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December 2, 2018

2

#Classic Satires Horace

by NancyElin

Horace, Virgil en Varius   by Charles François Jalabert

 

 

Introduction:

  1. Hoace’s satires…
  2. These are very short poems….easy on the eye
  3. …and they enrich the mind!

 

Quickscan:

  1. Horace was a Roman poet of the 1st C B.C.
  2. Caesar Augustus knew with only a powerful army he
  3. …could not hold power.
  4. He needed  poets to
  5. ….win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the people.
  6. Like Virgil, Horace proclaims the glory of Caesar Augustus.

 

Satires:

  1. Horace was also a straight talking man
  2. …trying to teach some life lessons:

 

  • keep your head down
  • don’t think the grass is greener on the other side
  • avoid stress
  • the advantages of a frugal life and plain living (Satire 2.2)
  • don’t dabble in politics…and become a prisoner of  ambition
  • nothing compares with the pleasure of friendship
  • it makes no difference what kind of parent you had
  • ….if only you are a gentleman (Horace was a freedman’s (slave) son)
  • … when an annoying person won’t leave despite hints! (Satire 1.9…funny!)
  • Horace writes many…stories about eating an drinking!
  • Moral? only way to a man’s heart is thru his stomach!

 

  1. Horace  was articulate and discrete.
  2. His strong point was knowing when ‘to shut up’!
  3. Satires I (pg 3-32)  Satires II (pg 33-63)
  4. are filled with fables, anecdotes and some dicey moments.

 

What is Horatian satire?

  1. Satire uses humor, exaggeration,
  2. ridicule and criticism to create change in others.
  3. Horatian satire is less harsh and takes a
  4. comical view at human injustices.
  5. Horatian satire is not negative.
  6. Pride and Prejudice is an example
  7. …of a novel showing Horatian satire.
  8. Jane Austen makes fun of
  9. various characters in the story.
  10. Some characters are simply
  11. …interested in the marriage
  12. …but not the relationship.
  13. Here are a few notes….

 

Satire 1.1 –  Lesson learned: No man lives satisfied with his own

  1. What is the point piling ($$)  up more than you need?
  2. If you get sick…is there someone who will care for you?
  3. No one wishes for your recovery
  4. …they’re waiting for your fortune!
  5. So let’s put an end to the race of money.
  6. Greed makes no one satisfied.
  7. Lead a happy live and…when his time is up
  8. quit life like …..a guest who has dined well.

 

Satire 1.2  – Horace wagging finger:  avoid vices…especially women!

  1. Keep your hands off married women
  2. they are  more misery than any real satisfaction
  3. Don’t damage you reputation.

 

Satire 1.3 – A wise man…. does not criticize faults of others…no one is free from faults!

  1. Description of Sardinian Tigellius singer and friend of Julius Caesar  faults.
  2. Description of a lover blind to his girlfriend’s unattractive defects.
  3. Moral: beam in one’s eye – ne should not criticize the faults of someone else before correcting the faults within oneself.
  4. “…examine your own faults with eyes covered in ointment
  5. …in the case of friends’ faults your eyesight (is) sharper than an eagle’s…”
  6. Moral: when dealing with a friend do not show disgust of his defects …this is tactless.
  7. Turn defects upside down: penny-pinching?…no just careful with money!
  8. This attitude binds friends together and keeps their friendship.

 

Favorite quote:

  1. “If I am telling lies may my head
  2. …be spattered with white crow’s droppings…” (Satire 1.8)
  3. #Jick

 

Conclusion:

  1. This was a quick read …3 hrs.
  2. Horace gives us many wise lessons
  3. …be it at times very wordy and misogynistic!
  4. Core message:
  5. live life with integrity
  6. live life free from guilt
  7. have the love of friends.
  8. #MustRead Classic

 

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