The Date of Horace's First Epode

Datos Bibliográficos

ID9666403
AutoresM W Thompson (Queen Mary University of London, autor de correspondencia)
Año1970
Volumen20
Número2
Páginas328-334
Fecha de publicación1970-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Classical Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0009-8388 • E-ISSN: 1471-6844
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0009838800036314
OpenAlexW2075422740
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas12

THE first Epode provides no clear indication of date. We learn only that Maecenas is about to join Octavian on a dangerous expedition and has suggested that Horace should not accompany him, while Horace retorts that he will be unable to enjoy himself in the absence of his patron and would be ready to follow him to the ends of the earth, whatever the danger, in the hope of earning his gratitude. The Epodes were published about 30 B.C. and, perhaps for that reason, the scholiast Pseudo-Acron confidently assigns the poem to the period immediately before the battle of Actium with the comment: ‘Maecenatem prosequitur euntem ad bellum navale cum Augusto adversum Antonium et Cleopatram.’ It is curious that in referring to the activities of Octavian in 31 the author uses the title Augustus, which was not conferred on him before 27,: but the substance of his comment accords with the known facts. In the spring of 31 Octavian asked all Romans of influence to meet him at Brundisium, thereby to demonstrate their willingness to take part in the war against Antony and Cleopatra, and more than seven hundred senators are known to have offered their services

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Art · Battle · Cleopatra · Gratitude · Literature · Period (music · Poetry · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · History · Psychology