"When Statius," he says, "comes to the scene of his poem, and the prize in dispute between the brothers, he gives us a very mean opinion of it,--_pugna est de paupere regno_--very different from the conduct of his master, Virgil, who at the entrance of his poem informs the reader of the greatness of his subject."[15] Pope was led astray by the equivocal meaning of a word. There is no connection between the greatness of a kingdom, and the greatness of a theme for poetic purposes. The poverty of Scotland did not detract from the tragic grandeur of Macbeth. When the fugitive princes in the Thebais quarrel in the vestibule, where they have taken shelter from the storm, and fight with their fists, Pope confused the narrative by omitting the whole account as inconsistent with epic dignity, and sacrificed the characteristics of the original to assimilate the manners to modern usages. If his criticisms had been well founded he should yet have kept to his text. "The sense of an author," says Dryden, "is, generally speaking, to be sacred and inviolable. If the fancy of Ovid be luxuriant, it is his character to be so; and, if I retrench it, he is no longer Ovid. It will be replied that he receives advantage by this lopping of his superfluous branches; but I rejoin that a translator has no such right. When a painter copies from the life, I suppose he has no privilege to alter features and lineaments, under pretence that his picture will look better; perhaps the face which he has drawn would be more exact if the eyes or nose were altered; but it is his business to make it resemble the original." Pope has rendered a few passages with equal beauty and truth, but on the whole the antique colouring, the dramatic traits, and picturesque details are very imperfectly preserved. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: This brief introduction is from Lintot's Miscellany. In the edition of his works in 1736 Pope omitted the final clause which follows the word "correction."] [Footnote 2: Singer's Spence, p. 209, 211.] [Footnote 3: Spence, p. 211.] [Footnote 4: Spence, p. 146.] [Footnote 5: Spence, p. 214.] [Footnote 6: Spence, p. 210.] [Footnote 7: Spence, p. 214.] [Footnote 8: Spence, p. 146.] [Footnote 9: Spence, p. 204.] [Footnote 10: Spence, p. 146.] [Footnote 11: Spence, p. 146, 196.] [Footnote 12: Spence, p. 211.] [Footnote 13: Spence, p. 209, 211.] [Footnote 14: Pope to Cromwell, June 10, 1709.] [Footnote 15: Pope to Cromwell, Jan. 22, 1709.] ARGUMENT