“Why, I grant,” replied Pococurante, “that the second, third, fourth, and sixth books of his Aeneid, are excellent; but as for his pious Aeneas, his Cloanthus, his friendly Achates, his boy Ascanius, his silly king Latinus, his ill-bred Amata, his insipid Lavinia, and some other characters much in the same strain, I think there cannot in nature be anything more flat and disagreeable. I must confess I prefer Tasso far beyond him; nay, even that sleepy taleteller Ariosto.”

“May I take the liberty to ask if you do not experience great pleasure from reading Horace?” said Candide.

“There are maxims in this writer,” replied Pococurante, “whence a man of the world may reap some benefit; and the short measure of the verse makes