12 
dom; that nothing but virtue deserves 
our admiration, and that, without it, 
there can be no true or rational freedom. 
He has proved himself a master in the 
most difficuls part of human conduct, that 
of advising others, which be always doves 
~ with great sincerity, bat without the ap- 
pearance of premeditation. By this me- 
thod, the advice had a better effect upon 
the person who received it, because 
there was no affectation of superiority 
in him who gave it. Elad this been vi- 
sible, it would only have offended that 
inherent pride in cur nature, which 
makes every man so unwilling to acknow- 
ledge, or be told of, his faults, For in- 
stance, when writing.in praise of mode- 
ration, he addresses himself to an ambi- 
tious man, shows him’ the danger of his 
darling passion, and the charms of con- 
tentment. Thus, without touching his 
foible, by descending to particulars, he 
demoustrates to the person addressed 
the danger of the measures he pursues. 
The 10th Ode of lib. 2, to Licinius Mu- 
ena, is a fine example of this. Murena 
was brother-in-law to Mecenas, and, 
through his interest, could have little 
doubt of bemg promoted. But this would 
not satisfy his restless ambition; nor 
could the seasonable advice of Horace 
prevent him from entering into a-conspi- 
racy with Fannius and others, which cost 
fim his life—In the 15th of lib. 4, 
where he represents Nereus as declaring 
to Paris the deplorable fate of Troy, 
which will attend his rape of Helen, he 
warns Antony not to give himself up to 
the charms of Cleopatra, which must 
“anevitably end in his ruin; and in the 
" ‘preceding’ Ode, he, by a beautiful: alle- 
gory, exhibits to the Romans all theca- 
lamities of their civil wars, and exhorts 
them to peace. Having inclined, as we 
observed at the close of oar last Number, 
to the Stoic philosophy, towards the 
‘Jatter part of his hfe, he consequently 
earmed himself with ‘their principles 
‘against the fear of death. Thus he de- 
scribes his wisé man as braving adver- 
sity, and expecting mortality to put an 
_.end to any misfortunes that may befal 
him. This is done allegorieally, under 
the characters of Pentheus and Bacchus ; 
“that is, the wise man will then display the 
same courage which Bacchus did in, his 
answer to  Pentheus, in a tragedy” of 
“Euripides, HEA ae 
- We shail-close this general account by 
-a few remarks upon the difficulty of 
translating this interesting poet.  Ho- 
oa Bore 
_ Lyceum of Ancient Literature.—No. XE. [Feb. 1, 
race, in his Odes, is the only author - 
who has shown the compass of the Latia 
language, in all the variety of composi- 
tion, ‘This renders it a task of consider- 
able difficulty to imitate him, with any 
degree of ease or elegance. He has a 
mode of expression peculiar to himself, 
which sometimes battles every attempt to 
convey his meaning into the idiom of any 
modern language. There are few poets of 
whom versions have been more frequently 
attempted:~ no one, perhaps, has had 
less justice done to him; and it is th 
more extraordinary, that his lesser Odes, 
I mean those that treat of humbler sub- 
jects, have been uniformly found the 
most difficult; witness. the 9th of 
lib. 3, the favourite Qde of Scaliger. 
Those who will be at the pains to exa- 
mine it, will find its peculiar merit to 
consist in the delicacy, brevity, and sim- 
plicity, of the expressions; the beautiful 
order of the: words, and the hagmonioas 
sweetness of the numbers. This little 
Ode, though of all others, perbaps, the 
most laboured at, has been the worst 
executed. Its beautiful and unatfected 
brevity sets translation at defiance; and 
is a model of that perfection of style, 
which La Bruyere admired, the art of 
using the one proper expression, which 
can alone be right. sty 
Creech, who had done ample justice 
to the pbilosophic verse of Lucretius, 
lost all his laurels: by his attempt upon 
Horace. He has also been fatal to the 
reputation of some others.. The version 
of Francis is, wpon the whole, the best 
executed: in some parts of the Odes, he 
is highly Horatian; moral, without be- 
ing dull; gay and spirited, with pro- 
priety; and tender, without being lan- 
guid. Some of the imitations of Dun- 
combe are spirited and elegant; but, in 
general, he is inferior to Francis. 
Quinctilian has said, indeed, that he 
would not have the whoie of Horace ine 
terpreted ; and he alludes to the Odes, 
rather than to the Satires. This caution 
will appear singular, and would, at least, 
have seemed to be equally applicable to 
the rest of his works. Creech gives this 
reason ; © which,” he says, ‘“‘ must be 
‘taken from the design and subject matter 
of the poems. To describe and reform a 
‘vicious man, necessarily requires some 
‘expressions which. an ode cannot want. 
The paint which an artist uses must be 
agreeable to the piece which he designs. 
Satire is to struct, and that supposes 2 
knowledge and discovery of the crime , 
