Fecitne Viriliter?: Patronage, Erotics, and Masculinity in Horace, Epistles 1

This article examines how Horace applies an erotic, specifically pederastic, model to amicitia in Epistles 1, focusing on those poems that sexualize the patron/client relationship and the production of poetry: 1.1, 1.17, 1.18, 1.19, and 1.20. I argue that Horace reassesses what constitutes virtus, "manliness," in Augustan Rome. Whereas Horace opens the collection by insisting on an uncompromisingly penetrative formulation of masculinity, the last poems show him moderating this stance, opening up a space between domination and submission through which Roman viri can maintain their masculine prerogatives while navigating complexly hierarchical patronal and imperial structures.