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As yet unfold the event on no pretense,
'Tis your chief task to keep us in suspense.

— Marco Girolamo Vida De Arte Poetica (1527)

Primus at ille labor versu tenuisse legentem
Suspensum, incertumque dia qui denique rerum
Eventus maneant.

Original text (Latin)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Book I, line 98

More quotes by Marco Girolamo Vida

Be sure, from nature never to depart;
To copy nature is the task of art.
The noblest poets own her sovereign sway,
And ever follow where she leads the way.

De Arte Poetica (1527)

While the hoarse ocean beats the sounding shore,
Dashed from the strand, the flying waters roar.

De Arte Poetica (1527)

The vast applause shall reach the starry frame,
No years, no ages shall obscure thy fame,
And Earth's last ends shall hear thy darling name.

De Arte Poetica (1527)

'Tis not enough his verses to complete,
In measure, numbers, or determined feet;
Or render things, by clear expression, bright,
And set each object in a proper light:
To all, proportioned terms he must dispense,
And make the sound a picture of the sense.

De Arte Poetica (1527)

I only pointed out the paths that lead
The panting youth to steep Parnassus' head,
And showed the tuneful Muses from afar,
Mixed in a solemn choir and dancing there.

De Arte Poetica (1527)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Marco Girolamo Vida (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.