Ellen Oliensis
Horace and the Rhetoric of Authority.
Cambridge University Press, 1998. First edition. 0521573157 xii/241 pages.
Volume, measuring approximately 6.5" x 9.5", is bound in black cloth, with stamped silver lettering to spine. Book and dust jacket are like new.
This book is an advanced introduction to Horace that treats his whole poetic career and all of the genres in which he worked. Oliensis focuses on the social dimensions of Horace's poetry, considering how Horace shaped his poems and his books to promote his authority while also paying deference to his eminent patrons. The combination of scope, social emphasis, and theoretically informed close readings is what distinguishes this book from other current treatments of Horace.