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Q. HORATII FLACCI

ARS

POETICA.

UMANO capiti cervicem pictor equinam

H Jungere fi velit, & varias inducere plumas

Undique collatis membris ; aut turpiter atrum

Definat

It properly belongs only to great Poets to give Precepts of an Art, which they have exercifed with Success and Reputation. Horace did not here intend a complete Treatife of Poetry, and hath only touched upon the principal Rules, in fuch a Manner as the Character of an Epistle will permit, which requires more Liberty, and cannot well comply with the Conftraint of a regular, methodical Work. But even this Want of Connexion hath its peculiar Beauties, and we need only fee the Form, into which Heinfius would reduce this Piece by tranfpofing the different Parts of it, to make us acknowledge the Beauty of that Disorder, in which it at prefent appears. Rapin fays, with great Reason, that Ariftotle's Art of Poetry is Nature itfelf put into Method, and good Senfe reduced into Principles. Without Sufpicion of Partiality to the present Work, we may be bold to affert, it is the most valuable Monument in its Kind, that Roman Antiquity hath left us. DAC. SAN.

Verf. 1. Humano capiti.] All that our Poet fays here may be referred in general to three Heads, the Fable, the Manners, and the Diction. We fhould take notice, that this Piece particularly regards Epic and Dramatic Poetry, and that our Author only occafionally mentions any other Kind.

The most important Precept for the Compofition of a Poem, is Unity and Simplicity of Defign. There fhould be only one Action, to which all the Incidents ought to refer; and this Point of Perfec

HOR ACE's

ART of POETRY.

S

UPPOSE a Painter to an human Head

Should join an Horfe's Neck, and wildly spread

The various Plumage of the feather'd Kind

O'er Limbs of different Beafts, abfurdly join'd;

Or

tion every regular Work requires. To fhew the Neceflity of this Rule, Horace compares an irregular Poem to Pictures formed by a wild Affortment of many Parts entirely unlike each other. Every Part, confidered in itself, may have its proper, natural Perfection, 、 while their Union produces nothing but what is monftrous and ridiculous.

3. Aut turpiter atrum.] Aut fi mulier fupernè formofa in atrum pifcem turpiter definat. We shall see the Neceflity of this Correc tion. First, humanum caput naturally fignifies the Head of a Man, and we cannot understand it of an human Head in general, without deftroying that Idea, which it immediately offers. Secondly, mulier formofa fupernè is a beautiful Woman from the Waist upwards. The Terms fupernè and infernè are ever used to divide the human Body into two equal Parts; and as definat, which is here put for infernè, marks the half below, fo fupernè marks the half above. But what a monstrous Figure does the Poet give us, if we read him without this Alteration? How can the Head of a Man, the Neck of an Horse, the Limbs of different Beafts, be a Woman above, or a Fish below? Horace proposes two Pictures, one of which hath nothing of a Man but his Head; the other is the Buft of a Woman. SAN.

Definat in pifcem mulier formofa fupernè!
Spectatum admiffi rifum teneatis, amici ?
Credite, Pifones, ifti tabulæ fore librum
Perfimilem, cujus, velut ægri fomnia, vanæ
Fingentur fpecies; ut nec pes, nec caput uni
Reddatur formæ. Pictoribus atque poetis
Quidlibet audendi femper fuit æqua poteftas:

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Scimus, & hanc veniam petimufque damufque viciffim :
Sed non ut placidis coëant immitia; non ut
Serpentes avibus geminentur, tigribus agni.
Inceptis gravibus plerumque & magna profeffis
Purpureus, latè qui fplendeat, unus & alter
Affuitur pannus: quum lucus & ara Dianæ,
Et properantis aquæ per amœnos ambitus agros,
Aut flumen Rhenum, aut pluvius defcribitur arcus;
Sed nunc non erat his locus: & fortaffe cupreffum

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Scis

6. Pifones.] Lucius Pifo and his two Sons. Velleius gives us this amiable Character of the Father, who was Conful in 739. When we speak of Pifo, we should have only one Voice and one Opinion. His Manners were formed with fuch equal Strength and Softnefs, that it would be difficult to find a Perfon, who loved Repofe more paffionately, or who fupported the Fatigue of Bufinefs more easily, or who difcharged all the necessary Duties of bis Office_with_lefs Oftentation.

7. Velut ægri fomnia.] The Tranflation of these two Lines is taken from Lord Rofcommon.

10. Quidlibet audendi.] Poets have much abused the Privilege of their Art, the fecunda licentia vatum, as Ovid calls it. The Liberty both of Painters and Poets, is by Nature confined within certain Bounds, and all, beyond thofe Bounds, is the Wildness of an irregular Imagination.

14. Inceptis gravibus,] Unity and Simplicity of Design in a Poem, require a Relation and mutual Dependance of all effential Parts of it on each other, with at least a Connexion of Use and Convenience of the lefs neceffary Parts with the principal Action. From hence we fhould ftrike out all thofe ufelefs Incidents, which are introduced under the Title of Ornaments. Digreffions may have their Beauties in Lyric and Elegiac Poems, but are abfolutely forbidden in the Dramatic and Epic. Young Writers, whofe Genius is

not

Or if he gave to View a beauteous Maid
Above the Waist with every Charm array'd,
Should a foul Fish her lower Parts infold,
Would you not laugh fuch Pictures to behold?
Such is the Book, that like a fick Man's Dreams,
Varies all Shapes, and mixes all Extremes.
"Painters and Poets our Indulgence claim,
"Their Daring equal, and their Art the fame."
I own th' Indulgence---Such I give and take;
But not through Nature's facred Rules to break,
Monftrous to mix the Cruel and the Kind,
Serpents with Birds, and Lambs with Tygers join'd.
Your opening promises fome grand Defign,
And Shreds of Purple with broad Lustre shine
Sew'd on the Poem. Here inlabour'd Strain
A facred Grove, or fair Diana's Fane
Rifes to View; there through delicious Meads
A murmuring Stream its winding Water leads;
Here pours the rapid Rhine; the watry Bow
There bends its Colours, and with Pride they glow.
Beauties they are; but Beauties out of Place;
For though your Talent be to paint with Grace

A

not yet formed and difciplined, or extremely willing to stop at any Opportunity of a gay and florid Defcription, without dreaming, that they are wandering from their Subject, while they are thus decorating and making it fine with foreign Ornaments.

SAN.

18. Flumen Rhenum.] The Rhimers of thofe Days had, probably, full often teized our Poet with Defcriptions of the Rhine, while they celebrated the Victories of Auguftus on that River.

DAC.

Aut pluvius defcribitur arcus.] The Rainbow is very apt to turn a bad Poet's Head. It will be to little purpofe to tell him, that Homer defcribes it in a fingle Epithet, and in Virgil, as Mr. Dacier obferves, the Defcription of Iris is as rapid as her Flight; Mille trabens varias adverfo fole colores

Advolat.

19. Fortaffe cupressum,] Boughs of Cypress were carried in fu

neral

Scis fimulare: quid hoc, fi fractis enatat exfpes
Navibus, ære dato qui pingitur? Amphora cœpit
Inftituí; currente rotâ, cur urceus exit ?
Denique fit quidvis fimplex dumtaxat & unum.
Maxima pars vatum, pater & juvenes patre digni,
Decipimur fpecie recti. Brevis effe laboro,
Obfcurus fio fectantem lenia nervi

Deficiunt animique: profeffus grandia turget:
Serpit humi tutus nimiùm timidufque procellæ :
Qui variare cupit rem prodigialiter unam,
Delphinum fylvis appingit, fluctibus aprum.
In vitium ducit culpæ fuga, fi caret arte.
Æmilium circa ludum faber unus & ungues
Exprimet, & molles imitabitur ære capillos :
Infelix operis fummâ, quia ponere totum

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neral Proceffions, and placed before the Houses of the Great, upon particular Occafions of Sorrow, Et non plebeios luctus teftata cupreus. Lucan. From hence, perhaps, this Tree was usually drawn in votive Tablets; in Pictures carried by Beggars to excite Charity, and in those used by Lawyers in Courts of Juftice to raife the Compaffion of the Judges, by representing the Distresses of their Clients. A Painter might by frequent Practice excel in drawing a Tree, for which there was fuch Demand, and he therefore abfurdly determines to fhew his Skill upon all occafions, even by painting it in the Middle of the Ocean, and making it overshadow the Storm. The Commentators understand this Paffage in a different Manner.

21. Amphora capit.] A bad Poet opens his Poem with fomething great and magnificent, but amufes himself with Trifles. A bad Potter begins a large and beautiful Vase, but produces only a worthless Pitcher.

SAN.

23. Denique fit quidvis.] This Line is a Conclufion drawn from all the Rules he laid down. In the following Verses he gives a general Reafon to fupport the Precept, and to make it more fenfible he confirms it by Examples taken from Style. Such as brevis effe laboro, obfcurus fio.

DAC.

26. Sectantem lenia.] Too much Delicacy enervates a Poem. How to unite Strength and Elegance is a Talent, which all Authors do not poffefs. Levia is a Fault of the Copyifts or Grammarians, who did not recollect, that the Latins never used nervefus in Oppofition to levis, but to lenis. BENT.

28. Serpit bumi, &c.] Poetry is a Sea, and they, who fail on it, fhould neither venture too far from Shore, nor coaft too near it.

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