Humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam Jungere si velit, et varias inducere plumas Undique collatis membris, ut turpiter atrum Definat in piscem mulier formosa supernè; Spectatum admissi risum teneatis, amici? Credite, Pisones, ifti tabulae fore librum Persimilem, cujus, velut aegri somnia, vanae

HORACE'S EPISTLE TO THE PISOS.

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What if a Painter, in his art to shine, A human head and horse's neck should join; From various creatures put the limbs together, Cover'd with plumes, from ev'ry bird a feather; And in a filthy tail the figure drop, A fish at bottom, a fair maid at top: Viewing a picture of this strange condition, Would you not laugh at such an exhibition? Trust me, my Pisos, wild as this may seem, The volume such, where, like a sick-man's dream, Fingentur species: ut nec pes, nec caput uni Reddatur formae. Pictoribus atque Poëtis Quidlibet audendi semper fuit aequa potestas: Scimus, et hanc veniam petimusque damusque *viciffim: Sed non ut placidis coëant immitia, non ut Serpentes avibus geminentur, tigribus agni.

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Incoeptis gravibus plerumque et magna professis Purpureus latè qui splendeat unus et alter Assuitur pannus; cùm lucus et ara Dianae, Et properantis aquae per amoenos ambitus agros, Aut flumen Rhenum, aut pluvius describitur arcus. Sed nunc non erat his locus: et fortasse cupressum Scis simulare: quid hoc, si fractis enatat exspes Extravagant conceits throughout prevail, Gross and fantastick, neither head nor tail. "Poets and Painters ever were allow'd Some daring flight above the vulgar croud." True: we indulge them in that daring flight, And challenge in our turn, an equal right: But not the soft and savage to combine, Serpents to doves, to tigers lambkins join. Oft works of promise large, and high attempt, Are piec'd and guarded, to escape contempt, With here and there a remnant highly drest, That glitters thro' the gloom of all the rest. Then Dian's grove and altar are the theme, Then thro' rich meadows flows the silver stream; The River Rhine, perhaps, adorns the lines, Or the gay Rainbow in description shines. These we allow have each their several grace; But each and several now are out of place. A cypress you can draw; what then? you're hir'd, And from your art a sea-piece is requir'd; Navibus, aere dato qui pingitur amphora coepit Institui: currente rotâ cur urceus exit? Denique sit quidvis simplex duntaxat et unum.

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Maxima pars vatum, (pater, et juvenes patre digni) Decipimur specie recti. Brevis esse laboro, Obscurus sio: sectantem laevia, nervi Desiciunt animíque: prosessus grandia turget: Serpit humi tutus nimiùm timidùsque procellae. Qui variare cupit rem prodigaliter unam, Delphinum silvis appingit, fluctibus aprum. In vitium dycit culpae fuga, si caret arte. A shipwreck'd mariner, despairing, faint, (The price paid down) you are ordain'd to paint. Why dwindle to a cruet from a tun? Simple be all you execute, and one! Lov'd fire! lov'd sons, well worthy such a fire! Most bards are dupes to beauties they admire. Proud to be brief, for brevity must please, I grow obscure; the follower of ease Wants nerve and soul; the lover of sublime Swells to bombast; while he who dreads that crime, Too fearful of the whirlwind rising round, A wretched reptile, creeps along the ground. The bard, ambitious fancies who displays, And tortures one poor thought a thousand ways, Heaps prodigies on prodigies; in woods Pictures the dolphin, and the boar in floods! Thus ev'n the fear of faults to faults betrays, Unless a master-hand conduct the lays. Aemilium circa ludum faber imus et ungues Exprimet, et molles imitabitur aere capillos, Infelix operis summâ, quia ponere totum Nesciet: hunc ego me, si quid componere curem, Non magis esse velim, quàm pravo vivere naso, Spectandum nigris oculis, nigroque capillo.

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Sumite materiam vostris, qui scribitis, aequam Viribus: et versate diu, quid ferre recusent Quid valeant humeri. Cui lecta potenter erit res, Nec facundia deferet hunc, nec lucidus ordo.

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Ordinis haec virtus erit et venus, aut ego fallor, Ut jam nunc dicat, jam nunc debentia dici Pleraque differat, et praesens in tempus omittat. An under workman, of th' Aemilian class, Shall mould the nails, and trace the hair in brass, Bungling at last; because his narrow soul Wants room to comprehend a perfect whole. To be this man, would I a work compose, No more I'd wish, than for a horrid nose, With hair as black as jet, and eyes as black as sloes.

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Select, all ye who write, a subject fit, A subject, not too mighty for your wit! And ere you lay your shoulders to the wheel, Weigh well their strength, and all their weakness feel! He, who his subject happily can chuse, Wins to his favour the benignant Muse; The aid of eloquence he ne'er shall lack, And order shall dispose and clear his track. Order, I trust, may boast, nor boast in vain, These Virtues and these Graces in her train. What on the instant should be said, to say; Things, best reserv'd at present, to delay; Hoc amet, hoc spernat, promissi carminis auctor.

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