Friend.
But to raw numbers, and unfinished verse,
Sweet sound is added now, to make it terse:
"'Tis tagged with rhyme, like Berecynthian Atys,
The mid-part chimes with art, which never flat is.[186]
The dolphin brave, that cuts the liquid wave,
Or he who in his line can chine the long-ribbed Appennine."
Persius.
All this is doggrel stuff.
Friend.
What if I bring
A nobler verse? "Arms and the man I sing."
Persius.
Why name you Virgil with such fops as these?
He's truly great, and must for ever please:
Not fierce, but aweful, is his manly page;
Bold is his strength, but sober is his rage.
Friend.
What poems think you soft, and to be read
With languishing regards, and bending head?