New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-03-31

ton Mifin & Co.
The most interesting portion IF this voiume IS
certainly the chapter on the works OF Horace
There is Of course, the general fact that Horace
is more widely read than any other l-aun poet
70 give interest to all discussion of his merits;
and there is besides the particular fact that FRO
ross,r Tvrreu takes an unwonted point Of view
E.ven If those whom he would call "Horatola-
ters' find themselves rrtated by his structures
on their favorie they should remember mat II
Is impossible to keep attention alert on any SUD
ioct without new theories to work upon Nheh
all men OF letters the world over reach absolute
unity Of opinion about IIoraoes poems then
those poems Will gradually cease TO be read IL
will be felt that the stream has run dry at us
source They may not be willing to concede 50
much as this to novelty The eccantric.tes OF IN
tolerance IN literary affairs are sometimes eXtraor
binary \ German critic who speculated some
what rudely. perhaps hut quite accidentally on
the relations Of Ophe.a to Hamlet. once received
q challenge from a chlvalrous defender of the
good name Of a lady who never existed Pro-
Ycssor Tvrrell himself has story to tell that
hears on this point. lie wrote an article FOR an
English review in which he discussed Horaces
relations 20 his predecessors and the sincerity or
insincerty Of his love poems. lie appears 70 nave
been not Il little surprised at the STIR ne maze
Country gentlemen and others with leisure Tor
controversy took uDtthe cudgels for Horace IN
the newspapers. and dealt the malignant winner
o. the great Augustan many doughty blow 10
Judge from the heat and viGor Of their attacks
Il would hardly be guessed that Horace had been
dead these . 900 year, The easiest way to ac-
count for these manifestations of human nature
IS to imagine that III, e1rnestness in them whll"
II NAV he genuine 5 very shallow Professor Tyr
rel probably does not look upon his theories as
ANYTHING more than tentative efforts. ana the
defenders of Horace allowed themselves to get
warm over the subject merely because they con-
sdered that the proper thing to do But there
il another way to deal with literary hereuc.
Give him praise and thanks for having enl:Neheu
a well-worn theme. and then see what could De
saved ont of the wreck. supposing that al MS
novel PROPOSITIONS tuin.d out to be true As
rule this process will resul, in showing that the
damage inflicted by the most determined critic
upon a fame long established in the history OF
letters amounts TO less than nothing. The case
for Horace is that Of lyricist whose metrical
skill has defed imitation and of a poeiical essay
ist whose genial philosophy has been the delight
of cultivated men for many ages Professor Tyr
reu does not minimize these items in the plea FOR
tho noet He acknowledges that Horace is al
most an IDOL of the modern world. In homage to
tho Sabine farmer agree men so diverse in time
and tsnper as Dante. Montaigne. Bossuet, La
fontaine and Voltaire. Hooker, Chesterheld. GID
hon Wordsworth and Thackeray Mystic ana
atheist scoffcr ard preacher. recluse ana ieaoer
of fashion have in Horace one subject on when
they ar, sympathetic with each other This IS
mainly due to the fact that the world owes TO
Horace a precious store Of pointed aphor'sms ana
shrewd comments on life, which. apart from all
controversies about his place in poetry must
ever establish a kind % personal relation with
his reader and must heve permanent perhaps
an increasing value to the world
All this conceded, the case against Horace in
wolves first Of ALL the lack Of consideration ac-
corded him by men of letters near him IN point
Of time. virgins fame was established before ne
was dead His votares were enthusiastic. MS de-
tractors venomous in the earliest times. But HOT
ace aroused in the Roman world neither strong
affection nor lively animosity. He was credited
by Petronius Arbiter with curious 1ehcit!'
phrase which in an almost UNMARRIED form mas sur
yived To- the present day. OVID called MN ihusi-
cal but when he came 10 enumerate the great
Latin poets named Virgil, Tibullus Propertus'
Gallo and Varro but no Horace Volleius. the
historian also forgot Horace while mentioning
Catunus. Tibullus Virgil and Ovid. Frouto
him a memorable poet. the word memorable
having a far less emphatic cOnnotauon in Latin
than in English. As Frouto seems to have been
a worshpper Of the archaic in literature. not like
" to praise comparatively recent writer Ike
Horace even moderate commentator gained en-
phasis at his hands But Professor Tyrrell cites
Ouintilan also as saying that Horace occasion
ally rises" and IS alone worth reading among the
lyric poets the only one comparable to him being
Bassus. who is reckonel inferior to some living
Ivrcists lie infers tina; Quirtilian means to put
Bassus on par with Horace. and thus TO place
the latter below certain poets Of his own late
times On the contrary. better Interpretation
~ that of dead poets only Bassus can be men
toned in comparison with Horace and II would
be better not to name him, for there were living
poets who could better bear such comparison.
Meanwhile only Horace really deserved 70 be
read But. granting that Horace enjoyed no sa-
premacy among Latin poets and critics. the in
difference toward him must have been due TO the
character OF his work Ii is conceded By all
by Goethe and Hartman and Professor Tyrrel,
that his mc,rical art is irreprOachable Professor
Tyrrell looks elsewhere for defect that would be
patent to the classic writer's. but nigh, easily es-
cape attention now. he finds II. as he thinks. In
Horace's want Of originality. His argument is
defective because it implies. what was doubtless
true. that no Latin poetry was original in the
Greek sense or even in the modern sense Of the
term. He says that the Latin comic writer's
never even contemplated the possibility of franz
ing their own plots, and that Horace, like all
the poets of his time. either reproduced master
pieces from the Greek or adapted 20 a more re-
fined taste the works Of earlier Romans" SUB
stantislly then. all Latin poetry was on level.
I'm point OF originality, either with the Hora;ian
or the Chaucerian adaptations of Pope. II this is
the fact. then there was no reason for a conspra
cy Of silence against Horace among his contempt
rares and immediate successors. If they were
inmcal. they must have been 50 for reasons diff
fcrent from those which told against their own
srs as well as mis-. Only Of Virgil can it be said
that ne bettered what he borrowed from the