He who does not understand the game, abstains from the weapons of the Campus Martius: and the unskillful in the tennis- ball, the quoit, and the troques keeps himself quiet; lest the crowded ring should raise a laugh at his expense: notwithstanding this, he who knows nothing of verses presumes to compose. Why not! He is free- born, and of a good family; above all, he is registered at an equestrian sum of moneys, and clear from every vice. You,[ I am persuaded,] will neither say nor do any thing in opposition to Minerva: such is your judgment, such your disposition. But if ever you shall write anything, let it be submitted to the ears of Metius[ Tarpa], who is a judge, and your father 's, and mine; and let it be suppressed till the ninth year, your papers being held up within your own custody. You will have it in your power to blot out what you have not made public: a word ice sent abroad can never return. 