At1 dixi fluere hunc lutulentum, saepe ferentem plura quidem tollenda relinquendis. age, quaeso,2 tu nihil in magno doctus reprehendis Homero? nil comis tragici mutat Lucilius Acci ? non ridet versus Enni gravitate minores,3 cum de se loquitur non ut maiore reprensis ? quid vetat et nosmet Lucili scripta legentis quaerere, num illius, num rerum dura negarit versiculos natura magis factos1 et euntis mollius, ac si quis, pedibus quid claudere senis, hoc tantum contentus, amet scripsisse ducentos ante cibum versus, totidem cenatus? Etrusci quale fuit Cassi rapido ferventius amni ingenium, capsis quem fama est esse librisque ambustum propriis.

Fuerit Lucilius, inquam, comis et urbanus,6 fuerit limatior idem quam rudis et Graeçis intacti carminis auctor quamque poetarum seniorum turba: sed ille, si foret hoc nostrum fato delapsus' in aevum, detereret sibi multa, recideret omne quod ultra perfectum traheretur, et in versu faciendo saepe caput scaberet, vivos et roderet unguis. Saepe stilum vertas, iterum quae digna legi sint scripturus, neque te ut miretur turba labores,

1 at or ad] et My. 4 altos Goth.

2

quaero, I. 5 et a.

55

60

65

70

3 minoris Goth. 6 urbanis, II. delapsus V, adopted by Vollmer and Lejay: dilatus one Bland., Bentley and generally accepted: dilapsus mss.

a i.e. hexameters.

c

On Cassius see p. 277, note ". Cf. Sat. i. 4. 90. The coincidence implies that there the hic is Lucilius. So Tenney Frank in A.J.P. xlvi. (1925) p. 72. d Cf. Quintilian, x. 1. 93 "satura tota nostra est.' The phrase stilum vertere means to erase what has been written on the wax tablet, because the blunt end of the

50

50 But I did say his stream runs muddy, and often carries more that you would rather remove than leave behind. Come, pray, do you, a scholar, criticize nothing in the great Homer? Does your genial Lucilius find nothing to change in the tragedies of Accius ? Does he not laugh at the verses of Ennius as lacking in dignity, though he speaks of himself as no greater than those he has blamed? And as we read the writings of Lucilius, what forbids us, too, to raise the question whether it was his own genius, or whether it was the harsh nature of his themes that denied him verses more finished and easier in their flow than if one were to put his thoughts into six feet and, content with this alone, were proud of having written two hundred lines before and two hundred after supping? Such was the gift of Tuscan Cassius, more headstrong than a rushing river, whose own books and cases, so 'tis told us, made his funeral pile.

64 Grant, say I, that Lucilius was genial and witty: grant that he was also more polished than you would expect one to be who was creating a new style quite untouched by the Greeks, and more polished than the crowd of older poets: yet, had he fallen by fate upon this our day, he would smooth away much of his work, would prune off all that trailed beyond the proper limit, and as he wrought his verse he would oft scratch his head and gnaw his nails to the quick.

72 Often must you turn your pen to erase, if you hope to write something worth reading, and you must not strive to catch the wonder of the crowd,

stilus was used to smooth out the surface traced by the sharp end.

an tua demens

contentus paucis lectoribus.

vilibus1 in ludis dictari carmina malis?

75

non ego; nam satis est equitem mihi plaudere, ut audax,

contemptis aliis, explosa Arbuscula dixit.

Men moveat cimex Pantilius, aut cruciet quod vellicet absentem Demetrius, aut quod ineptus Fannius Hermogenis laedat conviva Tigelli ? Plotius et Varius, Maecenas Vergiliusque, Valgius et probet haec Octavius optimus atque Fuscus et haec utinam Viscorum laudet uterque ! ambitione relegata te dicere possum,

Pollio, te, Messalla, tuo cum fratre, simulque vos, Bibule et Servi, simul his te, candide Furni, compluris alios, doctos ego quos et amicos

80

85

prudens praetereo; quibus haec, sint qualiacumque, adridere velim, doliturus, si placeant spe deterius nostra. Demetri, teque, Tigelli, discipularum2 inter iubeo plorare cathedras."

I, puer, atque meo citus haec subscribe libello.

90

1 milibus l. 2 discipularum мss. Porph.: discipulorum. a i.e. Aristius Fuscus. Octavius is Octavius Musa, poet and historian.

The phrase iubeo plorare is a satiric substitute for iubeo valere ("I bid farewell to "). Cf. oluwse in Aristophanes, as in Plut. 257.

In this paragraph Horace contrasts writers of low literary standards, represented by Tigellius, with members of the three circles of Maecenas, Pollio and Messalla. He himself, like Virgil, belongs to the circle of Maecenas. Tibullus, a member of Messalla's circle, is perhaps at this time too young to be named. (See Ullman, C.P. x. (1910) pp. 270 ff.)

a The last verse, addressed to the slave who acts as secretary, serves as an epilogue to the whole book. "The farewell (or rather fare-ill ') to Tigellius is the last shot in the war, and Tigellius is never mentioned again. The last

66

but be content with the few as your readers. What, would you be so foolish as to want your poems dictated in common schools? Not so I. "Tis enough if the knights applaud me "—to quote dauntless Arbuscula's scornful remark, when the rest of the house hissed her.

78 Am I to be stung by that louse Pantilius? Or tortured because Demetrius carps at me behind my back, or because silly Fannius, who sponges on Hermogenes Tigellius, girds at me? Let but Plotius and Varius approve of these verses; let Maecenas, Virgil, and Valgius; let Octavius and Fuscus," best of men; and let but the Viscus brothers give their praise! With no desire to flatter, I may name you, Pollio; you, Messalla, and your brother; also you, Bibulus and Servius; also you, honest Furnius, and many another scholar and friend, whom I purposely pass over. In their eyes I should like these verses, such as they are, to find favour, and I should be grieved if their pleasure were to fall short of my hopes. But you, Demetrius, and you, Tigellius, I bid you go whine amidst the easy chairs of your pupils in petticoats! ©

92 Go, lad, and quickly add these lines to my little

book.e

line of the first book represents the triumph of an artistic ideal" (Ullman, loc. cit. p. 279).

• In connexion with this Satire reference may be made to articles mentioned on p. 61, as well as to the following: Hendrickson, G. L., "Horace and Lucilius. A Study of Horace, Serm. i. 10," in Gildersleeve Studies, pp. 151 ff.; "Horace and Valerius Flaccus" (three articles), C.P. xi. and xii.; B. L. Ullman, “Horace, Catullus and Tigellius,' C. P. x. pp. 270 ff.; E. K. Rand, "Catullus and the Augustans," Harv. St. xvii. pp. 15 ff.; C. F. Jackson, "Molle atque Facetum," Harv. St. xxiv. pp. 117 ff.

BOOK II

I

HORACE'S PARTING SHOT AT HIS CRITICS

THIS Satire continues the subject of the fourth and tenth Satires of the First Book. That book had aroused much criticism, which the poet meets in this prologue to his Second Book.

The Satire assumes the form of an imaginary dialogue between Horace and C. Trebatius Testa, a famous lawyer of Cicero's time, whose legal advice on the subject of satiric writing Horace is professedly anxious to secure. Trebatius advises him to give up writing altogether, or if that is impossible, to take up epic poetry (1-12).

"I have no gift for the epic," says Horace," and yet I must write, and must write satire, even as Lucilius used to do. I belong to a frontier stock but am armed for defence, not offence, using the pen when attacked as naturally as the bull its horns (13-60).

TREBATIUS. Then you will come to grief. Some of your great friends will freeze you to death.

HORACE. Did those of Lucilius desert him, when he attacked great and small? Nay, he lived on intimate terms with Scipio and Laelius, and though