Page:The Dunciad - Alexander Pope (1743).djvu/204

Low bow'd the rest: He, kingly, did but nod;^{[I 1]}
So upright Quakers please both Man and God.
Mistress! dismiss that rabble from your throne:
210 Avaunt———is Aristarchus^{[R 1]} yet unknown?^{[I 2]}
Thy mighty Scholiast, whose unweary'd pains
Made Horace dull, and humbled Milton's strains.
Turn what they will to Verse, their toil is vain,
Critics like me shall make it Prose again.
215 Roman and Greek Grammarians! know your Better:^{[I 3]}
Author of something yet more great than Letter;
While tow'ring o'er your Alphabet, like Saul,
Stands our Digamma, and o'er-tops them all.^{[R 2]}

Remarks

1. Ver. 210. Aristarchus] A famous Commentator, and Corrector of Homer, whose name has been frequently used to signify a complete Critic. The Compliment paid by our author to this eminent Professor, in applying to him so great a Name, was the reason that he hath omitted to comment on this part which contains his own praises. We shall therefore supply that loss to our best ability. Scribl.
2. Ver. 217, 218. While tow'ring o'er your Alphabet, like Saul, — Stands our Digamma,] Alludes to the boasted restoration of the Æolic Digamma, in his long projected Edition of Homer. He calls it something more than Letter, from the enormous figure it would make among the other letters, being one Gamma set upon the shoulders of another.

Imitations

1. Ver. 207. — He, kingly, did but nod;] Milton,
   —He, kingly, from his State
   Declin'd not ———
2. Ver. 210. — is Aristarchus yet unknown?]
   ——— Sic notus UlyssesVirg.
   Dost thou not feel me, Rome?Ben. Johnson.
3. Ver. 215. Roman and Greek Grammarians, &c.] Imitated from Propertius speaking of the Æneid.
   Cedite, Romani scriptores, cedite Graii!
   Nescio quid majus nascitur Iliade.