for which he was said to have lost the prætorship: on which subject the following verses were written, and have been preserved by the old commentator Porphyrio. Ciconiarum Rufus iste Conditor, 23. Porrectum magno magnum spectare catino Vellem, ait, Harpyiis Gula digna rapacibus,* Oldfield, with more than harpy throat endu'd, He has happily introduced this large unwieldy instance of gluttony, supposed to be peculiar to the West Indies. But Athenæus speaks of a cook that could dress a whole hog with various * Ver. 40. ↑ Ver. 25. puddings An author that deserves to be more read and regarded, as abounding with entertaining anecdotes, and various accounts of the manners and ways of living of the ancients, and in quotations of elegant fragments of writers now lost. The same may be said of Stobæus, a work full of curious extracts upon important and pleasing subjects. puddings in his belly. I unfortunately know not with what wine it was basted. The slow movement of the lines in the original, loaded with spondees, aptly represent the weight and vastness of the dish. Gula is used personally; as it is also by Juvenal, Sat. xiv. v. 10. 24. Si quis nunc mergos suaves edixerit assos, Parebit pravi docilis Romana juventus.* Let me extol a cat on oysters fed; † I'd never doubt at Court to have a friend.‡ To dine upon a cat fattened with oysters, and to crack live craw-fish, is infinitely more pleasant and ridiculous than to eat mergos assos. But then the words extol, and recommend, fall far below edixerit; give out a decree. So Virgil, Georgic the third, line 295, does not advise, but raises his subject by saying, * Ver. 51. + This fourth line is feeble and unmeaning. Ver. 41. Incipiens Incipiens stabulis edico in mollibus herbam 25. Ille repotia natales aliosque dierum Festos albatus celebret But on some lucky day, as when they found Much heightened and improved by two such supposed occasions of the unnatural festivity and joy of a true miser. 26. Dulcia se in bilem vertent, stomachoque tumultum Lenta feret pituita. Where bile, and phlegm, and wind, and acid, jar, Τα γαρ ανόμοια στασιάζει, says Hippocrates; the very metaphor here employed by Horace. Two writers of science, in Greek, have used a style eminently pure, precise, and elegant; Hippocrates and Euclid. 27. -vides, * Ver. 60. + Ver. 55. Ver. 75. § Ver. 71. 27. vides, ut pallidus omnis Cænâ desurgat dubiâ. How pale each worshipful and rev'rend guest, Our author has been strangely guilty here of false English, and false grammar, by using rise for rises. The expression in the original, is from Terence, in the second act of the Phormio.. PH. Cæna dubia apponitur: GETA. Quid istud verbi est? PH. Ubi tu dubites quid sumas potissimum. From which passage it is worth observing, that Terence was the first writer that used this expres sion. 28. Hos utinam inter Heroas natum tellus me prima tulisset.‡ Why had I not in these good times my birth, Ere coxcomb-pyes, or coxcombs, were on earth?§ The * Ver. 77. † Ver. 76. Ver. 93. § Ver. 97. The last line, and the conceit of coxcomb-pyes and corcombs, sink it below the original; which, by the way, says Cruquius, seems to allude to that of Hesiod, Oper. & Dieb. Μηκετ' επειτ' ωφειλον εγω πεμπίοισι μετείναι 22. Das aliquid Famæ, quæ carmine gratior aurem Occupet humanam Unworthy he the voice of Fame to hear, Two very beautiful lines, that excel the original; though, in truth, the word occupat has much force. Horace again alludes to his favorite Grecians. Antisthenes philosophus, (says the old commentator,) cum vidisset adolescentem Acroamatibus multum delectari, O te, ait, infe licem, qui summum Acroama, hoc est, Laudem tuam non audivisti. 30. Cur * Ver. 94. + Ver. 99. 1 |