I. 1. De Consequentiâ, vel Convenientiâ.-II. 14. De servando Themate, seu de vitandis inanibus et affectis Episodiis.-III. 24. De vitandis vitiis in charactere Stili.IV. 32. Materiam esse diligendam, quam possimus implere. -V. 42. Quid sit Dispositio.-VI. 45. De Verbis veteribus et novis. VII. 73. Quibus Metris singulæ res tractandæ sunt.-VIII. 83. Quem Characterem Stili singulæ res requi rant. [Obs. The Roman Number refers to the Precept; whereas the simple Character denotes the Verse.] EPISTOLA AD PISONES. HUMANO capiti cervicem pictor equinam 2. Qui velit, MS. Bersm. pro plumas, formas, conj. Bentl. pennas, coll. 3. Aut pro ut, San. Sax. COMMENTARY. The subject of this piece being, as I suppose, one, viz. the state of the Roman Drama, and common sense requiring, even in the freest forms of composition, some kind of method, the intelligent reader will not be surprised to find the poet prosecuting his subject in a regular, well ordered plan; which, for the more exact description of it, I distinguish into three parts: 1. Humano capiti, &c. Such as were the sacred pictures of the Ægyptians, called hieroglyphics, from pos, sacred, and yλúpw, to carve; by which they represented several things in one figure.---Cervicem equinam. We shall see that Horace has closely imitated his great master,Aristotle, throughout the whole of this poem; for instance, in this place he chooses a horse as a figurative ex- 3. Undique collatis. Literally, col- 4. Desinat in piscem. Such as were the Tritons, Oceanides, &c. Credite, Pisones, isti tabulæ fore librum 8. Finguntur, Gott. Med. 1477. junguntur, MS. Helmst. Zar. MS. Helmst. 10 v --- 9. Reddantur, I. The first of them [from ver. 1. to 98.] is preparatory to the main subject of the Epistle, containing some general rules and reflections on poetry, but principally with an eye to the following parts: by which means it serves as an useful introduction to the poet's design, and opens with that air of ease and negligence, essential to the epistolary form. II. The main body of the Epistle [from ver. 98. to 288.] is laid out in regulating the Roman stage; but chiefly in giving rules for tragedy; not only as that was the more sublime species of the Drama, but, as it should seem, less cultivated and understood. III. The last part [from ver.288.to the end] exhorts to correctness in writing; and is taken up partly in removing the causes, which prevented it, and partly in directing to the use of such means, as might serve to promote it. Such is the general plan of the Epistle. In order to enter fully into it, it will be necessary to 6. Pisones. A father and two sons, descendants of Calpus, the son of Numa Pompilius. Vide ver. 291. where Horace says, “Vos ô Pompilius sanguis." They were celebrated as being learned themselves, and great encouragers of literature in others; but Cicero seems to consider it all mere shew, and that they affected the mien and garb of philosophers, in order to conceal minds naturally lewd and vicious, (in Pis. x. 27.) 7. Egri somnia. This is a proverbial form of speech, of which Persius affords us another example: (Sat. iii. 83.) Ægroti veteris meditantes somnia. 11. Petimusque damusque vicissim. We seek it as poets, and as critics we allow it. Vett. Schol. Inceptis gravibus plerumque et magna professis Et properantis aquæ per amœnos ambitus agros, 18. Rheni, Sax. trace the poet, attentively, through the elegant connexions of his own method. PART J. General reflections on poetry. The Epistle begins [to ver. 9.] with that general and fundamental precept of preserving an unity in the subject, and disposition of the piece. This is farther explained by defining the use, and fixing the character of poetic licence [from ver. 9. to 13.] which unskilful writers often plead in defence of absurd trans divided France from Germany: the 15. Purpureus pannus. In allusion to the broad stripe of purple sewed on to the tunic of the senators. · Unus et alter. Horace has much such another passage (Lib. ii. many glorious victories there.---Aut Ep. i. 73.) quæ Inter verbum emicuit si forte deorum, et 16. Lucus et ara Diana. Horace here most probably alludes to the Aricinian grove; both, because it was a place full of event, and well calculated for a poetical subject; and that it was there Numa, whose descendants he is addressing (vid. n. 6.) held secret conferences with Egeria. The altar was built by Theseus, after he had been raised from the dead by Esculapius, and carried into Italy by Diana, to whom he therefore consecrated it. It was situated between the Via Appia and Mons Albanus. 18. Aut flumen Rhenum; which D pluvius describitur arcus. This is a Ergo Iris croceis per cœlum roscida pennis, 19. Cupressum scis simulare. This |