The Ethics of Horace: a Twelfth-Century Schoolroom Commentary on Horace’s Odes

Abstract

This essay investigates an anonymous commentary on the Odes by the classical Latin poet Horace, written in all likelihood in twelfth-century France. It first explores the accessus, or introduction to the commentary, highlighting the link between mores (behavior) and the young, at whom the Odes are aimed according to the commentator. Then follows a discussion of a number of headnotes, or small summaries that precede each poem, focusing on how the commentator treats Horace’s relationship with Maecenas, his benefactor, and different kinds of women portrayed in the Odes. What is notable is the commentator’s willingness to have Horace appear both in a positive and a negative light, as each poem demands. It also emerges that the Odes were read within an ethical context, making each poem a vehicle for a lesson in behavior and Horace the ideal teacher. I finish by evaluating a number of references to the contemporary world to help illustrate the context in which the commentary was composed.