§80hunc socci cepere pedem grandesque cothurni, §81alternis aptum sermonibus et popularis §82vincentem strepitus et natum rebus agendis; §83musa dedit fidibus Divos puerosque Deorum §84et pugilem victorem et equum certamine primum §85et iuvenum curas et libera vina referre:
This foot the low comedy slippers and the grand buskins of tragedy adopted, as being suited for alternate dialogue, and overcoming popular clamors, and born for action; The Muse granted to the lyre to celebrate gods and the sons of gods, and the victorious boxer, and the horse first in the race, and the loves of youths, and the free-flowing wine.
If I have neither the strength nor the knowledge to maintain the prescribed parts and colors of works, why am I greeted as a poet?
§88cur nescire pudens prave quam discere malo?
Why do I prefer to remain ignorant through a false shame rather than to learn?
§89versibus exponi tragicis res comica non volt; §90indignatur item privatis ac prope socco §91dignis carminibus narrari cena Thyestae:
A comic subject does not wish to be set forth in tragic verses; likewise the feast of Thyestes disdains to be told in private verses and such as are almost worthy of the comic sock.
§92singula quaeque locum teneant sortita decentem.
Let each particular style keep its own decent place, which it has obtained by lot.
§93interdum tamen et vocem comoedia tollit §94iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore; §95et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri, §96Telephus et Peleus cum pauper et exsul uterque §97proiicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba, §98si curat cor spectantis tetigisse querella.
Yet sometimes even comedy raises its voice, and angry Chremes rails with swollen throat; and the tragic writer often laments in prose-like language, Telephus and Peleus, when both are poor and exiled, cast aside their paint-pots and yard-and-a-half words, if they care to touch the spectator’s heart with their lamentation.
§99non satis est pulchra esse poemata: dulcia sunto §100et quocumque volent animum auditoris agunto.
It is not enough that poems be beautiful; let them be sweet, and let them lead the hearer's mind wherever they wish.
As human faces smile on those who smile, so they weep with those who weep.
si vis me flere, dolendum est §103primum ipsi tibi: tum tua me infortunia laedent, §104Telephe vel Peleu; male si mandata loqueris, §105aut dormitabo aut ridebo.
If you wish me to weep, you must first grieve yourself; then your misfortunes will grieve me, O Telephus or Peleus; if you speak the words assigned you badly, I shall either fall asleep or laugh.
tristia maestum §106voltum verba decent, iratum plena minarum, §107ludentem lasciva, severum seria dictu.
Sad words suit a sorrowful countenance; words full of threats suit an angry one; playful words suit a sportive person, and serious words a grave one.
§108format enim natura prius nos intus ad omnem §109fortunarum habitum: iuvat aut inpellit ad iram §110aut ad humum maerore gravi deducit et angit: §111post effert animi motus interprete lingua.
For nature shapes us first within to every condition of fortune: she delights us, or impels us to anger, or casts us down to the ground and torments us with heavy grief; afterwards she expresses the emotions of the mind with the tongue as interpreter.
If the speaker's words are unsuited to his fortunes, the Roman knights and commons will raise a loud laugh.
§114intererit multum, Davusne loquatur an heros, §115maturusne senex an adhuc florente iuventa §116fervidus, et matrona potens an sedula nutrix, §117mercatorne vagus cultorne virentis agelli, §118Colchus an Assyrius, Thebis nutritus, an Argis.
It will make a great difference whether Davus speaks or a hero, a ripe old man, or one still warm with the flower of youth, and a powerful matron, or a busy nurse, a wandering merchant, or the tiller of a green field, a Colchian, or an Assyrian; one bred at Thebes, or at Argos.
Either follow tradition, or invent things that are consistent with themselves, writer.
honoratum si forte reponis Achillem, §121inpiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer §122iura neget sibi nata, nihil non adroget armis.
If by chance you represent the honored Achilles, let him be active, wrathful, inexorable, keen; let him deny that laws were made for him, let him arrogate everything to arms.
Let Medea be fierce and unconquered, Ino tearful, Ixion perfidious, Io wandering, Orestes sad.
§125si quid inexpertum scaenae conmittis et audes §126personam formare novam, servetur ad imum, §127qualis ab incepto processerit, et sibi constet.
If you commit anything untried to the stage, and dare to form a new character, let it be preserved to the end just as it started from the beginning, and let it be consistent with itself.
§128difficile est proprie communia dicere, tuque §129rectius Iliacum carmen deducis in actus §130quam si proferres ignota indictaque primus:
It is difficult to speak of common subjects in a peculiar way; and you more rightly reduce the Iliad into acts, than if you were the first to bring forward things unknown and untold.
§131publica materies privati iuris erit, si §132non circa vilem patulumque moraberis orbem §133nec verbo verbum curabis reddere fidus §134interpres nec desilies imitator in artum, §135unde pedem proferre pudor vetet aut operis lex, §136nec sic incipies, ut scriptor cyclicus olim: §137'fortunam Priami cantabo et nobile bellum. ' §138quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu?
Public material will become private property, if you do not linger around a cheap and open circle, nor trouble to render word for word as a faithful translator; nor as an imitator leap down into a narrow place, whence shame or the law of the work forbids you to advance your foot, nor should you begin as the cyclic writer did of old: 'I will sing of Priam's fate and the famous war.' What will this promiser bring forward worthy of so great a gap?
§139parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.
The mountains will be in labor, and a ridiculous mouse will be born.
§140quanto rectius hic, qui nil molitur inepte: §141'dic mihi, Musa, virum, captae post tempora Troiae §142qui mores hominum multorum vidit et urbes. ' §143non fumum ex fulgore, sed ex fumo dare lucem §144cogitat, ut speciosa dehinc miracula promat, §145Antiphaten, Scyllamque, et cum Cyclope Charybdim; §146nec reditum Diomedis ab interitu Meleagri §147nec gemino bellum Troianum orditur ab ovo: §148semper ad eventum festinat et in medias res §149non secus ac notas auditorem rapit et quae §150desperat tractata nitescere posse relinquit §151atque ita mentitur, sic veris falsa remiscet, §152primo ne medium, medio ne discrepet imum.
How much more rightly does he act, who attempts nothing ineptly: 'Tell me, Muse, of the man who, after the time of captured Troy,' 'saw the manners and cities of many men.' He does not think of producing smoke from flash, but light from smoke, so that he may then bring forth striking wonders, Antiphates, and Scylla, and Charybdis with the Cyclops; nor does he begin Diomedes’ return from the death of Meleager, nor the Trojan war from the twin egg; he always hastens to the issue, and hurries the hearer into the midst of things, just as if they were known; and what he despairs of being able to make shine if handled, he leaves; and so feigns, so mixes false with true, that the middle does not mismatch with the beginning, nor the end with the middle.
§153tu, quid ego et populus mecum desideret, audi, §154si plausoris eges aulaea manentis et usque §155sessuri, donec cantor 'vos plaudite' dicat. §156aetatis cuiusque notandi sunt tibi mores, §157mobilibusque decor naturis dandus et annis.
Hear what I, and the public with me, desire, if you want an applauder who will wait for the curtain, and sit on until the actor says 'Applaud, all of you.' You must observe the manners of every age, and a fitting grace must be given to shifting natures and years.
§158reddere qui voces iam scit puer et pede certo
The boy who already knows how to return words, and with a steady foot