Chapter 9

natura sublimis et acer,Nam spirat tragicum satis et feliciter audet;Sed turpem putat inscitus metuitque lituram.

2. The state of their comedy, as managed by their best writers, Afranius and Terence, was, indeed, much more complete; yet wanted the chorus, which, in the judgment of the poet, it seems, was equally necessary to the perfection of this, as of the other drama.

3. But the application is made in express terms.

Nil intentatum nostri liquere poetæ, &c.

i. e.our poets, as well as the Greek, have, in some degree, applied themselves to improve and regulate the stage. In particular, a late innovation, in taking their subjects, both of tragedy and comedy, from domestic facts, is highly to be applauded. Their sole disadvantage is,a neglect or contempt of that labour and accuracy, which gave the last perfection to the Greek scene.

After this clear and natural exposition of the connexion of these lines, all the difficulties, that have been found in them by certain great critics, vanish of themselves. And the reader now sees (what the sagacious Heinsius thought impossible to be shewn) an ἀκολουθίαν, or consistent, natural order in this part of the epistle; which was in imminent danger of losing all its grace and beauty, by the wild transpositions of that critic.

278.Post hunc personae pallaeque, &c.] M.Dacierhath here puzzled himself with a difficulty of his own raising. He wonders, that Horace should omit, in this history, the other improvements of Æschylus, mentioned by Aristotle, and that Aristotle, in his turn, should omit those, mentioned by Horace. The truth is, neither of them intended a complete account of the improvements of the Greek stage; but only so much of them, as was necessary to the views of each. Aristotle, treating of theinternalconstitution of the drama, speaks of such changes, made in it by Æschylus, as respected that end. Horace, treatingin general of itsform, as perfected by the pains and application of the same poet, selects those improvements only, which contrast best to the rude essays of Thespis, and, while they imply the rest, exhibit tragedy, as it were, in her proper person, on the stage. The reader feels the effect of this in the poetry.

288.Vel qui praetextas, vel qui docuere togatas.] There hath been much difficulty here in settling a very plain point. The question is, whetherprætextasmeanstragedy, or a species ofcomedy? The answer is very clear from Diomedes, whose account is, in short, this. “1Togatæis a general term for all sorts of Latin plays, adopting the Roman customs and dresses; asPalliatæis, for all, adopting the Græcian. Of theTogatæ, the several2species are, 1.Prætexta, orPrætextata, in which Roman kings and generals were introduced, and is so called, because theprætextawas the distinguishing habit of such persons. 2.Tabernaria, frequently called3Togata, though that word, as we have seen, had properly a larger sense. 3.Atellana.4.Planipedis.” He next marks the difference of these several sorts ofTogatæ, from the similar, corresponding ones of thePalliatæ, which are these: “1.4Tragœdia, absolutely so styled. 2.5Comœdia, 3.6Satyri. 4.7Μῖμος.” [These four sorts of thepalliatæwere also probably in use at Rome; certainly, at least, the two former.] It appears then from hence,thatprætextatawas properly the Roman tragedy. But he adds, “Togata prætextata à tragœdia differt, and it is also said,to be only like tragedy,tragœdiæ similis.” What is this difference and this likeness? The explanation follows. “8Heroes are introduced intragedy, such as Orestes, Chryses, and the like. In theprætextata, Brutus, Decius, or Marcellus.” So then we see, when Græcian characters were introduced, it was called simplytragœdia; when Roman,prætextata; yet both, tragedies. The sole difference lay in the persons being foreign or domestic. The correspondence in every other respect was exact. The same is observed of the Roman comedy; when it adopted9Greek characters, it was calledcomœdia: when Roman,20Togata Tabernaria, or3Togata, simply. That the reader may assure himself of the fidelity of this account, let him take it at large, in the Grammarian’s own words. “1Togatæ fabulæ dicuntur, quæ scriptæ sunt secundum ritus et habitus hominum togatorum, id est, Romanorum (Toga namque Romana est), sicut Græcas fabulas ab habitu æque palliatas Varro ait nominari.3Togatas autem cum sit generale nomen, specialiter tamen pro tabernariis, non modo communis error usurpat, sed et poetæ.—Togatarum fabularum2species tot fere sunt, quot et palliatarum. Nam prima species est togatarum, quæ prætextatæ dicuntur, in quibus imperatorum negotia agebantur et publica, et reges Romani vel ducesinducuntur, personarum et argumentorum sublimitate4tragœdiis similes: Prætextatæ autem dicuntur, quia fere regum vel magistratuum, qui prætexta utuntur, in hujusmodi fabulis acta comprehenduntur. Secunda species togatarum, quæ tabernariæ dicuntur, humilitate personarum et argumentorum similitudine5comœdiis pares—Tertia species est fabularum latinarum, quæ—Atellanæ dictæ sunt, similes6satyricis fabulis, Græcis. Quarta species est planipedis, Græce dicitur7Μῖμος.—Togata prætextata, à4tragœdia differt. In tragœdia8heroes introducuntur. Pacuvius tragœdias nominibus heroicis scripsit Oresten, Chrysen, et his similia. Item Accius. In prætextata autem scribitur, Brutus, vel Decius, vel Marcellus.19Togata tabernaria à5comœdia differt, quod in9comœdia Græci ritus inducuntur, personæque Græcæ, Laches, Sostrata. In illa vero Latinæ.” [L. iii. c. de Com. et Trag. diff.] With this account of Diomedes agrees perfectly that ofFestus; from which, however, M. Dacier draws a very different conclusion. “Togatarum duplex est genus: prætextarum—et tabernariarum.” His inference is, that prætextatæ, as being a species of the togatæ, must needs be comedies; not considering that togata is here a generic term, comprehending under it all the several species both of the Roman tragedy and comedy. After what hath been said, and especially, after the full and decisive testimony of Diomedes, there can no longer be any doubt about the meaning ofprætextas;and one must be surprized to find M. Dacier prefacing his long note on this place in the following important manner:C’est un des plus difficiles passages d’Horace, et peutêtre celui qu’il est le plus mal aisé d’eclaircir à cause du peu de lumiere que nous donnent les auteurs Latins sur tout ce qui regarde leurs pieces de theatre.

281.Successit vetus his Comoedia, &c.]i. e.Comedy began to be cultivated and improved from the time that tragedy had obtained its end, ἔσχε τὴν ἑαυτῆς φύσιν, under Æschylus. There is no reason to suppose, with some critics, that Horace meant to date its origin from hence. The supposition is, in truth, contradicted byexperienceand theorder of things. For, as a celebrated French writer observes, “Le talent d’imiter, qui nous est naturel, nous porte plutôt à la comedie qui roule sur des choses de nôtre connoissance qu’à la Tragedie, qui prend des sujets plus èloignés de l’usage commun; et en effet, en Gréce aussi bien qu’en France, la Comedie est l’aînée de la tragedie.” [Hist. du Theat. Franc. par M. de Fontenelle.] Thelatterpart of this assertion is clear from the piece referred to; and theother, which respects Greece, seems countenanced by Aristotle himself [περ. ποιητ. κ. ε.] ’Tis true, Comedy, though its rise be every where, at least, as early as that of tragedy, is perfected much later. Menander, we know, appeared long after Æschylus. And, though the French tragedy, to speak with Aristotle, ἔσχετὴν ἑαυτῆς φύσιν in the hands of Corneille, this cannot be said of their comedy, which was forced to wait for a Moliere, before it arrived at that pitch of perfection. But then this is owing to the superior difficulty of the comic drama. Nor is it any objection that the contrary of this happened at Rome. For the Romans, when they applied themselves in earnest to the stage, had not to invent, but to imitate or rathertranslate, the perfect models of Greece. And it chanced, for reasons which I shall not stay to deduce, that their poets had better success in copying theircomedy, thantragedy.

284.Turpiter obticuit—] Evidently because, though thejus nocendiwas taken away, yet that was no good reason, why the chorus should entirely cease. M. Dacier mistakes the matter.Le chœur se tût ignominieusement, parceque la loi reprima sa licence, et que ce fut, à proprement parler, la loi qui le bannit; ce qu’ Horace regarde comme une espece de flétrissure. Properly speaking, the law only abolished theabuseof the chorus. The ignominy lay in dropping the entire use of it, on account of this restraint. Horace was of opinion, that the chorus ought to have been retained, though the state had abridged it of the licence, it so much delighted in, of an illimited, and intemperate satyr.Sublatus chorus fuit, says Scaliger,cujus illæ videntur esse præcipuæ partes, ut potissimum quos liberet, læderent.

286.Nec minimum meruere decus vestigia Græca Ausi deserere et celebrare domestica facta.] This judgment of the poet, recommending domestic subjects, as fittest for the stage, may be inforced from many obvious reasons. As I. that it renders the drama infinitely moreaffecting: and this on many accounts. 1. As a subject, taken from our own annals, must of course carry with it an air of greater probability, at least to the generality of the people, than one borrowed from those of any other nation. 2. As we all find a personal interest in the subject. 3. As it of course affords the best and easiest opportunities of catching our minds, by frequent references to our manners, prejudices, and customs. And of how great importance this is, may be learned from hence, that, even in the exhibition of foreign characters, dramatic writers have found themselves obliged to sacrifice truth and probability to the humour of the people, and to dress up their personages, contrary to their own better judgment, in some degree according to the mode and manners of their respective countries27. And4. as the writer himself, from an intimate acquaintance with the character and genius of his own nation, will be more likely to draw the manners with life and spirit.

II. Next, which should ever be one great point in view, it renders the drama more generally useful in its moral destination. For, it being conversant about domestic acts, the great instruction of the fable more sensibly affects us; and the characters exhibited, from the part we take in their good or ill qualities, will more probably influence our conduct.

III. Lastly, this judgment will deserve the greater regard, as the conduct recommended was, in fact, the practice of our great models, the Greek writers; in whose plays, it is observable, there is scarcely a single scene, which lies out of the confines of Greece.

But, notwithstanding these reasons, the practice hath, in all times, been but little followed. The Romans, after some few attempts in this way (from whence the poet took the occasion of delivering it as a dramatic precept), soon relapsed into their old use; as appears from Seneca’s, and the titles of other plays, written in, or after the Augustan age. Succeeding times continued the same attachment toGrecian, with the addition of an equal fondness for Roman, subjects. The reason in both instances hath been ever the same: that strong and early prejudice, approaching somewhat to adoration, in favour of the illustrious names of those two great states. The account of this matter is very easy; for their writings, as they furnish the business of our younger, and the amusement of our riper, years, and more especially make the study of all those, who devote themselves to poetry and the stage, insensibly infix in us an excessive veneration for all affairs in which they were concerned; insomuch that no other subjects or events seem considerable enough, or rise, in any proportion, to our ideas of the dignity of the tragic scene, but such as time and long admiration have consecrated in the annals of their story. Our Shakespeare was, I think, the first that broke through this bondage of classical superstition. And he owed this felicity, as he did some others, to his want of what is called the advantage of a learned education. Thus uninfluenced by the weight of early prepossession, he struck at once into the road of nature and common sense: and without designing, without knowing it, hath left us in his historical plays, with all their anomalies, an exacter resemblance of the Athenian stage, than is any where to be found in its most professed admirers and copyists.

I will only add, that, for the more successful execution of this rule of celebrating domestic acts,much will depend on the æra, from whence the subject is taken. Times too remote have almost the same inconveniences, and none of the advantages, which attend the ages of Greece and Rome. And, for those of later date, they are too much familiarized to us, and have not as yet acquired that venerable cast and air, which tragedy demands, and age only can give. There is no fixing this point with precision. In the general, that æra is the fittest for the poet’s purpose, which, though fresh enough in our minds to warm and interest us in the event of the action, is yet at so great a distance from the present times, as to have lost all those mean and disparaging circumstances, which unavoidably adhere to recent deeds, and, in some measure, sink the noblest modern transactions to the level of ordinary life.

295.Ingenium misera, &c.]Sæpe audivi poetam bonum neminem (id quod à Democrito et Platone in scriptis relictum esse dicunt) sine inflammatione animorum existere posse et sine quodam afflatu quasi furoris.[Cic. De orat. l. ii. c. xlvi.] And so Petronius,præcipitandus liber spiritus, ut furentis animi vaticinatio appareat. [c. cxviii.] And to the same purpose every good critic, ancient or modern. But who can endure the grimace of those minutegenii, who, because the truly inspired, in the ravings of the fit, aretouchedwith the flame and fury of enthusiasm, must, therefore,with a tame, frigid fancy, be laying claim to the same fervent and fiery raptures? The fate of theseaspirantsto divinity is that ἐνθουσιᾷν ἑαυτοῖς δοκοῦντες, οὐ βακχεύουσιν, ἀλλὰ παίζουσιν [Longin. περ. ὕψ. τμημ. χ.] And Quintilian opens the mystery of the whole matter:Quo quisque ingenio minus valet, hoc se magis attollere et dilatare conatur: ut statura breves in digitos eriguntur et plura infirmi minantur. Nam tumidos et corruptos et tinnulos et quocunque alio cacozeliæ genere peccantes, certum habeo, non virium, sed infirmitatis vitio laborare: ut corpora non robore, sed valetudine inflantur: et recto itinere lapsi plerumque divertunt.[L. ii. c. 3.]

298.Bona pars non ungues, &c.] The constant and pitiful affectation of the race before spoken of, who, with the modesty of laying claim to thething, will be sure not to omit thesign, and so, from fancying an inspiration, they havenotcome to adopt every foppery, that has ever disgraced it in those whohave.

308.Quid deceat, quid non:]Nihil est difficilius quam, quid deceat,videre.Πρέπονappellant hoc Græci: nos dicamus saneDecorum.De quo præclare et multa præcipiuntur, et res est cognitione dignissima. Hujus ignoratione non modo in vitâ, sed sæpissime inPoematiset in oratione peccatur.[Orator. xxi.]

309.Scribendi recte, sapere est et principium et fons.] The Orator was of the same mind, when he sent his pupil to the academy for instruction.Quis nescit maximam vim existere oratoris in hominum mentibus vel ad iram, aut dolorem incitandis, vel ab hisce iisdem permotionibus ad lenitatem misericordiamque revocandis? quæ, nisi qui naturas hominum, vimque omnem humanitatis, causasque eas quibus mentes aut incitantur aut reflectuntur, penitus perspexerit, dicendo, quod volet, perficere non poterit. AtquiTOTUS HIC LOCUS PHILOSOPHORUM PROPRIUS VIDETUR. [De Orat. l. i. c. xii.] And he spoke, we know, from his own experience,having acquired his oratorial skill not in the schools of the rhetoricians, but the walks of the academy:fateor me oratorem, si modo sim, aut etiam quicunque sim, non ex rhetorum officinis, sed ex Academiæ spatiis extitisse. [Orat. p. 622. Elz. ed.] But the reason he gives for this advice, though common to the poet; whose character, as well as the orator’s, it is,posse voluntates impellere, quo velis, unde velis, deducere, is yet, not the only one, which respects the poet. For his business is topaint, and that not only, as the orator does, in order to move, but for the sole end ofpleasing:solam petit voluptatem. [Quinct. l. x. c. i.] The boast of his art is to catch every different aspect of nature, and more especially to exhibit the human character in every varying light and form, under which it presents itself. But this is not to be done withoutan exquisite study, and philosophical knowledge of man; to which end, as is remarked inn.on v. 317. the Socratic philosophy is more peculiarly adapted. Add to this, that it is the genius of true poetry, not only to animate, but topersonalizeevery thing,omnia debent esse morata. Hence the indispensable necessity of moral science: all poetry being, in effect, what Mr. Dryden somewhere calls comedy,THE THEFT OF POETS FROM MANKIND.

310.Socraticae chartae.] An admired writer, in many respects deservedly so, thus comments on these words: “The philosophical writings, to which our poet refers, were in themselves a kind of poetry, like themimes, or personated pieces of early times, before philosophy was in vogue, and when as yetDramatical imitationwas scarce formed: or at least, in many parts, not brought to due perfection. They were pieces, which, besides their force of style, and hidden numbers, carried a sort ofactionandimitation, the same as theEpicandDramatickinds. They were either real dialogues, or recitals of such personated discourses; where the persons themselves had their characters preserved throughout; their manners, humours, and distinct turns of temper and understanding maintained, according to the most exact poetical truth. ’Twas not enough, that these pieces treated fundamentally of morals, and, in consequence, pointed out real characters and manners: They exhibited them alive,and set the countenances and complexions of men plainly in view. And by this means they not only taught us to know others; but, what was principal and of highest virtue in them, they taught us to know ourselves.” Thus far then these models are of unquestioned use to writers of every denomination. I forbear to mention, what this noble author finds occasion frequently to insinuate, and, by his own practice, labours to recommend, the superior excellency of themanner, as well asmatter, of these highly-rated originals. Not that I presume to think it unworthy of imitation. But the public taste, as appears, is running full fast that way, insomuch that some may even doubt, if the state of literary composition be more endangered by the neglect, or vicious imitation, of the Platonic manner. Its graces, when sparingly employed by a real genius, for the embellishment of strong sense, have, it must be owned, great beauty. But when this humour ofplatonizingseizes on some minuter spirit, bent on ennobling a trivial matter, and all over-run with academic delicacy and affectation, nothing, to a just and manly relish, can be more disgusting. One must wink hard not to see frequent examples of this, in the master Platonist himself. But his mimics, of late, have gone much farther. There is no need, in such a croud of instances, to point to particulars. What I would rather observe is, that this folly, offensive as it is, may perhaps admit of some excuse from thepresent state of our literature, andthe character of the greatoriginal himself, whom these writers aspire to imitate. When a language, as ours at this time, hath been much polished and enriched with perfect models of style in almost every way, it is in the order of things, that the next step should be to avicious affectation. For the simplicity of true taste, under these circumstances, grows insipid. Somethingbetter than the bestmust be aimed at; and the reader’s languid appetite raised by the provocatives of an ambitious refinement. And this insentiment, as well aslanguage. Whence we see how it happened, that even inGreeceitself, where composition was studied with a more than common accuracy,Philosophy, when it passed out of the hands of its great masters, degenerated by degrees into the subtilties of sophistry, as didEloquence, likewise, into the tricks of rhetoric.

But there was something, as I hinted, too, in thecharacter of the writer imitated, of a very ticklish and dangerous nature; and of which our tribe of imitators were not sufficiently aware. A very exact critic of antiquity hath told us what it was. It lay in Plato’sbringing the tumor of poetic composition into discourses of philosophy, ΟΤΙ ΤΟΝ ΟΓΚΟΝ ΤΗΣ ΠΟΙΗΤΙΚΗΣ ΚΑΤΑΣΚΕΥΗΣ ΕΠΙ ΛΟΓΟΥΣ ΗΓΑΓΕ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΟΥΣ28. And though the experiment, for the most part, succeeded not amiss (as what contradiction is there which superior geniuscannot reconcile?) yet it sometimes failed even in his hands. And as a French writer well expresses it, LeDIVINPlato, pour avoir voulu s’elever trop au dessus des hommes, est souvent tombè dans unGALIMATIASpompeux que quelques uns confondent avec leSUBLIME. ThePhaedrus, though the most remarkable, is not the only example of such mischance in the writings of this great man.

317.Veras hinc ducere voces.]Truth, in poetry, means such an expression, as conforms to the general nature of things;falsehood, that, which, however suitable to the particular instance in view doth yet not correspond to suchgeneral nature. To attain to thistruthof expression in dramatic poetry two things are prescribed: 1. A diligent study of the Socratic philosophy; and 2. A masterly knowledge and comprehension of human life. Thefirst, because it is the peculiar distinction of this schoolad veritatem vitæ propius accedere. [Cic. de Or. i. 51.] And thelatter, as rendering the imitation more universally striking. This will be understood by reflecting thattruthmay be followed too closely in works of imitation, as is evident in two respects. For, 1. the artist, when he would give a Copy of nature, may confine himself too scrupulously to the exhibition ofparticulars, and so fail of representing the general idea of thekind. Or, 2. in applying himself to give thegeneralidea, he may collect it from an enlarged view ofreallife, whereasit were still better taken from the nobler conception of it as subsisting only in themind. This last is the kind of censure we pass upon theFlemishschool of painting, which takes its model from real nature, and not, as theItalian, from the contemplative idea of beauty29. Theformercorresponds to that other fault objected also to the Flemish masters, which consists in their copying from particular odd and grotesque nature in contradistinction to general and graceful nature.

We see then that in deviating from particular and partial, the poet more faithfully imitatesuniversal, truth. And thus an answer occurs to that refined argument, which Plato invented and urged, with much seeming complacency, against poetry. It is, thatpoetical imitation is at a great distance from truth. “Poetical expression, says the Philosopher, is the copy of the poet’s own conceptions; the poet’s conception, of things, and things, of the standing archetype, as existing in the divine mind. Thus the poet’s expression, is a copy at third hand, from the primary, original truth.” [Plat. De rep. l. x.] Now the diligent study of this rule of the poet obviates this reasoning at once. For, by abstracting from existences all that peculiarly respects and discriminatestheindividual, the poet’s conception, as it were neglecting the intermediate particular objects, catches, as far as may be, and reflects the divine archetypal idea, and so becomes itself the copy or image of truth. Hence too we are taught the force of that unusual encomium on poetry by the great critic,that it is something more severe and philosophical than history, φιλοσοφώτερον καὶ σπουδαιότερον ποίησις ἱστορίας ἐστίν. The reason follows, which is now very intelligible; ἡ μὲν γὰρ ποίησις μᾶλλον τὰ καθόλου, ἡ δ’ ἱστορία τὰ καθ’ ἕκαστον λέγει. [Περ. ποιητ. κ. θ.] And this will further explain an essential difference, as we are told, between the two great rivals of the Greek stage. Sophocles, in return to such as objected a want of truth in his characters, used to plead,that he drew men such as they ought to be, Euripides such as they were. Σοφοκλῆς ἔφη, αὐτὸς μὲν οἷοί δεῖ ποιεῖν, Εὐριπίδης δὲ οἷοί εἰσι. [Περ. ποιητ. κ. κε.] The meaning of which is, Sophocles, from his more extended commerce with mankind, had enlarged and widened the narrow, partial conception, arising from the contemplation ofparticularcharacters, into a complete comprehension of thekind. Whereas the philosophic Euripides, having been mostly conversant in the academy, when he came to look into life, keeping his eye too intent on single, really existing personages, sunk thekindin theindividual; and so painted his characters naturally indeed, andtruly, with regard to the objects in view, but sometimeswithout that general and universally striking likeness, which is demanded to the full exhibition of poetical truth.

But here an objection meets us, which must not be overlooked. It will be said, “that philosophic speculations are more likely to render men’s viewsabstractandgeneralthan to confine them toindividuals. This latter is a fault arising from thesmall numberof objects men happen to contemplate: and may be removed not only by taking a view of manyparticulars, which is knowledge of the world; but also by reflecting on thegeneral natureof men, as it appears in good books of morality. For the writers of such books form theirgeneralnotion of human nature from an extensive experience (either their own, or that of others) without which their writings are of no value.” The answer, I think, is this.By reflecting on the general nature of manthe philosopher learns, what is the tenor of action arising from the predominancy of certain qualities or properties;i. e.in general, what that conduct is, which the imputed character requires. But to perceive clearly and certainly, how far, and with what degree of strength this or that character will, on particular occasions, most probably shew itself, this is the fruit only of a knowledge of the world. Instances of a want of this knowledge cannot be supposed frequent in such a writer, as Euripides; nor, when they occur, so glaring as to strike a common reader. They are niceties, which can only bediscerned by the true critic; and even tohim, at this distance of time, from an ignorance of the Greek manners, that may possibly appear a fault, which is a real beauty. It would therefore be dangerous to think of pointing out the places, which Aristotle might believe liable to this censure in Euripides. I will however presume to mention one, which, if not justly criticized, will, at least, serve to illustrate my meaning.

The story of hisElectrais well known. The poet had to paint, in the character of this princess, a virtuous, but fierce, resentful woman; stung by a sense of personal ill treatment; and instigated to the revenge of a father’s death, by still stronger motives. A disposition of this warm temperament, it might be concluded by the philosopher in his closet, would be prompt to shew itself.Electrawould, on any proper occasion, be ready to avow her resentment, as well as to forward the execution of her purpose. But to what lengths would thisresentmentgo?i. e.what degree of fierceness mightElectraexpress, without affording occasion to a person widely skilled in mankind, and the operation of the passions, to say, “this is improbable?” Here abstract theories will be of little service. Even a moderate acquaintance with real life will be unable to direct us. Many individuals may have fallen under observation, that will justify the poet in carrying the expression of such aresentmentto any extreme. History would, perhaps, furnish examples,in which a virtuous resentment hath been carried even farther than is here represented by the poet. What way then of determining the precise bounds and limits of it? Only by observing in numerous instances,i. e.from a large extensive knowledge of practical life, how far it usually, in such characters, and under such circumstances, prevails. Hence a difference of representation will arise in proportion to the extent of thatknowledge. Let us now see, how the character before us, hath, in fact, been managed by Euripides.

In that fine scene, which passes between Electra and Orestes, whom as yet she suspects not to be her brother, the conversation very naturally turns upon Electra’s distresses, and the author of them, Clytæmnestra, as well as on her hopes of deliverance from them by the means of Orestes. The dialogue upon this proceeds:

Or.What then of Orestes, were he to return to this Argos?

El.Ah! wherefore that question, when there is no prospect of his return at all?

Or.But supposing he should return, how would he go about to revenge the death of his father?

El.In the same way, in which that father suffered from the daring attempts of his enemies.

Or.And could you then dare to undertake with him the murder of your mother?

El.Yes, with that very steel, with which she murdered my father.

Or.And am I at liberty to relate this to your brother, as your fixed resolution?

El.I desire only to live, till I have murdered my mother. The Greek is still stronger:

May I die, as soon as I have murdered my mother!

Now that this last sentence is absolutely unnatural, will not be pretended. There have been doubtless many examples, under the like circumstances, of an expression of revenge carried thus far. Yet, I think, we can hardly help being a little shocked at the fierceness ofthisexpression. At leastSophocleshas not thought fit to carry it to that extreme. In him,Electracontents herself with saying toOrestes, on a similar occasion:

“The conduct of this affair now rests upon you. Only let me observe this to you, that, had I been left alone, I would not have failed in one of these two purposes, either to deliver myself gloriously, or to perish gloriously.”

Whether this representation of Sophocles be not more agreeable totruth, as collected from wide observation, i. e. from human nature at large, than that of Euripides, the capable reader will judge. If it be, the reason I suppose to have been,that Sophocles painted his characters, such, as, from attending to numerous instances of the same kind, he would conclude they ought to be; Euripides, such, as a narrower sphere of observation had persuaded him they were.

319.Interdum speciosa locis, &c.] The poet’s science inethicswill principally shew itself in these two ways, 1. in furnishing proper matter for general reflexion on human life and conduct; and, 2. in a due adjustment of the manners. By the former of these two applications of moral knowledge a play becomes, what the poet calls,speciosa locis, i. e. (for the term is borrowed from the rhetoricians)striking in its moral topics: a merit of the highest importance on the ancient stage, and which, if prudently employed in subserviency to thelattermore essential requisite of the drama,a just expression of the manners, will deserve to be so reputed at all times and on every theatre. The danger is, lest a studied, declamatorymoral, affectedly introduced, or indulged to excess, should prejudice the natural exhibition of thecharacters, and so convertthe image of human lifeinto an unaffecting, philosophical dialogue.

319.Morataque recte Fabula, &c.] This judgment of the poet, in regard of the superior efficacy ofmanners, is generally thought to be contradicted by Aristotle; who in treating this subject, observes, “that let a piece be never so perfect in themanners,sentiments, andstyle, it will not so well answer the end and purpose of tragedy, as if defective in these, and finished only in the fable and composition.” Ἐάν τις ἐφεξῆς θῇ ῥήσεις ἠθικὰς καὶ λέξεις καὶ διανοίας εὖ πεποιημένας, οὐ ποιήσειὃ ἦν τῆς τραγῳδίας ἔργον, ἀλλὰ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἡ καταδεεστέροις τούτοις κεχρημένη τραγῳδία, ἔχουσα δὲ μῦθον καὶ σύστασιν πραγμάτων. Κεφ. ϛʹ. M. Dacier thinks to clear this matter by saying, “that what Aristotle remarks holds true of tragedy, but not of comedy, of which alone Horace is here speaking.” But granting that the artificial contexture of the fable is less necessary to the perfection of comedy, than of tragedy (as it certainly is), yet the tenor of this whole division, exhorting to correctness in general, makes it unquestionable, that Horace must intend to includeboth. The case, as it seems to me, is this. The poet is not comparing the respective importance of thefableandmanners, but of themannersanddiction, under this word including alsonumbers. He gives them the preferencenotto agood plot, nor even tofine sentiments, but toversus inopes rerum nugæque canoræ. Thearthe speaks of, is the art ofexpressingthe thoughts properly, gracefully, and harmoniously: thepondusis the force and energy of goodversification.Venusis a general term including both kinds of beauty.Fabuladoes not mean thefable(in distinction from the rest) but simplya play.

323.Graiis ingenium, &c.] The Greeks being eminent forphilosophy, especiallymorals; the last observation naturally gives rise to this. For the transition is easy from their superiority, as philosophers, to their superiority as poets; and the moreeasy, as the latter is shewn to be, in part, the effect of the former. Now this superiority of the Greeks in genius and eloquence (which would immediately occur, on mentioning theSocraticæ chartæ) being seen and confessed, we are led to ask, “whence this arises.” The answer is, from their makingglory, notgain, the object of their wishes.

330.Aerugo et cura peculi Cum semel imbuerit, &c.] Thislove of gain, to which Horace imputes the imperfect state of the Roman poetry, hath been uniformly assigned, by the wisdom of ancient times, as the specific bane of arts and letters.LonginusandQuintilianaccount, from hence, for the decay of eloquence,Galenof physic,Petroniusof painting, andPliny, of the whole circle of the liberal arts. An ingenious modern is indeed for carrying his views much further. He, it seems, would account [Refl. sur la Poes. et sur la Peint. v. ii. § xiv.] for thispublic degeneracyof taste and literature, not from the malignity of the selfish passions, but the baleful influences of the air, emulating, I suppose, herein, the wisdom of that philosophy, which teaches to lay theprivate degeneracyof individuals on the stars. Thus much however may be true, that other causes have generally co-operated with it. Some of these, as might be shewn, did not escape the attention of these wise ancients. Yet they did right to insist chiefly onthis, which is every way equal to the effect ascribed to it. It is soin itsnature: For being, as Longinus calls it, νόσημα μικροποιὸν,a disease which narrows and contracts the soul, it must, of course, restrain the generous efforts and expansions of genius; cramp the free powers and energies of the mind, and render it unapt to open itself to wide views, and to the projection of great, extensive designs. It is so in itsconsequences. For, as one says elegantly,when the passion of avarice grows general in a country, the temples of Honour are soon pulled down, and all men’s sacrifices are made to Fortune30. Thus extinguishing the sense of honour, that divinest movement in our frame, and the only one, which can invigorate the mind under the long labours of invention, it must needs be, that the fire and high spirit of genius go out with it; and dragging in its train thelove of pleasure, that unmanliest of all the passions, it diffuses such a languor and impotency over the mind, as must leave it at length a prey to a supine wasting indolence; till, as Longinus observes of his own age (and let every friend to letters deprecate the omen), Πάντες ἐγκαταβιοῦμεν, οὐκ ἄλλως πονοῦντες, ἢ ἀναλαμβάνοντες, εἰ μὴ ἐπαίνου καὶ ἡδονῆς ἕνεκα, ἀλλὰ μὴ τῆς ζήλου καὶ τιμῆς ἀξίας ποτὲ ὠφελείας.

333.Aut prodesse volunt, aut delectare poetae, &c.] Though these lines have the appearanceof general criticism, yet do they more especially respect the dramatic poesy. This will be evident from attending to the context. The full boast and glory of the drama is todelightandinstructmankind. 1. The latter praise was more especially due to the ancient tragic muse, who did not think it sufficient to paint lovely pourtraitures ofpublicandsocialvirtue, and to call in the moralizing chorus to her assistance, but, which was one of her discriminating characters, she was perpetually inculcating every branch of true moral in those brief sententious precepts, which inform and solemnize her page. To these precepts then the poet manifestly refers in those lines,

Quicquid præcipies, esto brevis; ut cito dictaPercipiant animi dociles, teneantque fideles.

But what follows is still clearer, [2.] The other end of the drama is toentertain, and this by the means ofprobable fiction.

Ficta, voluptatis causa, sint proxima veris.

And the poet applies this to the case of the drama in express words:

Ne quodcunque volet, poscat sibi fabula credi:Neu pransæ Lamiæ vivum puerum extrahat alvo.

The instance ofLamia, as Mr. Dacier observes, is certainly taken from some poet of that time, who had been guilty of this misconduct. The reader may learn from hence, how intently Horace pursues his design of criticizing theRomanstage, when, intreating a subject, from its nature, the most general of any in the epistle,viz. critical correctness, we yet find him so industriously recurring to this point.

343.Miscuit utile dulci.] The unnatural separation of theDULCE ET UTILEhath done almost as much hurt inlettersas that of theHONESTUM ET UTILE, which Tully somewhere complains of, hath done inmorals. For while the polite writer, as he is called, contents himself with theformerof these qualities, and the man of erudition with thelatter, it comes to pass, as the same writer expresses it, thatET DOCTIS ELOQUENTIA POPULARIS, ET DISERTIS ELEGANS DOCTRINA DESIT[Orat. iii.]

363.Haec amat obscurum, volet haec sub luce videri.] Cicero hath given the same precept in relation to oratory,habeat illa in dicendo admiratio ac summa laus umbram aliquam et recessum, quo magis id, quod erit illuminatum, extare atque eminere videatur. [De orat. l. iii. c. xxvi.]

373.Mediocribus esse poetis Non homines, &c.] This judgment, however severe it may seem, is according to the practice of the best critics. We have a remarkable instance in the case ofApollonius Rhodius, who, though, in the judgment of Quintilian, the author of no contemptible poem, yet on account of thatequal mediocrity, which everywhere prevails in him, was struck out of the list of good writers by such sovereign judges of poetical merit, as Aristophanes and Aristarchus. [Quint. l. x. c. i.]

403.Dictae per carmina sortes,] The oracles here spoken of, are such as respect notprivate persons(whom a natural curiosity, quickened by anxious superstition, has ever prompted to pry into their future fortunes) butentire communities; and for these there was little place, till Ambition had inspired great and eventful designs, and by involving the fate of nations, had rendered the knowledge of futurityimportant. Hence, in marking the progress of ancient poesy, Horace judiciously postponesoracles, to thecelebrationof martialprowess, as being that, which gave the principaleclatto them. This species of poetry then is rightly placed, though it be true, as the commentators have objected, that oracles were much ancienter than Homer, and the Trojan war.

404.Et vitae monstrata via est;] Meaning the writings ofTheognis,Phocylides,Hesiod, and others, which, consisting wholly of moral precepts, are elegantly said to lay open, or discoverthe road of life. Mr. Dacier’s interpretation, which makes the poet meanphysicsbyviam vitæ, is supported by no reason.Il ne faut pas, says he,entendre ceci de la philosophie et des mœurs;CARHorace secontrediroit, puisque il a dit que ce fut le premier soin de la poesie. The learned critic did not consider, that the first care of poesy, as explained above, and as employed byOrpheusandAmphion, was to inculcatepolicy, notmoral.

404.Et gratia regum, Pieriis tentata modis, ludusque repertus, Et longorum operum finis: ne forte pudori Sit tibi musa lyrae solers, et cantor Apollo.] This is one of those master-strokes, which make the sovereign charm of this poet. But the way in which it hath been understood, extinguishes all its grace and beauty.On les vers employa, says an interpreter, who speaks the sense of the rest,à gagner la faveur des rois, et on les mit de tous les jeux et de tous les spectacles, qu’on inventa pour se delasser de ses longs travaux et de toutes ses fatigues. Je vous dis cela afin que vous n’ayez point de honte de faire la cour aux Muses et à Apollon.And, lest this should not seem explicit enough, he adds in a couple of notes, that byludus repertus, &c.il[le poete]veut parler des tragedies et des comedies que l’on faisoit jour dans les fêtes solemnelles. And then, as to thene forte pudori,Cela prouve qu’ Horace ne fait cet eloge de la poesie que pour empecher que Pison n’en fût degouté. Can any thing be more insipid? For could the poet think so meanly of his art, as to believe it wanted an apology? Or had thecourtierso little address, as to direct that apology immediatelyto the Pisos? Besides, what species of poesy is it that he labours to excuse? Why, according to this interpretation, thedramatic: the supreme boast of his art, and the main subject of the epistle. And in whatmannerdoes he excuse it? Why, in recommending it, as an agreeable amusement. But his master, Aristotle, would have furnished him with a nobler plea: and ’tis certain, the ancients talked at another rate of the use and end of the drama. Let us see then, if the sense, given in the commentary, will bring any relief to the poet. In fact, this whole passage [fromet vitæ, &c. tocantor Apollo] obliquely glances at the two sorts of poetry peculiarly cultivated by himself, and is an indirect apology for his own choice of them. For 1.vitæ monstrata via estis the character of hissermones. And 2. all the rest, of hisOdes. These are recommended, agreeably to their nature, 1. as of use toconciliate the favour of princes; hereby glancing at the success of his own odes, and, with the happiest address, insinuating the regard, which Augustus paid to letters. 2. As contributing to the mirth and entertainment of feasts, and especially as holding a principal place in the celebration of those more sacred, secular festivities (longorum operum finem) which could not be duly solemnized, without the ministration of the lyric muse.

Back to Index Next