{"id":1511,"date":"2018-01-20T02:04:50","date_gmt":"2018-01-20T02:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/?p=1511"},"modified":"2018-01-20T02:07:02","modified_gmt":"2018-01-20T02:07:02","slug":"horaces-satiric-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/2018\/01\/20\/horaces-satiric-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Horace’s Satiric Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

Horace\u2019s satiric style is informal and conversational\u2014so much so that he called his works not sat\u016brae<\/em> but serm\u014dn\u0113s<\/em>, \u201cconversations, chats.\u201d There are often snippets of dialogue and quick changes of topic and tone. The vocabulary ranges widely and urbanely between high (epic, grand) and low (colloquial, humble, obscene). Horace is somewhat confrontational, frequently addressing and challenging the reader or another imaginary or named person, but never in a hostile or angry way. He is fond of quoting proverbial wisdom and recalling well-known stories. He invokes principles of philosophy, but is never dogmatic or hair-splitting. He uses some rhetorical techniques, but his imagined audience seems to be one of friends\u2014people in the know, rather than the general public.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the more noticeable stylistic features, with examples taken from the first two satires of Book 1. This does not include aspects of Latin metrics or Latin grammar and usage.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Snippets of Dialogue<\/strong> (brusque questions and snappy interruptions) ‘nil fuerit mi’ inquit ‘cum uxoribus umquam alienis.’ \/ verum est cum mimis, est cum meretricibus<\/em> \u201c\u2019I would never,\u2019 he says \u2018have anything to do with other men\u2019s wives.\u2019 But you do<\/em> have to do with mime actresses, with courtesans.\u201d1.2.57-58<\/p>\n

Challenging questions: <\/strong>quid iuvat immensum te argenti pondus et auri \/ furtim defossa timidum deponere terra?<\/em> \u201cWhat pleasure does it give you to fearfully place a massive weight of silver and gold in secret under the excavated earth?\u201d (1.1.41-2) quid inter \/ est in matrona, ancilla peccesne togata?<\/em> \u201cWhat\u2019s the difference if you do wrong with a matrona<\/em> or with a toga wearing slave-woman (prostitute)?\u201d (1.2.62-3).<\/p>\n

Direct address to the audience:<\/strong> hiscine versiculis speras tibi posse dolores \/ atque aestus curasque graves e pectore pelli?<\/em> \u201cAre you hoping that these little verses can banish the woes, passions, and grievous anxieties from your heart?\u201d (1.2.109-110).<\/p>\n

Generalizing direct address<\/strong>: num, tibi cum faucis urit sitis, aurea quaeris \/ pocula?<\/em> \u201cWhen thirst burns in your throat, you don\u2019t look for a golden cup, do you?\u201d (1.2.114-115)<\/p>\n

Direct address to the satirized person<\/strong>: cum tu argento post omnia ponas<\/em> \u201cSince you put money before everything else\u201d (1.1.86)<\/p>\n

Lists:<\/strong> multae tibi tum officient res, \/ custodes, lectica, ciniflones, parasitae<\/em> \u201cMany things get in your way: chaperones, litter, sedan-chair, coiffeuses, entourage\u201d (1.2.97-98).<\/p>\n

Proper names: <\/strong>deprendi miserum est: Fabio vel iudice vincam<\/em>. \u201cGetting caught (in adultery) is awful. I could prove that in court that even if Fabius were the judge.\u201d (1.2.134)<\/p>\n

Fringe vocabulary<\/strong>: Ambubaiarum collegia, pharmacopolae, \/ mendici, mimae, balatrones, hoc genus omne<\/em> \u201cThe guild of go-go girls, quacks, beggars, mime-actresses, buffoons, all those type of people.\u201d (1.2.1\u20132).<\/p>\n

Colloquial language<\/strong>: Fufidius vappae famam timet ac nebulonis.<\/em> \u201cFufius is afraid of getting a reputation as a low-life spendthrift\u201d (1.2.12).<\/p>\n

Obscenity mixed with formality<\/strong>: ‘nolim laudarier’ inquit \/ ‘sic me’ mirator cunni Cupiennius albi<\/em>. \u201c\u2019I should not like to be praised in this way,\u2019 says Cupiennius, the connoisseur of aristocratic [coarse word for female genitalia]\u201d (1.2.35\u201336).<\/p>\n

Oxymoron\/paradox<\/strong>: semper ego optarim pauperrimus esse bonorum<\/em>, \u201cwhen it comes to these riches, I hope I am always very poor\u201d (1.1.79). transvolat in medio posita et fugientia captat<\/em>, \u201che flies past what is freely available and chases that which flees\u201d (1.2.108)<\/p>\n

Wordplay<\/strong>: dum vit<\/strong>ant stulti vit<\/strong>ia, in contraria currunt<\/em>. \u201cThe fools, while they avoid one fault, they run to the opposite (fault)\u201d (1.2.24).<\/p>\n

Metaphor<\/strong>: interdicta petes, vallo circumdata<\/em> \u201cyou seek the forbidden, (a woman) hedged around by a palisaded rampart\u201d (1.2.96). metiri possis oculo latus<\/em> \u201cyou can get the measure of her flank with your eyes\u201d (1.2.103). plenior ut siquos delectet copia iusto, \/ cum ripa simul avolsos ferat Aufidus acer<\/em>. \/ at qui tantuli eget quanto est opus, is neque limo \/ turbatam haurit aquam neque vitam amittit in undis<\/em>. \u201cHe who takes delight in a supply that is more than just, the swift river Aufidus carries him off along with the bank that has been ripped away. But he who needs only what is essential, he drinks water untainted by mud, and does not lose his life in the waves.\u201d (1.1.57-60)<\/p>\n

Well-known examples:<\/strong> ut quondam Marsaeus, amator Originis ille, \/ qui patrium mimae donat fundumque laremque<\/em> \u201cLike Marsaeus, the famous lover of Origo, who once made his ancestral farm and home a present to a mime actress.\u201d 1.2.55-56.<\/p>\n

Proverbial sayings<\/strong>: in silvam ligna feras<\/em> \u201cyou would be taking wood to the forest\u201d [i.e. doing something totally useless] (1.10.34).<\/p>\n

Allusions to fables or plays<\/strong>: ita ut pater ille, Terenti \/ fabula quem miserum gnato vixisse fugato \/ inducit<\/em>. \u201cLike that well-known father in Terence\u2019s play, who lived a wretched life after his son ran away.\u201d (1.2.20\u201322)<\/p>\n

Parataxis<\/strong> (\u201csetting beside,\u201d i.e. the omission of conjunctions): milia frumenti tua triverit area centum: \/ non tuus hoc capiet venter plus ac meus<\/em> \u201cYour threshing floor may grind down a hundred thousand bushels of grain a year. [But] Your belly holds no more than mine.\u201d (1.1.45\u201346)<\/p>\n

\n

1. For details on those topics, see Emily Gowers, Horace: Satires Book I<\/em> (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 22\u201325 (\u201cStyle and Metre\u201d), and J. C. Rolfe, Q. Horati Flacci Sermones et Epistulae<\/em> (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1901), pp. xxvii\u2013xxxviii (\u201cThe Language and Style of the Satires.\u201d).<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Horace\u2019s satiric style is informal and conversational\u2014so much so that he called his works not sat\u016brae but serm\u014dn\u0113s, \u201cconversations, chats.\u201d There are often snippets of dialogue and quick changes of topic and tone. The vocabulary ranges widely and urbanely between … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5522],"class_list":["post-1511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-horace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1511\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/dcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}