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.
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