§241speret idem, sudet multum frustraque laboret §242ausus idem: tantum series iuncturaque pollet, §243tantum de medio sumptis accedit honoris.
that anyone may hope for the same, but having dared the same, may sweat much and labor in vain: so much do order and connection prevail, so much of honor is added to subjects taken from the common stock.
§244silvis deducti caveant, me iudice, Fauni, §245ne velut innati triviis ac paene forenses. §246aut nimium teneris iuvenentur versibus umquam §247aut inmunda crepent ignominiosaque dicta.
The Fauns, brought from the woods, should beware, in my judgment, lest, as if born in the streets and almost citizens of the forum, they ever play the youth in too tender verses, or blare out filthy and disgraceful words.
§248offenduntur enim, quibus est equus et pater et res, §249nec, siquid fricti ciceris probat et nucis emptor, §250aequis accipiunt animis donantve corona.
For those who have a horse, a father, and property are offended; nor, if the buyer of roasted chickpeas and nuts approves of something, do they receive it with favorable minds or present it with a crown.
§251syllaba longa brevi subiecta vocatur Iambus, §252pes citus: unde etiam trimetris adcrescere iussit §253nomen iambeis, cum senos redderet ictus, §254primus ad extremum similis sibi: non ita pridem, §255tardior ut paulo graviorque veniret ad auris, §256spondeos stabilis in iura paterna recepit §257commodus et patiens, non ut de sede secunda §258cederet aut quarta socialiter.
A long syllable put after a short one is called an Iambus, a swift foot: whence also it commanded the name of iambic trimeters to grow upon them, although it returned six beats, being similar to itself from first to last: not so long ago, that it might come to the ears a little slower and more grave, the patient and obliging Iambus admitted the stable spondees into its paternal rights, not so companionably, however, as to yield from the second or fourth place.
hic et in Acci §259nobilibus trimetris adparet rarus et Enni §260in scaenam missos cum magno pondere versus §261aut operae celeris nimium curaque carentis §262aut ignoratae premit artis crimine turpi.
This iambus appears but rarely in the noble trimeters of Accius, and presses upon the verses of Ennius sent upon the stage with great weight the shameful charge of either too rapid work and lack of care, or of an unknown art.
Not every judge sees unmusical poems, and an unworthy indulgence has been granted to Roman poets.
§265idcircone vager scribamque licenter? an omnis
Should I therefore wander and write licentiously?
§266visuros peccata putem mea, tutus et intra §267spem veniae cautus? vitavi denique culpam, §268non laudem merui.
Or should I think that all will see my faults, safe and cautious within the hope of indulgence? In the end, I have avoided blame, but I have not merited praise.
vos exemplaria Graeca §269nocturna versate manu, versate diurna.
You, handle Greek models with a nightly hand, handle them with a daily hand.
§270at nostri proavi Plautinos et numeros et §271laudavere sales, nimium patienter utrumque, §272ne dicam stulte, mirati, si modo ego et vos §273scimus inurbanum lepido seponere dicto §274legitimumque sonum digitis callemus et aure.
But our ancestors praised both the numbers and the wit of Plautus, admiring both too patiently, not to say foolishly, if only you and I know how to distinguish an unpolished saying from a witty one, and are skilled in the legitimate sound with our fingers and ears.
§275ignotum tragicae genus invenisse Camenae §276dicitur et plaustris vexisse poemata Thespis, §277quae canerent agerentque peruncti faecibus ora.
Thespis is said to have discovered an unknown genre of the tragic Muse, and to have carried on wagons his poems, which men with faces smeared with dregs sang and acted.
§278post hunc personae pallaeque repertor honestae §279Aeschylus et modicis instravit pulpita tignis §280et docuit magnumque loqui nitique cothurno.
After him, Aeschylus, the inventor of the mask and the honorable robe, both covered the stage with moderate beams, and taught to speak grandly and to walk on the cothurnus.
§281successit vetus his comoedia, non sine multa §282laude; sed in vitium libertas excidit et vim §283dignam lege regi: lex est accepta chorusque §284turpiter obticuit sublato iure nocendi.
To these succeeded the Old Comedy, not without much praise; but its liberty fell into vice and a violence worthy of being ruled by law: the law was accepted, and the chorus, its right of hurting being removed, shamefully fell silent.
§285nil intemptatum nostri liquere poetae §286nec minimum meruere decus vestigia Graeca §287ausi deserere et celebrare domestica facta §288vel qui praetextas vel qui docuere togatas.
Our poets have left nothing unattempted, nor have they merited the least honor, having dared to desert Greek footsteps and to celebrate domestic deeds, whether they taught praetextae or togatae.
§289nec virtute foret clarisve potentius armis §290quam lingua Latium, si non offenderet unum §291quemque poetarum limae labor et mora.
Nor would Latium be more powerful in valor or glorious arms than in its language, if the labor and delay of the file did not offend each of the poets.
vos, o §292Pompilius sanguis, carmen reprehendite, quod non §293multa dies et multa litura coercuit atque §294praesectum deciens non castigavit ad unguem.
You, O Pompilian blood, condemn a poem which many a day and many an erasure have not corrected, and have not chastised ten times to the polished nail.
§295ingenium misera quia fortunatius arte §296credit et excludit sanos Helicone poetas §297Democritus, bona pars non unguis ponere curat, §298non barbam, secreta petit loca, balnea vitat.
Because Democritus believes genius to be more fortunate than miserable art, and excludes sane poets from Helicon, a good part of them do not care to trim their nails, nor their beards; they seek secret places, and avoid the baths.
§299nanciscetur enim pretium nomenque poetae, §300si tribus Anticyris caput insanabile numquam §301tonsori Licino conmiserit.
For one will obtain the reward and name of a poet, if he never entrusts to the barber Licinus a head incurable by three Anticyras.
o ego laevus, §302qui purgor bilem sub verni temporis horam.
O, foolish me, who purges my bile near the time of spring!
Otherwise no one would make better poems; but it is not worth so much.
ergo fungar vice cotis, acutum §305reddere quae ferrum valet exsors ipsa secandi; §306munus et officium, nil scribens ipse, docebo, §307unde parentur opes, quid alat formetque poetam, §308quid deceat, quid non, quo virtus, quo ferat error.
Therefore, I will perform the office of a whetstone, which is able to make iron sharp, though itself incapable of cutting; writing nothing myself, I will teach the duty and office, whence materials are prepared, what nourishes and forms the poet, what is becoming, what is not, whither virtue leads, whither error carries.
§309scribendi recte sapere est et principium et fons.
To be wise is the principle and source of writing rightly.
Socratic writings can show you the subject-matter, and words will follow the well-provided matter not unwillingly.
§312qui didicit, patriae quid debeat et quid amicis, §313quo sit amore parens, quo frater amandus et hospes, §314quod sit conscripti, quod iudicis officium, quae §315partes in bellum missi ducis, ille profecto §316reddere personae scit convenientia cuique.
He who has learned what he owes to his country and what to his friends, with what love a parent, with what a brother and a guest is to be loved, what is the duty of a senator, what of a judge, what the parts of a general sent to war, he surely knows how to render what is fitting to each character.
I will command the learned imitator to look back upon the model of life and manners, and to derive living voices from there.
§319interdum speciosa locis morataque recte
Sometimes a play beautiful in its commonplaces and rightly moralized