By the Gods, your Counfel, it were best To take; but then at Night I cannot rest.

TREBATIUS.

I

Let thofe, who wish to sleep profoundly, 1 swim,
With Oil anointed, thrice o'er Tiber's Stream,
Or foak their Clay with Bumpers every Night :
But if, whate'er I fay, you ftill must write,
Boldly rehearse victorious Cæfar's Praise,
Affur'd that Cæfar will reward your Lays.

HORACE.

The Power, not Will, is wanting. It demands
A Master's Skill to paint our warlike Bands,
In dread Array; on broken Spears the Gaul
Expiring; and the wounded Parthian's Fall.

TREBATIUS.

His Juftice then and Mercy set to View,
As wife Lucilius virtuous Scipio drew.

HORACE.

HORACE..

With watchful Care I'll mark the lucky Hour, When, not o'erburthen'd with the Weight of

Power,

His vacant Ear indulgent he may turn ;
For every rath Intruder he will spurn.
TREBATIUS.

Far wifer this, and fafer, than by Name
Buffoons and Spendthrifts loudly to proclaim.
Those whom you fpare will hate you, or will dread.
HORACE.

How should I act? 2 Millonius, when his Head
Is warm'd with Liquor, dances, till he fee
The doubling Luftres dance as well as he.'
To curb the Steed was Caftor's chief Delight;
His Brother-Twin rejoic'd on Foot to fight.
A thousand Men a thousand Paffions fway:
I, on ucilius' Model, form my Lay.

The old Man's tattling Mufe, in faithful Song,
Whate'er he did or suffer'd, right or wrong,
Disclos'd to all; in his fatiric Lines

His Life, as in a well-wrought Picture, fhines.
His Plan I trace, 3 doubtful, if After-times
Will deem th' Apulian or Lucanian Climes
My native Soil; fince our Venufian Swains
On both their Confines till th' adjoining Plains.
Thither from Rome, as ancient Story fays,
A Colony was fent in former Days,

After

1

After the Samnites were expell'd, by Law

Of Arms, to keep the bordering Realms in Awe, Left fuch wide vacant Lands fhould Rome expofe To her Lucanian and Apulian Foes.

Peace, 4 unprovok'd, my Mufe will facred keep; And my fheath'd Sword, till rous'd by Outrage, fleep.

Why fhould I draw it, if no Thieves moleft? Jove, King and Father! grant me this Requeft; Rather let cankering Ruft devour my Blade, Than I one guiltlefs Character invade !

Peace is my Choice; but he, who does me wrong,. Shall foon repent, the Theme of every Song. Cervius takes Vengeance with the fatal Urn; With Drugs, Canidia will Affronts return; And Justice, you'll confefs, has Harpy-Claws, If Turius is your Foe, and tries your Cause. Hence learn that each, inform'd byInftinct, knows, With his own Arms, all Infults to oppofe. Prepar'd by Nature for Defence or Fight, The Bull is taught to gore, the Wolf to bite. His long-liv'd Mother truft to Scava's Care --TREBATI U S.

With impious Hand to ftab her he'll not dare.

HORACE.

[gores;

'Tis true: The Bull ne'er bites, the Wolf ne'er

Hemlock's her Passport to the Stygian Shores.

In short, fhould 5 Age outstretch his lenient Hand,
Or fpeedy Death his fable Wings expand,
If ich, or poor, if banish'd, or at Rome,
I ftill muft write, whatever be my Doom.
TREBATIUS.

Alas! my Son, the dire Lvent I dread;

Some great Man's Slave will cut thy vital Thread.
HORACE.

What! when Lucilius boldly led the Way,
The firft, the foremoft, in fatiric Lay,

And from each Villain's Face the Vizor tore,
Fair to the Sight, but rotten at the Core,
Was Lalius in a Rage, or he*, whofe Name
Rofe on the Ruins of the Punic Name?
Did they repine, or of the righteous Strain
That Lupus or Metellus fcourg'd, c ́ mplain?
The bafe Patrician, and bafe vulgar Crew,
From Tribe to Tribe he ventur'd to purfue;
'To Virtue only, and her Friends a Friend !'-
Yet Scipio and 6 wife Lælius would unbend **
Their Thoughts from Care, and lov'd with him to
tafte,

7 Retir'd from Crowds, a frugal fweet Repaft.
Whate'er i am; in Fortune, I confess,

Beneath Lucilius, and with Talents lefs,

8 Envy herself, though with Regret, muft own, I live among the Great with fome Renown;

And 9 nibbling at my Name her Teeth will break. But, learn'd Trebatius, I shall gladly take

Your better Counsel,

TREBATIU S.

I approve your Cause;

Yet know in Time the Rigour of the Laws:
The Statute Penalties fevere ordains
Against all thofe who publifh wicked Strains.
HORACE.

10

I grant you to wicked; but fuppofe the Lays Were good, and honour'd even with Cafar's Praife? TREBATIUS.

The Cafe is alter'd, if you give to View A Knave convict of Crimes you never knew, For then the Judge will fmile, admit your Plea, Difmifs the Plaintiff's Bill, and fet you free.

NOTE S.

I ter undi

Tranfnanto Tiberim, fomno quibus eft opus alto.]

It was natural for Trebatius to advise the Poet to frim thrice cross the Tiber, to cure the Want of Sleep, as the Advice, it feems, was peculiarly agreeable to his own Practice and Character. Thus Cicero, in one of his Epifles, wonders, that, as he (Trebatius) was such a Lover of Swimming, he could not be prevailed on to fwim in the Ocean.' Neque in Oceano natare voluifti bomo Audiofiffimus natandi. Ep. Fam. vii. 10. MIDDLE

ΤΟΝ.

2 Millonius.] An ancient Copy fpells this Word with a double 1, which is followed by Sanaaon. This is justified by the old monumental Infcriptions.

3 Lucanus