THE FIRST

EPISTLE

Of the SECOND BOOK of

HOR A. CE,

TH

ADVERTISEMENT.

HE reflections of Horace, and the judgments paffed in his epistle to Auguftus, feemed fa feasonable to the present times, that I could not help applying them to the use of my own country. The author thought them confiderable enough to address them to his prince; whom he paints with all the great and good qualities of a monarch, upon whom the Romans depended for the increase of an abfolute empire. But to make the poem entirely English, I was willing to add one or two of those which contribute to the happiness of a free people, and are more confiftent with the welfare of our. neighbours.

This epiftle will fhow the learned world to have fallen into two mistakes: one, that Auguftus was a patron of poets in general; whereas he not only prohibited all but the beft writers to name him, but recommended that care even to the civil magiftrate. Admonebat prætores, ne paterentur nomen fuum

fuum obfolefieri, &c. The other, that this piece was only a general difcourfe of poetry; whereas it was an apology for the poets, in order to render Auguftus more their patron. Horace here pleads the cause of his contemporaries, first, against the taste of the town, whose humour it was to magnify the authors of the preceding age: fecondly, against the court and nobility, who encouraged only the writers for the theatre; and, laftly, against the Emperor himself, who had conceived them of little ufe to the government. He fhews (by a view of the progrefs of learning, and the change of taste among the Romans) that the introduction of the polite arts of Greece had given the writers of his time great advantages over their predeceffors; that their morals were much improved, and the licence of thofe ancient poets restrained: that satire and comedy were become more just and useful; that whatever extravagancies were left on the ftage, were owing to the ill tafle of the navility; that poets, under due regulations, were in many refpects useful to the fate, and concludes, that it was upon them the Emperor himself muft depend, for his fame with posterity.

We may farther learn from this epiftle, that Horace made his court to this great prince by writing with a decent freedom toward him, with a juft contempt of his low flatterers, and with a manly regard to his own character.

EPISTLE I.

To AUGUSTUS.

WHILE you, great patron of mankind! (4)

The balanc'd world, and open all the main;
Your country, chief, in arms abroad defend,
At home, with morals, arts, and laws amend;
(b) How fhall the Mufe, from such a monarch, steal
An hour, and not defraud the public weal?

6

(c) Edward and Henry, now the boast of fame, And virtuous Alfred, a more (d) facred name, After a life of gen'rous toils endur'd, The Gaul fubdu'd, or property fecur'd,

C

EPISTOLA I.

Ad AUGUSTUM.

IQ

UM tot (a) sustineas et tanta negotia folus, Res Italas armis tuteris, moribus ornes, Legibus emendes; in (b) publica commoda peccem, Si longo fermone morer tua tempora, Cæfar.

(c) Romulus, et Liber pater, et cum Castore Pollux,

Poft ingentia facta, (d) deorum in templa recepti, Dum terras hominumque colunt genus afpera bella Componunt, agros adfignant, oppida condunt;

Ambition

15

20

Ambition humbled, mighty cities ftorm'd,
Or laws establish'd, and the world reform'd;
(e) Clos'd their long glories with a figh, to find
Th' unwilling gratitude of base mankind!
All human virtue, to its latest breath,
(f) Finds Envy never conquer'd but by Death.
The great Alcides, every labour past,
Had ftill this monster to fubdue at laft.
(g) Sure fate of all, beneath whose rising ray
Each ftar of meaner merit fades away!
Opprefs'd we feel the beam directly beat,
Thofe funs of glory please not till they fet.
To thee the world its prefent homage pays,
The harvest early, (b) but mature the praise :
Great friend of LIBERTY! in kings a name
Above all Greek, above all Roman fame *:
Whose word is truth, as facred and rever'd,
(i) As Heav'n's own oracles from altars heard.
Wonder of kings! like whom, to mortal eyes
(4) None e'er has ris'n, and none e'er shall rife. 30

(e) Ploravere fuis non refpondere favorem
Speratum meritis. diram qui contudit hydram,
Notaque fatali portenta labore fubegit,
Comperit (f) invidiam fupremo fine domari,
(g) Úrit enim fulgore fuo, qui prægravat artes
Infra fe pofitas: extinctus amabitur idem.

(b) Præfenti tibi maturos largimur honores, (i) Jurandafque tuum per numen ponimus aras, (k) Nil oriturum alias, nil ortum tale fatentes. Sed tuus hoc populus fapiens et juftus in uno, *Te noftrus ducibus, te Graiis anteferendo, Cetere nequaquam fimili ratione modoque

1 3

25

Juft

Juft in one instance, be it yet confeft Your people, Sir, are partial in the reft: Foes to all living worth except your own, And advocates for folly dead and gone. Authors, like coins, grow dear as they grow old; It is the ruft we value, not the gold.

36

(/) Chaucer's worst ribaldry is learn'd by rote,
And beaftly Skelton heads of houfes quote:
One likes no language but the Fairy Queen;
A Scot will fight for Chrift's Kirk on the Green;
And each true Briton is to Ben fo civil,
(m) He fwears the Mufes met him at the Devil.
Tho' justly (n) Greece her eldest fons admires,
Why should not we be wifer than our fires?

41

Eftimat; et, nifi quæ terris femota fuifque
Temporibus defuncta videt, faftidit et odit :
(4) Sic fautor veterum, ut tabulas peccare vetantes
Quas bis quinque viri fanxerunt, foedera regum,
Vel Gabiis vel cum rigidis æquata Sabinis,
Pontificum libros, annofa volumina vatum,
(m) Dicitet Albano Mufas in monte locutas.
Si, quia (n) Graiorum funt antiquiffima quæque
Scripta vel optima, Romani penfantur eadem

NOTES.

Ver. 38. And beaftly Skelton, etc.] Skelton, poet laureat to Henry VIII. a volume of whofe veries has been lately reprinted, confifting almost wholly of ribaldry, obfcenity, and fcurrilous language.

Ver. 40. Chrift's Kirk on the Green;] a ballad made by a king of Scotland.

Ver. 43. met him at the Devil] The Devil Tavern, where Ben Johnson held his poetical club.