Et faciunt prope plura dolentibus ex animo; sic
Derisor vero plus laudatore movetur.
Reges dicuntur multis urguere culullis,
Et torquere mero, quem perspexisse laborant
An sit amicitia dignus: si carmina condes,
Nunquam te fallant animi sub vulpe latentes.
Quintilio si quid recitares, Corrige sodes
Hoc, aiebat, et hoc; melius te posse negares,
Bis terque expertum frustra, delere jubebat,
Et male tornatos incudi reddere versus.

431. Plorare, Sax.-434. Cucullis, Z.-435. Laborant, Bentl. è MSS. it. Lamb. MSS. 4 Bersm. et Helmst. et melius est quam laborent, Baxteri. Ergo recepi, Z.-437. Fallent, MSS. Ach. Stat. S.-441. Formatos, viri docti apud Cun. et ipse cum Sanad. Ac videntur favere Scholiastiæ et alii semiveteres.

with the utmost propriety, adds [from ver. 419. to 450.] as a necessary part of this instructive monition to his brother poets, some directions concerning the choice of a prudent and sincere friend, whose unbiassed sense might at all times correct the

437. Sub vulpe latentes. Alluding to the fable of the fox and crow, which, for the better illustration of this passage, shall be inserted as it is in Fab. 13. Lib. i.

Vulpis et Corvus.

Qui se laudari gaudent verbis subdolis,
Sera dant pœnas turpes pœnitentia.
Quum de fenestra corvus raptum caseum
Comesse vellet, celsa residens arbore;
Hunc vidit vulpis, deinde sic cœpit loqui:
"O qui tuarum, Corve, pennarum est nitor!
"Quantum decoris corpore et vultu geris!
"Si vocem haberes, nulla prior ales foret."
At ille stultus, dum vult vocem ostendere,
Amisit ore caseum, quem celeriter
Dolosa vulpis avidis rapuit dentibus.
Tum demum ingemuit corvi deceptus stupor.
Hac re probatur, ingenium quantum valet,
Virtute et semper prævalet sapientia.

438. Quintilio. Quintilius Varus,

Si defendere delictum quam vertere malles,
Nullum ultra verbum aut operam insumebat inanem;
Quin sine rivali teque et tua solus amares.
Vir bonus et prudens versus reprehendet inertes,
Culpabit duros, incomtis allinet atrum
Transverso calamo signum, ambitiosa recidet
Ornamenta, parum claris lucem dare coget,
Arguet ambigue dictum, mutanda notabit;
Fiet Aristarchus; non dicet, Cur ego amicum

443. Nil ultra verbi, aut operæ insumebat insanis, Cun. solus.
Lamb. et Bentl. it. MS. Helmst. recte; al. Sumebat, Z.-
ex MSS. Nec, al.-451. Ducunt, S.

ν

445 v

450

Insumebat, sic

450. Non, Bentl.

prejudices, indiscretions, and oversights of the author.

And

to impress this necessary care, with greater force, on the poet, he closes the whole with shewing the dreadful consequences of being imposed upon in so nice an affair; representing in all the

the different alterations necessary for writings, and which Quintilian also notices in Lib. x. c. 4. Neque enim sine causâ creditum est, stylum non minus agere cum delet. Hujus autem operis est, adjicere, detrahere, mutare. Sed facilius in his simpliciusque judicium, quæ replenda vel dejicienda sunt, premere vero tumentia, humilia extollere, luxuriantia astringere, inordinata digerere, soluta componere, exultantia coercere, duplicis operæ. Nam et damnanda sunt quæ placuerant, et invenienda quæ fugerant."

450. Fiet Aristarchus. Aristarchus was a celebrated critic in the age of Ptolemy, whose sons he educated. He revised Homer with such severity, that Aristarchus became a name for any severe critic. Vide Cic. Ep. ad Attic. Lib. ii. 1. "Orationes quarum tu Aristarchus es."

Offendam in nugis? Hæ nugæ seria ducent
In mala derisum semel exceptumque sinistre.
Ut mala quem scabies aut morbus regius urguet,
Aut fanaticus error et iracunda Diana,
Vesanum tetigisse timent fugiuntque poëtam,
Qui sapiunt; agitant pueri, incautique sequuntur.
Hic, dum sublimis versus ructatur, et errat,
Si veluti merulis intentus decipit auceps
In putem foveamve, licet, Succurrite, longum
Clamet, Io cives! non sit qui tollere curet:
Si curet quis opem ferre, et demittere funem,
Qui scis an prudens huc se dejecerit, atque
Servari nolit? dicam, Siculique poëtæ

Narrabo interitum: Deus immortalis haberi

458. Sic veluti, MSS. 2 Bersm.-461. Curet, Z. Siquis curet, Ven. Glar. 462. Quid, MS. Ach. Stat. Sciat, Cun. Projec. quidam MSS. et Bentl.

strength of colouring, the picture of a bad poet, infatuated to a degree of madness, by a fond conceit of his own works, and ex

Dum cupit Empedocles, ardentem frigidus Ætnam 465 x Insiluit. Sit jus liceatque perire poëtis :

Invitum qui servat, idem facit occidenti :

Nec semel hoc fecit; nec, si retractus erit, jam

Fiet homo, et ponet famosæ mortis amorem.

Nec satis apparet cur versus factitet; utrum
Minxerit in patrios cineres, an triste bidental
Moverit incestus; certe furit, ac velut ursus
Objectos caveæ valuit si frangere clathros,
Indoctum doctumque fugat recitator acerbus :
Quem vero arripuit, tenet occiditque legendo,
Non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris, hirudo.

468. Retentus, MS. Helmst.-469. Formosa, MSS. Ach. Stat.-470. Pro cur, cum. Flor. Versus cur dictitet, Cun. sol. Dictitet, MS. Helmst.

posed thereby (so important had been the service of timely advice) to the contempt and scorn of the public.