Orazio e l’irrazionale. Dèi e divinità nel vate augusteo

Horace and the Irrational: Gods and Divinity in the Augustan Vates Horace is commonly considered to be close to Epicurean thought and, therefore, skeptical when it comes to the ultimate validity of traditional religion. However, a more thorough investigation of Horace’s philosophical education, in relation to the distinction between hexametrical sermo and lyrical carmen as literary forms, allows us to observe the actual presence of the ‘irrational’ and the divine in Horace. In building his lyrical architecture, Horace reveals that he regards divine figures as structural points of reference, whose description follows a precise ritual pattern.