macy in the study of Horace which
Bentley conferred upon England had been enjoyed previously by the Low
Countries and France, to which it had passed from Italy in the second
half of the sixteenth century. The immediate sign of this transfer of
the center to northern lands was the publication in 1561 at Lyons of the
edition containing the text revision and critical notes of Lambinus and
the commentary of the famous Cruquius of Bruges. The celebrated Scaliger
was unfavorably disposed to Horace, who found a defender in Heinsius,
another scholar of the Netherlands. D'Alembert, who became a sort of
_Ars Poetica_ to translators, published his _Observations_ at Amsterdam
in 1763.

An account of the English translations of the poet would include many
renderings of individual poems, such as those of Dryden, Sir Stephen E.
De Vere, and John Conington, and the version of Theodore Martin,
probably the most successful complete metrical translation of Horace in
any language. It is literally true that "every theory of translation has
been exemplified in some English rendering of Horace."

It is in the field of literature, however, that the manifestations of
Horace's hold upon the English are most numerous and most significant.
Even Shakespeare's "small Latin" includes him, in _Titus Andronicus_:

Demetrius.

W_hat's here? A scroll, and written round about!_
L_et's see_:

Integer vitae scelerisque purus
Non eget Mauri jaculis nec arcu.

Chiron.

O_, 'tis a verse in Horace; I know it well_:
I_ read it in the grammar long ago_.

The mere mention of English authors in poetry and prose who were touched
and kindled by the Horatian flame would amount to a review of the whole
course of English literature. It would begin principally with Spenser
and Ben Jonson, who in some measure represented in their land what the
Pleiad meant in France, and Opitz and his following in Germany. "Steep
yourselves in the classics," was Jonson's counsel, and his countrymen
did thus steep themselves to such a degree that it is possible for the
student to say of Milton's times: "The door to English literature and
history of the seventeenth century is open wide to those who are at ease
in the presence of Latin. Many writings and events of the time may
doubtless be understood and enjoyed by readers ignorant of the classics,
but to them the heart and spirit of the period as a whole will hardly be
revealed. Poetry, philosophy, history, bi