_Horace and nature._--Besides references to his Sabine villa, Horace refers to natural scenery in many passages. Such are _Epod._ 2; _Od._ i. 7, 10; ii. 6, 13; iii. 13, 9; _Sat._ ii. 6, 1 _sqq._; _Ep._ i. 10, 6 _sqq._, i. 16, 1 _sqq._[62] Horace is fond of comparing dangers to the plague of floods,[63] a plague from which Italy has always suffered. Cf. _Od._ i. 31, 7,
'rura quae Liris quieta mordet aqua taciturnus amnis.'
So _Od._ iii. 29, 32 _sqq._, and many other passages.
_Popularity of Horace._--Horace's prediction that his works would become school-books, _Ep._ i. 20, 17,
'Hoc quoque te manet, ut pueros elementa docentem occupet extremis in vicis balba senectus,'
'Quot stabant pueri, cum totus decolor esset Flaccus et haereret nigro fuligo Maroni.'
The following writers were friends of Horace:
(_a_) _C. Valgius Rufus_, consul suffectus B.C. 12, belonged to the circle of Maecenas (Hor. _Sat._ i. 10, 82).
Valgius' works, of which only a few lines are extant, included (1) Elegiae. Cf. Hor. _Od._ ii. 9, 9-12,
'Tu semper urges flebilibus modis Mysten ademptum, nec tibi Vespero surgente decedunt amores nec rapidum fugiente solem.'
(2) Epigrammata, (3) Miscellanies, (4) A translation of Apollodorus' τέχνη. (See Quint. iii. 1, 18.) (5) A book on herbs. (Pliny, _N.H._ xxv. 4.) An epic was also expected of him, but whether written is unknown. Tibull. iv. 1, 179,
'Est tibi, qui possit magnis se adcingere rebus, Valgius; aeterno propior non alter Homero.'
(_b_) _M. Aristius Fuscus_, a poet and grammarian (Porphyr. _ad Sat._ i. 9, 60); _Od._ i. 22, and _Ep._ i. 10, are addressed to him.
(_c_) The _Visci_. Comm. Cruq. _ad Sat._ i. 10, 83, 'Visci duo fratres fuerunt optimi poetae et iudices critici.'
(_d_) _C. Fundanius_, wrote comedies (Porphyr. _ad Sat._ i. 10, 40).
(_e_) _Servius Sulpicius_, a love poet (Ovid, _Trist._ ii. 441; Hor. _Sat._ i. 10, 86).
(_f_) _Iulius Florus_ was 'saturarum scriptor' (Porphyr. _ad Hor. Ep._ i. 3, 1). Hor. _Ep._ i. 3 and ii. 2, are addressed to him.
(_g_) _Titius_ wrote Pindaric odes, and tragedies, Hor. _Ep._ i. 3, 9-14.
(_h_) _Albinovanus Celsus_. See Hor. _Ep._ i. 3, 15-7.
(_i_) _C. Iullus Antonius_, B.C. 44-B.C. 2, was a son of the triumvir M. Antonius. The Schol. on Hor. _Od._ iv. 2, 2, says of him, "Heroico metro Diomedeam scripsit et nonnulla alia soluta oratione."