If it be only
argued in general which of them was the better poet, the victory is
already gained on the side of Horace. Virgil himself must yield to
him in the delicacy of his turns, his choice of words, and perhaps
the purity of his Latin. He who says that Pindar is inimitable, is
himself inimitable in his odes; but the contention betwixt these two
great masters is for the prize of satire, in which controversy all
the odes and epodes of Horace are to stand excluded. I say this
because Horace has written many of them satirically against his
private enemies; yet these, if justly considered, are somewhat of
the nature of the Greek silli, which were invectives against
particular sects and persons. But Horace had purged himself of this
choler before he entered on those discourses which are more properly
called the Roman satire. He has not now to do with a Lyce, a
Canidia, a Cassius Severus, or a Menas; but is to correct the vices
and the follies of his time, and to give the rules of a happy and
virtuous life.
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