Broken with Toils, with ponderous Arms oppreft, When early Clients thunder at his Gate, Of thefe Examples - Should fome God proclaim, But 7. Hora momento, &c.] This Merchant, according to the ufual Manner of those who envy another's Profeffion, looks only on the favourable Side. A Battle feems to have no other Confequences attending it, but immediate Death, or glorious Victory. Indeed War has a thousand Accidents far worse than Death. DAC. 14. Delaffare Fabium. The ancient Commentator informs us, that Fabius had followed the Party of Pompey, and had written feveral Books in Defence of the Stoic Philofophy, with which he had probably full often teized our Epicurean Poet. 19. Licet effe beatis.] The direct and regular Conftruction requires beatos. Yet this Manner of Expreffion has a beautiful Effect in Poetry, and is frequently used by our Author. dederim quibus effe poetis. Non bomines, non Di, non conceffere columnæ. 21. Iratus buccas inflet.] Mr. Spence, in his Polymetis, imagines, our Poet had fome ridiculous Statue of Jupiter in his View, from which he draws this whimsical Figure. But perhaps he laughs at B 3 fome 25 Prætereo; ne fic, ut qui jocularia, ridens 30 AVAR. fome poetical Defcription of the God drawn by his Cotemporaries, fuch as when canâ nive conspuit Alpes. 23. Prætereo.] Mr. Sanadon has here taken a Correction from the Perfon, who proposed that of the fourth Line, which hath fomewhat too curious not to deserve being mentioned. He reads prætereo, and explains the whole Paffage thus, The Poet warmly asks, why Jupiter does not determine never to be fo indulgent to their Prayers again? It were natural to expect, either that Horace fhould make Jupiter anfwer, or fhould himself anfwer for him to this Interrogation. But he ftops short, prætereo, ne fic, ut qui jocularia, ridens percurram. I pafs over the Reason in Silence, for the Subject is too ferious for jefting. Thus he infinuates, that the Gods are fo interested, that the smallest Presents (fuch as Mafters give to their Scholars) can difarm their Anger. He does not indeed fpeak in plain Terms, but leads his Readers to make the Comparison themselves. There is really fome Difficulty in the common Reading. It is hard to fay, to what prætereo refers, or how to make it agree with fed tamen in the twenty-feventh Verfe. However, we may receive the Correction of the Text, yet not be obliged to alter the usual Manner of understanding the Remainder of the Sentence. 26. Elementa prima.] Letters of the Alphabet. Quintilian recommends to us the Example of Philip, who would not fuffer any other than Ariftotle to teach Alexander to read. Of fo much Confequence to their future Education is the firft opening and forming the Mouths of Children. Os puerorum inftituere. Ariftotle was probably of this Opinion, when he accepted fuch an Employment. 28. Ille duro, &c.] This Line is of a Stile more elevated than the rest; and Horace gives us, from Time to Time, thefe Heroic Verses, to enliven his Subject, and awake his Reader's Attention. DAC. But not to treat my Subject as in jest, (Yet may not Truth in laughing Guise be dreft? Who turns the Soil, and o'er the Plowshare bends; MISER. 29. Perfidus bic caupo.] It is a little extraordinary, that none of the Commentators have taken notice of the new Character introduced here inftead of the Lawyer, who is mentioned twice before, and who should have been regularly remembered with the other Actors in this Scene. The Pronoun bic feems to point at a Perfon, whom the Poet already had in his View, in oppofition to ille. Ho race often mentions the Law, and its Profeffors, with Epithets of Perfidy and Cunning. Perhaps the Perfidus caupo was intended to defcribe a Lawyer, who fells by Retail, and adulterates the Law, to his Clients, as Vintners dash their Wines. Ennius fays of Military Vintners, cauponantes bellum, non belligerantes, an Expreffion taken from the Greek, καπηλεύειν μάχην. καπηλεύειν εἰρήνην. καπηλεύειν τας δίκας. Την σοφίαν καπηλεύειν. St. Paul to the Corinthians, xaλecorles tòv λógov r . Adulterating the Word of God. The Author of Hudibras of an Attorney, Hight Whackum, bred to dash and draw, A Critical Letter to Dr. Hare, which the Tranflator never faw until thefe Notes were written, very juftly takes notice of the new Character in the Perfon of this Vintner, but relieves the Difficulty by a pleafant Manner of altering the Text. The Letters fidus bic cau, fays our ingenious Critic, being tranfpofed, give us the Word caufidicus; for f and fare frequently mistaken in the Manufcripts for each other, and the Letter b is often thrown into the Middle of a Word by the blundering of Copyifts. A Manner of B 4 Cri AVAR. Sicut Parvula (nam exemplo eft) magni formica laboris HORAT. Quæ, fimul inverfum contriftat Aquarius annum, Quid juvat immenfum te argenti pondus & auri AVAR. Quod, fi comminuas, vilem redigatur ad affem. HORAT. At nî id fit, quid habet pulchri conftru&tus acervus ? 35 40 45 Non tuus hoc capiat venter plus ac meus: ut fi Reticulum panis venales inter onufto Fortè vehas humero, nihilo plus accipias quàm Qui Criticifm not unlike that of Lord Peter, who not being able to find the Word Shoulder-knot in the Will totidem fyllabis, was determin'd to find it totidem literis. But Mr. Markland, by this fortuitous Concourfe of Letters, feems only to have intended a Sacrifice to the God of Laughter, Deo Rifui facra facere, according to his own Expreffion. 35. Haud ignara, &c.] Virgil calls an Ant, byemis memorem. It is not only fenfible of the Change of the Seafons, and Approach of Winter, but of the Wane of the Moon, and therefore works all Night when the Moon is at full. Horace here anfwers the Merchant, who fays, he imitates the Wifdem of the Ant. The Poet allows the Example to be good, but by no means an Object of the Merchant's Imitation, fince it wifely enjoys in Winter the Stores which it had laboured to raise in Summer DAC. 45. Quod fi comminuas.] The Change of the Speakers gives to the Mifer his proper Language, and preffes him with this Dilemma MISER. For thus the little Ant (to human Lore For future Want HORACE. Yet when the Stars appear, That darkly fadden the declining Year, But, prithee, whence the Pleasure, thus by stealth One Farthing leffen'd, you the Mass reduce. HORACE. And if not leffen'd, whence can rife its Ufe? Or If you touch your Treasure, you reduce it to Nothing; and if you do not, is is perfectly useless. But he hath more Pain in being obliged to spend a little of his Wealth, than he hath Pleasure in the Re mainder. 45. Millia frumenti.] Centum millia modiorum; or millia, like other Nouns of Number, may be an Adjective, and, to form the Grammatical Conftruction, we may read centum millia negotia modiorum. DAC. SAN. 46. Hoc capiat plus ac meus.] Ex hoc frumento, The Altera tions |