countrymen, that Homer's genius had, according to the Pythagorean fyftem, reviv'd in him: And 'tis in allufion to this circumftance, that Horace, cenfuring the ancient Poets for their careless stile and bad verfification, thus fpeaks of Ennius.

Ennius, & fapiens, & fortis, & alter Homerus,
Ut Critici dicunt, leviter curare videtur

Quo promiffa cadant, & fomnia Pythagorea.

Hor. Ep. Lib. II. Ep. 1

Ennius, the lofty Ennius and the wife,
That fecond Homer in our Critics eyes ;
Is loofe in's poems, and correct in few,
Nor takes he care to prove his dreams were true:
He fhews fo little of great Homer's foul.
CREECH

BUT Quintilian judges more favourably of him, and compares his writings to thofe facred groves, which juftly have the ftamp of veneration affixed to them on account of their antiquity, rather than their beauty, which is past. A. Gellius defends the roughness of his verfe, and Macrobius afferts it to have been more the fault of the times, than the Poet's. And indeed, it was a long while before the Romans could be brought to relish that imoothnefs and pleafing harmony of numbers, which fuccceding Poets en deavour'd to introduce into their ftile. Horace therefore, defirous to confirm his countrymen in that good taste, which flourish'd among the better fort in his time, was forc'd to this end to bear very hard, in many parts of his critical works, upon thefe defects of the ancient writers ; not fo much to blame them, who he knew in a great meafure brought their excufe along with them, as to bring the Romans off from that fondness they difcover'd for every thing that was old.

·Indignor quidquam reprehendi, non quia craffe Compofitum, illepidéve putatur, fed quia nuper; Nec veniam antiquis, fed honorem & pramia pofci. HoR.Ib

I hate

I hate a fop should fcorn a faultlefs page,
Becaufe 'tis new, not yet approv'd by age;
And then admiring all the ancient lays,
Not only pardon their defects, but praife.

CREECH!

NAY, to fuch a height had they carried this paffion for antiquity, that as the fame Critic and Poet informs us, the Romans had the works of Navius by heart. He was older than Ennius, and, befides fome tragedies and comedies, wrote a poem, as has been obferv'd, in the old Saturnian verfe. He was of Campania, and ferv'd in the Punic war, and had a great deal of learning. Cicero accufes En-. nius of taking many things from him. This Nevins is faid once to have lampoon'd fome of the nobility, for which he was imprifoned by the Triumvirs; but making a very ingenious palinody or recantation, was foon fet at liberty. But we fhall fpeak of him more at large, when we come to treat of the Roman ftage. Horace's lines about him, are thefe.

·Navius in manibus non eft, & mentibus haret
Pane recens; adeo fanctum eft vetus omne Poema.

Navius is learn'd by heart, and dearly fold ;
So facred is his book, becaufe 'tis old.

Ib.

CREECH

LUCIUS, who fucceeded Ennius, made a farther pro- duciting

grefs in the reformation the other had begun of the Raman poetry; but even he was deficient in many points, and extravagant in others. Horace accordingly has not

fail'd to cenfure him on that account; and excufes the liberty he took in doing fo to one, who was his master in Satire, by that which Lucilius him felf had taken to find fault with Ennius.

Non ridet verfus Enni gravitate minores

Cum de fe loquitur, non ut majore reprenfis?
Quid vetat & nofmet Lucili fcripta legentes
Quarere num illius, num rerum dura negarit
Verficulos natura magis factos & euntes
Mollius ?

Sat. Lib. Sat. X.

Doth

Doth not Lucilius Accius' rhimes accufe,
And blame our Ennius's correcter mule ?
For too much lightness oft his rhimes deride,
And when he talks of his own verfe, for pride :.
Then, what's the reason, that his friend repines,
That when I read Lucilius, loofer lines;
I try if 'tis his fubject won't permit
More even verfe, or if 'tis want of wit.

CREECH.

LUCILIUS's file was heavy and full of words, as. appears from the fame Satire, where the contrary is recom mended as requifite to the forming a good ftile."

Eft brevitate opus, ut currat fententia, neu se
Impediat verbis laffas onerantibus aures..

Idem. ibid..

He must be short, nor muft he. clog his fenfe
With ufelefs words, or make his periods long;
They must be smooth, and fo glide o'er the tongue. Creech

LUCILIUS is farther charg'd with being over hafty and negligent in his compofitions.

Garrulus, atque piger fcribendi ferre laborem ;
Scribendi recte, nam ut multum nil moror

Was rude and incorrect in all he writ.

1

Id. ibid.

This was his fault, he haftily wou'd rhime. ~CRË E C H.

THE following lines of his are an example of it.

Queis hunc currere equum nos atque equitare videmus Hic equitat curritque, oculis equitare videmus:

Ergo oculis equitat.

And again,

Verum hac ludus ibi fufque omnia deque fuerunt,

Sufque & deque fuerunt, inquam, omnia ludus jocufque.

I fhall give but one inftance more, of a fentence Horace would have exprefs'd in four words.

Nam

Nam fi quod fatis eft homini, id fatis effe poteffet,
Hoc fat erat. Nunc quum hoc non eft, credimus porra,
Divitias ullas animum mî explere poteffe?

This is what Auguftus called molefle fcribere, to write tedioufly. Horace therefore in gratifying his own good talte, by condemning this ftyle of Lucilius's, pleas'd his prince's at the fame time.

BESIDES thefe faults, Lucilius had a particular affectation of mixing Greek words with the Latin, which, ab-. furd as it was, found many admirers. This oblig'd that excellent writer to condemn him for it, and ridicule fo abfurd a mixture. Nevertheless, he readily grants, that he not only exceeded Ennius, and those that preceeded him in his art, but would have been correct himself, had he lived to the Auguftan Age.

Fuerit Lucilius inquam

Comis, urbanus, fuerit limatior idem
Quam rudis & Gracis intacti carminis auctor,
Quámque poetarum feniorum turba ; fed ille,
Si foret hoc noftrum fato delatus in avum,
Detereret fibi multa recideret omne quod ultra
Perfectum traheretur: & in verfu faciendo
Sape caput fcaberet, vivos & roderet ungues.

:

Sat. Lib. I. Sat.10.

Well then, fuppofe Lucilius was a Wit,
His virtues more than faults in what he writ,
Correcter than the elder writers own,
And him, to whom we fatire owe alone:
Satire, a poem to the Greeks unknown.
Yet did he now again new life commence,
He would retrench, he would correct his fenfe,
And pare off all that was not excellence ;
Take pains, and often, when he verses made,
Wou'd bite his nails to th' quick, and scratch his head.

CREECH.

LUCRETIUS and Catullus, that came after him, brought the language little fhort of perfection; efpecially

* Ennius,

the

the former, whofe ftyle always flows in a pure Atream, and his verses often recommend themfelves by a beautiful harmony of numbers. Even Virgil wanted all his correctness and elegancy of expreffion, to excel him in his more finish'd parts; as will eafily appear to the reader, if he compares Lucretius's defcription of the plague, in his laft book, with that of Virgil's in the fecond Georgic. Propertius and Tibullus, though they wrote in fomewhat a politer and more courtly tyle, especially the latter, yet doing it in Elegiac verfe, they did not, nor could much contribute to the forming that majefty of numbers, and dignity of expreffion, which Lucretius had begun, and Virgil perfected. Though we find mention of fome other excellent poets interveening or contemporary with him: Such were Varius, Tucca. Valgius, Rabirius, Ponticus, Baffus, &c. but as we have fcarce any fragments of any of their works, we can form no tolerable judgment about them, farther than what we can learn from Horace and Ovid. From what they have faid of them, we may conclude in general, that Varins and Rabirius, in particular, might perhaps more justly challenge the next place to Virgil and Horace, than thole that are now in poffeffion of it. Gallus, and Albinovanus, and Caffius Parmenfis, were very excellent Poets in the elegiac way, and perhaps not interior to Ovid or Tibullus therein, The Elegies that go under Gallus's name, feem to be fpurious, and are judged to be fo, by many of the beft Critics.

OVID had a genius capable of reaching the greatest heights in Poetry; but his love of pleasure, and a natural indolence of temper, generally makes him amuse himself in the pleasant walks about the middle of Parnaffus, where, led by his fancy, he fometimes wanders fo much out of his way, that you will find him almoft at the foot of the hill. This is Strada's judgment in his prolufions. From him we proceed to Horace and Virgil, though this be interrupting the order of time, fince they both preceeded him. But I choose to place him here, because I think he has best fill'd up the chaim between Lucretius and Virgil.

VIRGIL and Horace were both great masters, but in a different way. They feem to be equally correct and elegant; but if I may venture to give my opinion in fo