Berkeley Undergraduate Journal of Classics

This paper offers a new reading of Horace’s Fifth Epode as a response to Vergil’s Fourth Eclogue. Vergil’s poem heralds a savior-child that will restore the Roman state, while Horace’s poem narrates the tale of a child captured and killed by witches. I argue that by pairing these two poems the reader uncovers a latent Horatian commentary on civil war and Roman leadership from the seemingly innocuous witch fable of Epode 5.

To my knowledge, a sound linking of these two contemporary poems has never been published. I draw a concrete link between Eclogue 4 and Epode 5 first through textual and then thematic comparison.  Vergil says that his messiah will destroy poisonous plants and snakes (24-25) and these are the very two things that Horace’s child cannot overcome in the witch tale. Thematically, Eclogue 4 is centered in the ideas of birth and growth, the amicable integration of Eastern and Western cultures, and the natural peacefulness of the countryside. Epode 5 is concerned with the exact opposite themes: death and devolution, clashing of Roman and foreign cultures, and the murderous and unnatural filth of the city. I argue that these oppositions are intentional and highlight the tension between Vergil’s hope for a savior-child that will rebuild Rome and Horace’s pessimism that this abducted child will perish and take the city down with him. I then argue that contextual clues identify the savior-child as Octavian.

Although Horace is known for his patriotic poetry, the uncovering of this biting political commentary in superficially non-political Epode 5 begs reconsideration of other seemingly non-political Horatian poetry. Perhaps the poet safely conceals his honest opinions in these poems lest he compromise his political allegiances.