Horace requires in his translator little of the fire which Cowper lacked.

In the Odes he requires grace, in the Satires urbanity and playfulness, all of which Cowper had in abundance.

Moreover, Horace is separated from us by no intellectual gulf.

He belongs to what Dr.Arnold called the modern period of ancient history.

Nor is Cowper's translation of part of the eighth book of Virgil's Aeneid bad, in spite of the heaviness of the blank verse.