4. It is therefore probable that these three
Satires were written when Horace knew Varius and Virgil, but not
Maecenas, _i.e._ B.C. 40-38. _Sat._ 2 is probably the oldest we have,
as is shown by other considerations, and by the number of archaisms it
contains. _Sat._ 5 (on the journey to Brundisium) was written shortly
after the spring of B.C. 37, when the events recorded took place. The
date of the publication of the book cannot be exactly fixed, the only
clue we have being the reference in _Sat._ i. 10, 86, to Bibulus, the
political agent of Antony, whose presence in Rome B.C. 35 may be
referred to. It cannot be proved that _Sat._ i. 1, 114 _sqq._, is
imitated from Verg. _Georg._ i. 512 _sqq._, published B.C. 35.

Book ii. and the _Epodes_ were published in B.C. 30 about the same
time. We have references to Actium (B.C. 31), as in _Sat._ ii. 5, 63;
and _Sat._ ii. 1 (written last) speaks of Augustus (ll. 11-15) as the
hero in war, not yet the bringer of peace, and was probably therefore
composed before the temple of Janus was shut in the beginning of B.C.
29.

(2) _Epodon liber_, B.C. 30, as above. _Epod._ 9 was written shortly
after the battle of Actium, 2nd September, B.C. 31, before it was
known whither Antony had fled.

(3) _Carmina_ (Odes) Books i.-iii., published B.C. 23. In _Od._ i. 12,
45,

'Crescit occulto velut arbor aevo
fama Marcellis,'

we have a reference to the marriage in B.C. 25 of Augustus' daughter,
Julia, to his nephew, Marcellus. Marcellus died in the autumn of B.C.
23, and the lines must have been written before his death. _Od._ ii.
10 and iii. 19 contain references to Licinius Murena, brother of
Terentia, Maecenas' wife. Murena was executed for his share in the
conspiracy of Fannius Caepio in the end of B.C. 23, and it is
improbable that Horace could have made these references after that
event.[56]

(4) _Epistles_, Book i., published B.C. 20. The date is fixed by _Ep._
i. 20, 26-8, already quoted, p. 164.

The year referred to is B.C. 21, and the book was therefore composed
in B.C. 20, before December of that year.

(5) _Carmen Saeculare_, composed for the _Ludi Saeculares_ of B.C. 17
(see Sueton. quoted above). An inscription commemorating these games
was discovered in 1890 on the left bank of the Tiber, and in it Horace
is mentioned: 'Sacrificioque perfecto pueri xxvi. quibus denuntiatum
erat patrimi et matrimi et puellae totidem carmen cecinerunt eodemque
modo in Capitolio. Ca