We are now arrived at that portion of the Epistle, which I must confess
I am surprised, that any Commentator ever past, without observing the
peculiar language and conduct of the Poet. There is a kind of awful
affection in his manner, wonderfully calculated to move our feelings and
excite our attention. The Didactick and the Epistolary stile were never
more happily blended. The Poet assumes the air of a father advising his
son, rather than of a teacher instructing his pupils. Many Criticks have
thrown out a cursory observation or two, as it were extorted from them
by the pointed expressions of the Poet: but none of them, that I have
consulted, have attempted to assign any reason, why Horace, having
closed his particular precepts, addresses all the remainder of his
Epistle, on the nature and expediency of Poetical pursuits, to _the
Elder Piso only. I have endeavoured to give the most natural reason for
this conduct; a reason which, if I am not deceived, readers the whole of
the Epistle interesting, as well as clear and consistent; a reason which
I am the more inclined to think substantial, as it confirms in great
measure the system of the Author of the English Commentary, only shewing
_the reflections on the drama in _this Epistle, as well as in the
Epistle to Augustus, to be _incidental_, rather than the _principal
subject_, _and main design_, of the Poet,
_Jason De Nores_, in this instance, as in most others, has paid more
attention to his Author, than the rest of the Commentators. His note is
as follows.
[O major juvenum!] _Per apostrophen _ad majorem natu __ex pisonibus
convertis orationem, reddit rationem quare summum, ac perfectissimum
poema esse debeat utitur autem proaemio quasi quodam ad _benevolentiam
& attentionem _comparandum sumit autem _benevolentiam _à patris & filii
laudibus:_ attentionem_, dum ait, "hoc tibi dictum tolle memor!" quasi
dicat, per asseverationem,_firmum _omninò et _verum.
543.--_Boasts not _MESSALA'S PLEADINGS,_ nor is deem'd _AULUS IN
JURISPRUDENCE._]
The Poet, with great delicacy, throws in a compliment to these
distinguished characters of his time, for their several eminence in
their profession. Messala is more than once mentioned as the friend and
patron of Horace.