den an even more violent farewell, and the apparently
total oblivion that follows, will be inclined to view as exaggeration
the most moderate estimate of our debt to him.

Yet skepticism would be without warrant. The presence of any subject in
an educational scheme represents the sincere, and often the fervent,
conviction that it is worthy of the place. In the case of literary
subjects, the nearer the approach to pure letters, the less demonstrable
the connection between instruction and the winning of livelihood, the
more intense the conviction. The immortality of literature and the arts,
which surely has been demonstrated by time, the respect in which they
are held by a world so intent on mere living that of its own motion it
would never heed, is the work of the passionate few whose enthusiasms
and protestations never allow the common crowd completely to forget, and
keep forever alive in it the uneasy sense of imperfection. That Horace
was preserved for hundreds of years by monastery and school, that the
fact of acquaintance with him is due to his place in modern systems of
education, are not mere statements empty of life. They represent the
noble enthusiasms of enlightened men. The history of human progress has
been the history of enthusiasms. Without enthusiasms, the fabric of
civilization would collapse in a day into the chaos of barbarism.

To give greater completeness and reality to our account of Horace's
place among men, ancient and modern, we must in some way add to the
narrative of formal fact the demonstration of his influence in actual
operation. In the case of periods obscure and remote, this is hardly
possible. In the case of modern times it is not so difficult. For the
recent centuries, as proof of the peculiar power of Horace, we have the
abundant testimony of literature and biography.

Let us call this influence the Dynamic Power of Horace. Dynamic power is
the power that explodes men, so to speak, into physical or spiritual
action, that operates by inspiration, expansion, fertilization,
vitalization, and results in the living of a fuller life. If we can be
shown concrete instances of Horace enriching the lives of men by
increasing their love and mastery of art or multiplying their means of
happiness, we shall not only appreciate better the poet's meaning for
the present day, but be better able to imagine his effect upon men in
the remoter ages whose life is less open to scrutiny.

Our purpose will b