xpressions of friendship in the odes to a Virgil, or a Septimius, are
applicable to any age or nationality, or any person. The story of the
town mouse and country mouse is always old and always new, and always
true. _Mutato nomine de te_ may be said of it, and of all Horace's other
stories; alter the names, and the story is about you. Their application
and appeal are universal.

"Without sustained inspiration, without profundity of thought, without
impassioned song," writes Duff, "he yet pierces to the universal
heart.... His secret lies in sanity rather than impetus. Kindly and
shrewd observer of the manifold activities of life, he draws vignettes
therefrom and passes judgments thereon which awaken undying interest.
_Non omnis moriar_--he remains fresh because he is human."

Horace's philosophy of life may be imperfect for the militant
humanitarian and the Christian, but, as a matter of fact, it is a
complete and perfect thing in itself. Horace does not fret or fume. He
is not morbid or unpleasantly melancholy. It is true that "his tempered
and polished expression of common experience, free from transports and
free from despairs, speaks more forcibly to ripe middle age than to
youth," but it is not without its appeal also to youth. Horace sums up
an attitude toward existence which all men, of whatever nation or time,
can easily understand, and which all, at some moment or other,
sympathize with. Whether they believe in his philosophy of life or not,
whether they put it into practice or not, it is always and everywhere
attractive,--attractive because founded on clear and sympathetic vision
of the joys and sorrows that are the common lot of men, attractive
because of its frankness and manly courage, and, above all, attractive
because of its object. So long as the one great object of human longing
is peace of mind and heart, no philosophy which recognizes it will be
without followers. The Christian is naturally unwilling to adopt the
Horatian philosophy as a whole, but with its _summum bonum_, and with
many of its recommendations, he is in perfect accord. Add Christian
faith to it, or add it, so far as is consonant, to Christian faith, and
either is enriched.

We are better able now to appreciate the dynamic power of Horace the
person. We may see it at work in the fostering of friendly affection, in
the deepening of love for favorite spots of earth, in the encouragement
of righteous purpose, in the true judging of life'