Page:Satires, Epistles, Art of Poetry of Horace - Coningsby (1874).djvu/223



Enough: you'll think I've rifled the scrutore Of blind Crispinus, if I prose on more. OWES has a very similar couplet:— But hold! you'll think I've pillaged the scrutore Of blear Crispinus: not one word then more! I believe it however to be a mere coincidence on my part. The word "scrutore" is an uncommon one; but it was the recollection of an altogether different passage which suggested it to me here. At any rate, Howes is not the first who has used it in translating the present lines. Now 'tis enough: lest you should think T've dipt in blear-eyed Crispin's ink, And stolen my work from his scrutore, I will not add a sentence more, Author:Christopher Smart

Gives Varus' name to knock-kneed boys, and dubs His club-foot youngster Scaurus, king of clubs. This is, of course, in no sense a translation: it is simply an attempt (a desperate one, I fear) to give point to a sentence which otherwise to an English reader would have no point at all.