Horace on the wrong side of battle

I thought it was very interesting in class today when we were talking about how Augustus pardoned Horace for fighting on the wrong side. I was trying to research more about it tonight and I found a passage that said Horace's family's property in Venusia was confiscated. I couldn't find any more sources that went on into more detail about it, but I was wondering if that information was correct. Also, was it just part of Horace's style that he didn't mention Augustus directly in the poem, or did it have to do with the politics of the time? I was guessing it was more of Horace's style because he often alludes to something but leaves it up to the reader to figure out just what that something is, but I wasn't sure.