_Jam
undique sylvæ, et solitudo, ipsumque illud silentium, quod venationi
datur, magna cogitationis incitamenta sunt.
undique sylvæ, et solitudo, ipsumque illud silentium, quod venationi
datur, magna cogitationis incitamenta sunt.
Tacitus
The liberal
arts must, by consequence, be degraded by a corrupt taste, and
learning will be left to run wild and grow to seed.
Section XII.
[a] That poetry requires a retreat from the bustle of the world, has
been so often repeated, that it is now considered as a truth, from
which there can be no appeal. Milton, it is true, wrote his Paradise
Lost in a small house near _Bunhill Fields_; and Dryden courted the
muse in the hurry and dissipation of a town life. But neither of them
fixed his residence by choice. Pope grew immortal on the banks of the
Thames. But though the country seems to be the seat of contemplation,
two great writers have been in opposite opinions. Cicero says, woods
and groves, and rivers winding through the meadows, and the refreshing
breeze, with the melody of birds, may have their attraction; but they
rather relax the mind into indolence, than rouse our attention, or
give vigour to our faculties. _Sylvarum amænitas, et præterlabentia
flumina, et inspirantes ramis arborum auræ, volucrumque cantus, et
ipsa late circumspiciendi libertas ad se trahunt; at mihi remittere
potius voluptas ista videtur cogitationem, quam intendere. _ _De Orat. _
lib. ii. This, perhaps, may be true as applied to the public orator,
whose scene of action lay in the forum or the senate. Pliny, on the
other hand, says to his friend Tacitus, there is something in the
solemnity of venerable woods, and the awful silence which prevails in
those places, that strongly disposes us to study and contemplation.
For the future, therefore, whenever you hunt, take along with you your
pen and paper, as well as your basket and bottle; for you will find
the mountains not more inhabited by Diana, than by Minerva.
_Jam
undique sylvæ, et solitudo, ipsumque illud silentium, quod venationi
datur, magna cogitationis incitamenta sunt. Proinde, cum, venabere,
licebit, auctore me, ut panarium et lagunculam, sic etiam pugillares
feras. Experiaris non Dianam magis montibus quam Minervam inerrare. _
Lib. i. epist. 6. Between these two different opinions, a true poet
may be allowed to decide. Horace describes the noise and tumult of a
city life, and then says,
Scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus, et fugit urbes.
Epist. lib. ii. ep. ii. ver. 77.
arts must, by consequence, be degraded by a corrupt taste, and
learning will be left to run wild and grow to seed.
Section XII.
[a] That poetry requires a retreat from the bustle of the world, has
been so often repeated, that it is now considered as a truth, from
which there can be no appeal. Milton, it is true, wrote his Paradise
Lost in a small house near _Bunhill Fields_; and Dryden courted the
muse in the hurry and dissipation of a town life. But neither of them
fixed his residence by choice. Pope grew immortal on the banks of the
Thames. But though the country seems to be the seat of contemplation,
two great writers have been in opposite opinions. Cicero says, woods
and groves, and rivers winding through the meadows, and the refreshing
breeze, with the melody of birds, may have their attraction; but they
rather relax the mind into indolence, than rouse our attention, or
give vigour to our faculties. _Sylvarum amænitas, et præterlabentia
flumina, et inspirantes ramis arborum auræ, volucrumque cantus, et
ipsa late circumspiciendi libertas ad se trahunt; at mihi remittere
potius voluptas ista videtur cogitationem, quam intendere. _ _De Orat. _
lib. ii. This, perhaps, may be true as applied to the public orator,
whose scene of action lay in the forum or the senate. Pliny, on the
other hand, says to his friend Tacitus, there is something in the
solemnity of venerable woods, and the awful silence which prevails in
those places, that strongly disposes us to study and contemplation.
For the future, therefore, whenever you hunt, take along with you your
pen and paper, as well as your basket and bottle; for you will find
the mountains not more inhabited by Diana, than by Minerva.
_Jam
undique sylvæ, et solitudo, ipsumque illud silentium, quod venationi
datur, magna cogitationis incitamenta sunt. Proinde, cum, venabere,
licebit, auctore me, ut panarium et lagunculam, sic etiam pugillares
feras. Experiaris non Dianam magis montibus quam Minervam inerrare. _
Lib. i. epist. 6. Between these two different opinions, a true poet
may be allowed to decide. Horace describes the noise and tumult of a
city life, and then says,
Scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus, et fugit urbes.
Epist. lib. ii. ep. ii. ver. 77.
