535.—O THOU, MY PISO'S ELDER HOPE AND PRIDE!]
O MAJOR JUVENUM!
We are now arrived at that portion of the Epistle, which I must confess I am surprised, that any Commentator ever past, without observing the peculiar language and conduct of the Poet. There is a kind of awful affection in his manner, wonderfully calculated to move our feelings and excite our attention. The Didactick and the Epistolary stile were never more happily blended. The Poet assumes the air of a father advising his son, rather than of a teacher instructing his pupils. Many Criticks have thrown out a cursory observation or two, as it were extorted from them by the pointed expressions of the Poet: but none of them, that I have consulted, have attempted to assign any reason, why Horace, having closed his particular precepts, addresses all the remainder of his Epistle, on the nature and expediency of Poetical pursuits, to _the Elder Piso only. I have endeavoured to give the most natural reason for this conduct; a reason which, if I am not deceived, readers the whole of the Epistle interesting, as well as clear and consistent; a reason which I am the more inclined to think substantial, as it confirms in great measure the system of the Author of the English Commentary, only shewing _the reflections on the drama in _this Epistle, as well as in the Epistle to Augustus, to be incidental, rather than the principal subject, and main design, of the Poet,
Jason De Nores, in this instance, as in most others, has paid more attention to his Author, than the rest of the Commentators. His note is as follows.
[O major juvenum!] _Per apostrophen _ad majorem natu __ex pisonibus convertis orationem, reddit rationem quare summum, ac perfectissimum poema esse debeat utitur autem proaemio quasi quodam ad _benevolentiam & attentionem _comparandum sumit autem _benevolentiam à patris & filii laudibus: attentionem_, dum ait, "hoc tibi dictum tolle memor!" quasi dicat, per asseverationem,_firmum _omninò et _verum.
543.—_Boasts not MESSALA'S PLEADINGS, nor is deem'd AULUS IN JURISPRUDENCE.]
The Poet, with great delicacy, throws in a compliment to these distinguished characters of his time, for their several eminence in their profession. Messala is more than once mentioned as the friend and patron of Horace.
562.—Forty thousand sesterces a year.]
The pecuniary qualification for the Equestrian Order. Census equestrem summam nummorum.
565.—Nothing, IN SPITE OF GENIUS, YOU'LL commence]
Tu nihil, invitâ dices faciesve Minervâ.
Horace, says Dacier, here addresses the Elder Piso, as a man of mature years and understanding; and be begins with panegyrick, rather than advice, in order to soften the precepts he is about to lay down to him.
The explication of De Nores is much to the same effect, as well as that of many other Commentators.
567.—But grant you should hereafter write. Si quid tamen olim scripseris.]
"This," says Dacier, "was some time afterwards actually the case, if we may believe the old Scholiast, who writes that _this _PISO composed Tragedies."
568.—Metius.] A great Critick; and said to be appointed by Augustus as a Judge, to appreciate the merit of literary performances. His name and office are, on other occasions, mentioned and recognized by Horace.
570.—Weigh the work well, AND KEEP IT BACK NINE YEARS! nonumque prematur in annum!]
This precept, which, like many others in the Epistle, is rather retailed, than invented, by Horace, has been thought by some Criticks rather extravagant; but it acquires in this place, as addressed to the elder Piso, a concealed archness, very agreeable to the Poet's stile and manner. Pope has applied the precept with much humour, but with more open raillery than need the writer's purpose in this Epistle.
I drop at last, but in unwilling ears,
This wholesome counsel——KEEP YOUR PIECE NINE YEARS!
Vida, in his Poeticks, after the strongest censure of carelessness and precipitation, concludes with a caution against too excessive an attention to correctness, too frequent revisals, and too long delay of publication. The passage is as elegant as judicious.
Verùm esto hic etiam modus: huic imponere curae
Nescivere aliqui finem, medicasque secandis
Morbis abstinulsse manus, & parcere tandem
Immites, donec macie confectus et aeger
Aruit exhausto velut omni sanguine foetus,
Nativumque decus posuit, dum plurima ubique
Deformat sectos artus inhonesta cicatrix.
Tuque ideo vitae usque memor brevioris, ubi annos
Post aliquot (neque enim numerum, neque temporar pono
certa tibi) addideris decoris satis, atque nitoris,
Rumpe moras, opus ingentem dimitte per orbem,
Perque manus, perque ora virûm permitte vagari.
POETIC. lib 3.