ADVERTISEMENT. HE Reflections of Horace, and the Judgments I past in his Epiftle to Augustus, feem'd to feafon able to the present Times, that I could not help applying them to the use of my own Country. The Author thought them confiderable 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 abfolute Empire. But to make the Poem 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 Epiftle 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 fuum obfolefieri, 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 licence 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 farther 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 To AUGUSTUS. I. of Mankind! a sustain HILE you, great Patron • Edward and Henry, now the boast of Fame, EPISTOLAI. Ad AUGUSTU M. CUM tot fuftineas et tanta negotia solus, Res Italas armis tuteris, moribus ornes, Legibus emendes; in publica commoda, peccem, Si longo fermone morer tua tempora, Caefar. 10 • Romulus, et Liber pater, et cum Castore Pollux, Post ingentia facta, d Deorum in templa recepti, NOTES. Book ii. Epift. 1.] The poet always rises with his Original; and very often without. This whole imitation is extremely noble and fublime. 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 a very obvious reason, should not have aimed at it, as he has done in the mention of Alfred. Ambition humbled, mighty Cities storm'd, 15 20 To thee, the World its present homage pays, The Harvest early, h but mature the praise: Great Friend of LIBERTY! in Kings a Name 25 Above all Greek, above all Roman Fame*: Whose Word is Truth, as facred and rever'd, 1 As Heav'n's own Oracles from Altars heard. Dum terras hominumque colunt genus, afpera bella h Praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores, Jurandasque tuum per numen ponimus aras, NOTES. VER. 17. The great Alcides,] This instance has not the fame grace here as in the Original, where it comes in well after those of Romulus, Bacchus, Castor, and Pollux, though awkwardly after Edward and Henry. But it was for the fake of the beautiful thought in the next line; which, yet, does not equal the force of his Original. |