w blemishes, which either inattention has dropped, or
human nature has not sufficiently provided against. What therefore [is
to be determined in this matter]? As a transcriber, if he still commits
the same fault though he has been reproved, is without excuse; and the
harper who always blunders on the same string, is sure to be laughed at;
so he who is excessively deficient becomes another Choerilus; whom, when
I find him tolerable in two or three places, I wonder at with laughter;
and at the same time am I grieved whenever honest Homer grows drowsy?
But it is allowable, that sleep should steal upon [the progress of] a
king work.

As is painting, so is poetry: some pieces will strike you more if you
stand near, and some, if you are at a greater distance: one loves the
dark; another, which is not afraid of the critic's subtle judgment,
chooses to be seen in the light; the one has pleased once, the other
will give pleasure if ten times repeated.

O ye elder of the youths, though you are framed to a right judgment by
your father's instructions, and are wise in yourself, yet take this
truth along with you, [and] remember it; that in certain things a medium
and tolerable degree of eminence may be admitted: a counselor and
pleader at the bar of the middle rate is far removed from the merit of
eloquent Messala, nor has so much knowledge of the law as Casselius
Aulus, but yet he is in request; [but] a mediocrity in poets neither
gods, nor men, nor [even] the booksellers' shops have endured. As at an
agreeable entertainment discordant music, and muddy perfume, and poppies
mixed with Sardinian honey give offense, because the supper might have
passed without them; so poetry, created and invented for the delight of
our souls, if it comes short ever so little of the summit, sinks to the
bottom.

He who does not understand the game, abstains from the weapons of the
Campus Martius: and the unskillful in the tennis-ball, the quoit, and
the troques keeps himself quiet; lest the crowded ring should raise a
laugh at his expense: notwithstanding this, he who knows nothing of
verses presumes to compose. Why not! He is free-born, and of a good
family; above all, he is registered at an equestrian sum of moneys, and
clear from every vice. You, [I am persuaded,] will neither say nor do
any thing in opposition to Minerva: such is your judgment, such your
disposition. But if ever you shall write anything, let it be submitted
to the ears of Meti