No More Learning

'667 Petronius:'

a courtier and man of letters of the time of Nero. Only a few lines of
his remaining work contain any criticism.


'669 Quintilian's work:'

the 'Institutiones Oratoriae' of Quintilianus, a famous Latin critic of
the first century A. D.


'675 Longinus:'

a Greek critic of the third century A. D. , who composed a famous work
called 'A Treatise on the Sublime'. It is a work showing high
imagination as well as careful reasoning, and hence Pope speaks of the
author as inspired by the Nine, 'i. e. ' the Muses.


'692'

The willful hatred of the monks for the works of classical antiquity
tended to complete that destruction of old books which the Goths began
when they sacked the Roman cities. Many ancient writings were erased,
for example, in order to get parchment for monkish chronicles and
commentaries.


'693 Erasmus:'

perhaps the greatest scholar of the Renaissance. Pope calls him the
"glory of the priesthood" on account of his being a monk of such
extraordinary learning, and "the shame" of his order, because he was so
abused by monks in his lifetime. Is this a good antithesis?
'697 Leo's golden days:'

the pontificate of Leo X (1513-1521). Leo himself was a generous patron
of art and learning. He paid particular attention to sacred music (l.
703), and engaged Raphael to decorate the Vatican with frescoes. Vida
(l. 704) was an Italian poet of his time, who became famous by the
excellence of his Latin verse. One of his poems was on the art of
poetry, and it is to this that Pope refers in l. 706.


'707-708'

Cremona was the birthplace of Vida; Mantua, of Virgil.


'709'

The allusion is to the sack of Rome by the Constable Bourbon's army in
1527. This marked the end of the golden age of arts in Italy.


'714 Boileau:'

a French poet and critic (1636-1711). His 'L'Art Poetique' is founded on
Horace's 'Ars Poetica'.


'723 the Muse:'

'i. e. ' the genius, of John Sheffield (1649-1720), Duke of Buckingham
(not to be confounded with Dryden's enemy).