THE

FIRST EPISTLE

OF THE

SECOND BOOK

OF

HORACE.

ADVERTISEMENT.

THE Reflections of Horace, and the Judgments past in his Epistle to Augustus, seemed so seasonable to the present Times, that I could not help applying them to the use of my own Country. The Author thought them considerable enough to address them to his Prince; whom he paints with all the great and good qualities of a Monarch, upon whom the Romans depended for the increase of an absolute Empire. But to make the oem entirely English, I was willing to add one or two of those which contribute to the Happiness of a Free People, and are most consistent with the Welfare of our Neighbours.

This Epistle will show the learned World to have fallen into two mistakes: one, that Augustus was a Patron of Poets in general; whereas, he not only prohibited all but the Best Writers to name him, but recommended that care even to the Civil Magistrate: Admonebat Praetores, ne paterentur Nomen suum obsolefieri, etc. The other, that this Piece was only a general Discourse of Poetry; whereas, it was an Apology for the Poets, in order to render Augustus more their Patron. Horace here pleads the Cause of his Cotemporaries, first against the taste of the Town, whose humour it was to magnify the Authors of the preceding age; secondly against the Court and Nobility, who encouraged only the Writers for the Theatre; and lastly against the Emperor himself, who had conceived them of little use to the Government. He shews (by a View of the Progress of Learning, and the Change of Taste among the Romans) that the introduction of the polite Arts of Greece, had given the Writers of his Time great advantages

over their Predecessors; that their Morals were much improved, and the license of those ancient Poets restrained: that Satire and Comedy were become more just and useful; that whatever extravagancies were left on the Stage, were owing to the Ill Taste of the Nobility; that Poets, under due Regulations, were in many respects useful to the State; and concludes, that it was upon them the Emperor himself must depend, for his Fame with Posterity.

We may further learn from this Epistle, that Horace made his Court to this Great Prince by writing with a decent Freedom toward him, with a just Contempt of his low Flatterers, and with a manly regard to his own Character.

EPISTLE I.

TO AUGUSTUS.

WHILE you, great Patron of Mankind! asustain
The balanc'd World, and open all the Main;
Your Country, chief, in Arms abroad defend,
At home, with Morals, Arts and Laws amend;
bHow shall the Muse, from such a Monarch, steal

An hour, and not defraud the Public Weal ?

Edward and Henry, now the boast of Fame,
And virtuous Alfred, a more dsacred Name,
After a Life of gen'rous toils endur'd,
The Gaul subdu'd, or Property secur'd,

EPISTOLA I.

AD AUGUSTUM.

Cum tot asustineas et tanta negotia solus,
Res Italas armis tuteris, moribus ornes,
Legibus emendes; in bpublica commoda pecem,
Si longo sermone morer tua tempora, Caesar.

Romulus, et Liber pater, et cum Castore Pollux,
Post ingentia facta, d Deorum in templa recepti,

NOTES.

5

10

Book ii. Epist. 1.] The Poet always rises with his Original; and very often without. This whole imitation is extremely noble and sublime.

Ver 7. Edward and Henry, etc.] Romulus, et Liber pater, etc. Horace very judiciously praises Augustus for the colonies he founded, not for the victories he had won; and therefore compares him, not to those who desolated, but to those who civilized mankind. The imitation wants this grace; and, for the very obvious reason, should not have aimed at it, as he has done in the mention of Alfred.