History and Epic

The conflation of epic, tragedy, and history in C. I. 6 sets the stage for Horace’s political voice. History, ancient or contemporary, entails a stylistic elevation Horace flags with generic terms, citations of high style predecessors, or the like. Homer, the paradigm for epic and praise poetry, is a prime candidate for this role. History, like epic, departs from lyric as narrowly construed in subject matter, style, and mode of discourse. The narration of events falls away from the idealized eternal present into linear time. Tragedy makes the trauma of civil war (almost) utterable. Writing history is a political act that could not for any ancient be divorced from praise or blame — wherein lies its danger.

Archaeology · Art · Blame · EPIC · Literature · Narrative · Poetry · Political science · Politics · Praise · Spanish Civil War · Style (visual arts) · Subject (documents) · Tragedy (event) · Classical Antiquity Studies · History · Law · Psychology