But Virtue in a Medium lies,

From whence these different Follies rife.
Another, with Devotion fervent,

Is more than your obfequious Servant;
Admitted as an humble Guest,

Where Men of Money break their Jeft,
He waits the Nod, with Awe profound,
And catches, ere it reach the Ground,
The falling Joke, and echoes back the Sound.
A School-boy thus with humble Air,
Repeats to Pedagogue fevere;

Thus Players act an Under-part,
And fear to put forth all their Art.
Another in Difpute engages,

With Nonfenfe arm'd for Nothing rages,
"Shall not my Word be first receiv'd ?

66

My Word of Honour not believ'd ? "And fhall I, whether right or wrong, "Be forc'd, forfooth, to hold my Tongue? at a Price fo base and mean,

No

"I would a thoufand Lives difdain."

But what provokes the dire Contest ?

Which Gladiator fences best,

Or to which Road You best may turn Ye,

If to Brundufium lies your Journey.

}

Now,

Horace, after having said alter in obfequium pronus, for alter adulater, ought alfo to use a Noun, not a Verb, for an oppofite Character, Rixator,

16. Propugnat, nugis armatus:] They, who divide the Word propugnat, to conftrue it pugnat pro nugis, lofe the Beauty of the Paffage, nugis armatus, armed with Trifles and Nonfenfe. TORR, 20. Minuci via.] There were two Roads from Rome to Brundufium. The Appian, which went along the Tuscan Sea; and the Minucian,

F 3

25

Quem damnofa Venus, quem præceps alea nudat,
Gloria quem fupra vires & vestit & ungit,
Quem tenet argenti fitis importuna famesque,
Quem paupertatis pudor & fuga; dives amicus,
Sæpe decem vitiis inftru&tior, odit & horret.
Aut fi non odit, regit; ac veluti pia mater
Plus quàm fe fapere & virtutibus effe priorem
Vult: & ait prope vera: Meæ (contendere noli)
Stultitiam patiuntur opes; tibi parvula res eft:
Arcta decet fanum comitem toga: define mecum
Certare. Eutrapelus, cuicunque nocere volebat,
Veftimenta dabat pretiofa: beatus enim jam
Pulchris cum tunicis fumet nova confilia ac fpes;
Dormiet in lucem; fcorto poftponet honestum
Officium; nummos alienos pafcet; ad imum
Threx erit, aut olitoris aget mercede caballum.

30

35

Arcanum

Minucian, which croffed over the Country of the Sabines and Samnites, joining the Appian Road at Beneventum. This laft had its Name from the Conful, Tiberius Minucius, who made it in 448, feven Years after that of Appius. SAN.

25. Sæpe decem vitiis inftructior.] This Precept is of great Importance. A Prince, however vicious himself, pays a fecret Homage to Virtue, and treats with juft Contempt thofe Faults in others, which render himself really contemptible. He requires a Regularity of Conduct, which he breaks by his own Example, as if he propofed to conceal his Vices under their Virtues. SAN.

29. Stultitiam patiuntur opes.] As if being a Lord, a Prince, or a King, gave a Man a better Right to be a Fool, a Coxcomb, or a Villain. However, this Reasoning is in fome Measure true, prope vera; for although the Follies of Rich and Poor are equal in themfelves, yet they are very unequal in their Confequences.

SAN.

31. Eutrapelus.] The Great imagine, that their Riches give them a Right to play the Fool, but Eutrapelus is perfuaded, that Riches and Folly are infeparable. His real Name was Volumnius, and he had the Surname of Eutrapelus, The Raillier, given him for his Wit and Pleafantry. Having forgotten to put his Name to a Letter he wrote to Cicero, the Orator tells him, he fancied it came from Volumnius the Senator, but was undeceived by the Eutrapelia, the Spirit and Vivacity of it.

Now, Lollius, mark the Wretch's Fate,
Who lives dependant on the Great.
If the præcipitating Dice,

If Venus be his darling Vice,
If Vanity his Wealth confumes
In Dreffing, Feafting, and Perfumes,
If Thirft of Gold his Bofom fways,
A Thirft, which nothing can appease,
If Poverty with Shame he views,
And Wealth with every Vice pursues,
My Lord, more vicious as more great,
Views him with Horrour, or with Hate;
At least, fhall o'er him tyrannise,

And like a fond Mamma advise,
Who bids her darling Daughter fhun
The Paths of Folly she had run.
Think not, he cries, to live like me ;
My Wealth fupports my Vanity;
Your Folly fhould be moderate,
Proportion'd to a small Estate.

Eutrapelus, in merry Mood,
The Objects of his Wrath pursued,
And where he deepest Vengeance meant,
Fine Clothes, with cruel Bounty, fent;
For when the happy Coxcomb's dreft,
Strange Hopes and Projects fill his Breaft;
He fleeps 'till Noon, nor will the Varlet,
For Fame or Fortune, leave his Harlot.
Lavish he feeds the Ufurer's Store,
And when the Mifer lends no more,
He learns the Gladiator's Art,

Or humbly drives a Gardiner's Cart.

40

Arcanum neque tu fcitaberis illius ufquam;
Commiffumque teges, & vino tortus & irâ.
Nec tua laudabis ftudia, aut aliena reprendes ;
Nec, quum venari volet ille, poemata panges.
Gratia fic fratrum geminorum, Amphionis atque
Zethi, diffiluit; donec fufpecta fevero
Conticuit lyra. Fraternis ceffiffe putatur
Moribus Amphion. Tu cede potentis amici
Lenibus imperiis: quotiefque educet in agros
Ætolis onerata plagis jumenta canesque;
Surge, & inhumanæ fenium depone Camenæ,
Cones ut pariter pulmenta laboribus emta.
Romanis folenne viris opus, utile famæ,

Vitæque & membris; præfertim quum valeas, &
Vel curfu fuperare canem, vel viribus aprum
Poffis. Adde, virilia quòd fpeciofiùs arma
Non eft qui tractet. Scis quo clamore coronæ
Prælia fuftineas campeftria: denique fævam
Militiam puer & Cantábrica bella tulisti
Sub duce, qui templis Parthorum figna refigit

45

50

55

Nunc

;

37. Illius.] Potentis amici, for ullius is too general and falfe. It is not forbidden to know the Secrets of an Enemy, a Rival, &c. Illius is of two Manuscripts and received by our best Critics.

45. Lenibus imperiis.] The gentleft Commands of Superiors have a Sort of Infolence and Authority towards their Dependants, nor are they to be obeyed with a lefs punctual Submiffion than their moft abfolute Orders.

47. Senium depone Camena.] The Mufe is here called inhumanæ, from the Peevishness of Poets, when they are interrupted in their poetical Studies, from their general Love of Solitude and Retire

ment.

TORR.

54. Denique Javam militiam puer.] Lollius, to whom Horace writes, was with Auguftus in his Expedition against the Cantabrians, when he was very young, puer. But Auguftus departed from Rome in 727, when Lollius, the Father, had been fome Years in Gallatia, where he was Governor after the Death of Amyntas, whose Kingdom became a Province of the Roman Empire. He returned to

Rome

Strive not with mean unhandsome Lore,

Your Patron's Bofom to explore,

And let not Wine, or Anger wrest
Th' intrufted Secret from your Breast.
Nor blame the Pleasures of your Friend,
Nor to your own too earnest bend;
Nor idly court the froward Muse,
While He the vigorous Chace pursues.
Humours like these could fatal prove
To Zethus' and Amphion's Love,
Until Amphion kind complied,
And laid th' offensive Lyre aside.
So to your Patron's Will give Way,
His gentle Infolence obey,

And when he pours into the Plain
His Horses, Dogs, and Hunting-Train,
Break from the peevish Muse away,
Divide the Toils, and share the Prey.
The Chace was by our Sires esteem'd,
Healthful and honourable deem'd.
Thy Swiftnefs far the Hound's exceeds;
The Boar beneath thy Javelin bleeds,
And who, like Thee, with Grace can wield
The Weapons of the martial Field,
Or with fuch loud Applaufe as thine,
Amidst the youthful Battle fhine?

In the destructive War of Spain
Early you made your firft Campaign,.
Beneath a Leader, who regains
Our Eagles from the Parthian Fanes,

F 5

And

4

Rome in 732, and entered upon his Confulship in the Beginning of the Year following. It is therefore impoffible, that he could have been with Auguftus in the War of Spain, and confequently this Letter could not have been written to him. CARDINAL NORIS