Commissioned muse healing a funesto veterno: Poetry, philosophy and self-care – translation and commentary to Horace’s EP. 1.8

• Autor(a) principal: Assis, Jean Felipe de
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Classica (Sociedade Brasileira de Estudos Clássicos. Online)
• Texto Completo: https://revista.classica.org.br/classica/article/view/989
• topic: Horace; Epistles; AncientPhilosophy.; Horácio; Epístolas; Filosofia Antiga.

In a brief exposition on the epistolary genre and its receptions in Horace’s literary production, a contextualization for the imitatio, the ingenium and the ars horaciana is evaluated. Receptions and transformations of ancient epistolography’s models reveal the originality of Horace proposals, by presenting Hellenic terms and themes, discussing moral and philosophical ideas, as well as exploring multiple cadences and rhythms in his use of dactylic hexameter. This essay presents an interpretive translation for Ep. 1.8 together with some commentaries, debating: metric and sound effects; figures of speech; descriptive and analytical ways of narrating to support an argument; particular nuances of time and space specific to a moment in Latin historiography; examples of intertextuality within the Horatian corpus and some ancient literary traditions, e.g., epictexts and Lucretius’ Rerum Natura. In this letter, Horace personifies his message in the Muse, committing her not only to report the sender’s physical and mental conditions, but also instilling in the recipient the animus, strength and proper manners in conducting public affairs and himself. Possible interfaces with the Stoic and Epicurean traditions are in order, mainly due to the adverbial forms recte and suaviter.