chorda sonum reddit, quem vult manus, et
Poscentique gravem, persæpe remittit acutum :
Nec semper feriet, quodcunque minabitur arcus.
Verùm ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis
Offendar maculis quas aut incuria fudit,
Aut humana parum cavit natura: quid ergo?
Ut scriptor si peccat idem librarius usque,
Quamvis est monitus, venia caret; et citharœdus
Ridetur, chorda qui semper oberrat eadem :
Sic mihi, qui multum cessat, fit Charilus ille,
Quem bis terque bonum cum risu miror; et idem
Indignor: quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus.
Verum opere in longo fas est obrepere somnum.
Ut pictura, poësis erit: quæ, si propius stes,
Te capiet magis, et quædam, si longius abstes.
Hæc amat obscurum: volet hæc sub luce videri,
Judicis argutum quæ non formidat acumen.
Hæc placuit semel: hæc decies repetita placebit.
O major juvenum, quamvis, et voce paterna
Fingeris ad rectum, et per te sapis, hoc tibi dictum
Tolle memor: certis medium, et tolerabile rebus
Rectè concedi: consultus juris, et actor
Causarum mediocris, abest virtute diserti
Messala, nec scit quantum Cascellius Aulus:
Sed tamen in pretio est. Mediocribus esse poëtis
Non homines, non dî, non concessere columnæ.
Ut gratas inter mensas symphonia discors,
For neither doth the string still yield that sound
The hand and mind would, but it will resound
Oft-times a sharp, when we require a flat :
Nor always doth the loosed bow hit that
Which it doth threaten. Therefore, where I see
Much in the poem shine, I will not be
Offended with few spots, which negligence
Hath shed, or human frailty not kept thence,
How then? why as a scrivener, if h' offend
Still in the same, and warned will not mend,
Deserves no pardon; or who'd play, and sing
Is laugh'd at, that still jarreth on one string:
So he that flaggeth much, becomes to me
A Cherilus, in whom if I but see
Twice or thrice good, I wonder; but am more
Angry. Sometimes I hear good Homer snore;
But I confess, that in a long work, sleep
May, with some right, upon an author creep.
As painting, so is poesy.
Some man's hand
Will take you more, the nearer that you stand;
As some the farther off; this loves the dark;
This fearing not the subtlest judge's mark,
Will in the light be view'd: this once the sight
Doth please, this ten times over will delight./
You, sir, the elder brother, though you are
Informed rightly, by your father's care,
And of yourself too understand; yet mind
This saying to some things there is assign'd
A mean, and toleration, which does well:
There may a lawyer be, may not excel;
Or pleader at the bar, that may come short
Of eloquent Messala's power in court,
Or knows not what Cacellius Aulus can;
Yet there's a value given to this man.
But neither men, nor gods, nor pillars meant,
Poets should ever be indifferent.
As jarring music doth at jolly feasts,
Et crassum unguentum, et Sardo cum melle papaver,
Offendunt; poterat duci quia cœna sine istis:
Sic animis natum inventumque poëma juvandis,
Si paulum a summo discessit, vergit ad imum.
Ludere qui nescit, campestribus abstinet armis,
Indoctusque pila discive, trochive, quiescit,
Ne spissa risum tollant impune coronæ.
Qui nescit, versus tamen audet fingere: quid nî?
Liber, et ingenuus, præsertim census equestrem
Summam nummorum, vitioque; remotus ab omni.
Tu nihil invita dices, faciesve Minervâ.
Id tibi judicium est, ea mens, si quid tamen olim
Scripseris, in Metî descendat judicis aures,
Et patris, et nostras, nonumque prematur in annum.
Membranis intus positis delere licebit,
Quod non edideris. Nescit vox missa reverti. Naturâ fieret laudabile carmen, an arte, Quæsitum est: ego nec studium sine divite vena, Nec rude quid prosit video ingenium; alterius sic Altera poscit opem res, et conjurat amicè.
Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam, Multa tulit fecitque puer: sudavit, et alsit, Abstinuit Venere, et vino: qui Pythica cantat Tibicen, didicit priùs, extimuitque magistrum. Nunc satis est dixisse, Ego mira poëmata pango:
Or thick gross ointment but offend the guests:
As рорру, and Sardan honey; 'cause without
These, the free meal might have been well drawn out:
So any poem, fancied, or forth-brought
To bett'ring of the mind of man, in aught,
If ne'er so little it depart the first
And highest, sinketh to the lowest and worst./
He that not knows the games, nor how to use
His arms in Mars his field, he doth refuse;
Or who's unskilful at the coit, or ball,
Or trundling wheel, he can sit still from all;
Lest the throng'd heaps should on a laughter take :
Yet who's most ignorant, dares verses make.
Why not? I'm gentle, and free born, do hate
Vice, and am known to have a knight's estate.
Thou, such thy judgment is, thy knowledge too,
Wilt nothing against nature speak or do;
But if hereafter thou shalt write, not fear
To send it to be judg'd by Metius' ear,
And to your father's, and to mine, though't be
Nine years kept in, your papers by, yo' are free
To change and mend, what you not forth do set.
The writ, once out, never returned yet.
'Tis now inquir'd which makes the nobler verse,
Nature, or art. My judgment will not pierce
Into the profits, what a mere rude brain
Can; nor all toil, without a wealthy vein :
So doth the one the other's help require,
And friendly should unto one end conspire.
He that's ambitious in the race to touch
The wished goal, both did, and suffer'd much
While he was young; he sweat, and freez'd again,
And both from wine and women did abstain.
Who since to sing the Pythian rites is heard,
Did learn them first, and once a master fear'd.
But now it is enough to say, I make
An admirable verse. The great scurf take
Occupet extremum scabies, mihi turpe relinqui est,
Et quod non didici, sanè nescire fateri.
Ut præco ad merces turbam qui cogit emendas,
Adsentatores jubet ad lucrum ire poeta
Dives agris, dives positis in fœnore nummis.
Si verò est, unctum qui rectè ponere possit,
Et spondere levi pro paupere, et eripere atris
Litibus implicitum; mirabor, si sciet inter-
noscere mendacem verumque beatus amicum.
Tu seu donaris, seu quid donare voles cui,
Nolito ad versus tibi factos ducere plenum
Lætitia: clamabit enim, Pulchrè, benè, rectè.
Pallescit super his: etiam stillabit amicis
Ex oculis rorem, saliet, tundet pede terram.
Ut qui conducti plorant in funere, dicunt,
Et faciunt propè plura dolentibus ex animo: sic
Derisor vero plus laudatore movetur.
Reges dicuntur multis urgere culullis,
Et torquere mero, quem perspexisse laborent,
An sit amicitia dignus: si carmina condes,
Nunquam te fallant animi sub vulpe latentes.
Quintilio, si quid recitares, corrige, sodes,
Hoc, aiebat, et hoc: meliùs te posse negares,
Bis, terque expertum frustra; delere jubebat,
Et malè tornatos incudi reddere versus,
Si defendere delictum, quàm vertere malles,
Nullum ultra verbum, aut operam sumebat inanem,
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