It may not be disagreeable to the reader to see what two poets of our
own country have said on this subject.
--foul descriptions are offensive still,
either for being _like,_ or being _ill._
For who, without a qualm, hath ever look'd
on holy garbage, tho' by Homer cook'd?
Whose railing heroes, and whose wounded Gods,
make some suspect he snores, as well as nods.
But I offend--Virgil begins to frown,
And Horace looks with indignation down:
My blushing Muse with conscious fear retires,
and whom they like, implicitly admires.
--Roscommon's _Essay on Translated Verse._
A prudent chief not always must display
Her pow'rs in equal ranks, and fair array:
But with th' occasion and the place comply,
Conceal his force, nay seem sometimes to fly.
Those oft are stratagems, which errors seem,
Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream.
POPE'S _Essay on Criticism._