beautiful and well invented allegory. But notwithstanding the fineness of the allegory may atone for it in some measure, I can not think that persons of such a chimerical existence are proper actors in an epic poem; because there is not that measure of probability annexed to them which is requisite in writings of this kind, as I shall show more at large hereafter. Virgil has indeed admitted Fame as an actress in the Eneid; but the part she acts is very short, and none of the most admired circumstances in that divine work. We find in mock heroic poems, particularly in the Dispensary and the Lutrin, several allegorical persons of this nature, which are very beautiful in those compositions, and may, perhaps, be used as an argument, that the authors of them were of opinion such characters might have a place in an epic work. For my own part, I should be glad the reader would think so, for the sake of the poem I am now examining; and must further add, that if such empty and unsubstantial beings may ever be made use of on this occasion, never were any more nicely imagined, and employed in more proper actions, than those of which I am now speaking. Another principal actor in this poem is the great enemy of mankind. The part of Ulysses in Homer's Odyssey is very much admired by Aristotle, as perplexing that fable with very agreeable plots and intricacies, not only by the many adventures in his voyage, and the subtlety of his behaviour, but by the various concealments * The titles of two poems, the first by Dr. Garth, the econd in French by Boileau. and discoveries of his person in several parts of that poem. But the crafty being I have now mentioned makes a much longer voyage than Ulysses, puts in practise many more wiles and stratagems, and hides himself under a greater variety of shapes and appearances; all of which are severally detected, to the great delight and surprise of the reader. We may likewise observe, with how much art the poet has varied several characters of the persons that speak in his infernal assembly. On the contrary, how has he represented the whole Godhead exerting itself towards man in its full benevolence, under the threefold distinction of a Creator, a Redeemer, and a Comforter! Nor must we omit the person of Raphael, who, amidst his tenderness and friendship for man, shows such a dignity and condescension in all his speech and behaviour, as are suitable to a superior nature. The angels are indeed as much diversified in Milton, and distinguished by their proper parts, as the gods are in Homer or Virgil. The reader will find nothing ascribed to Uriel, Gabriel, Michael, or Raphael, which is not in a particular manner suitable to their respective characters. There is another circumstance in the principal actors of the Iliad and Æneid, which gives a peculiar beauty to those two poems, and was therefore contrived with very great judgment; I mean the authors having chosen for their heroes persons who were so nearly related to the people for whom they wrote; Achilles was a Greek, and Eneas the remote founder of Rome. By this means their countrymen (whom they principally propose to themselves for their readers) were particularly attentive to all the parts of their story, and sympathized with their heroes in all their adventures. A Roman could not but rejoice in the escapes, successes and victories of Eneas, and be grieved at any defeats, misfortunes, or disappointments that befel him; as a Greek must have had the same regard for Achilles. And it is plain that each of those poems have lost this great advantage, among those readers to whom their heroes are as strangers or indifferent persons. Milton's poem is admirable in this respect, since it is impossible for any of its readers, whatever nation, country, or people he may belong to, not to be related to the persons who are the principal actors in it. But what is still infinitely more to its advantage, the principal actors in this poem are not only our progenitors, but our representatives. We have an actual interest in every thing they do; and no less than our utmost happiness is concerned and lies at stake in all their behaviour. I shall subjoin, as a corrolary to the foregoing remark, an admirable observation out of Aristotle, which has been very much misrepresented in the quotations of some modern critics. If a man of perfect and consummate virtue falls into a misfortune, it raises our pity, but not our terror; because we do not fear that it may be our own case, who do not resemble the suffering person.' But, as that great philosopher adds, If we see a man of virtue mixed with infirmities, fall into any misfortune, it does not only raise our pity but our terror; because we are afraid that the like misfortunes may happen to ourselves, who resemble the character of the suffering person. I shall take another opportunity to observe, that a person of an absolute and consummate virtue should never be introduced in tragedy: and shall only remark in this place, that the foregoing observation of Aristotle, though it may be true in other occasions, does not hold in this: because, in the present case, though the persons who fall into misfortune are of the most perfect and consummate virtue, it is not to be considered as what may possibly be, but what actually is our own case; since we are embarked with them on the same bottom, and must be partakers of their happiness or misery. In this and some other very few instances, Aristotle's rules for epic poetry, which he had drawn from his reflections upon Homer, can not be supposed to quadrate exactly with the heroic poems which have been made since his time: since it is plain his rules would still have been more perfect, could he have perused the Æneid which was made some hundred years after his death. In my next, I shall go through other parts of Milton's poem; and hope that what I shall there advance, as well as what I have already written, will not only serve as a comment upon Milton,* but upon Aristotle. ADDISON. L. *See Nos. 267, 279, 285, 291, 297, 303, 309, 315, 321 227, 333, 339, 345, 351, 357, 363, 369. No. 274. MONDAY, JANUARY 14 Audire est operæ pretium, procedere rectè HOR. All you who think the city ne'er can thrive POPE. I HAVE, upon several occasions* that have occurred since I first took into my thoughts the present state of fornication, weighed with myself, in behalf of guilty females, the impulses of flesh and blood, together with the arts and gallantries of crafty men; and reflect with some scorn, that most part of what we in our youth think gay and polite is nothing else but a habit of indulging a pruriency that way. It will cost some labour to bring people to so lively a sense of this, as to recover the manly modesty in the behaviour of my men-readers, and the bashful grace in the faces of my women. But in all cases which come into debate there are certain things previously to be done before we can have a true light into the subject matter: therefore it will, in the first place, be necessary to consider the impotent wenchers and industrious hags, who are supplied with, and are constantly supplying, new sacrifices to the devil of lust. You are to know then, if you are so happy as not to know it already, that the great havoc which is made in the habitations of beauty and innocence, is committed by such as can only lay waste, and not enjoy the soil. When you * On this subject see Nos. 266, 277 and 286. |