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

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670 EXfLANAfORY NOTES.—EPISTLE TO THE P1S08.
361-367. 36!. Ut pictura, poS^^, Sec. Horace here goes on (from linB
360 to 366) to observe in favor of writers, against a too tigoroua criticism
of their productions! that what wei'e often called faults were nut so in re-
ality ; tliat some parts of a pOem Ought to be less shining or less finished
than others, according to the light they Were placed in, ot the distanco
from which they were viewed ; and that, serving only to connect and lead
to others of greater consequence, it was sufficient if the^ pleased otiae, or
did not displease, provided that those others would pleaae on every review.
All this is said agreeably to nature, Which does not allow every
part of a subject to be eqaally susceptible of ornament, and to the end of
poAry, which can not do well be attained without an inequality. The al-
lusions to painting which the poet uses give this truth the happiest illustratiou.—366.
O major jv-venum. " O elder Of my young friends." Addressed
to the ^der of the young Fisos. With major supply natu.—367.
Fingeris, " Thoii art moulded."
Et per te sapis, *' And art able of thy-
self to form con'ect judgments of things." Equivalent to et per te sapienter
judicas.—J{octibidiGtmfitoltememor,&.c, "Yet receive the precept
Which I here give thee, &nd treasure it up in thy remembrance : that, in
Certain things, mediocrity and a passable degree tif ehiitience are rightly
enough allowed."
370-373. 370. Abest vittuU diserti Messala, ^cb. "Wants the laleat
of the eloquent Messala, and possebBes not the legal erudition of CAsceh
lins Auluia." The poet, with great delicacy, throws in a compliment to
two distiilguished individuals of the day.—372. Mediocribus. A GrascisiA
for mediocres, the accusative.—373. ColumiKS. "Booksellers' columns."
Consult note on Sat. i., 4, 71. Every thing, according to Horace, declares
against a mediocrity in poetry* Men reject it ; the gOdSi Apollot Bacchus,
and the Muses, disavow it i and the pilars of the booksellers, that is, booksellers''
shops, refuse to receive it. The comment of Hurd is extremely
Apposite : "This judgment, however severe it may seem, is according t5
the practice of the best critics. We have a remarkable instance in the
case of Apollonius Khodius, WhO} though in the judgment of Q,uintilian
the author t>f no contemptible poem, yet, on account of that e^tal medio'd-
Hty which every where prevails in him, was struck out of the list of good
writers by Isuch soVei'eigb jtldges of poetical merit as Aristophanes and
Aristarchus {Quinelil., x., 1)."
374-376. 374. Ut gratas inter m^nsaP, &c. The poet here assigns a
Very just and obvious reason for the decision which he has just made re-
specting mediocrity in the poetic art. As the maih end (rf poett-y ia to
pleasB^ if it does not reach that point (which it can ribt do by stopping eVet
so little on this side of excellence) it is, like indiiiferent music, indi'Sbtenl;
perfumes^ at any Ather indifi^rent thing, which we can do without, mid
whose end should be to please, namely, offensive and disagteeahie, and,
for want 6f being veTy good, absolutely and influfferably bad.^375. Craggum.
Cbmpane Ih^ explanation of Doring: **Non liquzdwntt sed coaga*
latum et randdum."—Bardo cum melle papaver. Sardinia was full oi
bitter herbs {Virg., Eclog., vii., 441), whence, the honey of the island was
bitter and in bad repute. The honey of Corslet Was in equally low esteem,
but whether it Was owing to the yew trees of the island, or to some
other cause, has been made a matter of donbt. (Compare MartyH^ ad