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THE

SIXTH EPISTLE

OF THE

FIRST BOOK

OF

HORACE.

*H2

EPISTOLA VI.

N

IL admirari, prope res est una, Numici,

Solaque quae poffit facere et servare beatum.

Hunc folem, et stellas, et decedentia certis Tempora momentis, funt qui formidine nulla Imbuti spectent. d quid censes, munera terrae ? Quid, maris extremos Arabas⚫ ditantis et Indos ?

NOTES.

VER. 3. Dear MURRAY] This piece is the most finished of all his imitations, and executed in that high manner the Italian Painters call con amore. By which they mean, the exertion of that principle, which puts the faculties on the stretch, and produces the fupreme degree of excellence. For the Poet had all the warmth of affection for the great Lawyer to whom it is addressed, and indeed no man ever more deserved to have a Poet for his friend. In the obtaining of which as neither vanity, party, or fear had any share, fo he supported his title to it by all the offices of true friendship,

VER. 4. Creech)] From whose translation of Horace the two first lines are taken. P.

VER. 8. trust the Ruler with the skies, To bim commit the hour,] Our Author, in these imitations, has been all along careful to correct the loose morals, and absurd divinity of his Original.

EPISTLE VI.

66

66

To Mr. MURRAY.

N

OT to admire, is all the Art I know, To make men happy, and to keep them so." (Plain Truth, dear MURRAY, needs no flow'rs of speech,

So take it in the very words of Creech.)

This Vault of Air, this congregated Ball,
Self-center'd Sun, and Stars that rise and fall,
There are, my Friend! whose philosophic eyes
Look thro', and trust the Ruler with his skies,
To him commit the hour, the day, the year,
And view this dreadful All without a fear.

Admire we then what d Earth's low entrails hold,
Arabian shores, or Indian feas infold;
All the mad trade of Fools and Slaves for Gold?
NOTES.

5

io

}

VER. 10. And view this dreadful All without a fear.] He has added this idea to his text; and it greatly heightens the dignity of the whole thought. He gives it the appellation of a dreadful All, because the immensity of God's creation, which modern philosophy has so infinitely enlarged, is apt to affect narrow minds, who measure the divine comprehenfion by their own, with dreadful fufpicions of man's being overlooked in this dark and narrower corner of existence, by a Governor occupied and bufied with the sum of things.

i

Ludicra, quid, plausus, et amici dona Quiritis?

Quo spectanda modo, & quo fenfu credis et ore?

h Qui timet his adversa, fere miratur eodem Quo cupiens pacto: pavor est utrobique moleftus: Improvisa fimul species exterret utrumque :

1 Gaudeat, an doleat; cupiat, metuatne; quid ad rem,

Si, quidquid videt melius pejusve sua spe,
Defixis oculis, animoque et corpore torpet?

* Insani sapiens nomen ferat, aequus iniqui;

Ultra quam fatis eft, virtutem si petat ipsam.

m

1 I nunc, argentum et marmor vetus, aeraque

et artes

Suspice: cum gemmis Tyrios mirare colores:

NOTES.

VER. 21. In either cafe, believe me, we admire;] i. e. These objects, in either case, affect us, as objects unknown affect the mind, and confequently betray us into false judgments.

VER. 22. Whether we joy or grieve, the same the curse, Surpriz'd at better, or furpriz'd at worse.] The elegance of this is fuperior to the Original. The curse is the same

Or Popularity? or Stars and Strings?
The Mob's applauses, or the gifts of Kings?
Say with what & eyes we ought at Courts to gaze,
And pay the Great our homage of Amaze?

If weak the pleasure that from these can spring,
The fear to want them is as weak a thing:
Whether we dread, or whether we defire,
In either cafe, believe me, we admire;
Whether we joy or grieve, the same the curse,
Surpriz'd at better, or surpriz'd at worse.

Thus good or bad, to one extreme betray
Th' unbalanc'd Mind, and snatch the Man away;
For Virtue's self may too much zeal be had;
The worst of Madmen is a Saint run mad.

1 Go then, and if you can, admire the state
Of beaming diamonds, and reflected plate;
Procure a TASTE to double the surprize,
And gaze on m Parian Charms with learned eyes:
Be struck with bright Brocade, or Tyrian Dye,
Our Birth-day Nobles' splendid Livery.

NOTES.

15

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25

30

(says he) whether we joy or grieve. Why so? Because, in either cafe, the man is surprized, hurried off, and led away captive.

(The good or bad to one extreme betray

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Th' unbalanc'd Mind, and snatch the Man away.)

This happy advantage, in the imitation, arifes from the

ambiguity of the word furprize.

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