Fit for my poem (that is, for my new one);
So, as I said, I'll take my friend Don Juan.
VI.
Most epic poets plunge "in medias res"[23]
(Horace makes this the heroic turnpike road),
And then your hero tells, whene'er you please,
What went before—by way of episode,
While seated after dinner at his ease,
Beside his mistress in some soft abode,
Palace, or garden, paradise, or cavern,