——θοἡ παρἁ νηἱ μελαιυη. θἱν' ἑφ' ἁλὁϛ πολιἡϛ, 'ἑρὁων ἑπἱ ὁινοπα πὁντον.
Sad retiring to the sounding Shore, O'er the wild Margin of the Deep he hung. Pope.
—λευχὡλενο; Ἡρη, white arm'd Juno
—βοὡτιϛ πὁτνια Ἡρη, her full-ey'd Majesty.
These are Difficulties I only propose, not presuming to assert any Thing against the ancientest, and almost the Prince of Poets.
On the other Hand, they are under no less an Error, that will admit only of very few Epithets, and arrogantly banish the Use of them. It is certain, they are not only wonderfully adapted to Description, but so peculiarly to Poetry, that the Beauty of its Style chiefly consists in them. They exhibit to the Mind Ideas of Qualities in the Concrete, (as the Logicians speak) which strike the Imagination no less than those that are express'd in the Abstract. 'Tis plain, from what appears above, that the Writings of the best Poets are full of them, and particularly Virgil's. But tho' the Examples already alleg'd might seem sufficient, yet I beg Leave to add a very remarkable one, where every Substantive has its proper Epithet, to heighten and adorn the Sense. The Passage I mean is at the Beginning of the celebrated Description of the Infernal Shades:
[99] Vestibulum ante ipsum, primisque in faucibus orci, Luctus, & ultrices posuére cubilia Curæ; Pallentesque habitant Morbi, tristisque Senectus, Et Metus, & malesuada Fames, & turpis Egestas, (Terribiles visu formæ!) Letumque, Laborque, Tum consanguineus leti Sopor, & mala mentis
Gaudia, mortiferumque adverso in limine Bellum; Ferreique Eumenidum thalami, & Discordia demens, Vipereos crines vittis innexa cruentis. In medio ramos annosaque brachia pandit Ulmus opaca, ingens; quam sedem somnia vulgo Vana tenere ferunt, foliisque sub omnibus hærent.
Just in the Entrance and first Jaws of Hell, Grief and revengeful Cares their Couches plac'd; And pale Diseases, querulous old Age, Fear, ill-persuading Hunger, and foul Want; (Forms dreadful to behold) and Death, and Pain; And Sleep akin to Death; the Mind's false Joys; The Furies Iron Bed; and Discord wild, Her vip'rous Locks with bloody Fillets bound. Full in the midst a tall and dusky Elm Displays its Boughs, and aged Limbs: This Seat (Such is the Fame) fantastick Dreams possess, And stick beneath the Leaves.——
We meet with but few Lines of this Poet free from Epithets; many have two, and some three: Nay, sometimes 'tis the Height of Elegance to join more to the same Substantive, without a Conjunction between: As,