To Postumus

Quiz: To Postumus by Horace

1. Recall – Form & Context: To which collection and numbered position does To Postumus belong, and approximately when was it published?

1. Recall – Speaker & Addressee: Who is the speaker of the poem, and what is the significance of the name Postumus in Latin?

1. Recall – Mythological Figures: Name the three mythological figures mentioned in the poem who are associated with the underworld or punishment, and briefly identify each.

1. Recall – Key Image: What symbolic role does the cypress tree play in the poem, according to the analysis?

1. Comprehension – Central Argument: What is the poem's core message to Postumus about piety, wealth, and good deeds in relation to death?

1. Comprehension – The Wine Cellar: What does the image of the locked wine cellar and the spilled Caecuban wine represent, and what does the heir's careless act reveal?

1. Comprehension – Underworld Geography: Two rivers of the underworld are referenced in the poem. What mood or idea do they reinforce, and what is the Cocytus specifically associated with?

1. Analysis – Tone: How would you describe the poem's tone, and how does the dry humor of the closing image contribute to that tone?

1. Analysis – The Three Hundred Bulls: What does the exaggerated sacrifice of three hundred bulls illustrate about human behavior, and why does Horace emphasize the overwhelming number?

1. Analysis – Philosophical Tradition: How does To Postumus both fit within and depart from the classical carpe diem tradition? What philosophical schools inform the poem's attitude toward mortality?

Answer Key

1. It is Ode II.14 from Horace's Odes, published around 23 BCE.

1. The speaker is Horace, writing to his friend Postumus. The name Postumus carries ironic weight because it means "last-born" or "after death" in Latin, reinforcing the poem's preoccupation with mortality.

1. Pluto, the god of the underworld (who cannot be appeased); Geryon, a three-bodied monster; and Tityus, a giant condemned in the underworld. All three emphasize the inescapable and formidable nature of death.

1. The cypress was a tree associated with Roman cemeteries and funerals. Horace uses it to stress that none of Postumus's beloved possessions or cherished trees will follow him in death — only the "hated" cypress, a symbol of death itself, accompanies the dead.

1. No amount of religious devotion, virtuous living, or material wealth can prevent or delay death; it comes for everyone regardless of status or effort.

1. The locked wine cellar symbolizes pleasures and joys that people hoard and postpone rather than enjoy. The heir's careless spilling of the prized wine shows that what we carefully guard will ultimately be squandered by others, rendering our hoarding futile.

1. The rivers reinforce death as a concrete, impassable boundary that everyone must cross. The Cocytus is specifically linked to lamentation, adding emotional weight to the poem's portrayal of the afterlife.

1. The tone is mournful yet personal, with a subtle dry humor. The closing image of wine carelessly spilled by an indifferent heir provides a wry, almost sarcastic final note, suggesting that the things we obsess over in life are ultimately trivial — reinforcing the poem's gentle but firm message without tipping into rage or despair.

1. The hyperbolic number illustrates humanity's tendency to try to bargain with fate through devotion and ritual. By making the sacrifice absurdly large, Horace underscores that no offering, however grand, can buy one's way out of death.

1. While To Postumus shares the carpe diem tradition's awareness of fleeting time, it leans less toward seizing pleasure and more toward unflinching acceptance of death. It draws on Greek Stoic philosophy (embracing mortality as natural) and Epicurean thought (accepting death as key to living well), making it a more sober and philosophically grounded meditation than a simple call to enjoy life.