Horace Satires, Epistles and 'Ars Poetica'

We will read selections from each of these collections of Horace's hexameter poetry, in which we learn much about the poet's life and education, his friendships with Vergil and others, his relationship with his patron Maecenas and eventually with Augustus, and his theories about the "Art of Poetry" as it should best be practiced and appreciated. We will also consider the place of Horace's poems in the development of the satirical and epistolary genres at Rome as well as the influence of these works on the later poetic (and literary-critical) tradition.