The Art Of Poetry An Epistle To The Pisos by Horace

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434.--_Because_ DEMOCRITUS, _&c.] Excludit sanos Helicone poetas
Democritus._

_De Nores_ has a comment on this passage; but the ambiguity of the Latin
relative renders it uncertain, how far the Critick applies particularly
to _the Pisos_, except by the _Apostrophe_ taken notice of in the last
note. His words are these. _Nisi horum_ democriticorum _opinionem
horatius hoc in loco refutasset, frustra de poetica facultate_ in hac
AD PISONES EPISTOLA _praecepta literis tradidisset, cùm arte ipsâ
repudiatâ_, ab his _tantummodo insaniae & furori daretur locus._

443.--_Which no vile_ _CUTBERD'S razor'd hands profane. Tonfori_ LYCINO.]

_Lycinus_ was not only, as appears from Horace, an eminent Barber; but
said, by some, to have been created a Senator by Augustus, on account of
his enmity to Pompey.

466.--ON NATURE'S PATTERN TOO I'LL BID HIM LOOK, AND COPY MANNERS FROM
HER LIVING BOOK.]

_Respicere examplar vitae, morumque jubebo_ doctum imitatorem, _& veras
hinc ducere voces._

This precept seeming, at first sight, liable to be interpreted as
recommending _personal imitations_, De Nores, Dacier, and the Author of
the English Commentary, all concur to inculcate the principles of Plato,
Aristotle, and Cicero, shewing that the truth of representation (_verae
voces_) must be derived from an imitation of _general nature_, not from
copying _individuals_. Mankind, however, being a mere collection
of _individuals_, it is impossible for the Poet, not to found his
observations on particular objects; and his chief skill seems to consist
in the happy address, with which he is able to _generalize_ his ideas,
and to sink the likeness of the individual in the resemblance of
universal nature. A great Poet, and a great Painter, have each
illustrated this doctrine most happily; and with their observations I
shall conclude this note.

Chacun peint avec art dans ce nouveau miroir,
S'y vit avec plaisir, ou crut ne s'y point voir.
L'Avare des premiers rit du tableau fidele
D'un Avare, souvent tracé sur son modéle;
Et mille fois un Fat, finement exprimé,
Méconnut le portrait, sur lui-méme formé.

BOILEAU, _L'Art Poet_. ch. iii.

"Nothing in the art requires more attention and judgment, or more of
that power of discrimination, which may not improperly be called Genius,
than the steering between general ideas and individuality; for tho' the
body of the whole must certainly be composed by the first, in order to
communicate a character of grandeur to the whole, yet a dash of the
latter is sometimes necessary to give an interest. An individual model,
copied with scrupulous exactness, makes a mean stile like the Dutch; and
the neglect of an actual model, and the method of proceeding solely from
idea, has a tendency to make the Painter degenerate into a mannerist.

"It is necessary to keep the mind in repair, to replace and refreshen
those impressions of nature, which are continually wearing away.

"A circumstance mentioned in the life of Guido, is well worth the
attention of Artists: He was asked from whence he borrowed his idea of
beauty, which is acknowledged superior to that of every other Painter;
he said he would shew all the models he used, and ordered a common
Porter to sit before him, from whom he drew a beautiful countenance;
this was intended by Guido as an exaggeration of his conduct; but his
intention was to shew that he thought it necessary to have _some model_
of nature before you, however you deviate from it, and correct it from
the idea which you have formed in your mind of _perfect beauty_.

"In Painting it is far better to have a _model_ even to _depart_ from,
than to have nothing fixed and certain to determine the idea: There is
something then to proceed on, something to be corrected; so that even
supposing that no part is taken, the model has still been not without
use.

"Such habits of intercourse with nature, will at least create that
_variety_ which will prevent any one's prognosticating what manner
of work is to be produced, on knowing the subject, which is the most
disagreeable character an Artist can have."

_Sir Joshua Reynolds's Notes on Fresnoy._

480.--ALBIN'S HOPEFUL.] _Filius ALBINI_

Albinus was said to be a rich Usurer. All that is necessary to explain
this passage to the English reader, is to observe, that _the Roman Pound
consisted of Twelve Ounces._

487.--_Worthy the _Cedar _and the_ Cypress.]

The antients, for the better preservation of their manuscripts, rubbed
them with the juice of _Cedar,_ and kept them in cases of _Cypress._

496.--Shall Lamia in our sight her sons devour,
and give them back alive the self-same hour?]

_Neu pranse Lamiae vivum puerum extrabat alvo._

Alluding most probably to some Drama of the time, exhibiting so
monstrous and horrible an incident.

503.--The Sosii] Roman booksellers.

523.--Chaerilus.]
A wretched poet, who celebrated the actions, and was distinguished by
the patronage, of Alexander.

527.--If Homer seem to nod, or chance to dream.]

It may not be disagreeable to the reader to see what two poets of our
own country have said on this subject.

--foul descriptions are offensive still,
either for being _like,_ or being _ill._
For who, without a qualm, hath ever look'd
on holy garbage, tho' by Homer cook'd?
Whose railing heroes, and whose wounded Gods,
make some suspect he snores, as well as nods.
But I offend--Virgil begins to frown,
And Horace looks with indignation down:
My blushing Muse with conscious fear retires,
and whom they like, implicitly admires.

--Roscommon's _Essay on Translated Verse._
A prudent chief not always must display
Her pow'rs in equal ranks, and fair array:
But with th' occasion and the place comply,
Conceal his force, nay seem sometimes to fly.
Those oft are stratagems, which errors seem,
Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream.
POPE'S _Essay on Criticism._

530.--POEMS AND PICTURES ARE ADJUDC'D ALIKE.]

_Ut pictura poesis._

Here ends, in my opinion, the _didactick_ part of this Epistle; and it
is remarkable that it concludes, as it begun, with a reference to the
Analogy between Poetry and Painting. The arts are indeed congenial, and
the same general principles govern both. Artists might collect many
useful hints from this Epistle. The Lectures of the President of the
Royal Academy are not rarely accommodated to the study of Painters; but
Poets may refine their taste, and derive the most valuable instruction,
from the perusal of those judicious and elegant discourses.

535.--O THOU, MY PISO'S ELDER HOPE AND PRIDE!]

O MAJOR JUVENUM!

We are now arrived at that portion of the Epistle, which I must confess
I am surprised, that any Commentator ever past, without observing the
peculiar language and conduct of the Poet. There is a kind of awful
affection in his manner, wonderfully calculated to move our feelings and
excite our attention. The Didactick and the Epistolary stile were never
more happily blended. The Poet assumes the air of a father advising his
son, rather than of a teacher instructing his pupils. Many Criticks have
thrown out a cursory observation or two, as it were extorted from them
by the pointed expressions of the Poet: but none of them, that I have
consulted, have attempted to assign any reason, why Horace, having
closed his particular precepts, addresses all the remainder of his
Epistle, on the nature and expediency of Poetical pursuits, to _the
Elder Piso only. I have endeavoured to give the most natural reason for
this conduct; a reason which, if I am not deceived, readers the whole of
the Epistle interesting, as well as clear and consistent; a reason which
I am the more inclined to think substantial, as it confirms in great
measure the system of the Author of the English Commentary, only shewing
_the reflections on the drama in _this Epistle, as well as in the
Epistle to Augustus, to be _incidental_, rather than the _principal
subject_, _and main design_, of the Poet,

_Jason De Nores_, in this instance, as in most others, has paid more
attention to his Author, than the rest of the Commentators. His note is
as follows.

[O major juvenum!] _Per apostrophen _ad majorem natu __ex pisonibus
convertis orationem, reddit rationem quare summum, ac perfectissimum
poema esse debeat utitur autem proaemio quasi quodam ad _benevolentiam
& attentionem _comparandum sumit autem _benevolentiam _à patris & filii
laudibus:_ attentionem_, dum ait, "hoc tibi dictum tolle memor!" quasi
dicat, per asseverationem,_firmum _omninò et _verum.

543.--_Boasts not _MESSALA'S PLEADINGS,_ nor is deem'd _AULUS IN
JURISPRUDENCE._]

The Poet, with great delicacy, throws in a compliment to these
distinguished characters of his time, for their several eminence in
their profession. Messala is more than once mentioned as the friend and
patron of Horace.

562.--_Forty thousand sesterces a year_.]

The pecuniary qualification for the Equestrian Order. _Census equestrem
summam nummorum. _

565.--_Nothing_, IN SPITE OF GENIUS, YOU'LL _commence_]

_Tu nihil, invitâ dices faciesve Minervâ._

Horace, says Dacier, here addresses the Elder Piso, as a man of mature
years and understanding; _and be begins with panegyrick, rather than
advice, in order to soften the precepts he is about to lay down to him._

The explication of De Nores is much to the same effect, as well as that
of many other Commentators.

567.--But grant you should hereafter write. Si quid tamen olim
scripseris.]

"This," says Dacier, "was some time afterwards actually the case, if we
may believe the old Scholiast, who writes that _this _PISO _composed
Tragedies._"

568.--Metius.] A great Critick; and said to be appointed by Augustus as a
Judge, to appreciate the merit of literary performances. His name and
office are, on other occasions, mentioned and recognized by Horace.

570.--Weigh the work well, AND KEEP IT BACK NINE YEARS!
nonumque prematur in annum!]

This precept, which, like many others in the Epistle, is rather
retailed, than invented, by Horace, has been thought by some Criticks
rather extravagant; but it acquires in this place, as addressed to the
elder Piso, a concealed archness, very agreeable to the Poet's stile and
manner. Pope has applied the precept with much humour, but with more
open raillery than need the writer's purpose in this Epistle.

I drop at last, but in unwilling ears,
This wholesome counsel----KEEP YOUR PIECE NINE YEARS!

Vida, in his Poeticks, after the strongest censure of carelessness
and precipitation, concludes with a caution against too excessive an
attention to correctness, too frequent revisals, and too long delay of
publication. The passage is as elegant as judicious.

Verùm esto hic etiam modus: huic imponere curae
Nescivere aliqui finem, medicasque secandis
Morbis abstinulsse manus, & parcere tandem
Immites, donec macie confectus et aeger
Aruit exhausto velut omni sanguine foetus,
Nativumque decus posuit, dum plurima ubique
Deformat sectos artus inhonesta cicatrix.
Tuque ideo vitae usque memor brevioris, ubi annos
Post aliquot (neque enim numerum, neque temporar pono
certa tibi) addideris decoris satis, atque nitoris,
Rumpe moras, opus ingentem dimitte per orbem,
Perque manus, perque ora virûm permitte vagari.

POETIC. lib 3.

592.--AND ON THE SACRED TABLET GRAVE THE LAW. LEGES INCIDERE LIGNO.]

Laws were originally written in verse, and graved on wood. The Roman
laws were engraved on copper. DACIER.

595.--TYRTAEUS.] An ancient Poet, who is said to have been given to the
Spartans as a General by the Oracle, and to have animated the Troops by
his Verses to such a degree, as to be the means of their triumph over
the Messenians, after two defeats: to which Roscommon alludes in his
_Essay on translated Verse_.

When by impulse from Heav'n, Tyrtaeus sung,
In drooping soldiers a new courage sprung;
Reviving Sparta now the fight maintain'd,
And what two Gen'rals lost, a Poet gain'd.

Some fragments of his works are still extant. They are written in the
Elegiac measure; yet the sense is not, as in other Poets, always bound
in by the Couplet; but often breaks out into the succeeding verse: a
practice, that certainly gives variety and animation to the measure;
and which has been successfully imitated in the _rhime_ of our own
language by Dryden, and other good writers.

604.--_Deem then with rev'rence, &c]

_Ne forte pudori
Sit tibi_ MUSA, _Lyrae solers, & Cantor Apollo._

The author of the English Commentary agrees, that this noble encomium on
Poetry is addressed to _the Pisos_. All other Commentators apply it, as
surely the text warrants, to _the_ ELDER PISO. In a long controversial
note on this passage, the learned Critick abovementioned also explains
the text thus. "In fact, this whole passage [from _et vitae_, &c.
to _cantor Apollo_] obliquely glances at the two sorts of poetry,
peculiarly cultivated by himself, and is an indirect apology for his own
choice of them. For 1. _vitae monstrata via est_, is the character of
his _Sermones_. And 2. all the rest of his _Odes_"--"I must add, the
very terms of the Apology so expressly define and characterize Lyrick
Poetry, that it is something strange, it should have escaped vulgar
notice." There is much ingenuity in this interpretation, and it is
supported, with much learning and ability; yet I cannot think that Horace
meant to conclude this fine encomium, on the dignity and excellence of
the Art or Poetry, by a partial reference to the two particular species
of it, that had been the objects of his own attention. The Muse, and
Apollo, were the avowed patrons and inspirers of Poetry in general,
whether Epick, Dramatick, Civil, Moral, or Religious; all of which are
enumerated by Horace in the course of his panegyrick, and referred to
in the conclusion of it, that Piso might not for a moment think himself
degraded by his attention to Poetry.

In hoc epilago reddit breviter rationem, quare utilitates à poetis
mortalium vitae allatas resenfuerit: ne scilicet Pisones, ex nobilissimd
Calpurniorum familiâ ortos, Musarum & Artis Poeticae quam profitebantur,
aliquando paniteret.

DE NORES.

Haec, inquit, eo recensui, ut quam olim res arduas poetica tractaverit,
cognoscas, & ne Musas coutemnas, atque in Poetarum referri numerum,
erubescas.

NANNIUS.

Ne forte, pudori. Haec dixi, O Piso, ne te pudeat Poetam esse.

SCHREVELIUS.

608.---WHETHER GOOD VERSE or NATURE is THE FRUIT,
OR RAIS'D BY ART, HAS LONG BEEN IN DISPUTE.]

In writing precepts for poetry to _young persons_, this question could
not be forgotten. Horace therefore, to prevent the Pisos from falling
into a fatal error, by too much confidence in their Genius, asserts
most decidedly, that Nature and Art must both conspire to form a Poet.
DACIER.

The Duke of Buckingham has taken up this subject very happily.

_Number and Rhyme,_ and that harmonious found,
Which never _does_ the ear with harshness wound,
Are necessary, yet but vulgar arts;
For all in vain these superficial parts
Contribute to the structure of the whole,
Without a GENIUS too; for that's the Soul!
A spirit, which inspires the work throughout,
As that of Nature moves the world about.

As all is dullness, where the Fancy's bad,
So without Judgement, Fancy is but mad:
And Judgement has a boundless influence,
Not only in the choice of words, or sense,
But on the world, on manners, and on men;
Fancy is but the feather of the pen:
Reason is that substantial useful part,
Which gains the head, while t'other wins the heart.

Essay on Poetry.

626.---As the fly hawker, &t. Various Commentator concur in marking the
personal application of this passage.

Faithful friends are necessary, to apprise a Poet of his errors: but
such friends are rare, and difficult to be distinguished by rich and
powerful Poets, like the Pisos. DACIER.

Pisonem admonet, ut minime hoc genus divitum poetarum imitetur,
neminemque vel jam pranfum, aut donatum, ad fuorum carminum emendationem
admittat neque enim poterit ille non vehementer laudare, etiamsi
vituperanda videantur. DE NORES.

In what sense Roscommon, the Translator of this Epistle, understood this
passage, the following lines from another of his works will testify.

I pity from my foul unhappy men,
Compell'd by want to prostitute their pen:
Who must, like lawyers, either starve or plead,
And follow, right or wrong, where guineas lead:
But you, POMPILIAN, wealthy, pamper'd Heirs,
Who to your country owe your swords and cares,
Let no vain hope your easy mind seduce!
For rich ill poets are without excuse.
"Tis very dang'rous, tamp'ring with a Muse;
The profit's small, and you have much to lose:
For tho' true wit adorns your birth, or place,
Degenerate lines degrade th' attainted race."

Essay on Translated Verse.

630.--_But if he keeps a table, &c.--Si vero est unctum, &c._

"Here (says _Dacier_) the Poet pays, _en passant_, a very natural and
delicate compliment to _the Pisos_." The drift of the Poet is evident,
but I cannot discover the compliment.

636.--_Is there a man, to whom you've given ought,
Or mean to give?_

TU, _seu donaris, &c._

Here the Poet advises the Elder Piso never to read his verses to a man,
to whom he has made a promise, or a present: a venal friend cannot be a
good Critick; he will not speak his mind freely to his patron; but, like
a corrupt judge, betray truth and justice for the sake of interest.
DACIER.

643.--_Kings have been said to ply repeated bowls, &c._

_Reges dicuntur, &c._

_Regum exemplo_ Pisones admonet; _ut neminem admittant ad suorum
carminum emendationem, nisi prius optimè cognitum, atque perspectum._ DE
NORES.

654.--QUINTILIUS.] The Poet _Quintilius Varus_, the relation and
intimate friend of Virgil and Horace; of whom the latter lamented his
death in a pathetick and beautiful Ode, still extant in his works.
Quintilius appears to have been some time dead, at the time of our
Poet's writing this Epistle. DACIER.

[QUINTILIUS.] _Descriptis adulatorum moribus & consuetudine, assert
optimi & sapientissimi judicis exemplum: Quintilii soilicet, qui
tantae erat authoritatis apud Romanos, ut_ ei Virgilii opera Augustus
tradiderit emendanda.

664.--THE MAN, IN WHOM GOOD SENSE AND HONOUR JOIN.]

It particularly suited Horace's purpose to paint the severe and rigid
judge of composition. Pope's plan admitted softer colours in his draught
of a true Critick.

But where's the man, who counsel can bestow,
Still pleas'd to teach, and yet not proud to know?
Unbiass'd, or by favour, or by spite;
Not dully prepossess'd, nor blindly right;
Tho' learn'd, well-bred; and tho' well-bred, sincere;
Modestly bold, and humanly severe:
Who to a friend his faults can freely show,
And gladly praise the merit of a foe?
Blest with a taste exact, yet unconfin'd;
A knowledge both of books and human kind;
Gen'rous converse; a soul exempt from pride;
And love to praise, with reason on his side?

_Essay on Criticism._

684.--WHILE WITH HIS HEAD ERECT HE THREATS THE SKIES.]

"Horace, (says _Dacier_) diverts himself with describing the folly of
a Poet, whom his flatterers have driven mad." _To whom_ the caution
against flatterers was addressed, has before been observed by _Dacier_.
This description therefore, growing immediately out of that caution,
must be considered as addressed _to_ the Elder Piso.

699.--_Leap'd_ COLDLY _into AEtna's burning mount._

_Ardentem_ FRIGIDUS _aetnam insiluit._

This is but a cold conceit, not much in the usual manner of Horace.

710.--

_Whether, the victim of incestuous love,_
THE SACRED MONUMENT _he striv'd to move._

_An_ TRISTE BIDENTAL _moverit incestus_.

The BIDENTAL was a place that had been struck with lightning, and
afterwards expiated by the erection of an altar and the sacrifice of
sheep; _hostiis_ BIDENTIBUS; from which it took its name. The removal
or disturbance of this sacred monument was deemed sacrilege; and the
attempt, a supposed judgement from heaven, as a punishment for some
heavy crime.

7l8.--

HANGS ON HIM, NE'ER TO QUIT, WITH CEASELESS SPEECH.
TILL GORG'D, AND FULL OF BLOOD, A VERY LEECH.

The English Commentary introduces the explication of the last hundred
and eleven lines of this Epistle, the lines which, I think, determine
the scope and intention of the whole, in the following manner.

"Having made all the reasonable allowances which a writer could expect,
he (Horace) goes on to enforce _the general instruction of this part,
viz._ A diligence in writing, by shewing [from l. 366 to 379] that a
_mediocrity_, however tolerable, or even commendable, it might be in
other arts, would never be allowed in this."--"This reflection leads him
with great advantage [from l. 379 to 391] to _the general conclusion in
view, viz._ that as none but excellent poetry will be allowed, it should
be a warning to writers, how they engage in it without abilities; or
publish without severe and frequent correction."

If the learned Critick here means that "_the general instruction of this
part, viz._ a diligence in writing, is chiefly inculcated, for the sake
of _the general conclusion in view_, a warning to writers, how they
engage in poetry without abilities, or publish without severe and
frequent correction;" if, I say, a dissuasive from unadvised attempts,
and precipitate publication, is conceived to be the main purpose and
design of the Poet, we perfectly agree concerning this last, and
important portion of the Epistle: with this addition, however, on my
part, that such a dissuasive is not merely _general_, but _immediately_
and _personally_ directed and applied to _the_ Elder Piso, and that
too in the strongest terms that words can afford, and with a kind of
affectionate earnestness, particularly expressive of the Poet's desire
to awaken and arrest his young friend's attention.

I have endeavoured, after the example of the learned and ingenious
author of the English Commentary, though on somewhat different
principles, to prove "an unity of design in this Epistle," as well as
to illustrate "the pertinent connection of its several parts." Many
perhaps, like myself, will hesitate to embrace the system of that acute
Critick; and as many, or more, may reject my hypothesis. But I am
thoroughly persuaded that no person, who has considered this work
of Horace with due attention, and carefully examined the drift and
intention of the writer, but will at least be convinced of the folly
or blindness, or haste and carelessness of those Criticks, however
distinguished, who have pronounced it to be a crude, unconnected,
immethodical, and inartificial composition. No modern, I believe, ever
more intently studied, or more clearly understood the works of Horace,
than BOILEAU. His Art of Poetry is deservedly admired. But I am
surprised that it has never been observed that the Plan of that work is
formed on the model of this Epistle, though some of the parts are more
in detail, and others varied, according to the age and country of the
writer. The first Canto, like the first Section of _the Epistle to the
Pisos_, is taken up in general precepts. The second enlarges on the
Lyrick, and Elegiack, and smaller species of Poetry, but cursorily
mentioned, or referred to, by Horace; but introduced by him into that
part of the Epistle, that runs exactly parallel with the second Canto of
Boileau's Art of Poetry. The third Canto treats, entirely on the ground
of Horace, of Epick and Dramatick Poetry; though the French writer has,
with great address, accommodated to his purpose what Horace has said but
collaterally, and as it were incidentally, of the Epick. The last Canto
is formed on the final section, the last hundred and eleven lines, of
_the Epistle to the Pisos:_ the author however, judiciously omitting in
a professed Art of Poetry, the description of the Frantick Bard, and
concluding his work, like the Epistle to Augustus, with a compliment to
the Sovereign.

This imitation I have not pointed out, in order to depreciate the
excellent work of Boileau; but to shew that, in the judgement of so
great a writer, the method of Horace was not so ill conceived, as
Scaliger pretends, even for the outline of an Art of Poetry: Boileau
himself, at the very conclusion of his last Canto, seems to avow and
glory in the charge of having founded his work on that of HORACE.

Pour moi, qui jusq'ici nourri dans la Satire,
N'ofe encor manier la Trompette & la Lyre,
Vous me verrez pourtant, dans ce champ glorieux,
Vous animez du moins de la voix & des yeux;
_Vous offrir ces leçons, que ma Muse au Parnasse,
Rapporta, jeune encor_, DU COMMERCE D'HORACE.
BOILEAU.

After endeavouring to vouch so strong a testimony, in favour of Horace's
_unity_ and _order_, from France, it is but candid to acknowledge that
two of the most popular Poets, of our own country, were of a contrary
opinion. Dryden, in his dedication of his translation of the aeneid to
Lord Mulgrave, author of the Essay on Poetry, writes thus. "In this
address to your Lordship, I design not a treatise of Heroick Poetry, but
write _in a loose Epistolary way_, somewhat tending to that subject,
_after the example of Horace_, in his first Epistle of the 2d Book to
Augustus Caesar, _and of that_ to the Pisos; which we call his Art of
Poetry. in both of which _he observes_ no method _that I can trace_,
whatever Scaliger the Father, or Heinsius may have seen, _or rather_
think they had seen_. I have taken up, laid down, and resumed as often
as I pleased the same subject: and this loose proceeding I shall use
through all this Prefatory Dedication. _Yet all this while I have been
sailing with some side-wind or other toward the point I proposed in the
beginning_." The latter part of the comparison, if the comparison is
meant to hold throughout, as well as the words, "_somewhat tending to
that subject,_" seem to qualify the rest; as if Dryden only meant
to distinguish the _loose_ EPISTOLARY _way_ from the formality of a
_Treatise_. However this may be, had he seen the _Chart_, framed by the
author of the English Commentary, or that now delineated, perhaps he
might have allowed, that Horace not only made towards his point with
some side-wind or other, but proceeded by an easy navigation and
tolerably plain sailing.

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