temper,

was astonish'd at the man. And, for all the Democracy, no less bold was he with his Sovereign, Legislativepeople: Representing (k)them,taking Bribes, felling their Votes, bought off; Nay, the whole Houfe led away for (1)a Dish of Sprats, or penny-worth of Coriander.

-..--. ως βολήν όλην

ἐβολέ κοριάννοις ἀναλαβὼν ἐλήλυθα. He tells 'em as the practice amongst them) that the Government had no occafion for men of wit or honefty. The most ignorant, the most impudent, and the greatest Rogue ftood fairest always for a Place, and the best qualified to be their chief Minifter. He tells them, nothing fhall fright him; Truth and Honesty are on his fide; he has the heart of Hercules, will speak what is juft and generous, tho Cerberus, and all the kennel of Hell-hounds were loo'd upon him.

But then his Address was admirable: He would make the Truth visible and palpable, and every way fenfible to them. The A and the Application; his ftrange Fetches, his lucky Starts; his odd Inventions, the wild Turns, Returns, and Counter-turns were never match'd, nor are ever to be reached again.

(k) Ariftoph. equites.

(1) Περὶ ἀφύων. C 4

Who

Who follow'd him in Comedy were content to trifle with the Punks, the Pandars, the Ruffian, the old Chuff, the Davus or Knave of the Family, and his young Mafter.

Amongst the Moderns, our Rehearsal is some resemblance of his Frogs: The Vertu ofo's Character, and Ben Johnson's Alchymift give some fhadow of his Clouds; but nowhere, peradventure wanders so much of his Spirit, as in the French Rabelais.

We may truft Horace for the fence of the Latins, at the time when they were best able to judge. Then they reckon'd, as the Greeks had done, that the End of Poetry was as well to be profitable, as to be pleasant.

----Simul & jucunda, & idonea dicere Vita. But what their practice, or how they improv'd the drama, we fee not. They tell of an Oedipus, written by Julius Cefar; an Alemaon, by Catullus; a Thyeftes by Grac bus; an Adraftus, and an Aiax by Augu Jus Cafar; an Afyonax, by Rutilius; a Medea by Mecanas; a Medea by Ovid: with Seneca's Medea too. The Names of these feveral Tragedies import, that thole great men were content to tranflate from the Greek, no farther then had their ambition carried them, Horace fays, indeed,

Non

Non minimum meruere decus veftigia Gra:a. Aufi deferere, & Celebrare domeftica facta.

We find the name of Octavia by Mecanas ; and Diomedes Inftances in the Brutus, the Decius, and the Marcellus, for Fables of the Roman Garb; but we know no farther of them, what fuccefs they had, nor how nobly they perform'd what they had fo boldly undertaken, in writing alone, without a Greek Copy before 'em. It seems but a faint Commendation (the Non minimum) that Horace gives them.

The Romans were a rougher fort of People; and wonderful jealous were they of the Grecian Arts, or of any Commerce with a Politer Nation. Till Numa Pompelius, very little had they of either Religion or Poetry amongst them. Nor made he ufe of it farther, than for the Hymns, and Anthems at the Altars and Sacrifice: Secular Poetry had they none. And indeed at that time it was hardly fafe for Poetry to ftir from Sanctuary; for in the world, the rigid Fathers had given the Poets an ugly name, calling them Graffatores; which in Modern Italian may be rendred Bandiți.

It was with much ado, and under an Ufurpation by the Decemvirat, that they ftooped to a correspondence with Greece, for

the

the commodity of their Laws; which were not till then imported; and from thence we hear of the Twelve Tables.

For the (m) Stage-Plays: It was a Plague that first introduced them. They try, by that ftrange Worship, to appease their Gods; and avert the Judgment fo heavy on them. But their first Secular Plays were taught by Livins Andronicus, fome 200 years after the Twelve Tables at Rome. He fet up for fone skill in this Dramatick way, Tranflating from the Greek.

Nor did Plautus that followed him attempt any farther, than to Translate: yet carried he the Drama beyond what any Roman fince could pretend to. He Translates indeed, but with that spirit and mastery, one might take him for an Original; did we not always find the Scene at Athens ; and all the pother is fome little jilting story, or knavish pranck: Propofing only fome trifling filly Mirth or Paftime.

He had not the courage to trace Ariftophanes, He had not an Heart of Hercules, to combat Vice. Perhaps in his time, they had not yet learn'd to make their Doctrine profitable; for he commends one for a rarity. Hujufmodi paucas poeta reperiunt Comedias Ubi boni Meliores fiant.

After all the goodly commendations and

(m) Livy. 1. 7.

pretty

pretty things, by Quintilian (n) acknowledged due to Plautus, and Terence, frankly he concludes, in Comedia maxime Clandicamus ·vix levem Confequimur umbram ; That the Roman is infinitely (hort of the Greek Comedy, hardly comes up to the shadow of it. Horace would fain with fome colour, () make good the Comparifon betwixt the Romans and the Greeks; on that Topick, to Aatter Auguftus. But Virgil, with no dif advantage to his Compliment, gave up the Cause.

Excudent alii

Turegere imperio populos, Romane,memento.

He tibi erunt Artes

Let them have all the praises due to their polite Learning: To govern and to give Laws, be these thy Arts, O Cæfar! this is thy glory without a Rival.

On other occafions Horace declares his mind freely enough.

Terence complains heavily that he could not keep his Audience together: One while they ran after the Gladiators, another time the Blockheads would be gaping at a RopeDancer.

--Rumor venit datum iri gladiatores---neque spectari, neque cognofci potuerit, (n) l. 6. (0) Epift.

Ita