Thus can lust of gold controul,
Tho' the Heart urge a wiser choice,
By force of habit lord it o'er the Soul,
And stifle e'en Conviction's powerful voice.
See, with sighs the Miser yield
The promis'd joys of wood, and field;
Against experienc'd disappointment, try
With Gold to purchase _that_, which Gold can never buy!
1: The Reader will remember, that in the course of these Paraphrases
the design has been _avowed_ of stretching the pictures of Horace
upon a _wider_ canvass, of filling up what are so often mere
outlines. If learned eyes ever glance over this Ode, it is hoped they
will not _frown_ upon the many circumstances and reflections which
have been _added_, upon a presumption, induced by the pleasing nature
of the subject, since the Roman customs and manners are preserved
with fidelity. Those customs and manners, resulting from their
festal, gay, and picturesque Religion, cannot surely be presented
without proving interesting. Yet, to _create_ this interest,
_stronger_ and more _circumstantial_ description seems required than
can be found in Horace, if the Paraphraser may be allowed to judge of
the poetic feelings of others by her own. It was doubtless sufficient
for his contemporary Readers, and for those of some succeeding
Generations, that he slightly alluded to events and ceremonies, which
were familiar to _their_ recollection. In _our_ day more precision is
demanded, at least by those who have poetic taste without knowledge
of the dead languages, or intimacy with the national and domestic
customs of that Time, and of that People. Also, to strengthen this
necessary interest in the mind of the Reader, it must be eligible to
infuse a more liberal portion of those sentiments and ideas, which
speak to the Heart in _every_ Age, and in every Climate.
To _Scholars_ the fascinating music of the Latin tones and measures,
and the elegance with which Horace knew to select, and to regulate
them, recompense the obscurity which is so frequent in his allusions,
and in the violence of his transitions from one subject to another,
between which the line of connexion is with difficulty traced. What
is called a _faithful_ translation of these Odes cannot, therefore,
be interesting to _unlearned_ Lovers of Verse, how alive soever they
may be to _poetic beauty_.--A literal translation in the plainest
prose, will always shew the precise quantity of real poetic matter,
contained in _any_ Production, independent of the music of its
intonation, and numbers, and the elegance of its style.--The prose
translations of Horace' Odes evince that their merit does not consist
in the _plenitude_ of poetic matter, or essence, constituted by
circumstances of startling interest, by exalted sentiment,
impassioned complaint, or appeal, distinct and living imagery, happy
apposite allusion, and sublime metaphor; but in certain elegant
verbal felicities and general charm of style, produced by the force
and sweetness of the Latin Language, subservient to the fine ear, the
lively and exquisite taste of Horace. These are the graces which we
find so apt to _evaporate_ in Translation, while genuine POETIC
MATTER, as defined above, is capable of being transfused into any
other Language without losing a _particle_ of its excellence,
provided the Chemist, who undertakes the operation, has genius and
skill. The more this POETIC MATTER in an Author abounds, the more
close and faithful a Translator, who has judgment, may venture to
render his version--but to transfuse merely _verbal_ felicities into
another Language is an attempt scarcely less fruitless than to clasp
the Rainbow. A kindred _nothingness_, as to poetic _value_, ensues.
There _is_, however, a considerable, though not _abounding_ quantity
of poetic matter, or essence in Horace; but it bears no proportion to
the profusion of those evanescent glories, which will not bear the
grasp of another Language. To give that essence in increased
quantity, and in the freedom of unimitative numbers, is attempted in
this selection. Dryden and Pope translated upon that plan, and hence
their Paraphrases have the spirit of original Poems.
Ere this note closes, its Author desires to observe, that Painters
cannot take a striking likeness of a face, in which there is no
_predominant_ feature, and the Poet can only make his image, or
description, distinct, animated, and forcible, by bringing forward
some characteristic trait of the object he is presenting.
When Horace says in this Ode, “How pleasing is it to see the well-fed
sheep hastening home,” the observation is not _picturesque_, and
therefore does not strongly impress the Imagination; but when he
adds--“to see the _weary Oxen dragging, with languid neck, the
inverted Ploughshare_,” he gives perhaps the most poetic feature in
this Ode. Had he only said, “to see the Oxen returning from their
labor,” his Oxen had been as much without character as his Sheep, and
the sentence must have passed unimpressive over the mind of the
Reader. It is the words--_dragging, with languid_ neck, the inverted
ploughshare, that makes the sentence _Poetry_, and empowers it to
arrest and charm the fancy. Had Horace always written thus,
undeviating fidelity had been the best aim of his Translator, and the
sure way of rendering him delightful in every Language.
2: Dacier observes that Vines supported on the _highest_ Trees
produce Wines of the most exquisite flavor.
3: The feast of Terminus, one of the rural Gods, was held on the
first of February, at which time, in those warm climates, the spring
is very forward.
4: The Romans fancied that the struggle and terror of a kid on being
seized by the Wolf, made its flesh more tender.
5: _Ides_, the middle of a month.
6: _Calends_, the beginning of the next month.