It is true that "his tempered
and polished expression of common experience, free from transports and
free from despairs, speaks more forcibly to ripe middle age than to
youth," but it is not without its appeal also to youth. Horace sums up
an attitude toward existence which all men, of whatever nation or time,
can easily understand, and which all, at some moment or other,
sympathize with. Whether they believe in his philosophy of life or not,
whether they put it into practice or not, it is always and everywhere
attractive,--attractive because founded on clear and sympathetic vision
of the joys and sorrows that are the common lot of men, attractive
because of its frankness and manly courage, and, above all, attractive
because of its object. So long as the one great object of human longing
is peace of mind and heart, no philosophy which recognizes it will be
without followers. The Christian is naturally unwilling to adopt the
Horatian philosophy as a whole, but with its _summum bonum_, and with
many of its recommendations, he is in perfect accord. Add Christian
faith to it, or add it, so far as is consonant, to Christian faith, and
either is enriched.
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