He will not
enter the field of public life, because it would mean the sacrifice of
peace. He would have to keep open house, submit to the attentions of a
body-guard of servants, keep horses and carriage and a coachman, and be
the target for shafts of envy and malice; in a word, lose his freedom
and become the slave of wretched and burdensome ambition.
The price is too great, the privilege not to his liking. Horace's prayer
is rather to be freed from the cares of empty ambition, from the fear of
death and the passion of anger, to laugh at superstition, to enjoy the
happy return of his birthday, to be forgiving of his friends, to grow
more gentle and better as old age draws on, to recognize the proper
limit in all things:
"H_ealth to enjoy the blessings sent_
F_rom heaven; a mind unclouded, strong_;
A_ cheerful heart; a wise content_;
A_n honored age; and song_."
II. HORACE THROUGH THE AGES
INTRODUCTORY
Thus much we have had to say in the interpretation of Horace. Our
interpretation has centered about his qualities as a person: his broad
experience, his sensitiveness, his responsiveness, his powers of
assimilation, his gift of expression, his concreteness as a
representative of the world of culture, as a son of Italy, as a citizen
of eternal Rome, as a member of the universal human family.
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