The gown (_Toga_) being the common Roman habit, signisies _Comedy;_
and the inwoven purple _(praetexta)_ being appropriated to the higher
orders, refers to Tragedy. _Togatae_ was also used as a general term to
denote all plays, which the habits, manners, and arguments were Roman;
those, of which the customs and subjects were Graecian, like the Comedies
of Terence, were called _Palliatae_.
429.--But you, bright heirs of the Pompilian Blood,
Never the verse approve, &c.
Vos, O Pompilius Sanguis, &c.
The English commentary exhibits a very just and correct analysis of this
portion of the Epistle, but neither here, nor in any other part of it,
observes the earnestness with which the poet, on every new topick,
addresses his discourse _the Pisos;_ a practice, that has not passed
unnoticed by other commentators.
[On this passage De Nores writes thus. _Vos O Pompilius Sanguis!] Per
apostrophen_ sermonem convertit ad pisones, eos admonens, ut sibi
caveant _ab bujusmodi romanorum poetarum errore videtur autem_ eos ad
attentionem excitare _dum ait, Vos O! et quae sequntur._
434.--_Because_ DEMOCRITUS, _&c.] Excludit sanos Helicone poetas
Democritus._
_De Nores_ has a comment on this passage; but the ambiguity of the Latin
relative renders it uncertain, how far the Critick applies particularly
to _the Pisos_, except by the _Apostrophe_ taken notice of in the last
note. His words are these. _Nisi horum_ democriticorum _opinionem
horatius hoc in loco refutasset, frustra de poetica facultate_ in hac
AD PISONES EPISTOLA _praecepta literis tradidisset, cùm arte ipsâ
repudiatâ_, ab his _tantummodo insaniae & furori daretur locus._