All Nations with this Liberty dispense, And bid us shock the Man that shocks Good Sense. Great _Homer_ first the Mimic Sketch design'd What grasp'd not _Homer's_ comprehensive mind? By him who _Virtue_ prais'd, was _Folly_ curst, And who _Achilles_ sung, drew _Dunce the First_.[26] Next him _Simonides_, with lighter Air, In Beasts, and Apes, and Vermin, paints the _Fair_: The good _Scriblerus_ in like forms displays The reptile Rhimesters of these later days. More fierce, _Archilochus_! thy vengeful flame; Fools read and _dy'd_: for Blockheads then had _Shame_. The Comic-Satirist[27] attack'd his Age, And found low Arts, and Pride, among the Sage: See learned _Athens_ stand attentive by, And _Stoicks_ learn their Foibles from the Eye. _Latium's fifth Homer_[28] held the _Greeks_ in view; Solid, tho' rough, yet incorrect as new. _Lucilius_, warm'd with more than mortal flame Rose next[29], and held a torch to ev'ry shame. See stern _Menippus_, cynical, unclean; And _Grecian Cento_'s, mannerly obscene. Add the last efforts of _Pacuvius'_ rage, And the chaste decency of _Varro_'s page.[30] See _Horace_ next, in each reflection nice, Learn'd, but not vain, the Foe of Fools nor Vice. Each page instructs, each Sentiment prevails, All shines alike, he rallies, but ne'er rails: With courtly ease conceals a Master's art, And least-expected steals upon the heart. Yet _Cassius_[31] felt the fury of his rage, (_Cassius_, the _We----d_ of a former age) And sad _Alpinus_, ignorantly read, Who murder'd _Memnon_, tho' for ages dead. Then _Persius_ came: whose line tho' roughly wrought, His Sense o'erpaid the stricture of his thought. Here in clear light the _Stoic_-doctrine shines, Truth all subdues, or Patience all resigns. A Mind supreme![32] impartial, yet severe: Pure in each Act, in each Recess sincere! Yet _rich ill_ Poets urg'd the _Stoic_'s Frown, And bade him strike at _Dulness_ and a _Crown_[33]. The Vice and Luxury _Petronius_ drew, In _Nero_ meet: th' imperial point of view: The Roman _Wilmot_, that could Vice chastize, Pleas'd the mad King he serv'd, to satirize. The next[34] in Satire felt a nobler rage, What honest Heart could bear _Domitian_'s age? See his strong Sense, and Numbers masculine! His Soul is kindled, and he kindles mine: Scornful of Vice, and fearless of Offence, He flows a Torrent of impetuous Sense. Lo! Savage Tyrants Who blasphem'd their God Turn Suppliants now, and gaze at _Julian_'s Rod.[35] _Lucian_, severe, but in a gay disguise, Attacks old Faith, or sports in learned Lyes;[36] Sets Heroes and Philosophers at odds; And scourges Mortals, and dethrones the Gods. Then all was Night--But _Satire_ rose once more Where _Medici_ and _Leo_ Arts restore. _Tassonè_ shone fantastic, but sublime: And He, who form'd the _Macaronique_-Rhime: