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NOTES ON THE ARS POETICA.

L. CALPURNIUS Piso, to whom, together with his two sons, this Epistle is addressed, was born A.U.c. 705, was Consul A.U.c. 739, acted afterwards with great credit for many years as Prefect of the city, and died at the advanced age of eighty. As his eldest son, from the nature of the advice given to him in the course of the poem, must have been at least eighteen or nineteen years old at the time he was thus addressed, we must conclude that the poem was written about the year A.U.c. 744 or 745. It could not have been composed at a much later date, as Horace died in the month of November, A.U.c. 746.

In judging of the merits of this shrewd and exquisitely graceful work, we must take care not to be led by the high-sounding title of Ars Poetica, given to it by later writers, to measure it by any other standard than that which should be applied to the First Epistle of the Second Book. It is, let it be remembered, an Epistle to friends, and not a set treatise, and may therefore well be allowed to exhibit a somewhat looser construction, and less gently graduated transitions than might be otherwise looked on as allowable. Moreover it should be observed that it does not treat of all kinds of poetry, but almost exclusively of the drama, probably because the elder of the two young Pisos, for whose benefit Horace seems principally to have written, had a special leaning toward that kind of composition. The temptations that are most likely to assail young writers, and the necessity of earnest and long-continued study and many-sided culture, are admirably insisted on. The young aspirant is then urged to submit his attempts to some honest and capable critic who, from regard for the writer, will say just what he thinks, without fear or favour; and the poem concludes, after Horace's usual manner, in a burst of fun, with a highly-coloured picture of a would-be poet gone mad, utterly beyond the reach of advice or restraint, and avoided by all sensible persons as a bore and insufferable nuisance.

The close connection that subsists between the several parts of the poem will be so fully dwelt upon in the notes, that it is not requisite to give a rigorous analysis of the whole in addition. It may however be remarked that there are no grounds for supposing, with Peerlkamp and others, that the poem, as it now stands, bears marks of having been left by Horace at his death in an unfinished state, and therefore requires to be violently transposed and retouched by Commentators, before it can be set out as a perfect and symmetrical whole. They who venture upon such bold attempts seem utterly to have misapprehended the nature of Horace's mind, which preferred a careless but not illogical freedom, to the stiffness of a formal discourse, and hence to have lost sight of the laws of that species of composition which he, in accordance with his prevailing tendencies, selected as the vehicle of his ideas. Nor can they be altogether acquitted of having exhibited a certain degree of impatience in their examination of the structure of the poem, having failed, as they themselves

confess, to catch sight of the links which it can be shown do most undoubtedly bind the several parts of the poem together, and thereby make good its claim to the possession of organic unity and life.

1. Humano, etc. "The first requisite in a good poem," says Horace, "is that it exhibit a distinct unity of plan. A poem composed of heterogeneous materials, however fine they may be in themselves, is like a picture of some impossible monster composed of parts of animals altogether diverse in kind and character."- -2. varias, "of various colours." -3. turpiter qualifies atrum.- -6. isti tabulæ, 66 that contemptible picture." -9. Pictoribus... potestas. “Painters and poets have always been allowed a fair amount of license." This is an objection to the doctrine Horace lays down.- -11. Scimus, etc. This is Horace's answer to the preceding objection.- -16. pannus is here a "flounce" or "border," which, not belonging originally to the garment, may aptly symbolize those fine but out-of-place descriptions, which young poets are too frequently tempted to insert.- -18. Rhenum is here an adjective qualifying flumen. So Stertinium acumen, 1 Ep. xii. 20.-19. cupressum, etc. This refers, according to the Scholiasts, to the story of a bad painter, who thinking that he could paint a cypress well, when asked by a shipwrecked sailor to paint a picture of his shipwreck to enable him to move the passers-by to give alms, asked him, Mh Tɩ kai kuπapíσσov béλeis; a silly speech which became proverbial afterwards.- -20. simulare. So "simulantia" is used 2 Ep. i. 241.- -21. Amphora, etc. "A wine-jar was commenced; how is it that, as the potter's wheel runs round, a water-pot comes forth?" That is to say, "Such violently intruded episodes destroy the whole scope and purpose of the poem as it was originally planned, and turn it into something altogether dissimilar."-cœpit put here for cœpta est. In

prose such an expression would not be allowed. Thus Livy says, “Ignis fieri est cœptus.”- -22. rota, "the potter's wheel."- -23. "In short whatever your poem be, let it at least be simple, and organically one."

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-24. Maxima, etc. "Most poets," Horace goes on to say, "are led astray by excessive clinging to something that, in its due proportion, is right. Thus the man, who tries to be brief, often becomes obscure. Another, in trying to be smooth, becomes tame, and so forth."- -28. tutus, "anxious to be safe."- —29. variare, "to present in new and unexpected lights."- -rem unam, one and the same thing."- -32. Emilium ludum. This, according to the Scholiast, was a gladiatorial school, built by Æmilius Lepidus near the Forum Romanum.-unus, "singularly well," has a superlative meaning. See note on 2 Sat. vi. 57. -34. operis summa, "his work as a whole.". 38. Sumite, etc. Horace's third piece of advice is with respect to the choice of the subject-matter, that it ought to be in proportion to the powers of the writer.—39. versate, "turn about in your hands in order to feel the weight."40. potenter, "in accordance with his powers." -41. ordo, "arrangement of the various parts of the poem.". -45. promissi, "long promised to the public," and eagerly expected by them, as for instance the Eneid, which had been long anxiously looked for.46. In verbis . . serendis," in the collocation and connection of words."-tenuis, "subtle."

-47. callida junctura. As instances of this. Or. gives splendide mendax, animæ magnæ prodigus, insanientis sapientiæ consultus. 48. Reddiderit novum, "shall have endued with a new force." -49. Indiciis recentibus, "by new-coined terms."-abdita rerum, i.e. "new thoughts." -50. Fingere continget," it will fall to your lot to frame with good suc

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cess.”—cinctutis probably means “having the toga on in such a fashion that the right arm was altogether outside the garment." This was the old-fashioned way, because most convenient for hard work; and the Cethegi, a family fond of clinging to old customs, long retained it. So Silius (viii. 585), speaking of Cethegus, says, Ipse humero exsertus gentili more parentum."-Cethegis. See note on 2 Ep. ii. 117.habebunt fidem," will become current coin."- -53. si græco fonte cadent, "if they flow from a Greek source," i.e. "if they are formed after the analogy of Greek words meaning the same thing." Orelli gives as instances centimanus, tauriformis, aurum vestibus illitum (xpuσóraσтos), etc., from Horace, and from Cicero essentia (ovoía), indoloria (àmábela).-parce detorta, "sparingly and cautiously derived" from their originals, in such a way that they shall still seem to belong to the language, and not appear altogether a foreign importation.- -54. Cæcilio Plautoque. See notes on 2 Ep. i. 58, 59.—55. Virgil and Varius were both dead at the time this Epistle was written. They are here quoted as poets of Horace's own time in opposition to the poets of an earlier period.-ego

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invideor is here used for the usual invidetur mihi. So imperor is used for imperatur mihi in 1 Ep. v. 21. See the note.-lingua Catonis. See note on 2 Ep. ii. 117.- -59. producere, "to bring into circulation.". -60. foliis, “as to their leaves," is the ablative of the part affected.-pronos, as they come to an end."- -61. Prima cadunt = ut prima cadunt, i.e. " as the old leaves fall to make room for the new;" prima folia corresponding to verborum vetus ætas. 61. verborum, etc., "words become obsolete and die." 63. Debemur, etc. So Simonides: Daváty távtes Opeıλóμeða.—sive receptus, etc. By the advice of Agrippa, Augustus, at a time when Sextus Pompeius was triumphant at sea, joined the Lucrine lake, which was a lagoon just north of the Bay of Baiæ, to the Lacus Avernus, now Lago d' Averno, which lay just beyond it, and opened a passage from the sea to the Lucrine lake. By this means he obtained a secure port in which to practise his crews for a fresh and successful encounter with the formidable fleet of Pompeius. To this work Virgil alludes, Geor. ii. 161, sqq.

"An memorum portus, Lucrinoque addita claustra,
Atque indignatum magnis stridoribus æquor;

Julia qua ponto longè sonat unda refuso,

Tyrrhenusque fretis immittitur æstus Avernis?

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65. Regis opus, a work right worthy of a king."—sterilisve diu palus, etc., Pomptinas paludes Augustus exsiccavit et habitabiles reddidit, injecto aggere lapidum et terræ." Scholiast. That Julius Cæsar intended to drain the Pomptine marshes is known from Suet. Cæs. xliv.; and it is very possible, though no contemporary writer mentions it, that Augustus carried out the design, at least in part. The character of the Pomptine marshes may be gathered from 1 Sat. v. 11-23.—palus. Horace has here erroneously shortened the last syllable, which, being a contraction of palūds, ought to be long.-67. amnis, i.e. Tiberis. Augustus had raised the banks of the Tiber, where they were low, to prevent such inundations as are mentioned in 1 Carm. ii.-68. Mortalia, etc. "If all mortal works, even such splendid ones as these, shall perish, much less shall the glory and beauty of language stand perennial.”. -71. si volet usus. See note on 2 Ep. ii. 119.73. Horace now proceeds to mention the various kinds of poetry, beginning with the epos.- Quo numero, i.e. hexame

ters.- -75. Versibus impariter junctis, i.e. hexameters and pentame ters.-querimonia, "lamentation over the dead."- -76. voti sententia compos, i.e. mostly "successful love."-77. exiguos, "humble." -elegos. "Lugendi formula est ề ề λéye, ex eaque et origo carminis elegiaci... et appellatio explicari potest. Vix enim dubitandum videtur, quin antiquissimi illius lugubris carminis ea ratio fuerit, ut pentametrorum posterior pars hæc esset, è è Aéy' è è λéye. Illi igitur versus recte dicti sunt λeyou"-auctor. Callinus seems to have been the earliest writer of elegiacs, one of his extant poems having been written as early as the year 730 B.C. Soon after him came Archilochus, who flourished about 714-676 B.C. These wrote threnetic elegies. Mimnermus, who flourished about 634-600, introduced the erotic elegy.—78. Grammatici, "the Alexandrine critics."- -79. Archilochum. See note on 1 Ep. xix, 23.- -80. socci... cothurni, "comedy and tragedy." See note on 2 Ep. i. 174.- –81. populares vincentem strepitus, " sounding above the uproar of the theatre," owing to the nature of the metre, "in quo facillime aures animadvertunt ἄρσεις et θέσεις.”. -83. fidibus, "to the lyre," i.e. "to lyric poetry."—pueros deorum, "heroes, demigods."- -85. libera, "that loosens the tongue."- -86. Descriptas, etc., "to observe the welldefined properties and hues (i.e. styles) of the various kinds of poetry."

-88. pudens prave, "from false shame."- -91. cœna Thyesta. Atreus served up to his brother Thyestes at supper the two sons of Thyestes, Tantalus and Pleisthenes.- -92. decenter qualifies teneant.- -94. Chremes is angry with his son in Ter. Heaut. v. 4. He is of course here put for any angry father. -96. Telephus, the son of Hercules and Auge, being King of Mysia at the time of the Trojan War, repelled the Greeks, but, stumbling over a vine, was wounded by Achilles, and had to sue humbly to be cured of his wound by some of the rust of the spear that wounded him.-Peleus also was frequently in distress. He had to wander in exile for killing his step-brother Phocus, because he excelled him in military games. Having at length being purified by Eurytion, he killed him at a boar-hunt, and had to flee again. Having again been purified by Acastus, he got into trouble with him.- -97. Projicit, "throws aside." -ampullas, "bombast." The ampulla, like the Greek Ahkulos, was a bottle, round and swelling like a bladder, and therefore well adapted to serve as a simile for turgid language. So ampullari (AvkvėíĊeiv) is used in 1 Ep. iii. 14.- -99. pulchra, "faultless," is objective: dulcia, "pleasing," is subjective, referring to the effect on the spectators. See note on 1 Ep. xvi. 15.- -102. Humani, "because human."- -104. male si, etc., "if you speak what has been unsuitably assigned to you," i.e. “if the words you have to speak are unsuited to the character you have to maintain." -108. prius," beforehand."- –113. equites peditesque," the whole body of spectators, educated and uneducated alike." The expression is borrowed from the constitution of Servius Tullius, who divided the whole Roman people into centuries, of which eighteen were equites, and the rest pedites. For the use of equites to represent the educated and refined part of the audience, see note on 2 Ep. i. 185.116. potens, "dignified."- 118. Colchus, etc., "the wild Colchian, or the luxurious and effeminate Assyrian; the citizen of Thebes, or his opponent (in the war of the Septem contra Thebas) of Argos."- -120. Scriptor, "in writing tragedy."-reponis, "you bring him once more upon the stage."-122. Jura neget, etc. It is evident that Horace here utterly mistakes the character of Achilles. Instead of denying that laws were made for him, he

declares that they were made even for Agamemnon; and his whole quarrel with that king of men is, that he insists that law shall be maintained supreme over power.-nihil non arroget armis, "let him claim everything for arms," i.e. "let him make might the sole standard of right." -123. Medea was "ferocious" for slaughtering her children to avenge herself on her husband, and "indomitable," because of her sternness of will and magical powers.-Ino was "sad" because her husband Athamas, in a fit of madness, tried to kill her and her children, and did kill one of them.-124. Ixion was "treacherous," because he invited Deioneus to a banquet, and then made him fall into a pit of fire. After having been purified by Jupiter, he exhibited the same characteristic, by attempting to seduce Juno.-Io was "a wanderer," because she was driven by Juno's jealousy through many lands, till she found rest in Egypt. Orestes was "sad" for the murder of his mother Clytemnestra.- -128. Difficile est, etc., is well translated by Voss: "Schwer ist's, eigene Wesen aus Allgemeinem zu bilden." That is to say, "It is a difficult matter to treat the abstract qualities you meet with in every-day life, which are therefore the common property of all poets, so as to clothe them with flesh and blood, and make them appear as part and parcel of the persons you bring upon the stage." Orelli quotes the Greek proverb, χαλεπὸν Tà Koivà idiŵσal. This remark may be illustrated by noticing the difference between the creations of Shakespere and Ben Jonson. The former brings before us real men and women, who have special virtues and vices; the latter produces abstract virtues and vices, each pretending to be a real man or woman.- -129. Rectius, etc. "You will find it far easier to spin out the Iliad into acts," i.e. "to take your plot and characters from the Iliad."―deducis... proferres. This apparent departure from the law of the sequence of tenses may be thus explained: "Rectius facis, si deducis

quam faceres, si proferres." Or.- -132. Publica materies, etc., "These materials, though common to all, will become your private property, if," etc.- -132. vilem, "common."-patulum, "open to all, and therefore trite."—orbem, " circle of incidents, characters and similes.”. 134. aretum, 66 narrow subservience to your original in every part of the plot."-135. operis lex, "the law you laid down for yourself when you commenced your work.". -136. The directions in this and the next sixteen lines are all addressed to the dramatic author, though the instances by which the directions are illustrated are borrowed, for convenience' sake, from epic poetry.-cyclicus. The cyclic poets were so called because they grouped around the Iliad and the Odyssey, and together embraced the whole cycle of events connected with the Trojan war. The chief of these poets were Stasinus, who wrote тà Kúπpia, which included the events from the rape of Helen to the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon that opens the Iliad; Arctinus, whose Aitionis began where the Iliad left off, and whose 'Ixíov Tépois is said to have furnished Virgil with the materials for his second Book; Lesches, whose 'Iλiàs μikpá related the events between the two poems of Arctinus.137. Fortunam Priami, etc. It is not known from whom this line is taken, nor whether it is taken from any writer at all. The only fault that can be found with it, taken separately, is that the epithet nobile is not distinctive, seeing that it might with equal justice be applied to almost any war. But the two next lines show that Horace finds fault with it, not because it is in itself a bad line, but because it promises a great deal too much, undertaking, as it does, to relate all the events of the siege of Troy, which had furnished enough matter for

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