Of the Satires and Epiftles of Horace imitated, of the Satires of Donne verfified, and of the Epilogue to the Satires. "W HEN I had a fever one winter in town (faid POPE to Mr. SPENCE) that confined me to my room for five or fix days, Lord BOLINGBROKE Came to fee me, happened to take up a Horace that lay on the table, and in turning it over, dipt on the first fatire of the second book. He obferved, how well that would fuit my cafe, if I were to imitate it in English. After he was gone, I read it over, translated it in a morning or two; and fent it to prefs in a week or fortnight after. And this was the occafion of my imitating fome other of the Satires and Epiftles. To how cafual a beginning (adds SPENCE) are we obliged, for the moft most delightful things in our language! When I was faying to him, that he had already imitated near a third part of Horace's fatires and epiftles, and how much it was to be wished that he would go on with them; he could not believe that he had gone near fo far; but upon computing it, it appeared to be above a third. He feemed on this not difinclined to carry it farther; but his laft illness was then growing upon him, and robbed us of him, and of all hopes of that kind, in a few months *." No parts of our author's works have been more admired than these imitations. The aptness of the allufions, and the happiness of many of the parallels, give a pleasure that is always no small one to the mind of a reader, the pleasure of comparison. He that has the least acquaintance with these pieces of Horace, which resemble the Old Comedy, immediately perceives, indeed, that our author has assumed a higher tone, • Tranfcribed from Spence's Anecdotes, 1754VOL. II. T and and frequently has deferted the free colloquial air, the infinuating Socratic manner of his original. And that he clearly refembles in his style, as he did in his natural temper, the fevere and serious Juvenal, more than the smiling and sportive Horace. Let us felect fome paffages, in which he may be thought to have equalled, excelled, or fallen fhort of, the original; the latter of which cannot be deemed a disgrace to our poet, or to any other writer, if we confider the extreme difficulty of transfusing into another language the subtle beauties of Horace's dignified famili arity, and the uncommon union of fo much facility and force. I. Trebati Quid faciam? prescribe, T. Quiefcas. H. Ne faci am, inquis, Omnino verfus? T. Aio. H. Peream male, fi non • After all that has been faid of Horace, by fo many critics, ancient and modern, perhaps no words can describe him fo exactly and justly, as the following of Tully, spoken on another fubje&t. Lib. i. de Oratore. Accedit lepos quidam, facetiæque, & eruditio libero digna, celeritasque & brevitas refpondendi & laceffendi fubtili venuftate & urbanitate conjuncta. Optimum Optimum erat: verum nequeo dormire. T. Ter uncti Tim'rous by nature, of the rich in awe, I come to counsel lea:ned in the law : You'll give me, like a friend, both fage and free F. I'd write no more. P. Not write? but then I think, I nod in company, I wake at night, Fools rush into my head, and so I write. F. You could not do a worse thing for your life: HORACE, with much feeming seriousness, applies for advice to the celebrated Roman lawyer, C. Trebatius Tefta, an intimate friend of Julius Cafar, and of Tully, as appears from many of his epiftles to Atticus. The gravity and felf-importance of whose character is admirably fupported throughout this little drama. His answers are short, authoritative, and decifive. Qui • Sat. 1. lib. 1. v. 4. ↑ Ver. 8. T 2 efcas. efcas. Aio. And, as he was known to be a great drinker and swimmer, his two abfurd pieces of advice have infinite pleafantry. All these circumstances of humour are dropt in the copy. The Lettuce and Cowflip-wine are infipid and unmeaning prescriptions, and have nothing to do with Mr. Fortefcue's character. The third, fourth, and ninth lines of this imitation are flat and languid. We must also observe (from the old Commentator *) that the verbs tranfnanto, and babento, are, in the very style of the Roman law, "Vide ut directis jurifconfultorum verbis utitur ad Trebatium jurifconfultum. 2. Aut fi tantus amor scribendi te rapit, aude Cæfaris invicti res dicere, multa laborum Or, if you needs must write, write Cæfar's praife, * There are many excellent remarks in Acro and Porphyrio; from whom, as well as from Cruquius, Dacier has borrowed much, without owning it. Dacier's translation of Horace is not equal to his Ariftotle's Poetics. In the former, he is perpetually ftriving to difcover new meanings in his author, which Boileau called, The Revelations of Dacier. |
