The sportive image of the voice
Shall in the shades of Helicon repeat, etc.

The Satires of Horace are far from being remarkable for poetical harmony,
as he himself acknowledges. Indeed, according to the plan upon which
several of them are written, it could scarcely be otherwise. They are
frequently colloquial, sometimes interrogatory, the transitions quick,
and the apostrophes abrupt. It was not his object in those compositions,
to soothe the ear with the melody of polished numbers, but to rally the
frailties of the heart, to convince the understanding by argument, and
thence to put to shame both the vices and follies of mankind. Satire is
a species of composition, of which the Greeks furnished no model; and the
preceding Roman writers of this class, though they had much improved it
from its original rudeness and licentiousness, had still not brought it
to that degree of perfection which might answer the purpose of moral
reform in a polished state of society. It received the most essential
improvement from Horace, who has dexterously combined wit and argument,
raillery and sarcasm, on the side of morality and virtue, of happiness
and truth.

The Epistles of this author may be reckoned amongst the most valuable
productions of antiquity. Except those of the second book, and one or
two in the first, they are in general of the familiar kind; abounding in
moral sentiments, and judicious observations on life and manners.

The poem De Arte Poetica comprises a system of criticism, in justness of
principle and extent of application, correspondent to the various
exertions of genius on subjects of invention and taste. (177) That in
composing this excellent production, he availed himself of the most
approved works of Grecian original, we may conclude from the advice which