poets, or among those whom both the present age and posterity will disdainfully reject? He may fairly be placed among the ancients, who is younger either by a short month only, or even by a whole year. I take the advantage of this concession, and pull away by little and little, as [if they were] the hairs of a horse’s tail: and I take away a single one and then again another single one; till, like a tumbling heap,[1] [my adversary], who has recourse to annals and estimates excellence by the year, and admires nothing but what Libitina[2] has made sacred, falls to the ground.
Ennius[3] the wise, the nervous, and (as our critics say) a second Homer, seems lightly to regard what becomes of his promises and Pythagorean dreams. Is not Nævius[4] in people’s hands, and sticking almost fresh in their memory? So sacred is every ancient poem. As often as a debate arises, whether this poet or the other be preferable; Pacuvius bears away the character of a learned, Accius, of a lofty writer; Afranius’ gown[5] is said to have fitted Menander; Plautus, to hurry after the pattern of the Sicilian Epicharmus; Cæcilius, to excel in gravity, Terence in contrivance. These mighty Rome learns by heart, and these she views crowded in her narrow theater; these she esteems and accounts her poets from Livy[6] the writer’s age down to our time. Sometimes
- ↑ Ratione mentis acervi. This argument, called sorites, from a Greek word σωρὸς, signifying a heap, is composed of many propositions very little different from each other, and chained together in such a manner, that beginning with a sensible, incontestible truth, they lead by degrees to a conclusion evidently false. Fran.
- ↑ The goddess of funerals. Cf. Sat, ii 6, 19.
- ↑ Ennius, who boasted himself another Homer; who, when alive, was anxious to preserve this mighty character, is no longer disquieted about his reputation. Death has consecrated his name; the critics confirm his title; his promises are fulfilled, and his opinion of a transmigration of souls is no longer a dream, as his enemies pretend. Porphyrion.
- ↑ The commentators are much divided whether these words are spoken by Horace or the person who disputes with him. Bentley, Cunningham, and Sanadon read them with a point of interrogation. “Is not Nævius in the hands of every reader, and do we not repeat his works as if he was a modern?” Fran.
- ↑ Afrani toga. A new and happy expression, alluding to the subjects of his comedies, which were formed on the manners and customs of the Romans, and played in Roman dresses. They were therefore called togatæ, as the Grecians were palliatæ. Fran.
- ↑ Livius Andronicus, the most ancient of the Latin poets, brought his first play upon the stage in 514 San.
