Gaius Maecenas (c70-8BC) diplomat, private citizen, patron of the arts, friend of Augustus. He was a knight from an old Etruscan house. Never a senator he nevertheless was a close advisor of Augustus for many years. His protégés included Virgil, Horace and Propertius.
BkISatI:1-22 Horace addresses him, as his patron.
BkISatIII:55-75 Their intimate friendship.
BkISatV:1-33 Horace travels with him from Rome to Brindisi (and possibly Tarentum) in 38 or 37 BC.
BkISatV:34-70 He enjoys some ‘sport’ at Capua, Horace playing on the double meanings!
BkISatVI:1-44 His ancestors were Lydians who settled in Tuscany.
BkISatVI:45-64 Horace claims his friendship, which causes envy in others. Horace was recommended to Maecenas by Virgil and Varus.
BkISatVIII:1-22 Maecenas
laid out his Horti, Gardens which
were one of
BkISatIX:35-78 The target of men seeking advantage.
BkISatX:72-92 Horace seeks his approval of his literary efforts.
BkIISatIII:300-326 Damasippus accuses Horace of imitating whatever Maecenas does.
BkIISatVI:1-39 As a public clerk Horace was often involved in Maecenas’ business.
BkIISatVI:40-58 The satire was written in about 31BC, four years after Maecenas had given Horace his Sabine farm, and seven years after the start of their friendship.
BkIISatVII:21-45 Horace rushes to accept his invitations.
BkIISatVIII:1-19 BkIISatVIII:20-41 Present at a dinner party Horace hears of.
BkIEpI:1-19 The Epistles addressed to him, as are the Satires, Odes and Epodes.
BkIEpVII:1-28 An apparent reproach to Horace for a lengthy stay in the country is answered.
BkIEpXIX:1-20 This epistle addressed to him. He is described as learned, cultured.
Spurius
Maecius Tarpa, appointed by Pompey to select plays for the theatre. The
scholiasts say the plays were judged in the
BkISatX:31-49 AP:366-407 Mentioned.
A spendthrift who figured in the satires of Lucilius.
BkISatIII:1-24 Mentioned.
BkIEpXV:26-46 Described.
The daughter of Atlas. A Pleiad, and mother of Mercury by Jupiter.
BkIISatVI:1-39 The mother of Mercury.
Unknown
BkISatII:23-46 A sloppy dresser.
A notorious favourite of Julius
Caesar, he hailed from his family’s town of
BkISatV:34-70 Horace passes through Formiae.
The modern Cantalupo Bardella, a village on the hill, across the Digentia, two miles from Horace’s farm.
BkIEpXVIII:86-112 The village water supply was the Digentia.
The di manes were the good deities, a generic term for the gods of the lower world, and later for the shades of the dead who were regarded as divine.
BkIIEpI:118-155 They are placated by poetry and song.
Unknown.
BkIISatIII:247-280 A lover who murdered his mistress.
Unknown.
BkISatII:47-63 Lover of an actress whom he ruined himself for.
A Satyr of Phrygia who challenged Apollo to a contest in musical skill, and was flayed alive by the God when he was defeated. (An analogue for the method of making primitive flutes, Minerva’s invention, by extracting the core from the outer sheath) (See Perugino’s painting – Apollo and Marsyas – The Louvre, Paris)
BkISatVI:110-131 A statue of the Satyr stood in the Forum near the praetor’s tribunal showing him as a follower of Bacchus with a wine-skin over his left shoulder, his right arm raised and a pained expression on his face. The usurer Novius had his table nearby. Horace has fun with the appearance of their respective faces.
From the
BkIISatIV:40-69 Massic wine.
The daughter of Aeetes, king of Colchis and the Caucasian nymph Asterodeia. A famous sorceress. She conceived a passion for Jason and subsequently assisted and ultimately harmed him by witchcraft.
AP:119-152 Horace suggests how she should be portrayed.
AP:153-188 She killed Glauce her rival, and then sacrificed her own sons, before fleeing to Athens where she married King Aegeus.
King of Calydon, the son of Oeneus, and Althaea, daughter of Thestius.
AP:119-152 The uncle of Diomede.
The Ethiopian son of Tithonus and
Aurora fought for Troy in the Trojan
War with
BkISatX:31-49 A reference to Furius’ Aethiopia.
A name contracted from the Greek Menodorus. A freedman taking his name Volteius from his patron.
BkIEpVII:46-98 His tale.
The Greek Attic writer of New Comedy (342-c290BC)
BkIISatIII:1-30 Horace has taken his writings along.
BkIIEpI:34-62 Afranius compared to him.
The younger son of Atreus, brother of Agamemnon, hence called Atrides minor. Paris’ theft of his wife Helen instigated the Trojan War.
BkIISatIII:187-223 Ajax attempted to kill him.
A madman.
BkIISatIII:281-299 Taken by Chrysippus as the type of the truly mad.
The messenger
god, Hermes, son of Jupiter and
the Pleiad Maia, the daughter of Atlas. He was therefore
called Atlantiades. His birthplace was
BkIISatIII:1-30 A ‘friend of Mercury’ implies a deft trader and dealer, with a hint of being a thief.
BkIISatIII:64-81 BkIISatVI:1-39 The god of luck and propitious gifts.
A name
associated with the aristocratic Valerian family. One famous Messalla was
Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (64BC-8AD)
distinguished soldier, statesman and supporter of the arts, a patron of Ovid
and Tibullus, Lygdaus, Valgius Rufus and Aemilius Macer. Sulpicia was his
niece. He switched sides adroitly during the Civil Wars fighting for Octavian
at
BkISatVI:1-44 The name mentioned, as an example of aristocratic status.
BkISatX:1-30 AP:366-407 His oratory in legal cases.
BkISatX:72-92 Horace seeks his approval of his and his brother’s literary efforts. The brother was Lucius Gellius Publicola, consul in 36BC.
Perhaps Caecilia Metella the wife of Publius
Cornelius Lentulus Spinther. She had an affair with
BkIISatIII:224-246 She flaunted her wealth.
Quintus
Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, Consul in 143BC.
He was an opponent of Scipio, and
led campaigns in
BkIISatI:47-86 Attacked by Lucilius.
A town on the
BkIISatVIII:42-78 Famous for its wine.
The southern Ionian city in Asia Minor.
BkIEpXVII:1-32 Famous for its wool.
Unknown.
BkIISatI:24-46 A heavy drinker who likes to dance when drunk.
An elegiac poet (7th century BC) from
BkIEpVI:49-68 Horace imitates the Greek original (translated ‘What is intimate love life or pleasure without golden Aphrodite? Let me die if I do not value, intimate love, bed, and tender gifts.’)
BkIIEpII:87-125 He made the elegy a vehicle for love-poetry, and therefore Propertius is the likely reference. (See Propertius I.9.11 where he says that regarding love a line of Mimnermus carries more power than Homer)
The Roman name for Athene the goddess of the mind
and women’s arts (also a goddess of war and the goddess of boundaries – see the
Stele of Athena, bas-relief,
BkIIEpII:180-216 Her festival the Quinquatrus.
AP:366-407 To act without Minerva would be to act unintelligently.
A city of Latium, three miles from the sea, on the border of Campania it was the chief Tyrrhenian river-port of the Ausoni, becoming a Roman colony in 295BC, and on the Appian Way. (Near modern Minturno, and built amidst malarial marshes formed by the overflowing River Garigliano, the ancient Liris. Here the proscribed Marius, taken prisoner in 88BC, daunted the would-be assassin sent by Sulla.)
BkIEpV:1-31 Wine from there.
He gave his name to the Via Minucia from Beneventum to Brundisium.
BkIEpXVIII:1-36 Possibly the route Horace took in Satire I.V, running north of the Via Appiafrom Beneventum through Canusium and Barium, and identical with the road later known as the Via Traina. It was shorter but rougher possibly than the Via Appia. Here there is a dispute as to which route is better.
A promontory
in Campania on the north-west end of
the
BkIISatIV:24-39 A source of
sea-urchins eaten in
Inhabitants
of
BkIISatVI:77-115 They bred famous hounds.
A rhetorician from
BkIEpV:1-31Torquatus was involved with defending his case.
There were three distinguished laywers called Mucius Scaevola. Publius, consul in 133BC, Quintus, consul in 117BC, and the other Quintus, consul in 95BC.
BkIIEpII:87-125 The first, Publius, was a contemporary of the Gracchi, and probably intended here.
A hanger-on to Horace.
BkIISatVII:21-45 His sneer at Horace.
Possibly a son of Lucius Munatius Plancus (see Horace’s Odes i.7.9) consul in 42BC.
BkIEpIII:1-36 A friend of Horace.
Varro Murena, Maecenas’ brother-in-law. Consul in 23BC. Involved in a conspiracy with Fannius Caepio and executed in 22BC.
BkISatV:34-70 Horace stayed at Murena’s residence in Formiae on his way to Brindisi.
The nine Muses are the virgin daughters of Jupiter and
Mnemosyne (Memory). They are the patronesses of the arts: Clio (History),
Melpomene (Tragedy), Thalia (Comedy), Euterpe (Lyric Poetry), Terpsichore
(Dance), Calliope (Epic Poetry), Erato (Love Poetry), Urania (Astronomy), and
Polyhymnia (Sacred Song).
BkIISatIII:82-110BkIIEpI:214-244 The Muses are identified with music, poetry and the arts, and inspire the creator.
BkIISatVI:1-39 The Muse of satire, Horace’s Muse, is a prosaic one.
BkIEpIII:1-36 The Muse of Pindar.
BkIEpVIII:1-17 Horace addresses his personal Muse.
BkIEpXIX:21-49 The Muse of Sappho.
BkIIEpI:1-33 The Roman people naively attributed all ancient writings to them.
BkIIEpI:118-155 The Muse inspired Horace’s Carmen Saeculare in 17BC.
BkIIEpII:87-125 Extravagant compliment would attribute a fine work to the Muses themselves.
AP:73-118AP:366-407 The inspirer of lyric poetry.
AP:119-152 Horace quotes approximately from the opening of the Odyssey.
AP:295-332 The Greek Muse.
‘Mute’. An unknown landowner.
BkIEpVI:1-27 A source of competitive envy.
The main city of the
BkIEpXI:1-30 A famous city.
A spendthrift.
BkISatI:92-121 A type of prodigality.
BkIISatII:53-69 The same or perhaps another unknown character.
The Roman poet, active from about 240BC, died 199BC. He wrote tragedies and comedies, as well as an epic on the Punic War, Bellum Punicum (in Saturnian metre) which influenced the Aeneid. Only fragments of his works survive.
BkIIEpI:34-62 A respected ancient writer.
A fortune-hunter.
BkIISatV:45-69 In debt to Coranus he marries his daughter to him, hoping to ultimately escape the debts by inheriting his wealth.
Rufus Nasidienus, probably a purely fictional parvenu.
BkIISatVIII:1-19BkIISatVIII:42-78BkIISatVIII:79-95 His dinner party.
Unknown.
BkISatVI:110-131 His use of lamp-oil.
God of the sea, brother of Pluto and Jupiter.
BkIEpXI:1-30 The sea, and its power.
AP:38-72 Horace quotes examples of great projects involving water: the building of the Julian harbour on the coast of Campania whereby Agrippa connected Lake Avernus to Lake Lucrinus, and a canal was made between the Lucrine and the Tuscan sea, navigable to shipping (note Virgil: Georgics ii.161): the draining of the Pomptine marshes planned by Julius Caesar and executed by Augustus: the straightening of the Tiber to protect against flood-damage.
A moneylender.
BkIISatIII:64-81 One who takes foolish risks on a debtor who will be unable to repay.
BkIIEpII:1-25 Horace calls Tiberius both Nero and Claudius.
King of Pylos, son of Neleus, long-lived, and famous for his wisdom.
BkIEpII:1-31 He tried to reconcile Achilles and Agamemnon, when they quarrelled at Troy (Iliad 1.247)
A spendthrift.
BkISatI:92-121 A type of prodigality.
BkISatVIII:1-22 Buried in a pauper’s grave.
BkIISatI:1-23 BkIISatIII:168-186 A wastrel.
BkIISatIII:224-246 Profligacy condemned by the Stoics.
A hanger-on. Maybe identical with Nomentanus (1).
BkIISatVIII:20-41BkIISatVIII:42-78 Present at a dinner party Horace hears of.
Unknown.
BkISatIII:1-24 Criticised for his faults by Maenius.
BkISatVI:1-44 Example of a man risen from a humble background.
Numa Pompilius, the second king of
BkIEpVI:1-27 One of the famous dead.
BkIIEpI:63-89 The Salii priesthood instituted by Numa.
AP:275-294 The Pisos claimed descent from him.
An unknown friend of Horace.
BkIEpVI:1-27 This epistle addressed to him.
Octavius Musa, poet, historian and friend of Horace.
BkISatX:72-92 Horace seeks his approval of his literary efforts.
An Apulian peasant, a wise neighbour of Horace.
BkIISatII:1-22 His advice on plain living.
BkIISatII:53-69 Plain living is not the same as meanness.
BkIISatII:112-136 His
philosophy of acceptance. He had probably lost his farm for supporting the
losing side at
The
site of the pan-Hellenic Greek Games in
BkIEpI:41-69 The winners were awarded the victor’s palm.
A miser.
BkIISatIII:142-167 His meanness even in extremis.
Unknown. From Canusium.
BkIISatIII:168-186 His advice to his sons.
A native of Beneventum
who set up a school there, and later in
BkIIEpI:63-89 Horace’s teacher when a boy.
A rich landowner.
BkIIEpII:155-179. Horace’s argument here is facetious as economics, but he is making the deeper point that in a transient world possession in a spiritual sense is an illusion, since all ownership is impermanent.
The Underworld.
BkIISatV:45-69 Going to Orcus is a synonym for dying.
BkIIEpII:155-179 Death, the grim repaer.
The son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, brother of Iphigenia and Electra. Pylades was his loyal friend. He avenged Agamemnon’s death. (See Aeschylus, the Oresteia)
BkIISatIII:111-14 He killed his mother in revenge for the murder of his father by her and her lover Aegisthus.
AP:119-152 Horace suggests how he should be portrayed.
Unknown.
BkISatII:47-63 Marsaeus was her lover.
The mythical musician of Thrace, son of Oeagrus and Calliope the Muse. His lyre, given to him by Apollo, and invented by Hermes-Mercury, is the constellation Lyra containing the star Vega. (See John William Waterhouse’s painting – Nymphs finding the head of Orpheus – Private Collection, and Gustave Moreau’s painting – Orpheus – in the Gustave Moreau Museum, Paris: See Peter Vischer the Younger’s Bronze relief – Orpheus and Eurydice – Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg: and the bas-relief – Hermes, Eurydice and Orpheus – a copy of a votive stele attributed to Callimachus or the school of Phidias, Naples, National Archaeological Museum: Note also Rilke’s - Sonnets to Orpheus – and his Poem - Orpheus, Eurydice and Hermes.)
AP:366-407 The power of his lyre to create law and order.
A primitive
people of
BkISatV:34-70 Messius is an Oscan.
The
Egyptian god, Ousir, identified with Dis and Bacchus-Dionysus.
A nature god, the son of Geb and Nut, born in
BkIEpXVII:33-62 Familiar in
A well-known gladiator.
BkIISatVII:95-118 A wall-sketch for advertising purposes involving him.
The tragic poet (219-129BC), Ennius’ nephew. He wrote tragedies based on Greek models.
BkIIEpI:34-62 Respected for his learning.
A cognomen associated with the Aelii and Papirii families.
BkISatIII:25-54 A polite name meaning squint-eyed.
The
BkIEpIII:1-36
The Palatine Library was sited there in the
Unknown.
BkISatX:72-92 A worthless critic.
A parasite.
BkISatVIII:1-22 Buried in a pauper’s grave.
BkIISatI:1-23 A parasite.
Prince of
BkIEpII:1-31 He resisted the idea of returning Helen to
One of the
BkIEpXIX:21-49Archilochus was born there. His poetic metre.
The inhabitants of
BkIISatI:1-23BkIEpXVIII:37-66 The eastern borders of the Empire, subdued with difficulty. The Parthians were noted for their archery and horsemanship. Octavian was in the east in 30BC and intended to lead a campaign to recover Crassus’ standards after his defeat in 53BC. They were recovered by negotiation in 20BC. Propertius is amusing on the subject.
BkIISatV:45-69BkIIEpI:245-270 The ‘terror’ of
BkIIEpI:90-117 The Parthians were proverbial liars.
An aristocratic name associated with the Aemilian family. For example Lucius Aemilius Paulus, consul in 216 BC. His son was the conqueror of Perseus, and the younger Scipio Africanus was in turn his son.
BkISatVI:1-44 Mentioned as an example of aristocratic status.
A Greek painter (4th Century BC) from
BkIISatVII:95-118 Noted for his subtle technique and dubious subjects.
An ancient town between Tibur and Praeneste.
BkIEpIV:1-16Tibullus is staying there.
A derogatory feminine name given to an unknown man Pediatus.
BkISatVIII:23-50 Mentioned.
Unknown.
BkISatX:1-30 An orator, possibly the son of Quintus Pedius consul in 43BC.
The son of Aeacus, king of
AP:73-118 A famous tragic exile.
BkIEpII:1-31 Achilles was the son of Peleus.
The wife of Ulysses, and daughter of Icarius and the Naiad Periboa.
BkIISatV:70-88 BkIEpII:1-31 She was wooed unsuccessfully by one hundred and eight Suitors during Ulysses’ twenty year absence, as recounted in Homer’s Odyssey. They lived in his palace, idly, and consumed his estate and resources.
The son of Echion and Agave, the grandson of Cadmus through his mother. He was King of Thebes. Tiresias foretold his fate at the hands of the Maenads. He rejected the worship of Bacchus-Dionysus and ordered the capture of the god. He interrogated Acoetes, the priest of Bacchus, who was in fact the god in disguise. The god subsequently had him torn to pieces by the Bacchantes.
BkIEpXVI:46-79 Horace paraphrases Euripides’ Bacchae (492-8). The disguised Bacchus defies Pentheus. Similarly the convinced Stoic is always free to choose death, which is the final chalk-line, linea, the goal at the end of the race-course. Another possible source is Pacuvius’ Pentheus of the 2nd century BC.
A moneylender.
BkIISatIII:64-81 One who takes foolish risks on a debtor who will be unable to repay.
A wealthy Graeco-Roman from Clazomenae.
BkISatVII:1-35 His dispute with Rex.
Unknown. He was accused of stealing Jupiter’s gold crown from the Capitol. Plautus alludes to this (Trinummus 83, Menaechmi 941). His cognomen of Capitolinus was unfortunate!
BkISatIV:86-106 An example of Maecenas’ defence of his friends.
BkISatX:1-30 His long and difficult case.
A mountain near Sinuessa.
BkIEpV:1-31 Mentioned.
The people of the
BkIEpXV:1-25 Proverbially fat and healthy.
The site in eastern
BkIIEpII:26-54 After
the defeat at
Lucius Marcius Philippus, consul in 91BC, a distinguished lawyer.
BkIEpVII:46-98 The tale of his patronage.
Gold coins with the portrait of Philip of Macedon which circulated freely throughout the Greek world.
BkIIEpI:214-244Choerilus was paid with them.
The Greek Epicurean
philosopher (c110-c37BC) of
BkISatII:111-134 His epigrams
survive in the Greek Anthology, though not the one referred to here. He was a
client of Lucius Calpurnius Piso who was attacked by
King of Parthia.
BkIEpXII:1-29 In 20BC, he returned the Roman standards captured from Crassus at Carrhae in 53BC. His son captured by his rival Tiridates five years previously was returned to him in exchange. The event was widely celebrated.
A region of
BkIISatIII:247-280 BkIISatIV:70-95 Its apples.
AP:366-407 Poetry inspired by the Muses.
The lyric poet of Boeotian Thebes (after 442BC), who was famous for his odes, many celebrating the winning athletes at the Games. He was imitated by Rufus (possibly a reference to Lucius Varius) a poet in Ovid’s list of his lesser contemporaries.
BkIEpIII:1-36 Horace suggests he influenced Titius, which may be a pseudonym for Varius.
A father and two sons. Possibly Lucius Calpurnius Piso, consul 15BC, his sons unknown: or Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, who fought under Brutus at Philippi, and had a son Gneius, consul in 7BC and another Lucius, consul in 1BC.
AP:1-37AP:220-250 The Ars Poetica addressed to them.
AP:366-407 The eldest son addressed.
Usually identified with Pitholaus who wrote abusive epigrams. (Suetonius: Julius Caesar 75)
BkISatX:1-30 His blend of Greek and Latin words.
The Greek Attic poet, writer of Middle Comedy (active c425-390BC)
BkIISatIII:1-30 Horace has taken his writings along.
The Athenian philosopher (429-347BC). A disciple of Socrates he laid the foundations of later philosophy, teaching in the Academy in Athens, and articulating legal, moral, aesthetic and political thinking. He developed the theory of ideal Forms or concepts (Ideas).
BkIISatII:70-88 Horace echoes
Phaedo 83D,
where Plato suggests that every pain is a nail, fixing the soul to the body.
Also see
BkIISatIV:1-23 Mentioned as a famous philosopher.
The Roman comic poet, born in
BkIIEpI:34-62 He modelled his style on Epicharmus.
BkIIEpI:156-181 Horace criticisises his motives and populist style.
AP:38-72 An example of a great earlier writer who coined new words and phrases.
AP:153-188 The cantor probably stood near the flautist and sang the cantica of the play while the actor mimed. Plautus’ and Terence’s comedies all end with plaudite or an equivalent phrase.
AP:251-274 Horace does not rate him for metre or wit.
Plotius Tucca edited the Aeneid with Varius after the death of Virgil, performing the role of literary executors.
BkISatV:34-70 He joins the party at Sinuessa.
BkISatX:72-92 Horace seeks his approval of his literary efforts.
An Athenian libertine and fop (d.270BC)
BkIISatIII:247-280 He was converted by Xenocrates, after hearing him lecture on temperance when returning from a banquet. He eschewed his former lifestyle succeeding his master as head of the Academic school of philosophy in 314/3BC.
Gaius Asinius Pollio, statesman, orator, and tragic poet. He was Consul in 40BC, and fought a successful military campaign the year after. He was still active when Horace wrote. He also wrote speeches, criticism, letters, and a history of the Civil War.
BkISatX:31-49 His epic style.
BkISatX:72-92 Horace seeks his approval of his literary efforts.
The son of King Tyndareus of
BkIIEpI:1-33 Deified.
Pompeius Grosphus, see Grosphus
Numa Pompilius was the second King of Rome. The Calpurnian clan to which the Pisos belonged claimed its descent from Numa.
AP:275-294 Horace addresses the Piso brothers.
A character in a play.
BkISatIV:26-62 Mentioned.
A hanger-on of Nasidienus.
BkIISatVIII:20-41 Present at a dinner party Horace hears of.
The modern
Palestrina, a hill resort, about twenty-three miles south east of
BkISatVII:1-35 Rex’s home town.
BkIEpII:1-31 Horace writes from there.
The King of Troy at the time of the Trojan War, the son of Laomedon, husband of Hecuba, by whom he had many children, including Hector.
BkISatVII:1-35 Father of Hector.
BkIISatIII:187-223 King of
AP:119-152 The collections of post-Homeric epics were arranged in a cycle from the origins of the world to the end of the heroic age.
The Pan of Mysia in
BkISatVIII:1-22 His statue in the Gardens on the Esquiline.
Unknown.
BkIISatVII:1-20 His changeable temperament.
The
daughter of Pandion, king of
AP:153-188 Her turning into a bird not to be shown on stage.
Proserpine, daughter of Ceres-Demeter. Ceres searches for her after she is abducted by Pluto-Dis. She is the co-ruler of the Underworld with Dis.
BkIISatV:89-110 She calls Tiresias back to the land of shades.
The sea-god who can shift his form.
BkIISatIII:64-81 Slippery as a debtor who can’t pay.
BkIEpI:70-109 Unstable as Proteus’ shifting faces.
A first name (praenomen).
BkIISatV:23-44 Horace makes the point that we all from vanity are influenced by hearing our first names used, a regular marketing ploy!
A cognomen associated with the Fabii and Iunii families.
BkISatIII:25-54 A polite name meaning puny.
A tragic poet and dramatist.
BkIEpI:41-69 Horace obviously had a low opinion of his works. Being an equites would under Roscian law merely allow a closer view of the things!
Libo’s Wall. A puteal was a low wall round a well-head. The site in the Forum near the Arch of Fabius had been struck by lightning and was regarded as sacred.
BkIISatVI:1-39 The praetor’s tribunal was nearby.
Orestes’ loyal friend.
BkIISatIII:111-14 Abused by Orestes in his madness.
Possibly a servant girl in a comedy by Titinius (active in the mid second century BC.)
BkIEpXIII:1-19 A well-known example.
The famous Greek philosopher of Samos, the Ionian island, who took up
residence at
BkIISatIV:1-23 Mentioned as a famous philosopher.
BkIISatVI:59-76 Pythagoras prohibited the eating of beans, and the eating of animal flesh since animals might contain the transmigrated souls of our relatives. Horace here combines the two!
BkIIEpI:34-62 Ennius claimed in Pythagorean manner to possess the soul of Homer.
The Pythian games were instituted at Delphi by Apollo. They were celebrated every four years.
AP:408-437 The flautist at the Games.
A slave-girl.
AP:220-250 A character in low comedy.
A friend of Horace, possibly the Quinctius Hirpinus of Odes II.11.
BkIEpXVI:1-24 This letter addressed to him.
The festival of Minerva from March 19th to 23rd.
BkIIEpII:180-216 A school holiday.
Quintilius Varus of
AP:438-476 His critical habits.
A first name (praenomen).
BkIISatV:23-44 Horace makes the point that we all from vanity are influenced by hearing our first names used, a regular marketing ploy!
One of the
BkIIEpII:56-86 Distant from the Aventine.
The deified Romulus.
BkISatX:31-49 Appears to Horace in dream, as the divine representative of the Roman people.
Derived from the Sabines, the people of Cures, extended to the Romans after the union with the Sabines. Hence a Roman citizen.
BkIEpVI:1-27 The citizens showering gifts on performers etc.
One of the three centuries of knights created by Romulus. The others were the Tities and Luceres.
AP:333-365 The young aristocrats.
Rupilius Rex
of Praeneste, who served in
BkISatVII:1-35 His dispute with Persius.
The River
AP:1-37 As a subject of poetry.
The island in
the Aegean off the coast of
BkIEpXI:1-30 A famous island.
The City on the Tiber, capital of the Empire. Founded by Romulus in 753BC on the feast of Pales, the Palilia, April 21st.
BkISatV:1-33 Horace travels from
BkISatVI:65-88 Horace was
educated in
BkIISatI:24-46 The Romans drove the Samnites out of Apulia.
BkIISatVI:1-39 Horace describes his business life in the City.
The son of Mars and Ilia, hence Iliades, the father of the Roman people
(genitor). The mythical founder of
BkIIEpI:1-33 He was deified after his great deeds for the Roman people.
Unknown.
BkIISatVI:1-39 A business associate.
A popular actor and friend of
BkIIEpI:63-89 He acted ancient comedies.
Lucius Roscius Otho. The Roscian law passed in 67BC granted the equites, the knights the right to sit in the first fourteen rows of the theatre. To be a member of the equites required a minimum property of four hunred thousand sesterces.
BkIEpI:41-69 A sign of wealth.
The orators’ platforms in the Forum.
BkIISatVI:40-58 A source of City news and rumour.
A town about thirty miles from Canusium.
BkISatV:71-104 Horace travels through on his way to Brindisi.
Unknown.
BkISatII:23-46 BkISatIV:86-106 Perfumed his breath with lozenges.
BkIISatVIII:42-78 A disaster at his dinner-party.
Probably Gaius Sempronius Rufus, mentioned in
BkIISatII:23-52 According to Porphyrion, he set a fashion for eating storks, and was defeated for the praetorship, hence the ironic reference.
A money-lender who wrote Histories.
BkISatIII:76-98 His debtors are tormented by being forced to listen to readings of his work!
A well-known gladiator.
BkIISatVII:95-118 A wall-sketch for advertising purposes involving him.