The friendship between Horace and Maecenas quickly attained an almost mythical status as the ideal relationship of poet and patron. In addition to such material generosity as his gift of the Sabine farm, Maecenas seems to have given the poet a ‘spiritual’ patronage which was equally important. As a gesture of gratitude, the mature Horace dedicated to his patron the first three books of odes and addresses to him seven poems within that collection. Several of these take the form of invitations to symposia at the poet's Sabine retreat. Their primary interest for critics has been ethical: the poet suggests the value of his humble farm as a recreative, peaceful environment for the sophisticated urban dweller who is caught up in the busy world of Rome. Critics have shown how the invitations to this simple, private world involve the attainment of a proper attitude towards life, an awareness of human limitations. Recent studies have tended to explore more fully the poetic implications of Horace's invitations, by which the poet points beyond the ethical to the artistic principles associated with his Sabine farm. They have, for example, analyzed metaphors which link wine with poetry and Greek things with Italian as Horace's self-conscious expressions of his special contribution to the lyric genre.