Methinks, King Richard and myself should meet
With no less terror than the elements
Of fire and water, when their thund’ring shock,
At meeting tears the cloudy cheeks of heaven.
Richard II. act. 3. sc. 5.
I beg peculiar attention to the following simile, for a reason that shall be mentioned.
Thus breathing death, in terrible array,
The close-compacted legions urg’d their way:
Fierce they drove on, impatient to destroy;
Troy charg’d the first, and Hector first of Troy.
As from some mountain’s craggy forehead torn,
A rock’s round fragment flies with fury born,
(Which from the stubborn stone a torrent rends)
Precipitate the pond’rous mass descends:
From steep to steep the rolling ruin bounds:
At every shock the crackling wood resounds;
Still gath’ring force, it smoaks; and urg’d amain,
Whirls, leaps, and thunders down, impetuous to the plain:
There stops—So Hector. Their whole force he prov’d,
Resistless when he rag’d; and when he stopt, unmov’d.
Iliad xiii. 187.
The image of a falling rock is certainly not elevating[6]. Yet undoubtedly the foregoing image fires and swells the mind. It is grand therefore, if not sublime. And that there is a real, though delicate distinction, betwixt these two feelings, will be illustrated from the following simile.
So saying, a noble stroke he lifted high,
Which hung not, but so swift with tempest fell
On the proud crest of Satan, that no sight,
Nor motion of swift thought, less could his shield
Such ruin intercept. Ten paces huge
He back recoil’d; the tenth on bended knee
His massy spear upstaid; as if on earth
Winds under ground or waters forcing way
Sidelong had push’d a mountain from his seat
Half sunk with all pines.
Milton, b. 6.
A comparison by contrast may contribute to grandeur or elevation, not less than by resemblance; of which the following comparison of Lucan is a remarkable instance.
Victrix causa diis placuit, sed victa Catoni.
Considering that the Heathen deities possessed a rank but one degree above that of mankind, I think it scarce possible, by a single expression, to elevate or dignify more one of the human species, than is done by this comparison. I am sensible, at the same time, that such a comparison among Christians, who entertain juster notions of the Deity, would justly be reckoned extravagant and absurd.
The last article mentioned, is that of lessening or depressing a hated or disagreeable object; which is effectually done by resembling it to any thing that is low or despicable. Thus Milton, in his description of the rout of the rebel-angels, happily expresses their terror and dismay in the following simile.
—— As a herd
Of goats or timorous flock together throng’d
Drove them before him thunder-struck, pursu’d
With terrors and with furies to the bounds
And crystal wall of heav’n, which op’ning wide,
Rowl’d inward, and a spacious gap disclos’d
Into the wasteful deep; the monstrous sight
Strook them with horror backward, but far worse
Urg’d them behind; headlong themselves they threw
Down from the verge of heav’n.
Milton, b. 6.