Her language, if the stay and care t' have mended, Had not our every poet like offended.
But you, Pompilius' offspring, spare you not To tax that verse, which many a day and blot Have not kept in; and (lest perfection fail) Not ten times o'er corrected to the nail. Because Democritus believes a wit Happier than wretched art, and doth by it Exclude all sober poets from their share In Helicon; a great sort will not pare Their nails, nor shave their beards, but to
Retire themselves, avoid the public baths; For so they shall not only gain the worth,
But fame of poets, they think, if they come forth And from the barber Licinus conceal
Their heads, which three Anticyras cannot heal. O I left-witted, that purge every spring For choler! if I did not, who could bring Out better poems? but I cannot buy My title at the rate, I'd rather, I,
Be like a whetstone, that an edge can put On steel, though't self be dull, and cannot cut. I writing nought myself, will teach them yet
Their charge and office, whence their wealth to fet, What nourisheth, what formed, what begot The poet, what becometh, and what not, Whither truth may, and whither error bring. The very root of writing well, and spring Is to be wise; thy matter first to know, Which the Socratic writings best can show : And where the matter is provided still, There words will follow, not against their will. He that hath studied well the debt, and knows What to his country, what his friends he owes, What height of love a parent will fit best,
What brethren, what a stranger, and his guest,
Quod sit conscripti, quod judicis officium: quæ Partes in bellum missi ducis, ille profectò Reddere persona scit convenientia cuique. Respicere exemplar vitæ, morumque jubebo Doctum imitatorem, et veras hinc ducere voces. Interdum speciosa locis, morataque rectè Fabula, nullius Veneris, sine pondere, et arte, Valdius oblectat populum, meliusque moratur, Quàm versus inopes rerum, nugæque canora.
Graiis ingenium, Graiis dedit ore rotundo Musa loqui, præter laudem, nullius avaris. Romani pueri longis rationibus assem Discunt in partes centum diducere. Dicat Filius Albini, si de quincunce remota est Uncia, quid superat? poteras dixisse triens: eu, Rem poteris servare tuam: redit uncia: quid fit? Semis: ad hæc animos ærugo, et cura peculi, Cum semel imbuerit, speramus carmina fingi Posse linenda cedro, at lævi servanda cupresso? Aut prodesse volunt, aut delectare poëta, Aut simul et jucunda, et idonea dicere vita. Sylvestres homines sacer, interpresque deorum, Cadibus et victu fædo deterruit Orpheus, Dictus ob hoc lenire tigres, rabidosque leones: Dictus et Amphion, Thebana conditor arcis, Saxa movere sono testudinis, et prece blanda
Can tell a statesman's duty, what the arts And office of a judge are, what the parts Of a brave chief sent to the wars: he can, Indeed, give fitting dues to every man. And I still bid the learned maker look
On life, and manners, and make those his book, Thence draw forth true expressions. For sometimes,
A poem of no grace, weight, art, in rhymes With specious places, and being humour'd right, More strongly takes the people with delight, And better stays them there than all fine noise Of verse, mere matterless, and tinkling toys. The muse not only gave the Greeks a wit, But a well-compass'd mouth to utter it. Being men were covetous of nought, but praise: Our Roman youths they learn the subtle ways How to divide into a hundred parts
A pound, or piece, by their long compting arts: There's Albin's son will say, Subtract an ounce From the five ounces, what remains? pronounce A third of twelve, you may; four ounces. Glad, He cries, good boy, thou'lt keep thine own. Now add An ounce, what makes it then? the half-pound just, Six ounces. O, when once the canker'd rust, And care of getting, thus our minds hath stain'd; Think we, or hope there can be verses feign'd In juice of cedar worthy to be steep'd, And in smooth cypress boxes to be keep'd? Poets would either profit or delight; Or mixing sweet and fit, teach life the right. Orpheus, a priest, and speaker of the gods, First frighted men, that wildly liv'd, at odds, From slaughters, and foul life; and for the same Was tigers said, and lions fierce to tame. Amphion too, that built the Theban towers,
Was said to move the stones by his lute's powers,
Ducere quo vellet. Fuit hæc sapientia quondam, Publica privatis secernere, sacra profanis, Concubitu prohibere vago: dare jura maritis, Oppida moliri, leges incidere ligno.
Sic honor, et nomen divinis vatibus, atque Carminibus venit: post hos insignis Homerus, Tyrtausque mares animos in Martia bella Versibus exacuit: dicta per carmina sortes, Et vitæ monstrata via est, et gratia regum Pieriis tentata modis, ludusque repertus, Et longorum operum finis: ne fortè pudori Sit tibi musa lyra solers, et cantor Apollo.
Quicquid præcipies esto brevis: ut citò dicta Percipiant animi dociles, teneantque fideles. Omne supervacuum pleno de pectore manat.
Ficta, voluptatis causâ, sint proxima veris. Nec quodcunque volet, poscat sibi fabula credi: Neu pransa Lamia vivum puerum extrahat alvo. Centuria seniorum agitant expertia frugis : Celsi prætereunt austera poëmata Rhamnes. Omne tulit punctum, qui miscuit utile dulci, Lectorem delectando, pariterque monendo. Hic meret æra liber Sosiis: hic et mare transit, Et longum noto scriptori prorogat ævum.
Sunt delicta tamen quibus ignovisse velimus.
And lead them with soft songs, where that he would. This was the wisdom that they had of old, Things sacred from profane to separate; The public from the private, to abate
Wild raging lusts; prescribe the marriage good; Build towns, and carve the laws in leaves of wood. And thus at first, an honour, and a name To divine poets, and their verses came. Next these, great Homer and Tyrtæus set On edge the masculine spirits, and did whet Their minds to wars, and rhymes they did rehearse ; The oracles too were given out in verse; All way of life was shewn; the grace of kings Attempted by the muses tunes and strings; Plays were found out, and rest, the end and crown Of their long labours, was in verse set down : All which I tell, lest when Apollo's nam'd, Or muse, upon the lyre, thou chance b' asham'd. Be brief in what thou wouldst command, that so The docile mind might soon thy precepts know, And hold them faithfully; for nothing rests, But flows out, that o'erswelleth, in full breasts. Let what thou feign'st for pleasure's sake, be
The truth; nor let thy fable think whate'er
It would, must be lest it alive would draw The child, when Lamia has din'd, out of her maw. The poems void of profit, our grave men Cast out by voices; want they pleasure, then Our gallants give them none, but pass them by; But he hath every suffrage, can apply Sweet mixt with sour to his reader, so As doctrine and delight together go. This book will get the Sosii the Sosii money; this Will pass the seas, and long as nature is, With honour make the far-known author live.
There are yet faults, which we would well forgive,
« הקודםהמשך » |