Horace, it seems, drank humble wine and was himself a humble man. I loved this use of wine as an analogy for the poet and for the transmuting of humility into eternity.

‘This humble wine stands for the humble poet, the freedman’s son, and beyond that for the poetry this man wrote, which was a kind of transformation of humility into eternity.’ 

See also the quote-mosaic review of Harry Eyres’ splendid book on the charm and continuing relevance of Horace.

Source: Harry Eyres, Horace and Me: Life Lessons from an Ancient Poet (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013), p. 44