[74.] Id. Olym. Ode VII.
[75.] Hor. de Art. Poet.
[76.] Pind. Pyth. Ode XI.
[77.] Thus the reader, who would pay little regard to the person who should forbid him to trust the world too much, will yet be struck with this simple admonition, when it appears in the work of a genius.
Lean not on earth, ’twill pierce thee to the heart;
A broken reed at best, but oft’ a spear,
On its sharp point Peace bleeds, and Hope expires. Night Thoughts.
[78.] Thus Xenophon, the simplest and most perspicuous of Historians, has borrowed many noble images from Homer; and Plato is often indebted to this Poet, whom yet he banished from his Commonwealth. Cicero in his most serious pieces studies the diction, and copies the manner of the Greek Philosopher; and it evidently appears, that Thucydides has taken many a glowing Metaphor from the Odes of Pindar. We might produce many examples of this from their writings, if these would not swell this note to too great a length. The reader of taste may see this subject fully discussed in Mr. Gedde’s ingenious Essay on the Composition of the Ancients.
[79.] Δει δε τους μυθους συνισταναι, και τη λεξει συναπεργαζεσθαι οντι μαλιστα προς ομματων τεθεμενον. Οὑτο γαρ αν εναργεστατα ὁρων ὡσπερ παρ’ αυτοις γιγνομενος τοις πραττομενοις, εὑρισκοι το πρεπον, και ἡκιστα αν λανθανοιτο τα ὑπεναντια.[K] Arist. Poet. c. 17.
[80.] Thus Cicero tells us. Nec est majus in dicendo, quam ut Orator sic moveatur, ut impetu quodam animi, & perturbatione magis quam concilio regatur. Plura enim multo homines judicant odio, & amore, & cupiditate, &c. quam veritate & præscripto. De Orat. Lib. II. c. 42.