ihi custos incorruptissimus omnis
circum doctores aderat.'

He received instruction, both in Latin and Greek, from Orbilius,[52] a
teacher of conservative tendencies. _Ep._ ii. 1, 69,

'Non equidem insector delendave carmina Livi
esse reor, memini quae plagosum mihi parvo
Orbilium dictare.'

_Ep._ ii. 2, 41,

'Romae nutriri mihi contigit atque doceri
iratus Graiis quantum nocuisset Achilles.'

His education was continued at Athens. _Ep._ ii. 2, 43,

'Adiecere bonae paulo plus artis Athenae,
scilicet ut vellem curvo dignoscere rectum
atque inter silvas Academi quaerere verum.'

His studies were interrupted by the civil war; he joined Brutus (who
came to Athens in August, B.C. 44), was by him appointed _tribunus
militum_, and took part in the battle of Philippi, B.C. 42. _Ep._ ii.
2, 46,

'Dura sed emovere loco me tempora grato
civilisque rudem belli tulit aestus in arma
Caesaris Augusti non responsura lacertis.'

_Od._ ii. 7, 9,

'Philippos et celerem fugam
sensi, relicta non bene parmula.'

In _Sat._ i. 7 Horace relates a scene at Clazomenae before Brutus and
his staff; and in _Ep._ i. 11 he speaks, as if with personal
knowledge, of places in Asia Minor and the islands of the Aegean,
which he probably visited then. He refers to the hardships of war in
_Od._ ii. 6, 7; ii. 7, 1; iii. 4, 26.

After the civil war his paternal property was confiscated, probably in
B.C. 41, and his poverty compelled him to seek the post of a clerk in
the quaestor's office, and, as he says, to write verses. (Some satires
and epodes were then written.)

Sueton. _vit. Hor._, 'Victis partibus, venia inpetrata, scriptum
quaestorium comparavit.'

_Sat._ ii. 6, 36,

'De re communi scribae magna atque nova te
orabant hodie meminisses, Quinte, reverti.'

_Ep._ ii. 2, 49,

'Unde simul primum me dimisere Philippi,
decisis humilem pennis inopemque paterni
et laris et fundi paupertas inpulit, audax
ut versus facerem.'

In the spring of B.C. 38 Horace was introduced to Maecenas[53] by
Varius and Virgil, and became intimate with him in the winter of B.C.
38-7.

Sueton. _vit. Hor._, 'Primo Maecenati, mox Augusto insinuatus non
mediocrem in amborum amicitia locum tenuit. Maecenas quanto opere eum
dilexerit satis testatur illo epigrammate:

"Ni te visceribus meis, Horati,
plus iam diligo, tu tuum sodalem
Ninnio videas strigosiorem":

sed multo magis extremis iudiciis tali ad Augu