There is another Species of Thought which does not, like the former, deviate from Truth and right Reason, yet is a Violation of the Laws of Beauty and Accuracy, and is an Instance of false Wit, tho' not of false Conception. In the Troas of Seneca, Hecuba lamenting that the Body of Priamus should lie unburied, thus expresses her Grief:
—Ille, tot regum parens, Caret sepulchro Priamus, & flamma indiget, Ardente Troja.——[140]
Priam, the Father of a Race of Kings, Now wants a Grave, nor finds a Fun'ral Fire, While his own City burns.
How poor a Thought, upon so great and sublime a Subject? How childish a Reflection, that while Troy was all in Flames, the Body of Priamus should want Funeral ones? How much better does Virgil describe the very same Circumstance?
[141] Hæc finis Priami fatorum, hic exitus illum Sorte tulit; Trojam incensam & prolapsa videntem Pergama; tot quondam populis, terrisque, superbum Regnatorem Asiæ: jacet ingens littore truncus, Avulsumque humeris caput, & sine nomine corpus.
Such was the End of Priam's Fate; the last Concluding Scene which Destiny decreed To Asia's Lord; once o'er so many Realms And Nations, sov'reign Monarch; having seen His Troy in Flames, and tumbling to the Ground: Upon the Shore the Royal Body lies Expos'd; the Head from off the Shoulders torn; A Trunk dishonour'd, and without a Name.
Here every Thing is great, full of Majesty, and suitable to the Subject. The Poet knew better than to sport with Conceits upon so solemn an Occasion; tho' Ovid is perpetually hunting after them: But this is never Virgil's Fault; and ought to have been as studiously avoided by Seneca: For Tragedy is of as sublime a Nature as Epic.
That celebrated Passage of Lucan, at first Appearance, I confess, sounds great:
[142] —Cœlo tegitur, qui non habet urnam.
The Heav'ns entomb the Man that wants an Urn.