Beatus Fannius ultro delatis capsis et imagine, cum mea nemo 25 scripta legat volgo recitare timentis ob hanc rem, quod sunt quos genus hoc minime iuvat, utpote pluris culpari dignos. quemvis media elige1 turba: aut ob avaritiam2 aut misera3 ambitione laborat. hic nuptarum insanit amoribus, hic puerorum ; hunc capit argenti splendor; stupet Albius aere ; hic mutat merces surgente a sole ad eum quo vespertina tepet1 regio; quin per mala praeceps 30 fertur uti pulvis collectus turbine, ne quid summa deperdat metuens aut ampliet ut rem : omnes hi metuunt versus, odere poetas. 'faenum habet in cornu: longe fuge! dummodo risum excutiat sibi, non hic5 cuiquam parcet amico; et quodcumque semel chartis illeverit, omnis gestiet a furno redeuntis scire lacuque 35 6 Agedum, pauca accipe contra. primum ego me illorum, dederim quibus esse poetas, excerpam numero: neque enim concludere versum 40 dixeris esse satis ; neque, si qui scribat uti nos sermoni propiora, putes hunc esse poetam. 1 erue K, Vollmer: eripe 3 Bland.: arripe Bentley. 2 ab avaritia. 3 miser K, II. Б 4 patet, II. non non, II, adopted by Vollmer and Garrod. 6 poetis R and scholia on Sat. i. 6. 25; so Vollmer. a Fannius, a petty poet, brought his writings (kept in capsae or cylindrical boxes), together with his portrait, into prominence, but in what way he did so is now unknown. 21 Happy fellow, Fannius, who has delivered his books and bust unasked!" My writings no one reads, and I fear to recite them in public, the fact being that this style is abhorrent to some, inasmuch as most people merit censure. Choose anyone from amid a crowd: he is suffering either from avarice or some wretched ambition. One is mad with love for somebody's wife, another for boys. Here is one whose fancy the sheen of silver catches; Albius c dotes on bronzes; another trades his wares from the rising sun to regions warmed by his evening rays; nay, through perils he rushes headlong, like dust gathered up by a whirlwind, fearful lest he lose aught of his total, or fail to add to his wealth. All of these dread verses and detest the poet : 'He carries hay on his horns, give him a wide berth. Provided he can raise a laugh for himself, he will spare not a friend, and whatever he has once scribbled on his sheets he will rejoice to have all know, all the slaves and old dames as they come home from bakehouse and pond." "e 38 Come now, listen to a few words in answer. First I will take my own name from the list of such as I would allow to be poets. For you would not call it enough to round off a verse, nor would you count anyone poet who writes, as I do, lines more Probably he presented them to private libraries. At this time the only public library in Rome was the one founded by Asinius Pollio in 38 B.C., and the only living writer whose works were admitted to it was Varro. Another view is that Fannius's admirers presented the poet with book-cases and bust. bi.e., Satire. The extravagance of Albius impoverishes his son (1.109). d Dangerous cattle were thus distinguished. i.e. the common people, as they went to get bread from the public bakery and water from the public tanks. Agrippa set up seven hundred lacus or reservoirs in Rome. ingenium cui sit, cui mens divinior atque os magna sonaturum, des nominis huius honorem. idcirco quidam Comoedia necne poema 66 esset quaesivere, quod acer spiritus ac vis 45 50 55 tempora certa modosque, et quod prius ordine verbum est, non, ut si solvas " posterius facias, praeponens ultima primis, postquam Discordia taetra Belli ferratos postis portasque refregit," invenias etiam disiecti membra poetae. Hactenus haec alias iustum sit necne poema, nunc illud tantum quaeram, meritone tibi sit suspectum genus hoc scribendi. Sulcius acer ambulat et Caprius, rauci male cumque libellis, magnus uterque timor latronibus: at bene si quis et vivat puris manibus, contemnat utrumque. 1 3 4 60 65 insanit, II. 2 grandem, II. pueris, II. versum, II. a Who Pomponius was is unknown, but in real life he corresponds to the prodigal in the play, and the language used by his father under the circumstances would be similar to that in the scene from Comedy. The passage cited is from Ennius and refers to the temple of Janus, which was opened in time of war. It is imitated in Virgil, Aen. vii. 622. 66 66 akin to prose. If one has gifts inborn, if one has a soul divine and tongue of noble utterance, to such give the honour of that name. Hence some have questioned whether Comedy is or is not poetry; for neither in diction nor in matter has it the fire and force of inspiration, and, save that it differs from prose-talk in its regular beat, it is mere prose. But," you say, there is the father storming in passion because his spendthrift son, madly in love with a wanton mistress, rejects a wife with large dower, and in drunken fit reels abroad-sad scandal —with torches in broad daylight." Would Pomponius hear a lecture less stern than this, were his father alive? And so 'tis not enough to write out a line of simple words such that, should you break it up, any father whatever would rage in the same fashion as the father in the play. Take from the verses which I am writing now, or which Lucilius wrote in former days, their regular beat and rhythm -change the order of the words, transposing the first and the last—and it would not be like breaking up: When foul Discord's din War's posts and gates of bronze had broken in, where, even when he is dismembered, you would find the limbs of a poet." 63 Of this enough. Some other time we'll see whether this kind of writing is true poetry or not. To-day the only question I'll ask is this, whether you are right in viewing it with distrust. Keenscented Sulcius and Caprius stalk about, horribly hoarse and armed with writs, both a great terror to robbers, but if a man is honest of life and his hands ut sis tu similis Caeli Birrique latronum, non ego sim1 Capri neque Sulci: cur metuas me? 70 nulla taberna meos habeat neque pila libellos, quis manus insudet volgi Hermogenisque Tigelli ; nec2 recito cuiquam nisi amicis, idque coactus, non ubivis coramve quibuslibet. in medio qui scripta foro recitent, sunt multi, quique lavantes: 75 suave locus voci resonat conclusus. inanis hoc iuvat, haud illud quaerentis, num sine sensu, tempore num faciant alieno. "Laedere gaudes inquit,3" et hoc studio pravus facis." Unde petitum hoc in me iacis? est auctor quis denique eorum vixi cum quibus ? absentem qui rodit amicum, qui non defendit alio culpante, solutos qui captat risus hominum famamque dicacis, fingere qui non visa potest, commissa tacere 80 qui nequit hic niger est, hunc tu, Romane, caveto. 85 saepe tribus lectis videas cenare quaternos, e quibus unus amet quavis aspergere cunctos praeter eum qui praebet aquam; post hunc quoque potus, condita cum verax aperit praecordia Liber. 1 2 sum Porph. non, II. 3 inquis M, II. 4 imus, II. 5 amet 1 Bland., Bentley: avet Mss.; a subjunctive is necessary here. a Sulcius and Caprius are commonly supposed to have been professional informers, hoarse from bawling in the courts, but Ullman (A.P.A. xlviii. p. 117) takes them to be contemporary satirists, who recite their long-winded poems and carry about copies for free distribution. For Tigellius see Sat. i. 3. 129. The scholiasts identify him with the Tigellius of Sat. i. 2. 3, and i. 3. 4, and Ullman convincingly upholds this view (C.P. x. pp. 270 ff.). He was now dead, but Horace treats him as the poet of the volgus. See note on Sat. i. 10. 90. Book-stalls |