Satires (Horace) still refers to him simply as "Orazio satiro" ("Inferno" 4.89). Conte (1994: 318) writes, "Over 1,000 medieval quotations from his "Satires" and "Epistles" have been traced, only about 250 from his "Carmina"." Satires (Horace) The Satires ( or "Sermones") is 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, the first book of "Satires" represents Horace's first published work. It established him as one of the great poetic talents of the
Horace themes throughout his poetic career, including politics, love, philosophy and ethics, his own social role, as well as poetry itself. His "Epodes" and "Satires" are forms of 'blame poetry' and both have a natural affinity with the moralising and diatribes of Cynicism. This often takes the form of allusions to the work and philosophy of Bion of Borysthenes but it is as much a literary game as a philosophical alignment. By the time he composed his "Epistles", he was a critic of Cynicism along with all impractical and "high-falutin" philosophy in general. The "Satires" also include a strong element of