Epistles (Horace) Epistles (Horace) The Epistles (or Letters) of Horace were published in two books, in 20 BCE and 14 BCE, respectively. As one commentator has put it: "Horace's "Epistles" may be said to be a continuation of his Satires in the form of letters... But few of the epistles are [actually] letters except in form..." They do indeed contain an excellent specimen of a letter of introduction (I.9); a piece of playful banter (I.14); pieces of friendly correspondence (I.3, I.4 and I.5); while the last, "Epistle" I.20, is inscribed 'To His Book," and forms a sort of epilogue to the "Epistles"
Carmen Priami literary historian Gian Biagio Conte, "could only be to lend substance to some intuition of primitive preliterary epic composition." The poem is among the "countertendencies" in Latin literature that reveal Roman ambivalence toward the adoption of Greek culture. Carmen Priami The Carmen Priami ("Priam's Song") is a lost Latin poem known from the quotation of a single line by Varro. The unknown poet, "a remarkable reactionary," rejects the Hellenizing trend in Latin poetry led by Ennius ("ca." 239–169 BC) and adopts a deliberately archaic style, invoking the Camenae: The invocation of the Muse is a convention of Greco-Roman poetry, and