Imitations of Horace

"Then marble soften'd into life grew warm, And yielding, soft metal flow'd to human form."

"Who says in verse what others say in prose."

"What will a child learn sooner than a song?"

"Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join The varying verse, the full resounding line, The long majestic march, and energy divine."

"Ev'n copius Dryden wanted, or forgot, The last and greatest art — the art to blot."

"Who pants for glory finds but short repose: A breath revives him, or a breath o'erthrows."

"There still remains, to mortify a wit, The many-headed monster of the pit."

"We poets are (upon a poet's word) Of all mankind the creatures most absurd; The season when to come, and when to go, To sing, or cease to sing, we never know."

"Praise undeserv'd is scandal in disguise."

"Years following years steal something every day; At last they steal us from ourselves away."

"The vulgar boil, the learned roast, an egg."

"Words that wise Bacon or brave Raleigh spoke."

"Call, if you will, bad rhyming a disease, It gives men happiness, or leaves them ease."

"Learn to live well, or fairly make your Will; You've play'd, and lov'd, and eat, and drank your fill: Walk sober off; before a sprightlier Age Comes titt'ring on, and shoves you from the stage: Leave such to trifle with more grace and ease, Whom Folly pleases, and whose Follies please."

"The worst of madmen is a saint run mad."

"Grac'd as thou art with all the power of words, So known, so honour'd at the House of Lords."

"‘Tis the first virtue, vices to abhor; And the first wisdom, to be fool no more."

"The Imitations of Horace seem to have been written as relaxations of his [Pope's] genius. This employment became his favourite by its facility; the plan was ready to his hand, and nothing was required but to accommodate as he could the sentiments of an old author to recent facts or familiar images; but what is easy is seldom excellent: such imitations cannot give pleasure to common readers. The man of learning may be sometimes surprised and delighted by an unexpected parallel; but the comparison requires knowledge of the original, which will likewise often detect strained applications. Between Roman images and English manners there will be an irreconcileable dissimilitude, and the work will be generally uncouth and party-coloured; neither original nor translated, neither ancient nor modern."