To write of great Commanders, and of Kings. Roscommon.
Upon the same Account he is oblig'd to think and speak in an elevated Way, above the Vulgar, and in a Style that may, in some Measure, keep up the Character of the divine Persons he introduces. To this End serves the poetical and figurative Expression, and the Majesty of Heroic Verse. As Horace again:
[480] —Cui mens divinior atque os Magna sonaturum, des nominis hujus honorem.
No, he alone can claim that Name, that writes With Fancy high, and bold and daring Flights. Creech.
"But all this being divine and marvellous, may quite ruin all Probability, without which an Action is not likely to persuade. Therefore the Poet should take special Care, as to this Point, since his chief Business is to instruct Men, and form them to Virtue.
"To all this the Poets are oblig'd, by the very Nature of these Things, which they propose for the Subjects of their Poems and Instructions. The Manner of teaching them usefully and methodically, has likewise oblig'd them to add several other Rules.
"Epic Poetry is directed to the Morals and the Habits, rather than the Passions. These rise on a sudden, and their Heat is soon over; but the Habits are more calm, and come on, and go off more leisurely: Therefore the Epic Action cannot be contain'd in one single Day, as the Dramatic. It must have a longer, and more just Space allow'd it, than the Action of Tragedy, which is directed to the Passions.
"This Distinction makes Tragedy and Epic differ very much: The Violence of Tragedy requires a great deal more lively and brisk Representation than a bare Recital. It is all Action, the Poet never speaks, as he does in Epic, where there are no Actors.
"But if, in this Respect, Epic is inferior to Tragedy, yet it is superior both to Philosophy and History; because it is a great deal more active than bare Philosophy, and the Recitals of History: And tho' it does not, like Tragedy, represent the Action to the Eyes of the Spectators, yet it ought, more frequently than History, to break off the Narration, by intermixing the Speeches of the Persons represented. This Aristotle directs, when he says, that the Narration of Epic ought to be dramatic, i.e. active." [I differ from the learned Author in the Meaning of this Passage, and agree with Dacier, as I said before: But it is a Matter of no great Moment. The Speeches of the Persons may be included in this Rule of Aristotle's; but it seems more applicable to the Fable, which is the Matter of the Poem, than to the Form, which is the Way of representing it. But Bossu adds,]
"Epic has, likewise, its Passions, which give it no small Advantage over Philosophy and History; but in this it is still inferior to Tragedy: For tho' it has a Mixture of all the Passions, yet Joy and Admiration are the most essential to it. These, indeed, contribute most towards the making us wise Men: Admiration and Curiosity are the Cause of Sciences; and nothing engages the Mind so forcibly as Pleasure; so that these two Passions must never be wanting in a Work invented with a View to teach us what we are indispensably oblig'd to know.