John Conington

"It is this principle [i.e. the interpretation of an original] which constitutes the true value of a really good translation—not as superseding the original even to the worst scholar, but as explaining it even to the best."

"No, trust the Muse: she opes the good mans grave, And lifts him to the gods."

"Death takes the mean man with the proud; The fatal urn has room for all."

"Ah! Postumus! Devotion fails The lapse of gliding years to stay, With wrinkled age it nought avails Nor conjures conquering Death away."

"An inferior artists only chance of giving pleasure."

"Comrades and friends! for ours is strength Has brooked the test of woes; O worse-scarred hearts! these wounds at length The Gods will heal, like those."

"This suffering will yield us yet A pleasant tale to tell."

"Then should some man of worth appear Whose stainless virtue all revere, They hush, they list: his clear voice rules Their rebel wills, their anger cools."

"There are few writers whose text is in so satisfactory a state as Virgils."

"I quail, Een now, at telling of the tale."

"She turned, and flashed upon their view Her stately necks purpureal hue; Ambrosial tresses round her head A more than earthly fragrance shed: Her falling robe her footprints swept, And showed the goddess as she stept."

"Blank verse really deserving the name I believe to be impossible except to one or two eminent writers in a generation."