Minerva in the catastrophe of the piece: It is evident, says Aristotle 20, "that the unravelling of the fable ought to happen from the fubject itself, and not by the ufe of machinery, as in the Medea: But the machinery, if used, should relate to things out of the drama itself, either to such past events, which it is impoffible for man to know, or to those in future, which require prediction and explanation; for we admit, that the Gods can difcern all things:" Hence we may collect, that Aristotle disapproved in general of machinery in the drama; but, if there introduced, he limits it to particular objects and circumstances: If the introduction of Mercury in the Prologus be measured by this standard of criticifm, it must immediately be condemned, as defenceless; but this of Minerva in the catastrophe will be found to contain all those circumstances prescribed by Aristotle and Horace; 21 Nec Deus interfit, nifi dignus vindice nodus For the Goddess reveals to Ion the connexion of Apollo with Creufa, palliates the response of the oracle, declares the refolution of the God to disclose the truth hereafter at Athens, 20 Φανερὸν ἦν, ὅτι καὶ τὰς λύσεις τῶν μύθων ἐξ αυτῷ δεῖ τῷ μύθε συμβαίνειν, καὶ μὴ ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ Μηδείᾳ ἀπὸ μηχανῆς· ἀλλὰ μηχανῇ χρήσειν ἐπὶ τὰ ἔξω τε δράματος, ὅσα πρὸ τῶ γέγονεν, ἃ οὐχ οἷόν τε ἄνθρωπον εἰδέναι, ἢ ὅσα ὕσερον, ἃ δεῖται προαγορεύσεως καὶ ἀγγελίας· ἅπαντα γὰρ ἀποδίδομεν τοῖς θεοῖς ὁρᾷν. (De Poet. c. 15.) 21 We may alfo difcover the opinion of Cicero on this fubject; for he makes his Epicurean Philofopher Velleius farcaftically affert of the Profeffors of other Sects," that when unable to unfold the end of the argument, they have recourfe to a Deity, as the Tragick Poets:" Ut tragici poetæ, cum explicare argumenti exitum non poteftis, confugitis ad Deum. (De Nat. Deor. 1. 1. c. 20.) Hence it appears, that the Roman Orator condemned this mode of folving the catastrophe. and and foretells the future glory of Ion and his Defcendents in Afia and Europe. "There are but four pieces in Euripides, fays Dacier 22, where the prefence of Gods is conducted with any regard to this rule of Ariftotle: Thofe are the Iphigenia in Tauris, the Helena, the Ion, and the Electra And yet I am perfuaded that in thofe very pieces Euripides could have discovered in his art other means of difpenfing with these machines." These are the principal defects, which appear to me in the conduct of the plot; but with all its imperfections it has many beauties to counterbalance them: The intended murder of a Son by his own Mother, and the threatened revenge of that very Son againft his Parent, mutually unknown to each other, are, as the Pere Brumoy 25 obferves, truly theatrical; and he ventures to call it, ce double projet de parricide 24. This incident, according to the rules 23 of 22 Il n'y a proprement dans Euripide que quatre pieces, où la prefence des Dieux foit un peu ménagée, comme Ariftote le preferit icy: c'eft l'Iphigenie Taurique, l'Helene, l'Ion, & l'Electre. Encore fuis-je perfuade que dans ces memes pieces Euripide auroit pù trouver dans fon Art des moyens de fe paffer de ces machines. (Sur la Poet, d'Arift. c. 16. Rem. 19.) 23 Tot. 5. Ion. p. 130 & 131. 24 The word is thus uied without any regard to its derivation by the best French authors to exprefs the murder of any near relation, and not that of a father only In this fenfe it occurs in Rouffeau, Un mari parricide qui faifoit enterrer fa femme en vie. (La Nouv. Heloife, tom. 3. part 6. lett. 11.) Thus too parricide occurs in the English language; for Phædra, in the tragedy by Edmund Smith, miftaking her husband Thefeus for Lycon, offers to ftab him; but being informed of her error, fhe exclaims, My Lord! O equal Heav'n! Muft each portentous moment rife in crimes, And fallying life go off in parricide? (A. 5. p. 74. ed. 1719.) According to this idea, Dr. Johnson in his dictionary on this word obferves, "that it fignifies the murder of one to whom reverence is due;" and he cites the authority of Dryden. It is alfo very remarkable, that the fame abufe of the word is likewife to be found in the Latin Language, as appears trom of Aristotle, is of the finest quality, because it happens between relations of the neareft confanguinity: And he exprefsly afferts 25, "that if a Mother kill a Son, or a Son a Mother, or if either of them attempt fuch an action, this is a fubject, which the Dramatick Poet ought to embrace :" This happy correfpondence in the Ion with the precept of this great mafter of criticism did not escape the penetration of Dacier 26 in his excellent remarks on the Poeticks of Ariftotle; for he there observes, that both these interesting circumstances are found united in this play: "Il y a une piece d'Euripide, ou ces deux chofes fe rencontrent en meme temps; la mere veut tuer fon fils, & le fils veut faire mourir fa mere: C'eft l'on, ou Creufe fait fes efforts pour perdre fon fils Ion qu'elle prend pour le batard de fon mari Xuthus, & ou Ion veut faire mourir Creufe, parce qu'elle lui avoit preparè du poifon ce double danger de deux perfonnes fi proches, qui ne fe connoiffent pas, fait un effet admirable dans cette piece." As this atrocious act of murder between these near relations, mutually ignorant of each other, is not completed by execution, but fortunately prevented, we may also pro from a fragment of a Roman Tragedian, preferved in Cicero: Here Medea is faid to have fcattered the limbs of her brother, that, while her father was engaged in collecting them, the herself might efcape; and thus procured her own fafety by this parricide of her near relation, Sibi falutem ut familiari pareret parricidio. (De Nat. Deor. 1. 3. c. 26.) And the words of the Roman law, as cited by the fame author, confidered the facrilegious man as a parricide, Sacrum facrove commendatum qui clepferit rapferitque, parricida efto. (Dẻ. Leg. 1 2. c. 9.) 25 Οταν δ ̓ ἐν ταῖς φιλίαις ἐγγένηται τὰ πάθη· οἷον εἰ ἀδελφὸς ἀδελφὸν, ἡ ὑιὸς πατέρα, ἡ μηλὴς υιόν, ἡ ὑιὸς μητέρα ἀποκτείνῃ, ἢ μέλλη, ἢ τοῦτόν τι άλλο δρο * Taura Cinléov. (De Poet. c. 14.) 26 Rem. 6. fur le chap. 15. de la Poet. d'Arist. nounce nounce it by the fame fovereign decifion of Ariftotle " the most perfect of all the different modes of dramatick actions; for it has not any thing flagitious in it, and at the fame time the remembrance is ftriking: It also correfponds with those admired instances, which he himself cites from Euripides; "fuch as the discovery of Merope in his Crefphontes, preparing to kill her fon, but before the completion of the act recognizing him; or that in his Iphigenia, where the fifter recollects her brother; or that in his Helle, when the Mother on the point of delivering her Son to his enemies discovers her mistake" But the circumftance, which I most admire in the plot, is the noble effect in the catastrophe, when Creufa, after sheltering herself at the altar from the vengeance of her unknown fon, rushes with the impetuofity of maternal affection, as soon as she discovers Ion from the casket and its appendages to have been the infant, whom the formerly expofed: This αναγνώρισις 28 or remembrance, falls within the second divifion of the first species of those five different modes, which Aristotle has difcuffed in the fixteenth chapter of his Poeticks: I mean that by external and adventitious 29 tokens, "like the necklaces, or the little cradle in the piece called Tyro," to which he alludes; and as it is accompanied with 27 Βέλτιον δὲ τὸ ἀγνοῦντα μὲν πρᾶξαι, πράξαντα δὲ ἀναγνωρίσαι· τό τε γὰς μιαςὸν οὐ πρόσεςι· καὶ ἡ ἀναγνώρισις ἐκπληκτικόν· κράτισον δὲ τὸ τελευταῖον λέγω δὲ οἷον ἐν τῷ Κρεσφόνῃ ἡ Μερόπη μέλλει τὸν ὑιὸν ἀποκλείνειν, ἀποκλείνει δ ̓ οὐ, ἀλλ ̓ ἀνεγνώρισε καὶ ἐν τῇ Ιφιγενειᾳ ἡ ἀδελφὴ τὸν ἀδελφόν· καὶ ἐν τῇ Ελλῃ ὁ ὑιὸς τὴν μηέρα ἐκδιδόναι μέλλων, aveyyagiov. (De Poet. 1. 14.) 28 This is defined by Ariftotle, the tranfition from ignorance to knowledge, producing the friendship or enmity of thofe determined either for happinels or mifery, Ἐξ ἀγνοίας εἰς γνῶσιν μεταβολὴ, ἢ εἰς φιλιάν ἢ ἔχθραν τῶν πρὸς εὐτυχίαν ἢ δυσυχίαν ὡρισμένων. (De Poet. c. 11.) 25 Τὰ δὲ ἐκτὸς, τά τε περιδέραια, καὶ οἷον ἐν τῇ Τυροῖ διὰ τῆς σκάφης. (De Poet. s. 16. the. 30 the TegέT3°, or revolution of Fortune (Creufa, one of the περιπέτεια principal Perfons, being thus refcued from danger) it is of the most beautiful fort of avayvagiis, or remembrance, according to the judgment of this great Critick"; because, fays he, "it will produce either pity or terror, on the imitation of which the conftitution of Tragedy is built:" This remembrance and revolution alfo arife from the fable and the preceding circumftances with probability; which is another criterion of their excellence according to the fame refpectable authority 32: As Ion was preparing to depart for Athens, it was natural that the Prieftefs fhould return the cafket, which leads to the unravelling of the plot. We come next to the confideration of the characters. Since the chief beauty of this drama confifts in the feveral traits, which adorn its principal figure, I must develop the young Ion in order to prove my former affertion 33, that it is one of the most religious, virtuous 34, amiable, and tender characters, which poetry ever combined: This royal foundling wę andrwg without father or mother confiders himself, as the 35 30 This is defined by Ariftotle, the tranfition of things into the contrary extreme, ἡ εἰς τὸ ἐνανίον τῶν πραττομένων μεταβολή. (De Poet. c.11.) 31 Καλλίση δε ἀναγνώρισις, ὅταν ἅμα περιπέτειαι γίνωνται· ἡ γὰρ τοιαύτη ἀναγε νώρισις, καὶ περιπέτεια, ἢ ἔλεον ἕξει, ἢ φόβον· ὅιων πράξεων ἡ τραγῳδία μίμησις ὑπά xεila. (De Poet. c. 11.) n 32 Ταῦτα δε δεῖ γένεσθαι ἐξ αὐτῆς τῆς συςάσεως το μύθο, ὥτε ἐκ τῶν προγεννημέ νων, ή εξ ανάγκης, ἤ καλὰ τὸ ἐικὸς γίγνεσθαι ταύλα. (De Poet. c. 10.) Πασῶν δι βελτίση ἀναγνώρισις ἡ ἐξ ἀυλῶν τῶν πραγμάτων, τῆς ἐκπλήξεως γιγνομένης δι' εικότων, (Id. c. 16.) 33 See the Preliminary Effay. (p. 8.) 34 Among the four different fpecies of tragedy, Ariftotle reckons the moral one, din, (De Poet. c. 18.) and Dacier, in his Remark on this paffage, illuftrates this affertion by the Ion : L'Ion d'Euripide me paroit une Tragedie implexe & morale, (Remp. 5. fur. ch. 10.) 35 V. 509. fervant |