Chapter IX: Book IV: Argument (5)

[32] The cant of supposing, that the Iliad contained an obvious and intentional moral, was at this time so established among the critics, that even Dryden durst not shake himself free of it. In all probability, the ancient blind bard only thought of so arranging his splendid tale of Troy divine, that it should arrest the attention of his hearers. Doubtless, an admirable moral may be often extracted from his poem; because it contains an accurate picture of human nature, which can never be truly presented, without conveying a lesson of instruction. But it may shrewdly be suspected, that the moral was as little intended by the author, as it would have been the object of a historian, whose work is equally pregnant with morality, though a detail of facts be only intended. We may be pretty sure, that Homer meant his Achilles, the favourite of the gods, as a character approaching perfection; and if he is cruel, proud, disobedient, and vengeful, I am afraid it was only because these attributes, in a savage state, are deemed as little derogatory from the character of a hero, as dissipation and gallantry are blemishes in that of a modern fine gentleman.

[33] The opinion of Horace is a confirmation of what is stated above. None of the ancients ventured to impute the rudeness of Homer's characters to the barbarity of the poet's age. The faults which they could not shut their eyes against, must, they thought, have been equally apparent to the bard himself; although, in all probability, he meant, that these very attributes in his heroes should be considered as virtues.

[34] "_Bibliopola Tryphon_," a character twice mentioned by Martial, Epig. Lib. IV. 72. XIII. 3. Dryden probably means Tonson.

[35] A Gallicism for the toilette, at which the ladies of Dryden's time, in imitation of their neighbours of France, were wont to receive visits, and hear recitations and readings.

[36] Dryden, in the "Essay on Dramatic Poesy," maintains the cause of Shakespeare and Jonson against the French dramatists.

[37] It appeared first in 1682, and drew the public attention by much sound criticism, expressed in pointed language; although the verse is so untunable and rugged, as to sound very disagreeably to modern ears. Dryden is mentioned with only a qualified degree of respect, and that paid solely to his satirical powers:

The laureat here may justly claim our praise,
Crowned by Mac-Flecnoe with immortal bays;
Yet once his Pegasus has borne dead weight,
Rid by some lumpish minister of state.

The last couplet alludes to the "Hind and Panther."

[38] Our author mentions elsewhere, "The Essay of Poetry, which I publicly valued before I knew the author of it." Vol. XII. p. 275. Although his lordship's experiment proved thus successful, I may be permitted to hint, that most noble authors may find it rather hazardous.

[39] Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered," seems to have been the first heroic poem attempted upon a classical model, after the revival of literature.

[40] Pulci wrote the "Movagante Maggiore," Boiardo the "Orlando Innamorato," and Ariosto the well-known continuation of that poem, called the "Orlando Furioso." The first two poems, like the "Amadigi," and a number of others in the same taste, are rather to be considered as an improvement upon the old metrical romances, than as attempts at epic poetry. At the same time, these authors do not always expect their readers to receive with gravity, the marvels which they narrate; but introduce at every turn some ludicrous image, to shew how little they are themselves serious. Although Ariosto is immeasurably distinguished by brilliancy of imagination, and beauty of expression, from the rest of those romancers, yet even his delightful work may be more properly termed a romance of chivalry than an epic poem; a distinction which the Tuscan bard can hardly regret, since it has afforded, throughout Europe, more general delight than all the epics in the world, if we except those of Homer and Virgil.

[41] "La Pucelle D'Orleans." It will hardly, I hope, be expected, that an editor of Dryden should be deeply read in the French epopee, which of all styles of poetry is the most uniformly stiff and freezing.

[42] That Spenser's twelve champions, each of whom was to atchieve a distinct and separate adventure, could ever have been so brought together, as to entitle the "Fairy Queen" to be called a regular epic, may be justly doubted, I confess I think it probable, that the difficulty of concluding his work, was one great cause of its being left unfinished.

Dryden's objection to the "Paradise Lost," is founded on the unhappy termination, which is contrary to the rules of the epopee. Even so it has been disputed, whether a tragedy, which ends happily, is properly and regularly entitled to the name. Yet the story is more completely winded up in the "Paradise Lost," than in the "Iliad," where Troy is left standing, after all the battles which are fought about it. Our reverence for the ancients, in this and many other instances, has been driven to superstitious bigotry.

[43] In the following comparison, our author assumes, that the "Iliad" was actually written with a view to its moral tendency. But considering the matter fairly, and without prejudice, there is as much reason for supposing, that Shakespeare had a great public purpose to accomplish in every one of his plays; which we know were only written to fill the Bull or the Fortune theatres, as the songs of Homer were recited, minstrel-like, for the supply of his daily wants. But both these gifted men had an intuitive knowledge of human nature, which cannot be justly described, without an evident, though undesigned, moral pressing itself on the hearers. Virgil's poem, however, had certainly a political, if not a moral purpose; for, while it gratified the nobles of the court of Augustus, by deducing their descent from the followers of Æneas, it tamed their republican spirit, by describing the monarchy of the emperor, not as an usurpation, but a hereditary, though interrupted succession, from the wandering Prince of Troy.

[44] This is one of our author's unseemly and far too frequent sneers at the clerical order, for which he is severely reprehended by Milbourne.

[45] Here again Milbourne is very clamorous for authority, and exclaims, that it is one of the fundamental laws of Parnassus to write true history. Dryden probably rested upon the scandalous tale, that Cæsar intrigued with Servilia, the mother of Brutus; though it seems more likely, that he applied to his assassin the endearing epithet of _my son_, merely as a term of affectionate friendship.

[46] The sense which our author has put on this line, has been warmly disputed; many commentators contending, that the elder Cato, called the Censor, and not Cato of Utica, is the person therein honoured. Pope held the same opinion with our poet, and abandoned it; and Spence, quoted by Mr Malone, thus expresses himself:--"Virgil represents the blessed in Elysium, and Cato giving laws to them. This agrees best with the character of Cato the Censor. See Plutarch's account of the Elder Cato; of his strict judgments and laws; of the statue set up to his honour in the temple of Salus, and of the inscription under it, in his Life of that great lawgiver. Seneca speaks as highly of him in that capacity, as of Scipio in the military way: _M. Porcius Censorius, quem tam rei publicæ profuit nasci, quam Scipionem; alter enim cum hostibus nostris bellum, alter cum moribus gessit_. Epist. lxxxvii. If Cato Uticensis could have been placed at all in Elysium by Virgil, (who says, that such as kill themselves are in another part of Hades,) he would, at least, be a very improper person to be set by him in so eminent a situation there."

[47] This is disputed by the learned Heyne. "De _consilio_ quod poeta in Æneide conscribenda sequutus sit, et de _fine_, quem propositum habuerit, multa varii comminiscuntur. Nihil quidem magis alienum esse potest ab epico carmine quam _allegoria_; jugulat enim totam ejus vim, rerum et hominum dignitatem attenuat, gratum animi errorem excutit, et æstum inter legendum refrigerat, voluptatemque omnem intercipit. Certatim tamen viri docti argutiis suis Æneæ personam nobis eripere, et Augustum submittere allaborarunt. Etiam ex parata nova in Latio sede miseros Trojanos exturbarunt; adumbratum esse a poeta novum tum Romæ constitutum unius principatum. Simili acumine alii arcana, nescio quæ, dominationis Augusteæ consilia, in Æneide condenda deprehendere sibi visi sunt. Ita SPENCIUS, elegantis ingenii vir, [Polymetis, Dial. iii. p. 17. sqq.] πολιτικὸν epos esse Æneidem sibi persuasum habebat; neque aliud quicquam poetam spectasse, quam ut animis libertatis ereptæ desiderio ægris fomenta admoveret, et novum principem approbaret. Nihil tamen Æneæ personam, fortunam, facta, et fata habere videas, quod ei consilio respondeat; nullus in Æneide populus est liber, qui dominum accipiat; nulla regni seu imperii, monarchiam vocamus, bona videas exposita aut commendata; verbo nihil occurrit, quo libertatis amore contacti animi adduci aut allici possint, ut a bono principe malint tuto regnari quam cum libertatis vano nomine paucorum potentium dominatione vexari. In Juliæ gentis honorem, quæ ab Iulo Æneæ filio originem ducere videri volebat, nonnulla passim suaviter memorari, ad Augusti laudes ingeniose alia inseri, ipsa carminis lectione manifestum sit, et a veteribus quoque Grammaticis jam monitum est locis pluribus; sed, quantam vim ea res ad dominationem Augusti commendandam habere potuerit, mihi non satis constare lubenter fateor. Neque, si nova Æneæ sedes in Latio divinis humanisque juribus vallata fuerit, quale inde propugnaculum novo Augusti regno partum sit, intelligo; ut adeo, si demonstrari hoc possit, poetæ consilium illud in Æneide condenda propositum fuisse, parum feliciter eum in eo perficiendo et exsequendo versatum videri dicerem.

"In eandem tamen opinionem jam ante Spencium inciderat vir doctus inter Francogallos, [L'Abbé Vatry,] qui imprimis similitudinem inter Æneæ et Augusti personam et fortunam diserte persequitur. Ingeniose eum ludere non neges; et convenit ei cum multis aliis doctis viris, qui opinantur, Augustum sub Æneæ persona esse adumbratum; eo referunt multa alia. Videas nonnullos tam egregie sibi placere in hoc invento, ut undique conquirant et venentur ea, quæ ad Augustum accommodari possint. Sic oris dignitas (lib. i. 589, _Os humerosque deos_.) cum assentatione in Augustum memorata est. Ignoscenda hæc putem alicui ex media assentatorum turba, qui Æneide lecta unam vel alteram Æneæ laudem ad Augustum traheret, ut Principi palparet. Sed, ut MARO tam dissimiles personas, fortunas, virtutes et facta ac res gestas, inter se comparare voluerit, mihi quidem, si ejus judicium et elegantiam recte teneo, parum probabile videtur. Sapientior erat poeta, et rei poeticæ intelligentior, quam ut talem cogitationem in animum admitteret. Nam præterquam quod Æneæ characterem non invenit, sed ab aliis jam traditum accepit, circumspiciendæ erant a poeta virtutes Æneæ ejusmodi, quæ in epico argumento vim et splendorem haberent, et factorum, quæ enarranda erant, causas idoneas suppeditarent. Quod si ille studium suum ponere voluisset maxime in hoc, et Æneas Augusto assimularetur, quam multa et quam parum consentanea epicæ narrationi, argumento, operis characteri, temporum rationi, illaturus in carmen suum fuisset!

"Eadem fere via carmen πολιτικὸν conditum a poeta visum jam olim erat R. Patri le Bossu, ut Romanos partim ad amplectendum et probandum præsentem rerum statum adducere, partim Augustum ad moderationem ac clementiam adhortari, et a dominationis libidine et impotentia revocare voluerit. Sed nec huic consilio ulla ex parte respondet Æneidis sive argumentum sive tractatio: profugus ex urbe incensa Æneas novam sedem quærit, armis vim illatam propulsat, et sic porro; quid tandem his inest, quod ad imperandi artes ac virtutes spectet? Fabulæ tamen Virgilianæ universe inesse, et in singulis carminis partibus aut locis ac versibus occurrere talia, quæ principibus pro salubribus præceptis commendari possint, nemo neget; quin potius inter utilitates, quæ poetarum carminibus debentur, præcipue hoc commemorandum est. Verum non propterea dici potest ac debet, in condendo carmine et in fabula deligenda et ordinanda tale præceptum propositum poetæ fuisse, cujus explicandi caussa narrationem institueret. Narrare ille voluit ac debuit rem magnam et arduam et mirabilem. Quod narratio illa, et delectatio quæ inde accipitur, cum utilitate ad omnes hominum ordines, inprimisque ad principum animos conjuncta est, hoc epicæ narrationi per se consentaneum est; ipsa enim rei natura ita fert, ut magnorum virorum facta magna et præclara sine summo ad hominum animos, mores ac virtutem, fructu exponi et narrari nequeant, multo magis si cum sententiarum splendore et orationis ornatu instituta sit narratio." VIRG. a C. G. Heyne. Disquisit. i. de Carm. Epico.

[48] I suspect our author spoke from recollection of some of his own satirical strokes. Even in the "Hind and Panther," Sunderland, a convert to the religion defended by the poet, and Petre, the king's own chaplain and bosom counsellor, do not escape.

[49] The prophecy of Juno, in the Third Ode of the Third Book.

[50] Dryden had forgot, what he must certainly have known, that the fiction of Achilles being invulnerable, bears date long posterior to the days of Homer. In the Iliad he is actually wounded.

[51] The same compound is used in "Absalom and Achitophel," as has been noticed by Mr Malone:

Gods they had tried of every shape and size,
That godsmiths could produce, or priests devise.

[52] The Scots, about Dryden's time, had many superstitions concerning individuals, whom they supposed to be shot-proof, by virtue of a satanic charm. The famous Viscount of Dundee was supposed to be invulnerable to bullets of lead; and when Archbishop Sharpe was murdered, the assassins having missed him, although very near when they first discharged their pieces, imputed the scorched marks left by the powder on his skin to contusions received from their balls. But the word _warlock_, or _warlough_, means a male sorcerer in general; and has not, as Dryden seems to suppose, any reference to this particular charm. It seems rather to be derived from _wird_ and _laere_, a compound which would imply "skilled in futurity."

[53] The vulgar, to use Gay's account, believe,

How if on Swithin's feast the welkin lowers,
And every pent-house streams with hasty showers;
Twice twenty days shall clouds their fleeces drain,
And wash the pavements with incessant rain.

[54] The son of Sir Walter Moyle, an accomplished scholar, whom Dryden elsewhere mentions with esteem. He died in 1621.

[55] It is agreeable to see, from this and other passages, that, notwithstanding an intervening rupture, our author, at the latter end of his life, was on good terms with his brother-in-law, to whom he was so much indebted at the commencement of his poetical career.

[56] Author of the "True Intellectual System of the Universe," folio, 1678.

[57] Milbourne is very severe on our author for crediting this story, of Virgil having condemned the Æneïd to the flames. But it is sanctioned by the Elder Pliny. "_D. Augustus carmina Virgilii cremari contra testamenti ejus verecundiam, vetuit; majusque ita vati testimonium contigit, quam si ipse sua probasset._"--HIST. NAT. vii. 30.

[58] I am afraid, this passage, given as a just description of love, serves to confirm what is elsewhere stated, that Dryden's ideas of the female sex and of the passion were very gross and malicious.

[59] "_Legatus est vir bonus, peregrè missus ad mentiendum reipublicæ causa_;" a sentence which Sir Henry wrote in the _Album_ of Christopher Flecamore, as he passed through Germany, when he went as ambassador to Venice. These words, says his biographer, Isaac Walton, "he could have been content should have been thus Englished: _An ambassador is an honest man, sent to_ lie _abroad for the good of his country_: but the word _mentiendum_ not admitting of a double meaning, like _lie_, (which at that time signified to _sojourn_, as well as to utter criminal falshood,) this pleasantry brought my Lord Ambassador into some trouble; Jasper Scioppius, a Romanist, about eight years afterwards, asserting in one of his works, that this was an acknowledged principle of the religion professed by King James, and those whom he employed as his representatives in foreign countries." See the Life of Sir Henry Wotton, p. 38. edit. 1670.--MALONE, p. 486. Note.

[60] See the "Translation of Dido's Epistle to Æneas," Vol. xii. p. 34.

[61]: The emperor Augustus divorced Scribonia, his second wife, in order to make room for his marriage with Livia. But the argument of our author from the Æneïd seems far-fetched.

[62] This original and expressive word for a poet was long retained in Scotland.--See Dunbar's Lament for the Death of the Makyrs.

[63] Mr Malone reads--_so strong_; but _strange_ here seems to signify _alarming_, or _startling_.

[64] Dacier.

[65] I fear there is something in this objection. Virgil, who lived in a peaceful court, does not draw his battles with the animation and reality of Homer, who, if he was not himself a warrior, was the poet of a rude and warlike age.

[66] Unquestionably the description, in the passage quoted, and the simile, aid each other with great mutual effect.

[67] Commentators on the Scripture, mentioned by our author in the "Religio Laici," where, speaking of Dickenson's translation of Pere Simon's "Critical History of the Old Testament," he calls it

A treasure, which, if country curates buy,
They Junius and Tremellius may defy.--Vol. X. p. 44.

[68] This display of learning seems a little out of place. Undoubtedly it was important, if the accusation had been, that Virgil had misplaced his seasons. But, as to the mere length of time employed in his epic, there seems no better reason why it should be a year than a month, or two years than one, so long as the interest is effectually maintained.

[69] Our author seems always to have had a view to form the machinery of an epic poem, upon the principles of the Platonic philosophy, which he proposed to adapt to the guardian angels of kingdoms, mentioned by the prophet Daniel. Vol. xii. p. 25.

[70] These lines are inaccurately quoted, for

----_Non me tua fervida terrent
Dicta, ferox_, &c.

Æneid xii. l. 895.

[71] Misquoted again; for

----_non me tua fervida terrent
Dicta, ferox_.

I think the passage may easily be interpreted without disparagement of Æneas's valour, even without adopting Dryden's construction. Turnus, a brave and proud man, reduced to the humiliating situation of confessing his fears, naturally imputes them to the more honourable cause, a dread, namely, of supernatural interference. To confess his terror to arise from the force of his mortal adversary, would have been degrading to his character.

[72] It is singular, that, under this conviction, Dryden should have complied with the custom of his age, in striking out the vowel before the end of such words as _winged_.

[73] This celebrated couplet occurs in Sir John Denham's "Cooper's Hill," a poem which was praised beyond its merit by the author's contemporaries. After allowing that the lines are smooth and sonorous, which indeed were infrequent qualities of the versification of the period, I fear much of their merit lies in the skilful antithesis of the attributes of the river.

[74] Louis XIV.; whom Dryden probably in his heart compared with disadvantage to the needy Charles, who loved literary merit without rewarding it; the saturnine James, who rewarded without loving it; and the phlegmatic William, who did neither the one nor the other.

[75] St John, in his conversation with Astolfo, on the latter's arrival in the Moon.

[76] This is not expressed with sufficient precision. Undoubtedly one possessing those true poetic qualities, which consist in the thought and not in the mere arrangement of expression, will shine most in the easiest structure of versification. But there is a very inferior, yet not altogether contemptible kind of poet, whose merit consists more in melody of versification, and neatness or even felicity of expression, than in his powers of conception. Such bards will do well to avail themselves of the melody of rhyme.

[77] A learned physician of Dryden's time.

[78] There can be, I think, little doubt, that in both these passages the poet has detected the true and poetical sense of the author, which has escaped the mere commentator.

[79] All of whom had made slight and partial attempts as translators from Virgil.

[80] This comparison our author has detailed in his preface to Fresnoy's "Art of Painting."

"I am now come, though with the omission of many likenesses, to the third part of Painting, which is called cromatic, or colouring. Expression, and all that belongs to words, is that in a poem which colouring is in a picture. The colours well chosen in their proper places, together with the lights and shadows which belong to them, lighten the design, and make it pleasing to the eye. The words, the expressions, the tropes and figures, the versification, and all the other elegancies of sound, as cadences, turns of words upon the thought, and many other things which are all parts of expression, perform exactly the same office, both in dramatic and epic poetry. Our author calls colouring--_lena sororis_; in plain English, the bawd of her sister, the design or drawing: she clothes, she dresses her up, she paints her, she makes her appear more lovely than naturally she is, she procures for the design, and makes lovers for her; for the design of itself is only so many naked lines. Thus in poetry, the expression is that which charms the reader, and beautifies the design, which is only the outlines of the fables."

[81] This river, which flows past Madrid, is distinguished by the splendour of its bridge, and the scantiness of its waters.

[82] Now more commonly called an Alexandrine. Pope had perhaps this passage in his memory, when he composed the famous triplet descriptive of Dryden's versification:

Waller was smooth; but Dryden taught to join
The varying verse, the full resounding line,
The long majestic march, and energy divine.

[83] He alludes to Cowley, who was forced abroad by the ill fate of the royal party in the civil wars.

[84] Our author has, however, availed himself of this licence in his earlier poetry.

[85] The confusion occasioned by the rules of the mint, then recently adopted, created great inconvenience and distress to individuals. It is often mentioned in the correspondence between Tonson and Dryden.

[86] Nevertheless, our author, long before undertaking the translation of Virgil, had given a noble paraphrase of these lines in the Hind's address to the Panther:

This mean retreat did mighty Pan contain;}
Be emulous of him, and pomp disdain, }
And dare not to debase your soul to gain.}

_Vol. X. p. 184._

[87] Richard, fourth earl of Lauderdale, nephew of that respectable minister the Duke of Lauderdale. "He had a fine genius for poetry," says Sir Robert Douglas, in his Peerage of Scotland; "witness his elegant translation of Virgil."

[88] Dr Knightly Chetwood and Mr Addison. The former wrote the "Life of Virgil," and the "Preface to the Pastorals;" the latter, the "Essay on the Georgics." See Introductory Notes on these Pieces.

[89]

_Ille ego, qui quondam gracili modulatus avena
Carmen, et, egressus silvis, vicina coegi
Ut quamvis avido parerent arva colono,
Gratum opus agricolis; at nunc horrentia Martis_...

The characteristic modesty of our author, as well as the rugged and turgid structure of these lines, have authorised modern critics to conclude, that neither the sense nor expression of these four lines resembles the genuine productions of Virgil.

[90] A Latinism for "throwing back."

[91] See Vol. V. p. 174.

[92] Their mothers were half sisters, being both daughters of Lionel Cranfield, earl of Middlesex.

[93] _Concio ad Clerum_, a sermon preached before a learned body.

ÆNEÏS,