Horace's MAECENAS ATAVIS (Hor., Carm. 1.1) is shown to enumerate nine allusive icons whose attributes evoke signature elements in the works and biographical traditions of the nine canonical Greek lyric poets. In his first ode the Roman poet thus announces the commencement of a lyric programme synthesising the distinctive styles and subjects of his illustrious predecessors. In so doing, Horace figuratively and literally inserts himself among these nine ‘lyric bards’ in ironic fulfilment of his own request for canonisation, with which the poem concludes. His programmatic priamel therefore harmonises archaic subject-matter and Hellenistic method in a manner which sets the tone for the entire project to follow.
