The Poetry of Friendship: Horace, Epistles I

Alan D. Booth is an associate professor in the Classics Department at
Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario.

The setting of the first book of the Epistles is simple: retired from the manufacture of epideictic poetry, Horace has turned to a more secluded pursuit — philosophy; both teacher and student, poet as well as thinker, he addresses ethical advice in verse-epistles to a range of acquaintances. Kilpatrick correctly regards these pieces, not as betters really sent, but as fictional discourses, and he observes that “a planned sequence of twenty separate epistles to friends, all in hexameter, was an entirely original stroke.” His study aims to modify and complete the work of previous critics (succinctly reviewed in the “Introduction”) by connecting the individual epistles with a master-structure, wherein Horace is seen to explore and develop systematically the theme of friendship, a topic much discussed in ancient philosophic circles. The poet, it is emphasized, owes a particular debt to the treatises On Friendship and On Obligations by Cicero; we are even invited to view Horace’s book as a tribute to the latter’s humanity.

Kilpatrick’s effervescent style perhaps excuses a certain disregard for rigour in expression and argument. His interpretations will surely stimulate fresh interest in a neglected but intriguing work. Horace’s concern with friendship should indeed be accorded meticulous attention, and his stance may well be explained as academic. But his exact purpose and persona remain fertile fields for further tillage.