amused with captivating shows and agreeable novelty. But it will be expedient so to recommend the bantering, so the rallying satyrs, so to turn earnest into jest; that none who shall be exhibited as a god, none who is introduced as a hero lately conspicuous in regal purple and gold, may deviate into the low style of obscure, mechanical shops; or, [on the contrary,] while he avoids the ground, affect cloudy mist and empty jargon. Tragedy" disdaining to prate forth trivial verses, like a matron commanded to dance on the festival

here, where their sense is extremely pertinent. The poet had been speaking of the satyric drama, which, says he, was added to the tragic, "eò quòd

Illecebris erat, et gratâ novitate morandus

Spectator, functusque sacris, et potus, et exlex."

But why, it might be asked, this compliance, in so false a taste, with a drunken, lawless rabble? The answer is natural and to the purpose. "Because their theaters necessarily consisted of a mixed assembly, every part of which was to be considered in the public diversions." The question then hath an extreme propriety,

"Indoctus quid enim saperet liberque laborum,

Rusticus urbano confusus, tnrpis honesto?"

The rusticus and turpis demanded the satyric piece. It was the necessary result of this mixutre; as, to gratify the better sort, the urbanus and honestus, the tragic drama was exhibited. It is some prejudice in favor of this conjecture, that it explains to us, what would otherwise appear very strange, that such gross ribaldry, as we know the Atellanes consisted of, could ever be endured by the politest age of Rome. But scenical representations being then intended, not as in our days, for the entertainment of the better sort, but on certain great solemnities, indifferently for the diversion of the whole city, it became necessary to consult the taste of the multitude, as well as of those, quibus est equus et pater et res. HURD. 39 This proves that the same actor, as M. Dacier observes, who had been an Orestes or Ulysses in the tragic part, played the same chraracter in the comic, or, Atellana. Thus Plautus in the prologue to his Menechmes, "this town, during this play, shall be Epidamnum, and when it has been acted, it may be any other city. As in a company of players, the same person shall, at different times, be a pander, a youth, an old man, a beggar, a king, a parasite, a soothsayer." St. Jerome hath finely imitated this passage; our vices oblige us to play many characters, for every vice wears a different mask. Thus in a theater, the same person plays a robust and nervous Hercules, a dissolute Venus, and a furious Cyclops." FRAN.

66

39 Indigna tragedia versus. Horace means the Atellana, which were in so much esteem, that the persons, who acted in them, were not ranked with the comedians, nor were obliged to unmask on the stage when they played ill, as others were; and, as a peculiar honor, they were allowed to enlist in the army. Therefore low and trivial verses were beneath the dignity of the Atellanæ. DAC.

days," will assume an air of modesty, even in the midst of wanton satyrs. As a writer of satire, ye Pisos, I shall never be fond of unornamented and reigning terms: nor shall I labor to differ so widely from the complexion of tragedy, as to make no distinction, whether Davus be the speaker. And the bold Pythias, who gained a talent by gulling Ŝimo; or Silenus, the guardian and attendant of his pupil-god |Bacchus]. Í would so execute a fiction" taken from a well-known story, that any body might entertain hopes of doing the same thing; but, on trial, should sweat and labor in vain. Such power has a just arrangement and connection of the parts: such grace may be added to subjects merely common. In my judgment the Fauns, that are brought out of the woods, should not be too gamesome with their tender strains, as if they were educated in the city, and almost at the bar; nor, on the other hand, should blunder out their obscene and scandalous speeches. For [at such stuff] all are offended, who have a horse," a father, or an 40 Young women were usually chosen to dance in honor of the gods, but in some festivals, as in that of the great goddess, the pontiffs obliged married women to dance. Hence the poet says jussa. DAC.

41 Dominantia verba. What the Greeks call kúpia, as if they were masters of the thing they would express; as we say in English, "calling things by their proper names.' FRAN.

42 This precept (from v. 240 to 244) is analogous to that before given (v. 129) concerning tragedy. It directs to form the Satyrs out of a known subject. The reasons are, in general, the same for both. Only one seems peculiar to the Satyrs. For, the cast of them being necessarily romantic, and the persons those fantastic beings called satyrs, the TÒ oμolov, or probable, will require the subject to have gained a popular belief, without which the representation must appear unnatural. Now, these subjects which have gained a popular belief, in consequence of old tradition, and their frequent celebration in the poets, are what Horace calls nota; just as newly invented subjects, or, which comes to the same thing, such as had not been employed by other writers, indicta, he, on a like occasion, terms ignota. The connection lies thus. Having mentioned Silenus in v. 239, one of the commonest characters in this drama, an objection immediately offers itself; "But what good poet will engage in subjects and characters so trite and hackneyed ?" The answer is, ex noto fictum carmen sequar,” i. e. however trite and well known this and some other characters, essential to the Satyr, are and must be; yet will there be still room for fiction and genius to show itself. The conduct and disposition of the play may be wholly new, and above the ability of common writers, "tantum series juncturaque poilet." HURD.

43 Quibus est equus, etc., the knights who have a horse, kept at public expense; "quibus est pater," people of birth, patricians; "quibus est res," they who have wealth, and are therefore distinguished from knights and patricians. DAC.

estate nor will they receive with approbation, nor give the laurel crown, as the purchasers of parched peas and nuts are delighted with.

A long syllable put after a short one is termed an iambus, a lively measure, whence also it commanded the name of trimeters to be added to iambics, though it yielded six beats of time, being similar to itself from first to last. Not long ago, that it might come somewhat slower and with more majesty to the ear, it obligingly and contentedly admitted into its paternal heritage the steadfast spondees; agreeing however, by social league, that it was not to depart from the second** and fourth place. But this [kind of measure] rarely makes its appearance in the notable trimeters of Accius, and brands the verse of Ennius brought upon the stage with a clumsy weight of spondees, with the imputation of being too precipitate and careless, or disgracefully accuses him of ignorance in his

art.

45

It is not every judge that discerns inharmonious verses, and an undeserved indulgence is [in this case] granted to the Roman poets. But shall I on this account run riot and write licentiously? Or should not I rather suppose, that all the world are to see my faults; secure, and cautious [never to err] but with hope of being pardoned? Though, perhaps, I have merited no praise, I have escaped censure.

Ye [who are desirous to excel,] turn over the Grecian models by night, turn them by day. But our ancestors commended both the numbers of Plautus, and his strokes of pleasantry; too tamely, I will not say foolishly, admiring each of them; if you and I but know how to distinguish a coarse joke from a smart repartee, and understand the proper cadence, by [using] our fingers and ears.

Thespis is said to have invented a new kind of tragedy,

44 The iambic yields only the odd places to the spondee, the first, third, and fifth, but preserves the second, fourth, and sixth for itself. This mixture renders the verse more noble, and it may be still trimeter, the second foot being iambic. The comic poets, better to disguise their verse, and make it appear more like common conversation, inverted the tragic order, and put spondees in the even places. DAC.

45 Ironically spoken.

46 Thespis. A native of Icarius, a village in Attica, to whom the invention of the drama has been ascribed. Before his time there were no

performers except the chorus. He led the way to the formation of a dramatic plot and language, by directing a pause in the performance of

and to have carried his pieces about in carts, which [certain strollers], who had their faces besmeared with lees of wine, sang and acted. After him Eschylus, the inventor of the vizard mask and decent robe, laid the stage over with boards of a tolerable size, and taught to speak in lofty tone, and strut in the buskin. To these succeeded the old comedy, not without considerable praise: but its personal freedom degenerated into excess and violence, worthy to be regulated by law; a law was made accordingly, and the chorus, the right of abusing being taken away, disgracefully became silent.

Our poets have left no species [of the art] unattempted; nor have those of them merited the least honor, who dared to forsake the footsteps of the Greeks, and celebrate domestic facts; whether they have instructed us in tragedy, or comedy." Nor would Italy be raised higher by valor

the chorus, during which he came forward and recited with gesticulation a mythological story. Comp. note Epist. ii. 1. 163. MCAUL. The date is thus given by the Par. Chron. Boeckh. : ̓Αφ οὗ Θέσπις ὁ ποιητὴς [ἐφάνη], πρῶτος ὃς ἐδίδαξε [δρ]ὰ[μα ἑν ἀ]στ[ει καὶ ἐ]τέθη ὁ [τ]ράγος [ἀθγον] ἔτη ΗΗΠ[ΔΔ] - ἄρχοντος ̓Αθήνησι... ναίου τοῦ προτέρου. Quod ad annum attinet, consistendum sane in Olymp. 61, eiusque tribus prioribus annis." Boeckh. in Chr. WHEELER.

47 Vel qui prætextas, vel qui docuere togatas. There hath been much difficulty here in settling a very plain point. The question is, whether prætextas means tragedy or a species of comedy. The answer is very clear from Diomedes, whose account is, in short, this: "Togata is a general term for all sorts of Latin plays adopting the Roman customs and dresses; as Palliatæ is for all adopting the Grecian. Of the Togata, the several species are, 1. Prætexta or prætextata, in which the Roman kings or generals were introduced, and is so called because the prætexta was the distinguishing habit of such persons; 2. Tabernaria, frequently called Togata, though that word, as we have seen, had properly a larger sense. 3. Atellana. 4. Planipedis." He next marks the difference of these several sorts of the Togate from the similar corresponding ones of the Palliata, which are these: 1. "Tragoedia, absolutely so styled. 2. Comœdia. 3. Satyri. 4. Miuoç." (These four sorts of the Palliata were also probably in use at Rome; certainly, at least, the two former.) It appears then fromth ence, that prætextata was properly the Roman tragedy. But he adds, Togata prætextata à tragedia differt;" and it is also said, "to be only like tragedy, tragœdiæ similis." What is this difference and this likeness? The explanation follows. "Heroes are introduced into tragedy, such as Orestes, Chryses, and the like. In the prætextata, Brutus, Decius, or Marcellus." So then we see when Græcian characters were introduced, it was called simply tragœdia; when Roman, pratextata; yet both, tragedies. The sole difference lay in the persons being foreign or domestic. The correspondence in every other respect

and feats of arms, than by its language, did not the fatigue and tediousness of using the file disgust every one of our poets. Do you, the descendants of Fompilius, reject that poem, which many days and many a blot have not ten times subdued to the most perfect accuracy. Because Democritus believes that genius is more successful than wretched art, and excludes from Helicon all poets who are in their senses, a great number do not care to part with their nails or beard, frequent places of solitude, shun the baths. For he will acquire, [he thinks,] the esteem and title of a poet, if he neither submits his head, which is not to be cured by even three Anticyras, to Licinius the barber. What an unlucky fellow am I, who am purged for the bile in spring-time! Else nobody would compose better poems; but the purchase is not worth the expense. Therefore I will serve instead of a whetstone, which though not able of itself to cut, can make steel sharp: so I, who can write no poetry myself, will teach the duty and business [of an author]; whence he may be stocked with rich materials; what nourishes and forms the poet; what gives grace, what not; what is the tendency of excellence, what that of error.

To have good sense, is the first principle and fountain of writing well. The Socratic papers will direct you in the choice of your subjects; and words will spontaneously accompany the subject, when it is well conceived. He who has learned what he owes to his country, and what to his friends; with what affection a parent, a brother, and a stranger, are to be loved; what is the duty of a senator, what of a judge; what the duties of a general sent out to war; he, [I say,] certainly knows how to give suitable attributes to every character. I should direct the learned imitator to have a regard to the mode of nature and manners, and thence draw his expressions to the life. Sometimes a play, that is showy with

was exact. The same is observed of the Roman comedy; when it adopted Greek characters, it was called comœdia; when Roman, togata tabernaria, or togata, simply. HURD.

48 Truth, in poetry, means such an expression as conforms to the general nature of things; falsehood, that which, however suitable to the particular instance in view, doth yet not correspond to such general nature. To attain to this truth of expression in dramatic poetry two things are prescribed: 1. A diligent study of the Socratic philosophy; and, 2, Á masterly knowledge and comprehension of human life. The first, be