The Art Of Poetry An Epistle To The Pisos

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Atque ita mentitur, sic veris falsa remiscet,
Primo ne medium, medio ne discrepet imum.

Having dispatched the fable, the Poet proceeds, and with some Solemnity
of Order, to the consideration of the characters; not in regard to
suitable _diction_, for of that he has already spoken, but in respect to
_the manners_; and, in this branch of his subject, he has as judiciously
borrowed from _the Rhetoricks_ of Aristotle, as in the rest of his
Epistle from the _Poeticks_. He then directs, in its due place, the
proper conduct of particular incidents _of the fable_; after which he
treats of _the_ chorus; from whence he naturally falls into the history
of theatrical musick; which is, as naturally, succeeded by an account of
the Origin of _the Drama_, itself, which the Poet commences, like master
Aristotle, even from the Dithyrambick Song, and carries it down to the
establishment of the New Greek Comedy; from whence he passes easily
and gracefully, to _the_ Roman stage, acknowledging the merits of the
Writers, but pointing out their defects, and assigning the causes.
He then subjoins a few general observations, and concludes his long
discourse on _the_ drama, having extended it to 275 lines. This
discourse, together with the result of all his reflections on Poets and
Poetry, he then applies in the most earnest and _personal_ manner to the
elder Piso; and with a long and most pathetick _peroration_, if I may
adopt an oratorical term, concludes the Epistle.

116.--THE ELEGY'S SMALL SONG.] EXIGUOS _Elegos_.

Commentators differ concerning the import of this expression--exiguos
_Elegos_, the _Elegy's_ small _song_. De Nores, Schrevelius, and
Desprez, think it refers to the humility of the elegiack stile and
subjects, compared with epick or lyrick sublimity. Monsieur Dacier
rather thinks that Horace refers here, as in the words _Versibus
impariter junctis,_ "Couplets unequal," to the use of pentameter, or
short verse, consisting of five feet, and joined to the hexameter, or
long verse, of six. This inequality of the couplet Monsieur Dacier
justly prefers to the two long Alexandrines of his own country, which
sets almost all the French poetry, Epick, Dramatick, Elegiack, or
Satyrick, to the tune of Derry Down. In our language, the measures are
more various, and more happily conceived. Our Elegy adopts not only
_unequal couplets_, but _alternate rhymes_, which give a plaintive tone
to the heroick measure, and are most happily used in Gray's beautiful
_Elegy in a Country Church yard.

135.--THY FEAST, THYESTES!] Caena Thyestae.

The story of Thyestes being of the most tragick nature, a banquet on his
own children! is commonly interpreted by the Criticks, as mentioned by
Horace, in allusion to Tragedy in general. The Author of the English
Commentary, however, is of a different opinion, supposing, from a
passage of Cicero, that the Poet means to glance at the _Thyestes of
Ennius,_ and to pay an oblique compliment to Varius, who had written a
tragedy on the same subject.

The same learned Critick also takes it for granted, that the Tragedy of
Telephus, and probably of _Peleus_, after-mentioned, point at tragedies
of Euripedes, on these subjects, translated into Latin, and accomodated
to the Roman Stage, without success, by _Ennius, Accius, or Naevius_.

One of this Critick's notes on this part of the Epistle, treating on the
use of _pure poetry_ in the Drama, abounds with curious disquisition and
refined criticism.

150.--_They must have_ passion _too_.] dulcia _sunto_. The Poet,
with great address, includes the sentiments under the consideration of
diction.

--_Effert animi motus_ interprete lingua.
_Forces expression from the_ faithful tongue.

Buckingham has treated the subject of Dialogue very happily in his Essay
on Poetry, glancing, but not servilely, at this part of Horace.

_Figures of Speech_, which Poets think so fine,
Art's needless varnish to make Nature shine,
Are all but _Paint_ upon a beauteous face,
And in _Descriptions_ only claim a place.
But to make _Rage declaim_, and _Grief discourse_,
From lovers in despair _fine_ things to _force_,
Must needs succeed; for who can chuse but pity
A _dying_ hero miserably _witty_?

201.----BE NOT YOUR OPENING FIERCE!] _Nec sic incipies_, Most of the
Criticks observe, that all these documents, deduced from _the Epick_,
are intended, like the reduction of the Iliad into acts, as directions
and admonition to the _Dramatick_ writer. _Nam si in_ EPOPaeIA, _que
gravitate omnia poematum generae praecellit, ait principium lene esse
debere; quanto magis in_ tragoedia _et_ comoedia, _idem videri debet_?
says de Nores. _Praeceptum de intio grandiori evitaado, quod tam_ epicus
_quam_ tragicus _cavere debet_; says the Dauphin Editor. _Il faut se
souvenir qu' Horace appliqae a la Tragedie les regies du Poeme Epique.
Car si ces debuts eclatans sont ridicules dans la Poeme Epique, ils
le sont encore plus dans la Tragedie_: says Dacier. The Author of the
English Commentary makes the like observation, and uses it to enforce
his system of the Epistle's being intended as a Criticism on the Roman
drama. [ xviii] 202---Like _the rude_ ballad-monger's _chant of old_]
_ut scriptor_ cyclicus olim.] _Scriptor_ cyclicus signisies an itinerant
Rhymer travelling, like Shakespeare's Mad Tom, to wakes, and fairs, and
market-towns. 'Tis not precisely known who was the Cyclick Poet here
meant. Some have ascribed the character to Maevius, and Roscommon has
adopted that idea.

Whoever vainly on his _strength_ depends,
Begins like Virgil, but like Maevius ends:
That Wretch, in spite of his forgotten rhimes,
Condemn'd to live to all succeeding times,
With _pompous nonsense_, and a _bellowing sound_,
Sung _lofty Ilium_, _tumbling_ to the _ground_,
And, if my Muse can thro' past ages fee,
That _noisy, nauseous_, gaping fool was _he_;
Exploded, when, with universal scorn,
The _Mountains labour'd_, and a _Mouse_ was born.

_Essay on Translated Verse_.

The pompous exordium of Statius is well known, and the fragments of
Ennius present us a most tremendous commencement of his Annals.

horrida romoleum certamina pango duellum!
this is indeed to split our ears asunder
With guns, drums, trumpets, blunderbuss, and thunder!

211.--Say, Muse, the Man, &c.] Homer's opening of the Odyssey. his rule
is perhaps no where so chastely observed as in _the Paradise Lost_.
Homer's [Greek: Maenin aeide thea]! or, his [Greek: Andra moi
ennepe,Mgsa]! or, Virgil's _Arma, Urumque cano_! are all boisterous and
vehement, in comparison with the calmness and modesty of Milton's meek
approach,

Of Man's first disobedience, &c.

2l5.--_Antiphates, the Cyclops, &c_].- _Antiphatem, Scyllamque, & cum
Cyclope Charybdim_. Stories, that occur in the Odyssey. 218-19--Diomed's
return--the Double Egg.]

The return of Diomede is not mentioned by Homer, but is said to be the
subject of a tedious Poem by Antimachus; and to Stasimus is ascribed a
Poem, called the Little Iliad, beginning with the nativity of Helen.

227.--Hear now!] _Tu, quid ego, &c._

This invocation, says Dacier justly, is not addressed to either of the
Pisos, but to the Dramatick Writer generally.

229.---The Cloth goes down.] _Aulaea manentis._ This is translated
according to modern manners; for with the Antients, the Cloth was raised
at the Conclusion of the Play. Thus in Virgil's Georgicks;

Vel scena ut versis disceedat frontibus, atque
Purpurea intexti tollant aulaea Britanni.

Where the proud theatres disclose the scene;
Which interwoven Britons seem to _raise;_
And shew the triumph which their _shame_ displays.

Dryden

230.--Man's several ages, &c.] _aetatis cujusque, &c._ Jason Demores
takes notice of the particular stress, that Horace lays on the due
discrimination of the several Ages, by the solemnity with which he
introduces the mention of them: The same Critick subjoins a note also,
which I shall transcribe, as it serves to illustrate a popular passage
in the _As you Like It_ of Shakespeare.

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their _exits_ and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts:
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms:
And then, the whining school-boy with his satchel,
And shining morning-face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then, the lover;
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eye-brow. Then, a soldier;
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel;
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then, the justice
In fair round belly, with good capon lin'd
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and flipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side;
His youthful hose well sav'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes,
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness, and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

_Animadverti_ a plerisque _hominis aetatem_ in septem divisam esse
partes, infantiam, pueritiam, adolescentiam, juventutem, virilitatem,
senectutem, & _ut ab illis dicitur_, decrepitatem. _In hac vero parte
nihil de_ infantiae _moribus Horatius, cum nihil ea aetas praeter
vagitum habeat proprium, ideoque infantis persona minime in scena induci
possit, quod ipsas rerum voces reddere neque dum sciat, neque
valeat. Nihil de moribus item hujus aetatis, quam, si latine licet_,
decrepitatem _vocabimus_, quae aetas quodammodo infantiae respondet:
_de_ juventute _autem_ & adolescentia _simul pertractat, quod et
studiis, et natura, & voluntate, parum, aut nihil inter se differant.
Aristoteles etiam in libris ad Theodectem omisit_ & pueritiam, &
_merito; cum minime apud pueros, vel de pueris sit orator habiturus
orationem. Ille enim ad hoc ex aetate personarum differentiam adhibet,
ut instituat oratorem, quomodo morata uti debeat oratione, id est, eorum
moribus, apud quos, & de quibus loquitur, accommodata._

It appears from hence, that it was _common_ for the writers of that
time, as well as Shakespeare's Jaques, to divide the life of Man into
seven ages, viz. _Infancy, Childhood, Puberty, Youth, Manhood, Old Age_,
and _Decrepitude_; "which last, (says Denores) in some sort answers to
Infancy," or, as Shakespeare expresses it, IS second childishness.

"Before Shakespeare's time," says Warburton, "_seven acts_ was no unusual
division of a play, so that there is a greater beauty than appears at
first sight in this image." Mr. Steevens, however, informs us that the
plays of that early period were not divided into acts at all. It is most
probable therefore that Shakespeare only copied the moral philosophy
(the _Socraticae chartae_) of his own day, adapting it, like Aristotle
and Horace, to his own purpose; and, I think, with more felicity, than
either of his illustrious predecessors, by contriving to introduce, and
discriminate, _every one of_ the seven ages. This he has effected
by assigning station and character to some of the stages, which to
Aristotle and Horace appeared too similar to be distinguished from
each other. Thus puberty, youth, manhood, and old age, become under
Shakespeare's hand, _the_ lover, _the_ soldier, _the_ justice, and the
lean and flipper'd pantaloon; while the _natural qualities_ of the
infant, the boy, and the dotard, afford sufficient materials for
poetical description.

262.--_Thus_ years advancing _many comforts bring,
and_ flying _bear off many on their wing_.]

_Multa ferunt_ anni venientes _commoda secum,
multa_ recedentes _adimunt_.

Aristotle considers the powers of the body in a state of advancement
till the 35th year, and the faculties of the mind progressively
improving till the 49th; from which periods they severally decline. On
which circumstance, applied to this passage of Horace, Jason de Nores
elegantly remarks, _Vita enim nostra videtur ad_ virilitatem _usque,
qua_ in statu _posita est_, quendam quasi pontem _aetatis_ ascendere,
_ab eaque inde_ descendere. Whether Addison ever met with the commentary
of De Nores, it is perhaps impossible to discover. But this idea of
_the_ ascent _and_ declivity _of the_ bridge _of_ human life, strongly
reminds us of the delightful _vision of_ mirza.

288.--_An actor's part_ the Chorus _should sustain_.] _Actoris partes_
Chorus, &c.

"See also _Aristotle_ [Greek*: oes. ooiaet. k. iae.] The judgment of two
such critics, and the practice of wise antiquity, concurring to
establish this precept concerning the Chorus, it should thenceforth, one
would think, have become a fundamental rule and maxim of the stage. And
so indeed it appeared to some few writers. The most admired of the
French tragic poets ventured to introduce it into two of his latter
plays, and with such success that, as one observes, _It should, in all
reason, have disabused his countrymen on this head: l'essai heureux de
M. Racine, qui les [choeurs] a fait revivre dans_ athalie _et dans
_esther_, devroit, il semble, nous avoir detrompez sur cet article._ [P.
Brumoi, vol. i. p. 105.] And, before him, our _Milton_, who, with his
other great talents, possessed a supreme knowledge of antiquity, was so
struck with its use and beauty, as to attempt to bring it into our
language. His _Sampson Agonistes_ was, as might be expected, a master-
piece. But even his credit hath not been sufficient to restore the
Chorus. Hear a late Professor of the art declaring, _De _Choro _nihil
disserui, quia non est essentialis dramati, atque a neotericis penitus_,
et, me judice, merito repudiatur. [Prael. Poet. vol. ii. p. 188.] Whence
it hath come to pass that the chorus hath been thus neglected is not now
the enquiry. But that this critic, and all such, are greatly out in
their judgments, when they presume to censure it in the ancients, must
appear (if we look no further) from the double use, insisted on by the
poet, For, 1. A _chorus _interposing, and bearing a part in the progress
of the action, gives the representation that _probability_, [Footnote:
_Quel avantage ne peut il [le poete] pas tirer d'une troupe d'acteurs,
qui remplissent sa scene, qui rendant plus sense la continuite de
l'action qui la sont paroitre VRAISEMBLABLE puisqu'il n'est pas naturel
qu'elle sa passe sans point. On ne sent que trop le vuide de notre
Theatre sans choeurs. &c. _[Les Theatre des Grecs. i. p. 105 ] and
striking resemblance of real life, which every man of sense perceives,
and _feels_ the want of upon our stage; a want, which nothing but such
an expedient as the chorus can possibly relieve. And, 2. The importance
of its other office [l. 196] to the _utility _of the representation, is
so great, that, in a moral view, nothing can compensate for this
deficiency. For it is necessary to the truth and decorum of characters,
that the _manners_, bad as well as good, be drawn in strong, vivid
colours; and to that end that immoral sentiments, forcibly expressed and
speciously maintained, be sometimes _imputed _to the speakers. Hence the
sound philosophy of the chorus will be constantly wanting, to rectify
the wrong conclusions of the audience, and prevent the ill impressions
that might otherwise be made upon it. Nor let any one say, that the
audience is well able to do this for itself: Euripides did not find even
an Athenian theatre so quick-sighted. The story is well known, [Sen. Ep.
115.] that when this painter of the _manners _was obliged, by the rules
of his art, and the character to be sustained, to put a run of bold
sentiments in the mouth of one of his persons, the people instantly took
fire, charging the poet with the _imputed _villainy, as though it had
been his _own_. Now if such an audience could so easily misinterpret an
attention to the truth of character into the real doctrine of the poet,
and this too, when a Chorus was at hand to correct and disabuse their
judgments, what must be the case, when the _whole _is left to the
sagacity and penetration of the people? The wiser sort, it is true, have
little need of this information. Yet the reflexions of sober sense on
the course and occurrences of the representation, clothed in the noblest
dress of poetry, and enforced by the joint powers of harmony and action
(which is the true character of the Chorus) might make it, even to such,
a no unpleasant or unprofitable entertainment. But these two are a small
part of the uses of the chorus; which in every light is seen so
important to the truth, decorum, and dignity of the tragic scene, that
the modern stage, which hath not thought proper to adopt it, is even,
with the advantage of, sometimes, the justest moral painting and
sublimest imagery, but a very faint shadow of the old; as must needs
appear to those who have looked into the ancient models, or, diverting
themselves of modern prejudices, are disposed to consult the dictates of
plain sense. For the use of such, I once designed to have drawn into one
view the several important benefits arising to the drama from the
observance of this rule, but have the pleasure to find myself prevented
by a sensible dissertation of a good French writer, which the reader
will find in the VIII tom. of the History of the Academy of Inscriptions
end Belles Lettres.--Or, it may be sufficient to refer the English
reader to the late tragedies of Elfrida and Caractacus; which do honour
to modern poetry, and are a better apology, than any I could make, for
the ancient Chorus.----Notes on the Art of Poetry.

Though it is not my intention to agitate, in this place, the long
disputed question concerning the expediency, or inexpediency, of the
Chorus, yet I cannot dismiss the above note without some farther
observation. In the first place then I cannot think that _the judgment
of two such Criticks_ as Aristotle and Horace, can be decisively quoted,
_as concurring with the practice of wise antiquity,_ to establish the
chorus. Neither of these _two Criticks_ have taken up the question,
each of them giving directions for the proper conduct of _the Chorus,_
considered as an established and received part of Tragedy, and indeed
originally, as they both tell us, _the whole_ of it. Aristotle, in his
Poeticks, has not said much on the subject and from the little he has
said, more arguments might perhaps be drawn, in favour of the omission,
than for the introduction of _the Chorus._ It is true that he says, in
his 4th chapter, that "Tragedy, after many changes, paused, _having
gained its natural form:"_ [Greek transliteration: 'pollha': moiazolas
metazalousa ae tragodia epausto, hepei hesche taen heauiaes phusin]. This
might, at first sight, seem to include his approbation of the Chorus, as
well as of all the other parts of Tragedy then in use: but he himself
expressly tells us in the very same chapter, that he had no such
meaning, saying, that "to enquire whether Tragedy be perfect in its
parts, either considered in itself, or with relation to the theatre, was
foreign to his present purpose." [Greek: To men oun epischopein,
eiapa echei aedae hae tragodia tois ikanos, ae ou, auto te kath auto
krinomenon, kai pros ta theatra, allos logos.]

In the passage from which Horace has, in the verses now before us,
described the office, and laid down the duties of the CHORUS, the
passage referred to by the learned Critick, the words of Aristotle are
not particularly favourable to the institution, or much calculated to
recommend the use of it. For Aristotle there informs us, "that Sophocles
alone of all the Grecian writers, made _the_ CHORUS conducive to the
progress of the fable: not only even Euripides being culpable in this
instance; but other writers, after the example of Agathon, introducing
Odes as little to the purpose, as if they had borrowed whole scenes from
another play."

[Greek: Kai ton chorus de ena dei upolazein tan upochriton. Kai morion
einai tch olch, chai sunagonis*e mae osper par Euripidae, all osper
para Sophochlei. Tois de loipois ta didomena mallon ta muthch, ae allaes
Tragadias esi di o emzolima adchoi, protch arxanto Agrathonos tch
toichtch Kai tch diaphsrei, ae aemzot ma adein, ae raesin ex allch eis
allo armotteen, ae eteitodion oleos [per. poiaet. ch. iii.]]

On the whole therefore, whatever may be the merits, or advantages of
_the_ CHORUS, I cannot think that the judgment of Aristotle or Horace
can be adduced as recommendation of it. As to _the probability given
to the representation, by CHORUS interposing and bearing a part in the
action;_ the Publick, who have lately in a troop of singers assembled on
the stage, as a Chorus, during the whole of presentations of Elfrida
and Caractacus, are competent to decide for themselves, how far such an
expedient, gives a more _striking resemblance of human life,_ than the
common usage of our Drama. As to its importance in a _moral_ view, to
correct the evil impression of vicious sentiments, _imputed_ to the
speakers; the story told, to enforce its use for this purpose, conveys
a proof of its efficacy. To give due force to sentiments, as well as to
direct their proper tendency, depends on the skill and address of the
Poet, independent of _the_ Chorus,

Monsieur Dacier, as well as the author of the above note, censures the
modern stage for having rejected the Chorus, and having lost thereby
_at least half its probability, and its_ greatest ornament; so that
our Tragedy is _but a very faint shadow of the_ old. Learned Criticks,
however, do not, perhaps, consider, that if it be expedient to revive
_the_ Chorus, all the other parts of the antient Tragedy must be revived
along with it. Aristotle mentions Musick as one of the six parts of
Tragedy, and Horace no sooner introduces _the_ CHORUS, but he proceeds
to _the _pipe _and _lyre. If a Chorus be really necessary, our Dramas,
like those of the antients, should be rendered wholly _musical_; the
_Dancers _also will then claim their place, and the pretentions of
Vestris and Noverre may be admitted as _classical_. Such a spectacle,
if not more _natural_ than the modern, would at least be consistent; but
to introduce a groupe of _spectatorial actors_, speaking in one part
of the Drama, and singing in another, is as strange and incoherent a
medley, and full as _unclassical_, as the dialogue and airs of _The
Beggar's Opera!_

290.--_Chaunting no Odes between the acts, that seem_
unapt, _or _foreign _to the _general theme.]

_Nec quid medios, &c._

On this passage the author of the English Commentary thus remarks. "How
necessary this advice might be to the writers of the Augustan age cannot
certainly appear; but, if the practice of Seneca may give room for
suspicion, it should seem to have been much wanted; in whom I scarcely
believe _there is_ one single instance, _of the _Chorus being employed
in a manner, consonant to its true end and character."

The learned Critick seems here to believe, and the plays under the name
of Seneca in some measure warrant the conclusion, that _the _Chorus
of the Roman Stage was not calculated to answer the ends of its
institution. Aristotle has told us just the same thing, with an
exception in favour of Sophocles, of the Grecian Drama. And are such
surmises, or such information, likely to strengthen our prejudices on
behalf of _the _CHORUS, or to inflame our desires for its revival?

292.----LET IT TO VIRTUE PROVE A GUIDE AND FRIEND.]

_Ille bonis saveatque, &c._

"_The Chorus_," says the poet, "_is to take the side of the good and
virtuous_, i. e. is always to sustain a moral character. But this will
need some explanation and restriction. To conceive aright of its office,
we must suppose the _Chorus _to be a number of persons, by some probable
cause assembled together, as witnesses and spectators of the great
action of the drama. Such persons, as they cannot be wholly uninterested
in what passes before them, will very naturally bear some share in
the representation. This will principally consist in declaring their
sentiments, and indulging their reflexions freely on the several events
and mistresses as they shall arise. Thus we see the _moral_, attributed
to the Chorus, will be no other than the dictates of plain sense; such
as must be obvious to every thinking observer of the action, who is
under the influence of no peculiar partialities from _affection_ or
_interest_. Though even these may be supposed in cases, where the
character, towards which they _draw_, is represented as virtuous."

"A Chorus, thus constituted, must always, it is evident, take the part of
virtue; because this is the natural and almost necessary determination
of mankind, in all ages and nations, when acting freely and
unconstrained." _Notes on the Art of Poetry._

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