Satires 2.5 (Horace)

Published around 30 BCE, the second book of Satires is a series of poems composed in dactylic hexameter by the Roman poet Horace. Satires 2.5 stands out in the work for its unique analysis of legacy hunting.

Horace's Satire Book II, Satire V is poem about a discussion between Ulysses and Tiresias that is presented as a continuation of their interaction in the underworld in Book 11 of Homer's Odyssey. Ulysses is concerned that he will have no wealth once he returns to Ithaca because the suitors will have squandered the contents of his storehouses. Stating bluntly that breeding and character are meaningless without wealth, he asks Tiresias for any suggestions on how to rebuild his prosperity. Tiresias suggests that Ulysses try his hand at legacy hunting, and gives examples of characters through history that have ingratiated themselves with the affluent in order to be named as benefactors in their will. Despite Ulysses’ skepticism, Tiresias asserts the plan's merit and provides examples of how to curry favor.

The structure of the poem places the majority of focus on section C, especially the story of Nasica and Coranus. The poem draws from the imagery of hunting, referring to the legacy-seeker as adept with snares and to his prey as an unwary tunny fish. Most importantly, in the poem “nothing suggests that the typical senex has a mind or will of his own.”. The victim is utterly objectified and reduced to a feeble creature that the captator can exploit.

On a linguistic level, the poem features very colloquial and expressive language. “‘breeding and character without assets are vilior alga--more worthless than seaweed.’ Tell me, says Ulysses, how I can rake together ‘piles of cash’-- aeris acervos.”. The analogies in the text are similarly graphic, as in the story of the over-insistent heir in Thebes who was required by the will of his benefactor to carry her oil-soaked slippery carcass on his shoulders during the funeral procession.

Satire 2.5 is often thought of as the least “Horatian” of the Satires and is often compared to works by Juvenal, a poet of the 1st century AD. Juvenal’s poems focus on the perversions of man and hint at Man’s loss of “his highest potentialities”. Many scholars acknowledge this cynicism in Satire 2.5 and see a connection between the two authors. As Shackleton Bailey writes, “Uniquely for Horace, it concerns a particular social malpractice (touting for legacies), and its mordant humour has reminded many readers of Juvenal.”

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