(40) EPIST. V. Ad TORQUATUM. I potes Archiacis conviva recumbere lectis, Vina bibes iterum Tauro diffusa palustres Et Mofchi caufam. Cras, nato Cæfare, feftüs Dat We have in this Epiftle fome Strokes of Morality, for which Torquatus might poffibly have occafion. They are enlivened by a Panegyric upon Wine, fhort, but fpirited, as if it were a Declaration of the Good-humour, with which he proposed to receive his illuftrious Gueft. SAN Verse 1. Archiacis lectis.] Such is the Reading of all the Manu fcripts; prifcorum quantum ubique eft codicum, fays Dr. Bentley, and both the Scholiafts tell us, that Archias was a Perfon, who made Beds of a lower, fhorter Kind. Befides, Archaicis has the fecond Syllable long, nor is it indeed a Latin Word. 2. Olus omne.] The Commentators make Horace invite his Guest to more than a frugal Entertainment, when he promifes him nothing but Herbs, and that there fhall even be fo little a Quantity of them,, that he fhall eat them all. Let us learn better to understand our Author, and with Mr. Sanadon, conftrue olus omne, all Kinds of Herbs, ex omni genere olerum. This was not a contemptible Entertainment, for Cicero tells us, they dreffed Herbs in fuch a manner, that nothing could be more delicious. 4. Iterum Tauro diffufa.] The fecond Confulfhip of Taurus was in the Year 728, fo that this Wine must be four or five Years old. SAN I EPIST. V. TO TORQUATUS. F, dear Torquatus, you can kindly deign Then leave the Hope, that, wing'd with Folly, flies; Leave 6. Arceffe; vel imperium fer.] If you have better, bring it with you; if not, be fure to come on the Conditions I propofe. CRUQ. Mr. Dacier understands the Monarchy and Empire of the Bottle, when a King of the Entertainment was made; but this Royalty was determined by Lot, nor was it the Property of the Hoft or any particular Gueft. 9. Et Mofchi caufam.] The Scholiafts inform us, that Mofchus was a Rhetorician of Pergamus, whofe Defence Torquatus undertook, when he was accused of poisoning. Cras, nato Cafare.] Mr. Dacier and Mr. Maffon are here, in Dr. Bentley's Language, upon another Occafion, at Daggers-drawing. Digladiantur, in Defence of Julius Cæfar and Auguftus. The latter was born the twenty-third of September, which could not be juftly called a Summer's Night, aftivam noctem. The other on the twelfth of July. Two Years after his Death the Triumvirs ordered, that his Birth-day fhould be celebrated by the People crowned with Laurel, and that whoever neglected it should be devoted to the Vengeance of Jupiter, and the deceased God himself. But as the Apollinarian Games Dat veniam fomnumque dies. Impune licebit 10 15 20 25 Jungaturque Games were annually celebrated, and that it was forbidden to mix the Festivals of any other God with those of Apollo, Cæfar's Birthday was ordered to be folemnized on the eleventh. Thus we have not only the Year and Month, but the very Day when this Letter was written, the tenth of July. This Opinion is at least as old as Porphyrion, who fays, Divi Ca faris natalem fignificat. Torrentius thinks Horace means the Birth of fome young Prince, Grandfon of Auguftus, which the Words will indeed very well bear. Nato Cæfare, for ob Cafarem recens natum. To give this Conjecture a kind of Certainty, Rodellius and Mr. Sanadon proclaim this Festival in Honour of Caius Cæfar, eldeft Son of Agrippa and Julia. But Caius was born in the Beginning of September, and the Critics probably forgot the Circumftance of lengthening out the Summer-Night. 14. Affidet infano.] This Expreffion is beautiful, but of a Pecu Harity, like that in the laft Epiftle, non tu corpus eras fine pectore, not ro be attempted in English. Such is the Genius, or rather fuch is the Humour of Languages. 23. Corruget nares.] Wrinkle the Nofe. Quintilian tells us, that Horace was the firft, who ventured this Word. Leave the litigious Bar, for Cæfar's Birth Proclaims the festal Hour of Ease and Mirth, Shall ftretch, beyond its Length, the Summer's Night. Say, what are Fortune's Gifts, if I'm denied Their chearful Ufe? for nearly are allied The Madman, and the Fool, whose fordid Care My Gueft his Face; that none, when Life grows gay, That 25. Eliminet.] An old Man at the Lacedemonian Entertainments pointed to the Door, as the Guests entered, and folemnly repeated, Let nothing, faid in this Company, pass through that Door. From hence the Græcian Proverb, I hate a Drinker with a Memory. Perhaps we ought to be more careful, than the Romans, in our midnight Converfations. Friendship had among them fomething facred, which is now loft in Profeffions, and is become a meer companionable Language. Fidelity and Secrecy appeared fo neceffary at thefe unguarded Hours, that Forgetfulness was confecrated to Bacchus. Yet fince there is but little of this kind of Religion among our Jungaturque pari. Butram tibi Septiciumque, Et, nî cœna prior potiorque puella, Sabinum, 30 our boon Companions, let us remember that the Heart opens and expands itself in Wine, and all its Secrets are loofe about it. The Ancients attributed two Effects to Wine, Sincerity, to speak what they thought, and Forgetfulness, to conceal what they heard. 26. Butram tibi Septiciumque.] Away with this Brutus and Septimius, Brutum Septimiumque who have forced into the Room without an Invitation. If we believe the Manuscripts, and furely we ought to believe them, Horace invited other Guests. Such is the fpirited Language of Dr. Bentley, for the Honour of Manuscripts. However, the Matter is not great, fince we know none of the Com pany; yet the Perfons, now introduced into the Text, are received by Mr. Sanadon, and Mr. Cuningham, who is not extremely apt to be civil to any of the Doctor's Acquaintance, if they have not fome other Merit. 28. Locus eft & pluribus umbris.] It was a Civility paid to an invited Guest among the Ancients, to let him know, whatever Stranger came with him should be welcome. This was done, fays Plutarch, in Imitation of those, who facrificing to fome God, facrificed at the fame time to all the Gods, that inhabited the Temple in which he was worshipped, although they did not call any of them by their Names. |