& 
10 
sition, though strictly regular, may re- 
tain an air of rapture and disorder. 
Gods, heroes, and princes, were, among 
the ancients, the objects of the lyric 
Muse.. They lad also another kind of 
Ode, of a more humble nature, which 
delighted in softer themes; where beauty, 
and ‘the pains and joys of love, were de- 
scribed, or the praise of Bacchus sung. 
The want of thesublime was supplied 
by delicacy and sprightliness. If Pindar 
excclled inthe former, Anacreon was un- 
rivalied in the Jatter.. The happy genius 
of Horace could sing the tnumphs of 
Augustus, and the coyness of Chloe, with 
equal success; uniting the qualities of 
both the Grecian bards, he has occasion- 
ally the rapture of the one, and the soft- 
ness of the other. i has all the enthu- 
siasm and elevation of the Theban poet ; 
he is asrich in similes and imagery : but 
his transitions are not so abrupt; and 
his diction is more uniformly soft and 
flexible. The subjects of Pinday’s odes 
are generally the same, and his style par- 
takes of the uniformity. But it is the 
peculiar characteristic of Horace, that 
his style continually varies with his sub- 
ject. Wherever his poetical imagination 
may lead him—whether he fancy him- 
self in Olympus, announcing the decrees - 
‘of the gods; or moralizing upon _ the 
ruins of Troy—whether scaling the Alps, 
or at the feet of Glycera; it is always 
adapted to the oljecits before him. He 
can, with equal ease, pourtray, in the 
sublimest strains, the characters of Cato 
and of Regulus; and yet, with playful 
vivacity, desciibe the caresses of Lycim- 
nia; and the inconstancy of Pyrrha. 
Like Anacreon, the devoted son of plea- 
sure, he has all the graces of the Teian 
bard, {with infinitely mere wit and philu- 
sophy; and while he pussesses the brii- 
liaat imagination of Pindar, he surpasses 
hin in the soligity of his judgment. mi 
a word, if attention be paid to the sound- 
ness of his sense e, the precision of his 
style, the harmony of his verse, and the 
variety of his subjects ; if it be recol- 
lected, that the same man has com- 
posed satires, replete with keenness, 
sense, and gaiety; epistles, which coutain 
the best directions for our conduct in life, 
and an Art of Poetry, which will always 
be the standard of true-taste; it will be 
admitted, that Horace was one of the 
greatest and best-informed poets that 
ever existed. 
His thougits are the genuine offspring 
of nature. They are dictated by truth 
and reason. _ Unwilling to deck his style 
if 
Lyceum of Ancient Literature—No. XXV TI. 
[Feb. 1, 
with frivolous ornaments, which can 
amuse only superficial minds, he com- 
pensates for the want of these by the 
grandeur of his ideas and figures, in the 
Odes ; and by the chasteness of his elo-« 
cution, and the propriety of his images, 
in his Satires and Epistles. Grace every 
where flows from his pen, and pleases 
the more because natural and unstudied. 
His poetry is not a barren soil; the use- 
ful and the agreeable spring up ‘together : 
we are at once amused and instructed. 
The mind finds itselfenriched by fables, 
history, and geography, which are sprink- 
Jed through the whole work with judg-~ 
ment, and without affectation. The heart 
is improved by a variety of wise reflections 
on the manners of his age, and by lively 
representations of vice and virtue. In a 
word, the taste is formed by a composi- 
tion just and correct, without constraint ; 
full of grace and beauty, without varnish ; 
easy, and yet not negligent; always 
seasoned with so much wit and learning, 
as to leave no room for disgust. 
It has been sometimes said, that ele- 
gance, not sublimity, is the characteris- 
tic of Horace. That the former qualifi- 
cation is unquestionably his due, no one 
will attempt to deny. But, surely, he of- 
fers as many instances of the sublime in 
his odes, as any of the ancient lyric 
writers. Let the admirer of Horace turn 
to the following Odes: the 15th, 35th, 
37th, of the first book k; the 1st, 13th, 
perhaps, the best of all, and 19th, of the. 
second book; and, especially,’ the ist, 
3d, and 4th, the character of Regulus in 
the 5th, and the 25th, of the third book ; 
Odes the 4th, 9th, and 14th, of the 4th 
book. Jt would be easy to fill these co- 
Jumns, by numerous quvtations that 
would sufficiently prove the truth of our 
assertion. Itis true, that he himself 
disciaims all pretensions to subliniity ; 
and often says in his odes, that his Muse 
was not suited to subjects of grandeur, 
but rather chose to sing 
Convivia, et prelia Virginum 
Sectisin Juvenes unguibus acrium 
Non preter solitum levis. 
But this isa specimen of that modesty, 
which makes lim say in another place, 
Pindarum quisquis studet emulari, 
Ceratis ope Dedalea 
Nititur pennis, vitreo daturus 
Nomina ponte. 
We shall ailow ourselves one quotation 
more, to prove, once for all, that the ge- 
nius of Horace was highly susceptible of 
that vrandeur of sentiment which is 
called 
