Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	show_v	soul_n	5,454	5	5.2942	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49144	A treatise of the loftiness or elegancy of speech written originally in Greek by Longin, and now translated out of French by Mr. J.P.; Ars rhetorica. English. 1680	Longinus, Cassius, ca. 213-273.; J. P.	1680 (1680)	Wing L3001; ESTC R31704	42,960	188

that fundamentall and wholsom Law of levelling wherein consisted the felicity of the ancient Greeks With this band of Metaphors our Orator falls furiously upon those Traytors Yet Aristotle and Theophrastes are of opinion that to alleviate the boldness of these figures 't is convenient to use some such expression as If I may so say as it were to go yet further For say they very well the previous excuse is an Attonement for their boldness But I still stick to my first position that there is no excuse so natural or allowable for the abundance or boldness either of Metaphors or any other Figures as the using 'em to a fit purpose that is the being pathetical and lofty both which requiring strong and weighty expressions have a natural force and violence wherewith they hurry every thing after them and will not give the audience time to criticize upon the number of the Metaphors being at that instant possessed with the same fury as he that says them And many times in common places and descriptions there is nothing so advantageous as a chain of Metaphors well linkt together 'T is with the Assistance thereof that Xenophon has so delicately anatomized mans body though not altogether so well as Plato This calls the Head of a Man a Cittadel the Neck an Isthmus plac'd between it and the body the Joynts are as Hinges upon which it turns Pleasure is the bait for all misfortunes that happen to mankind the Tongue is the Judge of Tast The Heart is the Root of the veins the fountain of bloud which flows from thence through all the other parts and is in a place every way fortified He calls the Pores narrow streets The Gods says he willing to preserve the Heart from Batteries which are made by a suddain surprize of frightfull objects or from the violent flames of choller have plac'd underneath it the Liver which is of a soft bloudless substance but full of little holes like a spunge which serve for conveyances to the Heart that it be not choak'd up and disturb'd from doing its office when the choler is too much enflam'd He calls the seat of the affections the Womens Nursery and the seat of the Passions the Mens Apartment The spleen he says is the Kitchen of the Entralls which being full of the excrements of the Liver swells and boyls up afterwards continues he the Gods cover'd all these parts with flesh as a Bulwark and defence against the assaults of heat and Cold or any other accident and is says he like soft wool which encompasses the body and yields to any impression The Bloud he calls the food of the flesh and to the end says he that every part shou'd be nourish'd there are several Pipes like Conduit Pipes in a Garden through which the little streams of bloud flowing from the heart as the Spring-Head run into every part of the Body And when death comes he says that the Organs are unty'd like the Ropes of the Ship and so let the soul go a drift There are many more no less pleasant and admirable but these shall suffice to shew the natural loftiness of such figures to shew I say how material they are not only to the being lofty and pathetical but excellent in description Now that these figures as well as all other elegancies of speech are apt to transport a thing to excess is a most undeniable truth and not to be learn'd of me Hence is it that divine Plato has been much found fault with for suffering himself to be sometimes hurried away by extravagant and harsh Metaphors to a vain allegorical Ostentation 'T will not easily be conceived says he that 't is with a City as with a Vessel wherein if Wine be powred which is never so strong and heady yet of a sudden entring into the Society of another sober divinity which corrects it it becomes mild and fit to be drunk To call Water a sober Divinity to use the word correct in stead of Temperate and to affect such odd conceits savours too much say they of a Poet who himself is not very sober And this perhaps was it that gave occasion to Cecilius in his Commentaries upon Lycias to conclude that in the whole Lycias was a better Orator then Plato induced thereunto by two distinct motives both equally unreasonable for though he lov'd Lycias dearer than himself yet he hated Plato more than he loved Lycias being therefore byas'd by a strong inclination for the one and as strong an aversion for the other he has not pass'd that true and impartial Judgment upon several points in these Authors as probably he may imagine For he accuses Plato of growing flat in many places but speaks of the other as a most correct and unquestionable writer which is so far from being true that there is not the least glimpse of reason for what he says and where shall we meet with an Author that does not now and then forget himself and let slip something justly to be carp'd at CHAP. XXVII Whether that which is plain and profitable is to be preferr'd to Loftiness which is defective IT may not perhaps be unseasonable to examine in this place whether is most to be preferr'd be it in Prose or Poetry that which is Lofty and Defective or that which is Plain but withall very compleat and again whether a piece is most to be valued according to the number or quality of the good things contained therein For these Questions being naturally incident to the present Subject must inevitably be resolv'd First then that which is extoarrdinary Great and Lofty cannot have that naturall purity that which is plain and easie for that a too great care of being Polite and Elegant does oftentimes degenerate into lowliness and as those who have vast Estates must though unwillingly neglect some one part or other so those who aime at an extroardinary Loftiness cannot possibly but be careless in some few particulars On the contrary 't is very hard if not impossible to finde any faults in a stile that is plain and indifferent for the fancy not venturing to mount too high but observing a just Medium remains secure whereas in Loftiness it soares to so great a pitch that 't is apt to grow Giddy and so be in continuall danger of falling Nor am I ignorant of what may be Objected that 't is natural to judge of mens Writing according to what is worst in them and that the faults which are observed leave a strong impression upon the mind when that which is exact and smooth passes currantly off and though I have taken notice of severall faults in Homer and the most remarkable Authors and am perhaps one who will as little countenance them as any body yet give me leave to say that I look upon them to be very slight and not so much to be accounted faults as insignificant mistakes which while their thoughts were wholly intended upon great things they have carelesly let slip

has not that Harmony or loftiness which is so delicately spread throughout the whole Iliads it wants that variety of passionate and fine thoughts so curiously heap'd one upon another You will not find the same force and if I may so say fluency of language and livelyness of description It may be called the ebb of his sancy which like the unconstant Ocean sometimes shrinks up and forsakes its Banks At every turn he deviats into fictions and most incredible fables Not but that his descriptions of Tempests Vlysses's adventures with Polyphemus and some few more are very excellent Yet after all though this weakness be in Homer 't is still Homer's weakness I have been the longer upon this matter to let you see as I have already said That a lofty and manly Genius when once the heat of natural parts abates does now and then dwindle into meer dotage and fooleries amongst which may be reckon'd that of Aeolus's shutting up the Winds and Vlysses Companions Metamorphos'd into Swine Whom Zoilus pleasantly calls little weeping Piggs Such another is that of Doves feeding Jupiter like a young Pigeon or Vlysses's Poverty Who liv'd ten days after his Shipwrack without eating and those absurd fictions of the murther of Penelope's wooers For the most that can be said in the commendation of such Chimeras is that they are witty and pleasant inventions Or if you will you may call them the dreams of Jupiter That which made me speak of the Odysses was to shew you that great Poets and other famous writers wanting strength and vigour to be pathetical grow dull and insipid Hence is it that when Homer describes how Penelope's suiters liv'd in Vlisses's house the whole description is a sort of Comedy wherein the characters of so many different persons are drawn CHAP. VIII Of Loftiness drawn from Circumstances NOw let us consider what other means may be found out to advance Loftiness Certain it is that nothing happpens in this World which is not attended by some certain Circumstances a choice therefore of the most considerble drawn together into a well-proportion'd body will be of no little advantage which is the reason that when Sapho would express the disorders of Love she calls to mind all the accidents which are either inherent or consequential to this Passion but singles out such chiefly as declare the excessive violence thereof Bless'd is the man thrice bless'd who sits by thee Enjoys thy Tongue 's soft melting harmony Sees silent joys sit smiling on thy brow The Gods themselves do not such pleasure know When thou appear'st streight at my heaving heart My bloud boils up and runs through ev'ry part Into such Extasies of Joy I 'm thrown My voice forsakes me and I 'm speechless grown A heavy darkness hovers o'r my eyes From my pale cheeks the coward colour flies Intranc'd I lie panting for want of breath And shake as in the Agony of death Yet since I 'm wretched I must dare c. Don't you wonder how she brings together all these different things the Soul Body Speech Looks c. as if they had been so many distinct persons just expiring Observe how strangely she is toss'd too and fro now she freezes then she burns now is out of her wits then again grows sober now at the very point of death In a word her Soul does not so much seem the seat of one single Passion as the general Rendezvouze of all and so is it with all those who love By this it may appear how much a fit application of choice Circumstances tends to the ornament of Speech Thus Homer when he would describe a Storm takes care not to omit any one frightful accident The Author of the Poem concerning the A People of Scythia Arimaspians thought to be wonderful lofty when he said Vnheard of madness and strange prodigy Of giddy men whom tottering Vessels please They quit the Shore to float upon the Seas Through trackless ways and unknown paths they go Repose and gentle rest they never know But take much pains how to increase their woe Their eyes on Heav'n their thoughts on Ships are fix'd To deaf and unregarded Gods they pray c. What man cannot perceive that this is rather the flourishing of a weak Pencil than the true paint of an Artist Let 's see then what Homer says and particularly in this place So angry Billows rise with all their force To dash against the Barque that stops their course Amidst the tatter'd Sails Winds loudly roar The Sea with hoary froth is cover'd o'er The fearful Pilot now his Art is gone Sees with each wave his Fate come rolling on Aratus has endeavoured to inhance this last Verse in saying A little slender Plank has sav'd their lives But instead of improving the thought he has made it flat and little which was before very terrible and thinking to sum up all that can be said to express danger in these words A little slender Plank has sav'd their lives he has rather impaired than added to the thought Homer does not make the Sailors once onely in danger of being drown'd but draws 'em subject to the rage of every threatning wave And I see methinks in his expressions the very Picture of a Tempest Archilocus took the same measures in his description of a Shipwrack as likewise did Demosthenes where he speaks of the confusion the Athenians were in at the newi of Helice's being taken these are his words * This Speech is so long that our Author has thought ●●●o omit it It was now very late c. Both these have been very diligent to make choice of the best and most pertinent circumstances and avoid nothing more than the inserting superfluous and pedantick particulars which must necessarily spoil all and are like Morter and Rubbish any way heap'd together to raise a Foundation CHAP. IX Of Amplification AMongst those things that conduce to the Loftiness and Excellency of Speech we may very well reckon Amplification For when the nature of the Subject we treat of or any other matter we debate requires large and full Periods consisting of many Sentences we may so draw 'em out that they shall enforce one another and mount gradually to a just heighth of Greatness and this serves either to spin out a Speech to explain and strengthen any Action or to carry on and methodize a Passion So that Amplification may be divided into many parts but it is to be premis'd that no one of 'em can be compleat without Loftiness Unless when we would undervalue and speak slightingly of any thing or endeavour to move pity In all other cases if we strip Amplification of what ever is great and lofty we take away its very essence and in a word when once it wants that prop to lean upon it grows weak and tottering Now then for better distinction we will shew the difference between this and that which we have lately mentioned in the precedent Chapter and which as I