Inceptis gravibus plerumque, et magna professis Purpureus, latè qui splendeat, unus et alter Assuitur pannus: cùm lucus, et ara Dianæ, Et properantis aquæ per amœænos ambitus agros, Aut flumen Rhenum, aut pluvius describitur arcus. Sed nunc non erat his locus: et fortasse cupressum 26 Scis simulare: quid hoc, si fractis enatat exspes Navibus, are dato qui pingitur? amphora cœpit Institui; currente rota, cur urceus exit? Denique sit, quod vis, simplex duntaxat et unum. Maxima pars vatum, pater, et juvenes patre digni, Decipimur specie recti: brevis esse laboro, Obscurus fio: sectantem lævia, nervi

Deficiunt animique: professus grandia, turget:
Serpit humi, tutus nimium, timidusque procellæ.
Qui variare cupit rem prodigaliter unam,
Delphinum sylvis appingit, fluctibus aprum.
In vitium ducit culpæ fuga, si caret arte.

Emilium circa ludum faber imus, et ungues
Exprimet, et molles imitabitur ære capillos;
Infelix operis summa, quia ponere totum
Nesciet. Hunc ego me, si quid componere curem,
Non magis esse velim, quàm pravo vivere naso,
Spectandum nigris oculis, nigroque capillo.

In grave beginnings, and great things profest, Ye have oft-times, that may o'ershine the rest, A scarlet piece, or two, stitch'd in: when or Diana's grove, or altar, with the bor

D'ring circles of swift waters that intwine
The pleasant grounds, or when the river Rhine,
Or rainbow is describ'd. But here was now
No place for these. And, painter, haply thou
Know'st only well to paint a cypress-tree.
What's this? if he whose money hireth thee
To paint him, hath by swimming, hopeless, scap'd,
The whole fleet wreck'd? A great jar to be
shap'd,

Was meant at first; why forcing still about
Thy labouring wheel, comes scarce a pitcher out?
In short, I bid, let what thou work'st upon,
Be simple quite throughout, and wholly one.
Most writers, noble sire, and either son,
Are, with the likeness of the truth, undone.
Myself for shortness labour, and I grow
Obscure. This, striving to run smooth, and flow,
Hath neither soul nor sinews. Lofty he
Professing greatness, swells; that, low by lee,
Creeps on the ground; too safe, afraid of storm.
This seeking, in a various kind, to form
One thing prodigiously, paints in the woods
A dolphin, and a boar amid the floods.
So, shunning faults to greater fault doth lead,
When in a wrong and artless way we tread.
The worst of statuaries, here about
Th' Emilian school, in brass can fashion out
The nails, and every curled hair disclose;
But in the main work hapless: since he knows
Not to design the whole. Should I aspire
To form a work, I would no more desire

To be that smith, than live mark'd one of those,
With fair black eyes and hair, and a wry nose.

Sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, æquam Viribus, et versate diù, quid ferre recusent, 40 Quid valeant humeri. Cui lecta potenter erit res, Nec facundia deseret hunc, nec lucidus ordo. Ordinis hæc virtus erit, et Venus, aut ego fallor, Ut jam nunc dicat, jam nunc debentia dici; Pleraque differat, et præsens in tempus omittat ; Hoc amet, hoc spernat promissi carminis auctor. In verbis etiam tenuis cautusque serendis, Dixeris egregiè, notum si callida verbum Reddiderit junctura novum. Si fortè necesse est Indiciis monstrare recentibus abdita rerum; 50 Fingere cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis

Continget, dabiturque licentia, sumpta pudentèr. Et nova fictaque nupèr habebunt verba fidem, si Græco fonte cadant, parcè detorta. Quid autem Cæcilio Plautoque dabit Romanus, ademptum Virgilio Varioque? Ego cur, acquirere pauca Si possum, invideor: cùm lingua Catonis, et Ennî Sermonem patrium ditaverit, et nova rerum Nomina protulerit? Licuit, semperque licebit, Signatum præsente notâ producere nomen. bo Ut sylva foliis pronos mutantur in annos, Prima cadunt; ità verborum vetus interit ætas, Et juvenum ritu florent modò nata, vigentque.

Take, therefore, you that write, still, matter fit Unto your strength, and long examine it,

Upon your shoulders: prove what they will bear, And what they will not. Him, whose choice doth

rear

His matter to his pow'r, in all he makes,
Nor language, nor clear order e'er forsakes;
The virtue of which order, and true grace,
Or I am much deceiv'd, shall be to place
Invention now to speak; and then defer
Much, that mought now be spoke, omitted here
Till fitter season; now, to like of this,
Lay that aside, the epic's office is.

In using also of new words, to be

Right spare, and wary: then thou speak'st to me
Most worthy praise, when words that common grew
Are, by thy cunning placing, made mere new.
Yet if by chance, in utt'ring things abstruse,
Thou need new terms; thou mayst, without excuse,
Feign words unheard of to the well-truss'd race
Of the Cethegi; and all men will grace,
And give, being taken modestly, this leave,
And those thy new and late coin'd words receive,
So they fall gently from the Grecian spring,

And come not too much wrested. What's that thing
A Roman to Cæcilius will allow,

Or Plautus, and in Virgil disavow,

Or Varius? why am I now envy'd so,

If I can give some small increase? when lo,
Cato's and Ennius' tongues have lent much worth,
And wealth unto our language, and brought forth
New names of things. It hath been ever free,
And ever will, to utter terms that be

Stampt to the time. As woods whose change appears
Still in their leaves, throughout the sliding years,
The first-born dying, so the aged state

Of words decays, and phrases born but late,

Debemur morti nos nostraque; sive receptus
Terra Neptunus, classes Aquilonibus arcet,
Regis opus; sterilisve diù palus, aptaque remis,
Vicinas urbes alit, et grave sentit aratrum :
Seu cursum mutavit iniquum frugibus amnis ;
Doctus iter melius. Mortalia facta peribunt,
Nedum sermonum stet honos, et gratia vivax.
7. Multa renascentur, quæ jam cecidere, cadentque
Quæ nunc sunt in honore, vocabula, si volet usus;
Quem penes arbitrium est, et jus, et norma loquendi.
Res gesta regumque, ducumque, et tristia bella
Quo scribi possent numero, monstravit Homerus.
Versibus impariter junctis querimonia primum,
Post etiam inclusa est voti sententia compos.
Quis tamen exiguos elegos emiserit auctor,
Grammatici certant, et adhuc sub judice lis est.
Musa dedit fidibus divos puerosque deorum,
4. Et pugilem victorem, et equum certamine primum,
Et juvenum curas, et libera vina referre.

Archilochum proprio rabies armavit ïambo.
Hunc socci cepêre pedem, grandesque cothurni,
Alternis aptum sermonibus, et populares
Vincentem strepitus, et natum rebus agendis.

Versibus exponi tragicis res comica non vult.

Indignatur item privatis, ac propè socco
Dignis carminibus celebrari cœna Thyesta.