ABSTRACT
The string does not always give the note that the hand and mind intended: it often returns a high note when we ask for a low. The bow won’t always hit what it threatens to hit. The first section of the final part of the Ars from 347 focuses on faults (delicta), “the occasional ‘faults’ of Homer contrasted with the persistent faults of Choerilus. In a long poem the former faults are venial and therefore irrelevant, the latter are not (347–360).” But it is possible to argue that Horace is somewhat less willing to condone occasional ‘faults’ than is indicated by Brink’s analysis. At first glance this and similar renderings make good sense in so far as Horace seems to define a similar attitude towards poetry as the one he has just been describing concerning lyre playing and archery.
