Horace's lyric prayers for poetic inspiration from his Muses seem to fall into two categories. First, there are those odes which contain both the prayer and the poem requested, as do Carm. 1.24 and 3.4. Secondly, there are two odes in particular that consist wholly of the prayers themselves, and do not include the poem that is the object of the prayer. In Carm. 1.26 Horace addresses a formal prayer to his Muse (Pipleis) to inspire in him a poem of diversion and solace for Lamia. Similarly, in Carm. 1.32 he appeals to his barbitos to remember the old days, and speak forth at his request with a carmen Latinum. A question that has yet to be answered is this: if Horace did write the poems referred to in 1.26 and 1.32, did he include them in the collection of odes?

The hypothesis offered here is an obvious one, but one not (to my knowledge) explored before: namely that the poems asked for in Carm. 1.26 and Carm. 1.32 are the odes which immediately follow them. In other words, Carm. 1.26 is the proem to 1.27; and Carm. 1.32, to 1.33. What I hope to prove, then, is that in each of these two pairs of odes Horace has skillfully contrived to integrate with the dedicated poem an introductory ode that shares with it important features of theme, allusion, and meter, and to fashion of each pair an organic whole.