56 



horruiiTe vere Romanes docent affeftate fcrlpti hi verfus M. Varronis 



Et Orthophallica attulit Pfalterii 

 Quibus fonant in Grscia dideria, 

 Qui fabularum coUocant exordia. 



In quam rem et alii prifcorum loci adduci poflent, fi analeftica noflra 

 poetica excribere vellemus. SuiScit vero Terentiani auftoritas, qui rythmos 

 a metris ita diftinguit, et utramque genus in ufu fuiffe confiteatur : et 

 earn diftinftionem novit ultimum etiam sevum, ftudio, non ignorantia. 

 peccans." 



Not having the AnaleElka of this learned man, from the grave Varro I 

 pafs to the accomplifhed Cicero, who, in my humble opinion, was as 

 poor a poet as he was an able orator. His 



fortunafam natam me confuk Tl^om 



has been often quoted as a rhimc, and is'^ therefore noticed here : but 

 it is more a pun than a rhime, and a vile pun too, as wretched as 

 this of a much better poet, that yet has been confidered as a rhime. 



Conful vetus ac fine faftu 



Scribere bis fqftis, quanquam diaderaata crinura 



Fajligatus eas. {^poL S'uhn. Paneg. in Confulat. Anthem. Aug. v, in.) 



Here, befide the miferable afFeftation of the rhime, if it mufl be one, 

 we have an egregious folecifm, for fajligium makes fq/iigiatus, and cannot, 

 by any analogy, become fajiigatus, there being no fuch word. But 

 Cicero has left us another rhime, rather better than his unfortunate 

 Fortimatam, and as it contains a moral not unlike the Proverbs of 

 Solomon, it deferves fome regard. 



Qnod fecifTe voles in tempore quo morieris, 

 Id faciaS) juvenis, dum corpore fanus haberis. 



Had no monkifli rhimes ever been worfe than thefe, I fliould not quarrel 

 with them. Horace likewife has given us a precept in rhime : he was 



however. 



