§1Humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam §2iungere si velit, et varias inducere plumas, §3undique conlatis membris, ut turpiter atrum §4desinat in piscem mulier formosa superne, §5spectatum admissi risum teneatis, amici?
If a painter chose to join a horse’s neck to a human head, and to spread multi-colored feathers over limbs gathered from all sides, so that a woman beautiful above ends foully in a black fish below, could you, my friends, if admitted to the sight, restrain your laughter?
§6credite, Pisones, isti tabulae fore librum §7persimilem, cuius, velut aegri somnia, vanae §8fingentur species, ut nec pes nec caput uni §9reddatur formae.
Believe me, Pisos, that book will be extremely similar to such a painting, whose idle shapes will be formed like a sick man’s dreams, so that neither foot nor head is rendered to a single form.
'pictoribus atque poetis §10quidlibet audendi semper fuit aequa potestas. ' §11scimus, et hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim; §12sed non ut placidis coeant inmitia, non ut §13serpentes avibus geminentur, tigribus agni.
'To painters and poets there has always been an equal power of daring anything they please.' We know this, and we both ask and grant this indulgence in turn; but not so that the wild should mate with the gentle, nor that serpents should be paired with birds, lambs with tigers.
§14inceptis gravibus plerumque et magna professis §15purpureus, late qui splendeat, unus et alter §16adsuitur pannus, cum lucus et ara Dianae §17et properantis aquae per amoenos ambitus agros §18aut flumen Rhenum aut pluvius describitur arcus; §19sed nunc non erat his locus.
Often on grave beginnings and projects that promise great things, one or two purple patches are sewn on, so as to shine far and wide, when the grove and altar of Diana, and the winding of a hastening stream through pleasant fields, or the river Rhine, or the rainy rainbow is described; but now was not the place for these.
et fortasse cupressum §20scis simulare: quid hoc, si fractis enatat exspes
And perhaps you know how to imitate a cypress; but what is that to the purpose, if he who is painted for a fee swims out hopeless from a wrecked ship?
A wine-jar began to be shaped; as the wheel runs round, why does a pitcher come out?
§23denique sit quodvis, simplex dumtaxat et unum.
In short, let it be whatever you will, provided only it be simple and uniform.
The majority of us poets, father and youths worthy of your father, are deceived by the appearance of right.
§26obscurus fio; sectantem levia nervi §27deficiunt animique; professus grandia turget; §28serpit humi tutus nimium timidusque procellae:
I strive to be brief, I become obscure; strength and spirit fail him who aims at smooth style; he who promises the sublime swells into bombast; he who is too safe and fearful of the storm creeps on the ground.
He who wishes to vary a single subject prodigiously, paints a dolphin in the woods, a boar in the waves.
§31in vitium ducit culpae fuga, si caret arte.
The avoidance of error leads to fault, if it lacks art.
§32Aemilium circa ludum faber imus et unguis §33exprimet et mollis imitabitur aere capillos, §34infelix operis summa, quia ponere totum
An artisan of the lowest class near the Aemilian school will express the nails and imitate soft hair in bronze, unhappy in the sum of his work, because he does not know how to represent the whole.
§35nesciet: hunc ego me, si quid componere curem, §36non magis esse velim quam naso vivere pravo, §37spectandum nigris oculis nigroque capillo.
If I should care to compose anything, I should no more wish to be this man than to live with a crooked nose, though remarkable for black eyes and black hair.
§38sumite materiam vestris, qui scribitis, aequam §39viribus et versate diu, quid ferre recusent, §40quid valeant umeri.
Take a subject, you who write, equal to your strength, and turn over long in your mind what your shoulders refuse to bear, and what they are able to support.
cui lecta potenter erit res, §41nec facundia deseret hunc nec lucidus ordo.
He who has chosen his subject wisely, will be deserted neither by eloquence nor by clear order.
§42ordinis haec virtus erit et venus, aut ego fallor, §43ut iam nunc dicat iam nunc debentia dici, §44pleraque differat et praesens in tempus omittat.
This will be the virtue and beauty of order, or I am mistaken, that the author of the promised poem should say now what ought to be said now, and defer most things and omit them for the present.
In connecting words also, being delicate and cautious, he should love this, and reject that.
You will have spoken excellently, if a clever connection makes a familiar word new.
si forte necesse est §49indiciis monstrare recentibus abdita rerum et §50fingere cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis, §51continget dabiturque licentia sumpta pudenter, §52et nova fictaque nuper habebunt verba fidem, si §53Graeco fonte cadent parce detorta.
If by chance it is necessary to show the hidden nature of things by recent terms, and to invent words unheard of by the belted Cethegi, the license taken modestly will be allowed and granted, and new and recently coined words will find credit, if they flow from a Greek source, sparingly distorted.
quid autem §54Caecilio Plautoque dabit Romanus ademptum
But why will the Roman grant to Caecilius and Plautus what is denied to Vergil and Varius?
§55Vergilio Varioque? ego cur, adquirere pauca §56si possum, invideor, cum lingua Catonis et Enni §57sermonem patrium ditaverit et nova rerum
Why am I envied, if I can acquire a few words, when the tongue of Cato and Ennius enriched our native speech and brought forth new names for things?
It has been allowed, and always will be allowed, to produce a word stamped with the current mark.
§60ut silvae foliis pronos mutantur in annos, §61prima cadunt: ita verborum vetus interit aetas, §62et iuvenum ritu florent modo nata vigentque.
As forests change their leaves as years decline, and the earliest fall, so the old generation of words perishes, and those newly born flourish and thrive after the manner of youths.
§63debemur morti nos nostraque: sive receptus §64terra Neptunus classes Aquilonibus arcet, §65regis opus, sterilisve diu palus aptaque remis §66vicinas urbes alit et grave sentit aratrum, §67seu cursum mutavit iniquum frugibus amnis §68doctus iter melius: mortalia facta peribunt, §69nedum sermonum stet honos et gratia vivax.
We and our works are owed to death; whether Neptune, received into the land, protects fleets from the north winds —a kingly work—or a marsh, long barren and fit for oars, now feeds neighboring cities and feels the heavy plow, or a river has changed its course, ruinous to crops, having been taught a better path; mortal works will perish, much less can the honor and lasting grace of language stand.
§70multa renascentur quae iam cecidere cadentque §71quae nunc sunt in honore vocabula, si volet usus, §72quem penes arbitrium est et ius et norma loquendi.
Many words will be reborn which have already fallen, and those will fall which are now in honor, if usage wills it, in whose hands is the decision and the law and the rule of speech.
The deeds of kings and commanders, and sad wars, Homer showed in what measure they could be written.
§75versibus inpariter iunctis querimonia primum, §76post etiam inclusa est voti sententia compos; §77quis tamen exiguos elegos emiserit auctor, §78grammatici certant et adhuc sub iudice lis est;
In unequally joined verses lamentation was first included, afterwards also the sentiment of granted vows; yet which author first published the humble elegiacs, grammarians dispute, and the lawsuit is still before the judge.
§79Archilochum proprio rabies armavit iambo;
Rage armed Archilochus with his own iambic;