THE SATIRES OF HORACE AND PERSIUS PB – HORACE-PERSIUS-NIALL RUDD-NIALL RUDD

"The Satires of Horace (65-8 BC), written in the troubled decade ending with the establishment of Augustus regime, provide an amusing treatment of men s perennial enslavement to money, power, glory and sex. Epistles I, addressed to the poet s friends, deals with the problem of achieving contentment amid the complexities of urban life, while Epistles II and the Ars Poetica discuss Latin poetry – its history and social functions, and the craft required for its success. Both works have had a powerful influence on later Western literature, inspiring poets from Ben Jonson and Alexander Pope to W. H. Auden and Robert Frost. The Satires of Persius (AD 34-62) are highly idiosyncratic, containing a courageous attack on the poetry and morals of his wealthy contemporaries – even the ruling emperor, Nero."