CHAP. Of the Su were never in much repute *; notwithstanding that the author of the Inquiry into the Sublime blime and and Beautiful found so admirable a specimen Pathetic. of them in one of the most admired passages of their most faultless poet. 85. Their fundamental maxim was, that sound sense or intelligence was the only just principle of good writing of any kind; Scribendi recte sapere est et principium et fons †. and the more clearly and distinctly this was expressed the better. Without it, all the impassioned modes of speech, of which the above-mentioned author speaks, are nothing but sonorous jargon-the froth and tinsel of rhetoric, which raise expectation only to disappoint it. What is it, that makes the impassioned language of Achilles, Macbeth, and Othello so interesting, but the strong sense and energy of mind that beams through it? No orator nor logician ever reasoned more strongly, εκ αν αληθες ύψος ενη, μεχρι μονης της ακοης σωζόμενον. LONGIN. f. vii. + "Est eloquentiæ, sicut reliquarum, fundamentum sapientia." Cic. Orator. c. 70. vol. i. 610. Subl. and Beaut. "Quid est enim tam furiosum, quam verborum vel optimorum atque ornatissimorum sonitus inanis, nulla subjecta sententia nec scientia." Cic. de Orator. i. c. 12. "Prima est eloquentiæ virtus perspicuitas. "Erit ergo obscurior etiam, quo quisque deterior." QUINTIL. Instit. lib. ii. c. iii. CHAP. 1. blime and Pathetic. more clearly, or more correctly, than Achilles does in his most eloquent and most impassioned of the Sureply to the ambassadors of Agamemnon; and it is this strength of reasoning, which makes us sympathize so cordially with the expression of passion; since it shows the vigour, as well as the sensibility of his mind; and it is the union of these two qualities, which constitutes true sublimity of character. 86. The same principle of sound sense, correct intelligence, and clear expression manifests itself in all the descriptive parts of the great poets of antiquity; whether the subjects of them be images, or energies; visible or intellectual properties: nor is it less manifested in the description of the formation of the thunder-bolts above cited, than in that of the shield of Achilles for all the embodied powers or energies, that are employed in it, are really such as belong to thunder and lightning. Had the poet introduced others :--had he employed frost for fire, drought for rain, silence for sound, or mercy for wrath, it would really have been sonorous nonsense, as the critic imagined; but, in that case, I do not believe that any ordinary reader would have discovered it to be sublime, whatever a system-builder might have thought of it. 87. I admit, however, that the impassioned and enthusiastic language of poetry is absolutely CHAP. 1. Of the Su necessary to reconcile the mind to these bold descriptions, composed of personified and emblime and bodied powers and energies: for, if such bril, Pathetic. liant coruscations of fancy be shown through the cold medium of reason instead of the glow ing one of inspiration, the tone of colouring becomes so inconsistent with the form, that we can no longer recognize them. Not only a poetical, therefore, but a metrical style, the tone of which is highly exalted above that of the common vehicle of common social intercourse, is absolutely necessary to convey them with proper effect to the mind: wherefore we never find them in any but the heroic or lyric metres of the Greeks; the elegiac, or iambic, not being sufficiently dignified and exalted to bear them. Our blank verse, though used as an heroic metre, and appropriated to the most elevated subjects, is, like the Greek iambic, too near to the tone of common colloquial speech to accord well with such flights; nor do I believe that it would be possible to translate the above cited passage of Virgil into it, without losing all its poetical spirit, and consequently making it appear nonsensical as well as insipid. 88. The obscurity of the lyric style of Pindar and the Greek tragedians does not arise from any confusion or indistinctness in the imagery; but from its conciseness and abruptness; and from its being shown to the mind in sudden She wolf of France, with unrelenting fangs, Mighty victor, mighty lord, Low on his funeral couch he lies!. No pitying heart, no eye, afford A tear to grace his obsequies. Is the sable warrior fled? Thy son is gone. He rests among the dead. The swarm, that in thy noontide beam were born? Gone to salute the rising morn. Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows, In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes; Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm; CHAP. I. Of the Sublime and Pathetic. CHAP Of the Sublime and Pathetic. Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway, The rich repast prepare, 'Reft of a crown, he still may share the feast: Close by the regal chair Fell Thirst and Famine scowl A baleful smile upon their baffled guest, &c. This is in Pindar's best manner; but surely here is no confusion, indistinctness, or obscurity of imagery; but only bold metaphors, strong contrasts, and abrupt transitions from triumph to dejection, from mourning to gaiety, and from festivity to famine; to which sudden and violent oppositions, the brilliancy of the effect in the whole is, in a great measure, owing. 89. The imagery of Milton, as before observed, is often confused and obscure; and so far it is faulty: but, nevertheless, I can find neither confusion nor obscurity in the passage, which has been so confidently quoted as an instance of both *. Ile above the rest, In shape and gesture proudly eminent, * Sublime and Beautiful, P. II. f. iv. |