The works of Horace : with English notes, critical and ... - Cristo Raul

SATIRES.
ON ROMAN SATIRE.
The scholars of earlier days were accustomed to dispute^ with no little
degree of ardor, on the ongin of Roman Satire, as ^ell as on the mean*
ing of the term by which this species of composition is wont to be design
nated. The Abb^ Gamier defines a Satire to be a poem without an^l
regular action, of a certain length, either indulging in invectire, or of aij
ironical character, and directed against the vices and the failings of mei
with a view to their correction. Was Satire, regarded in this light, an invention
of the Romans, or did they, in this branch of literature, as in aL
most every other, merely follow in the path of some Grecian original^
Julius Scaliger, Daniel Heinsius, and Spanheim have maintained the lat
ter opinion in opposition to Horace and Quintilian, whose authority hai
been supported and defended by Casaubon. This whole controrersy|
however, proved eventually, like so many others of a similar nature, onlj
a dispute about words, and it ceased the moment the subject was clean
ly understood. Dacier, Koenig, and other writers are entitled, after Ca*
saubon, to the merit of having cleared up the question to such a degre^
as to render any further discussion unnecessary.
We must, above all things, guard against confounding together tw(i
terms which have an accidental resemblance in form, but quite differe&i
etymologies, the Greek Satyre and the Roman Satire. The former waa
a species of jocose drama, in which Satyrs were made to play the prin«
cipal part, and hence the appellation which it received. We have but
one piece of this kind remaining, the Cyclops of Euripides. On the other
hand, the Roman Satire, the invention of which is ascribed by the ancient
writers to Ennius, differed from the Satyre of the Greeks in that, being
without a plot, and embracing no regular and continued action, it was in-^
tended far the closet, not for the stage. This Satire was neither a drama,
an epic poem, nor a lyric effusion. Neither was it a didactic piece, in the
strict sense of the word, according to which a didactic poem is taken to
signify a production in verse, which develops, not a single truth, but a
system of truths, or rather a doctrine, and not in a transitory manner or
by way of digression, but with method and formal reasoning. The an-
cients regarded each species of verse as belonging peculiarly to one particular
kind of poetry. Thus the hexameter was reserved for epic and
didactic poems ; the hexameter and pentameter, alternately succeeding
each other, were employed in elegiao effusions ; the iambic was used in
dramatic compositions, while the different lyric measures were devoted
to the species of poetry which bore that name. Now the Satire of Ennius
deviated from this rule in excluding none of these several metres.
All rhythms suited it equally well, and the old poet employed them all in
their turn. It is from this medley of verses, thus employed, that the name
of Satires {Satiroe) was given to these productions of Ennius. Among
the Romans, a platter or basin, filled with all sorts of fruits, was offered