and lastly against the Emperor himself, who had conceived them of little Ufe to the Government. He fhews (by a View of the Progrefs of Learning, and the Change of Taste among the Romans) that the Introduction of the Polite Arts of Greece had given the Writers of his Time great advantages over their Predeceffors; that their Morals were much improved, and the Licence of thofe ancient Poets reftrained: that Satire and Comedy were become more just and useful; that whatever extravagancies were left on the Stage, were owing to the Ill Taste of the Nobility; that Poets, under due Regulations, were in many respects useful to the State; and concludes, that it was upon them the Emperor himself must depend, for his Fame with Pofterity. We may further learn from this Epistle, that Horace made his Court to this Great Prince by writing with a decent Freedom toward him, with a just Contempt of his low Flatterers, and with a manly regard to his own Character. P. CUM 2 EPISTOLA Í. AD AUGUSTUM. UM tot fuftineas et tanta negotia folus, NOTES. Legibus VER. 1. While you, great Patron] All thofe naufeous and outrageous compliments, which Horace, in a strain of abject adulation, degraded himself by paying to Auguftus, Pope has converted into bitter and pointed farcafms, conveyed under the form of the moft artful irony. "Horace," fays Pope, in the advertisement to this piece, "made his court to this great prince, (or rather this cool and fubtle tyrant,) by writing with a decent freedom towards him, with a just contempt of his low flatterers, and with a manly regard to his own character." Surely he forgot the 15th and 16th lines: Jurandafque tibi per numen ponimus aras, Nil oriturum alias, nil ortum tale fatentes, &c. We fometimes speak incorrectly of what are called the writers of the Auguftan age. Terence, Lucretius, Catullus, Tully, J. Cæfar, and Salluft, wrote before the time of Auguftus; and Livy, Virgil, Horace, Tibullus, and Propertius, were by no means made good writers by his patronage and encouragement. The reigns of Auguftus and Louis XIV. are often said to resemble each other, in the number of illuftrious men, of every fpecies of literature, that appeared together in those reigns. But, (fays the President Henault, with his ufual fagacity and judgment,) "On ne doit pas croire que ce foit l'effet du hafard; & fi ces deux regnes ont de grands rapports, c'eft qu'ils ont été accompagnés à peu près des mêmes circonftances. Ces deux Princes fortoient des guerres civiles; de ce tems ou les peuples toujours armés, nourris fans ceffe au milieu des périls, entétés des plus hardis deffeins, ne voyent rien ou ils ne puiffent atteindre; de ce tems ou les évènemens heureux EPISTLE I. TO AUGUSTUS. WHILE you, great Patron of Mankind! *sustain The balanc'd World, and open all the Main; NOTES. Your heureux & malheureux, mille fois répétés, etendent les idées, fortifient l'âme, à force d'épreuves, augmentent fon reffort, & lui donnent le defir de gloire qui ne manque jamais de produire de grandes chofes." Abrégé. 4to. p. 613. I beg leave to add, that one of the most unaccountable prejudices that ever obtained, feems to be that of celebrating Augustus for clemency. "Clementiam non voco, laffam crudelitatem," fays Seneca. Can we poffibly forget his cruel proscriptions, and unjust banishment of Ovid? or the infamous obfcenity of his verfes? In the fecond line of the Original, Bentley would read manibus inftead of moribus. If we place an interrogation point after Cæfar in the fourth line, it will vindicate the Poet from the feeming inconfiftency of, longo fermone: Dr. Hurd imagines, but perhaps without juft grounds, that by fermone we are to understand, not the body of the epistle, but the proëme or introduction only. This interpertation appears to be one of those refinements in which this learned Critic has rather too freely indulged himfelf in his Commentaries and Notes on this Epistle, and on the Art of Poetry. See, for instance, the interpretation he has adopted and amplified, from Catrou, of the temple Virgil has described, as prefiguring the Æneid, in the beginning of the Third Georgic. Notes on the Epistle to Auguftus, p. 43. A noted French Writer calls Auguftus, "Un fourbe, un affaffin, nommé Octave, parvenu à l'Empire par des crimes qui meritaient le dernier fupplice." VER. 2. Open all the Main ;] A very obfcure expreffion; as it was fuggested to me by a judge of good writing, Lord Macart ney. b Legibus emendes; in publica commoda peccem, C Romulus †, et Liber pater, et cum Castore Pollux, Poft ingentia facta, Deorum in templa recepti, Dum terras hominumque colunt genus, afpera bella Componunt, agros adfignant, oppida condunt; e Ploravere fuis non refpondere favorem Speratum meritis. diram qui contudit Hydram, * Urit enim fulgore fuo, qui prægravat artes Infra fe pofitas: extinctus amabitur idem. NOTES. Præfenti Romulus,] Dion Caffius informs us, book 53. that Augustus was particularly pleafed to be called Romulus. VER. 3. Your Country, chief,] The epithet, folus, in the Original must have been particularly pleafing and flattering to Auguftus. I have feen a fpirited Ode, in which the fhade of Brutus was introduced, bitterly reproaching Horace for fuch a total defertion of his republican principles, as was avowed by the use of this word, folus. VER. 5. From fuch a Monarch.] This fine imitation was first published in 1737. The ftrong fatire with which it abounds was concealed with fuch delicate art and addrefs, that many perfons, and fome of the higheft rank in the court, as I have been well informed, read it as a panegyric on the king and ministry, and congratulated themfelves that Pope had left the oppofition, in which he had been engaged. But it may feem ftrange they. fhould not fee the drift and intention of fuch lines, as, the fix first, the twenty-ninth, the three hundred and fifty-fourth, the three hundred and fifty-fixth, the three hundred and feventy-fixth, the three hundred and ninety-fourth, and many other lines. Your Country, chief, in Arms abroad defend, At home, with Morals, Arts, and Laws amend.; How fhall the Mufe, from fuch a Monarch, fteal 5 An hour, and not defraud the Public Weal? C d Edward and Henry, now the Boaft of Fame, Finds Envy never conquer'd, but by Death. Sure fate of all, beneath whose rising ray NOTES. ... 10 15 20 Opprefs'd VER. 7. Edward and Henry, &c.] Romulus, et Liber Pater, &c, Horace very judiciously praises Auguftus for the colonies he founded, not for the victories he had won; and therefore compares him not to those who defolated, but to those who civilized, mankind. The Imitation wants this grace: and, for a very obvious reason, our Poet should not have aimed at it; as he has done in the mention of Alfred. W It has been obferved, that Alfred, though he built churches, yet founded no monastery. many ·VER. 17. The great Alcides,] This inftance has not the fame grace here as in the Original, where it comes in well after thofe of Romulus, Bacchus, Caftor, and Pollux; though awkwardly after Edward and Henry. But it was for the fake of the beautiful thought in the next line; which yet does not equal the force of his Original. W |