We have still left, my dear sir, the fifth of those sources which we set
down at the outset as contributing to sublimity, that which consists in
the mere arrangement of words in a certain order. Having already
published two books dealing fully with this subject--so far at least as
our investigations had carried us--it will be sufficient for the purpose
of our present inquiry to add that harmony is an instrument which has a
natural power, not only to win and to delight, but also in a remarkable
degree to exalt the soul and sway the heart of man.
2
When we see that a flute kindles certain emotions in its hearers,
rendering them almost beside themselves and full of an orgiastic frenzy,
and that by starting some kind of rhythmical beat it compels him who
listens to move in time and assimilate his gestures to the tune, even
though he has no taste whatever for music; when we know that the sounds
of a harp, which in themselves have no meaning, by the change of key, by
the mutual relation of the notes, and their arrangement in symphony,
often lay a wonderful spell on an audience--
3
though these are mere shadows and spurious imitations of persuasion,
not, as I have said, genuine manifestations of human nature:--can we
doubt that composition (being a kind of harmony of that language which
nature has taught us, and which reaches, not our ears only, but our very
souls), when it raises changing forms of words, of thoughts, of actions,
of beauty, of melody, all of which are engrained in and akin to
ourselves, and when by the blending of its manifold tones it brings home
to the minds of those who stand by the feelings present to the speaker,
and ever disposes the hearer to sympathise with those feelings, adding
word to word, until it has raised a majestic and harmonious
structure:--can we wonder if all this enchants us, wherever we meet with
it, and filling us with the sense of pomp and dignity and sublimity, and
whatever else it embraces, gains a complete mastery over our minds? It
would be mere infatuation to join issue on truths so universally
acknowledged, and established by experience beyond dispute.[1]
[Footnote 1: Reading +all' eoike mania+, and putting a full stop at
+pistis+.]
4
Now to give an instance: that is doubtless a sublime thought, indeed
wonderfully fine, which Demosthenes applies to his decree: +touto to
psephisma ton tote te polei peristanta kindunon parelthein epoiesen
hosper nephos+, "This decree caused the danger which then hung round our
city to pass away like a cloud." But the modulation is as perfect as the
sentiment itself is weighty. It is uttered wholly in the dactylic
measure, the noblest and most magnificent of all measures, and hence
forming the chief constituent in the finest metre we know, the heroic.
[And it is with great judgment that the words +hosper nephos+ are
reserved till the end.[2]] Supposing we transpose them from their proper
place and read, say +touto to psephisma hosper nephos epoiese ton tote
kindunon parelthein+--nay, let us merely cut off one syllable, reading
+epoiese parelthein hos nephos+--and you will understand how close is
the unison between harmony and sublimity. In the passage before us the
words +hosper nephos+ move first in a heavy measure, which is metrically
equivalent to four short syllables: but on removing one syllable, and
reading +hos nephos+, the grandeur of movement is at once crippled by
the abridgment. So conversely if you lengthen into +hosperei nephos+,
the meaning is still the same, but it does not strike the ear in the
same manner, because by lingering over the final syllables you at once
dissipate and relax the abrupt grandeur of the passage.
[Footnote 2: There is a break here in the text; but the context
indicates the sense of the words lost, which has accordingly been
supplied.]