1810.] 
¢alled. sublimity in _ Pindar. Observe 
with what magnificence, and pomp of ex- 
pression, he describes a lyric poet, and 
a favourite of the Muses, in the $d Ode 
of book 4: 
Quem tu, Melpomene, semel 
Nascentem placido lumine videris, 
Illum non Jabor Isthmius 
Ciarabit pugilem ; non eques impiger 
Curru ducet Achaico 
Victorem : neque res bellica Deliis 
Ornatum foliis ducem, 
Quod regum tumidas contuderit minasy 
Ostendet Capitolio : 
Sed, que Yibur aque fertile perfluunt, 
Et spisse nemorum come, 
Fingent Zolio carmine nobilem.: 
The truth is, that the splendour of 
Horace, not having the glare and extra- 
vagance of Pindar, does. not so immedi- 
ately strike the eye, but is generally 
more agreeable to the understanding of 
the reader Te is more correct in ne ex- 
pressions, less extravagant in his meta- 
phors, Jess bold in his transitions. 
Though he sometimes swells, and rises 
high, he never exceeds those limits 
which a clear judgment prescribed to a 
warm imagination. His transitions, even 
where they are the boldest, will be found 
adapted to the design of the Ode; and 
to anise more from the nature of 
kind of poetry, than from any unreason- 
able indulgence granted to his Muse. 
That which eccurs in the third Ode of 
book iit. has been considered most 
liable to objection; but even this will 
vanish, when the reader accurately stu- 
dies the design of the Ode, and upon 
what occasion it was composed. Betore 
the death of Julius Caesar, there was a 
report, that he intended. to- remove the 
seat of empire to Troy, from which the 
Romans derived thew origin; and it was 
feared, that Augustus might. carry into 
execution what his uncle and adopted 
father had proposed to effect. Horace 
is thought to have composed this Ode, in. 
order to prevent it. He therefore iitro- 
duces Juno in the council of the Gods, as 
consenting to faveur the Romans, pro- 
vided they never think of re- buitding 
Troy, or of trai isferring to that city the 
seat of government. “The design of the 
poem thus anticipated, it may be sup- 
posed that he would only gradually con- 
vey the hint:to Augustus, and not ‘ab- 
ruptly discover his intention. in writing: 
and ‘the manner in which it is executed ' 
will be found equally admirable. The 
Ode begins with the praises of a just and 
courageous man: it proceeds to exem- 
Lyceum of Ancient Literature.—No. XXVI. 
that’ 
1 
plify this character in some heroes, who, 
by-the exercise of virtue, had been dei- 
fied. lere was an occasion to mention 
Romulus, who was worshipped by the 
Romans as a God under the name of 
Quirinus. Upon his receptton into hea- — 
ven, Juno, as the well-known enemy of 
the Trojans, declares to the assembled 
Gods the conditions upon which she con- 
sents to his apotheosis, and to the future 
grandeur of the Roman state. Thus, 
what, at first sight, may appear to be a 
wild and rapturous transition, is found, 
upon examination, to have been the result 
of deep ‘e and judicious reflection. Asa 
poet, he prophetically delivers the divine 
decrees ; and when the purpose is an- 
swered, ‘as if the God, who had inspired 
his imagination, had left him, he checks 
the forward Muse: 
Quo Musa tendis? desine pervicax 
Referre sermones Deorum. 
Sublimity, then, is an essential feature 
in the poetical character of Horace. 
That he is not always sublime is a proof 
of that, surprising versatility, that curiosa 
felecitas, which pervades every thing he 
undertakes,-—* In Odis sublimé charac- 
tere usus est,” says Baster, “ ef nonnune 
guam florido et amceno; in’ Epodis hu 
mui; etin Sermonibas, comico et civilis 
nisi quod in epistolis, accedente jam se- 
nectute, omisso, ut plurimum, ludo et 
Joco, ad philosophicum vultum, uti de-_ 
cuit, sese composuerit.”*—-[t rarely hap- 
pens, that au auth, or succeeds in different 
kinds of composition ; but Horace is 
equally happy. in the most oppasite spe- 
ies of waiting. -In lyrics, he has not 
only united the beauties of. Pindar, Al- 
ceus, Anacreon, and. Sappho, but has ° 
found the means of tracing a new path, 
and of substituting lhimasalfilats a model. 
Tt will be seen, hereafter, that he has 
the same superiority in satire, 7 
As7to his morality, though in early 
youth he had imbibed the principles of 
Epicurus, yet he acknowledges one Sue 
preme Power, superior to Pan created 
beimgs, who will not suffer crimes to be 
committed with impunity ; to;whom even 
kings are accountable rea their conduct, 
shal) who ought to be the source and net 
of all their actions. tLleteaches us, that 
happiness consists in the right use of our 
réason, and in. Curbing the tumultuous 
sallies of Our passions 3 that we cannot too 
soon devote ourselves to the study of wis- 
%* ‘Baxter, judicium de Horat. in Zeunius 
Edit. of Gesner; Pe 32. a 
dom, 
