The Roman Way

A good-humored crowd, those people who filled the Roman theatre in its first days of popularity, easily appealed to by any sentimental interest, eager to have the wicked punished--but not too severely--and the good live happily ever after. No occasions wanted for intellectual exertion, no wit or deft malice; fun such as could be passively enjoyed, broad with a flavor of obscenity. Most marked characteristic of all, a love of mediocrity, a complete satisfaction with the average. The people who applauded thse plays wanted nothing bigger than their own small selves. They were democratic.

Quoted on October 5, 2011

On this point Horace would have admitted no opposition. He had the most positive convictions on wine's virtue as well as its delights. 'No songs can please nor yet live long which are written by those that drink water' . . .

Quoted on October 5, 2011

Poets of love there have been many in England, but poets of passion almost none. The truth is that it is nature, not a mistress, who really holds the hearts of English poets, and the lady in the case is apt to be lost sight of amid trees and clouds and birds and, above all, the flowers that grow in English gardens . . .

Quoted on October 5, 2011