Page:Vida's Art of Poetry.djvu/112

By such an happy change, Sicharbas came
To sink his roughness in Sichæus' name.
Hence would I rather choose those dire alarms
Of vast Enceladus, and heav'n in arms,
And the fierce Titan's battles to rehearse,
Harmonious names, that glide into the verse;
Than count the rough, the barb'rous nations o'er,
Which Rome subdu'd of old from shore to shore.

Let things submit to words, on no pretence,
But make your words subservient to your sense.
Nor for their sake admit a single line
But what contributes to the main design.
Thro' ev'ry part most diligently pierce,
And weigh the sound and sense of ev'ry verse.
Unless your strictest caution you display,
Some words may lead the heedless bard away;
Steal from their duty, and desert their post,
And skulk in darkness, indolently lost;
Or while their proper parts their fellows ply,
Contribute nought but sound and harmony.