Tanto plura cupis, nulline faterier audes? 150 Si cupidum timidumque minus te; nempe ruberes, 155 Si proprium est, quod quis libra mercatur et aere, Sit proprium quidquam, puncto quod mobilis horae 160 165 170 parasti, tanto cupis; that is, thou art an avarus.—149. If you had a wound, and were told that some root or herb would cure it, but found upon trial that it did not, then you would throw it away. Do the same in morals. The vulgar think that if a man has wealth, he has necessarily also wisdom: if you find, however, that your wisdom does not grow with your wealth, then for the future despise the opinion of the multitude. 156. Cupidum timidumque minus; that is, more free from passion in general, because the passions consist in desires and fears.-158. As not merely what a person buys is his property, but what he has used for a certain time without its being claimed by another, so not merely the land for which you have paid, but all the land of which you eat the produce, is yours. Libra et aere. In early times, when there was no coined money, the metal was weighed out.-159. Mancipat usus, use, prescription, makes his property.' As to consultis, see line 87.-160. Orbius, an unknown land-owner.-166. Numerato nuper an olim, ablative dependent on vivas; whether thou livest on that which was formerly paid for all at once, or on what thou art now gradually making thine own by use.'-167. The sense is: even he who really possesses land has to buy articles of food as well as thyself.-170. Connect usque qua.-171. Vicina jurgia, 'quarrels with neighbours.' 175 Permutet dominos et cedat in altera jura. Pauperies immunda domus procul absit: ego utrum 180 185 190 195 200 174. In altera jura, 'into another's possession,' so that another shall have the 'right' to dispose of it. 177. Vici, scil. rustici = villae. As to Calabris, etc., see Epode i. 27.-178. Metit. See Carm. iv. 14, 31.179. Grandia for grandes.-180. Tyrrhena sigilla, little brazen images of the gods, manufactured chiefly in Etruria. They were used as ornaments of rooms, and many of them have been preserved to our time.-181. Gaetulo murice. See Carm. ii. 16, 35. -183. Cessare = otiari. Ungi. See Satires i. 6, 123.-184. Herod the Great, king of Judaea, possessed extensive forests of palm-trees, which brought him a great profit (hence called pinguia.)-186. That is, is making his estate more profitable by burning or cutting down trees.-188. Mortalis, etc. When a man dies, his Genius dies with him, or, as here expressed, it is 'mortal for every single head.' Moreover, the Genius alters its visage, as the man does his, cheerful (albus), or sad (ater.)-192. Datis quam relicta.-193. I wish to find out the difference, and then to attend to it. I would enjoy life without being a spendthrift, and be frugal, but not miserly.-197. Ac potius, but rather.' Quinquatrus, a festival of Minerva, celebrated on the 18th of March. The boys had a share in the celebration of it, and had therefore a holiday from school; hence, in the next line, exiguo gratoque tempore exiguis feriis. -199. Utrum. Supply mentally nihil interest.—200. The ship = = Non agimur tumidis velis Aquilone secundo, “Non es avarus: abi." Quid? cetera jam simul isto 205 Quid te exempta levat spinis de pluribus una? Tempus abire tibi est, ne potum largius aequo 210 215 here is income. Unus et idem, 'consistently.'-204. Hence Horace belongs to the upper part of the middle class.-205. Transition to other vices, leaving avarice. A philosopher says to Horace abi, as if he had nothing more to do with him. 209. The lemures are departed spirits, who appear to the living, and trouble them during the night. The Romans had a festival called Lemuria in the month of May.-210, Natales, etc., dost thou count thy birthdays with gratitude to the gods?' and hence, art thou not afraid of death? 212. Spinis vitiis.--213. Decede peritis; that is, die and make room for wiser men. 216. Lasciva decentius aetas; that is, youth, young people, who may frolic with more propriety than Horace, who is now advancing in years. DE ARTE POETICA LIBER. AD PISONES. THIS poem has caused more difference of opinion among the commentators than any other of Horace's writings. Some have considered it as intended to be a complete system of the principles of poetical composition; others as merely a friendly letter; and both parties have found something to censure in it. The truth lies between the two opinions. As Horace in several of his epistles has treated of philosophical doctrines, particularly those of the Stoics, and in others has pronounced some judgments regarding the art of poetry, so here, in the easy form of a letter to friends, he gives his views of the art, formed by the experience of a life dedicated to the Muses. Hence this book is a satirical didactic poem, in which need be expected neither philosophical form and arrangement, nor any great flight of fancy. This epistle, if not the last of our poet's writings, is at least a work of his mature age, composed probably between 11 and 8 B. C., and we may suppose him to have left it as a kind of rule by which he wished posterity to try his poetry. The epistle is addressed to L. Piso, consul in 15 B. C., a man distinguished as a general and statesman, and particularly for the ability with which he discharged the duties of praefectus urbi; and to his two sons, the elder of whom was from seventeen to twenty years of age at the time that Horace wrote it-a period of life at which interest in poetry very commonly develops itself. HUMANO capiti cervicem pictor equinam 5 1. From the beginning to line 45 Horace speaks of the necessity of preserving unity and harmony in a poem, and of the choice and arrangement of the subject.-2. Inducere, to lay on' with the pencil. The dative membris is governed by this verb.—3. Connect turpiter atrum. We often find on ancient wall-paintings such monsters as Horace here describes.-5. Spectatum is the supine. 25* (293) Credite, Pisones, isti tabulae fore librum Quidlibet audendi semper fuit aequa potestas.' Scimus, et hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim, Sed non ut placidis coëant immitia, non ut Denique sit quidvis, simplex duntaxat et unum. Deficiunt animique; professus grandia turget; = - 7. Vanae species monstra.-8. Uni formae, 'so as to make it a form of one kind.'-9. An objection.-10. Aequa, 'just, reasonable.' -12. Coëant conjungantur.-15. The poet alludes to the practice of inserting magniloquent passages unconnected with the main subject, to serve the purpose of show, like a purple patch in a garment of less gaudy colour. He now furnishes examples. 18. Flumen Rhenum. Compare Sat. i. 10, 37; and Gram. § 210, note 1.-19. Et fortasse cupressum, etc., a proverbial expression, taken from a painter who could not paint anything well but a cypress. A shipwrecked person engaged him to paint the shipwreck, and he asked whether he might not introduce a cypress.-21. Amphora, etc., another illustration. A potter intends to make an amphora, but after he has put his wheel in motion, a jar comes forth.-28. Tutus, he who seeks to remain on safe ground, and abstains from any flight of fancy.29. Prodigialiter, so that the readers may think him a prodigy of genius.'-32. A person, to excel, must be skilled not in one branch of an art merely, but in the whole. The Aemilius ludus was a fencing-school not far from the Circus Maximus, which had been built by an Aemilius Lepidus. Unus unice, more skilfully than |