Hence, he was constrained to stand upon his own defence, and to vindicate, as well the thing itself, as his management of it, to the tender and suspicious public.
But this was not all: For, Secondly, an old satirist, of high birth and quality, Lucilius, was considered, not only as an able writer of this class, but as a perfect model in it; and of course, therefore, this new satirist would be much decried and undervalued, on the comparison. This circumstance obliged the poet to reduce this admired writer to his real value; which could not be done without thwarting the general admiration, and pointing out his vices and defects in the freest manner. This perilous task he discharged in the IVth satire of his first book, and with such rigour of criticism, that not only the partizans of Lucilius, in the poet’s own age, but the most knowing and candid critics of succeeding times, were disposed to complain of it. However, the obnoxious step had been taken; and nothing remained but to justify himself, as he hath done at large, in his Xth satire.
On the whole, in comparing what he has said in these two satires with what Quinctilian long after observed on the subject of them, there seems no reason to conclude, that the poet judged ill; though he expressed his judgment in such terms as he would, no doubt, have something softened (out of complaisance to the general sentiment, and a becoming deference to the real merits of his master), if his adversaries had been more moderate in urging their charge, or if the occasion had not been so pressing.
Lastly, this attack on Lucilius produced, or rather involved in it, a THIRD quarrel. The poet’s main objection to Lucilius was his careless, verbose, and hasty composition, which his admirers, no doubt, called genius, grace, and strength. This being an inveterate folly among his countrymen, he gives it no quarter. Through all his critical works, he employs the utmost force of his wit and good sense to expose it: And his own writings, being at the same time supremely correct, afforded his enemies (which would provoke them still more) no advantage against him. Yet they attempted, as they could, to repay his perpetual reproaches on the popular writers for their neglect of limae labor, by objecting to him, in their turn, that what he wrote was sine nervis: and this, though they felt his force themselves, and though another set of men were complaining, at the same time, of his severity.
Sunt quibus in satyrâ videor nimis ACER—
SINE NERVIS altera quicquid
Composui pars esse putat, similesque meorum
Mille die versus deduci posse—
His detractors satirically alluding, in these last words, to his charge against Lucilius—
in horâ saepè ducentos,
Ut magnum, versus dictabat, stans pede in uno.
It is not my purpose, in this place, to enlarge further on the character of Lucilius, whose wordy satires gave occasion to our poet’s criticism. Several of the ancient writers speak of him occasionally, in terms of the highest applause; and without doubt, he was a poet of distinguished merit. Yet it will hardly be thought, at this day, that it could be any discredit to him to be censured, rivalled, and excelled by Horace.
What I have here put together is only to furnish the young reader with the proper Key to Horace’s critical works, which generally turn on his own vindication, against the enemies of satire—the admirers of Lucilius—and the patrons of loose and incorrect composition.
In managing these several topics, he has found means to introduce a great deal of exquisite criticism. And though his scattered observations go but a little way towards making up a complete critical system, yet they are so luminous, as the French speak, that is, they are so replete with good sense, and extend so much further than to the case to which they are immediately applied, that they furnish many of the principles on which such a system, if ever it be taken in hand, must be constructed: And, without carrying matters too far, we may safely affirm of these Critical Discourses, that, next to Aristotle’s immortal work, they are the most valuable remains of ancient art upon this subject.