'rura quae Liris quieta
mordet aqua taciturnus amnis.'

So _Od._ iii. 29, 32 _sqq._, and many other passages.

_Popularity of Horace._--Horace's prediction that his works would
become school-books, _Ep._ i. 20, 17,

'Hoc quoque te manet, ut pueros elementa docentem
occupet extremis in vicis balba senectus,'

was early fulfilled. Cf. Iuv. 7, 226,

'Quot stabant pueri, cum totus decolor esset
Flaccus et haereret nigro fuligo Maroni.'

CONTEMPORARY POETS:

The following writers were friends of Horace:

(_a_) _C. Valgius Rufus_, consul suffectus B.C. 12, belonged to the
circle of Maecenas (Hor. _Sat._ i. 10, 82).

Valgius' works, of which only a few lines are extant, included (1)
Elegiae. Cf. Hor. _Od._ ii. 9, 9-12,

'Tu semper urges flebilibus modis
Mysten ademptum, nec tibi Vespero
surgente decedunt amores
nec rapidum fugiente solem.'

(2) Epigrammata, (3) Miscellanies, (4) A translation of Apollodorus'
+techne+. (See Quint. iii. 1, 18.) (5) A book on herbs.
(Pliny, _N.H._ xxv. 4.) An epic was also expected of him, but whether
written is unknown. Tibull. iv. 1, 179,

'Est tibi, qui possit magnis se adcingere rebus,
Valgius; aeterno propior non alter Homero.'

(_b_) _M. Aristius Fuscus_, a poet and grammarian (Porphyr. _ad Sat._
i. 9, 60); _Od._ i. 22, and _Ep._ i. 10, are addressed to him.

(_c_) The _Visci_. Comm. Cruq. _ad Sat._ i. 10, 83, 'Visci duo fratres
fuerunt optimi poetae et iudices critici.'

(_d_) _C. Fundanius_, wrote comedies (Porphyr. _ad Sat._ i. 10, 40).

(_e_) _Servius Sulpicius_, a love poet (Ovid, _Trist._ ii. 441; Hor.
_Sat._ i. 10, 86).

(_f_) _Iulius Florus_ was 'saturarum scriptor' (Porphyr. _ad Hor. Ep._
i. 3, 1). Hor. _Ep._ i. 3 and ii. 2, are addressed to him.

(_g_) _Titius_ wrote Pindaric odes, and tragedies, Hor. _Ep._ i. 3,
9-14.

(_h_) _Albinovanus Celsus_. See Hor. _Ep._ i. 3, 15-7.

(_i_) _C. Iullus Antonius_, B.C. 44-B.C. 2, was a son of the triumvir
M. Antonius. The Schol. on Hor. _Od._ iv. 2, 2, says of him, "Heroico
metro Diomedeam scripsit et nonnulla alia soluta oratione."

(_k_) _Furnius_, an orator; died B.C. 37. He is mentioned by Hor.
_Sat._ i. 10, 86.

Other poets contemporary with Virgil and Horace are:

(_a_) _L. Varius Rufus_ (cf. Verg. _Ecl._ 9, 35). His works were:

(1) Epics (_a_) on the death of Julius Caesar (Macrob. _Saturn._ vi.
1, 39), (_b_) in praise of Augustus. Hor. _Ep._ i. 16, 27-29 is a