And prudence checks us from those daring deeds, With caution and with coldness he proceeds; Peevifh, complaining, boundless in his praise A critic, and a cenfor most severe. Our younger years bloom with a thousand joys, Etatis cujufque notandi funt tibi mores, Sublimis. cupidufque, & amata relinquere pernix. Quærit opes & amicitias, infervit honori; Multa fenem circumveniunt incommoda ; vel quod If Dilator, If it should be asked, What advantage can an Orator derive from the introduction of perfons filent as perfons fpeaking? Our anfwer is, that the Orator may give a greater warmth and force to his fentiments when delivered by another, than what he may be able to infuse into them, as uttered by himself, and it may be added, that discourses by the introduction of filent perfons as fpeaking are agreeably diversified, and may therefore be the better adapted to fix attention. In fupport of my obfervations, I would only have a person read CICERO's fine oration in behalf of MILO, and I am certain he will be fatisfied of their truth and justice. 3. When we introduce perfons deceased speaking as if they were alive, let us alfo take care that the fpeeches we ascribe to them are fuch as are correfpondent, congruous, and that for the fame reasons that have been affigned, when we directed that the language of perfons filent, brought in by us as speaking, should be in perfect conformity to their characters. Shall I give an instance of this kind?" What and if LUCIUS "BRUTUS fhould rife again, and ftand here before us? Would he not fay, I have expelled Dilator, fpe lentus, iners, pavidufque futuri; Kings, HORAT. Peet. Art. ver. 158. it, Kings, you have admitted them: I gave birth "to liberty, which did not fo much as exift be"fore; you will not fo much as preferve "when it has been obtained for you. I, at the "hazard of my life, delivered my country; you, "though you have no rifk to run in the caufe "of liberty, give yourselves no concern about " it *." If it fhould be made a question, What benefit can accrue from the introduction of perfons deceased, as if they were prefent and speaking? It may be replied, that the fpeeches of fuch who are departed from our world, may be armed with greater spirit and energy than difcourfes in our own persons. When ELIPHAZ would convey this truth to our minds, that a mortal man SS cannot be more just than GOD, or a man more pure than his Maker; and that he puts no trust ss in his fervants; and that his angels are charged .with folly, how much lefs on them that dwell " in houfes of clay," &c. what a deep folemnity, and awful power does he give to the truth he delivers, by the manner in which he introduces it, or by acquainting us how it was revealed to him? Fob iv. 12. How a thing was fecretly brought 5 to me, and mine ear received a little thereof: in thoughts from the vifions of the night,when * Quòd fi nunc L. ille Brutus revivifcat, & hic ante pedes veftros adfit, non hac utatur oratione? Ego reges ejeci, vos tyrannos introducitis: ego libertatem, quæ non erat, peperi, vos partam fervare non vultis: ego capitis mei periculo patriam liberavi, vos liberi fine periculo effe non curatis. CICER. ad HERENNIUM, lib. iv. n 53 35 deep sleep falls upon men, Fear came upon "me, and trembling, which made all my bones "to shake, Then a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh ftood up. It stood still, " but I could not difcern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes; there was siss lence, and I heard a voice, faying, Shall mor* tal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker ?" &c. It may be further observed, that the introduction of beings from another world, and speeches afcribed to them break the tenor of our discourses, and fuch a variation helps attention, and gives pleafure to our hearers. 4. When by Profopopeias, countries, woods, rocks, rivers, temples, and the like, assume the powers and properties, and exprefs the motions of living, and fometimes reasonable beings, fuch rhetorical liberties may be vindicated by the following confiderations. (1) Plaintive paffions," fays the Author of the Elements of Criticifm*, are extremely folicitous "for vent. But when a paffion fwells high, it is "not fatisfied with fo slight a gratification: it "must have a perfon to complain to; and if none be found, it will animate things devoid of fenfe. "Thus PHILOCTETES (PHILOCTETES of SOPHOCLES, act.4. fc.2.) complains to the rocks and promontories of the isle of Lemnos; and ALCESTES dying, invokes the fun, the light of day, the "clouds, CC 4 Vol. iii. page 55. "clouds, the earth, her husband's palace, &c. "(ALCESTES of EURIRIDES, act. 2. fc. 1.) "Plaintive paffions carry the mind still farther. "Among the many principles that connect in❝dividuals in fociety, one is remarkable: it is "that principle which makes us earnestly wish, "that others fhould enter into our concerns, and think and feel as we do. This focial principle, when inflamed by a plaintive paffion, will, for want of a more complete gratifica❝tion, prompt the mind to give life even to things inanimate. MOSCHUS, lamenting the "death of BioN, conceives that the birds, the fountains, the trees lament with him." The fame Author obferves in another place, that anger, the most violent of all paffions, forces "the mind to perfonify a stock or a stone, when "it occasions bodily pain, in order to be a pro"per object of resentment +." (2) The frame of our minds, whether it be pleasant or melancholy, especially if the pleafure or the melancholy be in any very great degree, will make the inanimate creation around us feem either to be agreeable and delightful, or tafteless and irksome to us; and hence we may be led afterwards, by an eafy step, to reprefent inanimate beings as fympathising with us, or participating the fame pafsions with ourselves, or rejoicing, or being fad, according to the complexion of our spirits. In fupport of our obfervation, + Vol. i. page 191. |