The Works of HoraceMachine readable text


The Works of Horace
By Quintus Horatius Flaccus
Translated by: C. Smart
New York Harper & Brothers 1863


Perseus Documents Collection Table of Contents


   That all, but especially the covetous, think their own condition the hardest.
   Bad men, when they avoid certain vices, fall into their opposite extremes.
   We ought to connive at the faults of our friends, and all offenses are not to be ranked in the catalogue of crimes.
   He apologizes for the liberties taken by satiric poets in general, and particularly by himself
   He describes a certain journey of his from Rome to Brundusium with great pleasantry.
   Of true nobility.
   He humorously describes a squabble betwixt Rupilius and Persius.
   Priapus complains that the Esquilian mount is infested with the incantations of sorceresses.
   He describes his sufferings from the loquacity of an impertinent fellow.
   He supports the judgment which he had before given of Lucilius, and intersperses some excellent precepts for the writing of Satire.
   He supposes himself to consult with Trebatius, whether he should desist from writing satires, or not.
   On Frugality.
   Damasippus, in a conversation with Horace, proves this paradox of the Stoic philosophy, that most men are actually mad.
   He ridicules the absurdity of one Catius, who placed the summit of human felicity in the culinary art.
   In a humorous dialogue between Ulysses and Tiresias, he exposes those arts which the fortune hunters make use of, in order to be appointed the heirs of rich old men.
   He sets the conveniences of a country retirement in opposition to the troubles of a life in town.
   One of Horace's slaves, making use of that freedom which was allowed them at the Saturnalia,206 rates his master in a droll and severe manner.
   A smart description of a miser ridiculously acting the extravagant.

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On Frugality.

 

In the judgment of Ofellus, a sordid way of living will differ widely from frugal simplicity. For it is to no purpose for you to shun that vice [of luxury]; if you perversely fly to the contrary extreme. Avidienus, to whom the nickname of Dog is applied with propriety, eats olives of five years old, and wild cornels, and can not bear to rack off his wine unless it be turned sour, and the smell of his oil you can not endure: which (though clothed in white he celebrates the wedding festival,139 his birth-day, or any other festal days) he pours out himself by little and little from a horn cruet, that holds two pounds, upon his cabbage, [but at the same time] is lavish enough of his old vinegar.

What manner of living therefore shall the wise man put in practice, and which of these examples shall he copy? On one side the wolf presses on, and the dog on the other, as the saying is. A person will be accounted decent, if he offends not by sordidness, and is not despicable through either extreme of conduct. Such a man will not, after the example of old Albutius, be savage while he assigns to his servants their respective offices; nor, like simple Naevius, will he offer greasy water to his company: for this too is a great fault.

Now learn what and how great benefits a temperate diet will bring along with it. In the first place, you will enjoy good health; for you may believe how detrimental a diversity of things is to any man, when you recollect that sort of food, which by its simplicity sat so well upon your stomach some time ago. But, when you have once mixed boiled and roast together, thrushes and shell-fish; the sweet juices will turn to bile, and the thick phlegm will bring a jarring upon the stomach. Do not you see, how pale each guest rises from a perplexing variety of dishes at an entertainment. Beside this, the body, overloaded with the debauch of yesterday, depresses the mind along with it, and dashes to the earth that portion of the divine spirit.140 Another man, as soon as he has taken a quick repast, and rendered up his limbs to repose, rises vigorous to the duties of his calling. However, he may sometimes have recourse to better cheer; whether the returning year shall bring on a festival, or if he have a mind to refresh his impaired body; and when years shall approach, and feeble age require to be used more tenderly. But as for you, if a troublesome habit of body, or creeping old age, should come upon you, what addition can be made to that soft indulgence, which you, now in youth and in health, anticipate?