has a larger role than others, must proportion their gifts to their greatness. Those who receive<hr>
reap benefits in the present, but generally not for posterity. Posterity belongs entirely to the giver. In truth, the most honorable conquests a king can achieve are those accomplished through generosity. In times of war, success is always uncertain. No battle, however favorable at the outset, is safe from a disastrous end.<hr>

       But with generosity, victory is always assured. A generous prince creates slaves, subjects and friends among all those he gives to. Only by this route can he earn the rank of the gods. Among all men, princes should choose as the primary target of their generosity those famous disseminators of glory. However, there's a difference: what is pure generosity in other circumstances is here an acknowledgment because one can never be grateful enough for the actions of poets. These accord us immortality. Once upon a time, there were stupid, ignorant and miserly princes who would've allowed poets to perish in poverty without offering them a valid reason for praise. Yet, if Octave, with all his knowledge in the realms of learning, his love for fine works, his use of poetry for amusement, his love for honor he's always shown, and his own achievements that could place him among the most prestigious authors, if Octave, having all these advantages, were to give only miserly to those devoted to fine letters, he would be disgraced. It would almost be less shameful for him to be stupid, ignorant and stingy than to be cultured and greedy. But thanks to the gods, his will and your advice, he has prevented this duty from tarnishing his life.<hr>

       To know if Octave truly loved the arts and sciences, one just needs to examine the rewards he granted to those who practiced them. Among all those who excel in this art that the gods have taught men, it must be recognized that those who dare to undertake an epic poem deserve the highest rank. These are the one that kings should especially hold in esteem. Indeed, of all the forms of poetry we admire, this work is the greatest, most illustrious, most difficult and most glorious, both for its creator and for the hero he chooses. Logically, the epic poem encompasses all the beauties of other forms of poetry, and even more. Those who compose elegies immortalize their loves, their passions, and their sufferings more than the merits of their princes. Odes merely reveal schematic pictures where most elements do not distinguish clearly. Sometimes, a single action can be too big for this work, and in the end, the boundaries of odes are too small to defy time and fate. Eclogues remind posterity of the notion that the golden age was joyful, at a time when the muses could dedicate themselves to making shepherds speak rather than complaining about the tyranny of their kings. Satires, these representations where everyone
<hr>
<hr>
                                                  122<hr>