This, Æschylus (with indignation) saw,
And built a stage, found out a decent dress,
Brought vizards in (a civiler disguise),
And taught men how to speak and how to act.
Roscom. Art of Poet.—Trans.
Actoris partes chorus officiumque virile
Defendat, neu quid medios intercinat actus,
Quod non proposito conducat, et hæreat apté.
Ille bonis faveatque, et concilietur amicis,
Et regat iratos, et amet peccare timentes.
Ille dapes laudet mensæ brevis; ille salubrem
Justitiam, legesque, et apertis otia portis.
Ille tegat commissa, deosque precetur et oret,
Ut redeat miseris, abeat fortuna superbis.
Hor. de Art. Poët.
The chorus should supply what action wants,
And hath a generous and manly part; Bridles wild rage, loves rigid honesty,
And strict observance of impartial laws,
Sobriety, security, and peace,
And begs the gods to turn blind Fortune's wheel,
To raise the wretched, and pull down the proud;
But nothing must be sung between the acts,
But what someway conduces to the plot.
Roscom. Art of Poet. translat.—Trans.
Ipse autem socer (Cæsar) in ore semper Græcos versus Euripidis de Phœnissis habebat, quos dicam ut potero, inconditè fortasse, sed tamen ut res possit intelligi:
Nam, si violandum est jus, regnandi gratià
Violandum est; aliis rebus pietatem colas.
Capitalis Eteocles, vel potiùs Euripides, qui id unum, quod omnium sceleratissimum fuerat, exceperit. Offic. l. iii. n. 82.—Trans.
Eupolis, atque Cratinus, Aristophanesque poëtæ,
Atque alii, quorum comœdia prisca virorum est,
Si quis erat dignus describi, quòd malus, aut fur,
Quòd mœchus foret, aut sicarius, aut alioqui
Famosus; multâ cum libertate notabant.