But here it is necessary to observe, that all the Virtues, Vices, and Follies, we have been speaking of, take in the Passions of every Kind: For it is a very great Mistake to imagine that Comedy should be from one End to the other, a continu'd Scene of Gaiety and Mirth: Some Parts of it may be grave, sententious, and even sorrowful. Nor will any one, I believe, who is a Judge in this Way of Writing, ever find Fault with Terence, who, in the Andria, (to omit many other Passages) brings Pamphilus on the Stage under all this Concern.
[410] Hoccine est humanum factum, aut inceptum? hoccine officium patris?
Was there ever such a Thing done, or thought of yet by Man? Is this the Tenderness of a Father?
And a little afterwards,
—Sed nunc quid primum exequar? Tot me impediunt curæ, quæ meam animum divorse trahunt: Amor, misericordia hujus, nuptiarum sollicitatio, Tum patris pudor, qui me tam leni passus est animo usque adhuc Quæ meo cunque animo libitum est facere; eine ego ut advorser? hei mihi! Incertum est quid agam.
But, as the Case now stands, where shall I begin first? So many Difficulties cumber and distract my Soul at once; on one Side, Love, Pity for that dear Creature, and the pressing Importunities I am under to marry: On the other, the Reverence due to my Father, who has hitherto indulg'd me in all that Heart could wish; and shall I now turn Rebel to him at last? Mine is a wretched Situation; which Way to turn, I know not.
And tho' the Style of Comedy is generally familiar, yet it is sometimes capable of the Sublime. So Horace observes, in his Art of Poetry:
[411] Interdum tamen & vocem Comœdia tollit, Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore.
Yet Comedy sometimes may raise her Voice, And Chremes be allow'd to foam and rail. Roscom.
Where Interpreters are of Opinion, that Horace alludes to that Passage in the Heautontimorumenos: