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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49887	Monsieur Bossu's treatise of the epick poem containing many curious reflexions, very useful and necessary for the right understanding and judging of the excellencies of Homer and Virgil / done into English from the French, with a new original preface upon the same subject, by W.J. ; to which are added, An essay upon satyr, by Monsieur D'Acier ; and A treatise upon pastorals, by Monsieur Fontanelle.; Traité du poème épique. English	Le Bossu, René, 1631-1680.; W. J.; Dacier, André, 1651-1722. Essay upon satyr.; Fontenelle, M. de (Bernard Le Bovier), 1657-1757. Of pastorals.	1695 (1695)	Wing L804; ESTC R10431	296,769	336

Law without gathering and counting the Votes in haste and confusedly all together which was properly call'd Per Saturam sententias exquirere as Salust has it after Lelius But they rested not here but gave this Name to certain Books as Pescennius Festus whose Histories were call'd Saturas or per Saturam From all these Examples 't is not hard to suppose that these Works of Horace took from hence their Name and that they were call'd Saturae quia multis variis rebus hoe carmen refertum est because these Poems are full of a great many different Things as Porphyrius says which is partly true But it must not be thought it is immediately from thence for this Name had been used before for other Things which bore a nearer Resemblance to the Satyrs of Horace in Explanation of which a Method is to be follow'd which Casaubon himself never thought of and which will put Things in so clear a Light that there can be no place left for Doubt The Romans having been almost four hundred Years without any Scenical Plays Chance and Debauchery made them find in one of their Feasts the Saturnian and Fescennine Verses which for six score Years they had instead of Dramatick Pieces But these Verses were rude and almost without any Numbers as being made Extempore and by a People as yet but barbarous who had little other skill than what flow'd from their Joy and the Fumes of Wine They were filled with the grossest sort of Raileries and attended with Gestures and Dances To have a livelier Idea of this you need but reflect upon the honest Peasants whose clownish Dances are attended with Extempore Verses in which in a wretched manner they jeer one another with all they know To this Horace refers in the first Epistle of his Second Book Fescennina per hunc inventa licentia morem Versibus alternis opprobria rustica fudit This Licentious and Irregular Verse was succeeded by a sort more correct filled with a pleasant Raillery without the Mixture of any thing scurrillous and these obtain'd the Name of Satyrs by reason of their Variety and had regulated Forms that is regular Dances and Musick but undecent Postures were banish'd Titus Livius has it in his Seventh Book Vernaculis artificibus quia Hister Tusco verbo Ludio vocabatur nomen Histrionibus inditum qui non sicut ante Fescennino versu similem compositum temere ac rudem alternis faciebant sed impletas modis Satyras descripto jam ad Tibicinem cantu motuque congruents peragebant These Satyrs were properly honest Farces in which the Spectators and Actors were rallied without Distinction Livius Andronicus found things in this Posture when he first undertook to make Comedies and Tragedies in Imitation of the Grecians This Diversion appearing more noble and perfect they run to it in Multitudes neglecting the Satyrs for some time tho they receiv'd them a little after and some modell'd them into a purpos'd Form to Act at the End of their Comedies as the French Act their Farces now And then they alter'd their Name of Satyrs for that of Exodia which they preserve to this day This was the first and most ancient kind of Roman Satyr There are two other sorts which though very different from this first yet both owe their Birth to this and are as it were Branches of it This I shall prove the most succinctly I can A Year after Livius Andronicus had caus'd his first Efforts to be Acted Italy gave Birth to Ennius who being grown up and having all the Leisure in the World to observe the eager Satisfaction with which the Romans receiv'd the Satyrs of which I have already spoke was of Opinion that Poems tho not adapted to the Theatre yet preserving the Gaul the Railings and Pleasantness which made these Satyrs take with so much Applause would not fail of being well receiv'd he therefore ventur'd at it and compos'd several Discourses to which he retain'd the Name of Satyrs These Discourses were entirely like those of Horace both for the Matter and the Variety The only essential Difference that is observable is that Ennius in Imitation of some Greeks and of Homer himself took the Liberty of mixing several kinds of Verses together as Hexameters Iambics Trimeters with Tetrimeters Trochaics or Square Verse as it appears from the Fragments which are left us These following Verses are of the Square kind which Aulus Gellius has preserv'd us and which very well merit a Place here for the Beauty they contain Hoc erit tibi Argumentum semper in promptu situm Ne quid expectes Amicos quod tute agere possies I attribute also to these Satyrs of Ennius these other kinds of Verses which are of a Beauty and Elegance much above the Age in which they were made nor will the sight of 'em here be unpleasant Non habeo denique nauci Marsum Augurem Non vicanos aruspices non de Cicro Astrologos Non Isiacos Conjectores non Interpretes Hominum Non enim sunt ii aut Scientia aut Arte Divini Sed Superstitiosi vates Impudentesque harioli Aut inertes aut insani aut quibus egestas imperat Qui sui quaestus causa fictas suscitant sententias Qui sibi semitam non sapiunt alteri monstrant viam Quibus devitias pollicentur ab iis Drachmam petunt De divitiis deducant Drachmam reddant caetera Horace has borrow'd several Things from these Satyrs After Ennius came Pacuvius who also writ Satyrs in Imitation of his Unkle Ennius Lucilius was born in the time when Pacuvius was in most Reputation He also wrote Satyrs But he gave 'em a new Turn and endeavoured to imitate as near as he could the Character of the old Greek Comedy of which we had but a very imperfect Idea in the ancient Roman Satyr and such as one might find in a Poem which Nature alone had dictated before the Romans had thought of imitating the Grecians and enriching themselves with their Spoils 'T is thus you must understand this Passage of the first Satyr of the second Book of Horace Quid cum est Lucilius ausis Primus in hunc operis componere carmina morem Horace never intended by this to say That there were no Satyrs before Lucilius because Ennius and Pacuvius were before him whose Example he followed He only would have it understood That Lucilius having given a new Turn to this Poem and embellish'd it ought by way of Excellence to be esteemed the first Author Quinctilian had the same Thought when he writ in the first Chapter of the Tenth Book Satyra quidem tota nostra est in qua primus insignem laudem adeptus est Lucilius You must not therefore be of the Opinion of Casaubon who building on the Judgment of Diomedes thought that the Satyr of Ennius and that of Lucilius were entirely different These are the very Words of this Grammarian which have deceived this Judicious Critick Satyra est Carmen apud Romanos

Note do commonly pay Sawce for all And upon these Discoveries when he has conceiv'd the Idea of a Piece more surprizing than the Batrachomyomachia or than any other particular Fable of Aesop he shall undertake a Poem of all the Fables of the Mouse as Statius undertook one about every thing that Story or the Poets ever said of Achilles He might begin after the same manner as Statius did his Achilleid Inspire me O my Muse what I ought to say concerning the Magnanimous Meridarpax which Jove himself cannot look upon without trembling Homer indeed has celebrated some of his Actions in his Poem but there are a great many still untouch'd and I am resolved to omit nothing that my Hero has done He as well as Achilles had a Mortal for his Sire to wit the Redoubted Artepibulus and a Mother far above his Rank and Quality no less than a lofty Mountain His Birth is foretold by the Oracles and the People Hocking together from all parts to be Witnesses of this miraculous Labour beheld Meridarpax creep out of his Mothers Belly with so much Surprize and Delight that their joyful Shouts and loud Laughter carried the News thereof to the Gods In the War his Associates maintain'd against the Amazonians of the Lakes he signaliz'd himself in the Death of Physignathus He would have utterly destroy'd all his Enemies had not the Gods put a stop to his Designs To refresh himself after the Fatigues of this War he was for taking the Air in some Country-Seat or other But by the way he is surprized by a furious Lion who is just ready to tear him to pieces but Meridarpax was no less eloquent than stout The Lion admir'd his parts and let him go He was welcom'd in the Country by an old Friend of his Sire's This Villager thought of making him a delicate Repast with his Country-Fare but these old dry and unsavoury Morsels would not down with our nice Stranger Whereupon bepitying the sorry Life of his Friend he invites him to a more pleasant one and prevail'd upon him to jog along with him They were scarce got half-way to their Journey 's end but they heard a most terrible noise Meridarpax perceiv'd 't was the Lion's Roar which before had spar'd his Life He made that way and in short found him so fetter'd in the Noose that he expected nothing else but Death the Mouse freed him from that fear by gnawing asunder several Knots and put the Prisoner in a Capacity of freeing himself from the rest Meridarpax re-joyns his Country-Friend conducts him to Town and receives him very splendidly in a Pantry well furnish'd This new Citizen was blessing himself at his happy Change when on the sudden in steps the Housekeeper and at her Heels one of the most formidable Enemies these two Guests had The Domestick betook himself presently to his Cittadel but the poor Stranger seiz'd with Fear and every Limb about him in an Ague sees himself a long time expos'd to the Claws of a merciless Enemy In short he escap'd and without minding the good Cheer as soon as the Danger was over and he came to himself he takes his Congé of his Host and tells him That he preferr'd his quiet Poverty to all that Plenty which was so attended with frights and fears Meridarpax stomachs this Affront calls together a great many of his Allies and prevails so effectually upon them that they enter into a Confederacy with him and offer to serve him in the War He the better to maintain his Grandeur and make himself more conspicuous than all the rest claps two great Horns on his Forehead At the first opening of the Pantry he had a great deal of Success against some of the young Rangers who first came in But no sooner had their squeaking call'd in their Sires and their Dams and the Wawling of a great many others at a distance gave notice of a new Reinforcement that was ready to pour in upon the Assailants but they presently thought of a speedy Retreat The rest with ease slunk into their Holes and none left upon the spot but Meridarpax embarass'd with the Ensigns of his Grandeur which made the Avenues too strait for him to escape at One of his Party bid him lay aside his Regalities but he had scarce time to reply That he had rather die like a King and make his Exit gloriously A Poem made up of these Stories joyn'd together and which we might compare with one of the Fables of Aesop or the Batrachomyomachia is very much like the Idea I have of the Theseid the Heraclid the Achilleid and other such like Poems when compar'd with those of Virgil and Homer Aristotle was in the right when he call'd a certain little Iliad the whole Trojan War squeez'd into the compass of one single Poem This Iliad indeed was very small since it was all contain'd in a very narrow Compass It was not at all like the Iliad of Homer a small part of which fill'd so many Books We may say as much of the Achilles of Statius who is comprehended at his full Length within the Compass of twelve Books And the Achilles of Homer is so vast that a few days of his Anger and Passion have taken up four and twenty Books compleatly According to the old Adage it must needs follow that this Lion of Homer was of a prodigious size since so large a Table could contain no more than one single Paw which had been the Destruction of so many Heroes And on the other side that the Lion of Statius was but of a very small size since all his Parts could be comprehended and included in a Table less by half than that of Homer's You see then the ill Effects of Polymythia or a Vicious Multiplication of Fables The Fable of the Dogs and the Wolf demonstrates how beautiful and regular the Iliad is and the Narration of the Adventures of the Mouse shews the contrary in the Achilleid If my two Parallels are of equal justness the Difference that appears to be between the Achilles of Homer and that of Statius ought to be attributed to nothing else but the different Conduct of these two Authors There is still another way of irregularly multiplying Fables without making a Rehearsal of the Hero 's whole Life and that is by mixing with the main Action other foreign Actions which have no manner of Relation thereto This belongs to the Vnity of the Action and the Art of making the Episodes of which we shall speak in the next Book The Poem of Ovid's Metamorphoses is of another kind If as I have already laid down the Idea I conceiv'd of the Achilleid of Statius of the Heraclid of the Theseid and of other such like Pieces of the Ancient Poets I had a mind likewise to present the World with an Example of Aesop's Fables compar'd with Ovid's Metamorphoses I should be forced to put all the Fables of Aesop into one Body Because Ovid is

inspire Piety and Justice into Souls that are no longer capable thereof being condemn'd to suffer Eternal Torments in a place from whence they must never depart The Poet's meaning then is something else since he makes these words be said in a Passage where nothing but Crimes and Punishments are his Theme The Torments of Sense denoted by the Chains the Whips the Wheels and the Flames are not the greatest The Conscience forms such to which the others are not to be compar'd And as our Author has said that External things are not even in this life the highest Recompence of Vertuous Actions he would have us likewise understand that 't is the same Case with punishments and that our Soul has no greater a Tormenter than its own self Perseus who has taken many things from Virgil may as well have taken this Thought from him too This Poet could not imagin any dreadfuller torment than for a Man to have a view of Vertue when he lies under such a fatal Necessity as to be no longer able to pursue it Plato says if Vertue could be seen with the Eyes of the Body it would charm all the World What torment then must those Men needs suffer who see it more evidently than with their Bodily Eyes and are so far from being able to enjoy its Charms that they see themselves ty'd down inseparably to the contrary Vices with which they are forc'd to make this Comparison when in the midst of their Torments they are call'd upon Learn to be just and don 't the Gods contemn CHAP. VI. Concerning several other Thoughts THE Points and the neat Turns are in the Pleasant what the Sentences are in the Profitable Their Lustre dazles young Poets and others too that have more Fancy than Judgment The Sentences cool the Action and retard its Motions by an unseasonable Gravity And the Points destroy the Majesty of a Poem by pretty conceits that are unbecoming it Sometimes these fine Words produce forc'd and ridiculous Thoughts when a Poet would prepare them and start up occasions to make use of them In the Troad of Seneca Agamemnon falls out with Pyrrhus and hits him in the Teeth that the place of his Nativity was surrounded with Water Pyrrhus the Grandson of Thetis replies that these Waters were his Grandmothers From whence 't is concluded that they cannot prejudice his Island nor set bounds to his Empire since in some sort they belong to it This was an Ingenious Repartee But upon what account does Agamemnon upbraid Pyrrhus for being born in an Island This King of Kings would never have said thus to Pyrrhus had not the Poet foresaw what this youngster would have answered him 'T is easier redressing this fault than 't is that of the Sentences because the Sentences and the Precepts of Morality are necessary to the Epopéa whose sole design is to instruct Men which cannot be done without these Sentences They therefore cannot be excluded One must learn how to make use of them and this requires a great deal of Art a great deal of Fancy and a mature and solid Judgment But the Points are so little necessary that one may quite exclude them from a Poem Our Poets have done so Among so many Sentences there are so few Points and pretty Conceits that one may suppose that even those that happen to be there are such as crept in without the Poets being aware of them Virgil was too ingenious not to meet with a great many Points that lay in his way but he has made no use of them and by consequence one may presume he wholly rejected them The Amplification of the things one speaks of belongs likewise to the same Genius and those that are in love with glaring and fine Thoughts are subject to a vicious Amplification In the Thebaid of S●… Oedipus renounces the Innocency he had retain'd even in the midst of the Crimes he had committed and he takes them all upon himself only upon a desire he had of expressing his great Kindness for his daughter Antigone He had Murder'd his Father and marry'd his Mother without knowing it He was severely punished for it But when he saw Antigone did not abandon him in his miseries he cries out O my dear Daughter I am well enough satisfied with my Commission of Parricide and Incest since 't is to these that I am beholden for such a Daughter The Genius of Statius and the frantick desire he had of making all things look great is such that he chooses rather to contradict himself than not have his humour When he would amplifie the Valour of Capaneus Jupiter scarce thinks his whole Godhead to be Match enough for this great Man And after he had darted one Thunder bolt at him he is ready to cast another And when he comes to speak of the Great Power of Jupiter this very God smiles at the Vanity and Weakness of Capaneus and disdains him so much that he could scarce perswade himself to take his Bolt in his hand to crush him with it in pieces The affected Study and Knowledge of all Arts and Sciences is another dangerous Rock to the Vanity of Writers Though a Poet should know ev'ry thing yet 't is not with a design he should vent his Science by retail and let the World see the Extent of his mind But that he may say nothing that should argue him ignorant and that he may speak correctly upon several Occasions 'T is requisite likewise that these Occasions be natural and such as appear unavoidable and unsought for We have seen one instance of this in the Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul which Virgil has so judiciously and necessarily placed in his Sixth Book 'T is so easie to make use of all manner of Terms of Art in a Poem that a Man must be one of little Thought and a mean Soul that shall be Ambitious of the praise of having done it There needs only reading over a Book of the Art one would speak of or conversing with an Artificer And after that to make some one or other that understands it see what we have writ about it An Author will be a pitiful Creature if he does not attain his end by this means But he will not be much the more learned for having succeeded therein A great Poet will never stoop to so low and useless a Vanity in an Epick Poem Let him indeed learn and know every thing but then let him make use of this his knowledge as we before advis'd and let him do it by using the most Common and the most intelligble Terms he can The minds of his Readers must never be burden'd when there is no occasion for it The Passions and the Pleasure of a Poem require an entire freedom from every thing else The desire of appearing Learned makes a Poem smell of it from one end to the other We shall see Women that in a violent Passion will make Reflections on things which in

apt to laugh at it And we never consider that in Homer and Virgil's time all this was agreeable to the sense of the Holy Ghost himself which could never be in the wrong that God had very carefully enjoyn'd Moses all these things as the most August and Venerable that he would have us'd in the Religion and Worship he requir'd of Men and that lastly Queens and Princesses and Persons of the finest Make observ'd them with care respect and veneration 'T is therefore according to these Ideas that our Poets were bound to speak of these things They would have been impious had they treated these Subjects with Contempt And perhaps a Christian would do little better should he dare to ridicule them especially if we reflect that the Books of Homer and Virgil have us'd them less than they are made use of in several Books of the Holy Bible which a Man by thus doing will expose to the Buffoonery of Libertines and Atheists The Expression in its kind is of no less extent and requires no less study The Greek and Latin are two dead Languages of which we are no longer Masters They have their Turns their Delicacies and their Beauties which we ought to study in the best Originals It would be a piece of Vanity if we pretended to understand the Languages which we no longer speak as well as those who have improv'd them for so many Ages together and as well as those that have brought them to their highest perfection and have come off with the greatest success Shall a French Man or any Man now a days pretend that he is better qualified to Criticise upon Homer than Aristotle was If not then we should credit him when he assures us that this Poet has surpass'd all others in the Art of Writing well whether we consider his Sentiments and Thoughts or whether we consider his Expression And that he has not only excell'd all others but met with perfect success We may therefore shut up all by ending as we began Languages as well as Poems are the Inventions of Art and a Genius which gives them their Form and Perfection If we have a mind to know them throughly and to pass a right Judgment upon the Ancients we must before every thing rectifie our Judgment If a Man has a mind to know whether a Line be strait or no he does not take the next piece of Wood he can find to clap to it but this piece of Wood must in the first place be made perfectly strait if he would have it serve for a Rule Else if he applys it and it does not touch all the parts of the Line he will not guess whether the fault be in the Line or in the piece of Wood. Just so likewise before we judge of a Poem we should rectifie our Judgment and prove it by the excellent Works of the best Masters If they do not please us we should rather think the fault is in our own Judgments than in those Models and if they do please us we may rely upon our selves with the greater assurance according to that judicious Thought of Quinctilian That he whom Cicero pleases should by that conclude that he has benefited himself very much The same thing we say of our four Authors A Person may rely upon his own Judgment in that which concerns the Epick Poem and may assure himself of its Rectitude and Straightness when his Thoughts his Genius and his Reasonings are conformable to the Precepts of Aristotle and Horace and to the Practice of Homer and Virgil. The END AN ESSAY VPON SATYR Written by the Famous Monsieur DACIER HORACE having Entitled his Books of Satyrs Sermones and Satyrae indifferently and these two Titles giving different Idea's I think it very necessary to explain what the Latins understood by the Word Satyr The Learned Casaubon is the first and indeed the only Man that has with Success attempted to shew what the Satyrical Poesie of the Greeks and the Satyr of the Romans was His Book is an inestimable Treasure and it must be confessed I have had considerable Helps from it which is the Use we ought to make of the Works of such extraordinary Men who have gone before us only to be our Guides and serve us as Torches in the Darkness of Antiquity Nevertheless you must not so continually fix your Eyes upon them as not to consider whither you are led for they divert sometimes into Paths where you cannot with Safety follow them This Method is what my self have observed in forsaking my Directors and have ventured that way which no body before me has gone of which the following Discourse will convince you Satyr is a kind of Poetry only known amongst the Romans having no Relation to the Satyrical Poesie of the Greeks though some Learned Men have pretended to the contrary Quinctilian leaves no room to doubt upon this Point when he writes in Chap. 10. Satyra quidem tota nostra est The same Reason makes Horace call it in the last Satyr of Book 1. Graecis intactum Carmen The natural and true Etymology is this The Latins called it SATVR quasi plenum to which there was nothing wanting for its Perfection Thus Satur color when the Wool has taken a good Dye and nothing can be added to the Perfection of it From Satur they have made Satura which they wrote sometimes with an i Satira They used in other Words the same Variation of the Letter u into i as in Maxumus Maximus optumus optimus Satura is an Adjective which has reference to a Substantive understood for the ancient Romans said Saturam understanding Lancem And Satura Lanx was properly a Bason fill'd with all sorts of Fruit which they offer'd every Year to Ceres and Bacchus as the first fruits of all they had gathered These Offerings of different Things mix'd together were not unknown to the Greeks who call'd 'em 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sacrifice of all sorts of Fruit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Offering of all sorts of Grain when they offer'd Pot-herbs The Grammarian Diomedes has perfectly describ'd both the Custom of the Romans and the Word Satura in this Passage Lanx referta varias multisque primitiis sacris Cereris inferebatur à copia Saturitate rei Satura vocabatur cujus generis lancium Virgilius in Georgicis meminit cum hoc modo dicit Lancibus pandis fumantia reddimus exta And lancesque liba feremus From thence the Word Satura was apply'd to many other Mixtures as in Festus Satyra cibi genus ex variis rebus conditum From hence it pass'd to the Works of the Mind for they call'd some Laws Leges Saturas which contain'd many Heads or Titles as the Julian Papian and Popean Laws which were called Miscellas which is of the same Signification with Satura From hence arose this Phrase Per Saturam legem ferre when the Senate made a

non quidem apud Graecos maledicum ad carpenda hominum vitia Archaeae Comoediae charactere compositum quale scripserunt Lucilius Horatius Persius Sed olim Carmen quod ex variis Poematibus constabat Satyra dicebatur quale scripserunt Pacuvius Ennius You may see plainly that Diomedes distinguishes the Satyr of Lucilius from that of Ennius and Pacuvius the Reason which he gives for this Distinction is ridiculous and absolutely false The good Man had not examin'd the Nature and Origin of these two Satyrs which were entirely like one another both in Matter and Form for Lucilius added to it only a little Politeness and more Salt almost without Changing any thing And if he did not put together several sorts of Verse in the same piece as Ennius has done yet he made several Pieces of which some were entirely Hexameters others entirely Iambics and others Trechaics as is evident from his Fragments In short if the Satyrs of Lucilius differ from these of Ennius because the former has added much to the Endeavours of the latter as Casaubon has pretended it will follow from thence that those of Horace and those of Lucilius are also entirely different for Horace has no less refin'd on the Satyrs of Lucilius than he on those of Ennius and Pacuvius This Passage of Diomedes has also deceiv'd Dousa the Son I say not this to expose some light Faults of these great Men but only to shew with what Exactness and with what Caution their Works must be read when they treat of any thing so obscure and so ancient I have made appear what was the ancient Satyr that was made for the Theatre I have shewn that that gave the Idea of the Satyr of Ennius and in fine I have sufficiently prov'd that the Satyrs of Ennius and Pacuvius of Lucilius and Horace are but one kind of Poem which has received its Perfection from the last 'T is time now to speak of the second kind of Satyr which I promised to explain and which is also derived from the ancient Satyr 'T is that which we call Varronian or the Satyr of Menippus the Cinick Philosopher This Satyr was not only composed of several sorts of Verse but Varro added Prose to it and made a Mixture of Greek and Latin Quinctilian after he had spoke of the Satyr of Lucitius adds Alterum illud est prius Satyrae genus quod non sola Carminum varietate mistum condidit Terentius Varro vir Romanorum eruditissimus The only Difficulty of this Passage is that Quinctilian assures us that this Satyr of Varro was the first for how could that be since Varro was a great while after Lucilius Quinctilian meant not that the Satyr of Varro was the first in order of Time for he knew well enough that in that respect he was the last But he would give us to understand that this kind of Satyr so mix'd was more like the Satyr of Ennius and Pacuvius who gave themselves a greater Liberty in this Composition than Lucilius who was more severe and correct We have now only some Fragments left of the Satyr of Varro and those generally very imperfect the Titles which are most commonly double shew the great Variety of Subjects of which Varro treated Seneca's Book on the Death of Claudius Boetius his Consolation of Philosophy and that of Petronius Arbiter are Satyrs entirely like those of Varro This is what I have in general to say on Satyr nor is it necessary I insist any more on this Subject This the Reader may observe that the Name of Satyr in Latin is not less proper for Discourses that recommend Virtue than to those which are design'd against Vice It had nothing so formidable in it as it has now when a bare Mention of Satyr makes them tremble who would fain seem what they are not for Satyr with us signifies the same Thing as exposing or lashing of some Thing or Person yet this different Acceptation alters not the Word which is always the same but the Latins in the Titles of their Books have often had regard only to the Word in the Extent of its Signification founded on its Etymology whereas we have had respect only to the first and general Use which has been made of it in the beginning to mock and deride yet this Word ought always to be writ in Latin with an u or i Satura or Satira and in English by an i Those who have wrote it with a y thought with Scaliger Heinsius and a great many others that the Divinities of the Groves which the Grecians call'd Satyrs the Romans Fauns gave their Names to these Pieces and that of the Word Satyrus they had made Satyra and that these Satyrs had a great Affinity with the Satyrick Pieces of the Greeks which is absolutely false as Casaubon has very well prov'd it in making it appear That of the Word Satyrus they could never make Satyra but Satyrica And in shewing the Difference betwixt the Satyrick Poems of the Greeks and the Roman Satyrs Mr. Spanheim in his fine Preface to the Caesars of the Emperour Julian has added new Reflections to those which this Judicious Critick had advanced and he has establish'd with a great deal of Judgment five or six essential Differences between those two Poems which you may find in his Book The Greeks had never any thing that came near this Roman Satyr but their Silli 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were also biting Poems as they may easily be perceived to be yet by some Fragments of the Silli of Timon There was however this Difference That the Silli of the Greeks were Parodious from one End to the other which cannot be said of the Roman Satyrs where if sometimes you find some Parodia's you may plainly see that the Poet did not design to affect it and by consequence the Parodia's do not make the Essence of a Satyr as they do the Essence of the Silli Having explain'd the Nature Origin and Progress of Satyr I 'll now say a Word or two of Horace in particular There cannot be a more just Idea given of this part of his Works than in comparing them to the Statues of the Sileni to which Alcibiades in the Banquet compares Socrates They were Figures that without had nothing agreeable or beautiful but when you took the pains to open them you found the Figures of all the Gods In the manner that Horace presents himself to us in his Satyrs we discover nothing of him at first that deserves our Attachment He seems to be fitter to amuse Children than to employ the Thoughts of Men but when we remove that which hides him from our Eyes and view him even to the Bottom we find in him all the Gods together that is to say all those Vertues which ought to be the continual Practice of such as seriously endeavour to forsake their Vices Hitherto we have been content to see only his out-side and 't is a strange thing