Nor so begin, as did that circler late,
I sing a noble war, and Priam's fate.
What doth this promiser such gaping worth
Afford? The mountains travail'd, and brought
A scorned mouse! O, how much better his,
Who nought assays unaptly, or amiss?
Speak to me, muse, the man, who after Troy was
sack'd,
Saw many towns and men, and could their man
He thinks not how to give you smoke from light,
But light from smoke, that he may draw his bright
Wonders forth after: as Antiphates,
Scylla, Charybdis, Polypheme, with these.
Nor from the brand, with which the life did burn
Of Meleager, brings he the return
Of Diomede; nor Troy's sad war begins.
From the two eggs that did disclose the twins.
He ever hastens to the end, and so
(As if he knew it) raps his hearer to
The middle of his matter; letting go
What he despairs, being handled, might not show:
And so well feigns, so mixeth cunningly
Falsehood with truth, as no man can espy
Where the midst differs from the first; or where
The last doth from the midst disjoin'd appear.
Hear what it is the people and I desire:
If such a one's applause thou dost require,
That tarries till the hangings be ta'en down,
And sits till th' epilogue says Clap, or crown:
The customs of each age thou must observe,
And give their years and natures, as they swerve,
Fit rights. The child, that now knows how to say,
And can tread firm, longs with like lads to play;
Soon angry, and soon pleas'd, is sweet, or sour,
He knows not why, and changeth every hour.
Imberbis juvenis tandem custode remoto, Gaudet equis canibusque, et aprici gramine campi, Cereus in vitium flecti, monitoribus asper, Utilium tardus provisor, prodigus æris, Sublimis, cupidusque, et amata relinquere pernix. Conversis studiis, ætas, animusque virilis Quærit opes, et amicitias: inservit honori : Commisisse cavet, quod mox mutare laboret. Multa senem circumveniunt incommoda, vel quòd Quærit, et inventis miser abstinet, ac timet uti : Vel quòd res omnes timide gelideque ministrat ; Dilator, spe longus, iners, avidusque futuri, Difficilis, querulus, laudator temporis acti Se puero: censor, castigatorque minorum. Multa ferunt anni venientes commoda secum ; Multa recedentes adimunt, ne fortè seniles Mandentur juveni partes, pueroque viriles, Semper in adjunctis, ævoque morabimur aptis.
Aut agitur res in scenis, aut acta refertur, Segniùs irritant animos demissa per aurem, Quàm quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus, et quæ Ipse sibi tradit spectator. Non tamen intus Digna geri, promes in scenam: multaque tolles Ex oculis, quæ mox narret facundia præsens.
Th 'unbearded youth, his guardian once being
Loves dogs and horses; and is ever one
I' the open field; is wax-like to be wrought
To every vice, as hardly to be brought
To endure counsel: a provider slow
For his own good, a careless letter-go
Of money, haughty, to desire soon mov'd,
And then as swift to leave what he hath lov'd.
These studies alter now, in one grown man;
His better'd mind seeks wealth and friendship;
than
Looks after honours, and bewares to act
What straightway he must labour to retract.
The old man many evils do girt round;
Either because he seeks, and, having found,
Doth wretchedly the use of things forbear,
Or does all business coldly, and with fear;
A great deferrer, long in hope, grown numb
With sloth, yet greedy still of what's to come:
Froward, complaining, a commender glad
Of the times past, when he was a young lad ;
And still correcting youth, and censuring.
Man's coming years much good with them do
bring:
As his departing take much thence, lest then
The parts of age to youth be given, or men
To children; we must always dwell, and stay
In fitting proper adjuncts to each day.
The business either on the stage is done,
Or acted told. But ever things that run
In at the ear, do stir the mind more slow
Than those the faithful eyes take in by show,
And the beholder to himself doth render.
Yet to the stage at all thou may'st not tender
Things worthy to be done within, but take
Much from the sight, which fair report will make
Nec pueros coram populo Medea trucidet;
Aut humana palàm coquat exta nefarius Atreus;
Aut in avem Progne vertatur, Cadmus in anguem.
Quodcunque ostendis mihi sic, incredulus odi.
Neve minor, quinto, neu sit productior actu
Fabula, qua posci vult, et spectata reponi.
Nec deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus
Inciderit: nec quarta loqui persona laboret.
Actoris partes chorus, officiumque virile
Defendat, neu quid medios intercinut actus,
Quod non proposito conducat, et hæreat aptè.
Ille bonis faveatque, et conciletur amicè:
Et regat iratos, et amet peccare timentes.
Ille dapes laudet mense brevis: ille salubrem
Justitiam, legesque, et apertis otia portis.
Ille tegat commissa, deosque precetur, et oret,
Ut redeat miseris, abeat fortuna superbis.
Tibia non, ut nunc, orichalcho vincta, tubæque
Emula, sed tenuis, simplex foramine pauco
Aspirare, et adesse choris erat utilis, atque
Nondùm spissa nimis complere sedilia flatu.
Quò sanè populus numerabilis, utpote parvus,
Et frugi, castusque verecundusque coibat.
Postquam cæpit agros extendere victor, et urbem
Latior amplecti murus, vinoque diurno,
Placari Genius festis impunè diebus,
Present anon: Medea must not kill
Her sons before the people, nor the ill-
Natur'd and wicked Atreus cook to th' eye
His nephew's entrails; nor must Progne fly
Into a swallow there; nor Cadmus take
Upon the stage the figure of a snake.
What so is shown, I not believe, and hate.
Nor must the fable, that would hope the fate
Once seen, to be again call'd for, and play'd,
Have more or less than just five acts: nor laid,
To have a god come in; except a knot
Worth his untying happen there and not
Any fourth man, to speak at all, aspire.
An actor's parts, and office too, the quire Must maintain manly: nor be heard to sing Between the acts, a quite clean other thing Than to the purpose leads, and fitly 'grees. It still must favour good men, and to these Be won a friend; it must both sway and bend The angry, and love those that fear t' offend. Praise the spare diet, wholesome justice, laws, Peace, and the open ports, that peace doth cause. Hide faults, pray to the gods, and wish aloud Fortune would love the poor, and leave the proud. The hau'boy, not as now with latten bound, And rival with the trumpet for his sound, But soft, and simple, at few holds breath'd time And tune too, fitted to the chorus' rhyme, As loud enough to fill the seats, not yet So over-thick, but where the people met, They might with ease be number'd, being a few Chaste, thrifty, modest folk, that came to view. But as they conquer'd and enlarg'd their bound, That wider walls embrac'd their city round, And they uncensur'd might at feasts and plays Steep the glad genius in the wine whole days,
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