Excerpt From Satires Of Horace

It's time for some real education. Ever hear of Quintus Horatio Flaccus? No? Well, he's better known in English simply as Horace. He was born in 65 BC and died in 8 BC. In that span of life, he was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus, who was the first emperor of Rome. Horace wrote elegant hexameter verses called satires and epistles and Cossack iamic poetry called epodes. The hexameters cause ancient satirist Perseus to comment, as his friend laughs, Horace slyly puts his finger on his every fault. Once let in, he plays about the heart strings. And we've before done, we once did a segment on Instant Classic on Juvenalian satire from Rome, the satires of Juvenal, which were much more invective. They were much more in your face, more graphic. Horace was much more dignified. And I like what Perseus actually said here, that he's not like Juvenal Horace, his satire. Horace slyly, so that the person being satirized almost doesn't realize he's the target. Horace slyly puts his finger on his every fault, but once let in, he plays about the heart strings. He's a gentler kind of a satirist. And here we have a commentary from the first epistle, the first series of satires. Here's the advice Horace gives you. Set a limit to your desire for riches. Set a limit to your desire for riches. So set a limit to greed. And as you gain more, you will fear poverty less. Achieving what you desired, make an end of your labor, lest you do as did one Numidius. It's not a long tale. He was rich, so much so he was forced to weigh his coins. So stingy, he dressed no better than a slave. And right to the end, he was fearful, lest starvation come. Instead, a freed woman cut into him with, cut him in, instead, a freed woman eventually cut him into with an axe. Such she, she, an indomitable scion of Tyndaeus' race. Do you want me to live then, you say, like Navius or Nementanus? Now you're setting up a war of opposites. When I order you not to be avaricious, I'm telling you to become an idle spendthrift. No, no, no. Between Veselius' father-in-law and Tyndaeus, there's a mean. There's a mean between the rich man who lives like a greedy pig and the rich man who's so afraid of losing his wealth that he never spends any of it. Find the mean. The mean is the measure of all correct behavior, Horace says.