What Bossu further advances[463] in Support of his Opinion, is of no great Moment, viz. that the little Enmities in the Iliad, and in the Odyssey the Return of an Exile into his Country, are Actions equally suitable to private Men and Heroes. I confess, (and so does he) that Æneas's restoring his Country, as it were, and laying the Foundation of a new Kingdom; are much more heroical: But even those above-mention'd, as they are set off by Homer, with their heroical Circumstances, could not but have been great, tho' they had been done by private Men. In the Iliad, indeed, and more especially in the Odyssey, some Things are related below the Majesty of Epic; as for Instance, what the Poet tells us of Ulysses's Herdsman and Swineherd; which Ovid has thought fit to copy in Penelope's Epistle to that Chief:
[464] Hoc faciunt custosque boum, longævaque nutrix, Tertius immundæ cura fidelis haræ.
Thus the old Nurse, the Hind, and Hogherd pray, True Servants all, and faithful in their Way. Rhymer.
These, I own, are not represented as the Actions of the Hero himself; but still are unworthy to be mention'd in an Heroic Poem. The Simplicity of ancient Times is alledg'd, in Excuse for Things of this Nature; and, for my Part, I am willing to admit it: But, certainly, let the Men live in what Age you please, they stood in Need of some Excuse. Virgil has nothing of this Kind; who has a much better Right than Homer to that Encomium of Horace[465],
——Qui nil molitur inepte.
Throughout the Æneid there is nothing mean, nothing dishonourable, nothing that is not truly heroic. As to the forming of a Hero, he is not to be represented adorn'd with every Virtue, as a Character entirely perfect, because there is no such Thing in Nature; but he may advance as near as possible to that Perfection. Ulysses and Æneas, indeed, are at no great Distance from it; but what Sort of a Hero is Achilles!
[466] Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer, Jura negat sibi nata, nihil non arrogat armis.
Impatient, rash, inexorable, proud, Scorning all Judges, and all Laws, but Arms. Roscommon.
These are heroical Virtues, no doubt! an admirable Image of a Demi-god! But more of this in another Place.
There are two Things which chiefly distinguish Epic from Tragedy, the Manner of the Representation, and the Event, or Catastrophe. As to the former, it is certain, that Tragedy is form'd upon Action, and Epic upon Narration. For what Aristotle says of Epic,[467] ὁτι δει τουϛ μυθουϛ καθαπερ ἑν ταιϛ τραγωδιαιϛ συνισταναι δραματικουϛ, that the Fable, as in Tragedy, ought to be dramatical, it is plain, from the very Words, must be understood of the Fable, which ought to be active, i.e. lively, full of Motion, and growing warmer, as it comes nearer the Conclusion; and has no Relation to the Form, or Manner of representing, or imitating, which, as every Body knows, in Heroic Poetry is, and always was, narrative, and not dramatic.