[89]Jamque rubescebat radiis mare, & æthere ab altoAurora in roseis fulgebat lutea bigis.And now the Ocean redden'd with the Rays;And in her rosy Car the blushing MornShone from the Sky.
[89]Jamque rubescebat radiis mare, & æthere ab altoAurora in roseis fulgebat lutea bigis.
And now the Ocean redden'd with the Rays;And in her rosy Car the blushing MornShone from the Sky.
And inOvid:
[90]—Ecce! vigil nitido patefecit ab ortuPurpureas Aurora fores, & plena rosarumAtria.——Soon as the Morn, in orient Purple drest,Unbarr'd the Portals of the roseate East.Pope,Odyss.IV. 411.
[90]—Ecce! vigil nitido patefecit ab ortuPurpureas Aurora fores, & plena rosarumAtria.——
Soon as the Morn, in orient Purple drest,Unbarr'd the Portals of the roseate East.Pope,Odyss.IV. 411.
The Epithets,lutea,roseis,vigil,purpureas,&c.may always be used, in the Description of a bright Morning: And the same Thing may be observ'd of general Descriptions of the Night, the four Seasons of the Year, and the like.
There are others, again, of a middle Kind between the two Sorts of Epithets I have above laid down; which tho' they do not add to their Subjectsdistinct Ideas, yet aremuch farther offfrom the general Nature of them, than these I have here mention'd. Of this Sort are the following in the foremention'd Description of the Plague among the Cattle.
[91]Hinc læti vituli vulgo moriuntur in herbis,Et dulces animas plena ad præsepia reddunt.In ev'ry Pasture, on the verdant Grass,The Calves all die, and render their sweet SoulsBefore the plenteous Racks.
[91]Hinc læti vituli vulgo moriuntur in herbis,Et dulces animas plena ad præsepia reddunt.
In ev'ry Pasture, on the verdant Grass,The Calves all die, and render their sweet SoulsBefore the plenteous Racks.
And again:
[92]Non umbræ altorum nemorum, non mollia possuntPrata movere animum; non qui per saxa volutusPurior electro campum petit amnis.No Shades of Groves, no grassy Meads can moveHis Soul; nor Streams, which rolling o'er the Stones,Purer than Crystal, glide along the Fields.
[92]Non umbræ altorum nemorum, non mollia possuntPrata movere animum; non qui per saxa volutusPurior electro campum petit amnis.
No Shades of Groves, no grassy Meads can moveHis Soul; nor Streams, which rolling o'er the Stones,Purer than Crystal, glide along the Fields.
In general it is true, but not always, that Herbs arejoyful, Meadowssoft, Riverspure, and the Breath of Calves sweet.
These are the general Rules, and such as are rarely or never to be transgress'd, in the Choice of Epithets: But to insert them only to fill up a Verse, when they are entirely idle and useless, and the Description is neither advanced, heightened, or illustrated by them, is the greatest Fault almost a Writer can be guilty of. From hence the Style isbarrenandjejune; the Senserelax'dandenervated. And yet this Fault, great as it is, not only Boys, but some even of the Ancients, and many of our modern Writers, run into.Buchanan, in his Paraphrastical Version of the Psalms, has these Verses:
[93]Dum procul à patria, mœsti, Babylonis in oris,Fluminis ad liquidas forte sedemus aquas.
[93]Dum procul à patria, mœsti, Babylonis in oris,Fluminis ad liquidas forte sedemus aquas.
Two Lines after he goes on thus:
Flevimus, & gemitus luctantia verba repressit,Inque sinus liquidæ decidit imber aquæ.
Flevimus, & gemitus luctantia verba repressit,Inque sinus liquidæ decidit imber aquæ.
We had no Occasion to be remindedonce, much lesstwicein the Compass of five Verses, thatWaterwasliquid; 'tis a Circumstance that served as little for the Information of the Reader, as for the Illustration of what the Poet was describing.Ovidis often guilty this Way; as in the following Verse:
[94]Equesagittiferaprompsit duo tela pharetra.Two fatal ShaftsForth from hisArrow-bearingQuiver drew.
[94]Equesagittiferaprompsit duo tela pharetra.
Two fatal ShaftsForth from hisArrow-bearingQuiver drew.
To produce more Instances, would be needless: One small Scruple, I confess, arises to me upon this Head, from observing thatHoraceandVirgilseem to use some few of these redundant Epithets; and 'twas for this Reason I said above, the Rule I had laid down oughtrarelyorneverto be violated. But whatever we determine concerning those greatAuthorities (for I know not how to impeach them) it is certain they very sparingly allow themselves this Liberty; and the Writers, perhaps, of that Age, paid so great a Veneration toHomer, that they sometimes affected even to imitate his Faults. Notwithstanding, therefore, this Exception, (and what Rule is without one?) I may venture to affirm, that the Laws I proposed, in relation to Epithets, ought punctually to be observed. It is farther to be noted, that the Wordsmeus,tuus, andsuus, (which are not properly Epithets) are often brought into a Verse out of Idleness, only to fill it up, and make it flat and languid. ThusOvid, in the Story ofPhaeton,
[95]—Balænarumque prementemÆgæonasuisimmania terga lacertis.Himself Ægæonwith his HanddoesguideA Whale's enormous Bulk.[96]Tum pater orasuisacro medicamine natiContigit.——Then o'er hisownSon's Face a Tincture pours.
[95]—Balænarumque prementemÆgæonasuisimmania terga lacertis.
Himself Ægæonwith his HanddoesguideA Whale's enormous Bulk.
[96]Tum pater orasuisacro medicamine natiContigit.——
Then o'er hisownSon's Face a Tincture pours.
And afterwards:
[97]Vixquesuishumeris candentem sustinet axem.
[97]Vixquesuishumeris candentem sustinet axem.
In the pentameter Verse these Pronouns, it is well known, are remarkably serviceable to constitute the last Foot; but it is one of the poorest Expedients that can be thought of!
I said thatHomer's Faults were, perhaps, studiously imitated by the best Writers; for ifHomermay at this Time of Day be criticized upon, it would be hard to assign a Reason for the Frequency of his Epithets, many of which are insignificant and superfluous, or to shew wherein consists the Elegance of these sort of Expressions, and innumerable others ofthe like Nature, that occur up and down in him[98].
——θοἡ παρἁ νηἱ μελαιυη.θἱν' ἑφ' ἁλὁϛ πολιἡϛ, 'ἑρὁων ἑπἱ ὁινοπα πὁντον.Sad retiring to the sounding Shore,O'er the wild Margin of the Deep he hung.Pope.—λευχὡλενο; Ἡρη, white arm'dJuno—βοὡτιϛ πὁτνια Ἡρη, her full-ey'd Majesty.
——θοἡ παρἁ νηἱ μελαιυη.θἱν' ἑφ' ἁλὁϛ πολιἡϛ, 'ἑρὁων ἑπἱ ὁινοπα πὁντον.
Sad retiring to the sounding Shore,O'er the wild Margin of the Deep he hung.Pope.
—λευχὡλενο; Ἡρη, white arm'dJuno
—βοὡτιϛ πὁτνια Ἡρη, her full-ey'd Majesty.
These are Difficulties I only propose, not presuming to assert any Thing against the ancientest, and almost the Prince of Poets.
On the other Hand, they are under no less an Error, that will admit only ofvery few Epithets, and arrogantly banish the Use of them. It is certain, they are not only wonderfully adapted to Description, but so peculiarly to Poetry, that the Beauty of its Style chiefly consists in them. They exhibit to the Mind Ideas ofQualities in the Concrete, (as the Logicians speak) which strike the Imagination no less than those that are express'd in theAbstract. 'Tis plain, from what appears above, that the Writings of the best Poets are full of them, and particularlyVirgil's. But tho' the Examples already alleg'd might seem sufficient, yet I beg Leave to add a very remarkable one, where every Substantive has its proper Epithet, to heighten and adorn the Sense. The Passage I mean is at the Beginning of the celebrated Description of the Infernal Shades:
[99]Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus orci,Luctus, & ultrices posuére cubiliaCuræ; Pallentesque habitant Morbi, tristisque Senectus,Et Metus, & malesuada Fames, & turpis Egestas,(Terribiles visu formæ!) Letumque, Laborque,Tum consanguineus leti Sopor, & mala mentisGaudia, mortiferumque adverso in limine Bellum;Ferreique Eumenidum thalami, & Discordia demens,Vipereos crines vittis innexa cruentis.In medio ramos annosaque brachia panditUlmus opaca, ingens; quam sedem somnia vulgoVana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus hærent.Just in the Entrance and first Jaws of Hell,Grief and revengeful Cares their Couches plac'd;And pale Diseases, querulous old Age,Fear, ill-persuading Hunger, and foul Want;(Forms dreadful to behold) and Death, and Pain;And Sleep akin to Death; the Mind's false Joys;The Furies Iron Bed; and Discord wild,Her vip'rous Locks with bloody Fillets bound.Full in the midst a tall and dusky ElmDisplays its Boughs, and aged Limbs: This Seat(Such is the Fame) fantastick Dreams possess,And stick beneath the Leaves.——
[99]Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus orci,Luctus, & ultrices posuére cubiliaCuræ; Pallentesque habitant Morbi, tristisque Senectus,Et Metus, & malesuada Fames, & turpis Egestas,(Terribiles visu formæ!) Letumque, Laborque,Tum consanguineus leti Sopor, & mala mentis
Gaudia, mortiferumque adverso in limine Bellum;Ferreique Eumenidum thalami, & Discordia demens,Vipereos crines vittis innexa cruentis.In medio ramos annosaque brachia panditUlmus opaca, ingens; quam sedem somnia vulgoVana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus hærent.
Just in the Entrance and first Jaws of Hell,Grief and revengeful Cares their Couches plac'd;And pale Diseases, querulous old Age,Fear, ill-persuading Hunger, and foul Want;(Forms dreadful to behold) and Death, and Pain;And Sleep akin to Death; the Mind's false Joys;The Furies Iron Bed; and Discord wild,Her vip'rous Locks with bloody Fillets bound.Full in the midst a tall and dusky ElmDisplays its Boughs, and aged Limbs: This Seat(Such is the Fame) fantastick Dreams possess,And stick beneath the Leaves.——
We meet with but few Lines of this Poet free from Epithets; many have two, and some three: Nay, sometimes 'tis the Height of Elegance to join more to the same Substantive, without a Conjunction between: As,
[100]Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens.——An Eyeless Monster, hideous, vast deform![101]—Loricam ex ære rigentem,Sanguineam, ingentem.——The Corslet stiff with Brass,Sanguine, immense.
[100]Monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens.——
An Eyeless Monster, hideous, vast deform!
[101]—Loricam ex ære rigentem,Sanguineam, ingentem.——
The Corslet stiff with Brass,Sanguine, immense.
A Style, therefore, destitute of Epithets, will gain no more Admirers, than a Body made up of nothing but Nerves and Bones: And as the Beauty of this consists in not being too much emaciated, nor yet over-charged with Flesh; so does that of the other in ajust Proportion of these sort of Adjuncts, when they are neither wanting, nor too much abound. Verbs and Substantives I suppose to be in Style, what Bones and Nerves are in a Body; because they contain more Strength, tho' not more Beauty than Epithets; which therefore, whenever Emphasis and Energy is required, are totally omitted. ThusVirgil:
[102]Aude, hospes, contemnere opes, & te quoque dignumFinge Deo.——Dare to scorn Wealth, brave Guest; presume thyselfWorthy to emulate a God.
[102]Aude, hospes, contemnere opes, & te quoque dignumFinge Deo.——
Dare to scorn Wealth, brave Guest; presume thyselfWorthy to emulate a God.
And again:
[103]Est hic, est animus lucis contemptor, & istumQui vita bene credit emi, quo tendis, honorem.Here too, here dwells a Soul that with ContemptRegards this vital Air, and thinks with LifeThat Fame well bought, to which thy Soul aspires.
[103]Est hic, est animus lucis contemptor, & istumQui vita bene credit emi, quo tendis, honorem.
Here too, here dwells a Soul that with ContemptRegards this vital Air, and thinks with LifeThat Fame well bought, to which thy Soul aspires.
And at the Conclusion of that admirable Description ofÆneas'sShield made byVulcan, thus the divine Poet closes his eighth Book:
[104]Talia per clypeum Vulcani, dona parentis,Miratur, rerumque ignarus imagine gaudet,Attollens humero famamque & fata nepotum.Such Figures on the broadVulcanianShield,His Mother's Gift, the Hero pleas'd admiresIn Ignorance; and on his Shoulder highUpheaves the Fame and Fortune of his Race.
[104]Talia per clypeum Vulcani, dona parentis,Miratur, rerumque ignarus imagine gaudet,Attollens humero famamque & fata nepotum.
Such Figures on the broadVulcanianShield,His Mother's Gift, the Hero pleas'd admiresIn Ignorance; and on his Shoulder highUpheaves the Fame and Fortune of his Race.
The last Verse is express'd with all the Strength and Weight imaginable, because without one Epithet. The Reason of this Effect seems to be, that Ideas in theConcreteare no more than Adjuncts of those in theAbstract; now that which supports, must needs be stronger than what is supported. To thesame Purpose, when this is our Aim, all synonymous Expressions must be avoided; for the shorter and closer the Style, the stronger; but the Matter of it, by being spread among a Variety of Words, is thinned, and, consequently, weakened. The Poet, no doubt, is indulged much more in Epithets and Synonyma's, than the Orator; his Province consisting more peculiarly in Colouring, Description and Decoration. But both of them ought to take Care that these musical and bewitching Elegances are not too redundant; for a Style, whether in Prose or Verse, cannot be attended with a greater Fault than a verbose Luxuriance.
Some, thro' Ignorance of what anEpithetis, may be apt in their Reading to make a wrong Enumeration of them; for allAdjectivesandParticiplesdo not (as many think) come under this Appellation, but those only which are annex'd to Substantives, by way ofOrnamentandIllustration; not such as make up the essential Part of the Description. In the following Lines ofVirgil,
[105]Diverso interea miscentur mœnia luctu;Et magis atque magis (quanquam secreta parentisAnchisæ domus, arboribusque obtecta recessit)Clarescunt sonitus, armorumque ingruit horror.Mean while, with Cries confus'd the Walls resound:And tho' my Father's Palace, fenc'd with Trees,Stood from the Hurry of the town retir'd;The Noise grows loud, and th' undistinguish'd DinOf clashing Arms rolls near.
[105]Diverso interea miscentur mœnia luctu;Et magis atque magis (quanquam secreta parentisAnchisæ domus, arboribusque obtecta recessit)Clarescunt sonitus, armorumque ingruit horror.
Mean while, with Cries confus'd the Walls resound:And tho' my Father's Palace, fenc'd with Trees,Stood from the Hurry of the town retir'd;The Noise grows loud, and th' undistinguish'd DinOf clashing Arms rolls near.
there is not an Epithet; neitherdiverso,secreta, orobtecta, comes under that Denomination, but are Adjectives or Participles of the other Kind.
Seventh Lecture.
We come now to enumerate the different Kinds of Style made use of by Poets, and to shew briefly wherein they consist, and to what sort of Verse and Subject each is suitable. To begin, then, with that which is first in Dignity, and therefore ought to be so in Place; thesublime, I mean, whose Property it is to express lofty Ideas in no vulgar Strain, but with Words sonorous, pompous, and majestic. This Style is, in the first Place, proper for the Epic Poem; in the next, to some sort of Odes; after that, to Tragedy; then to the severer kind of Satire; and, in short, to all Poems of less Note, that partake of the Heroic, or the Buskin. There are others that make Excursions into it, such as theGeorgics, and all of the Didactic, or Philosophical Kind, whenever they digress into a more noble Field of Matter, to which their Subject sometimes naturally leads them. But to Comedy, the lower kind of Satire, and Pastoral, it is never agreeable; to Elegy very seldom. In behalf of the first of these, that Place ofTerencewill be urged, whichHoraceseems to have had in his View, when he says,
[106]Interdum tamen & vocem Comœdia tollit.Yet Comedy sometimes may raise her Voice.Rosc.
[106]Interdum tamen & vocem Comœdia tollit.
Yet Comedy sometimes may raise her Voice.Rosc.
But this Rage ofChremes, whichHoracementions, is not, perhaps, so much an Instance of a Comic Sublime, as of a borrowed Tragic Fury. In relation to Pastoral, ifVirgil's fourth Eclogue be objected, I answer, that the Poet himself confesses he leaves his proper Subject for a more lofty one, and begins his Poem with a sort of an Apology for it:
Sicelides Musæ, paulo majora canamus;Non omnes arbusta juvant, humilesque myricæ.SicilianMuses, raise a loftier Strain;Not all in Groves and lowly Shrubs delight.
Sicelides Musæ, paulo majora canamus;Non omnes arbusta juvant, humilesque myricæ.
SicilianMuses, raise a loftier Strain;Not all in Groves and lowly Shrubs delight.
Not that I suppose Pastoral totally to reject the Sublime, as I shall have Occasion to shew more fully hereafter.
For the present, I suppose, it will suffice to produce one or two Instances, out of innumerable, of the Style we are upon. In the secondÆneid,Venus, shewing her Son what Gods were united for the Destruction ofTroy, gives us this Specimen of it:
[107]Non tibi Tyndaridis facies invisa Lacænæ,Culpatusve Paris; Divûm inclementia, Divûm,Has evertit opes, sternitque à culmine Trojam.'Tis notTyndarian Helen's hated Form,Nor much blam'dParis; Heav'n, inclement Heav'nO'erturns this Realm, and levels tow'ringTroy.
[107]Non tibi Tyndaridis facies invisa Lacænæ,Culpatusve Paris; Divûm inclementia, Divûm,Has evertit opes, sternitque à culmine Trojam.
'Tis notTyndarian Helen's hated Form,Nor much blam'dParis; Heav'n, inclement Heav'nO'erturns this Realm, and levels tow'ringTroy.
And a little after:
[108]Hic ubi disjectas moles, avulsaque saxisSaxa vides, mistoque undantem pulvere fumum;Neptunus muros, magnoque emota tridentiFundamenta quatit, totamque à sedibus urbemEruit; hic Juno Scæas sævissima portasPrima tenet, sociumque furens à navibus agmenFerro accincta vocat.Jam summas arces Tritonia (respice) PallasInsedit, nimbo effulgens, & Gorgone sæva.Ipse Pater Danais animos, viresque secundasSufficit, ipse Deos in Dardana suscitat arma.Here, where you see that Rubbish, Heaps confus'd,Stones wrench'd from Stones, and thick redounding SmokeBlended with Clouds of Dust; greatNeptuneshakesThe Walls, and with his massy Trident heavesThe City from its deep Foundations. ThereRelentlessJuno, girt with Steel, has seiz'dTheScæanGates; and raging from their ShipsCalls her confed'rate Forces.Next (that Way bend thy Eyes) the lofty Tow'rsTritonian Pallashas possess'd; there sits,With her direGorgon. In a beamy Cloud,EffulgentJovehimself theGrecianTroopsWith Courage, and new Strength supplies; himselfExcites the Gods against theDardanArms.
[108]Hic ubi disjectas moles, avulsaque saxisSaxa vides, mistoque undantem pulvere fumum;Neptunus muros, magnoque emota tridentiFundamenta quatit, totamque à sedibus urbemEruit; hic Juno Scæas sævissima portasPrima tenet, sociumque furens à navibus agmenFerro accincta vocat.Jam summas arces Tritonia (respice) PallasInsedit, nimbo effulgens, & Gorgone sæva.Ipse Pater Danais animos, viresque secundasSufficit, ipse Deos in Dardana suscitat arma.
Here, where you see that Rubbish, Heaps confus'd,Stones wrench'd from Stones, and thick redounding SmokeBlended with Clouds of Dust; greatNeptuneshakesThe Walls, and with his massy Trident heavesThe City from its deep Foundations. ThereRelentlessJuno, girt with Steel, has seiz'dTheScæanGates; and raging from their ShipsCalls her confed'rate Forces.Next (that Way bend thy Eyes) the lofty Tow'rsTritonian Pallashas possess'd; there sits,With her direGorgon. In a beamy Cloud,EffulgentJovehimself theGrecianTroopsWith Courage, and new Strength supplies; himselfExcites the Gods against theDardanArms.
Again, a few Lines after:
[109]Dixerat; & spissis noctis se condidit umbris.Apparent diræ facies, inimicaque TrojæNumina magna Deum.She said; and in th'involving Shades retir'd:The direful Shapes appear, and Foes toTroy,Forms of the awful Gods.
[109]Dixerat; & spissis noctis se condidit umbris.Apparent diræ facies, inimicaque TrojæNumina magna Deum.
She said; and in th'involving Shades retir'd:The direful Shapes appear, and Foes toTroy,Forms of the awful Gods.
And in the last Book, the Poet thus introducesÆneasgoing to engage withTurnus:
[110]At pater Æneas, audito nomine Turni,Deserit & muros, & summas deserit arces;Præcipitatque moras omnes, opera omnia rumpit,Lætitia exultans, horrendumque intonat armis.But PrinceÆneas, hearingTurnus'Name,Forsakes the Walls, forsakes the lofty Tow'rs,Breaks all Delay, all other Toil; with JoyExults; and thunders terrible in Arms.
[110]At pater Æneas, audito nomine Turni,Deserit & muros, & summas deserit arces;Præcipitatque moras omnes, opera omnia rumpit,Lætitia exultans, horrendumque intonat armis.
But PrinceÆneas, hearingTurnus'Name,Forsakes the Walls, forsakes the lofty Tow'rs,Breaks all Delay, all other Toil; with JoyExults; and thunders terrible in Arms.
Instances of this Style fill every Page, almost, of theÆneis; and in the Odes ofHoraceare very frequent;
[111]Justum & tenacem propositi virum,Non civium ardor prava jubentium,Non vultus instantis Tyranni,Mente quatit solida; neque AusterDux inquieti turbidus Adriæ,Nec fulminantis magna Jovis manus:Si fractus illabatur orbis,Impavidum ferient ruinæ.The Man whose Principles are true,In Heart resolv'd to act aright,Nor impious Faction's madding Crew,Nor frowning Tyrant can affright;Unshaken, like a Tow'r he stands, and bravesThe Impotence of great or little Slaves.The Elements may war around,Fierce Winds may rave, huge Billows roll,Jove's Lightning flash, his Thunder sound,And shock the World——but not his Soul:He Nature's Wreck can view, without Surprize,Amidst the shining Ruin of the Skies.T. Hare.
[111]Justum & tenacem propositi virum,Non civium ardor prava jubentium,Non vultus instantis Tyranni,Mente quatit solida; neque AusterDux inquieti turbidus Adriæ,Nec fulminantis magna Jovis manus:Si fractus illabatur orbis,Impavidum ferient ruinæ.
The Man whose Principles are true,In Heart resolv'd to act aright,Nor impious Faction's madding Crew,Nor frowning Tyrant can affright;Unshaken, like a Tow'r he stands, and bravesThe Impotence of great or little Slaves.The Elements may war around,Fierce Winds may rave, huge Billows roll,Jove's Lightning flash, his Thunder sound,And shock the World——but not his Soul:He Nature's Wreck can view, without Surprize,Amidst the shining Ruin of the Skies.T. Hare.
v. g. Claudian, tho' his Style is frequently too swelling, and borders upon the Bombast, yet often hits upon the true Sublime: Thus in the celebrated Description of the Victory which the EmperorTheodosiusgained, by the Advantage of the Winds:
[112]Te propter, gelidis Aquilo de monte procellisObruit adversas acies, revolutaque telaVertit in autores, & turbine reppulit hastas.O! nimium dilecte Deo; cui fundit ab antrisÆolus armatas hyemes, cui militat æther,Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti.For thee the friendly North in social Show'rs,Wide o'er the hostile Troops his Fury pours.To their launch'd Jav'lins points a backward Road,And Storms retort the missive Deaths they vow'd.GreatJovefor thee, thou Heav'n's peculiar Care!Sends forth his wing'd Militia of the Air.Confed'rate Seasons round thy Standards join,And mustring Winds attend thy Trumpet's Sign.
[112]Te propter, gelidis Aquilo de monte procellisObruit adversas acies, revolutaque telaVertit in autores, & turbine reppulit hastas.O! nimium dilecte Deo; cui fundit ab antrisÆolus armatas hyemes, cui militat æther,Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti.
For thee the friendly North in social Show'rs,Wide o'er the hostile Troops his Fury pours.To their launch'd Jav'lins points a backward Road,And Storms retort the missive Deaths they vow'd.GreatJovefor thee, thou Heav'n's peculiar Care!Sends forth his wing'd Militia of the Air.Confed'rate Seasons round thy Standards join,And mustring Winds attend thy Trumpet's Sign.
Between the Sublime ofVirgilandClaudianthere's a manifest Difference; the Ideas of the latter are not so just, nor the Diction so pure: He can only be said to be less faulty, when he writes best.
'Tis a remarkable Property of this Style, to be bold and figurative; to abound, especially, with Metaphors and Hyperboles; the Use of which requires great Care and Judgment. It is distinguish'd, on the one Hand, from the turgid, rumbling Bombast, which is much affected by those who are possess'd with a false Spirit of Poetry, and no true Judgment to direct it; and consists either of empty sounding Words, or unnatural Sentences, or absurd Metaphors, or rash Hyperbole's. There are innumerable Examples of it inClaudian;v. g.
[113]Sol, qui flammigeris mundum complexus habenis,Volvis inexhausto redeuntia secula motu,Sparge diem meliore coma; crinemque repexiBlandius elato surgant temone jugales,Efflantes roseum frænis spumantibus ignem.Light of the Spheres, that with unwearied RayOn flaming Harness roll'st the golden Day,Undrain'd and sprightly seest fresh Seasons born,With softer Tresses shed this fatal Morn.Let thy hot Coursers spring with sleeker Manes,And rosy Fires breath o'er the foaming Reins.
[113]Sol, qui flammigeris mundum complexus habenis,Volvis inexhausto redeuntia secula motu,Sparge diem meliore coma; crinemque repexiBlandius elato surgant temone jugales,Efflantes roseum frænis spumantibus ignem.
Light of the Spheres, that with unwearied RayOn flaming Harness roll'st the golden Day,Undrain'd and sprightly seest fresh Seasons born,With softer Tresses shed this fatal Morn.Let thy hot Coursers spring with sleeker Manes,And rosy Fires breath o'er the foaming Reins.
In another Place:
[114]—compage solutaFulgidus umbrosa miscebitur axis Averno.Dissolv'd the Fabrick of the World,The Sun's bright Axis inAvernushurl'd.
[114]—compage solutaFulgidus umbrosa miscebitur axis Averno.
Dissolv'd the Fabrick of the World,The Sun's bright Axis inAvernushurl'd.
And again:
[115]—Clypeus nos protegat idem,Unaque pro gemino desudet cardine virtus.One Shield shall us protect,And for its double Charge one Safeguard sweat.
[115]—Clypeus nos protegat idem,Unaque pro gemino desudet cardine virtus.
One Shield shall us protect,And for its double Charge one Safeguard sweat.
SoStatius, in the very Beginning of hisSylvæ:
[116]Quæ super imposito moles geminata ColossoStat Latium complexa forum, &c.This Mass, on which the great Colossus rides,The Forum with a wide Embrace bestrides.
[116]Quæ super imposito moles geminata ColossoStat Latium complexa forum, &c.
This Mass, on which the great Colossus rides,The Forum with a wide Embrace bestrides.
To omit others, thusCasimire:
[117]—Currite candidisHoræ quadrigis.With snowy Steeds, ye nimble Hours, fly.
[117]—Currite candidisHoræ quadrigis.
With snowy Steeds, ye nimble Hours, fly.
In another Place:
[118]Anni nubibus insident,Incertis equitant lustra Favoniis,Cæco secula turbine.Years ride on Clouds,About uncertain Zephyrs Lustrums play,And on black Whirlwinds Ages die away.
[118]Anni nubibus insident,Incertis equitant lustra Favoniis,Cæco secula turbine.
Years ride on Clouds,About uncertain Zephyrs Lustrums play,And on black Whirlwinds Ages die away.
There are many other Instances of this kind in the same Poet; who seems to have been peculiarly delighted with this hard and unnatural Way of Writing.
TheSublime, on the other Hand, is distinguished from theHumble; which has its Elegance as it is used in its proper Place. It is proper, when we would describe, in a familiar and easy Manner, the commonConcerns of Life; and agrees more especially with Comedy, the lower kind of Satire, and Epistles; and, as Occasion serves, may be admitted in all Sorts of Poems. Instances of it are very numerous:
[119]Qui, fit, Mæcenas, ut nemo, quam sibi sortemSeu ratio dederit, seu fors objecerit, illaContentus vivat, laudet diversa sequentes?Whence comes, my Lord, this gen'ral Discontent?Why do all loath the State that Chance hath sent,Or their own Choice procur'd? But fondly blessTheir Neighbours Lots, and praise what they possess.Creech.[120]Prima dicte mihi, summa dicende Camæna,Spectatum satis, & donatum jam rude quæris,Mæcenas, iterum antiquo me includere ludo.Non eadem est ætas, non mens, &c.My Lord,Mæcenas, whom I gladly chuse,The first, and the last Subject of my Muse;Tho' I have fought enough, and well before,And now dismist, have Leave to fight no more;You strive to bring me on the Stage again:My Age is not alike, unlike my Brain.Creech.
[119]Qui, fit, Mæcenas, ut nemo, quam sibi sortemSeu ratio dederit, seu fors objecerit, illaContentus vivat, laudet diversa sequentes?
Whence comes, my Lord, this gen'ral Discontent?Why do all loath the State that Chance hath sent,Or their own Choice procur'd? But fondly blessTheir Neighbours Lots, and praise what they possess.Creech.
[120]Prima dicte mihi, summa dicende Camæna,Spectatum satis, & donatum jam rude quæris,Mæcenas, iterum antiquo me includere ludo.Non eadem est ætas, non mens, &c.
My Lord,Mæcenas, whom I gladly chuse,The first, and the last Subject of my Muse;Tho' I have fought enough, and well before,And now dismist, have Leave to fight no more;You strive to bring me on the Stage again:My Age is not alike, unlike my Brain.Creech.
It is needless to add any more:Terence's Comedies, andHorace's Satires and Epistles, consist entirely almost of this Style, and are abundant Proof of its Elegance.
The Style of Pastorals is likewise of the humble Kind, but still distinct from what I have now been instancing in. The one, as I said, is suited to Comedy, Satire, and Epistles; the other to Bucolics: The former represents common Life, and more especially as it appears within the City; the latter draws all its Images from the Country; that looserand freer, this sweeter and more elaborate. But of these Things more hereafter, when we come to treat of this delightful Species of Poetry separately. At present let it be observ'd, that there is a middle Kind of Style between the Sublime and the Humble, suitable to every Branch of Poetry. This ofOvidis a Specimen of it:
[121]Arma gravi numero, violentaque tela parabamEdere, materia conveniente modis.Par erat inferior versus; risisse CupidoDicitur, atque unum surripuisse pedem.Quis tibi, sæve Puer, dedit hoc in carmina juris?Pieridum vates, non tua turba, sumus.Whilst I to sing in lofty Verse prepare,The bloody Triumphs of destructive War,The UrchinCupidmock'd my rash Design,And stole one Foot from each alternate Line.But who, my Boy, gave thou this great Command?We are the Muses, not the Lovers Band.
[121]Arma gravi numero, violentaque tela parabamEdere, materia conveniente modis.Par erat inferior versus; risisse CupidoDicitur, atque unum surripuisse pedem.Quis tibi, sæve Puer, dedit hoc in carmina juris?Pieridum vates, non tua turba, sumus.
Whilst I to sing in lofty Verse prepare,The bloody Triumphs of destructive War,The UrchinCupidmock'd my rash Design,And stole one Foot from each alternate Line.But who, my Boy, gave thou this great Command?We are the Muses, not the Lovers Band.
Innumerable are the Instances of this middle Style among the Poets, especially inVirgil'sGeorgics, which are chiefly writ in that Way. For it is to be particularly observ'd, that, because the Matter of a Poem is low, it by no means follows the Thoughts and Diction must be so too, and that there's no necessary Connexion between a common Subject and a vulgar Style. To prescribe Rules for Sowing, Harvest, and other Matters of Husbandry, is a slight Subject, but not therefore to be treated with the Unpoliteness of a Clown. Tho' the Poem be preceptive in its Nature, it may be elegant in its Manner; it may be employ'd upon Things of small Moment, yet they may be cloath'd with Ornament, and heighten'd by Description. But Comedy, and the looser kind of Satire, as they regard only the Manners of Men in common Life, are chiefly adapted to the low Style.
It then becomes faulty, when any Thing of a sublime Nature, at least above the common Level, is introduced with some low creeping Expression. ThusOvid, where he speaks of the Council of the Gods:
[122]—tenuere silentia cuncti.The great Immortals held their Tongues.
[122]—tenuere silentia cuncti.
The great Immortals held their Tongues.
And describingPhaetonrun away with by the Horses of the Sun:[123]
[124]Succutiturque alte, similisque est currus inani.The Driver thrown, the Car as empty flies.[125]Nec scit qua sit iter, nec si sciat, imperet illis.Nor knows the Way, nor, if he knew, could guide.
[124]Succutiturque alte, similisque est currus inani.
The Driver thrown, the Car as empty flies.
[125]Nec scit qua sit iter, nec si sciat, imperet illis.
Nor knows the Way, nor, if he knew, could guide.
And in the fourth Book, after he had described the Interview betweenPyramusandThisbewell enough,
[126]Ad nomen Thisbes oculos jam morte gravatosPyramus erexit,——His swimming Eyes he rais'd atThisbe's Name.
[126]Ad nomen Thisbes oculos jam morte gravatosPyramus erexit,——
His swimming Eyes he rais'd atThisbe's Name.
he thus miserably concludes the Verse:
—visaque recondidit illa.And having seen her, clos'd them up again.
—visaque recondidit illa.
And having seen her, clos'd them up again.
In another Place,
[127]Sensit abesse dolos, numerumque accessit ad harum.All safe she found, and join'd herself to them.
[127]Sensit abesse dolos, numerumque accessit ad harum.
All safe she found, and join'd herself to them.
In the seventh Book:
[128]—agisqueCarminibus grates, & Diis auctoribus horum.You secret Transports on your Charms bestow,And on the Gods, the Authors of them, too.
[128]—agisqueCarminibus grates, & Diis auctoribus horum.
You secret Transports on your Charms bestow,And on the Gods, the Authors of them, too.
Nothing can be more palpable than the Absurdities I have here produced: InOvidthey are almost unpardonable, who, as he wanted not Genius, must needs have fallen into them thro' gross Inadvertency and Supineness.
There's another Species of Style, called theSarcasticalandInvective, suited, as Reason will tell us, more peculiarly to Satire. But we shall no where find a more lively Instance of it than inVirgil:
[129]Cantando Tu illum? aut unquam tibi fistula ceraJuncta fuit? non tu in triviis, indocte, solebasStridenti miserum stipula disperdere carmen?Thou him in piping! Had'st thou e'er a PipeJointed with Wax?. Wert thou not wont, thou Dolt,In the Cross-ways, upon a screeching StrawTo murder a vile Tune with viler Notes?
[129]Cantando Tu illum? aut unquam tibi fistula ceraJuncta fuit? non tu in triviis, indocte, solebasStridenti miserum stipula disperdere carmen?
Thou him in piping! Had'st thou e'er a PipeJointed with Wax?. Wert thou not wont, thou Dolt,In the Cross-ways, upon a screeching StrawTo murder a vile Tune with viler Notes?
Here, it is plain, the Mordacity lies in the Expression more than the Thought; which is no more than that the Shepherd mention'd was a miserable Piper; but the Words are emphatically cutting,in triviis, stridenti, miserum, stipula, disperdere; each of which is arm'd with Poignancy, and dresses out the Image with fresh Ridicule. On the other Hand, sometimes the Invective turns wholly upon the Thought; as in another Verse ofVirgil:
[130]Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Mævi.Who hates notBavius, be he doom'd to loveThy Metre,Mævius!
[130]Qui Bavium non odit, amet tua carmina, Mævi.
Who hates notBavius, be he doom'd to loveThy Metre,Mævius!
A keener Satire cannot be conceived; but the Force of it consists in the Sense only; the Words, considered separately, have nothing of that Kind in them. The former, therefore, is the proper Instance of the Invective Style; because in the Style the whole Invective is contained. It may justly be wonder'd that I should fetch Examples of theStyleandThoughtof Satire, from a Poet endow'd by Nature with the sweetest Disposition, and led by his Subject to a very different Way of Writing: But he had a Genius so adapted to every Thing, that he could write Satire in spite of his own good Nature. These Examples are a sufficient Proof, that if he had turn'd his Thoughts that Way, he would have gain'd the Laurel from all other Competitors; and I must ingenuously confess, that, in my Mind,Juvenalhimself has nothing more severe than thisVirgilianAcrimony.
TheFloridStyle is set off with Tropes, Figures, and especially Metaphors. The Use and Abuse of these, I have already spoke of; to avoid Repetition, therefore, I would here only observe, That all Sorts of Poems admit of figurative Expressions, and receive fresh Ornament from them, when the Subject requires them, and Judgment is used in the Choice of them; but that this Style is suitable, in the first Place, to the sublimer Kind ofOde, and, in the next, to theEpicPoem.
A Style, likewise, is said to be easy or strong; short or diffuse; clear or obscure; sweet, soft, and fluent; or rough, and unpleasant. The several Properties of these, to what Subject, and to what Poem each is suitable, may be collected from this Dissertation, and the Examples produced; and are partly so self-evident, that all further Explication or Example would be needless. I only observe, in one Word, that a clear Style is never faulty, an obscure and an uncouth one always so; but that the easy or strong, the shortor prolix, the loose or close, the brisk or slow, the sweet and soft, or the rough and harsh, are all of them sometimes proper, sometimes improper, according to the Subject Matter of the Poem they appear in. 'Tis farther to be observ'd, That the rough Style, artfully enrich'd with a few antiquated Words, has a certain Majesty in it, which adds a Grandeur to Tragedy especially, and a Sublimity to the Epic Poem: That this Liberty, however, is to be used with Judgment and Caution, lest it appear dull and stiff, instead of lofty and majestic. On the other Hand, that Elegies, particularly, and some sort of Pastorals, require the sweet and flowing Style, and utterly reject all Asperity: Lastly, That some of the Appellations by which Style is distinguish'd are applied to Thought likewise; assublime,low,satirical,elegant, &c. and some of them not so: For abriskorslow Thought, aconciseorprolix Thought, &c. are Terms which the Schools are yet Strangers to.
Elegance enters into the Composition of every Style that has any Merit in it, pervades every Part, and is, as it were, the Soul to it. What Elegance is, and wherein it consists, has been already shewn, at the Entrance of this Dissertation.
But tho' every Kind of Poem has a Style peculiar to itself, yet we are not to preserve one even Course of Writing from the Beginning to the End, but to rise or fall, to be sweet or rough, to be concise or to expatiate,&c.according to the Variety of Matter into which our Subject leads us.Virgil, in that Description of Prodigies which I have before cited, sometimes uses the short Diction: