To Pompeius Varus

Quiz: "To Pompeius Varus" by Horace

1. Recall – Form & Context: To which book and ode number of Horace's collected works does "To Pompeius Varus" belong, and approximately when was it composed?

1. Recall – Speaker & Addressee: Who is the speaker of the poem, and what is the relationship between the speaker and Pompey at the poem's opening?

1. Recall – Key Image: What three sensory pleasures does Horace associate with the lazy intervals between battles, connecting the soldiers' past to their present reunion?

1. Recall – Symbol: What object does Horace admit to abandoning on the battlefield at Philippi, and why was this act considered deeply shameful in Roman military culture?

1. Comprehension – Mythology: Which god does Horace credit with his escape from Philippi, and what literary tradition does this divine-rescue motif draw from?

1. Comprehension – Contrast: How does Horace contrast his own fate after Philippi with the fate of Pompey in the years that followed the battle?

1. Comprehension – Roman Custom: What is an arbiter bibendi, and why is Horace's reference to selecting one significant to the poem's celebratory conclusion?

1. Analysis – Tone: How does Horace's self-mocking confession of cowardice at Philippi shape the overall tone of the poem, and what does it suggest about his poetic persona?

1. Analysis – Symbolism: The laurel tree appears when Horace invites Pompey to rest in his garden. What two associations does the laurel carry in this context, and how do they reflect the poem's central shift in the speaker's situation?

1. Analysis – Theme: "To Pompeius Varus" engages with several interlocking themes. Choose two of the following — friendship, memory, redemption, or trauma — and explain how each is developed across the arc of the poem.

Answer Key

1. It belongs to Book II, Ode 7 of Horace's Odes, composed sometime after 29 BCE, following the conclusion of the Roman civil wars.

1. The speaker is Horace himself. He addresses Pompey as an old comrade-in-arms with whom he shared the dangers of fighting on the losing side alongside Brutus at the Battle of Philippi.

1. The three pleasures are wine, fragrant hair oil (specifically nard imported from Syria), and floral garlands — luxurious, sensory comforts that softened the harshness of camp life.

1. Horace admits to abandoning his shield. In Roman (and broader ancient) military culture, discarding one's shield was the ultimate mark of cowardice, signalling that a soldier had fled the field rather than fought or died honourably.

1. Horace credits Mercury, the god of travellers and tricksters, who supposedly carried him away in a divine fog. This motif draws from Homeric epic, where Olympian gods routinely intervene in mist or cloud to rescue favoured mortals from mortal danger.

1. Horace was pardoned and allowed to settle peacefully in Rome, eventually gaining imperial favour. Pompey, by contrast, was repeatedly forced back into conflict and wandering — pushed around by the sea — enduring years of hardship before finally returning.

1. The arbiter bibendi was the Roman custom of appointing one guest as the "master of the drinking party," who set the pace and rules for wine consumption. Horace's invocation of this role signals a fully traditional Roman feast and underscores the poem's shift into uninhibited celebration.

1. The self-mocking confession lends the poem an unusual candour and warmth, distinguishing Horace's voice from conventional martial heroism. It establishes his persona as witty and self-aware — someone who can treat near-death and personal disgrace with humour, making the subsequent joy feel authentically earned rather than performative.

1. Laurel is associated with Apollo (god of poetry), signalling that Pompey is being welcomed into the civilian, creative world of the poet rather than back into military life. It also carries connotations of Roman triumphal honour and peace, reinforcing that the wars are over and a new, safer chapter is beginning.

1. Friendship: The poem shows friendship as something that survives shared trauma and long separation; Horace's extravagant hospitality at the reunion demonstrates that genuine bonds are not diminished by defeat or disgrace. Memory: Horace carefully reconstructs sensory details of their shared past — the wine, the hair oil, the garlands — and then recreates those same pleasures at the feast, showing memory as something actively restored and celebrated rather than merely mourned. Redemption: Both men fought on the losing side and faced shame or exile; the reunion represents a moment where past failure is symbolically overcome through survival, pardon, and festivity. Trauma: The poem does not suppress the darkness of Philippi but moves through it — acknowledging the near-deaths, the years of hardship, and even the cowardice — before arriving at genuine joy, modelling how trauma can be acknowledged without being allowed to define the survivor permanently.