Clarus ob id factum, donis ornatur honestis,¡ NOTES. Ver. 43. Gave him much praise, and some reward beside.] For the sake of a stroke of satire, he has here weakened that circumstance, on which the turn of the story depends. Horace avoided it, though the avaricious character of Lucullus was a tempting occasion to indulge his raillery. Warburton. Ver. 45. Its name] An idle, expletive line. As also his verse 49, below: Don't you remember; evidently taken from Dacier: Ne savez vous l'histoire du soldat de Lucullus? Warton. Ver. 51. "Let him take castles who has ne'er a groat."] This has neither the force nor the justness of the original. Horace makes his soldier say: Ibit eò, quò vis, qui zonam perdidit;" for it was not his poverty, but his loss, that pushed him upon danger; many being sufficient to poverty, who cannot bear the sudden change of condition occasioned by losses. What betrayed our Poet into this inaccuracy of expression was, its suiting better with the application. But, in a great writer, we pardon nothing. And such should not forget, that the expression is not perfect, but when the ideas it conveys fit both the tale and the application: for then they reflect mutual light upon one another. Warburton. Ver. 53. To read in Greek the wrath of Peleus' son.] This cir cumstance Next pleased his Excellence a town to batter; (Its name I know not, and 'tis no great matter;) 45 "Go on, my friend, (he cried,) see yonder walls! Advance and conquer! go where glory calls! More honours, more rewards, attend the brave." Don't you remember what reply he gave? 66 D'ye think me, noble general, such a sot? To hunt for truth in Maudlin's learned NOTES. grove. 50 55 cumstance has a happier application in the Imitation than in the Original; and properly introduces the 68th verse. Warton. Ver. 55. The better art] Dacier interprets the words, curvo dignoscere rectum, the study of geometry, which is rather absurd, Warton. Ver. 55. The better art to know the good from bad:] Our Poet mistook, as many have done before and since his time, the true meaning of his author : Scilicèt ut possem curvo dignoscere rectum, Atque inter silvas Academi quærere verum : that is, to distinguish a right line from a curve: for geometry was the indispensable introduction to the philosophy of the academic school. Creech was our Poet's guide: And taught me how to separate bad from good. And the reader, who will make the comparison, will discover various obligations throughout these Imitations to that translator. Wakefield. Ver. 57. in Maudlin's learned grove.] He had a partiality for this college in Oxford, in which he had spent many agreeable days with his friend Mr. Digby, who provided rooms for him at that college. Warton. Atque inter silvas Academi quærere verum. NOTES. Ver. 60. by sufferers thought unjust,] By orders from government for the removal of Papists to a certain distance from the metropolis. Wakefield. Ver. 63. mighty WILLIAM's] Horace uses some very artful and apologetical terms, in the original, in speaking of the part he had taken against Augustus. Dura tempora-belli æstus civilisAugusti lacertis-dimisere-decisis pennis-for being totally plundered. Warton. Ver. 64. For Right Hereditary] Admirable as these lines are, yet, from the nature of the subject, they cannot be so interesting as the events in Horace's life. The inconveniency Pope laboured under from being a Papist, and subject to penal laws, are not so striking as Horace's being taken from Athens by Brutus; and having the command of a Roman legion given to him; being present at the battle of Philippi; and losing all his property for his attachment to Brutus and his republican friends. Dacier, like a true Frenchman, imagines, that a want of proper officers induced Brutus to give Horace this command in the army, Did he not recollect or know, that great numbers of young Romans, of spirit and ability, flocked to the standard of Brutus, and appeared forward in supporting the great cause of liberty? Warton. Ver. 69. Indebted to no prince or peer alive,] Indeed, it would be But knottier points we knew not half so well, And certain laws, by sufferers thought unjust, 60 Hopes after hopes of pious Papists fail'd, He stuck to poverty with peace of mind; But, (thanks to Homer,) since I live and thrive, Sure I should want the care of ten Monroes, 65 70 "Years following years, steal something every day, At last they steal us from ourselves away; In one our frolics, one amusements end, In one a mistress drops, in one a friend; NOTES. 75 be very hard upon authors, if the subscribing for a book, which does honour to one's age and country, and consequently reflects back part of it on the Subscribers, should be esteemed a debt or obligation. Warburton. Ver. 70. Monroes,] Dr. Monroe, Physician to Bedlam Hospital. Warburton. Ver. 73. At last they steal us from ourselves away;] i. e. Time changes all our passions, appetites, and inclinations. Warburton. Ver. 74. In one our frolics,] These two lines are languid in comparison of the brevity of the original : jocos, venerem, convivia, ludum; Languid also is verse 80: what would you have me do? and verse 85 is too quaint and proverbial. Also in ver. 88, in stead Tendunt extorquere poëmata. Quid faciam vis? Quid dem? quid non dem ? renuis tu, quod jubet alter: Quod petis, id sanè est invisum acidumque duobus. iPræter cætera, me Romane poëmata censes Scribere posse, inter tot curas, totque labores? Hic sponsum vocat, hic auditum scripta, relictis NOTES. stead of the single word, præterea, he has given a whole line. But, on the other hand, the verses 90 and 91 are very forcible. Warton. Ver. 83. and that Pindaric lays?] Of our modern lyric poetry, the English is Pindaric, and the Latin, Horatian. The first is like boiled meats, of different tastes and flavours, but all insipid: the other, like the same meats potted, all of one spicy taste, and equally high flavoured. The reason is, the English ode-makers only imitate Pindar's sense; whereas the Latin employ the very words of Horace. Warburton. The note on this passage concerning our common modern lyric poetry, was written some years before Gray had so effectually vindicated this species of poetry from the objections here made to it. Warton. Ver. 87. Oldfield-Dartineuf] Two celebrated gluttons.-This instance adds a beauty to the whole passage, as intimating that the demand for verse is only a species of luxury. Warburton. Warton. But it does not appear to be at all intimated. Ver. 93. A poet begs, &c.] Many are the poets who could not do justice to their works by reading them with propriety. Corneille, Dryden, and Thomson, were remarkably bad readers. On the contrary, Virgil, Racine, and Boileau, and above all, Nat Lee, were |
