Such trivial objects call us off too long
From the main drift, and tenor of the song.
[1] Drances appears a juster character,
In council bold, but cautious in the war;
Factious and loud the list'ning throng he draws,
And swells with wealth, and popular applause;
But what in our's would never find a place
The bold Greek language may admit with grace.
Why should I here the stratagems recite,
And the low tricks of every little wit:
Some out of time their stock of knowledge boast,
'Till in the pedant all the bard is lost.
Such without care their useless lumber place;
One black, confus'd, and undigested mass,
With a wild heap encumbers every part,
Nor rang'd with grace, nor methodiz'd with art;
But then in chief, when things abstruse they teach,
Themes too abstracted for the vulgar reach;
The hidden nature of the deities;
The secret laws, and motions of the skies;
- ↑ Vid. Virgil. Æneid. Lib. 11. vers. 336.
