Dialogue XIII

VIRGIL--HORACE--MERCURY--SCALIGER THE ELDER.

Virgil.--My dear Horace, your company is my greatest delight, even in the Elysian Fields. No wonder it was so when we lived together in Rome. Never had man so genteel, so agreeable, so easy a wit, or a temper so pliant to the inclinations of others in the intercourse of society. And then such integrity, such fidelity, such generosity in your nature! A soul so free from all envy, so benevolent, so sincere, so placable in its anger, so warm and constant in its affections! You were as necessary to Maecenas as he to Augustus. Your conversation sweetened to him all the cares of his ministry; your gaiety cheered his drooping spirits; and your counsels assisted him when he wanted advice. For you were capable, my dear Horace, of counselling statesmen. Your sagacity, your discretion, your secrecy, your clear judgment in all affairs, recommended you to the confidence, not of Maecenas alone, but of Augustus himself; which you nobly made use of to serve your old friends of the republican party, and to confirm both the minister and the prince in their love of mild and moderate measures, yet with a severe restraint of licentiousness, the most dangerous enemy to the whole commonwealth under any form of government.

Horace.--To be so praised by Virgil would have put me in Elysium while I was alive. But I know your modesty will not suffer me, in return for these encomiums, to speak of your character. Supposing it as perfect as your poems, you would think, as you did of them, that it wanted correction.

Virgil.--Don’t talk of my modesty. How much greater was yours, when you disclaimed the name of a poet, you whose odes are so noble, so harmonious, so sublime!

Horace.--I felt myself too inferior to the dignity of that name.

Virgil.--I think you did like Augustus, when he refused to accept the title of king, but kept all the power with which it was ever attended. Even in your Epistles and Satires, where the poet was concealed, as much as he could be, you may properly be compared to a prince in disguise, or in his hours of familiarity with his intimate friends: the pomp and majesty were let drop, but the greatness remained.

Horace.--Well, I will not contradict you; and, to say the truth, I should do it with no very good grace, because in some of my Odes I have not spoken so modestly of my own poetry as in my Epistles. But to make you know your pre-eminence over me and all writers of Latin verse, I will carry you to Quintilian, the best of all Roman critics, who will tell you in what rank you ought to be placed.

Virgil.--I fear his judgment of me was biassed by your commendation. But who is this shade that Mercury is conducting? I never saw one that stalked with so much pride, or had such ridiculous arrogance expressed in his looks!

Horace.--They come towards us. Hail, Mercury! What is this stranger with you?

Mercury.--His name is Julius Caesar Scaliger, and he is by profession a critic.

Horace.--Julius Caesar Scaliger! He was, I presume, a dictator in criticism.

Mercury.--Yes, and he has exercised his sovereign power over you.

Horace.--I will not presume to oppose it. I had enough of following Brutus at Philippi.

Mercury.--Talk to him a little. He’ll amuse you. I brought him to you on purpose.

Horace.--Virgil, do you accost him. I can’t do it with proper gravity. I shall laugh in his face.

Virgil.--Sir, may I ask for what reason you cast your eyes so superciliously upon Horace and me? I don’t remember that Augustus ever looked down upon us with such an air of superiority when we were his subjects.

Scaliger.--He was only a sovereign over your bodies, and owed his power to violence and usurpation. But I have from Nature an absolute dominion over the wit of all authors, who are subjected to me as the greatest of critics or hypercritics.

Virgil.--Your jurisdiction, great sir, is very extensive. And what judgments have you been pleased to pass upon us?

Scaliger.--Is it possible you should be ignorant of my decrees? I have placed you, Virgil, above Homer, whom I have shown to be--

Virgil.--Hold, sir. No blasphemy against my master.

Horace.--But what have you said of me?

Scaliger.--I have said that I had rather have written the little Dialogue between you and Lydia than have been made king of Arragon.