The Roman 1st century BC poet Horace also alluded to the sword of Damocles in Ode 1 of the "Third Book of Odes", in which he extolled the virtues of living a simple, rustic life, favouring such an existence over the myriad threats and anxieties that accompany holding a position of power. In this appeal to his friend and patron, the aristocratic Gaius Maecenas, Horace describes the "Siculae dapes" or "Sicilian feasts" as providing no savoury pleasure to the man, "above whose impious head hangs a drawn sword ("destrictus ensis")."