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Una forcatella di Spine

NOTES CHIEFLY ON

THE "ARS POETICA" OF HORACE

BY

A. O. PRICKARD

WINCHESTER :

PRINTED BY WARREN AND SON, LTD., HIGH STREET

-

1922.

878
45a0

Pas

In Memoriam

SEMPER VIRENTEM

I. D. W.

Latin Loth. 3-28-28

16751

Maggiore aperta molte volte impruna

con una forcatella di sue spine

l'uom della villa, quando l'uva imbruna.
Dante Purgatorio IV, 19-21.

I HAVE borrowed the title which I venture to prefix
to these notes from a chance letter of an old friend,
who had the right, as I have not, to make free with
the Poet, and with his beautiful language. Though
I can no longer appeal to that friend for his final
criticism or approval, I owe too much to his scholarly
interest and encouragement, willingly to forego the
use of words which are a link with him. They seem
to express my intention in offering this modest con-
tribution to the enjoyment of some authors whom we
have loved. The rich grape of classical scholarship
grows dark in the Autumn, thanks to the genius and
labours of a long line of scholars-some
quos vidimus
ipsi"; but there are, and always must be, gaps in
the hedge which protects the sacred enclosure, and
the countryman, as he goes his rounds, may pardonably
feel that there are some which need not be, and which
even he" an idirns or common person "—may
be privileged to fill up with the thorns at his disposal.
The suggestions, such as they are, have not been
sought out for publication, but have recurred to the
mind at intervals, through a long series of years, with
perhaps too obstinate conviction.

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The "Ars Poetica" of Horace

THE external facts relating to this favourite, but elusive, poem, are briefly these:

Quintilian quotes passages from it twice, calling it, in the introductory letter to his publisher Trypho, the "Ars Poetica," and, in 8, 3, 60, the "Liber de arte poetica." The former title would imply, according to the Ciceronian use of "ars," a manual, or primer, of poetic art. The latter, which is generally adopted as the heading in Manuscripts, conforms to Greek usage, as in the περὶ ῥητορικῆς or the περὶ ποιητικῆς of Aristotle. With the former we may compare the artis amatoriae libri tres of Ovid.

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The usual place of the A.P. in Manuscripts is between the Fourth Book of the Odes and the Epodes. In V (the " oldest Blandinian ") it followed the Epodes. Probably the lyrical poems with the A.P. formed a Volume I, convenient for use in schools or classes. Several existing MSS. contain the A.P. alone. It was placed at the end of the whole works by H. Stephens and Lambinus (1561), and first entitled "Epistola Tertia Libri Secundi" by Cruquius (1578). This arrangement, which has been followed by some modern editors, is an unfortunate one, because it begs a difficult question as to the date of its composition, or first publication.

Many scholars, as Henry Nettleship (following Michaelis), and Wilkins, argue for a comparatively early date, between the Second Book of Satires and the First Book of Epistles (say between B.C. 25 and B.C. 19). The data are thoroughly examined by Nettleship

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