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res gestae regumque ducumque et tristia bella
quo scribi possent numero, monstravit Homerus;
75versibus inpariter iunctis querimonia primum,
post etiam inclusa est voti sententia compos;
quis tamen exiguos elegos emiserit auctor,
grammatici certant et adhuc sub iudice lis est;
Archilochum proprio rabies armavit iambo;
80hunc socci cepere pedem grandesque cothurni,
alternis aptum sermonibus et popularis
vincentem strepitus et natum rebus agendis;
musa dedit fidibus Divos puerosque Deorum
et pugilem victorem et equum certamine primum
85et iuvenum curas et libera vina referre:
descriptas servare vices operumque colores
cur ego si nequeo ignoroque poeta salutor?
cur nescire pudens prave quam discere malo?
versibus exponi tragicis res comica non volt;
90indignatur item privatis ac prope socco
dignis carminibus narrari cena Thyestae:
singula quaeque locum teneant sortita decentem.
interdum tamen et vocem comoedia tollit
iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore;
95et tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri,
Telephus et Peleus cum pauper et exsul uterque
proiicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba,
si curat cor spectantis tetigisse querella.
Horace. The Works of Horace. C. Smart. Philadelphia. Joseph Whetham. 1836.
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