Horace, Catullus, and Tigellius

The fourth and tenth satires of Horace's first book are sources of the first importance for the history of Latin literature, for they present the theories about literary style which Horace held at a critical time, not only in his own life, when he was producing his first permanent work, but also in the progress of the literature of the Augustan Age. Virgil, Varius, Pollio, Horace, and others' had been and still were working out the characteristic features of Augustan literature. We may look upon Horace as a spokesman, more or less official, for the whole group.2 But, unfortunately, Horace's remarks were intended for contemporaries fully familiar with details which are lost to us. Hence the interpretation of these poems has been very uncertain. Yet we need not despair of attaining an approximate certainty on some of the matters in doubt by careful study of the shreds of evidence.3 In this paper it is proposed to deal with the opening portion of the tenth satire, particularly with Horace's attitude toward Catullus as there displayed. It seems desirable, however, to take up first a related matter, the identity of the Tigellius Hermogenes mentioned in the tenth satire, for the two subjects throw light on each other.