In the opening speech act of Epistles I, Horace responds to his patron's request for a poetic encore with a polite refusal, citing a prior commitment to the study of philosophy. I will return to this initial gesture shortly. For now, it suffices to point out that this portrait of studious retirement effectively keeps its author in the world's eye. Horace's epistles are characterized throughout by the doubleness implicit in the very form of the letter, a kind of writing that at once assumes and crosses the distance between letter-writer and addressee. The epistles are, accordingly, not only detached or “philosophical” meditations on society but also strings of attachment that maintain and in some cases modify social connections. Chief among these connections is Horace's friendship with Maecenas, and my aim in the first section of this chapter is to read Epistles I from the perspective of Horace's overreading patron. Another important overreader is the emperor Augustus, and in the second section of this chapter I will consider a few poems of Epistles I with the emperor in mind. I will conclude with a look at how Horace preserves his own face in Epistles 2.I, where he finally turns to face Augustus directly.

(No) strings attached: epistles for Maecenas

What was expected of Horace, what benefits was he to receive, what services if any was he to perform, after Maecenas “enrolled” him in his circle of friends (iubesque | esse in amicorum numero, S. 1.6.61–2)?