FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66  
67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   >>   >|  
ute 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. _Horace_.--If we were in the other world you should give me the kingdom, and take both the ode and the lady in return. But did you always pronounce so favourably for us? _Scaliger_.--Send for my works and read them. Mercury will bring them to you with the first learned ghost that arrives here from Europe. There is instruction for you in them. I tell you of your faults. But it was my whim to commend that little ode, and I never do things by halves. When I give praise, I give it liberally, to show my royal bounty. But I generally blame, to exert all the vigour of my censorian power, and keep my subjects in awe. _Horace_.--You did not confine your sovereignty to poets; you exercised it, no doubt, over all other writers. _Scaliger_.--I was a poet, a philosopher, a statesman, an orator, an historian, a divine without doing the drudgery of any of these, but only censuring those who did, and showing thereby the superiority of my genius over them all. _Horace_.--A short way, indeed, to universal fame! And I suppose you were very peremptory in your decisions? _Scaliger_.--Peremptory! ay. If any man dared to contradict my opinions I called him a dunce, a rascal, a villain, and frightened him out of his wits. _Virgil_.--But what said others to this method of disputation? _Scaliger_.--They generally believed me because of the confidence of my assertions, and thought I could not be so insolent or so angry if I was not absolutely sure of being in the right. Besides, in my controversies, I had a great help from the language in which I wrote. For one can scold and call names with a much better grace in Latin than in French or any tame modern tongue. _Horace_.--Have not I heard that you pretended to derive your descent from the princes of Verona? _Scaliger_.--Pretended! Do you presume to deny it? _Horace_.-
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66  
67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Scaliger

 

Horace

 

Virgil

 

generally

 
called
 

rascal

 

villain

 
frightened
 

Peremptory

 
opinions

contradict

 

superiority

 
drudgery
 

divine

 

philosopher

 
statesman
 

orator

 
historian
 

censuring

 

universal


suppose

 

peremptory

 

showing

 
genius
 

decisions

 

French

 

modern

 

tongue

 

Pretended

 

presume


Verona

 

princes

 

pretended

 

derive

 

descent

 

confidence

 
assertions
 
thought
 
believed
 

method


disputation
 

insolent

 

language

 

controversies

 

Besides

 

absolutely

 

master

 

written

 

dialogue

 

blasphemy