And with all possible brevity; though the subject
Is such a spacious field, as would require
An abstract of the purest eloquence
(Deriv'd from the most famous orators
The nurse of learning, Athens, shew'd the world)
In that man that should undertake to be
Her true historian.[155]
The style of Massinger is not only lucid and dexterous; it is strong, partly because of its ease, and more mature and modern than that of many of his contemporaries. Milton's prose would have gained much in directness if he [pg 052] had studied Massinger. This strength does not show itself so much in isolated fine lines, for, as we have already seen, epigram was foreign to his nature, though from time to time we get such lines, as, for example, in The Duke of Milan:
One smile of hers would make a savage tame;
One accent of that tongue would calm the seas,