Complete Works of Horace (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) by Flaccus Horace Quintus Horatius

Author:Flaccus, Horace Quintus Horatius [Flaccus, Horace Quintus Horatius]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Delphi Classics
Published: 2013-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

ARS POETICA (VERSE)

Translated by John Conington

TO THE PISOS, FATHER AND SONS.

HUMANO CAPITI.

Suppose some painter, as a tour de force,

Should couple head of man with neck of horse,

Invest them both with feathers, ‘stead of hair,

And tack on limbs picked up from here and there,

So that the figure, when complete, should show

A maid above, a hideous fish below:

Should you be favoured with a private view,

You’d laugh, my friends, I know, and rightly too.

Yet trust me, Pisos, not less strange would look,

To a discerning eye, the foolish book

Where dream-like forms in sick delirium blend,

And nought is of a piece from end to end.

“Poets and painters (sure you know the plea)

Have always been allowed their fancy free.”

I own it; ’tis a fair excuse to plead;

By turns we claim it, and by turns concede;

But ‘twill not screen the unnatural and absurd,

Unions of lamb with tiger, snake with bird.

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