And in another Place,
_O! ego quantum egi! quam vasta potentia nostra est!_
What Feats I've wrought! how mighty is my Pow'r!
And in the next Verse almost,
----_Sic est mea magna potestas._
----So mighty is my Pow'r.
In the Sixth Book _Niobe_ magnifying her own Happiness, and extolling
herself above Measure, boasts thus,
_Sum felix; quis enim negat hoc? felixque manebo;
Hoc quoque quis dubitat? tutam me copia fecit.
Major sum quam cui possit Fortuna nocere_; &c.
_Excessere metum bona jam mea_, &c.
Thrice happy I, for who can that contest?
Or who deny that I shall long be blest?
By Plenty crown'd I dread no Change of Fate,
Despise both Fortune's Friendship, and her Hate.
My Bliss is plac'd above the Reach of Fear, &c.
But to omit other Instances, only take a View of _Narcissus_ in the same
Poet, desperately in Love with himself:
_Cunctaque miratur, quibus est mirabilis ipse;
Se cupit imprudens, & qui probat ipse probatur.
Dumque petit, petitur; pariterque accendit & ardet:_ &c.
_Atque oculos idem qui decipit, incitat, error._
By his own Flames consum'd the Lover lies,
And gives himself the Wound by which he dies.
_Addison._
And afterwards, as if all he had done was nothing, he only changes the
Person, and brings in _Narcissus_ himself speaking thus:
_Ille ego sum, sensi; nec me mea fallit imago;
Uror amore mei, flammas moveoque, feroque;
Quid faciam? roger? anne rogem? quid deinde rogabo?
Quod cupio mecum est; inopem me copia fecit._
Ah! wretched me, I now begin, too late,
To find out all the long perplex'd Deceit:
It is myself I love, myself I see,
The gay Delusion is a Part of me.
I kindle up the Fires by which I burn,
And my own Beauties from the Well return.
Whom shou'd I court? how utter my Complaint? }
Enjoyment but produces my Restraint, }
And too much Plenty makes me die for Want, }
_Addison._
Very justly may the last Words, with some small Alteration, be applied
to _Ovid_ himself, in whom a Fecundity of Words occasioned a Barrenness
of Sense. How far is this from him, _qui nil molitur inepte_, who ne'er
attempts a Thought in vain? _Virgil_, I mean, much better entitled, in
my Opinion, to that Character, than he for whom _Horace_ design'd it.
With how much greater Propriety does that divine Poet express the same
Thing in different Ways, where he describes the Manner of Grafting and
Inoculating?
_Et sæpe alterius ramos impune videmus
Vertere in alterius; mutatamque insita mala
Ferre pyrum, & prunis lapidosa rubescere corna._
Oft too we see one Tree's ingrafted Sprays
Change to another's, nor repent that Change.
The Pear's hard Trunk with alien Apples bend:
And on the Plumb's the stony Cornel grew.
_Inseritur vero ex fœtu nucis arbutus horrida;
Et steriles platani malos gessere valentes,
Castaneæ fagos; ornusque incanuit albo
Flore pyri, glandemque sues fregere sub ulmis._
But with a Filberd's Twig the prickly Arbutus
Is grafted: Oft the barren Plane has borne
The ruddiest Apples: Chesnuts bloom'd on Beech,
The wild Ash blossom'd with the Flow'rs of Pears,
Snow-white; and Swine crack'd Acorns under Elms.
By this Comparison of _Ovid_ and _Virgil_, how tedious seem the
Trifles, and how nauseous the Repetitions of the former; how various
the Description, how diffusive, and yet how chaste the Elegance of the
latter? The one with wonderful Art represents, as I said, the same
Thing, or the same Thought, by different Species or Adjuncts; the other
gives you the same Thing ten Times over, under the very same Species,
by changing the Words only; from which superabundant Luxuriance, as his
Style must needs want Nerves, so must his Readers Patience. I would not,
however, condemn it throughout; he has many Passages that are worthy of
Praise, and some, of _Virgil_ himself. Of this Sort is that Description
of the Fate of _Niobe_'s Children:
_E quibus Ismenos, qui matris sarcina quondam
Prima suæ fuerat, certum dum flectit in orbem
Quadrupedis cursus, spumantiaque ora coërcet;
Hei mihi! conclamat: medioque in pectore fixa
Tela gerit, frœnisque manu moriente remissis,
In latus à dextro paulatim defluit armo._
Of these _Ismenos_, who by Birth had been
The first fair Issue of the fruitful Queen,
Just as he drew the Rein, to guide his Horse
Around the Compass of the circling Course,
Sigh'd deeply, and the Pangs of Smart express'd,
While the Shaft stuck engorg'd within his Breast:
And the Reins dropping from his dying Hand,
Gently he fell upon the yielding Sand.
_Croxall._
But in many Places, it must be own'd, he is guilty of that Luxuriance I
just now mention'd; I cannot, therefore, sufficiently wonder at their
Ignorance, who presume to compare him to _Virgil_. But of this, perhaps,
I shall have a more convenient Opportunity hereafter; when I make a
farther Comparison between some other Authors. I beg Leave, at present,
as I have cited a remarkable Place out of _Virgil_'s _Georgics_, to
present you with one or two more, that are no less deserving your
Attention: I am sure, nothing can shew the Force and Elegance of the
poetic Style, more than what that Model of Perfection has left us, even
upon the plainest, and most ignoble Subject. Among his Precepts of
Agriculture, he gives you these, in the following Words:
_Sæpe etiam steriles incendere profuit agros,
Atque levem stipulam crepitantibus urere flammis.
Sive inde occultas vires & pabula terræ
Pinguia concipiunt; sive illis omne per ignem
Excoquitur vitium, atque exudat inutilis humor:
Seu plures calor ille vias, & cæca relaxat
Spiramenta, novas veniat qua sucrus in herbas;
Seu durat magis, & venas astringit hiantes_, &c.
Oft too it has been painful found, to burn
The barren Fields with Stubble's crackling Flames.
Whether from thence they secret Strength receive,
And richer Nutriment: Or by the Fire
All latent Mischief, and redundant Juice,
Oozing sweats off; or whether the same Heat
Opens the hidden Pores, that new Supplies
Of Moisture may refresh the recent Blades:
Or hardens more, and with astringent Force
Closes the gaping Veins: _&c._
Nothing can exceed the Beauty of this Passage, unless that where he
describes the various Methods of Grafting and Inoculating:
_Nec modus inserere, atque oculos imponere simplex;
Nam qua se medio trudunt de cortice gemmæ,
Et tenues rumpunt tunicas, augustus in ipso
Fit nodo sinus; huc aliena ex arbore germen
Includunt, udoque docent inolescere libro.
Aut rursum enodes trunci resecantur, & alte
Finditur in solidum cuneis via: deinde feraces
Plantæ immittuntur; nec longum tempus, & ingens
Exiit ad cœlum ramis felicibus arbos,
Miraturque novas frondes, & non sua poma._
Nor single is the Manner to ingraft,
Or to inoculate. For where the Gems
Bud from the middle Bark, and gently burst
The filmy Coats; ev'n in the Knot is made
A small Incision: From an alien Tree
An Eye is here enclos'd, and taught to grow
Congenial, blending with the humid Rind.
Or else into the knotless solid Trunk
They force a Cleft with Wedges; then insert
The fertile Sprigs: Nor long the Time; to Heav'n
The Tree with loaden Branches shoots away,
Admires new Leaves, and Apples not her own.
I hope I shall deserve your Pardon for producing these Examples; they
are of no ordinary Nature, for that very Reason because their Subject
is so. I know very well, how absurd it would be to repeat to you, upon
this Head, all the beautiful Passages that occur in the best Poets: What
else would this be, but to transcribe the greatest Part of them? But I
thought it not improper to give you these Specimens from the _Georgics_,
that you might view in them the Force of Poetry and _Virgil_, who was
able to throw such a Splendor upon so mean Materials, and make them at
once the Pleasure and Envy of Posterity.
To shun the Repetition of the same Words, as much as possible, is a
Precept not only applicable to Poets, but to all other Writers; because
the same Sounds tire the Ears of the Reader. Here those Figures of
Elegance, the _Epizeuxis_ and _Anadiplosis_, are manifestly excepted.
Some, however, out of a Detestation of this Fault, fall into a greater;
and in their Zeal for Variety, by wresting Words from their natural
Signification, are guilty of the very worst Fault in Writing, Obscurity.
The best Writers never run into this Extreme, but chuse rather to
repeat the same Words, than use others in an improper Sense, as may be
seen very frequently in _Virgil_. It is probable, indeed, a Desire of
Elegance first brought in a Diversity of Words; for if Convenience only
were considered, each Conception of the Mind would have but a single
Word appropriated to it: Whereas now, in learning a new Language, to
our great Trouble we find many Words affixed to one Idea, or many Ideas
to one Word. Nor is Disagreeableness of Sound to be avoided only in the
Repetition of the same Words, but often (for the Rule does not always
hold) in using different Words of the same Termination. As these in
_Juvenal_:
----_tarda per densa cadavera prorâ._
'Tis certain, in poetical Compositions we ought to have great Regard
to Harmony, and to endeavour to captivate the Ear, as well as please
the Imagination of our Readers. For tho' nothing is more contemptible
than _versus inopes rerum, nugæque canoræ, poor shallow Verse, mere
bubbling Trifles_, that have no other Recommendation but Sound; yet they
err, on the other Hand, who have a View only to the Sense, and none to
the Musick that should echo to it. This was the Case of many of our
Countrymen, of _Couley_, particularly, and others of the last Age; who,
studious only for the Beauty of Thought, neglected, or did not rightly
understand the Melody of Verse: Till at length our _Dryden_ arose, who
added to _English_ Poetry what it only wanted, Numbers, Harmony, and
Accuracy; by which Means, if we are not too partial in our Judgment of
ourselves, it now bears the Laurel from all the Nations in _Europe_.
The best Poets among the Antients were solicitous about the Disposal of
their Words, as well as the Choice of them. It is an Elegance, which,
tho' often unobserved, pleases the Mind insensibly. And yet any one,
with the least Attention, will perceive, that there's not a little
Difference, whether the same Word is placed in one Part of a Verse, or
another. How much, for Instance; would that of _Virgil_
_Admonet in somnis, & turbida terret imago_
suffer in the Change, if it were read,
----_& imago turbida terret!_
Various Examples there are, of this Sort, which it would be needless
to alledge. But I would here observe, that the Harmony of Verse does
not only consist in its being free from all Asperity, and flowing
gently with one steddy Course: Some Asperity is often necessary; a
Poem may labour for the Want of, and offend the Ears even with its
Smoothness. Many, therefore, much wrong their Judgment, who prefer
_Ovid_, _Claudian_, and others, to _Virgil_, on this Account; because,
forsooth, they find less Roughness in their Verse: Whereas the very
Want of this is their Defect; and _Virgil_ does not more excel them
in Versification, than in every other Requisite of a good Poet. He is
generally harmonious, full, and fluent; and if he does not always keep
one even Tenor, this is not owing to any Inability, but, as we observed
before, in another Particular, the Effect of his Choice. He knew it
would be more grateful to his Reader to change, now and then, the usual
Smoothness of Style, and mix with it somewhat of an agreeable Harshness.
His Periods, likewise, he concludes very variously; generally, indeed,
where the Verse ends, but often in different Parts of it, with this
Foot or that, as the Sound requires. In the Conduct of this Variety, of
as small a Moment as it may seem, there's no little Labour, nor less
Elegance. It is rarely aimed at by _Ovid_, _Claudian_, _Statius_, and
the rest, who fall short of _Virgil_ in that boasted Sweetness of Verse,
whenever his Subject demands it of him. It is a great Mistake to think
_Ovid_'s Negligence is a Matter of Merit, and that his Verses flow with
the more Ease, for his Want of Care in their Composition; because, as
it is urged, they are not so much the Effect of Study, as of Nature.
Every Excellence in Writing must proceed from both; the more a Poem is
laboured, the more natural it shall often seem; and its Stiffness may
be owing to Neglect. To illustrate what I have said of _Virgil_, by one
Example, out of many: In which of the abovemention'd Poets shall we
find any Lines, I will not say that exceed in Harmony and Softness his
Description of _Orpheus_ and _Eurydice_, but come near it? The whole is
sweet; but nothing can be more so than the following Part of it.
_Illa quidem Stygia nabat jam frigida cymba:
Septem illum totos perhibent ex ordine menses,
Rupe sub aëria, deserti ad Strymonis undam,
Flevisse, & gelidis hæc evolvisse sub antris,
Mulcentem tigres, & agentem carmine quercus.
Qualis populea mœrens Philomela sub umbra
Amissos queritur fœtus, quos durus arator,
Observans, nido implumes detraxit; at illa
Flet noctem, ramoque sedens miserabile carmen
Integrat, & mœstis late loca questibus implet._
She, shiv'ring, in the _Stygian_ Sculler sail'd:
He, sev'n whole Months, 'tis said, beneath a bleak
Aerial Cliff, on _Strymon_'s Desart Bank,
Wept lonesome; and in freezing Caves revolv'd
This mournful Tale; while crouding Oaks admir'd
His Lays, and Tygers soften'd at the Sound.
As when, complaining in melodious Groans,
Sweet _Philomel_ beneath a Poplar Shade,
Mourns her lost Young; which some rough Village Hind
Observing, from their Nest, unfledg'd, has stole:
She weeps all Night; and perch'd upon a Bough,
With plaintive Notes repeated fills the Grove.
In reading these, and the like Passages, how naturally may we apply to
the Poet, what he does to his _Daphnis_?
_Tale tuum carmen nobis, divine poeta,
Quale sopor fessis in gramine, quale per æstum
Dulcis aquæ saliente sitim restinguere rivo._
Such, heav'nly Poet, is thy Verse to me,
As Slumbers to the Weary on the Grass;
Such as fresh purling Rills, in Summer's Heat,
To thirsty Travellers.
And again,
_Nam neque me tantum venientis sibilus Austri,
Nec percussa juvant fluctu tam littora, nec quæ
Saxosas inter decurrunt flumina valles._
For neither does the Breeze
Of whisp'ring _Zephyr_, when it rises fresh,
Bless me so much: Nor Waves that beat the Shore;
Nor Rivers, which thro' stony Vallies glide.
Whether it was from Chance, or Design, that these Verses, by their very
Sound, represent the Thing they describe, is not worth enquiring. It
is certain, some Words are so naturally formed for this Purpose, and
Poetry for the proper Disposal of them, that this Felicity can't well
be avoided; and 'tis to Chance alone we are often indebted for these
beautiful Echo's. Sometimes, however, they are the undoubted Effect of
Art. Whence soever they proceed, they frequently occur, and are an ample
Proof of the Force and Elegance of the poetic Style. That of _Virgil_ is
well known, where we see the Ox knock'd down, and hear the Noise of his
sudden Fall, and lumpish Weight,
_Sternitur, exanimisque tremens procumbit humi bos._
Down falls the Beast
Dead, trembling, to the Ground.
In the same Book, in the Description of the Naval Course, we have the
following Lines:
_Ille inter navemque Gyæ scopulosque sonantes
Radit iter lævum interior, subitusque priorem
Præterit, & metis tenet æquora tuta relictis._
He betwixt _Gyas_, and the sounding Rocks,
Interior, skims the Left Hand Way, and swift
Outstrips his Rival, and beyond the Goal
Smooth shoots along, and gains the safer Seas.
What could better express the swift Motion with which the Ship brush'd
by its Rival, and sail'd away clear of the Shelves, into the open Sea.
In the last Verse, particularly, the Words seem with their Briskness to
protrude one another, and skim away to the Goal. In another Part of the
Description the same Image is thus represented:
_Agmine remorum celeri, ventisque vocatis,
Prona petit maria, & pelago decurrit aperto._
With his rowing Crowd,
And all the Winds invited to his Sails,
Gains the prone Deep, and swiftly shoots away
Upon the Ocean.
After this, follows that beautiful Comparison of the sailing of this
Ship, and the Flight of the Dove, the Swiftness and Evenness of which is
thus most admirably express'd:
----_Mox aëre lapsa quieto
Radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet alas._
Then smoothly gliding thro' the quiet Air,
Skims the thin Way, nor moves her nimble Wings.
On the other Hand, how clearly do we see the dishonourable Tardiness
with which the inglorious Ship drags on, after she had bulged upon the
Rock?
_Cum savo à scepulo multa vix arte revulsus,
Amissis remis, atque ordine debilis uno,
Irrisam, sine honore, ratem Sergestus agebat._
When with much Art and Pain,
Torn from the cruel Rock his Oars half lost,
And one Side maim'd, _Sergestus_ tugg'd along
His slow dishonour'd Skiff.
Can any Thing move slower than the Verse, or with greater Art? But what
deserves all Admiration, or rather what exceeds it, is, the same Poet's
Description of the Giants Attempt against Heaven, by heaping Mountain
upon Mountain.
_Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam
Scilicet, atque Ossæ frondosum involvere Olympum._
Thrice they assay'd on _Pelion_ to heave
_Ossa_; on _Ossa_ still more high to roll
Woody _Olympus_.
How the Verse labours! _Conati imponere--Pelio Ossam_--Without any
Elision of the Vowels, it moves on with Difficulty, and totters, as it
were, with an unweildy Load, to represent to us the stupendous Image
of the straining of the Giants. In the Words, _atque Ossæ frondosum
involvere Olympum_, there seems to be a Redundancy of Syllables, and we
see in them the enormous Superstructure rise higher and higher, by one
Layer of Mountains heaped upon another.
Since, then, it is the Nature of Poetry to express the Things it
describes by the very Sound of the Verse; how little Share of the
Spirit of it have they, who, by an unnatural Constraint, smother their
Thoughts with Words that are dumb to the Sense? And yet this is a Fault
many are guilty of; who will set before you a rapid Torrent in the slow
Length of an _Alexandrine_; rural Pleasures, in Words that represent the
Clangor of a Trumpet; the Din of War, with the soft and easy Strain of
Elegy; the Triumphs of Love, with the rough and unpolish'd Address of a
Clown; and debase this divine Art with a thousand such Contradictions.
A Lover of _Virgil_, that reads him with Discernment, will never fall
into these, and the like Enormities; for which Reason, 'tis from him I
produced the several Examples that have illustrated each Part of this
Dissertation. No one can have Reason to complain of their Number; for
nothing else could have so display'd the hidden Charms of Poetry. Let me
recommend it, therefore, to my young Audience, who are fired with the
Love of so engaging an Art, to make him the Bent of all their Care and
Application; let _Virgil_ be often in your Hand, and never out of your
Thoughts,
_Nocturna versate manu, versate diurna._
Read him by Day, and meditate by Night.
_Pope_.
[Sidenote: _Sixth Lecture._]
It is a common Opinion, that those mutilated Verses that occur up and
down in the _Æneis_, were left so by the Author out of Design, and to
add a certain Beauty to his Style. I am rather inclined to think them
the Marks of an imperfect Work, and that they would have been fill'd up
by the Author, if he had put his last Hand to that divine Performance.
It is an agreed Point, that the _Georgics_ are more correct than the
_Æneis_; now in them we don't find any of these Mutilations, and in the
_Æneis_ one that leaves the Sense imperfect. In a Place or two, indeed,
some seeming Reason may be assign'd for this sudden breaking off; _viz._
to represent more naturally the Thing in Description. As in this:
_Italiam non sponte sequor_----
'Tis with Regret I seek
Th' _Italian_ Coasts.
Tho' even here, I would observe by the Way, the unalterable Resolution
of _Æneas_, and his abrupt leaving the Queen, might have been express'd
as well, if his Speech had ended where it does now, and the Verse been
continued on afterwards. It is certain, no good Account can be given of
most of these _Hiatus's_; and therefore it is very difficult to find out
the Elegance of them. There may be a Grace, possibly, in some seeming
Defects; as in those false Quantities, which _Virgil_ sometimes, but
sparingly admits, to awaken in his Reader an Attention to the Rules of
Poetry, by so becoming a Violation of them. But tho' a Lisp, a Mole,
or a slight Cast of the Eye, may add new Beauties to the Beautiful,
Lameness and Deformity never can.
But whatever is the Determination concerning _Virgil_ (for I would not
be too peremptory in mine) modern Writers, and especially those of our
own Country, take, undoubtedly, too great a Liberty in imitating him,
who purposely leave many half Lines, both in their _English_ and _Latin_
Poems. This is often but an Indulgence of their Sloth; sometimes of
their Want of Words, or of Wit; they leave part of a Verse, because they
know not how to finish it; and sometimes, perhaps, it is owing to an
Affectation of Elegance. To me, I must confess, these Gaps, in Reading,
are always offensive; not to say absurd and ridiculous. But so it is,
they receive a Sanction, it seems, from the Authority of _Virgil_.
Allowing he left some designedly, it does not follow our Writers have
a Pretence to the same Liberty. They shall have it in abundance, if
they'll attempt another _Æneis_. In the mean Time, I would have them
consider a little the Difference between a Poetical Essay, and an Epic
Poem; or if that be their Attempt, the Difference, still, between theirs
and _Virgil_'s.
Nor are they guilty of less Presumption, who, under the sacred Name of
_Virgil_, arrogantly transgress the Laws of Quantity. In the Course
of a long Work, that requires the greatest Nicety and Conduct, such a
Liberty, when used with Caution and Modesty, is not only excuseable, but
elegant: But what is this to our little poetical Businesses? In vain is
_Virgil_ here alledg'd, of all Authorities the greatest, or _Cæsura_,
of all Figures the usefullest! 'Tis true, that immortal Poet uses this
License sometimes, not only in the _Æneis_, but in the _Georgics_, and
even in the _Eclogues_: The Prince of Poets, and the great Arbiter of
Verse, might claim a discretionary Power of suspending the Laws of it,
as he saw Occasion; but for us to invade his Prerogative, under Pretence
of imitating his Example, is the same as if a Subject should usurp the
Authority of a King, and justify himself by that very Authority. We are
not, however, totally debarr'd this Liberty; nor yet indulged it in the
same Degree with _Virgil_; much less ought we to extend it beyond him.
Scarce any Thing is of greater Difficulty, or Moment, in the poetic
Style, than the true Use of Epithets. Nothing loads a Poem, or tires the
Reader more, than too great a Redundancy of them. Now they are always
redundant, unless their Substantives receive from them either new Ideas,
or some Illustration and Ornament too of their own. And yet with the
Observation of these Rules, it is possible they may be redundant, that
is, a Poem may be clogg'd with too many of them. I shall lay before you
some Examples of both Kinds of Epithets; and shall take Care to make
Choice of such as may not only illustrate the Point before us, but many
other Beauties of the poetic Style.
Of the former Sort of Epithets, that add new and distinct Ideas to their
Substantives, the following Verses will furnish many. In _Virgil_'s most
admirable Description of the Plague raging among the Cattle, in the
third Book of the Georgics, we have these Lines:
_Sæpe in honore Deum medio stans hostia ad aram,--
Inter cunctantes cecidit moribunda ministros._
Oft standing at the Altar, and with Wreaths,
And woolly Fillets bound, the Victim Bull,
In the mid Honour of the Gods, fell dead
Between the ling'ring Sacrificer's Hands.
And a few Lines after:
_Labitur infelix studiorum, atque immemor herbæ
Victor equus_.----
Unhappy of his Toils, the Victor Steed
Sinks, and forgets his Food.
Again:
_Tum vero ardentes oculi, atque attractus ab alto
Spiritus, interdum gemitu gravis; imaque longo
Ilia singultu tendunt; it naribus ater
Sanguis, & obsessas fauces premit aspera lingua._
His Eyes are all inflam'd; from his deep Breast
His Breath with Labour heaves; long Sobs and Groans
Distend his Entrails: From his Nostrils drops
Black ropy Gore, and to his Jaws his Tongue
Clotted with Filth, and Putrefaction, cleaves.
Afterwards:
_Ecce! autem duro fumans sub vomere taurus
Concidit, & mixtum spumis vomit ore cruorem,
Extremosque ciet gemitus: it tristis arator,
Mœrentem abjungens fraterna morte juvencum,
Atque opere in medio defixa relinquit aratra._
Smoking beneath the Plough the sturdy Steer
Falls down, and spues a Flood of Gore and Foam,
And groans his last: The pensive Hind unyokes
His mourning Fellow Lab'rer, and amidst
Th' unfinish'd Furrow leaves the sticking Share.
In the foremention'd Description of the Fate of _Orpheus_ and _Eurydice_:
_Illa, quis & me, inquit, miseram, & te perdidit, Orpheu?
Quis tantus furor? en! iterum crudelia retro
Fata vocant, conditque natantia lumina somnus.
Jamque vale; feror ingenti circumdata nocte,
Invalidasque tibi tendens, heu! non tua, palmas._
She; Who, my _Orpheus_, who
Has Me unfortunate and Thee undone?
What Fury This? Again the cruel Fates
Remand me back; Sleep seals my swimming Eyes.
And now Farewel: With Darkness round enclos'd
I flit away; and vainly stretch to Thee
(Ah! now no longer Thine) these helpless Hands.
In these Examples there are only two Epithets, _viz._ _ater_ and _duro_,
the second Sort of which I shall speak of presently. But the rest, you
may observe, as in _cunctantes ministros, equus infelix studiorum,
ardentes oculi, aspera lingua, defixa aratra, &c._ add a new Idea, quite
distinct from the general Nature of the Substantive, and rising from the
special Adjuncts and Circumstances of the Thing described.
The second Sort of Epithets are those, that are not so distant from the
general Nature of the Substantives, and yet not perfectly coincident
with it; but bring with them Light and Ornament, tho' not new Ideas. As
in the abovemention'd Description of _Virgil_:
----_Timidi damæ, cervique fugaces,
Nunc interque canes, & circum tecta vagantur._
Now the tim'rous Hinds and Deer
Among the Dogs, and round the Houses, rove.
And in the first _Æneid_:
_Nimborum in patriam, loca fœta furentibus Austris,
Æoliam venit; hic vasto rex Æolus antro
Luctantes ventos, tempestatesque sonoras
Imperio premit._----
The Goddess to _Æolia_ comes,
The Land of Storms, where struggling Gusts of Air
Engender: Here, in his capacious Cave,
Great _Æolus_ with absolute Command
Controls, imprisons, and confines in Chains,
The noisy Tempests, and reluctant Winds.
In _timidi damæ, cervi fugaces_, and _tempestates sonoras_, the
Epithets we see are of near Affinity with the Substantives; for they
express some Adjuncts, or Properties, which are always inherent in
them. Therefore are of a different Kind from _tristis aratror, natantia
lumina, invalidas palmas_, and the rest above cited, that exhibit Ideas
totally distinct from the universal Nature of the Subject, and agree
with it only _pro hic & nunc_, as the Schoolmen speak. The Epithets of
this distinct Kind entertain the Mind with a more agreeable Variety;
but those of the other require, perhaps, more Care and Judgment in the
proper Choice of them: For tho' they border upon the general Nature
of their Substantives, expressing, as we said, some of their inherent
Qualities; yet, we likewise observed, they don't perfectly coincide
with them, but express an Idea somewhat different, and yet not totally
so. These Expressions, for Instance, the _fearful Deer_, and the _loud
Tempests_, are not like those Absurdities we shall have Occasion
hereafter to expose; such as _burning Fire_, _cold Ice_, which are
but other Words for _hot Heat_, and _cold Cold_; but represent to us
some _special_, and less _essential_ Adjuncts of their Substantives;
and therefore are not to be indiscriminately used upon every Occasion,
but then only, when they are agreeable to the Nature of the Subject.
For Instance, because _Virgil_ has said, the _fearful Deer_, and
_flitting Stags_, it by no means follows that these Epithets are always
applicable, whenever _Stags_ or _Deer_ shall happen to be mention'd. In
the Place he used them, they were proper, because the Wonder of what he
was describing turn'd wholly upon the Circumstance they describe, _viz._
that the Plague, which was common to all the Beasts, brought them all
to such an Equality and Unanimity, that even those that were by Nature
_fearful_, and formed for _Flight_, associated with such as lived upon
Rapine and Slaughter. So, again, because the same Author has _Luctantes
ventos, tempestatesque sonoras_, we are not to conclude we may use the
same Epithets, with the same Words, at any Time. He made Choice of them
to remind his Reader of the Difficulty of _Æolus_'s Province to restrain
the Impetuosity of the boisterous Winds.
Upon this Occasion, I cannot but think, the _Gradus ad Parnassum_, and
other Books of that Stamp, no small Prejudice to Learners. Here Boys
meet with Heaps of undistinguish'd Epithets, and synonymous Words,
before they are come to Maturity of Judgment to make a proper Choice
of them; and consequently blindly pick out such as the _Hiatus_ of the
Verse requires, with little Regard to Sense, and less to Propriety and
Elegance. By relying upon these Helps, they give themselves up to Sloth,
their Ideas are confounded, and their Judgments corrupted. The Patrons
of these sort of Books have nothing to urge in their Defence, but that
by facilitating the Scholar's Pains, they allure him to that Study,
which he would otherwise have declined, on account of its Difficulty.
But, before these Helps were thought of, Poetry was in as flourishing a
Condition as in our Time; and it seems much more adviseable for the Boys
to receive all proper Assistances from their Master, or School-fellows,
than from these _Fasciculi_. To banish them from the Schools, would only
have this Consequence; that it would put the Youth upon reading the best
Poets, in order to whet their Imagination, and ripen their Judgment. If
these Books are to any allowable, let them be indulged, not to Boys, but
to confirm'd Poets, who have Judgment enough to select proper Words out
of them. But to these such childish Helps are contemptible. All Things,
therefore, consider'd, it would be no Disadvantage to Poetry, if the
_Gradus ad Parnassum, Flores Poetarum, Elegantiæ Poeticæ_, and the other
_Thesaurus's_ of this Nature, were committed to the Flames, or for ever
buried in Oblivion. But to return:
There are other Epithets, of so _general_ a Nature, that in all
_poetical Descriptions_ they are _always_ applicable to their
Substantives, and yet are different from those I just now mention'd,
that _perfectly coincide_ with them. As in _Virgil_:
_Jamque rubescebat radiis mare, & æthere ab alto
Aurora in roseis fulgebat lutea bigis._
And now the Ocean redden'd with the Rays;
And in her rosy Car the blushing Morn
Shone from the Sky.
And in _Ovid_:
----_Ecce! vigil nitido patefecit ab ortu_
_Purpureas Aurora fores, & plena rosarum
Atria._----
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
Subjects _distinct Ideas_, yet are _much farther off_ from 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.
_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 Souls
Before the plenteous Racks.
And again:
_Non umbræ altorum nemorum, non mollia possunt
Prata movere animum; non qui per saxa volutus
Purior electro campum petit amnis._
No Shades of Groves, no grassy Meads can move
His 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 are _joyful_, Meadows
_soft_, Rivers _pure_, 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 is _barren_
and _jejune_; the Sense _relax'd_ and _enervated_. 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:
_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._
We had no Occasion to be reminded _once_, much less _twice_ in the
Compass of five Verses, that _Water_ was _liquid_; 'tis a Circumstance
that served as little for the Information of the Reader, as for the
Illustration of what the Poet was describing. _Ovid_ is often guilty
this Way; as in the following Verse:
_Eque_ sagittifera _prompsit duo tela pharetra._
Two fatal Shafts
Forth from his _Arrow-bearing_ Quiver drew.
To produce more Instances, would be needless: One small Scruple, I
confess, arises to me upon this Head, from observing that _Horace_ and
_Virgil_ seem to use some few of these redundant Epithets; and 'twas
for this Reason I said above, the Rule I had laid down ought _rarely_
or _never_ to be violated. But whatever we determine concerning those
great Authorities (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 to _Homer_, 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 Words
_meus_, _tuus_, and _suus_, (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. Thus _Ovid_, in the Story of _Phaeton_,
----_Balænarumque prementem
Ægæona_ suis _immania terga lacertis._
_Himself Ægæon_ with his Hand _does_ guide
A Whale's enormous Bulk.
[96]
_Tum pater ora_ sui _sacro medicamine nati
Contigit._----
Then o'er his _own_ Son's Face a Tincture pours.
And afterwards:
_Vixque_ suis _humeris 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 that _Homer_'s Faults were, perhaps, studiously imitated by the
best Writers; for if _Homer_ may 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 of the like Nature, that occur up and down in him[98].
----θοη παρα νηì μελαινη.
Θιν' εφ' αλòς πολιης, 'ορóων 'επì óινοπα πóντον.
Sad retiring to the sounding Shore,
O'er the wild Margin of the Deep he hung. _Pope._
----λευκωλενος Ἡρη, white arm'd _Juno_
----βοωπις ποτνια 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 of _very 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 of _Qualities in the
Concrete_, (as the Logicians speak) which strike the Imagination no
less than those that are express'd in the _Abstract_. 'Tis plain, from
what appears above, that the Writings of the best Poets are full of
them, and particularly _Virgil_'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:
_Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus orci,
Luctus, & ultrices posuére cubilia
Curæ; 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 pandit
Ulmus opaca, ingens; quam sedem somnia vulgo
Vana 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 Elm
Displays 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,
_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 a just 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. Thus _Virgil_:
_Aude, hospes, contemnere opes, & te quoque dignum
Finge Deo._----
Dare to scorn Wealth, brave Guest; presume thyself
Worthy to emulate a God.
And again:
_Est hic, est animus lucis contemptor, & istum
Qui vita bene credit emi, quo tendis, honorem._
Here too, here dwells a Soul that with Contempt
Regards this vital Air, and thinks with Life
That Fame well bought, to which thy Soul aspires.
And at the Conclusion of that admirable Description of _Æneas's_ Shield
made by _Vulcan_, thus the divine Poet closes his eighth Book:
_Talia per clypeum Vulcani, dona parentis,
Miratur, rerumque ignarus imagine gaudet,
Attollens humero famamque & fata nepotum._
Such Figures on the broad _Vulcanian_ Shield,
His Mother's Gift, the Hero pleas'd admires
In Ignorance; and on his Shoulder high
Upheaves 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 the _Concrete_ are no more than Adjuncts of those in the
_Abstract_; now that which supports, must needs be stronger than what is
supported. To the same 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 an _Epithet_ is, may be apt in their
Reading to make a wrong Enumeration of them; for all _Adjectives_ and
_Participles_ do not (as many think) come under this Appellation, but
those only which are annex'd to Substantives, by way of _Ornament_
and _Illustration_; not such as make up the essential Part of the
Description. In the following Lines of _Virgil_,
_Diverso interea miscentur mœnia luctu;
Et magis atque magis (quanquam secreta parentis
Anchisæ 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 Din
Of clashing Arms rolls near.
there is not an Epithet; neither _diverso_, _secreta_, or _obtecta_,
comes under that Denomination, but are Adjectives or Participles of the
other Kind.
[Sidenote: _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; the _sublime_,
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 the
_Georgics_, 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 of _Terence_ will be urged, which
_Horace_ seems to have had in his View, when he says,
_Interdum tamen & vocem Comœdia tollit._