If you offer to the stage any thing unattempted, and venture to form a new character; let it be preserved to the last The rule is, as appears from the reason of the thing, and from Aristotle, "Let a uniformity of character be preserved, or at least a consistency": i. e. either let the manners be exactly the same from the beginning to the end of the play, as those of Medea, for instance, and Orestes; or, if any change be necessary, let it be such as may consist with, and be easily reconciled to, the manners formerly attributed, as is seen in the case of Electra and Iphigenia. such as it set out at the beginning, and be consistent with itself. It is difficult to write with propriety Difficile est proprie communia dicere. Hor. Ars 128 Lambin's comment is, Communia hoc loco appellat Horatius argumenta fabularum a nullo adhuc tractata: et ita, quae cuivis exposita sunt et in medio quadammodo posit, quasi vacua et a nemino occupata. And that this is the true meaning of communia is evidently fixed by the words ignota indictaque , which are explanatory of it. on subjects to which all writers have a common claim; and you with more prudence will reduce the Iliad into acts, than if you first introduce arguments unknown and never treated of before. A public story will become your own property, Publica materies Hor. Ars 131 is just the reverse of what the poet had before styled communia : the latter meaning such subjects or characters as, though by their nature left in common to all, had yet, in fact, not been occupied by any writer; the former, those which had already been made public by occupation. In order to acquire a property in subjects of this sort, the poet directs us to observe the three following cautions: 1. Not to follow the trite, obvious round of the original work; i. e. not servilely and scrupulously to adhere to its plan of method. 2. Not to be translators, instead of imitators, i. e. if it shall be thought fit to imitate more expressly any part of the original, to do it with freedom and spirit, and without a slavish attachment to the mode of expression. 3. Not to adopt any particular incident that may occur in the proposed model, which either decency or the nature of the work would reject. if you do not dwell upon the whole circle of events, which is paltry and open to every one; nor must you be so faithful a translator, as to take the pains of rendering [the original] word for word; nor by imitating throw yourself into straits, whence either shame or the rules of your work may forbid you to retreat. Nor must you make such an exordium, as the Cyclic Scriptor cyclicus. Hor. Ars 136 Some author of the cyclus , described above, 1, 132. The chief Cyclic poems are the following: 1. τὰ Κύπρια , of Stasinus or Hegesinus. 2. The Αἰθιοπίσ of Arctinus. 3. The Ἰλιὰσ μικρά , by Lesches. 4. The Ἰλίου πέρσισ of Arctinus. 5. The Νόστοι attributed to Agias. 6. The Τηλεγονία of Eugammon. These were collected, more for the sake of philology than poetry, by the Alexandrine grammarians. writer of old: "I will sing the fate of Priam, and the noble war." What will this boaster produce worthy of all this gaping? The mountains are in labor, a ridiculous mouse will be brought forth. How much more to the purpose he, who attempts nothing improperly "Sing for me, my muse, the man who, after the time of the destruction of Troy , surveyed the manners and cities of many men." He meditates not [to produce] smoke from a flash, but out of smoke to elicit fire, that he may thence bring forth his instances of the marvelous with beauty, [such as] Antiphates, Scylla, the Cyclops , and Charybdis . Nor does he date Diomede's return from Meleager's death, nor trace the rise of the Trojan war from [Leda's] eggs: he always hastens on to the event; and hurries away his reader in the midst of interesting circumstances, no otherwise than as if they were [already] known; and what he despairs of, as to receiving a polish from his touch, he omits; and in such a manner forms his fictions, so intermingles the false with the true, that the middle is not inconsistent with the beginning, nor the end with the middle. Do you attend to what I, and the public in my opinion, expect from you [as a dramatic writer]. If you are desirous of an applauding spectator, who will wait for [the falling of] the curtain, and till the chorus calls out "your plaudits"; the manners of every age must be marked by you, and a proper decorum assigned to men's varying dispositions and years. The boy, who is just able to pronounce his words, and prints the ground with a firm tread, delights to play with his fellows, and contracts and lays aside anger without reason, and is subject to change every hour. The beardless youth, his guardian being at length discharged, joys in horses, and dogs, and the verdure of the sunny Campus Martius ; pliable as wax to the bent of vice, rough to advisers, a slow provider of useful things, prodigal of his money, high-spirited, and amorous, and hasty in deserting the objects of his passion. [After this,] our inclinations being changed, the age and spirit of manhood seeks after wealth, and [high] connections, is subservient to points of honor; and is cautious of committing any action, which he would subsequently be industrious to correct. Many inconveniences encompass a man in years; either because he seeks [eagerly] for gain, Quaerit = quaestus facit, as in Virg. Georg. i. In medium quaerebant. 
 and abstains from what he has gotten, and is afraid to make use of it; or because he transacts every thing in a timorous and dispassionate manner, dilatory, slow in hope, remiss, and greedy of futurity. Peevish, querulous, a panegyrist of former times when he was a boy, a chastiser and censurer of his juniors. Our advancing years He returns to his first division of human life into two parts. "Anni venientes," the years preceding manhood; "anni recedentes," the years going back toward old age and death. The ancients reckoned the former by addition: the latter by subtraction. The French have an expression like this of "recedentes anni." They say, "il est sur son retour," "he is upon his return," when a person is declining in years. bring many advantages along with them. Many our declining ones take away. That the parts [therefore] belong ing to age may not be given to youth, and those of a man to a boy, we must dwell upon those qualities which are joined and adapted to each person's age. Semper in adjunctis. Hor. Ars 178 "Adjuncta aevo," every thing which attends age; "apta aevo," every thing proper to it. 
 An action is either represented on the stage, or being done elsewhere is there related. The things which enter by the ear affect the mind more languidly, than such as are submitted to the faithful eyes, and what a spectator presents to himself. You must not, however, bring upon the stage things fit only to be acted behind the scenes: and you must take away from view many actions, which elegant descrition Facundia praesens. Hor. Ars 184 The recital of an actor present, which ought to be made with all the pathetic; facundia ; or a recital instead of the action, facundia facti vicaria, quae rem quasi oculis praesentem sistit. 
 may soon after deliver in presence [of the spectators]. Let not Medea murder her sons before the people; nor the execrable Atreus openly dress human entrails: nor let Progne be metamorphosed into a bird, Cadmus into a serpent. Whatever you show to me in this manner, not able to give credit to, I detest.

 Let a play which would be inquired after, and though seen, represented anew, be neither shorter nor longer than the fifth act. Neither let a god interfere, unless a difficulty worthy a god's unraveling should happen; nor let a fourth person be officious to speak. The poet does not forbid a fourth person to speak, but would have him say very little, as the Scholiast understands the precept. Indeed, a conversation of three people is most agreeable, because it is less confused and less divides the attention of an audience. 
 Let the chorus The chorus was not introduced between the acts, merely to relieve the audience, but had a part in the play, and concurred with the other actors to carry on the plot, and support the probability of it. The Choriphaeus, or first person of the chorus, entered in the acts, and spoke for all those of whom the chorus was composed; officiumque virile defendat. Hor. Ars 193 The chorus filled up the intervals of the acts with their songs, which were composed of reflections upon what was past, or their apprehensions of what might happen. sustain the part and manly Officiumque virile Hor. Ars 193 . Heinsius takes virile adverbially, for viriliter . But this is thought harsh. What hinders, but that it may be taken adjectively? And then, agreeably to his interpretation, "officium virile" will mean a strenuous, diligent office, such as becomes a person interested in the progress of the action. The precept is leveled against the practice of those poets who, though they allow the part of a persona dramatis to the chorus, yet for the most part make it so idle and insignificant a one, as is of little consequence in the representation; by which means the advantage of probability, intended to be drawn from this use of the chorus, is, in great measure, forfeited. character of an actor: nor let them sing any thing between the acts which is not conducive to, and fitly coherent with, the main design. Let them both patronize the good, The chorus, says the poet, is to take the side of the good and virtuous; i. e. (see note on v. 193), is always to sustain a moral character. But this will need some explanation and restriction. To conceive aright of its office, we must suppose the chorus to be a number of persons, by some probable cause assembled together, as witnesses and spectators of the great action of the drama. Such persons, as they can not be wholly uninterested in what passes before them, will very naturally bear some share in the representation. This will principally consist in declaring their sentiments, and indulging their reflections freely on the several events and distresses as they shall arise. Thus we see the moral attributed to the chorus, will be no other than the dictates of plain sense; such as must be obvious to every thinking observer of the action, who is under the influence of no peculiar partialities from affection or interest. Though even these may be supposed, in cases where the character toward which they draw is represented as virtuous. A chorus, thus constituted, must always, it is evident, take the part of virtue: because this is the natural, and almost necessary determination of mankind, in all ages and nations, when acting freely and unconstrained. and give them friendly advice, and regulate the passionate, and love to appease thou who swell [with rage]: I read pacare tumentes , with Bentley , Orelli, and others. let them praise the repast of a short meal, the salutary effects of justice, laws, and peace with her open gates; let them conceal what is told to them in confidence, The Choriphaeus was present through the whole play, and was often necessarily intrusted with the secrets of the persons of the drama. To preserve the probability, the poets chose a chorus, that was obliged by their own interest to keep those secrets, and without acting contrary to their duty. Euripides hath greatly offended against this precept. and supplicate and implore the gods that prosperity may return to the wretched, and abandon the haughty. The flute, Tibia non ut nunc orichalco Hor. Ars 202 , etc. (From v. 202 to v. 220.) This is one of those many passages in the epistle about which the critics have said a great deal, without explaining any thing. In support of what I mean to offer, as the true interpretation, I observe, I. That the poet's intention certainly was, not to censure the false refinements of their stage music; but, in a short digressive history (such as the didactic form will sometimes require), to describe the rise and progress of the true. This I collect, 1. From the expression itself, which can not, without violence, be understood in any other way. For, as to the words licentia and praeceps , which have occasioned much of the difficulty, the first means a freer use, not a licentiousness properly so-called; and the other only expresses a vehemence and rapidity of language, naturally productive of a quicker elocution, such as must of course attend the more numerous harmony of the lyre: not, as M. Dacier translates it, "une eloquence temeraire et outrée," an extravagant straining and affectation of style. 2. From the reason of the thing, which makes it incredible that the music of the theater should then be most complete, when the times were barbarous, and entertainments of this kind little encouraged or understood. 3. From the character of that music itself; for the rudeness of which, Horace , in effect, apologizes, in defending it only on the score of the imperfect state of the stage, and the simplicity of its judges. This then being clear, I observe, II. That those two verses, 
 Indoctus quid enim saperet liberque laborum, Rusticus urbane confusus, turpis honesto? (212-213) 
are, as they now stand, utterly inexplicable. This hath appeared long since, from the fruitless labors of the critics, and, above all, of Lambin, one of the best of them, who, after several repeated efforts to elucidate this place, leaves it just as dark and unintelligible as he found it. The interpretation, without them, stands thus: "The tibia," says the poet, "was at first low and simple. The first, as best agreeing to the then state of the stage, which required only a soft music to go along with and assist the chorus, there being no large and crowded theaters to fill in those days. And the latter, as suiting best to the then state of the times, whose simplicity and frugal manners exacted the severest temperance, as in every thing else, so in their dramatic ornaments and decorations. But, when conquest had enlarged the territory and widened the walls of Rome , and, in consequence thereof, a social spirit had dispelled that severity of manners, by the introduction of frequent festival solemnities, then, as was natural to expect, a freer and more varied harmony took place. And thus it was, that the tibicen , the musician who played to the declamation in the acts, instead of the rude and simpler strain of the old times, gave a richness and variety of tone; and instead of the old inactive posture, added the grace of motion to his art. Just in the same manner," continues he, "it happened to the lyre, i. e. the music in the chorus, which originally, as that of the tibia , was severe and simple; but, by degrees, acquired a quicker and more expressive modulation, such as corresponded to the more elevated and passionate turn of the poet's style, and the diviner enthusiasm of his sentiment." (not as now, begirt with brass and emulous of the trumpet, but) slender and of simple form, with few stops, was of service to accompany and assist the chorus, and with its tone was sufficient to fill the rows that were not as yet too crowded, where an audience, easily numbered, as being small and sober, chaste and modest, met together. But when the victorious Romans began to extend their territories, and an ampler wall encompassed the city, and their genius was indulged on festivals by drinking wine in the day-time without censure; a greater freedom arose both to the numbers [of poetry], and the measure [of music]. Accessit numerisque modisque licentia major. Hor. Ars 211 M. Dacier is out again, when he takes licentia major in a bad sense, as implying lasciveté , a culpable and licentious refinement. The license here spoken of, with regard to numbers and sounds, like that in another place, which respects words (l. 51) , is one of those which is allowed, when sumpta pudenter . The comparative major , which is a palliative, shows this; and is further justified by a like passage in Cicero de Oratore (I. iii. c. 48) , where, speaking of this very license in poetry, he observes, that out of the heroic and iambic measure, which was at first strictly observed, there arose by degrees the anapaest, "procerior quidam numerus, et ille licentior et divitior dithyrambus" ; evidently not condemning this change, but opposing it to the rigorous and confined measures of the elder poet. But the expression itself occurs in the piece entitled "Orator," in which, comparing the freedoms of the poetical and oratorical style, "in ea" (i. e. poetica ), says he, "licentiam statuo majorem esse, quam in nobis faciendorum iungendorumque verborum." The poet says this license extended "numeris modisque," the former of which words will express that license of meter spoken of by Cicero , and which is further explained, v. 256 , etc., where an account is given of the improvement of the iambic verse. HURD . For what taste could an unlettered clown and one just dismissed from labors have, when in company with the polite; the base, with the man of honor? Thus the musician added Sic priscae … arti tibicen Hor. Ars 215 , etc. — Sic etiam fidibus Hor. Ars 216 , etc. This is the application of what hath been said, in general, concerning the refinement of theatrical music to the case of tragedy. Some commentators say, and to comedy. But in this they mistake, as will appear presently. M. Dacier hath I know not what conceit about a comparison betwixt the Roman and Greek stage. His reason is, that the lyre was used in the Greek chorus, as appears, lie says, from Sophocles playing upon this instrument himself in one of his tragedies. And was it not used too in the Roman chorus, as appears from Nero 's playing upon it in several tragedies? But the learned critic did not apprehend this matter. Indeed, from the caution with which his guides, the dealers in antiquities, always touch this point, it should seem that they too had no very clear conception of it. The case I take to have been this: the tibia, as being most proper to accompany the declamation of the acts, cantanti succinere , was constantly employed, as well in the Roman tragedy as comedy. This appears from many authorities. I mention only two from Cicero . (Acad. 1. ii. 7) "Quam multa quae nos fugiunt in cantu, exaudiunt in eo genere exercitati: Qui, primo inflatu tibicinis, Antiopam esse aiunt aut Andromachem, cum nos ne suspicemur quidem." The other is still more express. In his piece entitled "Orator," speaking of the negligence of the Roman writers in respect of numbers, he observes, that there were even many passages in their tragedies, which, unless the tibia played to them, could not be distinguished from mere prose: "quae nisi cum tibicen accesserit, orationi sint solutae simillima." One of these passages is expressely quoted from Thyestes, a tragedy of Ennius, and, as appears from the measure, taken out of one of the acts. It is clear, then, that the tibia was certainly used in the declamation of tragedy. But now the song of the tragic chorus, being of the nature of the ode, of course required fides , the lyre, the peculiar and appropriated instrument of the lyric muse. And this is clearly collected, if not from express testimonies, yet from some occasional hints dropped by the ancients. For, 1. The lyre we are told ( Cic. de Leg. ii. 9 and 15 ), and is agreed on all hands, was an instrument of the Roman theater; but it was not employed in comedy. This we certainly know from the short accounts of the music prefixed to Terrence's plays. 2. Further, the tibicen , as we saw, accompanied the declamation of the acts in tragedy. It remains, then, that the proper place of the lyre was, where one should naturally look for it, in the songs of the chorus; but we need not go further than this very passage for a proof. It is unquestionable, that the poet is here speaking of the chorus only, the following lines not admitting any other possible interpretation. By fidibus , then, it is necessarily understood the instrument peculiarly used in it. In this view, the whole digression is more pertinent and connects better. The poet had before been speaking of tragedy. All his directions, from l. 100, respect this species of the drama only. The application of what he had said concerning music is then most naturally made, 1. To the tibia , the music of the acts; and, 2. To fides , that of the choir: thus confining himself, as the tenor of this part required, to tragedy only. Hence is seen the mistake, not only of M. Dacier, whose comment is in every view insupportable; but, as was hinted, of Heinsius, Lambin, and others, who, with more probability, explained this of the Roman tragedy and comedy. For, though tibia might be allowed to stand for comedy, as opposed to tragoedia (as, in fact, we find it in II. Ep. 1. 98 ), that being the only instrument employed in it; yet, in speaking expressly of the music of the stage, fides could not determinately enough, and in contradistinction to tibia , denote that of tragedy, it being an instrument used solely or principally in the chorus, of which the context shows, he alone speaks. It is further to be observed, that in the application here made, besides the music, the poet takes in the other improvements of the tragic chorus, these happening, as from the nature of the thing they must, at the same time. new movements and a luxuriance to the ancient art, and strutting backward and forward, drew a length of train over the stage; thus likewise new notes were added to the severity of the lyre, and precipitate eloquence produced an unusual language [in the theater]: and the sentiments [of the chorus, then] expert in teaching useful things and prescient of futurity, differ hardly from the oracular Delphi . Sententia Delphis. Hor. Ars 219 Sententia is properly an aphorism taken from life, briefly representing either what is or what ought to be the conduct of it: "Oratio sumpta de vita, quae aut quid sit aut quid esse oporteat in vita, breviter ostendit." (Ad Herenn. Rhet. 1. iv.) These aphorisms are here mentioned, as constituting the peculiar praise and beauty of the chorus. This is finely observed, and was intended to convey an oblique censure on the practice of those poets, who stuff out every part of the drama alike with moral sentences, not considering that the only proper receptacle of them is the chorus, where indeed they have an extreme propriety, it being the peculiar office and character of the chorus to moralize. 

 The poet, who first tried his skill in tragic verse for the paltry [prize of a] goat, soon after exposed to view wild satyrs naked, There was a kind of tragic comedies among the Greeks, which they called Satyrs, because the chorus was formed of Satyrs, who sung the praises of Bacchus between the acts, and said a thousand low pleasantries. The only piece of this kind remaining to us is the Cyclops of Euripides, in which Ulysses is the principal actor. The Romans, in imitation of the Greek Satyrs, had their Atellanae , so called from Atella , the city where they were first played. and attempted raillery with severity, still preserving the gravity [of tragedy]: because the spectator on festivals, when heated with wine Potus et exlex. Hor. Ars 224 The lines, 
 Indoctus quid enim saperet liberque laborum Rusticus urbane confusus, turpis honesto (212-213) 
were, I observed, certainly misplaced. They should, I think, come in here, where their sense is extremely pertinent. The poet had been speaking of the satyric drama, which, says he, was added to the tragic, 
 eo quod Illecebris erat, et grata novitate morandus Spectator, functusque sacris, et potus, et exlex. (223-225) 
But why, it might be asked, this compliance, in so false a taste, with a drunken, lawless rabble? The answer is natural and to the purpose. "Because their theaters necessarily consisted of a mixed assembly, every part of which was to be considered in the public diversions." The question then hath an extreme propriety, "Indoctus quid enim saperet liberque laborum, Rusticus urbane confusus, turpis honesto?" The rusticus and turpis demanded the satyric piece. It was the necessary result of this mixutre; as, to gratify the better sort, the urbanus and honestus , the tragic drama was exhibited. It is some prejudice in favor of this conjecture, that it explains to us, what would otherwise appear very strange, that such gross ribaldry, as we know the Atellanes consisted of, could ever be endured by the politest age of Rome . But scenical representations being then intended, not as in our days, for the entertainment of the better sort, but on certain great solemnities, indifferently for the diversion of the whole city, it became necessary to consult the taste of the multitude, as well as of those, quibus est equus et pater et res. Hor. Ars 248 
 and disorderly, was to be amused with captivating shows and agreeable novelty. But it will be expedient so to recommend the bantering, so the rallying satyrs, so to turn earnest into jest; that none who shall be exhibited as a god, none who is introduced as a hero lately This proves that the same actor, as M. Dacier observes, who had been an Orestes or Ulysses in the tragic part, played the same chraracter in the comic or Atellanae. Thus Plautus in the prologue to his Menechmes, "this town, during this play, shall be Epidamnum, and when it has been acted, it may be any other city. As in a company of players, the same person shall, at different times, be a pander, a youth, an old man, a beggar, a king, a parasite, a soothsayer." (72-76) St. Jerome hath finely imitated this passage: "our vices oblige us to play many characters, for every vice wears a different mask. Thus in a theater, the same person plays a robust and nervous Hercules, a dissolute Venus, and a furious Cyclops ." 
 conspicuous in regal purple and gold, may deviate into the low style of obscure, mechanical shops; or, [on the contrary,] while he avoids the ground, affect cloudy mist and empty jargon. Tragedy Indigna tragoedia versus. Hor. Ars 231 Horace means the Atellanae , which were in so much esteem, that the persons, who acted in them, were not ranked with the comedians, nor were obliged to unmask on the stage when they played ill, as others were; and, as a peculiar honor, they were allowed to enlist in the army. Therefore low and trivial verses were beneath the dignity of the Atellanae. 
 disdaining to prate forth trivial verses, like a matron commanded to dance on the festival days, Young women were usually chosen to dance in honor of the gods, but in some festivals, as in that of the great goddess, the pontiffs obliged married women to dance. Hence the poet says iussa. 
 will assume an air of modesty, even in the midst of wanton satyrs. As a writer of satire, ye Pisos, I shall never be fond of unornamented and reigning terms: Dominantia verba. Hor. Ars 234 What the Greeks call κύρια , as if they were masters of the thing they would express; as we say in English, "calling things by their proper names." nor shall I labor to differ so widely from the complexion of tragedy, as to make no distinction, whether Davus be the speaker. And the bold Pythias, who gained a talent by gulling Simo; or Silenus, the guardian and attendant of his pupil-god [Bacchus]. I would so execute a fiction This precept ( from v. 240 to 244 ) is analogous to that before given ( v. 129 ) concerning tragedy. It directs to form the Satyrs out of a known subject. The reasons are, in general, the same for both. Only one seems peculiar to the Satyrs. For, the cast of them being necessarily romantic, and the persons those fantastic beings called satyrs, the τὸ ὅμοιον , or probable, will require the subject to have gained a popular belief, without which the representation must appear unnatural. Now, these subjects which have gained a popular belief, in consequence of old tradition, and their frequent celebration in the poets, are what Horace calls nota ; just as newly invented subjects, or, which comes to the same thing, such as had not been employed by other writers, indicta , he, on a like occasion, terms ignota . The connection lies thus. Having mentioned Silenus in v. 239 , one of the commonest characters in this drama, an objection immediately offers itself; "But what good poet will engage in subjects and characters so trite and hackneyed?" The answer is, ex note fictum carmen sequar Hor. Ars 240 , i. e. however trite and well known this and some other characters, essential to the Satyr, are and must be; yet will there be still room for fiction and genius to show itself. The conduct and disposition of the play may be wholly new, and above the ability of common writers, tantum series iuncturaque pollet. Hor. Ars 242 
 taken from a well-known story, that any body might entertain hopes of doing the same thing; but, on trial, should sweat and labor in vain. Such power has a just arrangement and connection of the parts: such grace may be added to subjects merely common. In my judgment the Fauns, that are brought out of the woods, should not be too gamesome with their tender strains, as if they were educated in the city, and almost at the bar; nor, on the other hand, should blunder out their obscene and scandalous speeches. For [at such stuff] all are offended, who have a horse, Quibus est equus Hor. Ars 248 , etc., the knights who have a horse, kept at public expense; quibus est pater, Hor. Ars 248 people of birth, patricians; quibus est res Hor. Ars 248 , they who have wealth, and are therefore distinguished from knights and patricians. a father, or an estate: nor will they receive with approbation, nor give the laurel crown, as the purchasers of parched peas and nuts are delighted with. A long syllable put after a short one is termed an iambus, a lively measure, whence also it commanded the name of trimeters to be added to iambics, though it yielded six beats of time, being similar to itself from first to last. Not long ago, that it might come somewhat slower and with more majesty to the ear, it obligingly and contentedly admitted into its paternal heritage the steadfast spondees; agreeing however, by social league, that it was not to depart from the second The iambic yields only the odd places to the spondee, the first, third, and fifth, but preserves the second, fourth, and sixth for itself. This mixture renders the verse more noble, and it may be still trimeter, the second foot being iambic. The comic poets, better to disguise their verse, and make it appear more like common conversation, inverted the tragic order, and put spondees in the even places. and fourth place. But this [kind of measure] rarely makes its appearance in the notable Ironically spoken. trimeters of Accius, and brands the verse of Ennius brought upon the stage with a clumsy weight of spondees, with the imputation of being too precipitate and careless, or disgracefully accuses him of ignorance in his art. It is not every judge that discerns inharmonious verses, and an undeserved indulgence is [in this case] granted to the Roman poets. But shall I on this account run riot and write licentiously? Or should not I rather suppose, that all the world are to see my faults; secure, and cautious [never to err] but with hope of being pardoned? Though, perhaps, I have merited no praise, I have escaped censure. Ye [who are desirous to excel,] turn over the Grecian models by night, turn them by day. But our ancestors commended both the numbers of Plautus, and his strokes of pleasantry; too tamely, I will not say foolishly, admiring each of them; if you and I but know how to distinguish a coarse joke from a smart repartee, and understand the proper cadence, by [using] our fingers and ears.