How Pyrra's Stony race rose from the ground,
And Saturn reign'd with Golden plenty crown'd,
How bold _Prometheus_ (whose untam'd desire,
Rival'd the Sun with his own Heavenly Fire)
Now doom'd the _Scythian_ Vulturs endless prey
Severely pays for Animating Clay:
So true, so certain 'tis, that nothing is so high and lofty to which
_Bucolicks_ may not successfully aspire. But if this be so, what will
become of _Macrobius, Georgius Valla, Julius Scaliger, Vossius,_ and
the whole company of Grammarians? who all affirm that simplicity and
meanness is so essential to _Pastorals_, that it ought to be confin'd
to the State, Manners, Apprehension and even common phrases of
Sheapards: for nothing can {23} be said to be _Pastoral_, which is not
accommodated to their condition; and for this Reason _Nannius
Alcmaritanus_ in my opinion is a trifler, who, in his comments on
_Virgils Eclogues_, thinks that those sorts of Composures may now and
then be lofty, and treat of great subjects: where he likewise divides
the matter of _Bucolicks_, into _Low_, _Middle_, and _High_: and makes
_Virgil_ the Author of this Division, who in his Fourth _Eclogue_, (as
he imagines) divides the matter of _Bucolicks_ into Three sorts, and
intimates this division by these three words: _Bushes_, _Shrubs_ and
_Woods_.
Sicilian Muse begin a loftier strain,
The Bushes and the Shrubs that shade the Plain
Delight not all; if I to Woods repair
My Song shall make them worth a Consuls Care.
By Woods, as he fancys, as _Virgil_ means high and stately Trees, so
He would have a great and lofty Subject to to be implyed, such as he
designed for the _Consul_: by Bushes, which are almost even with the
ground, the meanest and lowest argument; and by Shrubs a Subject not
so high as the one, nor so low as the other, as the thing it-self is,
And therefore these lines
If I to Woods repair
My Song shall make them worth a _Consuls_ care.
{24} are thus to be understood, That if we choose high and sublime
arguments, our work will be fit for the Patronage of a _Consul_, This
is _Nanniu's_ interpretation of that place; too pedantial and subtle
I'me affraid, for tis not credible that ever _Virgil_ thought of
reckoning great and lofty things amongst the Subjects of _Bucolicks_
especially since
When his _Thalia_ rais'd her bolder voice
And Kings and Battles were her lofty choice,
_Phoebus_ did twitch his Ear, mean thoughts infuse,
And with this whisper check't th' inspiring Muse.
A Sheapard, Tityrus, his Sheep should feed,
And choose a subject suited to his reed,
This certainly was a serious admonition, implyed by the twitching of
his Ear, and I believe if he had continued in this former humor and
not obey'd the smarting admonition. He had still felt it: so far was
he from thinking Kings and Battels fit Themes for a _Sheapards_ song:
and this evidently shows that in _Virgils_ opinion, contrary to
_Nanniu's_ fancy, great things cannot in the least be comprehended
within the subject matter of _Pastorals;_ no, it must be low and
humble, which _Theocritus_ very happily expresseth by this word
*Boukoliasdên* _i.e._ as the interpreters explain it, sing humble
Strains.
Theefore let _Pastoral_ never venture upon a {25} lofty subject, let
it not recede one jot from its proper matter, but be employ'd about
Rustick affairs: such as are mean and humble in themselves; and such
are the affairs of Shepherds, especially their Loves, but those must
be pure and innocent; not disturb'd by vain suspitious jealousy, nor
polluted by Rapes; The Rivals must not fight, and their emulations
must be without quarrellings: such as _Vida_ meant.
Whilst on his Reed he Shepherd's stifes conveys,
And soft complaints in smooth Sicilian lays.
To these may be added _sports_, _Jests_, _Gifts_, and _Presents_; but
not _costly_, such are yellow Apples, young stock-Doves, Milk,
Flowers, and the like; all things must appear delightful and easy,
nothing vitious and rough: A perfidious Pimp, a designing Jilt, a
gripeing Usurer, a crafty factious Servant must have no room there,
but every part must be full of the simplicity of the _Golden-Age_, and
of that Candor which was then eminent: for as _Juvenal affirms_
Baseness was a great wonder in that Age;
Sometimes _Funeral-Rites_ are the subject of an _Eclogue_, where the
Shepherds scatter flowers on the Tomb, and sing Rustick Songs in honor
of the Dead: Examples of this kind are left us by _Virgil_ in his
_Daphnis_, and _Bion_ in his _Adonis_, and this hath nothing
disagreeable to a Shepherd: In {26} short whatever, the decorum being
still preserv'd, can be done by a _Sheapard_, may be the Subject of a
_Pastoral_.
Now there may be more kinds of Subjects than _Servius_ or _Donatus_
allow, for they confine us to that Number which _Virgil_ hath made use
of, tho _Minturnus_ in his second Book _de Poetâ_ declares against
this opinion: But as a glorious _Heroick_ action must be the Subject
of an _Heroick_ Poem, so a _Pastoral_ action of a _Pastoral_; at least
it must be so turn'd and wrought, that it might appear to be the
action of a _Shepherd_; which caution is very necessary to be
observ'd, to clear a great many difficulties in this matter: for tho
as the Interpreters assure us; most of _Virgils_ Eclogues are about
the Civil war, planting Colonys, the murder of the Emperor, and the
like, which in themselves are too great and too lofty for humble
_Pastoral_ to reach, yet because they are accomodated to the Genius of
Shepherds, may be the Subject of an _Eclogue_, for that sometimes will
admit of Gods and Heroes so they appear like, and are shrouded under
the Persons of Shepherds: But as for these matters which neither
really are, nor are so wrought as to seem the actions of Shepherds,
such are in _Moschus's_ _Europa_, _Theocritus's_ _Epithalamium of
Helen_, and _Virgil's_ _Pollio_, to declare my opinion freely, I
cannot think them to be fit Subjects for _Bucolicks_: And upon this
account I suppose 'tis that _Servius_ in his {27} Comments on
_Virgil's_ _Bucoliks_ reckons only seven of _Virgil's_ ten Eclogues,
and onely ten of _Theocritus's_ thirty, to be pure Pastorals, and
_Salmasius_ upon _Solinus_ says, that _amongst Theocritus's_ _Poems
there are some which you may call what you please Beside Pastorals_:
and _Heinsius_ in his _Scholia_ upon _Theocritus_ will allow but Ten
of his _Idylliums_ to be _Bucoliks_, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 11.
for all the rest are deficient either in matter or form, and from this
number of pure pastoral _Idylliums_ I am apt to think, that
_Theocritus_ seems to have made that Pipe, on which he tun'd his
_Pastorals_ and which he consecrated to _Pan_ of ten Reeds, as
_Salmasius_ in his notes on _Theocritus's_ Pipe hath learnedly
observed: _in which two Verses always make one Reed of the Pipe,
therefore all are so unequal, like the unequal Reeds of a Pipe, that
if you put two equals together which make one Reed, the whole
inequality consists in ten pairs_; when in the common Pipes there were
usually no more then seven Reeds, and this the less curious observers
have heedlessly past by.
Some are of opinion that whatever is done in the Country, and in one
word, every thing that hath nought of the City in it may be treated of
in _Pastorals_; and that the discourse of Fishers, Plow-men, Reapers,
Hunters, and the like, belong to this kind of Poetry: which according
to the Rule that I have laid down cannot be true for, as I before
hinted nothing but the action of a {28} Shepherd can be the Subject of
a Pastoral.
I shall not here enquire, tho it may seem proper, whether we can
decently bring into an Eclogue Reapers, Vine-dressers, Gardners,
Fowlers, Hunters, Fishers, or the like, whose lives for the most part
are taken up with too much business and employment to have any vacant
time for Songs, and idle Chat, which are more agreeable to the leisure
of a Sheapards Life: for in a great many Rustick affairs, either the
hardship and painful Labor will not admit a song, as in Plowing, or
the solitude as in hunting, Fishing, Fowling, and the like; but of
this I shall discourse more largely in another place.
Now 'tis not sufficient to make a Poem a true _Pastoral_, that the
Subject of it is the action of a Shepherd, for in _Hesiods_ *erga* and
_Virqils Georgicks_ there are a great many things that belong to the
employment of a Shepherd, yet none fancy they are Pastorals; from
whence 'tis evident, that beside the _matter_, which we have defin'd
to be the action of a Sheapard, there is a peculiar _Form_ proper to
this kind of _Poetry_ by which 'tis distinguish'd from all others.
Of Poetry in General _Socrates_, as _Plato_ tells us, would have
_Fable_ to be the _Form_: _Aristotle_ Imitation: I shall not dispute
what difference there is between these two, but only inquire whether
Imitation be the _Form_ of _Pastoral_: 'Tis certain that _Epick_
Poetry is differenc't from _Tragick_ only by {29} the manner of
imitation, for the latter imitates by _action_, and the former by bare
_narration_: But _Pastoral_ is the imitation of a _Pastoral_ action
either by bare narration, as in _Virgil's_ _Alexis_, and
_Theocritus's_ 7th _Idyllium_, in which the Poet speaks all along in
his own Person: or by action as in _Virgil's_ _Tityrus_, and the first
of _Theocritus_, or by both mixt, as in the Second and Eleventh
_Idylliums_, in which the Poet partly speaks in his own Person, and
partly makes others speak, and I think the old _Scholiast_ on
_Theocritus_ took an hint from these when he says, that Pastoral is a
mixture made up of all sorts, for 'tis Narrative, Dramatick, and mixt,
and _Aristotle_, tho obscurely, seems to hint in those words, _In
every one of the mentioned Arts there is Imitation, in some simple, in
some mixt_; now this latter being peculiar to _Bucolicks_ makes its
very form and Essence: and therefore _Scaliger_, in the 4th Chapter of
his first Book of Poetry, reckons up three Species of _Pastorals_, the
first hath but one Person, the second several, which sing alternately;
the third is mixt of both the other: And the same observation is made
by _Heinsius_ in his Notes on _Theocritus_, for thus he very plainly
to our purpose, _the Character of_ Bucolicks _is a mixture of all
sorts of Characters, Dramatick, Narrative, or mixt_: from all which
'tis very manifest that the manner of _Imitation_ which is proper to
_Pastorals_ is the mixt: for in other kinds of Poetry 'tis one and
simple, at least {30} not so manifold; as in _Tragedy Action_: in
_Epick_ Poetry _Narration_.
Now I shall explain what sort of _Fable_; _Manners_, _Thought_,
_Expression_, which four are necessary to constitute every kind of
Poetry, are proper to this sort.
Concerning the Fable which _Aristotle_ calls, *synthesin tôn
pragmatôn*, I have but one thing to say: this, as the Philosopher
hints, as of all other sorts of Poetry, so of Pastoral is the very
Soul. and therfore _Socrates_ in _Plato_ says, that in those Verses
which he had made there was nothing wanting but the _Fable_: therefore
Pastorals as other kinds of Poetry must have their Fable, if they will
be Poetry: Thus in _Virgil's_ _Silenus_ which contains the Stories of
allmost the whole Fabulous Age, two Shepherds whom _Silenus_ had often
promis'd a Song, and as often deceived, seize upon him being drunk and
asleep, and bind him with wreath'd Flowers; _Ægle_ comes in and
incourages the timorous youths, and stains his jolly red Face with
Blackberries, _Silenus_ laughs at their innocent contrivance, and
desires to be unbound, and then with a premeditated Song satisfies the
Nymph's and Boys Curiosity; The incomparable Poet sings wonders, the
Rocks rejoyce, the Vales eccho, and happy _Eurotas_ as if _Phoebus_
himself sang, hears all, and bids the Laurels that grow upon his Banks
listen to, and learn the Song.
{31} Happy _Eurotas_ as he flow'd along
Heard all, and bad the Laurels learn the Song.
Thus every Eclogue or Idyllium must have its Fable, which must be the
groundwork of the whole design, but it must not be perplext with
sudden and unlookt for changes, as in _Marinus's_ _Adonis_: for that,
tho the _Fable_ be of a Shepherd, yet by reason of the strange Bombast
under Plots, and wonderful occurences, cannot be accounted _Pastoral_;
for that it might be agreeable to the Person it treats of, it must be
plain and simple, such as _Sophocles's_ _Ajax_, in which there is not
so much as one change of Fortune. As for the Manners, let that
precept, which _Horace_ lays down in his Epistle to the _Pisones_, be
principally observed.
Let each be grac't with that which suits him best.
For this, as 'tis a rule relateing to _Poetry_ in general, so it
respects this kind also of which we are treating; and against this
_Tasso_ in his _Amyntas_, _Bonarellus_ in his _Phyllis_, _Guarinus_ in
his _Pastor Fido_, _Marinus_ in his _Idylliums_, and most of the
_Italians_ grievously offend, for they make their _Shepherds_ too
polite, and elegant, and cloth them with all the neatness of the Town,
and Complement of the Court, which tho it may seem very pretty, yet
amongst good _Critics_, let _Veratus_ {32} say what he will in their
excuse, it cannot be allowed: For 'tis against _Minturnus's_ Opinion,
who in his second Book _de Poetâ_ says thus: _Mean Persons are brought
in, those in Comedy indeed more polite, those in Pastorals more
unelegant, as suppos'd to lead a rude life in Solitude_; and _Jason
Denor_ a Doctor of _Padua_ takes notice of the same as a very absurd
Error: _Aristotle_ heretofore for a like fault reprehended the
_Megarensians_, who observ'd no _Decorum_ in their _Theater_, but
brought in mean persons with a Train fit for a _King_ and cloath'd a
Cobler or Tinker in a Purple Robe: In vain doth _Veratus_ in his
Dispute against _Jason Denor_, to defend those elaborately exquisite
discourses, and notable sublime sentences of his _Pastor Fido_, bring
some lofty _Idylliums_ of _Theocritus_, for those are not acknowledged
to be Pastoral; _Theocritus_ and _Virgil_ must be consulted in this
matter, the former designdly makes his Shepherds discourse in the
_Dorick_ i. e. the Rustick Dialect, sometimes scarce true Grammar; &
the other studiously affects ignorance in the persons of his
Shepherds, as _Servius_ hath observ'd, and is evident in _Melibæus_,
who makes _Oaxes_ to be a River in _Crete_ when 'tis in
_Mesopotamia_: and both of them take this way that the Manners may
the more exactly suit with the Persons they represent, who of
themselves are rude and unpolisht: And this proves that they
scandalously err, who make their Shepherds appear polite and elegant;
nor can I imagine what _Veratus_ {33} who makes so much ado about the
polite manners of the _Arcadian_ Shepherds, would say to _Polybius_
who tells us that _Arcadians_ by reason of the Mountainousness of the
Country and hardness of the weather, are very unsociable and austere.
Now as too much neatness in _Pastoral_ is not to be allow'd, so
rusticity (I do not mean that which _Plato_, in his Third Book of a
Commonwealth, mentions which is but a part of a down right honesty)
but Clownish stupidity, such as _Theophrastus_, in his Character of a
_Rustick_, describes; or that disagreeable unfashionable roughness
which _Horace_ mentions in his Epistle to _Lollius_, must not in my
opinion be endur'd: On this side _Mantuan_ errs extreamly, and is
intolerably absur'd, who makes Shepherds blockishly sottish, and
insufferably rude: And a certain Interpreter blames _Theocritus_ for
the same thing, who in some mens opinion sometimes keeps too close to
the _Clown_, and is rustick and uncouth; But this may be very well
excus'd because the Age in which he sang was not as polite as now.
But that every Part may be suitable to a Shepherd, we must consult
unstain'd, uncorrupted Nature; so that the manners might not be too
Clownish nor too Caurtly: And this mean may be easily observed if the
manners of our Shepherds be represented according to the _Genius_ of
the _golden Age_, in which, if _Guarinus_ may be believ'd {34}, every
man follow'd that employment: And _Nannius_ in the Preface to his
Comments on _Virgil's_ _Bucolicks_ is of the same opinion, for he
requires that the manners might represent the Golden Age: and this was
the reason that _Virgil_ himself in his _Pollio_ describes that Age,
which he knew very well was proper to _Bucolicks_: For in the whole
course of a Shepherds life there can be no form more excellent than
that which was the practise of the Golden Age; And this may serve to
moderate and temper the affections that must be exprest in this sort
of Poetry, and sufficiently declare the whole Essence of it, which in
short must be taken from the nature of a Shepherds life to which a
Courtly dress is not agreeable.
That the Thought may be commendable, it must be suitable to the
_manners_; as those must be plain and pure that must be so too: nor
must contain any, deep, exquisite, or elaborate fancies: And against
this the _Italians_ offend, who continually hunt after smart witty
sayings, very foolishly in my opinion; for in the Country, where all
things should be full of plainess and simplicity who would paint or
endeavor to be gawdy when such appearances would be very disagreeable
and offend? _Pontanus_ in this matter hath said very well, _The
Thought must not be to exquisite and witty, the Comparisons obvious
and common, such as the State of Persons and Things require_: Yet tho
too scrupulous a Curiosity in Ornament ought to be rejected, {35} yet
lest the Thought be cold and flat, it must have some quickness of
Passion, as in these.
Cruel _Alexis_ can't my Verses move?
Hast thou no Pitty? I must dye for Love_.
And again,
He neither Gods, nor yet my Verse regards.
The Sense must not be long, copious, and continued, For _Pastoral_ is
weak, and not able to hold out; but of this more when I come to lay
down rules for its Composure: But tho it ought to imitate _Comedy_ in
its common way of discourse, yet it must not chose _old Comedy_ for
its pattern, for that is too impudent, and licentiously abusive: Let
it be free and modest, honest and ingenuous, and that will make it
agreeable to the Golden Age.
Let the Expression be plain and easy, but elegant and neat, and the
purest which the language will afford; _Pontanus_ upon _Virgils_
Bucolicks gives the very same rule, _In Bucolicks the Expression must
be humble, nearer common discourse than otherwise, not very Spirituous
and vivid, yet such as shows life and strength_: Tis certain that
_Virgil_ in his _Bucolicks_ useth the same words which _Tully_ did in
the _Forum_ or the _Senate_; and _Tityrus_ beneath his shady Beech
speaks as pure and good _Latin_ as _Augustus_ in his Palace, as
_Modicius_ in his _Apology_ for _Virgil_ hath excellently observ'd:
{36} This rule, 'tis true; _Theocritus_ hath not so strictly follow'd,
whose Rustick and Pastoral Muse, as _Quintilian_ phraseth it, _not
only is affraid to appear in the_ Forum, _but the City_, and for the
very same thing an _Alexandrian_ flouts the _Syracucusian Weomen_ in
the Fifteenth _Idyllium_ of _Theocritus_, for when they, being then in
the City, spoke the _Dorick_ Dialect, the delicate Citizen could not
endure it, and found fault with their distastful, as he thought,
pronunciation: and his reflection was very smart.
Like Pidgeons you have mouths from Ear to Ear.
So intolerable did that broad way of pronunciation, tho exactly fit
for a Clowns discourse, seem to a Citizen: and hence _Probus_ observes
that 'twas much harder for the _Latines_ to write _Pastorals_ than for
the _Greeks_; because the _Latines_ had not some _Dialects_ peculiar
to the Country, and others to the City, as the _Greeks_ had; Besides
the _Latine_ Language, as _Quintilian_ hath observ'd, is not capable
of the neatness which is necessary to Bucolicks, no, that is the
peculiar priviledge of the _Greeks_: _We cannot_, says he, _be so low,
they exceed us in subtlety, and in propriety they are at more
certainty than We_: and again, _in pat and close Expressions we cannot
reach the Greeks_: And, if we believe _Tully_, _Greek is much more fit
for Ornament than Latin_ for it hath much more of that neatness, {37}
and ravishing delightfulness, which _Bucolicks_ necessarily require.
Yet of Pastoral, with whose Nature we are not very well acquainted,
what that _Form_ is which the _Greeks_ call the _Character_, is not
very easy to determine; yet that we may come to some certainty, we
must stick to our former observation, _viz._ that _Pastoral_ belongs
properly to the _Golden Age_: For as _Tully_ in his Treatise _de
Oratore_ says, _in all our disputes the Subject is to be measur'd by
the most perfect of that kind_, and _Synesius_ in his _Encomium_ on
_Baldness_ hints the very same, when he tells us that Poetry fashions
its subject as Men imagine it should be, and not as really it is:
*pros doxan, ou pros alêtheian*: Now the Life of a Shepherd, that it
might be rais'd to the highest perfection, is to be referr'd to the
manners and age of the world whilst yet innocent, and such as the
Fables have describ'd it: And as Simplicity was the principal vertue
of that Age, so it ought to be the peculiar Grace, and as it were
_Character_ of _Bucolicks_: in which the Fable, Manners, Thought, and
Expression ought to be full of the most innocent simplicity
imaginable: for as Innocence in Life, so purity and simplicity in
discourse was the Glory of that Age: So as gravity to _Epicks_,
Sweetness to _Lyricks_, Humor to _Comedy_, softness to _Elegies_ and
smartness to _Epigrams_, so simplicity to _Pastorals_ is proper; and
one upon _Theocritus_ says, _that the Idea of his Bucolicks is in
every part pure, and in all {38} that belongs to simplicity very
happy_: Such is this of _Virgil_, unwholsome to us Singers is the
shade
Of Juniper, 'tis an unwholsome shade:
Than which in my opinion nothing can be more simply; nothing more
rustically said; and this is the reason I suppose why _Macrobius_ says
that this kind of Poetry is creeping and upon mean subjects; and why
too _Virgils Tityrus_ lying under his shady Beech displeaseth some;
Excellent Criticks indeed, whom I wish a little more sense, that they
might not really be, what they would not seem to be, _Ridiculous_:
_Theocritus_ excells _Virgil_ in this, of whom _Modicius_ says,
_Theocritus deserves the greatest commendation for his happy
imitation of the simplicity of his Shepherds_, Virgil _hath mixt
Allegories, and some other things which contain too much learning, and
deepness of Thought for Persons of so mean a Quality_: Yet here I must
obviate their mistake who fancy that this sort of _Poetry_, because in
it self low and simple, is the proper work of _mean_ Wits, and not the
most _sublime_ and _excellent_ perfections: For as I think there be
can nothing more elegant than easy naked simplicity, so likewise
nothing can require more strength of Wit, and greater pains; and he
must be of a great and clear judgment, who attempts _Pastoral_, and
comes of with Honor. For there is no part of _Poetry_ that requires
more spirit, for if any part is not close and well compacted the whole
Fabrick will be ruin'd, and the {39} matter, in it self humble, must
creep; unless it is held up by the strength and vigor of the
_Expression_.
Another qualification and excellence of _Pastoral_ is to imitate
_Timanthes's_ Art, of whom _Pliny_ writes thus; _Timanthes was very
Ingenious, in all his peices more was to be understood than the
Colours express'd, and tho his Art was very extraordinary yet his
Fancy exceeded it_: In this _Virgil_ is peculiarly happy, but others,
especially raw unexperienced Writers, if they are to describe a
Rainbow, or a River, pour out their whole stock, and are unable to
contain: Now 'tis properly requisite to a Pastoral that there should
be a great deal coucht in a few words, and every thing it says should
be so short, and so close, as if its chiefest excellence was to be
spareing in Expression: such is that of _Virgil_;
These Fields and Corn shall a Barbarian share?
See the Effects of all our Civil War.
How short is that? how concise? and yet how full of sense in the same
_Eclogue_.
I wonder'd why all thy complaints were made,
Absent was _Tityrus_: