Epistles (Horace) he had already written. However, as a rule, the Epistles "are compositions like those which Pope, following the manner of Horace, has made familiar to us as Moral Essays." The "Epistles" were published about four years after the first three books of "Odes," and were introduced by a special address to his patron Maecenas, as his "Odes," "Epodes," and "Satires" had been. The form of composition may have been suggested by some of the satires of Lucilius, which were composed as letters to his personal friends... "From the "Epistles"... we gather that [Horace] had gradually adopted a more retired and
Authorship of the Pauline epistles similarities are seen as subtle enough to make imitation an unnecessary hypothesis. Udo Schnelle argued that 2 Thessalonians was significantly different in style from the undisputed epistles, characterizing it as whole and narrow, rather than as a lively and abrupt discussion on a range of issues. Moreover, Alfred Loisy argued that it reflected knowledge of the synoptic gospels, which, according to the current scholarly consensus, had not been written when Paul wrote his epistles. Bart D. Ehrman viewed the insistence of genuineness within the letter and the strong condemnation of forgery at its start as ploys commonly used by forgers.