apt to laugh at it And we never consider that in Homer and Virgil's time all this was agreeable to the sense of the Holy Ghost himself which could never be in the wrong that God had very carefully enjoyn'd Moses all these things as the most August and Venerable that he would have us'd in the Religion and Worship he requir'd of Men and that lastly Queens and Princesses and Persons of the finest Make observ'd them with care respect and veneration 'T is therefore according to these Ideas that our Poets were bound to speak of these things They would have been impious had they treated these Subjects with Contempt And perhaps a Christian would do little better should he dare to ridicule them especially if we reflect that the Books of Homer and Virgil have us'd them less than they are made use of in several Books of the Holy Bible which a Man by thus doing will expose to the Buffoonery of Libertines and Atheists The Expression in its kind is of no less extent and requires no less study The Greek and Latin are two dead Languages of which we are no longer Masters They have their Turns their Delicacies and their Beauties which we ought to study in the best Originals It would be a piece of Vanity if we pretended to understand the Languages which we no longer speak as well as those who have improv'd them for so many Ages together and as well as those that have brought them to their highest perfection and have come off with the greatest success Shall a French Man or any Man now a days pretend that he is better qualified to Criticise upon Homer than Aristotle was If not then we should credit him when he assures us that this Poet has surpass'd all others in the Art of Writing well whether we consider his Sentiments and Thoughts or whether we consider his Expression And that he has not only excell'd all others but met with perfect success We may therefore shut up all by ending as we began Languages as well as Poems are the Inventions of Art and a Genius which gives them their Form and Perfection If we have a mind to know them throughly and to pass a right Judgment upon the Ancients we must before every thing rectifie our Judgment If a Man has a mind to know whether a Line be strait or no he does not take the next piece of Wood he can find to clap to it but this piece of Wood must in the first place be made perfectly strait if he would have it serve for a Rule Else if he applys it and it does not touch all the parts of the Line he will not guess whether the fault be in the Line or in the piece of Wood. Just so likewise before we judge of a Poem we should rectifie our Judgment and prove it by the excellent Works of the best Masters If they do not please us we should rather think the fault is in our own Judgments than in those Models and if they do please us we may rely upon our selves with the greater assurance according to that judicious Thought of Quinctilian That he whom Cicero pleases should by that conclude that he has benefited himself very much The same thing we say of our four Authors A Person may rely upon his own Judgment in that which concerns the Epick Poem and may assure himself of its Rectitude and Straightness when his Thoughts his Genius and his Reasonings are conformable to the Precepts of Aristotle and Horace and to the Practice of Homer and Virgil. The END AN ESSAY VPON SATYR Written by the Famous Monsieur DACIER HORACE having Entitled his Books of Satyrs Sermones and Satyrae indifferently and these two Titles giving different Idea's I think it very necessary to explain what the Latins understood by the Word Satyr The Learned Casaubon is the first and indeed the only Man that has with Success attempted to shew what the Satyrical Poesie of the Greeks and the Satyr of the Romans was His Book is an inestimable Treasure and it must be confessed I have had considerable Helps from it which is the Use we ought to make of the Works of such extraordinary Men who have gone before us only to be our Guides and serve us as Torches in the Darkness of Antiquity Nevertheless you must not so continually fix your Eyes upon them as not to consider whither you are led for they divert sometimes into Paths where you cannot with Safety follow them This Method is what my self have observed in forsaking my Directors and have ventured that way which no body before me has gone of which the following Discourse will convince you Satyr is a kind of Poetry only known amongst the Romans having no Relation to the Satyrical Poesie of the Greeks though some Learned Men have pretended to the contrary Quinctilian leaves no room to doubt upon this Point when he writes in Chap. 10. Satyra quidem tota nostra est The same Reason makes Horace call it in the last Satyr of Book 1. Graecis intactum Carmen The natural and true Etymology is this The Latins called it SATVR quasi plenum to which there was nothing wanting for its Perfection Thus Satur color when the Wool has taken a good Dye and nothing can be added to the Perfection of it From Satur they have made Satura which they wrote sometimes with an i Satira They used in other Words the same Variation of the Letter u into i as in Maxumus Maximus optumus optimus Satura is an Adjective which has reference to a Substantive understood for the ancient Romans said Saturam understanding Lancem And Satura Lanx was properly a Bason fill'd with all sorts of Fruit which they offer'd every Year to Ceres and Bacchus as the first fruits of all they had gathered These Offerings of different Things mix'd together were not unknown to the Greeks who call'd 'em 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Sacrifice of all sorts of Fruit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Offering of all sorts of Grain when they offer'd Pot-herbs The Grammarian Diomedes has perfectly describ'd both the Custom of the Romans and the Word Satura in this Passage Lanx referta varias multisque primitiis sacris Cereris inferebatur à copia Saturitate rei Satura vocabatur cujus generis lancium Virgilius in Georgicis meminit cum hoc modo dicit Lancibus pandis fumantia reddimus exta And lancesque liba feremus From thence the Word Satura was apply'd to many other Mixtures as in Festus Satyra cibi genus ex variis rebus conditum From hence it pass'd to the Works of the Mind for they call'd some Laws Leges Saturas which contain'd many Heads or Titles as the Julian Papian and Popean Laws which were called Miscellas which is of the same Signification with Satura From hence arose this Phrase Per Saturam legem ferre when the Senate made a
He has not indeed made any Reflections on our English Poets and this Rymer presumes proceeded from his ignorance of our Language which he did not understand so well as to pass a Judgment on what was writ in it Whereupon Rymer himself has undertook to Criticise upon them Chaucer he will not allow for an Epick Poet the Age he lived in not being sufficient for a great design being an Age of Tales Ballads and Roundelays Spencer whom he reckons the first of our Heroick Poets yet falls under his Censure and is tax'd for his want of a true Idea for this rambling after marvellous adventures for making no Conscience of Probability for making his Poem a perfect Fairy-Land and for his unlucky Choice of the Stanza which in no wise is proper for our language Sir William D'venant is the next Heroick Poet our English Critick takes notice of He acknowledges that his Wit was well known that in his Preface to his Gondibert appear some strokes of an extraordinary Judgment that he is said to have a particular Talent for the Manners that his Thoughts are great and lastly that there appears something roughly noble throughout this Fragment Yet after all he blames him for the ill choice of his Subject for his bad Conduct for a Vicious Oeconomy and for his unhappy choice of the Tetrastick Cowley is the third and last Heroick Poet our Author mentions and to him he gives particular Commendations He says That a more happy Genius for Heroick Poesie appears in Cowley that he understood the Purity the Perspicuity the Majesty of the Stile and the Vertue of Numbers that he could discern what was beautiful and pleasant in Nature and could express his Thoughts without the least difficulty or constraint that he understood to dispose of the Matters and to manage his Digressions and lastly that he understood Homer and Virgil and as prudently made his advantage of them Yet after all these high Commendations he laments his not carrying on the Work so far as he design'd and his not living to revise what he did leave behind him And blames him for his ill choice of the Subject of his Poem in that like Lucan he made choice of History and a History where he was so strictly ty'd up to the Truth He likewise blames him for inserting the Lyrick measure in the very body of his Poem Thus far the Judicious Rymer goes and it were to be wish'd he had passed his judgment on the famous Milton another of our English Poets but since he has wav'd saying any thing about him till some other time I shall crave leave to insert the Opinion of Dryden a profess'd Poet and as a great Judge of Poetry He tells us in his Dedication before the Translation of Juvenal That Milton had a Genius equal to Spencer's and greater than that of Cowley that his Thoughts are elevated his Words sounding and that no Man has so happily copy'd the Manner of Homer or so copiously translated his Grecisms and the Latin Elegancies of Virgil. But then he says likewise That his Subject is not that of an Heroick Poem properly so called it being the losing of our happiness where the Event is not prosperous like that of other Epick Works That his Heavenly Machines are too many in proportion to the Human Personages which are but two That he runs into a Flat of Thought sometimes for a hundred Lines together That he was transported too far in the use of Obsolete Words And lastly that he can by no means approve of his Choice of Blank Verse By this short view of our English Poets which I have abstracted from Rymer and Dryden one may clearly perceive how far short even they as well as their Neighbours have fell of the Excellencies and Perfections of Homer and Virgil. But I must not leave Matters thus For since my translating Bossu and the thoughts I had of Publishing it the World has been honour'd with an Excellent Heroick Poem in English done by our own Country-man the Learned and Ingenious Dr. Blackmore Which puts us Now upon thinking that the Poems of the two Ancients are not wholly unimitable It may therefore be expected that in a Preface of this Nature and in this part of it where we are treating of the vastness of the Genius that is requisite for Epick Poesie something should be said on the Genius of that Author 'T is far from my design to set up for a Profest Critick but that I may do some Justice to the Merits of that great Man since no one else as I hear of has as yet Criticis'd publickly on the Poem I shall venture to give the World a Tast of the thoughts I have conceiv'd of it in general And a Tast it must only be since the Limits of a Preface and the Sense I have of my own inability in passing a Judgment upon so great an Author do sufficiently excuse me from being more minute and particular leaving that Task wholly to abler Judges in Poetry This therefore must be own'd by all that he has made a happy Choice of his Subject and Hero whereby he signalizes his own Country which is more than any of our English Poets have done before him besides the Romantick Spencer He professes in his Preface to have imitated Virgil in his Design and how well he has Copy'd that great Model let us now see If we will examine things according to the Rules Bossu has laid down his Fable will appear to be exactly the same with that of the Aeneid His Action is like that of the Latin Poet One Entire Noble Great and Important Action viz. The Restoration of a decay'd Church and State to its ancient splendor and Glory The Intrigues he makes use of to hinder his Hero from accomplishing his great and good designs are of the very same make with those of Virgil. For as in the One Juno who had equal power both by Sea and Land raises all the Obstacles that lay in the way of the Trojan Hero So in the other Lucifer the Prince of the Air equal in Power to Juno raises all the Storms by Sea and all the Disturbances by Land that hindred the settlement of our British Hero And as the Intrigues so the Solution or Vnravelling of these Intrigues are as just as regular and as natural as those in the Aeneid In his Inscription or Title he has follow'd Homer in his Odysseis and Virgil in his Aeneid who have both inscrib'd their Poems with their Hero's Name His Proposition is as full but withal as modest both with respect to himself and his Hero as Horace requires and Virgil has practis'd His Invocation is much the same with that of the Aeneid and therein he has like Virgil Inserted his Hero's Character The Narration of our English Poet bating some few defects which we shall mention by and by is as exact as that of the Latin And has in a great measure all those Qualifications which Bossu
says are requisite thereto for it is Pleasant Probable Moving Marvellous and Active The Manners of his human Personages their Interests and Designs are as regularly order'd as those in Virgil's Poem All the Characters are nobly drawn and look like the Curious Strokes of a great Master for they all tend to and Centure in the General Character of the Poem and Hero namely in that noble Ornament of the Soul GENEROSITY His Machines are very Natural and adapted to the Genius and Notions of our times as Virgils were to those of his Age. His Expression is noble and Majestical his Verse Sonorous Masculine and Strong his Thoughts are Sublime his Similes natural his Descriptions proper and his Sentences few and regular In a word throughout the whole he seems in a great Measure to have confin'd himself to the Rules of Aristotle and Horace to have copy'd the best of any Man the Perfections of Virgil and to have shewn a strength of Genius an Heighth of Fancy and a correctedness of Judgment that comes but a little behind that of the two Ancient Poets But after all it must be said though with some sort of reluctancy that there are some few things which need polishing and which after second and more deliberate thoughts that great Master would no doubt have corrected For one may question whether his Digressions are not too tedious and sometimes foreign to the Subject Especially that of Prince Arthur's Speech to King Hoel which takes up two whole Books For what relation has this Recital of the Creation of the World of the Fall of Man of his Redemption of the Resurrection of the last Judgment and the like with the main Action of the Poem which is the Restoring Religion and Liberty to the British Nation and settling both Church and State on their Ancient Foundations of Truth and Peace I know it may be said in favour of it that it was necessary for the Conversion of Hoel that such an account of things should be given him But would not a bare Recital of a few Lines that such a Relation was given him have been sufficient And would not such a Conduct have been more Conformable to the Nature of Epick Poesie which excludes every thing that is foreign to the main purpose They who think to salve this by saying that this Speech is in Imitation of Aeneas's Speech to Dido will be owned by all that have Read and compar'd both to be egregiously mistaken and the Author himself has no reason to thank them for making such a ridiculous Comparison There is no manner of likeness between these two Speeches The one namely that of Aeneas is a story of whatever had happen'd to him for six Years together since the taking of Troy and 't is from that time the Action of the Poem begins But the Narration of Prince Arthur is a Relation of things wherein he had no more Interest than any other ordinary Man and Christian and were we to reckon the Duration of the Action from the time whereby the Poet begins this Speech as all Criticks have done that of the Aeneid it would not be the Action of six or seven Years but of six times as many Ages There is no Comparison then to be made between these two Speeches but that of our English Poet is wholly a Digression and the other necessary and essential to the Aeneid That which our Author design'd to answer the Speech of Aeneas to Dido is doubtless the Speech of one of Prince Arthur's Attendants Lucius to King Hoel As appears if we compare the Beginning of this Speech to the beginning of that in the Aeneid Lucius begins thus How sad a task do your Commands impose That must renew unsufferable Woes That must our Grief with sad Affliction feed And make your generous Heart with pity bleed Whilst I the dismal Scenes of ills disclose And bleeding Albion's ghastly wounds expose The Cruel Foes in telling would relent And with their Tears the Spoils they caus'd lament Pity would Picts and Saxon Breasts invade And make them mourn o'er the dire Wounds they made But since you 're pleas'd to hear our Countries fate I 'll pay Obedience and our Woes relate Now all this is an exact Copy of the Beginning of Aeneas's Speech to Dido which runs thus Infandum Regina jubes renovare dolorem Trojanas ut opes lamentabite regnum Eruerint Danai quaeque ipse miserrima vidi Et quorum pars magna fui Quis talla fando Myrmidonum Dolopûmve aut duri miles Vlyssel Temperet à Lacrymis Et jam nox humida coelo Praecipitat suadentque cadentia Sydera somnos Sed si tantus amor casus cognoscere nostros Et breviter Trojae supremum audire laborem Quanquam animus meminisse horret luctuque refugit Incipiam In this Speech Blackmore in my opinion is more lucky in the Choice of his Speaker than Virgil was For doubtless 't is more for the Honour of the Hero at least more agreable to the Notions and Religion of our times and greater advantages might be drawn from another person 's telling his Adventures than if he himself were the Relater of them But even in this Speech our English Poet seems not to be so regular as is requisite Lucius begins too high in his Narration Aeneas begins his recital at the building of the Wooden Horse and the taking of Troy this is regular and answers exactly to what Dido had desir'd of him But Lucius though Hoel only desir'd him to relate Prince Arthur's Story and King Vter's Fate tells him of the Decay of old Rome of the Britains shaking off the Roman Yoke how they were invaded by the Scots and Picts that at last they were forc'd to send to the Saxons for their Assistance who instead of Friends became their Masters and then he comes to relate what was requir'd Now all that is said before the account of King Vter's fighting with the Saxons and his overthrow is preliminary and wholy foreign to the main Action For if we will compute the Duration of the Action of Prince Arthur according to the Rules by which we compute the Duration of the Action of the Aeneid we must reckon that it lasted from the Death of King Vter and the overthrow of his Army which put Prince Arthur upon travelling into Neustria untill the Death of Tollo which wholly made way for the resettlement of Prince Arthur These are my thoughts but perhaps the Author had other designs in his head particularly that of preaching Morality and Religion to an Immoral and Irreligious Age which seems in a great measure to excuse his long Digressions Again one may question whether most of his Descriptions are not too long and whether if our English Poet had bestow'd as much pains and spent as much time about his Poem as Virgil did about his Aeneid he would not have shortn'd his Descriptions avoided Repetitions of the same things and been more correct throughout the
Homer and Virgil. This Objection is duly stated and fully answer'd by Mr. Dryden in his Dedication before the Translation of Juvenal There he tells us That our Religion does indeed debar the Poet from making use of Jupiter Juno Minerva Venus or any others of the Heathen Deities But that this is made up to the Poet another way that 't is not contrary to Christianity to believe that there are good and bad Spirits which have some sort of influence over humane Affairs And that the Poet may form as just Machines out of these as the Ancients did out of their Divinities This is what Blackmore has done even to Admiration and his Practice and Conduct has put it beyond all dispute that we may very safely and regularly make use of Machines provided they are such as are suited to the Notions and Religion of our times These are the principal Objections I thought fit to mention which are not such solid Reasons as some may imagine I shall now according to my promise propose some others which I think to be more substantial but withal I must reserve to my self my first Caution namely that I design to dictate nothing herein but to lay down my Thoughts as plainly and as clearly as possible and to refer all to the Verdict of better Judgments First then I say that one great Reason of that genetal Disesteem which Epick Poetry lies under and of its declining state among the Moderns seems to be the Degeneracy of the present Age. We are fall'n at last into such unhappy times wherein Men are as averse to the Precepts of Morality which the Epick Poet writes as they are to the Lessons of Divinity which the Preacher every Day inculcates We do indeed read Homer and Virgil but then 't is not with a design like the Bee to suck the Honey out of them but in imitation of more sordid Creatures to extract all the Venom we can in order to corrupt our Manners and give a Gust to our Debaucheries We are glad to find any passage in them that may seem to favour our Licentiousness and even those that are design'd to be our Physick we like Men of a Sick Stomach turn all into rank Poyson Now no wonder if when our Palates are thus vitiated we have no Relish for the wholesome Instructions of Epick Poetry Poets then to please the Humour of the Age are forced to write in their way especially such of them as have not Souls great enough to stem the Torrent of so universal a Vice Hence it comes to pass that we have so many vile Plays Acted on the Stage wherein Vice is set off with all the Lustre and recommended with all the Endearments that a corrupted Poet's Wit can invent or the most loose Debauché could have desir'd Thus both Poets and Audience by an unheard of Complaisance contribute to the Ruine and Corruption of each others Manners Another great Reason of the declining State of Epick Poetry and of the Degeneracy of all other sorts of Poetry is the want of due Encouragement This is the true Ground of all our Grievances and till this be provided against 't is to be fear'd nothing that is Great Noble Vertuous and truly Good will ever be produc'd by our Modern Poets Athens and Rome made their Poets the Pensioners of their State and maintain'd them honourably out of the Publick Treasury Hence it was they never ventur'd at least not in the most Primitive times of Poetry to write any thing which might reflect upon the Government they liv'd under or upon the Gods they Worship'd But now with us the Poet meets with no Encouragement and only One Lawreat is maintain'd at the publick Charge Upon this account it is that Men of Large Souls who cannot condescend to humour the Vulgar in their Licentiousness turn the bent of their Studies another way and fly Parnassus as they would the most dangerous Contagion Others of a more pliable Temper take up with the Stage and that they may receive some Profit themselves study not to profit so much as they do to please their Audience and that in their lewd way too But is it not a burning shame that such a Noble Genius as Dryden and others that seem to be made for greater designs should be forc'd to a fatal Dilemma either to truckle to a Playhouse for the uncertain Profit of a third Day or to starve for want of other reasonable Encouragement But 't is hop'd on all hands that under the Reign of one that may truly be term'd another Augustus and under the Patronage of one that may as justly be stil'd a Second Mecoenas Poetry will regain its ancient Privileges and Epick Poets receive that publick and due Encouragement they really deserve The third and last Reason I shall mention for the declining State of Epick Poetry among the Moderns is their notorious neglect of following the Rules which Aristotle and Horace have prescrib'd This and not want of Genius has been the true Cause why several of our English Epick Poets have succeeded so ill in their Designs Rymer urges this very strongly against Spencer himself whom at the same time he acknowledges to have had a large Soul a sharp Judgment and a Genius for Heroick Poesie perhaps above any that ever writ since Virgil. For no question but his following an unfaithful Guide his Rambling after Marvellous Adventures his making no conscience of Probability and almost all his other faults proceeded from one and the same Cause namely his neglect of following the Rules of Poetry The same may be said of Sir William D' Avenant and Mr. Cowley For all the Defects Rymer charges them with are wholly owing to the same Cause 'T is likewise upon this very account that the Pieces of our Dramatick Poets which are reckon'd to be the best performances of the present Age can scarce any of them stand the Test of a Judicious Eye And a Man of sense that knows the Art of Poetry and has read the Performances of former Ages cannot but pity the conceited Ignorance and perverse Pride of our Modern Poets who scorn to be confin'd to the Rules of Art They have been told of this often and often but they think their own Wit is the best Judge in the Case and as long as 't is so there is no hopes of any Amendment or of any great Productions in Poetry I know they bring several Objections against Writing according to the Rules but they are so trifling that I think it not worth while to examine them here Besides all their Objections at least the weightiest of them have been stated examin'd and refuted in the Preface before the last Translation of Terence ' s Comedies so that I am sufficiently excus'd from that needless Task I shall shut up all that has been said on Epick Poetry with giving you the Thoughts of a very eminent Person of Quality of this present Age and Nation who seems to have comprehended all that has
Opinions but 't is to be hop'd no judicious Person will condemn him till he has seriously weigh'd his Reasons and consider'd the Arguments he uses to maintain his Cause and then if our Critick can be convinc'd of any Error he is too modest not to submit to the Suffrage of better Judgments But if on the other hand he has Reason on his side it may with Justice be expected that he will be a means of opening the Eyes of a great many unprejudic'd Persons His main Design of writing these Reflexions was as he tells us himself for the sake of those that read Virgil and to such I dare affirm that this Treatise will be of more Use than all the Notes and Comments they have hitherto seen They are usually stuff'd with idle and unprofitable Remarks upon meer Words but this full of ingenious Criticisms upon the most weighty and important Things How well he has discharg'd himself those who carefully read over this Tract of his will no doubt discover and they will without doubt from thence form a nobler Idea of Virgil and his Design than hitherto they have conceiv'd If he seems like his Country-men to be too Verbose 't is only upon the account of his studying to make all things as plain and as intelligible as may be and whether that be a real Fault I leave others to judge Beside the useful Reflexions he makes upon the Conduct of Virgil in particular you will find many others of no less use upon the Practice of Homer and upon Epick Poetry in general and now and then some that will give you no small Light into the other two Parts of Great Poetry Tragedy and Comedy In a word he has throughout the whole acquitted himself like a true judicious and impartial Critick He commends the Excellencies of the Good and censures the Failings of the Worst Poets with such a Justness and Moderation as deserves a particular Esteem and Admiration Tho Statius Claudian Lucan Seneca and others fall under his Lash yet he meddles with their Faults no farther than his Subject requires and upon occasion he gives them their full Commendations And on the contrary tho he bestows on Homer and his admir'd Virgil very high and large Encomiums yet they are no more than the most invidious part of the World have allow'd them and he often blames both when he cannot in Justice excuse their Failings 'T is now high time I should give you some Account of the Reasons that induc'd me to the Translating this Author One and not the least is the Excellency and Usefulness of these Reflexions which are too good to be confin'd to a Foreign Language 'T is true French is now become fashionable and common and seems to be as universally studied as Latin was formerly and ev'ry Pretender to Gallantry and good Breeding pretends at least to be a perfect Master and Judge of this Language But however I believe the Language is not so familiar but by a modest Computation it may be affirm'd That a tenth part of those that read Homer and Virgil understand but very little of it To such as these this Translation may be of some Use and perhaps others who think they already understand the French Tongue may be glad to see so beneficial a Treatise in a more familiar and intelligible Language Another Reason that inclin'd me to this Undertaking is the Notice I receiv'd that Virgil was now ready to be Translated into English by an eminent hand Before therefore that that Translation came out into the World I could not but think it proper and useful to usher it in by the Reflections of so able a Critick And perhaps it may be of some Use to the Understanding Virgil when read in our Mother-Tongue Besides it has the Fortune to come out just after Dr. Blackmore's Poem and may be of great Use to those who have an Inclination to Poetry for by it they will be able to judge of this English Poet. As for the Translation you must not expect a verbal one for to that I neither think my self nor any body else oblig'd I have kept as nigh my Author's Sence as possible and perhaps some may think I have follow'd him too close However I did all I could to render him with all the Perspicuity which a Didactick Stile requir'd and if that be granted me I have all I aimed at Some Terms of Art which Bossu borrow'd from the Greek I was oblig'd to retain as I found them but doubtless whoever attentively reads what he has said about them will soon find them to be no Mystery The Citations in the Margent as many as I thought good to make use of are all left in their Original Languages but such as are in the Text I thought would appear best in English unless when the Subject requir'd the contrary For this purpose some I made bold to borrow from the Translations that were ready done to my hands by several Wits of the Age Of the rest some I Translated my self and others more difficult I got an ingenious Friend of mine to turn for me This is all the Account I think fit to give you of my Reasons for Translating Bossu and of the Method I have taken therein Whatever Pains and Precaution I have us'd I do not expect I shall please every body and 't is a Wonder if I should Some will censure the Author others the Translation and a third sort perhaps stirr'd up with a generous kind of Envy call'd Emulation will either endeavour to Translate it better themselves or else vent some new Notions of their own However it happen the World will be the better for it and my Author and I shall have this Satisfaction That the Commonwealth of Learning will be then engag'd to thank us not only for our own mean but even for their more elaborate Productions THE CONTENTS BOOK I. Of the Nature of the Epick Poem and of the Fable Chap. I. THE Design of the whole Work Page 1. Chap. II. What is the Nature of the Epick Poem p. 2. Chap. III. The Definition of the Epick Poem p. 6. Chap. IV. Of the Parts of the Epick Poem The Division of this Treatise p. 8. Chap. V. Of the Poem p. 9. Chap. VI. Of the Fable p. 13. Chap. VII The Method of Composing a Fable p. 15. Chap. VIII Of the Fable of the Iliad p. 17. Chap. IX A Comparison of the Fable of the Iliad with that of Aesop p. 21. Chap. X. The Fable of the Odysseis p. 23. Chap. XI Of the Fable of the Aeneid p. 26. Chap. XII Horace's Thoughts of the Epick Fable p. 31. Chap. XIII Aristotle's Thoughts of the Epick Fable p. 34. Chap. XIV Of Real Actions the Recitals whereof are Fables p. 39. Chap. XV. Of Feign'd Actions the Recitals whereof are Historical p. 41. Chap. XVI Of the Vicious Multiplication of Fables p. 43. Chap. XVII Of the Regular Multiplication of Fables p. 47. Chap. XVIII The Conclusion of the
I should fill several Volumes with what I have to say about it yet I should still leave enough to employ the Imagination the Genius and the Judgment of both Criticks and Poets which Art without Nature never brings to Perfection Nor are we to fansie that Nature alone and the Advantages of a happy Genius can make us capable of passing a Judgment upon the Ancient Poets unless Art and Study acquaint us with the Tast and the Manners of their Auditors and of the times they liv'd in The Relish which all Antiquity both Sacred and Profane Greek and Barbarian had for Fables Parables and Allegories which are one and the same in this place gave the Ancient Poets a great deal more Liberty than the Moderns have and make things in Homer pass for Beauties which would look but ill in a Piece of Modern Poetry This likewise exposes our Ancient Poet to such Censures as bewray our Ignorance oftner than his faults The Custom of that time was to conceal their Mysteries from Vulgar View and not to explain their Allegories Men of Learning made it a particular Study to discover these mysterious Meanings and this Penetration of thought made a Considerable part of their Learning Our Age which in other things pretends to so much Light and Curiosity is very negligent of these sorts of Knowledge since they no longer agree with our Customs 'T is perhaps this very Neglect which conceals from our Eyes the greatest Beauties of Homer and which instead of his Skill only shews us a very mean and gross Outside which hinders us from judging favourably of his Spirit and Conduct However he had reason to make use of this way and to accommodate himself to the Mode of his Age. He knew well enough that those who did not penetrate him would admire him as much as others because every one was perswaded that what appear'd to the Eye of the World was in effect nothing else but the Shell which contained the Profitable and Pleasant parts of his Work Virgil was a great deal harder put to it because the Romans of his time did not so frequently use Fables and Allegories Cicero did not treat of Philosophy as Plato and Socrates did upon whom they Father Aesop's Fables And S. Jerom takes notice that Parables were in greatest vogue in the East So that when Virgil was minded to shroud his Instructions and Doctrine under Allegories he could not be contented with such a plain outside as Homer's was which gravels those who cannot penetrate it and who are ignorant that he speaks figuratively But he has so composed his Out-side and his Fictions that those very persons who can go no farther may without seeking for any thing else be very well satisfied with what they find there This Method is wholly conformable to our Way and very much to our Palates But I fansie the satisfaction we so easily find in these External Fictions alone does us some Prejudice The more we fix there the less search do we make into the Bottom and Truth of things This makes us perhaps Equivocate upon the Word Fable which we apply so differently to the Epopéa and to the Fictions of Aesop This Prepossession of Mind does Homer a great deal of Diskindness for we are often willing to find such Vertues and good Manners there which are not there and which we suppose ought regularly to have been there Because we are so little acquainted with his way of teaching Morality From hence it comes to pass that we meet with so great Obscurities in the Precepts of Aristotle and Horace who commend Homer so much for that which we are so little acquainted with especially if we examine it according to the Ideas of Perfection which we generally form to our Selves By this means we shall be subject to great Confusions and many Contradictions Before ever then we pass a judgment upon these things and upon Homer who is the Author and first Model of them 't is requisite we rightly comprehend his Allegories and penetrate into the Moral and Physical Truths of the Fable with which his Poems are so full As little insight as I have in these Matters yet I fansie I have said enough to explain what a Fable is and to demonstrate the Idea I have of the Nature of the Epick Poem The End of the first Book Monsieur Bossu's Treatise OF THE EPICK POEM BOOK II. Concerning the subject Matter of the Epick Poem or concerning the Action CHAP. I. What the subject Matter of the Epick Poem is THE Matter of a Poem is the subject which the Poet undertakes proposes and works upon So that the Moral and the Instructions which are the End of the Epopéa are not the Matter of it These things are left by Poets in their Allegorical and Figurative Obscurity They only give us notice in the Beginning of their Poems that they sing some Action or another The Revenge of Achilles the Return of Ulysses and the Arrival of Aeneas into Italy Our Masters say just the same thing Aristotle informs us that the Poet Imitates an Action And Horace in more express terms tells us That the Actions are the subject Matter of the Epopéa But this Action is the Action of some Person And our Authors expresly say as much Aristotle says that the Poets who imitate Imitate the Persons that Act. Horace says that the Imitated Actions are the Actions of Kings and Generals of an Army And our Poets do not propose simply a Revenge a Return or an Establishment But they say further that 't is Achilles who is Reveng'd Vlysses who Returns and Aeneas that goes to be Establish'd Therefore both the Actions and the Personages are the subiect Matter of the Epopéa But suppose we should consider them apart and ask whether the Action or the Persons is the Chief and Principal Matter of the Poem It is plain by what has been said in the former Book that the Action is not made for the Hero since that ought to be feign'd and invented independently from him and before the Poet thought of using his Name and that on the other hand the Hero is only design'd for the Action And that the Names of Achilles Vlysses and Aeneas are only borrow'd to represent the Personages which the Poet feign'd in general The Nature of the Fable will not admit us to doubt hereof since all the Actions that are there rehears'd under the Names of a Dog a Wolf a Lyon a Man and the like are not design'd to inform us of the Nature of these Animals to which they are applied or to tell us of some Adventure that happen'd to them For the Author of a Fable does not mind any such thing These Personages on the contrary are only design'd to sustain the Action he has invented It is therefore true in this Sense that the Action alone is the subject Matter of the Epopêa or at least that 't is a great deal
necessary Qualification which engages us to read the Poem with some sort of Delight thô excited by the most Terrible the most Violent and the most afflicting Passions The Effect may arise either from the Poem alone or from that Relation which the Poet makes between his Auditors and his Personages and the Interest which he makes the first to have in the Action he relates Statius rob'd himself of this Advantage when not regarding the Romans for whom he wrote he must needs hunt for his Subjects in Countries and States whose Manners and Customs bore no relation to those of his Readers and wherein they had not the least Interest Homer has made a better choice and has better disposed of his Actions And if Virgil has not been more careful than Homer yet at least he has had infinitely more luck than him But we said enough of this in the first Book The Pleasantries which the Poem affords in its own nature independently from the Auditors are of three sorts The first arise from the Beauty of the Verse of the Stile and of the Thoughts Others depend upon the Persons that are introduced into the Poem upon their Manners their Passions and their Interests rightly manag'd And the third sort consist in the things which are describ'd and in the way of proposing them We shall speak of the first sort in our last Book wherein we shall treat of the Thoughts and Expressions In this Book we shall allow a whole Chapter to the Passions and all the next Book will be about the Manners As for the rest let us consider them here It is not necessary that all the persons introduc'd into a Poem should have divided and particular Interests therein Not only their great Number exempts them from it but likewise a multitude of Interests would too much annoy and subvert the Pleasure we are discoursing of It confounds the Hearer's mind it over charges his Memory and makes him less capable of those Motions with which we would have him affected The greater variety of things we have to take notice of and remember the more sedate and attentive ought we to be for fear of losing any necessary thing and when any such thing escapes us we take but little pleasure in hearing that which we have no farther understanding of But there must be care likewise taken that no Action or Adventure of any length be describ'd without interested persons The Recital which Achemenides makes of that which happened to Vlysses in Polypheme's Den takes up no more than forty Verses This wretched Grecian had a great Interest therein but since he is but a very inconsiderable Personage in this Poem Virgil provides that Aeneas should not be at a Distance from the Borders of the Cyclops where he might in safety hear this Adventure But all this is told in the Port and upon the very Coast where the Trojans were in danger of suffering the same Fate with the Companions of Vlysses So that Achemenides speaks as well in their behalf as his own and in conclusion says that they should not so much as stay to weigh Anchor but cut the Cables that detained them Aeneas for his part owns himself obliged to him Without these Engagements these Adventures are languishing and make those that hear them languish too But the Readers are very desirous to know what any person shall say or do in an Adventure wherein he has some Interest This is more apparent in the Theatre from whence the want of Interest has excluded the Narrations of the Chorus and of such Actors as were only to tell what passed behind the Scenes After Oedipus was come to the knowledge of his Parents and his Crimes the Spectators were not very eager to know what the thoughts of the old Corinthian and the Theban Phorbas are nor do they take any delight in hearing them But they cannot hear Oedipus and Jocasta without application and attention As much might be said concerning the Manners and the Passions which are the second sor of Pleasantries There is nothing more cold and disgustful than to see Personages of no Character Good Painters give this to all their Draughts and represent them either Passionate or Attentive upon some thing or other Such as are most lively and have most of the Character upon them are the most delightful to the Eye and get most credit to their Masters 'T is just with Poetry as with Painting The third sort comprehends the Pleasantries which the things themselves furnish us with There are some things that in their own Nature are Pleasant namely such as are Important and Marvellous as Wars and other great Adventures provided they are not collected without Choice and Judgment nor carried on to an extreme but judicious and well managed Others there are that are cold and insipid and great skill must be used to manage them with success The best way in such cases is to follow Horace's Rule to examine those Incidents and ones own strength and to study them and know himself so well as to undertake nothing but what is proportionate to his Genius and Strength If an Author distrusts himself in any thing 't is best letting it alone Dogmatical things are generally dry and insipid Of this nature is the Doctrine of Plato and the Pythagoreans which Virgil has touch'd upon in his sixth Book with so much success 'T was necessary that this great Poet should give us Instances of all sorts of perfections Upon this account we might say what Aristotle upon another Occasion says of Homer that had an ordinary Poet manag'd this Subject he would have been insufferable The Art which I discover in him is what follows First of all he makes this Doctrine necessary for the better conceiving of the Wonders which follow Besides he goes farther for he makes it a necessary part of his Fable and his Subject since t is the Foundation of the Religion the Laws and the Morality which Aeneas went to establish in Italy under the Character of a Pantifex and a Legislator In the third place before ever he proposes it to the Readers he puts them upon desiring it as much as Aeneas did for without doubt they are mov'd with the same Curiosity which the Poet bestows so naturally on his Hero They see with the same Amazement that he does persons that were to be born some Ages after And what this Hero asks Anchises that they ask Virgil. Is it possible that there should be any Souls here so fond of returning again upon the Earth and of being imprisoned once more in a body And 't is with delight that they hear the Poet in the person of Anchises promise to satisfie their Curiosity in that point The Author does not dogmatize at all himself But he brings it about that it should be discours'd of by two persons of the greatest importance in his Poem and who were both very highly interested therein Lastly he is very
to be all on fire Capaneus sees all this without being mov'd and was so far from abating any thing of his fierceness his threats and the hopes he had of taking the City spite of all the Gods which declar'd War against him that he was for snatching the Weapons from Heaven it self and casting its Fires to burn the City If Statius had not imagin'd these Extravagancies one could never have believed they should enter into the Mind of any Author The Gods of this Poet do not take these for extravagancies They are really affraid of them and dread this Man alone more than all Mankind together They betake themselves to Jupiter Apollo groans Bacchus bemoans himself Hercules much affrighted with a Bow in his Hand knows not on what to resolve Venus is all in tears To conclude the calamity is Universal and to the disgrace of Jupiter before whom they seem to prefer Capaneus the admiration they conceived for this great Hero and struck them dumb and made them fear this Sovereign of the Gods had not a shaft sufficient to conquer this single Man The Poet himself gives us to understand that their fear was not altogether groundless For after Jupiter had shot his Thunder against him with all his force and had shatter'd to Dust the Armour Capaneus wore this Bravo had still power left him to stand upon his Feet so long that Jupiter thought he must shoot another Bolt at him One would fansie the fear is now over But so great a Poet is not contented with so little Cataneus during his life made only the Thebans tremble and fly and now at his Death when he was destroyed by Thunder he fills his own Men with consternation and puts both Parties to flight because they knew not on which side he would fall nor whose Troops he would crush into pieces thereby This is an Instance of these false Characters wherein Men fall for want of Judgment and Knowledge An Author by these great Amplifications thinks he shall be a great Poet. But he even degrades himself from the very name of Poet since these Fictions being of such things as cannot be in Nature are no Imitations And yet all Poesie is essentially an Imitation The Remedy for this is to believe Horace herein and to be perfectly instructed in Morality 'T is to know that all things have their Limitations 'T is to know these Limitations and to keep within them 'T is lastly to be convinc'd that those that transgress these bounds as in the Examples we have been proposing in propriety of speech make neither Characters nor Personages but meer Chimeras which were never any where but in the Imaginary Species of these Authors Brains The End of the Fourth Book Monsieur Bossu's Treatise OF THE EPICK POEM BOOK V. Concerning the Machines CHAP. I. Of the several sorts of Deities IN the former Book concerning the Manners we discoursed concerning the Terrestrial and Mortal Persons and in this under the name of Machines we shall treat concerning the Divine and Immortal persons So that this will be nothing else but a Consequence of what has been said about the Manners and the Persons since the Gods as well as Men are Actors in the Epopéa We shew'd the Necessity of this in our first Book where we likewise took notice that all these Divine Personages are Allegorical We observed that there are three sorts of them Some are Theological and were invented to explain the Nature of God Others are Physical and they represent Natural things The last are Moral and they are the Representations of Vertues and Vices These three sorts of Divinities or Allegories are sometimes to be met with in one and the same person Now for Instances of each and first we will begin with the Theological In the Convention of the Gods by which Virgil opens his tenth Book Jupiter Juno Venus and we might add Fate are Personages of the first sort that is such as represent the Divine Nature divided into four Persons as into so many Attributes Jupiter is the Power of God Fate is his absolute Will to which his very Power submits because God never acts contrary to his Will Fate therefore determines Jupiter who of himself is indifferent and might as well act in behalf of Turnus as in favour of Aeneas and his party Venus is the Divine Mercy and that Love which God bears towards Vertuous Men by which he is induced never to forget them in the miseries they endure upon Earth but to help them out of 'em and finally to Reward them Lastly Juno is his Justice This punishes even the least offences spares not even the very best of Men who not being wholly Innocent are punished severely for their defaults in this Life where the Justice and the Temporal Wrath of God is often declar'd against them and so persecutes them that there might be nothing left in them but what was Vertuous Meritorious and matter of Reward This Reward is reserved for them in Heaven where this Vindictive Justice has nothing to do and from whence it cannot exclude them as Jupiter tells Juno when he mention'd Aeneas The Poet suits himself to our gross way of conceiving Divine things and to the Infirmity of our Minds which makes us look upon these Qualities in God as opposite to one another Mercy upbraids Justice of its severity that it is never satisfied let Good Men suffer never so much and that it never allows them any Repose here on Earth whilst Justice on the other hand accuses Goodness and Mercy of its being the Cause of all the Sins that are Committed because it shelters Criminals and puts them in hopes of going off unpunished The Deities of the second sort that are purely Physical are employ'd in the first Book in raising the storm against Aeneas Aeolus is the Power of Nature which gathers together about Hills and in their Caverns the Vapours and Exhalations whence Winds are form'd And having digested these Matters to a certain degree of Heat and Dryness puts them upon those Motions and Agitations which we call the Winds 'T is thus that Aeolus is their Master These Vapours and Exhalations arise in the Air which is represented by Juno 'T is therefore to this Goddess that the God of the Winds is beholden for his heavenly Chear There 's no need of taking Notice what is meant by the persons of Eurus and Zephyrus nor that of Neptune who speaks to them We have one instance of the Moral Deities in the Engagement of Turnus with Aeneas The Furies which Jupiter sends against Turnus are nothing else but the Reproaches of his Conscience which shew him his Crimes and Impiety King Latinus foretold him of this at the very beginning of the War giving him to understand that if he was so insolent as to despise the Gods when 't was at his choice not to oppose their Orders he would at last be oblig'd when too late to one that
his over serious Wisdom or to which his own Imagination judiciously warm'd and transformed into that of the person who Acts and Speaks inclines him Thus the Sage and Sententious Seneca would not have fail'd taking the general proposition What signifies He would have said he fears nothing that is resolv'd to die Virgil has follow'd his ordinary Flame and Stile and says Fuisset Quem metus moritura Seneca very frequently in his Tragedies where the Moral should be less apparent than in the Epopea uttere his Thoughts Morally and Sententiously and Virgil on the other hand in the Epick Poem and in places that are design'd for Morality conceals his Sentences under Figures and particular Applications This Tragedian in his design of joyning what is Profitable to what is Pleasant has so manag'd things that he quite hides the Pleasant and stifles the Passion that should be predominant that he may foist in a Sentence the effect whereof is frequently nothing else but the offending those that make impartial Reflections thereon as in that we have already taken notice of in his Oedipus Whilst Virgil retaining in the Sentence he makes use of all that is Profitable and instructive according as he is oblig'd mixes therewith the Lustre and the Tenderness of the Passions with a judgment and skill that is peculiar to him If any thing lays us under an obligation of embracing Vertue and abandoning Vice 't is doubtless this Maxim viz. That the chiefest and best Recompence of a Good Action is Vertue it self and the good Habits we contract by our good Actions as on the contrary Vicious Actions imprint on us the Love of Vices and the Habits of committing them which sometimes lead us into a kind of fatal Necessity The Habits take such deep rooting in us that Death it self does not make us relinquish them We preserve to Eternity the Affections and Inclinations which we have contracted in our life-time and with which we die So that those who are so unhappy as to leave this World with their Vicious inclinations about them are afflicted with unspeakable torments when they come to see the deformity of those Vices which they cannot divest themselves of and the Beauty of Justice and Vertue from which they are banish'd for ever Virgil teaches us all this in several Sentences that he disguises after a most admirable manner The first thing is That the Manners and the Habits are the best reward of good Actions He tempers this excellent precept with so much Tenderness that 't is hard to say whether in this passage he makes use of the Profitable or the Pleasant A young Nobleman Eurialus the most amiable and the most beloved of all the Trojans meets with an important occasion of serving his Prince to which nothing but his own Vertue obliges him He embraces the opportunity with all earnestness and is going to expose himself to a Death that perhaps might be the heart-breaking of his Mother She loved this Son so passionately that she was the only Woman that followed him into Italy without fearing the Dangers and the Fatigues which kept all the rest behind at Sicily Eurialus that lov'd his Mother as dearly dares not take his leave of her because he could not away with the tenderness of her tears He therefore recommends her to young Ascanius Ascanius receives her into his protection And on both sides they express all the Passion which a great Poet was able to inspire them with 'T is in the midst of these passions that a grave old Man with tears in his Eyes embraces Eurialus and his dear friend Nisus prays for their success and for a reward of so much Vertue promises them such a one as we have been discoursing of With this he took the hand of either Boy Embrac'd them closely both and wept for Joy Ye brave young men what equal gifts can we What Recompence for such desert decree The greatest sure and best you can receive The Gods your Vertue and your Fame will give English'd thus by Mr. Dryden in his Miscellan Part II. pag. 15. The second Sentence is this that when we die we carry along with us the habits we have contracted here The Poet makes mention of the troublesome and tormenting habits upon the occasion of those Lovers which Aeneas meets with labouring under the same Miseries they did before their Death Curae non ipsâ in morte relinquunt And he says as much concerning the pleasant Inclinations when in the Elysian Fields Aeneas meets with Heroes that had the same Diversions there which they enjoy'd whilst here on Earth Quae gratia Currûm Armorumque fuit vivis quae cura nitentes Pascere equos eadem sequitur tellure repôstos The Poet makes a particular Application of this last passage by adding the Words Chariots and Horses One might entirely retrench them and that which remains be a pure and perfect Sentence Quae gratia fuit vivis quae cura eadem sequitur tellure repôstos The preceding passage is pure and general in the Terms and in the Expression Curae non ipsâ in morte relinquunt 'T is the Consequence alone that renders it singular and reduces it into the body of the Action These two particular Applications do in the general say the same thing and teach us that we eternally preserve the same passions and habits which we have contracted whilst living unless we relinquish them before we die This is likewise what our Poet teaches us when among the Torments of his Hell he mentions that which the Damn'd suffer there at the sight of the Justice and Vertue they have despis'd and of which they have eternally depriv'd themselves The miserable Theseus says Virgil is in Hell and there will for ever be and Phlegias more miserable than he is always calling to those about him Hark ye cries he to the Damn'd and learn what 't is to be just and pious This passage presents us with a Sentence disguis'd a quite different way from those we have been discoursing of For the former are concealed under the Expression that contains them But this last on the other hand is not contained in the Expression that presents it to us Who is there but at first fight will take this Verse of Virgil for a Sentence and for an Admonition to be just and pious Learn to be just and don 't the Gods Contemn In truth a Man would not question but this was the Poet's design if he only considers his person and that of the Readers and he cannot say but that he has given it full force For to cause this Sentence to be spoken in this frightful place of Torment where Men are punish'd severely for neglecting to practise it must needs render it very moving and convincing But when without considering the person of the Reader one Reflects upon the Consequence and minds only him that speaks and the persons to whom he speaks 'T is no such easie matter to imagine that Virgil's design was to
that Satyrs which have been read so long have been so little understood or explain'd They have made a Halt at the out-side and were wholly busied in giving the Interpretation of Words They have commented upon him like Grammarians not Philosophers as if Horace had writ meerly to have his Language understood and rather to divert than instruct us That is not the End of this Work of his The End of any Discourse is the Action for which that Discourse is compos'd when it produces no Action 't is only a vain Amusement which idly tickles the Ear without ever reaching the Heart In these two Books of his Satyrs Horace would teach us to conquer our Vices to rule our Passions to follow Nature to limit our Desires to distinguish True from False and Idea's from Things to forsake Prejudice to know throughly the Principles and Motives of all our Actions and to shun that Folly which is in all Men who are bigotted to the Opinions they have imbibed under their Teachers which they keep obstinately without examining whether they are well grounded In a Word He endeavours to make us happy for our selves agreeable and faithful to our Friends easie discreet and honest to all with whom we are oblig'd to live To make us understand the Terms he uses to explain the Figures he employs and to conduct the Reader safely through the Labyrinth of a difficult Expression or obscure Parenthesis is no great Matter to perform And as Epictetus says There is nothing in That beautiful or truly worthy a wise Man The principal and most important Business is to shew the Rise the Reason and the Proof of his Precepts to demonstrate that those who do not endeavour to correct themselves by so beautiful a Model are just like sick Men who having a Book full of Receipts proper to their Distempers content themselves to read 'em without comprehending them or so much as knowing the Advantage of them I urge not this because I have my self omitted any thing in these Annotations which was the incumbent Duty of a Grammarian to observe this I hope the World will be sensible of and that there remains no more Difficulty in the Text. But that which has been my chief Care is to give an Insight into the very Matter that Horace treats of to shew the Solidity of his Reasons to discover the Turns he makes use of to prove what he aims at and to refute or elude that which is opposed to him to confirm the Truth of his Decisions to make the Delicacy of his Sentiments perceiv'd to expose to open Day the Folly he finds in what he condemns This is what none have done before me On the contrary as Horace is a true Proteus that takes a thousand different Forms they have often lost him and not knowing where to find him have grappled him as well as they could they have palm'd upon him in several places not only Opinions which he had not but even those which he directly refutes I don't say this to blame those who have taken Pains before me on the Works of this great Poet I commend their Endeavours they have open'd me the way and if it be granted that I have some little Advantage over them I owe it wholly to the great Men of Antiquity whom I have read with more Care and without doubt with more Leisure I speak of Homer of Plato and Aristotle and of some other Greek and Latin Authors which I study centinually that I may 〈◊〉 my Taste on theirs and draw out of their Writings the Justness of Wit good Sense and Reason I know very well That there are now a days some Authors who laugh at these great Names who disallow the Acclamations which they have receiv'd from all Ages and who would deprive them of the Crowns which they have so well deserv'd and which they have got before such August Tribunals But for fear of falling into Admiration which they look upon as the Child of Ignorance they do not perceive that they go from that Admiration which Plato calls the Mother of Wisdom and which was the first that opened Mens Eyes I do not wonder that the Celestial Beauties which we find in the Writing of these incomparable Men lose with them all their Attractives and Charms because they have not the Strength to keep their Eyes long enough upon them Besides it is much easier to despise than understand them As for my self I declare that I am full of Admiration and Veneration for their Divine Geniuses I have them always before my Eyes as venerable and incorruptible Judges before whom I take pleasure to fansie that I ought to give an Account of my Writings At the same time I have a great Respect for Posterity and I always think with more Fear than Confidence on the Judgment that will pass on my Works if they are happy enough to reach it All this does not hinder me from esteeming the great Men that live now I acknowledge that there are a great many who are an Honour to our Age and who would have adorn'd the Ages past But amongst these great Men I speak of I do not know one and there cannot be one who does not esteem and honour the Ancients who is not of their taste and who follows not their Rules If you go never so little from them you go at the same time from Nature and Truth and I shall not be afraid to affirm that it wou'd not be more difficult to see without Eyes or Light than 't is impossible to acquire a solid Merit and to form the Understanding by other means than by those that the Greeks and Romans have traced for us whether it be that we follow them by the only force of Natural Happiness or Instinct or that Art and Study have conducted us thither As for those who thus blame Antiquity without knowing of it once for all I 'll undeceive them and make it appear that in giving all the Advantage to our Age they take the direct Course to dishonour it for what greater Proofs can be of the Rudeness or rather Barbarity of an Age than in it to hear Homer called dull and heavy Plato tiresome and tedious Aristotle ignorant Demosthenes and Cicero vulgar Orators Virgil a Poet without either Grace or Beauty and Horace an Author unpolished languid and without force The Barbarians who ravag'd Greece and Italy and who laboured with so much Fury to destroy all things that were fine and noble have never done any thing so horrible as this But I hope that the false Taste of some particular Men without Authority will not be imputed to the whole Age nor give the least Blemish to the Ancients 'T was to no purpose that a certain Emperour declar'd himself an Enemy to Homer Virgil and Titus Livius All his Efforts were ineffectual and the Opposition he made to Works so perfect serv'd only to augment in his History the number of his Follies and render him more odious