Horace's Sermones are complex, multi-layered poems soaked in irony and subtlety and scattered with in-jokes and swipes for his literary friends to uncover. The poems’ challenging Latin, elusive allusions and changing voices and styles can make them a daunting challenge for new readers. The language is often complex and loaded, switching between terms drawn from philosophy and the legal world as well as echoes of other poets. A first-time reader can struggle to feel like they are in on the joke and find it difficult to see what is hidden beneath the surface.

The second book of the Sermones has not attracted the same scholarly attention as Horace's other works, yet the eight poems contained within it are an equally impressive display of the poet's skill. Scratch the surface of these apparently casual conversations, and there is a world of double meanings, subtle irony and shifting targets, where every word is precisely chosen and placed. Horace is a demanding writer who does not make things easy for his audience.

F.'s edition of Sermones 2 makes these challenging poems a more accessible and readable collection. It delivers a richer and more rewarding reading that draws out the subtleties in Horace's work and builds the context around them. It highlights the effects of Horace's careful choice of words and the subtle implications tied up in vocabulary, identifying the switches in tone and register and tracing the echoes with Plato, Lucretius, Virgil and Homer among others. Its strength is its ability to make what F. describes in his preface as these ‘oddball’ poems easier to understand for the new reader, while also uncovering yet more layers for those already familiar with Horace's work.

In recent years F. Muecke's 1993 commentary has been the most widely used edition of the text. F.'s work takes full advantage of the scholarship on the poems since then, not least his own work on Horace as well as P. Fedeli's 1994 commentary and E. Oliensis's Horace and the Rhetoric of Authority (1998). E. Gowers's The Loaded Table (1993) is also an essential companion to a collection of poems so filled with food. Despite Muecke's comprehensive treatment of the poems, there is a still a sense that there is more to be mined from the poems and new layers to reveal. F. sets himself the challenge of unearthing some of the undiscovered nuggets lying within, and it is a challenge in which he succeeds.

He approaches the book as a collection that should be read in sequence in order to bring out the satiric effect of the transitions between the poems (p. 10). After finishing his opening with a vow to speak his mind, Horace immediately lets someone else do the talking in 2.2. The pattern continues, as Horace repeatedly undermines himself and his previous statements, building the irony and the sense that nothing here can be taken at face value. Through this sequential reading, F. finds ‘a gradual progression through time … as if one were tagging along with H. through the experiences of a long Roman day’ (p. 11). This approach is well suited to the tone of the poems where the reader feels like they are eavesdropping on a private conversation.

The commentary for each poem is accompanied by an introductory essay, which sets a detailed scene and helps explain the humour. Unlike Muecke, F. does not include a translation of the full text; however, he does unpick particularly tricky passages, in some cases suggesting a new interpretation of lines that have proved troublesome and contentious in the past. One such example is the suggested reading of the slave Davus’ discussion of madness and the perils of adultery in 2.7.63–4:

F. presents a persuasive case for taking the lines as a series of sexual double entendres that compare Davus’ own erotic adventures with those of Horace, where ‘position’ can be sexual or social and ‘being on top’ also has a double meaning (pp. 278–9). These multiple meanings and layers of understanding add to the richness of Horace's satire and a world where nothing is as simple as it first seems. F. identifies another such example of where two meanings can be read together in 2.8.15, where the description maris expers could refer to the wine or the wine steward. Reading Horace's satires is not about pinning the text down to one particular meaning, but rather adding to the list of possible interpretations, something F. does well. He does not suggest that he can provide the definitive meaning behind Horace's satires, and often he adds to the list of questions they raise rather than claiming to offer the answer. Like Horace, he leaves it to the reader to determine the meaning for themselves.

While Horace's first book was spoken by the poet himself, a cast of characters is brought on stage to deliver his words in his second collection. F. puts these speakers in context, helping the reader understand their character and what that adds to their words. The longest speech is given to the Stoic convert Damasippus in 2.3, ironically berating Horace for his lack of literary output. F.'s depiction of him is particularly thorough and effective (pp. 108–10). By piecing together a description of the real-life Damasippus, a well-connected businessman who lost his reputation and family fortune, the reader is in a much better position to understand the satiric effect Horace creates with his choice of speaker. This is combined with an explanation of how Damasippus’ choice of words would have made him appear to Horace's audience. Armed with a clearer picture of Damasippus in mind, more of the poem's satiric effects begin to emerge.

It is in 2.3 where we are introduced to Horace's Sabine villa, a gift from his famous and powerful friend Maecenas. As in Horace's first book, Maecenas’ influence pervades the collection and does not always show Horace in the most flattering light. The relationship between the poet and his patron is a focus throughout F.'s book, and his analysis raises questions about what Horace may be saying about patronage more widely, as well as his own position.

When Davus derides Horace in 2.7.32–7 for dropping everything for a summons from Maecenas, F. suggests his relationship to his patron is like a master and slave or a parasite instead of a poet (p. 272). There are more parallels highlighted in 2.5, where Odysseus and Tiresias discuss the merits of chasing inheritances. F. points to Tiresias’ implication that ‘the role of captator and generous patron are two sides of the same coin’ (p. 224), and the impact of sequential reading is rightly highlighted here. After 2.5 closes with advice for the would-be captator to offer his potential target a farm, 2.6 begins with Horace praising the country estate he has received from Maecenas. F. puts Maecenas’ role as a patron under the spotlight again in the final poem of the collection, Nasidienus’ dinner party. The host who is keen for his guest of honour to notice the nuances that reveal his excellent taste echoes the pack of poets who are just as eager for him to appreciate the subtleties of their work (p. 295). This reading raises the question of how Horace's poet friends – and Maecenas himself – would have interpreted the depiction of the patronage relationship in their literary circle.

We will never be able to identify all the swipes and allusions woven into Horace's work, and perhaps that was also true of his original audience. Like the ideal banquet that the poems frequently discuss, Horace serves up a varied menu filled with subtle touches that only the true connoisseur would appreciate – sprinkled with a serving of sharp satiric vinegar.

By delving beneath the surface of the poems, F.'s work enables a reading of Sermones 2 that brings to light more of its layers and possible meanings, with each discovery enriching the reader's experience. The clear explanation of the language, syntax and style increase the accessibility of the poems and enable a greater appreciation of Horace's skill as a poet who demands much from his reader, but will, as F. shows, richly reward their efforts.