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Acrostic Conversation: Horace, Ode I 18

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September 1, 2022
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Copyright (c) 2022 Acta Classica Universitatis Scientiarum Debreceniensis

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Adkin, N. (2022). Acrostic Conversation: Horace, Ode I 18. Acta Classica Universitatis Scientiarum Debreceniensis, 58, 67-100. https://doi.org/10.22315/ACD/2022/5
Abstract

This article argues that gamma-acrostical disce in Horace’s Ode I 18 (ll. 11–15) alludes to the land-confiscatory acrostics recently identified in Virgil’s Eclogues (I 5–8; VI 14–24; IX 34–38). Horace has carefully signposted his acrostical intent. Virgil himself interfaces with this Horatian cryptography by means of other acrostics of his own. The result is an ‘acrostic conversation’.