Nec semper feriet quodcunque minabitur arcus.
Verum ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis
Offendar maculis, quas aut incuria fudit,
Aut humana parum cavit natura."
Epist. ad Pisones, 347.
Not by any means that I am allowing in this case the existence of a "macula," or an "incuria" either. To D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature I think I am indebted for the remark, that Gray borrowed the expressions from Milton:
"When the scourge
Inexorably, and the torturing hour
Calls us to penance."
Par. Lost, lib. ii. 90.