Now I shall explain what sort of Fable; Manners, Thought, Expression, which four are necessary to constitute every kind of Poetry, are proper to this sort.
Concerning the Fable which Aristotle calls, σύνθεσιν τῶν πραγμάτων,
I have but one thing to say: this, as the Philosopher hints, as of all other sorts of Poetry, so of Pastoral is the very Soul. and therfore Socrates in Plato says, that in those Verses which he had made there was nothing wanting but the Fable: therefore Pastorals as other kinds of Poetry must have their Fable, if they will be Poetry: Thus in Virgil’s Silenus which contains the Stories of allmost the whole Fabulous Age, two Shepherds whom Silenus had often promis’d a Song, and as often deceived, seize upon him being drunk and asleep, and bind him with wreath’d Flowers; Ægle comes in and incourages the timorous youths, and stains his jolly red Face with Blackberries, Silenus laughs at their innocent contrivance, and desires to be unbound, and then with a premeditated Song satisfies the Nymph’s and Boys Curiosity; The incomparable Poet sings wonders, the Rocks rejoyce, the Vales eccho, and happy Eurotas as if Phœbus himself sang, hears all, and bids the Laurels that grow upon his Banks listen to, and learn the Song.
Happy Eurotas as he flow’d along
Heard all, and bad the Laurels learn the Song.
Thus every Eclogue or Idyllium must have its Fable, which must be the groundwork of the whole design, but it must not be perplext with sudden and unlookt for changes, as in Marinus’s Adonis: for that, tho the Fable be of a Shepherd, yet by reason of the strange Bombast under Plots, and wonderful occurences, cannot be accounted Pastoral; for that it might be agreeable to the Person it treats of, it must be plain and simple, such as Sophocles’s Ajax, in which there is not so much as one change of Fortune. As for the Manners, let that precept, which Horace lays down in his Epistle to the Pisones, be principally observed.
Let each be grac’t with that which suits him best.
For this, as ’tis a rule relateing to Poetry in general, so it respects this kind also of which we are treating; and against this Tasso in his Amyntas, Bonarellus in his Phyllis, Guarinus in his Pastor Fido, Marinus in his Idylliums, and most of the Italians grievously offend, for they make their Shepherds too polite, and elegant, and cloth them with all the neatness of the Town, and Complement of the Court, which tho it may seem very pretty, yet amongst good Critics, let Veratus say what he will in their excuse, it cannot be allowed: For ’tis against Minturnus’s Opinion, who in his second Book de Poetâ says thus: Mean Persons are brought in, those in Comedy indeed more polite, those in Pastorals more unelegant, as suppos’d to lead a rude life in Solitude; and Jason Denor a Doctor of Padua takes notice of the same as a very absurd Error: Aristotle heretofore for a like fault reprehended the Megarensians, who observ’d no Decorum in their Theater, but brought in mean persons with a Train fit for a King and cloath’d a Cobler or Tinker in a Purple Robe: In vain doth Veratus in his Dispute against Jason Denor, to defend those elaborately exquisite discourses, and notable sublime sentences of his Pastor Fido, bring some lofty Idylliums of Theocritus, for those are not acknowledged to be Pastoral; Theocritus and Virgil must be consulted in this matter, the former designdly makes his Shepherds discourse in the Dorick i. e. the Rustick Dialect, sometimes scarce true Grammar; & the other studiously affects ignorance in the persons of his Shepherds, as Servius hath observ’d, and is evident in Melibæus, who makes Oaxes to be a River in Crete when ’tis in Mesopotamia: and both of them take this way that the Manners may the more exactly suit with the Persons they represent, who of themselves are rude and unpolisht: And this proves that they scandalously err, who make their Shepherds appear polite and elegant; nor can I imagine what Veratus who makes so much ado about the polite manners of the Arcadian Shepherds, would say to Polybius who tells us that Arcadians by reason of the Mountainousness of the Country and hardness of the weather, are very unsociable and austere.
Now as too much neatness in Pastoral is not to be allow’d, so rusticity (I do not mean that which Plato, in his Third Book of a Commonwealth, mentions which is but a part of a down right honesty) but Clownish stupidity, such as Theophrastus, in his Character of a Rustick, describes; or that disagreeable unfashionable roughness which Horace mentions in his Epistle to Lollius, must not in my opinion be endur’d: On this side Mantuan errs extreamly, and is intolerably absur’d, who makes Shepherds blockishly sottish, and insufferably rude: And a certain Interpreter blames Theocritus for the same thing, who in some mens opinion sometimes keeps too close to the Clown, and is rustick and uncouth; But this may be very well excus’d because the Age in which he sang was not as polite as now.
But that every Part may be suitable to a Shepherd, we must consult unstain’d, uncorrupted Nature; so that the manners might not be too Clownish nor too Caurtly: And this mean may be easily observed if the manners of our Shepherds be represented according to the Genius of the golden Age, in which, if Guarinus may be believ’d, every man follow’d that employment: And Nannius in the Preface to his Comments on Virgil’s Bucolicks is of the same opinion, for he requires that the manners might represent the Golden Age: and this was the reason that Virgil himself in his Pollio describes that Age, which he knew very well was proper to Bucolicks: For in the whole course of a Shepherds life there can be no form more excellent than that which was the practise of the Golden Age; And this may serve to moderate and temper the affections that must be exprest in this sort of Poetry, and sufficiently declare the whole Essence of it, which in short must be taken from the nature of a Shepherds life to which a Courtly dress is not agreeable.
That the Thought may be commendable, it must be suitable to the manners; as those must be plain and pure that must be so too: nor must contain any, deep, exquisite, or elaborate fancies: And against this the Italians offend, who continually hunt after smart witty sayings, very foolishly in my opinion; for in the Country, where all things should be full of plainess and simplicity who would paint or endeavor to be gawdy when such appearances would be very disagreeable and offend? Pontanus in this matter hath said very well, The Thought must not be to exquisite and witty, the Comparisons obvious and common, such as the State of Persons and Things require: Yet tho too scrupulous a Curiosity in Ornament ought to be rejected, yet lest the Thought be cold and flat, it must have some quickness of Passion, as in these.