Me quamvis Lamiæ pietas & cura moratur 20 25 Multâ 8. Mens animufque.] When the Latins ufe mens animufque or mens animi, they would exprefs all the Faculties of the Soul. Mens regards the fuperior and intelligent Part; animus the sensible and inferior, the Source of the Paffions. DAC. 14. Mediaftinus.] Was a Slave of the loweft Kind, who had no regular Service appointed for him, but waited upon other Slaves in the vileft Employments. Among other Directions given by Cato to his Son, when he went to the Army, Ille imperator, tu illi ac cæteris Mediaftinus. 26. Et tamen urges.] A beautiful Expreffion, and extremely proper for Agriculture. Virgil fays, infequi arva, terram infestari. Thefe Though Lamia's pious Tears, that ceaseless mourn A Brother loft, have hinder'd my Return, Thither my warmeft Wishes bend their Force, Start from the Goal, and beat the diftant Course. Rome is your Rapture, mine the rural Seat; Pleas'd with each other's Lot, our own we hate; But both are Fools, and Fools in like Extreme; Guiltless the Place, that we unjustly blame, For in the Mind alone our Follies lie, The Mind, that never from itself can fly. A Slave at Rome, and difcontented there, A Country-Life was then your filent Prayer: A Rustic grown, your first Defires return, For Rome, her public Games and Baths you burn. More conftant to myself, I leave with Pain, By hateful Business forc'd, the rural Scene. From different Objects our Defires arise, And thence the Distance, that between us lies; For what you call inhofpitably drear To me with Beauty and Delight appear, For well I know, a Tavern's greasy, Steam And a vile Stew with Joy your Heart enflame, While my fmall Farin yields rather Herbs than Vines, Nor there a neighbouring Tavern pours its Wines, Nor Harlot-Minstrel fings, when the rude Sound Tempts You with heavy Heels to thump the Ground.. But you complain, that with unceafing Toil, You break, alas! the long unbroken Soil, Or loose the wearied Oxen from the Plow, And feed with Leaves new-gather'd from the Bough. Then Thefe Words may be fuppofed to have been written or spoken by the Steward to his Mafter, commending his own Diligence and complaining of the Fatigue of a Country-Life. CRUQ Multâ mole docendus aprico parcere prato. Nunc age, quid noftrum concentum dividat, audi. Quem fcis immunem Cinara placuiffe rapaci, 30 Cœna brevis juvat, & prope rivum fomnus in herbâ; 35 Non iftic obliquo oculo mea commoda quifquam Horum tu in numerum voto ruis: invidet ufum 40 32. Quem tenues decuere toga.] Horace, to render the Comparison between himself and his Slave more juft, draws a Picture of the Life they passed in their Youth at Rome. He confeffes, that his own Conduct had not been extremely regular, yet that of his Slave, who was probably the Confident of his Pleafures, had not been more wife. But while the Mafter renounces the Follies of his Youth, though without blushing for them, the Servant would continue in them as long as he lived. DAC. 38. Limat.] Limis oculis afpicere aliquem, to look afkew, or afkance; but the Latins never ufed limare in that Senfe. The Scholiaft explains the Word limat by deterit, imminuit. It was a Superftition among the Ancients, as Mr. Dacier obferves, that an envious Eye could leffen what it looked at, and corrupt our Enjoyment of it. Then feels your Laziness an added Pain, If e'er the Rivulet be swollen with Rain; Now hear, from whence our Sentiments divide ; None there with Eye afkance my Pleasures views, Thus the flow Ox would gaudy Trappings claim; The fprightly Horse would plough amidst the Team; By my Advice, let each with chearful Heart, As best he understands, employ his Art. 42. Calo argatus.] Mr. Dacier, fupported by Feftus and the Scholiafts, derives the Word calo from xahiw voco, and then it must fignify Nomenclator. But the firft Syllable of calare, calo, calator, is always fhort. We may therefore better derive it from an old Subkantive cala, used by Lucretius, and probably taken from xánov, Lignum. EPIST. XV. Ad C. NuмONIUM VALAM. Ο UÆ fit hyems Veliæ, quod cœlum, Vala, Salerni, Mufa fupervacuas Antonius, & tamen illis 5 Sulfura We find in the Beginning of this Epiftle an inexcufable Perplexity of Style and Conftruction. We must read more than twenty Lines before we can range the Thoughts in their natural Order, and two long Parentheses, one of twelve, the other of five Lines, increase the Disorder. The Reader and Tranflator are equally loft in the Windings of fuch a Labyrinth. But the latter Part hath none of thefe Faults. The Story is told with an eafy, natural Simplicity, enlivened by the Character of Mænius, and the Application, which the Poet makes of it. SAN. Verf. 1. Quæ fit hyems Velia.] We must begin the Conftruction with the twenty fifth Line, fcribere te nobis, tibi nos accredere, par eft, quæ fit byems Veliæ, &c. It were to be wished that Horace had avoided this enormous Length of Sentences, through which it is extremely difficult to follow him. We have Examples of the fame Fault in his Odes, Motum ex Metello, and Qualem miniftrum ; but although Lyric Poetry allows more Liberty than any other Kind of Writing, yet it will be always a Fault, and great Masters deferve lefs Indulgence than ordinary Poets. An epiftolary Style requires more Eafe and Simplicity. SAN. 3. Mufa fupervacuas Antonius] Antonius Mufa was a Freeman of Auguftus, and Brother of Euphorbus, Phyfician to King Juba. His Memory ought always to be had in Veneration by the Faculty. He had the Happiness of curing Auguftus of a Diftemper, which his other Phyficians thought defperate, and this Cure raifed both the Faculty and its Profeffors out of Contempt. The Prince and People contended in honouring a Man, who had reftored a Life fo valuable |