Difesa morale della satira e identità dell'interlocutore in Orazio, serm. I 4

The article examines Horace’s programmatic Satire i 4, in particular the second part of the text, where he faces the criticism directed at his genre on a moral level. The article explores the arguments brought in defence by the poet, his relationship with an anonymous interlocutor, along with the attribution of the lines of their dialogue. This includes a re-examination of a textual problem and a new interpretation of a recurring chromatic detail, which does not appear to be fortuitous. Furthermore and as a result, this paper proposes a novel identification of the interlocutor, who seems to be, rather than a general detractor, a prominent amicus, who criticizes the satirical poetry and whom Horace refutes by both facetious and serious means.