Maecenas

Maecenate (patronage)

Maecenas supported Virgil, who wrote the Georgics in his honour. It was Virgil, impressed with examples of Horace's poetry, who introduced Horace to Maecenas. Indeed, Horace begins the first poem of his Odes (Odes I.i) by addressing his new patron. Maecenas gave him full financial support as well as an estate in the Sabine Mountains. Propertius and the minor poets Varius Rufus, Plotius Tucca, Valgius Rufus, and Domitius Marsus also were his protégés.