Epistularum Q. Horatii Flacci
Liber Primus

Epistula XIX

This epistle, addressed to Maecenas, gives vent to the poet's scorn, on the one hand, of imitators, and on the other, of envious critics. Underneath the expressions of scorn lies a defence of Horace's own writings. The line of connection between the underwarp and the two-threaded woof is found in the implication that his imitating admirers, as well as his critics, suppose him also to be an imitator of the same calibre as themselves; but some of them are angry because he does not seek to conciliate their favor, and so they decry him in public while they admire his works in secret. Hence he attacks the imitators, shows that he is not one of them, and declares his independence of the suffrages of the throng who have no guide in art but the fashion set by the work of the imitators of the day.

   XIX. Prisco si credis, Maecenas docte, Cratino,
nulla placere diu nec vivere carmina possunt,
quae scribuntur aquae potoribus. Ut male sanos
adscripsit Liber Satyris Faunisque poetas,
vina fere dulces oluerunt mane Camenae.
Laudibus arguitur vini vinosus Homerus;
Ennius ipse pater nunquam nisi potus ad arma
prosiluit dicenda. 'Forum Putealque Libonis
mandabo siccis, adimam cantare severis.'
Hoc simul edixi, non cessavere poetae
nocturno certare mero, putere diurno.
Quid si quis vultu torvo ferus et pede nudo
exiguaeque togae simulet textore Catonem,
virtutemne repraesentet moresque Catonis?
Rupit Iarbitam Timagenis aemula lingua,
dum studet urbanus tenditque disertus haberi.
Decipit exemplar vitiis imitabile. Quodsi
pallerem casu, biberent exsangue cuminum.
O imitatores, servum pecus, ut mihi saepe
bilem, saepe iocum vestri movere tumultus!
Libera per vacuum posui vestigia princeps,
non aliena meo pressi pede. Qui sibi fidet,
dux reget examen. Parios ego primus iambos
ostendi Latio, numeros aminosque secutus
Archilochi, non res et agentia verba Lycamben.
Ac ne me foliis ideo brevioribus ornes
quod timui mutare modos et carminis artem,
temperat Archilochi Musam pede mascula Sappho,
temperat Alcaeus, sed rebus et ordine dispar,
nec socerum quaerit quem versibus oblinat atris,
nec sponsae laqueum famoso carmine nectit.
Hunc ego non alio dictum prius ore Latinus
vulgavi fidicen; iuvat immemorata ferentem
ingenuis oculisque legi manibusque teneri.
Scire velis mea cur ingratus opuscula lector
laudet ametque domi, premat extra limen iniquus?
Non ego ventosae plebis suffragia venor
impensis cenarum et tritae munere vestis;
non ego, nobilium scriptorum auditor et ultor,
grammaticas ambire tribus et pulpita dignor.
Hinc illae lacrimae. 'Spissis indigna theatris
scripta pudet recitare et nugis addere pondus'
si dixi, 'Rides,' ait, 'et Iovis auribus ista
servas; fidis enim manare poetica mella
te solum, tibi pulcher.' Ad haec ego naribus uti
formido, et luctantis acuto ne secer ungui,
'Displicet iste locus,' clamo, et diludia posco.
Ludus enim genuit trepidum certamen et iram,
ira truces inimicitias et funebre bellum.