from its being greater, less, equal, or contrary.
[216] Lib. I. Epig. 39.
[217] Lib. I. Epig. 19.
[218] Lib. III. Ep. 57.
[219] Lib. IV. Ep. 18.
[220] Thus applied, more out of Humour, than an ill Opinion of a certain
Person's Success:
Fortune, we yield to thy capricious Will:
A Drop of _Ward_'s can cure, a Drop of Water kill!
[221] Lib. VIII. Epig. 65.
[222] Lib. V. Epig. 75.
[223] This has since been done in a Book intituled, _Carmina
Quadragesimalia_, printed at _Oxford_ 1723, 8_vo._ reprinted at _London_
1741, 12_mo._
[224] Too _poetical_ often in another Sense, when they give Characters
absolutely false; from whence the _French_ have a witty Saying, _Il ment
comme une Epitaphe_, He lies like an Epitaph.
[225] P. Bouhours, Entretiens d'Ariste & Eugene, Dial. ult.
[226] Geor. IV. 6.
[227] ℣ 83.
LECTURE XIII.
_Of Elegy._
This is a Subject, which, if I am not mistaken, very few have largely
treated of. _Scaliger_, indeed, and some others, have just mention'd
it, and made some short Strictures upon it: But no one, that I know of,
except _Vossius_, of the better Sort of Writers, have writ a professed
Dissertation of this Species of Poetry, tho' it is the sweetest, the
most engaging, and every way worthy our Consideration. Who the Inventor
was, _Horace_ professes himself ignorant:
_Quis tamen exiguos elegos emiserit Auctor,
Grammatici certant; & adhuc sub judice lis est._
But to whose Muse we owe that Sort of Verse,
Is undecided by the Men of Skill.
_Roscom._
Nor is this an Enquiry of much Moment. Under the Title of Elegy, is
generally and primarily understood a mournful Poem, bewailing the Loss
of some Person lately dead; and sometimes has any other melancholy
plaintive Circumstance for its Subject. _Scaliger_ calls it a Poem
proper for _Complaints_:
[229]----_Neu_ miserabiles
_Decantes elegos_;
says _Horace_, addressing himself to _Tibullus_, the best of Eleglic
Writers. This appears clear enough, from the Etymology of the Word;
either from ελεος, or (as others more justly) from ι,
a Particle of Grief, and λεγειν to _speak;_ not from εν λεγειν,
as some have ill judg'd, because, forsooth, we generally
speak in Praise of whose Deaths we lament. It is certain, this Sort of
Poem was anciently, and from its first Origin, made use of at Funerals.
That, therefore, of one famous Elegiac Poet upon the Death of another,
of equal Fame, of _Ovid_, I mean, on _Tibullus_, deserves, in the most
proper Sense, this Title: The Writer himself observes as much, in the
following Lines:
_Flebilis indignos Elegeia solve capillos;
Ah! nimis ex vero nunc tibi nomen erit._
In wild Disorder let thy Tresses flow,
Thy Name now too much verify'd by Woe!
By which Words, however, he intimates, that some other Poems, besides
Funeral ones, went under the Name of Elegies. _Horace_ is very express:
_Versibus impariter junctis querimonia primum,
Post etiam inclusa est voti sententia compos._
In Verses _long_ and _short_ Grief first appear'd,
In those they mourn'd past Ills, and future fear'd:
But soon these Lines with Mirth and Joy were fill'd,
And told when Fortune, or a Mistress smil'd.
_Creech._
From whence we learn, that Deaths are not the only Subjects of Elegy,
but that by Degrees it was employ'd upon other Things that had nothing
mournful in them, nay, that turn'd upon Gaiety and Festivity. _Ovid_'s
Books of Love, the Poems of _Tibullus_ and _Propertius_, are entitled
_Elegies_; and yet so far are they from being sad, that they are
sometimes scarce serious. _Ovid_, particularly, takes too great a
Liberty in this Kind of Poem, and lets his Joy break out to Excess.
But if we look back to the Original, both of the Name and Thing, we
shall find that Writings of this Sort are styled _Elegies_ only in an
improper Sense of the Word. One and the same Title, therefore, was
indiscriminately given to Poems on different Subjects, but which agreed
in their Verse, and Manner of Writing.
The chief Subjects to which Elegy owes its Rise, are Death and Love:
The Connexion between which, it is not my Business here to examine. The
Writings of the Poets, I have above mention'd, chiefly consist of Love;
tho' Elegies admit almost of any Matter, especially if it be treated
of seriously. The Contempt of Riches, the Pleasures of the Country,
are in great measure the Subject of them, in which a little Love is
generally interspers'd. Some, but few, in _Tibullus_ and _Propertius_,
have nothing of Death or Love; which, however, have been always the
chief Subjects of this Kind of Poem. That Elegy, therefore, ought to
be esteem'd the most perfect in its Kind, which has somewhat of both
at once: Such, for Instance, where the Poet bewails the Death of his
_Corinna_, his _Delia_, or _Lycoris_, or of some Youth or Damsel falling
a Martyr to Love. Among the Love Elegies, those are to be placed next,
which are full of that melancholy Complaint which Lovers seldom want
Matter for. Yet there are some of a very different Temper; but which, as
I observ'd before, are improperly rank'd in the Number of Elegies. Some,
again, are full of Joy and Triumph: As in _Ovid_,
_Ite triumphales circum mea tempora lauri._
Triumphant Laurels, round my Temples twine.
Others satirical: As that of the same Poet, where, describing an old
Woman, he breaks out into these Imprecations against her:
_Dii tibi dent nudosque lares, inopemque senectam,
Et longas hyemes, perpetuamque sitim._
May'st thou with Poverty and Age be curst,
The Length of Winter, and the Summer's Thirst.
Others are jocose in different Ways, Instances of all which we meet with
in _Ovid_.
Many Elegies are writ in the Epistolary Manner, as is obvious, to every
one that has but the least Knowledge of the Poets I have now cited.
Under this Head, therefore, _Ovid_'s _Heroine_ Epistles (as they are
usually call'd, from their being writ by Ladies of Prowess and Renown)
come very properly to be mention'd, since they partake of the Nature
of Elegy, not only on account of their Verse, but Sentiment. They are
deservedly esteem'd the best Part of that Poet's Works; as his Book _De
Tristibus_, tho' the truest Elegies, are the worst. Nothing can have a
more delicate Turn than some of these Epistles. I have given Instances
of this elsewhere; and have no need of repeating them here, or producing
new ones. His _Heroine_ Epistles differ from his Elegiac in this, that
the former are fictitious, and personate the Character of some one
or other mention'd in fabulous History; the latter are address'd, in
the Poet's own Name, to his Friends of either Sex. Setting aside this
Circumstance, and that of their Length, there is very little Difference
between them. To return, therefore, to Elegy, according to the common
Acceptation of the Word; its chief Property is to be easy and soft; to
flow in one even Current, and captivate the Ear with Melody. It must be
free from all Asperity, from every Thing that is harsh, or unpleasant.
For, as _Propertius_ sweetly expresses it:
_Carmina mansuetus lenia quærit Amor._
Soft flow the Lines that gentle Love indites.
And nothing is often more harmonious than Complaints; the Music of Birds
is said by the Poets to be expressive of them, as in _Ovid_:
_Et latere ex omni dulce queruntur aves._
And all around
The Birds return a sweetly plaintive Sound.
How vocal are Tears, how moving poetic Grief! Hear _Tibullus_ thus
bewailing his Sickness in a foreign Land:
_Ibitis Ægæas sine me, Messala, per undas,
O! utinam memor es ipse, cohorsque, mei!
Me tenet ignotis ægrum Phæacia terris;
Abstineas avidas, mors modo nigra, manus.
Abstineas, mors atra, precor; non hic mihi mater,
Quæ legat in mœstos ossa perusta sinus:
Non soror, Assyrios cineri quæ dedat odores,
Et fleat effusis ante sepulchra comis._
While you, _Messala_, tempt th' _Ægæan_ Sea,
I am prevented to attend your Way.
But Oh! I wish you still may condescend
To bear a kind Remembrance of your Friend.
Oppress'd with Sickness, wearied out with Pains,
_Phæacia_ me in unknown Lands detains,
Sick, and a Stranger, in a foreign Land.
Black Death, withdraw thy dire capacious Hand;
Black Death, keep off, I pray, no Mother here
Can gather up this Dust with pious Care:
No Sister here with decent Grief can come }
To please my Shade, and, off'ring rich Perfume, }
With flowing Hair lament before my Tomb. }
_Dart._
Hear _Ovid_ thus lamenting the Death of the same Poet, which follow'd
from that Sickness. He speaks to Elegy:
_Ille tui Vates operis, tua fama, Tibullus,
Ardet in extructo corpus inane rogo.
Ecce Puer Veneris fert eversamque pharetram,
Et fractos arcus, & sine luce facem.
Aspice, demissis ut eat miserabilis alis,
Pectoraque infesta tundat aperta manu._
Thy Poet, and Promulger of thy Fame,
_Tibullus_ burns upon the Fun'ral Flame.
With Torch extinct, and Quiver downward born,
See _Cupid_, once sincere! attend his Urn.
Now beats his Breast, his tender Hands now wrings,
Broken his Shafts, and pendulous his Wings.
While the one dies thus, while the other so laments his Death, how
justly are they both render'd immortal? They that thus write, and thus
deserve Elegies, are such as least need them. Some _Descriptions_ in
Elegy are not less affecting; as of the Elysian Fields, in the same
Passage of _Tibullus_:
_Hic choreæ, cantusque vigent; passimque vagantes
Dulce sonant tenui gutture carmen aves.
Fert casiam non culta seges, totosque per agros
Floret odoratis terra benigna rosis.
Ac juvenum series, teneris immista puellis,
Ludit, & assidue prælia miscet Amor._
There Songs perpetual charm the list'ning Ear, }
Whilst all the feather'd Wand'rers of the Air, }
To join the Sound, their warbling Throats prepare. }
Cassia from ev'ry Hedge unbidden breathes,
And to the Gales its fragrant Sweets bequeaths;
The bounteous Earth its purple Product yields,
And od'rous Roses paint the blushing Fields:
There Trains of blooming Youths, and tender Maids,
Sport on the Green, and wanton in the Shades;
While busy Love attends them all the Way,
Joins in the Conflict, and provokes the Fray.
_Dart._
With this Kind of Poem, every Thing that is epigrammatical, satirical,
or sublime, is inconsistent. Elegy aims not to be witty or facetious,
acrimonious or severe, majestic or sublime; but is smooth, humble,
and unaffected; nor yet is she abject in her Humility, but becoming,
elegant, and attractive.
Among our modern Poems, we have few entitled Elegies; those only that
are made on Funeral Occasions: But we have many that may be call'd so,
in the larger Sense of the Word, as it was used by the Ancients, and we
have above explain'd it: Many very ingenious ones on Love; and others of
a melancholy and soft Turn.
Among the Ancients, Hexameters and Pentameters were so peculiar to
Elegy, that this Kind of Metre is usually styled _Elegiac_; nor is any
more soft, or more harmonious. Instead of it, we, in our own Tongue, use
the Heroic.
The Writers in this Way that Antiquity has handed down to us, are
all in _Latin_. Some there were more early among the _Greeks_, as
_Callimachus_, _Philetas_, and others; the Fragments only of whose
Writings have been sav'd from the Wreck of Time. They that would know
which they are, may consult the learned _Vossius_, and others; it being
beside my Purpose to enquire into Facts and History.
Among the _Latins_, _Ovid_, _Tibullus_, and _Propertius_, bear the first
Rank; with whom _Catullus_ is sometimes join'd: But not so properly,
his Merit being chiefly in his Hendecasyllables, and some other wanton
Verses, and his elegant Poem on the Argonautic Expedition. There is
nothing of his Elegiacal, except the Measure of some of his Verses;
and they so uneven, that they scarce deserve the Name of Verse; so
rough, that they cannot be read without Offence to the Ear, nay, to
the very Teeth. _Ovid_ is generally reckon'd, and that deservedly, the
first in this Class, no one having equall'd his Numbers, nor exceeded
his Diction. I submit it only, for it is a Matter of Doubt, whether
_Tibullus_ is not less diffuse, and more correct. There is one Fault in
_Ovid_, which is unpardonable, his perpetual and nauseous Repetition of
_mei_, _tui_, and _sui_, in the last Foot of his Pentameters. How much
more beautiful would they have been, if this Fault had been avoided,
which might have been done with little Care. And yet a sixth Part, at
least, are so terminated, than which, nothing can be more lifeless and
insignificant. _Tibullus_ and _Propertius_ rarely fall into this Fault,
but into another, especially the latter of them, from which _Ovid_ is
free; I mean the concluding the Pentameter with Words of three or more
Syllables; whereas Harmony requires a Word of no more than two. One
Writer in this Way it would be unpardonable to pass over, tho' we have
little remaining of him, if he is the same (as it is probable he is
not) with him to whom _Virgil_ has given Immortality by mentioning him
in his Works: For immortal, sure, he must needs be, of whom the best of
immortal Poets has given this Eulogy:
_Pierides, vos hæc facietis maxima Gallo,
Gallo, cujus amor tantum mihi crescit in horas_, &c.
You shall for _Gallus_ dignify this Verse,
_Gallus_, for whom my Friendship grows each Hour.
This from _Virgil_'s Eclogues, which Species of Poetry will be the
Subject of our next Discourse.