"Egad, you are a shrewd guesser," cries the author. "I am glad the booksellers have not your sagacity. But how should it be otherwise, considering the price they pay by the sheet? The Greek, you will allow, is a hard language; and there are few gentlemen that write who can read it without a good lexicon. Now, sir, if we were to afford time to find out the true meaning of words, a gentleman would not get bread and cheese by his work. If one was to be paid, indeed, as Mr. Pope was for his Homer--Pray, sir, don't you think that the best translation in the world?" "Indeed, sir," cries Booth, "I think, though it is certainly a noble paraphrase, and of itself a fine poem, yet in some places it is no translation at all. In the very beginning, for instance, he hath not rendered the true force of the author. Homer invokes his muse in the five first lines of the Iliad; and, at the end of the fifth, he gives his reason: [Greek] For all these things," says he, "were brought about by the decree of Jupiter; and, therefore, he supposes their true sources are known only to the deities. Now, the translation takes no more notice of the [Greek] than if no such word had been there." "Very possibly," answered the author; "it is a long time since I read the original. Perhaps, then, he followed the French translations. I observe, indeed, he talks much in the notes of Madam Dacier and Monsieur Eustathius." Booth had now received conviction enough of his friend's knowledge of the Greek language; without attempting, therefore, to set him right, he made a sudden transition to the Latin. "Pray, sir," said he, "as you have mentioned Rowe's translation of the Pharsalia, do you remember how he hath rendered that passage in the character of Cato?-- _----Venerisque huic maximus usus Progenies; urbi Pater est, urbique Maritus._ For I apprehend that passage is generally misunderstood." "I really do not remember," answered the author. "Pray, sir, what do you take to be the meaning?" "I apprehend, sir," replied Booth, "that by these words, _Urbi Pater est, urbique Maritus_, Cato is represented as the father and husband to the city of Rome." "Very true, sir," cries the author; "very fine, indeed.--Not only the father of his country, but the husband too; very noble, truly!" "Pardon me, sir," cries Booth; "I do not conceive that to have been Lucan's meaning. If you please to observe the context; Lucan, having commended the temperance of Cato in the instances of diet and cloaths, proceeds to venereal pleasures; of which, says the poet, his principal use was procreation: then he adds, _Urbi Pater est, urbique Maritus;_ that he became a father and a husband for the sake only of the city." "Upon my word that's true," cries the author; "I did not think of it. It is much finer than the other.--_Urbis Pater est_--what is the other?--ay--_Urbis Maritus._--It is certainly as you say, sir."