Horace and His History of Satire

Abstract

The history of satire as traced by Horace in his Sermons begins with Lucilius, the inuentor of the genre, who takes his inspiration from satirical spirit of Old Attic Comedy, but does not develop it in all its potential forms. This brilliant first stage was also flawed, as satire had become stuck in the hands of Lucilius’ followers, who limited themselves to imitating his defects. It was followed by a second stage in which, after the frustrated attempts of the neoteric «Varro Attacinus and others» to redirect the genre, Horace managed to take it to a level of perfection that allowed it to enter the classical canon. Thus, although Horace was not the primus in the chronological sense, he was indeed the first to bring the genre to excellence and from there build the tradition of satire in line with his own interests. Nonetheless, it must be accepted that its misdirected post-Lucilius evolution played in his favour.