educated man was recognized, and he found himself at twenty-four in
possession of the always coveted boon of the young Italian, a place in
the government employ. A clerkship in the treasury gave him salary,
safety, respectability, a considerable dignity, and a degree of leisure.

Of the leisure he made wise use. Still in the afterglow of his Athenian
experience, he began to write. He attracted the attention of a limited
circle of associates. The personal qualities which made him a favorite
with the leaders of the Republican army again served him well. He won
the recognition and the favor of men who had the ear of the ruling few.
In about 33, when he was thirty-two years old, Maecenas, the
appreciative counsellor, prompted by Augustus, the politic ruler, who
recognized the value of talent in every field for his plans of
reconstruction, made him independent of money-getting, and gave him
currency among the foremost literary men of the city. He triumphed over
the social prejudice against the son of a freedman, disarmed the
jealousy of literary rivals, and was assured of fame as well as favor.

Nor was even this the end of Horace's experience with the world of
action. It may be that his actual participation in affairs did cease
with Maecenas's gift of the Sabine farm, and it is true that he never
pretended to live on their own ground the life of the high-born and
rich, but he nevertheless associated on sympathetic terms with men
through whom he felt all the activities and ideals of the class most
representative of the national life, and past experiences and natural
adaptability enabled him to assimilate their thoughts and emotions.

Thanks to the glowing personal nature of Horace's works, we know who
many of these friends and patrons were who so enlarged his vision and
deepened his inspiration. Almost without exception his poems are