remaining child; or any of that selfish coldness, with which the Eneas of Virgil treats the unfortunate princess, whose affections he had seduced, would have so degraded either of the Homeric heroes in the estimation of the simple but gallant warriors, to whom the poet sàng, that all their subsequent actions. would have become uninteresting, as flowing from the polluted source of vulgar insolence or selfish meanness. Though we are now, perhaps, less fastidious than they were upon such points of morality, we still appear to be much more so than either the Athenians or Romans were at the respective periods of their highest degrees of civilization and refinement for such a scene as that of Euripides, above alluded to, would not now be borne on any stage; and every modern reader of the Eneid finds that the episode of Dido, though in itself the most exquisite piece of composition existing, weakens extremely the subsequent interest of the poem; it being impossible to sympathize either cordially or kindly with the fortunes or exertions of a hero who sneaks away from his high-minded and much injured benefactress in a manner so base and unmanly. When, too, we find him soon after imitating all the atrocities*, and surpassing

Æneid. x. 520, 590, &c.

CHAP.

III.

Of Judg

ment.

СНАР.

III.

Of Judg

ment.

the utmost arrogance of the furious and vin dictive Achilles*, without displaying any of his generosity, pride, or energy, he becomes at once mean and odious, and only excites scorn and indignation; especially when, at the conclusion, he presents to the unfortunate Lavinia a hand stained with the blood of her favoured lover, whom he had stabbed while begging for quarter, and after being rendered incapable of resistance t.

58. Indeed, I cannot but think, in spite of all that critics have said of the judgment of Virgil, as opposed to the invention of Homer, that, if there be any quality, in which the author of the Iliad stands pre-eminently superior to all his followers or imitators, it is in that of judgment; or a just sense of propriety in adapting actions to persons, and circumstances to characters; and modifying his fictions to the understandings and degrees of information of his audience; so that they might appear wonderful, but not incredible. Virgil's great distinctive excellence is delicacyof sentiment and expression, joined to the most consummate technical skill and just feeling in dressing out and embellishing every circumstance or incident, that he employs: but in the appropriation of those circumstances and

* Æneid. x. $30.

† Æneid. xii. 930, et seq.

incidents, to persons and characters, he is generally less happy than Tasso, and in no degree whatever to be compared with him"cui nec viget quidquam simile aut secundum."

CHAP.

III.

Of Judg

ment.

PART III.

OF THE PASSIONS.

CIA]

I.

CHAPTER I.

OF THE SUBLIME AND PATHETIC.

1. THE passions, considered either physically as belonging to the constitution of the indiviblime and dual, or morally, as operating upon that of Pathetic. society, do not come within the scope of my

Of the Su

present inquiry; it being only by sympathy, that they are connected with subjects of taste; or that they produce, in the mind, any of those tender feelings, which are called pathetic, or those exalted or enthusiastic sentiments, which are called sublime. When we see others suffer, we naturally suffer with them, though not in the same degrees; nor even in the same modes: for those sufferings, which we should most dread personally to endure, we delight to see exhibited or represented, though not actually endured by others; and, nevertheless, this delight certainly arises from sympathy.

2. Of this kind is that, which we receive from tragedy, and from all pathetic or impassioned narratives; the intrinsic truth or false

hood of which, as before observed, does not matter, provided they have the semblance of truth; that is, provided the characters be consistent with themselves; the incidents with the characters, and with each other; and the expressions of sentiment and passion such, as such incidents would naturally excite in such characters.

3. The great author, indeed, already so often cited, asserts that the nearer tragedy approaches the reality, and the further it removes us from all idea of fiction, the more perfect is its power; and he has illustrated this position by an example stated with his usual brilliancy and eloquence. Choose," says he,

a day to represent the most sublime and affecting tragedy we have; appoint the most favourite actors; spare no cost upon the scenes and decorations; unite the greatest efforts of poetry, painting, and music; and when you have collected your audience, just at the moment, when their minds are erect with expectation, let it be reported that a state criminal of high rank is on the point of being executed in an adjoining square, in a moment the emptiness. of the theatre would demonstrate the comparative weakness of the imitative arts, and proclaim the triumph of real sympathy *.

Sublime and Beautiful, P. I. f. xv.

Y

CHAP.

I.

Of the Su blime and Pathetic.