Unde pedem proferre pudor vetet, aut operis lex. Nec sic incipies, ut scriptor cyclicus olim: Fortunam Priami cantabo, et nobile bellum. Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu? Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. 140 Quantò rectiùs hic, qui nil molitur ineptè: Dic mihi. Musa, virum, capta post tempora Troja, Qui mores hominum multorum vidit, et urbes. Non fumum ex fulgore, sed ex fumo dare lucem Cogitat, ut speciosa dehinc miracula promat, Antiphaten, Scyllamque, et cum Cyclope Charybdim: Nec reditum Diomedis ab interitu Meleagri. Nec gemino bellum Trojanum orditur ab ovo. Semper ad eventum festinat, et in medias res, Non secus ac notas, auditorem rapit: et quæ 15 Desperat tractata nitescere posse, relinquit. Atque ita mentitur, sic veris falsa remiscet, Primo ne medium, medio ne discrepet imum. Tu quid ego, et populus mecum desideret, audi. Si plausoris eges aulaa manentis, et usque Sessuri, donec cantor, vos plaudite, dicat; Etatis cujusque notandi sunt tibi mores, Mobilibusque decor naturis dandus, et annis.
Reddere qui voces jam scit puer, et pede certo
Signat humum, gestit paribus colludere, et iram
Colligit, ac ponit temerè, et mutatur in horas.
From whence thy modesty, or poem's law
Forbids thee forth again thy foot to draw.
Nor so begin, as did that circler late,
I sing a noble war, and Priam's fate.
What doth this promiser such gaping worth
Afford? The mountains travail'd, and brought forth
A scorned mouse! O, how much better his,
Who nought assays unaptly, or amiss?
Speak to me, muse, the man, who after Troy was sack'd,
Saw many towns and men, and could their manners
He thinks not how to give you smoke from light, But light from smoke, that he may draw his bright Wonders forth after: as Antiphates,
Scylla, Charybdis, Polypheme, with these.
Nor from the brand, with which the life did burn
Of Meleager, brings he the return
Of Diomede; nor Troy's sad war begins
From the two eggs that did disclose the twins.
He ever hastens to the end, and so
(As if he knew it) raps his hearer to
The middle of his matter; letting go
What he despairs, being handled, might not show:
And so well feigns, so mixeth cunningly
Falsehood with truth, as no man can espy
Where the midst differs from the first; or where
The last doth from the midst disjoin'd appear.
Hear what it is the people and I desire:
If such a one's applause thou dost require,
That tarries till the hangings be ta'en down,
And sits till th' epilogue says Clap, or crown:
The customs of each age thou must observe,
And give their years and natures, as they swerve,
Fit rights. The child, that now knows how to say,
And can tread firm, longs with like lads to play;
Soon angry, and soon pleas'd, is sweet, or sour,
He knows not why, and changeth every hour.
Imberbis juvenis tandem custode remoto,
Gaudet equis canibusque, et aprici gramine campi,
Cereus in vitium flecti, monitoribus asper,
Utilium tardus provisor, prodigus æris,
Sublimis, cupidusque, et amata relinquere pernix.
Conversis studiis, atas, animusque virilis
Quærit opes, et amicitias: inservit honori:
Commisisse cavet, quod mox mutare laboret .
Multa senem circumveniunt incommoda, vel quòd
170 Quærit, et inventis miser abstinet, ac timet uti:
Vel quòd res omnes timide gelideque ministrat;
Dilator, spe longus, iners, avidusque futuri,
Difficilis, querulus, laudator temporis acti
Se puero: censor, castigatorque minorum.
Multa ferunt anni venientes commoda secum;
Multa recedentes adimunt, ne fortè seniles
Mandentur juveni partes, pueroque viriles,
Semper in adjunctis, ævoque morabimur aptis.
Aut agitur res in scenis, aut acta refertur,
Segniùs irritant animos demissa per aurem,
Quàm quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus, et quæ
Ipse sibi tradit spectator. Non tamen intus
Digna geri, promes in scenam: multaque tolles
Ex oculis, quæ mox narret facundia præsens.
Nec pueros coram populo Medea trucidet;
Th' unbearded youth, his guardian once being gone, Loves dogs and horses; and is ever one
I' the open field; is wax-like to be wrought
To every vice, as hardly to be brought
To endure counsel: a provider slow
For his own good, a careless letter-go
Of money, haughty, to desire soon mov'd,
And then as swift to leave what he hath lov'd.
These studies alter now, in one grown man;
His better'd mind seeks wealth and friendship; than
Looks after honours, and bewares to act
What straightway he must labour to retract.
The old man many evils do girt round;
Either because he seeks, and, having found,
Doth wretchedly the use of things forbear,
Or does all business coldly, and with fear;
A great deferrer, long in hope, grown numb
With sloth, yet greedy still of what's to come:
Froward, complaining, a commender glad
Of the times past, when he was a young lad;
And still correcting youth, and censuring.
Man's coming years much good with them do
bring:
As his departing take much thence, lest then
The parts of age to youth be given, or men
To children; we must always dwell, and stay
In fitting proper adjuncts to each day.
The business either on the stage is done,
Or acted told. But ever things that run
In at the ear, do stir the mind more slow
Than those the faithful eyes take in by show,
And the beholder to himself doth render.
Yet to the stage at all thou may'st not tender
Things worthy to be done within, but take
Much from the sight, which fair report will make
Present anon: Medea must not kill
Her sons before the people, nor the ill
Aut humana palàm coquat exta nefarius Atreus ;
Aut in avem Progne vertatur, Cadmus in anguem.
Quodcunque ostendis mihi sic, incredulus odi.
Neve minor, quinto, neu sit productior actu
lub Fabula, quæ posci vult, et spectata reponi.
Nec deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus
Inciderit: nec quarta loqui persona laboret.
Actoris partes chorus, officiumque virile
Defendat, neu quid medios intercinat actus,
Quod non proposito conducat, et hæreat aptè.
Ille bonis faveatque, et conciletur amicè :
Et regat iratos, et amet peccare timentes.
Ille dapes laudet mensæ brevis : ille salubrem
Fustitiam, legesque, et apertis otia portis.
2to Ille tegat commissa, deosque precetur, et oret,
Ut redeat miseris, abeat fortuna superbis.
Tibia non, ut nunc, orichalcho vincta, tubæque
Emula, sed tenuis, simplex foramine pauco
Aspirare, et adesse choris erat utilis, atque
Nondùm spissa nimis complere sedilia flatu.
Quò sanè populus numerabilis, utpote parvus,
Et frugi, castusque verecundusque coïbat.
Postquam cœpit agros extendere victor, et urbem
Latior amplecti murus, vinoque diurno,
Jo Placari Genius festis impunè diebus,
Accessit numerisque modisque licentia major.
Indoctus quid enim saperet, liberque laborum,
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