There was Agrippa
himself, son-in-law of Augustus, grave hero of battles and diplomacy.
There was elderly Trebatius, sometime friend of Cicero and Caesar, with
dry legal humor early seasoned in the wilds of Gaul. There were Pompeius
and Corvinus, old-soldier friends with whom he exchanged reminiscences
of the hard campaign. There was Messalla, a fellow-student at Athens,
and Pollio, soldier, orator, and poet. There were Julius Florus and
other members of the ambitious literary cohort in the train of Tiberius.
There was Aristius Fuscus, the watch of whose wit was ever wound and
ready to strike. There was Augustus himself, busy administrator of a
world, who still found time for letters.
It is through the medium of personalities like these that Horace's
message was delivered to the world of his time and to later generations.
How far the finished elegance of his expression is due to their
discriminating taste, and how much of the breadth and sanity of his
content is due to their vigor of character and cosmopolitan culture, we
may only conjecture. Literature is not the product of a single
individual. The responsive and stimulating audience is hardly less
needful than the poet's inspiration.
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