Virg.
These pills can but restore him
for a time,
Not cure him quite of such a malady,
Caught by so many surfeits, which
have fill’d
His blood and brain thus full of
crudities:
’Tis necessary therefore he
observe
A strict and wholesome diet.
Look you take
Each morning of old Cato’s
principles
A good draught next your heart;
that walk upon,
Till it be well digested: then
come home,
And taste a piece of Terence, suck
his phrase
Instead of liquorice; and, at any
hand,
Shun Plautus and old Ennius:
they are meats
Too harsh for a weak stomach.
Use to read (But not without a tutor)
the best Greeks,
As Orpheus, Musaeus, Pindarus,
Hesiod, Callimachus, and Theocrite,
High Homer; but beware of Lycophron,
He is too dark and dangerous a dish.
You must not hunt for wild outlandish
terms,
To stuff out a peculiar dialect;
But let your matter run before your
words.
And if at any time you chance to
meet
Some Gallo-Belgic phrase; you shall
not straight.
Rack your poor verse to give it
entertainment,
But let it pass; and do not think
yourself
Much damnified, if you do leave
it out,
When nor your understanding, nor
the sense
Could well receive it. This
fair abstinence,
In time, will render you more sound
and clear:
And this have I prescribed to you,
in place
Of a strict sentence; which till
he perform,
Attire him in that robe. And
henceforth learn
To bear yourself more humbly; not
to swell,
Or breathe your insolent and idle
spite
On him whose laughter can your worst
affright.
Tib. Take him away.
Cris. Jupiter guard Caesar!
Virg.
And for a week or two see him lock’d
up
In some dark place, removed from
company;
He will talk idly else after his
physic.
Now to you, sir. [to Demetrius.]
The extremity of law
Awards you to be branded in the
front,
For this your calumny: but
since it pleaseth
Horace, the party wrong’d,
t’ intreat of Caesar
A mitigation of that juster doom,
With Caesar’s tongue thus
we pronounce your sentence.
Demetrius Fannius, thou shalt here
put on
That coat and cap, and henceforth
think thyself
No other than they make thee; vow
to wear them
In every fair and generous assembly,
Till the best sort of minds shall
take to knowledge
As well thy satisfaction, as thy
wrongs.
Hor.
Only, grave praetor, here, in open
court,
I crave the oath for good behaviour
May be administer’d unto them
both.
Virg.
Horace, it shall: Tibullus,
give it them.