tius, than to Catius, or Amafanius, or even the commentaries of Epicurus himself? Who can believe that even the most tasteless could peruse the writings on agriculture, either of the learned Varro, or (not to mention the elder Cato) of Columella, an author by no means deficient in elegance, with the same pleasure and attention as that most delightful and most perfect work, the Georgics of Virgil? A work in which he has equalled the most respectable writers in the solidity of his matter, and has greatly excelled the most elegant in the incredible harmony of his numbers. On the contrary, if Manilius, who is numbered (and rightly if we may credit his own testimony) among the writers of the Augustan age, has treated the engaging science of astronomy in such low and inelegant verse, as even scarcely to excel Julius Firmicus, a prose writer on the same subject in a less polished age, I will allow him the merit of a philosopher and astronomer, but never can account him a poet. For what is a poet, destitute of harmony, of grace, and of all that conduces to allurement and delight? or how should we derive advantage or improvement from an author, whom no man of taste can endure to read? The reason, therefore, why poetry is so studi 4 SENECA Seems to detract from the authority of VIRGIL'S Georgics, describing him as an author, "who studied truth less than elegance; and wished rather to delight the reader, than to instruct the husbandman." COLUMELLA, however, seems to be of a very different opinion, and I cannot help thinking him a much better judge. He continually cites the Georgics, never with any degree of blame, and generally with the greatest applause: "this mode we shall pursue, if we may trust the poet, whose authority on such occasions I esteem little less than an oracle." Lib. 4. "I shall frequently make use of the authority of this divine poem." Lib. vii. 3. In the very matter for which SENECA finds fault with VIRGIL, namely, the time of sowing millet, the reader will see how ignorantly the poet is censured by the philosopher, if he consults COLUMELLA, II. 9. PLIN. N. H. xviii. 7. PALLAD. III. 3. Author's note. ous to embellish her precepts with a certain inviting sweetness, and as it were "tincture them with the honey of the muses," is plainly, by such seasoning to conciliate favour to her doctrine, as is the practice even of physicians, who temper with pleasant flavours their least agreeable medi cines : "Thus the sick infant's taste disguis'd to meet, "He drinks deceiv'd, and so deceiv'd he lives;" as Lucretius expresses himself in illustration of his own design, as well as that of poetry in general. But if it be manifest, even in authors who directly profess improvement and advantage, that those will most efficaciously instruct, who afford most entertainment; the same will be still more apparent in those, who, dissembling the intention of instruction, exhibit only the blandishments of pleasure; and while they treat of the most important things, of all the principles of moral action, all the offices of life, yet laying aside the severity of the preceptor, adduce at once all the decorations of elegance, and all the attractions of amusement: who display, as in a picture, the actions, the manners, the pursuits and passions of men; and by the force of imitation and fancy, by the harmony of numbers, by the taste and variety of imagery, captivate the affections of the reader, and imperceptibly, or perhaps reluctantly, impel him to the pursuit of virtue. Such is the real purpose of heroic poetry; such is the noble effect produced by the perusal of Homer. And who so thoughtless, or so callous, as not to feel incredible pleasure in that most agreeable occupation; who is not moved, as tonished, enraptured by the inspiration of that most sublime genius? Who so inanimate as not to see, not to feel inscribed, or as it were imprinted upon his heart, his most excellent maxims concerning human life and manners? From philosophy a few cold precepts may be deduced; in history some dull and spiritless examples of manners may be found: here we have the energetic voice of virtue herself, here we behold her animated form. Poetry addresses her precepts not to the reason alone, she calls the passions to her aid she not only exhibits examples, but infixes them in the mind. She softens the wax with her peculiar ardour, and renders it more plastic to the artist's hand. Thus does Horace most truly and most justly apply this commendation to the poets: "What's fair, and false, and right, these bards describe, Plainer or more completely, because they do not perplex their disciples with the dry detail of parts and definitions, but so perfectly and so accurately delineate by examples of every kind, the forms of the human passions and habits, the principles of social and civilized life, that he, who from the schools of philosophy should turn to the representations of Homer, would feel himself transported from a narrow and intricate path to an extensive and flourishing field. Better, because the poet teaches not by maxims and precepts, and in the dull, sententious form; but by the harmony of verse, by the beauty of imagery, by the ingenuity of the fable, by the exactness of imitation, he allures and interests the mind of the reader, he fashions it to habits of virtue, and in a manner informs it with the spirit of integrity itself. But if, from the heroic we turn to the tragic Muse, to which Aristotle' indeed assigns the preference, because of the true and perfect imitation, we shall yet more clearly evince the superiority of poetry over philosophy, on the principle of its being more agreeable. Tragedy is, in truth, no other than philosophy introduced upon the stage, retaining all its natural properties, remitting nothing of its native gravity, but assisted and embellished by other favouring circumstances. What point, for instance, of moral discipline have the tragic writers of Greece left untouched, or unadorned? What duty of life, what principle of political economy, what motive or precept for the government of the passions, what commendation of virtue is there, which they have not treated of with fulness, variety, and learning? The moral of Eschylus (not only a poet, but a Pythagorean) will ever be admired. Nor were Sophocles and Euripides less illustrious for the reputation of wisdom; the latter of whom was the disciple of Socrates and Anaxagoras, and was known among his friends by the title of the dramatic philosopher. In these authors surely, the allurements of poetry afforded some accession to the empire of philosophy; nor indeed has any man arrived at the summit of poetic fame, who did not previously lay the foundation of his art in true philosophy. Should it be objected, that some have been eminent in this walk of poetry, who never studied in the schools of the philosophers, nor enjoyed the advantages of an education above the common herd of mankind; I answer, that I am not contending about the vulgar opinion, or concerning the meaning of a word: the man who, by the force of genius and observation, has arrived at a perfect knowledge of mankind, who has ac Poet. Cap. ult. quainted himself with the natural powers of the human mind, and the causes by which the passions are excited and repressed; who not only in words can explain, but can delineate to the senses every emotion of the soul; who can excite, can temper and regulate the passions; such a man, though he may not have acquired erudition by the common methods, I esteem a true philosopher. The passion of jealousy, its causes, circumstances, its progress and effects, I hold to be more accurately, more copiously, more satisfactorily described in one of the dramas of Shakspeare, than in all the disputations of the schools of philosophy. Now if tragedy be of so truly a philosophical nature; and if to all the force and gravity of wisdom it add graces and allurements peculiarly its own, the harmony of verse, the contrivance of the fable, the excellence of imitation, the truth of action; shall we not say that philosophy must yield to poetry in point of utility; or shall we not rather say, that the former is greatly indebted to the latter, of whose assistance and recommendation it makes so advantageous a use, in order to attain its particular purpose, utility or improvement? "But if the force of imitation and fable be so great, the force of truth itself must surely appear much greater: we should therefore apply to history rather than to poetry for instruction in morals." This however is a mistaken notion. History is confined within too narrow limits; history is subject to laws peculiar to itself, and too severe to admit of such an application. It relates things as they really were, it traces events under the guidance of authority; it must exhibit what has happened, not what might or ought to have happened. It must not deviate in quest of reasonable instruction or plausible conjecture, but confine itself to that path, |