 Such refinement of style was not unusual for Horace.His craftsmanship as a wordsmith is apparent even in his earliest attempts at this or that kind of poetry, but his handling of each genre tended to improve over time as he adapted it to his own needs.Thus for example it is generally agreed that his second book of "Satires", where human folly is revealed through dialogue between characters, is superior to the first, where he propounds his ethics in monologues.