René le Bossu

“ The Truth of an Action does not give him the Name of Poet, nor does it rob him of it: and, as Aristotle says, [1] an Author is as much a Poet, though the Incidents he relates did really happen: Because whatsoever has been done, is capable of all the Probability, and all the Possibility, which the Art requires, and of being such as ought to be feign'd.
This makes so little an Alteration in the Nature of Things, that even the Author of a Fable is not always satisfied with making a bare Narration of the Action he feigns, but sometimes sets it off with all the Truth 'tis capable of. ”

“ This sublime Subject made the first Poets to be stil'd Divines, and Poetry the Language of the Gods. They divided the Divine Attributes as it were into so many Persons; because the Infirmity of a Humane Mind cannot sufficiently conceive, or explain so much Power and Action in a Simplicity so great and indivisible as is that of God. And perhaps they were jealous of the Advantages they reap'd from such excellent and refin'd Learning, and which they thought the vulgar part of Mankind was not worthy of. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But that wherein Aristotle is more instructive than Horace, is his Method of giving Names to the Personages, that are introduced in a Poem. For how could one prepare the Ground-work of a particular Action of some illustrious Hero, that is not feigned; when one does not so much as know whether the Hero be Achilles, Æneas, Ʋlysses, Diomedes, or any other? And yet this is what Aristotle orders in the Composition of the Epick Fable, when he says, that one should not give Names to Personages till after the Action is invented. ”

“ Arts, as well as Sciences, are founded upon Reason, and in both we are to be guided by the Light of Nature. But in Sciences, neither the Inventers, nor the Improvers of them, are to make use of any other Guides but this Light of Nature: Whereas on the other hand, all Arts depend upon a great many other things, such as the Choice and Genius of those, who first invented them, or of those who have labour'd at them with an Universal Applause. ”

“ As for the Nature of the Fable, it matters little whether the Names of Beasts or of Men be made use of. Homer has made choice of these last; and has given the Quality of Kings to his Personages. He has call'd them Achilles, Agamemnon, Hector, Patroclus, and has expressed by the name of Grecians, that Interest which the Confederates were obliged to maintain. Æsop in his way, has given the Names of Beasts to all his Personages: The Dogs are the Confederates, the Wolf is their Enemy, and he has called the Sheep, what the Poet has term'd the Grecians. ”

“ 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.
Tis 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. ”

“ In a word, the Hero should have been like Augustus, a New Monarch, the Founder of an Empire, a Lawgiver, a Pontifex, and a great Commander.
The necessity of reducing all these things into one Body, and under the Allegories of a single Action, makes it appear how great a difference there is between the designs of Homer, and that of Virgil: And that if the Latin Poet did imitate the Greek, yet the applicaaion of it is so remote and difficult, that it should never make his Poem pass for a new Copy, nor rob him of the glory of the invention. ”

“ ARistotle says, The Fable is the principal Part of the Poem, and that 'tis as it were the very Soul of it. Therefore we must look for the Nature of the Epopéa in that of the Fable, and consider That as the chief Foundation of the Poem, as the Principle that gives Life and Motion to all its parts, and sets all its Faculties on work. We have indeed begun to define the Epopéa by the Definition we gave of the Fable; for the Fable is a Discourse invented to form Mens Manners by Instructions disguis'd under the Allegories of one single Action. ”

“ And, on the contrary, these bold Expressions, so proper to Verse, when used in a Discourse that has not Feet nor Poetical Numbers, do give it such an Air of Verse, that it is not so properly Prose, as a kind of Poesie without Numbers, and as Horace says, Disjecti Membra Poetæ.
As [7] Nature does not inspire into us the Rules of Poetry and Verse; so neither does Art and Study help us to that Air, that Force, and that Elevation, in which Horace discovers something that is Divine, and which only makes a Man deserve the Name of Poet. ”

“ To regulate Mens manners; to purge and refine them from the Dregs, and Corruptions of Vice; to keep their Passions within due bounds, and to make them the Servants, not the Masters of right Reason, has in all Ages been esteemed a piece of the highest Prudence, and a great perfection of Humane Nature. Hence the Moralist himself deservedly derives all his Glory. ”

“ In the Instance we just now propos'd, the Truth is this, that it is ridiculous to brag of any thing we have no hand in: and the Fiction is that pleasant Thought of a Fly riding upon a Chariot, and crying, Bless me! ”

“ I have already compar'd the Iliad with one of these Fables: and sure I may take the same liberty in a Poem that is less Regular; and make a Comparison between the Achilleid which comprehends several Actions under one and the same Name, and several Fables which likewise go under one Name. Homer and Virgil diverted themselves with their Poems of the Gnat, and of the Battel between the Frogs and the Mice: nor shall I stoop lower, when, upon the like occasion, I shall enlarge my self as far as the Design of Statius, and the Necessity of this Doctrine require me. ”

“ An Historian, that undertakes to write of one single Action, as the War of Catiline, or the Reign of a King, as Salust has done that of Jugurtha; has not for his subject Matter the Wars and Actions which went before, or happen'd after. Yet he may mention some, which may serve as Instances in the Deliberations; or for the maintaining of some Interests; or upon any other Occasion that is necessary to his main Subject. A Poet has the same Privileges, and the same Reasons on his side: Our two have practis'd accordingly, and have the Approbation of Aristotle himself. ”

“ Lastly, 'tis Objected, "That we want the Benefit of Machines; which the Heathen Poets made so great use of, and with which their Poems were full from one end to the other: That the Notions and Religion of our times exclude all manner of Miracles, and the extraordinary presence of the Heathen Gods from having any thing to do in the ordinary Course of humane Affairs, which we believe now to be govern'd only by one common Providence; and that upon this account it seems altogether unpracticable for any of our Modern Poets to write an Heroick Poem like to those of Homer and Virgil." ”

“ And tho 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ For this Reason, Poetry is more serious and more philosophical than History; because Poetry tells us of general Things, and History rehearses singular Things. A general Thing, is that which either probably or necessarily ought to have been said or done; and is that to which the Poet ought to have a special regard, when he imposes the Names on his Personages. ”

“ For though the Translator be a perfect Stranger to you, yet the Author, which he has ventur'd to translate, is well known by all to be one you are intimately acquainted with: witness your excellent Prince Arthur, wherein you have in a great measure confin'd your self to the Rules and Precepts which Aristotle and Horace, and even our Bossu, have prescrib'd to the Epick Poem. ”

“ We do indeed read Homer and Virgil, but then 'tis 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. ”

“ Aristotle was in the right, when he call'd a certain little Iliad the whole Trojan War squeez'd into the compass of one single Poem. This Iliad indeed was very small, since it was all contain'd in a very narrow Compass. It was not at all like the Iliad of Homer, a small part of which fill'd so many Books. We may say as much of the Achilles of Statius, who is comprehended at his full Length within the Compass of twelve Books. And the Achilles of Homer is so vast, that a few days of his Anger and Passion have taken up four and twenty Books compleatly. ”

“ First then I say, that one great Reason of that general 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. ”

“ As the Truth, which serves as a Foundation to this Fiction, and which with it makes the Fable, is, That the absence of a Person from his own Home, or who has not an Eye to what is done there, is the cause of great disorders: So the principal Action, and the most Essential one, is the absence of the Hero. ”

“ This is what Wootton himself urges in his Reflections, when he will not allow the former Reason to hold good. He tells us there, "That the Greek was so smooth, soft, and ductile, that Homer had great encouragement even from his Language, to set about an Heroick Poem: That the Latin was majestical and stately, but withal so rough, that Virgil had much ado to run it down to Verse: But that our Modern Languages are all so harsh and unmalleable, that the Poets have no encouragement to form any thing that is great out of them." ”

“ There was a great deal of difference between the Greeks and the Romans. These last were under no obligation, as were the former, either of living in separated and independent States; or of frequent confederating together against the common Enemy. If in this respect, we would compare our two Poets together, Virgil had but one Poem to make, and this ought to be more like the Odysseïs than the Iliad, since the Roman State was govern'd by only one Prince. ”

“ To Criticise upon any Author, is no such easie matter as some may imagine: But to pass a true and impartial Judgment upon the Writings of the Poets, may be justly reckon'd one of the hardest parts of Criticism. Every little Pretender is not fit for such an Undertaking. It requires a large but regulated Fancy, a sound, solid, and penetrating Judgment, deep, piercing, and steady Thoughts, a long and obstinate Course of Study, much and certain Experience, a clear and perfect insight into Poetry and all its parts ”

“ 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 Outside, 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. ”

“ One may add to this, that there are some Fables which consist less in Action than in Speaking; as that Fable, for instance, which ridicules the foolish Vanity of those Men, who attribute all the Glory of an Event to themselves, for the producing of which they contributed nothing but their own unprofitable Presence. The Fable represents them under the Allegory of a Fly, which lighting upon a Chariot, and seeing her self in the midst of a Cloud of Dust, which the Chariot-Wheels and the Horse-Feet raised in the Air, cries out ”

“ If (as I have already laid down the Idea I conceiv'd of the Achilleid of Statius, of the Heraclid, of the Theseid, and of other such like Pieces of the Ancient Poets) I had a mind likewise to present the World with an Example of Æsop's Fables compar'd with Ovid's Metamorphoses; I should be forced to put all the Fables of Æsop into one Body: Because Ovid is not contented to rehearse all that ever happen'd either to Achilles, or to Hercules, or to Theseus, or to any other single Personage; but he makes a Recital of all that ever happen'd to all the Persons of the Poetical Fables. ”