Phidyle is neither ancient nor
modern, Latin nor Teuton; she is all of them at once. The exquisite
expressions of friendship in the odes to a Virgil, or a Septimius, are
applicable to any age or nationality, or any person. The story of the
town mouse and country mouse is always old and always new, and always
true. _Mutato nomine de te_ may be said of it, and of all Horace's other
stories; alter the names, and the story is about you. Their application
and appeal are universal.
"Without sustained inspiration, without profundity of thought, without
impassioned song," writes Duff, "he yet pierces to the universal
heart.... His secret lies in sanity rather than impetus. Kindly and
shrewd observer of the manifold activities of life, he draws vignettes
therefrom and passes judgments thereon which awaken undying interest.
_Non omnis moriar_--he remains fresh because he is human."
Horace's philosophy of life may be imperfect for the militant
humanitarian and the Christian, but, as a matter of fact, it is a
complete and perfect thing in itself. Horace does not fret or fume. He
is not morbid or unpleasantly melancholy.
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