Epicurean

Horace 1.9 is Epicurean in many ways. First of all the poem starts off with you, the reader, noticing all these different sights. All theses sights are saying to embrace everything around you, all the forms in life. He goes on to explain more in detail to accept what is going on right now and not to worry about whats going to happen tomorrow. On important sight is where you see the struggling trees unable to support their leaves. This symbolizes another Epicurean feature. This resembles one of the teachings that the Gods don't care about us and how we will change our ways after this change. The tree is us and the burden is the change that we will, some of us, not be able to coupe with. Next , the poem relates to the Epicurean saying, "...that pleasure is the beginning and end of living happily." To live happily, Horace says you have to do the positive and smart things in life and repeat them. The analogy he uses in the poem is to dissolve the chill by replacing wood in the fireplace. One temporary pleasure he speaks of is drinking from the two-handle Sabine Jar. Pleasures are a big part of Epicurean belief because the pleasure should heavily out weigh the pain for someone to live happily. Another pleasure he speaks of is to love as a young boy.