Horace: EPISTULAE

Humano capiti ceruicem pictor equinam
iungere si uelit et uarias inducere plumas
undique collatis membris, ut turpiter atrum
desinat in piscem mulier formosa superne,
spectatum admissi, risum teneatis, amici?

If a painter should wish to join an equine neck to a human head
and to introduce various plumes
with members collated from everywhere, so that it shamefully ends in a dark fish, a woman beautiful above,
admitted to view it, could you, friends, restrain your laughter?

Credite, Pisones, isti tabulae fore librum
persimilem, cuius, uelut aegri somnia, uanae
fingentur species, ut nec pes nec caput uni
reddatur formae. "Pictoribus atque poetis
quidlibet audendi semper fuit aequa potestas."

Believe, Pisones, that this panel will be very similar to a book,
of which, like the dreams of a sick man, empty
appearances will be fashioned, so that neither foot nor head is
rendered to a single form. "To painters and to poets
there has always been an equal power to dare whatever they please."

Scimus, et hanc ueniam petimusque damusque uicissim,
sed non ut placidis coeant immitia, non ut
serpentes auibus geminentur, tigribus agni.
Inceptis grauibus plerumque et magna professis
purpureus, late qui splendeat, unus et alter

We know it, and this indulgence we both ask and grant in turn,
but not that the untamed should cohere with the placid, not that
serpents be twinned with birds, lambs with tigers.
To serious undertakings and to those professing great things
a purple piece or two, which may shine far and wide

adsuitur pannus, cum lucus et ara Dianae
et properantis aquae per amoenos ambitus agros
aut flumen Rhenum aut pluuius describitur arcus;
sed nunc non erat his locus. Et fortasse cupressum
scis simulare; quid hoc, si fractis enatat exspes

a patch is sewn on, when the grove and altar of Diana
and the winding course of hurrying water through pleasant fields,
or the river Rhine, or the rainy bow, is described;
but now there was no place for these. And perhaps you know how to simulate a cypress;
what is that to the point, if, with things shattered, he swims hopelessly?

nauibus, aere dato qui pingitur? Amphora coepit
institui; currente rota cur urceus exit?
Denique sit quod uis, simplex dumtaxat et unum.
Maxima pars uatum, pater et iuuenes patre digni,
decipimur specie recti. Breuis esse laboro,

with ships shattered, he swims hopeless; who is depicted, once the bronze has been paid? An amphora began to be fashioned; why, with the wheel running, does a pitcher come out? Finally, let it be what you wish, only simple and one. The greatest part of poets, father and youths worthy of their father, we are deceived by the semblance of the right. I strive to be brief,

obscurus fio; sectantem leuia nerui
deficiunt animique; professus grandia turget;
serpit humi tutus nimium timidusque procellae;
qui uariare cupit rem prodigialiter unam,
delphinum siluis adpingit, fluctibus aprum.

I become obscure; as I pursue light things the nerves and the spirits fail me;
having professed grand things, he swells turgid;
he crawls on the ground, safe, too timid of the storm;
he who wishes to vary one single matter prodigiously
paints a dolphin in the woods, a boar upon the waves.

In uitium ducit culpae fuga, si caret arte.
Aemilium circa ludum faber imus et unguis
exprimet et mollis imitabitur aere capillos,
infelix operis summa, quia ponere totum
nesciet. Hunc ego me, siquid componere curem,

Flight from a fault leads into vice, if it lacks art.
Around the Aemilian school, the lowly craftsman will press out even the fingernail and will imitate with bronze the soft hair,
unhappy in the sum of the work, because he will not know how to set the whole.
Such a one would I be, if I should care to compose anything,

non magis esse uelim quam naso uiuere prauo
spectandum nigris oculis nigroque capillo.
Sumite materiam uestris, qui scribitis, aequam
uiribus et uersate diu quid ferre recusent,
quid ualeant umeri. Cui lecta potenter erit res,

I would no more wish to be than to live with a crooked nose,
to be looked at with black eyes and black hair.
Take material equal to your forces, you who write, and long turn over what your shoulders refuse to bear,
what they are able to bear. For whom the chosen matter shall be apt potently,

nec facundia deseret hunc, nec lucidus ordo.
Ordinis haec uirtus erit et uenus, aut ego fallor,
ut iam nunc dicat iam nunc debentia dici,
pleraque differat et praesens in tempus omittat,
hoc amet, hoc spernat promissi carminis auctor.

nor would eloquence desert him, nor a lucid order.
This will be the virtue and grace of order, or I err,
that he now already says what now ought to be said,
defers most things and omits them for the present time,
let the author of the promised song love this, let him spurn that.

In uerbis etiam tenuis cautusque serendis
dixeris egregie, notum si callida uerbum
reddiderit iunctura nouum. Si forte necesse est
indiciis monstrare recentibus abdita rerum, et
fingere cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis

Even in words, if you are subtle and cautious in arranging them,
you will have spoken excellently, if a clever juncture shall have rendered a known word new.
If by chance it is necessary
to demonstrate with recent indicia the hidden things of affairs, and
to fashion words not heard by the tunic-girt Cethegi

continget dabiturque licentia sumpta pudenter,
et noua fictaque nuper habebunt uerba fidem, si
Graeco fonte cadent parce detorta. Quid autem
Caecilio Plautoque dabit Romanus, ademptum
Vergilio Varioque? Ego cur, adquirere pauca

it will befall, and license taken modestly will be granted;
and new words, lately fashioned, will have credence, if
they fall, sparingly twisted, from the Greek fount. But what
will the Roman give to Caecilius and to Plautus, taken away
from Vergil and from Varius? Why should I, to acquire a few

si possum, inuideor, cum lingua Catonis et Enni
sermonem patrium ditauerit et noua rerum
nomina protulerit? Licuit semperque licebit
signatum praesente nota producere nomen.
Vt siluae foliis pronos mutantur in annos,

if I can, am I envied, since the tongue of Cato and Ennius
has enriched the ancestral discourse and has brought forth new
names of things? It has been permitted and ever will be permitted
to produce a name stamped with the present note.
As woods are changed in leaves as the years incline,

prima cadunt, ita uerborum uetus interit aetas,
et iuuenum ritu florent modo nata uigentque.
Debemur morti nos nostraque. Siue receptus
terra Neptunus classes Aquilonibus arcet,
regis opus, sterilisue diu palus aptaque remis

the first fall; thus the old age of words perishes,
and, in the rite of the young, the newly born bloom and thrive.
We and ours are owed to Death. Whether Neptune, received into the land,
keeps fleets from the Aquilonian North Winds—a king’s work—or a marsh,
long sterile and suited to oars,

uicinas urbes alit et graue sentit aratrum,
seu cursum mutauit iniquom frugibus amnis,
doctus iter melius, mortalia facta peribunt,
nedum sermonem stet honos et gratia uiuax.
Multa renascentur quae iam cecidere, cadentque

it nourishes neighboring cities and feels the heavy plow,
or if the river has changed its course, iniquitous to the crops,
taught a better path, mortal deeds will perish,
much less will the honor and the living grace of speech stand.
Many things will be reborn which already have fallen, and will fall

quae nunc sunt in honore uocabula, si uolet usus,
quem penes arbitrium est et ius et norma loquendi.
Res gestae regumque ducumque et tristia bella
quo scribi possent numero, monstrauit Homerus.
Versibus impariter iunctis querimonia primum,

which words are now in honor, if usage so wills, in whose power are the judgment and the right and the norm of speaking.
The deeds and of kings and of leaders and the sad wars, in what number they could be written, Homer showed.
With verses unevenly joined, complaint first,

post etiam inclusa est uoti sententia compos;
quis tamen exiguos elegos emiserit auctor,
grammatici certant et adhuc sub iudice lis est.
Archilochum proprio rabies armauit iambo;
hunc socci cepere pedem grandesque coturni,

afterwards also the sentiment of a vow, the wish attained, was enclosed;
yet which author sent forth the slight elegiacs,
the grammarians contend, and the case is still under judgment.
Rage armed Archilochus with his own iambus;
this foot the sock and the great buskins took up,

alternis aptum sermonibus et popularis
uincentem strepitus et natum rebus agendis.
Musa dedit fidibus diuos puerosque deorum
et pugilem uictorem et equom certamine primum
et iuuenum curas et libera uina referre.

fitted for alternating speeches, and conquering popular clamors, and born for things to be acted.
The Muse gave to the strings to recount the gods and the sons of the gods,
and the victorious pugilist and the horse first in the contest,
and the cares of youths and free wines to tell.

Discriptas seruare uices operumque colores
cur ego, si nequeo ignoroque, poeta salutor?
Cur nescire pudens praue quam discere malo?
Versibus exponi tragicis res comica non uult;
indignatur item priuatis ac prope socco

To observe the prescribed roles and the colors of works—why am I saluted as a poet, if I cannot and do not know?
Why should I, ashamed, prefer to be ignorant perversely rather than to learn?
A comic matter does not wish to be expounded in tragic verses;
likewise the tragic is indignant at private diction and close to the sock.

dignis carminibus narrari cena Thyestae.
Singula quaeque locum teneant sortita decentem.
Interdum tamen et uocem comoedia tollit,
iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore;
et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri

that the dinner of Thyestes be told by songs worthy of it.
Let each and every thing hold the place allotted as fitting.
Yet sometimes even Comedy lifts her voice,
and angry Chremes wrangles with a swollen mouth;
and the Tragic poet for the most part laments in pedestrian speech

Telephus et Peleus, cum pauper et exul uterque
proicit ampullas et sesquipedalia uerba,
si curat cor spectantis tetigisse querella.
Non satis est pulchra esse poemata; dulcia sunto
et, quocumque uolent, animum auditoris agunto.

Telephus and Peleus, when each is poor and an exile,
throws away bombast and sesquipedalian words,
if his complaint cares to have touched the spectator’s heart.
It is not enough that poems be beautiful; let them be sweet,
and, wherever they will, let them drive the listener’s mind.

100

Vt ridentibus adrident, ita flentibus adsunt
humani uoltus; si uis me flere, dolendum est
primum ipsi tibi; tum tua me infortunia laedent,
Telephe uel Peleu; male si mandata loqueris,
aut dormitabo aut ridebo. Tristia maestum

As they smile back at the laughing, so to the weeping are human countenances present; if you want me to weep, you must yourself grieve first; then your misfortunes will wound me, Telephus or Peleus; if you speak the assigned lines badly, I shall either doze or laugh. Sad things [befit] the sorrowful

105

uoltum uerba decent, iratum plena minarum,
ludentem lasciua, seuerum seria dictu.
Format enim natura prius non intus ad omnem
fortunarum habitum; iuuat aut impellit ad iram,
aut ad humum maerore graui deducit et angit;

Words befit the visage: for one enraged, full of menaces,
for one at play, lascivious; for the severe, things serious to say.
For nature first shapes us within for every habit of fortunes;
either it inclines or drives to wrath,
or to the ground with grave grief it draws and torments;

110

post effert animi motus interprete lingua.
Si dicentis erunt fortunis absona dicta,
Romani tollent equites peditesque cachinnum.
Intererit multum, diuosne loquatur an heros,
maturusne senex an adhuc florente iuuenta

afterwards the tongue, as interpreter, brings forth the motions of the mind.
If the words will be out of tune with the speaker’s fortunes,
Roman horse and foot will raise a guffaw.
It will matter much, whether he speak as a god or as a hero,
mature old man, or still with youth flowering

115

feruidus, et matrona potens an sedula nutrix,
mercatorne uagus cultorne uirentis agelli,
Colchus an Assyrius, Thebis nutritus an Argis.
Aut famam sequere aut sibi conuenientia finge
scriptor. Honoratum si forte reponis Achillem,

hot-blooded, and a powerful matron or a sedulous nurse,
a wandering merchant or a cultivator of a verdant little field,
a Colchian or an Assyrian, nurtured at Thebes or at Argos.
Either follow fame or, writer, fashion things consonant with themselves;
if by chance you set forth honored Achilles,

120

impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer
iura neget sibi nata, nihil non arroget armis.
Sit Medea ferox inuictaque, flebilis Ino,
perfidus Ixion, Io uaga, tristis Orestes.
Siquid inexpertum scaenae committis et audes

indefatigable, irascible, inexorable, fierce
let him deny that laws were born for him, let him arrogate everything by arms.
Let Medea be fierce and unconquered, Ino lamentable,
perfidious Ixion, wandering Io, sad Orestes.
If you commit something untried to the stage and dare

125

personam formare nouam, seruetur ad imum
qualis ab incepto processerit et sibi constet.
Difficile est proprie communia dicere, tuque
rectius Iliacum carmen deducis in actus
quam si proferres ignota indictaque primus.

to form a new persona, let it be preserved to the very bottom
such as it has proceeded from the inception, and be consistent with itself.
It is difficult to say common things properly, and you
more rightly deduce the Iliac song into acts
than if you, the first, should proffer things unknown and unsaid.

130

Publica materies priuati iuris erit, si
non circa uilem patulumque moraberis orbem,
nec uerbo uerbum curabis reddere fidus
interpres nec desilies imitator in artum,
unde pedem proferre pudor uetet aut operis lex.

Public material will be of private law, if
you do not linger about a cheap and wide-open circle,
nor, as a faithful interpreter, will you care to render word for word,
nor, as an imitator, will you leap down into a narrow compass,
whence shame or the law of the work would forbid you to advance your foot.

135

Nec sic incipies, ut scriptor cyclicus olim:
"Fortunam Priami cantabo et nobile bellum".
Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu?
Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.
Quanto rectius hic, qui nil molitur inepte:

Nor will you begin thus, as once a cyclic writer:
"I shall sing the Fortune of Priam and the noble war."
What worthy of so great a yawning gulf will this promiser bring forth?
The mountains will be in labor; a ridiculous mouse will be born.
How much more rightly he, who undertakes nothing inept:

140

"Dic mihi, Musa, uirum, captae post tempora Troiae
qui mores hominum multorum uidit et urbes".
Non fumum ex fulgore, sed ex fumo dare lucem
cogitat, ut speciosa dehinc miracula promat,
Antiphaten Scyllamque et cum Cyclope Charybdim.

"Tell me, Muse, of the man, after the times of captured Troy,
who saw the mores of many men and cities."
He plans not to give smoke out of lightning, but to give light out of smoke,
so that thereafter he may bring forth showy marvels,
Antiphates and Scylla and Charybdis with the Cyclops.

145

Nec reditum Diomedis ab interitu Meleagri,
nec gemino bellum Troianum orditur ab ouo;
semper ad euentum festinat et in medias res
non secus ac notas auditorem rapit, et quae
desperat tractata nitescere posse relinquit,

Nor the return of Diomedes from the death of Meleager,
nor does he begin the Trojan war from the twin egg;
he always hastens to the event and into the midst of things
he snatches the auditor, no otherwise than as known, and those things
which he despairs could, when treated, grow bright, he leaves,

150

atque ita mentitur, sic ueris falsa remiscet,
primo ne medium, medio ne discrepet imum.
Tu quid ego et populus mecum desideret audi,
si plosoris eges aulaea manentis et usque
sessuri donec cantor. "Vos plaudite" dicat.

and thus he is mendacious, so he remixes false things with true, lest the beginning disagree with the middle, nor the middle with the end.
You, hear what I and the people with me desire, if you need an applauder, with the curtains remaining, and to be sitting on and on until the singer says, "You, applaud."

155

Aetatis cuiusque notandi sunt tibi mores,
mobilibusque decor naturis dandus et annis.
Reddere qui uoces iam scit puer et pede certo
signat humum, gestit paribus conludere et iram
colligit ac ponit temere et mutatur in horas.

The mores of each age are to be noted by you,
and decorum is to be given to changeable natures and years.
The boy who already knows how to render voices and with a sure foot
marks the ground is eager to play with his peers, and anger
he gathers and lays down rashly, and he is changed by the hour.

160

inberbus iuuenis tandem custode remoto
gaudet equis canibusque et aprici gramine Campi,
cereus in uitium flecti, monitoribus asper,
utilium tardus prouisor, prodigus aeris,
sublimis cupidusque et amata relinquere pernix.

the beardless youth, at last with the guardian removed,
rejoices in horses and hounds and in the sunny turf of the Campus,
waxen to be bent toward vice, harsh to monitors,
a tardy foreseer of useful things, prodigal of coin,
lofty and eager, and swift to abandon what is loved.

165

Conuersis studiis aetas animusque uirilis
quaerit opes et amicitias, inseruit honori,
commisisse cauet quod mox mutare laboret.
Multa senem circumueniunt incommoda, uel quod
quaerit et inuentis miser abstinet ac timet uti,

With its pursuits turned, the age and a virile spirit
seeks wealth and friendships, serves honor,
is wary of having committed what soon he would labor to change.
Many incommodities surround the old man, either because
he seeks and, though having found, wretched, he abstains and fears to use them,

170

uel quod res omnis timide gelideque ministrat,
dilator, spe longus, iners auidusque futuri,
difficilis, querulus, laudator temporis acti
se puero, castigator censorque minorum.
Multa ferunt anni uenientes commoda secum,

or because he administers every matter timidly and coldly,
a procrastinator, long in hope, inert and avid for the future,
difficult, querulous, a praiser of time gone by
when he himself was a boy, a chastiser and censor of his juniors.
The years as they come bring many advantages with them,

175

multa recedentes adimunt. Ne forte seniles
mandentur iuueni partes pueroque uiriles;
semper in adiunctis aeuoque morabitur aptis.
Aut agitur res in scaenis aut acta refertur.
Segnius inritant animos demissa per aurem

many things do the departing take away. Lest perchance senile parts be entrusted to a youth and virile to a boy; he will always linger in adjuncts and in things fitting to the age.
Either the matter is acted on the stages or what has been done is reported.
More sluggishly do things let down through the ear stir the minds

180

quam quae sunt oculis subiecta fidelibus et quae
ipse sibi tradit spectator; non tamen intus
digna geri promes in scaenam multaque tolles
ex oculis, quae mox narret facundia praesens.
Ne pueros coram populo Medea trucidet,

than those which are subjected to faithful eyes and which the spectator himself delivers to himself; yet do not bring forth onto the stage things worthy to be done inside, and take many things away from the eyes, which present eloquence will soon relate. Let not Medea butcher the children before the people,

185

aut humana palam coquat exta nefarius Atreus,
aut in auem Procne uertatur, Cadmus in anguem.
Quodcumque ostendis mihi sic, incredulus odi.
Neue minor neu sit quinto productior actu
fabula, quae posci uolt et spectanda reponi;

or the nefarious Atreus openly cooks human entrails,
or Procne is turned into a bird, Cadmus into a serpent.
Whatever you show me thus, incredulous I hate.
Nor let the play be shorter nor more prolonged than the fifth act,
the play that wants to be called for and to be put on for viewing;

190

nec deus intersit, nisi dignus uindice nodus
inciderit; nec quarta loqui persona laboret.
Actoris partis chorus officiumque uirile
defendat, neu quid medios intercinat actus,
quod non proposito conducat et haereat apte.

nor let a god intervene, unless a knot worthy of a vindicator
should occur; nor let a fourth persona strive to speak.
let the chorus defend the actor’s part and a virile office,
and let it not sing anything between the acts
which does not conduce to the purpose and adhere aptly.

195

Ille bonis faueatque et consilietur amice
et regat iratos et amet peccare timentis;
ille dapes laudet mensae breuis, ille salubrem
iustitiam legesque et apertis otia portis;
ille tegat commissa deosque precetur et oret,

Let him favor the good and counsel them as a friend,
and govern the angry and love those who fear to sin;
let him praise the feast of a short table, let him praise wholesome
justice and the laws, and leisure with the gates standing open;
let him keep entrusted matters covered, and pray and beseech the gods,

200

ut redeat miseris, abeat Fortuna superbis.
Tibia non, ut nunc, orichalco uincta tubaeque
aemula, sed tenuis simplexque foramine pauco
adspirare et adesse choris erat utilis atque
nondum spissa nimis complere sedilia flatu,

that Fortune may return to the wretched, depart from the proud.
The tibia, not, as now, bound with orichalcum and a rival of the tuba,
but slender and simple, with a few holes,
was useful to blow and to be present for choruses, and
not yet to fill the seats too densely with its breath,

205

quo sane populus numerabilis, utpote paruos,
et frugi castusque uerecundusque coibat.
Postquam coepit agros extendere uictor et urbes
latior amplecti murus uinoque diurno
placari Genius festis impune diebus,

to which indeed a numerable people, as small folk,
and frugal and chaste and modest used to assemble.
After the victor began to extend the fields, and for the cities
to be embraced by a broader wall, and for the Genius with daytime wine
to be placated on festal days with impunity,

210

accessit numerisque modisque licentia maior.
Indoctus quid enim saperet liberque laborum
rusticus urbano confusus, turpis honesto?
Sic priscae motumque et luxuriem addidit arti
tibicen traxitque uagus per pulpita uestem;

there came an accession—and, in numbers and in modes, a greater license.
For what, indeed, would the unlearned rustic, free from labors, be savvy to, the rustic mixed with the urban, the base with the honorable?
Thus the piper added movement and luxury to the ancient art and, wandering, dragged his garment across the stage-boards;

215

sic etiam fidibus uoces creuere seueris
et tulit eloquium insolitum facundia praeceps,
utiliumque sagax rerum et diuina futuri
sortilegis non discrepuit sententia Delphis.
Carmine qui tragico uilem certauit ob hircum,

thus also with austere strings the voices grew,
and headlong fluency bore unusual eloquence,
and a judgment sagacious of useful things and divine about the future
did not differ from the lot-divining Delphic oracles.
he who with tragic song competed for a cheap he-goat,

220

mox etiam agrestis Satyros nudauit et asper
incolumi grauitate iocum temptauit eo quod
inlecebris erat et grata nouitate morandus
spectator functusque sacris et potus et exlex.
Verum ita risores, ita commendare dicacis

soon too he exposed the rustic Satyrs, and, austere,
with gravitas intact he attempted jest, because
by allurements and welcome novelty there had to be detained
the spectator, having performed the sacred rites and drunk and lawless.
But to recommend laugh-makers thus, to commend the dicacious thus

225

conueniet Satyros, ita uertere seria ludo,
ne quicumque deus, quicumque adhibebitur heros,
regali conspectus in auro nuper et ostro,
migret in obscuras humili sermone tabernas,
aut, dum uitat humum, nubes et inania captet.

it will be fitting for Satyrs thus to turn serious things with play,
lest whatever god, whatever hero shall be presented,
having lately been seen in regal gold and purple,
migrate into obscure taverns with humble diction,
or, while he avoids the ground, grasp at clouds and inane things.

230

Effutire leuis indigna tragoedia uersus,
ut festis matrona moueri iussa diebus,
intererit Satyris paulum pudibunda proteruis.
Non ego inornata et dominantia nomina solum
uerbaque, Pisones, Satyrorum scriptor amabo,

Nor let light Tragedy babble out verses unworthy; like a matron, bidden on festal days to dance, she will take part among the insolent Satyrs, somewhat bashful. I, Pisos, as a writer of Satyrs, will not love only unadorned and domineering names and words,

235

nec sic enitar tragico diferre colori
ut nihil intersit Dauusne loquatur et audax
Pythias, emuncto lucrata Simone talentum,
an custos famulusque dei Silenus alumni.
Ex noto fictum carmen sequar, ut sibi quiuis

nor will I thus strive to differ by a tragic coloring
so that it make no difference whether Davus speaks and bold
Pythias, having gained a talent with Simon cleaned out,
or Silenus, the guardian and servant of the god’s fosterling.
From the known I shall follow a poem fashioned, so that to himself anyone

240

speret idem, sudet multum frustraque laboret
ausus idem; tantum series iuncturaque pollet,
tantum de medio sumptis accedit honoris.
Siluis deducti caueant me iudice Fauni
ne, uelut innati triuiis ac paene forenses,

may hope the same, may sweat much and labor in vain,
having dared the same; so much do sequence and junction prevail,
so much honor accrues to things taken from the common stock.
Let the Fauns led down from the woods beware, I as judge,
lest, as if born for the crossways and almost forensic,

245

aut nimium teneris iuuenentur uersibus unquam
aut inmunda crepent ignominiosaque dicta;
offenduntur enim quibus est equos et pater et res,
nec, siquid fricti ciceris probat et nucis emptor,
aequis accipiunt animis donantue corona.

or ever be too much rejuvenated by tender verses,
or rattle off foul and ignominious sayings;
for those who have a horse and a father and means are offended,
nor, if the purchaser of roasted chickpea and nut approves anything,
do they receive it with even minds or bestow a crown.

250

Syllaba longa breui subiecta uocatur iambus,
pes citus; unde etiam trimetris adcrescere iussit
nomen iambeis, cum senos redderet ictus,
primus ad extremum similis sibi; non ita pridem,
tardior ut paulo grauiorque ueniret ad auris,

A long syllable set under a short is called an iamb,
a swift foot; whence also he bade the name grow to iambic trimeters,
when it rendered six beats, like itself from first to last;
not so long ago, that it might come to the ears a little slower
and somewhat graver,

255

spondeos stabilis in iura paterna recepit
commodus et patiens, non ut de sede secunda
cederet aut quarta socialiter. Hic et in Acci
nobilibus trimetris adparet rarus, et Enni
in scaenam missos cum magno pondere uersus

spondees, steadfast, he received into paternal rights,
accommodating and patient, not so as from the second seat
to yield, or from the fourth, in common. Here too in Accius’s
noble trimeters it appears rarely, and of Ennius
the verses sent onto the stage with great weight

260

aut operae celeris nimium curaque carentis
aut ignoratae premit artis crimine turpi.
Non quiuis uidet inmodulata poemata iudex,
et data Romanis uenia est indigna poetis.
Idcircone uager scribamque licenter? An omnis

or by the over-haste of swift work and of care lacking,
or he is pressed by the shameful crime of an art not understood.
not just anyone, as judge, sees unmodulated poems,
and the pardon given to roman poets is unworthy.
is it for this reason that i should wander and write licentiously? or shall every

265

uisuros peccata putem mea, tutus et intra
spem ueniae cautus? Vitaui denique culpam,
non laudem merui. Vos exemplaria Graeca
nocturna uersate manu, uersate diurna.
At uestri proaui Plautinos et numeros et

Am I to suppose they will look upon my faults, I being safe and cautious within the hope of pardon? I have, in the end, avoided blame; I have not merited praise. You, turn the Greek exemplars with your hand by night, turn them by day. But your great-grandfathers both the Plautine measures and

270

laudauere sales, nimium patienter utrumque,
ne dicam stulte, mirati, si modo ego et uos
scimus inurbanum lepido seponere dicto
legitimumque sonum digitis callemus et aure.
Ignotum tragicae genus inuenisse Camenae

they praised the sallies, too indulgently in both,
not to say foolishly, admiring, if only I and you
know how to set the un-urbane apart from a witty dictum
and are versed in the legitimate sound with fingers and ear.
that the tragic Camena had discovered an unknown genus

275

dicitur et plaustris uexisse poemata Thespis
quae canerent agerentque peruncti faecibus ora.
Post hunc personae pallaeque repertor honestae
Aeschylus et modicis instrauit pulpita tignis
et docuit magnumque loqui nitique coturno.

Thespis too is said to have conveyed his poems by wagons,
which they sang and acted, their faces smeared with dregs.
After him Aeschylus, discoverer of the honorable mask (persona) and robe,
equipped the stage-platforms (pulpita) with modest timbers
and taught both to speak grandly and to lean upon the cothurnus (buskin).

280

Successit uetus his comoedia, non sine multa
laude; sed in uitium libertas excidit et uim
dignam lege regi; lex est accepta chorusque
turpiter obticuit sublato iure nocendi.
Nil intemptatum nostri liquere poetae,

To these succeeded Old Comedy, not without much
praise; but liberty slipped into vice and into a power
worthy to be ruled by law; a law was adopted, and the chorus
shamefully fell silent with the right of harming removed.
Our poets left nothing unattempted,

285

nec minimum meruere decus uestigia Graeca
ausi deserere et celebrare domestica facta,
uel qui praetextas uel qui docuere togatas.
Nec uirtute foret clarisue potentius armis
quam lingua Latium, si non offenderet unum

nor did they merit the least honor, who dared to desert Greek footprints
and to celebrate domestic deeds,
whether those who produced praetextae or those who produced togatae.
Nor would Latium be more powerful in virtue and in renowned arms
than in its tongue, if one thing did not offend

290

quemque poetarum limae labor et mora. Vos, o
Pompilius sanguis, carmen reprehendite quod non
multa dies et multa litura coercuit atque
praesectum deciens non castigauit ad unguem.
Ingenium misera quia fortunatius arte

and for each of the poets, the labor and delay of the file. You, O offspring of Pompilius, reprehend a poem which many a day and many an erasure has not constrained, and, cut back ten times, has not been castigated to the nail. Because genius—alas!—is more fortunate than art

295

credit et excludit sanos Helicone poetas
Democritus, bona pars non unguis ponere curat,
non barbam, secreta petit loca, balnea uitat;
nanciscetur enim pretium nomenque poetae,
si tribus Anticyris caput insanabile nunquam

believes and excludes from Helicon the sane poets, Democritus;
a good part does not care to put down the nails, nor the beard, seeks secret places, avoids baths;
for he will obtain the prize and the name of poet,
if with three Anticyras the head, incurable, never

300

tonsori Licino commiserit. O ego laeuus
qui purgor bilem sub uerni temporis horam!
Non alius faceret meliora poemata; uerum
nil tanti est. Ergo fungar uice cotis, acutum
reddere quae ferrum ualet exsors ipsa secandi;

would entrust it to the barber Licinus. O I unlucky,
who purge my bile at the hour of the vernal season!
No other would make better poems; but nothing is worth so much.
Therefore I will perform the office of a whetstone, which is able
to render the iron sharp, itself exempt from cutting;

305

munus et officium, nil scribens ipse, docebo,
unde parentur opes, quid alat formetque poetam,
quid deceat, quid non, quo uirtus, quo ferat error.
Scribendi recte sapere est et principium et fons.
Rem tibi Socraticae poterunt ostendere chartae,

the function and the duty, myself writing nothing, I will teach,
whence resources are prepared, what nourishes and shapes the poet,
what befits, what not, whither virtue, whither error carries one.
To write rightly, being wise is both the beginning and the fount.
The Socratic pages will be able to show the matter to you,

310

uerbaque prouisam rem non inuita sequentur.
Qui didicit, patriae quid debeat et quid amicis,
quo sit amore parens, quo frater amandus et hospes,
quod sit conscripti, quod iudicis officium, quae
partes in bellum missi ducis, ille profecto

and words too will, not unwilling, follow a matter foreseen.
He who has learned what he owes to his fatherland and to his friends,
with what love a parent, with what love a brother and a host/guest are to be loved,
what the office of the conscript (senator) is, what the judge’s office is, what
the parts/roles of a leader sent to war are, that man, surely,

315

reddere personae scit conuenientia cuique.
Respicere exemplar uitae morumque iubebo
doctum imitatorem et uiuas hinc ducere uoces.
Interdum speciosa locis morataque recte
fabula nullius ueneris, sine pondere et arte,

he knows how to render what is congruent to each persona.
I shall bid the learned imitator to look back to an exemplar of life and of mores, and from here to draw living voices.
Sometimes a tale, fair in places and paced rightly,
is of no allure, without weight and art,

320

ualdius oblectat populum meliusque moratur
quam uersus inopes rerum nugaeque canorae.
Grais ingenium, Grais dedit ore rotundo
Musa loqui, praeter laudem nullius auaris;
Romani pueri longis rationibus assem

far more strongly it delights the people and detains them better
than verses destitute of matter and tuneful trifles.
To the Greeks the Muse gave genius, to the Greeks to speak with a rotund mouth,
greedy of nothing except praise;
the Roman boys, with long reckonings, the as

325

discunt in partis centum diducere. "Dicat
filius Albini: si de quincunce remota est
uncia, quid superat?. . . Poteras dixisse. — Triens.

they learn to divide into a hundred parts. "Let Albinus’s son say: if from a quincunx an ounce has been removed, what remains?. . . You could have said. — A triens.

— Eu!
Rem poteris seruare tuam. Redit uncia, quid fit? "
Semis". An, haec animos aerugo et cura peculi

— Bravo!
You will be able to preserve your property. The ounce returns; what results? "
Half." Or is it that this verdigris and the care of a peculium

330

cum semel imbuerit, speramus carmina fingi
posse linenda cedro et leui seruanda cupresso?
Aut prodesse uolunt aut delectare poetae
aut simul et iucunda et idonea dicere uitae.
Quicquid praecipies, esto breuis, ut cito dicta

when once it has imbued, do we hope that songs can be fashioned
to be anointed with cedar and kept in smooth cypress?
Poets wish either to profit or to delight,
or at once to speak things both pleasant and suitable for life.
Whatever you prescribe, be brief, so that things said quickly

335

percipiant animi dociles teneantque fideles.
Omne superuacuum pleno de pectore manat.
Ficta uoluptatis causa sint proxima ueris,
ne quodcumque uolet poscat sibi fabula credi,
neu pransae Lamiae uiuum puerum extrahat aluo.

let teachable minds perceive and faithful ones hold fast.
Every superfluous thing emanates from a full breast.
Let things feigned for the sake of pleasure be proximate to truths,
lest the tale demand for itself that whatever it wishes be believed,
nor let a Lamia, after dining, extract a living boy from her belly.

340

Centuriae seniorum agitant expertia frugis,
celsi praetereunt austera poemata Ramnes.
Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci,
lectorem delectando pariterque monendo;
hic meret aera liber Sosiis, hic et mare transit

The centuries of the elders drive off things devoid of fruit,
the lofty Ramnes pass by austere poems.
He has carried every point who has mixed the useful with the sweet,
delighting the reader and at the same time admonishing;
here a book earns bronze for the Sosii, here too it crosses the sea

345

et longum noto scriptori prorogat aeuum.
Sunt delicta tamen quibus ignouisse uelimus;
nam neque chorda sonum reddit quem uolt manus et mens,
poscentique grauem persaepe remittit acutum,
nec semper feriet quodcumque minabitur arcus.

and extends a long age to the well-known writer.
There are, however, faults which we would wish to have overlooked;
for neither does the string render the sound which the hand and mind want,
and, when one asks for a grave tone, it very often sends back an acute,
nor will the bow always strike whatever it threatens.

350

Verum ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis
offendar maculis, quas aut incuria fudit,
aut humana parum cauit natura. Quid ergo est?
Vt scriptor si peccat idem librarius usque,
quamuis est monitus, uenia caret, et Citharoedus

But where more things shine in a poem, I will not be offended at a few blemishes, which either carelessness has spilled, or human nature has not sufficiently guarded against. What then? Just as, if a writer errs, the same copyist continually, although he has been warned, is without pardon, and the Citharode

355

ridetur, chorda qui semper oberrat eadem,
sic mihi, qui multum cessat, fit Choerilus ille,
quem bis terque bonum cum risu miror; et idem
indignor quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus;
uerum operi longo fas est obrepere somnum.

he is laughed at, who always lets the same chord stray;
thus for me, he who much delays becomes that Choerilus,
whom I marvel at as good twice or thrice, with a laugh; and likewise
I am indignant that good Homer sometimes nods;
truly, for a long work it is allowable that sleep creep upon it.

360

Vt pictura poesis; erit quae, si propius stes,
te capiat magis, et quaedam, si longius abstes;
haec amat obscurum, uolet haec sub luce uideri,
iudicis argutum quae non formidat acumen;
haec placuit semel, haec deciens repetita placebit.

As painting, so poetry; there will be that which, if you stand nearer,
may seize you more, and certain things, if you stand farther away;
this loves the obscure, this will wish to be seen under the light,
which does not fear the judge’s keen acumen;
this pleased once, this, repeated ten times, will please.

365

O maior iuuenum, quamuis et uoce paterna
fingeris ad rectum et per te sapis, hoc tibi dictum
tolle memor, certis medium et tolerabile rebus
recte concedi; consultus iuris et actor
causarum mediocris abest uirtute diserti

O eldest of the young men, although both by a paternal voice you are molded toward the right, and through yourself you are wise, take this saying for yourself, mindful: in certain matters a middle and tolerable course is rightly conceded; a counselor of law and a mediocre pleader of causes is far from the excellence of the eloquent

370

Messallae nec scit quantum Cascellius Aulus,
sed tamen in pretio est; mediocribus esse poetis
non homines, non di, non concessere columnae.
Vt gratas inter mensas symphonia discors
et crassum unguentum et Sardo cum melle papauer

He knows neither as much as Messalla nor as Aulus Cascellius,
but yet he is in esteem; to mediocre poets
neither men, nor gods, nor the columns have granted leave.
As, among pleasing tables, a discordant symphony
and a thick unguent and poppy with Sardinian honey

375

offendunt, poterat duci quia cena sine istis,
sic animis natum inuentumque poema iuuandis,
si paulum summo decessit, uergit ad imum.
Ludere qui nescit, campestribus abstinet armis,
indoctusque pilae disciue trochiue quiescit,

they offend, since dinner could be conducted without these;
so a poem, born and invented for aiding minds,
if it has departed a little from the summit, inclines to the bottom.
He who does not know how to play abstains from the campestral arms,
and, untrained, keeps quiet from ball and from disc or hoop,

380

ne spissae risum tollant impune coronae;
qui nescit, uersus tamen audet fingere. Quidni?
Liber et ingenuus, praesertim census equestrem
summam nummorum uitioque remotus ab omni.
Tu nihil inuita dices faciesue Minerua;

lest the packed circles raise laughter with impunity; he who does not know, nevertheless dares to fashion verses. Why not? Free and ingenuous, especially with the equestrian census, the sum of money, and remote from every vice. You will say or do nothing with Minerva unwilling;

385

id tibi iudicium est, ea mens. Siquid tamen olim
scripseris, in Maeci descendat iudicis auris
et patris et nostras, nonumque prematur in annum
membranis intus positis; delere licebit
quod non edideris; nescit uox missa reuerti.

Such is your judgment, such your mind. If, however, at some time you should write something,
let it descend into the ears of the judge Maecius, and of your father and our own,
and let it be pressed till the ninth year, the membranes placed within;
you will be permitted to delete what you have not published;
a voice once sent does not know to return.

390

Siluestris homines sacer interpresque deorum
caedibus et uictu foedo deterruit Orpheus,
dictus ob hoc lenire tigris rabidosque leones;
dictus et Amphion, Thebanae conditor urbis,
saxa mouere sono testudinis et prece blanda

Sylvan men the sacred interpreter of the gods
from slaughters and foul diet deterred, Orpheus,
said on this account to soothe tigers and rabid lions;
and Amphion, founder of the Theban city, was said
to move stones by the sound of the tortoise-shell lyre and with a coaxing prayer

395

ducere quo uellet. Fuit haec sapientia quondam,
publica priuatis secernere, sacra profanis,
concubitu prohibere uago, dare iura maritis,
oppida moliri, leges incidere ligno.
Sic honor et nomen diuinis uatibus atque

to lead where he wished. This was wisdom once,
to separate public from private, sacred from profane,
to forbid roving intercourse, to give laws to husbands,
to build towns, to incise laws on wood.
Thus honor and a name to the divine vates as well

400

carminibus uenit. Post hos insignis Homerus
Tyrtaeusque mares animos in Martia bella
uersibus exacuit, dictae per carmina sortes,
et uitae monstrata uia est et gratia regum
Pieriis temptata modis ludusque repertus

came by songs. After these, renowned Homer
Tyrtaeus too sharpened manly spirits for Martial wars with verses,
lots were declared through songs,
and the way of life was shown, and the favor of kings
was courted by Pierian modes, and play was discovered

405

et longorum operum finis: ne forte pudori
sit tibi Musa lyrae sollers et cantor Apollo.
Natura fieret laudabile carmen an arte,
quaesitum est; ego nec studium sine diuite uena
nec rude quid prosit uideo ingenium; alterius sic

and let there be an end of long works: lest perhaps it be to your shame
that your Muse is skilled for the lyre and Apollo a cantor.
Whether a laudable poem would be made by nature or by art,
has been asked; I see that neither zeal without a rich vein
nor raw genius profits anything; of the one thus

410

altera poscit opem res et coniurat amice.
Qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam,
multa tulit fecitque puer, sudauit et alsit,
abstinuit uenere et uino; qui Pythia cantat
tibicen, didicit prius extimuitque magistrum.

the other thing asks for help from the one and conspires amicably.
He who strives to touch by running the longed-for goal,
has borne and done many things as a boy, has sweated and has frozen,
has abstained from Venus and wine; the piper who sings the Pythian songs
first learned and stood in awe of his teacher.

415

Nunc satis est dixisse: "Ego mira poemata pango;
occupet extremum scabies; mihi turpe relinqui est
et, quod non didici, sane nescire fateri."
Vt praeco, ad merces turbam qui cogit emendas,
adsentatores iubet ad lucrum ire poeta

Now it is enough to have said: "I compose wondrous poems; let scabies take the hindmost; for me it is disgraceful to be left behind, and to confess plainly that I do not know what I have not learned."
As an auctioneer, who gathers a crowd to buy wares, so the poet bids assentators to go for lucre

420

diues agris, diues positis in fenore nummis.
Si uero est unctum qui recte ponere possit
et spondere leui pro paupere et eripere atris
litibus implicitum, mirabor si sciet inter
noscere mendacem uerumque beatus amicum.

rich in fields, rich in coins placed at interest.
If indeed there is a well‑oiled man who can rightly place them
and pledge lightly for a poor man and snatch him away, entangled
in dark litigations, I shall marvel if the blessed man knows to distinguish between
a mendacious and a true friend.

425

Tu seu donaris seu quid donare uoles cui,
nolito ad uersus tibi factos ducere plenum
laetitiae; clamabit enim: "Pulchre, bene, recte",
pallescet super his, etiam stillabit amicis
ex oculis rorem, saliet, tundet pede terram.

You, whether you are being gifted or will wish to give something to someone,
do not lead him, full of joy, to the verses made for you;
for he will cry out: "Beautifully, well, rightly",
he will grow pale over these, he will even distill dew
from his friendly eyes, he will leap, he will beat the earth with his foot.

430

Vt qui conducti plorant in funere dicunt
et faciunt prope plura dolentibus ex animo, sic
derisor uero plus laudatore mouetur.
Reges dicuntur multis urgere culillis
et torquere mero, quem perspexisse laborent

As those who are hired to weep at a funeral say and do almost more than those grieving from the heart, so the derider indeed is moved more than the praiser.
Kings are said to press with many little cups and to torture with pure wine the man whom they labor to see through

435

an sit amicitia dignus; si carmina condes,
numquam te fallent animi sub uolpe latentes.
Quintilio siquid recitares: "Corrige, sodes,
hoc" aiebat "et hoc"; melius te posse negares,
bis terque expertum frustra; delere iubebat

whether he is worthy of friendship; if you compose songs,
never will minds lurking under a fox deceive you.
If you ever recited anything to Quintilius: "Correct this, if you please,
this," he used to say, "and this"; if you denied that you could do better,
having tried twice and thrice in vain; he would order you to delete it

440

et male tornatos incudi reddere uersus.
Si defendere delictum quam uertere malles,
nullum ultra uerbum aut operam insumebat inanem,
quin sine riuali teque et tua solus amares.
Vir bonus et prudens uersus reprehendet inertis,

and to return badly-turned verses to the anvil.
If you preferred to defend the delict rather than to turn it,
he would expend no further word nor empty effort,
nay rather that, without a rival, you should love yourself and your own things alone.
A good and prudent man will reprehend inert verses,

445

culpabit duros, incomptis adlinet atrum
transuorso calamo signum, ambitiosa recidet
ornamenta, parum claris lucem dare coget,
arguet ambigue dictum, mutanda notabit,
fiet Aristarchus, nec dicet: "Cur ego amicum

he will blame the harsh ones, on the uncombed he will smear a black
mark with a crosswise reed-pen, he will cut away ambitious
ornaments, he will compel to give light to things too little clear,
he will accuse what is said ambiguously, he will mark what must be changed,
he will become an Aristarchus, nor will he say: "Why should I a friend

450

offendam in nugis?" Hae nugae seria ducent
in mala derisum semel exceptumque sinistre.
Vt mala quem scabies aut morbus regius urget
aut fanaticus error et iracunda Diana,
uesanum tetigisse timent fugiuntque poetam,

shall I offend in trifles? These trifles will lead serious matters into ill, once derided and taken amiss.
Just as, when an evil like scabies or the royal disease presses someone,
or a fanatic error and irate Diana,
they fear to have touched the madman and they flee the poet,

455

qui sapiunt; agitant pueri incautique sequuntur.
Hic dum sublimis uersus ructatur et errat,
si ueluti merulis intentus decidit auceps
in puteum foueamue, licet "succurrite" longum
clamet "io ciues", non sit qui tollere curet.

those who are wise; boys agitate him and the incautious follow.
Here, while a lofty verse is belched and he wanders,
if, just like a fowler intent on blackbirds, he falls
into a well or a pit, though he cry for a long time "succor!" "O citizens,"
there may be no one who cares to lift him up.

460

Si curet quis opem ferre et demittere funem,
"qui scis an prudens huc se deiecerit atque
seruari nolit?" dicam, Siculique poetae
narrabo interitum. Deus inmortalis haberi
dum cupit Empedocles, ardentem frigidus Aetnam

If anyone should care to bring aid and to let down a rope,
"How do you know whether he has hurled himself down here deliberately and
does not wish to be saved?" I will say, and of the Sicilian poet
I will narrate the demise. While he longs to be held an immortal god,
Empedocles, cold, [into] blazing Etna

465

insiluit. Sit ius liceatque perire poetis;
inuitum qui seruat, idem facit occidenti.
Nec semel hoc fecit nec, si retractus erit, iam
fiet homo et ponet famosae mortis amorem.
Nec satis apparet cur uersus factitet, utrum

he leaped in. Let there be a right and let it be permitted for poets to perish;
he who saves the unwilling does the same as to one he kills.
Nor did he do this only once; nor, if he shall have been dragged back, will he now
become a man and put away the love of a famed death.
Nor does it sufficiently appear why he keeps making verses, whether

470

minxerit in patrios cineres, an triste bidental
mouerit incestus; certe furit, ac uelut ursus,
obiectos caueae ualuit si frangere clatros,
indoctum doctumque fugat recitator acerbus;
quem uero arripuit, tenet occiditque legendo,

whether he has urinated upon his ancestral ashes, or, unclean, has disturbed a grim bidental;
certainly he is raving, and, like a bear,
if it has had the strength to break the bars set before the cage,
the harsh reciter puts to flight both the unlearned and the learned;
but whom he has truly seized, he holds and kills by reading,

475

non missura cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo.

a leech not about to let go the skin unless full of blood.