It may be allowed to be a question fit for the determination of those concerning whom Cato said, Their palates are more sensitive than their hearts, whether that saying of Philoxenus the poet be true or no, The most savory flesh is that which is no flesh, and fish that is no fish. Yet this to me, Marcus Sedatus, is out of question, that those precepts of philosophy which seem not to be delivered with a designed gravity, such as becomes philosophers, take most with persons that are very young, and meet with a more ready acceptance and compliance from them. Whence it is that they do not only read through Esop’s fables and the fictions of poets and the Abaris of Heraclides and Ariston’s Lyco; but they also read such doctrines as relate to the souls of men, if something fabulous be mixed with them, with an excess of pleasure that borders on enthusiasm. Wherefore we are not only to govern their appetites in the delights of eating and drinking, but also (and much more) to inure them to a like temperance in reading and hearing, that, while they make use of pleasure as a sauce, they may pursue that which is wholesome and profitable in those things which they read. For neither can a city be secure if but one gate be left open to receive the enemy, though all the rest be shut; nor a young man safe, though he be sufficiently fortified against the assaults of all other pleasures, whilst he is without any guard against those of the ear. Yea, the nearer the commerce is betwixt the delights of that sense and those of the mind and reason, by so much the more, when he lies open on that side, is he apt to be debauched and corrupted thereby. Seeing therefore we cannot (and perhaps would not if we could) debar young men of the size of my Soclarus and thy Cleander altogether from the reading of poets, yet let us keep the stricter guard upon them, as those who need a guide to direct them in their reading more than in their walks. Upon which consideration, I find myself disposed to send thee at present in writing that discourse concerning Poetry which I had lately an occasion to deliver by word of mouth; that, when thou hast read it over thyself, thou mayst also make such use of it, if thou judgest it may be serviceable to that purpose, as those which are engaged to drink hard do of amethysts (or preservatives against drunkenness),— that is, that thou mayst communicate it to Cleander, to prepossess him therewith; seeing he is naturally endowed with a brisk, piercing, and daring wit, and therefore more prone to be inveigled by that sort of study. They say of the fish called polypus thatHis head in one respect is very good,But in another very naughty food;because, though it be very luscious to eat, yet it is thought to disturb the fancy with frightful and confused dreams. And the like observation may be made concerning poetry, that it affords sweet and withal wholesome nourishment to the minds of young men, but yet it contains likewise no less matter of disturbance and emotion to them that want a right conduct in the study thereof. For of it also, as well as of Egypt, may it be said that (to those who will use it)Its over-fertile and luxuriant fieldMedicines and poisons intermixt doth yield;for thereinLove with soft passions and rich language drestOft steals the heart out of th’ ingenuous breast.And indeed such only are endangered thereby, for the charms of that art ordinarily affect not those that are downright sots and naturally incapable of learning. Wherefore, when Simonides was asked why of all men he could not deceive the Thessalians, his answer was, Because they are not so well bred as to be capable of being cajoled by me. And Gorgias used to call tragical poems cheats, wherein he that did cheat was juster than he that did not cheat, and he that was cheated was wiser than he that was not cheated. It deserves therefore our consideration, whether we shall put young men into Epicurus’s boat,—wherein, having their ears stopped with wax, as those of the men of Ithaca were, they shall be obliged to sail by and not so much as touch at poetry,—or rather keep a guard on them, so as to oblige their judgments by principles of right reason to use it aright, and preserve them from being seduced to their hurt by that which affords them so much delight. For neither did Lycurgus, the valiant son of Dryas (as Homer calls him) act like a man of sound reason in the course which he took to reform his people that were much inclined to drunkenness, by travelling up and down to destroy all the vines in the country; whereas he should have ordered that every vine should have a well of water near it, that (as Plato saith) the drunken deity might be reduced to temperance by a sober one. For water mixed with wine takes away the hurtful spirits, while it leaves the useful ones in it. Neither should we cut down or destroy the Muses’ vine, poetry; but where we perceive it luxuriates and grows wild through an ungoverned appetite of applause, there ought we to prune away or keep under the fabulous and theatrical branches thereof; and where we find any of the Graces linked to any of the Muses,—that is, where the lusciousness and tempting charms of language are not altogether barren and unprofitable,—there let us bring in philosophy to incorporate with it. For as, where the mandrake grows near the vine and so communicates something of its force thereto, the wine that is made of its grapes makes the sleep of those that drink it more refreshing; so doth the tempering poetry with the principles of philosophy and allaying their roughness with its fictions render the study of them more easy and the relish of them more grateful to young learners. Wherefore those that would give their minds to philosophical studies are not obliged to avoid poetry altogether, but rather to prepare themselves for philosophy by poems, accustoming themselves to search for and embrace that which may profit in that which pleaseth them, and rejecting and discarding that wherein they find nothing of this nature. For this discrimination is the first step to learning; and when this is attained, then, according to what Sophocles saith,—To have begun well what we do intendGives hope and prospect of as good an end.
εἰ μέν, ὡς Φιλόξενυς ὁ ποιητὴς ἔλεγεν, ὦ Μάρκε Σήδατε, τῶν κρεῶν τὰ μὴ κρέα ἥδιστά ἐστι καὶ τῶν ἰχθύων οἱ μὴ ἰχθύες, ἐκείνοις ἀποφαίνεσθαι παρῶμεν οἷς ὁ Κάτων ἔφη τῆς καρδίας τὴν ὑπερῴαν εὐαισθητοτέραν ὑπάρχειν. ὅτι δὲ τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ λεγομένων οἱ σφόδρα νέοι τοῖς μὴ δοκοῦσι φιλοσόφως μηδʼ ἀπὸ σπουδῆς λέγεσθαι χαίρουσι μᾶλλον καὶ παρέχουσιν ὑπηκόους ἑαυτοὺς καὶ χειροήθεις, δῆλόν ἐστιν ἡμῖν. οὐ γὰρ μόνον τὰ Αἰσώπεια μυθάρια καὶ τὰς ποιητικὰς ὑποθέσεις ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν Ἄβαριν τὸν Ἡρακλείδου καὶ τὸν Λύκωνα τὸν Ἀρίστωνος διερχόμενοι καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν ψυχῶν δόγματα μεμιγμένα μυθολογίᾳ μεθʼ ἡδονῆς ἐνθουσιῶσι. διὸ δεῖ μὴ μόνον ἐν ταῖς περὶ ἐδωδὴν καὶ πόσιν ἡδοναῖς διαφυλάττειν εὐσχήμονας αὐτούς, ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον ἐν ταῖς ἀκροάσεσιν καὶ ἀναγνώσεσιν ἐθίζειν, ὥσπερ ὄψῳ χρωμένους μετρίως τῷ τέρποντι, τὸ χρήσιμον ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ σωτήριον διώκειν. οὔτε γὰρ πόλιν αἱ κεκλειμέναι πύλαι τηροῦσιν ἀνάλωτον, ἂν διὰ μιᾶς παραδέξηται τοὺς πολεμίους, οὔτε νέον αἱ περὶ τὰς ἄλλας ἡδονὰς ἐγκράτειαι σῴζουσιν, ἄν γε διʼ ἀκοῆς λάθῃ προέμενος αὑτόν, ἀλλʼ ὅσον μᾶλλον αὕτη τοῦ φρονεῖν καὶ λογίζεσθαι πεφυκότος ἅπτεται, τοσοῦτο μᾶλλον ἀμεληθεῖσα βλάπτει καὶ διαφθείρει τὸν παραδεξάμενον. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν οὔτʼ ἴσως δυνατόν ἐστιν οὔτʼ ὠφέλιμον ποιημάτων ἀπείργειν τὸν τηλικοῦτον ἡλίκος οὑμός τε τὸ νῦν Σώκλαρός ἐστι καὶ ὁ σὸς Κλέανδρος, εὖ μάλα παραφυλάττωμεν αὐτούς, ὡς ἐν ταῖς ἀναγνώσεσι μᾶλλον ἢ ταῖς ὁδοῖς παιδαγωγίας δεομένους. ἃ δʼ οὖν ἐμοὶ περὶ ποιημάτων εἰπεῖν πρῴην ἐπῆλθε, νῦν πρὸς σὲ γεγραμμένα πέμψαι διενοήθην. καὶ λαβὼν ταῦτα δίελθε, κὰν δοκῇ σοι μηδὲν εἶναι φαυλότερα τῶν ἀμεθύστων καλουμένων, ἅ τινες ἐν τοῖς πότοις περιάπτονται καὶ προλαμβάνουσι, μεταδίδου τῷ Κλεάνδρῳ καὶ προκαταλάμβανε τὴν φύσιν αὐτοῦ διὰ τὸ μηδαμοῦ νωθρὸν ἀλλὰ πανταχοῦ σφοδρὸν καὶ δεδορκὸς εὐαγωγοτέραν ὑπὸ τῶν τοιούτων οὖσαν.πουλύποδος κεφαλῇ ἔνι μὲν κακὸν ἐν δὲ καὶ ἐσθλόνὅτι βρωθῆναι μέν ἐστιν ἥδιστος, δυσόνειρον δʼ ὕπνον ποιεῖ, φαντασίας ταραχώδεις καὶ ἀλλοκότους δεχόμενον, ὡς λέγουσιν. οὕτω δὴ καὶ ποιητικῇ πολὺ μὲν τὸ ἡδὺ καὶ τρόφιμον νέου ψυχῆς ἔνεστιν, οὐκ ἔλαττον δὲ τὸ ταρακτικὸν καὶ παράφορον, ἂν μὴ τυγχάνῃ παιδαγωγίας ὀρθῆς ἡ ἀκρόασις. οὐ γὰρ μόνον ὡς ἔοικε περὶ τῆς Αἰγυπτίων χώρας ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῆς ποιητικῆς ἔστιν εἰπεῖν ὅτιφάρμακα πολλὰ μὲν ἐσθλὰ μεμιγμένα πολλὰ δὲ λυγράτοῖς χρωμένοις ἀναδίδωσιν.ἔνθʼ ἔνι μὲν φιλότης, ἐν δʼ ἵμερος, ἐν δʼ ὀαριστὺςπάρφασις, ἥ τʼ ἔκλεψε νόον πύκα περ φρονεόντων.οὐ γὰρ ἅπτεται τὸ ἀπατηλὸν αὐτῆς ἀβελτέρων κομιδῇ καὶ ἀνοήτων. διὸ καὶ Σιμωνίδης μὲν ἀπεκρίνατο πρὸς τὸν εἰπόντα τί δὴ μόνους οὐκ ἐξαπατᾷς Θετταλούς; ἀμαθέστεροι γάρ εἰσιν ἢ ὡς ὑπʼ ἐμοῦ ἐξαπατᾶσθαι. Γοργίας δὲ τὴν τραγῳδίαν εἶπεν ἀπάτην, ἣν ὅ τʼ ἀπατήσας δικαιότερος τοῦ μὴ ἀπατήσαντος καὶ ὁ ἀπατηθεὶς σοφώτερος τοῦ μὴ ἀπατηθέντος. πότερον οὖν τῶν νέων ὥσπερ τῶν Ἰθακησίων σκληρῷ τινι τὰ ὦτα καὶ ἀτέγκτῳ κηρῷ καταπλάσσοντες ἀναγκάζωμεν αὐτοὺς τὸ Ἐπικούρειον ἀκάτιον ἀραμένους ποιητικὴν φεύγειν καὶ παρεξελαύνειν, ἢ μᾶλλον ὀρθῷ τινι λογισμῷ παριστάντες καὶ καταδέοντες, τὴν κρίσιν, ὅπως μὴ παραφέρηται τῷ τέρποντι πρὸς τὸ βλάπτον, ἀπευθύνωμεν καὶ παραφυλάττωμεν;οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ Δρύαντος υἱὸς κρατερὸς Λυκόοργοςὑγιαίνοντα νοῦν εἶχεν, ὅτι πολλῶν μεθυσκομένων καὶ παροινούντων τὰς ἀμπέλους περιιὼν ἐξέκοπτεν ἀντὶ τοῦ τὰς κρήνας ἐγγυτέρω προσαγαγεῖν καὶ μαινόμενον θεόν, ὥς φησιν ὁ Πλάτων, ἑτέρῳ θεῷ νήφοντι κολαζόμενον σωφρονίζειν. ἀφαιρεῖ γὰρ ἡ κρᾶσις τοῦ οἴνου τὸ βλάπτον, οὐ συναναιροῦσα τὸ χρήσιμον; μηδʼ ἡμεῖς οὖν τὴν ποιητικὴν ἡμερίδα τῶν Μουσῶν ἐκκόπτωμεν μηδʼ ἀφανίζωμεν, ἀλλʼ ὅπου μὲν ὑφʼ ἡδονῆς ἀκράτου πρὸς δόξαν αὐθάδως θρασυνόμενον ἐξυβρίζει καὶ ὑλομανεῖ τὸ μυθῶδες αὐτῆς καὶ θεατρικόν, ἐπιλαμβανόμενοι κολούωμεν καὶ πιέζωμεν· ὅπου δʼ ἅπτεταί τινος μούσης τῇ χάριτι καὶ τὸ γλυκὺ τοῦ λόγου καὶ ἀγωγὸν οὐκ ἄκαρπόν ἐστιν οὐδὲ κενόν, ἐνταῦθα φιλοσοφίαν εἰσάγωμεν καὶ καταμιγνύωμεν. ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ μανδραγόρας ταῖς ἀμπέλοις παραφυόμενος καὶ διαδιδοὺς τὴν δύναμιν εἰς τὸν οἶνον μαλακωτέραν ποιεῖ τὴν καταφορὰν τοῖς πίνουσιν, οὕτω τοὺς λόγους ἡ ποίησις ἐκ φιλοσοφίας ἀναλαμβάνουσα μιγνυμένους πρὸς τὸ μυθῶδες ἐλαφρὰν καὶ προσφιλῆ παρέχει τοῖς νέοις τὴν μάθησιν. ὅθεν οὐ φευκτέον ἐστὶ τὰ ποιήματα τοῖς φιλοσοφεῖν μέλλουσιν, ἀλλὰ προφιλοσοφητέον τοῖς ποιήμασιν ἐθιζομένους ἐν τῷ τέρποντι τὸ χρήσιμον ζητεῖν καὶ ἀγαπᾶν· εἰ δὲ μή, διαμάχεσθαι καὶ δυσχεραίνειν. ἀρχὴ γὰρ αὕτη παιδεύσεως,ἔργου δὲ παντὸς ἤν τις ἄρχηται καλῶς,καὶ τὰς τελευτὰς εἰκὸς ἐσθʼ οὕτως ἔχεινκατὰ τὸν Σοφοκλέα.
Let us therefore in the first place possess those whom we initiate in the study of poetry with this notion (as one which they ought always to have at hand), that’Tis frequently the poet’s guiseTo intermingle truth with lies;—which they do sometimes with and sometimes against their wills. They do it with their wills, because they find strict truth too rigid to comply with that sweetness and gracefulness of expression, which most are taken with, so readily as fiction doth. For real truth, though it disgust never so much, must be told as it is, without alteration; but that which is feigned in a discourse can easily yield and shift its garb from the distasteful to that which is more pleasing. And indeed, neither the measures nor the tropes nor the grandeur of words nor the aptness of metaphors nor the harmony of the composition gives such a degree of elegance and gracefulness to a poem as a well-ordered and artificial fiction doth. But as in pictures the colors are more delightful to the eye than the lines, because those give them a nearer resemblance to the persons they were made for, and render them the more apt to deceive the beholder; so in poems we are more apt to be smitten and fall in love with a probable fiction than with the greatest accuracy that can be observed in measures and phrases, where there is nothing fabulous or fictitious joined with it. Wherefore Socrates, being induced by some dreams to attempt something in poetry, and finding himself unapt, by reason that he had all his lifetime been the champion of severe truth, to hammer out of his own invention a likely fiction, made choice of Esop’s fables to turn into verse; as judging nothing to be true poetry that had in it nothing of falsehood. For though we have known some sacrifices performed without pipes and dances, yet we own no poetry which is utterly destitute of fable and fiction. Whence the verses of Empedocles and Parmenides, the Theriaca of Nicander, and the sentences of Theognis, are rather to be accounted speeches than poems, which, that they might not walk contemptibly on foot, have borrowed from poetry the chariot of verse, to convey them the more creditably through the world. Whensoever therefore any thing is spoken in poems by any noted and eminently famous man, concerning Gods or Daemons or virtue, that is absurd or harsh, he that takes such sayings for truths is thereby misled in his apprehension and corrupted with an erroneous opinion. But he that constantly keeps in his mind and maintains as his principle that the witchcraft of poetry consists in fiction, he that can at all turns accost it in this language,—Riddle of art! like which no sphinx beguiles;Whose face on one side frowns while th’ other smiles!Why cheat’st thou, with pretence to make us wise,And bid’st sage precepts in a fool’s disguise?—such a one, I say, will take no harm. by it, nor admit from it any absurd thing into his belief. But when he meets in poetry with expressions of Neptune’s rending the earth to pieces and discovering the infernal regions, he will be able to check his fears of the reality of any such accident; and he will rebuke himself for his anger against Apollo for the chief commander of the Greeks,—Whom at a banquet, whiles he sings his praiseAnd speaks him fair, yet treacherously he slays.Yea, he will repress his tears for Achilles and Agamemnon, while they are represented as mourning after their death, and stretching forth their limber and feeble hands to express their desire to live again. And if at any time the charms of poetry transport him into any disquieting passions, he will quickly say to himself, as Homer very elegantly (considering the propension of women to listen after fables) says in his Necyia, or relation of the state of the dead,—But from the dark dominions speed thy way,And climb the steep ascent to upper day;To thy chaste bride the wondrous story tell,The woes, the horrors, and the laws of hell.Such things as I have touched upon are those which the poets willingly feign. But more there are which they do not feign, but believing them themselves as their own proper judgments, they put fictitious colors upon them to ingratiate them to us. As when Homer says of Jupiter,—Jove lifts the golden balances, that showThe fates of mortal men, and things below.Here each contending hero’s lot he tries,And weighs with equal hand their destinies.Low sinks the scale surcharged with Hector’s fate;Heavy with death it sinks, and hell receives the weight.To this fable Aeschylus hath accommodated a whole tragedy which he calls Psychostasia, wherein he introduceth Thetis and Aurora standing by Jupiter’s balances, and deprecating each of them the death of her son engaged in a duel. Now there is no man but sees that this fable is a creature of the poet’s fancy, designed to delight or scare the reader. But this other passage,—Great Jove is made the treasurer of wars;and this other also,—When a God means a noble house to raze,He frames one rather than he’ll want a cause:these passages, I say, express the judgment and belief of poets who thereby discover and suggest to us the ignorant or mistaken apprehensions they had of the Deities. Moreover, almost every one knows nowadays, that the portentous fancies and contrivances of stories concerning the state of the dead are accommodated to popular apprehensions, —that the spectres and phantasms of burning rivers and horrid regions and terrible tortures expressed by frightful names are all mixed with fable and fiction, as poison with food; and that neither Homer nor Pindar nor Sophocles ever believed themselves when they wrote at this rate:—There endless floods of shady darkness streamFrom the vast caves, where mother Night doth teem;and,There ghosts o’er the vast ocean’s waves did glide,By the Leucadian promontory’s side;and,There from th’ unfathomed gulf th’ infernal lakeThrough narrow straits recurring tides doth make.And yet, as many of them as deplore death as a lamentable thing, or the want of burial after death as a calamitous condition, are wont to break out into expressions of this nature:—O pass not by, my friend; nor leave me hereWithout a grave, and on that grave a tear;and,Then to the ghosts the mournful soul did fly,Sore grieved in midst of youth and strength to die;and again,’Tis sweet to see the light. O spare me then,Till I arrive at th’ usual age of men:Nor force my unfledged soul from hence, to knowThe doleful state of dismal shades below.These, I say, are the speeches of men persuaded of these things, as being possessed by erroneous opinions; and therefore they touch us the more nearly and torment us inwardly, because we ourselves are full of the same impotent passion from which they were uttered. To fortify us therefore against expressions of this nature, let this principle continually ring in our ears, that poetry is not at all solicitous to keep to the strict measure of truth. And indeed, as to what that truth in these matters is, even those men themselves who make it their only study to learn and search it out confess that they can hardly discover any certain footsteps to guide them in that enquiry. Let us therefore have these verses of Empedocles, in this case, at hand:—No sight of man’s so clear, no ear so quick,No mind so piercing, that’s not here to seek;as also those of Xenophanes:—The truth about the Gods and world, no manE’er was or shall be that determine can;and lastly, that passage concerning Socrates, in Plato, where he by the solemnity of an oath disclaims all knowledge of those things. For those who perceive that the searching into such matters makes the heads of philosophers themselves giddy cannot but be the less inclined to regard what poets say concerning them.
πρῶτον μὲν οὖν εἰσάγειν εἰς τὰ ποιήματα δεῖ τὸν νέον μηδὲν οὕτω μεμελετημένον ἔχοντα καὶ πρόχειρον ὡς τὸ πολλὰ ψεύδονται ἀοιδοὶ τὰ μὲν ἑκόντες τὰ δʼ ἄκοντες. ἑκόντες μέν, ὅτι πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἀκοῆς καὶ χάριν, ἣν οἱ πλεῖστοι διώκουσιν, αὐστηροτέραν ἡγοῦνται τὴν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ ψεύδους. ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἔργῳ γιγνομένη, κἂν ἀτερπὲς ἔχῃ τὸ τέλος, οὐκ ἐξίσταται· τὸ δὲ πλαττόμενον λόγῳ ῥᾷστα περιχωρεῖ καὶ τρέπεται πρὸς τὸ ἥδιον ἐκ τοῦ λυποῦντος. οὔτε γὰρ μέτρον οὔτε τρόπος οὔτε λέξεως ὄγκος οὔτʼ εὐκαιρία μεταφορᾶς οὔθʼ ἁρμονία καὶ σύνθεσις ἔχει τοσοῦτον αἱμυλίας καὶ χάριτος ὅσον εὖ πεπλεγμένη διάθεσις μυθολογίας· ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἐν γραφαῖς κινητικώτερόν ἐστι χρῶμα γραμμῆς διὰ τὸ ἀνδρείκελον καὶ ἀπατηλόν, οὕτως ἐν ποιήμασι μεμιγμένον πιθανότητι ψεῦδος ἐκπλήττει καὶ ἀγαπᾶται μᾶλλον τῆς ἀμύθου καὶ ἀπλάστου περὶ μέτρον καὶ λέξιν κατασκευῆς. ὅθεν ὁ Σωκράτης ἔκ τινων ἐνυπνίων ποιητικῆς ἁψάμενος αὐτὸς μέν, ἅτε δὴ γεγονὼς ἀληθείας ἀγωνιστὴς τὸν ἅπαντα βίον, οὐ πιθανὸς ἦν οὐδʼ εὐφυὴς ψευδῶν δημιουργός, τοὺς δʼ Αἰσώπου μύθους ἔπεσιν ἐνέτεινεν, ὡς ποίησιν οὐκ οὖσαν ψεῦδος μὴ πρόσεστι.· θυσίας μὲν γὰρ ἀχόρους καὶ ἀναύλους ἴσμεν, οὐκ ἴσμεν δʼ ἄμυθον οὐδʼ ἀψευδῆ ποίησιν. τὰ δʼ Ἐμπεδοκλέους ἔπη καὶ Παρμενίδου καὶ θηριακὰ Νικάνδρου καὶ γνωμολογίαι Θεόγνιδος λόγοι εἰσὶ κιχράμενοι παρὰ ποιητικῆς ὥσπερ ὄχημα τὸ μέτρον καὶ τὸν ὄγκον, ἵνα τὸ πεζὸν διαφύγωσιν. ὅταν οὖν ἄτοπόν τι καὶ δυσχερὲς ἐν τοῖς ποιήμασι λέγηται περὶ θεῶν ἢ δαιμόνων ἢ ἀρετῆς ὑπʼ ἀνδρὸς ἐλλογίμου καὶ δόξαν ἔχοντος, ὁ μὲν ὡς ἀληθῆ προσδεξάμενος λόγον οἴχεται φερόμενος καὶ διέφθαρται τὴν δόξαν, ὁ δὲ μεμνημένος ἀεὶ καὶ κατέχων ἐναργῶς τῆς ποιητικῆς τὴν περὶ τὸ ψεῦδος γοητείαν καὶ δυνάμενος λέγειν ἑκάστοτε πρὸς αὐτὴνὦ μηχάνημα λυγκὸς αἰολώτεροντί παίζουσα τὰς ὀφρῦς συνάγεις, τί δʼ ἐξαπατῶσα προσποιῇ διδάσκειν; οὐδὲν πείσεται δεινὸν οὐδὲ πιστεύσει φαῦλον, ἀλλʼ ἐπιλήψεται μὲν τοῦ φοβουμένου τὸν Ποσειδῶνα καὶ ταρβοῦντος μὴ τὴν γῆν ἀναρρήξῃ καὶ ἀπογυμνώσῃ τὸν ᾍδην, ἐπιλήψεται δὲ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνι χαλεπαίνοντος ὑπὲρ τοῦ πρώτου τῶν Ἀχαιῶν,ὃν αὐτὸς ὑμνῶν αὐτὸς ἐν δαίτῃ παρὼναὐτὸς τάδʼ εἰπὼν αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ κτανώνπαύσεται δὲ τὸν φθιτὸν Ἀχιλλέα καὶ τὸν Ἀγαμέμνονα τὸν καθʼ ᾍδου δακρύων, ἀδυνάτους καὶ ἀσθενεῖς χεῖρας ἐπιθυμίᾳ τοῦ ζῆν ὀρέγοντας. ἂν δέ που συνταράττηται τοῖς πάθεσι καὶ κρατῆται φαρμασσόμενος, οὐκ ὀκνήσει πρὸς ἑαυτὸν εἰπεῖνἀλλὰ φόωσδε τάχιστα λιλαίεο· ταῦτα δὲ πάνταἴσθʼ, ἵνα καὶ μετόπισθε τεῇ εἴπῃσθα γυναικὶκαὶ γὰρ τοῦτο χαριέντως Ὅμηρος εἰς τὴν νέκυιαν εἶπεν, ὡς γυναικὸς ἀκρόασιν οὖσαν διὰ τὸ μυθῶδες. Τοιαῦτα γάρ ἐστιν ἃ πλάττουσιν ἑκόντες οἱ ποιηταί· πλείονα δʼ ἃ μὴ πλάττοντες ἀλλʼ οἰόμενοι καὶ δοξάζοντες αὐτοὶ προσαναχρώννυνται τὸ ψεῦδος ἡμῖν οἷον ἐπὶ τοῦ Διὸς εἰρηκότος Ὁμήρουἐν δʼ ἐτίθει δύο κῆρε τανηλεγέος θανάτοιο,τὴν μὲν Ἀχιλλῆος τὴν δʼ Ἕκτορος ἱπποδάμοιο,ἕλκε δὲ μέσσα λαβών ῥέπε δʼ Ἕκτορος αἴσιμον ἦμαρ,ᾤχετο δʼ εἰς Ἀίδαο, λίπεν δʼ ἑ Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλωντραγῳδίαν ὁ Αἰσχύλος ὅλην τῷ μύθῳ περιέθηκεν, ἐπιγράψας Ψυχοστασίαν καὶ παραστήσας ταῖς πλάστιγξι τοῦ Διὸς ἔνθεν μὲν τὴν Θέτιν ἔνθεν δὲ τὴν Ἠῶ, δεομένας ὑπὲρ τῶν υἱέων μαχομένων. τοῦτο δὲ παντὶ δῆλον, ὅτι μυθοποίημα καὶ πλάσμα πρὸς ἡδονὴν ἢ ἔκπληξιν ἀκροατοῦ γέγονε. τὸ δὲΖεύς, ὃς τʼ ἀνθρώπων ταμίης πολέμοιο τέτυκταικαὶ τὸθεὸς μὲν αἰτίαν φύει βροτοῖς,ὅταν κακῶσαι δῶμα παμπήδην θέλῃ,ταῦτα δʼ ἤδη κατὰ δόξαν εἴρηται καὶ πίστιν αὐτῶν, ἣν ἔχουσιν ἀπάτην περὶ θεῶν καὶ ἄγνοιαν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐκφερόντων καὶ μεταδιδόντων. πάλιν αἱ περὶ τὰς νεκυίας τερατουργίαι καὶ διαθέσεις ὀνόμασι φοβεροῖς ἐνδημιουργοῦσαι φάσματα καὶ εἴδωλα ποταμῶν φλεγομένων καὶ τόπων ἀγρίων καὶ κολασμάτων σκυθρωπῶν οὐ πάνυ πολλοὺς διαλανθάνουσιν ὅτι τὸ μυθῶδες αὐτοῖς πολὺ καὶ τὸ ψεῦδος ὥσπερ τροφαῖς τὸ φαρμακῶδες ἐγκέκραται. καὶ οὔθʼ Ὅμηρος οὔτε Πίνδαρος οὔτε Σοφοκλῆς πεπεισμένοι ταῦτʼ ἔχειν οὕτως ἔγραψανἔνθεν τὸν ἄπειρον ἐρεύγονται σκότονβληχροὶ δνοφερᾶς νυκτὸς ποταμοὶκαὶπὰρ δʼ ἴσαν Ὠκεανοῦ τε ῥοὰς καὶ Λευκάδα πέτρηνκαίστενωπὸς ᾍδου καὶ παλιρροία βυθοῦὅσοι μέντοι τὸν θάνατον ὡς οἰκτρὸν ἢ τὴν ἀταφίαν ὡς δεινὸν ὀλοφυρόμενοι καὶ δεδιότες φωνὰς ἐξενηνόχασι καὶμή μʼ ἄκλαυστον ἄθαπτον ἰὼν ὄπιθεν καταλείπειν72ψυχὴ δʼ ἐκ ῥεθέων πταμένη Ἄϊδόσδε βεβήκει,ὃν πότμον γοόωσα, λιποῦσʼ ἁδρότητα καὶ ἥβηνκαίμή μʼ ἀπολέσῃς ἄωρον· ἡδὺ γὰρ τὸ φῶςλεύσσειν· τὰ δʼ ὑπὸ γῆν μὴ μʼ ἰδεῖν ἀναγκάσῃς,αὗται πεπονθότων εἰσὶ καὶ προεαλωκότων ὑπὸ δόξης καὶ ἀπάτης. διὸ μᾶλλον ἅπτονται καὶ διαταράττουσιν ἡμᾶς, ἀναπιμπλαμένους τοῦ πάθους καὶ τῆς ἀσθενείας ἀφʼ ἧς λέγονται. πρὸς ταῦτα δὴ πάλιν παρασκευάζωμεν εὐθὺς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔχειν ἔναυλον ὅτι ποιητικῇ μὲν οὐ πάνυ μέλον ἐστὶ τῆς ἀληθείας, ἡ δὲ περὶ ταῦτʼ ἀλήθεια καὶ τοῖς μηδὲν ἄλλο πεποιημένοις ἔργον ἢ γνῶσιν καὶ μάθησιν τοῦ ὄντος εὖ μάλα δυσθήρατός ἐστι καὶ δύσληπτος, ὡς ὁμολογοῦσιν αὐτοί. καὶ τὰ Ἐμπεδοκλέους ἔστω πρόχειρα ταυτίοὕτως οὔτʼ ἐπιδερκτὰ τάδʼ ἀνδράσιν οὔτʼ ἐπακουστάοὔτε νόῳ περιληπτάκαὶ τὰ Ξενοφάνουςκαὶ τὸ μὲν οὖν σαφὲς οὔτις ἀνὴρ γένετʼ οὐδέ τις ἔσταιεἰδὼς ἀμφὶ θεῶν τε καὶ ἅσσα λέγω περὶ πάντωνκαὶ νὴ Δία τὰ Σωκράτους ἐξομνυμένου παρὰ Πλάτωνι τὴν περὶ τούτων γνῶσιν. ἧττον γὰρ ὡς εἰδόσι τι περὶ τούτων προσέξουσι τοῖς ποιηταῖς ἐν οἷς τοὺς φιλοσόφους ἰλιγγιῶντας ὁρῶσιν.
And we shall fix our young man yet the more if, when we enter him in the poets, we first describe poetry to him, and tell him that it is an imitating art and doth in many respects correspond to painting; not only acquainting him with that common saying, that poetry is vocal painting and painting silent poetry, but teaching him, moreover, that when we see a lizard or an ape or the face of a Thersites in a picture, we are surprised with pleasure and wonder at it, not because of any beauty in the things, but for the likeness of the draught. For it is repugnant to the nature of that which is itself foul to be at the same time fair; and therefore it is the imitation—be the thing imitated beautiful or ugly—that, in case it do express it to the life, is commended; and on the contrary, if the imitation make a foul thing to appear fair, it is dispraised because it observes not decency and likeness. Now some painters there are that paint uncomely actions; as Timotheus drew Medea killing her children; Theon, Orestes murdering his mother; and Parrhasius, Ulysses counterfeiting madness; yea, Chaerephanes expressed in picture the unchaste converse of women with men. Now in such cases a young man is to be familiarly acquainted with this notion, that, when men praise such pictures, they praise not the actions represented but only the painter’s art, which doth so lively express what was designed in them. Wherefore, in like manner, seeing poetry many times describes by imitation foul actions and unseemly passions and manners, the young student must not in such descriptions (although performed never so artificially and commendably) believe all that is said as true or embrace it as good, but give its due commendation so far only as it suits the subject treated of. For as, when we hear the grunting of hogs and the shrieking of pulleys and the rustling of wind and the roaring of seas, we are, it may be, disturbed and displeased, and yet when we hear any one imitating these or the like noises handsomely (as Parmenio did that of an hog, and Theodorus that of a pulley), we are well pleased; and as we avoid (as an unpleasing spectacle) the sight of sick persons and of a lazar full of ulcers, and yet are delighted to be spectators of the Philoctetes of Aristophon and the Jocasta of Silanion, wherein such wasting and dying persons are well acted; so must the young scholar, when he reads in a poem of Thersites the buffoon or Sisyphus the whoremaster or Batrachus the bawd speaking or doing any thing, so praise the artificial managery of the poet, adapting the expressions to the persons, as withal to look on the discourses and actions so expressed as odious and abominable. For the goodness of things themselves differs much from the goodness of the imitation of them; the goodness of the latter consisting only in propriety and aptness to represent the former. Whence to foul actions foul expressions are most suitable and proper. As the shoes of Demonides the cripple (which, when he had lost them, he wished might suit the feet of him that stole them) were but unhandsome shoes, but yet fit for the man they were made for; so we may say of such expressions as these:—’Tis worth the while an unjust act to own,When it sets him that does it on a throne;Get the repute of Just for a disguise,And in it do all things whence gain may rise;A talent dowry! Could I close my eyesIn sleep, or live, if thee I should despise?And should I not in hell tormented be,Could I be guilty of profaning thee?These, it is true, are wicked as well as false speeches, but yet are decent enough in the mouth of an Eteocles, an Ixion, and an old griping usurer. If therefore we mind our children that the poets write not such things as praising and approving them, but do really account them base and vicious and therefore accommodate such speeches to base and vicious persons, they will never be damnified by them from the esteem they have of the poets in whom they meet with them. But, on the contrary, the suspicions insinuated into them of the persons will render the words and actions ascribed to them suspected for evil, because proceeding from such evil men. And of this nature is Homer’s representation of Paris, when he describes him running out of the battle into Helen’s bed. For in that he attributes no such indecent act to any other, but only to that incontinent and adulterous person, he evidently declares that he intends that relation to import a disgrace and reproach to such intemperance.
ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον ἐπιστήσομεν αὐτὸν ἅμα τῷ προσάγειν τοῖς ποιήμασιν ὑπογράφοντες τὴν ποιητικὴν ὅτι μιμητικὴ τέχνη καὶ δύναμίς ἐστιν ἀντίστροφος τῇ ζωγραφίᾳ. καὶ μὴ μόνον ἐκεῖνο τὸ θρυλούμενον ἀκηκοὼς ἔστω, ζωγραφίαν μὲν εἶναι φθεγγομένην τὴν ποίησιν, ποίησιν δὲ σιγῶσαν τὴν ζωγραφίαν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τούτῳ διδάσκωμεν αὐτὸν ὅτι γεγραμμένην σαύραν ἢ πίθηκον ἢ Θερσίτου πρόσωπον ἰδόντες ἡδόμεθα καὶ θαυμάζομεν οὐχ ὡς καλὸν ἀλλʼ ὡς ὅμοιον. οὐσίᾳ μὲν γὰρ οὐ δύναται καλὸν γενέσθαι τὸ αἰσχρόν· ἡ δὲ μίμησις, ἄν τε περὶ φαῦλον ἄν τε περὶ χρηστὸν ἐφίκηται τῆς ὁμοιότητος, ἐπαινεῖται. καὶ τοὐναντίον ἂν αἰσχροῦ σώματος εἰκόνα καλὴν παράσχῃ, τὸ πρέπον καὶ τὸ εἰκὸς οὐκ ἀπέδωκεν. γράφουσι δὲ καὶ πράξεις ἀτόπους ἔνιοι, καθάπερ Τιμόμαχος τὴν Μηδείας τεκνοκτονίαν καὶ Θέων τὴν Ὀρέστου μητροκτονίαν καὶ Παρράσιος τὴν Ὀδυσσέως προσποίητον μανίαν καὶ Χαιρεφάνης ἀκολάστους ὁμιλίας γυναικῶν πρὸς ἄνδρας. ἐν οἷς μάλιστα δεῖ τὸν νέον ἐθίζεσθαι, διδασκόμενον ὅτι τὴν πρᾶξιν οὐκ ἐπαινοῦμεν ἧς γέγονεν ἡ μίμησις, ἀλλὰ τὴν τέχνην εἰ μεμίμηται προσηκόντως τὸ ὑποκείμενον. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν καὶ ποιητικὴ πολλάκις ἔργα φαῦλα καὶ πάθη μοχθηρὰ καὶ ἤθη μιμητικῶς ἀπαγγέλλει, δεῖ τὸ θαυμαζόμενον ἐν τούτοις καὶ κατορθούμενον μήτʼ ἀποδέχεσθαι τὸν νέον ὡς ἀληθὲς μήτε δοκιμάζειν ὡς καλόν, ἀλλʼ ἐπαινεῖν μόνον ὡς ἐναρμόττον τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ προσώπῳ καὶ οἰκεῖον. ὥσπερ γὰρ ὑὸς βοὴν καὶ ψόφον τροχιλίας καὶ πνευμάτων ῥοῖζον καὶ θαλάττης κτύπον ἀκούοντες ἐνοχλούμεθα καὶ δυσχεραίνομεν, ἂν δέ τις πιθανῶς ταῦτα μιμῆται, καθάπερ Παρμένων τὴν ὗν καὶ Θεόδωρος τὰς τροχιλίας, ἡδόμεθα· καὶ νοσώδη μὲν ἄνθρωπον καὶ ὕπουλον ὡς ἀτερπὲς θέαμα φεύγομεν, τὸν δʼ Ἀριστοφῶντος Φιλοκτήτην καὶ τὴν Σιλανίωνος Ἰοκάστην ὁμοίους φθίνουσι καὶ ἀποθνῄσκουσι πεποιημένους ὁρῶντες χαίρομεν οὕτως ὁ νέος ἀναγιγνώσκων ἃ Θερσίτης ὁ γελωτοποιὸς ἢ Σίσυφος ὁ φθορεὺς ἢ Βάτραχος ὁ πορνοβοσκὸς λέγων ἢ πράττων πεποίηται, διδασκέσθω τὴν μιμουμένην ταῦτα δύναμιν καὶ τέχνην ἐπαινεῖν, ἃς δὲ διαθέσεις καὶ πράξεις μιμεῖται καὶ προβάλλεσθαι καὶ κακίζειν. οὐ γάρ ἐστι ταὐτὸ τὸ καλόν τι καὶ καλῶς τι μιμεῖσθαι, καλῶς γάρ ἐστι τὸ πρεπόντως καὶ οἰκείως, οἰκεῖα δὲ καὶ πρέποντα τοῖς αἰσχροῖς τὰ αἰσχρά. καὶ γὰρ αἱ Δαμωνίδα τοῦ χωλοῦ κρηπῖδες, ἃς ἀπολέσας εὔχετο τοῖς τοῦ κλέψαντος ἐναρμόσαι ποσί, φαῦλαι μὲν ἦσαν ἐκείνῳ δʼ ἥρμοττον. καὶ τὸεἴπερ γὰρ ἀδικεῖν χρή, τυραννίδος πέρικάλλιστον ἀδικεῖνκαὶ τὸτοῦ μὲν δικαίου τὴν δόκησιν ἄρνυσο,τὰ δʼ ἔργα τοῦ πᾶν δρῶντος ἔνθα κερδανεῖςκαὶτάλαντον ἡ προίξ. μὴ λάβω; ζῆν δʼ ἔστι μοιτάλαντον ὑπεριδόντι; τεύξομαι δʼ ὕπνουπροέμενος; οὐ δώσω δὲ κἀν ᾍδου δίκηνὡς ἠσεβηκὼς εἰς τάλαντον ἀργυροῦνμοχθηροὶ μέν εἰσι λόγοι καὶ ψευδεῖς, Ἐτεοκλεῖ δὲ καὶ Ἰξίονι καὶ τοκογλύφῳ πρεσβύτῃ πρέποντες. ἂν οὖν ὑπομιμνῄσκωμεν τοὺς παῖδας ὅτι ταῦτʼ οὐκ ἐπαινοῦντες οὐδὲ δοκιμάζοντες ἀλλʼ ὡς ἄτοπα καὶ φαῦλα φαύλοις καὶ ἀτόποις ἤθεσι καὶ προσώποις περιτιθέντες γράφουσιν, οὐκ ἂν ὑπὸ τῆς δόξης βλάπτοιντο τῶν ποιητῶν. ἀλλὰ τοὐναντίον ἡ πρὸς τὸ πρόσωπον ὑποψία διαβάλλει καὶ τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ τὸν λόγον, ὡς φαῦλον ὑπὸ φαύλου καὶ λεγόμενον καὶ πραττόμενον. οἷόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ τῆς συγκοιμήσεως τοῦ Πάριδος ἐκ τῆς μάχης ἀποδράντος. οὐδένα γὰρ ἄλλον ἀνθρώπων ἡμέρας συγκοιμώμενον γυναικὶ ποιήσας ἢ τὸν ἀκόλαστον καὶ μοιχικὸν ἐν αἰσχύνῃ δῆλός ἐστι καὶ ψόγῳ τιθέμενος τὴν τοιαύτην ἀκρασίαν.
In such passages therefore we are carefully to observe whether or not the poet himself do anywhere give any intimation that he dislikes the things he makes such persons say; which, in the prologue to his Thais Menander does, in these words:—Therefore, my Muse, describe me now a whore,Fair, bold, and furnished with a nimble tongue;One that ne’er scruples to do lovers wrong;That always craves, and denied shuts her door;That truly loves no man, yet, for her ends,Affection true to every man pretends.But Homer of all the poets does it best. For he doth beforehand, as it were, bespeak dislike of the evil things and approbation of the good things he utters. Of the latter take these instances:—He readily did the occasion take,And sweet and comfortable words he spake;By him he stood, and with soft speeches quelledThe wrath which in his heated bosom swelled.And for the former, he so performs it as in a manner solemnly to forbid us to use or heed such speeches as those he mentions, as being foolish and wicked. For example, being to tell us how uncivilly Agamemnon treated the priest, he premises these words of his own,—Not so Atrides: he with kingly prideRepulsed the sacred sire, and thus replied;intimating the insolency and unbecomingness of his answer. And when he attributes this passionate speech to Achilles,—O monster, mix’d of insolence and fear,Thou dog in forehead, and in heart a deer!he accompanies it with this censure,—Nor yet the rage his boiling breast forsook,Which thus redoubling on Atrides broke;for it was unlikely that speaking in such anger he should observe any rules of decency.
ἐν δὲ τούτοις εὖ μάλα προσεκτέον εἴ τινας ὁ ποιητὴς αὐτὸς ἐμφάσεις δίδωσι κατὰ τῶν λεγομένων ὡς δυσχεραινομένων ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ. καθάπερ ὁ Μένανδρος ἐν τῷ προλόγῳ τῆς Θαΐδος πεποίηκενἐμοὶ μὲν οὖν ἄειδε τοιαύτην, θεά,θρασεῖαν ὡραίαν δὲ καὶ πιθανὴν ἅμα,ἀδικοῦσαν ἀποκλείουσαν αἰτοῦσαν πυκνά,μηδενὸς ἐρῶσαν, προσποιουμένην δʼ ἀείἄριστα δʼ Ὅμηρος τῷ γένει τούτῳ κέχρηται· καὶ γὰρ προδιαβάλλει τὰ φαῦλα καὶ προσυνίστησι τὰ χρηστὰ τῶν λεγομένων· προσυνίστησι μὲν οὕτωςαὐτίκα μειλίχιον καὶ κερδαλέον φάτο μῦθονκαὶτόνδʼ ἀγανοῖς ἐπέεσσιν ἐρητύσασκε παραστάςἐν δὲ τῷ προδιαβάλλειν μονονοὺ μαρτύρεται καὶ διαγορεύει μήτε χρῆσθαι μήτε προσέχειν ὡς οὖσιν ἀτόποις καὶ φαύλοις. οἷον τὸν τʼ Ἀγαμέμνονα μέλλων διηγεῖσθαι τῷ ἱερεῖ χρώμενον ἀπηνῶς προείρηκενἀλλʼ οὐκ Ἀτρεΐδῃ Ἀγαμέμνονι ἥνδανε θυμῷ,ἀλλὰ κακῶς ἀφίει,τουτέστιν ἀγρίως καὶ αὐθάδως καὶ παρὰ τὸ προσῆκον· τῷ τʼ Ἀχιλλεῖ τοὺς θρασεῖς λόγους περιτίθησινοἰνοβαρές, κυνὸς ὄμματʼ ἔχων, κραδίην δʼ ἐλάφοιοτὴν αὑτοῦ κρίσιν ὑπειπὼνΠηλεΐδης δʼ ἐξαῦτις ἀταρτηροῖς ἐπέεσσινἈτρεΐδην προσέειπε, καὶ οὔ πω λῆγε χόλοιοκαλὸν γὰρ εἰκὸς οὐδὲν εἶναι μετʼ ὀργῆς καὶ αὐστηρῶς λεγόμενον.
And he passeth like censures on actions. As on Achilles’s foul usage of Hector’s carcass,—Gloomy he said, and (horrible to view)Before the bier the bleeding Hector threw.And in like manner he doth very decently shut up relations of things said or done, by adding some sentence wherein he declares his judgment of them. As when he personates some of the Gods saying, on the occasion of the adultery of Mars and Venus discovered by Vulcan’s artifice,—See the swift God o’ertaken by the lame!Thus ill acts prosper not, but end in shame.And thus concerning Hecter’s insolent boasting he says,—With such big words his mind proud sector eased,But venerable Juno lie displeased.And when he speaks of Pandarus’s shooting, he adds,—He heard, and madly at the motion pleased,His polish’d bow with hasty rashness seized.Now these verbal intimations of the minds and judgments of poets are not difficult to be understood by any one that will heedfully observe them. But besides these, they give us other hints from actions. As Euripides is reported, when some blamed him for bringing such an impious and flagitious villain as Ixion upon the stage, to have given this answer: But yet I brought him not off till I had fastened him to a torturing wheel. This same way of teaching by mute actions is to be found in Homer also, affording us useful contemplations upon those very fables which are usually most disliked in him. These some men offer force to, that they may reduce them to allegories (which the ancients called ὑπόνοιαι), and tell us that Venus committing adultery with Mars, discovered by the Sun, is to be understood thus: that when the star called Venus is in conjunction with that which hath the name of Mars, bastardly births are produced, and by the Sun’s rising and discovering them they are not concealed. So will they have Juno’s dressing herself so accurately to tempt Jupiter, and her making use of the girdle of Venus to inflame his love, to be nothing else but the purification of that part of the air which draweth nearest to the nature of fire. As if we were not told the meaning of those fables far better by the poet himself. For he teacheth us in that of Venus, if we heed it, that light music and wanton songs and discourses which suggest to men obscene fancies debauch their manners, and incline them to an unmanly way of living in luxury and wantonness, of continually haunting the company of women, and of beingGiven to fashions, that their garb may please,Hot baths, and couches where they loll at ease.And therefore also he brings in Ulysses directing the musician thus,—Leave this, and sing the horse, out of whose wombThe gallant knights that conquered Troy did come;evidently teaching us that poets and musicians ought to receive the arguments of their songs from sober and understanding men. And in the other fable of Juno he excellently shows that the conversation of women with men. and the favors they receive from them procured by sorcery, witchcraft, or other unlawful arts, are not only short, unstable, and soon cloying, but also in the issue easily turned to loathing and displeasure, when once the pleasure is over. For so Jupiter there threatens Juno, when he tells her,—Hear this, remember, and our fury dread,Nor pull the unwilling vengeance on thy head;Lest arts and blandishments successless proveThy soft deceits and well dissembled love.For the fiction and representation of evil acts, when it withal acquaints us with the shame and damage befalling the doers, hurts not but rather profits him that reads them. For which end philosophers make use of examples for our instruction and correction out of historical collections; and poets do the very same thing, but with this difference, that they invent fabulous examples themselves. There was one Melanthius, who (whether in jest or earnest he said it, it matters not much) affirmed that the city of Athens owed its preservation to the dissensions and factions that were among the orators, giving withal this reason for his assertion, that thereby they were kept from inclining all of them to one side, so that by means of the differences among those statesmen there were always some that drew the saw the right way for the defeating of destructive counsels. And thus it is too in the contradictions among poets, which, by lessening the credit of what they say, render them the less powerful to do mischief; and therefore, when comparing one saying with another we discover their contrariety, we ought to adhere to the better side. As in these instances:—The Gods, my son, deceive poor men oft-times.Ans.’Tis easy, sir, on God to lay our crimes.’Tis comfort to thee to be rich, is’t not!Ans. No, sir,’tis bad to be a wealthy sot.Die rather than such toilsome pains to take.Ans. To call God’s service toil’s a foul mistake.Such contrarieties as these are easily solved, if (as I said) we teach youth to judge aright and to give the better saying preference. But if we chance to meet with any absurd passages without any others at their heels to confute them, we are then to overthrow them with such others as elsewhere are to be found in the author. Nor must we be offended with the poet or grieved at him, but only at the speeches themselves, which he utters either according to the vulgar manner of speaking or, it may be, but in drollery. So, when thou readest in Homer of Gods thrown out of heaven headlong one by another, or Gods wounded by men and quarrelling and brawling with each other, thou mayest readily, if thou wilt, say to him,—Sure thy invention here was sorely out,Or thou hadst said far better things, no doubt;yea, and thou dost so elsewhere, and according as thou thinkest, to wit, in these passages of thine:—The Gods, removed from all that men doth grieve,A quiet and contented life do live.Herein the immortal Gods for ever blestFeel endless joys and undisturbed rest.The Gods, who have themselves no cause to grieve,For wretched man a web of sorrow weave.For these argue sound and true opinions of the Gods; but those other were only feigned to raise passions in men. Again, when Euripides speaks at this rate,—The Gods are better than we men by far,And yet by them we oft deceived are,—we may do well to quote him elsewhere against himself, where he says better,—If Gods do wrong, surely no Gods there are.So also, when Pindar saith bitterly and keenly,No law forbids us any thing to do,Whereby a mischief may befall a foe,tell him: But, Pindar, thou thyself sayest elsewhere,The pleasure which injurious acts attendsAlways in bitter consequences ends.And when Sophocles speaks thus,Sweet is the gain, wherein to lie and cheatAdds the repute of wit to what we get,tell him: But we have heard thee say far otherwise,When the account’s cast up, the gain’s but poorWhich by a lying tongue augments the store.And as to what he saith of riches, to wit:Wealth, where it minds to go, meets with no stay;For where it finds not, it can make a way;Many fair offers doth the poor let go,And lose his prize because his purse is low;The fair tongue makes, where wealth can purchase it,The foul face beautiful, the fool a wit:—here the reader may set in opposition divers other sayings of the same author. For example,From honor poverty doth not debar,Where poor men virtuous and deserving are.Whate’er fools think, a man is ne’er the worseIf he be wise, though with an empty purse.The comfort which he gets who wealth enjoys,The vexing care by which ’tis kept destroys.And Menander also somewhere magnifies a voluptuous life, and inflames the minds of vain persons with these amorous strains,The glorious sun no living thing doth see,But what’s a slave to love as well as we.But yet elsewhere, on the other side, he fastens on us and pulls us back to the love of virtue, and checks the rage of lust, when he says thus,The life that is dishonorably spent,Be it ne’er so pleasant, yields no true content.For these lines are contrary to the former, as they are also better and more profitable; so that by comparing them considerately one cannot but either be inclined to the better side, or at least flag in the belief of the worse.
ὁμοίως καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν πράξεωνἦ ῥα, καὶ Ἕκτορα δῖον ἀεικέα μήδετο ἔργα,πρηνέα πὰρ λεχέεσσι Μενοιτιάδαο τανύσσαςεὖ δὲ καὶ ταῖς ἐπιρρήσεσι χρῆται, καθάπερ τινὰ ψῆφον ἰδίαν ἐπιφέρων τοῖς πραττομένοις ἢ λεγομένοις, ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς μοιχείας τοῦ Ἄρεος τοὺς θεοὺς ποιῶν λέγονταςοὐκ ἀρετᾷ κακὰ ἔργα· κιχάνει τοι βραδὺς ὠκύν, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς τοῦ Ἕκτορος ὑπερφροσύνης καὶ μεγαλαυχίαςὣς ἔφατʼ εὐχόμενος, νεμέσησε δὲ πότνια Ἥρη, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς Πανδάρου τοξείαςὣς φάτʼ Ἀθηναίη, τῷ δὲ φρένας ἄφρονι πεῖθεναὗται μὲν οὖν αἱ τῶν λόγων ἀποφάσεις καὶ δόξαι παντός εἰσι κατιδεῖν τοῦ προσέχοντος· ἑτέρας δʼ ἐκ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῶν παρέχουσι μαθήσεις, ὥσπερ ὁ Εὐριπίδης εἰπεῖν λέγεται πρὸς τοὺς τὸν Ἰξίονα λοιδοροῦντας ὡς ἀσεβῆ καὶ μιαρόν, οὐ μέντοι πρότερον αὐτὸν ἐκ τῆς σκηνῆς ἐξήγαγον ἢ τῷ τροχῷ προσηλῶσαι παρὰ δʼ Ὁμήρῳ σιωπώμενόν ἐστι τὸ τοιοῦτο γένος τῆς διδασκαλίας, ἔχον δʼ ἀναθεώρησιν ὠφέλιμον ἐπὶ τῶν διαβεβλημένων μάλιστα μύθων, οὓς ταῖς πάλαι μὲν ὑπονοίαις ἀλληγορίαις δὲ νῦν λεγομέναις παραβιαζόμενοι καὶ διαστρέφοντες ἔνιοι μοιχευομένην φασὶν Ἀφροδίτην ὑπʼ Ἄρεος μηνύειν Ἥλιον, ὅτι τῷ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης ἀστέρι συνελθὼν ὁ τοῦ Ἄρεος μοιχικὰς ἀποτελεῖ γενέσεις, Ἡλίου δʼ ἐπαναφερομένου καὶ καταλαμβάνοντος οὐ λανθάνουσιν. τὸν δὲ τῆς Ἥρας καλλωπισμὸν ἐπὶ τὸν Δία καὶ τὰς περὶ τὸν κεστὸν γοητείας ἀέρος τινὰ κάθαρσιν εἶναι βούλονται τῷ πυρώδει πλησιάζοντος, ὥσπερ οὐκ αὐτοῦ τὰς λύσεις τοῦ ποιητοῦ διδόντος. ἐν μὲν γὰρ τοῖς περὶ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης διδάσκει τοὺς προσέχοντας, ὅτι μουσικὴ φαύλη καὶ ᾄσματα πονηρὰ καὶ λόγοι μοχθηρὰς ὑποθέσεις λαμβάνοντες ἀκόλαστα ποιοῦσιν ἤθη καὶ βίους ἀνάνδρους καὶ ἀνθρώπους τρυφὴν καὶ μαλακίαν καὶ γυναικοκρασίαν ἀγαπῶνταςεἵματά τʼ ἐξημοιβὰ λοετρά τε θερμὰ καὶ εὐνάς. διὸ καὶ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα τῷ κιθαρῳδῷ προστάττοντα πεποίηκενἀλλʼ ἄγε δὴ μετάβηθι καὶ ἵππου κόσμον ἄεισον,καλῶς ὑφηγούμενος τὸ παρὰ τῶν φρονίμων καὶ νοῦν ἐχόντων χρῆναι λαμβάνειν τοὺς μουσικοὺς καὶ ποιητικοὺς τὰς ὑποθέσεις. ἐν δὲ τοῖς περὶ τῆς Ἥρας ἄριστα τὴν ἀπὸ φαρμάκων καὶ γοητείας καὶ μετὰ δόλου πρὸς τοὺς ἄνδρας ὁμιλίαν καὶ χάριν ἔδειξεν οὐ μόνον ἐφήμερον καὶ ἁψίκορον καὶ ἀβέβαιον οὖσαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ μεταβάλλουσαν εἰς ἔχθραν καὶ ὀργήν, ὅταν τὰ τῆς ἡδονῆς ἀπομαρανθῇ. τοιαῦτα γὰρ ὁ Ζεὺς ἀπειλεῖ καὶ λέγει πρὸς αὐτὴνὄφρα ἴδῃς ἤν τοι χραίσμῃ φιλότης τε καὶ εὐνή,ἣν ἐμίγης ἐλθοῦσα θεῶν ἄπο καὶ μʼ ἀπάτησαςἡ γὰρ τῶν φαύλων διάθεσις ἔργων καὶ μίμησις ἂν προσαποδῷ τὴν συμβαίνουσαν αἰσχύνην καὶ βλάβην τοῖς ἐργασαμένοις, ὠφέλησεν οὐκ ἔβλαψε τὸν ἀκροώμενον. οἱ γοῦν φιλόσοφοι παραδείγμασι χρῶνται, νουθετοῦντες καὶ παιδεύοντες ἐξ ὑποκειμένων οἱ δὲ ποιηταὶ ταὐτὰ ποιοῦσι πλάττοντες αὐτοὶ πράγματα καὶ μυθολογοῦντες. ὁ μὲν οὖν Μελάνθιος εἴτε παίζων εἴτε σπουδάζων ἔλεγε διασῴζεσθαι τὴν Ἀθηναίων πόλιν ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν ῥητόρων διχοστασίας καὶ ταραχῆς οὐ γὰρ ἀποκλίνειν ἅπαντας εἰς τὸν αὐτὸν τοῖχον, ἀλλὰ γίγνεσθαί τινα τοῦ βλάπτοντος ἀνθολκὴν ἐν τῇ διαφορᾷ τῶν πολιτευομένων. αἱ δὲ τῶν ποιητῶν ὑπεναντιώσεις πρὸς αὑτοὺς ἀνταναφέρουσαι τὴν πίστιν οὐκ ἐῶσιν ἰσχυρὰν ῥοπὴν γενέσθαι πρὸς τὸ βλάπτον. ὅπου μὲν οὖν αὐτοῖς τὸ τιθέναι σύνεγγυς ἐκφανεῖς ποιεῖ τὰς ἀντιλογίας, δεῖ τῷ βελτίονι συνηγορεῖν ὥσπερ ἐν τούτοιςπόλλʼ, ὦ τέκνον, σφάλλουσιν ἀνθρώπους θεοί.τὸ ῥᾷστον εἶπας, αἰτιάσασθαι θεούςκαὶ πάλινχρυσοῦ σε πλήθει, τούσδε δʼ οὐ χαίρειν χρεώνσκαιὸν τὸ πλουτεῖν κἄλλο μηδὲν εἰδέναικαὶτί δῆτα θύειν δεῖ σε κατθανούμενονἄμεινον· οὐδεὶς κάματος εὐσεβεῖν θεούς.τὰ γὰρ τοιαῦτα τὰς λύσεις ἔχει προδήλους, ἄν, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, πρὸς τὰ βελτίονα τῇ κρίσει τοὺς νέους κατευθύνωμεν. ὅσα δʼ εἴρηται μὲν ἀτόπως εὐθὺς δʼ οὐ λέλυται, ταῦτα δεῖ τοῖς ἀλλαχόθι πρὸς τοὐναντίον εἰρημένοις ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἀνταναιρεῖν, μὴ ἀχθομένους τῷ ποιητῇ μηδὲ χαλεπαίνοντας ἀλλʼ ἐν ἤθει καὶ μετὰ παιδιᾶς δεχομένους. εὐθύς, εἰ βούλει, πρὸς τὰς Ὁμηρικὰς τῶν θεῶν ῥίψεις ὑπʼ ἀλλήλων καὶ τρώσεις ὑπʼ ἀνθρώπων καὶ διαφορὰς καὶ χαλεπότηταςοἶσθα καὶ ἄλλον μῦθον ἀμείνονα τοῦδε νοῆσαικαὶ νοεῖς νὴ Δία καὶ λέγεις κρεῖττον ἀλλαχόθι καὶ βέλτιον τὰ τοιαῦταθεοὶ ῥεῖα ζώοντεςκαὶτῷ ἔνι τέρπονται μάκαρες θεοὶ ἤματα πάντακαίὣς γὰρ ἐπεκλώσαντο θεοὶ δειλοῖσι βροτοῖσι;ζώειν ἀχνυμένοις· αὐτοὶ δὲ τʼ ἀκηδέες εἰσίν.αὗται γάρ εἰσιν ὑγιαίνουσαι περὶ θεῶν δόξαι καὶ ἀληθεῖς, ἐκεῖνα δὲ πέπλασται πρὸς ἔκπληξιν ἀνθρώπων. πάλιν Εὐριπίδου λέγοντοςπολλαῖσι μορφαῖς οἱ θεοὶ σοφισμάτωνσφάλλουσιν ἡμᾶς κρείττονες πεφυκότεςοὐ χεῖρόν ἐστιν ὑπενεγκεῖν τὸεἰ θεοί τι δρῶσι φαῦλον, οὔκ εἰσιν θεοί, βέλτιον εἰρημένον ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ. καὶ τοῦ Πινδάρου σφόδρα πικρῶς καὶ παροξυντικῶς εἰρηκότοςχρὴ δὲ πᾶν ἔρδοντʼ ἀμαυρῶσαι τὸν ἐχθρόν, ἀλλʼ αὐτός γε σὺ λέγεις ὅτιτὸ πὰρ δίκανγλυκὺ πικροτάτα μένει τελευτά, καὶ τοῦ Σοφοκλέουςτὸ κέρδος ἡδύ, κἂν ἀπὸ ψευδῶν ἴῃ, καὶ μὴν σοῦ γʼ ἀκηκόαμεν ὡςοὐκ ἐξάγουσι καρπὸν οἱ ψευδεῖς λόγοιπρὸς δʼ ἐκεῖνα τὰ περὶ τοῦ πλούτουδεινὸς γὰρ ἕρπειν πλοῦτος ἔς τε τἄβατακαὶ πρὸς τὰ βατὰ κἄπωθεν ὤν· πένης δʼ ἀνὴροὐδʼ ἐντυχὼν δύναιτʼ ἂν ὧν ἐρᾷ τυχεῖν.καὶ γὰρ δυσειδὲς σῶμα καὶ δυσώνυμονγλώσσῃ σοφὸν τίθησιν εὔμορφόν τʼ ἰδεῖνἀντιπαραθήσει πολλὰ τῶν Σοφοκλέους, ὧν καὶ ταῦτʼ ἐστὶγένοιτο κἂν ἄπλουτος ἐν τιμαῖς ἀνήροὐδὲν κακίων πτωχός, εἰ καλῶς φρονεῖκαίἀλλὰ τῶν πολλῶν καλῶντίς χάρις, εἰ κακόβουλοςφροντὶς ἐκτρέφει τὸν εὐαίωνα πλοῦτον;ὁ δὲ Μένανδρος ἐπῆρε μὲν ἀμέλει τὴν φιληδονίαν καὶ ὑπεχαύνωσε τοῖς ἐρωτικοῖς καὶ διαπύροις ἐκείνοιςἅπανθʼ ὅσα ζῇ καὶ τὸν ἥλιον βλέπειτὸν κοινὸν ἡμῖν, δοῦλα ταῦτʼ ἔσθʼ ἡδονῆςπάλιν δʼ ἐπέστρεψε καὶ περιέσπασε πρὸς τὸ καλὸν ἡμᾶς καὶ τὴν θρασύτητα τῆς ἀκολασίας ἐξέκοψεν εἰπὼνὄνειδος αἰσχρὸς βίος ὅμως κἂν ἡδὺς ᾖταῦτα γὰρ ἐκείνοις μέν ἐστιν ὑπεναντία, βελτίω δὲ καὶ χρησιμώτερα. δυεῖν οὖν θάτερον ἡ τοιαύτη τῶν ἐναντίων ποιήσει παράθεσις καὶ κατανόησις, ἢ παράξει πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον ἢ καὶ τοῦ χείρονος ἀποστήσει τὴν πίστιν.
But now, supposing that any of the poets themselves afford no such correcting passages to solve what they have said amiss, it will then be advisable to confront them with the contrary sayings of other famous men, and therewith to sway the scales of our judgment to the better side. As, when Alexis tempts to debauchery in these verses,The wise man knows what of all things is best,Whilst choosing pleasure he slights all the rest.He thinks life’s joys complete in these three sorts,To drink and eat, and follow wanton sports;And what besides seems to pretend to pleasure,If it betide him, counts it over measure,we must remember that Socrates said the contrary, to wit: Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live. And against the man that wrote in this manner,He that designs to encounter with a knave,An equal stock of knavery must have,seeing he herein advises us to follow other vicious examples, that of Diogenes may well be returned, who being asked by what means a man might revenge himself upon his enemy, answered, By becoming himself a good and honest man. And the same Diogenes may be quoted also against Sophocles, who, writing thus of the sacred mysteries, caused great grief and despair to multitudes of men:Most happy they whose eyes are blest to seeThe mysteries which here contained be,Before they die! For only they have joyIn th’ other world; the rest all ills annoy.This passage being read to Diogenes, What then! says he, shall the condition of Pataecion, the notorious robber, after death be better than that of Epaminondas, merely for his being initiated in these mysteries? In like manner, when one Timotheus on the theatre, in the praise of the Goddess Diana, called her furious, raging, possessed, mad, Cinesias presently cried out to him aloud, May thy daughter, Timotheus, be such a Goddess! And witty also was that of Bion to Theognis, who said,—One can not say nor do, if poor he be;His tongue is bound to th’ peace, as well as he.How comes it to pass then, said he, Theognis, that thou thyself being so poor pratest and gratest our ears in this manner?
ἂν δʼ αὐτοὶ μὴ διδῶσι τῶν ἀτόπως εἰρημένων λύσεις, οὐ χεῖρόν ἐστιν ἑτέρων ἐνδόξων ἀποφάσεις ἀντιτάττοντας ὥσπερ ἐπὶ ζυγοῦ ῥέπειν πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον. οἷον τοῦ Ἀλέξιδος κινοῦντος ἐνίους ὅταν λέγῃτὰς ἡδονὰς δεῖ συλλέγειν τὸν σώφρονα.τρεῖς δʼ εἰσὶν αἵ γε τὴν δύναμιν κεκτημέναιτὴν ὡς ἀληθῶς συντελοῦσαν τῷ βίῳ,τὸ φαγεῖν τὸ πιεῖν τὸ τῆς Ἀφροδίτης τυγχάνειντὰ δʼ ἄλλα προσθήκας ἅπαντα χρὴ καλεῖν, ὑπομνηστέον ὅτι Σωκράτης τοὐναντίον ἔλεγε, τοὺς μὲν φαύλους ζῆν τοῦ ἐσθίειν καὶ πίνειν ἕνεκα, τοὺς δʼ ἀγαθοὺς ἐσθίειν καὶ πίνειν ἕνεκα τοῦ ζῆν. πρὸς δὲ τὸν γράψαντα ποτὶ τὸν πονηρὸν οὐκ ἄχρηστον ὅπλον ἁ πονηρία, τρόπον τινὰ συνεξομοιοῦσθαι κελεύοντα τοῖς πονηροῖς, τὸ τοῦ Διογένους παραβαλεῖν ἔστιν· ἐρωτηθεὶς γὰρ ὅπως ἄν τις ἀμύναιτο τὸν ἐχθρόν, αὐτός ἔφη καλὸς κἀγαθὸς γενόμενος δεῖ δὲ τῷ Διογένει καὶ πρὸς τὸν Σοφοκλέα χρήσασθαι· πολλὰς γὰρ ἀνθρώπων μυριάδας ἐμπέπληκεν ἀθυμίας περὶ τῶν μυστηρίων ταῦτα γράψαςὡς τρισόλβιοικεῖνοι βροτῶν, οἳ ταῦτα δερχθέντες τέλημόλωσʼ ἐς ᾍδου·ζῆν ἔστι, τοῖς δʼ ᾄδοντι πάντʼ ἐκεῖ κακάΔιογένης δʼ ἀκούσας τι τοιοῦτο τί λέγεις; ἔφη. κρείττονα μοῖραν ἕξει Παταικίων ὁ κλέπτης ἀποθανὼν ἢ Ἐπαμεινώνδας ὅτι μεμύηται; Τιμοθέῳ μὲν γὰρ ᾄδοντι τὴν Ἄρτεμιν ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ μαινάδα θυιάδα φοιβάδα λυσσάδα Κινησίας εὐθὺς ἀντεφώνησε τοιαύτη σοι θυγάτηρ γένοιτο. χαρίεν δὲ καὶ τὸ τοῦ Βίωνος πρὸς τὸν Θέογνιν λέγονταπᾶς γὰρ ἀνὴρ πενίῃ δεδμημένος οὔτε τι εἰπεῖνοὔθʼ ἔρξαι δύναται, γλῶσσα δέ οἱ δέδεταιπῶς οὖν σὺ πένης ὢν φλυαρεῖς τοσαῦτα καὶ καταδολεσχεῖς ἡμῶν;
Nor are we to omit in our reading those hints which, from some other words or phrases bordering on those that offend us, may help to rectify our apprehensions. But as physicians use cantharides, believing that, though their bodies be deadly poison, yet their feet and wings are medicinal and can even kill the poison of the flies themselves, so must we deal with poems. If any noun or verb near at hand may assist to the correction of any such saying, and preserve us from putting a bad construction upon it, we should take hold of it and employ it to assist a more favorable interpretation. As some do in reference to those verses of Homer,—Sorrows and tears most commonly are seenTo be the Gods’ rewards to wretched men:—The Gods, who have no cause themselves to grieve,For wretched man a web of sorrow weave.For, they say, he says not of men simply, or of all men, that the Gods weave for them the fatal web of a sorrowful life; but he affirms it only of foolish and imprudent men, whom, because their vices make them such, he therefore calls wretched and miserable.
δεῖ δὲ μηδὲ τὰς ἐκ τῶν παρακειμένων ἢ συμφραζομένων παραλιπεῖν ἀφορμὰς πρὸς τὴν ἐπανόρθωσιν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ οἱ ἰατροὶ τῆς κανθαρίδος οὔσης θανασίμου τοὺς πόδας ὅμως καὶ τὰ πτερὰ βοηθεῖν οἴονται καὶ ἀναλύειν τὴν δύναμιν, οὕτως ἐν τοῖς ποιήμασι, κἂν ὄνομα κἂν ῥῆμα παρακείμενον ἀμβλυτέραν ποιῇ τὴν πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον ἀπαγωγήν, ἐπιλαμβάνεσθαι καὶ προσδιασαφεῖν, ὡς ἐπὶ τούτων ἔνιοι ποιοῦσιτοῦτό νύ που γέρας ἐστὶν ὀιζυροῖσι βροτοῖσι,κείρασθαί τε κόμην βαλέειν τʼ ἀπὸ δάκρυ παρειῶνκαὶὣς γὰρ ἐπεκλώσαντο θεοὶ δειλοῖσι βροτοῖσι,ζώειν ἀχνυμένοιςοὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς εἶπε καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ὑπὸ θεῶν ἐπικεκλῶσθαι λυπηρὸν βίον, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἄφροσι καὶ ἀνοήτοις, οὓς δειλαίους καὶ οἰκτροὺς διὰ μοχθηρίαν ὄντας εἴωθε δειλοὺς καὶ ὀιζυροὺς προσαγορεύειν.