passion. The flame never really burned him. We search his pages in vain
for evidence of sincere and absorbing passion, whether of the flesh or
of the spirit. He was guilty of no breach of the morals of his time, and
it is likely also, in spite of Suetonius, that he was guilty of no
excess. He was a supporter in good faith of the Emperor in his attempts
at the moral improvement of the State. If Virgil in the writing of the
_Georgics_ or the _Aeneid_ was conscious of a purpose to second the
project of Augustus, it is just as likely that his intimate friend
Horace also wrote with conscious moral intent. Nothing is more in
keeping with his conception of the end and effect of literature:

It shapes the tender and hesitating speech of the child; it straight
removes his ear from shameless communication; presently with friendly
precepts it moulds his inner self; it is a corrector of harshness and
envy and anger; it sets forth the righteous deed; it instructs the
rising generations with the familiar example; it is a solace to the
helpless and the sick at heart.


_iv_. LIFE AND PURPOSE

Horace's philosophy of life is thus based upon something deeper than the
principle of seizing upon pleasure. His definition of pleasure is not
without austerity; he preaches the positive virtues of performance as
well as the negative virtue of moderation. He could be an unswerving
follower and guardian of true virtue, and could bend self to
circumstance.

He stands for domestic purity, and for patriotic devotion. _Dulce et
decorum est pro patria mori_,--to die for country is a privilege and a