University of Virginia Library

Epistle III. To Antonius.

by the Same. [Mr. Henley.]

THAT you have twice sustained the Office of Consul, has an Air of the antient Greatness; that you have been Proconsul of Asia, such a One, as scarce any (your Modesty will not permit me to say none) has equally discharg'd himself, either before or after you; that in Sanctity, Authority, and even in Age, you are first of the City, is a noble and a venerable Character; yet I admire you more in the gayer Parts of Life. For to relish that Gravity with equal Agreeableness, and join so much of the Complaisant to that Height of the Severe, is as great as difficult. You reach that Point by an incredibly Charm of conversation, and especially by your Style in Writing. When you talk, the celebrated Honey of old Homer seems to show, and when you write, the Bees collect their Flowers, and interweave them. So highly was I entertain'd when last I read your Greek Epigrams and your Jambicks. What Genteelness, Grace, what Mixture of the Pleasant and Tender, the Antique, the Witty, the Just, was in them?

I imagin'd my self to be reading Callimachus, Herodes, or something better, if that be possible. Yet neither of them has touch'd or compleated both Characters. A Roman to be so finish'd a Græcian! By Heavens, I could not say that Athens it self is so perfectly Attic. What can I add? I envy the Greeks your Choice of Writing in their Language; for it is not hard to divine, what you could express in your native Tongue, when you have shewn your self so great a Master, in one that is Foreign and Transplanted.