" CURIOSA. FELICITAS."
[TO TEE EDITOR OP TEE " SPECTATOR." J
SIR,—Petronius' dictum upon the style of Horace is surely as baffling to the would-be translator as many of the great poet's own phrases will always be. But " W. L." in your last issue tempts us to propose some alternative translation of the words to those which he offers ; and when one has once set forth upon the task it seems impossible to turn back, and, like a Blondin upon his high rope, one must cross or perish upon the perilous way. Well, then, will "Horace's elaborate charm" serve as an English rendering of the conflicting ideas so tersely united in the Latin original ? "Consummate charm occurs
to me also, but "consummate" would suggest the finished product of the poet's art rather than the process by which he
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