Deficient Wealth, Excessive Frankness

The final chapter involves Horace’s description of the contrast between Epicurean moderation and Stoic excess through a series of portraits. The first is that of a rustic farmer, whose advice on meager fare and contentment even in the face of a financial crisis is the perfect embodiment of Epicurean teachings on the loss of wealth and the acceptance of poverty, as explained by Epicurus and Philodemus. The farmer’s sermon on how to deal with the vicissitudes of life with equanimity is followed by a humorous, long-winded, and ultimately ineffectual criticism from a lightweight Stoic, whose advice nevertheless connects in various ways with Epicurean ethics. The final consideration is a similar attack by yet another lightweight Stoic, who, as in the previous satire, employs frankness ineffectually. In the end both portrayals serve to legitimize Horace’s more gentle and compassionate approach to criticism, which owes much to Philodemus’ observations in On Frankness.