Telephus et Peleus, cum pauper et exsul uterque, Projicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba, Si curat cor spectantis tetigisse querelâ. Non satis est pulchra esse* poëmata; dulcia sunto, 99 Et quocunque volent, animum auditoris agunto. Ut ridentibus arrident, ita flentibus adsunt† Humani vultus: si vis me flere, dolendum est Primùm ipsi tibi: tunc tua me infortunia lædent, Telephe. vel Peleu: malè si mandata loqueris, Aut dormitabo, aut ridebo. Tristia mostum 105 Vultum verba decent; iratum, plena minarum; Ludentem, lasciva; severum, seria dictu. Format enim natura priùs nos intùs ad omnem Fortunarum habitum; juvat aut impellit ad iram, Aut ad humum mærore gravi deducit, et angit: 110 Post effert animi motus interprete linguâ Si dicentis erunt fortunis absona dicta, Romani tollent equites peditesque cachinnum.‡ Intererit multum, Davusne loquatur, an heros;} Maturusne senex, ad adhuc florente juventâ 115 Fervidus; an matrona potens, an sedula nutrix; Mercatorne vagus, cultorne virentis agelli; Colchus, an Assyrius; Thebis nutritus, an Argis. * Nec satis est pura esse. Ita flentibus adflent. Faber. Equitesque patresque cachinnum. Bentl. § Davusne loquatur, herusne. grief in a prosaic style. Telephus and Peleus, when they are both in poverty and exile, throw aside their rants and gigantic expressions, if they have a mind to move the heart of the spectator with their complaint. It is not enough that poems be beautiful; let them be tender and affecting, and bear away the soul of the auditor wheresoever they please. As the human countenance smiles on those that smile, so does it sympathize with those that weep. If you would have me weep, you must first express the passion of grief yourself; then, Telephus, or Peleus, your misfortunes really hurt me: but if you pronounce the parts assigned you ill, I shall either fall asleep or laugh. Pathetic accents suit a melancholy countenance; words full of menaces require an angry aspect; wanton expressions, a sportive look; and serious matter, an austere one. For nature forms us first within to every modification of fortune; she prompts or impels us to anger; or depresses us to the earth, and afflicts us with insupportable sorrow: then expresses those emotions of the mind by the tongue, its interpreter. If the words be discordant to the station of the speaker, the Roman knights and plebeians* will raise an immoderate laugh. For it will make a wide difference whether it be Davus that speakes, or a hero; a man well stricken in years, or a hot young fellow in his bloom: and a matron of distinction, or an officious nurse; a roaming merchant, or the cultivator of a verdant inclosure: a Colchian, or an Assyrian; one educated at Thebes, or one at Argos. * Viz. Persons of all ranks. Aut famam sequere, aut sibi convenientia finge Scriptor: honoratum si fortè* reponis Achillem; 120 Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer, Jura neget sibi nata; nihil non arroget armis. 124 Si quid inexpertum scenæ committis, et audes Personam formare novam: servetur ad imum Qualis ab incepto processerit, et sibi constet. Difficile est propriè communia dicere: tuque Rectiùs Iliacum carmen deducis in actus, Quàm si proferres ignota indictaque primus. 130 Publica materies privati juris erit, si 134 Nec circa vilem patulumque moraberis orbem; *Scriptor. Homereum si fortè. Bentl. Scripta; inhonoratum si. Creech, + Unde pedem referre. Cunn. * Mr. Hurd proposes to read this verse in the following manner, Qualis ab incepto processerit AUT sibi constet; and runs into some ingenious refinements to prove the specific difference between UNIFORMITY and CONSISTENCY. You that write, either follow tradition, or invent such fables as are congruous to themselves. If you have to represent the renowned Achilles, let him be indefatigable, wrathful, inexorable, courageous; let him deny that laws were made for him; let him arrogate every thing by force of arms. Let Medea be fierce and untractable, Ino an object of pity, Ixion perfidious, Io wandering, Orestes in circumstances of distress. If you offer to the stage any thing unattempted, and venture to form a new character, let it be preserved at the last such as it set out at the beginning, *and be consistent with itself. It is difficult to write with propriety on subjects to which all writers have a common claim; † and you with more prudence will reduce the Iliad into five acts, than be the first to introduce arguments unknown, and never treated on before. A public story will become your own property, if you do not dwell upon the whole circle of events, which is paltry, and open to every one; nor must you be so faithful a translator, as to take the pains of rendering your author word for word; nor, by closely imitating, throw yourself into such straits, from whence either shame, and the rules of your work, may forbid you to retreat. Nor must you make such an exordium as the itinerant scribbler of old: ‡ “I will sing the fate of + Subjects unhandled by any body, and therefore common for all. Cyclicus, from xvxos, circulator circumforaneus, a vagabond bard, that sung verses of his own composition in the streets. Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu? dim. 145 Nec reditum Diomedis ab interitu Meleagri, *Parturient montes. + Captæ post monia Troja, Si fautoris eges. Bentl. 155 § Mobilusque decor, maturis dandus et annis, Bentl. |