No More Learning

_He apologizes to Maecenas for his long absence from Rome; and
acknowledges his favors to him in such a manner as to declare liberty
preferable to all other blessings_.


Having promised you that I would be in the country but five days, false
to my word, I am absent the whole of August. But, if you would have me
live sound and in perfect health, the indulgence which you grant me,
Maecenas, when I am ill, you will grant me [also] when I am afraid of
being ill: while [the time of] the first figs, and the [autumnal] heat
graces the undertaker with his black attendants; while every father and
mother turn pale with fear for their children; and while over-acted
diligence, and attendance at the forum, bring on fevers and unseal
wills. But, if the winter shall scatter snow upon the Alban fields, your
poet will go down to the seaside, and be careful of himself, and read
bundled up; you, dear friend, he will revisit with the zephyrs, if you
will give him leave, and with the first swallow.

You have made me rich, not in the manner in which the Calabrian host
bids [his guest] eat of his pears. "Eat, pray, sir. " "I have had
enough. " "But take away with you what quantity you will. " "You are very
kind. " "You will carry them no disagreeable presents to your little
children. " "I am as much obliged by your offer, as if I were sent away
loaded. " "As you please: you leave them to be devoured to-day by the
hogs. " The prodigal and fool gives away what he despises and hates; the
reaping of favors like these has produced, and ever will produce,
ungrateful men. A good and wise man professes himself ready to do
kindness to the deserving; and yet is not ignorant, how true coins
differ from lupines. I will also show myself deserving of the honor of
being grateful. But if you would not have me depart any whither, you
must restore my vigorous constitution, the black locks [that grew] on my
narrow forehead: you must restore to me the power of talking pleasantly:
you must restore to me the art of laughing with becoming ease, and
whining over my liquor at the jilting of the wanton Cynara.

A thin field-mouse had by chance crept through a narrow cranny into a
chest of grain; and, having feasted itself, in vain attempted to come
out again, with its body now stuffed full. To which a weasel at a
distance cries, "If you would escape thence, repair lean to the narrow
hole which you entered lean. " If I be addressed with this similitude, I
resign all; neither do I, sated with delicacies, cry up the calm repose
of the vulgar, nor would I change my liberty and ease for the riches of
the Arabians. You have often commended me for being modest; when present
you heard [from me the appellations of] king and father, nor am I a word
more sparing in your absence. Try whether I can cheerfully restore what
you have given me. Not amiss [answered] Telemachus, son of the patient
Ulysses: "The country of Ithaca is not proper for horses, as being
neither extended into champaign fields, nor abounding with much grass:
Atrides, I will leave behind me your gifts, [which are] more proper for
yourself. " Small things best suit the small. No longer does imperial
Rome please me, but unfrequented Tibur, and unwarlike Tarentum.

Philip, active and strong, and famed for pleading causes, while
returning from his employment about the eighth hour, and now of a great
age, complaining that the Carinae were too far distant from the forum;
spied, as they say, a person clean shaven in a barber's empty shed,
composedly paring his own nails with a knife. "Demetrius," [says he,]
(this slave dexterously received his master's orders,) "go inquire, and
bring me word from what house, who he is, of what fortune, who is his
father, or who is his patron. " He goes, returns, and relates, that "he
is by name, Vulteius Maena, an auctioneer, of small fortune, of a
character perfectly unexceptionable, that he could upon occasion ply
busily, and take his ease, and get, and spend; delighting in humble
companions and a settled dwelling, and (after business ended) in the
shows, and the Campus Martius. "

"I would inquire of him himself all this, which you report; bid him come
to sup with me. " Maena can not believe it; he wonders silently within
himself. Why many words? He answers, "It is kind. " "Can he deny me? "
"The rascal denies, and disregards or dreads you. " In the morning Philip
comes unawares upon Vulteius, as he is selling brokery-goods to the
tunic'd populace, and salutes him first. He pleads to Philip his
employment, and the confinement of his business, in excuse for not
having waited upon him in the morning; and afterward, for not seeing him
first. "Expect that I will excuse you on this condition, that you sup
with me to-day. " "As you please. " "Then you will come after the ninth
hour: now go: strenuously increase your stock. " When they were come to
supper, having discoursed of things of a public and private nature, at
length he is dismissed to go to sleep. When he had often been seen, to
repair like a fish to the concealed hook, in the morning a client, and
now as a constant guest; he is desired to accompany [Philip] to his
country-seat near the city, at the proclaiming of the Latin festivals.
Mounted on horseback, he ceases not to cry up the Sabine fields and air.
Philip sees it, and smiles: and, while he is seeking amusement and
diversion for himself out of every thing, while he makes him a present
of seven thousand sesterces, and promises to lend him seven thousand
more: he persuades him to purchase a farm: he purchases one. That I may
not detain you with a long story beyond what is necessary, from a smart
cit he becomes a downright rustic, and prates of nothing but furrows and
vineyards; prepares his elms; is ready to die with eager diligence, and
grows old through a passionate desire of possessing. But when his sheep
were lost by theft, his goats by distemper, his harvest deceived his
hopes, his ox was killed with plowing; fretted with these losses, at
midnight he snatches his nag, and in a passion makes his way to Philip's
house. Whom as soon as Philip beheld, rough and unshaven, "Vulteius,"
said he, "you seem to me to be too laborious and earnest. " "In truth,
patron," replied he, "you would call me a wretch, if you would apply to
me my true name. I beseech and conjure you then, by your genius and your
right hand and your household gods, restore me to my former life. " As
soon as a man perceives, how much the things he has discarded excel
those which he pursues, let him return in time, and resume those which
he relinquished.

It is a truth, that every one ought to measure himself by his own proper
foot and standard.

* * * * *



EPISTLE VIII.

TO CELSUS ALBINOVANUS.

_That he was neither well in body, nor in mind; that Celtics should bear
his prosperity with moderation_.


My muse at my request, give joy and wish success to Celsus Albinovanus,
the attendant and the secretary of Nero. If he shall inquire, what I am
doing, say that I, though promising many and fine things, yet live
neither well [according to the rules of strict philosophy], nor
agreeably; not because the hail has crushed my vines, and the heat has
nipped my olives; nor because my herds are distempered in distant
pastures; but because, less sound in my mind than in my whole body, I
will hear nothing, learn nothing which may relieve me, diseased as I am;
that I am displeased with my faithful physicians, am angry with my
friends for being industrious to rouse me from a fatal lethargy; that I
pursue things which have done me hurt, avoid things which I am persuaded
would be of service, inconstant as the wind, at Rome am in love with
Tibur, at Tibur with Rome. After this, inquire how he does; how he
manages his business and himself; how he pleases the young prince and
his attendants. If he shall say, well; first congratulate him, then
remember to whisper this admonition in his ears: As you, Celsus, bear
your fortunes, so will we bear you.

* * * * *



EPISTLE IX.

TO CLAUDIUS TIBERIUS NERO.

_He recommends Septimius to him_.


Of all the men in the world Septimius surely, O Claudius, knows how much
regard you have for me. For when he requests, and by his entreaties in a
manner compels me, to undertake to recommend and introduce him to you,
as one worthy of the confidence and the household of Nero, who is wont
to choose deserving objects, thinking I discharge the office of an
intimate friend; he sees and knows better than myself what I can do. I
said a great deal, indeed, in order that I might come off excused: but I
was afraid, lest I should be suspected to pretend my interest was less
than it is, to be a dissembler of my own power, and ready to serve
myself alone. So, avoiding the reproach of a greater fault, I have put
in for the prize of town-bred confidence. If then you approve of modesty
being superseded at the pressing entreaties of a friend, enrol this
person among your retinue, and believe him to be brave and good.



EPISTLE X.

TO ARISTIUS FUSCUS.

_He praises a country before a city life, as more agreeable to nature,
and more friendly to liberty_.


We, who love the country, salute Fuscus that loves the town; in this
point alone [being] much unlike, but in other things almost twins, of
brotherly sentiments: whatever one denies the other too [denies]; we
assent together: like old and constant doves, you keep the nest; I
praise the rivulets, the rocks overgrown with moss, and the groves of
the delightful country. Do you ask why? I live and reign, as soon as I
have quitted those things which you extol to the skies with joyful
applause. And, like a priest's, fugitive slave I reject luscious wafers,
I desire plain bread, which is more agreeable now than honied cakes.

If we must live suitably to nature, and a plot of ground is to be first
sought to raise a house upon, do you know any place preferable to the
blissful country? Is there any spot where the winters are more
temperate? where a more agreeable breeze moderates the rage of the
Dog-star, and the season of the Lion, when once that furious sign has
received the scorching sun? Is there a place where envious care less
disturbs our slumbers? Is the grass inferior in smell or beauty to the
Libyan pebbles? Is the water, which strives to burst the lead in the
streets, purer than that which trembles in murmurs down its sloping
channel? Why, trees are nursed along the variegated columns [of the
city]; and that house is commended, which has a prospect of distant
fields. You may drive out nature with a fork, yet still she will return,
and, insensibly victorious, will break through [men's] improper
disgusts.

Not he who is unable to compare the fleeces that drink up the dye of
Aquinum with the Sidonian purple, will receive a more certain damage
and nearer to his marrow, than he who shall not be able to distinguish
false from true. He who has been overjoyed by prosperity, will be
shocked by a change of circumstances. If you admire any thing [greatly],
you will be unwilling to resign it. Avoid great things; under a mean
roof one may outstrip kings, and the favorites of kings, in one's life.

The stag, superior in fight, drove the horse from the common pasture,
till the latter, worsted in the long contest, implored the aid of man
and received the bridle; but after he had parted an exulting conqueror
from his enemy, he could not shake the rider from his back, nor the bit
from his mouth. So he who, afraid of poverty, forfeits his liberty, more
valuable than mines, avaricious wretch, shall carry a master, and shall
eternally be a slave, for not knowing how to use a little. When a man's
condition does not suit him, it will be as a shoe at any time; which, if
too big for his foot, will throw him down; if too little, will pinch
him. [If you are] cheerful under your lot, Aristius, you will live
wisely; nor shall you let me go uncorrected, if I appear to scrape
together more than enough and not have done. Accumulated money is the
master or slave of each owner, and ought rather to follow than to lead
the twisted rope.

These I dictated to thee behind the moldering temple of Vacuna; in all
other things happy, except that thou wast not with me.

* * * * *



EPISTLE XI.

TO BULLATIUS.

_Endeavoring to recall him back to Rome from Asia, whither he had
retreated through his weariness of the civil wars, he advises him to
ease the disquietude of his mind not by the length of his journey, but
by forming his mind into a right disposition_.


What, Bullatius, do you think of Chios, and of celebrated Lesbos? What
of neat Samos? What of Sardis, the royal residence of Croesus? What of
Smyrna, and Colophon? Are they greater or less than their fame? Are they
all contemptible in comparison of the Campus Martius and the river
Tiber? Does one of Attalus' cities enter into your wish? Or do you
admire Lebedus, through a surfeit of the sea and of traveling? You know
what Lebedus is; it is a more unfrequented town than Gabii and Fidenae;
yet there would I be willing to live; and, forgetful of my friends and
forgotten by them, view from land Neptune raging at a distance. But
neither he who comes to Rome from Capua, bespattered with rain and mire,
would wish to live in an inn; nor does he, who has contracted a cold,
cry up stoves and bagnios as completely furnishing a happy life: nor, if
the violent south wind has tossed you in the deep, will you therefore
sell your ship on the other side of the Aegean Sea. On a man sound in
mind Rhodes and beautiful Mitylene have such an effect, as a thick cloak
at the summer solstice, thin drawers in snowy weather, [bathing in] the
Tiber in winter, a fire in the month of August. While it is permitted,
and fortune preserves a benign aspect, let absent Samos, and Chios, and
Rhodes, be commended by you here at Rome. Whatever prosperous; hour
Providence bestows upon you, receive it with a thankful hand: and defer
not [the enjoyment of] the comforts of life, till a year be at an end;
that in whatever place you are, you may say you have lived with
satisfaction. For if reason and discretion, not a place that commands a
prospect of the wide-extended sea, remove our cares; they change their
climate, not their disposition, who run beyond the sea: a busy idleness
harrasses us: by ships and by chariots we seek to live happily. What you
seek is here [at home], is at Ulubrae, if a just temper of mind is not
wanting to you.

* * * * *



EPISTLE XII.

TO ICCIUS.

_Leader the appearance of praising the man's parsimony, he archly
ridicules it; introduces Grosphus to him, and concludes with a few
articles of news concerning the Roman affairs_.


O Iccius, if you rightly enjoy the Sicilian products, which you collect
for Agrippa, it is not possible that greater affluence can be given you
by Jove. Away with complaints! for that man is by no means poor, who has
the use or everything, he wants. If it is well with your belly, your
back, and your feet, regal wealth can add nothing greater. If perchance
abstemious amid profusion you live upon salad and shell-fish, you will
continue to live in such a manner, even if presently fortune shall flow
upon you in a river of gold; either because money can not change the
natural disposition, or because it is your opinion that all things are
inferior to virtue alone. Can we wonder that cattle feed upon the
meadows and corn-fields of Democritus, while his active soul is abroad
[traveling] without his body? When you, amid such great impurity and
infection of profit, have no taste for any thing trivial, but still mind
[only] sublime things: what causes restrain the sea, what rules the
year, whether the stars spontaneously or by direction wander about and
are erratic, what throws obscurity on the moon, and what brings out her
orb, what is the intention and power of the jarring harmony of things,
whether Empedocles or the clever Stertinius be in the wrong.

However, whether you murder fishes, or onions and garlic, receive
Pompeius Grosphus; and, if he asks any favor, grant it him frankly:
Grosphus will desire nothing but what is right and just. The proceeds of
friendship are cheap, when good men want any thing.

But that you may not be ignorant in what situation the Roman affairs
are; the Cantabrians have fallen by the valor of Agrippa, the Armenians
by that of Claudius Nero: Phraates has, suppliant on his knees, admitted
the laws and power of Caesar. Golden plenty has poured out the fruits of
Italy from a full horn.

* * * * *



EPISTLE XIII.

TO VINNIUS ASINA.

_Horace cautions him to present his poems to Augustus at a proper
opportunity, and with due decorum_.


As on your setting out I frequently and fully gave you instructions,
Vinnius, that you would present these volumes to Augustus sealed up if
he shall be in health, if in spirits, finally, if he shall ask for them:
do not offend out of zeal to me, and industriously bring an odium upon
my books [by being] an agent of violent officiousness. If haply the
heavy load of my paper should gall you, cast it from you, rather than
throw down your pack in a rough manner where you are directed to carry
it, and turn your paternal name of Asina into a jest, and make yourself
a common story. Make use of your vigor over the hills, the rivers, and
the fens. As soon as you have achieved your enterprise, and arrived
there, you must keep your burden in this position; lest you happen to
carry my bundle of books under your arm, as a clown does a lamb, or as
drunken Pyrrhia [in the play does] the balls of pilfered wool, or as a
tribe-guest his slippers with his fuddling-cap. You must not tell
publicly, how you sweated with carrying those verses, which may detain
the eyes and ears of Caesar. Solicited with much entreaty, do your best.
Finally, get you gone, farewell: take care you do not stumble, and break
my orders.

* * * * *



EPISTLE XIV.

TO HIS STEWARD.

_He upbraids his levity for contemning a country life, which had been
his choice, and being eager to return to Rome_.


Steward of my woodlands and little farm that restores me to myself,
which you despise, [though formerly] inhabited by five families, and
wont to send five good senators to Varia: let us try, whether I with
more fortitude pluck the thorns out of my mind, or you out of my ground:
and whether Horace or his estate be in a better condition.

Though my affection and solicitude for Lamia, mourning for his brother,
lamenting inconsolably for his brother's loss, detain me; nevertheless
my heart and soul carry me thither and long to break through those
barriers that obstruct my way. I pronounce him the happy man who dwells
in the country, you him [who lives] in the city. He to whom his
neighbor's lot is agreeable, must of consequence dislike his own. Each
of us is a fool for unjustly blaming the innocent place. The mind is in
fault, which never escapes from itself. When you were a drudge at every
one's beck, you tacitly prayed for the country: and now, [being
appointed] my steward, you wish for the city, the shows, and the baths.
You know I am consistent with myself, and loth to go, whenever
disagreeable business drags me to Rome. We are not admirers of the same
things: henoe you and I disagree. For what you reckon desert and
inhospitable wilds, he who is of my way of thinking calls delightful
places; and dislikes what you esteem pleasant. The bagnio, I perceive,
and the greasy tavern raise your inclination for the city: and this,
because my little spot will sooner yield frankincense and pepper than
grapes; nor is there a tavern near, which can supply you with wine; nor
a minstrel harlot, to whose thrumming you may dance, cumbersome to the
ground: and yet you exercise with plowshares the fallows that have been
a long while untouched, you take due care of the ox when unyoked, and
give him his fill with leaves stripped [from the boughs]. The sluice
gives an additional trouble to an idle fellow, which, if a shower fall,
must be taught by many a mound to spare the sunny meadow.

Come now, attend to what hinders our agreeing. [Me,] whom fine garments
and dressed locks adorned, whom you know to have pleased venal Cynara
without a present, whom [you have seen] quaff flowing Falernian from
noon--a short supper [now] delights, and a nap upon the green turf by
the stream side; nor is it a shame to have been gay, but not to break
off that gayety. There there is no one who reduces my possessions with
envious eye, nor poisons them with obscure malice and biting slander;
the neighbors smile at me removing clods and stones. You had rather be
munching your daily allowance with the slaves in town; you earnestly
pray to be of the number of these: [while my] cunning foot-boy envies
you the use of the firing, the flocks and the garden. The lazy ox wishes
for the horse's trappings: the horse wishes to go to plow. But I shall
be of opinion, that each of them ought contentedly to exercise that art
which he understands.

* * * * *



EPISTLE XV.

TO C. NEUMONIUS VALA.

_Preparing to go to the baths either at Velia or Salernum, he inquires
after the healthfulness and agreeableness of the places_.


It is your part, Vala, to write to me (and mine to give credit to your
information) what sort of a winter is it at Velia, what the air at
Salernum, what kind of inhabitants the country consists of, and how the
road is (for Antonius Musa [pronounces] Baiae to be of no service to me;
yet makes me obnoxious to the place, when I am bathed in cold water
even in the midst of the frost [by his prescription]. In truth the
village murmers at their myrtle-groves being deserted and the sulphurous
waters, said to expel lingering disorders from the nerves, despised;
envying those invalids, who have the courage to expose their head and
breast to the Clusian springs, and retire to Gabii and [such] cold
countries. My course must be altered, and my horse driven beyond his
accustomed stages. Whither are you going? will the angry rider say,
pulling in the left-hand rein, I am not bound for Cumae or Baiae:--but
the horse's ear is in the bit. ) [You must inform me likewise] which of
the two people is supported by the greatest abundance of corn; whether
they drink rainwater collected [in reservoirs], or from perennial wells
of never-failing water (for as to the wine of that part I give myself no
trouble; at my country-seat I can dispense and bear with any thing: but
when I have arrived at a sea-port, I insist upon that which is generous
and mellow, such as may drive away my cares, such as may flow into my
veins and animal spirits with a rich supply of hope, such as may supply
me with words, such as may make me appear young to my Lucanian
mistress). Which tract of land produces most hares, which boars: which
seas harbor the most fishes and sea-urchins, that I may be able to
return home thence in good case, and like a Phaeacian.

When Maenius, having bravely made away with his paternal and maternal
estates, began to be accounted a merry fellow--a vagabond droll, who had
no certain place of living; who, when dinnerless, could not distinguish
a fellow-citizen from an enemy; unmerciful in forging any scandal
against any person; the pest, and hurricane, and gulf of the market;
whatever he could get, he gave to his greedy gut. This fellow, when he
had extorted little or nothing from the favorers of his iniquity, or
those that dreaded it, would eat up whole dishes of coarse tripe and
lamb's entrails; as much as would have sufficed three bears; then truly,
[like] reformer Bestius, would he say, that the bellies of extravagant
fellows ought to be branded with a red-hot iron. The same man [however],
when he had reduced to smoke and ashes whatever more considerable booty
he had gotten; 'Faith, said he, I do not wonder if some persons eat up
their estates; since nothing is better than a fat thrush, nothing finer
than a lage sow's paunch. In fact, I am just such another myself; for,
when matters are a little deficient, I commend, the snug and homely
fare, of sufficient resolution amid mean provisions; but, if any thing
be offered better and more delicate, I, the same individual, cry out,
that ye are wise and alone live well, whose wealth and estate are
conspicuous from the elegance of your villas.

* * * * *



EPISTLE XVI.

TO QUINCTIUS.

_He describes to Quinctius the form, situation, and advantages of his
country house: then declares that probity consists in the consciousness
of good works; liberty, in probity_.


Ask me not, my best Quinctius, whether my farm maintains its master with
corn-fields, or enriches him with olives, or with fruits, or meadow
land, or the elm tree clothed with vines: the shape and situation of my
ground shall be described to you at large.

There is a continued range of mountains, except where they are separated
by a shadowy vale; but in such a manner, that the approaching sun views
it on the right side, and departing in his flying car warms the left.
You would commend its temperature. What? If my [very] briers produce in
abundance the ruddy cornels and damsens? If my oak and holm tree
accommodate my cattle with plenty of acorns, and their master with a
copious shade? You would say that Tarentum, brought nearer [to Rome],
shone in its verdant beauty. A fountain too, deserving to give name to a
river, insomuch that Hebrus does not surround Thrace more cool or more
limpid, flows salubrious to the infirm head, salubrious to the bowels.
These sweet, yea now (if you will credit me) these delightful retreats
preserve me to you in a state of health [even] in the September season.

You live well, if you take care to support the character which you bear.
Long ago, all Rome has proclaimed you happy: but I am apprehensive, lest
you should give more credit concerning yourself to any one than
yourself; and lest you should imagine a man happy, who differs from the
wise and good; or, because the people pronounce you sound and perfectly
well, lest you dissemble the lurking fever at meal-times, until a
trembling seize your greased hands. The false modesty of fools conceals
ulcers [rather than have them cured]. If any one should mention battles
which you had fought by land and sea, and in such expressions as these
should soothe your listening ears: "May Jupiter, who consults the safety
both of you and of the city, keep it in doubt, whether the people be
more solicitous for your welfare, or you for the people's;" you might
perceive these encomiums to belong [only] to Augustus when you suffer
yourself to be termed a philosopher, and one of a refined life; say,
pr'ythee, would you answer [to these appellations] in your own name? To
be sure--I like to be called a wise and good man, as well as you. He who
gave this character to-day, if he will, can take it away to-morrow: as
the same people, if they have conferred the consulship on an unworthy
person, may take it away from him: "Resign; it is ours," they cry: I do
resign it accordingly, and chagrined withdraw. Thus if they should call
me rogue, deny me to be temperate, assert that I had strangled my own
father with a halter; shall I be stung, and change color at these false
reproaches? Whom does false honor delight, or lying calumny terrify,
except the vicious and sickly-minded? Who then is a good man? He who
observes the decrees of the senate, the laws and rules of justice; by
whose arbitration many and important disputes are decided; by whose
surety private property, and by whose testimony causes are safe. Yet
[perhaps] his own family and all the neighborhood observe this man,
specious in a fair outside, [to be] polluted within. If a slave should
say to me, "I have not committed a robbery, nor run away:" "You have
your reward; you are not galled with the lash," I reply. "I have not
killed any man:" "You shall not [therefore] feed the carrion crows on
the cross. " I am a good man, and thrifty: your Sabine friend denies, and
contradicts the fact. For the wary wolf dreads the pitfall, and the hawk
the suspected snares, and the kite the concealed hook. The good, [on the
contrary,] hate to sin from the love of virtue; you will commit no crime
merely for the fear of punishment. Let there be a prospect of escaping,
you will confound sacred and profane things together. For, when from a
thousand bushels of beans you filch one, the loss in that case to me is
less, but not your villainy. The honest man, whom every forum and every
court of justice looks upon with reverence, whenever he makes an
atonement to the gods with a wine or an ox; after he has pronounced in a
clear distinguishable voice, "O father Janus, O Apollo;" moves his lips
as one afraid of being heard; "O fair Laverna put it in my power to
deceive; grant me the appearance of a just and upright man: throw a
cloud of night over my frauds. " I do not see how a covetous man can be
better, how more free than a slave, when he stoops down for the sake of
a penny, stuck in the road [for sport]. For he who will be covetous,
will also be anxious: but he that lives in a state of anxiety, will
never in my estimation be free.
He who is always in a hurry, and
immersed in the study of augmenting his fortune, has lost the arms, and
deserted the post of virtue. Do not kill your captive, if you can sell
him: he will serve you advantageously: let him, being inured to
drudgery, feed [your cattle], and plow; let him go to sea, and winter in
the midst of the waves; let him be of use to the market, and import corn
and provisions. A good and wise man will have courage to say, "Pentheus,
king of Thebes, what indignities will you compel me to suffer and
endure. 'I will take away your goods:' my cattle, I suppose, my land, my
movables and money: you may take them. 'I will confine you with
handcuffs and fetters under a merciless jailer. ' The deity himself will
discharge me, whenever I please. " In my opinion, this is his meaning; I
will die. Death is the ultimate boundary of human matters.
* * * * *



EPISTLE XVII.

TO SCAEVA.

_That a life of business is preferable to a private and inactive one;
the friendship of great men is a laudable acquisition, yet their favors
are ever to be solicited with modesty and caution_.


Though, Scaeva, you have sufficient prudence of your own, and well know
how to demean yourself toward your superiors; [yet] hear what are the
sentiments of your old crony, who himself still requires teaching, just
as if a blind man should undertake to show the way: however see, if even
I can advance any thing, which you may think worth your while to adopt
as your own.

If pleasant rest, and sleep till seven o'clock, delight you; if dust and
the rumbling of wheels, if the tavern offend you, I shall order you off
for Ferentinum. For joys are not the property of the rich alone: nor
has he lived ill, who at his birth and at his death has passed
unnoticed. If you are disposed to be of service to your friends, and to
treat yourself with somewhat more indulgence, you, being poor, must pay
your respects to the great. Aristippus, if he could dine to his
satisfaction on herbs, would never frequent [the tables] of the great.
If he who blames me, [replies Aristippus,] knew how to live with the
great, he would scorn his vegetables. Tell me, which maxim and conduct
of the two you approve; or, since you are my junior, hear the reason why
Aristippus' opinion is preferable; for thus, as they report, he baffled
the snarling cynic: "I play the buffoon for my own advantage, you [to
please] the populace. This [conduct of mine] is better and far more
honorable; that a horse may carry and a great man feed me, pay court to
the great: you beg for refuse, an inferior to the [poor] giver; though
you pretend you are in want of nothing. " As for Aristippus, every
complexion of life, every station and circumstance sat gracefully upon
him, aspiring in general to greater things, yet equal to the present: on
the other hand, I shall be much surprised, if a contrary way of life
should become [this cynic], whom obstinacy clothes with a double rag.
The one will not wait for his purple robe; but dressed in any thing,
will go through the most frequented places, and without awkwardness
support either character: the other will shun the cloak wrought at
Miletus with greater aversion than [the bite of] dog or viper; he will
die with cold, unless you restore him his ragged garment; restore it,
and let him live like a fool as he is. To perform exploits, and show the
citizens their foes in chains, reaches the throne of Jupiter, and aims
at celestial honors. To have been acceptable to the great, is not the
last of praises. It is not every man's lot to gain Corinth. He
[prudently] sat still who was afraid lest he should not succeed: be it
so; what then? Was it not bravely done by him, who carried his point?
Either here therefore, or nowhere, is what we are investigating. The one
dreads the burden, as too much for a pusillanimous soul and a weak
constitution; the other under takes, and carries it through. Either
virtue is an empty name, or the man who makes the experiment deservedly
claims the honor and the reward.

Those who mention nothing of their poverty before their lord, will gain
more than the importunate. There is a great difference between modestly
accepting, or seizing by violence But this was the principle and source
of every thing [which I alleged]. He who says, "My sister is without a
portion, my mother poor, and my estate neither salable nor sufficient
for my support," cries out [in effect], "Give me a morsel of bread:"
another whines, "And let the platter be carved out for me with half a
share of the bounty. " But if the crow could have fed in silence, he
would have had better fare, and much less of quarreling and of envy.

A companion taken [by his lord] to Brundusium, or the pleasant
Surrentum, who complains of the ruggedness of the roads and the bitter
cold and rains, or laments that his chest is broken open and his
provisions stolen; resembles the well-known tricks of a harlot, weeping
frequently for her necklace, frequently for a garter forcibly taken from
her; so that at length no credit is given to her real griefs and losses.
Nor does he, who has been once ridiculed in the streets, care to lift up
a vagrant with a [pretended] broken leg; though abundant tears should
flow from him; though, swearing by holy Osiris, he says, "Believe me, I
do not impose upon you; O cruel, take up the lame. " "Seek out for a
stranger," cries the hoarse neighborhood.

* * * * *



EPISTLE XVIII.

TO LOLLIUS.

_He treats at large upon the cultivation of the favor of great men; and
concludes with a few words concerning the acquirement of peace of mind_.


If I rightly know your temper, most ingenuous Lollius, you will beware
of imitating a flatterer, while you profess yourself a friend. As a
matron is unlike and of a different aspect from a strumpet, so will a
true friend differ from the toad-eater. There is an opposite vice to
this, rather the greater [of the two]; a clownish, inelegant, and
disagreeable bluntness, which would recommend itself by an unshaven face
and black teeth; while it desires to be termed pure freedom and true
sincerity. Virtue is the medium of the two vices; and equally remote
from either. The one is over-prone to complaisance, and a jester of the
lowest, couch, he so reverences the rich man's nod, so repeats his
speeches, and catches up his falling words; that you would take him for
a school-boy saying his lesson to a rigid master, or a player acting an
underpart; another often wrangles about a goat's hair, and armed engages
for any trifle: "That I, truly, should not have the first credit; and
that I should not boldly speak aloud, what is my real sentiment--[upon
such terms], another life would be of no value. " But what is the subject
of this controversy? Why, whether [the gladiator] Castor or Dolichos be
the cleverer fellow; whether the Minucian, or the Appian, be the better
road to Brundusium.

Him whom pernicious lust, whom quick-dispatching dice strips, whom
vanity dresses out and perfumes beyond his abilities, whom insatiable
hunger and thirst after money, Whom a shame and aversion to poverty
possess, his rich friend (though furnished with a half-score more vices)
hates and abhors; or if he does not hate, governs him; and, like a pious
mother, would have him more wise and virtuous than himself; and says
what is nearly true: "My riches (think not to emulate me) admit of
extravagance; your income is but small: a scanty gown becomes a prudent
dependant: cease to vie with me. " Whomsoever Eutrapelus had a mind to
punish, he presented with costly garments. For now [said he] happy in
his fine clothes, he will assume new schemes and hopes; he will sleep
till daylight; prefer a harlot to his honest-calling; run into debt; and
at last become a gladiator, or drive a gardener's hack for hire.

Do not you at any time pry into his secrets; and keep close what is
intrusted to you, though put to the torture, by wine or passion. Neither
commend your own inclinations, nor find fault with those of others; nor,
when he is disposed to hunt, do you make verses. For by such means the
amity of the twins Zethus and Amphion, broke off; till the lyre,
disliked by the austere brother, was silent. Amphion is thought to have
given way to his brother's humors; so do you yield to the gentle
dictates of your friend in power: as often as he leads forth his dogs
into the fields and his cattle laden with Aetolian nets, arise and lay
aside the peevishness of your unmannerly muse, that you may sup together
on the delicious fare purchased by your labor; an exercise habitual to
the manly Romans, of service to their fame and life and limbs:
especially when you are in health, and are able either to excel the dog
in swiftness, or the boar in strength. Add [to this], that there is no
one who handles martial weapons more gracefully. You well know, with
what acclamations of the spectators you sustain the combats in the
Campus Marcius: in fine, as yet a boy, you endured a bloody campaign and
the Cantabrian wars, beneath a commander, who is now replacing the
standards [recovered] from the Parthian temples: and, if any thing is
wanting, assigns it to the Roman arms. And that you may not withdraw
yourself, and inexcusably be absent; though you are careful to do
nothing out of measure, and moderation, yet you sometimes amuse yourself
at your country-seat. The [mock] fleet divides the little boats [into
two squadrons]: the Actian sea-fight is represented by boys under your
direction in a hostile form: your brother is the foe, your lake the
Adriatic; till rapid victory crowns the one or the other with her bays.
Your patron, who will perceive that you come into his taste, will
applaud your sports with both his hands.

Moreover, that I may advise you (if in aught you stand in need of an
adviser), take great circumspection what you say to any man, and to
whom. Avoid an inquisitive impertinent, for such a one is also a
tattler, nor do open ears faithfully retain what is intrusted to them;
and a word, once sent abroad, flies irrevocably.

Let no slave within the marble threshold of your honored friend inflame
your heart; lest the owner of the beloved damsel gratify you with so
trifling a present, or, mortifying [to your wishes], torment you [with a
refusal].

Look over and over again [into the merits of] such a one, as you
recommend; lest afterward the faults of others strike you with shame. We
are sometimes imposed upon, and now and then introduce an unworthy
person. Wherefore, once deceived, forbear to defend one who suffers by
his own bad conduct; but protect one whom you entirely know, and with
confidence guard him with your patronage, if false accusations attack
him: who being bitten with the tooth of calumny, do you not perceive
that the same danger is threatening you? For it is your own concern,
when the adjoining wall is on fire: and flames neglected are wont to
gain strength.

The attending of the levee of a friend in power seems delightful to the
unexperienced; the experienced dreads it. Do you, while your vessel is
in the main, ply your business, lest a changing gale bear you back
again.

The melancholy hate the merry, and the jocose the melancholy; the
volatile [dislike] the sedate, the indolent the stirring and vivacious:
the quaffers of pure Falernian from midnight hate one who shirks his
turn; notwithstanding you swear you are afraid of the fumes of wine by
night. Dispel gloominess from your forehead: the modest man generally
carries the look of a sullen one; the reserved, of a churl.

In every thing you must read and consult the learned, by what means you
may be enabled to pass your life in an agreeable manner: that insatiable
desire may not agitate and torment you, nor the fear and hope of things
that are but of little account: whether learning acquires virtue, or
nature bestows it? What lessens cares, what may endear you to yourself?
What perfectly renders the temper calm; honor or enticing lucre, or a
secret passage and the path of an unnoticed life?

For my part, as often as the cooling rivulet Digentia refreshes me
(Digentia, of which Mandela drinks, a village wrinkled with cold); what,
my friend, do you think are my sentiments, what do you imagine I pray
for? Why, that my fortune may remain as it is now; or even [if it be
something] less: and that I may live to myself, what remains of my time,
if the gods will that aught do remain: that I may have a good store of
books, and corn provided for the year; lest I fluctuate in suspense of
each uncertain hour. But it is sufficient to sue Jove [for these
externals], which he gives and takes away [at pleasure]; let him grant
life, let him grant wealth: I myself will provide equanimity of temper.
* * * * *



EPISTLE XIX.

TO MAECENAS.

_He shows the folly of some persons who would imitate; and the envy of
others who would censure him_.


O learned Maecenas, if you believe old Gratinus, no verses which are
written by water-drinkers can please, or be long-lived. Ever since
Bacchus enlisted the brain-sick poets among the Satyrs and the Fauns,
the sweet muses have usually smelt of wine in the morning. Homer, by his
excessive praises of wine, is convicted as a booser: father Ennius
himself never sallied forth to sing of arms, unless in drink. "I will
condemn the sober to the bar and the prater's bench, and deprive the
abstemious of the power of singing. "

As soon as he gave out this edict, the poets did not cease to contend in
midnight cups, and to smell of them by day. What! if any savage, by a
stern countenance and bare feet, and the texture of a scanty gown,
should imitate Cato; will he represent the virtue and morals of Cato?
The tongue that imitated Timagenes was the destruction of the Moor,
while he affected to be humorous, and attempted to seem eloquent. The
example that is imitable in its faults, deceives [the ignorant]. Soh! if
I was to grow up pale by accident, [these poetasters] would drink the
blood-thinning cumin. O ye imitators, ye servile herd, how often your
bustlings have stirred my bile, how often my mirth!

I was the original, who set my free footsteps upon the vacant sod; I
trod not in the steps of others. He who depends upon himself, as leader,
commands the swarm. I first showed to Italy the Parian iambics:
following the numbers and spirit of Archilochus, but not his subject and
style, which afflicted Lycambes. You must not, however, crown me with a
more sparing wreath, because I was afraid to alter the measure and
structure of his verse: for the manly Sappho governs her muse by the
measures of Archilochus, so does Alcaeus; but differing from him in the
materials and disposition [of his lines], neither does he seek for a
father-in-law whom he may defame with his fatal lampoons, nor does he
tie a rope for his betrothed spouse in scandalous verse. Him too, never
celebrated by any other tongue, I the Roman lyrist first made known. It
delights me, as I bring out new productions, to be perused by the eyes,
and held in the hands of the ingenuous.

Would you know why the ungrateful reader extols and is fond of many
works at home, unjustly decries them without doors? I hunt not after the
applause of the inconstant vulgar, at the expense of entertainments, and
for the bribe of a worn-out colt: I am not an auditor of noble writers,
nor a vindictive reciter, nor condescend to court the tribes and desks
of the grammarians. Hence are these tears. If I say that "I am ashamed
to repeat my worthless writings to crowded theatres, and give an air of
consequence to trifles:" "You ridicule us," says [one of them], "and you
reserve those pieces for the ears of Jove: you are confident that it is
you alone that can distill the poetic honey, beautiful in your own
eyes. " At these words I am afraid to turn up my nose; and lest I should
be torn by the acute nails of my adversary, "This place is
disagreeable," I cry out, "and I demand a prorogation of the contest. "
For contest is wont to beget trembling emulation and strife, and strife
cruel enmities and funereal war.

* * * * *



EPISTLE XX.

TO HIS BOOK.

_In vain he endeavors to retain his book, desirous of getting abroad;
tells it what trouble it is to undergo, and imparts some things to be
said of him to posterity. _


You seem, my book, to look wistfully at Janus and Vertumnus; to the end
that you may be set out for sale, neatly polished by the pumice-stone of
the Sosii. You hate keys and seals, which are agreeable to a modest
[volume]; you grieve that you are shown but to a few, and extol public
places; though educated in another manner. Away with you, whither you
are so solicitous of going down: there will be no returning for you,
when you are once sent out. "Wretch that I am, what have I done? What
did I want? "--you will say: when any one gives you ill treatment, and
you know that you will be squeezed into small compass, as soon as the
eager reader is satiated. But, if the augur be not prejudiced by
resentment of your error, you shall be caressed at Rome [only] till your
youth be passed. When, thumbed by the hands of the vulgar, you begin to
grow dirty; either you shall in silence feed the grovelling book-worms,
or you shall make your escape to Utica, or shall be sent bound to
Ilerda. Your disregarded adviser shall then laugh [at you]: as he, who
in a passion pushed his refractory ass over the precipice. For who would
save [an ass] against his will? This too awaits you, that faltering
dotage shall seize on you, to teach boys their rudiments in the skirts
of the city. But when the abating warmth of the sun shall attract more
ears, you shall tell them, that I was the son of a freedman, and
extended my wings beyond my nest; so that, as much as you take away from
my family, you may add to my merit: that I was in favor with the first
men in the state, both in war and peace; of a short stature, gray
before my time, calculated for sustaining heat, prone to passion, yet so
as to be soon appeased. If any one should chance to inquire my age; let
him know that I had completed four times eleven Decembers, in the year
in which Lollius admitted Lepidus as his colleague.

* * * * *




THE SECOND BOOK OF THE EPISTLES OF HORACE.



EPISTLE I.

TO AUGUSTUS.

_He honors him with the highest compliments; then treats copiously of
poetry, its origin, character, and excellence_.


Since you alone support so many and such weighty concerns, defend Italy
with your arms, adorn it by your virtue, reform it by your laws; I
should offend, O Caesar, against the public interests, if I were to
trespass upon your time with a long discourse.

Romulus, and father Bacchus, and Castor and Pollux, after great
achievements, received into the temples of the gods, while they were
improving the world and human nature, composing fierce dissensions,
settling property, building cities, lamented that the esteem which they
expected was not paid in proportion to their merits. He who crushed the
dire Hydra, and subdued the renowned monsters by his forefated labor,
found envy was to be tamed by death [alone]. For he burns by his very
splendor, whose superiority is oppressive to the arts beneath him: after
his decease, he shall be had in honor. On you, while present among us,
we confer mature honors, and rear altars where your name is to be sworn
by; confessing that nothing equal to you has hitherto risen, or will
hereafter rise. But this your people, wise and just in one point (for
preferring you to our own, you to the Grecian heroes), by no means
estimate other things with like proportion and measure: and disdain and
detest every thing, but what they see removed from earth and already
gone by; such favorers are they of antiquity, as to assert that the
Muses [themselves] upon Mount Alba, dictated the twelve tables,
forbidding to trangress, which the decemviri ratified; the leagues of
our kings concluded with the Gabii, or the rigid Sabines; the records of
the pontifices, and the ancient volumes of the augurs.

If, because the most ancient writings of the Greeks are also the best,
Roman authors are to be weighed in the same scale, there is no need we
should say much: there is nothing hard in the inside of an olive,
nothing [hard] in the outside of a nut. We are arrived at the highest
pitch of success [in arts]: we paint, and sing, and wrestle more
skillfully than the annointed Greeks. If length of time makes poems
better, as it does wine, I would fain know how many years will stamp a
value upon writings. A writer who died a hundred years ago, is he to be
reckoned among the perfect and ancient, or among the mean and modern
authors? Let some fixed period exclude all dispute. He is an old and
good writer who completes a hundred years. What! one that died a month
or a year later, among whom is he to be ranked? Among the old poets, or
among those whom both the present age and posterity will disdainfully
reject? He may fairly be placed among the ancients, who is younger
either by a short month only, or even by a whole year. I take the
advantage of this concession, and pull away by little and little, as [if
they were] the hairs of a horse's tail: and I take away a single one and
then again another single one; till, like a tumbling heap, [my
adversary], who has recourse to annals and estimates excellence by the
year, and admires nothing but what Libitina has made sacred, falls to
the ground.

Ennius the wise, the nervous, and (as our critics say) a second Homer,
seems lightly to regard what becomes of his promises and Pythagorean
dreams. Is not Naevius in people's hands, and sticking almost fresh in
their memory? So sacred is every ancient poem. As often as a debate
arises, whether this poet or the other be preferable; Pacuvius bears
away the character of a learned, Accius, of a lofty writer; Afranius'
gown is said to have fitted Menander; Plautus, to hurry after the
pattern of the Sicilian Epicharmus; Caecilius, to excel in gravity,
Terence in contrivance. These mighty Rome learns by heart, and these she
views crowded in her narrow theater; these she esteems and accounts her
poets from Livy the writer's age down to our time. Sometimes the
populace see right; sometimes they are wrong. If they admire and extol
the ancient poets so as to prefer nothing before, to compare nothing
with them, they err; if they think and allow that they express some
things in an obsolete, most in a stiff, many in a careless manner; they
both think sensibly, and agree with me, and determine with the assent of
Jove himself. Not that I bear an ill-will against Livy's epics, and
would doom them to destruction, which I remember the severe Orbilius
taught me when a boy; but they should seem correct, beautiful, and very
little short of perfect, this I wonder at: among which if by chance a
bright expression shines forth, and if one line or two [happen to be]
somewhat terse and musical, this unreasonably carries off and sells the
whole poem. I am disgusted that any thing should be found fault with,
not because it is a lumpish composition or inelegant, but because it is
modern; and that not a favorable allowance, but honor and rewards are
demanded for the old writers. Should I scruple, whether or not Atta's
drama trod the saffron and flowers in a proper manner, almost all the
fathers would cry out that modesty was lost; since I attempted to find
fault with those pieces which the pathetic Aesopus, which the skillful
Roscius acted: either because they esteem nothing right, but what has
pleased themselves; or because they think it disgraceful to submit to
their juniors, and to confess, now they are old, that what they learned
when young is deserving only to be destroyed. Now he who extols Numa's
Salian hymn, and would alone seem to understand that which, as well as
me, he is ignorant of, does not favor and applaud the buried geniuses,
but attacks ours, enviously hating us moderns and every thing of ours.
Whereas if novelty had been detested by the Greeks as much as by us,
what at this time would there have been ancient? Or what what would
there have been for common use to read and thumb, common to every body.

When first Greece, her wars being over, began to trifle, and through
prosperity to glide into folly; she glowed with the love, one while of
wrestlers, another while of horses; was fond of artificers in marble, or
in ivory, or in brass; hung her looks and attention upon a picture; was
delighted now with musicians, now with tragedians; as if an infant girl
she sported under the nurse; soon cloyed, she abandoned what [before]
she earnestly desired. What is there that pleases or is odious, which
you may not think mutable? This effect had happy times of peace, and
favorable gales [of fortune].

At Rome it was long pleasing and customary to be up early with open
doors, to expound the laws to clients; to lay out money cautiously upon
good securities: to hear the elder, and to tell the younger by what
means their fortunes might increase and pernicious luxury be diminished.
The inconstant people have changed their mind, and glow with a universal
ardor for learning: young men and grave fathers sup crowned with leaves,
and dictate poetry. I myself, who affirm that I write no verses, am
found more false than the Parthians: and, awake before the sun is risen,
I call for my pen and papers and desk. He that is ignorant of a ship is
afraid to work a ship; none but he who has learned, dares administer
[even] southern wood to the sick; physicians undertake what belongs to
physicians; mechanics handle tools; but we, unlearned and learned,
promiscuously write poems.

Yet how great advantages this error and this slight madness has, thus
compute: the poet's mind is not easily covetous; fond of verses, he
studies this alone; he laughs at losses, flights of slaves, fires; he
contrives no fraud against his partner, or his young ward; he lives on
husks, and brown bread; though dastardly and unfit for war, he is useful
at home, if you allow this, that great things may derive assistance from
small ones. The poet fashions the child's tender and lisping mouth, and
turns his ear even at this time from obscene language; afterward also he
forms his heart with friendly precepts, the corrector of his rudeness,
and envy, and passion; he records virtuous actions, he instructs the
rising age with approved examples, he comforts the indigent and the
sick. Whence should the virgin, stranger to a husband, with the chaste
boys, learn the solemn prayer, had not the muse given a poet? The chorus
entreats the divine aid, and finds the gods propitious; sweet in learned
prayer, they implore the waters of the heavens; avert diseases, drive
off impending dangers, obtain both peace and years enriched with fruits.
With song the gods above are appeased, with song the gods below.

Our ancient swains, stout and happy with a little, after the grain was
laid up, regaling in a festival season their bodies and even their
minds, patient of hardships through the hope of their ending, with their
slaves and faithful wife, the partners of their labors, atoned with a
hog [the goddess] Earth, with milk Silvanus, with flowers and wine the
genius that reminds us of our short life. Invented by this custom, the
Femminine licentiousness poured forth its rustic taunts in alternate
stanzas; and this liberty, received down through revolving years,
sported pleasingly; till at length the bitter raillery began to be
turned into open rage, and threatening with impunity to stalk through
reputable families. They, who suffered from its bloody tooth smarted
with the pain; the unhurt likewise were concerned for the common
condition: further also, a law and a penalty were enacted, which forbade
that any one should be stigmatized in lampoon. Through fear of the
bastinado, they were reduced to the necessity of changing their manner,
and of praising and delighting.

Captive Greece took captive her fierce conqueror, and introduced her
arts into rude Latium. Thus flowed off the rough Saturnian numbers, and
delicacy expelled the rank venom: but for a long time there remained,
and at this day remain traces of rusticity. For late [the Roman writer]
applied his genius to the Grecian pages; and enjoying rest after the
Punic wars, began to search what useful matter Sophocles, and Thespis,
and Aeschylus afforded: he tried, too, if he could with dignity
translate their works; and succeeded in pleasing himself, being by
nature [of a genius] sublime and strong; for he breathes a spirit tragic
enough, and dares successfully; but fears a blot, and thinks it
disgraceful in his writings.

Comedy is believed to require the least pains, because it fetches its
subjects from common life; but the less indulgence It meets with, the
more labor it requires. See how Plautus supports the character of a
lover under age, how that of a covetous father, how those of a cheating
pimp: how Dossennus exceeds all measure in his voracious parasites; with
how loose a sock he runs over the stage: for he is glad to put the money
in his pocket, after this regardless whether his play stand or fall.

Him, whom glory in her airy car has brought upon the stage, the careless
spectator dispirits, the attentive renders more diligent: so slight, so
small a matter it is, which overturns or raises a mind covetous of
praise! Adieu the ludicrous business [of dramatic writing], if applause
denied brings me back meagre, bestowed [makes me] full of flesh and
spirits.

This too frequently drives away and deters even an adventurous poet?
that they who are in number more, in worth and rank inferior, unlearned
and foolish, and (if the equestrian order dissents) ready to fall to
blows, in the midst of the play, call for either a bear or boxers; for
in these the mob delight. Nay, even all the pleasures of our knights is
now transferred from the ear to the uncertain eye, and their vain
amusements. The curtains are kept down for four hours or more, while
troops of horse and companies of foot flee over the stage: next is
dragged forward the fortune of kings, with their hands bound behind
them; chariots, litters, carriages, ships hurry on; captive ivory,
captive Corinth, is borne along. Democritus, if he were on earth, would
laugh; whether a panther a different genus confused with the camel, or a
white elephant attracted the eye of the crowd. He would view the people
more attentively than the sports themselves, as affording him more
strange sights than the actor: and for the writers, he would think they
told their story to a deaf ass. For what voices are able to overbear the
din with which our theatres resound? You would think the groves of
Garganus, or the Tuscan Sea, was roaring; with so great noise are viewed
the shows and contrivances, and foreign riches: with which the actor
being daubed over, as soon as he appears upon the stage, each right hand
encounters with the left. Has he said any thing yet? Nothing at all.
What then pleases? The cloth imitating [the color of] violets, with the
dye of Tarentum.

And, that you may not think I enviously praise those kinds of writing
which I decline undertaking, when others handle them well: that poet to
me seems able to walk upon an extended rope, who with his fictions
grieves my soul, enrages, soothes, fills it with false terrors, as an
enchanter; and sets me now in Thebes, now in Athens.

But of those too, who had rather trust themselves with a reader, than
bear the disdain of an haughty spectator, use a little care; if you
would fill with books [the library you have erected], an offering worthy
of Apollo, and add an incentive to the poets, that with greater
eagerness they may apply to verdant Helicon.

We poets, it is true (that I may hew down my own vineyards), often do
ourselves many mischiefs, when we present a work to you while thoughtful
or fatigued; when we are pained, if my friend has dared to find fault
with one line; when, unasked, we read over again passages already
repeated: when we lament that our labors do not appear, and war poems,
spun out in a fine thread: when we hope the thing will come to this,
that as soon as you are apprised we are penning verses, you will kindly
of yourself send for us and secure us from want, and oblige us to write.
But yet it is worth while to know, who shall be the priests of your
virtue signalized in war and at home, which is not to be trusted to an
unworthy poet. A favorite of king Alexander the Great was that
Choerilus, who to his uncouth and ill-formed verses owed the many pieces
he received of Philip's royal coin. But, as ink when touched leaves
behind it a mark and a blot, so writers as it were stain shining actions
with foul poetry. That same king, who prodigally bought so dear so
ridiculous a poem, by an edict forbade that any one beside Apelles
should paint him, or that any other than Lysippus should mold brass for
the likeness of the valiant Alexander. But should you call that faculty
of his, so delicate in discerning other arts, to [judge of] books and of
these gifts of the muses, you would swear he had been born in the gross
air of the Boeotians. Yet neither do Virgil and Varius, your beloved
poets, disgrace your judgment of them, and the presents which they have
received with great honor to the donor; nor do the features of
illustrious men appear more lively when expressed by statues of brass,
than their manners and minds expressed by the works of a poet. Nor would
I rather compose such tracts as these creeping on the ground, than
record deeds of arms, and the situations of countries, and rivers, and
forts reared upon mountains, and barbarous kingdoms, and wars brought to
a conclusion through the whole world under your auspices, and the
barriers that confine Janus the guardian of peace, and Rome treaded by
the Parthians under your government, if I were but able to do as much as
I could wish. But neither does your majesty admit of humble poetry, nor
dares my modesty attempt a subject which my strength is unable to
support. Yet officiousness foolishly disgusts the person whom it loves;
especially when it recommends itself by numbers, and the art [of
writing]. For one learns sooner, and more willingly remembers, that
which a man derides, than that which he approves and venerates. I value
not the zeal that gives me uneasiness; nor do I wish to be set out any
where in wax with a face formed for the worse, nor to be celebrated in
ill-composed verses; lest I blush, when presented with the gross gift;
and, exposed in an open box along with my author, be conveyed into the
street that sells frankincense, and spices, and pepper, and whatever is
wrapped up in impertinent writings.