Horace - Epistle to the Pisos, ''Ars Poetica'' [Kilpatrick]

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73 I Translat ions: To the Pisos

worthy of your father) , are taken in by what appear to be correct princi-

ples. I strive for brevity only to become obscure; I pursue smoothness

but nerve and spirit fail me. Aiming at grandeur, you become turgid;

over-cautious and fearful of the storm, you creep along the ground. One

who lavishes variety on a single subject paints a dolphin in the woods or

a boar in the waves. In avoiding blame you produce a flaw, if ars is lack-

ing. Down near the school of Aemilius, one workman wi l l mould fin-

gernails and represent the softest hair, both in bronze. But the sum total

is unhappy, since he won' t ever kno w how to lay out his entire wo rk . As

fo r me, if I wanted to compose something I wo u ld no more des i re to be

t ha t m an than go t h rough life with a c rooked nose— though I m igh t a t-

t ract glances with my black eyes and hair

(38) W he n you wri te , choose mater ial to match your s t rengths, and

long consider what your shoulders re fuse to bear and what they wil l .

T he wr i te r w ho selects according to his abilities will lack neither style

nor a c lear a r rangement . T he vir tue and charm o f a r rangement wi l l bef ound , i f I 'm not mistaken, here: in saying r ight now what ought to be

said r ight now, and defe r r ing the rest fo r later . In weaving words to -

gether be spar ing a nd careful . Let the a u t h o r o f a p rom ised poem favour

o ne app roach , and scorn ano ther . Y o u wil l have spok en in an u nc o m m o n

way if a clever collocation rende rs a fam il iar word new. Should it be nec-

essary to exp lain ob scure m at ters in f resh terms (and give shape to mat-

t e r s unhea rd of by the loinclad Cethegi ), such licence is available, andwill be given if exercised with rest raint . New and recently fashioned

words will gain acceptance if they tum ble f r o m the wel l -spr ing o f Greek

by judicious diversion. But why will a Roman grant Caeci l ius and

Plautus w hat he den ies to Vergil and Varius? W hy is it I am begrudged

the few w o r d s I can garner , wh en th e tongue o f Cato, and of Ennius , h as

enriched o ur native speech and endowed it with new n a m e s fo r things? I t

has always been permissible and always wil l be, to produce a words tamped with today's date.

(60) Just as woods change their leaves in the tfullnesst of the years ,

falling one by one. . . so per ish words with age, af ter f lour i sh ing and

thriving when newly born, l ike youths. We ourselves, and our works ,

are debts owed to death. Whether Neptune protects the fleets in the

land 's embrace f rom the Nor th Winds, a tkinglyt task, or the tmarsht,

long-unproductive and suitable fo r oars, sustains cities nearby and feels



7 4 I T H E P O E T R Y O F CRITICISM

the weight of a plough, or the stream (now taught a better course) has

changed a course threatening crops, such things made by mortal men

shall perish. Much less likely is it that the esteem and favour granted to

modes of speech could live and endure (69). Many terms shall grow back

which no w have fallen away, and those no w held in esteem shall fall , if

our poetic practice so approves. Such is the criterion by which the judge-

ment, rules, and standards for speech expression are to be discovered.

(73) T he metre fo r handling the exploits o f captains and kings and

grim wars has been shown by Homer. Lamentation was the first to be

couched in verses unequally linked, then afterward th e expression o fprayer as well. But as for who originated the slender elegy, well, the

critics are debating this and the case is awaiting their judgement. Rage

armed Archilochus with h is characteristic iambus, the foot which comic

socks and grand tragic buskins seized upon as suited to argument and the

suppression of popular clamour. It was born to represent action. The

Muse assigned the gods and sons of gods to the lyre, along with the vic-

torious boxer, winning race-horse, youthful longings and wine's liberat-ing power. If in producing my works I cannot observe (and don't know)

the required genres and styles, why am I hailed as "Poet?" W hy p re fe r

wanton ignorance to learning?

(87) Comic material resists presentation in tragic verse. Likewise the

"Feast o f Thyestes" resents poetry that is conversational and worthy a l-

most of the comic sock. Let each discrete detail keep th e place allotted.

From time to time, though, comedy does raise its voice too, as Chremesdelivers accusations with h is swollen mouth. A tragic actor f r equent ly

grieves in plain discourse; Telephus and Peleus, both poor and exiled,

cast aside bombast and foot-and-a-half words if concerned to touch the

heart of the spectator effectively with their lamentation.

(99) It is not enough that poetry be noble: it should impart delight,

and transport the listener as it likes. As people's faces respond with

laughter to those who laugh, so do they cry in response to those who

cry. If you want me to cry, yo u must first cry yourself. Then, Telephus

(o r you, Peleus), will your misfortunes make m e suf fe r . If you speak

your assigned parts badly I shall either nod o r laugh. Grim words are a p-

propriate to a gloomy countenance; words full of threat, to the angry;

wanton, to the playful ; serious in delivery, to the severe. First, yo u see,

Nature shapes us within fo r every aspect o f life's fortunes. She gives us



75 I Translations: To the Pisos

pleasure, or drives us to wrath, or brings us to earth with the profound

anguish of grief. Afterwards she brings out the heart's emotions with

the tongue as their interpreter. If a speaker's words are not consonant

with his fortunes, the people (both horse and foot) will burst out laugh-

ing

(114) It will make a lot of difference whether a god is speaking o r a

hero; a mature o ld m an o r one still in flower o f youth; a strong-minded

dame o r a busy nurse, a far-t ravelled merchant o r a cultivator o f a green

f a r m , a Colchian or Assyrian, or someone reared at Thebes or Argos.

(119) Either follow a legend when writing, or make up details con-

sistent with themselves. If, say, you are putting the tillustrioust

Achilles back on stage, let him be unyielding, wra th fu l , inexorable,

savage; have him say that by nature laws are not for him, never failing

to appeal to a judgement of arms. Medea should be fierce and invincible,

Ino tearful , Ixion faithless, lo wandery, Orestes grim. If you are putting

something untried on stage, and trying to shape a new character, let him

be the same f rom the beginning to the last detail, just as he was when he

entered, and remain true to himself. (127) It is hard to make unique

poetry out of the commonplace; you do better if you spin out a canto o f

the Iliad into episodes than be the first to present something unfami l i a r

and unworked.

(131) Public domain will become private right if you don't dally on

the trivial and broad track, faithfully rendering word for word like a

translator, leaping in your imitation into some narrow hole f rom whichpropriety or the law of the genre forbids yo u even to budge. Yo u don't

begin this way (as a cyclic writer once did): "Priam's fortune shall I sing,

and a war f a r - f am ed . " What will he produce by promising something

worthy of so great an utterance? T he mountains shall l abour— a ridicu-

lous mouse come f o r th Ho w much better did he begin w ho constructed

nothing ineptly: "Tell me, O Muse, of the man who af ter the time of

Troy's capture saw the manners of many men as well as their cities."His plan is not to give out smoke f rom the flash but light f r om the

smoke, to produce striking tales o f wonder f rom it : Antiphates, and

Scylla and Charbydis along with the Cyclops He doesn't begin "The

Return of Diomede" with the death of Meleager, or "The Trojan War"

with the twin egg He is ever rushing towards the issue, carrying the

listener into the midst o f events as if they were known to him. He leaves




out what he despairs of handling with brilliance, telling his lies and

mixing the true with the false in such a w a y that the middle harmonizes

with the beginning, and the end with the middle.

(153) Listen to what I long fo r (and the public along with me), if yo u

wish someone to stay in the hall to applaud, sitting till that moment

when the piper says: "Applause, please " Y o u have to observe the char-

acteristics o f each age, and attribute proper behaviour to impulsive na-

tures and years. T he boy who now knows how to respond in words and

press the earth with steady foot loves to play with his mates; he gathers

his rage only to lay it aside again, and changes by the hour. T he beard-

less youth, free f rom watchfu l eye a t last, rejoices in horses and hounds

and the sunny campus turf. He can be shaped to vice like wax; caustic

with those w ho give him advice, slow to look ahead to fu tu re advantage,

wasteful o f money, high-spirited, passionate in his desires, and quick to

abandon his fancies. When his pursuits change, the age and spirit o f

manhood seeks out wealth and friendships, pays service to honour, and

is wary o f doing what h e m a y soon strive to change. Many handicapsswarm around an old man, whether he is seeking gain (but wretched

even when he finds what he wants, for he shuns it and is afraid to enjoy

it) or managing all his affai rs with numbing f ea r—a tputter-off o f

hope,t tedious, helpless, fea r fu l of the fu ture , difficult, complaining,

praising the good o ld days when he was a lad, correcting a nd censuring

the young. The years bring many blessings with them as they come, and

bear many away as they go. So don't let the part of an o ld man be as-signed to a youth, and that of a man to a boy. A character will always

dwell upon what is inseparable f ro m , and suited to, his age.

(179) Action either takes place on stage or is narrated afterward.

Those actions that reach us via the ear strike the mind less forceful ly

than what comes before o ur trusty eyes and what the spectator conveys

to himself. But actions which ought to be performed off stage you must

no t bring o n stage, and many you'll remove f r o m view so that the ful l

force o f eloquence m ay relate them. Medea is not to slay her boys in

public, nor the wicked Atreus cook human entrails in full view, no r

Procne turn into a bird or Cadmus into a snake Whatever you show me

thus I view with disbelief and revulsion. (189) A play that really seeks to

be in demand and then, once seen, revived, is not to b e shorter o r more

extended than five acts. And a god is not to intervene unless a knot be






sions, Pisos. Nor will I so strive to avoid a tragic tone that it makes no

difference whether Davus is speaking o r bold Pythias (having bilked a

talent out of the sharp-scented Simo) o r Silenus, the guardian and per-

sonal servant of his divine charge. M y object will be poetry so fashioned

f r om the famil iar that anyone m ay hope to achieve the same fo r

himse l f—and in vain attempt waste much sweat and labour This shows

how important are poetic texture and combination, and how much hon-

o ur accrues to material drawn f r om the common store. When Fauns a re

brought out f rom the woods they should, in my view, avoid acting as if

born at some crossroads, regular denizens of the forum, or forever play-ing some adolescent part with vapid verses, or babbling in filthy and ig-

nominious speech. For some people take offence at it (those with steed,

ancestry and property). If some individual buying shelled peas and nuts

expresses approval o f a work, they don't jus t suf fer it gladly and give it

the crown

(251) A long syllable following closely upon a short is called an

iambus, a rapid foot; hence it s name w as also extended to iambictrimeters, though tfor not that long a time.t It had been producing six

pulses, each first to last like itself. To bring itself a little more slowly and

sedately to the ear it admitted a steadying spondee with obliging

tolerance to its adoptive rights, but not to the point of yielding the sec-

ond and fourth place in the partnership. This foot rarely appears even in

Accius' noble trimeters; and the verses o f Ennius, when put ponderously

upon the stage, are condemned on the serious charge of either too muchhasty and careless work, or an ignorance o f craft .

(263) N o t every critic sees faul ty rhythm in poetry, and favour has

been given undeservedly to poets who a r e Roman. A m I therefore to

hive o ff and write as I please? Or suppose that everyone will see m y mis-

takes, but still be less watchful and cautious because they will (I hope)

make allowances? In short, while avoiding censure, I earn no praise. You

must unroll Greek originals in your

hand night and

day. (You say your

forebears praised Plautine metres and wit? They admired both with an

excess o f tolerance, not to say foolishness, if you and I know how to sep-

arate coarseness f rom refinement in speech, and our fingers and ears a re

trained in the laws o f sound )

(275) They say the unknown genre o f the tragic Muse w as discovered

by Thespis, who wheeled his poems about on wagons for men to sing

and act, their faces well stained with lees. After him, as inventor of the



79 I Translations: To the Pisos

m a s k and the noble robe, Aeschylus laid out a stage with modest-sized

beams, producing plays which resounded grandly and strode on the bus-

kin. Old Comedy succeeded that, meeting with much approval. But ex-

cessive freedom led to abuse and a degree of violence that deserved to be

curbed by law. The law was enforced, and the chorus fell basely silent,

its right to injure removed.

(285) Our poets have left nothing untried, and not the least glory is

due to those with the courage to abandon the Greeks' footsteps and cele-

brate things done at home, or produce either praetextae or togatae Nor

would Latium have greater might in virtue's field or arms' renown than

with its tongue, if all our poets were not repelled by labour and patience

with the file. As for you, O offspr ing of Pompilian blood, rebuke the

poem not disciplined through many a day and many an erasure, and not

trimmed off and ten times smoothed to the nail

(295) Democritus believed that talent is a more fo r tuna te thing than

base craftsmanship, and because he excluded the "sane" f r om Helicon, a

good part of our poets ignore fingernails and beard, heading for secrethaunts and avoiding the baths. It seems that the prize and the name of

"poet" will be gained by the one who does not entrust his head (three

Anticyras full o f hellebore could n o t cure it ) to Licinus the barber. (O h

ho w gauche am I then, purging my bile just before the spring season

N o one else could have made better poetry—but it's not worth all that )

My function shall be that of a whetstone, therefore, able to render iron

sharp, while not endowed itself for cutting. Though not engaged in writ-ing myself, I shall teach its function and obligations; where its stores are

secured, what fosters and shapes the poet; what is appropriate f o r him,

w ha t is not; where excellence takes him, where error.

(309) Correct writing finds its beginning and source in discernment.

Socratic scrolls can show you your subject matter, and when that has

been planned ahead, the words will follow without reluctance. The per-

son who has learned what he owes to country and friends—what regardhe should have for parent, brother, and guest, what a senator's duty is

and a judge's, th e role o f a general sent into battle—certainly knows

how to assign the appropriate qualities to each character. When he's

trained in imitation I'll advise him to examine a pattern o f life and

mores, and draw living voices f rom this. From time to time a piece which

has splendid maxims and a fine moral tone, even though lacking charm

and without weight and craftsmanship, will give more pleasure and in-



8 o I T H E P O E T R Y O F CRITICISM

terest to people th an verses devoid o f substan ce, and m usical trifles. T o

the Greeks the Muse gave talent and a full- throated utterance. (The

Greeks are a people greedy for nothing if not praise.) Roman chi ldren

learn to divide a copper into a hundred par ts with lengthy calculat ions:

"Albinus M inor Take one- twel f th f r om f ive- twe l f ths W hat 's the d i f -

ference?—"One third."—"Tres bien Yo u'l l know how to preserve

your capital. N o w ad d one- twelf th. What's the answer?"—"One ha l f "

W hen such corroding concern for pr ivate ho ard has s tained their hear ts ,

can there be any hope of our f ash ioning poem s w orth dressing with

cedar oil and storing in smooth cypress?

(333) Poets wish either to benef i t or delight, or else say things at once

pleasant and suited to life. Whatever your precepts , b e br ief , so tha t

people 's m inds m ay grasp w hat yo u say quickly and easily and retain it

faithfully. All excess overflows from a mind that's full. Things f a sh -

ioned to give pleasure should be very close to reality. A story should not

demand belief in ab solutely a nything, o r d raw a live boy out of a Lam ia 's

belly a f t e r lunch Our divisions o f elder ci t izens condemn anythingdevoid o f "profit"; the disdainful Ramnes pass rough poet ry by. M in-

gling the "useful" with the "sweet" wins every point, by alike delight-

ing and advising the reader. T hat is a book w or th i ts price at the shop of

the Sosii; there is the one to cross the sea too, and great ly prolong the

life of its author's f ame .

(347) Some offences, though, we are willing to forgive. For instance,

a s t r ing does not render the so und wanted b y ha nd and bra in [and wh enyou dem and a f lat i t qui te f re qu ent ly gives a sharp]; nor will the bo w al-

ways str ike the target it points at. But when the bright places in a poem

are more numerous I am not one to be of fended by a few blem ishes that

carelessness has let in or human nature failed to avoid. What am I get-

ting a t? Just a s a cop yist is no t to b e excused if he pers i s ten tly m akes the

same m is take in spite o f being wa rned, and a lyrist is laughed to scorn if

he makes a series of blunders on the same string, so, in my view, onew ho fails bad ly becomes a "Choerilus." I greet his one or two nice

touches with laughter and as t on i shmen t Yet I am the very o ne to resent

i t whenever good Homer nods. The fact remains, sleep is ordained to

steal over a long work.

(361) A poem is l ike a picture. One will captivate you if you s tand

closer, one i f you s tand fur the r away. This o ne f avour s shadow; tha t o ne



8i I Translations: To the Pisos

will want to be seen in daylight if it is not to dread the edge of a critic's

tongue. This one pleased just once, this one will a f te r ten visits.

(365 ?) O elder youth, though bred to the true by your father's words

and possessing a natural sense of discernment, take hold of what I say to

you here and remember it. An average and an adequate quality is rightly

allowed in certain things. T he average barrister and attorney is far re-

moved f rom th e force o f Messalla's eloquence and lacks the knowledge of

Cascellius Au lus—but he does have his value, nonetheless. That poets

should ever be "average" is not a concession allowed by man, gods, or

the stalls. As an out-of-tune orchestra, and gooey unguent, and poppy

seed with Sardinian honey spoil the pleasure of banquet tables (the din-

ner could have gone on without them), so a poem, created and revealed

to give o ur hearts delight, approaches the worst if it falls short of the

best.

(379) A man who does not know how to compete stays clear of

athletic gear, and if he has no training in ball, discus and hoop, stays on

the sidelines, so the encircling crowd won't be entitled to break out

laughing. Yet one who doesn't have the knowledge still has the audacity

to fashion verses (So what? you say? He is f ree—and f ree -born—and

most o f all, given equestrian rank by his cash. A nd he's fa r removed

f r o m every vice )

(385) Don't utter or fashion anything over Minerva's objections.

There's a criterion. There's an attitude of mind. But if you do writesomething, let it find th e ears o f Maecius to be judged, and your fa-

ther's, and mine. A nd keep it shut up for nine years right inside its

parchment wrapper. What you haven't published may be destroyed: the

uttered word is beyond recall

(391) Woodland folk were frightened away f r om their slaughtered

fa re by Orpheus, a holy man and a prophet o f the gods. Hence h is repu-

tation for taming tigers and furious lions. So too was Amphion, founderof th e city o f Thebes, described as moving rocks by the sound of his

tortoise and the charm of his entreaty, leading them wherever he

wished. Once upon a time such things as these were counted for discern-

ment: distinguishing public f rom private, sacred f rom profane; restrain-

in g promiscuity, giving rules fo r marriage, building towns, carving laws

o n wood. Honour and renown came thus to inspired bards and their





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Horace - Epistle to the Pisos, ''Ars Poetica'' [Kilpatrick]

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