In compiling this volume, we sought contributors who were known to be engaged in the field of Horatian scholarship and who, between them, seemed likely to cover most of Horace's œuvre and to represent a variety of different approaches. We saw our editorial task as drawing conclusions in an Epilogue, highlighting the common themes of the chapters in order to draw into focus the preoccupations that contemporary Latinists bring to bear on a canonical Latin author.

Inevitably there is a degree of circularity in this procedure, since the personal preferences of individual scholars are generally well known and it is unlikely that, for example, younger scholars in one country will adopt the same approaches as a middle-aged in another. Indeed three papers, familiar from oral performance, were commissioned especially for this volume and hence were known in advance. Nevertheless one cannot make absolute predictions: it was not to be expected that two contributors would exchange topics half-way through the proceedings, and we were surprised that the final submission of another was devoted to an entirely different work of Horace's from that stipulated on the contract.

Not every invitation to contribute to this volume was accepted, and the alacrity with which some scholars accepted was in inverse proportion to the speed with which they produced their papers. Hence there have been repeated delays, for which apologies are due to all concerned.