to prohibit vague concubinage, to give rights to husbands, to build towns, to engrave laws on wooden tablets.
Thus honor and name came to divine poets and to poems.
post hos insignis Homerus §402Tyrtaeusque mares animos in Martia bella §403versibus exacuit; dictae per carmina sortes §404et vitae monstrata via est et gratia regum §405Pieriis temptata modis ludusque repertus §406et longorum operum finis: ne forte pudori §407sit tibi Musa lyrae sollers et cantor Apollo.
After them, distinguished Homer and Tyrtaeus sharpened manly spirits for Martian wars with their verses; through poems oracles were spoken, and the way of life was shown, and the favor of kings was sought in Pierian measures, and play was found and the end of long labors: lest by chance you should be ashamed of the Muse skilled in the lyre and singer Apollo.
§408natura fieret laudabile carmen an arte, §409quaesitum est: ego nec studium sine divite vena §410nec rude quid prosit video ingenium: alterius sic §411altera poscit opem res et coniurat amice.
Whether a praeworthy poem is made by nature or by art has been questioned: I neither see what study without a rich vein nor an uncultivated genius can profit; so one thing demands the aid of the other and conspires in a friendly way.
§412qui studet optatam cursu contingere metam, §413multa tulit fecitque puer, sudavit et alsit, §414abstinuit venere et vino; qui Pythia cantat §415tibicen, didicit prius extimuitque magistrum.
He who studies to reach the desired goal in the race has borne and done much as a boy, has sweated and shivered with cold, has abstained from love and wine; he who sings the Pythian songs on the flute, has first learned and feared his master.
§416nunc satis est dixisse 'ego mira poemata pango; §417occupet extremum scabies; mihi turpe relinqui est §418et quod non didici sane nescire fateri'. §419ut praeco, ad merces turbam qui cogit emendas, §420adsentatores iubet ad lucrum ire poeta §421dives agris, dives positis in fenore nummis.
Now it is enough to have said, "I fashion wonderful poems; let the itch take the last one; it is shameful for me to be left behind and to confess that I am completely ignorant of what I have not learned." Like a herald who gathers a crowd to buy goods, a poet rich in land, rich in money placed out at interest, bids flatterers to come to gain.
§422si vero est, unctum qui recte ponere possit §423et spondere levi pro paupere et eripere artis §424litibus inplicitum, mirabor, si sciet inter- §425noscere mendacem verumque beatus amicum.
But if indeed he is one who can rightly serve a rich meal and stand security for a poor man of little credit, and rescue one entangled in troublesome lawsuits, I shall wonder if he, in his happy state, will know how to distinguish a false friend from a true one.
§426tu seu donaris seu quid donare voles cui, §427nolito ad versus tibi factos ducere plenum §428laetitiae;
Whether you have given or wish to give anything to anyone, do not lead him, full of joy, to the verses made for you; for he will cry out, "Beautifully!
clamabit enim 'pulchre! bene! recte!' §429pallescet, super his etiam stillabit amicis §430ex oculis rorem, saliet, tundet pede terram.
Well! Rightly!" He will grow pale, he will even drip dew from his friendly eyes at these things, he will leap, he will beat the ground with his foot.
§431ut, qui conducti plorant in funere, dicunt §432et faciunt prope plura dolentibus ex animo, sic §433derisor vero plus laudatore movetur.
Just as those who, hired to weep at a funeral, say and do almost more than those who grieve from their heart, so the derider is moved more than the true praiser.
§434reges dicuntur multis urgere culillis §435et torquere mero, quem perspexisse laborent §436an sit amicitia dignus; si carmina condes, §437numquam te fallent animi sub vulpe latentes.
Kings are said to press with many cups and to torture with unmixed wine the one whom they labor to see through, whether he be worthy of friendship; if you compose poems, minds lurking beneath a fox's skin will never deceive you.
§438Quintilio siquid recitares, 'corrige sodes §439hoc' aiebat 'et hoc'. mulius te posse negares §440bis terque expertum frustra: delere iubebat §441et male tornatos incudi reddere versus.
If you were reciting anything to Quintilius, "Correct, please, this," he would say, "and this." If you denied that you could do better, having tried twice or thrice in vain, he would bid you erase and return the badly turned verses to the anvil.
§442si defendere delictum quam vertere malles, §443nullum ultra verbum aut operam insumebat inanem, §444quin sine rivali teque et tua solus amares.
If you preferred to defend your fault rather than to change it, he would spend no further word or useless labor, to prevent you from loving yourself and your works alone without a rival.
§445vir bonus et prudens versus reprehendet inertis, §446culpabit duros, incomptis adlinet atrum §447transverso calamo signum, ambitiosa recidet §448ornamenta, parum claris lucem dare coget, §449arguet ambigue dictum, mutanda notabit: §450fiet Aristarchus; non dicet 'cur ego amicum §451offendam in nugis?' hae nugae seria ducent §452in mala derisum semel exceptumque sinistre.
A good and wise man will censure lifeless verses, will find fault with harsh ones, will smear a black mark across unpolished ones with his pen, will cut away ambitious ornaments, will compel you to give light to things that are not clear enough, will accuse what is ambiguously said, will note down what is to be changed: he will become an Aristarchus; he will not say, "Why should I offend a friend in trifles?" These trifles will lead to serious evils once he has been laughed at and received unfavorably.
§453ut mala quem scabies aut morbus regius urget §454aut fanaticus error et iracunda Diana, §455vesanum tetigisse timent fugiuntque poetam §456qui sapiunt, agitant pueri incautique sequuntur.
As one whom a bad itch or jaundice presses, or a fanatical frenzy and angry Diana, those who are wise fear to touch and flee the mad poet; boys tease him and the incautious follow him.
§457hic, dum sublimis versus ructatur et errat, §458si veluti merulis intentus decidit auceps §459in puteum foveamve, licet 'succurrite' longum §460clamet, 'io cives', non sit qui tollere curet.
This man, while he belches forth lofty verses and wanders, if, like a fowler intent on blackbirds, he falls into a well or a pit, although he may cry out long, "Help," "O citizens," there would be no one who would care to lift him up.
§461si curet quis opem ferre et demittere funem, §462'qui scis, an prudens huc se deiecerit atque §463servari nolit?' dicam siculique poetae §464narrabo interitum.
If anyone should care to bring help and let down a rope, I will say, "How do you know if he has not thrown himself here on purpose, and does not wish to be saved?" and I will tell the death of the Sicilian poet.
"While Empedocles desires to be thought an immortal god, he cold-bloodedly leapt into burning Aetna.
sit ius liceatque perire poetis: §467invitum qui servat, idem facit occidenti.
Let poets have the right and freedom to perish: he who saves a man against his will does the same as one who kills him.
Neither has he done this once, nor, if he is dragged back, will he now become a rational man and put aside his love for a famous death.
§470nec satis adparet, cur versus factitet, utrum §471minxerit in patrios cineres an triste bidental §472moverit incestus: certe furit ac velut ursus, §473obiectos caveae valuit si frangere clatros, §474indoctum doctumque fugat recitator acerbus; §475quem vero arripuit, tenet occiditque legendo, §476non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris, hirudo. '
Nor is it clear enough why he keeps making verses, whether he has urinated on his paternal ashes, or incestuously disturbed a sad bidental: certainly he is mad, and like a bear that has succeeded in breaking the bars of its cage, the harsh reciter puts to flight both the unlearned and the learned; but whomsoever he has caught, he holds and kills by reading, a leech that will not let go of the skin unless full of blood."