fe; but if you want to keep me always by your
side, you must restore to me the tender grace of vanished youth; strong
lungs, thick black hair, musical voice and ringing laughter; with our
common love for pretty Cinara now dead and gone." A positive sturdy
refusal, not without hints that if the patron repents his benefactions
or demands sacrifice of freedom in exchange for them, he had better take
them back: yet a remonstrance so disarming, infused with such a blend of
respect and playfulness, such wealth of witty anecdote and classical
allusion, that we imagine the fretfulness of the appeased protector
evaporating in admiration as he reads, the answer of affectionate
apology and acceptance dictated in his pacified response.

In another inimitable letter (Ep. I, 9), as brief as this is long, he
recommends his friend Septimius to Tiberius Claudius Nero, stepson of
Augustus, a young man of reserved unpleasant manners, and difficult to
approach. The suasive grace with which it disclaims presumption, yet
pleads his own merits as a petitioner and his friend's as a candidate
for favour, with its dignified deference, implied not fulsome, to the
young prince's rank, have caused it to be compared with that masterpiece
of delicate solicitation, St. Paul's Epistle to Philemon. It is cited by
Steele in the "Spectator" as a model of epistolary tact ("Spectator,"
No. 493); we cannot improve upon his translation:

"Septimius, who waits on you with this, is clearly well acquainted
with the place you are pleased to allow me in your friendship.
For when he beseeches me to recommend him to your notice in such
a manner as to be received by you, who are delicate in the choice
of your friends and domestics, he knows our intimacy and understands
my ability to serve him better than I do myself. I have defended
myself against his ambition to be yours as long as I possibly
could; but fearing the imputation of hiding my influence with you
out of mean and selfish considerations, I am at last prevailed
upon to give you this trouble. Thus, to avoid the appearance
of a greater fault, I have put on this confidence. If you can
forgive such transgression of modesty in behalf of a friend,
receive this gentleman into your interests and friendship, and
take it from me that he is a brave and honest man."

An epistle written and sent about the same time, possibly by the same
bearer, shows Horace in a