ODE IX. BOOK III. TO LYDIA. DIALOGUE OF HORACE AND LYDIA. Hor. Whilst, Lydia, I was loved of thee, And 'bout thy ivory neck no youth did fling His arms more acceptably free, I thought me richer than the Persian king. Lyd. Whilst Horace loved no mistress more, Nor after Chloe did his Lydia sound; In name, I went all names before, The Roman Ilia was not more renowned. Hor. 'Tis true, I'm Thracian Chloe's, I, Who sings so sweet, and with such cunning plays, As, for her, I'ld not fear to die, So fate would give her life and longer days. Lyd. And I am mutually on fire With gentle Calaïs, Thurine Ornith's son, For whom I doubly would expire, So fate would let the boy a long thread run. Hor. But say old love return should make, And us disjoined force to her brazen yoke; That I bright Chloe off should shake, And to left Lydia, now the gate stood ope? Lyd. Though he be fairer than a star; Thou lighter than the bark of any tree, And than rough Adria angrier far; Yet would I wish to love, live, die with thee. ODE IX. LIB. III. AD LYDIAM. Lyd. Donec non alia magis Hor. Me nunc Thressa Chloë regit, Dulces docta modos, et citharæ sciens: Pro qua non metuam mori, Si parcent animæ fata superstiti. Lyd. Me torret face mutua Hor. Quid si prisca redit Venus, Lyd. Quamquam sidere pulchrior Ille est, tu levior cortice, et improbo Iracundior Adria, Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens. FRAGMENT OF PETRON. Arbiter Doing, a filthy pleasure is, and short; Let us not then rush blindly on unto it, Can this decay, but is beginning ever. Donec gratus, &c.] This little piece has always been a favourite. Granger, whose knowledge of our old writers did not extend much beyond their portraits, tells us that the first English version of this Ode was made by Herrick. The Hesperides were not published till FRAGMENTUM PETRON. ARBITR. Foeda est in coitu, et brevis voluptas, 1648, and to say nothing of the translation before us, a dozen perhaps had appeared before that period. I have one by Francis Davison as early as 1608, but neither is this the first :-the matter, however, is of no great moment. Timber; or, Discoveries made and Matter. upon Men AS THEY HAVE FLOWED OUT OF HIS DAILY READINGS, OR HAD THEIR REFLUX TO HIS PECULIAR NOTION OF THE TIMES: Tecum habita, ut nôris quam sit tibi curta supellex.—PERS. Sat. 4. [To your own breast in quest of worth repair, And blush to find how poor a stock is there.-GIFFORD.] SYLVA. Rerum, et sententiarum, quasi "Yλn dicta a multiplici materia, et varietate, in iis contenta. Quemadmodùm enim vulgò solemus infinitam arborum nascentium indiscriminatim multitudinem Sylvam dicere: ità etiam libros suos in quibus variæ et diversæ materiæ opuscula temere congesta erant, Sylvas appellabant antiqui, Timber trees. DISCOVERIES.] From the fol. 1641. These are among "the last drops of Jonson's quill." A few occasional remarks of an early date may, perhaps, be found here; but there is internal evidence that the greater number of them were made subsequently to 1630, when he was prest by extremities, and struggling with want and disease for breath. Those who derive all their knowledge of Jonson from the commentators on Shakspeare, will not (if they should condescend to open these pages), be unprofitably employed in comparing the manly tone, the strong sense, the solid judgment, the extensive learning, the compressed yet pure and classical diction of the declining poet, with the dull, cold, jejune, pompous, and parasitical pedantry of Hurd and others, whom they have been called on to admire, principally, as it should seem, for the supercilious and captious nature of their criticisms on his labours. Explorata; or, Discoveries. Fortuna.-Ill Fortune never crushed that man, whom good Fortune deceived not. I therefore have counselled my friends, never to trust to her fairer side, though she seemed to make peace with them: but to place all things she gave them so, as she might ask them again without their trouble; she might take them from them, not pull them; to keep always a distance between her and themselves. He knows not his own strength, that hath not met adversity. Heaven prepares good men with crosses; but no ill can happen to a good man. Contraries are not mixed. Yet, that which happens to any man, may to every man. But it is in his reason what he accounts it, and will make it. Casus.-Change into extremity is very frequent, and easy. As when a beggar suddenly grows rich, he commonly becomes a prodigal; for to obscure his former obscurity, he puts on riot and excess. Consilia.- No man is so foolish but may give another good counsel sometimes; and no man is so wise but may easily err, if he will take no other's counsel but his own. But very few men are wise by their own counsel; or learned by their own teaching. For he that was only taught by himself,* had a fool to his master. Fama.-A Fame that is wounded to the world, would be better cured by another's apology than its own: for few can apply medicines well themselves. Besides, the man that is once hated, both his good, and his evil deeds oppress him. He is not easily emergent. Negotia.-In great affairs it is a work of difficulty to please all. And oft-times we lose the occasion of carrying a business well, and thoroughly, by our too much haste. For Passions are spiritual rebels, and raise sedition against the understanding. Αυτοδίδακτος. Amor Patria.-There is a necessity all men should love their country: he that professeth the contrary, may be delighted with his words, but his heart is there. Ingenia.-Natures that are hardened to evil you shall sooner break, than make straight; they are like poles that are crooked and dry; there is no attempting them. Applausus. We praise the things we hear with much more willingness than those we see; because we envy the present and reverence the past; thinking ourselves instructed by the one and overlaid by the other. Opinio.-Opinion is a light, vain, crude, and imperfect thing, settled in the imagination; but never arriving at the understanding, there to obtain the tincture of reason. We labour with it more than truth. There is much more holds us, than presseth us. An ill fact is one thing, an ill fortune is another: yet both oftentimes sway us alike by the error of our thinking. Impostura. Many men believe not themselves, what they would persuade others; and less do the things which they would impose on others but least of all know what they themselves most confidently boast. Only they set the sign of the cross over their outer doors, and sacrifice to their gut and their groin in their inner closets. Factura vita.-What a deal of cold business doth a man mis-spend the better part of life in! in scattering compliments, tendering visits, gathering and venting news, following feasts and plays, making a little winter-love in a dark corner. nat contra magistratus, sic ratus obedien-circumspect: especially to beware of those, tiam præstare Deo. with whom he is not thoroughly acquainted, lest any spice of rashness, folly, or self-love appear, which will be marked by new persons, and men of experience in Mutua auxilia.-Learning needs rest: Sovereignty gives it. Sovereignty needs counsel: Learning affords it. There is such a consociation of offices, between the Prince and whom his favour breeds, that they may help to sustain his power, as he their knowledge. It is the greatest part of his liberality, his favour: and from whom doth he hear discipline more willingly, or the arts discoursed more gladly, than from those whom his own bounty and benefits have made able and faithful? Cognit. universi.—In being able to counsel others, a man must be furnished with an universal store in himself, to the knowledge of all Nature: that is the matter, and seed plot; there are the seats of all argument and invention. But especially you must be cunning in the nature of Man: there is the variety of things which are as the elements, and letters, which his art and wisdom must rank and order to the present occasion. For we see not all letters in single words; nor all places in particular discourses. That cause seldom happens wherein a man will use all arguments. Consiliariiadjunct. Probitas, Sapientia. -The two chief things that give a man reputation in counsel, are the opinion of his Honesty, and the opinion of his Wisdom: the authority of those two will persuade, when the same counsels uttered by other persons less qualified are of no efficacy or working. Vita recta.-Wisdom without honesty is mere craft and cozenage. And therefore the reputation of honesty must first be gotten; which cannot be but by living well. A good life is a main argument. Obsequentia.-Humanitas.-Solicitudo. -Next a good life, to beget love in the persons we counsel, by dissembling our knowledge of ability in ourselves, and avoiding all suspicion of arrogance, ascribing all to their instruction, as an ambassador to his master, or a subject to his sovereign; seasoning all with humanity and sweetness, only expressing care and solicitude. And not to counsel rashly, or on the sudden, but with advice and meditation: (Dat nox consilium.) For many foolish things fall from wise men, if they speak in haste, or be extemporal. It therefore behoves the giver of counsel to bel affairs. Modestia. Parrhesia. And to the prince, or his superior, to behave himself modestly, and with respect. Yet free from flattery, or empire. Not with insolence, or precept; but as the prince were already furnished with the parts he should have, especially in affairs of state. For in other things they will more easily suffer themselves to be taught, or reprehended: they But hear (with will not willingly contend. Alexander) the answer the musician gave him, Absit, ô rex, ut tu meliùs hæc scias, quàm ego.* Natura non effæta. I cannot think Nature is so spent and decayed, that she can bring forth nothing worth her former years. She is always the same, like herself; and when she collects her strength, is abler still. Men are decayed, and studies: she is not. Non nimiùm credendum antiquitati.I know nothing can conduce more to letters, than to examine the writings of the ancients, and not to rest in their sole authority, or take all upon trust from them; provided the plagues of judging and pronouncing against them be away; such as are envy, bitterness, precipitation, impudence, and scurrile scoffing. For to all the observations of the ancients, we have our own experience: which if we will use, and apply, we have better means to pronounce. It is true they opened the gates, and made the way that went before us; but as guides, not commanders; Non domini nostri, sed duces fuêre. Truth lies open to all; it is no man's several. Patet omnibus veritas; * Plutarch in vita Alex. |