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UMANO capiti cervicem pictor equinam Fungere si velit, et varias inducere plumas,

Undique collatis membris, ut turpitèr

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atrum

Desinat in piscem mulier formosa supernè;
Spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici?
Credite, Pisones, isti tabulæ fore librum
Persimilem, cujus, velut agri somnia, vana
Fingentur species: ut nec pes, nec caput uni
Reddatur forma. Pictoribus, atque poëtis
Quidlibet audendi semper fuit aqua potestas.
Scimus; et hanc veniam petimusque, damusque, vi-

cissim:

Sed non ut placidis coëant immitia, non ut
Serpentes avibus geminentur, tigribus agni.

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F to a woman's head a painter would Set a horse-neck, and divers feathers fold

On every limb, ta'en from a several

creature,

Presenting upwards a fair female feature,
Which in some swarthy fish uncomely ends:
Admitted to the sight, although his friends,
Could you contain your laughter? Credit me,
This piece, my Pisos, and that book agree,
Whose shapes, like sick men's dreams, are feign'd so
vain,

As neither head, nor feet, one form retain.
But equal power to painter and to poet,

Of daring all, hath still been given; we know it:
And both do crave, and give again, this leave.
Yet, not as therefore wild and tame should cleave
Together; not that we should serpents see
With doves; or lambs with tigers coupled be..

1 We are not to look for grace and beauty in this translation: the poet's design being to give as close a version of the text, as the different genius of the two languages would admit. But Jonson will be found perfectly to understand his author, and to exhibit his meaning with his usual vigour and conciseness of style. WHAL.

Inceptis gravibus plerumque, et magna professis
Purpureus, latè qui splendeat, unus et alter
Assuitur pannus: cùm lucus, et ara Dianæ,
Et properantis aquæ per amanos ambitus agros,
Aut flumen Rhenum, aut pluvius describitur arcus.
Sed nunc non erat his locus: et fortasse cupressum
Scis simulare: quid hoc, si fractis enatat exspes
Navibus, ære dato qui pingitur? amphora cœpit
Institui; currente rotâ, cur urceus exit?
Denique sit, quod vis, simplex duntaxat et unum.
Maxima pars vatum, pater, et juvenes patre digni,
Decipimur specie recti: brevis esse laboro,
Obscurus fio: sectantem lævia, nervi

Deficiunt animique: professus grandia, turget:
Serpit humi, tutus nimium, timidusque procellæ.
Qui variare cupit rem prodigaliter unam,
Delphinum sylvis appingit, fluctibus aprum.
In vitium ducit culpæ fuga, si caret arte.
Emilium circa ludum faber imus, et ungues
Exprimet, et molles imitabitur ære capillos;
Infelix operis summa, quia ponere totum
Nesciet. Hunc ego me, si quid componere curem,
Non magis esse velim, quàm pravo vivere naso,
Spectandum nigris oculis, nigroque capillo.

In grave beginnings, and great things profest, Ye have oft-times, that may o'ershine the rest, A scarlet piece, or two, stitch'd in when or Diana's grove, or altar, with the bor

D'ring circles of swift waters that intwine
The pleasant grounds, or when the river Rhine,
Or rainbow is describ'd. But here was now
No place for these. And, painter, haply thou
Know'st only well to paint a cypress-tree.
What's this? if he whose money hireth thee
To paint him, hath by swimming, hopeless, scap'd,
The whole fleet wreck'd? A great jar to be
shap'd,

Was meant at first; why forcing still about
Thy labouring wheel, comes scarce a pitcher out?
In short, I bid, let what thou work'st upon,
Be simple quite throughout, and wholly one.
Most writers, noble sire, and either son,
Are, with the likeness of the truth, undone.
Myself for shortness labour, and I

grow
Obscure. This, striving to run smooth, and flow,
Hath neither soul nor sinews. Lofty he
Professing greatness, swells; that, low by lee,
Creeps on the ground; too safe, afraid of storm.
This seeking, in a various kind, to form
One thing prodigiously, paints in the woods
A dolphin, and a boar amid the floods.
So, shunning faults to greater fault doth lead,
When in a wrong and artless way we tread.
The worst of statuaries, here about
Th' Emilian school, in brass can fashion out
The nails, and every curled hair disclose;
But in the main work hapless: since he knows
Not to design the whole. Should I aspire
To form a work, I would no more desire

To be that smith, than live mark'd one of those,
With fair black eyes and hair, and a wry nose.

Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, æquam Viribus, et versate diù, quid ferre recusent, Quid valeant humeri. Cui lecta potenter erit res, Nec facundia deseret hunc, nec lucidus ordo. Ordinis hæc virtus erit, et Venus, aut ego fallor, Ut jam nunc dicat, jam nunc debentia dici; Pleraque differat, et præsens in tempus omittat ; Hoc amet, hoc spernat promissi carminis auctor. In verbis etiam tenuis cautusque serendis, Dixeris egregiè, notum si callida verbum Reddiderit junctura novum. Si fortè necesse est Indiciis monstrare recentibus abdita rerum ; Fingere cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis Continget, dabiturque licentia, sumpta pudentèr. Et nova fictaque nupèr habebunt verba fidem, si Græco fonte cadant, parcè detorta. Quid autem Cæcilio Plautoque dabit Romanus, ademptum Virgilio Varioque? Ego cur, acquirere pauca Si possum, invideor: cùm lingua Catonis, et Ennî Sermonem patrium ditaverit, et nova rerum Nomina protulerit? Licuit, semperque licebit, Signatum præsente notâ producere nomen. Ut sylvæ foliis pronos mutantur in annos, Prima cadunt; ità verborum vetus interit ætas, Et juvenum ritu florent modò nata, vigentque.

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