Finally, not least among the qualities which enter into the ideal of
Horace is the simplicity of the olden time, when the armies of Rome were
made up of citizen-soldiers, and the eye of every Roman was single to
the glory of the State, and the selfishness of luxury was yet unknown.
S_cant were their private means, the public, great_;
'T_was still a commonwealth, that State_;
N_o portico, surveyed with private rule_,
A_ssured one man the shady cool_.
T_he laws approved the house of humble sods_;
'T_was only to the homes of gods_,
T_he structures reared with earnings of the nation_,
T_hey gave rich marble decoration_.
The healthful repose of heart which comes from unity of purpose and
simple devotion to plain duty, he sees existing still, even in his own
less strenuous age, in the remote and peaceful countryside. Blessed is
the man far from the busy life of affairs, like the primeval race of
mortals, who tills with his own oxen the acres of his fathers! Horace
covets the gift earnestly for himself, because his calm vision assures
him that it, of all the virtues, lies next to happy living.
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