is taken, as Cruquius remarks, from Isocrates to

Nicocles :

Χρῶ τοις ειρημένοις, η ζητει βελτιω τετων.

Spes jubet esse ratas, in prælia trudit inermem,*

from an elegant fragment of Diphilus; in which Bacchus is addressed:

Ω πασι, τοισι φρονᾶσι προσφιλέστατε,
Διονυσε, και σοφωτατ' ως ηδυς τις εἰ,
Οταν ταπεινον μέγα φρονειν ποιεις μόνος,
Τον τας οφρύς αίροντα συμπείθεις γελᾶν,

Τον τ' ασθενη τολμαν τι, τον δειλον θρασειν.

The bold and beautiful metaphor in the fourth ode of the fourth book,

Per Siculas equitavit undas,

is from the Phænisse of Euripides, verse 222, (the Oxford edition in 4to. by Dr. Musgrave, 1778 :)

* Ver. 17. Ep. 5.

Ζεφυρά

Ζέφυρε πνοιαις

Ιππευσαντος εν ερανω

The beginning of the first ode of the first book, which points out the different inclinations and pursuits of men, alludes to a passage in Pindar, preserved by Sextus Empiricus, in the first Pyrrh. Hypothes.

Αελλοπόδων μεν τιν ευφραίνεσιν ἱππων τιμαι και στέφανοι,
Τες δ' εν πολυχρυσοις θαλαμοις βιωτα

Τερπελαι δε τις επ οιδμα άλιον ναϊ θοα σων διαστείβων.

And line the 25th of the second * ode of the third book, is taken from a fragment of Simonides, cited by Aristides. 2. Platonica.

*See P. Petiti. Misc. Obs. lib. iii. cap. 25.

+ The words, Mors & fugacem persequitur virum, in Ode 2, book iii. are even translated from Simonides:

BENTLEY, with his usual acuteness, conjectured, that an obscure passage in Horace would be illustrated, if ever the Greek epigram of Philodemus, to which he alluded, should be discovered.

Gallis,* hanc, Philodemus ait-L. i. sat. 2, 121.

Reiskius has since printed the very epigram, and the last words of it confirm Bentley's conjec

ture:

την δ' αρα Γαλλος έχοιο

9. Nec quisquam noceat cupido mihi pacis! at ille Qui me commôrit (melius non tangere clamo) Flebit, & insignis totâ cantabitur urbe.†

Peace is my dear delight-not Fleury's more:
But touch me, and no minister so sore.
Who'er offends, at some unlucky time,
Slides into verse, and hitches into rhyme.

Superior

* See Anthol. Græc. Lib. tres Oxonii, 1766, p. 93. Philodemus lived at Rome in the time of Tully, and is mentioned by him as a friend of Piso.

↑ Ver. 44.

+ Ver. 75.

Superior to the original, on account of the lively and unexpected satire at the end of each of the two first lines; a high improvement of Cupido mihi pacis,

10. Cervius iratus leges minitatur & urnam;

Canidia Albutî, quibus est inimica, venenum ;
Grande malum Turius, si quid se judice certas*.

Slander or poison dread from Delia's rage;
Hard words, or hanging, if your judge be Page.+

It is difficult to say which passage is the more spirited. But what follows in Pope,

Its

proper power to hurt each creature feels,

is inferior to

utque

Imperet hoc natura potens, sic collige mecum.
Dente lupus, cornu taurus petit; unde nisi intus
Monstratum

* Ver. 46.

+ Ver. 81.

Ver. 51.

But

But then again these two lines,

So drink with Walters, or with Chartres eat;
They'll never poison you; they'll only cheat,*

is expressed with an archness, and a dryness, beyond the original, that follows:

Scævæ vivacem crede nepoti

Matrem; nil faciet sceleris pia dextera (mirum
Ut neque calce lupus quemquam, nec dente petit bos)
Sed mala tollet anum vitiato melle cicuta.†

11. Ne longum faciam: seu me tranquilla senectus
Expectat, seu mors atris circumvolat alis;

Dives, inops; Romæ, seu fors ita jusserit exul;
Quisquis erit vitæ scribam color.

Then, learned Sir! (to cut the matter short,)
Whate'er my fate, or well or ill at court;
Whether old age, with faint, but chearful, ray,
Attends to gild the ev'ning of my day;
Or death's black wing already be display'd,
To wrap me in the universal shade;
Whether the darken'd rooms to muse invite,
Or whiten'd wall provoke the skewer to write;
In durance, exile, Bedlam, or the Mint,
Like Lee or Budgell, I will rhyme and print.§

The

* Ver. 89. + Ver. 53.

Ver. 54.

§ Ver. 91.