I. E PISTOL A Ad AUGUST U M. Cho Teatas armis tuteris, moribus ornes, с UM tot a sustineas et tanta negotia folus, Res Italas armis tuteris, moribus ornes, Legibus emendes ; in publica commoda peccem, Si longo sermone morer tua tempora, Caesar. Romulus, et Liber pater, et cum Caftore Pollux, Post ingentia facta, « Deorum in templa recepti, Dum terras hominumque colunt genus, aspera bella Componunt, agros adsignant, eppida condunt; e Ploravere fuis non respondere favorem Speratum meritis. diram qui contudit Hydram, Notaque fatali portenta labore fubegit, Comperit f invidiam supremo fine domari. Notes. Book ii. Epift. 1.] The Poet always rises with his original; and very often, without. This whole Imitation is extremely noble and sublime. Ver. 7. Edward and Henry, etc.] Romulus, et Liber Pater, etc. Horace very judiciously praises Auguftus for the colonies he founded, not for the victories he won; and therefore compares him, not to those who desolated, W Hile you, great Patron of Mankind ! a sustain The balanc'd World, and open all the Main; c Edward and Henry, now the Boast of Fame, 15 f Finds Envy never conquer'd, but by Death. Nores, but to those who civilized mankind. The imitation wants this grace : and, for a very obvious reason, could not aim at it. Ver. 13. Clas’d their long Glories with a fiz!,] The expression is extremely beautiful ; and the floravere judicioufly placed VER, 16. Finds envy never conquer’d, etc.] It hath been Urit enim fulgore suo, qui praegravat artes Infra se positas: extinctus amabitur idem. Praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores, រ Jurandasque tuum per numen ponimus aras, * Nil oriturum alias, nil ortum tale fatentes. Sed tuus hoc populus sapiens et justus in uno, * Te noftris ducibus, te Graiis anteferendo, Caetera nequaquam fimili ratione modoque Notes. the common practice of those amongst us, who have diftinguished theinselves in the learned world, to ascribe the ill treatment they meet with, from those they endeavour to oblige, to so bad a cause as envy. But surely without reason ; for we find our Countrymen of the same candid disposition which Socrates, in the Euthyphro of Plato, ascribes to the Athenians of his time, They are well content (says be) to allow the Pretensions of reputed eminence ; it is only when a man will write, and presume to give a proof of it, that they begin to grow angry. And how readily do we allow the reputation of eminence, in all the Arts, to those whose modesty has made them decline giving us a specimen of it in any. in any. A temper surely very distant from envy. We ought not then to ascribe that violent ferment good men are apt to work themselves in10, and the struggle they make to suppress the reputation 20 The great Alcides, ev'ry Labour past, To thee, the World its present homage pays, Just in one instance, be it yet confeft 25 30 Notes. of him who pretends to give a proof of what they are so willing to take for granted, to any thing but an eager concern for the public welfare. This, nothing better secures than the early damping that dangerous thing, Po. pularity ; which when joined to what is as easily abused, great Talents, may be productive of, one does not know what, mischief. Scribl. Ver. 17. The great Alcides,] This instance has not the same grace here as in the original, where it comes in well after those of Romulus, Bacchus, Caftor, and Pollux, tho' aukwardly after Edward and Henry. But it was for the sake of the beautiful thought in the next line ; which, yet, does not equal the force of his original. Aestimat; et, nifi quae terris semota suisque Sic fautor veterum, ut tabulas peccare vetantes Si, quia Graecorum funt antiquiffima quaeque Psallimus, et p lu&tamur Achivis do&tius unctis. VER. 38. And beastly Skelton, etc.) Skelton, Poet Lavreat to Hen. VIII, a volume of whose verses has been Jately reprinted, confifting almoft wholly of ribaldry, ob{cenity, and fcurrilous langeage. P. |