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The ''Satires'' ((ラテン語:Satirae) or ''Sermones'') are a collection of satirical poems written by the Roman poet Horace. Composed in dactylic hexameters, the ''Satires'' explore the secrets of human happiness and literary perfection. Published probably in 35 BCE and at the latest by 33 BCE,〔Brown 1993: 3〕 the first book of ''Satires'' represents Horace's first published work, and it established him as one of the great poetic talents of the Augustan Age. The second book was published in 30 BCE as a sequel.〔Brown 1993: 3; Muecke 1997: 1〕 In his ''Sermones'' (Latin for "conversations") or ''Satires'' (Latin for "miscellaneous poems"), Horace combines Epicurean, that is, originally Greek philosophy with Roman good sense to convince his readers of the futility and silliness of their ambitions and desires. As an alternative, he proposes a life that is based on the Greek philosophical ideals of ''autarkeia'' (Greek for "inner self-sufficiency") and ''metriotes'' (Greek for "moderation" or sticking to the Just Mean).〔Horace himself later coins the phrase ''aurea mediocritas'' (Latin for the "Golden Mean" in ''Carm.'' 2.10.5.)〕 In ''S.'' 1.6.110–131, Horace illustrates what he means by describing a typical day in his own simple, but contented life. The second book also addresses the fundamental question of Greek Hellenistic philosophy, the search for a happy and contented life. In contrast to ''Satires'' I, however, many of this book's poems are dialogues in which the poet allows a series of pseudo-philosophers, such as the bankrupt art-dealer turned Stoic philosopher Damasippus, the peasant Ofellus, the mythical seer Teiresias, and the poet's own slave Dama, to espouse their philosophy of life, in satiric contrast to that of the narrator.〔Muecke 1997: 6-7〕 ==Poetic models== Horace's direct predecessor as writer of satires was Lucilius.〔Brown 1993: 7-8; Muecke 1997: 2-5〕 Horace inherits from Lucilius the hexameter, the conversational and sometimes even "prosaic" tone of his poetry, and the tradition of personal attack. In contrast to Lucilius, though, the victims of Horace's mockery are not members of the nobility, but overly ambitious freedmen, anonymous misers, courtesans, street philosophers, hired buffoons, and bad poets. In accordance with the Epicurean principle ''Lathe biosas'' (Greek for "Live unnoticed"), Horace consciously does not get involved in the complicated politics of his times, but advocates instead a life that focuses on individual happiness and virtue.〔Scholars often point out that Horace, himself only the son of a freedman, could not afford to make powerful enemies, and that is why he, in contrast to Lucilius, who was a Roman knight, did not dare to attack Roman aristocrats by name (cf. Freudenburg 2005: 10-11). Yet at the time he published the ''Satires'', Horace was already affiliated with the powerful Maecenas (cf. ''S.'' 1.4 and 6), and if he had wanted to, he could easily have ingratiated himself with the young ruler, Octavian, by attacking Octavian's enemies, such as Sextus Pompeius and later Mark Antony.〕 Probably equally important is the influence of Greek diatribe in the tradition of the philosopher Bion of Borysthenes (c. 335–245 BCE).〔Brown 1993: 4-5; Muecke 1997: 6〕 Horace's ''Satires'' share with this genre some of their themes, typical imagery and similes, and the fiction of an anonymous interlocutor whose objections the speaker easily refutes. In addition, Horace alludes to another inspiration, the poet Lucretius whose didactic epic ''De rerum natura'' ("On the Nature of Things"), also written in hexameters, popularized Epicurean physics in Rome.〔Brown 1993: 91-92〕 For example, Horace's comparison of his satires with cookies that a teacher uses to encourage his students to learn their letters〔''S.'' 1.1.14–25; ''elementa'' can refer both to the letters of the ABC and to the beginnings of philosophy.〕 reminds of Lucretius' more traditional comparison of his poetry with the sugar that sweetens the bitter medicine of philosophy. Moreover, Lucretian stock phrases like ''nunc ad rem redeo'' ("now I return to the matter at hand") give Horace's philosophical "conversations" (''Sermones'') a subtly Lucretian flavor . 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Satires (Horace)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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