinion has been adopted by Dacier, Wieland, and many other crit-
ics. Some commentators, however, have found that the satires and epistles
have so many other distinctive characteristics that they can not be
classed together. An epistle, they) maintain, is necessarily addressed to
an individual, not merely in the form of a dedication, but in such a manner
that his character, and the circumstances under which it is inscribed
to him, essentially affect the subject of the poem. The legitimate object
of satire is to brand vice or chastise folly ; but the epistle has no fixed or
determinate scope. It may be satirical, but it may, with equal propriety,
be complimentary or critical. Add to this that the satire may, and in the
hands of Horace frequently does, assume a dramatic shape ; but the epistle
can not receive it, the epistolary form being essential to its existence
The epistles of Horace were written by him at a more advanced period
of life than his satires, and were the last fruits of hb long experience.
Accordingly, we find in them more matured wisdom, more sound judgment,
mildness, and philoso^y, more of his own internal feelings, and greater
skill and perfection in the versification. The chief merit, however, of the
epistles depends on the variety in the characters of the persons to whom
they are addressed ; and, in conformity with which, the poet changes his
tone and diversifies his coloring. They have not the generality of some
modem epistles, which are merely inscribed with the name of a friend,
and may have been composed for the whole human race ; nor of some ancient
idyls, where we are solely reminded of an individual by'superflnous
invocations of his name. Each epistle is written expressly for the entertainment,
instruction, or reformation of him to whom it is addressed. The
poet enHfers into his situation with wonderful facility, and every word has
a reference, more or less remote, to his circumstances, feelings, or preju-
dices. In his satires, the object of Horace was to expose vice and folly
but in his epistles he has also an eye to the amendment of a friend, on
whose failings he gently touches, and hints, perhaps, at their correction.
That infinite variety of Roman character, which was of so much serv-
ice to Horace in the composition of bis satires, was also of advantage to
the epistles, by affording opportunities of light and agreeable compliment,
or of gentle rebuke, to those friends tp whom they were addressed. "The
tmowledge of these characters," says Blackwall, " enables us tojudge with
;