ought to represent him entire Let not his Respect for his Country hinder him from relating the Losses she has sustain'd or the Faults she has committed for an Historian no more than a Player is to be blamed for the Misfortunes he represents If it were in our power to repair Disorders by disguising them or passing them over in silence Thucydides had not been wanting to have raz'd with a stroke of his Pen the Fortifications of the Enemy and to have re-establsh'd the Affairs of his Country but even the Gods themselves are not able to change whatever is past Therefore 't is the Duty of an Historian to recount all Transactions just as they happen'd which 't is impossible for him to do when he is a Dependant upon any Prince or Republic from whom he has any thing to hope or fear When-ever he is obliged to speak of 'em he ought to have a greater regard for Truth than for his Interest or Passion For she is the only Divinity to whom he ought to Sacrifice without thinking of the rest In short he ought always to have before his Eyes the judgment of Posterity if he wou'd not rather wear the Character of a Flatterer than that of an Historian I wou'd have my Historian zealous to speak the Truth and that he lye under no Temptations to conceal it let him make no Allowances to Fear or Hope to Friendship or Hatred let him not be of any Country or Party and let him call every thing by its true Name without remembring either to offend or please And this continues he is the Method which Thucydides follow'd altho' he saw Herodotus was in so great Esteem that his Books had the Names of the Muses bestow'd upon them It is infinitely better for me said he to write something that will last for ever than only endeavour to please for the present I ought not to take in fabulous Stories but to transmit to Posterity the Truth as it happen'd See now what ought to be the Sentiments of a true Historian These are such evident Truths that 't is impossible to reject them however it may be convenient to enlarge upon them a little more to show the great Importance of them in a more sensible manner I say then that an Historian ought at first setting out to forget that he has any Friends Relations or any Country that he may be able to speak of them with the same disinteressed Freedom as if he had no manner of Engagements to them The Duties of a Friend of a Relation or of a Citizen are one thing and the Duty of an Historian another The former are confined to certain Persons and Places whose advantage we endeavour to procure but the latter concerns all Mankind in general that are able to read History in whatever place or time they are born As 't is but convenient that the Interests of our Friends and Relations shou'd give way to those of our Country because 't is much better to procure the Advantage of a great number of Persons or of a whole Society than that of some few of its Members so in the same manner the present Interest of one's Country ought to be less consider'd than that which is infinitely more extensive the Interest of all Mankind †Lib. I. p. 18. Edit Amstel Polybius speaking of some Historians who had been too favourable to their Country says admirably well That in other Duties of Life this Disposition was not to be blamed For 't is just that a good Man should be a Friend to his Friend and to his Country and bear a Hatred to their Enemies and a Friend to their Friends But so soon as he takes the Character of an Historian upon him that very moment he ought to forget all this An Historian is frequently obliged to speak well of his Enemies and to give them-great Commendations when their Actions deserve it He must often censure his nearest Relations and cover them with Infamy when they have committed such Faults that he cannot speak otherwise of them As a Creature which has lost its Eyes becomes unserviceable in the same manner if you take away Truth from History what remains is good for nothing For this Consideration he shou'd not make any difficulty to condemn his Friends and blame his Enemies He must not be afraid to censure the same Persons upon whom he has bestow'd Commendations since those that are in the Government cannot always succeed nor on the other hand commit Faults perpetually Without having any regard to the Persons he ought to relate things by themselves and to speak of them in his History as they deserve Some one will say perhaps that these are fine words and that they comprehend an excellent Lesson but a Man must be Master of a great deal of Courage and Resolution he must love Truth in an extraordinary manner to observe the Rules which this Historian has laid down These are Qualities that are not easily to be found and has he follow'd the same Precepts himself which he recommends to others But I ask the Gentlemen who start these Difficulties Whether they imagine that to Write a History be an Employment proper for every one that can express himself with Facility Whether they believe that a mean-spirited Wretch that a Flatterer that a covetous interessed Man is fit to instruct all Posterity A Man's Talents ought to answer the Greatness of such an Enterprize and if 't is a rare matter to find Persons that possess them all 't is equally as rare to find Histories that deserve to be read As for Polybius only those that never read him can possibly take him for a Philosopher or Preacher which People often do the quite contrary to what they recommend to others He shows all along that he had a very great Esteem for Aratus the General of the Achaeans However that does not hinder him from censuring in his Conduct with great freedom whatever he thought was amiss in it For instance He describes at length in the fourth Book of his History the Faults which Aratus committed in a Battel against the Aetolians that was purely lost by his means without dissembling any thing of and endeavouring to excuse what wou'd admit of no Apology He knew what difference there is between Pardoning and Justifying and altho' he was of opinion that the Achaeans ought to pardon Aratus for the Faults he had commited upon this Occasion in consideration of the great Services he had done their Republic and the Honesty of his Intentions yet he knew that 't was not an Historian's Business to endeavour to Justifie them But Polybius was by no means capable of betraying the Truth in favour of Aratus he who does in no manner conceal the Faults of Philopoemen nor those of Lycortas the latter of whom was his Father and the former his Friend and Protector This the Reader may easily remark in his †Excerpta Legat. 41. Narration of the Embassy of Lycortas
repulse the Injuries of their Neighbours without endeavouring to enlarge their Territories If at any time they blame their Ambition and Injustice as they do sometimes 't is nothing if compared with the Praises they bestow on them when they mention their Victories The Christian Religion having given us more exact and compleat Notions of Justice than the Heathens commonly had several Christian Historians have spoken of the Ambition of the ancient Conquerors in Terms more agreeable to the immutable Law of Justice than the Heathen Historians ever did I confess that the ancient Philosophers have said a great many things on this Point which are almost as sound as what has been said by Christians but it was only the Philosophers that spoke so and the Historians had no great Regard to their Opinions An †H. Grotius Incomparable Author hath the first shewn in this XVII Century what are not only the Laws of Peace but also of War and has so clearly taught what Nations owe to one another that it can no longer be doubted whether making War out of meer Ambition be not perfect Robbing and Murdering That great Man has reduced into an Art and methodically proved the Truths which were dispersed in several Authors on this Matter and has confirmed them with many Examples and Quotations So that if any Historian will give the Title of Just and Pious to any Prince who made or will hereafter make War out of Ambition he ought not to take it ill if he is accounted a base and shameful Flatterer A Prince who has reduced several Provinces to an extream Misery and Poverty and destroyed several Millions of People out of meer Ambition and without being provoked will never be look'd upon as a good Man unless Paganism should prevail again or Machiavelism should become every-where the Religion in fashion The Heathens praised much the Clemency of Julius Caesar to whom what I have said might have been justly objected because he spared the Lives of many of his Fellow-Citizens who had fought against him to preserve the Liberty of their Country and at last submitted to his Tyranny But no Historian worthy of that Name can hereafter cry up the Clemency of those who have done or will do any such thing Princes who little think of the Miseries which a War brings on their Subjects and Neighbours or are not moved with the Calamities and Tears of an infinte number of innocent and unfortunate Families or the great Blood-shed which attends a long War will never be cried up as Merciful and Just but by such Men as have scarce any Notion of those Virtues or by Flatterers whom no Body can bear with but they who dare not contradict ' em This is what I had to say concerning History If I have spoken somwhat freely let no Body find fault with me for it but rather with the Matter itself which admits of no Palliation I know very well that this Discourse and the like will not hinder Historians from Flattering and Lying but I suppose those Gentlemen will not take it ill if one speaks sometimes the Truth CHAP. IV. Of the Decay of Humane Learning and the Causes of it THERE is without doubt a Decay in the Common-wealth of Learning in several Respects but I shall only mention that which concerns Philology 'T is certain we have not seen for a long time in any part of Europe any Men who equal the illustrious Criticks who lived in the last Century and the beginning of this For Example We see no Body who equals in Learning Application of Mind and Bulk as well as Number of Books Joseph Scaliger Justus Lipsius Isaac Casaubon Claudius Salmasius Hugo Grotius John Meursius John Selden and a great many others whom I need not name because they are known to every Body I have a due Esteem for many learned Men of my Acquaintance but I am persuaded that none of them will complain if I say that I know none who equals those great Men in Learning We have seen nothing for a long time that can be compared with their Works I have enquired into the Reasons of it and I think I have found some satisfactory ones Some of them concern those who should favour the Study of Humane Learning but do it not and some concern them that profess that Study and bring Contempt upon it I shall instance upon some few to which the Reader may add his own and what he has observed by his Experience The Difficulties of that Study I. TO begin with the latter I mean that which can be objected to the Men of Learning The first Reason why few Men have applied themselves to the Study of Humane Learning and consequently why fewer still have had an extraordinary Success in it is that they who were learned in that sort of Science did not care to make it easie to others Because most of them attained to the Learning they had not by a short and methodical Way but by a vast Reading and a prodigious Labour they did not at all care to facilitate to others the means of acquiring that Learning Having if I may so say got with much ado to the top of the Rock thro' steep and thorny Ways they thought it just that others should undergo the same Toil if they would attain to the same degree of Learning But because there are few Men whose Genius is so bent to the Study of Humane Learning as to resolve upon taking so much Pains to get the Knowledge of it 't is no wonder if most Men have been discouraged almost from the Beginning and if a great Knowledge of that sort of Learning is so scarce at present Perhaps it will be askt What those learned Men of the first Rank should have done to facilitate that Study besides what they have done I answer that there are two-sorts of Books which may serve to acquire that sort of Knowledge which have been wanting ever since the Study of Humane Learning hath been in Vogue Of Critical Notes upon the Latin Authors THE first Books we want are good Editions of all the Greek and Latin Authors not only correct but also illustrated with all necessary Notes to make them more Intelligible But to come to Particulars I begin with the Latin Authors and I say that the learned Men I have mentioned or others like them should have given us at least all the good Latin Authors not only revised upon such ancient Manuscripts as we have but also illustrated with short clear and methodical Notes on all the difficult Places and such as were not above the Capacity of young Men and might serve those who have made some Progress Whereas the learned Men I spoke of have been most times contented to publish Authors with meer critical Notes about the true Reading to which if they have added any thing for the understanding of the Expressions Opinions or Customs they have done it only upon some few places to make a shew of their
dismal Calamities upon them that were ever mention'd by the Poets What may not a Man be able to say on this Occasion upon that admirable Maxim of good Policy That in a well-regulated State there ought not to be any Authority superiour to the Laws or any single Person who may do whatever he pleases without fearing to be call'd to an Account for it One might likewise make most excellent Observations upon the Counsel of †See the eighteenth Book of the Ilias Polydamas to go back into Troy to avoid the Indignation of Achilles and upon Hector's Answer where one might shew that a General ought to listen to the Advice of his principal Officers and that 't is much better to let slip an Opportunity of gaining some Advantage over the Enemy than to Ruin one's self to all intents and purposes by obeying a General who abuses his Authority and hazards all Besides one may say That Homer had it never in his Thoughts to shew that Divisions were of fatal consequence since in his Poem he introduces the Gods strangely †See particularly the 20th Book divided between themselves about the Quarel of the Trojans and Greeks yet did not believe they were to be blamed for it To come now to the †Bossu Lib. I. c. 10. Odysses 'T is pretended that the principal Design of the Poet is to make it appear that the Absence of a Person from his own House or his not having a vigilant Eye upon all that is done there occasions great Disorders in his Affairs so that the principal and most essential part of the Action is the Absence of the Heroe It cannot be denied but that Homer design'd to describe the Absence of Vlysses and the Irregularities it caused in his Family but who can assure us that this was his chief Design and that it was not rather to affect and divert the Reader by raising his Compassion for Vlysses and his Fire-side and by exciting his Admiration and Curiosity by those extraordinary Accidents that befel him He was obliged to make Vlysses very prudent and much favour'd by the Gods to get himself out of those Dangers in which he was involved which makes him to be the more admired and esteem'd by the Reader I confess that among all this there is a great deal of good Instruction but 't is only an embroidery of the Fable and not the principal Design of the Poet. We find the like Reflexions in all our Romances altho' the Authors of them had no other end but to amuse the Reader by recounting to him in an agreeable manner a Fiction for a true History We cannot therefore draw from thence any Consequence in favour of Homer unless we likewise ascribe to Scudery and Calprenede a philosophical Design to instruct the Public by their Romances whose only end was to amuse and divert those People that are at a loss how to employ their leisure Hours Besides had he design'd to insinuate that a Prince ought not to absent himself from Home he had much better have taken any other Person than Vlysses who left his House and Native-Country with great Unwillingness and if he was absent it was only because he cou'd not help it He ought to have chosen one that went a rambling out of Indiscretion and loyter'd abroad meerly for want of a good Conduct which had much more clearly discover'd what it was the Poet intended to teach By seeing Imprudence punished we should much sooner have comprehended that a Prince is obliged in Interest to stay at Home than in seeing some Disorders happen in a Man's House who is kept abroad in spite of his own Inclination and is absent only because 't is impossible for him to return home But suppose these Reasons were not so strong as they are we might at one blow destroy the above-mention'd Hypothesis by offering others that carry as much probability in them Nothing cou'd hinder a Man from asserting upon the same Principles that the Poet's Design was to shew that no hindrance of what Nature soever can hinder the execution of the Decrees of Fate This Doctrin frequently occurs in Homer and indeed the Odysses is nothing but a Comment upon it We find Vlysses there surrounded with Pleasures and strong Temptations to make him forget his Native-Country We find him encompast with terrible Dangers out of which he happily frees himself because Heaven had decreed that he should return home in safety Homer tells us †Odyss Lib. 1. vers 16. not far from the beginning of the Odysses that when the Years of Vlysses's Absence were over the time was come wherein the Gods had destin'd his return to Ithaca and that he did not without some difficulty find himself even among his Friends One might likewise pretend that Homer design'd to describe conjugal Love to us by representing on one side Penelope not to be moved with Caresses and Menaces of her Suitors during so long an Absence and suffering herself rather to be ruined by these Fellows who all the while they were Courting her lived at her Expence than to comply with any one of them and on the other side Vlysses who could not be overcome by the Charms of Circe nor of Calypso nor of the Daughter of Alcinous but always passionately desired to see his dear Penelope again to whom nevertheless he was not so faithful as she was to him But even this contributes to shew his Constancy since Goddesses themselves such as Circe and Calypso were who refused him no Favours were not able to detain him in their agreeable Islands altho' they tempted him with so great a Bribe as Immortality It is true that Homer mixes the Love of his Native-Country with his Desire to return but it is not incompatible with that of his Wife Patriae †De Ora. L. 1. c. 44. says Cicero tanta est vis ac tanta natura ut Ithacam illam in asperrimis saxulis tanquam nidulum affixam sapientissimus vir immortalitati anteponeret The Love of one's Country is so forcible and natural that the wisest Man of antiquity prefer'd Ithaca which is situated like a Bird's Nest among sharp Rocks to Immortality itself It will be granted me that since we can give so many different interpretations to this pretended Allegory which composes the Odysses it is not very probable that Homer proposed any of them in particular as the end and mark of his Work or that if he had such a Design in his Head he has executed it very ill An Allegory which is so obscure that it is equally capable of different Meanings is no longer an Allegory but a Riddle What is likewise said of the †Le Bossu Liv. 1. c. 11. moral Design which Virgil proposed to himself in his Aeneis is no better founded Some People wou'd needs perswade us that this Poet design'd to instruct Augustus as the Founder of a mighty Empire and to inspire him as well as his Successors with
it may be possible for the Person that speaks to believe very little of what he says that he only chose this Subject to get himself some Reputation by treating of it eloquently Besides when we are heartily affected by any thing and nothing but Nature talks we use in our Discourses no far-fetch'd Ornaments of Rhetoric but only such as arise from the Subject without our thinking on them The same thing may be observed in Tragedy itself when it is rightly composed Et †Horat. de Arte Poet. v. 95. Tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri Telephus Peleus cùm pauper exsul uterque Projicit ampullas sesquipedalia verba Si curat cor spectantis tetigisse querelâ Even the Tragic Poets sometimes express Grief in common Language Telephus and Peleus when they lye under the Hardships of Poverty and Banishment wholly throw aside affected Expressions and big rumbling Words if they have a mind to interest the Spectator in their Complaints The Reason of this is because we cannot be touched but by the natural representation of a Passion and that all Affectation shocks us I am perswaded that a simple plain Discourse provided it be naturally delivered moves those Auditors that have a true Taste more feelingly than the tallest Metaphors and that even upon Paper it is much more affecting than one that is penn'd in a more sublime Stile However I confess that there are cerain occasions on which we are indispensably obliged to rise above the vulgar Stile as for instance when we are to praise or condemn any thing when we wou'd excite Admiration or Hatred in short when our Subject is of a more elevated Character than what happens daily On such an occasion the Reader or Auditor is very well pleas'd that we should have recourse to Rhetorical Ornaments As it is not so much our Business at such a time to instruct as to delight him or to excite in him Passions more turbulent than Pity he is satisfied with these Decorations nay what is more he expects them so that it we disappoint him we make him despise us and no longer attend to what we say He thinks it but requisite that he that speaks or writes to entertain him should be well prepared before-hand and tell him nothing but that which does not frequently fall into every Body's Head When the Occasion is extraordinary or when the Subject is naturally sublime we expect a Stile of the same Dignity that transports that ravishes that governs and turns our Souls abou◠as it pleases This is the sublime Stile concerning which Longinus has written a Treatise which is in every Body's Hands especially since it has been †By Mr. Boileau translated into French I will not dwell any longer upon these two latter sorts of Stiles which are or ought to be properly the Stile of Sermons if we except those places in them where we only explain the Matter before us without drawing any Consequences from it or making any application to the Auditors 'T is sufficient to say That those that aspire to this Eloquence cannot too often read over those Passages in the celebrated Masters of this Art where 't is handled An infinite number of People confound the sublime Stile with Fustian and think they ravish all the World with Admiration when they lose themselves in the Clouds and are laugh'd and ridicul'd by all Men of a true Palat. The reason of this is because they don't enough consider the Rules of this Art and don 't know that we ought to expres s ourselves in magnificent Terms only about those things that are Sublime in their own Nature Objections against what has been said SOME Objections which at first sight seem to have something in them may be railed against what I have asserted relating to Eloquence As for instance That several of the Ancients whom I have accused of having committed very gross Faults against the Rules and several of the Moderns whom I have imitated did pats in their own time and still pass in ours for Models of Eloquence in the Opinions of a vast number of People that understand Rhetoric and are by no means to be call'd Men of an ill Relish One may go yet farther and urge That we behold every Day Books received with great Applause and that we hear with Admiration several Discourses wherein scarce any of the above-mention'd Rules are observ'd As Eloquence will these Gentlemen pretend is only for those whom we have to do with so soon as we have found out the Mystery to please and to affect them in Speaking or Writing we have Title enough to set up for Men of Eloquence Indeed if the establish'd Rules of Rhetoric which are for the generality of them supported by the Authority of the most famous Rhetors were arbitrary Laws and founded rather upon the usage of some Language which depends upon the Caprice of the Multitude than upon Reason which never changes I confess that one might confront them with Examples and counterballance the Authority they have got by the Reputation of those who have violated them But as they are built upon everlasting Foundations we can only conclude that the Taste of those Gentlemen who first admired those that neglected these Laws was a depraved Taste and that if there are any Men of Wit who continue still to praise the vicious Rhetoric of the past Ages they only follow the Custom in it without consulting their Reason and repeat without examination what had been told them from their Infancy We cannot make the Fathers and Philosophers who lived after Jesus Christ pass for just Reasoners nor for methodical Authors but as they were the most ingenious Men of their times nay and sometimes formidable by their Authority and by their Cabals they were excessively praised in their own and the succeeding Ages which yet were darker and more ignorant than their own These Praises have been handed down like a Tradition to us and we are only the Echos if I may so express myself of the most barbarous and gross Centuries without being at the pains to examine whether what we say after them be true or not We daily commend merely out of custom several Works which we should have been asham'd to have written ourselves and which in truth we cou'd not write in this Age without drawing the contempt of all the World upon us That which still keeps up this Language which at the bottom is not sincere is that every Man cites the Fathers in Theological Controversies and desires to have them of his own side yet this cou'd not be done with any Advantage if People were generally perswaded that they were bad Orators and yet worse Logicians Thus we set as high a value on them as we are able without being satisfied of their Merit to make use of their Authority in Time and Place against those who have declared against those Opinions which we suppose to have been favour'd by the Fathers Were