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Italians and Spaniards, or that of the English and French. Music
he certainly understood, as he exhorts the singers of his Carmen
seculare to attend his marking of the measures: servate mei
pollicis ictum: let these words be interpreted as implying a
mere blow given with this thumb upon any thing, to mark
each measure; or, as I would rather have it, let them be
understood as marking each measure by forcible strokes upon
the gravest chord of his instrument, which, in one of his satires,
he calls «the lower of the four», it follows either way, that
Borace was acquainted with music; and one might almost
conclude from those commanding words, that, like one of our
masters in an orchestra, he presided himself to the singing of
his Carmen. This conjecture will acquire strength, if we turn
to the prologus, where he tells the audience, that «he sings
verses never heard before», and sings them «to boys and
girls». It borders upon absurdity there, not to interprete him
literally; and it is surprising that father Sanadon did not even
suspect his having been the musician as well as the poet upon
that occasion, after having arranged the Polym^trum; which, if
it does not prove, at least hints, that he appeared there in
both characters.
Be that notwithstanding as it will, it is sufficient for my purpose, that one of Borace ’s odes must actually have been set to music, as it was sung on a great festival. But, if that particular ode was set to music, and sung, why should ali the rest remain deprived of that honour, when they are ali susceptible of music? Indeed, the modem composers must be charged with want of sagaciousness or curiosity for having forborn to avail themselves of subjects which would have teemed with an infinite variety of new modulations. They ought to have decorated with music the fine sense of that poet, as it fortunately happens to be wrapped up in the most melodious metres and expressed in the most significant words. Be it true that it is impossible, in our days, to ascertain how the Carmen seculare was set in the days of Augustus, and that we cannot even guess to what tunes the other odes were sung, if they
