Horatian Influence and Imitation in Ariosto's Satires

Abstract

T IS A CRITICAL COMMONPLACE that the seven Satire of Ludovico Ariosto, composed between 1517 and 1525, are Horatian in expression and theme, but no commentary has attempted to do more than point out the verbal reminiscences of Horace in Ariosto's poems.1 The present study attempts to determine the extent and nature of Horatian influence and imitation in Ariosto's satires by proceeding from stylistic consideration of specific verbal echoes to an examination of the broader thematic patterns of epistolary satire. At the level of close verbal echo, Ariosto often adopts a Horatian phrase to suit his own context. In one such instance, Horace's sacer clivus (Carm. IV. ii. 35) becomes Ariosto's sacro clivo (VII. 134): Ariosto translates literally Horace's expression for the upper part of the Via Sacra in order to suggest the grandeur of Augustan Rome. Horace's phrase per sacrum clivim occurs in an elevated lyric which envisages Augustus in triumphal procession. Ariosto's il sacro clivo implies this context when the poet imagines himself inspecting the ruins of the ancient city in the company of learned Roman humanists. In order to recall the splendor of ancient Rome-not the corruption of the Roma of classical satire-Ariosto echoes a lyrical passage from Horace's fourth book of odes.