Qass_ Book___Jl3 AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE and HISTORY OF GREEK and LATIN POETRY, 8$c. AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE and HISTORY OP GREEK and LATIN POETRY MORE PARTICULARLY OF Cfje ©ramattc Species: TENDING TO ASCERTAIN The LAWS of COMIC METRE IN BOTH THOSE LANGUAGES; I. That Poetical Licences have no real Existence, but are mere Corruptions ; II. That the Verses of Plautus, Terence, Pindar, and Horace, are in many Instances erroneously regulated ; AND TO SUGGEST A MORE RATIONAL AND MUSICAL DIVISION OF THE VERSES. By JOHN SIDNEY HAWKINS, Esq. F. A. S. LONDON: Printed by S. Gosnell, Little Queen Street, TOR E. WILLIAMS, ETON; AND RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON. SOLD ALSO BY PARKER, OXFORD; AND BY DEIGHTON AND SONS, CAMBRIDGE. MDCCCXVJL * /*«xxoy rpsVoyTa*.'— Thucydides, edit. Hudson, fo. Oxon, 1696, p. 12. ' Res sine Industria multis Investigatio Veritatis, ac ad ilia quae < in promptu sunt magis vertuntur.'— Ibid. p. 12. * Hsec enim duo Inventioni Veritatis plurimum adversantur, si * aut vera dicenti quis succenseat, aut pertinaciter in Falsi- ' tatis defensione laboret.* — Joannis Sarisburiensis Poly- craticus, 12mo. Lugd. Bat. 1595, p. 365, * Lex vera atque princeps, apta ad jubendum et ad vetandum> * est Ratio recta.' — Cicero, Be Legib. « In re magna vincat Ratio Authoritatem.' — Plinius, Jul. 1. 1. * Difficilius est Oratione uti, quam Versibus ; quod illis quidera 1 certa et definita lex est, quam sequi sit necesse/ &c«— Cicero, Orator, A 3 ADVERTISEMENT. The present Work may be truly sg-id to rest on the following very plain, and almost self-evident conclusions ; That the laws of Poetry are founded in Reason and good Sense, and are to be tried by those tests ; that they are not the result of Caprice, but of deliberate Judgment, and Experience of what is best ; and that the quantities of syllables have a real and solid foundation in the nature of Pronun- ciation itself; That the principles of Music must be consi- dered as the foundation of the laws of Poetry : That those principles allow an exchange of any measure for all equivalent quantities, in whatever order the long and short quantities occur : That this rule is in part acknowledged in Latin Poetry, by the admission of the Spondee, in ex- change for the Dactyl, in Hexameter verse : a 4 Vlll ADVERTISEMENT. That it ought to be further extended ; because actual instances of such an extension occur in the writings of Homer, Virgil, and Horace : That, as there is no ground, from Experience or Reason, to suppose that Plautus or Terence in- tended to use Variety of Verse, either in length or nature, especially in the same scene, it is rational to imagine they designed that all their Verses should be of the same sort ; That, as some of the Verses in both those au- thors have been decidedly shown to be, not Iam- bic, but Bacchiac, because they contradict the rules of the former, and agree with those of the latter, there is every foundation to conclude they meant Bacchiac to be the kind they employed ; And that, consequently, such Verses as will scan both ways, either as Iambic Trimeter, or Bacchiac Tetrameter, are to be considered as Bacchiac : That Poetical Licences, as being deviations from rules and restrictions established to promote excellence and prevent deformity, are absurd and contradictory to Reason ; And that the extension of the principle, in the manner above mentioned, will entirely remove all ADVERTISEMENT. IX supposed Poetical Licences, which, indeed, have no real existence, and reduce the principles of Poetry to a few simple rules, resting* on a rational ground, a recommendation of which they have hi* therto been destitute. Most of these propositions must be allowed to be self-evident, and as such they can never be shaken by conjectures or opinions of any Grammarians or Critics, whether ancient or modern; men, ignorant of the principles of Music, on which Poetry itself rests, and biassed in their judgment by an errone- ous system, traditionally delivered in the course of their education. What Cicero has said of the Philosophers, ' Nescio quomodo nihil tarn absurde 6 dici potest, quod non dicatur ab aliquo Philoso- ( phorum,' applies with equal truth to the Gram- marians and Critics of all ages. No error or pro- position has been too gross or absurd to be ad- vanced and maintained by them ; and the ensuing pages of this Work will exhibit instances of their ignorance and rashness, sufficient, both in number and importance, to destroy entirely, with all can- did and judicious persons, the vain and unfounded pretensions of both Grammarians and Critics to superiority of Sagacity or Intellect. X ADVERTISEMENT. Conclusions, fairly deducible from such prin«- ciples as those before stated, neither derive, nor need, any support or assistance from great names ; on a far better foundation, the broad basis of Truth, Reason, and Justice, they rest their claim for adoption. They decline not, but solicit, minute scrutiny and investigation, conducted, as all in** quiries ought to be, on the fair ground of Justice and Candour. The more they are examined, the stronger they will be found. Every other system, as yet known, has, on experiment, failed ; but these, without reference to rules which contradict common Sense, such as Poetical Licences, for in-? stance, will remove, or fully account for, every appearance of irregularity or deviation from rule. And, as they are so closely connected with the very nature and essence of Poetry itself, that they form the basis of it in every language whatever, they are manifestly the only ones on which the systems of Greek and Latin Poetry, as well as that of all other languages, can be rationally and sub- stantially founded. Should it be asked, as perhaps it may, how a principle, so plain and simple, could so long have remained concealed, or, after so long' concealment, ADVERTISEMENT. XI have at length been discovered, it may be answered almost in the words of Demosthenes % that Na- ture is prompt to bestow on those present the ad- vantages belonging to the absent, and to reward those disposed to take the labour and pains, with that kind and degree of intelligence which cannot be acquired by such as are unwilling to seek. 4 ym Ktv\yzvw, rd t£v c^sXyvruv.' — ' Naturam etiam ita ferre, ut 1 preesentibus cedant quae sunt absentium, et volentibus labores * ac pericula adire quae sunt negligentium.' — Demosthenis Se- iectae Orationes, a MounJ;eney, 8vo. Lond. 1806, p. 9, 149. CONTENTS. ■Section Page I. Object and Extent of the present Work I II. Poetry first known and practised among the Jews 4 III. There can be but three Sorts of Poetry 37 IV. Heroic, the first Sort of Poetry .... 48 V. Iambic, the second 56 VI. Pceonic, the third 70 VII. Every Kind of Poetry admits all equi- valent Feet 87 VlII. No Licences admissible 92 IX. Heroic Verse, what Feet that receives 114 X. Iambic Metre, of what Feet that con- sists 127 XI. Bacchiac or Pceonic, wltat Feet it ad- mits 135 XII. Origin of Comedy and Tragedy , . . . 140 XIII. Comedy not a musical Performance throughout 161 XIV. Tibiae, their Nature 182 XV. Particulars relating to the Publication of the first Editions of Plautus and Terence 189 XIV CONTENTS. Section Page XVI. Division of the Verses in Terence, as it at present stands, but com- paratively of modern Date, and manifestly very corrupt in itself 202 XVII. Not to be relied on, because the Ma- nuscripts and printed Editions vary from each other in the Divi- sion of the Verses 212 XVIII. Variety of Verse neither necessamj nor proper in itself. 218 XIX. Chorus and Verse employed in the Greek Tragedies, their Nature'. . 227 XX. Species of Verse used by Greek Co- mie Writers , . 242 XXI. Latin Comic Verse, Specimens of . . 281 XXII. Priscian, his System 292 XXIII. Authority of Manuscripts and an- cient Copies not to be received in Contradiction to Prosodia ...... 304 XXIV. Transcribers of Manuscripts, who they were, and what their Quali- fications, Merits, and Defects . . 312 XXV. Corrections in Manuscripts, how and by whom made . .... 351 XXVI. Supposed Authority of Gramma- rians not to be admitted or received 399 XXVII. Aristotle De Poetica not to be trusted, and ivhy 434 XXVIII. Latin Comic Metre cannot be Iambic 442 CONTENTS. XV Scctioa Page XXIX. Latin Comic Metre really Saturnian or Bacchiac 451 XXX. It admits all equivalent Feet, hut no Licences 467 XXXI. Pindar and Horaces Odes to be new regulated , 469 XXXII. Conclusion from the Whole ...... 476 ERRATA. Page 17, line 21, for Jathed; varie read Jathed, varie 24, — 2 from the bottom, for complectitnr } read coniplectitur ? 40, — 6, for Rythmum, read Rhythnmm. 171, — 23, for Ostia, read 0**«. 172, — 25, for discrepant, read discrepuit. 255, — last but two,") r rr , . , , rT , . . . ' . ■ , , >for Urbinato* read Urbmnts, 256, — last bat one, j ' AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE POETRY SECTION I. On the Object and Extent of the present Jf r ork. To settle, on definite, simple, and rational rules, the principles of both Greek and Latin Prosodia in general 3 , which have been greatly mistaken; To show, by decisive evidence, that poetical licences, by which the writings of the classic poets have been hitherto supposed to be disfigured, have no real existence, and that the passages in question are not deviations from rule, but consistent with the true principles of versification b ; To explain, on the foundation of the rules of Prosodia, the Jong-contested point, as to the nature of Latin comic metre c ; a Sect. 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 1J. P. Sect. 8. c Sect. 20, 2%, 29. & AN INQUIRY INTO To regulate, by a proper division into their respective kinds of metre, the verses of Plautus and Terence d , and some of the Odes of Pindar and Horace e , which have been erroneously given ; And to ascertain the probable origin of Poetry in general f , and of dramatic Poetry in particular^ are the principal objects of the present work. Points, important as these to the very existence of Poetry, and affecting, as they do, the founda- tion itself of both the Greek and Latin systems, in all their branches, are evidently of the highest concern to every one who entertains a due sense of the value, and an adequate regard for the inter- ests of literature : but, though often undertaken, and by men of eminence, they have never been sufficiently investigated. The causes of the failure of those who thus engaged in the pursuit, have been a want of knowledge in themselves of the principles of music, too great a dependence on the authority of celebrated names, such as the old grammarians, Priscian and the rest ; an erroneous system of Prosodia, traditionally delivered in the course of their education ; an idea, the conse- quence of that system, much too confined and re- stricted, as to the kinds of feet admissible in the several sorts of verse ; and a total ignorance of the actual state of the text, as it stands in the earliest copies, both printed and manuscript. d Sect. 28. e Sect. SO. f Sect. 2. i Sect. 12. THE NATURE OF POETRY. d From sources, unexplored by former writers, but resorted to on the present occasion, with no common degree of care and assiduity, and with proportionate success, evidence of the strongest nature, but hitherto unknown, has been procured in the course of a search prosecuted and continued for a succession of years. It was originally com- menced for the purpose of impartially ascertaining the real facts, not to justify or support any system or idea previously entertained ; and its result was in the outset expected to have been a confirmation of the opinions generally received on the subject ; but it has proved, on the contrary, their total de- struction. No captious opposition to the sentiments of any writer — -no wish to show what plausible argu- ments might be urged on points evidently not de- fensible — no endeavours to support, on sophistical and fallacious grounds, any opinion, because its author was too proud to confess he had formerly been mistaken, will here be found ; but, if an au- thor's sentiments are rejected, or controverted, it is because the weight of evidence is against them. The facts adduced are themselves incontrovertible : none but fair and natural conclusions are drawn from them, and there seems, therefore, no reason to imagine they will fail of producing their due effect on the mind of every candid, intelligent, and judicious reader. b a AN INQUIRY INTO SECTION II. Poetry first known and practised among the Jeivs, The Greeks not the original discoverers of science and know- ledge—Heathen mythology borrowed from the Scriptures — Megasthenes, Aristobulus, and Numenius, their opinions to that effect. — Greeks obtained from Egypt astronomy and their mythology.— Greek philosophers travelled into Egypt. — Classical prejudices in favour of Greek literature almost inveterate. — Imitations by the Greeks not usually, if ever, disclosed, as they ought to be, in the course of classical education. — Instances of poems among the Jews prior to the time of the Greeks, — Hebrew Poetry, its nature. — Calmet has collected the several opinions on this subject. — Josephus, St. Jerom, Philo Judaeus, Theodore Hubert, Francis Gomarus, Le Clerc, Scaliger, Augustin of Eugubio, Louis Cappel, Gro- tius, &c. their several opinions, as stated by Calmet. — Re- marks on Hubert and Gomarus's opinions. — Possible in all languages to ascertain quantities of syllables, and therefore the poetry in each may be compared with the Latin and Greek.— Sir Philip Sidney's attempt to regulate English poetry by La- tin feet. — Hebrew poetry certainly capable of comparison with Latin and Greek. — The Hebrew language the more an- cient; Greek and Latin rules for quantities, therefore, a more modern invention.— Le Clercs opinion refuted. — Manwaring gives the first Psalm in Hebrew, scanned, and with the quan- tities marked. — Scaliger's opinion refuted. — The Cartha- ginian scene in Plautus's Pcenulus completely Hebrew, and in verse. — Scaliger contradicts himself. — His opinion that some parts of the Bible are in verse. — His sentiments exa- mined.— Aristotle's opinion that a poem containing all sorts the Nature op poetry. 5 of verse is not a poem.— Augustin of Eugubio's opinion examined. — Josephus, his sentiments stated— St. Jerom, his idea— Scaliger, his opinion that some parts of the Bible are verse, noticed. — Scaliger's and St. Jerom's opinions com- pared. — Manwaring's opinion as to the nature of Hebrew poetry. — The first Psalm, as given by him in the Hebrew language, with the quantities marked, objectionable as to distribution, because the verses of unequal length, — Quan- tities of the feet used in it.— -The Psalm itself, as scanned and marked by him. — A new regulation and division proposedj, to make it of more equal length. — Poetical licences do not seem to have been used. — Bishop Lowth, his opinion on Hebrew poetry. — Remarks on it.— -Models of all the various sorts of Greek poetry to be found much earlier among the Jews. — Greek poetry and its rules certainly derived from the poems in the Scriptures. — Hexameter verse the earliest among the Jews, as well as among the Greeks. — Poetry among the Jews may be reasonably supposed to have pro- ceeded from inspiration. Notwithstanding the perpetual vanity and injus- tice of the Greeks, in assuming to themselves the invention and discovery of all arts, sciences, and branches of knowledge, and their arrogant cen- sure on all other nations for barbarism and infe- riority of understanding, it is an unquestionable fact, as will soon be shown from the strongest evi- dence, that all that boasted intelligence and know- ledge which they affected to disclose as the result of their own sagacity, was already known in the world, long before the Greeks existed as a nation; that those nations, whom, in their superlative wis- dom, they have chosen to term and consider as barbarians, were so far their superiors in intellect, b 3 O AN INQUIRY INTO intelligence, and information, as to be able to be- come, as they actually did, their instructors ; and that, in point of fact, it was from those very nations, and not from their own discoveries, that the Greeks themselves obtained what they knew on the subject. Even their own system of mythology, their only code of religion, contemptible as it was, as being destitute of the foundation of Morality, they were unable to frame without the assistance of the Holy Scriptures. At the very time when they sought to advance their own reputation for wis- dom and sagacity, by the production of something which should astonish all mankind by its excel- lence, their superior intellects and sagacity were able to suggest no better a plan, than one teeming with the grossest absurdities ; and, even for the formation of this contemptible fabric, they found themselves reduced to the wretched necessity of borrowing from those truths which it was their decided intention to treat as falsehoods, and which they corruptly and dishonestly meant to distort and sophisticate, in order to promote their own sinister purposes. To avoid detection, they have, it is true, dis- guised their fables, by changing the names of per- sons and countries, uniting in the history of one person the actions of several, and fixing for the residence and existence of their heroes and deities, countries and periods of time different from those in which their originals really flourished. But THE NATURE OF POETRY. / the foundations of all their principal fables are manifestly to be traced in the histories of the Old Testament h ; and it is believed, that, perhaps with- out a single exception, scarcely any one Deity oc- curs in their system, for whom a parallel instance may not be discovered in the Sacred Writings, which existed long before their time, and with which it is proved, beyond the possibility of doubt, they were thoroughly acquainted. Megasthenes \ a Greek historian cited by Eu- sebius k , says, that all which the ancient Greeks have delivered on the subject of Nature, had been written by the Jews long before; and Aristobulus, a Jewish philosopher, and Numenius, a Greek \ a celebrated Pythagorean and Platonic, both affirm, that Pythagoras and Plato have only rendered into Greek what they had already found in the writings of Moses. The former expressly adds, that the books of Moses had been translated into Greek, h See Vossius De Idololatria, Bochart Phaleg, Natalis Comes, Lilius Giraldus, Gale's Court of the Gentiles, &c. &c. throughout. > Who wrote under Seleucus Nicanor, king of Syria, about the 122d Olympiad, 294 years before Christ. Lavaur, Confe- rence de la Fable, Preliminary Discourse, p. 47. — See also Hel- vici Chronologia, edit. Oxon. 1662, p. 73, on the authority of Eusebius, — 300 years before our Saviour. Saxii Onomast. Lit. Traject. ad Rhenium, edit. 1775, vol. i. p. 92. k Eusebius, 1. ix. c. 3; Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata, 1. i. as cited by Lavaur. 1 Of whose works only a few fragments remain, preserved by Origen, Theodoret, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Eusebius. Lavaur, ubi supra. B 4 O AN INQUIRY INTO not only before the time of Alexander, but even prior to that of the Persian monarchy m ; and Nu- menius's assertion is well known, that Plato is no other than Moses speaking Greek n . That the Greeks had received from the Egyp- tians the knowledge of astrology and divination, the names of their gods, and the system for their worship, together with their code of laws, the historians themselves teach us °. Herodotus even mentions some of the laws of Solon, which had been borrowed and taken from the Egyptians p : and Solon himself was reproached by the learned m < Mosaica volumina, ante Alexandrum et ante Persarum * imperium, traducta fuerant.' Aristobulus, as cited by La- vaur. See also Croesii 'O^pos ECpawj, sive Historia Hebraeorum ab Homero, Hebraicis nominibus ac sententiis conscripta in Odyssea et Iliade, 12mo. Dordraci, 170i, vol. i. Introduction, p. 131. The words are these: * Praeterea, admonet nos Clemens * Alexandrinus, Strom, lib. i. ante Demetrium, priusquam rerum * potirentur Alexander et Persse, versa fuisse quae ab Hebraeis c gesta fuerant in exitu ex iEgypto, et quaecunque eis insignia et * facta erant, et apparuerant, et regionis per vim quaesitam pos- ' sessionem, et omnes quae latae sunt leges.' n ' Quid est aliud Plato, quam Moses atticissans?' Hesychius, art. Numenius, as cited by Lavaur. Herodotus, throughout the whole of his second book, and Diodorus Siculus, in his first book, p. 62, as cited by Lavaur, Prel. Disc. p. 53. ' Est divinandi in templis ratio, ab iEgypto 4 adscita, iEgyptii, igitur, extiterunt principes conventus et * pompas, et conciliabula faciendi, et ab iis Graeci didicerunt.' Herodot. lib. ii. p. 49. See Lavaur, ubi supra, p. 53. Hero- dotus says, that the names of the twelve deities, the Greeks acquired from the Egyptians. See Natalis Comes, Mythologia^ lib. i. c. 7. p Lavaur, Prel. Disc. p. 53. THE NATURE OF POETRV. 9 Egyptians with the ignorance of the Greeks, who, they said, were only mere children in the ancient branches of knowledge <*. Diodorus Siculus r has given the names of the first sages and celebrated learned men among the Greeks, who went into Egypt to acquire there, during a residence of great part of their lives, an acquaintance with those laws and branches of knowledge, without which they found they knew nothing. The Egyptian priests, says this histo- rian, show, from their registers, and prove, by substantial evidence, that Orpheus, Museeus, Me- lampe, Deedalus, Homer, Lycurgus of Sparta, So- lon the Athenian, Plato the mathematician, Eu- doxus, Democritus of Abdera, and CEnopis of Chios, came among them. Now Solon flourish- ed before the 50th Olympiad s ; Pythagoras, in the 60th *; and Plato, born in the 88th Olym- i * O Solo, Solo, pueri semper estis ; nee quisquam ex * Grsecia senex : nulla apud vos, e vetustatis commemoratione, * prisca opinio, nulla cana scientia.' Plato, in Timseo, p. 475, col. i. as cited by Lavaur, Prel. Disc. p. 56. T Bibliotheca, lib. i. p. 60, as cited by Lavaur, Prel. Disc, p. 56. s Lavaur^ Prel. Disc. p. 57. Helvicus places him in the 47th, viz. 589 years before Christ. Chronologia, p. 61. Saxius, in his Onomast. Lit. edit. 1775, vol. i. p. 20, introduces him in the 47th, 592 years before Christ, and says, he died in the 54th Olymp. Ibid. 4 Lavaur, Pre!. Disc. p. 58. Pythagoras flourished from the 50th to the 70th Olympiad. Eusebius, as cited by Hel- vicus, p. 61. Pythagoras flourished in the 67th Olymp. 507 years before Christ. Saxius, On. Lit. edit. 1775, vol. i. p. 27, He 10 AN INQUIRY INTO piad u , flourished about the 90th \ The Greeks were, therefore, well acquainted with Jewish knowledge, long before the time of Alexander, who did not be- gin to reign till the 111th Olympiad y i and, lastly, Aristotle himself confesses, as Clearchus his dis- ciple reports, that, when he was in Asia, a Jewish philosopher, who came to visit him, communicated to him much more information than this Jew re- ceived from him in return z . On a fair and accurate examination and com- parison, the heathen mythology will be found all borrowed and corrupted from the Scriptures ; and, besides a multitude of ancient historians who assert the fact a , the Scriptures themselves confirm it : for the Jews, when persecuted by An- He was bora in the 49th Olymp. and died in the 70th. Ibid, p. 28. u Lavaur, Prelim. Disc. p. 58. Plato died in the 108th Olympiad, aged 80. Diogenes Laertius, as cited by Helvicus? p. 71. Plato was born in the 87th Olymp. and died in the 103th* Saxii Onom. Lit. vol. i. p. 61. x Lavaur, Prel. Disc. p. 58. y Lavaur, Prel. Disc. p. 58. See also Helvici Chronologia, p. 70; and Saxii Onom. Lit. vol. i. p. 79. z Lavaur, Prel. Disc. p. 58. ' Cum in maritimis Asia? locis * versaremur, Judaeus philosophus amore ad nos sponte venit, ' qui multo plura nobis attulit, quam accept.' Eusebius, in Preparat. Evang. lib. ix. cap. 3, as cited by Lavaur, in a note, Prel. Disc. p. 58. a Justin Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Minutius Felix, St. Cyril, Arnobius, Lactantius, St. Austin, in his book De Civitate Dei, Theodoret, Joseph us, Philo Judaeus, St. Athanasius : all cited by Lavaur, Prel. Disc. p. 59. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 11 tiochus, king of Syria, 166 years before the time of our Saviour, opened, in the presence of God, to revive their confidence, the books of the law, which, says the Sacred History, had been ransacked by the heathen nations, and on which they had framed the idea and false resemblance of their idols and worship b . Although it is true that the books of the Maccabees, in the first of which this fact is related, are, by our church, placed among the apocryphal, as not having such strong marks of inspiration as those considered as authentic, yet there is no reason, from that circumstance, to_ reject their evidence as history, especially when they give, as they do in this case, the authority of the original author, by stating, that the two books of the Maccabees are an abridgment, in one vo- lume, of the five books written by Jason of Cyrene c . Among classical scholars, prejudices in favour of Greek literature, talent, and originality of in- vention, are so peculiarly strong, as to be almost indeed inveterate; and, for want of a due ac- quaintance with the degree of intellect and in- formation possessed by contemporary nations, the real fact of the imitations practised by the Greeks is not, as it ought to be, usually, if ever, disclosed to their pupils, by those who have the care of juvenile education. The facts already produced, and those which are to folio w, will, it is hoped, produce an alteration in that respect in the system b 1 Maccabees, iii. 48. c 2 Maccabees, ii. 23* 12 AN INQUIRY INTO of classical education. Nor is evidence wanting to show tha^ in the art of Poetry for instance, thd object of present attention, the principles of metre and versification were in like manner most evi- dently derived from the Hebrews. The poems among the Hebrews, upon which it is intended more particularly to rely, as actual instances of metre and versification, are, The Song of Moses, after the passage through the Red Sea, 1491 years before our Saviour d ; That other, a little before he died, to recom- mend the observance of the law, 1451 before Christ e ; The Song of Deborah, 1296 before Christ f ; That of Hannah, Samuel's mother, 1171 be- fore Christ"; The Psalms of David and his continuators, at various periods between 1062 and 1004 before Christ 11 ; d Exodus, xv. I. Helvicus places the departure from Egypt in the year of the world 2453, which would be 1496 be-v fore Christ. See Helvici Chronologia, p. 25. e Deuteronomy, xxxii. 1, &c. Helvicus states the death of Moses in the year of the world 5258, 1456 before Christ, Chro- nologia, p. 24. f Judges, v. 1, &c. Helvicus refers the defeat of Sisera to the year of the world 3419, 1292 before Christ, Chronologia 5 p. 23. s 1 Samuel, ii. 1 — 10. Helvicus dates the birth of Samuel about the year of the world 3579, 1133 before Christ, Chrono- logia, p. 38. h See the dates to several in the Book of Psalms. David reigned from the year of the world 3653, 1059 before Christ, THE NATURE OP POETRY. 13 And, lastly, the Book of Job, written by Moses about 1521 years before Christ 1 . The Songs of Moses, of Deborah, and of Hannah, and the Psalms, are acknowledged as poetry by the Abbe Fleury, in his tract on the Manners of the Israelites, part ii. chap. 11 ; the second Song of Moses, by Scaliger and Josephus k ; the Psalms, by Josephus 1 and St. Jerom 1 "; and the Book of Job, by Scaliger n and St. Jerom°. Of what kind the Hebrew poetry really was, has, it is true, been made a question; for the solution of which, on the present occasion, in- quiries have been unsuccessfully made of persons, who, from their situations and other circum- stances, were thought likely to be able to furnish and died A. M. 3693, 1019 before Christ. Helvici Chron. p. 42. David died 1015 years before the birth of our Saviour. See the marginal notes in the 4to. edit, of the Bible, 1 Kings, i. 10. 1 See the marginal date in the Bible, at the head of the Book of Job. k Scaliger, in his Annotations on Eusebius, as stated by Gale, in his Court of the Gentiles, part i. book iii. p. 2 and 3. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, book iv. chap. 8. 1 Antiquities of the Jews, book vii. chap. 10. m See, among the Prolegomena to the Latin Vulgate Bible, St. Jerom's Preface, entitled, ' Hieronymi Prologus Galeatus,* and that denominated, * Hieronymi Paulino.' n See his Annotations on Eusebius, as stated by Gale, be- fore referred to. ° See his Preface, entitled, * Hieronymi Paulino,' and that entitled ' S. Hieronymi in Librum Job. Prsefatio,' among the Prolegomena to the Latin Vulgate Bible* 14 AN INQUIRY INTO intelligence ; but the subject seems so far to have sunk into oblivion, that no assistance could be procured, JJesorting, however, to the testimony of competent writers of the early times, such for instance as Josephus, himself a Jew, Eusebius, St. Jerom, and others, and connecting their opinions with the natures of Poetry and Music themselves, it is conceived a conclusion not far distant from the truth may be safely and ratio- nally found. Calmet seems, in his Dictionnaire de la Bible, to have collected together the several varieties of opinion on this matter ; and the substance of his account is given, to the following effect, in the Dictionnaire Historique of Moreri, fo. Amst. 1740, art. Poesie des Hebreux *. c From the manner in which Josephus, Origen, * Eusebius, and St. Jerom speak of the Poetry of i the Hebrews, it should seem that, in their time, € all the beauty and rules of it were still under- ' stood. Josephus says, in several places, that * the Canticles composed by Moses, are in heroic * verse ; and that David composed different sorts ' of verse, of which, some were trimeters, and ' others pentameters. Origen and Eusebius have c followed the same opinion. St. Jerom says, the € Psalter is composed of Alcaic verses, Iambics and '* Sapphics, like those of Pindar and Horace ; and c that the Canticles of Deuteronomy and of Isaiah, € the books of Job and of Solomon, are in hex- THE NATURE OP POETRY. 15 e ameter and pentameter verses, &c. Philo » says, ' that the Essenians have some ancient poems, the ' verses of which are of a variety of forms, and of c several measures : some are of three members ; * others are hymns, sung during sacrifices ; some < are recited at repasts, and others are accompa- 6 nied with dancing. Theodore Hubert has thought ' he discovered in the Bible verses similar to the f Greek and Latin ; and some of these he has * pointed out. Francis Gomarus, in his tract, en- ' titled, " Davidis Lyra," has pretended to give f rules of the Hebrew Poetry, exactly similar to f those of the Greek and Latin ; but he has drawn f on himself a refutation from Louis Cappel, which ' has not been answered. Le Clerc has written a c dissertation, to show that the Poetry of the He- f brews was in rhymes, very nearly like those of the 6 French <* ; and his opinion has found a consider- f able number of partisans. Some maintain, that, ' in the ancient Hebrew verse, there was neither ( measure nor feet. Scaliger even asserts, that 1 their language, like those of the Syrians, Arabs, c and Abyssinians, is not susceptible of this re- c straint. Augustin of Eugubio says, that the p Philo Judasus lived 40 years after our Saviour. Saxius, first edit. p. 14. s It may be reasonably doubted, whether, in this assertion, Le Clerc has not mistaken rhythmus for rhyme, from which it is very different ; or, if he has not done so, whether the author of the article in Moreri has not misconceived him, and been guilty of a similar error* 16 AN INQUIRY INTO * Hebrews have neither heroic verses, nor Iambic ' verses, nor of any other measure, but only some- * thing which approaches to them, like the songs f of the barbarians. This opinion is maintained ' by Louis Cappel, Martin Martinius, Samuel Boh- lius, Vasmuth, Augustus Pfeiffer, and by some * others. Grotius declares himself for this opinion; ' and Calmet thinks it the most tenable. See his c Dissertation on the Poetry of the Hebrews, at * the head of his Commentary on Exodus.' The sentiments of Theodore Hubert and Fran- cis Gomarus are, perhaps, entitled to more respect than the author of the above article seems willing to allow ; for, although the rules for ascertaining the quantities of the syllables might not, perhaps, from the different genius of the two languages, have been the same in the Hebrew, as they were in the Latin or Greek ; yet, if the Hebrew verses were, as to feet and quantities, constructed like the Latin or Greek, that is surely adequate cause for considering them as so far the same. Jt is and must be possible, in all languages, to ascertain, from practice, in some determinate manner, what syllables are long, and what short ; and an ar- rangement of those syllables, conformable to the feet of the Latin and Greek verses, might, there- fore, easily be produced r . Similar attempts, upon r The difference of quantity in the Hebrew syllables has been ascertained, as will appear from the following passages : Cardinal Bellarmine, in his Institutiones Linguae Hebraicse, THE MATURE OF POETRY* 17 this very principle of the natural quantities of fch« syllables, have been made in the case of our own language., by Sir Philip Sidney^ in his Arcadia % 12mo. 1619, p. 245, speaking De Poetica, uses these words: « Ve- * tus quidem Poeticae Mosis et Prophetarum hoc tempore penitus * ignoratur. Veruntamen, recentiorum Hebraeorum Cantica * rhythmicis raaxime versibus constant, quales ferme a plerisque * proximis hisce saeculis condebantur, quos Leoninos appellant. * Quoniam tamen ipsi quoque recentiorum Hebraici versus certo * aliquo, turn pedum, turn syllabarum, numero continentur, pri- ' mum de syllabis, ac pedibus, deinde etiam de vario carminum ' rhythmorumque genere disseretur.' The same author, p. 246, speaking of the Hebrew syllables, says, some are long and some short ; that the long are such as consist of one of the ten vowel points ; arid that the short are such as have any one of the three semi-points, or a point, which he mentions. P. 247, speaking of feet, he thus expresses himself: ' Pedes, quibus in * versibus utuntur Hebraei, duo sunt; alter dicitur Tenungha, * motio, et constat syllaba longa. Alter dicitur Jathed, clavus-, * qui duabus constat syllabis, longa et brevi, instar Iambi. * Porro, ex his duobus pedibus Thenungha et Jathed ; varie * permixtis, fiunt alii quatuor qui nobis appellantur Spondaeus - -, * Bacchius - - ^, Creticus - " -, Molossus * Per hos quatuor ' pedes et Iambum, quippe voce usuque notiores, Hebrasorum ' carmina metiemur. > From these passages it is evident that the quantities of the syllables have been determined by the He- brew points, and that, when they have been thus ascertained, they have been employed to form such feet as occur in the Latin and Greek Poetry. Since the quantities have been thus settled, it seems almost unaccountable why the ancient system of versification should not be capable of discovery, if properly investigated. s See a specimen of twenty lines of this kind, in Sidney's Arcadia, edit, fo* Lond. 1638, p. 77, beginning, Fortune, Nature, Love, long have contended about me, Which should most miseries cast on a wretch that I am: Fortune thus 'gan say, Misery and Misfortune is all one, ,Aud of Misfortune^ Fortune hath only the gift, See. C 18 AN INQUIRY INTO and by other authors ; and, although from them it is evident, that, in consequence of the different formation of the words, the same rules for quan- tity, which prevailed in the Latin or Greek, can- not be applicable to the English, it is impossible to deny that the verses of those authors have a degree of cadence and harmony, which entitles them to rank as measured Poetry ; nay, the very structure of our heroic verse, which is generally supposed Iambic, of five feet, or ten syllables* manifestly rests upon this very principle; and none of those, who consider it as .of that sort, ever conceived or thought of contending, that, at the time they thus admitted the feet were similar to the Latin and Greek, the quantities of the syl- lables were in any respect guided by the rules of Prosodia in either of those languages. Not to mention, besides, that, as the Hebrew was a far more ancient language than either Latin or Greek, the rules for the quantities of syllables, in either of these latter languages, must be comparatively of much more recent invention than those of the Hebrew. LeClerc's supposition that the Hebrew verse was in rhyme, stands contradicted by fact, at least so far as regards the ancient species of Poetry. Man- waring t has given the first Psalm in the Hebrew language, but the Italic character, so that persons unacquainted with the original language, and the character in which it is written, can judge; 1 Manwaring's Stichology, p. 76. •;the nature of poetry. 19 and the words cannot in any way be made to rhyme. Scaliger's conjecture, that, in the Hebrew verse, there was neither measure nor feet, and that the language is incapable of such a restraint, is evidently absurd u . In every language, as has been already noticed, there must be a difference of quantity in the syllables, though by what rules that quantity is determined, must of course be different, according to the genius of each. Every language must be, and is, therefore, capable of some arrangement of long and short quantities or syllables, and consequently of formation into verse. Without measure and feet, every compe- tent judge must be satisfied there can be no such thing as verse ; and, without verse, there cannot be Poetry. Poetical language in prose is so called, as containing expressions more figurative, lan- guage and sentiments more elevated, and periods more musical than those which occur in the usual and ordinary style of writing, and as resembling those which are used in regular poems. It is most evident, therefore, that poetical prose cannot be Poetry itself, but only a resemblance of it so far ; and that it has its denomination from its re- semblance only, not as being the thing itself, from which, indeed, it is clearly distinguished by the very appellation, But, not to rest solely on reasoning and argu- * See it stated before. C 2 20 Aft INQUIRY INTO ment, the question may be settled on decisive facts. The only specimen of the Carthaginian language, now known to be existing, is contained in a scene, Act v. Sc. 1, in Plautus's comedy of Poenulus ; and this specimen is at the same time go completely Hebrew, that it has been found, on experiment, that any Hebrew scholar can under- stand it x , a circumstance not wonderful to those who recollect that the Greeks themselves, and many other countries, borrowed their language and knowledge originally from the Phenicians, who were, in fact, no other than the inhabitants of the land of Canaan ?-. That it is in verse, is also clear; so it is printed in the several editions; and, from the cadence of the first line, it seems to be exactly the Latin and Greek hexameter he- roic, with the quantities of the syllables regulated, not by the rules for versification in those lan- guages, but by the nature and genius of its own. If Calmet has not misunderstood Scaliger's sentiments, and this last person has any where de- livered, as, from Calmet's account, he seems to have done, any such opinion as that above mentioned, he has most completely contradicted himself on an- other occasion. Theophilus Gale, in his Court of * It is said by Selden, De Diis Syris, edit. 12mo. Lugd.- Bat. 1629, p. 17, to be perfectly Hebrew, y See Selden, Be Diis Syris, p. 16. In this place the fol- lowing passage from Priscian is also given: ' Maxim e cum lin- < gua Poenorura, quae Chaldaese vel Ebrsece similis est et Syrse> i non habeat neutrum genus/ THE NATURE OF POETRY. 21 the Gentiles, part i. book iii. p. 2 and 3, gives, from Scaliger's Animadversions on Eusebius, fol. 6, 7, edit. 1658, the following, as Scaliger's sentiments on the subject of Hebrew Poetry : c We have/ says he, c the original form and mode of Scripture 6 Poesie laid open to us by Joseph Scaliger, Ani- f madversiones in Euseb. Chron. fol. 6, 7, edit. < 1658. « We find not," saith he, " in the Psalter " or Lamentations, any Cantic bound up by laws " of metre ; but the discourse is merely prose., " animated by a poetic character. Only the Cantie ■ 6 of Moses, in the last chap, of Deuteronomie, " the Proverbs of Solomon, and almost all the " book of Job, are bound up under the necessities f ( of rhyme, which rhyme is like two dimetrian if Iambics, with a tinnulus to the ear. The Cantic f< of Moses is a rhyme, drawing near unto a tetra- " meter Iambic, not unto an hexameter heroic, as " Josephus will have it : yea, there is no hexameter " or pentameter to be found in the sacred Bibles ; " neither does the rhyme in them consist of any u exact modes ; but the rhyme is sometimes u shorter, sometimes longer, according to the ca- " pacitie of the sentences," See. Thus much for ' the judgment of Jos. Seal, touching Scripture ■? Poesie, its several modes,' &c, Prose, animated by a poetic character, can never, in the judgment of men of sense, pass for Poetry; and, indeed, he distinctly admits after- wards a difference between them, by stating, as lie does, that the Cantic of Moses 5 the Proverbs ? 3 22 AN INQUIRY INTO of Solomon, and almost all the book of Job, are in verses framed like two dimeter Iambics, with a tinnulus, as he says, to the ear. From the loose and indefinite manner in which Scaliger is here represented as having given his opinion, it is plain, to all acquainted with its prin- ciples, that he could not have known any thing of those of Music, from which the rules of Poetry un- questionably sprung ; and, without the assistance of which, they cannot be understood z . Poetry, with- out measure or rule, is absurd ; and the rules of Poe- try must have regulated how the sentences were to be formed, not the length of the verses have deter- mined whether they were verse, which could only be decided by the order of succession, in which the long and short syllables were placed : and, even if variety of verse in length was actually employed in the same composition, still all the verses must have been confined to metres of the same propor- tion ; for Aristotle, De Poetice, chap. i. has ex- pressly declared, that an author, who should in- troduce into the same poem different kinds of metre, would not merit the appellation of a Poet a . * See Sect. 3. a ' OuSe'v Ss koivov Ifiv 0/*«'f« kui Ey.'m^oy.Xitf 7rXr)v to jxsrpov* Si* * o ,7ov usv irownv Sr/.oiiov xaXvv' Toy de tyvcrioXoyov /xaAXov t) TToiriTriv. ' Ipoivg $£ xxv eft t*j ewrayra to, (jlstqoc [juyvvuv 9 iroiono vw yJ^y\T« * Er*v n Xsijtj n twv toXXSv* ho [xiXiroc TravTwy rm psTguv toty&BToi ' ffl-yyovroci \iyovTi;' d~t7 ds cTt^yomrcc ytvicrZon, kxi \y.?%crai. 'O oz * Tooxjxios, x.ogd'oc.xiKWTZPos* dn^oi oe to. TET^a^ST^ix* ifi yoi^ r r°X-?°t pvVfxog to, nr^fxiT foe* AznriTO'A ds. wc/ao.?, w z^/puivTo / XEy V'^o Gpcccrv * P"-X 0V °M^ t V EVQ - ^ X ^X 0V ^ Xs'yEiV, Xtq *IV. "Eft ol T?ITG$ 7TUISCV, X. 9 kQ&eqi, stai Sioti [/.irgixol' 6 <3e ora/ay, taj7TT£os* c^aro fxCvov . a-rro tx [AtyiQuc; rw p^po'va/j * <7tmr«/^ya- o (tzv yxp Etj tt$o: tcivrov crvyy.fwO'JAvot; Toy trig icroTriTqg yinci ' Xoyov. o 6: dfUTzpo; trpoq rev Eva, Toy StTrXczfiov* o $t y', irpcs T« dvo Tot * ■yy.ioXiov. o ob ¥ Tpoj y\ tov ett/t^tov.' — * Itaque genera rhythmica .' sunt tria : iEquale, Sesquialterum, Duplum ; addunt aliqui * et Supertertium : quae a temporum magnitudine constituuntur. * Unum enim sibi ipsi comparatum sequalitatis gignit rationem. * Duo ad unum, duplam. Tria ad duo, sesquialteram. Qua- * tuor ad tria, supertertiam,' — Aristides Quintiiianus De Mu- sica, inter Antiquae Musicas Auctores septem a Meibomio, 4tc. Amst. 1652, vol. ii. p. 34. f Saxii Onomasticon Literarium, Svo. Trajecti ad Rhenum, .1759, p. 24-. In the subsequent edit, vol. i. p. 407, he is placed in the year 355. 42 AN INQUIIlV INTO Be Rhy ih ino s, to the same effect ; for he says that there are three different sorts of Rhvthmuses h , 8 c Rhythmorum autem his esse differentias volunt, in Dae- 4 tylo, lambo, et Paeone, quae fiunt per Arsin et Thesin. Nam * Dactvlus aequa temporum divisione taxatur, ut et Anapaestus ; « uterque nam pes quatuor temporum est. Nam ut longa prima * Dactyli duabus brevibus insequentibus par sibi et aequalis est, * idem et in Anapaesto fit, ut initium fini simile inveniatur ; et 4 dicunt in Arsi et Thesi aequalem rationem io-ov Xoyoy. Idem * etiara in Dipodia, facta conjugatione binum pedum, per Clio- * riambum et Antispastum, quia quantum in sublatione habet 4 tantundem in positione ; et idem apud Graecos sequalis id est 1 urofvQpoq dieitur. Secundus autem Rhythmus in lambo dupli ' ratione subsistit, qua Trochaica, et utraque lonica, mono- * semos. Unius nam temporis Arsis ad disemon Thesin compa- * ratur. Etenim Iambus a brevi syllaba incipit, quae est unius * temporis, et in longam desinit, quae est temporum duorum. * Trochaeus autem contra. Eadem et in lonicis metris dupli c ratione versatur. Nam Ionicus wn-o ^ci^ovo^ incipit a duabus * longis et in duas desinit breves. Ionicus autem ocko eXao-o-ovo?, < a brevibus incipiens, in longas desinit. Erit itaque inter hos c disemos ad tetrasemon Arsis ad Thesin. Quia unam partem * in sublatione habet, duas in positione, seu contra. Ergo ' Iambica et Trochaica metra, quae in duplici ratione sunt po- ' sita, facta conjugatione binum pedum ad legem quadrupli * vocabantur. Tertius autem Rhythmus, qui Pseonicus a Mu- i sicis dieitur, hemiolia subsistit, quae est sesquipli ratio. He- * miolium dicunt numerum, qui tantundem habeat quantum « alius et dimidium amplius, ut si compares tres et duo ; nam 6 in tribus, et duo et eorum dimidium continetur, quod cum « evenit Trisemos Arsis ad Disemon Thesin accipilur, i. tres * partes in sublatione habent, duas in positione, seu contra; 6 quam rationem maxime incurrunt Paeonici versus et Bacchii 6 ita nobis metra gradientibus, ut Paeonicus servetur Rhyth- * in us. Hae sunt tres partitiones, quae continuam pyO/xowofrav fa- < ciunt.' — Victorinus, inter Grammaticae Latinae Auctores an- tiqui, a Putsch io, 4to. Hanovise, 1605, col. 2484. h Great confusion is observable in the writings of some au- THE NATURE OF POETRY. 43 and that these are exhibited in the Dactyl, the Iambus, and the Pseon ; that the Dactyl and Ana- paest are both equal in time; for that each of them is of four times, and that the same propor- tion takes place in the conjunction of two feet, as in the (phoriambus and Antispast for instance, which is termed equal proportion. The second sort of Rhythmus subsists in the Iambus in duple proportion, which is also the proportion of Tro- chaic feet, and also of both the lonici ; and Iam- bic and Trochaic, which depend on duple propor- tion, were, by the conjunction of two feet, referred to the rule of quadruple 1 . The third sort of thors, between the terms Rhythmus and Metre, in consequence of which, it is difficult to ascertain what some of them under- stood ^by the former appellation. Quintilian, as has been seen in a former note, inserted p. 40, above, says, very properly and correctly, * Rhythmi, id est, numeri, spatio temporum consistunt, Metrum etiam ordine.' To apply this to heroic hexameter verse, it may be truly said, that the Rhythmus of that is equal, as being either one long to one long syl- lable, or one long to two short; but it is Metre that tells us (as will hereafter be found the fact, by instances produced from Homer, Virgil, and Horace — see Sect. IX.), that these pro- portions may be applied in the use of the Dactyl, the Spondee, the Anapaest, the Amphibrachys, and the Proceleusma. 1 This passage is obscure, but may be explained from the context. He says that the proportion of the Iambus is duple, for that it begins with a short syllable and ends with a long one; that the two lonici are also of duple proportion, because one begins with two short syllables, and ends with two long ones, and the other is just the reverse ; that the proportion of each of these is as two to four; and that the Iambus and Trochee, being each of them, as they are, of dupie proportion, may, by a combination or conjunction of two feet, be rendered of the pro- 44 AN INQUIRY INTO Rhythmus, which by musicians is called the Pceonie, is, as he says, in the proportion of Three to Two, and comprehends Pseonic and Bacchiac verses. This is very briefly the general substance of the passage, so far as it is material to the pre- sent purpose; but the very words of the whole, including, as it also does, the author s further ex- planations of the above particulars, may be seen in the note before inserted. Diomedes, also, who is supposed to have lived about the year of our Lord 412 k , speaks thus: c Atque, excepto Amphibracho et Epitrito, quorum € alteram tripla, alteram Epitrita divisione parti- 6 mur, universarum pedum trina conditio reperitur. € In aliis enim sequa divisio est, in aliis dupla, in ( aliis sescupla. Prima Dactylica, secunda lam- 6 bica, tertia Pseonica nominatur V From these passages it is evident, that, how- ever these sorts may have been since subdivided, there can be in fact but three species of Versifica- tion substantially differing from each other ; for the fourth, mentioned by Aristides, is only no- ticed by him, as contended for by some persons, and he does not acknowledge it in the number of portion of two to four, which he calls quadruple, because one of the two terms compared with each other consists of the num- ber four. k He is placed by Saxius, in his Onomasticon Literariura, Svo. Trajecti ad Rhenum, ]759, p. 29, between the years 410 and 412 after our Saviour's birth, and so he stands in the subse- quent edit. vol. i. p. 481. 1 Diomedes, inter Grammatics Latinss Auctores antiqui, a Putschio,. ito. Hanovisc* 1605, col. 476, THE NATURE OF POETRY 45 those allowable. All metrical feet must, there- fore, be ranged under one or other of the above three proportions ; and of course ought to be classed and regulated in the following manner, by the proportions of Jong and short quantities to each other, and not by the number of syllables, as they have frequently, but incorrectly and injudi- ciously, been placed: Equal. Pyrrhichius . . . ' Spondee Anapaest Amphibrachys Proceleusma . , t Dactyl ' Antispast .... Di-Tribrachys Di-Iambus . . . Di-Trochee .. h Choriarnbus . . Duple, v/w» /"Trochee ..... -< Iambus , w _ V. Tribrachys . . . f Molossus .... Di-Tribrachys < Di-Trochee. . . Di-Iambus . . . Choriambus . . Antispast .... Ionicus Major Ionicus Minor i Sesquialteral. _^ /"AmphimacerorCretic. w «i Bacchius Antibacchius ... _ -\> Paeon 1 .uuu Paeon 2 u_ U u Paeon 3 «w_v. Paeon 4 wv/w _ Trib. & Pynhich. ^ ^ u w^ a •V V », ^ In the above list are comprised, with the ex- ception of the four Epitrituses and the Di-spondee, all those sorts of feet which are enumerated as poetical, in the preliminary tract on that subject, m It is very evident, that, in the original formation and set- tlement of these several kinds of feet, the musical principle of changing one long quantity for two short, and of transposing the long and short quantities, in any order, provided they did not in the whole exceed, or fall short of, the requisite value, has been the foundation of all : and this fact appears still more plainly from the circumstance, that the short quantities are often interrupted by the intervention of long ones between. 46 AN INQUIRY INTO prefixed to the Gracilis ad Parnassum n . As the proportion of each of the Epitrituses is as Three to Four, and consequently Supertertian, a propor- tion which Aristides Quintilianus does not allow as rhythmical, it was thought useless to notice them : and it may be further observed, that the Pyrrhiehius, although of that proportion which constitutes equality, is yet so confined, that it admits of no variety, and, therefore, as producing a tiresome monotony, seems hardly calculated to be used singly, as a simple uncompounded and in- dependent foot °. The Di-spondee is only a repetition of the ori- ginal Spondee ; but, to the above list should be added, under each head, all such feet as may be n This tract, which is but one page, is entitled, ' Tractatus * brevis ac dilucidus de vario Pedum et Versuum genere;' but, as it only treats of the various feet, and nothing is said, as pro- mised in its title, as to the kinds of verse, there is reason to suspect it to be but the former part of one prefixed to some earlier edition, and which probably corresponded in its contents with what the above title promises ; for, in an edition of the Gradus ad Parnassum, published by Paul Aler, a Jesuit, se- cond edit. 12mo. Coloniae Agrip. 1702, after a l Syllabus brevis ' ac dilucidus variorum Pedum Metricorum,' there is also pre- fixed to the work itself a tract, consisting of two pages, pro- bably and apparently taken from some earlier edition, and en- titled, < Tractatus brevis de praecipujs Carminum generibus et * eorum materia.' By accident, therefore, either what related to the verses was probably omitted, or, if that omission was Intentional, the words in the title were improperly retained. Ruddiman, Grammatics Institutiones, 12mo. Edinb. 1756, p. 15$, has given from Ausonius, Parental? 27? four lines, con- sisting all of the Pyrrhiehius* THE NATURE OF POETRY. 47 produced from the rest, by substituting or ex- changing two short syllables for one long, or on8 long for two short. Any of the feet circumflexed together, in the above list, may be used in ex- change for each other, because they are all pre- cisely of the same time in the whole, as two short syllables are universally known to be equal to one long p. p ' Longam esse duorum temporum, brevem unius, etiam 6 pueri sciunt.' Quintilian, Institutiones, edit. 8vo. Lond. 164-1, p. 444. — * Nam ubicunque syllaba longa est, ibi duo breves i poni possunt.' Yictorinus, edit. Putsch, col. 257.L 48 AN INQUIRY INTO SECTION IV. Heroic, the first Sort of Poetry. Linus first brought learning into Greece from Phoenicia.— Poems written by him in Hexameter verse. — Orpheus, poems written by him. — He is said to have been a great promoter, if not the inventor, of the heathen mythology— and to have first introduced the rites of Bacchus. — The authority of his poems doubtful, as they have been ascribed to Onomacritus. — Linus, Musaeus, Homer, and Hesiod, all wrote in Hexa- meter verse. — Pentameter verse — very doubtful by whom invented, as Horace says. — Ascribed to Pythagoras, Mim- nermus, and Grtugen; but used by Archilochus. — An in- stance of it from him. — Another referred to. — Probably in- vented between the time of Hesiod and Archilochus ; but certainly before Pythagoras and Mimnermus.— Used by Tyrtaeus, Mimnermus, and Solon. Linus, the preceptor of Orpheus f! , a Phoenician by birth, is reported to have been the first who brought learning from Phoenicia into Greece r , 9 Saxius Onom. Lit. vol. i. p. 7. r ' AtVojJ X«X;c*o£tf£ 3 AkoWuvoc x.cc.1 Tsp4> j^op-,^. oi oe 'A/A^Uju.apy y.ocl ■ 0.vptxvict<;. oi ds Ep^cy Jtoti Qupav/o-j. Asysrou cis tt^wtoj &toj asro 4>o»v/>ir<; ' ypa^A//.a.T# tt$ &\\nvo!,$ kyccyih. ysvsova* os -/.ca HpajcXey? dtdaVxaAof ' ypx^arwy. noct t*ij Xvftx.rig fj.bt is in every way capable of defence. r Edit. Gesner, fo. Tiguri, 1543, 8 Saxius, Onom. Lit. p. 6. See also edit. 1775, vol. i. p. 14, * See in a former note when he lived. u See in a former note when he lived. * Saxii Onom. Lit. vol. i. p. 12. — About 800 years before cur Saviour. Helvici Chron. p 5.1. * See the instances before mentioned, i 3 54 AN INQUIRY INTO the two periods when Hesiod and himself flou- rished, during which space, no one poet is men- tioned by Saxius. Hexameter and Pentameter verses are also to be seen intermixed in the poems of Tyrtaeus z , who flourished 682 years before our Saviour % and is styled by Saxius % ' Elegorum ' Martiorum artifex.' Suidas calls him a writer of Elegies c , and says that he wrote precepts of life in Elegiac verses, and poems on War, in five books d . In the Poetae Minores Grseci, before re- ferred to, are inserted, p. 477, &c. four poems by him, entitled, at the head of the first, IIspi ttjs tto- Xs^mng czpsTTig. Mimnermus, who lived between 592 and 590 years before our Saviour e , is styled by Saxius, the inventor of the Pentameter verse r . Suidas calls him, as he does Tyrtaeus, a writer of Elegies " ; but it is plain the Pentameter verse had before been used by Tyrtaeus, and before him by Archilochus. Four poems by Mimnermus, in Ilex- 2 Some such occur in the Poetae Minores Greeci (before re- ferred to), p. 476, &c. a Saxii Onomast, Lit. p. 6. See also edit. 1775, vol. i. p. 15. b Saxii Onomast. Lit. vol. i. p. 15. c See the passage from Suidas, in the Poetae Minores Grseci, p. 477. d Ibid. e He is placed by Saxius, in his Onomasticon Lit. p. 6, be- tween the years 570 and 561 before our Saviour. But see him placed as in the text Saxii Onom. Lit. vol. i. p. 20. f See the passage from Suidas in the Poetae Minores Graeci, p. 507. s Saxii Onom. Lit. vol. i. p. 20. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 55 ameter and Pentameter verse, the first entitled Uspt j3iv oti @pc#x,vg ; the second, Yoyog yy^oog ; the third without any title ; and the fourth, U^i av- fyuotg; and two in Iambic, the first without a title, and the second, Eig imps* occur in p. 507, &c. of the before-mentioned collection. Among the Elegies of Solon, in the same work, p. 465, are several in Hexameter and Pentameter verse. Solon appears to have been contemporary with Mimnermus, and is placed by Saxius 592 years before our Saviour K h Saxii Oriomast. Lit. p. 6. See also edit. 1775, vol, i, p, 20. E 4 56 AN INQUIRY INTO SECTION V. Iambic the second Sort of Poetry. Archilochus the supposed inventor, or rather introducer, of Iambic verse into Greece. — All Lyric Poetry probably attri- butable to him. — The principles of all borrowed by him from the Psalms of David. — The very metres of all these sorts actually occur in the Psalms of David. — Specimens from Archilochus's writings, to ascertain what sorts of verse he employed. — Iambic Trimeter acatalectic, Iambic Tetra- meter cataiectic, Trochaic Tetrameter catalectic used by him. — Iambic Trimeter acatalectic, intermixed with Trochaic Tetrameter catalectic, appears used ; but probably it ought to be arranged as all Trimeters.- — Iambic and Trochaic verses may be intermixed. — He uses, on another occasion, Trochaic Trimeter acatalectic and Iambic Trimeter acatalectic to^e- ther. — He appears to have introduced, together with the Trochaic, the Iambic foot also in the same line. — Reason- able to do so. — He did not apply Iambic for invective, but, probably, only used it, because it was cheerful, and fit for lyric purposes. — Present etymology of the name Iambic not defensible.- — A new one proposed. Archilochus, who is placed by Saxius, about 717 or 713 years before our Saviour 1 , is supposed to have invented, or, rather, to have first intro- 1 Saxii Onom. Lit. p. 6; but Saxius, edit. 1775, vol. i. p. 44-, places him between 713 and 711 years before our Saviour. He there says, he lived to the 23d Olympiad ; but Helvicus, in his Chronologia, p. 55, places him 717 years before our Saviour, THE NATURE OF POETRY. 5? duced into Greece Iambic verse k . To him also it should seem that a similar introduction of all k * Archilochum prpprio rabies armavit Iambo.' Horatius De Arte Poetica, v. 79. Rufinus, in his book De Metris Comicis (see it in edit. Putsch* col. 2709) speaks of Boiscus as the inventor of Iambic Tetra» meter verse, as appears from the following passage in Vossii Institution. Poetic, lib. ii. p. 129, § 9: ' Utuntur Comici non * dimetro modo, et trimetro, sed et tetrametro ; quod repent i Boiscus. Unde apud Rufinum, libro De Metris Comicis i " Tetrametros sequitur, quos finxerat i.lle Boiscus.' 5 * Subjicit deinde exemplum tale : " Mirabor hoc si sic abiret, et heri semper lenitas." Ter. Andr. Act i. Sc. 1 ■ * Aliquanto item post de eodem ait : " Tetrametrmn primus fertur posuisse Boiscus.'* { Suspicetur aliquis pro Boiscus legendum Vopiscus ; ut intelli- ' gatur Julius Caesar Vopiscus, qui tragcediae scriptor fuit, ac 4 Strabo etiam et Sesquiculus dictus ; teste Mario Victorino * libro de Orthographia. (See Marius Victorinus, edit. Putsch. ' col. 2456.) Verum obstat ; quod hie Boiscus, non Romanus, i Cyzicenus fuit, uti ostendit epigramma de eo, quod ex Hero- '» doto Rufinus adducit : '* Toy oxtcct&v ii)fu)v fix '* *&&$? ?'»% J oi^t J oaxpcK | yupsov J opirov | \gu\rou v£\pcg 9 XyjAM j k£i[jlw\vos x^yjzvU J Vl^ ci\sh7iTi\v)g (po\(3og°. The two following specimens, which are also evidently of that very kind, when rightly ar- ranged, are in the same collection, p. 128, 129, very erroneously also represented as prose. The first comes from Plutarch ' De modo audiend. a juvene 6 Poem. ;' the second, from Dio Chrysostom ; and the third, which is merely a different reading of the same passage, from Galen. n This should surely, on account of the metre, which is evident!}^ Trochaic Tetrameter cataiectic, be read, xvpoionv. ° Suidas, in his Lexicon, art. AproQxvris, attributes to Ari- stophanes the invention of Tetrameter and Octameter verse. Gesner, in his Bibliotheca, edit. 154*5, fo» 72, a. asserts the same fact ; bat it is plain, from these instances from Archilo- chus, that it was used by him, long before the time of Aristo* phanes-* THE NATURE OF POETRY. 61 Plutarch e De modo audiend. a juvene Poem/ KKv9i ci\i/oc^ v H\poags, j kcu ftoi \ cruju,/**|%0£ yov\vis^\m Dio Clirysostom. Ov (piKi\oo [j.s\yav g^r^yovy \ &ds J hcc7rs\7rK7jy^\vGy 9 OvSs j (Bo£j)ij\%6ty | £<%\£o£, | <%cr(pa|Aa^ /3--|&pc&V? j x«i w w v-> _ >J vixoug ] 7roc*P | x^SY|^g- ttAs)^. In p. 130 of the same collection, is the following specimen, divided into lines, as here, which is, p Both sense and metre require here some alteration. Per- haps we should read, wo-ir*?. It may, however, be intended for noo-a-i, pedibus, or ttocto-zv, for nroortv, pedibus, poetice. See Schrevelii Lexicon, art. Uoara-tv. If we read wo-w.Ep, the sense will be, * treading firmly, like one of firm courage ;' or, if we read w«r V> — \J ~ , \J —V_* — W _ w\7nsg $s\og> ( Kk Ss J t2 y^^Tr/^ | itocvtcc | x#j c7r/ [ cA7rr<% r \ yi- \j _ yvs\roa ' Ey#A/]cv, 7tod\ o-tpi* 6cz\Xa,o-(ryig | ^^\svTCi \ KV^u\voi c $>iXtsp j Yj7isi\^ ys\vr}TUi, J Tot^ cr(p/ja-/ u 5?f|Ju55y o\pog* i Stobaei Sentential, edit. Gesner, fo. Tiguri, 1543, fo. 496, b. r In the original it stands x*ff«Xirra, which was certain!} 7 meant for xal sTrtfAsrra. s There is an Iambus here, unless, for the sake of the metre, we should read Ay^ac-iv. But still vpuv, in the same line, will remain an Iambus, and so will the second foot of the next line. 1 £\Tcng £v\a-&Qeg. Ov yap J ecrBXa j Jco&T6'a\viSori j xsgro j fAs7y 'E7T cZvfyc&riv I So, in another instance^ produced also by Stobceus. In the same tract % Arehilochus appears to have Used the two species of Trochaic Trimeter acata- lectic and Iambic Trimeter acatalectic together, or rather following each other, in succession. * Tc7g [jlsv | Ts9vs\wtTEpi[£(7< pi J $7ol 'aJ^omo/.' a Stobaeus, fo. 525, b. b w Carminum Poetarum novem Fragmenta,' p. 131. It may be seen, in a former note, that Euripides appears to have done the same, TH£i NATURE OP POETRY. 65 they are in their proportions evidently the same sort, he might, as has already been shown in Section III. very reasonably and properly do. The fact of his having acted thus, is evidenced by the following specimen, furnished by Clemens Alex- andrinus : ir fl Ziv> | coy [asv | xpoc\vs xgd\jog, (rv j Vipyoi c E7r' ccv\9pu)7T%$ I p^g Ks\wgyd ts \ kcu Q$z\pi<;(X, V This instance, together with those already noticed, and the reasonableness of the practice, as flowing from the principle so often necessarily insisted on, is surely sufficient evidence to prove the fact. Enough, however, appears from these speci- mens, to show that he did not employ the Iambic for the purposes of rage and invective, as Horace has erroneously said d ; for no one of the few in- stances in the c Carminum Poet arum novem Frag- * menta,' has any such tendency. The real fact seems to have been, that his Only inducement to the use of the Iambic, was the circumstance of his finding, as every one must, that that species of verse was abundantly fitter than Heroic Hexa- meter, the only sort before known, for cheerful c * Carminum Poetarum novem Fragments,' p. 132. See, in a former note, an instance, in which Euripides seems to have acted thus. d Archilochum proprio rabies armavit lambo. Horatius De Arte Poetica^ v. 79- F 66 AN INQUIRY INTO and lively subjects, such as are treated of in Lyric Poetry. That this is the characteristic of Iambic verse, cannot be doubted ; and there is every rea- son to think, as will be seen from the following facts, that it obtained its name from that very circumstance ; that it acquired its appellation from its use ; and was denominated Iambic, either be- cause it was cheerful, and treated of or expressed exhilarating subjects ; or, more probably, because it was employed at times and on occasions of festi- vity and merriment. A very different etymology of its name, Iam- bic, and definition of its nature and proper use. have, it is true, been usually given ; for its name has been said to have been derived probably from lev fZmtstv, Jacula loqui e , and its proper use to have been invective and malediction f . Schreve- lius, in his Lexicon, derives ' I^/xS^, proscindo, c maledictis et convitiis insector,' from ( la^og pes e metricus, vel carmen »/ and makes it a question, whether this latter is not from lov fia^siv, Jacula loqui h . But this would not produce la^i^siv, even admitting the change of the Alpha into Iota in the last syllable. It would be lov&igiv ; or, if the plural of lov were to be taken, instead of the sin- gular, it must be IocSi^siv : nor is there any me- e Schrevelii Lexicon, art. Ia^Cos. f Schreveiius, art. lap&fy. Horace De Arte Foetica, v. 79. g Schrevelii Lexicon, art. I«jm£/£«. h Schrevelii Lexicon, art. I»/*£o£. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 67 thod by which the letter p could be introduced. No supposition can be more at variance with the nature and actual use of the Iambic, which is ad- mitted by Aristotle \ Horace k 3 and Terentianus JVfaurus 1 , to be well calculated for ordinary con- versation, and the transaction of business, than that which describes it as naturally adapted for censure^ invective, and reproach. In ascertaining the etymology of a word, it is not sufficient that the original should resemble, in sound or in the letters of which it is composed, that imagined to be derived from it. No etymo- logy can be justly considered as authentic or pro- 1 Aristotle, De Poetica, cap. 4, says, * M«Xff« yap xtx.™}* i ?uv ju.5T|0)y to iocjJohov tf i. c\a _ „ <~» _ w v _ */W I '(yvM^ca | 7ro#w a$>v%og, \ xa,7\S7tn_ — is _ is — — — — »sis * Evcjjto;' gspvov, h ^oxoig zyfipwv Trfyariov, IS _ w — _ IS IS .. c KccTc&goiQcig u — "_* V vtxoov V <= » Evaniov J gipvov, h \ ^oxoig s%\8pwv TrAya-iov, «s V/ m _ ij V _ _ <_ U _ _ *Ev 01X00 j XW?M7T£€rCvV j oJu^O #A|A#%#pT0/CT7 Tf %oa^, xal j xwxoiviv OL[TftJ, TloKkoc\>tig jjlsv | sk vjz\kw "YmVisg Ki\vxg s\7rsnos> XToAAa j yhs\TOii Koi^ad K#2 Vo[tf 7T#|pl}o|fO£ , « THE NATURE OP POETRY. 77 It should seem also, that Archilochus was occasionally a writer of Dithyrambic poems. Athe- nseus, edit. Casaubon, p. 628, has given from Ar- chilochus, but erroneously, as prose, what will be found, on examination, to be clearly two Bacchiac or Pseonic verses ; for the lines are these, and, when properly regulated, are thus to be scanned : * Aisvvcr§i ■ a-uQes uXa c7rwj. ,f Hoc, ergo, metrum, id est^ S Peeonicum, habet secum mixtos Creticos, id est, Amphima- * cros.'— Plotius, edit. Putsch, col. 2661. k In his * Emendationes ad Ciceronis Tusculanas/ inserted at the end of ' Ciceronis Tusculanarum Disputationum Libri v. 4 ex recensione Joannis Davisii, Col. Regin. Cantab. Sociu' 8vo% Cantab. 1709, p. 49, 2 80 AN INQUIRY INTO billable to Archilochus, but one species of verse, the Hexameter, was known. There could, conse- quently, be no appropriation of metre to any par- ticular subject ; and the hymns to Bacchus, from the time of the introduction of his rites by Or- pheus \ who lived 1255 years before our Saviour m , were, therefore, most certainly in Hexameter verse. The inconvenience of this, probably in- duced Archilochus to think of a change, and to assign, as he appears to have done, Iambic to cheerful and exhilarating subjects, and PaeoniCj to the celebration of the rites of Bacchus n ; be- 1 See a passage from Sandford De Descensu, 1. i. § 2, given in Gales Court of the Gentiles, part i. book iii. p. 5. Dio- dorus Siculus seems to have been Sandford's authority, but Jus- tin Martyr styles Orpheus the first teacher of Polytheism. Gale, as above referred to. m Saxii Onomast. Lit. edit. 1775, vol. i. p. 7. n That Paean was one of the names of Apollo, and that hymns in his praise were also so called, is a fact well known ; but it appears that originally Bacchus and Apollo were in effect the same deity, each of them being only supposed to be the Sun. Hoffman, in his Lexicon, art. Paeon, says, ' Paeon me- * dicus peritissimus, quem Homerus, lib. v. II. scribit curasse * Plutonem, graviter ab Hercule vulneratum ; aliqui ipsum hoc ' nomine Apollinem intellectual volunt. Nic. Lloyd.'— Moreri, in his Dictionary, also says, * Mais Eustathius, et les autres qui * nous ont laisse des Commentaires sur THomere, assurent que * ce nom a ete donne a Apollon, et que, dans la signification du * Grec, il signifie guerir.'-— Macrobius, in the title to his seven- teenth chapter of his first book, says, < Omnes deos referri ad « Solem. Et quod ex variis Apollinis ostendatur nominibus, 1 ipsum euudem esse deum, quem Solem dicimus.' His eighteenth chapter of the same book, he entitles thus : * Liberum quoque * Patrem cum ipsum esse Deum quem Solem.' THE NATURE OP POETRY. 81 cause he probably found that the order of succes- sion of the long* and short quantities, of which the feet of this last were composed, better suited that of the syllables of the very words, which it was necessary to introduce in the hymns to this deity . Whatever might be the reason, it is a decided and acknowledged fact, that the Bacchiac foot, which, before that time, had probably not acquired a pe- culiar name, had then first its appellation, because it is frequently found in the verses in honour of Bacchus, and was employed by the Bacchants and Satyrs, his supposed attendants p. ° The fact of the application of Choriambic verse, which is there, however, called Bacchiac, to the rites of Bacchus, is thus evidenced, in the following passage from Fortunatianus, edit. Putsch, col. 2678 : * Phalsecius versus ex duplici pede constat, * quern Bacchion Musici, Choriambon Grammatici vocant : * habet longam et duas breves et longam, i. Trochaeum et Iam- i bum. Hoc autem Phalaecus conscripsit hymnosCereri et Libero, 'tali genere metri, quod scilicet est deorum convenire i venerationi credidit.' The confusion between Choriambic and Bacchiac, probably arose from the circumstance that both the Bacchius and Choriambus occur in Paeonic verse, by which name, perhaps, this should have been more correctly described. * Bacchius dictus est, quod Bacchicis canticis congruat.' Aris- tides Quintilianus, edit. Meibomii, vol. ii. p. 38. — ' Bacchius, ' CEnotrius, Tripodius, Saltans, quam Graeci Pariambum dicunt, ' constat ex brevi et duabus longis, temporum quinque, ut * Agenor, A then* ; dictus 9r«p« 7ct$ Ba^ar, quia a Bacchantibus i convenienter componebatur/ Diomedes, inter Grammatical Latins Auctores, a Putschi®, col. 475.— i Cum vero longis dua- ' bus prseponitur brevis, fit Bacchius, temporum quinque, ut ' Catones ; quia a Bacchi carminibus, seu cantilenis, quae aptis- G 82 AN INQUIRY INTO The hymns to Bacchus were denominated Dithyrambic., because, as some say, they were first composed by a poet of Thebes, of the name of Dithyrambits n * ; but it seems more probable that * sime hoc metro componerentur, nomen accepit, vel quia fami- * liariter hie Rhythmus Bacchantibus aptus sit.' Victorinus, ibid. col. 24-87* — { Bacchius dictus, quod Baccho, id est, Li- ' bero Patri accepta modulatio hujus pedis sono componebatur.' PJotius, ibid. coi. 2626. — e Satyri, quia putabantur cum contis ' et thyrsis in Liberi patris exercitu proslia iniisse, ejus generis * venabula gerebant.' Scaliger, Poeti.ces liber, lib. i. c. 17. — Natalis Comes, in his Mythologia, p. 481, edit. Genevse, 1620, says, speaking <)f Bacchus, * Hujus Dei Satyrbs, et Silenos, et ' Lenas, et Nymphas, et Naiades, et Tityros sacerdotes fuisse 4 inquit Strabo, libro decimo.' i < Dithyrambus, vir Thebanus a quo creditur genus illud 4 versuum fuisse cognominatum in honorem Bacchi facti. , Horat. libro quarto Carm. Stephani Diet. art. Dithyrambus, p. 188, b. The Parian Chronicle attributes the introduction of these rites apparently to Hyagnis, a Phrygian; for it says, 1. 17, * Atf 5 Eptx^ovio; TlavaQwctiois rots irymois yivopivoiq a^fxec e£tv%e, xal tov kywvoc IdiWiVi, ^s ASflva/f, [j.iTuvopce.p| eLvXes Kfuro; rjOpsv ly KiXecUccic rv)<; &fvy!ctc 9 xxi T7iv a[[AOVtav rv)v jtaAy/xaV^v $pt"yiy-' *rpwroc wXjiffs, jcai ccXXxs v6y.ii; M^Tpoj, A/ovfVaj riayof, xcci tuiy fVip/wp/wv Gswy, kui yfuvv, srn XHHAAAATI, Bmo-iXwovtos AQnvuiv Epsp^Oov/a ts to dfaa, ^'favToj.' — A quo Erichthonius Panathenseis primo celebratis currum junxit, et certamen edidit, et'Athenienses eo nomine appella- vit, et simulacrum matris Deorum apparuit in Cybelis montibus, et Hyagnis Phryx tibias primus invenit in Celaenis urbe Phry- gian et harmoniam dictam juxta Phrygium modum primus tibiis "cecir.it, el alios nomos magnse Matris, Dionysi, Panis, et ilium deorum patriorum et heroum, anni mccxlii reg« nante Atheriis Erichthonio, qui currum junxit.' Prideaux, Marmora Oxon<, edit. 1676, p. 162. Gale, in his Court of the Gentiles, part ii. book in, p. 5, refers to Sandford de Descensu, 1, i. sect, 22, as asserting, apparently on the authority of Die- THE NATURE OF POETRY. 83 they were so called from Aim, Inter ; Qvcc, Sacrifi- cimn ; and Aju.6/£, Olla, Galix; which, all taken together, would produce a sense like this : c Inter c sacras calices ;' because they were used in sacri- fices. Qvpoa-Kcc, Aruspex 3 derived, as it is in part, from Qucc, Sacrificium^ will very fully justify the introduction of the letter p, the only objection to which the above etymology might seem liable ; for the several words, taken together, certainly pro- duce a very complete sense, and perfectly consist- ent with the use which was made of this kind of Poetry. Circumstances like these surely render it highly probable that Satyric Poetry, not, as the term is now understood, as referring to censure, but that species of which Aristotle s speaks, so called, as being derived from the Satyrs and Fauns \ the dorus Siculus, that Orpheus was the first who introduced the rites of Bacchus into Greece ; but the Parian Chronicle, in the passage above, mentions their introduction by Hyagnis, 124*2 years before the writing of that Chronicle, and does not notice Orpheus. r Schrevelii Lexicon, art. 0upo'. But such is the y Mr. Tyrwhitt, in his edition of Aristotle 'De Poetica, edit. Oxon. 1794, p. 135, gives the following note on the pas- sage just inserted from Aristotle, referring to the words ' To ply * yap wpwrov TSTpa.ju.£T£w l^pSvTo.' — ' Sive in Choricis ipsis, puta, * sive etiam in Monodiis, in quibus histrionem ilium singularem * saltatione nonnunquam usum fuisse ; vero non est absimile. * Saltationi autem convenire metrum Trochaicum alibi observa- 1 vit Noster Rhet. lib. iii. c. 8, * c 6 11 Tpo^aTo,- xo^«y.wwTEpoff* &»Xor {i os roc TtrpccjxiTga,' iri yap Tpo^?poj puS'u.oc rd TETpa^ETpa. Specimen * insigne est saltationis choricse, metris Trochaicis peractae * ap. Aristoph. E*p. v. 330 — 335/ But the whole passage here intended to be referred to, is the following, which oc- curs Aristotelis De Rhetorice, a Goulston, 4to. Lond. 1696, p. 195, * Aio pvQ[*ov ^r Ep^Eiv tov Xoyov, y.krpov $1 fj-vl' irolri^oc yocp i~ai' pvQ[A0V d) |/.TJ t/j *?v. "Er* ^e rpiro$ 7ra»«v, xa< e^o^/svoj twv upvtfxsvuv' rpiot yap 7Tpog dwo Er*v" eVe/v&v d£, [Asv ev 7i"poj " . « V V* ' » «' . " V .. / ' t r / t X\\ J7 » £V OS, ODO 7TP0? £V E^ETa/ OS TOJV AO e quo plerique Oratores usi sunt, initio ducto a Thrasy macho ; 6 non potuerunt vero dicere, Quinam esset. Est autem Paean * genus tertiutn, et consequens iis Rhytkmis, qui dicti sunt ; * Habet enim se, ut Duo ad Tria : Illorum autem unum quidem* 1 genus sc. Herons, est ut Unum ad Unum ; alterum vero, ut ' Iambus et Trochceus, est ut Duo ad Unum : Rationibus autem 6 his consequens est — Licentious readings sometimes preferred. — Motive to this THE NATURE OF POETRY. 93 a wish in the Critic to display his own learning. — Poetical Licences, doubtful, if any really exist in Virgil and Horace. — Many Licences removable by the application of the musical principle for the reception of all equivalent feet. — > Others may be prevented by preferring another reading. — Others are merely an observation of some rule in the Greek Prosodia, where the Latin had not followed it — And the remainder, principally, if not wholly, consist of contrac- tions of vowels or dissolutions of diphthongs. — They do not therefore affect the quantities of syllables. Cicero has observed, that the human mind is possessed of a species of Perception, by which all men are enabled, without any art or reason, to judge what is right or wrong in the arts, or con- clusive or fallacious in reasoning or argument . To a certain extent, this is unquestionably true ; but, as here stated, the proposition is too general and extensive ; for, were it universally true, there could be no such thing as false Taste, or erroneous Judgment. No man ever doubted, for instance, whether he saw, on a sign, an horse, a cow, or a dog painted ; or was unable to say whether the re- presentation corresponded or not with the original. Plain common Sense will always be sufficient to discern the necessary rational conclusion and con- sequence from a few established facts, although more of intellect will be requisite to separate and decide on complex ideas.. This Perception, im- proved by Intellect and Reflection, and founded on c * Omnes tacito quodam sensu, sine ulla arte aut ratione, ' quae sint in artibus ac rationibus recta ac prava dijudicant.'— Cic. De Orat. lib. i. 94 AN INQUIRY INTO sound reason, constitutes Taste ; and, sanctioned by the correspondence of opinion between men of the greatest endowments and powers of judgment^ is reasonably assumed as the rule for determining the merit or defect of productions in all arts and sciences, of the efforts of the human mind, or of the compositions of Genius. It is, however, true, that the principles, in after-times thus settled by the approbation of the judicious, were not at first promulgated as a guide, anterior to their actual employment ; but, on the contrary, a vigorous mind has, to some individual, engaged in a fa- vourite pursuit, suggested the principle as reason- able. By this he was induced to try the experi- ment, the success of which has been so evident, that all persons, of the best understandings and most extensive knowledge, have immediately per- ceived the beneficial effect, and adopted the prin- ciple as a rule. Precepts did not, therefore, pre- cede, but follow the invention of Arts ; and the rules and principles of each were obtained and settled, from the experience of the success, which had attended the actual instances, in which the mode of conduct enjoined by the subsequent rule, had already previously occurred 1 . A Law in ge- neral has been correctly defined, as the perfection d ' Nee enira artibus editis factum est, ut argumenta inve- * niremus, sed dicta sunt omnia, antequam prseciperentur ; mox * ea scriptores observata, et collecta ediderunt.' — Quintilian, as cited by Pope, as a note on his Essay on Criticism. Pope's Works, edit. 1740, vol. i. p. 109* THE NATURE OF POETRY. 95 bf Reason, as founded on the Nature of Things, and as commanding what ought to be done, and pro- hibiting the contrary e . Whether the subject of inquiry be Morals or Science, Jurisprudence or Criticism, the nature of a Law is still invariably the same; and its object is to ascertain and teach the mode by which excellence may be attained and produced, and error and deformity avoided f . Truth cannot ever be false : Theft can at no time cease to be a crime: Beauty can never become De- formity; nor can what is a fair and just conclusion at one time, be unjust or erroneous at another. The obligation of a Rule is, therefore, in all simi- lar cases, equal ; and an option either to follow, or reject it, is an idea not consistent or reconcile- able with any principle of common Sense. Nor can its authority be at any time set aside by any thing short of the intervention of some circum- stance, which should so vary the case, that the original principle which prevailed in the former, should no longer be reasonable in the latter. Every deviation from rule, where no difference of cir- cumstance exists, must, therefore, inevitably be a defect ; and even were it, perhaps, accompanied e ' Est autem Lex Ratio summa, insita natura, quae jubet ea, 1 quae facienda sunt, prohibetque contraria. Eadem Ratio, cum * est in mente homim's confirmata, et confecta, est Lex.* — Ci- cero De Legibus, lib. i. as cited by Langius, Polyanthea, edit, fo). Lugduni, 1648, col. 1546. f ' Lex est recti pracceptio pravique depulsio.' -—Cicero De Natura Deorum, lib. ii. cited by Langius also, ubi supra, 96 AN INQUIRY INTO by some great excellence in other parts, which might, in some measure, produce a reluctance to censure the blemish, yet a blemish it still would be, and it could not be justified or reconciled to a rational mind. No necessity for deviations from rule, even in the case of proper names, or such words as must themselves be introduced to convey the idea, can be pleaded in Poetry, when its nature and rules, both of which have been much misunderstood, come to be fully and fairly explained. Every spe- cies of Poetry admits all the possible changes of equivalent quantities s ; but of this fact the gram- marians have been ignorant ; and the difficulties which they have supposed necessarily to require Poetical Licences for their solution, have, as will be decidedly shown in the course of this Inquiry, no real existence h . In every event the difficulty may be evaded by the original author, either by substituting some synonymous word, or new-form- ing the whole sentence, for which, almost univer- sally, some other equivalent mode of expression, and frequently more than one, may readily be found. The mind of an expert author will spontaneously suggest multitudes of such changes ; and the in- ability to make such a variation, when necessary, argues poverty of ideas, and a confined knowledge of the language in which he is writing. s See Sect. VII, h See Sect. XXV. THE NATURE OP POETRY. 97 Notwithstanding these obvious conclusions, those who have undertaken to examine the laws of versification, as deducible from the writings of the Greek and Latin Poets, are perpetually claim- ing exemptions from rule, under the name of Po- etical Licences, whenever their own want of in- formation has rendered them incapable of account- ing for what they conceived deviations from the established practice of later ages. To their species or their frequency they have not prescribed any limits ; nor have they laid down any principle upon which they were supposed to be founded. This awkward expedient, for the purpose of conceal- ing their ignorance, they would not have adopted, had they been able to discern that, as some changes of equivalent quantities in the feet of the verses were already acknowledged, even by them- selves, it was equally reasonable to admit all, of which those quantities were capable; because they all rested on the very same principle — that the more frequent use of one sort does not amount to an exclusion of others, and that rarity of use does not constitute prohibition. Against all such al- lowances, as tending to lessen excellence, Horace has decidedly given his testimony ; and, although the instance to which he alludes, cannot, indeed, be said to be Poetical Licences, or violations of quantity, for no such does he notice, yet the ground of his objection manifestly consists in this, that such deviations are breaches of those verv laws which were intended and calculated for the im~ H 98 AN INQUIRY INTO provement of Art. The objection is insuperable, and not only applies with equal force against all disregard of such reasonable restraints, but is still of greater and more universal extent and influence, as affecting the nature of all Laws in general. In his Art of Poetry, line 86, he says, 4 Descriptas servare vices operumque colores, * Cur ego, si nequeo ignoroque, poeta salutor ? 6 Cur nescire, pudens prave, quam discere malo ?' Again, censuring the introduction of foreign, bar- barous, or unauthorized words-, he thus expresses himself, v. 45 : * In verbis etiam tenuis cautusque ferendus ' Dixeris egregie, notum si callida verbum * Reddiderit junctura novum, si forte necesse est. * Indiciis monstrare recentibus abdita rerum, s Fingere cincturis non exaudita Cethegis, * Continget, dabiturque licenlia, sumpta pudenter, 4 Et nova fictaque nuper habebunt verba fidem, si c Grseco fonte cadant, parce detorta. Quid autem 4 Caecilio, Plautoque dabit Romanus ademptum 1 Virgilio, Varioque ?* And, lastly, v. 260, objecting to the too frequent introduction of the Spondee in Iambic verse, as tending to make the verse run slowly and heavily, he thus delivers his own sentiments : 6 In scenam missus, magno cum pondere, versus, * Aut operas celeris nimium curssque carentis, i Aut ignoratae premit artis crimine turpi. * Non quivis videt immodulata poemata judex 4 Et data Romanis venia est indigna poetis. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 99 • Idcircone vager ? scribamque licenter ? an omnes * Visuros peccata putem mea tutus et infra * Spem veniee cautus ? vitavi denique culpam, * Non laudem merui* Vos exemplaria Graeca * Nocturna versate manu, versate diurna. * At nostri proavi Plautinos et numeros et * Laudavere sales, nimium patienter ut rum que, ' Ne dicam stulte mirati, si modo ego et vos * Scimus inurbanum lepido seponere dicto, ' Legitimumque sonum digitis callemus et aure.' No man can possibly be so prejudiced in his opinion, as to contend that Poetical Licences, even if allowed, are any other than blemishes, which have been claimed, as existing in classic authors, in consequence of the ignorance and errors of the copyists of manuscripts, and the erroneous limita- tion of the rules of. Prosodia. In some instances Licences have been supposed, where none really existed 1 . The reasonable extension of the prin- ciple for exchanging equivalent feet, so as to admit all the possible variations, instead of confining it to a few only, has been found sufficient to re- move many, if not most, of those Licences usually claimed; and there cannot be a doubt that the correction of the text according to the rules of Prosodia, which has always been found possible, or the preference of one reading, where no Licence existed, to another, in which one occurred, would completely destroy all occasion for the rest. These 1 See this proved in Section XXV. infra. 100 AN INQUIRY INTO facts will be shown in a subsequent Section k , by an examination of the instances themselves. In the mean time it is sufficient to say, that the idea of Poetical Licences is in the highest degree ab- surd, because they are deviations from rule, and that all rule is, or ought to be, the guide for the production of excellence, and the prevention of error and deformity j. If it can be supposed that violations of Pro- sodia, in the particulars mentioned by Priscian, are, as he says, more frequently to be found in the dramatic writers, and in Terence more fre- quently than in the rest 1 ", it must follow of course, k See Section XXV. ! The bad effect of Poetical Licences in general, is suffi- ciently conspicuous from the following example : Milton, who appears to have been very conversant with the classics, is per- petually solicitous to show his familiarity with them, by intro- ducing into his Paradise Lost, imitations of all their Poetical Licences, as far as he was able, writing, as he did, in a dif- ferent language. By this extreme pedantry, his style and ver- sification have, in many instances, been rendered so egregiously harsh, dissonant, stiff, and disgusting, that it is difficult to read it so as to produce any thing like metre, and it is scarcely tolerable. No reader, without considerable effort, can conquer his reluctance and dislike of the versification, so far as to con- sider the sublimity of the poet's images and sentiments ; and to that circumstance, more than any other, is attributable the little regard paid to that poem, from the time of its first publi- cation, till it was brought into notice by the publication of an edition of the Paradise Lost, by Tonson, in 1711, and the cri- ticisms on that poem in The Spectator. m ' At illud quoque sciendum, quod omnes quidem crebris * synalcephis, et episynalcephis, et collisionibus, et abjectionibus THE NATURE OP POETRY. 10.1 that, instead of being what they have been repre- sented, the models of excellence,, the dramatic poets were the most ignorant or most negligent of all classes of poets ; and that., of this wretched and contemptible set, Terence, in proportion as he exceeded them in the frequency of his trans- gressions, was by far the most culpable. But the supposition is in itself contrary to reason ; nor can it be imagined that 5 if the practice had ever been attempted, such perpetual violations as the gram- marians have claimed as allowable, would ever have been tolerated by an audience, who, as Ci- cero describes them, would have hissed an actor, if he had pronounced a syllable longer or shorter than its due quantity". * S literae, sint usi scandendo versus suos. Terentius autem plus ' omnibus.' — Priscian, De Versibus Comicis, edit, Putsch, col. 1321. n * Si versus pronuntiatus est una syllaba longior vel bre^vior, * exsibilatur et exploditur histrio.' Cicero, Paradoxo tertio. — - « In versu quidem theatra tota exclamant, si fiat una syllaba * brevior aut longior, nee vero multitudo pedes novit, nee ullos * numeros tenet, nee illud, quod offendit, aut curant, aut in * quo offendat intelligit, et tamen omnium longitudinem et bre- ' vitatem in sonis, sicut acutantur, graviumque vocum judicium % ipsa ratione in auribus nostris collocavit.' Cicero, Orator, edit, !8mo. Glasg. 1748, ex edit. Jo. Olivet, sect. li. p. 90.— Plutarch, in his Lives, p. 845, mentions that Demosthenes was hissed by the Athenians, for pronouncing Ag-jcXhotop, with the accent on the Antepenultima, instead of the Ultima. See the passage in a note, in Plutarch's own words, in Manwaring's Stichology, p. 26, thus : "fl/xvvE $s xoci tov 'Ao-jtX*)7riov, irQovretfv%vvuv 'Aa-KXr/Tnov* 4 xa.i Kixps&ivvi* uvtov 6fQu$ Xsyovrot.' wcci yap tov Gsov ywiov' x.oc\ ivt 4 txtu ttoXXsmcjs lOafwCsj'Oii/— ^ Plutarch, Decern OrAtor. Vitag, p, 845, « 3 102 AN INQUIRY INTO By constant violation of rule, perpetual variety in the sorts of verse, for that indulgence is also claimed by the grammarians, in favour of the dramatic poets, and by a change from one length to another, there is nothing which might not be rendered poetry, of some kind. All the orations in Sallust and Livy may thus be reduced into metre of some species or other; and authors, who had never conceived they were writing any thing more than harmonious prose, would, by efforts like these, be transferred to a class of less honour, and, instead of being justly considered as able and eloquent historians, be reduced to the rank of incompetent scribblers, and wretched dabblers in Poetry. But, if the number of indulgences is not to be restrained within some limits, and none have been assigned to those supposed to exist in comic verse particularly, how is it possible to decide as to the nature of any species of Poetry ? If its want of correspondence with the rules of one sort, is not a sufficient reason for excluding a verse from this, and its agreement with those of another, an ade- quate ground for referring it to that, by what guide can any man act? Every man, who has written on Metre in general, has been in a con- tinual error ; all that has been taught on the sub- ject, is deception ; rules and regulations have been invented in vain ; and flagrant injustice is daily committed in every public and private seminary, not only in this kingdom, but throughout Europe, 2 THE NATURE OF POETRY. 103 whenever punishment for a false quantity in Latin or Greek verses is inflicted. No support in favour of Poetical Licences can be obtained from the violent elisions and contrac- tions which occur in manuscripts and early printed editions of the Latin Poets, copied, no doubt, from manuscripts ; such, for instance, as c necesset,' for ( necesse esset ;' c sultis,' for f si vultis ;' ' optumu'st/ for c optimus est ;' ' surger&,' for ' surgere et ;' and others : for these are not metrical elisions or con- tractions, but merely those of the copyist, to save time, expence, labour, and parchment. A suffi- cient quantity of this last it has sometimes been found so difficult to procure, that instances are well known to those conversant with manuscripts, where the whole of a work, written on parchment or vellum, has been erased, apparently with a knife, or some such sharp instrument, for the pur- pose of using the leaves for transcribing some other work. Multitudes of leaves, thus erased, are frequently found among manuscripts. That these contractions were not made for the sake of the Metre, is evident, because similar ones equally occur in manuscripts of works in prose. Dr. Taylor, in his Elements of the Civil Law, p. 20, speaking of the famous Florentine manuscript of Justinian's Pandect, the age of which Brencman refers back to the sixth century, which he says is the time of Justinian °, remarks that it is written • Brencmanni Historia Pandectarum, seu Fatum Ex.emplaris H 4 104 AN INQUIRY INTO in a very singular character, the peculiarity of which consists in consolidating the letters of two words, when it happens, as it frequently does, that those which compose a part of the latter, are con- tained in the former, as ' necesset,' instead of ' ne- 4 cesse esset {) .' This is the instance which he himself produces, adding, at the same time, this observa- tion, that this compendious method is practised in no other manuscript that he knows. But Di\ Taylor was evidently not conversant or extensively acquainted with manuscripts. Brencman notices this erroneous opinion, entertained by some per- sons, as to the peculiarity of the character in which this manuscript was written, and rightly says it was the general mode of writing used in manuscripts of that age. It is certain that similar peculiarities occur in some of the earliest printed books, which are known to have been printed im« Florentini, 4to. Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1722, p. 11, on the au« thority of Fontanini and Mabillon. p See another instance, in the case of the words ' velit litte- * ras,' on the authority of Brencman, inserted in Section XXIII. hereafter. A similar instance seems to occur in a passage in- serted among the prefatory papers, fol. a. 3 a. before the edition of Terence printed in 1479, where the words are printed as follow : * Nam postquam ocioso tempore, fastidiosior spectator ' effectus est: tunc cum ad actores ab auctoribus fabula transibaU ' cum surger& adire ccepisset,' &c. This passage is evidently extremely corrupt ; for ' actores,' the sense requires we should read * cantores ;' for 6 auctoribus,' 'actoribus;' and for * adire/ "' abire:' ' surger&' can mean nothing but c surgere & ;' and so it is printed, with the rest of the corrections here noticed, in later and more correct editions, particularly in the Delphin, THE NATURE OF POETRY. 105 mediately from manuscripts, and most probably followed, in that, as well as in other particulars, their original copy q . Nor can the barbarous and pedantic affecta- tions of Ennius and Lucretius be produced as any evidence of the state of Poetry at the time ; for, though Ennius r was contemporary with Plautus 5 , yet the language of Ennius, as exhibited in the fragments of his writings still remaining, is so much more antiquated than that of Plautus, that it is evident he did not write in the style of his own time, but in that which he supposed to have pre- vailed at a much earlier period. His writings may in that respect range with the modern imitations of Chaucer's style, which have frequently appeared in our own country, but cannot be cited as evidence i See the preceding note for one instance. Brencman, in his Historia Pandectarum, p. 108, says, * Ut bis peccent, qui * Literam Pisanam exponunt characterem veterem, quo scripti ' Pandeetarum libri ; primo quia communem eorum seculorum ' scripturam peculiarem et propriam faciunt Pandectis Floren- ' tinis, dein,' &c. r Ennius was born in the year of Rome 5 J 6, and died of the gout at the age of 70. Konigii Bibliotheca, p. 273. In the Life of Ennius, written by Paul Merula, and prefixed to his edition of the Fragments of Ennius's Annals, it is said that Ennius was born in the year of Rome 514, the year after the introduction of Comedy at Rome by Livius Andronicus. En- nius was born 239 years before our Saviour, and died 169. See Moron's Diet, and the authorities there cited. Saxius says he was born Anno Urbis 515, and died Anno Urb. 585. Saxius, vol.i. p. 120. 6 Plautus died in the year of Rome 570. Konigii Bibli- otheca, p. 647. Saxius, Onomast. edit. 1775, vol. i. p. 122 3 — 189 years before our Saviour. Saxius, ibid. 106 AN INQUIRY INTO of the state of the Latin language at any time 1 . Into this he also introduced as many corruptions and barbarisms as he was able from the language of the Osci, a people of Campania, in Italy, so barbarous in their speech, as to occasion a proverb, in which ' Osce loqui' was meant to imply, that those, of whom it was said, were ignorant of the Latin language u . On his skill in this corrupt * Cicero, in his Orator, edit. Glasguae, 1748, p. 88, sect, 91 » says, * Ergo liceat Ennio, vetera contemnenti, dicere : " Versibu' quos olim Fauni vatesque canebant," * mihi de antiquis eodcm milii non licebit, praesertim cum die- 1 turus non sum Ante hunc, ut ille, neu quae sequuntur. No$ * auri reserare.' The same corruption is also noticed by Cicero, in another part of the same tract. ' Quin etiam quod jam subrusticum i videtur olim autem politius eorum verborum, quorum eaedem * erant postremse duae literse, quae sunt in optumus, postremam * literam detrahebant, nisi vocalis insequebatur ; ita non erat * offensio in versibus, quam nunc fugiunt poetae novi ; ita enim * loquebamur, qui est omnibu' princeps, non omnibus princeps, * et vita ilia dignu' locoque, non dignus, quod si indocta con- * suetudo tarn est artifex suavitatis, quid ab ipsa tandem arte * et doctrina postulari putamus ?' Ibid. p. 82, sect. 48. The Jine above, from Ennius, may, however, be freed from all licence, by reading it, Versibus : bos olim Fauni vatesque canebant, which it is very likely some manuscript, had it been searched for, might have been found to justify. u « Titinius Osce et Volsce fabulantur nam Latine nesciunt. 9 See Flaccus et Festus, a Scaligero, 8vo. 1593, p. cxlvi. — * Osci 4 diet, ab oris fceditate Fest. unde Osce loqui de iis, qui Latine * nesciunt, loqui. People of Campania in Italy.' — Littleton's Diet. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 107 language, he seems to have valued himself % ex^ ulting, as it should seem, in the use of such pe- culiarities as might tend to distinguish his style from that state of improvement, to which, in the intermediate space of time, the Latin language had attained. Lucretius flourished a century pos- terior to Plautus y, and affected to follow the pe- dantic conduct of Ennius 5 so that he also is of no authority in this point. No pretence has ever been offered, that the rules of Prosodia, or the quantities of syllables, were, in the time of Plautus or Terence, or in that when Virgil and Horace flourished, in any respect different from what they were at any other period, when literature was cultivated or prevailed at Rome ; and, indeed, were any such assertion K In the Life of Ennius, written by Paul Merula, and pre- fixed to his edition of the Fragments of Ennius's Annals, he is said to have been ' trium linguarum Graecae, Latinae, et Oscas, * peritus.' — Virgil, when found reading the works of Ennius, said he was collecting gold from the muck or dross of Ennius. ' Cum is aliquando Ennium in manu haberet, rogareturque ' quidnam faceret, respondit se aurum collegisse de stercore ' Ennii. Habet enim poeta ille egregias sententias sed verbis * non multum ornatis.' — Donati Vita Virgilii, inserted Virgil, edit. Heyne, 4to. Lond. 1793, vol. i. part i. p. clxxxii. y Lucretius was born in the year of Rome 659, and died in the year 684. Konigii Bibliotheca, p. 485. His works are said to have been written in the intervals between fits of insanity. Ibid. Lucretius is placed by Saxius, edit. 1775, vol. i. p. 145, 78 years before Christ, and said to have been born in the 171st Olympiad, Anno Urbis conditae 659, and to have died in the 177th, Anno Urbis conditae 684. 108 AN INQUIRY INTO attempted, the existing works of those writers would be sufficient to refute it. The nature of the apparent variations from rule, observable in the writings of the Greek and Latin authors, has certainly, however, been greatly in reality misun- derstood. Most, if not all of them, have been found to a certainty to be neither violations, nor unrestrained instances of caprice, as they have been erroneously imagined % but are founded on grounds to which, as it appears, the grammarians and critics were strangers. And there is no doubt that, either by the application of the extended and highly rational principle, which allows the ex- change for all equivalent quantities, instead of in- judiciously confining it to a few only ; or, by cor- recting the text properly, so as to make it consist- ent with, and not repugnant to the rules of Proso- dia, every supposed error may be reconciled to the real nature, and genius, and the rules which ought to prevail in every system of Prosodia, professing to merit attention. Great reason, however, exists for thinking, that,, in settling the text of an author, a reading has ? on many occasions, been chosen on account of the Licence which it required; or that, in spelling or placing the words, a mode of orthography or arrangement, which produced a Licence, has been preferred to one where no such impediment really * See Sect. XXV. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 109 existed a . The motive to this was probably a wish in the critic acting thus, to exhibit his own learn- a Bentley, in his ' Emendationes ad Ciceronis Tusculanas,' inserted at the end of ' Ciceronis Tusculanarum Disputationum ' Libri V. ex recensione Joannis Davisii, Coll. Regin. Cantab. * Socio,' 8vo. Cantab. 1709, p. 49, has, in scanning some verses from Ennius, Plautus, and Terence, unnecessarily con- sidered them as containing Licences, which, in the proper mode of division, do not exist. This will be shown from the instances themselves, in Section XX. infra. The following line in Ho- mer's Iliad, book i. v. 18, seems also another instance : 'Y^?y jusy Qsol tfb~sv 'OXvpTiot, ovftoir ef^ovrs;* Clarke says, in a note, i Pronuntiabatur Y^tv /*sv Qoi ;' and Schre- velius, in his Lexicon, art. Aotsv, says, ' Ao*ev, darent, pro * ^oir ( crav, Bceot. et Mo\. 3 pi. a. c l opt. act. a §ow verbi ^^; do ;' namely, that it is the third person plural of the second Aorist, or Indefinite of the Optative Mood, Active Voice. But the pas- sage may be read, without any Licence, instead of the two here supposed, by omitting the word Ssot, which, as it stands, injures the metre, and contributes nothing to the sense. With this omission, the passage would mean, < May those, who dwell in * the habitations of Olympus, grant,' &c. A similar ex- pression occurs in our translation of the Psalms, as it stands in the Common Prayer Book, Psalm ii. v. 4-, ' He that dwelleth * in heaven shall laugh them to scorn.' The line in Homer, if Qsoi were omitted, as it clearly ought to be, would then stand thus : and there would be no necessity for corrupting * ktwai' to «'&«>.' In the original perhaps Geo* was only a marginal note, and by ac- cident crept into the text. Another similar instance of the preference of a reading where a Licence exists, to one without any such blemish, seems to occur in Virgil's Georgics, lib. i. v. 281. The line is this: * Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam," which might easily be read, Ter conati sunt imponere Pelion Ossam, The 110 AN INQUIRY INTO ing\, and to show that he was acquainted with the opinions of former Grammarians. On such a knowledge of these variations from rule, which tend more to corrupt, than correct the Greek and Latin Poets, many men have much valued themselves, and have endeavoured to found on it, a reputation for classical learning. In searching for opportunities of thus displaying their know- ledge, they have shown no common degree of as- siduity, and have proved themselves more anxious to be distinguished for this kind of pedantry, than for a correct and discriminating judgment to de- tect error, and restore passages, disfigured by the blemishes of Poetical Licences, to the regulation of rule, and the controul of acknowledged principles. Infinitely more benefit would have accrued to the cause of Learning, had these men simply preserved and exhibited the various readings of the text, which had fallen in their way, or might have been obtained, on collating and comparing the several copies, especially if manuscripts, or early printed The transposition removes the objection arising from the eli^ sion; and the circumstance of 'impcnere' being a compound, of which the preposition makes a part, would justify the reading * Pelio,' ' Pelion.' Thus corrected, it would, in fact, amount to no more than saying, Ponere Pelion in Ossam, which is strictly and grammatically right. Ruddiman, p. 144, gives from Mar* tial the following line ; * Si quid nostra tuis adieit vexatio rebus/ in which he says * adieit' is put for * adjicit.' But why may it not i>e read as follows, and then no Licence can occur ? Si quid nostra tuis addat vexatio rebus. THE NATURE OF POETRY. Ill editions, with each other ; because,- from them, in all probability, one reading, at least, free from any such objection, might, in almost every real or apparently faulty instance, have been furnished, by which the difficulty might have been avoided, and the passage have been reconciled to strict and reasonable rule. Every true and judicious critic knows, that, where correction becomes necessary, in consequence of manifest corruption and depra- vation, that change is always the best, which in- troduces a reading exactly conformable to rule ; and that that editor, who does not endeavour, in his corrections, to make his author's text agree- able to the nicest laws established on such occa- sions, but, on the contrary, augments the number of licences and deviations, disfigures, instead of reforming, and corrupts, instead of improving his author. Every reason has, on experiment, been found for conceiving the apparent Poetical Licences in Virgil and Horace, either merely the consequence of the due extension of the rule for the exchange of equivalent quantities, or corruptions introduced into the text by the ignorance of copyists and grammarians, in consequence of their erroneous system of Prosodia. Collations of manuscripts would, no doubt, remove many of these, by af- fording a reading free from Licence. That the ear- lier writers, Plautus and Terence, however un- justly taxed with negligence and incompetence of this kind, were equally free from the absurdity of 112 AN INQUIRY INTO wilful transgressions and violations of rule, will manifestly appear to all unprejudiced minds, in the course of the ensuing pages, as it will also, how grossly those have erred, who, like the gram- marians, have considered rarity of occurrence as equivalent to prohibition ; and, to cover their own ignorance, have, in consequence of this, unjustly attributed to the Poets a defect of judgment and want of skill to restrain their thoughts and ex- pressions within the proper and requisite bounds. In the case of Greek and Latin Poetry, there- fore, it is believed it may with truth be affirmed, that some of the instances of supposed Poetical Licences have been misunderstood, and are no Licences when the lines are correctly scanned b . That many of them will be entirely removed by the admission of the very rational musical principle, by which all equivalent feet may be re- ceived in all situations ; and these, therefore, are no Licences, but the consequences and observances of rule c . That many more may in all probability be re- medied, by preferring a reading, where no such Licence occurs d . That other Poetical Licences will only be found an observation of the original rule in the Greek b See some instances from Plautus and Terence, as given by Bentley, inserted in Sect. XX. c See some such in Sect. XXV. and IX. d See some such readings suggested, Sect. XXV. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 113 Prosodia, in an instance where the Latin had not followed it e . And that the remainder will principally, if not wholly, consist of contractions of two vowels into one, upon the principle of a diphthong ; or dissolutions of a diphthong into two vowels, on the idea of the vowels being- separate. But these, as being of so very slight a nature, so limited in their kind and number, and merely affecting the orthography of a very few syllables, scarcely merit the name of Licences, or require any defence or apology. See also Sect, XXV, 114 AN INQUIRY INTO SECTION IX. Heroic Verse, ivhat Feet that receives. Besides the Dactyl and Spondee, it admits the Anapaest, Am- phibrachys, and Proceleusma.— Anapaest, an example of, from Homer. — Another from Virgil. — Another from Horace* — Amphibrachys, an example of, from Homer. — Four ex- amples from Virgil.— Proceleusma, an instance of. — Several from Virgil.— -These feet admissible at the end of the verse also.— Dactyl, examples of.— Anapaest, instances of. — Am- phibrachys, instance of. Besides the Dactyl and Spondee, universally ac- knowledged as admissible in Heroic verse, it will be found, on examination, that the Anapaest, the Amphibrachys, and the Proceleusma, were at times occasionally also received : for, by transpos- ing the long and short syllables of the Dactyl, the two former might be obtained ; by dissolving its long syllable into two short, the latter; and, by the admission of these, together with the Dactyl and Spondee, all the varieties were completed and afforded, of which one long and two short syl- lables, the quantity of the Dactyl, were capable. No more reason exists for excluding these three kinds of feet, than for rejecting the Spondee or Dactyl themselves, nor any cause for restraining them to certain situations only. Their actual in- 4 THE NATURE OF POETRY. 115 traduction, in all places, will be equally seen from the following examples from Homer, Virgil, and Horace ; nor is there any more ground for ques- tioning the authority of these instances, than to dispute the validity of those by which the use of the Dactyl and Spondee has been already esta- blished. Homer, in the very first line of the first book of his Iliad, has employed an Anapaest in the fifth place : This the grammarians have endeavoured to pre- vent, by asserting, that the two last syllables of UriXrjiochou are contracted into one, so as to produce a long syllable there ; and that the second syllable of KyjKKriog is rendered short, by the rejection of one of the letters, A, by which, as it stands in the verse, it is at present made long f . The effect of this process would be, to transform the whole foot from an Anapaest to a Dactyl ; but this could not be accomplished, without three Poetical Licences in one foot, and two of them on the same syllable, which is highly unreasonable : for the two syl- lables, above mentioned, must first be contracted f See the note on the passage in Dr. Clarke's edition of Homer, and also in that by Camerarius, small fo. In officina Hervagiana, 1541. To favour this supposition, the word is erroneously printed with one x, in Camerariiis's, Schrevelius's, and Dr. Ckirke's editions, and perhaps in others. I 2 116 AN INQUIRY INT© into one ; and again, which the grammarians do not notice, the syllable, when thus contracted, must be prevented from suffering elision with the first syllable of the next word, which, as that be- gins with a vowel, it regularly would ; and, lastly, as before observed, the second syllable of A%/AA« must undergo a change from long to short. The violence of this step is contrary to all reason, and totally unnecessary. If the foot be considered as an Anapaest, as, in its natural state, it really and unquestionably is, its quantity is exactly equal in value to the Dactyl, of which it is in fact merely a transposition. There is no contraction; the syllables all remain in their natural quantities ; and the regular elision, authorized by rule, takes place in the absorption of the last syllable of ILj- X7\i(/2ioo with the first in A%/AAw. But, further, TLtjXviiahou, as it stands above, which Schrevelius, in his Lexicon, art. rfyto7/a$sa;, describes as the Ionic genitive by the exchange of yji for ei 3 and of sou for *, is not necessary to the metre of the verse : for the simple genitive, n^A^fe, without resorting to the Ionic dialect, will, without any change in the last of these instances, correctly stand thus : \j v _ Myjviv ci\siSs 6s\c6 tlr}\h^'iti\^H ^AyjK^og. because only one half of the diphthong a is ab- sorbed in the first syllable of A%/AAw, a practice which perpetually prevails, and occurs in Homer, Many other instances of this kind may also be THE NATURE OP POETRY. 117 produced from Homer, some of which had been actually noted down, and can even now be at any time found, but it was thought unnecessary to multiply examples. Virgil has used a similar foot in the following line : ' Fluviorum rex Eridanus camposque per omnes ** if the grammarians, for their own purposes, and to favour their own system of Licences, have not, as it is probable they have, preferred the above order of the words, to reading them thus, which is certainly, it must be confessed, by far the more musical : Eridanus fluviorum rex camposque per omnes. In the former case, the first foot is an Anapaest % Fluvio-rum rex | Eridajnus cam|posque per | omnes, which the grammarians have endeavoured to con- vert into a Dactyl, by altering the quantities of the first and third syllables, or into a Spondee, by changing the quantity of the first syllable, and contracting the second and third syllables into one £ Virgil, Georg. lib. ii. v. 482. Ruddiman, Grammatical Latinse lnstitutiones, 12mo. Edinb. 1756, p. 142, says, that the i is absorbed before the o, and that £ Fluviorum' is a trisyllable, which last assertion he again repeats, p. 147 ; but it is evident this does not cure the whole difficulty, as the first syllable of 1 Fluviorum' still remains, as it naturally is, short, I 3 118 AN INQUIRY INTO long one h . For this change of quantity, in either case, no reason can be discovered, except that their system required either a Dactyl or a Spondee in this place, neither of which could be other- wise obtained ; but this is no adequate cause. It is evident, from the natural quantities of the syl- lables, that an Anapaest is here used; and there is no occasion for any change of quantity or licence of any sort, because the admission of the Anapaest is perfectly consistent with the principle of receiv- ing all equivalent quantities in exchange. Horace, in his Epistles, lib. ii. ep. ii. v. 120, has also employed an Anapaest, exactly in the same place of the verse with the above example from Virgil. The instance is this : Vehemens | & liquijdus pu]roque sijmillimus | amniJ, h Ruddiman, in his * Grammaticae Latinas Institutiones,' 12mo. 6th edit. Edinb. 1731, p. 142, says, ' Fluviorum* is here rendered a trisyllable, by absorbing one of the two vowels in the other. See also ibid. p. 141. 147; but he does not notice any change in the quantity of the first syllable of * Fluvi* rum/ which consequently would remain short, as it is naturally. 1 Ruddiman, p« 141, says, that « Vehemens' is here ren- dered a dissyllable. ' Vehemens,' as here used, was certainly a wilful deviation from its real and usual quantity, because Ho* race himself, in the first book of his Epistles, Epist. 13, uses It in the accustomed manner, in the following line : Sedulus | imporjtes ope|ra vehe | mente minister. Ralph Winterton, in his Observations on Hesiod, among the « Poefae Minores Graeci,' 12mo. Cantab. 1635, in a note on the * Operum et Dierum Liber,' lib. i. v. 20, gives that line thus: "Ht= kxI a-zaXGc.fj.vov TTsp o/awj £7T/ epycv £yc/pu» On THE NATURE OF POETRY. 119 which the commentator on the Delphin edition has not noticed, or attempted to explain ; but it is as it stands an indubitable example ; and Bond, in his edition, 12mo. Lond. 1660, admits, p. 291, that it is an instance of an Anapoest for a Spondee. Of the use of the Amphibrachys, the following instances occur. Homer uses it, in the first place of each of the three first of the following examples, and in the last place of the fourth line : Koog s\yw 7rspl j Kctvot 7to\Xio£ (3io\tov a~vvci\ 4 teste Seleuco, profert quaedam contra legem metrorum, sicut * in hoc : ' AX(?>r|cr THE NATURE OF POETRY. 131 dently arose from his writing from examples only, and not from principle. No reason could exist for excluding the Trochee from any situation in the Iambic, in its original general state ; and his acknowledgment that the Iambus might occur in a Trochaic verse, is a plain confession that the Iambic and Trochaic are in fact the same ? . That they were so originally, cannot be doubted ; be- cause they both spring from the same musical principle, of One to Two, or Duple Proportion; and what advantage may be derived from sepa- rating them, is a point which remains to be proved ; but does not concern the present inquiry, relating as it does to Poetry in its early and ori- ginal state. By the authority of Terentianus Maurus, who admits the Iambus into the Trochaic, and conse- quently recognises the reasonableness of the same practice as to the Trochee in the Iambic ; by the instances from Euripides and Sophocles above re- ferred to ; and by the considerations just stated, it is conceived that the use of the Trochee, one of the three less customary feet in Iambic, may be ' Brevis auteni lambo, tonga post, cui non potest * Longam Trooliaeus subdere, et ire vein suara ' Brevi sequentis, qua fit hoc Iambicum : * En cur lambo non Trochseus serviat, * Qui raetron ipse copulat Trochaicum, * Prffibetque nomeo, ut loquemur postmodum.* y Both Etuapides and Sophocles have introduced the Tro- chee into an Iambic verse. See the instances from each in a preceding note. 132 AN INQUIRY INTO justified ; and, although no actual instances of the Amphibrachys and Proceleusma, the other two remaining feet of those three, have been given, or as yet found, except, indeed, that of this last produced by Victorinus, inserted in a former note, it seems highly irrational to suppose that, when the principle in them all was the same, and some had been admitted, the rest, without any reason, for none can be suggested, should have been ex- eluded from insertion. None but those who have tried it, can be in any degree aware of the extreme difficulty of find- ing, when it is wanted, an actual example to jus- tify a rule universally acknowledged, and which no man of sense would ever think of questioning. Of this difficulty. Dr. Carey, of Islington, has given a remarkable instance z , which may serve to icheck the presumption of those who think nothing allowable but what they can find to have been really practised. Many things may be lawfully done by a man, which yet he may never have oc- % At the end of a note, on the Advertisement to his ' Latin * Prosody made easy, abridged for the Use of Schools,' edit. 12mo. Lond. 1809, speaking of his * Latin Prosody made easy,' the original work, he says* i I will here only add, that, after its * publication, I found among my papers a memorandum which * had escaped my notice at the time of writing that preface, « viz. that I had, with the assistance of the Dauphin Index, ex- * amined one hundred and forty-three passages of Virgil, for a ' verse, to prove the quantity of the nominative AS of the 4 first declension, without finding a single one to my purpose.— 4 It was time to desist.' THE NATURE OF POETRY. 133 casion to do, in the whole course of his life ; and his forbearing to use that power, is no evidence of his not possessing the right, unless coupled with some substantial reason why he ought to have used it, or why he could not have possessed it. Homer or Virgil might each, if they had so pleas- ed, have begun their poems of the Iliad and Odys- sey, and the ^Eneid, with other words, than they have chosen, because there is no reason why they should have been limited to those they have used : and, as it was optional with them how they would begin, their having preferred the present mode, is no argument to prove they might not, had they chosen it, have begun or expressed themselves in any other maimer which they had thought fit. The inability, therefore, to produce an actual example, even admitting, which is not believed to be the case in the present instance, that no such example does in fact exist, is no evidence that such a measure as that which it is wanted to justify was unlawful, unless it can be shown, in addition, why it was unlawful. The necessity for using such a step might, perhaps, have never oc- curred ; but the mere circumstance of its not having been used, is no proof that, had such necessity occurred, that mode would have been rejected. On every ground, therefore, that can be suggested, the most reasonable conclusion certainly is, that, as all rested on the same foundation, and some are known to have been k 3 134 AN INQUIRY INTO used, the rest, including all that could in any way be produced from the Iambus or the Spondee, might have been lawfully also, and probably were> employed in like manner, whenever the Poets needed their assistance. TKE MATURE OF POETRY. 135 SECTION XL Bacchiac or Pceonlc 31etre, what Feet it admits. Pasonk erroneously divided into three sorts, Paeonie, Bacchiac^ andCretio. — For this division Poetical Licences unnecessarily introduced, even by Bentley. — Paeonie supposed by some invented by Aristophanes. — Used by Cratinus and Archilo- chus. — Hephaestion's opinion as to Paeonie. —It admits, as appears from specimens given by Bentley, feet of six times, as well as those of five. — Enumeration of feet admissible* Phonic metre has been usually, though errone- ously, divided by the Grammarians into three distinct sorts ; Pseonic, as consisting of the Pseons ; Bacchiac, and Cretic ; and these they have endea- voured to keep separate, though, in fact, they are all but one and the same a . The consequence of a Diomedes, edit. Putsch, col. 506, speaking of Paeonie Metre, says, * Pasonicum Metrum quod plerique Rhythmicum 4 esse dixerunt, constat priore Paeone. Admittit vero et quar- * turn, Creticum, et Bacchium, a brevi qui est ; a Dimetri hoc 4 enparabase Aristophanes eomposuisse creditur.' — Forfcunatia- nus, edit. Putsch, col. 2679, says, De Paeonico Metro, ' Paeo- * nicus versus quadratus, ab Aristophane comico compositus est.' —From these two passages it should seem these authors thought it invented by him. But Plotius, edit. Putsch, col. 2661, speaks of it as used by Cratinus, who lived about 4-53 years before our Saviour (Saxii Onomast. vol. i. p. 35); whereas Aristophanes did not flourish earlier than between 4*22 and 418 years before Christ. It has, however, been already shown, in Section VI, that it was used by Archilochus long before, K 4 136 AN INQUIRY INTO this conduct has been the necessary introduction of Poetical Licences, without which they could not be kept asunder b ; a circumstance sufficient in itself to show there was no real difference between them. Springing, as they all do, from one and the same musical proportion of Three to Two, which, as has been noticed before, is termed Ses- quialteral, it is evident they cannot be correctly considered as distinct sorts. They will, therefore, here be deemed as of one kind, and treated of under the general name of Pseonic, as more usual, though, in fact, it seems that this kind of verse was first employed in the hymns to Bacchus ', and that the Bacchius was the foundation, in exchange for which, the rest of the feet were occasionally introduced. Hephsestion describes the Pseonic as being of three sorts, the Cretic, the Bacchiac, and the Pa^ limbacchiac ; and says, that it receives the reso- lutions called the Paeons (1 . In another place he b Bentley, in his \ Emendationes ad Ciceronis Tusculanas,' inserted at the end of * Ciceronis Tusculanarum Disputationum ' Libri V. ex recensione Joannis Davisii, Coll. Regin. Cantab. * Socii,' 8vo. Cantab, 1709, p. 49, before referred to, has given some verses from Plautus and Terence. Of these, . some he supposes Cretic and some Bacchiac ; and he has ac- cordingly kept the two sorts separate, although, to prevent their intermixture, he has been obliged to imagine Licences in- troduced, which do not really exist. See the lines themselves, apd the. observations given on them in Section XXV. infra. c See Sect. VI. ' To o\ ity.iOovi.KOV} udri (j.bv \yjn Tp/a, to, ts x^tikov, -k%\ t'j /Sawc? yiict.-A.ay 9 kcci to sraX/wbcoc^Eia/.ov, o xaj kvi'7riir,dnov Ifi wpoj ^eAotojVxvj THE NATURE OF POETRY. 137 notices that, by the resolution of the long syllables of the Cretic, five short syllables may be received. Of these different sorts he has given specimens^ and, amongst the rest, one where all the feet but the last consist of five short syllables, and that last is one of the Paeons e . But the instances of Bac- chiac and Cretic verse which Bentley has given from Plautus and Terence, in his c Emendationes ' ad Giceronis Tusculanas/ before referred to, and which will be found here inserted in Section XXV, infra, have ascertained that, besides the above- mentioned feet, which are each equal to five short syllables, these verses also admitted the Molossus, ' to as jtprjTOtov. sirirvo^tov' oB^sroci as kcci Xvcniq Taj e/j raj KOiXnusvag * vouina** Hephaestion, a Pauw, 4to. Traject. ad Rhenum, 1726, p. 41, — '£? as 7ro!r,[j.cc, tTiTrictivcri crvvQuvoa, w 5 -£ a^ifoTEpaj t«5 * s>t«Tspw&Ey ra xpnTi/.S y.x.Kfus \vjug rwv sx tts'vts fipuxHuv TrapaXa^,- * ba'vsiy, kXw Taj T£/\.£VTa/aj, £<£>' r,j Toy TEVapTov TrapaXa/jtbayEi Kcci'wa.J Ibid p. 43. e Victorinus, edit. Putsch, col. 2544, speaking of the Paeonic, says, that the verses either consist of the Paeons of fwe times, of the Bacchius of five times, or the Cretic of five times, after which, he says, c Ubi enim non pedum sed nume- * rorum ratio subsistit, non pedes pedibus pares restituuntur, * sed tempora temporibus adaequantur. Quidam trisyllabis et ' tetrasyllabis admixtis pedibus hoc genus versuum et composu- * erunt, et indifferenter ista compositione usi sunt. Nam aut * Creticis, aut eorum solutionibus, id est, Paeonibus aut primo "aut quarto indifferenjter mixtis, carmen ediderunt; sed et * Bacchiacis et Creticis conjugationibus adasque usi sunt. — Unde ' datur intelligi eundem pedem, per solutionem Cretici et 1 Bacchii, conmiunem esse utriusque, cui par similisque hie 4 Rhythmus, qui ex quinque continuis brevibus syllabis con- * stat. Est enim totidem temporum quot et Paeon pes et Bac- ■ chius et Amphimacrus,' 138 AN INQUIRY INTO Choriambus, Bi-Trochee, and other feet equiva- lent to six short syllables p . On the musical prin- ciple before noticed and explained, by which all equivalent quantities might be introduced, it is reasonable, therefore, to conclude, that all the above-mentioned feet, as well those equal to six, as those equivalent only to five short syllables, were received, together with all such, as by the change of one long for two short, or of two short for one long syllable, could be produced from those feet. In consequence of these facts, the fol- lowing will be the several sorts of feet admissible : Antibacchius .... Paeon 1 Cretic Bacchius Paeon 2. Paeon 3 Paeon 4 Tribrachys and Pyrrhichius — V f" \J \J V \J V Molossus lonicus Major ... Choriambus Di-Trochee Trochee and Tri- brachys Iambus and Tro chee, or Anti spast ....... Di-Iambus Iambus and Tri- brachys lonicus Minor ... 5} } _ v» w „ \J \J \J \J V — _ w m. \J \J \J Anapaest and Pyr-7 rhichius j" Tribrachys and Trochee ., Tribrachys and Iambus I , u u Di-Tribrachys f Bentley, in his dissertation c De Metris Comicis,' prefixed to his Terence, notices, p. 1, that Bacehiac and Cretic verses are to be scanned by single feet. THE NATURE OF POETRY, 139 SECTION XII. Origin of Comedy and Tragedy. Kites of Bacchus made Poetry familiar to the common people, — Keepers of Cattle wanted employment for their faculties. — Betook themselves to Poetry. — Terpander first set words to Music. — Dialogue invented by Alexamenes Teius. — Competitions in verse encouraged at sheep-shearing feasts* —Poems, why so called. — Contests of this kind exhibited in. public, on other occasions. — Comedy arose from these. — Theatrical productions, how exhibited originally. — At first one actor only. — A second introduced. — The number in- creased still further. — Comedy not originally sung through the streets. — Susarion, the first who furnished poetical per- formances to the people at large. — What they probably were — Comedy originally a Chorus of Singers, without ac- tors. — Plot for Comedy, and Dress for the actor, when and by whom introduced. — Comedy, when first so called. — Ety^ mology and reason of the name. — Tragedy not then invent- ed. — Improvements in Comedy by Epicharmus and Phormis. —Comedy, at this time, no more than a Chorus of Singers and Musical Performers. — The same with that which flou- rished in the first age of Comedy at Athens. — Improvements under Pericles. — Brought to perfection by Eupolis and Ari^ stophanes. — Comedy, in the two first ages, called the Old.— Its characteristics. — Athens taken by Lysander.— Comedy restricted.— Third age of Comedy — Styled the Middle Co» medy. — -Its peculiarities. — Further restrictions on it in the time of Alexander. — Fourth age of Comedy— Called the New Comedy. — Its characteristics.--The Komans only copied the New, — Livius Andronicus first introduced Comedy at 140 AN INQUIRY INTO Rome. — Characteristics of the four different ages of Ce<» medy more distinctly stated.— Origin of Tragedy. — Co- medy the earlier of the two.— Etymology of the name Tra- gedy. r rom the composition of Poems, Songs, and Hymns, in honour of Bacchus, and the introduction of these and other pieces of Poetry into his rites ^ at the celebration of which, as a religious festival., the common people were at least present ; one very natural consequence was seen to arise. It not only tended to render Poetry more familiar to them, and to excite in them a taste for it, as an accompaniment to festivity ; but it also, at the same time, furnished to those, whose occupation left the mind vacant, and in want of some object to employ its faculties, the opportunity and induce- ment to endeavour at imitation, in the production of compositions in verse, on subjects better suited to their own taste and condition. No occupation seems to require less of intellect, than that of a keeper of cattle ; and, from the leisure which these persons experienced in the continual exer- cise of their daily profession, those who earliest applied themselves to the practice and cultivation of Lyric Poetry, appear to have been, in fact, Shepherds and Herdsmen. Among all nations, and in all countries, tending sheep seems to have been, as from its nature and necessity it was likely it should, one of the most s See Section VI. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 141 ancient occupations. But, confining those em- ployed in it to one spot, and yet affording them no exercise for the faculties of the mind, it could not fail of being tedious and irksome to all those on whom Nature had bestowed any considerable por- tion of intellect. To beguile the time, and lessen the fatigue of Indolence, which is frequently more oppressive than that arising from hard labour, these persons resorted to the practice of singing, or playing on the pipe, such melodies as they had learnt. As a voluntary task, they set themselves to compose words in verse to those melodies, in order that, in turn, these new words might be sung as Songs ; and frequent practice in this kind of composition, without any object to distract their attention, soon rendered them in this, as it was naturally to be expected it should, extremely expert K * * Caeterum Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromat. «. de Ter- ' pandro, " MsXog " srpwTos," inquit, " vripiiQviKZ roig 'Kowy.a.cri, kccI th; * ActKtdoufjLOvi'wv v6jj.ug f'^fAoTroiVKTE Tspirocv^fog o 'Avna- which, though rendered by Schrevelius c Telum e missile V might equally imply any thing sent, and-* therefore, by no means improperly, any production or poetical composition p. Or it might be a sub- stantivej formed by rejecting the letter o-, from the perfect tense yjo-puiy of the verb H$op&i, detector i ; as any of these words give a competent sense: and, certainly, it might have been used without have characterized Poems by the appellation of the Songs of the Shepherds, in allusion to the Songs of the Israelites, or Shep- herds, the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, 1 Schrevelii Lexicon, art. Iloipjy. m Ibid. art. Ac-p. n Scaliger, De Poetice, lib. i. cap. 4, says, < A genere ? s autem, pastionum sortita sunt nomina, ac, quanquam itoipw * omnem comprehendit custodiam, vrapa to tv ttoi« ^mv f tamen < Opilionibus solis attributum maluere ; unde et Trot^rwKa, ii can- ' tus, quibus ill i sese atque alios oblectarunt.' The passage in the text was written some time before that in Scaliger had been seen ; and the coincidence of opinion, as to the origin of the term Poem, is therefore fortuitous* ° Schrevelii Lexicon, art. H/uta. p The substantive, Ejaculation, in our own language, is an instance in point, which, though derived from the Latin, Eja- culor, to throw or shoot out, means a short prayer darted out occasionally. See Johnson's Diet. ^ Schrevelii Lexicon, art* Ho-jxa*. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 145 the censure of too great violence; for the rejection of the o- is no greater an effort than has been fre- quently practised and allowed between the spelling and pronunciation in the French language. The popularity of this kind of compositions, and the attachment shown to them, when produced at these feasts, which, of course, did not often hap- pen, because the feasts themselves but rarely oc- curred, induced some persons to think that more frequent repetitions of such compositions, not con- fined merely to shepherds, or those who were pre- sent at this sort of feasts, but extended to the people at large, nor limited to the time of sheep- shearing, but performed occasionally, whenever opportunity offered, would equally prove a source of gratification to the audience, and of emolu- ment to the performers themselves. With this view, some of these associated together ; but, travelling about from place to place in a wag- gon, without having any established place for per- formance, they had no other alternative, than to sing, as they did, from the waggon in which they travelled r , a great variety of Songs and other vocal compositions. Of what species these were, is no where distinctly ascertained ; but, from a compo- sition of Susarion, still existing, which is supposed * Horace, in the following lines, De Arte Poetica, v. 275, expressly says that they did so as to Tragedy : * Ignotum Tragicoe genus invenisse Camoenae * Dicitur, et plaustris vexisse poemata, Thespis, * Quae canerent, agerentque, peruncti faecibus ora.' h 146 AN INQUIRY INTO to have been one of them, and consists of a satire on Women, comprised in four Iambic Greek verses s , it is probable they were sometimes single Songs; sometimes, in reference to their original form, as since exhibited by Theocritus and Virgil, they were, perhaps, Dialogues; and at others their subjects were as various as the temper, genius, and talents of their authors. A very small transition was requisite, to con- vert compositions like those above mentioned, al- ready in dialogue, and recited by different persons, into something like Comedy; and, if a poet of humour could meet with an arch tale for his found- ation or plot, and could furnish it out with suit- able speeches to be uttered by different persons, each sustaining some separate character, and re- presenting one of the persons engaged in the ori- ginal conduct of the events there represented, it is not to be doubted, that such a performance could not fail of abundantly pleasing the multi- tude ; and that it clearly gives no indistinct idea of a dramatic composition, or Comedy. Theatrical productions, exhibited on the re- gular stage of a theatre, even at a period subse- quent to this now spoken of, were not, however, always conducted in the same manner ; nor is there any reason to think that, originally, they were represented by different actors. On the con- trary, the fact seems to have been, that at first s Stobcei Sentential a Gesner, fo. Tiguri, 1543, fo. 389, h. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 147 the whole was represented by one person, and that the performance was broken into different acts, to give him time for necessary rest, in order to pre- vent any ill consequences from fatigue or over-ex- ertion which might render him unable to proceed. In this state of the Drama, the sole actor, if he may be so called, was only a relator to the au- dience of the several events ; and this mode seems much to resemble the recital of Epic Poems at feasts, by the Poets themselves. But to relieve this one actor, and to break the length of his nar- rative, a second actor was afterwards introduced f , to whom, and not to the audience, the principal performer told his tale ; and which second actor, by asking questions for more information, and ex- pressing his own sentiments and feelings on what 1 Aristotle, De Poetica, sect. iv. speaking of Tragedy, which he erroneously considers of earlier original than Comedy, says, ' Ka< to, te rwv vroy.fxiruiv wX^'Oos sf Ivoj e ; and he flourished between the 54th and 55th Olympiad, about 556 years be- fore our Saviour z . He seems to have done little more than improve upon the former compositions^ by, perhaps, writing better Songs, setting them to better melodies, and getting them sung by more musical voices and more skilful singers. Four lines by Susarion, as has been already noticed, are given by Stobaeus, and also with the ad- dition of a fifth in Bentley's Dissertation upon Phalaris, edit. 1777, p. 144. They have been very erroneously styled Comedy ; but Bentley, p. 146, has, because they are spoken in the person of the poet Susarion, which, as he says, will go a great way towards a proof that they are no part of a play, very justly censured the impropriety of the term as applied. Comedy, though in this state it does not deserve to be so called, it is certain was originally extremely rude, and consisted only of a Chorus or company of Singers, without any ac- y Diomedes, Gram. lib. iii. Scholiastes Aristoph. Cle* mens, Strom, lib. i. cited by Prideaux, p. 204s * Saxii Onomast. vol. i. p. 23* h 3 I5d AN INQUIRY INTO tors a . It had neither scenery nor plot, but merely related, in verses set to music, the transactions, failings, and follies of the inhabitants of the place, openly, at the same time, disclosing to all, the names of the persons themselves intended to be censured b . A fictitious plot for Comedy, together with a long robe, as a dress for the actor, which reached down to his heels, was first introduced on the stage by Epicharmus and Phormis, both na- tives of Sicily, and contemporaries, who flourished when Gelon and Hieron reigned in Syracuse c . In this latter country, and about that period, this kind of Drama, in reference to its origin, first re- ceived the appellation of Comedy, because, as it is there said, it had formerly been sung through the streets of the several towns in Attica d . The reason assigned is by no means satisfactory in it* self, since the same might be said of all Songs ; and these were no more than Songs, without any resemblance of Comedy, as it is even here describ- ed. And if its name had been derived from the above supposed circumstance, this kind of composition might, with equal ground, have been so termed at a Notae Histories, Prideaux, p. 204. b Ibid. p. 204. s Gelon, the son of Dinomenes, reigned in Syracuse 215 years before the writing of the Parian Chronicle; that is to say, 507 years before Christ. Prideaux, Marmora Oxoniensia, p. 170 (Parian Chron. Ep. 54), Annotationes, p. 62. d Ibid. p. 204. Schrevelius, in his Lexicon, art. Kv^m, says, * KufjM^x, Comcedia, et Kw/jtw^o?, Comoedus, quia h* tov; « kuuxc L 4 152 AN INQUIRY INTO and n$/i, a Poem ; and meant, as it is imagined, When thus united, a Poem or Composition sung by persons in the peculiar Dress above mentioned. Or it might be derived from Kop&og, Nodus f , and flJfy, a Poem » ; and, consequently, signify a poem, in which there was an intricacy and perplexity of plot, which is also one characteristic of Comedy, and was at that time peculiar to that, as Tragedy was not then invented h . consider how far, in such a performance, Music can be said to contribute to the Imitation or Resemblance of any thing. Aris- totle certainly entertained some strange notions on that subject; but the above passage is cited, for the purpose of showing that he thought the Dress of the Characters an essential part of Dramatic Representations. It was in this particular that they ditfered from other sorts of Poetry. f Schrevelii Lexicon, art. Ko/xSW f Ibid. art. Slh. h Many other etymologies might be suggested, from the na- ture of Comedy itself, which is a much surer ground, than to refer its name to the adventitious circumstance, that merry poems were sung at merry meetings, in which no particular reference to Comedy can be traced. K&pj/oj, among other senses, means * Vafer/crafty, cunning, sly. See Schrevelii Lexicon, art. Kop-^oe, which might refer to the cunning tricks which Comedyrepresents ; and, if it be objected that in Ko^o;, Koo-jxoc, and KopJ/o?, the first syllable is written with O micron, the short o, but that Kw/Aw&a is spelt with O mega, the long 0, the answer is, that in all the three words above, the first syllable is long by position ; and that, apparently, to preserve it of the same quantity, the persons who formed the word KupuSiu., made the change, be- cause, in the last word, the vowel is followed but by one con- sonant ; and if they had not done so, it would have been na- turally short. Scaliger, Poetices lib. i. cap. 5, says, speaking of Pastoral Compositions, * Ab his' [sc. PastoraliaJ ' orta postea THE NATURE OP POETRY. 153 When Epicharmus had produced, before the wife of Hiero, king of Syracuse l , some obscene composition, or representation, and had conse- quently been, for so doing-, very deservedly ba- nished to the island of Co, his writings, together with their name of Comedy, passed over to all the Grecian cities, and even to the inhabitants of Attica, among whom, the Comedies of Epichar- mus were afterwards held in such estimation, that Chonnidas, Magnes, and Mullus, illustrious co- mic poets of Athens, wrote after his model. These persons, Epicharmus and Phormis, are said to have been the first who, in addition to reproaches on the citizens, introduced any thing of fictitious plot. But, down to the time here mentioned, the ancient Comedy consisted only of a chorus of Singers and Musical Performers, and was the same with that which flourished at Athens in the first age of Comedy. Many other particulars were afterwards added to it ; and, when Pericles was in the highest power at Athens, the second age of Comedy had its be- ginning. Under his government, the people de- * Comoedia. Quare Theocritus communi verbo usus est et Pas- 4 torali et Scenicae Actioni, ic Kwu«(7o)i tTotI ray A^apuXX^a,'* 1 Hiero, king of Syracuse, reigned. 208 years before the writing of the Parian Chronicle, and 500 before the birth of our Saviour. Prideaux, ' Marmora Oxoniensia/ p. 170, and s Redintegrate Annotationes,' ibid. d. 63. 154 AN INQUIRY INTO voted themselves to Scenical or Dramatic Repre- sentations ; and, by giving great prizes to the sue* cessful candidates, had stimulated the Comic Poets to the cultivation of the Drama, in consequence ©f which, several improvements were made. Cra- tinus introduced actors, and divided Comedy into acts. Crates, Plato the comic writer, Pherecrates, and Phrynichius, added other particulars, till at length, in the time of the Peloponnesian war, it was entirely brought to perfection by Eupolis and Ari- stophanes. That kind of Comedy which, in these two former ages, flourished at Athens, was called the Old Comedy; but it was excessively bitter, and sometimes obscene, and censured by name the manners and conduct of the first citizens. For this reason the people were much delighted with it, who,, through envy, are always gratified with hearing censure on their superiors. To attract from the lower order a still greater portion of ap- plause, the Comic Poets spared no one ; but, with the same degree of licence, though not of justice, as they used towards Cleon, Cleopbon, and Hy- perbolus, seditious and worthless persons, they attacked even the most worthy ; such, for instance, ag Euripides and Socrates, the former of whom was introduced by Aristophanes in his Equites, and the latter in his Nebulae. After Athens had been taken by Lysander, this licence of abuse was prohibited ; a law being pass- ed, which gave to those who had suffered from representations on the Stage, a right of proceeding the Mature of poetry. 155 in the courts of Justice against the Poet. The- Chorus, amongst whom this practice of censure principally prevailed, was, from this time, there- fore, removed from Comedy ; and here the third age of Comedy began. That kind which flourished at this time, was, after the invention of the New, styled the Middle Comedy, Of this species there were 107 plays of the better sort acted at Athens ; and the Comic Poets, by whom they were written* are reckoned to have been in number 57, of whom Antiphsnes^ and Stephanus were the most cele- brated. It differed from the Old, because it had no Chorus, and attacked nobody by name, except the Comic Poets themselves ; for, after this law against abuse was made, a licence was still al- lowed to the Poets, of censuring the sayings and writings of each other, and the rest of the Poets ; in which respect, therefore, it came to pass, that this TrupsTL&cccrsig, digression, transition, or inter- lude, succeeded to the Chorus. Under this licence the Poets did not, however, confine themselves to those of their own profession, but attacked others; and even the principal citizens, concealing their names, were thus obscurely and enigmatically pointed at, so that every one suspected that these sarcasms were designed against himself. In the time of Alexander the Great, this latter kind of attack was therefore also prohibited; and all power of reprehending was, from that time, taken away from Comedy. From this period, therefore, the fourth age of 156 AN INQUIRY INTO Comedy followed ; and the kind of Comedy which flourished in that, was called the New. From the Middle Comedy it differed, because it had a pro- logue, instead of the 7r digression, trans- ition, or interlude, all licence for censure being taken away ; from the Old Comedy of the second age, because it had no Chorus ; and from that of the first age, because that was wholly performed by the Chorus, without actors, and this only by the actors, without the Chorus. Of this New Co- medy, the more celebrated Greek writers were 64 in number, of whom Philemon, Menander, Di- philus, Philippides, Posidippus, and Apollodorus, are named in the Prolegomena to the notes on Aristophanes, as the most illustrious. But, in the judgment of all, the greatest praise was due to Menander, whose plays are reckoned at 108, From him Comedy received its last perfection; and he was the first who rendered it what, in our time, is exhibited by comedians on the stage. Of the three sorts of Comedy above described, the Old, the Middle, and the New, the Romans only imitated the New ; and the first person who exhi- bited that at Rome, was Livius Andronicus, the freed man of Marcus Livius Salinator, to whose children he was also tutor. He, in the year of Rome 514 k , when C. Claudius Cento and M. Sempronius Tuditanus were Consuls, and in the k Helvicus, in his Chronology, says it was in the year of Rome 513, and 238 before Christ. Helvici Chronologia, p. 7.5* THE NATURE OF POETRY. 157 second year after the first Punic war, was the ear- liest cause of Comedy and Tragedy being exhibited to the Romans. The example of Livius Andronicus was, five years afterwards, followed by Nasviiis, who also wrote an history of the first Punic war, in which he was present. After him Licinius, Csecilius, Plautus, Terence, and many other co- mic writers, flourished at Rome ; but Plautus and Terence were the most illustrious of them all K Of the foregoing- sorts of Comedy, as described under the four different ages, the following seems to be the correct classification and distinction. The first, which does not merit the name of Comedy, as it was only that species of composi- tion from which Comedy was taken, is said to have been wholly performed by the Chorus, with- out actors ; and could, therefore, have had none of the characteristics of Comedy, or been any thing more than a Song, sung by many voices, ac- companied, perhaps, by instruments, but without any peculiarity of Dress for the Performers. The second, which was the first entitled to the name of Comedy, was exactly a similar performance to the first, just mentioned, only it was sung by persons habited in a long robe, which reached down to their heels, and might, perhaps, have had 1 See the ' Notae Historicae ad Chronicon Marmoreum, Pri-. * deaux, Marmora Oxoniensia,' p. 204, &c. (of which, Pri- deaux, in the Preface to his volume, confesses himself the au-> thor), and the several authorities there cited. US AN INQUIRY INTO something more of narrative, history, and con- trivance in the Songs. The third, by the introduction of actors, had necessarily ceased to he a musical performance throughout ; and, by the division of the Comedy into acts, had limited the Chorus only to a per- formance between the acts. And the fourth, by the total rejection of the Chorus, even from that place, had transferred their office merely to one or two performers on the Tibia or Flute. When such a species of performance as Co- medy had once been received, the transition from that to Tragedy was easy and natural ; because this last was, in fact, only a more dignified sort of the same mode of representation, confined, it is true, to events of a different complexion. It ap- pears, from the Parian Chronicle, written 91 years after the birth of Alexander the Great m , and, con- sequently, 265 before that of our Saviour n , that the actors of Comedy, of which Susarion and Dolon were said to have been the inventors, were between the years 318 and 297 before the writing of that Chronicle, carried about in waggons by m See the Chronicle itself, in Prideaux, Marmora Gxoni- ensia, p. 173. n Alexander the Great is placed, by Saxius, 334 years before our Saviour, Saxii Onomasticon, vol. i. p. 70; and the author of the Parian Chronicle occurs mentioned in that work, vol. i. p. 105, as living 263 years before the Christian aera, 2 THE NATURE OF POETRY. 159 the Icarians ; and that the reward of these per- formers was a basket of figs and a cask of wine , And from the same unquestionable authority it is also learnt that Thespis the poet, who first taught Tragedy, flourished 273 years before the writing of that Chronicle, and that the compensation for such a performance was a goat p. Comedy, there- fore, was certainly the earlier invention ; and the smallest distance of time between the rise of Co- medy and Tragedy, is 24 years, the greatest 50. As Comedy had obtained a name, most evi- dently, either from its being represented in a pe- culiar Dress, by which circumstance it differed from the former sorts of Poetry, or from the In- tricacy and Perplexity of its Plot, in which also it did not resemble them, it was necessary that Tra- gedy should be characterized by some appellation, which should contradistinguish it from Comedy, to which it more nearly approached, than to any other species of Poetry. Now the difference be- tween Comedy and Tragedy consisted chiefly in this, that Comedy represented joyful and prosper- ous subjects and events, while Tragedy was con- cerned with such only as were calamitous and unfortunate. From this, which it had assumed as its province, Tragedy was so called ; and the ap- pellation is manifestly derived from T^f#x,a^c 5 9 See the Chronicle itself, Prideaux, ubi supra, p. 167* f Ibid. p. 168. 160 AN INQUIRY INTO Turbulent us, a derivative adjective from T^patnrw or Tuf>c&TTM, Turbo, Commoveo c *. 7Vo<%%^c, pro- bably, soon became corrupted to Tf>oi%oo$Yig, and that to T^ocyca^yiCy from which last, Tp^y^S/^ is easily derivable. * See Schrevelii Lexicon, art. T«p«^w^*iff and Tapacc-w. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 161 SECTION XIII. Comedy not a Musical Performance throughout* Titles of Terence's Plays have occasioned the question.— Aris- totle's opinion that it had Music only in particular parts, namely, between the acts. — His sentiments on the parts of Tragedy. — Remarks on it. — Evanthius says the Chorus re- jected, and why, in the New Comedy,— In the Roman Comedies, Music, how employed. — Passage from Plautus's Pseudolus. — Another from his Casina. — Horace, his opinion as to the Chorus. — Remarks on it. — His sentiments as to the use of the Tibia. — Diomedes, his opinion on the parts of Comedy. — Remarks on it. — Passage from the Prolegomena, Terence, edit. ]479. — Another from the same. — Another from Terence, edit. 1499. — Another from Guido Juvenalis, in the same edition. — Another from Iodocus Badius Ascen- sius, Terence, edit. 1527. — Another from Terence, edit. Aldus, 1570.— Another from Juventius, Terence, edit. Spencer, 17oi. — Another from Scaliger De Poetice. — Rea- sons why Comedy could not have been a musical perform- ance. From the mention, in the titles to the plays of Te- rence, that they were acted e Tibiis paribus dextris i et sinistris V ' Tibiis duabns dextris V ' Tibiis im- Andria. See its title. s Eunuch. See its title, 162 AN INQUIRY INTO 6 paribus 1 / < Duabus dextris 11 / ' Tibiis SarranisV < Tibiis paribus V ' Tibiis im paribus V some persons- have been, very erroneously and absurdly, led to suppose that they were accompanied with Music throughout, and that both Tragedy and Comedy, among the Greeks, were thus performed. This conjecture has, in fact, been, in some measure, already refuted by the account given in the pre- ceding Section, of the nature and difference of each species of Comedy, as it prevailed in turn at different periods. But that no shadow of doubt may remain, nor any suspicion be entertained, if the inquiry were here omitted, that it was avoided, because it could not be pursued, it shall now be shown, that the above opinion is not only contrary to Reason, but to positive evidence, also, of the fact still existing. Aristotle, De Poetica, cap. i. after terming Epic Poetry, Tragic Poetry, Comedy, and Dithy- rambic, all imitations, but on what grounds he so conceived them, does not appear, as the idea is much too general and indefinite, says, that this imitation is effected by the Rhythmus or Versifica- tion, by Speaking and by Music; and that, in some cases, these are separately employed, and in others all at one and the same time. His words * Heautontimorumenos, cm its first performance. See its -title. u Tl*e same play, on its second representation. See its title. x Adelphi.. See its title. * Hecyra. See its title- 7 Phormio* See its title.. THE NATURE OP POETRY. 163 are in substance, as follow : ' But there are some ' arts, which make use of all the before-mentioned ' particulars, namely, the Rhythmus, Music, and * Metre, as, for instance, Dithyrambic Poetry, s Mimetic Poetry, Tragedy, and Comedy ; but s they differ from each other in this respect, that ' those use them all together at the same time 5 * but these only employ them separately a v Again, cap. vi. denning the nature of Tragedy, the same author expresses himself to the following effect: * Tragedy is, therefore, an imitation of a serious * and perfect action, possessing magnitude, ac- * companied with a pleasant style of speaking, 6 each sort keeping within its own province ; not ' by means of narration, but through Pity and Fear, * exciting correspondent emotions. A pleasant * style of speaking I call that, which has Rhyth- ' mus or Versification, Harmony or Proportion, 6 and Music ; but, by each sort keeping within its c province, I mean that some things are effected * by Metre alone, and others again by means of koci y.i'Aii x.at y.srfu 9 cocrKzp fin twv dt0ypaju.tiiK.wy Tro^'crt? >ta/ y rwy uiuluV) xai *}T£ rpaywo/a, x.at ■» v.ui [ax dice, dwA, Aggero (see Schrevelii Lexicon, art. Xou), and Pew, Fluo (Ibid. art. Pew) ; which, united, would mean a conflux of persons. Agger, is rendered by Littleton, in his Dictionary, among other senses, a Heap of any thing ; and Aggeratim, the adverb, is said by him to mean * By heaps, 1 piled on each other. Acervatim, Agminatim.' Now Agmina- tim signifies by bands or companies. Littleton's Diet, which is the very sense wanted. Hederic, in his Lexicon, art. Agger, says, ' Agger, to x w /* a > Dem. o x^-> *> Thuc. aggerem duco * xvvwfxt xupx.' — Aristotle, De Poetica, edit. Oxon. 1760, p. 7 & 59, speaking of Comedy, says, that the %opov kujjlc^&» 9 or Chorus Comcedorum, was but late given ; for that, before that, the performers were merely volunteers. His words are, ' 'H £» 1 Jttouwd/a, dio. to ^t.75 o"7iovou^so~'jcct sf Mpx'^i thctv-v, acci yap p^opoy y.uu.iw * $u>v o'-^e tote o app/^v eXkev, «xa' s'GcAovtai %py$wv 9 or Chorus Comcedorum, it is evi- dent he can only mean a licenced company of comedians, in opposition to those who were not professional, but mere volun- tary and only occasional performers. Considering the Chorus, not as necessarily musical perform- ers, but only as bystanders, the introduction of them some- times into the Dialogue, is not unreasonable ; and, at others, but still under the idea of their being only a multitude of persons, and not in their musical character, they might, as bystanders, be employed between the acts, to entertain or amuse the audi- ence by songs, which, as being sung by several voices, were not sufficiently intelligible to the vulgar part of the audience ; and this might compel Menander to reduce them to a single voice, accompanied with instruments. M 3 166 AN INQUIRY INTO c is an entire part of Tragedy, after which, there < is no Music of the Chorus. The parts of the ' Chorus are, indeed, these : the Parodus is the c first speech of the whole Chorus ; but the Stasi- ' nion is a song of the Chorus, in which neither c the Anapaest nor Trochee is used. The Coramus 6 is a general lamentation of the Chorus, and is f delivered from that part of the theatre called the f Scene d .' The first performance of the Chorus which took place in the interval between the Prologue and Episode is afterwards termed Parodus, evi^ * Msp*) d£ Tpayo>d/»$, otg jxev w$ Hdzvi ait xpycr-jcct, TpguTEpoy ttTTopWo 6 koto, as to ttcxtov, koci elg a, aiocteznctt .K6%wptT/x£va, robot eW. 7rpoXoyojj i sVeWO&OV, £|o^O--, XpflKQV* KOCl T«T«, TO JU.EV TTafO^O^ TO ^S J-^Vi/AOy. * koivm /xev Sv ci7ra'vTwv ravjot,' i'dscfc d£, Ta unto t*j§ crx.wvi$ koh y.Ojj.{xoi. est* 4 ^£ 7r£o'Xoyo$ /xev, pzpog oXov T|osyw£/otc to 7T£0 %Gp3 srapoog. iirzicodiov d£, 6 jtAEpoj oXpv Tpaywdtaf, to [xirc^v oXwv p^o^jciv ijuXudi. Efodbs' d£ 5 /AEpof c oXov TpaywdYaj, ju,e6' o y;c es~i %°^S fjaXo^. ^optxit of, 7rci~>ido$ ^Ey, *j 6 k^uta Xj'Ik oXa XH B ' r 1 Hie bonis faveatque, et concilietur atnicis, ' Et reget iratos, et amet peccare timentes, * Hie dapes Iaudet mensae brevis, ille salutem, ' Justitiam, legesque, et apertis ostia postis. 1 ' Actons partes] Chorus eos exhibet, qui rei peractae in* ' terfuerlnt; plures sunt homines, sed unus loquitur, Cory- * phaeus, dictus. Porro Chorum, jam prrdem obsoletum, in- e staurari velit, maximum Scenae ornamentum, non abs re *■ exoptat Hedelinus, ante Iaudatus, ac de ill is egregie dissent, f jPrax. Theatr. 1. hi. c. 4, ubi redarguit Aristotelem et Scalige- ' rum, apud quos perperam Chorus appellatur otiosus rerum f curator.' — See the note on the Delphin edition of Horace, De Arte Poetica, v. 193c 172 AN INQUIRY INTO ' Ille tegat commlssa, Deosque precatur et oret, 1 Ut redeat miseris, abeat fortuna superbis/ In the lines Immediately succeeding" these, he de- scribes the use of the Tibia, which he confines solely to its employment by the Chorus of musical performers, evidently for the purpose of accom- panying the Coryphaeus. 4 Tibia, non ut nunc" 1 orichalco vincta tubaeque * iEmula, sed tenuis, simplexque, foramine pauco, * Aspirare et adesse Choris erat utilis, atque, * Nondum spissa nimis, complere sedilia flatu, ' Quo sane pppulus numerabilis, utpote parvus, * Et frugi castusque, verecundusque coitu. ' Postquam ccepit agros extendere victor, et urbem * Latior amplecti muris, vinoque diurno * Placari Genius, festis impune diebus. *■ Accessit numerisque modisque licentia major. 4 Inductus quid enim saperet liberque laborum i Kusticus urbano, confusis turpis honesto? * Sic priscae metumque et luxuriam addidit arti * Tibicen, traxitque vagis per pulpita vestem : 4 Sic etiam fidibus voces crevere severis, * Et tulit eloquium insolitum facundia praeceps, « Utiliumque sagax rerum, et divina futuri, * Sortilegis non discrepant sententia Delphis.' Diomedes the grammarian, who lived, pro- bably, between the year 410 and 412 of the Chris- m In the same Delphin edition, the following note occurs on v. 202 of the same poem. * Tibia non ut nunc] * Chorus in * mediis actibus agebat, et loquebatur, per Coryphaeum, ut * ante dictum est. Sed praeterea, inter unum et alterum Ac- ' turn, canebat, saltobatque. Hinc mentionem facit Horatius * de instrumentis musicis Chori concentum adjuvantibus.' THE NATURE OF POETRY. 173 tian aera n , and whose work, c De Oratione et Par- c tibus Orationis et Genere Metrorum,' occurs among the Grammatical Latinae Auctores, pub- lished by Putschius, as well as being extant in several separate editions, certainly thought the Dialogue a distinct part from the Music and se- parately employed, when he speaks, as he does, col. 489, in the following terms : c Membra ' Comcediarum tria sunt, Diverbium, Canticum, ' Chorus : Membra Comcediae diversa sunt, definito 6 tamen numero, continentur a quinque usque ad c decern. Diverbia sunt partes Comcediarum, in ' quibus diversorum personam versantur. Personae ' autem Diverbiorum sunt duae, aut tres, raro ' autem quatuor esse debent : ultra augere nume- < rum non licet. In Canticis, autem, una tan turn ' debet esse persona, aut, si duae fuerint, ita de- < bent esse, ut ex occulto una audi at nee conlo- ' quatur, sed secum, si opus fuerit, verba faciat. ( In Choris, vero, numerus personarum definitus < non est, quippe junctim omnes loqui debent, 6 quasi voce confusa, et concentum in unam per- 6 sonam reformantes. Latinae vero Comcediae Cho- 6 rum non habent, sed duobus tantum membris * constant, Diverbio, et Cantico. Primis autem ' temporibus, ut asserit Tranquillus, omnia, quae ' in Scena versantur, in Comcedia agebantur. ' Nam Pantomimus, et Pithaules, et Choraules, S- in Comcedia canebant. Sed quia non poterant n Saxius ? vol. i. p, 481. 174 AN INQUIRY INTO omnia simul, apud omnes artifices, pariter excels lere, si qui erant, inter actores Comoediarum^ pro facultate et arte potiores, principatum sibi artifices vendicabant. Sic factum est/ lit nolen- tibus cedere Mimis in artificio suo caeteris sepa- ratio fieret reliquorum. Nam dum potiores in- ferioribus, qui in omni ergasterio erant, servire dedignabantur, seipsos a Comoedia separaverunt^ ac sic factum est, ut exemplo simul sumpto., unusquisque artis suae rem exequi cceperit, neque in Comcediam venire, cujus rei indicia prodant nobis antiquee Comoediae, in quibus inveniuntur 6 acta tibiis paribus/' aut "imparibus," aut " sar- c ranis." Quando, enim, Chorus canebat choricis tibiis, id est, Choraulicis, artifex concinebat. In Canticis, autem, Pithaulicis responsabat. Sed quod " paribus tibiis," vel " imparibus," inveni- mus scriptum, hoc significat, quod, si quando monodio agebat, unam tibiam infiabat, si quando synodio utrmsque.' There cannot be a stronger proof, than this 5 how little Diomedes really understood of the sub- ject, how unwilling he was to confess his own ig- norance, and how ready to wrest the meanings of words, by no means ambiguous, to perverse purposes, in order to confirm his own ill-founded prejudices and irrational opinions. When he speaks of the Pantomimus^ the Pithaules, and the Choraules, as all singing together in Comedy, he evidently confounds the actors with the singers, and relates what is impossible ; for the Pantomi- THE NATURE OF POETRY. 175 mus, as appears from his very name, certainly did not sing, or even speak, but represented every thing by dumb show. In like manner, he has also con- founded together the Old and the New Comedy ; for the Comedies, which are described as acted " tibiis " paribus," aut " imparibus," aut " Sarranis," are those of Terence, and of the new species, some of them translations from Menander; and, in that sort, it is confessed, as, indeed, is evident from an inspection of Plautus and Terence, there was no Chorus. Even he himself notices that the Latin Comedy had no Chorus, as was really the fact. How great is his folly, when he tells the reader, that when one man played by himself, only one instrument was used, but that, when he played together with other persons, more instruments were employed ! for this is the total amount of his assertion. Is not the fact he relates self-evident ? nay, could it possibly be otherwise ? and must not his conceit of his own superior Intelligence, and his ignorance of the talents of other men, have been consummate, when he could suppose there was any degree of Sagacity in making such a dis- covery ; or that others were so blind, as not to perceive so plain a circumstance as clearly as him- self, and without his assistance ? All he has proved, in what he has said in this latter part, relating to the Music, is his own want of Information, and the weakness of his own under- standing, that could be satisfied with so irrational 176 An INQUIRY INTO an explanation ; for, when he tells the reader that the terms, " tibiae pares," and " tibiae impares," only implied that, when the performer played by him- self, he used but one pipe, but that when he played with other persons two were introduced, he betrays the grossest ignorance as to the nature of Music and musical instruments, and clearly assigns to the words a signification, of which he, as a Gram- marian, ought to have known they are totally incapable. Among the ProlegomeM, which follow the Life of Terence, and precede the book itself, in the edition of that author, printed at Venice, by Ni^ cholas Girardengus, and revised by Francis Diana, in the year 1479, fo. a. 3. a. is the passage already inserted from Evanthitis, which has there been evidently taken from an inaccurate copy, as it is manifestly given very corruptly. And, in a sub- sequent part of the same Prolegomena, fo. a. 3. b* the following passage occurs : c Comcediam esse, ' Cicero ait, Imitation em Vitae, Speculum Consue- ' tudinis, Imaginem Veritatis. Comcediae, autem, ' more antiquo dictee, quia in vicis hujusmodi car- * mina initio agebantur apud Graecos, ut in Italia, s Compitaliciis ludicris, admixto pronunciations c modulo, quo, dum actus cpmmutantur, populus ff detinebatur .' ° In the Prolegomena Terentiana, before the Delphin edition, p. 27, this is given as a part of * Donati Fragmentutn * De Comcedia et Tragosdia.* Donates is said to have lived in the 4 THE NATURE OF POETRY. 177 Again, in another part, among the same Prole- gomena, (fo. a. 4 b.) are these words : f Est autem * minutum velum, quod populo obsistit, dum fabu- 6 larum actus commutantur ; de umbra histriones * pronunciabant. Cantica vero temperabantur, ( modis non a poeta sed a perito artis musicse < factis p.' In the edition of Terence, printed at Venice, by Lazarus de Soardis, 7 Nov. 1499, is added, among the Prolegomena, (fo. 5 a.) a section, en- titled ' Quid Comoedia, unde dicta, quot ejus ' species, quot membra, quotque actus sunt.' This section commences with a passage, in substance the same with that already given from Diomedes, and almost, though not quite, in his very words, but without citing his name, or noticing whence it was procured. It is, however, immediately succeeded by the following words, which, as the original passage as it stands in Diomedes has been already inserted, are all that, on the present occasion, it is material to notice : ' Quapropter quinqne actus, c qui in Comoedia sunt, difficile est nosse in Lati- i nis, sublato Choro, qui se interponens actus dis- 6 tinguebat/ Guido Juvenalis, in the edition of Terence of 1499, just mentioned, says, fo. 45, b. in a note at time of Constantine, and was contemporary with Evanthius. See the Delphin Terence, Prolegomena, p. xxiv. p This, in the Delphin edition, is also given as a part of the above fragment from Donatus. See the Delphin edition, before referred to, p. xxx. N 1/8 AN INQUIRY INTO the end of the Andria, on that part of the title in which it is said, ' Modulavit Flaccus Claudii e tibiis duabus dextris,' c Flaccus Claudii filius c sup. fecit modos, i. e. modulatus est, sive modu- r lamina fecit musicis instrumentis, inter actus, 6 duabus tibiis i. instrumentis musicis dextris, i, * gravitatem orationibus ostendentibus.' Iodocus Badius Ascensius, in the Proenotamenta to an edition of Terence, which, in the Colophon at the end, is said to have been corrected by Guido Juvenalis, explained by Iodocus Badius Ascensius, and printed at Lyons, by Benedict Bounyer, 1527, 4 Feb. speaks thus, in chap. xix. which is entitled 6 De actibus et eorum distinctione in Comoedia.' i Quando enim proscenium vacuum est, ita quod c nullus egressorum permaneat, sed omnes ingre- € diantur, tune actus unus finitus est; et hoc con- 6 tingit quinquies in singulis Comoediis, ut osten- 6 demus, quamvis Donatus dicat nunc esse difficile c distinguere actus, propterea quod Chorus, qui in c fine cujuslibet canebat, a Comoediis ablatus est, Q qui tamen adhuc in Tragcediis conspicitur.' Prefixed to the edition of Terence, in 12mo s printed by Aldus, Ex Bibliotheca Aldina, Venetiis, 1570, is a section or chapter, entitled, ' Fabula * Comcedise et Tragcediae item ex Donato et aliis/ containing the following words : c Sunt enim Tra- f gcedice et Comcediae quinque actus, hoc est partes, c ab histrionum gestibus dietae Greece 7rpoc^sg 9 qua- ' rum singulis Chorus primum aclditus fuerat, sed, 6 quia postquam in Comoedia, nam in Tragoedia 1*HE NATURE OF POETRY* 179 * remansit, spectator coepisset esse fastidiosior, ■■' quod ab actoribus ad cantores otioso tempore 6 transiret, et ita illi pene desererentur, idcirco * prudenter a Poetis ille est prsetermissus.' And, lastly, Richard Spencer, A. M. in his edition of Terence, printed in small 8vo. Lond. 1734, has inserted, among his prefatory papers, a chapter e De Musica,' taken from Juventius's edi- tion of Terence. It contains the following- words, evidently referring to the title of The Andria, and occurs, p. 43, c Modos fecit] Cantica certis nu- * meris temperavit. Post singulos actus aliquid ' Musice canebatur, et illi numeri ac modi ab op- ' tirnis canendi magistris fiebant.* Although many more instances might be pro- duced to the same effect % it is needless to mul- tiply examples, as, from the authorities already given, it seems impossible to think otherwise than that Comedy was not a Musical Performance throughout ; and that it had no Music, but be- tween the acts, except, perhaps, occasionally in the. case of Marriages and Sacrifices, if any such ' Asa proof of this, one more shall here be noticed. Sca- liger, De Poetice, lib. i. cap. 9, speaks thus : * Chorus est pars * inter actum et actum. In fine, tamen, fabularum etiam Choros c videmus, quare tutior erit definitio, quss dicat post actum in« ' troducta cum concentu. Is tractus non fuit uniusmodi. Sane ' aliquando totus cum cantu, et motu, et gestu, et saltationibus ' ad tibias. Miscebatur aliquando et versuum et tractuum va- * rietate; nonnunquam etiam singularibus personis. Choro au- ' tern de Comcedia Nova sublato, explebat officium Tibicen. Id * quod in Pseudolo satis patet.' N 2 180 AN INQUIRY INTO were represented on the stage. This was evidently the most extensive mode in which Music was ori- ginally employed in the Drama, and even this Me- nander found himself compelled, in the formation of the new species of Comedy, still more strictly to limit p . Nothing can be more absurd than the idea of a musical accompaniment throughout, which, as that did not exist before, would have been an extension, not a limitation or contraction^ of the musical performance* Besides^ when Cicero s and Terentianus Mau~ rus l both represent the Comic writers as endea- r Vide supra, in a passage from Evanthius, already given. 6 Cicero, Orator, edit. Glasg. 1748, p. 35, sect. 20. * Quid- 4 quid est enim, quod sub aurium mensuram aliquam cadit, * etiam si abest a versu (nam id quidem orationis est vitium) 6 numerus vocatur, qui Greece ovfy,o<; dicitur ; itaque video visum * esse nonnullis Platonis et Democriti locutionem, etsi absit a € versu, tamen, quod incitatius feratur et clarissimis verborum 5 hominibus citatur, potius poema putandum, quam comicorum 6 poetarum, apud quos, nisi quod versiculi sunt nihil est aliud 1 quotidiani dissimile sermonis. — At comicorum senarii, propter ' similitudinem sermonis, sic saepe sunt abjecti, ut nonnunquam ' vix in his numerus, aut versus, intelligi possit.' Ibid. p. 96, sect. 55. 1 Terentianus Maurus, inter Grammat. Lat. Auctores, a Putschio, col. 2443, speaking of Iambic, says : f Sed qui pedestres fabuias socco premunt, ' Ut quae loquuntur surapta de vita putes, * Vitiant Iambon, &e. Again, a few lines below : * In metra peccant arte non inscitia, * Ne sint sonora verba consuetudinis, ; Paulumquo rursus a solutis differanW* THE NATURE OF POETRY. 181 vouring to avoid the appearance of verse, that their dialogue might more nearly resemble com^ mon and ordinary conversation, can it be reason- ably imagined, that, in the performance, any mode of representation should have been adopted, which must have inevitably destroyed the resemblance, and rendered the supposed copy totally unlike the model which they were professedly aiming to imitate u ? If Comedy was not wholly a musical perform- ance throughout, it is evident it could not be so partially. The progress of each scene is conducted in one uniform tenour, and no possible reason can be assigned, from the present appearance of the Comedies of Plautus or Terence themselves, why one scene, or any part of a scene, should have been accompanied with Music, and another, or any part of another, performed without. * The Italian Opera, whoever was realty its inventor, ancj at whatever time it was first introduced, facts, which still re- main in dispute, is evidently founded on the erroneous idea that the Greek and Latin Tragedies and Comedies were accompa- nied, which they were not, with Music throughout; and is, also, at the same time ; a full exemplification of the absurdity of such a dramatic representation. Nor can the Opera Songs of Handel, excellent as they unquestionably are, justify or sanction, by their individual merit, a mode of representation, which, at the same time, acknowledges, by the introduction of scenery and dresses, the principle of representing events in the same man- ner as they had really passed, and yet contradicts, by the use of a mode of representation which never prevailed on such oc- casions, the very idea of all resemblance to the events and per- sons which it professes to exhibit. W 3 182 AN INQUIRY INTO SECTION XIV. Tibice, their Nature, Doubts have been entertained as to their nature.— In Music there can be no more than seven notes. — The whole Musical Scale, a succession of these seven notes in a different pitch*, —When numbers sing together, they sing in different pitches of voice. — A certain pitch of voice natural to every one.— Tibiae dextrae et sinistra defined. — Tibiae pares described. — Tibiae impares explained. — Tibiae Sarranae, or Serranae, their nature inquired into. (jtreat doubts have been entertained, by those evidently unacquainted with the principles of Mu- sic, as to the nature of the Tibise, used on occasion of the performance of Terence's Comedies. The Andria is said to have been acted c Tibiis paribus 6 dextris et sinistris x ;' the Eunuch, c Tibiis dua- i bus dextris y ;' the Heautontimorumenos, on its first performance, ' Tibiis imparibus z ;' on its se- cond, f Duabus dextris a ;' the Adelphi, 6 Tibiis 6 Sarranis b ;' the Hecyra, ' Tibiis paribus c ;' and the Phormio, ' Tibiis imparibus d .' Every one, in any degree conversant with Mu- 2 See its title. y See its title. * See its title. a See its title. b See its title. c See its title, d See its title. THE NATURE OP POETRY. IBS sic, must necessarily know perfectly well, that the whole compass of musical Sounds is comprehended in seven notes, and that the whole of the musical scale is no other than a multitude of successions of these seven notes, though in a different pitch of sound. Whenever, therefore, a number of per- sons, of different ages and sexes, sing together, such, for instance, as boys, women, and men, even though they all sing precisely the same tune or notes, yet the boys will sing in one pitch, the wo- men in another, and the men in a third ; all dif- fering from each other, and the only disparity among them will be the various degrees of acuteness or gravity. The reason for this is, that a certain pitch of voice is natural to every one ; and in that he can speak or sing with perfect ease to himself, and, with the assistance of a nice ear, correctly in tune. But, if any one, for the pur- pose of accommodating his voice to that of some one else, should quit his own natural tone, and pitch his voice to the exact tone of voice of that other person, which did not suit with his own, he would soon perceive he spoke or sung with great pain, and in all probability very discordantly. TheTibioe Dextrae and Sinistra* were of different sizes ; for the largest was as big at the top 5 as the smallest was at the bottom : in fact, they were formed by cutting the same reed into two ; and e * Ex asininis ossibus Theatrales atque argento, Arundineas * ex Theophrasto et Plinio. Internodium radici proximum excide= N 4 184 AN INQUIRY INTO this circumstance^ as all persons acquainted with the nature of musical instruments know, decidedly proves that the smaller of the two pipes must have been in tone an octave, or eight notes, higher or more acute than the larger. Each pipe, therefore, in all likelihood, contained, in regular succession, a certain number of these sets of seven notes, as is the case with all musical instruments whatever 1 : The Tibiae Pares were such as were of the same pitch, so that, in the case of the Dextrse and Sinis- tra?, all the Dextree were of the same pitch, though different from the Sinistra?, and all the Si- nistra? were of equal pitch with each other, though unlike that of the Dextra?> ' bant ad lsevam Tibiam, quod subesset cacumini ad dextram, i Quo laevarum sonum gravem agnoscas, dextrarum acutum. Sic ' apud veteres scriptum est, at Latini aiunt sinistras acu-* ' tiores.' — Scaliger De Poetice, lib. i. cap. 20. f The author of an anonymous tract in 12mo. in French, entitled ' Entretiens su.r l'Etat de la Musique Grecque, vers ' le Milieu du quatridme Siecle, avant PEre vulgaire,' Amst, 1777, who seems, though apparently not a musical man, to have had some musical intelligence communicated to him, says, p. 37, ' La voix, me dit il, ne parcourt pour l'ordinaire que ' deux octaves et une quinte. Les instruments embrassent une * plus grande etendue : nous avons des Flutes qui vont au-dela * de la troisieme octave.' And for this last fact, as it seems, he cites Aristox. lib. i. p. 20; Euclid, p. 13. Galtruchius, in. his < Mathematical totius Institutio,' 12mo. Cantabrig. 1668, p. 282, says the same. His words are, ' Nee immerito chordis * quindecim systema denniebant, quod videlicet istud solum spa- * tium naturali voce a nobis vulgo decurratur. Quanquam et post- * modum turn gravioribus turn acutis adjunctee sunt alia?, quag ' etiara ficta voce quis decantare possit.' THE NATURE OF POETRY. 185 The Tibise Impaves were such as did not agree with each other in pitch ; and the pitch of the Tibise Dextrse was., no doubt, as well settled and known, as that of the Hautboy or Clarinet, or any other musical instrument now is amongst us &. As to the Tibiee Sarranae, or Serranse, for it is written both ways, the meaning of the appella- tion is bv no means settled. Some have thought it derived from Sarrha, a city of Phoenicia 1 ', s It is, perhaps, necessary to caution the reader against supposing that, either in the musical compositions introduced between the acts of the Latin Comedies, or in those performed by the Chorus in the Greek Tragedies or Comedies, any such thing as modern Harmony, or Music in Parts, was introduced : on the contrary, they were certainly nothing more than simple melodies, and all the several instruments only played the same notes, though in a different pitch. Diomedes * De Oratione et 4 partibus Orationis,' edit. Putsch, col. 489, uses these words : ' In CKoris, vero, numerus personarum definitus non est, quippe i junctim omnes loqui debent, quasi voce confusa, et concen- * tuum in unam personam reformantes.' — Nannius, in his * Miscellanea,' lib. v. cap. 6, says, * Tres olim partes Comcedia 'fecit; Canticum, quod duabus Tibiis una persona et ad sum- i mam altera constabat ; Chorum, qui jncerto numero persona* ' rum, sed omnium vocibus in unum sonum confusis utebantur; * Diverbium, quod colloquio trium, aut ad summum quatuor, < personarum consutum erat.' And, lastly, Seneca, in his 84th Epistle, thus speaks on the subject : ' Non vides, inquit, quam 4 multorum vocibus Chorus constet? Unus tamen ex omnibus i sonus redditur ; aliqua gravis, aliqua media. Accedunt viri, * fceminae : interponuntur Tibia? j singulorum illic latent voces, * omnium apparent.' h Among the Notse Historical on the Parian Chronicle, in Prideaux, Marmora Oxon. 1676, p. 169, a note by Servius is mentioned, respecting Tibiee Serranae, and in which he is repre- 186 AN INQUIRY INTO which some have conceived to be Tyre; and others have imagined it referred to Serra, a saw, because, as they say, the dancers used to make one step forward, and another backward, like sawyers saw- ing wood \ No reason can be more destitute of probability, or indeed of common sense; for what connexion could possibly subsist, between the practice of the dancers, which was optional, both as to the nature of the steps and the figure, and the name of a musical instrument, capable of playing, as every such instrument must be, a va- riety of tunes of different time and measures? It did not even necessarily require to be accompa- nied with dancing, but might have been used alone, entirely without it, and consequently could not prescribe any particular kind of dance or form of step, as that, for which it was the best sented to have spoken thus : ' Tibia?, porro, inquit, aut Ser- 4 rana? dicuntur (Sarrana? a Sarra, quae Tyrus est),' &c. * ' Deinde apparatus in factis mediis per Tibias Serranas, * quae Sinistra? acuminis lenitate jocum Comicum ostendebant ; ' atque Serranae dicebantur, quoniam Saltatores iisdem referre * et proferre pedem ludebantur ; non aliter atque seetores, cum * sierra adhibita ligna partiri conantur. Aliis autem a Sarrha, ' civitate Phoenicia?, easdem dictos volunt, inter quos et Ser- * vius.' See Terentius a P. Antesignano, editio secundi exempl. 8vo. Lugduni, 1560, p. 477, in a note on the title to the Adel- phi. The same author, ibid. p. 3, in a note on the title of the Andria, says, * Altera? sunt Serranae, sic, arbitror, appeilata?, * quoniam iis saltatores et proferre et referre pedem continuo * juberentur ; non secus atque seetores, qui serra adacta partiri * ligna conantur. Siquidem Pompeius ait Serram, id praelium € dici, quo frequenter acies et accedere et recedere soleret/ THE NATURE OF POETRY. 187 adapted. If the Instrument were constructed with any kind of valve, indented like a saw, that might have been a reason deduced from the form of the instrument itself. But why any such valve, if it had any, as it probably might, should have been thus indented, it is difficult to assign any reason- able cause ; though, without some such ground, the etymology from Serra, a saw, cannot be sup- ported. If, however, the adjective Serranae be rightly thus spelt, and not Sarrhanse, as it is also equally given, it is certain that it could not be derived from Sarrha, the city in Phoenicia. Nor is there any foundation, in that case, for supposing that it was really formed from any proper name what- ever, either of any person or place. In that event, flutes of this kind, if they had, as they very likely might, any such valve, to open and shut, like the modern German flute, might very probably and properly be called Serranse, an appellation derived from the verb Sero, claudere, to lock or close ; in the same manner as the adjective Seranus or Ser- ranus was actually formed from the verb Sero, to sow, in the case of Attilius, a Roman senator, mentioned by Pliny, book xviii. chap. 3 k . k ' Serentem invenerunt dati honores, Serranum unde cog- c nomen.' Plinii Nat. Hist. lib. xviii. c. 3. — In a note in the folio edition, Genevan, 1631, are these words, referring to the word Serranum, in the above passage : t C. Attilius is fuit, ab * aratro accersitus ad consulatum, qui collega Cn. Cornelio 188 AN INQUIRY INTO * pugnavit cum Pcenis, et de iis triumphavlt. Cicero pro Ros- * cio, et in Catone, Valer. Max. libr. iv. cap. 4, Apuleius, in * Apologia, Servius, nulla historiae fide, Dictatorem fuigse « tradit. Virgilius " et te sulco, Serrane, serentem." * Sertor dictus, qui per sationem natus, autore Probo.' — PHnii Nat. Hist. Genevse, 1631, p. 369, THE NATURE OF POETRY. 189 SECTION XV. Particulars respecting the first Publication of Plautus and Terence. Schmeider's account of the first publication of Plautus, from a manuscript at Florence.-— He n'as stated incorrectly a passage from the Preface. — Remarks on what he has said, and on the passage itself. — Pareus, his account of a manuscript of Plautus, in the Palatine Library. — Remarks on his accounts —First printed edition of Terence, when published. — Pro- bably printed from a manuscript in the Vatican Library, corrected by Calliopius. — This manuscript of Charlemagne's time. — Not known whether it was in verse. — Fabricius says f the earliest editions of Terence were in prose. — Regulation of the verses in the printed edit, of 1479 and 14-99, very faulty. — A manuscript of Terence, supposed, by Fabricius, of the seventh century.— Not known whether that was in verse or prose. Schmeider, in the Preface to his edition of Plau- tus, 8vo. Gottingioe, 1804, p. 15, speaking c De ' editionibus Plauti,' says, that the earliest edition of the Comedies of Plautus was published by George Merula, from a manuscript at Florence, and printed at Venice in 1472 l \ and he observes, 1 Jean de la Cuille, a printer and bookseller of Paris, has y in his ' Histoire de lTmprimerie, et de la Librairie/ 4to. Paris r 1689, mentioned, p. 20, that Printing was carried to Venice by 190 AN INQUIRY INTO further, that Merula had said, in the Preface, that all the copies extant, were derived from one copy 3 and that, for that reason, the correction of Plant us was difficult m . The substance of the passage in Merula's Preface is not given by Schmeider with sufficient accuracy ; for, after mentioning the mul- titude of corruptions, and the difficulty of remov- ing them, which he compares to the labours of Hercules, Merula says, i In addition to all these, 6 there was but one book, from which, as an arche- ' type, all the copies, which could be procured, < were derived; and, if this book,' says he, 'could, ' by any method, have been gotten into my hands, * the Bacchides, Mostellaria, Mencechmi, Miles, * and Mercator, might, perhaps, have been ren- : dered more correct ; for the books which were Jean Windelinus of Spire, who printed * Ciceronis Epistolae ad * Faniiliares' there, in 1469; and, enumerating the books printed by his brother there, after his death, which happened in 1470, De la Cuille notices ' Plauti Comcedise, in folio, 1472.' ' Plauti 4 Comcediae xx primura e Ms. Florentino prodiere Venetiis, 4 Opera et impendio Joannis de Colonia, Agrippinensis, et Vin- * delini de Spira A. 1472, fol., cura Georgii Merulae Alexan- « drini, Statielensis, et inde, Tarvisii, 1482, fol., opera et im- * pendio Pauli de Ferraria, atque Dionysii de Bononia.' Fa~ bricii Biblioth. Lat. edit. Ernesti, 8vo. Lipsiae, 1773, vol. i. p. 15. m Schmeider's words are these : < Comcediae Plauti primum ' prodiere e Ms. Florentino Venetiis, 1472, cura Georgii Me- ' rulae, qui in prasfatione dicit, omnia exempla Plauti quse ex- 1 stent ab uno exemplari ducta esse, eamque ob causam Plauti * correctionem esse difficilem.' — Schmeider's Preface to his edi- tion of Plautus, 8vo. Gottingice, 1804, p. 15. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 191 f used in revising these, were transcribed from 6 corrupt copies. But the last seven Comedies, as ' I happened to meet with copies which were not 6 corrupted and tampered with by the critics, al- c though they were faulty, will be found much c more correct u .' What Merula has said, must be evidently un- derstood as confined to the copies he used, and not extended, as Schm eider has erroneously con- ceived it, to all the copies in existence. But still the whole passage is a mass of confusion and con- tradiction. If the copies he had were all trans- cribed from that which he wished to procure, what hope could he entertain of assistance from it ? be- n * His omnibus accedit, unum tantum fuisse librum, a quo, c velut archetypo, omnia deducta sunt, quae habentur exempla, i qui si in manus nostras aliqua via venire potuisset, Bacchides, ' Mostellaria, Mencechmi, Miles, atque Mercator, emendatiores 4 sane haberentur. Namque, in his recognoscendis, libros contu- * limus de corruptis exemplaribus faetos. At septem ultimse, ut 6 in eas incidimus, quse simplices, et intactas a censoribus, fuerant, * quanquam mendosas forent, multo veriores erunt.' See the letter or address, by way of dedication, from Georgius Alexan- drinus, to Jacobus Zeno, bishop of Pavia, as it stands reprinted in the small quarto edition of Plautus, published by Eusebius Scutari, and printed at Venice, 3495, die xxiii. Novembris, (fo. a. ii. b.) From a letter of Eusebius Scutarius Vercellensis, ad- dressed * Georgio Merulae Alexandrino,' which occurs at the end of the book, it appears that the above Georgius Alexan- drinus was this same George Merula ; and, in this letter, Scu- tari addresses Merula by the appellation of * prudentissime 4 praeceptor,' and speaks of the revision of Plautus, which Scu- tari had then accomplished, as enjoined him by Merula, who, from the above circumstances, was certainly his schoolmaster. 192 an iNaumv mto cause he could not tell whether the errors h6 had found were corruptions of the transcribers, or faults in the original manuscript : or, how could he know that his copies were transcripts, without an actual collation ? which, as he could not pro- cure access to the original, seems to have been impossible ; for the power or opportunity of col- lating it, would have fully answered his purpose; and he could have had no reason to regret, as he does, his inability to procure it. His expecta- tions of assistance from it, arose from his hopes that he should find in it variations from the copies he used ; an idea not consistent with that of sup* posing his copies transcripts. Nay, he directly contradicts himself; for he afterwards says, that the copies he used were made from corrupt ori- ginals, which at least proves that those copies were not taken from the archetype he speaks of, No more, therefore, can be understood from this passage, than that, if he could have procured a copy, which was out of his power, it might have been serviceable to him ; but, as to its being what he says it was, the archetype of the rest, he ap- pears to have had no ground from any circum- stance, nor any reason for thinking it really so ; and what he himself says, entirely contradicts the idea. This, however, is certain, that he could not obtain the book, wherever it was, which he has not mentioned, and consequently he has not used it, so that the manuscript, from which he printed^ was a different one, THE NATURE OF POETRY. 193 Pareus speaks of a manuscript of Plautus, of great antiquity and authenticity, which lie himself saw and used in the Palatine Library. Of its early history he has given no particulars, as he only says, that, in 1512, it was given to Vitus Veslerus, but he does not mention by whom ; that it was afterwards given, by Michael Kotingiiis, to Camerarius, without stating how it became the property of Rotingius ; and that Camerarius gave it to the Palatine Library, which it is well known was afterwards removed from Heidelberg to the Vatican at Rome . Parens' s account of this manuscript is singu- larly quaint and pedantic, and exhibits a feeble and injudicious attempt to give a forced additional value to a document of acknowledged authenticity, which, of course, needed no such assistance ; for, he says that, for the purpose of publishing his edi- tion, he had consulted manuscripts, particularly some in the Palatine Library ; and, amongst these books, says he, ' that is entitled to the palm, an 6 older than which the learned have always been of ' opinion is not existing in Europe, and which the ' most learned men have in all respects held in 6 equal estimation with the Florentine Pandects * themselves. He says, further, that, without this * manuscript, Plautus' s Comedies must have been ° On the taking of Heidelberg, by the Count de Tilly, in 1622, this library was sent to Rome. Moreri's Diet, on the au- thority of Bertius, Comment. Germ. O 11)4 AN INQUIRY INTO ' given up, for that it not obscurely appeared, that < it was transcribed from some copy, which fol- • lowed the hand- writing- of an ancient book of 6 the first writer, written with capital letters, ac- 6 cording to the Roman manner p.' All manuscripts' must be in their very nature supposed to have been originally derived, either more or less remotely, and through the medium * Parens uses these words: ' Libros vero illos manuscriptos, * quibus usus fui, ex Regia et Qftpi£ofiQv\~cn, to cs pvQ&t; 7roi=, 1 EKtxapjxo; kcci 4>opjuas r>p'f«y' to ju=v &v e| *P%*?S W Si/tsX/a? ixQs, tm ^e * AG'/)'v*k7H» Kparr,? 7rpwTo; 5p|sv, a,(pEy.zvo<; rvc ltx,fj. ; and, although it is certainly clear y An edition of Terence, in folio, printed at Strasbourg, by John Grunninger, without a date, is in prose. This edition was some years since compared, by its then owner, with another copy of the same impression, which had the date 1496. Ano- ther edition, in folio, printed in the same city, and by the same printer, in 1499, which has a date, is likewise in prose, as is also another in folio, printed at Lyons, by Benedict Bourryn, in 1527. Fabricius has observed, Bibl. Lat. vol. i. p. 34, that the first editions of Terence are not divided into verse. See a note THE NATURE OF POETRY. 213 that Terence is unquestionably verse, yet no ear^ lier manuscript of his works, in that state, has, in the course of the present undertaking', been found, than one of the 13th century. Two others, in verse, of the 14th and 15th centuries, have also occurred. It is not intended here, to give a re- gular collation, but it was yet thought advisable to insert some few specimens of the variations of the copies, by a comparison of those manu- scripts with the printed editions of 1479 and 1499, in some particular places, in order, at the same time, to show how much they all differ from the more modern editions. Many more might have been given, and were actually procured for that purpose, but it was thought that these would prove sufficient. Andria, Act I. Sc. 2. Harleian Ms, 2524, of the 13th century. ' Mirabar hoc si sic abiret : et heri semper lenitas, * Verebar, quorsum evaderet. Qui postquam audierat on Sect. XV. Dr. Leng, afterwards Bishop of Norwich (see Hare's Preface, p. xxiii.), the editor of the quarto edition of Terence, printed at Cambridge in 1701, mentions a manuscript in the Library of Corpus Christi college, Cambridge, as one of those which he had used ; and of this he says, ' Qui, tametsi 1 versibus distinctus non sit, multa tamen vetustatis vestigia re- ' tenit, et interpretatkmculas (e Donato, ut videtur excerptas) * subinde appositas habet.' p. 475, In the month of October 3 815, two manuscripts of Terence, in the Bodleian Library # &$ Oxford, were inspected, and both were in prose. * 3 214 AN INQUIRY INTO 6 Non datum iri filio uxorem suo, nunquam cuiquam * Nostrum verbum fecit, neque id aegre tulit. * At nunc faciet, neque, ut opinor, sine tuo magno malo/ Harleian Ms. 2525 r of the 14th century. 4 Non dubium est, quin uxorem nolit filius : ita Davum modo ' Timere sensi, ubi nuptias futuras audivit, 4 Sed ipse exit foras. Mirabar hoc si sic abiret : 4 Et heri semper lenitas, verebar, quorsum evaderet, 4 Qui postquam audierat non datum iri filio uxorem ' Suo, nunquam cuiquam nostrum verbum fecit ? 4 Neque id aegre tulit. At nunc faciet, * Neque, ut opinor, sine tuo magno malo.* Edit. 1479. & Non dubium est, quin uxorem nolit filius i ita Davum 'Modo timere sensi, ubi nuptias futuras esse 'Audivit. Sed ipse exit foras. Mirabar hoc si sic abiret :: 4 Et heri semper lenitas, Verebar, quorsum evaderet. 4 Qui postquam audierat non datum iri filio uxorem suo, 4 Nunquam cuiquam nostrum verbum fecit, neque id aegre tulit ' At nunc faciet, neque, ut opinor, sine tuo magno malo/ Edit. 1499. 4 Non dubium est, quin uxorem nolit filius :* 4 Ita Davum modo timere sensi, ubi nuptias * Futuras esse audivit. Sed ipse exit foras. * Mirabar hoc si sic abiret : et heri semper ' Lenitas, verebar, quorsum evaderet. Qui postquam ' Audierat non datum iri filio uxorem suo, * Nunquam cuiquam nostrum verbum fecit, 4 Neque id aegre tulit. At nunc faciet, s Neque, ut opinor, sine tuo magno malo,! THE NATURE OP POETRY. 215 Andria, Act I. Sc. 5. Harleian Ms. 2524, 13th century. * Hoccine est humanum factum aut inceptum ? hoccine est * Officium patris ? quid illud est ? proh deum fidem atque ho- * minum, 1 Quid est ? si haec non contumelia est. Uxorem decreverat ' Dare sese mihi hodie : nonne oportuit praescisse me ante I 1 nonne priusquam 1 Communicatum oportet ? Miseram me, quod verbum audio ?' Edit. 1479. * Hoccine est humanum factum aut inceptum ? hoccine est * Officium patris ? quid illud est ? proh deum fidem * Atque hominum, quid est ? si haec contumelia non est. Ux- ( orem * Decrevit sese mihi hodie s non ne oportuit * Praescisse me ante ? nonne prills communicatum oportuit ? i Miseram me, quod verbum audio? quid Chremes?' Edit. 1499. * Hoccine est humanum factum aut inceptum ? * Hoccine est officium patris ? quid illud s Est ? proh Deum fidem atque hominum, s Quid est ? si haec contumelia non est. * Uxorem decrevit sese mihi hodie : nonne oportuit * Praescisse me ante ? nonne prius communicatum « Oportuit ? Miserum me, quod verbum audio ?' The same Scene. Harleian Ms. 2524, 13th century. ' Itane obstinate operam dat, ut me a Glycerio miserum * Abstrahat ? quod si fit, pereo funditus. Adeon' hominem ' Esse invenustum, aut infelicem quemquamne ut ego sum ? P 4 216 AN INQUIRY INTO Edit. 1479. * Itane obstinate operam dat, ut me a Gtycerio miserum 4 Abstrahat? proh Deum atque hominum fidem, * Quod si fit, pereo funditus. 1 Adeon' hominem esse invenustum, atque infelieem quenquam. 8 Edit. 1499. k Irnmutatum videt. Itane obstinate operam dat, ut me * A Glyceric miserum abstrahat? proh Deum atque hominum € Fidem, quod si fit, pereo funditus. Adeon' hominem esse Invenustum, atque infelieem quenquam ut ego sum.' / Andria., Act I. Sc. 5, same Scene.. Harleian Ms. 2524, 13tli century. € Sed cur tu abis ab ilia ? Obstetricem accerso. * Propera. Atque audin ? verbum umim cave c De nuptiis, ne ad morbum hoc etiam. Teneo.* Edit. 1479. 4 Sed cur tu abis ab ilia ? Obstetricem accerso. ' Propera. Atque audin ? verbum unum cave de nuptiis, * Ne ad morbum hoc etiam. Teneo.' Edit. 1499". * Sed cur fu abis ab ilia i Obstetricem accerso. * Propera. Atque audin ? verbum unum cave de ntfptiisy * Ne ad morbum hoc etiam. Teneo z .' z The Harleian manuscript, Ko. 5443, which is of the ele- venth century, and in prose', reads this passage thus : ' Ne ad * morbum hoc siet etiam* Teneo." The division of vesses i& THE NATURE OF POETRY* 217 different in different editions of Plautus and Terence; as a proof of which, Merula's edition of Plautus, in 4to. of the year? 1495, and the small one by Sambucus, 1566, may be consulted and compared, particularly in the Pseudolus. The circum- stance was, no doubt, occasioned by the editors of each fol- lowing different manuscripts, which did not correspond with each other in that particular, 218 AN INQUIRY INTO SECTION XVIII, Variety of Verse neither necessary nor proper in itself'. Quintilian's opinion that Terence should have used Trimeters only. — Bentley's objections to this opinion. — Remarks on Bentley's objections. — Verse not necessary to express the passions.— -The Tragedies of George Barnwell and The Gamester, both in prose. —Shakespear, Ben Jonson, Mil- ton, used only one kind of verse. — Bentley ignorant of Music. — Tibiae, their nature explained. — Comedy not a mu- sical performance throughout. — Bentley has confounded to- gether Time and Tune, and Length of Verse and Constituent Feet. — Victorinus's opinion as toMenander's change of verse, examined.— Quintilian's opinion seems to imply variety of length, at present — But the copies corrupt before his time, — Varro speaks of them as corrupt a century before.— Quintilian, Terence, Plautus, Varro, when they lived. Quintilian, speaking of Comedy, has said, € In € Comcedia maxime claudicamus— licet Terentii € scripta ad Scipioriem Africanum referantur, quse € - tamen in hoc genere sunt elegantissima, et plus € adhuc habitura gratiae, si intra Versus Trimetros € stetissent a .' This, Bentley has endeavoured to ridicule, in the following words : c Mirificum sane e magni Rhetoris judicium ! Optabat scilicet ut a Quintilian, Instit. Orator, lib. x, c. 1. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 219 c Fabulae Terentianae, quae, is primo eujusque ' Actu et Scaena, a Trimetris inchoantur, eodem c Metro ac tenore, per onines Actus Seaenasque ? ' decucurrissent. Crederes profecto hominem ' nunquam scaenam vidisse, nunquam Comoedum c partes suas agentem spectavisse. Quid voluit ? c quod nee Menander nee ullus Graecorum fecit, Te- 6 rentius ut faceret I ut Ira, Metus, Exultatio, Dolor, * Gaudium, et quietae res, et turbatae, eodem Metro 6 lente agerentur ? ut Tibicen paribus tonis, per- 6 petuoque cantico, spectantium aures vel delassa- c ret, vel ofFenderet ? Tantum abest, ut eo pacta 6 plus gratiae habitura esset fabula, ut, quan- *tumvis bene morata, quantum vis belle scripta, ^gratiam prorsus omnem perdidisset. Id priuii c Artis repertores pulchre videbant, delectabant, 6 ergo, varietate ipsa, diversaque v$% xal 7rd9n di- 6 verso carmine repraesentabant. Marius Victori- ' nus, p, 2500, u Nam et Menander in Comcediis "frequenter, a continuatis lambicis versibus, ad u Trochaicos transit, et rursum ad lambicos re- " dit." Non ita tamen agebant veteres, ut ab uno c in aliud plane contrarium repente exilirent, al> fe lambicis in Dactylicos ; sed in propinquos Tro- c chaicos, ipso transitu paene fallente. Quod ut c clarius conspiciatur, omnem Terentianam copiam s hie sistam, unoque et eodem pede Ditrochaeo uni- *• versam fere emetiar V b See Berkley's Dissertation < De Metris Comicis/ prefixed to his Terence, p. iv. 220 AN INQUIRY INTO Every friend to Bentley's memory lias abun^ tlant reason to wish, for the sake of his reputation that he had never written the above passage ; for one more pregnant with error, as to matters of fact, or more strongly indicating a want of judg- ment, of discrimination, and of clear and accu- rate perception, it would be extremely difficult to iind. When he ridicules Quintilian, and says he could never have seen a play, or an actor perform- ing his part, Bentley was not aware that the cen- sure might, with much greater truth, be retorted ©n himself. He evidently forgot, at the time, what is so plain, that no man can be supposed ig- norant of it, that, so far from variety of verse being necessary for the expression of different Pas- sions, alt the productions of Shakespear are not only in one kind of Metre throughout the same play, but that all his plays are in the same species of verse with each other. Whether the object of the Drama be to represent the fatal effects of Jea- lousy, as in Othello ; of Ambition, as in Macbeth ; or to paint the calamitous consequences of Ran- cour and Malice between rival families, as in Ro- meo and Juliet ; he still employs the very same sort of verse, without any variation of length or constituent feet, and without any detriment to the Passions he exhibits. Verse, though certainly an elegance, has no more concern, than the rules of grammar have, with the Passions, or, indeed, with the nature of the subject treated of, whatever thai THE NATURE OF POETRY. 221 may happen to be, further than that, in grave and heroic subjects 5 Lyric measures, because they are light, would be improper ; and, in light and cheerful compositions, like Songs, the gravity of Heroic metre c would be equally reprehensible, Bentley might have recollected that the Tragedy of George Barnwell, written in his time, and by no means deficient in interest, is in prose ; and one of the most affecting Tragedies in our lan- guage, the Gamester, by Moore, is also in prose, though this latter was, indeed, not written till after Bentley' s death. Nor could the poignancy of the distress in any case have been heightened, had it been in verse, because that arises, as it must ever do in Dramatic Representations, from the scenes and events exhibited to view. All the Co- medies and Tragedies in our language, that are not prose, are in one kind of Metre throughout. Did any one ever object to Ben Jonson's Volpone, or Alchemist, to Shakespear's Tempest, Merchant of Venice, or Measure for Measure, or to Miltons Comus, that there was no change of measure in the speeches ? And would not such an objection, if ever made, be deservedly ridiculed ? Or, could the elegance of Comus be greater, or the interest of c Longinus, as cited by Webb on Poetry and Music, p. 76, in a note, says, * MaXXoy h 7rp-E aaa 0vr*if*«Ttx»» * alia [jliktcc dicuntur, quae etiam a.pvrat£o\ot, et jxit&GoXikcc.' Each of these sorts he then proceeds to explain ; and as to the last, METa£oXi>ta, he uses these words : ' Mexa^oXma, autem, quae ab ' aliis metris ad alia genera transitum faciunt, qualia esse Tra- ' gica et Comica paulo ante memoravi. Nam et Menander, -' in Comcediis, frequenter a continuatis Iambicis versibus, ad t TTrochaicps transit, et rursum ad Iambicos redit/ 4 524 AN INQUIRY INTO verses were not all of the same length, namely? Trimeters ; and the passage from Vietorinus only describes those he mentions, as being some Iam- bic and some Trochaic, which it is manifest they might still have been, had they been all of the same equal length. Bentley has here confounded together two different considerations, Length and Constituent Feet, or Quantity and Quality, and his conclusions cannot, therefore, be supported. If Vietorinus is correct as to the fact, in his assertion respecting Menander, of which he has not produced one single instance, more of Me- nander s works must have been, in his time, exist- ing, than are now known. Among the fragments of his Comedies, collected as they have been, from Stobseus and Athenaeus, by Le Clerc, no one instance of such a transition, as Vietorinus de- scribes, has as yet been found, though they have been consulted for that very purpose; nor has Bentley himself produced or referred to any one example, but contented himself simply with rest- ing on the authority of Vietorinus, though his tes- timony, as has been before observed, does not .support Bentley in hi« objection to Quintilian. But, supposing the fact to be, as Vietorinus has stated, that Menander did interpijx Trochaic and Iambic verses together, still it proves nothing in favour of variety of verse, either as to Constituent Feet or Length. He has nqt said they were of dif- ferent lengths. If they were of equal' lengths, Menander has done no more than his predecessor THE NATURE OP POETRY. 225 Archilochus e , and the two might very reasonably be intermixed^ because they are both founded on the same proportion, and were, in fact, originally, not different sorts, but the same kind f . Quintilian s observation seems, it is true, to imply that he thought the verses of Terence of different lengths, but it is not easy to determine to what extent it is to be understood. Whether he conceived this variety of verse to have existed in the same scene, or whether each scene was throughout in the same kind of verse with which it began, but some of the scenes wholly Trimeters, others Tetrameters, is not from any thing he has said to be discovered. The point is, however, of little consequence ; for Quintilian flourished about A. D. 92*, Terence lived 164 years before our Sa- viour 11 , and Plautus, 189 5 ; so that Quintilian and Terence were at least 223 years asunder, and Quintilian and Plautus, 248 ; a period about as great as that from Chaucer to Spenser in the his- tory of the Poets of our own country. In the time of Quintilian there is no doubt the copies of both Terence and Plautus were in a deplorable state of inaccuracy, and more especially as to the regulation of the verses, because that was a subject of greater difficulty; for Varro k , who lived about 50 or 60 e See Sect. V. f See Sect. V. and VII. « Saxius, vol. i. p. 269. h Saxius, vol. i. p. 127. 1 Saxius, vol. i. p. 122. * Varro was born 1 ] 6, and died 28 years before our Sa- viour's birth. See Moreri's Diet, and the authorities he men- •Q 226 AN INQUIRY INTO years before our Saviour, and nearly a century be-, fore Quintilian, speaks of the manuscripts as very incorrect^ even in his time 1 , though that was evi- dently but little more than a century after Plautus and Terence. tions. Varro was born in the first year of the 166th Olympiad, and died at the age of near 90 in the first year of the 1 88th. Konigii Bibl. p. 831. Varro is placed, by Saxius, vol. i. p. 164, between 61 and 57 years before our Saviour. 1 Camerarius, in the • Epistola Nuncupatoria,' prefixed to his edition of Plautus, 8vo. Basil, 1558, p. 17, speaking of the inaccuracy of the copies, says, * Quid vero hoc mirum ? cum r Varro, qui et vixit iis temporibus, quibus eruditio litterarum et ( doctrina floruit, et proxime abfuit ab setate Plauti, alicubi de 4 analogia querens, quod non probaret quaedam de Truculento, 4 in iis librarii mendum accuset? posteriores autem, saepe de fide * exemplorum quest! et vetustiss. quorumque testimonies contra * vulgatas lectiones usi fuerunt, nam ilia semper corrupit impe- * ritia quorundam, ut ait Prisciaaus, mutantium scripturasJ TOE NATURE OF POETRY, 22! SECTION XIX. Chorus in the Greek Tragedies and Comedies, its Nature; and of what Kind of Verse their Speeches consisted. Greek Chorusses do not contain variety of Metre. — Aristotle confines the performance of the Chorus to the interval be- tween the acts. — Reason to think no part of these interme- diate performances now existing. — The term Chorus does not necessarily imply Singers, or Dancers, or Musical Per- formances, but only a multitude of persons. — Chorus, as employed in the Greek Tragedies, different from that used between the acts. — The nature of the former correctly de* fined.— Aristotle says Tragic verse was originally Tetrameter. — Reason to conclude that to have been Bacchiac. — Cho- russes in the Greek Tragedies capable of arrangement as Bacchiac verse. — Instances and specimens of this. — Those Tragic verses already supposed Iambic Trimeter, are pro- bably Bacchiac Tetrameter. — No objection to this, except- ing only in verses consisting wholly of the Iambus. — That, however, easily removable. — Chorusses in the Greek Come- dies equally divisible as Bacchiac Tetrameter verse- — Spe- cimens from Aristophanes. — Scarcely possible to conclude that the Metre employed in the Greek Tragedies and Come- dies was any other than Bacchiac Tetrameter. Although, in an inquiry like the present, relating in so great a degree to Comic Metre, a discussion as to the nature of that employed in Tragedy may Hot at first appear necessary, yet the ascertainment Q 2 228 AN INQUIRY INTO of the question will here be found requisite, in order that no refuge or defence may be afforded to any one who might pertinaciously endeavour to support the former erroneous system of versifica- tion, or resist, unreasonably, that which is here proposed in its stead. After what has been so confidently asserted, and so hastily adopted, as the fact, respecting the Chorusses in the Greek Tragedies, and the varieties of Metre of which they are supposed to consist, it will surely be matter of no small surprise to their most zealous admirers, to be told, as is, however^ the case, that this imagined variety has, in truth 5 no real existence, but is, on the contrary, only ideal ; and yet, to this conclusion the following decisive circumstances so strongly lead, that they seem almost, if not entirely, to forbid any other opinion on the subject. Aristotle m , in defining the different parts of a Tragedy, has ascertained that the performances of the Chorus of Singers or Dancers were no where introduced, but between the acts ; and although, in the printed editions and manuscripts of the writings of the Greek tragic authors, it is found, that some parts are assigned to the Chorus, yet there is very strong reason for thinking that no part of those intermediate performances, exhibited by the Chorus between the acts, is, even so much as m Aristotle, De Poetica, p. 18 & 72. See the passage given in a note on Section XIIL THE NATURE OF POETRY. 229 in words, not to say any thing of the Music, at this time existing. To understand this the more fully, it is proper to remark, that the appellation Chorus does not necessarily imply either Singers or Dan- cers, or Musical Performers ; for it simply means a multitude of persons flocking together. Schrevelius, in his Lexicon, art. Xopog, explains Xopog, as meaning ' Chorus, coetus canentium et ( saltantium,' but could find no better an etymo- logy, than by expressing a doubt whether it might not be deductible from Xoupoo, which it is well known is used in the sense of 'gaudeo, laetor.' Xoowv^i, he renders 6 aggerem duco,' and refers its original to ' Xag, terra aggesta.' This verb, as he himself states, produces, in the First Indefinite Tense of the Infinitive Mood, Xoaroa, which he renders 'Ag- ( gessisse ;' in the Future Tense of the Indicative Mood, as he himself observes, Xooo -oo, which he, in like manner, translates c Aggerabo ;' and, in the Participle of the First Indefinite Passive, Xa>cr- 6ug> which he explains by the Latin ' Aggestus.' Now, in all these words, it is evident that the pre- vailing idea of signification is that of accumula- tion, agglomeration, or collected multitude, with- out any reference to the circumstance of what kind the particulars of that multitude shall con- sist ; but none of them imply any such idea as that they were Singers or Dancers, or had any re- lation to Music ; and it is clear that the above is the genuine sense. A far more probable and ra- tional etymology may, however, be found, from 9 3 230 AN INQUIRY INTO considering Xcgog as produced not from the verb, 6 Xaipoo, gaudeo, lee tor/ with which it has no affi- nity; but from the substantive ' Xoog, terra aggesta, i humus, agger, pulvis,' and from the verb ' Vsw f c fluo, fundo,' and as signifying ' Concursus,' or, in English, a concourse of people : and, indeed, between the Chorus, as employed in the Greek Tragedies themselves, by iEschylus, Euripides* and Sophocles, and that which consisted of Sing- ers and Dancers, and amused the audience be- tween the acts, there seems to have been a very wide distinction, which it is necessary here to ob- serve. In the writings of the Greek Tragedians, the Chorus acts the part of one of the interlocu- tors, their speeches are intermixed in the dialogue with those of the principal characters, to whom they address themselves, and by whom they are answered ; and what is there said by the Chorus, is preceded and followed by the speeches of the other characters, and so connected with the rest of the play, that it is impossible to separate them. The use of the Chorus, as thus employed, was to represent a crowd or number of auditors or by- standers, such as are accustomed to surround any man who is telling an extraordinary tale, singing a ballad, or crying a dying speech of a malefactor in the streets ; and their speeches were evidently intended to resemble those observations and re- marks which some of the individuals in a crowd are often found to express on what they have heard. In this there cannot possibly be discovered THE NATURE OF POETRY. 231 any necessity, opportunity, or intention, for any reference to either Singers or Dancers ; nor was any such really designed. Misled, as they all have been, by wrong principles and erroneous prepossessions, as to the nature of theatrical re- presentations among the Greeks and Romans, the grammarians and critics of all ages and nations have implicitly and blindly followed the opinions of some author more ancient, which at first was but conjecture, and capable of refutation. They have affected to divide and distribute the speeches of the Chorus into the various portions of Strophe, Antistrophe, and Epode, and to suppose that all these were sung by different Musical Performers ^ and they conceived them to comprise as great a variety of verse, as their own inexperience of the real fact led them to think necessary to reduce the verses to any rule ; because they were unable to scan them as Iambic, and had not sufficient skill to suggest any other probable species, to which they might all be ascribed. In consequence of this, and to suit their own ideas, they have without scruple regulated the verses, as long or short, or as differing in their constituent feet, as they found occasion, not unfrequently, though most absurdly, dividing a word at the end of a line, and giving part of it to that and the re- mainder to the succeeding verse ; a circumstance, in itself sufficient to destroy their theory. To for- tify their system, they have so settled the ar- rangement of the separations into Strophe, Anti- Q 4 232 AN INQUIRY INTO strophe, and Epode, as to suit their own division of the verses, which, as being perfectly erroneous in itself, has no doubt produced error in this dis- tribution also. But it has been since found, on a variety of experiments, made in several places, that these verses are capable of an equal distribu- tion into lines of the same number of feet with each other ; and there seems, at present, strong ground to believe that, if any divisions at or near the places where these editors have marked the com- mencement of a Strophe, Antistrophe, or Epode, are apparently authorized by the context, or di- rected to be made, it was only intended that one person of the crowd should first speak, and after- wards another, and so on, but that only one person should speak at the same time ; the necessity for which regulation is sufficiently apparent. Aristotle n has also said, that the Metre em- ployed in Tragedy was originally Tetrameter, ak though he has not noticed of what species that Tetrameter was. For the reasons before assigned in this work °, which need not here be repeated, there is adequate cause to conceive it to have been Bacchiac ; and it is a certain fact, that, on experi- ment, those lines which constitute the speeches of the Chorus, and which have been erroneously imagined and arranged as of almost every species of verse that could be suggested, have been found n Aristotle, De Poetica, 8vo. Oxon. 1760, p. 7 & 58. The passage has been already given in a note op Section VI. s See Section VI. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 233 capable of a correct regulation as Bacchiac. Cer- tain it is, that they cannot, by any mode, be ren- dered Iambic Trimeters, as the rest of the verses in these Tragedies have very erroneously been sup- posed to be. Bacchiac Metre, for the reasons al- ready urged, is by far the more probable kind to have been used; and that verses of that species do actually occur in the writings of the Greek Tra- gedians, and that these Chorusses are of that very sort ? it is imagined no one can doubt, who suffice ently attends to the following examples : The initial lines of the Chorus, in the first act of Sophocles's Aiag jjLci<;iyocvg tV/|S^ ^iya,v Ojlvov lyjjo | Kocl 7rs(po£y\jjLai 7TTyvyjg ] oug oiaucc Tiikciag J cog xoa rvjg | yvy (p6(^6Vfjg \ WKrog hleyciXoi $opv\£oi Kotrsyjsg \ Yipug hrl | ^v?£ | VW/ 7CTa£ jic&ya|Ao/ 96pv£oi WW—. _ --. 'W "O m — W WW _ WW™ The following Chorus from the same Tragedy may also be distributed in the following manner ; Tsxpyi _ U ' W \Jt '- VI — — — _ — *HjU,7j/ TOV I Ctf>-Sp« ha\7TS(p0l&C&O-\9o6l 7CM)C0l$ 1^5 wo/ I jicoi T05% tag | so/ft£ jlcgsAJAov ^ QVK £YJ$\(T(ZT AlteVjTOg 01OCV \ TIJvSg Socvcrcrsi | 6op 'Iw | p?/ ^cc* »j^p | eoiK-Sv^* And this, from the OiSmovg Tv^vvog of the sam& author, may be thus given ; ''fl Awg- a|Su£7r^ (paV/ | Tf£ ttotc joig \ 7rohv%pv W at WW — WW — — W T WW V VM 4)o£spc£v (pp'svce, | ^ei^ocTi 7vdx\hoov *Ijf/ [s JgjA/s „ — — w — w w — — — ww — Uuicw &p\(pl / era} — W W — W — WW — WW— w w «s 'A^o^svcg I t/ ju,0/ $ woy | | 7repiTsX\hoiJL£VM$ ' ' Clpaig 7ru\Xiv s%ocviS\ _ _ \> \> _ 0Ea.',Ta; sr&XAa J xai Suv/We J ;>/py/^aT tvQv j y, j ax 'iyja THE NATURE OP POETRY. 245 And the third, from the same author, Eupolis, is given in the above edition of Stobeeus, p. 21 6 5 though erroneously described in the Index, as ex- isting at p. 17. It consists only of the two fol- lowing lines : * Kai t« | [jlsv ti\vk\c*) | ys 7Tty//,Ey j w "yspoviTEfj aXX r]|cray »)'juuy _ VJ _ _ — u _ w _ «, Tij TroXs* j Tfuroi juJy j o< rpaTT^yoi. n Gesner, in the above edition of S.tobapus, published by him, has given a translation of this first line, thus : * Relinquara ambages dicendo ;* but says, as to the second, ' Hie versus in Graeco obscurus est;' and he, therefore, does not of that attempt any version. The passage, on due consideration, will be found very intelligible ; and it would not have been thought necessary here to explain it, if he had not himself raised the difficulty, and to prevent a misconception that the line might be corrupt. Schrevejius, in his Lexicon, art. Tlpo/f, xoj, renders it * donum, dos, gratia, * ace. Tpoixa ;' and says that it is adverbially used for * gratis, * sine mercede,' because it is derived from ?rpo and »*«, yenio, as l>eing a gift, ' quo quis alium prsevenit ultro :' or, he says, it may come from TrpoEcn?, largitio, and be deduced from irpoH/xeM, * effundo largiter.' The same author, in his Lexicon, art. A*x, admits that the preposition Aj«, in composition, signifies, among other senses, l more' ['in the manner of']. Scapula, in his Lexicon, art. Xwpsw, says it means ' Eo, accedo, proficiscor, * profero me.' Now, rendering ra ?rpoi>ca, by the words < qua? ' sponte veniuitf/ or ' qua? ultro veniunt/ a sense perfectly * 3 246 AN INQUIRY INTO The following specimen from Cratinus ° has been furnished from Casaubon s edition of Athenseus, p. 29. It is there erroneously printed as prose, but ought manifestly to be divided into verse in the fol- lowing manner : e Nuy owv \ 'toot J M;yto joy jJISftW vx.\oj j yi irccvaofMca | XoyH pctc7w d= rex. I Trpotxa dija. rwv p£&|p/&jv« ° Cratinus lived between 428 and 425 years before our Sa° viour. Saxii Onom first edit. p. 8. p These, although apparently Iambic Trimeter acatalectie verses, may yet be scanned as Bacchiac Tetrameter, thus : Nyy o txv '/do* J Msvdcuoii J yjbwyr ocg\riit}$ Owictkov | £7Tetcu xaixoAaQE?, j >caJ Xa'yEi THE NATURE OF POETRY. 247 But, in Plutarch's Life of Pericles, the three fol- lowing lines from Cratinus are inserted. In the Greek edition, in folio, Basil, 1533, fo. 110, they are given as prose, but ought evidently to be thus arranged q : ' XTczvig j Ss noci \ 7rpsorSvys\v^g Xpovog r \ dftKyj\koi(Ti * Vliysys\tc [Asyjcrfrov titL\t£tov j tvpocvpov ( "Clv SjJ I KE(pocK'/]ysvps\Tcc]/ Qs\oi Kcz\i\ov\i*KT0S \ yelp iit \ ea, j rov uv\piov "•' Athensens, lib. yii. edit. Casanbon, p. 288, has given from Philemon x the following passage, which has from him been copied by Le Clerc, into his edition of the Fragments of Menander and Philemon, p. 330. In all, this passage consists of 26 lines ; and of these, the following are the six first : «.» .. *> 4 fig i\[ASpog | [a V7ryX\Qs yn | ts k ov\^ezvcp- 6 hi%ai | ^oKov\ti t ov\$ov ocg \ imtfh\cwc6v u The above verses, which also appear to be Iambic Trimeter acatalectic, may, like those before given, be equally scanned as Eacchiac thus ; Hy yoof ret J (3iXTic>5 Toy j 0Epe£?rqvTOS j rwy xctxtiv TS cTWjW,a|Toj yap «>c J la rev j y.vfiov* x Philemon lived 320 years before Christ. Saxii Onom. firs! edit. p. 9. Edit. 1775, vol. i. p. 86, THE NATURE OF POETM\ 249 e Nj} tvJv j AQvjIvgcv, fj\$v y egr \ £vyj\jj.sps7v 9 6 Ev U7rcc\cnv !%\9vg otira\hog ol\og ysyo\vs poi, * O7ov | 7rocpoc7s\9siyJ ov | 7rs(p(x,p\y.o<,K?j\^svov, U — v/ _ v-/ _. w _ _ _ uw The following passage from Pliilemon occurs in Athenaeus, lib. xiii. p. 589, and has been thence inserted into the Fragments of Menander and Phi- lemon, by Le Clerc, p. 296. The whole consists ©f 16 lines ; but the following, which are the first six, are sufficient for the present purpose: * 2u 8' slg I U7rocv\rocg sv\psg ocv\9poo7rcvg | SoAwy. ' Xs yocp | Xsyou\o'iv tovt j $s7y j 7rpooTOV | fioorwv*, y The above verses, which, like some of the former ones, ap- pear to be Iambic Trimeter acatalectie, will, like them, be found equally capable of being scanned as Bacchiac, thus : f>i */x.e|p^ [a V7?ri\Qt J yri te y.' ov[pav£ Affat (jtb\x.6vrt t oy|\^ov w<; eV|>cEvWaw Hr, 7*jv AjOwav, r'jdJ l(Zv j (pucnv a .' Among the Fragments of Menander and Phi- lemon, published by Le Clerc, p. 344, is the fol- lowing passage from Philemon. It was not thought necessary to give the whole, consisting, as it does, of 15 lines, and the first eight, therefore, are only here given : e ^£l K.Ks\ov y 7rav\(rosi (pKv\ccpuy, ] ccv h cx\vYig to | .ftMV&dtysfy, 6 Ay£7Tl\}t0VpYl\T0V (Ti\o£>UJQV j 70V j3l[w X?j\tV) 7T0i\d0)/, 8 Like several of the former, these Iambic Trimeter aca- talectic verses may be also scanned as Bacchiac, thus : "Zv y £ij ccttccvItus £upE£ ay|@p«7rot/j Zo|Xwv. Se yap xita/Jav (fucriy. b Homer, Iliad B. v. 488, and Iliad A. v. 232, makes ay short. This must therefore be an Iambus instead of a Trochee. THE NATURE OP POETRY. 251 4 Ovts | yap vav\ayog, \ av pj | yv\g Xd\(^r t roa \ (pspoy.z\vog 9 * Ou 7T0T | ay crw|(Tc/^ J a-VTOv, | cur' aJ[^p 77£\vvig ys\yu>g t s Mvj ov Te%\vyjv [jLct\9cuv s $v\vdiT av \ dJ\(ry\ 7roi\oov sis | yap mp •— _ w„ H/w yfywg" I /^ cu T£%VYjV I {jLaQtvv, SuvcziT j &y 252 AN INQUIRY INTO — *> — — — WW — W m, W „ f A7 | S' o Tt ccv | /3«A^, | xvoov, | 7rpoSurov, | Tpocyog % 1 *Av9oc*j\7rQg, 'tivWog, *hi _ w _ w _ -. _ w_ e Menander lived 320 years before our Saviour. Saxii Onom. first edit. p. 9. A The above verses, like all the other Iambic Trimeter aca* talectic, are capable of being thus scanned as Bacchiac : Ei' ii$ 7rpo7|tXSaiy fxol J Qiuv Xsyot j Kfccruv 'Excty a.ToJGaynj av|G*j /£■ CC ?\X Y >'> ' E ' C7 '* , " v £c^ £' o t; a? | $yAn *y law, ^rpo£Woy, | rea-yo?, THE NATURE OP POETRY. 253 In addition to these instances, it is to be re- marked, that the TlXxrog of Aristophanes, which has been selected above, as approaching more nearly to the modern kind of Comedy, than any other of his works, and as being less encumbered with the Chorus, is described by Bisset, in an enu- meration at the head of each scene, in his edition of Aristophanes, as containing the following sorts of metre : Act I. Sc. 1. Senarii Iambici. 2. Senarii Iambici. — II. — 1. Octonarii Iambici catalectici, Dime- tri Anacreontii, et alii quidam. 2. Senarii Iambici. — — 3. Senarii. — 4. Senarii Iambici. 5. Tetrametri catalectici Anapsestici Aristophanii. 6. Senarii Iambici. — IIL — I. Ejusdem generis versus ad iinem [sc. senarii Iambici.] — 2. Not mentioned, as being the same with the preceding. — 3. Senarii. *Ay0pw7rcj, j Wttos, $i&vow»ou J yap cri hi, Eljua^fjyey tout' eV|T*y o Tt j3«,Xa ^' sAov, ''Ar«yT« jt*ft>i|?ioy, tv9v<; e»J7my ay 3o|k». 254 AN INQUIRY INTO Act IV. Sc. 1. Senarii lambici. — — 2. Not mentioned, as being the same with the preceding 1 . — — ~ 3. Not mentioned, for the same reason, • — 4. Not mentioned ^ for the same reason, — — 5. Senarii. — V. — 1. Senarii lambici. — — — — 2. Not mentioned, as being the same with the preceding. — — — 3. Senarii, et Anapsestici Aristophanih All these verses may, however, be rendered ca- pable of regulation as Bacchiac ; and the propriety of their present distribution is, therefore, ques- tionable. In the Iambic Trimeter, an alteration in the scanning only is requisite; and the two Tetrameter scenes, Act II. Sc. I, and Act II. Sc. 5, may, by a new division of the verses, be easily converted into Bacchiac also, as has been found on experiment. This circumstance of the possibility of two different modes of division and regulation, renders it necessary that the point should be decisively settled, which of the two ought to prevail as the rule ; and the question shall therefore be fully examined in a subsequent part of this Section 6 . e Suidas, in his Lexicon, ascribes to Aristophanes the in« vention of Tetrameter verse, f Evps rv? m rsTg»/*Efj)s xal oxnx* * ^si-py.' Suidas, art. A^ro^ay^. But he does not say of what kind, nor does it appear what he means by oxTaprsp, or how he distinguishes it from Tetrameter. Gesner, in his Bibliotheca, THE NATURE OF POETRY. 255 In the fifth scene of the second act, it is ma- nifest that the scenes are wrong divided ; and the distribution of the scenes, in modern editions, is plainly a late regulation, as there is reason to think the early editions and manuscripts have no such division. The edition of Aristophanes by Sigismund Gelenius, printed at Basle, by Froben, in 1547, in small folio % has, for instance, no dis- follows the same mode of expression, and, in like manner, without giving any explanation ; for he says, ' Aristophanes Te- i trametrum et Octametrum invenit.' Gesner, Biblioth. edit* 1545, fo. 72, a. ' Floruit circa Olympiadem 114.' Ibid. But it should seem, from the instances already inserted in Section V. that Archilochus had used it long before. f It appears, from the dedication of this edition, addressed from Sigismund Gelenius, its editor, to Melancthon, that Ari- stophanes was first published by Marcus Musurus, from Aldus's press ; that Marcus Musurus was of Crete, and Gelenius's pre- ceptor; that the printers at Florence had afterwards added much in their commentaries; and that Froben and Episcopius, the printers of that edition of 1547, had laboured on it many years, and at length called in the assistance of Gelenius. Marcus Musurus's original Preface, in Greek, is also there inserted, and follows Gelenius's dedication. Gesner, in his Bibliotheca, edit. 1545, p. 72, a. says that nine Comedies of Aristophanes, with the ancient commentaries in Greek, were printed by Al- dus, in folio, at Venice, in 1502: and, again, with the com- mentaries and a copious index, &c. at Florence, in 4to. in 1515; that they were again printed, without the commentaries, at Paris, by Gormontius, in 1528, in 4to. and that their names were Plutus, Nebulas, lianas, Equites, Acharnes, Vespse, Aves,, Pax, Concionantes. The Thesmophoriazusas, that is to say, 1 the Worshippers of Ceres,' and the Lysistrata, were sepa- rately published by Bernard Junta, at Florence, in 1515, in 8vo. from a manuscript which he had procured ' ex Urbinato bibli- * otheca ;' but so very corrupt was it, that the words are some- times mutilated. At length, all the eleven Comedies together 256 AN INQUIRY INTO tinction of Scenes, or even of Acts ; but there are yet in it, in particular places, marks, certainly intended to separate some parts from each other. At the end of the line, in this fifth Scene, preced- ing the change of verse, there is a mark for such a separation ; and twenty lines further, where the Metre again changes, there is also another similar mark, at which place, Bisset, hi his edition, hag made that Scene to end, and Act II. Scene 6, to commence. If the idea that Iambic was the system of verse, is to be admitted, which indeed it cannot, but in opposition to the strongest evidence, it will be thought, that of the examples above inserted, the first from Eupolis is Trochaic Tetrameter cata- lectic, and it is described by Kircbner as Tro- chaic Tetrameter, in his Prosodia Grseca, p. 81 ; that the second, from the same author, is Iambic Tetrameter catalectic, and the third from him, Iambic Trimeter acatalectic. Those from Crati- nus and Aristophanes will, in like manner, all be were published at Basle, in 4to. 1532, and by Wechelus at Pari?. It appears, from the Preface to that edition, that Aldus was advised, by Theodore Gaza, to publish Aristophanes, Ibid. fo. 72, b. ; and Antonius Fracinus, in the Preface to the Florentine edition, says, he had used the assistance of ' Arse- ' nius Cretensis, archiepiscopus Monembasiae,' when he taught, at Florence, those young men, whom Pope Leo had sent for out of the middle of Greece to restore the Greek language. Ibid. fol. 72, b. Bernard Junta says, in his Preface, that he had procured a very ancient manuscript * ex Urbinato bibliotheea.-' Ibid. fol. 72, b. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 257 considered as Iambic Trimeter, except in the first instance, where one line is Trochaic, as there men- tioned. Under the same impression, the first and second from Philemon, and also that from Me- nander, will be said to be Iambic Trimeter acata- lectio ; still adhering to the idea of Iambic, as the species of verse employed in Comedy. The TtteTog of Aristophanes, when correctly regulated, does not exhibit any change of Metre in the same Scene ; and the whole Comedy will be found to contain but one Scene of Iambic Tetrameter verse, and the rest are Iambic Trimeters ; for, as to the Anapaestic Tetrameters, as they are called, they are so few, and differ so little from Iambic, that they do not deserve notice, particularly as the Anapaest is one of the kinds of feet uniformly al- lowed as admissible in Iambic. In no one of these specimens is there a single instance of any intermixture of verses of different lengths, further than that some verses may be acatalectic and others cat alec tic, but both invariably of the same number of Feet or Metres. The Feet, which the Iambic contain, are the Tribrachys, Spondee, Dactyl, and Anapaest, which are also equally ad- mitted in the Trochaic, no occasion having occur- red for the introduction of the Trochee, Proce- leusma, or Amphibrachys, into the Iambic ; nor for that of the Iambus, and those other feet, into the Trochaic. Again, there is not, throughout the whole, one single violation of Metre, or Poetical Licence of any kind ; but it deserves remark, that s 258 AN INQUIRY INTO all of them are capable of being scanned as Bac- chiac, and so they have been treated in a note on each. Aristotle,, in his tract, ' De Poetica, 5 p. 7 & 58 5 Svo. Oxon. 1760, speaking of Tragedy, which he seems erroneously to consider as earlier than Co- medy, says, that the Metre in which Tragedy was originally written, was Tetrameter, because Poetry w T as satyric, and fitter for Dancing, but that it was afterwards changed to Iambic s. In a passage, in his book, ' De Rhetorice,' edit. Goulston, 4to. Lond. 1696, p. 195, mentioning the Trochaic foot, he has asserted, that the Trochee approaches nearer to the dance called the Cordax, that this appears clearly from Tetrameters, and that Tetra- meters are a voluble Rhythmus h . Some persons^ § *'ETi as fjL£yt.Qo<; ix fjuxfZv [avQccv k&i Xz^wg ;gw«cMT«fav uvea tw iroivxw. 9 —' Porro autem magnitudo a vili« * bus fabulis et dictione ridicula sero fiebat illostrior, eo quod * immutatio facta fuita Satyrica Poesh Metrum etiam ex Tetra- * metro redditum erat lambicum ; primo enim utebantur Tetra» e metro, nempe quod Poesis erat Satyrica et saltui aptior.' — • Aristot. De Poetica, Oxon. 8vo. 1760, p. 7 & 55. h ' Aio puSjUoy h.7 £%Eiy To'v Xoyov, p.*Tpy ds fj-n" ttoiy)^ > kcci opp/*ir**WT££av 4 Eivai rr/v KoiriCiv. Af'f Ek>? d\ ysvOjt/,Evy)>, avrn ?) tyvciq To oIxEtov ^.ETpov EfpE* 4 paAtrci yap Asx.Tiy.ov twv [/.erptav to lafdotiov l~i. — The word Tpop^autf does not occur in the original text ; and, though it is here placed in a parenthesis, yet, being printed in the Greek cha- racter, as well as the rest, is calculated to mislead the reader, who may incautiously trust to it, without examining the passage, as given by Hare, with the original in Aristotle. 1 ' To, t= [/.BTfov hi TETpauETpy ia.ju.b s;ov EyEysTo. to ju.3v yap crp&Tcv f TETPawcTpco l^fuvro, o/a no ertirvpiK'riv kcci Qp"%f\v l^x^o'jrxj rov diSuca^'oov, n oi &Wo tSv to, tyxXXiKO,.* ■ — * Cum vero extemporalis esset Poesis, et Tragcedia et Co- 4 mcedia orta fuit et paulatim utraque crevit, altera quidem, * ducta origine ab illis qui Dithyrambum instituerunt, altera < vero ab lis qui Phaiiica.'— Aristot. * De Poetica,' Svo. Oxon. 1760, p. 6 & 58. y * Satyri, quia putabantur cum contis et thyrsis in Liberi * Patris exercitu prselia iniise, ejus generis venabula gerebant.' Scaliger Poetices Liber, lib. i. c. 17- — Natalis Comes, in his Mythologia, p. 481, edit. Geneva, 1620, says, speaking of Bacchus, ' Kujus Dei Satyros, et Silenos, et Lenas, et Nym- 4 phas, et Naiades, et Tityros sacerdotes fuisse, inquit Strabo * libro de:imo B ' THE MATURE OF POETRY. 263^ concluded, that any such compositions, derived from the attendants of Bacchus,, would naturally be written in such Metre as was appropriated to Bacchus ; and that, most certainly, was the Bac- chiac. From the use made of that foot by the Bacchants, the Bacchius is known to have had its name z ; and to that foot is attributed, by Bio- medes, the characteristic of iitness for Dancing; for he terms it • Bacchius, CEnotrius, Tripodius, ,' Saltans a .' It never has been pretended, nor, in- deed, could any such supposition be supported, that Trochaic had any relation whatever to Bac- chus; but Scapula, in his Lexicon, which is known to have been surreptitiously pillaged from Ste- phens's Greek Thesaurus, while that was in the press h , thus defines (art. BxK%ewg, edit. Harmar, Lond. 1629, col. 239) the meaning of the term: z * Item pes quidam ex brevi et duabus longis constans, ut * pfi^wv, eo quod Hymnis in Bacchum et Dithyrambis esset usi- * tatissimus. Hinc TraAt/xSax/^EJOi et ajiTi£c»c%Eioj, ap. Fab. 1. ix. 4 c. 4.'— Scapulae Lexicon, edit. Harmar, Lond. J 629, col. 239, sub art. Bax^oc, and that under Baxter. * Cum vero longis * duabus praeponitur brevis, fit Bacchius, temporum quinque, ut * Catones ; quia a Bacchi carminibus, seu cantilenis, quae aptis- 4 -sime hoc metro componuntur, vel quia familiariter hie Rhyth- * mus Bacchantibus aptus sit.' Victorinus, edit. Putsch, col. 2488.—' Bacchius dictus est, quod Baccho, id est, Libero Patri, 4 accepta modulatio hujus pedis sono componebatur.' Plotius, edit. Putsch, col. 2626. a Diomedes, edit. Putsch, col. 475. h Moreri, Dictionnaire Historique, art. Scapula, Jean, on the authority of Baillet, * Jugemens des Savans/ torn, ii. part. iii. p. .126 & 127, n. 687, edit. Amst. 1725. 266 AN INQUIRY INTO * Item pes quidam, ex brevi et duabus longis con- 6 stans, ut psQypwv, eo quod Hymnis in Bacchum ' et Dithyrambis esset usitatissimus. Hinc 7tgjA///,- 6 &ciK%sios et avTi$a,K%SLog, ap. Fab. 1. ix. c. 4.' In every way, therefore, both in reference to those by whom it was used, and in the peculiar charac- teristic of the Metre itself, as described by Ari- stotle, in the passage in his tract ' De Poetica,' Bacchiac Tetrameter verse completely answers his description ; and, for the reasons above assigned, which, if necessary, might also be supported by others, there is surely very strong ground to be-» lieve that the Tetrameters here spoken of, were not Trochaic, but Bacchiac. Aristotle has, most absurdly, attributed the rise of Comedy to the Phallica c , a set of obscene rites, adapted to no purpose so properly, as the destruc- tion of all Morality and Virtue, together with all sense of Decency, under the pretence, at the same time, of Religious Worship d . With these Rites, for e Aristotle's words are as follow, speaking of Tragedy ': Ttvo[Atvr,$ iv o-tt' a-gx^s aoroarxsh«rix/in<; i x.al ccvtyi act r> ■KwpvSia, ko>a n [Av a.7ro tSv sfa^ovrwy Toy $i9upa^,£ov, rt 6's o-tto twv ra Qc&XXuiM) a ETfe xal vZv h Tto'Kka.'is rm ToAswy Siapim vopi%v[ji.tvot 9 xctra, jiujt-ov riv^n irgoayorrow ocrot iy/yv eto ^avspov aur^.' — * Cum vero extemporalis esset Poesis, et Tragcedia et Comcedia orta fuit et paulatim utraque crevit, altera quidem, dicta origine ab 1111s qui Dithy- rambum instituerunt, altera vero ab iis qui Phallica (quae ad» hue apud multas urbes valent legibus sancita), Poetis amplifl- cantibus quicquid antea notum fuit.'— Aristotle, De Poetica, Oxon. 1760, p. 6 & 58. d < Phallica, Bacchi sacra, apud Athenienses, in quibus THE NATURE OP POETRY* 267 this reason, every man of common Sense must of course have been disgusted; and so calculated ' phallos, thyrsis alligatos, solemniter gestabant.' Littleton's Diet. — " Fuerunt et Phallica in Dionysi honorem instituta, qua?, * apud Athenienses, agebantur, apud quos primus Pegasus iile * Eleutheriensis Bacchi cultum instituit, in quibus cantabant, * quemadmodum Deus hie morbo Athenienses liberavit, et * quemadmodum multorum bonorum author rnortalibus extitit. ' Fama est enim, quod Pegaso imagines Dionysi ex Eleutheris * civitate Boeotiae in Atticam regionem portante, Athenienses * Deum neglexerunt ; neque, ut mos erat, cum pompa accepe- * runt, quare Deus indignatus pudenda hominum morbo infes- 6 tavit, qui erat illis gravissimus ; tunc, eis ab oraculo quo pacta * liberari possent petentibus responsum datum est, ut solum esse 6 remedium malorum omnium, si, cum honore et pompa, Deum € recepissent, quod factum fuit. Ex ea re, turn privatim turn * publice, lignea virilia thyrsis alligantes per earn solemnitatera * gestabant : fuit enim Phallus vocatum membrum virile.' Na- talis Comes, lib. v. cap. xiii. p. 491, edit. 8vo. Geneva, 1620. —In reading this passage, it is impossible not to perceive that the several events are most evidently borrowed from the punish- ment of the Philistines, at Ashdod, as related in the fifth and sixth chapters of the First Book of Samuel; and which appears there to have taken place, according to the chronology inserted in the margin of the 4to. editions of the Bible, about 1141 years before our Saviour; but Helvicus does not place the capture of the ark earlier than about 1 102 years before the birth of Christ. See Helvici Chronologia, edit. fo. Oxon. 1662, p. 38. It is certain that the Phallica bear no resemblance to Comedy ; and, therefore, it could not be derived from them. But it is probable that Poems, relating the events of private in- dividuals, and not the actions of heroes and public characters, might, to distinguish them from Heroic Poetry, where great and glorious achievements were described, be termed (pavX^cc, from < * ante citatus.' — A different etymology of the name Tragedy- has already been given in Sect. XII. 272 AN INQUIRY INTO for which indeed it seems imperiously to call; and the favourite tenet cannot receive any support from the prejudice on its side, because it is the object of that inquiry to invalidate and shake the pre- tensions of that very prejudice. If it cannot de- fend itself, it can by no means afford protection to any thing else - 9 and no precedent or supposed authority, for none of real weight can exist in such a case,, can be claimed, in opposition, as it would foe, to every dictate of Reason k . In every case but where they consist, which they very rarely, if ever do, of six Iambuses l ; and even then it may be doubtful whether they are correct ; Iambic Trimeter aeatalectic verses will, as has been found on experiment 111 , scan as Bac- chiac Tetrameter catalectic ; and, of course, they will be by every person referred to the one or other of those sorts, according to the previous ideas of those persons, as to which of the two was intended k ' In re magna vincat Ratio authoritatem.' Plin. Jul. 1. i. — * Rationi nullius auctoritas prsejudicare debet.' Jo. Sarisburi- ensis PoJycraticus, edit. 12mo. Lugd. Bat. 1595, p. 380. — e Sic * ergo legantur, ut auctoritas non prsejudicet Rationi.' Ibid. p. 380. — * Bene adhibita, Ratio cernit quod optimum sit; neglecta, 4 multis implicatur erroribus/ Cic. 4< Tusc. 1 Bishop Leng has noticed, that he found but one verse throughout Terence, consisting wholly of the Iambus, and that verse he has given, but it is not a decisive instance, because one of the syllables is not necessarily short, but common; and if it is considered as long, the foot ceases to be an Iambus* smd becomes a Spondee. See a former note on Section XIX, m See Sect. XIX. and Sect, XXIX. infra, I THE NATURE OF POETRY. 273 as the rule. Considering- this as an abstract question, what species of verse was in its own na* ture the fittest for the purpose^ there does not seem any reason why the preference should be given to Iambic. Cicero n and Terentianus Maurus ° have said, which indeed is highly probable and reason- able in itself, that the object of the Dramatic Poets was as nearly as possible to represent fa-» miliar conversation ; and Aristotle has affirmed, that of all metres Iambic approaches nearest to that; and that men in common conversation frequently used Iambic verse, but not Heroic Hexameter p. The n * Itaque video visum esse nonnullis Platonis et Democriti i locutionem, etsi absit a versu, tamen quod incitatius feratur 4 et clarissimrs verborum hominibus citatur potius poema pu« * tandum, quam comicorurci poetarum, apud quos, nisi quod * versiculi sient nihil est aliud quotidiani dissimile sermonis.' Cicero, Orator, edit. Glasg. 1748, p. 35, sect. 20. — « At conii- * corum senarii, propter similitudinem sermonis, sic saepe sunt ' abjecti, ut nonnunquam vix in his numerus, aut versus, intel- ' ligi possit.' Ibid. p. 96, sect. 55. ' Sed qui pedestres fabulas socco premunt, ' Ut quae loquuntur sumpta de Vita putes,' &c. Terentianus Maurus, edit. Putsch, col. 2443. Again, a few lines below : * In metra peccant arte non inscitia,- ' Kc sint sonora verba consueturiinis, 1 Paulumque rursus a solutis differant.' p c Afffttf d£ ytvoy.tvn~;, cevrri 7) Quci; to oly.uov ^.srpov syps* fjt.x,?uro(r yup XsKTtxov Twy fjiiTfM to /a^Etoy Is - *, a-rij^vov $\ rovrov, TrXfTf a yctp 4 kx\ t\tea/yovT£5 ir,^ Xextoc^- apjuoy/a?.' Aristotle, De Poetica, edit. Oxon. 1760, p. 7* — * Institufea autem dictione, ipsa Natura pro- * prium metrum invenit. Omnium enim metrorum maxime collo- '274 AN INQUIRY INTO impropriety of Heroic Hexameter verse, no man will be inclined to question; but Iambic is not the nearest approach to common conversation. It has more of apparent regularity and harmony, than the Bacchiac or Pseonic; and would, therefore, have an appearance of more labour and study. The object which the Comic Writers had in view, which Terentianus Maurus thus describes, ' Ne sint sonora verba consuetudinis,' would best be answered by that kind of metre, which, while it was still metre, and so gave a degree of elegance to the dialogue, as requiring it to be more smooth in style, was yet the least harmonious as poetry, and therefore bore the nearest resem- blance to elegant prose. There is no doubt, that, in this point, Bacchiac, or Peeonic, has the advantage ; and as little can it be supposed, that, when the difference was so great, and the reason so strong for preferring this last, the Poets should have injudi- ciously chosen the worst, and, without any ground, have adopted Iambic. Neither has Iambic, in its nature or history, any connexion whatever with the subjects or history of Comedy, or any relation to its inventor, that should operate as a reason for employing it. Aristotle, when relating that 1 qirio accommodatum est Xambicum. Hoc vero inde manifes- * turn est, quod in mutuo sermone plurimis Iambis utimur, ' hexametris autem raro et a sermone communi aberrantes*'— Ibid, p. 59. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 275 Tragedy had improved in dignity, by a change from a low plot and ridiculous diction, notices, as one instance, the change of the metre from Te- trameter to Iambic, which certainly implies that he thought Iambic metre suited to the dignity of Tragedy ^ : at another, he says that it was calcu- lated for railing and reproach r : on a third occa- sion, that it is the mere style of the vulgar, and therefore not suited to public speaking s ; and on a fourth, that it is fitted for conversation 1 : but these are evidently contradictory to each other, and therefore not deserving of notice. The arguments in favour of Bacchiac are founded on the following facts, all of which have most evidently a close connexion with the q ' y ETt ^s ju./ys0o£ ejc /uwpwv p$w kou Xsf ew$ ytXoicx,^ hot, to ex. aarv 1 fiKOv prraJoctkiiV) o\z ocTricrsixi^vu^n' to, te jxtrpov ejc TETpaf/.ETpoD ?«^x- ' Giw lytviTo' — * Porro autem magnitudo a vilibus fabulis et dic- ' tione ridicula sero fiebat illustrior, eo quod immutatio facta * fuit a Satyrica Poesi : metrum etiam ex Tetrametro redditum * erat Iambicum.'— Aristot. De Poetica, Oxon. 17G0, p. 7 & 59. r * 'Ev oi$ (speaking of compositions calculated for censure ' and reproach) kki to o>^6ttov \a.p£itov ^x0e ysTpo-r ho xocl la^uov 6 kkXiTtcu yuv, ot* h tw piryu tstw ': Tragedy was not invented till at least- twenty, or perhaps more, years afterwards z . Tra- gic verse is decidedly affirmed, by Aristotle, to have been originally Tetrameter a ; and this was probably Bacchiac, because of its original refer- ence to Bacchus b . Afterwards, as Aristotle says, it was changed to Iambic ; but he does not notice at what time the change took placed This last fact is, however, doubtful; because Iambic Tri- meter acatalectic verses will, as it has proved on experiment, in all cases scan as Bacchiac d , except where the feet are all Iambuses. And it is not known that a verse all Iambuses will be found so certain as not to admit of correction e . If it had a Spondee, Dactyl, or Anapaest, in any one of the five first feet, it would scan as Bacchiac. So will also a catalectic Iambic 'JVimeier, if any two of the first five feet consist of Spondees, Dactyls, or Ana- y Between 318 and 297 years before the Parian Chronicle, which itself was written 265 before the time of our Saviour. See the authorities already cited in Section XII. z 273 years before the writing of the Parian Chronicle. Se-e the authorities already cited in Section XII. a Aristotle, De Poetica, edit. Oxon. 1760, p. 7. See the passage in this Section. b See Victorinus, edit. Putsch, col. 2488, and Plotius, edit. Putsch, col. 2626. Both passages have been given in a former note on this Section. c Aristotle, De Poetica, p. 7. See the passage in a former note on this Section. d So will Trochaic Trimeters, in all instances, even where all the feet are Trochaic. e £>ee a note already inserted on Section XIX, T 3 278 AN INQUIRY INTO psests f . As Tragedy was only a subsequent varia- tion from Comedy, so far as it respected the events to be exhibited, it was surely more probable that the inventor of Tragedy, considering that, also, like Comedy, conducted in dialogue, should em- ploy the same kind of metre as had before been used in Comedy. What that was, it is true Ari- stotle has not mentioned ; but Crates is expressly said, by Aristotle £, to have rejected, or rather not to have used the Iambic form. If so, in what kind of verse did he write ? for, as Tragedy was certainly invented before his time, and in verse, it is highly improbable he should have' written in prose. The kind of verse used in Tragedy, which was the later invention, and, indeed, derived from Comedy, was not Iambic but Tetrameter h ; and that, most probably, for the reasons before assign- ed, Bacchiac or Pseonic. What, therefore, could have been the kind of verse used by Crates in Comedy, but the same Tetrameter verse with that originally prevailing in Tragedy ? And Aristotle has never said, nor, indeed, is there any reason for such a supposition, that, in Comedy, as iti Tra- f It is the same case with a Trochaic Trimeter catalectic, if only one of the five first feet be a Spondee, &c. * naGoXy ivoiih Xoyy? r> /xy9a?.' Aristot. De Poetica, edit. Oxon ? p. 8.—* Atheniensium autem primus sermones aut Fiibulas com* * posuit Crates, missa omnino forma Iambica.' IbicL p. 60. h Aristotle, De Poetica, edit. Oxon. p. 7. See the passaga inserted before, in a note on this Section* THE NATURE OF POETRY. 279 gedy, the verse was changed to Iambic. Nor is the authority of the division sufficiently established to justify an idea that the Tetrameter Iambic or Trochaic verses, if ever they apparently occur, are rightly distributed, and not rather capable of be- ing regulated as Iambic or Trochaic Trimeter, as some persons, though erroneously, would perhaps be inclined to call them ; in which case it would be equally possible to render them, like the rest of the Trimeters, Bacchiac or Pseonic Tetrameters. These observations, though here confined solely to Greek Comic verse, are yet equally applicable to Greek Tragic metre also, as has already been shown in the preceding Section ; and it cannot be denied that the facts already stated, should they even, on account of early prejudices, fail of pro- ducing full conviction, are yet sufficiently strong to justify and require some hesitation or pause in the mind of every one, before he ventures to advance or hazard the assertion that either the Greek Tra- gic or Comic verse was intended to be Iambic. The question as to the nature of Latin Comic verse, depends also, besides these, on other cir- cumstances, peculiar to itself, which must all be fully considered^ together with the original facts, before a correct judgment can be formed. None of them, however, tend in any way to counte- nance the idea that Greek Comic verse, as the original from which the Latin was borrowed, was either really in itself, or conceived to have been, Iambic, On the contrary, the practice of the ?A 280 AN INQUIRY INTO Romans on that point, if it can be said to be in any respect applicable to the nature of Greek Co- mic verse, would rather lead any one to decide in favour of Bacchiac. But nothing* further on the subject is here requisite, than to mention that the nature of Latin Comic verse will be separately and distinctly examined in a subsequent Section destined to that purpose* THE NATURE OF POETRY, 281 SECTION XXI. Latin Comic Verse, Specimens of. Verses supposed Iambic Trimeters, will scan as Bacchiae Te« trameter.— A specimen from Plautus so treated. — Examples of verses rightly supposed Bacchiae from Plautus. — Instances of the like kind from Terence. — These verses, however apparently different from the Greek specimens given in Section XX. may still perhaps be derived from the same source. — Imagined Pseonic or Bacchiae, and why. In a former Section specimens have been given from the Greek Comic authors, in order to show what species of Metre they employed. A similar me- thod shall now be pursued with respect to the La- tin Poets of that description; by which means an opportunity will also be afforded of comparing the two systems of versification with each other. It is certainly true, that, on many, occasions, the same verse may be scanned in two very differ- ent ways ; and, according to the manner in which it shall be thus regulated, will of course be the decision of what nature it is to be deemed '. lam- \ Victorinus, edit. Putsch, col. 2493, cites the following verse; " Armiger in Ida pede vago littora petens," «pn which he remarks in the following words; * Si ut Tro.- 282 AN INQUIRY INTO bic Trimeter verses, for instance, will also scan as Bacchiac Tetrameter, as is apparent from the fol- lowing lines, which are part of the Prologue to Plautus's Amphitruo, and have hitherto passed for the former sort. How properly they have been thus received, may be doubtful ; but at present they are only here given as instances to prove the above fact. Scanned as Iambic, they would be as follow : * Ut vos | in vosltns vol|tis mer]eimo;niis 6 Emunjdis venldundislque me | laetum | lucris * Afficelre atque ad|juva|re in re|bus omjnibus * Et ut | res ratilonesjque vesjtrorum om|nium * Bene exlpedilre vol|tis perejgreque et | domi 5 Bonolque atque amlplo auctalre per|petuo 1 lucro.* As Bacchiac they would be thus : Ut vos in | vostris vo!|tis merciimoniis Emundis | vendundislque me laeltum lucris AfBcere atlque adjuvalre in rebus | omnibus Et ut res | rationes|que vestro|rum omnium Bene expedite voltis | peregreque et | domi Bonoque at|que amplo auctalre perpetulo lucro. 1 chaicum scandas, erunt omnes conjugationes a Trochaeo et * Anapaesto; si contra ut a trisyllabo ineipias, erunt omnes con- * jugationes ex Dactylo et Iambo, et efficietur Iambicus versus.' The same autbor, Victorinus, edit. Putsch, col. 2595, says, * Versus quoque hendecasyllabus Sapphicus varia scandendi divi- ' sione, diversis inter se metris, communis reddetur.' In proof of which, he remarks, that, scanned in one manner, it would be rendered Ithyphallic, in another, Phalaecian, In another place, col. 2566, he says that Phalaecian verse is called Ithyphallic, if it is concluded with three Trochees, THE NATURE OF POETRY. 283 Multitudes of such ambiguous verses might be produced, which can decide nothing as to the sys- tem pursued, because they want some additional circumstance to determine how they themselves are to be understood. Such verses only shall, therefore, be mentioned on the present occa- sion, as furnish in themselves some reason for referring them rather to one class than another ; and these will probably decide the fate of the others. In the first scene of his Amphitruo, Plautus uses these, which, like all the rest here inserted, have been scanned, in order that the reader may more immediately perceive their nature. * Haec heri im|modestia | coegit | me qui hoc * Noctis a | portu ingra|tis exciitavit i Nonne idem hoc | luci me | mittere pojtuit * Opulento hojmini hoc magis | servitus J dura est * Hoc magis | miser est dijvitis serjvos * Noctesque diiesque assidu|o satis | superque est * Quo facto aut | dicto adest | opus quieltus ne sis ' Ipse domilnus dives ojperis et la|boris expers 1 Quodcunque homilni accidit | libere | posse retur ' iEquum esse pultat non repujtat 3abo|ris quid sit ' Nee asquum an|ne iniquum im'peret co'gitabit 4 Ergo in serlvitute exlpetunt mul,ta iniqua *■ Habendum et | ferendum hoc o]nus est cum | labore 1 Satis est me | queri illo | modo ser|vitutem hodie k k The first words of this line are in most, if not all, of the printed editions, given \ Satius est,' instead of * Satis est,' to which, for the following causes, it has here been found neces- sary, on every ground of Reason, to alter them, as they do not 284 AN INQUIRY INTO * Qui fuerim J liber earn | nunc potilvit pater * Servitu|tis hie qui J verna natus [ est queritur.* In the same scene., a little further on, are these lines : ' Postquam utnnjque exitum est | maxima j copia * Disperti(ti viri | dispertiiti ordines * Nos nostras [ more nosjtro et modo injstruximus * Legiones | item hostes | contra sujas instruunt * Deinde utrijque imperaltores in | medium exeunt * Extra turibam ordinum | colloquunitur simul * Convenit | victi utri j sint eo | praelio * Urbem agrum a'ras focos | seque uti | dederent * Postquam id acltum est tubas ujtrinque canunt 1 contra * Consonat | lerra clajmorem utrinjque efferunt convey the meaning obviously intended. Mercury does not mean to say he himself had better complain of being reduced to servitude, because he had been free, since Sosia, who had been born to servitude, complained of it ; but he evidently means to compare himself and Sosia, not as similar, but dissimilar in- stances., for the purpose of showing that Sosia was unreason- able, and to point out that, if he, Mercury himself, complained of servitude, there might be reason and justice in that, because lie was accustomed and entitled to freedom. On the contrary, such a complaint from Sosia he intends to show unjust, because he was born a servant, and therefore experienced nothing but what, from the time of his birth, he ought to have expected. The passage, therefore, should undoubtedly stand as in the text, and be thus translated : * It is sufficient, if I should complain of * servitude in this manner, who was this day free; and by my * servitude my father is now benefiting. But this man, who was * born a servant, thinks fit to complain.' Besides this, the verse, -of whatever kind it is thought, will not, without a Licence, ad- mit * Satius,' but requires it to be read ' Satis,' which it may ? without any Licence of any k'md. THE NATURE OF POETRY* 285 « Xmpera|tor utrin[que hinc et il|linc Jovi 4 Vota susicipere horta're exerci|tum * Pro se quisjque id quod quislque potest et | valet * Edit ferjro ferit | tela fran|gunt boat i Ccelum fremi|tu virum ex | spiritu et an|helitu * Nebula con'stat cadunt [ vulneris | vi et virium * Denique ut j voluimus | nostra supe'rat manus 6 Hostes creibri cadunt | nostri con!tra ingruunt ' Vicimus 1 vi fero;ces l 1 This line is evidently defective, and wants three syllables to complete it, a circumstance thus probably to be accounted for : from the sense and measure, there is reason to think it originally stood thus : { Viciraus vi feroccs feroces,* and would then signify, ' We, the fierce, by force overcame the * fierce.' Similar modes of expression frequently occur, where a play upon two words seems evidently intended, as ' Fortei ' fortis amat.' Of the same sort, as to the mode of expression, are the two following lines, which occur in the Poetee Minores Grasci, a Winterton, 12mo. Cantab. 1635, p. 532: ' Ec-'oXuJ -yap avtffi EsrvAa yjau oi^oT 0£of«* ' Vir bonus bonum nunquam odit.' * Bono quidem vivo bona etiara dat Deus.' And in the following of Horace, Carm. lib. iv. Ode IV. v. 29 : ' Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis.' But the copyist, finding the word * feroces ' occur twice, imme- diately in succession, ignorantly conceived the last redundant^ and consequently rejected it as an error of some former copyist. If the second word ' feroces ' is omitted, the sense and metre are both defective : if it is received, both are complete, and the line is of the same length and metre as those which precede it ; besides that, in the latter case, the expression is much more forcible : so that the sense, as well as metre, is considerably be- nefited by the change. £56 AN INQUIRY INTO * Sect in iugam j se nemo | tamen con|vortitur * Nee receidit loco | quin statim | rem gerat * Animum amititunt priusjquam demijgrent loco * Jacet ubi | steterat quislque atque ordi[nem obtinet a Hoc ubi Amphiltruo herus conjspicatus [ est meus * Illico equijtes jubet | dextera in|vadere * Equites ciSti parent | ab dexteira maximo.* In the Second Act of the same play, Scene 1. ho lias the following lines : * Age i tu | secundum | sequor sublsequor te * Scelestis|simuin te arlbitror nam | quamobreni * Quia id quod | neque est neque | fuit neque j futurum est * Mihi prsejdicas ecjeere jam tujatim * Facis ut tujis nulla alpud te sit | fides * Quid est quoimodo jam | quidem hercle ego | tibi istam 4 Scelestam | scelus linlguam abscindam | tuus sum * Froinde ut | comraodum est | et lubet | quidque facias 111 * Tamen quin | loquar haec u|ti facta j sunt hie * Nunquam ullo | modo me | potes dejterrere * Scelestisjsime audes | mihi praejdicare id « Domi te es t se nunc qui hie | ades velra dico B .' m Bentley scans this verse tnus : Proinde ut comlmodum est ut | lubet quidjque facias; which necessarily requires a Licence, to convert ' Proinde' into a dissyllable, for which there is no real cause, as the line, when properly scanned, as it is in the text, needs no such assistance ; for, in Paeonic or Bacchiac metre, the Cretic and Bacchius frequently occur in the same line. n Plauti Amphitruo, Act II. Sc. I, and Bentley's ' Emen- * clationes ad Ciceronis Tusculanas,' inserted at the end of * Ciceronis Tusculanarum Disputationum Libri V. ex recen- * sione Joannis Davisii, Coll. Regin. Cantab. Socii, 8vo. Can- 4 tab. 1709 { p. 49, in which last place will be found eleven more THE NATURE OF POETRY. 287 And these are followed by several more of the like kind. The same author, Plautus, has, in the Second Scene of the First Act of his Comedy^ called Asinaria> used the following verses i * Siccine hoc | fit foras [ sedibus ] me ejici { Promeren|ti optume hoc cine pretii ] redditur * Bene meren|ti mala es | male meren^ti bona es ' At malo j cum tuo | nam jam ex hoc | loco * Ibo ego ad ( tres viros | vestraque ibi | nomina * Faxo erunt | capitis te I perdam ego et | filiam 1 Perlecebrae | pernicies J adolescen!tum exitium c Nam mare haud | est mare vos | mare acerjrimum 1 Nam in mari | repperi hie | elavi | bonis * Ingrata atlque irrita eslse omnia in|te!ligo < Quae dedi et | quod benefe[ci ac posthac | tibi.* In the Prologue to the Amphitruo is the follow* ing line, i Deorum | regnator j architectus [ omnibus,' which those who conceive the line Iambic, and yet refuse to admit the Iambus and Trochee in the same verse, have found it necessary thus to alter : Deum regnator architectus omnibus ; and, at the end of the Second Scene of the First Act, this line occurs : * Cum Alcume^rra uxore ujsurarijaV lines from the same Scene, arranged in the same manner, which Were here omitted, as those in the text were thought sufficient evidence of the fact. ° In the edition of Plautus, fo. Parma ? 1510, this line stands thus ; * Ac loquitur cum Alcxeeaa, uxore -asuraria.* 288 AN INQUIRY INTO Terence, in his Comedy of the Andria, Act III, Sc. % uses the following' lines : * Adhuc Aiichylis qua? adlsolent qusejque oportet. * Signa esse ad | salutem om|nia huic es|se video * Nunc primum ] fac isthaec | lavet post | deinde * Quod jussi e|i dari bijbere et quan|tum imperaviP/ And in his Andria, likewise, Act IV. Sc, 1, he has these : * Tanta vejcordia mjnata cuijquam ut siet * Ut malis | gaudeat atlque ex incomjmodis 4 Alterius | sua ut comjparet com|moda ah*! * Idne est veiruni immo id est ge|nus hominum | pessimum in * Deneganjdo modo | quis pudor | paulum adest * Post ubi | tempus projmissa jam | perfici r p Terence, Andria, Act III. Sc. 11. The last verse, as given by Bentley, at the end of the edition of the Tusculan Disputations, p. 49, before referred to, stands thus : 4 Quod jussi ei j dari bibejre et quantum imjperavi. But this is evidently wrong, because, in this state, it requires a Licence, to make ' ei ' a monosyllable, which is totally unneces- sary, when it is correctly scanned, as in the text. ** Bentley, in his Emendations to the Tusculan Disputations of Cicero, edit. 1709, p. 53, scans this verse in the following manner, in order to make it a Cretic like the rest : Alteri[us sua ut | ccmparet j commoda ah. But this is objectionable, because it requires a Licence, to make the third syllable of 'Alterius,' contrary to its nature, long;, and, again, this Licence is unnecessary, because the Cretic is not a distinct species of verse, and the Paeonic, in which it is included, admits the Choriambus and Bacchius, of which, with- out a Licence, this verse would consist. r Bentley, ubi supra, p. 53, chooses to read this verse, as if there were an elision of the s at the end of * tempus,' to make THE NATURE OF POETRY. 289 ? Turn coac|ti necesjsario | se aperiunt ' Et timent | et tamen | res premit | clenegare s « Ibi turn eo|rum impudenjtissima o|ratio est K 9 However different these verses may at first ap- pear, from those already produced from the Greek Comic writers, it will be found, on due examina- tion, by no means impossible or improbable that they should both have been derived from the same source, and regulated by the same system: for the singularity of these consists, not in the intro- duction of feet rejected or excluded in the Greek examples, but only of the more frequent repetition of the two principal feet, the Bacchius and Cretic* Like those already given from the Greek Poets, they have been, by some persons, thought to be Iambic, under the general, though erroneous no- tion, that all Comic verse was Iambic. But these very persons have been obliged to desert their own that foot a Cretic ; but this Licence is unnecessary, because the Molossus is unquestionably admissible. 8 Bentley scans this and the next verse thus ; so as to absorb the last syllable of this in the first of the next : Et tiraent j et tamen | res premit [ denega- Re ibi turn eo|rum impuden|tissima o| ratio est. But this Licence is not requisite, because, as the verse now stands in the text, l denegare,' the last foot of the first verse, is no more than a Di-Trochee, which does not exceed, in value, the quantity of the Choriambus, a foot undoubtedly admissible. * Terence, Andria, Act IV. Sc. 1. Some of these latter verses are mentioned by Micyllus, as having been thought in his time Cretic, ■290 AN INQUIRY INTO system and principles, by claiming a multitude of indulgences, under the name of Poetical Licences, the absurdity of which has been completely shown in a separate Section. The reasons already stated, as to the nature of Tragic and Comic verse, both Greek and Latin, are, in truth and reality, so very strong in favour of concluding them Bacchiac, and so repugnant to the idea of their being Iambic, that it is ima- gined no person, whose opinion would be entitled to attention, can sincerely entertain any doubt on the subject ; and, on an adequate examination of the lines here given, they will be found perpe- tually to produce the Bacchiac, Cretic, and Pseonic feet, of which that species is known to consist. In some the Bacchius wholly is found ; in some the Cretic wholly ; in some these two feet are se- parately intermixed with other feet in the same line ; and, in some instances, they both occur in the same verse, which, on the general principles of versification, they may reasonably do, because they are both of the same value in time, being merely transpositions of each other. Indeed, the correspondence between these verses and the laws of Bacchiac, is so clear, that Bentley u has ex- pressly said of the lines from Terence, Andria, u In his ' Emendationes ad Ciceronis Tusculanas,' inserted at the end of ' Ciceronis Tusculanarum Disputationum Libri V. i ex recensione Joannis Davisii, Coll. Regin. Cantab. Socii, * 8vo. Cantab. 1709,' p. 49. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 291 Act II. Sc. 3, beginning c Adtmc Arehylis,' &c. and those from Piautus's Amphitruo, Act II. Sc. 1, beginning c Age i tu,' Sec. that they are Bacchiac. Those from Terence, Andria, Act IV. Sc. 1, be- ginning c Tanta vecordia,' &c. he has in like man- ner pronounced to be Cretic ; but, not being suf- ficiently aware, that they were not distinct sorts, but one and the same, he has, to avoid the admis- sion of the . Bacchius and Cretic into the same verse, imagined Licences employed, which are wholly unnecessary, and do not really exist x . From every reason of propriety and experience, ground abundantly strong is afforded for believing that this will ultimately prove the correct idea, not only as to the present verses, but as to all the others, employed by the Latin Comic writers. However, that the question may not be said to be prejudged, without due examination, it shall, in the course of some of the ensuing Sections, under- go an ample and extensive, as well as a minute and particular, investigation ?. x See these before pointed out in the notes on the verses themselves. > See Sections XXVIII. XXIX. and XXX. V 2 992 AN INQUIRY INTO SECTION XXII. Priscian^ his System. Prisciaftj when he lived,— Author of the present system.— More deference paid to his opinion than it merits.— His artful me- thod of avoiding the inquiry whether Comic verse Iambic. — Says, incidentally, that Comic writers used Iambic, and introduced into it five feet, which he names. — Says Iambic verses are either Monometers, &c. — Comic writers, he says, used principally Trimeters and Tetrameters, the rest seldom. ■ — They also used Trochaic Tetrameter catalectic. — All Co- mic writers use, he says, frequent Licences — But Terence more than all. — Terence, he says, used Trochaic Metre, mixed and confused with Iambic— Remarks on his sys- tem.— No one, who has tried Priscian's system, can make it succeed.— To remedy its defects, they have resorted to Poetical Licences. — Hare's classification of seventeen sort* of Poetical Licences. 1 riscian, who lived between the years 513 and 519 of the Christian sera z , at least 649 years after Terence, and 694 after Plautus % may be justly z Saxius, Onomast. first edit. p. 34, places him between the years 513 and 519. Priscian lived in the time of the Emperor Anastasiusa Konigii Bibl. p. 664i } on the authority of Vossius, 4 De Poetis.' a Terence died Anno Urbis Romans 615, Konigii Biblio- theca, p. 795, which would be 136 years before Christ. Hel- vici Chronologia, p. 79. Plautus died Anno Urbis Romans THE NATURE OP POETRY. 293 considered as the author of the present system, as to Latin Comic Metre; since he is the earliest writer who treats professedly and completely on the subject b . Others have only spoken of it inci- dentally, and very briefly, when describing the rest of the Metres in Poetry, without laying down any system ; but he has written a separate tract, professedly on the point, and has descended to particulars unnoticed by them. His rules and ob- servations seem to have been the principal, and, indeed, almost the only foundation of the opinion which subsequent grammarians have entertained ; and, before a correct idea can be obtained how far his authority ought to prevail, the validity of each of his assertions must be separately consi* dered. More deference than it merits, seems, in this adoption of his sentiments, to have been paid to Priscian's judgment, if it deserves the name ; for 570, Konigii Bibliotheca, p. 647, that is to say, 181 before Christ. Helvicus, ibid. p. 77. b In his tract * De Versions Comicis,' among the Latin Grammarians, published by Putschius, col, 1319. Priscian's tract ' De Versibus Ccmicis, 5 besides having been published with other editions of his works, occurs in Putschius's edition of the Latin Grammarians, 1605, col. 1319; but Saxius, in his Onpmasticon, vol. ii. p. 20, remarks, that no author has been more negligently published by Putschius, than Priscian. All the editions of Priscian seem in a most wretched state; for, on the present occasion, four were consulted, for the purpose of arranging some Greek verses, which he has inserted from Eu- polis, but in every one of them the lines were printed as prose, v 3 294 AN INQUIRY INTO his mode of stating facts is extremely suspicious. Instead of asserting and proving, as he ought to have done, for he confesses it had been questioned what was really the nature of Comic verse, he as- sumes, as an undoubted fact, that it was Iambic ; and that it admitted five sorts of feet K And this he chooses thus to assume, as an unquestionable foundation for what he means to say, at the very moment when he distinctly admits it was so far from being self-evident, as he states it to be, that some persons had contended, that in truth and in fact Terence's writings were not in verse, but mere prose. In consequence of this artful mode of evading the most important part of the inquiry, and as if he had proved his point by the strongest evi- dence, he expresses his surprise that, as the Comic writers used, as he says, such a kind of Iambic, as to place, without distinction, five feet, namely 3 the Iambus, the Tribrachys, the Anapsest, the Dactyl, or the Spondee, in all places but the last, b His words are these : * Cum non solum Terentius, se4 c etiam Plautus, Ennius, Aceiusque, et Naevius, atque Pacu- * vius, Turpiliusque, et omnes, tarn Tragcediae, quam Comoer 1 dise veteris Latinse scriptores, eodem metro modo Iambici sint 6 usi, ut omnibus in locis indifferenter ponerent quinque pedes, * id est, lamburn, vel Tribrachum, vel Anapaestum, vel Dae- ' tylum, vel Spondeum, absque postremo loco, in quo vel lam- * bum vel Pyrrhichium omnino posuisse inveniuntur ; miror c quosdam vel abnegare esse in Terentii Comoediis metra, vel ea * quasi arcana qusedam, et ab omnibus doctis semota, sibi solis 4 esse cognita, conflrmare.' — Priscian, ' De Versibus Comicis^ edit. Putsch, col. 1319. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 295 in which last they uniformly employed the Iambus or Pyrrhichius, any persons should have denied that the Comedies of Terence were metre, or should have affirmed that the rules of versification were different from the practice of the learned, and only known to the Poets themselves % He next informs his reader, that Iambic verses were either Monometers, of two simple feet con- joined ; or Dimeters, of four ; or Trimeters, of six ; or Tetrameters, of eight ; for that Penta- meters, of ten, and Hexameters, of twelve, very rarely occurred ; and he says, that the Comic wri- ters frequently used Trimeters and Tetrameters, but the other sorts seldom, and dispersed in the middle of speeches, for the sake of rhythmical pronunciation and distinction d . Trochaic verses, particularly catalectic Tetra- meters, in which one syllable is wanting in the end, was, he says, also used by the Comic writers'; and into these, as he asserts, they introduced, in every place, the same feet as they employed in the Iambic, intermixing with them, however, the c See this passage from Priscian, edit,. Putsch, col. 1319, already given in a former note on this Section. d ' Sciendum est igitur, quod Iambici versus yel Monometrf * sunt, ex duobus pedibus simplicibus conjunctis ; vel Dimetri, * ex quator; vel Trimetri, ex sex; vel Tetrametra, ex octo ; * nam Pentametri, ex decern; et Hexametri, ex duodecira, ra- 4 rissime inveniuntur^. Ergo, Trimetris et Tetrametris frecjuen.*- * ter utuntur Comici, aliis vero raro, et in medio dispersis, pro* * nunciationis rhythmicse causa et distinctionis.'— -Prisejan, edit* Putsch, col 1319, v 4 296 AN INQUIRY INTO Trochaic foot. Of these verses, he observes, the last syllable but one is in most instances long ; but that verses longer than Tetrameters also oc- cur. Instances of such, he promises to give in a subsequent part, but this promise he has not per^ formed e . Further on, he remarks that all the Comic writers use frequent Synaloephas, Episynalcephas^ and rejections of the letter S, in scanning their verses ; but that Terence has employed them more frequently than they all f . And, lastly, in a subsequent part, he observes that Terence uses Trochaic metre, intermixed and confused with Iambic, which he says he thinks was clone, in order to imitate, by the confusion of e * Trochaicis etlam utuntur, plerumque Tetrametris cata* * lecticis, i. quibus una deest syllaba in fine, in quibus omnes * Iambicos ponunt in quocunque loco pedes, commixto tamen * metro Trochaico : in eis plerumque invenimus, ante finem 4 versus, longam. Sunt tamen et ultra, citraque Tetrametro * usi Trochaico. Eorum igitur exempla proferam, si prius Me« ' tris de supra dictis scripta proponam.* f s At illud quoque sciendum, quod omnes quidem crebris 6 Synalcephis, et Episynalcephis, et collisionibus et abjectionibus * S. literae, sint usi, scandendo versus suos. Terentius autera { plus omnibus.' Priscian, edit. Putsch, col. 1322. The ab- surd notion of the elision of S at the end of a word, may have, very probably, arisen from the character used in manuscripts, to denote ' us/ which is the letter ' u,' with a sloping line over it: * ns' is represented also in a similar manner, by the letter N, and a stroke over it. See these marks noticed by Brencman, in his ' Historia Pandectarum,' p. 122, as abbreviations used in the Florentine manuscript of the Pandect, THE NATURE OF POETRY. 297 the metre, the want of skill of the characters who spoke. He adds, that some of these lines are more than Trimeters, and some less ; and that some have the last syllable but one short, and some long &. To the system of Priseian, as stated above* there seems every possible kind of objection, from example, principle, and Reason ; and the specimens already given in Section XX. from the Greek Co-, mic authors, have decidedly established two very material points, both of which are confirmed by every rule of good Sense and Reason, and directly 8 • Terentius Trochaico mixto, vel confuso cum Iambico, * utitur, in sermone personarum, quibus maxime imperitior hie * convenit, quern puto ut imitetur hanc confusionem rhythmo- * rum facere. Sunt autem Trimetri, ac plus minusque, et ha- f bent penultimam in quibusdam longam, et in quibusdam bre° * vera, ut in Andria : te Adhuc Archyllis quae assolent, quaeque opprtent '■' Signa esse ad saluteni, omnia buic esse video, " Nunc primum fac istsec ut lavet, post deinde uypa<£o<, or such as made the beauty and elegance of the writing and character their object. — They were several in number, and by birth Greeks. — Merits of these Copyists accuracy and fidelity.— Several examples of each. — * Circum- THE NATURE OF POETRY. 313 * ducere literas,' what the phrase signifies, illustrated from Suetonius. — Copyists were themselves correctors. — Faults of these Copyists.— Specimens of their unskilfulness and ignorance.— Others, of their negligence, or carelessness, and folly, which were of several sorts. — Instance of an omis- sion in the title * De Minoribus,' from the Florentine Pan- dect. — Other examples of their folly and trifling, but more ridiculous than dangerous. It is a sound and judicious observation of Henry Brencman, a civil lawyer of the eighteenth cen- tury, an inhabitant of Culembourg z , and Member of the Academy at Florence, that the merit, value, and importance of a manuscript cannot be duly estimated, or correctly ascertained, without a pre- vious knowledge what kind of persons were its Copyists and Correctors, and what were their man- ners, dispositions, excellences, and defects a . From z See the dedication to his book, which is dated thence in 1722. * Culembourg, ou Cuilembourg, petite ville, avec un * chateau, et titre de Comtek Elle est sur la rive gauche du * Leek dans le Betau qui fait partie de la Gueldre Hollandoise, ' au nord de Bommel, dont elle est eloignee d'environ trois ' lieues.' — Moreri, Diet. art. Culembourg. a ' Illud vero, in primis, inquirere convenit, quale genus * hominum fuerunt his Scribse, sive Librarii ; ut, de ingenio ip- 1 aotum et erroribus, in exscribendo, instructiores evadamus.' — * Henrici Brencmanni, J. C. et Academici Florentini Historia * Pandectarum, seu Fatum Exemplaris Florentini,' small 4to. Traject. ad Rhenum, 1722, p. 141. — * Inquiramus, igitur, in ' mores et indolem Librariorum codicis Florentini, hoc est, in i virtutes ipsorum, et vitia; ut ex iis, quae aut laudanda in his * aut culpanda venient, eo melius judicetur, quid statuendum 1 sit de scriptura Pandectarum, et quomodo mendi et errores * eonvenientissime tollantur.' Brencman, ibid, p, 143.—* Nam 314 AN INQUIRY INTO a comparison of these with each other, a true judg- ment of their work can alone be formed ; and the method be suggested for most conveniently remov- ing their errors and faults. What he has thus said, together also with such particulars as he has communicated, respect- ing the mode of producing and correcting manu- scripts and transcripts, suggested, as it was, to his mind by his perusal and acquaintance with the Florentine manuscript of the Pandect a , to which alone he has applied it, is, with the same degree of propriety, equally applicable to all manuscripts in general, particularly those of an early date, The inquiry is, on the present occasion, more closely connected with the object of research now in pursuit, than may be at first obvious to the reader, as the most ancient manuscripts both of Terence and Plautus b , now known to be in exist- 1 ad emendandos libros 5 et Librariorum et Correctorum genium ' observandum esse censemus.' — Ibid. p. 162. a Victorinus, speaking of the manuscript of the Epistles of Cicero, in the Medicean Library, says, " Est autem ille vetus- " tatis illius, quae vere ita vocari potest, omnique veneratione " digna est, cujusmodi sane pauca reperiuntur priscorum homi= " num monumenta: — est, inquam, pene vetustatis illius codex, " et Florentine Pandectas, et Virgilii Palatinus codex, nee non " Terentii liber valde predicatus existit.'' — * P.Victor in Prsefat. * ante Scholia in Cic. Epist. ad Famil. Idem autem Politianus * Terentio a se collate, qui est in Laurentiana, subscripsit.' — Brencman, p. 7. b See Pareus's account of a manuscript of Plautus, which he consulted in the Palatine Library, already given in a note on Section XV, THE NATURE OF POETRY. 315 ence, are both thought to have been nearly, if not quite, equal in age to the Florentine Pandect, which is usually referred back to the sixth century d . It shall therefore be the business of this and the suc- ceeding Section, to state, as briefly as possible, the substance of what he has delivered, as well as to the Copyists as the Correctors of this particular manu- script of the Pandect, so far as it can be appli- cable, as almost the whole of it may, to manu- scripts in general ; because, from this, the prin- ciples of their system may be discovered, and the nature of manuscripts, the errors they contain, and the difficulties in using them, which few are able to surmount, are subjects but little understood by most classical scholars in general, either of this or other countries e . The attention of such persons, confined, as it usually is, to the structure of the Greek and Latin languages alone, is seldom found to extend itself to subjects of antiquarian research. Because the writers of the middle ages did not express their thoughts in Latin so elegant as that employed by such as lived in the Augustan d Brencmanni Historia Pandeclarum, p. 11. e To this observation, the late Mr. Tyrwhitt, the editor of Chaucer, is a decided and illustrious exception : to him the pub- lic are indebted for an edition of Aristotle De Poetica, which at once exhibits him as an elegant classical scholar ; and for the execution of a far more difficult task, the publication of a correct edition of the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer, so excel- lent in its kind, that it-merits to be the model for all similar un- dertakings, and which, in like manner, has shown him a most able, candid, and judicious antiquary and critic. 316 AN INQUIRY INTO age, the obligations which learning certainly has to them, have been forgotten ; and these per- sons themselves have been treated with contempt by incompetent judges of their merits, unable to read, in the original manuscript, the character of hand- writing in which it was written. To the Copyists of the middle ages, and their exertions, it is owing, that the productions of the classic authors are now in existence ; and, without their repeated aid, by frequent transcriptions, no editor of a classic author could have had any ma- terials for correcting the corruptions which had crept into the text, in consequence of the lapse of time. No one, ignorant of that species of knowledge, it is evident, can be competent to the task of consulting an ancient manuscript ; and there is great reason to think, that, whenever such authorities have been occasionally resorted to, abundance of misconceptions have been entertain- ed, and mistakes committed. Even, where the hand-writing has been intelligible, as in ancient Italian manuscripts of Latin authors, a multitude of other circumstances are previously to be con- sidered, before a correct opinion can be formed as to what was intended to stand, and what to be ex- punged or rejected, or how the passage was meant to be read. But, independently of these, so great is the difference of the character itself, in which many manuscripts are written, from that which has in later times prevailed in the various parts of THE NATURE OF POETRY. 317 Europe, and so puzzling are the contractions which occur in them, to persons not accustomed to the inspection of records, and reading the law hands, that, at some of the public Record Offices at the Tower and elsewhere in this country, a person ap- plying to consult a record, and able to read it him- self, has been known, by experience, to have been considered as an extraordinary phenomenon. Very few, merely classical scholars, could perhaps read the Greek inscription, in capitals, and all as one word, on the pedestal of the column at Rosetta, near Alexandria, as published by the Antiquarian Society, or the Parian Chronicle, as printed by Prideaux f , all in capitals, and apparently like one word ; and still fewer ascertain, without help, on consulting that manuscript, whether the Alexandrian manu- script of the New Testament, in Greek, in the Museum, or as published by Dr. Woide, contains, or not, the disputed verse in St. John's GospeL Nor could many such persons read the contrac- tions in Domesday Book, as published from the record in the Exchequer, much less could they decipher the original manuscript ; and of the multitudes of those persons, including classical scholars, who may have happened to have seen it in the British Museum, how very small a propor- tion would be able to read a single line, or per- haps a dozen words in succession, in the original Magna Charta of King John! These facts, not f Prideaux, Marmora Oxoniengia, p. 157. 318 AN INQUIRY INTO intended to convey censure or aggravate the charge of negligence, against any set of men, are yet necessarily here stated, in order to show the existence of an evil, and to point out the occasion, and supply the means, for its removal; an object, which cannot be better accomplished, than by Brencman's observations, founded, as they are, on actually existing instances, to which he has re- ferred. For the better understanding of Brencman's remarks, and description of the various errors and corrections, which occur in the Florentine ma- nuscript, it will be requisite previously to notice, as he has done in a separate chapter, that the manuscript is written with letters continued, with- out any interval, space, or interpunctuation be- tween the words & ; and that it contains few abbre- viations, and those rarely any where but in the titles to the laws and decrees, except that, at the end of a verse or line, the Copyist has often placed a small stroke over a letter, instead of the letter M or N; and two or three times has united diphthongs h . Though the letters are so placed as to appear like one word, they are yet separate, without any junction or connexion with each other, as if they « * Scripturam Codicis nostri majusculam eandemque conti- * nuam esse, nulla dictionum intervalla, multo minus verba in- * terpuncta, nullas item compendiarias notas habere, ex Poli- 4 tiano, et Budseo jam pridem, adnotatum nobis est.'— Breno man, p. 1Q4«. h Brencman, p. 118 3 on the authority of Taurellus. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 319 were insularly set; and many of them are orna- mented with a variety of flourishes with the pen. The writing therefore, though, as has been said, continuous (for it proceeds in regular lines, with- out separation or division of any kind between the words), is, if we consider the elements of which it is composed, not contiguous 1 (for the letters do not touch, nor are they connected with each other by hair-strokes, &c). This circumstance, as to the character in which it is written, has been also mentioned by Augus- tinus, who has said it was so written, c ut non c orationibus solum, sed ne verbis quidem ipsis * distincti shit;' or, as Taurellus affirms, 6 absque f ulla clausiilarum aut vocum distinctione, sine \ aliquo, preeterquam capitum, intervallo.' Eras- mus, speaking of the last five books of Livy, says, that this was the ancient custom : c Exemplum • admirandee vetustatis, prisco more, perpetua c literarum serie, ita depictum ut, difncillimum £ fuerit verbum a verbo dirimere, — nisi docto ai- 6 tento, & in hoc ipsum exercitato.' Multitudes of ancient manuscripts, both Greek and Latin, preserved, even at this day, in the libraries of * ' Ad ipsas literas veniamus. Haec autern singula? seorsim, * nulla junctura, nullaque connexione, ac velut insulatim posits 6 sunt ; plerseque etiam, non sine labore, variis ductibus exa- * rata?. Proinde scripturam Pandectarum, quarn continuam * esse observavimus, si singula elementa consideremus, contigua f non est.' Brencman* p. J 05.— Specimens of the character- are inserted in Brencman, p. 109„ 320 AN INQUIRY INTO Italy, sufficiently prove this fact. But if in the more ancient manuscripts syllables and words are conjoined, without any space between, it is still more frequently to be found in marbles and mo- numents. Of this circumstance Odofredus com- plains, when he speaks of that part of the twelve tables, which was afterwards added by the De- cemviri, ' ut de istis,' says he, ' duabus tabulis * aliquid est apud Lateranum Romee, et male sunt ' scriptae, quia non est ibi punctus, nee § in ' litera, et nisi revolveritis literas, non possetis * aliquid intelligere.' By ' Lateranum Romse,' Brencman says he understands the Lateran palace, in which also formerly the fragment of the regal law, which was thence transferred to the Capitol, was kept. Ancient Hebrew and Greek manu- scripts have also this continuous mode of writing. Distinction came by degrees from art and in- dustry. But to this undistinguished mode of writing, in Greek manuscripts, has been not in- judiciously ascribed the origin of the accents, which formerly seem to have answered the purpose of distinction k . The whole of this manuscript of the Pandect consists of two volumes 1 , which, as Brencman says, if the copy had been made at the present k Brencman, p. 105. 1 One contains 29 books, the other the remaining 21. Brenc- man, p. 93, on the authority of Augustinus. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 321 day, would, instead of two, have amounted to four m . Each page is divided into two columns, each of which contains 45 verses n . c Quod si,' says Contius, ' ad Justinianeum exemplar descriptse 6 sunt Pandectee Florentine, hujusmodi brevibus ( lineis constare debent, quod erit, si per duas co- '■ lumnas singula? paginee sint descriptee, quod ad- ■ hue a nemine, cum quo fuerim, discere contigit.' So says Contius, treating of the number of verses which Justinian asserts to be in the Pandect. But by the ' centum quinquaginta millia versuum/ of which Justinian says it consists, Duarenus under- stands whole members of speech or periods, and contends that that method of numbering verses was familiar with the ancients. But other per- sons think with Contius^ that not periods or sentences, but lines, were meant' 1 . Each verse m Brencman, p. 95. n Brencman does not appear any where to have noticed how many pages or leaves these volumes, separately or together, contained ; but, reckoning each column at 45 lines, and each page, therefore, at 90 lines, and the total amount of the verses at J 50,000, as stated by Justinian himself, there must be about 1667 pages in the whole. It appears that the leaves are written on both sides, as Brencman. p. 99, says, * Erosio autem mera- * branae subtilis Tusco exemplari eo pronior fuit, quod folia ' ©jrwQoypa^a sint, hoc est utrimque Conscripta, et quidem, intra * easdem liheas, eosdemque sulcos, aerugine atramenti, ab * utraque parte, membranam pari nisu perrodente.' ° The term Verse did not originally signifiy compositions in metre, but merely the different lines in writing. Calepm, in his Dictionary, edit. fo. Lugd. 1631, art. Versus, says, « Versus, Y : 322 AN INQUIRY INTO or line, of the Florentine manuscript, contains about thirty letters; but this cannot be exactly ascertained, because some of the letters are larger * us, Carmen Ita dictus a vertendc, quod antequam legitimos- & accipiat numeros, modo hoc, modo illo modo vertatur.' Of this he gives the following example : c Quintilian. Cicer. tot mil- * libus versuum (id est, linearum).' In another part of the same article he says, \ Ponitur aliquando Versus, pro eo, quod 6 vulgo Linea vocant.' And this he proves by the following in- stance, Plin. Epist. lib, iv. : ' Nan paginas tantum epistolae, sed * etiam versus, syllabasque, numerabo.* — * Melius antiqui dex- s tram tantummodo conscribebant, sinistram sive aversam, atque * exteriorem observationibus, correctionibusque reservantes. Ita * accipimus illud Juvenalis : " In tergo necdum finitus Orestes." * Inde et Adversaria, ni fallor, dicta/ Brencman, p. 99. Vic- torinus, edit. Putsch, col. 2499, says, still more expressly, * Versus Herous Hexameter, Epos dicatur. Apud nos autem * versus dictus est a versuris, id est, a repetita scriptura, ea ex i parte, in quam desinit. Prirais, enim, temporibus, sicut qui- * dam asserunt, sic soliti erant scribere, ut, cum a sinistra parte * initium facere ccepissent, et duxissent ad dextram, sequentem * versum a dextra parte inchoantes, ad sinistram perducerent> 8 quern morem ferunt custodire adhuc in suis literis Rusticos. * Hoc autem genus scripturse dicebant Bustrophen, a bourn i versatione, unde adhuc, in arando, ubi desinit sulcus, et unde i alter inchoatur, versura proprio vocabulo nuncupatur.' — It is probable that one of the last persons who used the mode of writing backwards, or from right to left, was Leonardo da VincL A manuscript volume, in his hand-writing, in the Italian lan- guage, and written backwards, is in His Majesty's Library, at Buckingham House, where it was seen some years ago ; and it is imagined that the other manuscript volumes, written by the same person, which were formerly in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, to which it is supposed they have again been restored, are also written in the same manner. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 323 than others, and the writing may be sometimes closer, and sometimes wider p. These preliminary facts having been thus stated by Brencman, he, in a chapter, ' De ' Librariis,' proceeds to give, among a few others, which, as less necessary, have here been omitted, the following particulars. Of Copyists, Scribes, Transcribers, or Writers, under whatever denomination they were compris- ed, there are two sorts — Librarii, or mere Copyists, simply so called ; and Notarii, or Notaries, so de- nominated, because, for the purpose of expedition, they made use of notes or abbreviations, to signify or express whole words, and other compendious methods of writing. Among the Greeks, in like manner, Scribes or Copyists were distinguished into Kc^AA/7p^(pc/, Fair Copyists, and beautiful Penmen; and Tct%vypa(poi, Quick, or expeditious Penmen or Writers. The former were so called, on account of the elegance with which they wrote, and formed ancient characters; for which reason, also, they are termed by some * Antiquarii ;' and beauty, of this species, was their sole aim and object. The latter were denominated from the velocity or celerity with which they wrote, and are termed by Galenus, ^yj[ji£toypoi(poi, or Persons writing in notes, e caro tooy 6 a-Yj^sioov, a Notis, 9 an appellation which ex- actly corresponds with that of Notarii. By Jus- tinian they are named ' Singularii, airo roov o-tyyKoov, p Brencman, p, 95. Y 2 324 AN INQUIRY INTO < a sighs/ or single letters, as using* single and in- dividual letters separately, instead of whole words, by which those whole words were intended to be expressed or denoted. These same persons were, as Budseus remarks, also called Y7roypc*(poi, Excep- tors, or such as took down, in writing, words from dictation, or as they were spoken ; and the verb, v7roypawg ^cvktcuS c L e. hie quinternio h The gatherings, or sheets, consist sometimes of ten leaves, sometimes of eight, sometimes of four, and sometimes of six,. Brencman, p. 94 ; but it is probable they are always double leaves, in order that they might be sewed through the fold. 1 Digest, lib. 29, tit. 2. Gothofr. col. 971. From the care- less mode of reference in Brencmans book, where the single let- ter 1. sometimes stands for * liber,' and sometimes for * lex,' it is frequently very difficult to discover which he means. The pas- sages may, however, be found, by turning to the pages in Go- thofred, as here referred to in the notes ; and it is therefore of less importance, if any error, in mistaking one for the other, |ms been committed. k That is' to say, one of the letters X. J This note, as being in Greek, together with one similar, 2 334 AN INQUIRY INTO 6 Lxxini. est et male assutus fuit m .' And after- wards, for the sake of greater caution, the ten a in before noticed, forms a strong reason for supposing that the Copyists were Greeks. m It cannot be understood how the three Roman letters, OCT, can in any way be made to signify lxxiiii. ; and Brenc- man, therefore, seems to have misunderstood the correction. The gatherings, or sheets, it appears, vary in quantity, some containing ten leaves, others eight, others four, and others six. Now these, it may reasonably be supposed, were not single, but double leaves, for the greater convenience of sewing them through the fold. If so, the gathering containing ten leaves, had, in fact, twenty; that with eight, sixteen; that with four, eight ; and that of six, twelve. By the term f quinternio,' ' 5TEVTa3Wv,' it should appear, that the gathering in question had five leaves, that is to say, for the reason above assigned, ten ; and, supposing five of the preceding gatherings had each five leaves, that is to say, ten ; and each of the other three gatherings four, that is to say, eight ; but that one of those three had lost a leaf, which might probably have been cancelled, on account of some mistake, or because the Copyist had written rather closer, and gotten in the quantity in a less portion, by one leaf, than had been allowed for it, the first leaf of sheet eight would be number 74 ; so that OCT, even if correctly given by Brenc- man, might be corrupt Greek characters, intended for o*toj, Octo, Eight, as being the eighth gathering. In this case, the Greek passage ought surely to be thus translated : ' This ga- * thering is number eight, and was erroneously sewed in.' In numbering a sheet, in printing, the usual method, at present, is, to mark the first Jeaf of the first half with the letter by which the sheet is distinguished, and the subsequent leaves of that first half with that letter and the numbers 2, 3, 4, &c. as thus : B, B 2, B 3, B 4, &c. See the different sheets of the present book. Sometimes the letter and its proper number have also been con- tinued on the first leaf beyond the half, as B 5, for instance, in the case of an octavo sheet ; the reason for which has been to show that there was no chasm, nor were any leaves wanting, in the middle of the sheet, but that the sheet contained, in the whole, but eight leaves. n Or third X. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 335 lxxxixxi was erased. Some particulars of a similar nature, at the beginning of the following sheet or gathering, seem to have been pointed out by an- notations ; because that gathering, when the former had been erroneously removed and placed among the subsequent ones, bore the number lxxiii instead of lxxv. But the redundant part being erased, the occasion for the note ceased; and the note itself was therefore also removed. In the very course of their writing, the dili- gence of the Copyists proportionably increased, for the purpose of rendering the writing more intel- ligible ; so that at length the number of each book and title began to be placed in the rubrics with the same red colour; the inscriptions over each law to be more distinguished, and the interpunctu- ations also ; the distances or spaces between, and the separation marks of the periods to be more frequently introduced. In some instances also they began to leave spaces after each law; so, in book 48 of the Pandect, under the title, ' De '■ captiv. et postlim. rev.' after 1. 3° and 1. 9? 9 the space of a whole verse is left. Again, after L 25 q , under the same title, two versicles are vacant. But this, as less necessary and too troublesome, was afterwards neglected. At the bottom of a page the last word frequently finishes imperfectly, part of it being • Digest, lib. 49, tit. 15. Gothofred, col. 1904-. * Ibid. col. 1905. « Ibid. col. 1909. 336 AN INQUIRY INTO written underneath, which, in other cases, k accustomed to be carried over to the next page. Thus, in 1. 1, sect. 5, < De adquir. v. amitt. poss. / it will be seen that the words, ( et quidem,' finish the page in this manner : c et qui 6 dem but the syllable written underneath is not repeated on the next page, as is now the custom with the most accurate. Suetonius points out this prac- tice by the verb c circumducere,' where he speaks of Augustus thus : " Notavi et in chirograph© " ejus ilia prsecipue non dividere verba, neque, " ab extrema parte versuum, abundantes literas " in altefum transfert, sed ibidem statim subjicit " eircumducitque " In the progress of writing, they corrected themselves as often as they discovered they had erred ; and this, indeed, occasionally with consi- derable labour and great circuity ; for, sometimes, for the sake of correcting one word, they repeated several : even in the faults themselves, their great fidelity appears, since, in the erroneous repetition of the same words, the same faults are constantly repeated, so faithfully did they represent their prototype or original. From this circumstance it however follows, as a just consequence, that not all the errors and faults of the Florentine manu* Digest, lib. 29, tit, 2, Gothofred, col. 971. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 337 script are to be imputed to the Copyists, but that some of them existed before in the original. These Copyists, however faithful, yet being, as they were, men uninformed and simple, induced to write by the hope of gain, had, like other Copyists, their faults, their errors, and their fol- lies ; besides that they were writing in a language not their own. And that this fact may the more distinctly appear, it will be necessary to distribute their faults into three classes^ attributing them to unskilfulness^ negligence, and folly. How great was the ignorance of the Latin lan- guage, under which they laboured, appears, in the first place, from the Index of the Titles, prefixed to the Pandect, where, in numberless places, they have written f libro/ instead of ' liber,' probably because they found e lib.' as an abbreviation, in some other similar Index ; for it by no means ap- pears that this and the following Index were the productions of Tribonianus, or any other framer of the Pandects. Of this species, is the following : * Explicit libro tertius' — also c Explicit ex ordine ' Digestorum libro nonus' — ■ De judiciis libro ' quintus ' — c Incipit ex ordine libro decimus '— ' De judiciis libro sextus.' And after book 26% are the words ( singulis liber Septimus ' — and ' sin- * gulis liber octavus,' instead of c singularium.* Besides this, the first Constitution of those which in 3 There seems here to be a mistake, and that it should be book 6, instead of 26. 338 AN INQUIRY INTO like manner precede the Pandect, is separated from the Institute by the word 'FELICITER.' This the Copyist did not understand, and he, therefore, presently erroneously introduced 'LEGE/ as it now is— < LEGE FELICITER; Had he chosen to have supplied any thing*, he should have written the word ( EXPLICIT/ as may be seen from the end of seve- ral books in the Pandect. But it is plain that they did not even understand the word ' EXPLICIT;* since, in that Index already spoken of, they have supplied f UR,' and have made it every where 6 EX- ' PLICITUR ;' the more absurdly, because, in the same Index, the whole phrase, < EXPLICITUS * EST,' very frequently occurs. Those parts which are prefixed to the Pandect, at least the Constitu- tions, seem, indeed, to be of an age somewhat more recent ; but of the same sort or kind were the men who made these Indexes. Another great instance of ignorance is observ- able in the double names of the lawyers, before some of the chapters, as well elsewhere, as in the subject or head, Q De legatis ;' so it is also 1. 106, 6 De legat. 1 V which is inscribed with the name of Alfenus Varus. The name of ' ALFENUS/ alone, is here written with red ink, and great letters ; and e varus,' with the common mode of writing, and as if it was part of what followed. This was in itself more absurdly done, because they began to write from the second name, having left, ac- * Digest, lib. SO. Gothof. col. 1032. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 339 cording to custom,, a space for the first, to be af- terwards filled up with illuminated letters. The same may be observed, 1. 125, in the same place", as to the words c RUTILIUS maximus.' To say the truth, the laws have usually only one name pre- fixed : but in the next book, which, in like man- ner, treats e De legatis,' the Copyist has corrected himself, having either been probably warned of his error, or accidentally having discovered it him- self. So, in the same place, 1. 52, < TERENTIUS 6 CLEMENS' are both in red ink x , as are also, 1. 57, the words < JULIUS MAURICIANUS V and, 1. 62, < LICINIUS RUFUS.' As they did not sufficiently understand the lan- guage, they did not, in reading contiguous writing, correctly distinguish ; connecting what ought to be separate, and separating what ought to be united. And, since a word, erroneously divided, could signify nothing, they became somewhat bolder, and, conceiving it a manifest error, con- verted it into some other word, nearly resembling it, by adding, detracting, or changing one or more of the letters. The more modest, without any un- faithful intention, often, through mistake, copied one word for another, thinking they read, in their original, what was not in it, while that which arose u Digest, lib. 30. Gothofr. col. 1038. x Digest, lib. 31. Gothofr. col. 1046. * Digest, lib. SI. Gothofr. col. 1047. a Digest, lib. 3L Gothofr. col. 1048. Z 2 340 AN INQUIRY INTO from their own incorrect division, was not Latin, This happened, merely because they did not pay any attention to the sense ; for they only considered, whether the word, separately by itself, conld have any meaning. An example of this kind exists, 1. \ 9 sect. 32 z , c Depositi/ Without doubt, it was writ- ten in the original a as it ought to stand, c quern c dominum ejus putasti cum non esset ;' but the Copyist, by inserting only an aspirate, which, in other cases, is often wanting or redundant, framed the following, c quern dominum ejus puta Stichum 6 non esset b ;' and thus in many other places. From these sprang also rank errors, such as, un- der the title « Ad S. C. Turpill V where is found ' inter pupilli anum,' for c in Turpillianum.' Circumstances like these, are not to be attri- buted wholly to the unskilfulness of Copyists. Some of them are owing to their negligence or careless- ness, to their more laborious formation and deline- ation of the characters, and to their too great wish z Digest, lib. 16, tit. 3. Gothofr. col. 4-86. a The reader is not to imagine that Brencman means that, in the original manuscript, the words stand separate, as they are here necessarily given. The fact is, that here, and through- out the whole manuscript, each line resembles a single word ; but he intends to say, that the above are the words which the manuscript contains, though, according to the method there pur- sued, there is no space or other distinction to separate each. b These words are also, of course, written, in the original manuscript, without any distinction between the words ; and this observation applies, by way of caution, to every extract here inserted from the manuscript. c Digest, lib. 48, tit. 16. Gothofr. col. 1848, THE NATURE OP POETRY. 341 to adorn their writing ; which object, either from their own disposition, or the greediness of gain, they pursued to a degree of folly, and thus they expended all their industry in the mere formation of the letters. To carelessness, therefore, and the distraction of their attention, by their too great care in writing, are to be especially referred anticipations or inadvertent repetitions, or entire omissions, and all errors committed on any very trivial ground, whatever it might have been, and sometimes not till long after discovered, as well as the subsequent relapse into any former error. As to the transposition, or misplacing of let- ters, and sometimes of syllables also, Augustinus observes, c Florentinarum Pandectarum ssepe in ( ejusmodi genere errorum incidisse ;' and this, he remarks, occurs on occasion of the Ulpian law. ' Si Homeri,' says he, ' corpus sit iegatum, quan- ' tsecumque rhapsodise inveniantur, debentur ;' where, instead of c rhapsodise,' the Florentine ma- nuscript reads i pars hodie.' But this fact Augus- tinus further illustrates, by the following examples also : ' subpertus/ for 6 subreptus ;' ' iurnse,' for ' ruinse ;' c domus/ for c modus ;' ' subsceptam,' for ' suspectam ;' ' nepotum quantibus,' for ' quan- ' turn nepotibus ;' c damnatum,' for ' mandatum.' In the inscriptions of titles and laws, they seem to have sometimes immediately written the rubrics, or single names of the lawyers, employ- ing, in like manner, red ink to each ; yet, at other times, which often happens, they are found z 3 342 AN INQUIRY INTO to have put in several at once, and that at a dis- tant period ; but from thus postponing them, it sometimes happens that they forgot to supply them. It was manifestly extremely inconvenient, so often to change ink for red colour ; they, there- fore, wrote with ink several pages in a continued succession, and without intermission, leaving spaces, in which the rubrics and names of lawyers might be afterwards inserted. This fact is plain from the inscriptions of the laws ; for if, in leav- ing a space, the Copyist had miscalculated, the names of the authors were either contracted, a smaller character of writing used, or even, if ne- cessary, a monogram was employed ; or they were extended with letters, set at a distance, which, besides, often end with a capital S, to fill up the remaining superfluous space. Hence it happens, that, in the second and third pages of the Floren- tine manuscript, all the inscriptions are in black ; and, together with them, even this rubric also, c De origine juris et omnium magistratuum et suc- 6 cessione prudentum d ,' which were at length sup- plied, without doubt, long after. It is supposed that, through the very great length of 1. 2, under that title, the Copyist afterwards forgot to write it with red. Other instances of names thus omitted occur in the inscriptions. And to these may be added their thoughtlessness and levity, in begin- ning passages as fresh laws, for the very slightest d Digest, lib. 1, tit. 2. Gothofr. col. 4. THE NATURE OF POETRY, 343 or no reason ; as, on the other hand, they erro- neously conjoined others that were distinct and separate. Similar errors are also observable, as to the rubrics of the titles themselves. Again, in other places, the names of the lawyers, in several inscriptions, are badly written, as one continued word e ; besides other errors and faults of the Co- pyists in these parts f . Lastly, they often converted, without due con- sideration, a word nearly akin to it, into one, to which they were accustomed, and which was in more frequent use. In this manner, even a pro- per name has been, by the Copyist, confounded with an appellative, in 1. 12, ' De offic. prsesid.^' when he wrote this inscription to it, ' PROCON- ' SULIS libro quarto Epistularum,' instead of < PROCULUS; having taken it from the tiue, e Brencman's words are, ' male contimiata sunt;' which are so lax and indefinite, that it is doubtful what he meant. If he designed to sa}' that there was no distinction of colour from the rest of the text, but that the names of lawyers, in the inscrip- tions, were written with black, instead of red, so that they ap- peared like a part of the body of the text, he ought to have been more explicit. If, on the other hand, he intended to say the words ought to have been divided, the objection is not pe- culiar to names only, but applies, in an equal degree, to every word in the whole manuscript. f Brencman speaks of the errors as very numerous, and mentions an intention, which he does not, however, appear to have ever fulfilled, of writing a tract expressly on the subject of the errors in this manuscript. See Brencman, p. 152. « Digest, lib. 1, tit. 18. Gothofred, col. 34. Z 4 344 AN INQUIRY INTO ' De Officio Proconsulis V which had just before occurred. They also transformed more unusual names into those with which they were more fa- miliar, or confounded together those words which were nearly similar. From the carelessness, let us pass to the folly of the Copyists, which was also itself of various kinds. They were scrupulous in preserving the beauty of the writing, especially, because this tended much to their profit, in order that they might thus be enabled to sell their care, diligence, and accuracy, so much the dearer : for this reason, they altoge- ther wholly abhorred additions or insertions, either placed in the margin, or between the lines, as im- mediately striking the eye, and deforming the beauty of the book : and so anxiously did they avoid all interlineary insertions, that, for the pur- pose of correcting even one syllable, they repeated a whole line. So 1. 18, sect. 2, ' De manumiss. 5 vind.y the words of which are, ' Filius, quoque c voluntate patris apud patrem manumittere po- ' terit k ;' in the Florentine manuscript, it stands thus : " Filius quoque voluntate patris apud pa- f trem manumittere non potest Filius quoque vo- h Digest, lib. 1, tit. 16. Gothofred, col. 30. 1 Digest, lib. 40, tit. % Gothofred, col. 2412. k The passage, as it stands in Gothofredus's edition of the Pandect, differs a little from this ; for in his edition it is given thus : « Nepos ex fiiio voluntate avi, ut filius voluntate patris^ 4 potest manumittere ' THE NATURE OF POETRY- 345 a luntate patris apud patrem manumit tere pote- rencman has remarked, that, in the case of ma- nuscripts, not only the errors of the first copy re- mained, and were continued in the subsequent transcripts, but that these were frequently, by transcription, increased ' ad infinitum ;' which, together with the circumstance of subsequent neg- ligent and superficial correction, introducd a la- byrinth of error, from which no one could be ex- tricated, even with the assistance of Ariadne's clue or thread. Anciently, the owners of books themselves^ and, among these, men conspicuous for their birth and rank, amended them, and afterwards, for the sake of greater caution, wrote at the beginning a memorandum of their having so done. But how great negligence afterwards crept into these mat- ters, appears, as well from the circumstance itself, as from the multitude of dire and horrid impre- cations and adjurations, which in many books are prefixed against the less diligent Correctors. The Florentine manuscript of the Pandect was, at an early period, read over and corrected ; although this seems to have been at some distance of time after it had been written ; for, in the first place 5 the character used by the Corrector appears somewhat different from that originally employed. THE NATURE OP POETRY. 353 Besides, from the greater part of the additions, it appears that the method of interponctuation was more distinct than usual ; as if the practice had seemed to have increased with the length of time. So in the inscriptions, 1. 29 and 30, ' Ex quib. ' caus. major. a ,' 1. 29, with the final words of 1. 28, and part of 1. 30, had been omitted. After the name of the lawyer, a point of equal age is ob- servable; and, after the completion of the inscrip- tion, two points : whereas, in other places, every where the inscriptions are continued, without any distinction in the context of the writing itself. But the Correctors of books were men of the same con- dition and disposition as the Copyists themselves ; namely, men, discharging their duty in a super- ficial manner, and were only intent on this object, that the value or price of the book might not be less- ened by too great solicitude in correction ; for which reason they appear sometimes to have purposely abstained from correction, particularly in those in- stances which they thought matters of indifference. But, in other places, for the same reason, they only partially changed the faults, while the rest of the correction seems to have been, without effort, sufficiently obvious ; as if it had been enough to have just pointed out with their finger only, the correction and true reading. Besides, through unskilfulness also, they have, beyond doubt, com- mitted errors, especially in those places where the Digest, lib. 4, tit. 6. Gothofr. col. 141. A. A 354 AN INQUIRY INTO copy from which they corrected, was faulty ; for, among the ancient corrections also, some things are for the worse, and are found to be absurdly introduced. It is, however, to be remembered, that the times when these persons lived, were now relapsing very rapidly into barbarism, and a su- pine negligence of study and the liberal arts. To this must be added the sloth and precipitancy of these persons themselves, as their only object ap- pears to have been the acquisition of emolument, with as little trouble and labour as possible : for, in general, it is to be remarked, that, where the band-writing is the more beautiful, more errors commonly remained ; as if, says Brencman, the Corrector, relying on the faith of the good writing and apparent diligence of the Copyists, had skip- ped over the passage, or, at least, hastily and cursorily had read it over b . Thus, under the titles ' Mandati c ' — ' De he- f red. v. act. vend.' 1 ' — ; De action, emp. et vend. e / b Brencman, when lie mentions, as he has done, p. 153, 163, the anxiety of the Correctors to avoid defacing the beauty of the writing, has assigned a much more probable cause for the fact, which he here notices. Frequent erasures, interlinea- tions, or crossings through the words, would have shown, upon the face of it, that the manuscript was negligently and care* lessly copied; but, without such indications of error, it would have been extremely difficult, especially where, as in this case, the writing was continued like one word, for any person to de- tect singly the several errors. c Digest, lib. 17, tit. 1. Gothofr. col. 494. d Digest, lib. 18, tit. 4. Gothofr. col. 55.5. e Digest, lib, 19, tit. 1. Gothofr, col. 58 i. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 35& —and also c Locati conducti f ,' and elsewhere, an intermission of the usual or ordinary Corrector is observable. Whence arises that other paradox, that, in proportion as the Copyist was more dili- gent and correct, the writing is found to be so much less beautiful ; and it is to be remembered besides, that the most diligent Copyists have occa- sionally slumbered. Besides, as the Copyists themselves sometimes corrected their errors, while they were writing, it is extremely possible and probable that the Cor- rector might there also have made a fault, and been in the wrong ; presuming, from the instance of one or two emendations, that all the errors in that part were corrected s. There are instances also, where, on account of the too great corruption of the intricate writing, he stops at a faulty place, as if he were in despair, and gets as well out of it, as he can: for instance, 1. 10, sect. 17, ( De gra- ' dib. et adfin.V many of the doubtful words he encloses with hooks, as if tlpey had been redun- dant, which he ought not to have done. But this, Brencman says, is the only place, in the whole Pandect. Lastly, the magnitude of the work it- self ought to be recollected, and that it could not, without great labour, be read through and cor- rected. In short, they were studious to preserve f Digest, lib. 19, tit. 2. Gothofr. col. 600. ' ? The note just inserted, p. 354«, applies to this passage also* * Digest, lib, 08. tit. 10. Gothofr. col. 1340. \ A 2 356 AN INQUIRY into its beauty, to which their sloth also led them % and, on that point, were particularly solicitous that their fraud and negligence might not be de- tected by the purchaser. This folly in preserving the fairness of the writing, in one particular, very much contributed towards their gain ; namely, that they so slightly expunged what was to be taken out, that the former writing may yet be clearly seen, It would be too prolix to insert specimens of all, but some examples shall be here given of correc- tion, either wholly neglected, or only partially made ; and also of that which is manifestly ab- surd. In law 31, 4 De legib.7 there was formerly the word ' princeps ; between p and s, w T as writ- ten, above, in addition, e ; the former e still re- maining untouched : so that it may now be prin- cepes. On the contrary, 1. 4, 6 In jus vocati ut 6 eant ! v &c. where ' libro quinquagintasimo ' had been written, the syllable 6 ta ' being expunged, it remains c quinquaginsimo,' with i in the last syl- lable but one. L. 8, ' De proeuratorib.y instead of ' consentiente,' it was • consentinente;' for the Copyist meant to write i sentential At an early period, only the a was expunged, as if the correc- tion cf the rest was sufficiently plain : so, on the contrary 5 every where, when, by an opposite error, 5 Digest, lib. I, tit. 3. Gothofr. col. 12. k Digest, lib. 2, tit. 6. Gothofr. col. 47. 1 Digest, lib. S } tit. 3. Gothofr. col. 91. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 357 c sentia' is written for ' sentential nothing appears supplied ; and, therefore, it is also given by Taurel- lus, ' sENtia 1 '.' L. 7, sect, 5, < De pact. 11 ,' it was written ' Marcusellus,' for c Marcellus,' the Co- pyist correcting himself, who, at first, thought, that the common name ' Marcus ' had occurred ; but this, also, seemed too manifest to be amended. In like manner, the Corrector thought his labour was not wanted for what is said, 1. 7, sect. 9, ' De f pact, V in the middle of it, where the Copyist wrote c dolus malo,' beginning to err from the former words c dolus malus.' Again, in the in- scription, 1. 65, Q De usufr.p ', ' ad Plautio ' was written, instead of c ex Plautio ; for the Copyist meant to write ' ad Plautium ;' but, while he was writing, discovered the mistake. The Corrector, however, thought the error consisted in using the sixth case. Other places, also, have remained m It is much to be doubted whether writing l sentia,' for * sen- * tentia,' is to be considered as an error, and not rather as a kind of monogram. Dr. Taylor, in his Elements of the Civil Law, p. 20, has remarked, that, in this manuscript of the Pan- dect, the letters of two words are often consolidated, when it happens that those which compose a part of the latter, are con- tained in the former. And, in the present instance, it would only be the consolidation of two syllables in the same word * for, repeating the three letters, t, e, n, in the word ' sentia,' and introducing them between the n and t, would completely produce the word sententia. n Digest, lib. 2, tit. 14. Gothofr. col. 63. ° Digest, lib. 2, tit. 14. Gothofr. col. 63. 9 Digest, lib. 7, tit, I. Gothofr. col 227, A A 1 358 AN INQUIRY INTO entirely untouched ; the correction being suffici- ently obvious. Of improper and false correction, there are these examples: 1. 9, f De pact.V in the word tit. 8. Gothofr. col. 49. c Digest, lib. 2, tit. 14. Gothofr. col. 63. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 363 old hand wrote, over the line, the word ■ et.' Ano- ther, as if he thought that not sufficient to denote * etiam,' added the syllables c iam ; ! and thus in- terpolations, as if there had been some right of sweeping away, like a torrent, gradually increased. Taurellus, indeed, has admitted that Q etiam,' but inclosed with asterisks. L. 1, sect. 2, c De pos- c tul.V it was c responponsitasse,' anciently the redundant syllable, ( pon/ was expunged, and rightly ; but afterwards the word was altered into 6 respondisse/ and erroneously. L. 19, sect, the last but one, ' De negot. gest.%' instead of ' ex * nostra pecunia,' the Copyist had written ' e nos- * tra pecunia.' To the preposition e, the x was superadded, but presently, as if he had repented of the correction, he expunged both the e and x ; and the sense also in this place, is complete with- out the preposition. Thus it happens very often. It has been already noticed, that an ordinary -Corrector, from a wish to preserve the fairness of the writing, either corrected faults partially, con- tenting himself with only pointing out the full and complete correction, or -even, as in a matter too manifest, had wholly refrained from all cor- rection. But it has happened, that a later hand, more solicitous, has completed the corrections which had been begun, or has wholly supplied others, which had been omitted. An instance of d Digest, lib. S } tit. 1. Gothofr. col. 77. * Digest, lib, 3, tit. 5, Gothofr. col. 101- 364 AN INQUIRY INTO the first is to be found 1. 8, f De procurat. f ;' 1. 7, sect. 5 and 9, < De pact.; ■' 1. 65, ' De usufr. V and elsewhere. Of those places which were but lately corrected, and which continued so long in their native error, infinite examples may be pro- duced, but they are almost all of less moment. It is of greater importance to attend to those corrections which were made by several persons at different times. L. 1, ' Ne quis eum qui in jus ' vocat.',' &c. instead of ' eompesceret,' it was 6 comesseret ;' p was at first added, and the letter s was more recently changed for c. L. 7, sect. 2, ( De pact.V e quilem' was written, instead of 6 civi- ' lem ;' as if it had been qu-i-lem : more anciently, c was placed, and the q expunged ; then i was added 1 . L. 1, sect. 3 m , at the end, ' De postul.' instead of i contumax plecteretur,' it was c contumaplecte- f tur ;' re was rather anciently added, x more re- cently. L. 35, e De procurat. V in the words * quibus sine mandatu/ it was ' inquibusine ;' the f Digest, lib. 3, tit. 3. Gothofr. col. 85. s Digest, lib. 2, tit. 14-. Gothofr. col. 62 & 63. h Digest, lib. 7, tit. 1. Gothofr. col. 227. \ Digest, lib. 2, tit. 8. Gothofr. col. 47. k Digest, lib. 2, tit 13. Gothofr. col. 62. 1 This, if it was any error at all, originally, which is doubt- ful, and not rather a mistake of the Corrector, was very easy. The original word, as at first written, was probably thus, cjuilem ; the long j being used, instead of the short one, i, and the u, instead of v. It was evidently the Corrector's mistake to, take the cj for q, and the correction was wholly unnecessary. * Digest, lib. 3, tit. 1. Gothofr. col. 77. » Digest, lib. 3, tit. 3. Gothofr, col. 89, THE NATURE OF POETRY. 365 < in 'was afterwards expunged, and the s recently supplied. L. 65, at the same place °, it was for- merly, as may be conjectured, c velitteras ;' another 1 w T as first added, afterwards the letters ' it ' were; inserted ; and so, at last, it became ' velit litteras / as it ought. L. 37, ' Be noxai. act. 1 '/ ' Trupo- 6 ninus' w T as written, an aspirate was anciently add- ed, and V, recently, at length converted into Y ; for which reason Taurellus does not admit even the latter correction. Something is to be said, as to those instances where the correction is made upon the former writing ; the word, which is corrected, being still left, for which it is not easy to account. Was this done, because, through negligence or haste* the obliteration was omitted? or, because, from what was written over the place, the Corrector thought he had done sufficient ? or, because the reading in two manuscripts differed ? or that it was a conjectural emendation, without the aid of another copy r ? Indeed, 1. 28 s , ( De reb. cred.* ° Digest, lib. 3, tit. 3. Gothofr. col. 93. p This seems a clear instance of the consolidation of the letters of two words, when it happens that those which compose a part of the latter, are contained in the former, as mentioned by Dr. Taylor, in his Elements of the Civil Law, p. 20. See Sect. VIII. before. * Inquibusine,' mentioned above, seems another such instance, instead of * in quibus sine.' i Digest, lib. 9, tit. 4. Gothofr. col. 303, r Surely there is no reason for hesitation or doubt, in the case of a mode of correction, so frequent, even in modern times. No one of the reasons assigned was probably the cause; 66 AN INQUIRY INTO out of s amittai/ was made c amittit ; the i being written over it; and yet the letter a was not ex- punged, as if it was left to the choice of the reader, which reading he would prefer. Taurellus places it as a various reading in the margin. But, L 36, under the same title \ it was ' eamdem,' and an- ciently, € n 9 was written over the ' m,' without any obliteration ; and there it was evidently done to correct. So also, 1. 7, c De offic. prsesid.",' c de~ * tractandem * remained, € i ' only being written over c dJ Besides, 1. 2, c De in diem addict. *,' instead of 6 pura venditio est/ it was written c pure ? venditio est ; the a, indeed, being written over it ; but the e was not obliterated, as if both read- ings might stand. Lastly, 1. 58, £ De eedilit. edict/ but the intention was to substitute one word or letter in the place of another. To have scraped out, with a knife, the word intended to be removed, or to have struck it through with cross lines, might, according to circumstances, have made a greater and more apparent blemish, than to cover the faulty word or letter with that which ought to stand in its place; writing this last, perhaps, something stronger. And, although this mode does not entirely obscure the original word or letter, it is yet sufficiently obvious what the correction is in- tended to be. Those acquainted with copies of deeds, &c, made by law or writing stationers, know this is an usual prac- tice, where the alteration is trifling, and can be made tolerably to suit with the original passage, without introducing a conspi* cuous blemish. 3 Digest, lib. 12, tit. 1. Gothofr. col. 360. * Digest, lib. 12, tit. 1. Gothofr. col. 361. u Digest, lib. 1, tit. 16. Gothofr. col. S4-. x Digest, lib. 18, tit. 2, Gothofr. col. 5.5Q* THE NATURE OF POETRY, 367 sect. 1 > r , in the words c an servus retinendus sit,* an ordinary Corrector has placed c restituendus/ without expunging c retinendus ;' but this was af- terwards, by a more recent hand, crossed through with the nail, which is singular. And no less so is that which occurs, 1. 27, ' De servit. prsed. urb-V where it was erroneously ' in loco sui locum fecit/ ' cui ' and c sol ' were very recently inserted, nor was any thing expunged ; so that it now stands cor- rectly c in loco cui sol fuit a .' Similar things have been admitted by the Copyists themselves : so, for example, 1. 7, ' De minorib.V m tne inscription over the word ' Gains,' the word c Idem ' is written in the same red ink. Lastly, there are, elsewhere, corrections of the corrections them- selves. Ignorance of the language, and of ancient custom, was also one fault of the Correctors, through which they were guilty of mistakes. L. 3, sect. 3, c De offic. prsef. vigil. ,' it is c coerrare cal- y Digest, lib. 21, tit. 1. Gothofr. col. 688. 2 Digest, lib. 8, tit. 2. Gothofr. col. 252. a There is no doubt of the propriety of this last reading, for the context in the law itself plainly requires it; but the process, as described by Brencman in the text, does not produce it. b Digest, lib. 4-, tit. 4. Gothofr. col. 124. But in this there must have been originally some mistake ; for law 7 comes from Ulpian, not Gaius ; and no two of Gaius's laws, of which there are three or four under that head, come together. Perhaps Gaius was written by mistake, instead of Idem, which last was meant to refer to Ulpian. c Digest, lib. 1, tit. 15. Gothofr, col. 2& 368 AN INQUIRY INTO ''datum cum hamis ;' but to'hamis' was very re- cently added, over it, the letter r, without doubt that it might be read s cum armis ; for the Correc- tor seems little to have understood what connexion there could have been between c vigilibus,' and " hamis/ or what this last could mean. The mode of expression, ' pridie Kalendas,' has troubled the Correctors, even though they were ancient. So L 5, ' Be feriis d ,' and elsewhere. L. 27, 6 De 6 procurat.V it was elegantly written, c si quis 6 omnia judicii ab eo transferrin &c. ; but a recent hand has made it c judicia/ that it might agree with 'omnia;' and thus has very foolishly cor- rupted an excellent place. L. 34, c De recept. 6 qui arbitr. recep.V in the same place, it was ele- gantly written ' quorum nomina simul emit ;' but somewhat later, r was written over it, that it might become ' erunt /—-nor did the Corrector under- stand that excellent phrase, c pari passu ire, am- c > bulare.' L. 8, c Si pars hered. pet a. ",' c parte ce- ', dere,' some person has changed into 6 partem c cedere,' Besides, I. 5, c De rei vindie.'Y it was rightly, and like a lawyer, written c in quantum '■ paret ;' but, instead of this, a more recent per- son has made it ' appareV L. 13, sect. 7, 6 De d Digest, lib. 2, tit. 12. Gothofr. col. 56, e Digest, lib. % tit. 3. Gothofr. col. 87. f Digest, lib. 3, tit. 8. Gothofr. col. 154. 6 Digest, lib. 5, tit. 4-. Gothofr. col. 195. h Digest, lib. 6, tit. L Gothofr. col. 198. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 369 < usufr.y it was < aditus posticasve vertere •/ some late person, by writing e over it, has made it c pos- ( ticasve evertere ;' as if that letter had once been omitted. Lastly, 1. 8, at the end, ' Si servit. ( vindic.V to the words ' in Ursi Juli,' a hand, by no means ancient, has added e horto.' They have sometimes, under pretence of cor- recting, corrupted correct places from those that were faulty. L. 1, ' Quod quisque jur. in alt. e statu V was correctly written ' aliquid novi juris ' optinuerit ;' but, because it was erroneously said above, ' si quid in aliquem novi juris statuerat,' the i in ' optinuerit,' was transformed into a, a small hooked line being added ; but, afterwards, more correctly, the former passage was corrected from the latter. L. 9, e De recept. qui arbitr. ' recep. m ,' it was rightly ' si liber factus fecerit ;' over it was anciently written * re,' that it might be c fecererit ;' but, because this could be of no use, it is probable that he who thus corrected it, in- stead of ' fecerit/ read c recepit,' on account of the near resemblance in form of the letters F, P, and Rj in the Florentine Pandects n . Again, the » Digest, lib. 7, tit. 1. Gothofr. col. 217, * Digest, lib. 8, tit. 5. Gothofr. col. 270. 1 Digest, lib. 2, tit. 2. Gothofr. col. 42. m Digest, lib. 4, tit. 8. Gothofr. col: 146, n There seems here some reason to question, whether Brenc- man understood this correction, and is not rather mistaken. A great deal, it is true, would depend on the precise spot, where the syllable 're* stood> over the other letters ; but it is surely B B 370 AN INQUIRY INTO rubric of the title ' De in diem addictione V at this very day, labours under a fault ; for it has f additione,' with the omission of c ; and from that circumstance, 1. 1, the c is expunged in the word y addictio ?;* Some corrections shall now be noticed of a silly and ridiculous nature, made by very recent hands. L. 9, % Si quis caution, in judlc. sis ea p,' it was read, ' si servus judicio se sisti,' &c. ; but, as a servant was not of sufficient rank to sustain a law-suit, some more recent person wrote c i * over it ; and so 'servus' passed into c Servius,' but beyond all doubt foolishly ; since, from what follows, it may appear that the stipulation was nugatory. With this may be also compared 1. 13, in the same place <*.— L. 19, sect. 3, c Be nego. gest.%* it was very rightly written * imprudens rem meara c emisti et ignorans usucepisti \ but some person, more probable that it was meant to produce the word * refe* * cent/ which will make a consistent sense. The words of the law, as they now stand in print, are: * Sed, si in servum com- 1 promittatur, et liber sententiam dixerit, puto, si liber factus- 4 fecerit, consentientibus partibus, valere.' See * Corpus Juris 4 Givilis, a Dionysio Gothofredo,' 4to. 1619, part i. (Digest, lib. 4, tit. 8, law 9,) col, 146. By i refecerit,' the Corrector might, perhaps, mean to express, that what had been done by the arbitrator, when he was a slave, should be done over again, after he became free. n Digest, lib. 18, tit. 2. Gothofr. col. 550. ° Digest, lib. 18, tit. 2. Gothofr. col. 550. t Digest, lib. 2, tit, II. Gothofr. col. 54. 9 Digest, lib. 2, tit, 11. Gothofr. col. 55. r Digest, lib. 3, tit. 5. Gothofr. col. 101, THE NATURE OF POETRY. 371 thinking that the subject of usueaption was fo- reign to the title, where the question was agitated, as to the transacting the concerns of another ; in- stead of ' usucepisti,' placed the word £ snscepisti.' And the same person, or a Corrector like him, 1. 24 5 , in the same place, before the words c pro* c prietates quidem per procurationem non adqui- \ ritur,' prefixed ' nee' Fie did not, indeed, think that he was committing an error, when, 1. 32, in the same place 1 , out of c in qua lite,' 'he made ' in 6 quali tate ;' for, without doubt, he erroneously conjoined, in his mind, c in qualite,' which is no- thing ; an d it might easily seem that i ta,' before f te ' had been omitted u . Moreover, the same person, in the words next following c quia preedo f fidejussor, non videturV changed the word c prsedo ' into 6 prsedio,' by writing above it i, be- cause the passage, a little before, treats ' de prae- 6 diis et hypothecis v .' But, in the next law, which is the 32d, under the title c De negot. gest.%' he has again erred, in separating words, and, indeed, very foolishly. It was there written ' uxorem qua? 5 Digest, lib. 3, tit. 5. Gothofr. col. 102, 1 Digest, lib. 3, tit. 5. Gothofr. col. 104. u J In qua lite,' might possibly be conceived, if taken as one word, a monogram for * in qualitate ;' as the letters « ta.' intro- duced before the He,' might, perhaps, be obtained by repeating the t before the e, and the a before the 1. x Digest, lib. 3, tit. 5. Gothofr. col. 101, y Digest, lib. 3, tit. 5. Gothofr. col. 104. 1 Pigest, lib. 3, tit, 5> Gothofr. col, 104- B B 2 S72 AN INQUIRY INTO c res viri tempore nuptiarum ;' &c. but he, not- being able to digest the word f quaeres/ added an n to it ; and so made it ' quaerens,' an excellent sense ! as if it had been c uxorem quaerens vir tf tempore nuptiarum.' An emendation, of the same degree of acumen, is observable at the end of 1. 1, c De calumniatorib.V 6 Pecuniam autem c accepisse dicemus, etiamsi aliquid pro pecunia 6 acceptum,' where he converts '■ acceptum * into c accepimus,' because truly c dicemus r preceded it. This Corrector seems to have ceased with 1. 7, in the same place where he, without any necessity, has changed ' et ' into c - etiam V Again, 1. 20, ' De ' inoffic, testam. ,' where it rightly stood c nee alh 6 ne umquam,' &c. ( ne' was recently obliterated, and, in its stead, ' as' was substituted between the verses, and, with another equal instance of teme- rity, it was made e unquam,' with an n. It now, therefore, insipidly reads c nee alias unquam. 9 Lastly, 1. 23, sect. 3, ' De servitut. praedior. rustic. d / instead of 6 jus sibi esse fundi,' another trifling smatterer has made it 6 jus sibi esse eundi.' But enough of Correctors: let us now inquire into the modes of correcting. The office of the Correctors was plainly com- prehended in altering errors, in supplying omis- sions, in expunging superfluous words, in pointing a Digest, lib. 3, tit. 6. Gothofr. col. 107. b Digest, lib. 3, tit. 6. Gothofr. col. 108. c Digest, lib. 5, tit. 2. Gothofr. col. 175. d Digest, lib. 8, tit. 2. Gotlic- col. 261. THE NATURE OP POETRY. 373 out the real and proper order of passages mispla- ced^ in connecting* those inconsiderately separated, and in separating* such as were confused and im- properly connected : these they indicated by signs or marks, which they called correctorial ; but the principal correctorial mark is that for expunging. One great advantage to the Florentine manu- script consists in the singular modesty in expung- ing and making other corrections, and particularly the ancient ones ; for the original writing appears through, and is clearly discernible. Formerly, the mode of writing was on wax, to which custom the modes of speaking, well known in the law, refer ; such as -~in prima, secunda cera;' as does also the office or dignity of ' Primicerius,' or the chief secretary. At that time a passage, recently writ- ten, was obliterated with the other end of the style, by making the wax even and smooth with the blunt end of the style, with which they wrote, in order that fresh letters might be written ; or, if the wax had been dried by time, and hardened, they appear to have softened it with oil, and thus to have smoothed it, for the purpose of obliterating the writing. To the former method belongs what Horace has said, ' Ssepe stilum vertas ;' and to the latter, allude the words c delere ' and 4 litura :' for, as they made use of the word ' exarare/ from the resemblance to furrows, which was produced in writing on wax, so ' delere ' was used for the act of taking away, sweeping away ; whether it came from the old word Leo, in Greek Asm, that is to b b 3 374 AN INQUIRY INTO say, To render even and smooth ; or, whether it is compounded of 6 de ' and ' oleo,' a vowel being omitted, whence, also, s aboleo ' is derived : from ' lino/ the preterite of which is borrowed from the obsolete word s leo,' comes certainly 6 litura,' and perhaps c litera ' itself. Appositely to this purpose,. Cicero says, c Cum mendum scripturee litura tol- 6 latur.' To this also answers the Greek l^tixdpsw, as if it were said 6 exungere,' that is to say, To smear out, to obliterate : indeed, c interlinere ' is also used to signify ' delere/ not only by Cicero, but especially by Ulpian and other lawyers, by whom, however, it is also sometimes distinguished from the verb ' delere.' But that it is derived from ' linio/ cannot even be suspected, since, if it came from c linea/ we should not say e interlinere,' but * interlineare,' as if the line had been drawn through the letter, and thus it would correspond with liayudpcLv. But as there are also many phrases applicable to that early mode of obliterating, so there are also others, such as ' inducere ' and 6 ex- i tinguere/ derived, as it were, c ab inducendo oleo,* from washing out with oil, with which was origin- ally written what was to be expunged. We may, therefore, congratulate ourselves and posterity, throughout all ages, on the circumstance that this copy is not erased and corrected in the ancient manner. .Among these obliterations of the Florentine manuscript, those that are ancient are clearly to be distinguished from such as were recent, whether THE NATURE OF POETRY. 375 it were an obliteration of one letter or many, or whether one syllable only, or whole words or whole verses, were to be expunged. The obliteration of one or two letters was formerly made by a point, whence those letters which are thus obliterated, are said f expungi,' to be expunged. But nothing is more re- markable, as to that ancient point of obliteration^ than the place which is over the letters ; nor is it> as happens in other manuscripts, as well Greek as Latin, written beneath. The books of the Pandect are the only ones now known, that have this indica- tion for the expunging of a letter placed above, and not underneath ; following, in that, the ex- ample of Hebrew manuscripts e . As to the He- brew, certainly this method is not wonderful; for^ since they mark the vowels by points, and write them under the consonants, it was necessary to take care that the point for expunging was not confounded with the vowels. For a contrary rea- son^ it was necessary that, in Greek manuscripts, this point should be placed underneath ; for, al- though the accents were not anciently written, they yet had two points, which used to be placed over i and r , which might erroneously have been taken for points of obliteration. In the transcripts of the Pandects, made by Greek scribes, the same € Perhaps the Copyists or Correctors, or both, might have been Greek Jews, and have, therefore, followed the method which they knew to prevail in transcripts of the Scriptures in Hebrew. B B 4 376 AN INQUIRY INTO proofs of the ancient mode of writing are observe able ; and sometimes they create considerable dif- ficulty and trouble. Whenever, therefore, T occurs to be obliterated, instead of two points, written one over each horn, one is placed in the middle ; and from this it may be collected, that those points for the I and T were not originally put in by the Copyist, but were, by the Corrector, in reading over the manuscript, placed over them, otherwise three points together would appear. This conjec- ture receives additional strength from the circum- stance, that neither point, whether that for I or T, are every where to be constantly observed, since it might more easily be omitted, in reading it over^ than in writing. However, as has been said, a point, as a mark for expunging, was placed over one or two letters. But the letters, thus expunged, might be said to be c gratiose expunctse,' neatly expunged, as Mo- destinus speaks, 1. 8, £ Be administr. rer. ad civit. c pertin.y but in another sense. If any of the sub- sequent letters were to be expunged, they were ex- cluded from the rest of the writing, by small hooks placed over them and facing each other, like a kind of parenthesis ; in order that an accumulated heap of several points in one place, might not of- fend the eyes of the reader^ and point out heavier errors and mistakes. Where whole words were to be expunged, this method was still more frequently f Digest, lib. 50, tit. 8. Gothofr. eoh 194-7. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 377 practised; but if a whole period, and several verses, were through mistake repeated, then, at the beginning and end of each verse, these marks appear, placed in like manner, quite to the end of the superfluous words. If the passages to be ex- punged, begin with one or two letters at the end of a verse, or if they end with its beginning, those letters are, in the usual manner, taken away, by a point placed over them ; and the rest are included within hooks. As to the form of these marks, they are sometimes so small, as to resemble two Greek aspirates, facing each other, and are even almost reduced to the smallness of two spots. The former may be said to be diminutive paren- theses, or an embryo of them ; the latter may be termed hooked points. But, if parentheses of a proper size are introduced into the writing, as hap- pens in an instance which is given in the preceding chapter", these can scarcely be thought the work of an ordinary Corrector : even Augustinus him- self says, ' Eum fuisse veteribus delendi niorem, ' ut verba illis semicirculis ineluderent.' From that circumstance he judges as to the antiquity of the hand that made the corrections; and faults have been committed, through ignorance of this custom. 8 The instance referred to, is this, from 1. 18, sect. 2, ' De ' manumiss. vind.', and the words are in that preceding chapter thus printed : ' Filius quoque voluntate patris apud patrem ma- * numitrere (non potest Filius quoque voluntate patris apud * patrem manumittere) potent,' 378 AN INQUIRY INTO Besides, to the desire of being sparing, in cor- rections of the writing, it is to be attributed, that false and erroneous letters frequently, and as far as it could be done, were transformed into those that were true or correct, either by means of a pen or pen-knife, or by some other neat and gentle me- thod ; or by several remedies at once. Thus o, by erasing the front, is formed into e ; or, on the con- trary, e, with the little line taken away, is rounded into o; and a similar method was followed in changing o into u. Moreover, 1. 2, sect. 1, c Si. 6 ex noxali cau.V & c - c comsis ti 9 was placed for 6 euni slsti/ a little line was added in the middle of c, the upper part of the o erased, and a line on the right side added'. Another example of a double remedy is seen in the inscription, 1. 76, ' De procurator. V in which ( ad Mucium ' is, in that manner, changed into c ad Minicium/ that, out of the two feet of the u, two letters, ii, might, by means of an erasure, be made ; and N, because the legs stood somewhat wide, was between the top of them inserted. So also, 1. 27, c De nox- 6 alib. action, 1 / 6 si noxale iudicio agitur/ after- wards 6 was changed into u, and in written above, and thus it was made c noxale indicium.' Again, h Digest, lib. 2, tit. 9. Gothofr. col. 51. 1 He should have described the alteration as consisting of two perpendicular lines, introduced at the top of the o, instead of the curve originally there. k Digest, lib. 3, tit. 3. Gothofr. col. 94-. 1 Digest, lib. 9, tit. 4. Gothofr. col. 301. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 379 three methods, for the purpose of correcting, are applied to these words, 1. 28 m , c De recept. qui 6 arbitr. recept.' 6 et puto comitutur '-,' w hence was made ' et puto committi ; for u being altered, with the pen-knife, into ' ti,' ' tur' was included with hooks. The latter correction, however, seems, both to Brencrnan and Taurellus, suspicious. Lastly, 1. 8, at the Julian law, ( de adulter. / in- stead of c Papinianus,' it was ' Idem.' The Cor- rector expunged ' dem,' and of the remaining f 1/ made the upright stroke of a P ; so that that let- ter was an intermixture of red colour and black ink ; and the rest he wrote over it. The later Correctors were not so scrupulous, from whose corrections those by earlier persons are, on account of their singular modesty, easily distinguishable. But, in proportion as they are later, they are more rude, and less intelligent, agreeably to the barbarism of those ages. The Correctors of the middle and later age, also, like their predecessors, used points in expung- ing, but placed under, not over, the letters ; and even introduced into the body of the letter it- m Digest, lib. 3. tit. 8. Gothofr. col. 151. n The passage here referred to, stands col. 151, in Gotho- fred ; but it is not quite in the same words : for he reads i ut ' puta quanti ea res erit.' The four last words he, however, prints in Italic, as if he entertained doubts of their authen- ticity. ° Digest, lib. 48, tit. 5. Gothofr. col. 1813. 380 AN INQUIRY INTO self. L. 50, ( Be jure dot.?,' at the end, in c hoc < tibi tradiderim,' ' tradiderim ' was changed into * tradiderit,' the m being expunged, with a point underneath, and in the body of the letter, and t being written over : and this correction is both later and erroneous. Again, 1. 20, f De inoffic. < testam.V the words c nee ali. ne unquam' are very grossly corrupted into ' nee alias unquam ;' but there are three points placed above the c ne/ and three more below ; and to place points in this manner, to surround letters, is not the* ancient economy of punctuation. Lastly, accidental blots also, and such as arose from the touch of the op- posite page of writing, and others of that kind, sometimes produce a sort of correction. Again, some Correctors drew a line under the words to be expunged, or even cut the letters themselves through with a line, which they drew across them. Afterwards they made use of a double method ; for, either they made the line perpendi- cular, if one letter was to be expunged, or trans- versely, if there were more. Some persons, also, crossed passages with their nail, as a caution, as they were reading ; and Taurellus himself com- plains, that the writing was disfigured by a letter with the scratch of a nail under it, which he calls 1 confossa literal Again, when an old letter seem- p Digest, lib, 28, tit. 3. Gothofr. col. 757. 9 Digest, lib. 5, tit. 2. Gothofr. col. 175. * This is like the method, by which schoolmasters, when THE NATURE OP POETRY. 381 ed too faint, and almost illegible, some of them re^ freshed it. So, 1. 35, c De pactis V as to a redun- dant letter in c absentes eruant,' which was for- merly expunged. So, 1. 3, e De servitut.y several letters in * servituperficies,' instead of ( superficies,* which were formerly included between small hooks, are struck through with a late line. Again, 1. 15, ■ De negot. gest.",' it was written ' Pomponius 6 libro vicensimo sexto injuriarumgotiis gestis ;* as if, for instance, the scribe meant to have added the subject discussed, and, at the same time, having discovered his error, endeavoured to be- stow as little trouble as possible on the correction. An old Corrector, out of ' iu, ? made ( ne;' ' riarum ! he included within hooks from above. A later, thinking this scarcely sufficient, crossed ' riarum * through with a line. Lastly, in the rubric of the title x , < Expilatee hereditatis/ it was ' heredibus- * tatis,' and the superfluous syllable * bus' was in- closed with red hooks, that is to say, by the Co- pyist himself; but another afterwards crossed that syllable through with ink. Some cancelled an erroneous passage, after it was written, that is to say, drew lines across, through the letters themselves, in the manner of a correcting a boy's exercise, point out the faulty places, to be ^afterwards corrected by the boy himself. s Digest, lib. 2, tit. 14-. Gothofr. col. 69* 1 Digest, lib. 8, tit. 1. Gothofr. col. 247. u Digest, lib. 3, tit. 5. Gothofr. col. 99. f Digest, lib. 47, tit. 19. Gothofr. col. 1793» 2 382 AN INQUIRY INTO lattice. And, indeed, that kind of correction which was made with many cross lines, and with lines drawn lattice-wise, is not really of so recent practice, as the civil lawyers themselves use the terms ' cancellare testam en turn, chirographum, f tabulas, et cautiones/ instead of ' delere.' Among these corrections by lines, such as are more heavy and gross discover, as a guide, their age. The more recent Correctors, in after-times, corrected with a greater degree of violence ; they scraped out, they blotted out, with ink laid over, or, as it were, spread over, the writing ; and, by other similar methods, they have loaded the Flo- rentine manuscript with corrections, sometimes unnecessarily expunging, sometimes replacing er- rors, or retracting their own, when they found them too rash and hasty : and this, even while the writing was so very recent, that they were able to rub out with their finger, as it were with a sponge, alterations which they had recently made. In doing this, they were sometimes so hasty and imprudent, that they even injured the neighbour- ing letters. Elsewhere, also, the manuscript may be seen injured in a variety of ways. Under the title, ' De negot. gest.V 1. 6, sect. 9, instead of ' dubitari,' it was ' dubitario' or c dubitarid ;' but the superabundant letter is obliterated by every method ; it is, for instance, marked with a pointy 1 |- -. J i i n . y Digest, lib, 3, tit. 5, Gothofred, col, 98, THE NATURE OP POETRY. 383 with a line, and with an erasure z . It is curious to observe the correction, 1. 37, under the same title a , where it was erroneously written *' cui pa- c titur,' and rightly corrected i cujus patitur ;*- hut the letter u was recently blotted. Some late Cor- rector, thinking that the effect of design, which was, in fact, only the consequence of chance and accident, as if, for instance, the former Corrector had immediately repented of his correction, him- self introduced ' m,' as if he had meant to make it ' cum patitur.' But, if they had recourse to the scraping-knife, they sometimes made such violent use of it, that they scraped an hole through the vellum; for instance, 1. 41, ' De reb. cred.V But it rarely happens, that, by the violence of the corruptors of that kind, the original word cannot be wholly erased. In 1. 3, at the end, ' Quse res pign. ,' in c petere potest,' the word f petere' is indeed more gently erased, but upon the ancient writing is written c habere,' which has wonderfully obscured the place, Lastly, even abbreviation is admitted among the corrections, from which circumstance there is less reason to doubt of their age. L. 5, sect. 4 5 z It may be doubted whether the last letter in * dubitarid 3 is redundant, as this word is probably a conjunction of two ? #nd intended for ' dubitari id.' a Digest, lib. 3, tit. 5. Gothofr. col. 105. b Digest, lib. 12, tit. 2. Gothofr. col. 363. * Digest, lib, 20 3 tit. 3. Gothofr. col. 650. 384 AN INQUIRY INTO at the end, c De reb. eor. qui sub tut. d ,' &c. it was erroneously written ' prsetoresse ;' nor was this, with others, formerly corrected. At length, by a very recent hand, p, abbreviated, was written over the line, just before the word c esse/ as if the Corrector meant c pree,' and therefore read ' prae- c tor praeesse;' but Taurellus seems rightly to have conjectured it should be ' preetore posse.' None but additions of a few letters were intro- duced between the verses ; the rest were placed in the margin. To the former, also, some mono- grams, and instances of letters written upon others, seem referable. But, at the place to be assigned for those passages supplied in the margin, various marks were formerly used. So the obelus, or ho- rizontal dart, which astronomers call the sign of the planet Mars, or a circle, with a point in the centre, which is called the astronomical sign of the Sun, and is described by Harmenopulus. Very often, however, in the Florentine manuscript, an obelus, or dart, is placed in a sloping direction, between a point below, and another above its middle, like a dart, another weapon being placed the other way, in the margin, so that they may seem to face each other ; for cSeKog signifies a spit, and from &ho$ it is derived, as being an arrow, which resembles a spit. To this critical or cor- rectorial mark, the following words of Augustinus refer : " Bixi errorem ex illis libris manasse, prop- ■ „ ,.| __™_, , , , . . „ , , , „ , . -»s * Digest, lib. 27, tit, 9, Gotliofr. col. 903. THE NATURE OF POETRY, 385 " terea quod cum scriberentur, oblitus est libra- " rius xlii. capitis (sub tit. Ad leg. Aquil. e ) idque " alius ejusdem temporis scriptor in libri margine (i nota Obeli (sic eniin Grseci appellant) adjecta " scripsit. Seel nostri minime diligentes antiqui- " tatis investigatores ejusmodi notas neglexerunt." Next in order, follow the marks or signs for transposition; for instance, where a word or more has been omitted, the Copyists sometimes, if the sense would permit it, seem to have carefully added it in the context, in order that by this, there might be no necessity for introducing it above, and so defacing the writing by less necessary ad- ditions. But if they had, through carelessness^ omitted entire verses, or whole laws, they chose rather to introduce these in a very foreign place, than to admit those marginal grafts. In the for- mer case, the order of the words is pointed out by little lines over the words, i, n, in, nil ; in the other 3 by the numeral letters, #, S, 7, S, But, as in the numbers, the first or prior number is prefixed to these, which ought to be read first, so also one line is used to that word, which ought to stand first ; two to the second ; and so on. All these little lines, however, whether they are one or more, fall on the first letter of the word, which certainly, m contiguous writing, was altogether necessary. Besides this, which prevailed in whole words, the same practice sometimes, though rarely. s Digest, lib. 9, tit. 2. Gothofr. col. 290. c c 386 AN INQUIRY INTO obtained in single letters. An example occurs^ where the Corrector very skilfully uses this me- thod, in the emendation of a corrupt passage. Lv 3, < De feriis et dilat. f :' for ' Item si res/ it was written ' itemresi.' At first, the second s was writ- ten above, just before that which was already there ; then a little line was placed over the first letter of ' si ;' but, over the word ' res/ which was in order the second, two lines were placed. The marks or indications for joining or disjoin- ing chapters, either wrongly separated in the Flo- rentine manuscript, or erroneously connected, re- main next to be considered : for sometimes a fresh law may commence at a wrong place, where the Co- pyist, deceived by the usual initial words of the laws, begins, from the place where the name of one lawyer is cited by another, a fresh law with red. On the contrary, which, however, is less frequent, two laws are sometimes confounded together, by a continuation of the writing. For the connexion of those passages which had been improperly sepa- rated, an horizontal line used to be drawn through the void space which had been wrongly left at the end of the preceding passage, except that, perhaps, in some cases, as 1.1, sect. 2, ' De rei vindie."/ two small horizontal parallel lines may be employ- ed, instead of one. For the opposite purpose, of separating what had been improperly joined, may f Digest, lib. 2, tit. 12. Gothofr. col. 56, 8 Digest, lib. 6, tit. I. Gothofr. col. 197. THE NATURE OP POETRY, 387 be seen every where a mark in the margin, like the numeral figure 7, of a large size, which some one, not badly, has compared to a scythe, especially when it is considered that its use was for cutting, that is, separating. An instance of this mark is to be seen, 1. 35, c De servitu. prsed. rust.V and 1. 8, ' De pignerat. act/ ' The distinctions of the gatherings, by nume- rical marks, which seem attributable to the Co- pyists, have been already mentioned. But, after- wards, the pages also began to be distinguished by numbers. Of this regulation, the commencement appears in a few of the first books of the Pandect ; but by a very late hand : and not in the upper margin of the page, but in the inner margin, and there frequently in the middle : besides, also, that the numbers only occurred occasionally, for not all the pages have numbers. Of a recent age it appears they are, because they are of the form now in use 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, &c. when the genuine Ro- man ones were written i, n, in, mi, v, &:e. But there are, moreover, alphabetical numerals, by the letters a 9 6, y, X ; and these are used^ as well in restoring to their places such passages as had been transposed, as more especially to mark the or- der of the titles. Both of these are rather to be at- tributed to the Correctors than Copyists ; especi- ally, as they seem to have been added afterwards, b Digest, lib. 8, tit. 3. Gothofr. col. 256. 1 Digest, lib. 13, tit. 7. Gothofr. col. 418. C C 2 388 AN INQUIRY INTO when an Index of the titles and the names of the lawyers was made ; neither of which came from Justinian, or seem to have been of the same age as the manuscript. This method prevails through some of the former book of the Pandects : but tit. 4 De sestimatoria V Roman numerals begin. These very persons, however, a little further on, when they represent the number four, do it thus iv ; but not with four units, as they formerly did, and as has been observed in the instance of the gather- ings. In both these instances a line is placed over the numerals : but, as this line begins from a point or head, and ends in another, it tends to confirm a conjecture, that it was intended for the letter N, extended in breadth ; for that is the ini- tial letter of the word Numerus. In discussing the subject of the ancient Punc- tuation, it is labour in vain to inquire as to the primeval points of the Pandects, of which it may truly be said, as it was of the shipwrecked fleet of iEneas, by the poet, * Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto.' In these and other interpunctuations, the subse- quent age was more liberal, not to say prodigal : for these first interpunctuations were rare, and like mere beginnings and rudiments for distinguishing the writing, which mode of distinction became at length more and more perfect and settled. The. k Digest, lib. 19, tit. 3. Gothofr. col. 622. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 389 old mode of distinction in the Pandects, appears also simple and uniform, that is to say, as consist- ing of one point placed in a space ; but rarely of two points, unless^ perhaps, in the inscriptions of the laws. But the points themselves, when they began to be more frequently used, seem to have supplied the place of Commas. Certainly Commas, or the other marks now used for dividing writing, do not occur in the Florentine manuscript, unless here and there introduced by a later hand : for, if any point (especially that added to the line which is used to denote the letter m) seems to deviate into the form of a Comma, it was produced from haste and the flow of writing. The recent Points of the Pandects are to be, at least principally, imputed to those who consulted it, and therefore may chiefly be referred to the 13th and 14th century; for, since, in those bar- barous times, it was very difficult, in continued writ- ing, to find any passage, they, for the purpose of as- sisting in the reading, began to place Points to the words, by which one word might be separated from another. This most manifestly appears from 1. 37, 38, and the last, ' De legib. 1 / where this is admitted, with a wonderful degree of caution ; for not only is the Point placed at the side near each word, but sometimes the members of the same word are separated by a Point, thrust in between them, especially in compound words, the Preposi- 1 Digest, lib. 1, tit. 3. Gothofr. col, 13. c c 3 390 AN INQUIRY INTO tion, or other adscititious particle, being by this method separated. But sometimes two monosyl- lables, or Adverbs of few syllables, are included together. The same may be observed, in 1. 3, 5, 6, 7, & 8, ' Quod met. cau. m ,' where the Points are placed sometimes above and sometimes below, according to the convenience of the person putting them in, and the space of the letters. In other places, these are very rare ; for some small faint Point here and there is found inserted above, but not easily will so many be found together. The Comma itself, in its original, was nothing more than a small Point, drawn from above, witira, faint line, which declined to the left, as if to indicate or show the Point, which otherwise, in a continued line of writing, might lie hid. This is the more credible, because sometimes, at the end of the little line, employed to denote m, at the faint Point usually added to it, a similar line was drawn cross in this manner |. Without all doubt, it was drawn perpendicularly, and not horizontally (as is now, indeed, also done in the Point of Admiration), because, in a continued succession of letters, the proximity and form did not admit of an horizontal or straight line. Another method of interpunctu- ation is observable in the third Constitution before the Pandect, besides the aforesaid Comma, which is also there frequently used, that is to say, the letter i, with two dots, instead of one over it, and m Digest, lib. 4, tit, 2. Gothofr. col. 110. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 391 once, also, the exact modern Comma ; and there, also, the former line begins to be curled, like a modern Comma with two dots over it : these cer- tainly are of the 14th century, to which period various corrections seem referable. Lastly, single or solitary Points are inserted in some of the laws. But, if there is any ground for conjecture, it may be supposed that these were partly put in by some one reading it over atten- tively, who, laying down his pen, has stopped, and, as it seems, marked how far in reading he had proceeded, while he considered, or read over again, the former parts. In some places it may also be conceived, that a word or period, on which the hinge of that question for which it was consulted, turned, might be distinguished with a Point, or mark of that kind, that it might again the more easily be found by the person consulting it. So, for example, 1. 6, sect. 3, ' De negot. gest. 11 ,' one recent point is found between the words ( non mei s contemplatione/ and those c sed sui lucri causa :' as to which, it should seem that there was some controversy then on foot. So, also, after ' deliquit,* L 35, in the same place °, and also 1. 20, at the end, 6 De do. ma. p , ? after ' in rem domini,* and so elsewhere. Again, other points are plainly super- abundant, and have, as far as it can be perceived, * Digest, lib. 3, tit. 5. Gothofr. col. 98. P Digest, lib. 3, tit. 5. Gothofr. col. 104. » Digest, lib. 4, tit. 3. Gothofr. col. 120« c c 4 392 AN INQUIRY INTO no meaning or use; as if by chance or caprice they had been introduced into the Florentine ma- nuscript ji. Some of these occur below, and some above the letters : others are intermixed among the writing itself, no regular method, as to situa^ tion or form, being observed. Some, also, of these Points occur in small numbers together, some in moderate numbers, while others are found to con- sist of several collected and accumulated together. Among the modern separations and divisions of the writing or distinctions, and critical marks, is also to be reckoned the mark of a Paragraph, which itself is sometimes introduced into the Flo- rentine manuscript, as well in the margin, as more especially in the context. The origin of the Para- graph is Greek, as its name plainly shows : but ' 7rapo£yp would be nothing short of writing a literary history of the middle ages at large ; but the sole object of inquiry shall here be confined to exhibiting, with remarks on them, the sentiments of some of the most celebrated authors, on the point of Versification, which alone concerns the present work, in order to prevent an unrea- sonable reliance on the authority of the Gramma- rians. Aristotle himself, speaking of the Margites of Homer, which he describes as a satyrical poem^ though it is since known to be spurious c , says, that Iambic was well suited to it, because, in this kind of verse, mutual reproaches were accustomed to be uttered d , When he speaks of Tragedy, he c * Et tamen spurius ille Margites, de quo Hephaestion, * p. 67, Man us Victorinus, Tzetzes, Chi', iv. 861, vi. Hist. 62, e loqui videntur, habuisse dicitur versus lambicos, nullo certo s ordine, ant numero, Hexametris interpositos/ — Aristot. De Poetice, edit. Tyrwhitt, 8vo. Oxon. 1794, p. 127, in a note on Sect. 7. d ' Twv ]uav av 7Tpo Opvga adeyoj e'^ojuev e/ttsTv roiSroy ttooj^o.* s;xo> as e tivou TToX^a,-. owro ds O^c^a a.p£;a,ju.E'yoi£, ipiv' owv, Ikeiw o MapystTn?, * KCti TC4 T0JC&UTG&, h ol$ X.CA TO dPJXOTTOV 'lX[jMi7oV "HAS? jU,6Tpov* diO X«l ' tapSuov KOtXevroLi vvv, on h tw jast^w t^tw Iku^i*ov ct,Xkri\ov$* — c Ante aetatem Homeri, non possumus tale cujusquam Poema « commemorare, fortasse vero multa extiterunt : ducto autem ' initio ab Hom-ero, praesto est nobis ejusmodi poema, exempli * gratia, Margites ejus, et similiaj quibus convenientius vide- THE NATURE OF POETRV. 401 relates that the metre in that was changed from Tetrameter to Iambic, as better suiting its dig- nity, and because it more resembled common dia- logue e ; and yet, in his book e De Rhetorice,' he expressly asserts, that the Iambus is to be avoided, as being mean, and the very conversation of the Vulgar, and not fit for the style of public speaking, which ought to be more grand and elevated t: . Now, if lam bid suited the Margites, because it was fit for railing, it certainly could not agree with Tragedy, where no such object existed ; nor, if the Iambus was mean, and the very conversa- tion of the vulgar, and unfit for public speaking, which ought to be more grand and elevated, could it suit the dignity of Tragedy, which requires a still higher degree of elevated and lofty language, than even public speaking itself. * batur metrura lambicUrn, quapropter nunc etiam vocatur Iam- * bicum, eo quod hoc metro convicia mutuo fundebant.' — Arist. De Poetica, edit. Oxon. 1760, p. 6 & 5% e l Et* d£ fxsyiQ c sk fuxgwv fxvQdv k'o.1 \[\'zu- THE NATURE OF POETRY. 407 ' brachyn, eo quod ex Iambo vel Trochseo solutis 1 nascitur.' Any one would imagine from this, that the Tribrachys was intended as equivalent to one of the Iambic conjugations ; or, at least, that, as he measures above by Iambic conjugations, which are combinations of two Iambic feet each, he did not here adopt another method. But the Tribrachys is only equivalent to one Iambus, and, consequently, is but one half of the measure which he had before used. The same author, Victorinus, col. 2537 (it should be 2536), treating ' De Metro lonico,' uses these words : ( Recipit hoc metrum Trochaicas ' Bases, id est, duplicem Trochaeum, qui totidem ( temporum est, sicut Iambica Basis, Choriambi- ' cam et Anapaesticam, quod fieri dicunt sed et i vocant Kara (rvp7rc&9siv. Similiter Anapaest um et ' Pyrrhichium geminatos recipit.' This cannot be correct, as it stands ; for the Choriambus is equal to two Iambuses, and so is the Ionicus, whether Major or Minor, and the Anapaest is received in- stead of one Iambus only, and considered as an exchange for the Spondee. Victorinus, also, col. 2566, speaking ( De Pha- ( laecio Metro,' says, ' Recipit autem Spondeum, ' Choriambum, Iambum, et syllabam.' This is an unequal and irregular mode of division ; for the Choriambus is a double foot, and would pass for twice as much as the Spondee ; and so it is also with respect to the Iambus. To make the division, as nearly as possible, equal, which is always a D P 4 4(38 AN INQUIRY INTO point of material importance, the verse ought to, be scanned thus ; a Molossus, a Pyrrhichius and Trochee conjoined, and a Spondee or Trochee, The same author, Vicxorinus, again, col. 2571, says, ( - Nam ubicimque syllaba longa est, ibi (Juse 6 breves poni possunt, exeepia sede ultima, qua c pes sextus clauditur, qui semper aut Iambus esse * debet aut Pai iambus, quo fit ut longissimus ver- $ sus in eo septemdecim est syllabarum, temporum \ vero totidem, quot et is qui constat e duodecim ■I syllabis, qua lege recipit Tribrachyn, etiam Tro- * choeum simili temporum mensura admitti potur \ isset, quippe cum uterque eorum tribus tempq- \ ribus censeantur, sed ne copulatio Trochsei cum f Iambo alterius metri speciem induceret, quae aut * Choriambo aut Ionico, adempta prima brevi qua f Iambus incipit, subsistere videretur, omissum - est.' This passage is here given as pointed in Putschius's edition ; but it Js so corrupt, in that particular, as not to be intelligible. Instead of a comma after £ syllabis,' there ought to be a full point, and f qua ' should begin with a capital let- ter. That part of the passage which, with what follows it, is all that is material on the present oc- casion, will therefore stand thus : ' Qua lege reci- 6 pit Trihrachyn, etiam Trochseuni|- simili tempo- \ rum mensura, admit ti potuisset,- &c. Pointing it in this manner, will make sense of that part of the passage, the substance of which is, to say, that, by the same rule which admits the Tribra- phySj the Trochee, which is equal in value^ might 4- THE NATURE OP POETRY. 409 have been received; but, lest the Choriambic, or Ionic metre, should be thus introduced by the co- pulation of the Trochee with the Iambus, the first short syllable, with which the Iambus begins, is taken away. To this absurd passage it is sufficient to an- swer, that the process here mentioned, of the ex- istence of which there are not, in fact, the smallest traces, has for its object, the intention of render- ing the Choriambus, in the foot spoken of, a Cre- tic ; but the Cretic is not of the same value with any metre in the Iambic, and is therefore not ad- missible ; nor is there, indeed, the appearance of any process in the whole by which the syllable he gpeaks of, is actually, or can be reasonably, re- moved. Multitudes of instances occur, among the writ- ings of the Grammarians, in which, by their ab- surd method of describing the verses, all idea of their constituent feet is entirely lost ; as, instead £>f enumerating what feet they admit, these writers say they are made up by a conjunction of two or more pieces of different sorts of verse. By this method, which completely shows how little they were acquainted with the true principles on w r hich only a correct system of versification can be form- ed, they have been led to place verses of this kind under the head of such as consisted of intermixed fragments, and were of no determinate sort m . But, ra Victorious, col. 2587, entitles his fourth book * Liber f Quartus, De connexis inter se atque inconnexis, quae Graecj 410 AN INQUIRY INTO had they known how to have scanned them, which they evidently did not, it would have been found, that these verses were of a regular species, and that the disparity between the feet or metres was considerably less than that which they had not scrupled to allow as reasonable and admissible in the case of Iambic and Trochaic. Of these, the following are some specimens : * Saturnium constat Dimetro Iambico catalecto c et Ithyphallico, ut est hoc, * Isis pererrat orbem crinibus, profusis ".* But this is really a Bacchiac Tetrameter, and to be scanned thus : Isis per|errat or|bem crini|bus profusis. ' Archilochium constat Partheniaco et Ithy- * phallico, ut est hoc, ' Remeavit ab arce tyrannus vultibus cruentis .' This also is Bacchiac Tetrameter, and the follow- ing is the right mode of scanning it : Remeavit ab | arce tyran|nus vulti|bus cruentis. 6 Asclepiadeium constat Spondeo, duobus Cho- 6 riambis, et Pyrrhichio, ut est hoc, 4 ao-wapTvTcc, vocant pragmaticus ;' and Hephaestion, edit. Pau\v ? p. 48, has a chapter or section, entitled ' n^< otwiufiirw* n Servius, edit. Putsch, col. 1825. • Ibid. col. 1825. THE NATURE OP POETRY. 411 * Vitae pars melior quam cito labitur V But this is also Bacchiac Tetrameter, and requires to be thus scanned : Vitae pars | melior quam | cito labijtur. c Archilochium constat penthemimeri Dac- ' tylica, et Dimetro Iambico, ut est hoc, f Sydera cuncta micant decore lucis aureo V This, like the others, is also Bacchiac Tetrameter, and ought to be thus scanned : Sydera cunc'ta micant delcore lucis [ aureo* f Archilochium constat Dimetro lambico, et ' penthemimeri Dactylica, ut est hoc, ' Indi Lyaeo dediti tympana jam quatiunt V This is also a Bacchiac Tetrameter, when properly scanned, thus : Indi Lylaeo dedilti tympana | jam quatiunt. It is worthy of remark, that the appellations here bestowed on these verses, by Servius, are by no means definite, or such as to characterize them precisely ; for three of them are attributed to Ar« chilochus, which yet, as described above, by Ser- vius, all differ from each other. Servius, it is clear, did not understand of what kind they were, p Servius, edit. Putsch, col. 1824. * Ibid. col. 1S26. r Ibid. col. 1826. 41*2 AN INQUIRY INTO &nd ;j consequently, was unable to reduce them to any thing like regularity; but the real fact is, that they are all either Baecbiac, or of some one of those kinds, consisting of the musical sesquialteral proportion of three to two ; but admitting also, as all those sorts do, metres of six times also in exchange. The same may be said of several others, which he has placed in the same chapter, as being, in his idea, verses with confused metres. Every one, whose opinion on the subject is en- titled to any attention, must know, what indeed is self-evideat^ that, in scanning a verse, that me- thod is always to be preferred, which will render the metres most nearly equal with -each other; and all these verses, on experiment, will be found to consist of feet or metres equal in value, either •to five, at least, or, at most, to six short syllables. The disparity, therefore, is but as five to six, which is less than that acknowledged and allowed by these very persons, the Grammarians, in Iambic and Trochaic. This will appear from scanning the verses correctly, which, for that very purpose, is here done. Isis per|errat orjbem crinibus profusis Reraeavit ab | arce tyranjnus vultiibus cruentis Vitae pars | melior quam | cito la|bitur Sydera cuncita micant de|core lucis J aureo Indi Ly|a20 dedijti tympana | jam quatiunt. Victorinus, col. 2506, speaking, as it seems, of the Trochaic, says, i Nam Iambico versui, ut est^ * Paratus omne Caesaris periculum, THE NATURE OF POETRY. 413 f si adjeceris longam, efficies Trochaicum, ut, * O paratus omne Cffisaris periculum, 6 Rursus Trochaico si detrahas primam syllabam ' Iambicum efficies, velut est, ' Celer Phaselus ille quern videtis.* He ought here to have said, at which end the ad- dition to the Iambic was to be made, and whether the verse intended to be added to, should be cata- lectic or acatalectic. The fact is, the addition must be made at the beginning ; and so must the rejection of the syllable, to change a verse from Trochaic to Iambic. The verse, to be added to, must be catalectic, and that detracted from aca- talectic. The same author, Victor! n as, col. 2508, speak- ing ' De tome sive incisione versuum/ which is, in fact, what is understood by the Cae- sura, directs, in the case of Heroic verse, that this pause should be sought for after the syllable beyond the second foot, or after that beyond the third foot ; and then says, ' Nam si harum neu- f tram in veneris, tertium Trochaeum in versu con- e quires : id est, Penthemimeren dissyllabo clau- • sam, ut est, * Infandum regina, ' Nam percussis duobus pedibus, tertius pes Tro- ' chseus est, " gina," cui conjuncta brevis " ju, M ( secundum legem versus Hexametri Daetylum & complet ". bes," autem syllaba et sensum supe- c rioris coli integrat, ut fiat hephthemimeres, et 414 AN INQUIRY INTO c sequentis pedis initium inducit.' When he speaks of the third Trochee, the reader naturally expects to find, that two Trochees have preceded ; but it is no such thing. He means to say, that, taking so much of the third foot, which is a Dactyl, as constitutes a Trochee, that is to say, the two first syllables, that is the place for the Csesura; but he talks absurdly, and contrary to the fact, when he says the third foot is a Trochee ; because it is evi- dent that foot is a Dactyl, of which a Trochee is only a part. In scanning the Heroic, the Trochee never occurs ; and it is the most absurd of all me- thods, and tends, more than any other mode what* ever, to the destruction of all knowledge of scan- ning and metre, to describe verses by feet, which do not occur in the scanning 5 . To these, it cannot be foreign to the subject^ to add some more modern instances ; because, al- though they do not proceed from the ancient Grammarians, they yet concern those who have undertaken to lay down rules, and teach the prin- E In addition to what has been already said, to show how little trust can be placed on the judgment of ancient Critics, Grammarians, and Lexicographers, the following passage from Suidas, art. Iaj*&fw, is inserted: * 'ia^C/fw. *leq*&i$w' 9 t© J£p/{«v. ' wj youp o iajuboj £x. £ parting x.ai jxaapug. biu ^s r> JSfa 0* oXiyS aoftp- ' ue'm), irpoturiv piQt piityv* xai v Oju.>ip©s, -/jt' oXiyn jusv to. wpwra.' — Sui- das, art. Ia/xCi£w, edit. Basileae, 1544. In English thus: lapGty, Ia/*£*£;*y, to reproach. For, as the Iambus consists of a short and a long syllable; so reproaches, beginning from a small original, proceed to greater extent ; and Homer says, that the earliest things were small. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 415 ciples of Versification ; and the authority of these persons may, perhaps, be relied on, though very undeservedly, by those who have not taken the pains to examine the point accurately. The Caesura, or pause, in a verse, is often claimed as a justification for making a short syl- lable long, in the place where the Caesura occurs 1 ; and the following are given as instances : ' Pectoribus inhians spirantia consulit exta u * * Omnia vincit amor et nos cedamus araori x ' * Ille latus niveum molH fultus hyacintho » ' ' Graius homo infectos linquens profugus hymenaeos z .* But in the first, third, and fourth lines, the Cae- sura does not fall in the same place with the Licence. In the first instance, the Caesura falls in the middle of the third foot, but the Licence in the second. Pectorijbus inhijans spi|rantia | consulit [ exta In the third instance, the Caesura is in the middle of the third foot, the Licence in the middle of the fifth. Ille laltus nive|um mollli ful|tus hya'cintbo 1 Lat. Gram. p. 127. Ruddiman, p. 137. a Virg. JEn. lib. 4-. v. 64. Lat. Gram. p. 127. Ruddiman, p. 137. x Virg. Bucol. JEcL 10, v. 69. Lat. Gram. p. 127. Rud- diman, p. 137. y Virg. Bucol. McL 6, v. 53. Lat. Gram. p. 123. Rud- .diman, p. 137. 2 Virg. Mn. 1. 10, v. 720. Ruddiman, p. 137. 416 AN INQUIRY INTO And in the fourth, the Csesura falls> either in the middle of the third, or the middle of the fourth foot, and the Licence in the fifth. Graius ho[mo infecltos lin'quens profujgus hyme|naeos Or, Graius ho[mo infecjtos lin[quens profulgus hymelnaeos Had any collection of various readings from manuscripts and early editions, where any such had been consulted, been made and preserved in print by the editors of the classics a 5 merely to show how the copies differed, and, without mean- ing to decide on their merit, as that might have induced them to reject many that might have been of use ; or, had an opportunity occurred of con- sulting ancient manuscripts on this point, it might a Dr. Leng, afterwards Bishop of Norwich, the editor of the quarto edition of Terence, printed at Cambridge in 1.701, speaks, p. 476, of having collated several ancient copies, and says that the book which contained those collations, he should take care should be deposited in the library of Catharine Hall, Cam- bridge, where any one might easily see why he preferred any one reading to another. Bentley, in his * Remarks on Collins's 4 Discourse of Free-Thinking,' p. 66, speaks of having collected 20,000 various readings of passages in Terence, as appears from the following words in * Fabricii Bibliolheca Latina,' edit. Er- nesti, 8vo. Lipsise, 1773, vol. i. p. 53, ' Nam Richardus Bent- 4 leius, in parte prima Observationum Anglica editarum lingua, 1 adversus Antonii Collrni Libel! um pro Lfcentia Cogitandi vul- ' gatum, pag. 66, testatur se collatis variis Codicibus, nota«se ' farraginem variarum lectionum ad vicies mille ;' but it does not seem that it was known what afterwards became of these collations. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 417 perhaps have been found, that, in some, the fore- going lines might have stood in the following manner, by which all necessity for Licence is avoided ; as they all by the change fall within the rule : Inhians pectoribus spirantia consulit exta Omnia vincit amor nos et cedamus amori Ille latus niveum fultus mollibus hyacinthis Graius homo infectos profugus linquens hymenseos, . So as to these : Ferte citi flammas date tela scandite muros b Et suceus pecori et lac subducitur agnis c Posthabita coluisse Samo hie illius arma d Corporum officium est quoniam premere omnia deorsum £ Si quid nostra tuis adjicit vexatio rebus f Ter sunt conati imponere Pelio OssamS no necessity for Licences occurs, if the above lines are read as follow : Ferte citi flammas date tela et scandite muros h Et suceus pecori lac et subducitur agnis b Virgil, iEn. lib. 9, v. 37, as cited by Ruddiman, 147* c Virgil, Bucol. Jicl. 3, v. 6. Ruddiman, 139. d Virgil, JEn. lib. I, v. 16. Ruddiman, 139. * Lucretius, as cited by Ruddiman, 139. 1 Martial, as cited by Ruddiman, 144. s Virg. Georg. lib. 1, v. 281. Ruddiman, 139. h Maittaire, in his edition of Virgil, edit. 1715, p. 254, gives this line thus : * Ferte citi ferrum date tela et scandite muros.' This circumstance was not known when the passage in the text was written ; but it is a plain proof that various readings would supply correct lines., instead of faulty ones. E £ 418 AN INQUIRY INTO Posthabita. coluisse Sanio nam hie illius arma' Corporis officium est quoniam premere omne deorsum Si quid nostra tuis addat vexatio rebus Ter eonati sunt imponere Pelion Ossam k . These changes seem so easily suggested by the passages themselves, as to make it probable that the Licences have been conjectural emendations by some Critic or Grammarian of the middle ages, introduced to show his learning; or at least, that, if he really found them in any early copy, he had preferred them to readings where no Licences oc- curred. Among other extraordinary violations of quan- tity, the Grammarians have ventured to assert 1 When no real objection exists against receiving a proposed change of expression in an author, Virgil, Horace, or Ovid, for instance, it is a very common excuse against admitting it, made by prejudiced persons, that the passage suggested is not the style of those authors, an idea generally conveyed, by saying it is not Virgilian, Horatian, or O vidian. That no such attempt may be made, as to this line from Virgil, the following line, from the same author, is here given, in which the very same mode of expression occurs : " Phyllida amo ante alias ; nam me discedere flevit." He might have said '■ ea me,' &c. without any injury to the metre, and therefore this is a decided preference of the mode which he has used. k l Imponere Pelio Ossam,' should evidently be *■ Imponere { Pelion Ossam/ on the principle of ' Ponere coronam in caput.' See Calepin's Dictionary, edit. 1681, art. Pono, 320, col. b. the preposition ' in' governing the accusative case * Pelion,' and having the same power in composition, in the verb f imponere/. as it has when separate. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 419 that, in the instance of the Greek Poets, a diph- thong is sometimes made short ! , or, as others say, common, before a vowel m . The same attempt has been made by them to establish this rule in the case of Latin Poetry also; and one instance given for that purpose, has been the following line from Virgil, which has, for another object, been already cited : * Insulse Ionio in magno quas dira Celaeno V The absurdity of the rule in itself, as requiring two Licences on the same syllable, has been already shown, as it has also, that, in reality, it is only the dissolution of the diphthong, the last syllable of which, when this dissolution has taken place, suf- fers elision, as it ought correctly to do, with the first syllable of the succeeding word °. This ma- nifestly appears in the following instance : \j \j _ 'XpVO-cOO icv, which signifies ■ Montis cacumen v ,' u * Vocalis brevis, ante mutam, sequente liquida, communis e redditur, ut Phocyl. " Mi.Tpa. Ti Ttv%s Gso~cn, to yap ^tETpoy Ifii aptrov : * 4 Moderata diis pra-sta, modus enim est optimus.' * Item ante ~t, &t, p, et nonnunquam ante solam liquidam, ut * Horn. " Auras y sXxfia teu^e HWEcrcri :" ' Fecitquc ipsos escas canibus." x Schrevelli Lexicon, art. AXirav. y Ibid. art. Piov : or it might come from Opor, mons, which Schrevelius explains in the following manner: ' npo?, soc, to, Dor. ' pro ovpoc, tof, to, Ion. pro opoc, mons.' Schrevelii Lexicon, art. SIM. ....... THE NATURE OF POETRY. 423 and the plural of which is %ia ; and from the union of the two is formed the adjective Hhcepog. Thus compounded and formed, the word would signify, 6 Taken in heaps/ and might probably be intended to mean 6 Placed, or lying in heaps/ a signification perfectly consistent with the context, where it oc- curs. In the latter case, the first part of the word is derived from the adverb AyjAcvc, i palam, mani- ' festo V which has also, for its original, the verb Avitooo, c Declaro, Manifesto, Notum facio a ; the Perfect Tense of the Indicative Mood of which is, in the Active Voice, Astykwea, and the First Indefi- nite, Ehjto&ip b . The latter part of the word is the plural from the same substantive, pov, l Montis ca- *• cumen.' If formed according to this last etymo- logy, $'/}Xcd£iM would express i Things openly exposed 6 in heaps,' or, more familiarly, ' Things exposed 6 to the open air in heaps/ It is evident that, in either of these cases, the first syllable, as being written with an t\ 9 is naturally long, and therefore no Licence is necessary. The Grammarians have also assumed to them- selves a Licence, particularly in the case of the Lyric and Tragic Poets among the Greeks, of di- viding the last word of a verse into two, and trans- ferring some of its last syllables to the beginning of the next line^ This frequently occurs in their divisions of the verses of Pindar, Sophocles, and 1 Schrevelii Lexicon, art. A«x&?s> 8 Ibid, art. Aiftoa* & Ibid. E E 4 424 AN INQUIRY INTO Aristophanes ; but it arises from a misconception, which will be found stated and accounted for in a subsequent Section of the present Inquiry; and it is, in itself, so repugnant to all ideas of the value of Poetry, or the excellence of versification, as to afford a very justifiable ground for rejecting a regulation of verses, which demands such a sacri- fice of Principle and Common Sense. The idea, in itself, is puerile and ridiculous in the extreme ; and this must be evident to every one. If this di- vision is reasonable in one language, it is equally so in all ; but would not that critic deservedly be- come the object of contempt and derision, who should seriously propose to divide, as upon the above Licence he might reasonably do, the first six verses of Pope's translation of the Iliad in the following manner ? The wrath of Pe- leus' son, the direful spring - Of all the Gre- cian woes, O Goddess, sing. That wrath, which hurl'd to PIu^ to's gloomy reign, The souls of migh- ty chiefs, untimely slain ; Whose limbs, unbu- ried on the Trojan shore, The hungry dogs and gree- dy vultures tore. The practice itself is indeed so highly tending to ridicule, that, in English at leasts it is never employed, but for the purpose of heightening the 3 1 THE NATURE OF" POETRY* 425- ridicule. In the Counter Scume, a ludicrous poem, which occurs in Dryden's Miscellany, edit. I8mo. 1716, vol. i. p. 333, into which it had been copied from a quarto edition, originally separately pub- lished, in or about the time of Charles the Second, there is such a division, evidently introduced as being more burlesque. The lines are these : * Even from the long pike to the tay- * lor's bodkin.' In the case of Pindar, and the same may be said with respect to Horace, many of the Odes are certainly wrong divided ; and, in order to rectify them, a better regulation will be found proposed in a subsequent Section of this work c . Strong reason exists for believing- that the above observations, together with what has been already said in Section VIII. will be amply suffi- cient to remove all Poetical Licences from the systems of both Latin and Greek Prosodia. The instances already given, abundantly show that the rules, as at present laid down, in both, are corrupt in the extreme, and require revision and settlement upon a much more enlarged and extended principle than that of which their original authors had any conception d . Two more instances only shall here c See Sect. XXX. d The rules of Prosodia, as they stand in Lily's Grammar, though usually taught in schools, do not seem entitled to much respect ; nor does the subject appear to have been sufficiently attended to, or adequately understood, either as to its nature or 426 AN INQUIRY INTO be produced ; for it is endless to multiply ex- amples of this kind. importance, by the very persons who have professed to write on Grammar and Versification. Manwaring, in his Introduc- tion to his Stichology, before referred to, p. 1, has said, ' At * the reformation of learning, this part of literature was the ' least considered; for, in 1521, Whittington condemns the ' Grammarians for teaching Latin, without teaching the quanti- * ties ;' and observes, < the youth were so surprised, when exa- 4 mined in the particular quantities of syllables, as if amazed at ' what was never heard or known of: and Despauter, when he ' treats of Proportion and Number, refers us to Niger, and only * mentions it as not unuseful, but not very necessary.' To evi- dence the former fact, he gives the following passage: * Si i quaeras cujusque syllabae quantitatem, defixo vultu haerent, * tanquam incognitum et inauditum obstupescentes.' Rob. Whit- tington, Laureat. Cond. Lect. S. D. Lib. 2. And, as proof of the latter, the following: * De Proportione et aliis, non inuti- < libus, sed nee multum necessariis, videte, si vultis, vel Ni- * grum, vel ahum.' Desp. Versific. Art. L. 1, p. 363. The Prosody (in Lily's Grammar) was at first very short, and bore the title of * Regulse Versificales.' Bale ascribes them to Tho- mas Robertson, who was afterwards Dean of Durham. Biogra- phia Britannica, first edit. p. 2969, art. Lilye, on the authority of Dr. Ward's Preface to his edition of Lilye's Grammar, Lond. 1732. Camden published, in 1597, his Greek Grammar, for the use of Westminster School. Biogr. Brit. edit. orig. 1 123, art. Garnden. The title to it appears there also to have been ' Gram- i matices Grascae Institutio compendiaria, in usurn Regiae Scholae * Westmonasteriensis ;' so that the Westminster Greek Gram* mar, used throughout this Inquiry, with the title of ' Institutio ' Grsecae Grammatices compendiaria, in usum Regiae Scholae * Westmonasteriensis,' is the same book ; and, indeed, it is so acknowledged to be in Dr. Ward's Preface to it. Bishop Wil- kins, in his Real Character, p. 443, &c. justly objects to the Latin Grammar, as abounding with unnecessary rules, besides having a vast multitude of exceptions ; and it is most certainly true that both Lilye's Grammar, though so highly and unreasonably esteemed, and Camden's Greek one, though drawn up by a man THE NATURE OF POETRY. 427 In the Greek Grammar before cited, it is said, p. 155, that the Greek 2 is sometimes rejected, notwithstanding that the position of the syllables forbids it ; or, in other words, notwithstanding that the syllable is long by position e ; and the example given is the following, from Aratus : ' ' CIpyj sayrs^iTi yJpcoQ'i 7roKv(poovog kcpoovti. But the line here given, is no instance, because in some places it is read 7to\\)$oova xopoov^ ; and so Kirchner has given it, in the Epitome prefixed to his Prosodia Grseca, 4to. Basil, 1644, under the head ' Exceptiones tres.' ,'■!. De Positione f .' Be- of abilities sufficient to have produced a far better, will be found, by all who duly examine them, as they have been, on experi- ment, by the author of the present work, extremely far from deserving of use. So great, indeed, are their faults, that, if the present Inquiry meets with that degree of attention which, from the importance of its subject, there is reason to expect, it is in contemplation to publish,, in a separate volume, another work, for the purpose of regulating, at least, the syntax of both languages on much better principles and authorities, byway of examples, than has yet been attempted, adequate materials for. which are already collected. e ' S tamen aliquando eliditur nulla positione facta, ut Arat* f ' 3. Sigma nonnunquam videtur evanescere, ut apud Horn. 1 Ix.tc. 31/ He then gives the line in Greek, another from the Odyssey, e. 237, and a third from Oppian, h 133, no one of which, if properly scanned, justifies the supposition; after which, he adds, ' Sed in hoc versu Arati, qui est 1002:; "npvj £cr~Sfir) 5tpw£V] 9ov sx ov * quique Zacynthum te- *nebant: nh Zxaaav^, et Scamander.' — * Institutio Grsecae 5 Grammatices compendiaria,' edit. 1795, p. 154. 1 * Si vox prcecedens in vocalem brevem desinat, et sequens * a duabus consonantibus, vel una duplici, incipiat, raro ea vo- * calis positione producitur ; quanquam hoc interdum factum * reperiatur, ut c Virg. Perte citi Saromas date tela seandiie mnrcs. 1 Jnv. Occulta spolia.et plures do pace triumphas." Kuddiman, p. 109. 430 A3N INQUIRY INTO if the passages are not corrupt, which, particularly in the last, it is very probable they are K But if they are correct, the Latin poets probably did it in imitation of the Greeks, and to show they knew it occurred in their writings. The introduction of this method, in Latin Poetry, as being a departure from established usage and rule, is, if it can be at all justified, only to be considered as a Licence. The introduction, and not the omission, is the Licence ; for the use of this mode is very rarely to be found in the Latin poets ] , Prisciaii could not but know this; and his opinion, as to the rejection of the letter S, is wholly without foundation. The critics, however, who profess such atten- tion to the rules and writings of the Greek au~ K It has already been observed, in a former page, that, i» Maittaire's edition of Virgil, this last line stands thus: * Ferte citi ferrum date tela et scandite rauros,' which completely removes the Licence ; and in the former, from Juvenal, the introduction of the conjunction f et,' which very probably, and indeed apparently the context would justify, would remove the difficulty or peculiarity thus : Occulta et spolia et pluves de pace trimnphos. 1 ( At si prior dictio in vocalem brevem exeat, sequente dua- s bus consonantibus, incipiente, interdum, sed rarius, produci- * tur, ut ' Occulta spolia et plures de pace triumphos,* Jti'v. viii. 107. Latin Grammar, p. 131. In a note on the above passage it is there said, referring to the word producitur, « Rarissime extra « cassuram.' In the above instance, it does not fall where the Caesura takes place ; for that is after the words, * spolia, et.' THE NATURE OP POETRY. 431 thors, seem, in some cases, to have been unac- quainted with the rules of the Grammarians, and to have misunderstood the difficulties with which they had met. In the following line of Virgil, ' Te Corydon, O Alexi, trahit sua quemque voluptas/ these persons say, that the O is made short, as preceding a vowel m . The Greek Grammar, before mentioned, says, p. 109, that sometimes the first vowel of the succeeding word suffers eli- sion, as co 9f /oiSs, O bone ; co W£, O rex ; to 'vSpwrS) O homo ; instead of co ayaQs, oo ocva,^ to av6goo?rs n ; m * O autem interdum corripitur, ut Virg. 4 Te Corydon, 6 Alexi, trahit sua quemque voluntas." Ruddiman, p. 139. n < Aliquando eliditur prima vocalis sequentis dictionis, ut ' u 'yuQi 9 o bone ; u \cc%, o rex ; w \9pa«rs, o homo ; pro u Mv t * w avaf, w avG^wTE.' ' Institutio Graecse Grammatices compen- ' diaria, in usum Regiae Scholae Westmonasteriensis,' Lond. 1779, p. 154. — Homer, in his Iliad, book A. v. 74, seems to have used this method, as nearly as possible, in the manner in which it is applied by Virgil. The line is this : Thus it stands, but erroneously, in the printed editions ; in order to make the second syllable of A^AXsy short, by the rejection of one of the two letters a, which, if the word were properly spelt, would otherwise render it long by position. But this is evidently a corruption introduced by the Grammarians, as the above rule absorbs the short first syllable of A^iAXsv, and places, in its stead, the long syllable ft. This, with the second syllable 432 AN INQUIRY INTO and it is remarkable that all these instances ex- actly correspond with the line- in Virgil, as being all of them examples of the preservation of the interjection O, and the elision of the subsequent vowel with it. The general rule in elisions is, it is true, that it is the first vowel which is lost, and consequently the quantity of that which stands, must be what that vowel itself, which stands, can regularly claim. In Latin Poetry, ' O' never suf- fers elision, and that rule Virgil has here observed ; but as the rule, in the Greek Prosodia, preserves the first syllable, and destroys the second, the quantity of the syllable must therefore be that of the first vowel. In the line, in Virgil, which seems founded on some such instances as these, in the Greek writers, the syllable ( O ' is ' not short, but remains long, in its natural quantity. It is the first syllable of Alexi which perishes, and therefore the last syllable of Corydon, and the O together, constitute a Spondee in the second foot, and not a Dactyl, as has been erroneously supposed,. In all the foregoing instances, the reader can- not fail to perceive how little the above-mentioned persons, and the same may be truly said of a great many more of the same class, merit the eulogium of A^iXXsu, in its natural correct state of being made long, con- stitutes a Spondee in the first place, instead of the Dactyl, which the Grammarians have unsuccessfully laboured to pro» : duce. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 433 passed on them by Cicero De Divio, as cited by Bishop Warburton, in the Preface to his Shake- spear : f Quorum omnium Interpretes., ut Gram- 6 matici, Poetarum proxime ad eoruin, quos inter- * pretantur, divinationem videntur accedere.' F F 434 AN INQUIRY INTO SECTION XXVII. Aristotle s Tract De Poelica not to be trusted, and why* Aristotle's tract De Poetica much relied on by classical scho- lars. — Aristotle, when he lived. — Pate of his writings after his death. — Doubtful whether the treatise De Poetica, by Aristotle the Stagyrite. — If his, it is probably corrupt and interpolated. It has been the practice, with classical scho- lars, to rely much on the writings of Aristotle, and to consider that tract, De Poetica, now published as his, as the foundation and basis of all that ought to be said or believed on the history and nature of Poetry in general, but particularly on that branch of it which relates to the Drama. With how little justice and discretion this depend- ence has been thus placed on it, will be evident from the following circumstances, which, though by no means generally known, are yet essentially necessary to the forming a right judgment. Aristotle died in the third year of the 114th Olympiad °, which would be about 320 years be- fore our Saviour p ; and it may be truly affirmed, ° Saxius, vol. i. p. 76. ? Helvici Chronologia, p. 70, 71. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 435 that the works of no author exist, or have been published, under greater disadvantages, or more suspicious circumstances, either as to the authen- ticity or accuracy of the different tracts. Gale, in his Court of the Gentiles, part ii. p. 369, gives, on the authority of Diogenes Laertius, Athenaeus, Strabo, Plutarch, and other authors of estimation, an account, to the following effect, of the fate of the writings of Aristotle, subsequent to the death of their author. Aristotle dying, left his books to Theophrastus, his successor. By him they were left to Neleus, who was also a disciple of Aristotle, as Diogenes Laertius relates ; and Ne- leus sold them to Ptolomy Philaclelphus, who, ac- cording to Athenaeus, transferred them into his library at Alexandria. Isaac Casaubon, in his Commentary at the end of his edition of Athe- nseus, lib. i. cap. 2, says Aristotle's library was first possessed by Theophrastus, and by his Will it descended to Neleus. The fact, says he, is ascer- tained by Strabo, Plutarch, and Diogenes Laertius ; and it may be seen from Strabo, how true it is that Ptolomy bought the books of this philosopher from Neleus, or his posterity, &c. Gale has in- serted the very words of Strabo, which will also be found given in the note "' ; but they evidently i 'Aiyy'-TTw Pac-iXiocs /3ic q-yvTa|iv.' — ' Aristotle was the first, * that we know of, who collected books, and taught the kings of Egypt to erect a library.' Gale, part ii. p. 369. F F 2 436 AN INQUIRY INTO amount to no more than this, that Aristotle was the first person known, who collected hooks, and taught the kings of Egypt to erect a library ; and so Gale has there translated them. This, certainly, by no means proves the fact. What is said, as to Ptolomy's purchasing Aristotle's books from Ne- ieus, says Gale, some understand of his library only. Those books which Aristotle himself wrote, Neleus is reported to have retained for himself, and to have transmitted them to his posterity, who, being unlearned, kept them locked up, with- out using them. Hence, says he, Strabo calls them KctrdxXyga, /3/&A/#, books locked up. It is said, adds Gale, most probably on the authority of Strabo, that these persons, fearing that the kings of Pergamus, who erected a great library, which was afterwards, by Cleopatra, transferred to Alexandria, should deprive them of them, hid them long under ground; in consequence of which, they sustained great injury, and became mouldy, worm-eaten, moth-eaten, &c. After this, they were bought by Apellico, of Teios, who appears, from Athenaeus, to have been residing at Athens as a citizen. He caused these worm-eaten books of Aristotle to be transcribed and made public^ but without judgment or fidelity ; and, after his death, Sylla, about 200 years after Aristotle's death, on the taking of Athens, obtained posses- sion of these books. Sylla sent them to Rome, as Plutarch relates, in the life of Sylla, where Tyran- nic, a grammarian, obtained, from the keeper of 3 THE NATURE OF POETRY. 437 the library, the use of them. The venders of ma- nuscripts got them transcribed, but by incompe- tent Copyists, who would not be at the trouble of comparing their transcripts with the original ex- and from that circumstance, Aristotle's wtfrks received still further injury r . Tyrannio delivered them over to Andronicus of Rhodes, who was the first that took any care for the more exact and repeated transcribing of them, in order for their publication'. Coelio Curio, the second, has said, that there remain, extant, only three genuine pieces of Aris- totle, his History of Animals, his book On the World, and his Rhetoric, addressed to Alexander; but Gale says, that assertion is not correct, for that there are many other pieces of Aristotle, which carry with them evident marks of his spirit, as his book Usol 'EgpyvsioLs, also his 'Avoi,Xmnioi 9 both parts, tions XXIV. and XXV. the true reasons why these and other manuscripts remained uncorrected. The Copyists trusted to the beauty of the hand-writing, as the means of obtaining a greater price for their copies: they studiously, therefore, avoided disfiguring them by alterations, which at once would strike the eye, and discover their carelessness : for this reason, they pre- ferred leaving the faults uncorrected, which they knew could not be discovered without reading over the whole manuscript, but would escape detection in merely turning it over. 6 Or rather circulation, by means of the distribution and sale of manuscript copies, made under his direction, no doubt by persons employed by him for that purpose. Before the in- vention- of Printing, this must have been the only possible mode ©f distribution. FF 3 438 AN INQUIRY INTO and his books $v r . Now, if Vossius is correct, as there seems no rea- son to doubt, in his assertion, that the tract, c De ' Rhetorice,' is not by Aristotle, but Anaximenes, by George Valla, Placent. was published at Venice in 149S; and a translation of it, out of Arabic into Latin, by Herm. Ale- man, at Venice, in 1481. Copies of both these translations ap- pear, from the Catalogue, to be in the Bodleian Library. u Diogenes Laertius attributes to Aristotle the Stagyrite two books, Artis Poeticae ; and also mentions Poetica unum ; but he also speaks of another Aristotle, of Cyrene, who wrote * De Poetica.' Diog. Laert. lib. v. in art. Aristoteles. x Konigius, in his Bibliotheca, art. Pactius (Alex.), says this person was of Florence, and flourished in the year 1537, and that he translated Aristotle * De Poetica.' y ' De Poetica, opus pulchrum, et necessarium, cum poe- 1 matibus componendis, turn compositis recte judicandis, ex Aris- * totelis offieina prodiisse, manifestissimum est ; non modo prop- * ter stilum et ordinem, notissimum cunctis ; verum etiam quo- * niam in Rhetoricis ab eodeni interdum allegatur, et a Piu- * tarcho quoque non semel, aliisque claris, tam Graeeis, quam 1 nostris authoribus. Alexander Paccius libri interpres, in * epistola ad Nicolaum Leonicum.' — Gesneri Bibliotheca, edit. fo. 1545, fo, 77, b. FF 4 440 AN INQUIRY INTO that book cannot be received as conclusive evi- dence of the fact, in proof of which it is produced, because the authenticity of that document itself is extremely suspicious. And even though these authors may have spoken of the book, 6 De Poe- c tica,' as the work of Aristotle, unless they had said, as it does not appear they have, which Aris- totle they meant, and had identified the book, their testimony still would have been useless. Ad- mitting all Paccius has said, and supposing the authors to whom he alludes, to have expressly attributed this tract to Aristotle, without specific cally ascertaining which author of that name they intended, it amounts to no more than this, that an author named Aristotle had written c De Poetica ;* nay, even should they ascribe the. tract, ' De Poe- ' tica,' of which they speak, to Aristotle the Sta- gyrite, still it is not ascertained that the tract, at present received, is the same with that which Aris- totle the Stagyrite wrote ; or, that it is not the work of another author of the same name. Without evidence of its identity, it cannot be safely attri- buted to Aristotle the Stagyrite, especially when it is known that Diogenes Laertius, book v. mentions eight authors of the name of Aristotle, one of whom, Aristotle of Cyrene, is expressly said to have written ' De Poetica z .' If the tract, e De Poetica,' as now existing, be, however, really the production of Aristotle the * Diog. Laert. lib. v. in art. Aristoteles. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 441 Stagyrite, it is still certain, from the facts above related, that the writings of that philosopher are by no means in the state in which he left them ; and the subsequent injuries which they had re- ceived from lying so long concealed in a cave, amounting almost to annihilation in some parts, together with the circumstances of the corrupt transcripts, made from them, while in the posses- sion of Apellico, and also after their removal to Rome ; all tend to render them of little authority, and by no means evidence of Aristotle's real opi- nions. 442 AN INQUIRY INTO SECTION XXVIII. Latin Comic Metre cannot be Iambic. Priscian's opinion that it is Iambic, examined.— Horace's senti- ments as to Iambic, examined. — Objections to him and his testimony. — Reasons for conceiving it, on the contrary, Bacchiac. — Variety of verse in length not allowable. I riscian a commences his tract c De Versions Co- 6 micis,' with the following words : c Cnm non so- ' lum Terentius, sed etiam Plautus, Ennius, Acci- c usque, et Naevius, Pacuvius, Turpiliusque, et c omnes, tam Tragcediae, qnam Comoedise veteris 6 Latinae scriptores, eodem Metri modo Iambici sint usi, ut omnibus in locis indifferenter pone- ' rent quinque pedes, id est, Iambum, vel Tribra- ' chum, vel Anapaestum, vel Dactylum, vel Spon- c deum, absque postremo loco, in quo vel lambum ' vel Pyrrhichium omnino posuisse inveniuntur, 6 miror quosdam vel abnegare esse in Terentii Co- ' mcecliis Metra, vel ea quasi arcana quaedam, et c ab omnibus doctis semota, sibi solis esse cognita, c confirmare b .' The great art shown in this passage to avoid a Priscian flourished about the year of our Lord 335. Saxii Onomasticon, vol. ii. p. 19. b Priscian, edit. Putsch, col. 1319. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 443 the discussion of the question has been re- marked on a former occasion ; and the passage itself is now again brought forward to view, solely for the purpose of inquiring what reason can be found for supposing Latin Comic verse either in reality to be, or intended to be, Iambic. The original supports for this opinion, if such they deserve to be called, were, it is believed, no- thing more than a few extremely vague, uncertain, and indefinite passages in Horace's Art of Poetry, and the supposed fact, that the Latin Comic wri- ters intended, in their versification, to follow the practice of their predecessors, the Greeks, who, it is conceived, by the persons urging this supposition, employed that kind of Metre. But both these foundations will in the end be found to fail. The passages in Horace shall, for the settlement of this point, be here distinctly examined; but the use of this kind of Metre, by the Greeks, the reader will see, in Section XIX. and XX. there is every reason to question. Of the passages in Horace, the first occurs in the Art of Poetry, v. 79, and is in the following words : 1 Archilochus proprio rabies armavit Iambo, * Hunc socci cepere pedem grandesque cothurni, ... . 1 Alternis aptum sermonibus, et populares f Vincentem strepitus, et natum rebus agendis.' Even this passage does not affirm that the Tragic or Comic verse was Iambic ; for, it only says the writers used that foot, the Iambus, in their verses, 4 444 AN INQUIRY INTO which they might have done in exchange for some other, nearly, though not exactly, equal in time; a practice they have pursued on other occasions. From this part of the poem, in which he is tracing the use of the different sorts of poetry among the Greeks, and from the mention of Archilochus, who was also a Greek writer, it is plain that the whole passage must be considered as referring only to the Greek, and not the Latin Tragic and Comic Poets: and it has been before noticed, that the use of Iambic, by the Greek Comic poets, is, to say the least of it, extremely doubtful. He speaks of the Iambus as a proper foot to express rage, and yet as calculated for dialogue or common conver- sation, and for the transaction of business — two purposes perfectly opposite and contradictory: and he has evidently confounded together, the two separate and distinct ideas of a musical cadence and loudness of sound, when he attributes, as he does, to the Iambic foot, the power of overcoming the popular clamour in a theatre. A quality like this, no Metre can ever possess : for, in such a clamour, not one word that was spoken could be heard; nor could any one single voice, however strong, be ca- pable of uttering a sound that could be distin- guished. The only mode of silencing such a tu- mult, would be, by the united power of all the musical instruments ; and when the band of in- strumental performers in the Orchestra had, in the course of the representation, occasion to play, the voices of the tumultuous audience would be THE NATURE OF POETRY. 445 drowned and lost in the louder and more powerful sound of their instruments, as daily happens in the modern theatres of this and other countries. In the second passage, which occurs, v. 251, of the same poem, the lines are these : * Syllaba longa, brevi subjecta, vocatur Iambus : ' Pes citus ; uncle etiam Trimetros accrescere jussit. * Nomen Iambaeis, cum senos redderet ictus. ' Primus ad extremura similis sibi, non ita pridem, * Tardior ut paulo, graviorque veniret ad aures, ' Spondees stabiles in jura paterna recepit 4 Commodus, et patiens: non ut de sede secunda * Cederet, aut quarta socialiter. Hie et in Acci 1 Nobilibus Trimetris apparet rarus, et Enni. * In scenam missos magno cum pondere versus, * Aut opera celeris nimium, curaque carentis, ' Aut ignoratse premit artis crimine turpi. * Non quivis videt immodulata poemata judex : * Et data Romanis venia est indigna poetis. ' Idcircone vager, scribamque licenter ? an omnes * Visuros peccata putem mea ? tutus, et intra * Spem venise cautus, vitavi denique culpam : * Non laudem merui. Vos exemplaria Grseca * Nocturna versate manu, versate diurna. 4 At nostri proavi Plautinos et numeros, et * Laudavere sales, nimium patienter utrumque, 4 Ne dicam stulte mirati: si modo ego, et vos * Seimus inurbanum Jepido seponere dicto : * Legitimumque sonum digitis calleraus et aure.' Horace here speaks of no other than Trimeter Iambic, which, he says, at first consisted wholly of the Iambus ; but that, afterwards, Spondees were introduced, though not in the second or 446 AN INQUIRY INTO fourth place ; and for this last rule he cites the authority of the Trimeters of Accius and Ennius, in which as he seems to say, though the mode of expression is not clear, the introduction of the Spondee was but rare. From the mention of Accius and Ennius, who appear to have been principally Tragic writers, it should seem, that what is here said, as to Iambic verse, relates only to Latin Tragedy, as to which, however, for the reasons already assigned in Sec- tions XIX. and XX. and elsewhere in this work, it is highly improbable his opinion could have been correct. Although he has, a few lines below 5 censured those who had commended the versifica- tion and witticisms of Plautus, he has no where said of what kind Comic Metre really was ; and this, at the very time when lie professes to teach the Art of Poetry. But it is plain that the system which he has, certainly without sufficient ground, mentioned, as used by the Tragic writers, and con- fining it solely to Trimeter verses, in length, and to the Iambus and Spondee, as the constituent feet, cannot possibly be applied to the works of the Comic writers, as at present regulated. This fact Priscian has decidedly admitted when he speaks of the Comic authors, and particularly Terence, as using Iambic Trimeter and Tetrameter c , Tro- c i Ergo Trimetris et Tetrametris frequenter utuntur Comici, aliis vero raro, et in medio dispersis Rhythmics causa et dis- tinctions. '-—Priscian, edit. Putsch, col. 1319. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 447 chaic Tetrameter d , and a mixture of both e , and as introducing" into their verses five sorts of feet f . Priscian's system, it is true, has been shown to be objectionable, as requiring variety of length in the verses, and Poetical Licences £ ; but still it is evi- dent, from his own conduct, that he could not make so contracted a scheme, as this of Horace would prove, in any way successful. What might have been the opinion of Horace, on the subject of Latin Comic metre, had he declared it, which he seems not to have done, is a matter of very small moment ; for, how could he be considered as a competent judge, who confesses himself, as he does, unable to perceive, in the versification of Plautus, that merit, for which it had been com- mended by others ? In the course of the preceding Sections, it has been shown, that Comedy was always con- sidered as having had, in its original, some con- d * Trochaicis etiam utuntur, plerunque Tetrametris cata- * lecticis, i. quibus una deest syllaba in fine.' — Priscian, edit. Putsch, col. 1321. e ? Terentius Trochaico mixto, vel confuso, cum Iambico, * utitur in sermone personarum, quibus maxime imperitior hie ' convenit.' — Ibid. col. 1326. f ' Comcediae veteris Latinae scriptores eodem Metri modo ' Iambico sint usi, lit omnibus in locis indifferenter ponerent ' quinque pedes, id est, Iambum, vel Tribrach urn, vel Anapaes- c turn, vel Dactylum, vel Spondeum ; absque postremo loco, in ' quo vel Iambum vel Pyrrhichium, omnino posuisse iuveniun- < tur.'— Ibid, col. 1319. « See Section XXII. 448 AN INQUIRY INTO nexion with the rites of Bacchus h ; that it was* consequently, represented at Athens during the continuance of the feasts of Bacchus [ ; and that, at Rome, this relation was so far acknowledged, that, during the performance of a Comedy, an al- tar to Bacchus was placed on the stage k . As this relation was thus, in both instances, decidedly ac- knowledged, it was surely much more natural, that, when it was determined such compositions should be in verse, that kind of verse appropriated to Bacchus, should be employed, in preference to any other ; and Aristotle, though he mentions a change in that respect, as to Tragedy \ notices no such as to Comedy. Now, Iambic verse never had, or could have, any concern with Bacchus ; nor has any such connexion ever been pretended, by the most sanguine advocates for the idea, that Comic verse is Iambic. On the contrary, Bacchiac, or Pseonic verse, is known to have been used in the hymns in his honour m ; and it is equally certain that, from this appropriation, the Bacchiac foot had its name n . It is further observable, that what have hitherto passed as Iambic Trimeter verses, will, as has appeared, scan as Bacchiac or h See Section XIL * Ibid. k Ibid. l Ibid. m Diomedes, col. 475. See the passage already given in a note on Section VI. n See a passage from Diomedes, col. 475; another from Vie- torinus, col. 2487 ; and a third from Plotius, col. 2626; all given in a note on Section VI. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 449 Pseonic Tetrameters ° ; and that both Plautus and Terence have decidedly used verses, consisting, in some instances, wholly of the Bacchius ; in others, of none but the Cretic R ; and these have been ac- knowledged, both by Bentley * and Hare r , to be of those sorts. If some are unquestionably of those kinds, why may not all be so ? because, as may be seen from examples, it is equally possible to reduce even those lines which at present are given as longer, to the very same length \ Regu- larity of verse, indeed, throughout a whole dra- matic performance, but certainly throughout the same scene, at least, is entirely consonant, and its opposite as clearly contrary, to all reason K The practice, therefore, of dividing scenes into verses of various lengths, the necessity of which is con- tended for by the Grammarians and Critics, can never be justified ; nor does it, either from the ex- amples already produced from the Greek writers % or from any other instances which have yet been found, appear to have ever prevailed among them. After a due consideration of these facts, and ° See Section XX. p Plautus, Casina, Act III. Sc. 5. Terence, Andria, Act III. Sc.2; Act IV. Sc. 1. i See his ' Emendationes ad Ciceronis Tusculanas,' inserted at the end of Ciceronis Tusc. Disputat. a Davisio, Cantab. 1709, p. 49 & p. 53, before referred to. r See his edition of Terence, p. 31 and 41. 9 See Section XXIX. * See Section XVIII, n See Sectien XX. G G 450 AN INQUIRY INTO the strong objections before urged in Section XIX. and XX. against the supposition that even Greek Comic verse was Iambic, the opinion of Horace, as stated above, and particularly in the very loose manner in which he has delivered it, is surely en- titled to no more respect than the sentiments of Pope, on a passage in Shakespear. They both lived at a great distance from the time of the ori- ginal authors, and had evidently no more means of information on the subject, than what a mere inspection of the text afforded. What they have both said, amounts, most evidently, to nothing more than mere conjecture, against which, strong facts may be opposed. On the whole, therefore, there does not seem the smallest ground for sup- posing, either Greek or Latin Comic verse, Iam- bic ; and, if this is not already sufficiently shown, in the case of the Latin, to satisfy all candid, un- prejudiced, and judicious persons, as it is conceived it ought to do, it is yet imagined, that few will be inclined to contend for the contrary position, after they shall have read what they will find stated on the subject, in the course of the next ensuing Sec- lion. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 451 SECTION XXIX. Latin Comic Metre really Saturnian or Bacchiac, Paul Merula's note, in his Commentary on Ennius, shows the use and introduction of Saturnian verse. — Observations on it. — Nature of Saturnian verse, described by Terentianus Maurus— by Fortunatianus — by Victorinus — by Diomedes. —Every reason to think Saturnian Bacchiac. — Diomedes, his definition of the Antibacchius.— Specimens of Saturnian verse. — Bentley has ascertained Bacchiac and Cretic verses in Plautus and Terence. — New regulation necessary for re- ducing verses all to one length. — Bentley has new regulated a scene in Plautus. — Cretic or Pseonic verses in Terence. — ■ Why may not all be so ?— Some in Plautus's Amphitruo.— New regulation of part of the Amphitruo, Act I. Sc. 1 . — • Terence's Andria, Act I. Sc. f, new regulated also. — New arrangement necessary, Andria, Act I. Sc. 5. — An instance to support it. Paul Hernia, in one of his notes, in Lis Commen- tary on the Annals of Ennius x , expressly asserts. x See his edition of Ennius's Annals, published in 4to. at Leyden, 1595. In his Commentary, p. Ixxxviii. he uses these words : ' Certe, pauilo ante Ennium, in Comcediis et Tragcediis, * quas Poetee Latini vel interpretabantur, vel novas faciebant, * Graecorum videntur leges, non tamen stricte, sequuti. Heroiun c et magnorum virorum gesta, ab Grascis scripta, vorsa interpre- * tatione vulgabant, ab se noviter inventa, novo versuum genere, ' Saturnio plurimum, prodebant. Testantur quae dixi Livl An- G G 2 452 AN INQUIRY INTO that, shortly before the time of Ennius, the Latin writers, in translating' into Latin, from the Greeky the actions of great and illustrious men, as de- scribed by the Greeks in their writings, employed a new sort of verse, lately invented by themselves, called Saturnian verse >'. He adds, further, that * dronici, Cn. Naavl, posteriorum quoque Comcediae et Tragcediae, ' quae ad Graecorum exemplum, Iambis et Trochaeis, Dimetris, * Trimetris, et Tetrametris, Brachycatalectis, Catalectis, Acata- * lectis, et Hypercatalectis, maxime decurrunt. Idem Livius ' Odysseam, ab Homero Heroico carmine scriptam, ut et ab La- * tinis legeretur prorsa oratione, mistis ubique Saturniis, ali- * quando Iambis, expo-suit.' Further on he says, ' Naevium Sa~ * turriio carmine bellum Punicum exposuisse scribit Festus, lib. * xvrii. " Versus quoque antiquissimi," * inquit,' " quibus Faunus " fata cecinisse hominibus videtur, Saturnii appellantur, quibus " et a Naevio bellum Punicum scriptum est, et a multis alia plura " composita sunt." Sic M. Terentius Varro, libro vi. de L. L* " Versibu*, quos olim Fauni vatesque canebant." " Fauni, dei Latinorum, ita ut Faunus, et Fauna, sint in versi- w bus, quos vocant Saturnios, in silvestribus locis traditum est, il soli'tos fari, a quo Fando, Faunos dictos." What Merula has said above, as to the imitation of the cus- toms of the Greek Poets by the Latin ones, is evidently spoken at random. He has produced no instances ; and the fact, that the Greeks used in their Comedies the varieties of Metre which he has attributed to them, stands contradicted directly by the specimens inserted in Section XX. from the writings of Eupolis, Cratinus, Aristophanes, Menander, and Philemon. When the Latin writers, in translating from Greek Poems in Heroic verse, such as the Odyssey, could deviate, as they have done, by using a different kind of verse, Saturnian, why is it to be sup- posed they would more scrupulously have followed, in dramatic compositions, the practice of the Greeks ? y Merula is certainly mistaken, in supposing Saturnian verse the invention of the Italians. Fortunatianus, edit. Putsch THE NATURE OF POETRY. 453 Livius Andronicus, who, it is to be observed, was the introducer of Comedy, at Rome % translated the Odyssey of Homer from the Greek verse into Latin prose, into which he intermixed Saturnian verses, and sometimes Iambic ; and Festus, lib. xviii. relates, that Nsevius, who was also another Comic writer, composed a poem on the Punic war, in Saturnian verse, in which measure, many col. 2679, says, * De Saturnio versu dicendum est, quern nostri * existimaverunt proprium esse Italicse regioni, sed falluntur. A * Graecis enim varie et multis modis tractatus est, non solum a ' Comicis, sed etiam a Tragicis.' — « Et quoniam, sub oecasione * versus hujus, se tempestiva etiam nobis alia suggerit species, ' consentaneum reor hoc loco dicere de natura et origine hujus * versus, cui prisca apud Latinos astas, tanquam Italo et indi- * genae, Saturnio sive Faunio nomen dedit ; sed falluntur, a * Graecis enim varie et multiformiter inductus est, nee tantum a ' Comicis, sed etiam a Tragicis.' Victorinus, edit. Putsch, col. 2586, speaking * De Saturnio Versu,' in an express section on that subject. And Terentianus Maurus says thus, to the same effect : ' De Saturnio carmine. * Aptum videtur esse ' Nunc hoc loco moncre, * Quae sit figura versus, * Queni credidit vetustas * (Tanquam Italis repertuci) * Saturnium vocandum. * Sed est oiigo Graeca, ' Illique metron istud 1 Certo modo dederunt . ' Nostrique mox poetaj ' Rudem sonum secuti, ' Ut quseque res ferebat, ' Sic disparis figurae ' Versus vagos locabant/ Terentianus Maurus, col. 24-3.9. See Section XII. G G 3 454 AN INQUIRY INTO other authors, also, produced poetical composi- tions. Every reason concurs for supposing that Sa- turnian Metre was, in fact, no other than Bacchiac or Pseonic. Some writers, it is true, call it Iam- bic hypercatalectic b ; but, admitting any idea of such an excess, as a verse one syllable too long, is a bad system. Diomedes, apud Putsch, col. 475, after speaking of the Bacchius, which he describes as consisting of one short syllable and two long, and as used by the Bacchants, says, ' Huic con- 6 trarius est Palimbacchius Latius, qui & Saturnius, c ultima brevi, quam quidam Proponticon, alii ' Thessaleon, vocant c .' The Antibacchius per- b Diomedes, edit. Putsch, col. 512, says, * Saturnium, in ' honorem Dei, N?evius invenit, addita una syllaba ad Iambicum ' versum, sic * Summas opes qui regum regius refregit.' ' Huic si demas ultimam syllabam, erit Iambicus, de quo saepe ' memoratum est.' c Diomedes, apud Putsch, col. 475. Fortunatianus, edit. Putsch, col. 2678, says, ' Phalaecius versus ex duplici pede con- ' stat, quern Bacchion musici, Choriambon grammatici, vocant : * habet longam et duas breves et longam, i. Trochaeum et Iam- * bum. Hoc autem Phalaecus conscripsit hymnos Cereri et Li- * bero, tali genere Metri, quod scilicet est deorum ' convenire venerationi credidit.' — The Bacchius and Choriam- bus are certainly not the same foot, but they both occur in the Paeonic kind of verse ; so that they may, so far, be reckoned of the same species. And, on the principle of Proportion, before noticed as being the only proper characteristic, it would be no difficult matter to show that Bacchiac and Choriambic were the same kinds of metre. THE NATURE OP POETRY* 455 petually occurs in the Bacchiac, or Pseonic; and in all probability was, from the fact just men- tioned, the principal foot in the Saturn ian verse All equivalent feet, and even the Molossus and Choriambus, and the rest similar to them, were no doubt admitted into this as well as into other kinds of verse ; and the several specimens of Sa- turnian verse given by the grammarians may all be scanned as Bacchiac, in the following man- ner: Isis perlerrat orjbem crini|bus profusis d Sumroas olpes regum | regias | refregit 6 Naevio | poetae | sic ferunt | Metellos f Si vocet | Camcenas | quis novem | sorores^ Quum saepe | Isederenjtur esse com'minatos h Ferunt pulichras cratejras aurejas lepistas ' Dabunt malum ) Metelli | Naevio | poets k Novem Jovis j Concordes | filiae | sorores l Cum victor I Lemno claslsem Doricam ap!pulisset m * Servius, edit. Putsch. 1825, e Diomedes, edit. Putsch, col. 512. Fortunatianus, edit. Putsch, col. 2698. The latter, speaking of Saturnian verse, says, ■ Maxime tamen triumphaturi in Capitolio tabulas hujus* 1 modi versus incidebant ;' and he then gives this verse as a specimen. f Terent. Maur. edit. Putsch, col. 24-39. s Terent. Maur. col. 2439. Victorinus, col. 2587 ; but he reads, * Jam nunc vocet Camcenas,' h Terent. Maur. col. 24-39. 1 Plotius, edit. Putsch, col. 2650. Fortunatianus, col. 2680; but the latter reads it, * aureas lepidas.' Victorinus, col. 2587; he reads * aureasque Jepistas.' k Terent. Maur. col. 2439. Fortunatianus, col. 2698, 1 Fortunatianus, col. 2680. Victorinus, col. 2587, m Victorinus, col. 2587. <*<* 4 456 AN INQUIRY INTO Turdis e|dacibus | comparas | amice a Malum dabunt | Metelli | Naevio | poetae° Quem non rati!onis egen|tem vicit | Archimenes* Fato Ro[mae fiunt | Metelli | consules^ Consulto producit eura quo sit impudentior 1 " Duello magno dirimendo regibus subigendis s Fundit fugat prosternit maximas legiones * Quid immerenjtibus noces | quid invides J amicis u B Fortunatianus, col. 2680. He adds, ' Apud Euripidem * et Callimachurn inveni tale genus;' and then gives this ex- ample. Victorious, col. apud Putsch. 2587. Plotius, col. 2650. Fortunatianus, col. 2680. Victor!- nus, 2587. p Fortunatianus, col. 2680. He adds, ' Apud Archilochum * tale' (sc. genus inveni), and then gives this. i Merula, in his Commentary on Ennius's Annals, p. Ixxxviii. before referred to, cites this from Paedianus in II. Verrinam, apparently as a Saturnian verse ; and says it is an hypercatalec- tic Senarius, or Trimeter: but in this last fact he is mistaken as to both points. r Fortunatianus, col. 2680. He says, ' Et tertium genus ' Consulto producit eum quo sit impudentior * Apud nostros autem in Tabulis antiquis,quas triumphaturi duces * in Capitolio figebant, victoriaeque suae titulum, Saturniis versi- * bus, prosequebantur talia repperi exempla. ex Regili Tabula t ' Duello magno dirimendo, regibus subigendis, * qui est subsimilis ei, quem paulo ante posui, * Consulto producit eum quo sit impudentior, * in Accilii Glabrionis tabula, * Fundit fugat prosternit maximas legiones.' 8 Fortunatianus, col. 2680. * Ibid. u Ibid. Of the whole list above given, consisting of seven- teen in number, only three are not capable of reduction into Tetrameters, but would be one syllable too long. Of these three, the first may be rendered Bacchiac merely by reading est in- stead of sit, thus : Consulto | producit ejum quo est imjpudentior. And the rest by transposing the words thus: Duello di|rimendo mag|no subigen|tJis regibus Fundit fujgat prostei jnit legiojnes maximas, THE NATURE OP POETRY. 457 When Merula speaks of the intermixture of Saturnian verse with Iambic, he seems not to have been aware, as is however the fact, that verses apparently Iambic may very frequently be scan- ned as Bacchiac or Pseonic. This fact has been shown in a former Section x , and Bacchiac or Pseonic is plainly demonstrated, from the instances just given, to be the same as Saturnian. The Iambic lines which he mentions, were therefore, probably, like the rest, Saturnian, and the verses were consequently, in all likelihood, all of the same kind. If the Latin poets, and those Comic writers also, were so attached to Saturnian verse, as to prefer it, as they certainly did on these occasions, to Heroic Hexameter, in which their originals were written, it is at least equally probable, that they should have introduced it into original com- positions for the stage. Accordingly Bentley has discovered and ascertained instances of the use of Bacchiac and Cretic, or Pseonic, which are all, in reality, the same with each other, and also with Saturnian, both in the writings of Plautus and Terence. These, with some others which he has given, may be seen in his c Emendationes ad Cice- ' ronis Tusculanas,' inserted at the end of i Cice- 6 ronis Tusculanarum Disputationum Libri v. ex € recensione Joannis Davisii, Coll. Regin. Socii. * See Section XX. and XXL 458 AN INQUIRY INTO ' 8vo. Cantab. 1709, p. 49;' and such of them as he has taken from Plautus or Terence, have al- ready been inserted in Section XXI. Bentley is however mistaken in considering Bacchiac and Cretic as distinct sorts ; for it is evident, from his own examples, when scanned as they ought to be, without Licences, that they are the same, and that the Bacchius and Cretic often occur in the same line. As to any new regulation, necessary for redu- cing the verses in the Latin Comic writers ail to one length, the present division is evidently so irregu- lar, and the varieties, observable in the manu- scripts and early printed editions, so great, as to justify any attempt for a new arrangement, found- ed, as this would also be, on the strict rules of Prosodia and Reason, the only sure guides for such a purpose. Nay, the very proposed change in distribution is in many cases actually suggested by the old copies themselves ; for it is observable, that in several instances the old copies vary from the present editions, in the mode of disposing the verses, at the beginning of scenes particularly, and that they give the verses, in those places, exactly as they would be required to stand, in a new arrangement, conducted on the above principles. This, although they soon after fall into confusion, is surely an adequate rule for settling the division of the rest of the scene, sub- ject, however, to the control of the rules of Pro- sodia* Bentley, in the case of some verses at the THE NATURE OF POETRY* 459 beginning of Act III. Sc. 5, in Plautus's Casina, which had formerly stood as Tetrameters, thus>: * Nulla sum, nulla sum, tota tota occidi, cor metu mortuum est, € Membra miserae tremunt : nescio unde auxilii, praesidii, * Perfugii mihi, aut opum copiam comparem, aut expetam, * Tanta factis modo mira miris modis intus vidi, * Novam atque integram audaciam. Cave tibi Cleostrata, abscede * Ab ista obsecro, ne quid in te male faxit ira percita, found it necessary to new regulate and divide them thus : Nulla sum [ nulla sum | tota to|ta occidi Cor metu | mortuum est | membra misejrae tremunt Nescio un|de auxilii | praesidii | perfugii Mihi aut opum | copiam J comparem aut J expetam z Tanta fac|tis modo | mira mijris modis Intus vi|di novam atlque integram au|daciam a Cave tibi J Cleostrata ablscede ab isjta obsecro b y See Lambin's edition of Plautus. z Bentley reads and scans these verses thus : * Nescio unjde auxili J przesidi | perfugi * Mi aut opum | copiam | comparem aut | expetam ;' but the Licences are unnecessary ; for this sort clearly admits the Choriambus, as the three last feet certainly are in the first verse ; and the Di-Iambus, which is the first foot, in the second. a Bentley, in the first foot of this verse, supposes an elision of the S, at the end of Intus, for the purpose of rendering that foot a Cretic : but, as the Molossus is undoubtedly admissible, his conjecture is unnecessary. b Plauti Casina, Act III. Sc. 5, and Bentley 's ' Emenda- * tiones ad Ciceronis Tusculanas,' p. 53, before referred to. This is one of the places where a different regulation of the verses, at least, from that in which they appear in some edi- tions, has been found necessary. Bentley is evidently right, in 460 AN INQUIRY INTO and no one, from their very appearance, can doubt one moment whether he was right. A similar advantage, by a change of this kind, might also be gained, in a multitude of other places, in the works of Plautus and Terence ; and the success, which has uniformly attended experiments, actu- ally made on the present occasion on several of these, is sufficient to justify a firm persuasion, that the system by which those experiments were guided, is in every respect well founded. Terence has, in his Andria, Act III. Sc. 2, in- troduced four Bacchiac verses, which have been already given in Section XXI. and are acknow- ledged both by Bentley b and Bishop Hare c to be of that sort ; and in Act IV. Sc. 1, of the same play, he has used a few Cretic verses, which have been also noticed in the same Section XXI. and are in like manner decided by Bentley d and Bishop Hare e to be Cretic : but these two scenes are the only places throughout his whole works, in which Terence is, at present, supposed to have em- ployed lines of either of those kinds. It is, how- thus arranging them ; but, in Lambin's edition of Plautus, the lines stand as before observed in the text. The fact is only here noticed to show, that the distribution of the lines of a passage, m any edition, ie not a sufficient reason against attempting a better. b See his ' Enaendationes ad Ciceronis Tusculanas,* p. 49, before referred to. c See his edition of Terence, p. 31. d See his * Emendationes ad Ciceronis Tusculanas,' p. 53 r before referred to. * See his edition of Terence, p. 41. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 461 ever, exceedingly improbable, that, on these oc- casions only, he should have resorted to them. If these are, as they indubitably are, unquestionable instances, it follows, that all the succeeding verses in the same scenes are Paeonic likewise ; for the principle of uniformity of verse in the same scene, seems incontrovertible by any argument of weight. There is no doubt, from what has been already found on trial, that, on a similar experi- ment, they would all be found of the same sort, and capable of reduction to the same length; as in reason and good sense they should be : and if the succeeding verses in those scenes will scan as such, why may not other scenes be also so scan- ned and divided as to length ? The same may be said of the initial and final, and the other long verses, in the first scene of Plautus's Amphitruo, which, situated as they are, intermixed with Peeonic Tetrameters, ought them- selves to be considered as of the same kind, and divided and regulated accordingly. Some of the Paeonic Tetrameters here mentioned, beginning ' Hoec heri,' &c. will be found in Section XXL; and the possibility of reducing the long verses, which precede them, to the same standard, will be evi- dent, from the following attempt on the initial lines of the first scene of the Amphitruo, which, in consequence of being thus disposed, exactly connect and correspond with the before-men- tioned Bacchiac Tetrameters, immediately follow- ing them. 462 AN INQUIRY INTO Qui me nunc ] alter est J audacijor homo auf Qui confldentior | juventu|tis mores Qui sciam | qui hoc noctis | solus am|bulem Quid faciam | nunc si tres j viri me in | carcerera Compege|rint inde qua|si e promptularia Cella delpromar ad flalgrum nee caujsam liceat Dicere mijhi neque in hero | quicquam auxijlii siet Nee quisquam | sit quin me omjnes esse | dignura Deputent | ita quasi in[cudem me | miserum Homines oclto validi | caedant i]ta peregre Adveniens | hospitio | publicitus [ accipiar Haec heri, &c* By a similar regulation, on the like principles, all the irregularities of Metre, in the same scene, which occur in Terence's Andria, Act I. Sc. 2, may be prevented ; and the whole be reduced, as it is in the following attempt, to an equal length of verse, without one Poetical Licence. Variety of verse, in the same scene, as has been often before noticed, does not seem justified by the practice of the Greeks, and indeed it is so irrational, that it is, perhaps, scarcely possible to defend it. Non dubium est | quin uxoirem nolit | Alius Ita Davum | modo timeire sensi ubi | nuptias Futuras j esse audijvit sed ipjse exit foras Mirabar | hoc si sic j abiret et | heri Semper le|nitas verejbar quorsum elvaderet Qui postquam aujdierat non [ datum iri j filio f In the line, as here given, a variation has been made from the common reading, by the insertion of the word ' nunc/ which does not occur in Lambin's edition, but is to be found m the folio edition of Plautus, printed at Parma in 1510. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 463 Uxorem | suo nunjquam cuiquam | nostrum Verbum fe|cit neque id selgre tulit at | nunc faciet Neque ut opi|nor sine tu|o magno | malo Id voluit | nos sic nee | opinanltes duci Falso gauldio spe|rantes jam a|moto metu Inter oscijtantes oplprimi ut ne es|set spatium Cogitan|di ad disturjbandas nup|tias Astute | carnife^t | quag loquitur | herus est Neque provi|deram Dave hem quid est | ehodum Ad me quid | hie volt quid a!is qua de | re rogas Meum gna|tum rumor | est ama|re id populus Curat sciilicet haeccijne agis annon [ ego Vero istuc j sed nunc e|a me exquilrere Iniqui | patris est nam | quod antehac | fecit nihil Ad me atti|net dum tem'pus ad earn } rem tulit Sivi animum ut | expleret | suum nunc j hie dies Aliam vi'tam adfert ali'os mores | postulat Dehinc pos|tulo sijve aequum est te o|ro Dave Ut redeat I jam in viam hoc | quod sit om|nes qui amant Graviter sijbi dari uxolrem ferunt | ita aiunt Turn si quis | magistrum j cepit ad e|ara rem improbum Ipsum animum aelgrotum ad de|teriprem | partem Plerumque aplplicat non | hercle intellligo Non hem Non | Davus sum [ non CEdilpus Nempe ergo ajperte vis | quae restant j me loqui Sane qui|dem si sen|sero hodie | quicquam In his te j nuptiis | fallacijae Conari | quo fiant | minus aut vel|le in ea re Ostendere | quam sis calllidus verjberibus Caesum te in | pistrinum | Dave dejdam usque ad necera Ea leige atque omi|ne ut si te in|de eximerim Ego pro | te molam | quid hoc injtellextin An nondum eitiam ne hoc | quidem uno j callide Ita aperte ipjsam rem mojdo locutus | nihil Circuitijone usus es | ubi vis fajcilius Passus sum J quam in hac re | me delujdier Bona verba J quseso irriides nihil | me fallis 464 AM INQUIRY INTO Sed dico | tibi ne te'mere faci|as neque Tu haud dicas | tibi non | praedictum | cave The necessity of a new arrangement may also fur- ther appear from the following instance : Terence, in his Andria, Act V. Sc. 1, gives this line, which is said by the Grammarians to be Trochaic Tetra- ♦ meter catalectic : • Satis jam | satis Si|mo specltata erjga te a|miciti'a est me|aC But to make it so, it is necessary to introduce two Poetical Licences in the scanning ; one in the first foot, and the other in the second, by making in each the last syllable of 6 satis' short, though na- turally long by position, as it there stands. Poe- tical Licences are always to be avoided, and it is, for that reason, much better that the line should be new regulated, thus : * Satis jam satis Simo spectata erga te.* So it actually stands, in a manuscript of the four- teenth century h , which probably is not the only one which gives that distribution. It will then scan as follows : ' Satis jam | satis Sl[mo spectajta erga te ;' and be exactly a copy, as to structure of versifica- tion, of the following line, in the Amphitruo of § See it so termed Trochaic Tetram. cat. in Hare's edition, p. 5.1, and scanned with the two Licences as here, h Harleian MSS. No. 2525, THE NATURE OF POETRY. 465 Plautus, Act II. Sc. 2, which stands as a distinct line in Lambin's edition, as it does also in Gro- novius's edit. Arnst. 1684 : * Satin pariva res est | yolupta|tum In vita.' Lambin, indeed, in the second foot, reads, c parva c est res/ instead of c parya res est ;* but Gro- novius gives it c parva res est.' The variation which this occasions, by introducing a Molossus, instead of aBacchius, in the second foot, is no ob- jection; because the Molossus is an admissible foot in that species : but other copies give it as ■ parva res est,' which makes Terence's line a per- fect resemblance. One single breach of any one of the rules of Prosodia, is evidently a much more violent method, to correct or justify the text of an author, than merely a new regulation and distribution of his lines is, to remove manifest corruptions, in the arrangement of his verses. Not to mention, be- sides, that in many cases the proposed alterations are suggested, from a comparison of manuscripts, and, in others, are actually confirmed and jus-* tified by their authority. The former method is plainly a transgression against those rules which were established to promote general excellence, and intended for universal influence, while the latter only affects that single instance to which it is applied, and the works of that author alone. Besides, that it tends to vindicate his reputation, H H 466 AN INQUIRY INTO as a Poet, from the implied charge of incapacity, want of genius, and deficiency of talent, to which he cannot but be liable, when he is found, or supposed, unable to submit to the usual and or- dinary restrictions of settled and established rules. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 467 SECTION XXX. Bacchiac or Saturnian Verse admits all equivalent Feet, but no Licences. Feet actually occurring in the Paeonic or Bacchiac verses, in Plautus and Terence. — All equivalent feet equally admis- sible on principle. — The want of an actual instance no ob- jection to this. The specimens of verses already inserted from Plautus and Terence, in Section XXI. have de- cidedly shown the use of the following kinds of Feet or Metres: Bacchius «> - » Molossus --- Antibacchius *• - y Di-Iambus w-w. Cretic V, -^- Iambus & Tribrachys ^-w«« Paeon 1 -wwu Ionicus Minor « w - - Paeon 4 u^w- Anapaest & Pyrrhi-7 r v w _ v w Paeon 3 chius PaeonS,... *-wu Tribrachys & Iambus ww«*. Di-Trochee .. --* Choriambus _ ^ w .. Trochee & Tribrachys - « w w ^ Ionicus Major. • - - « ^ This any one may perceive who will take the trouble to examine the verses, and extract the Feet, or Metres, of which they consist, as has II H 2 468 AN INQUIRY INTO been done on the present occasion; and as those above enumerated, amount to so nearly all that can be produced from the fundamental Feet or Metres, either by changing" the situations of the quantities, or substituting one long syllable for two short, they certainly justify the supposition, that every one of the rest might be equally re- ceived, because they all depend on the same principle, though an actual instance of the use of some of them has not happened to be found. This circumstance has been noticed before; and the difficulty of producing, when it is wanted, an actual example even of a common and acknow- ledged rule has been shown so great', as to afford no rational ground for rejecting an instance merely for want of an example to confirm it, if the principle on which it rests be in itself reason- able. All in the above list, it is to be observed, have been produced without one single Poetical Licence, and without ever departing from the principle of equality of length in the verses. 1 See a note on Section X. p. 132. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 469 SECTION XXXI. Pindar's and Horaces Odes to be new regulated. A new regulation of Metre necessary to other Poets besides the Comic. — An Ode of Pindar, as it now stands. — Objections to it. — The same, fresh arranged, as Bacchiac. — An Ode of Horace, arranged in like manner — Another Ode so treated, — Reasons for the present irregularity. I he want of a new and more correct regulation and arrangement, is not, however, peculiar to Comic Metre ; for nothing* can be in greater con- fusion than the Lyric Metre, or the Lyric compo- sitions, as well of the Greek as the Roman Poets. It is true this inquiry is, perhaps, not strictly within the compass or limits of the present work, but yet it will be found, on examination, more closely connected with its object than may at first sight be imagined. At least it certainly tends to show, that the present regulation of the verses is in almost all kinds of Poetry extremely erroneous; and, consequently, that a proposal for a new ar- rangement and distribution, in the case of Comic verse, is not so violent or unnecessary a measure as some may, perhaps, endeavour to represent it. But, in addition to this, it is also a subject of so much importance in itself, to the knowledge of H H 3 470 AN INQUIRY INTO Prosodia and Versification in general, that it would perhaps be wrong to omit it. As a proof of the great corruptions of these Poems, as to the regulation of the verses, in the instance of the Greek writers, the reader has only to examine the first Ode of the Olympiad of Pindar, in which the lines are disposed as follow; i Aoigov jjih v^oup o os 4 %$ V(r0 $> OtSSoftAVOV Tl'VQ i d Tc tlOiTTOSTTSL VV- s KTi, peyavooog s^oyjx ttXs.t^ * si V ocsQXix yocpvsv i eKSsai (piKov TjTop 7 * jAVJXsS G&Sx crX.Q7TcL * uKho 6aK7TV0TSp0V i ev cIllsgk (pwsivov CtgpC'J * hypug §/' ccl9epog, ' p?S' OXv^iriczg dywa. 6 (psprsgov ocv^uctoulsv. 4 oSsv o 7roXv(poi7og s vpvog otptpi&aXXsTXi t trotyMv ^yjTisa-i, ksKocdsii/ * K^o>x 7rcab , eg atpvsav iKQ^vxg* ' ij.uxououv *k(iMVQg sgicnv k .' In this arrangement, it is impossible to disco- ver any thing like what constitutes Poetry. Har- k Pindari Olympia, Ode I. edit. 18mo. ab H. Stephano, Erroduni, 1624; & edit. 12mo. apud Hieronymum Commelinum, 1597. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 471 mony of numbers there is none, nor is there any thing like regularity of Metre ; and so far is it re- moved from any such qualities, that the lines are, on the contrary, intolerably harsh, dissonant, and discordant. Such, in short, is the irregularity in the length of the verses, that no rule seems to have been pursued ; and the following method is more probably correct, because it makes the Metre more regular, and certainly produces har- mony to the ear, of which the present mode is entirely destitute : www Apigov | ph uSaw I o §£ %%vov s^j/^cg | S*/' cti9spog f _ w _ w_ w — w _ w w _ _ w w M/jS' OXviA^riocg dyw\vct, (psgTSgov | oc.v$dwvog | l$w. Equal disorder is visible in several of the Odes of Horace, and particularly, for instance, in the eighth and thirteenth of the first book. These ought to stand regulated as follow ; and the dif- ference will at once be seen, on turning to the H H 4 472 AN INQUIRY INTO works of that author, which being so easily ac- cessible, it is here unnecessary to insert the Odes in their present corrupt and depraved state. Lib. 1. Ode VOL Lydia die | per omnes | te deos | oro Sybarin cur | properas a'mando perldere Cur apri|cum oderit | campum pajtiens Puiveris at[que solis | cur neque mijlitaris Inter selquales e|quitet Galjlica Nee lupa'tis tempejret ora frae'ms Cur timet | flavum Tylberim tanjgere Cur olilvo sanguine | viperilno cautius Vitat nelque jam li|vida gestat J armis Brachia sae|pe disco | ssepe trans j finem Jaculo nojbilis expeldito quid } latet Ut mari|nae filiium dicunt | Thetidis Sub lacrymo|sae Trojae j funera ne | virilis Cultus in | caedem et Lycijas proripejret catervas* Lib. 1. OdeXIIL Cum tu Lydija Telephi | cervicem | roseam Et cerea | Telephi lau|das brachia | vse meum Fervens dif|ficili bijle tumet je|cur Tunc nee mens | mihi nee co|lor certa | sede manefe Humor et in | genas furjtim labitur | arguens Quam lentis | penitus majcerer igni|bus Uror seu | tibi candijdos turpalrunt humeros Immodicae | mero rix|ae sive pu|er furens Impressit | memorem den|te labris | notum Non si me | satis audilas speres | perpetuum Dulcia barlbarae laeldentem oscula | quae Venus Quinta parjte sui necltaris imbu|it Felices | ter et amplijus quos irjrupta tenet 3 THE NATURE OF POETRY. 473 Copula nee | malis di|vulsus queri|moniis Suprema | citius sol|vet amor di|e. The first of these Odes is acknowledged by Acron \ an ancient grammarian, to be, even as it uniformly stands in the printed editions, really and substantially of the Choriambic species, which is known to admit the Choriambus, Bacchius, and Paeons. So it is, in fact, here considered ; nor is any one foot admitted in exchange for ano- ther that is less than equal to five short syllables, the quantity of the Bacchius, or of more than six, the quantity of the Choriambus. All that is now done, is to make the verses, in both Odes, of equal length, all Tetrameters ; as it is evident, from every consideration of Reason and good Sense, as to principle, and of practicability, to render them so, as to matter of fact, they really and cer- tainly should be. Nay, so well does this distribu- tion, in the instance of the last Ode, namely. Lib. 1, Ode XIII. fall in with the rest of the Ode, as at present regulated in the printed editions, that every third verse, out of the whole fifteen, as here arranged in the text, stands, in like manner, a separate verse, in the editions as printed at pre- sent. But, by whatever name such Metre, from the more frequent recurrence of one particular foot. 1 < Horatii Opera, cum Helenii Acronis et Porphirionis i eommentariis, per Georgium FabriciunV fed. Basil. 1555, p, .17, in a note on this Ode, 474 AN INQUIRY INTO may be thought, it is plain, that the Choriambus, the Molossus, and all Metres equal to six short syllables, are repeatedly intermixed in the same verse, whatever may be really its kind, with those of only five, as the Bacchius, Antibacchius, Cre- tic, &c. ; and this fact has been already abun- dantly proved in the instances inserted from Plau- tus and Terence. On the above Odes of Pindar and Horace, as arranged in the manner already proposed, musical persons, and those best capable of judging and discriminating, as possessing accurate musical ears, between discord and harmony of sounds, have been consulted on this very point, on which their opinion has uniformly and universally coin- cided with that of the present author. If any one there be, who cannot perceive how extremely in- harmonious and unlike verse, the originals are, or is not immediately sensible of the advantage of the change, let him make inquiries of those who can teach him in what the principles of harmony and discord in music consist, and he will find, that not to be sensible of the difference, would afford the strongest ground for suspecting that, however well-gifted he might be in other respects, or how- ever his advantages might have been improved, he must for ever relinquish all claim to a musical ear. In some measure, this irregularity has arisen from the circumstance, that, in the manuscripts^ the text was, generally 2 if not universally, accom- THE NATURE OP POETRY. 475 panied, but especially in the instances of Pindar and Horace, with a very copious marginal com- mentary m ; and that, to make room for this, the space allowed for the text was too much contract- ed. The consequence of this was, that the Co- pyist frequently found, that one verse of the Poem could not, in writing, be contained in one line ; but that, on the contrary, a part of it must ne- cessarily be carried into a second : and, as he was not sufficiently skilful to discern where each verse ended, and the commencement of a fresh verse was not distinguished by a capital letter n , one verse has been run into another in strange confu- sion. In addition to this, the beginning of a fresh Poem is frequently, in manuscripts, decorated with a large initial letter, illuminated, which, by occupying a great portion of space, tended still further to lessen that allowed for the text ; and, by those means, to increase the difficulty of division, and augment the confusion of the lines. m Faernus, in his Emendations of Terence, which Hare has reprinted at the end of his edition, says, p. 28, in a note on the Prologue to the Heautontimorumenos, ' In libro Bembino, ' ut per omnes alias Comcedias, antiquissima manu glossemata, ' ex Donato, in margine ascripta sunt, ad locorum, quae inci- * dunt, expositionem, ita, in hanc ipsam Heautontimortimenon, * multa visuntur, quae Donati similiter putamus esse, cujus, in * hanc fabulam, commentarii interciderunt.' n This practice has also been continued in printed books ; and in the edition of Pindar, with a Latin interpretation hy M. i^milius, P. Fr. Porti C. F. printed by Commelin, 12mo. 1597, the lines are so printed throughout. •476 AN INQUIRY INTO SECTION XXXIL Conclusion from the Whole, Present system not admissible for three reasons,— Latin Comic metre not Iambic, but Bacchiae, for three reasons.— Pre- sent division of verses in Plautus and Terence not to be trusted, for three reasons. I he proposed Inquiry having now been conduct- ed to the extent at first designed, and all the facts necessary, as the foundation of a correct opinion, having been brought forward, and substantiated, nothing remains, but to observe, as the result of the whole, that in the course of the several preceding Sections, the following conclusions, be- sides several others, incidentally connected with them, have been decidedly and fully established : That the present system is not admissible ; 1. Because it supposes Latin Comic Metre Iambic, a kind of Metre which, in itself, has no relation to Comedy , and with the rules and principles of which, as limited in that very system, Comic Metre will not agree p. Section XXVIIT. p Ibid. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 477 2. Because it requires variety in the length of the verses of the same scene, for which there is no reason or authority ; and which, as contradicting the practice of the Greek writers % and having no ground from principle, is an opinion highly irrational in itself 1 *. 3. And, because, as is confessed even by those Grammarians and Critics them- selves, who contend for it, it cannot sub-, sist, without an immense number of Po- etical Licences, which, as deviations from rules established for the promotion of excellence, cannot, consistently with the first principles of Reason and common Sense, be received s . That Latin Comic Metre is not Iambic, but Bacchiac ; 1. Because, as Comedy was always consi- dered as having a decided connexion, in its original, with the rites of Bac- chus f , and as Bacchiac was the kind of Metre used in the Hymns in honour of Bacchus u ; Bacchiac was, therefore, the fittest for Comedy, derived, as they both were, from the rites of that deity. i Section XX. r Section XVIII. * Section XXVIII. and XXII. * Section XII, a Section VI. 478 AN INQUIRY INTO 2. Because all the supposed Trimeter Iam- bic verses in Plautus and Terence, in- cluding, also, all which at present re- quire Licences, may, without any Li- cence, be scanned as Bacchiac Tetra- meter*; and all those verses now supposed Tetrameter Iambic, may, by a more cor- rect division of the lines, be new regu- lated as Bacchiac Tetrameters also> T ; and, therefore, Bacchiac was the fittest for Comedy, derived, as it was, from the rites of that deity. 3. And, because unequivocal instances of Bacchiac verses have been found in Plau- tus and Terence, which require no Li- cences z . That the present Division of Verses, in Plautus and Terence, is not to be trusted ; I. Because the oldest manuscripts are in Prose a , and therefore it is not the origin nal distribution, but a more modern re- gulation, and not supported by the con- current testimony of ancient copies, which, on the contrary, differ from that and each other b . * See Section XXI. y See Sect. XXIX. * See Section XXI. a See Sect. XVII, b See Section XVI. and XVII. THE NATURE OF POETRY. 479 2. Because it was evidently made on the false principles of the prevailing system. 3. And, lastly, because Bentley has found it necessary, both in Plautus and Te- rence, to alter the division d . If, after this, the system at present received can maintain its ground ; if the existing Division or Distribution of the Verses can be considered as of any authority, or the admission of the principles of Bacchiac Metre, to procure a better and more ra- tional regulation, can be refused; incontrovertible evidence, and positive facts, well authenticated, are of no avail, argument is useless, and reason- ing wholly in vain. II m U ■ I i i Ml W I ' . . . . ■ 'i ■ . . .... d Section XXIX, INDE X. N. E. The Letter ri, after any Number, refers to a Note in that Pags. JEschylus, instance from him of a Trochee in Iambic verse, 129, n. Ahxamenes, Teius, first invented Dialogue, 142, n. Amphibrachys, admissible in Heroic verse, 114. Instances of, 119, 120, 121, 126. Not received by the Grammarians into Iambic verse, 130. Admissible into Iambic verse, 132. Anapast, admissible in Heroic verse, 114- Instances of, 115, 117,118, 126. Andronicus (Livins) first introduced Comedy at Rome, 156. Archilochns, the supposed inventor, or rather introducer, of Iam- bic verse into Greece, 56. All Lyric Poetry probably attri- butable to him, 57. The principles of all borrowed by him from the Psalms of David, 58. He used Iambic Trimeter acatalectic and Iambic Tetrameter catalectic, 58,59. Spe- cimens from his writings, to ascertain what sorts of verse he employed, 59, &c. He also employed Trochaic Trimeter aca- talectic and Iambic Trimeter acatalectic together, 64. He appears to have introduced, together with the Trochaic, the Iambic foot also in the same line, 64. lie did not apply Iam- bic for invective, but probably only used it, because it was cheerful, and fit for Lyric purposes, 65. He appears to have used Bacchiac or Paeonic, 71. A specimen from him, as given by Hephaastion, 71. Another specimen of Bacchiac from him, as given by Stobseus, 73. Another, 75, Part of a Dithyrambic hymn by him, 77- Iambic verse introduced by him, as better suiting Lyric subjects, 80. Aristophanes. Pseonic supposed by some invented by Aristo- phanes, 135, n. Specimens of the Chorus from him, 239. Examples of verse from him, 247. Bisset's enumeration of the sorts of verse, which he used, 253. Aristotle, his opinion that a poem, containing all sorts of verse, is not a poem, 22, n> His sentiments as to the three sorts of rhythmical time, 38, 39, n. His opinion that the Dithyramb was the origin of Tragedy, 84, n. His idea as to the change of metre in Tragedy, 84, n. 258. A shameful interpolation by Bishop Hare, in the passage from Aristotle, 84, n. 259. His opinion that Comedy had Music only in particular parts, i i INDEX* namely, between the acts, 162. His sentiments on the parts of Tragedy, 168. Remarks on it, 168. Says Tragic metre was originally Tetrameter, 262. His opinion what Rhyth- mus should be used in public speaking, 258, n. Says Tragedy derived from the Dithyramb, an hymn to Bacchus, 264. The Tetrameter verse mentioned by Aristotle, as used in Tragedy, probably Bacchiac, 266. Absurdly derives Co- medy from the Phallica, 266. His contradictory opinions as to Iambic, 400. Objections to them, and the contradictions pointed out, 401. His tract De Poetica not to be trusted, and why, 434. That tract much relied on by classical scho- lars, 434. When he lived, 434. Fate of his writings after his death, 435, &c. Doubtful whether the treatise De Po- etica by Aristotle the Stagyrite, 439. If his, it is probably corrupt and interpolated, 440. Augustin of Eugubio, his opinion on the nature of Hebrew Poetry, 15. His sentiments examined, 23. B. Bacchiac, or Phonic Verse. Archilochus appears to have used Bacchiac or Paeonic, 71. A specimen from him, as given by Hephaestion, 71. This specimen erroneously supposed, by Hephaestion, a compound of two sorts of metre, 71. A spe- cimen of Paeonic, by Cratinus, as given by Hephaestion, 71. A similar error of Hephaestion's, as to this also, 71. The scanning of all these rectified, which shows them to be Paeonic, 72. Another specimen of Bacchiac from Archilochus, as given by Stobaeus, 72. This better regulated, 73. Another from Stobaeus, 73. A better regulation, 74. Another speci- men from Archilochus, as given by Stobaeus, 75. A better regulation, 76. Another regulation, by which the lines may be made Trochaic Dimeter, 76. Part of a Dithyrambic hymn by Archilochus, 77. These lines Bacchiac, 77. The Bacchiac foot so named, because used in hymns to Bac- chus, 77, 81. Choriambic, called Bacchiac, 78. Choriam- bic used by Cratinus and Phrynichius, 78. Bacchiac, Cre- tic, and Paeonic all one sort, 79. Paeonic verse applied by Archilochus to the rites of Bacchus, probably because he found the succession of syllables better calculated for that sort, 80. Satyric Poetry probably Bacchiac or Paeonic, 84» What feet it admits, 135. Paeonic erroneously divided into three sorts, Paeonic, Bacchiac, and Cretic, 135, 136. For this division, Poetical Licences unnecessarily introduced, even by Bentley, 136, 137. Paeonic supposed, by some, Invented by Aristophanes, 135, n. Used by Cratinus and Archilochus, 135, n. Hephaestion's opinion as to Paeonic, 136. Admits, as appears from specimens given by Bentley, feet of six times, as well as those of five, 138. Enumeration of feet admissible, 139. Those Tragic verses, already sup- INDEX. posed Iambic Tetrameter, are probably Bacchiac, 233. No objection to this, excepting only in verses consisting wholly of the Iambus, 236. That, however, easily removable, 237. Chorusses in the Greek Comedies equally divisible as Bac- chiac Tetrameter verse, 238. Scarcely possible to conclude that the metre employed in the Greek Tragedies and Come- dies was any other than Bacchiac Tetrameter, 24-1. The Te- trameter verse mentioned by Aristotle, as used in Tragedy, probably Bacchiac, 266. Bacchiac or Paeonic verse, as con- nected with Bacchus, had a kind of natural connexion with Comedy, 275. Strong reasons, therefore, for conceiving Greek Comic verse Bacchiac, 278. Verses supposed Iambic Tri- meters, will scan as Bacchiac Tetrameter, 281. A specimen from Plautus so treated, 282. Examples of Bacchiac verses from Plautus, 283, 284, 286, 287. Instances of the like kind from Terence, 288. Comic Latin verse imagined Paeonic or .Bacchiac, and why, 290. Reasons for conceiving Latin Comic verse Bacchiac, 447. Every reason to think Saturnian Bac- chiac, 454. Bentley has ascertained Bacchiac and Cretic verses in Plautus and Terence, 457. Cretic or Paeonic verses in Terence, 460. Some in Plautus's Amphitruo, 462. Bac- chiac or Saturnian verse admits all equivalent feet, but no Licences, 467. Feet actually occurring in the Paeonic or Bacchiac verses in Plautus and Terence, 467. Ail equivalent feet admissible on principle, 468. An Ode of Pindar arranged as Bacchiac verse, 471. Two Odes of Horace so treated, 472. — -See Pcsonic Verse. Bacchus. Rites of Bacchus made Poetry familiar to the com- mon people, 140. The Romans acknowledged in Comedy some relation to Bacchus, 269. An altar to him placed on the stage, 269. Benedictus of Florence completed Politian's revision of Te- rence, 209. The result published by him in 1505, and again in 1519, 209. Benedictus has mistaken two passages in Aris- totle, 210. Bentley erroneously considers Bacchiac, Cretic, and Pseonic, as of different kinds, 79. Specimens of Bacchiac and Paeonic verse given by him, 138, 288. His objections to Quintilian's opinion, that Terence should have used only Trimeters, 218* Remarks on them, 220. Bentley ignorant of Music, 222. He has confounded together Time and Tune, and length of verse, and constituent feet, 223. He has ascertained Bacchiac and Cretic verses in Plautus and Terence, 457. Has new regu- lated a scene in Plautus, 459. Brencman (Henry), his observations on the Florentine Manu- script of the Pandect, 312, &c. C. Cappel (Louis), his opinion on the nature of Hebrew Poetry 5 15* ii 2 INDEX. Choriambic Verse, called Bacchiac, 78. Mallitrs Theodorus's opinion as to Choriambic, 405. Censured, 405. Victorinus, his opinion on Choriambic, 406. Objections to it, 407. Chorus. Chorus in the Greek Tragedies and Comedies, its na- ture, and of what kind of verse their speeches consisted, 227. Greek Chorusses do not contain variety of metre, 228. Aristotle confines the performance of the Chorus to the in- terval between the acts, 228. Reason to think no part of these intermediate performances now existing, 228. The term Chorus does not necessarily imply singers or dancers, or musical performances, but only a multitude of persons, 229. Chorus, as employed in the Greek Tragedies, different from that used between the acts, 230. The nature of the former correctly defined, 230. Aristotle says Tragic verse was ori- ginally Tetrameter, 232. Reason to conclude that to have been Bacchiac, 232. Chorusses in the Greek Tragedies ca- pable of arrangement as Bacchiac verse, 233. Instances and specimens of this, 233. Those Tragic verses already sup- posed Iambic Trimeter are probably Bacchiac Tetrameter, 233. No objection to this, excepting only in verses consist- ing wholly of the Iambus, 236. That, however, easily re- movable, 237. Chorusses in the Greek Comedies divi- sible as Bacchiac Tetrameter verse, 238. Specimens from Aristophanes, 239. Scarcely possible to conclude that the metre employed in the Greek Tragedies and Comedies was any other than Bacchiac Tetrameter, 241. Comedy, origin of, 139. Theatrical productions, how exhi- bited originally, 146. At first, one actor only, 147. A se- cond introduced, 147- The number increased still further, 148. Comedy not originally sung through the streets, 148. Susarion the first who furnished poetical performances to the people at large, 149. What they probably were, 149. Co- medy originally a Chorus of singers without actors, 149. Plot for Comedy, and dress for the actor, when and by whom introduced, 150. Comedy, when first so called, 150. Ety- mology and reason of the name, 151. Tragedy not then in- vented, 152. Improvements in Comedy by Epicharmus and Phormis, 153. Comedy, at this time, no more than a Cho- rus of singers and musical performers, 153. The same with that which flourished in the first age of Comedy at Athens, 153. Improvements under Pericles, 153. Brought to per- fection by Eupolis and Aristophanes, 154. Comedy in the two first ages called the Old, 154. Its characteristics, 154. Athens taken by Lysander, 154. Comedy restricted, 154. Third age of Comedy, 155. Styled the Middle Comedy, 155. Its peculiarities, 155. Further restrictions on it in the time of Alexander, 155. Fourth age of Comedy, 155. Called the New Comedy, 156. Its characteristics, 156. The Ro- mans only copied the New, 156. Livius Andronicus first in- INDEX. troduced Comedy at Rome, 156. Characteristics of the four different ages of Comedy more distinctly stated, 157. Co- medy earlier than Tragedy, 159. Not a musical performance throughout, 161. Titles of Terence's plaj^s have occasioned the question, 161. Aristotle's opinion that it had Music only in particular parts, namely, between the acts, 162. Evan- thius says the Chorus rejected, and why, in the New Comedy, 168. In the Roman Comedies, Music how employed, 170. Passage from Plautus's Pseudolus, 170. Another from his Casina, 170. Horace, his opinion as to the Chorus, 171. Remarks on it, 171. His sentiments as to the use of the Tibia, 172. Diomedes, his opinion on the parts of Comedy, 172. Remarks on it, 174?. Passage from the Prolegomena, Terence, edit. 1479, 176. Another from the same, 177. Another from Terence, edit. 1499, 177. Another from Guido Juvenal is, in the same edition, 177. Another from Iodocus Radius Ascensius, Terence, edit. 1527, 178. Another from Terence, edit. Aldus, 1570, 178. Another from Juventius, Terence, edit. Spencer, 1734, 179. Another from Scaliger De Poetice, 179, n. Reasons why Comedy could not have been a musical performance, 179, &c. Scarcely possible to conclude that the metre employed in the Greek Comedies _was any other than Bacchiac Tetrameter, 241. Comedy absurdly derived, by Aristotle, from the Phallica, 266. Co- medy, as relating to private individuals, properly called (JiauXiJcoj, 268. Romans acknowledged in Comedy some rela- tion to Bacchus, 269. Reasons why Iambic verse not pro- perly applicable to Comedy, 271, &c. Greek Comic verse, therefore, probably not Iambic, 274. Bacchiac verse, as connected with Bacchus, had a kind of natural connexion with Comedy, 275. Strong reasons, therefore, for conceiv- ing Greek Comic verse Bacchiac, 278. Comic Verse, Greek, Species of verse used by Greek Comic writers, 242. Probably not Iambic, 256, 271. Strong rea- sons for conceiving Greek Comic verse to have been Bac- chiac, 278. Comic Verse, Latin, specimens of, 281. Verses supposed Iambic Trimeters, will scan as Bacchiac Tetrameters, 281. -A specimen from Plautus so treated, 282. Examples of verses rightly supposed Bacchiac, from Plautus, 283, 284, 286, 287. Instances of the like kind from Terence, 288. These verses, however apparently different from the Greek specimens given in Section XX. may still perhaps be derived from the same source, 289. Imagined Paeonic or Bacchiac, and why, 290. . Priscian says, the Comic writers used principally Trimeters and Tetrameters, the rest seldom, 295. Latin Comic metre cannot be Iambic, 442. Priscian's opinion that it is Iambic, examined, 442. Horace's sentiments as to Iambic examined, 443. Objections to him and his testimony, 447. Reasons 1 1 a INDEX. for conceiving it, on the contrary, Bacchiac, 448. Variety of verse in length not allowable, 449. Latin Comic metre really Saturnian or Bacchiac, 451. Cratinus. A specimen of Pasonic from Cratinus, as given by Hephsestion, 71. Choriambic used by Cratinus, 78. Speci- mens of verse from him, 246, 247. Cretie Verse. Pasonic erroneously divided into three sorts, -Paeonic, Bacchiac, and Cretie, 135, 136. — See Bacchiac or Pceonic Verse. D. Diomedes, his opinion as to the three sorts of rhythmical time, 44. His opinion on the parts of Comedy, 172. Re- marks on it, 174. His sentiments as to Iambic verse, 405. His opinion on Trochaic, 406. Another passage from him on Trochaic, 406. Objections to these," 406. Dithyramb. Part of a Dithyrambic hymn by Archilochus, 77. Hymns to Bacchus denominated Dithyrambic, 82. Etymo- logy of the term, 83. Aristotle's opinion that the Dithyramb was the origin of Tragedy, 84, 264. E. EnniuSy his affectations no justification for Poetical Licences, 105. Eupolis y specimens of Verse from him, 243, 244, 245. G. Gomarus (Fr.) t his opinion as to the nature of Hebrew Po- etry, 15. Remarks on it, 16. Grammarians. Supposed authority of Grammarians not to be admitted or received, 399. Aristotle's contradictory opinions as to Iambic, 400. Objections to them, and the contradic- tions pointed out, 401. Terentianus Maurus's definition of Iambic verse censured, 402. His account of Trochaic eata- lectic reprehended, 402. His description of Iambic in ano- ther place, 403. His account of Scazontic Iambic, 403. Of Iambic catalectic Tetrameter, 404*. Objections to all these, 404. Plotius, his description of the Palimbacchiac, 404. Objections to it, 405. Mallius Theodorus's opinion as to Choriambic, 405. Censured, 405. Diomedes, his sen- timents as to Iambic, 405. His opinion on Trochaic, 406. Another passage from him on Trochaic, 406. Objections to these, 406. Victorinus, his opinion on Choriambic, 40.6. Objections to it, 407. His sentiments on Ionic, 407. Ob- jections to them, 407. His opinion on Phalsecian, 407. Ob- jection to it, 407. His opinion as to the admission of the Trochee with the Iambus, 408. Remarks on it, 409. Seve - ral other instances of erroneous descriptions from Servius and Victorinus, 410, 412; An instance from Suidas, 414, n. INDEX. Csesura claimed as a Licence for a Jong syllable, 415. But the Caesura and Licence fall in different places, 415. Re- marks on the lines themselves, 416. - All the above-mention- ed instances may be corrected by a small alteration, 417. Li- cence of making a diphthong short before a vowel not allow- able, 419. The instance explained, 419. Contraction of two vowels unjustly claimed in a particular instance, 421. A line in Homer corrected, 422. Dividing one word at the end of a line absurd, 423. Rejection of the letter S before a consonant, not justifiable, 427. The supposed instance is read differently in different copies, and free from any Licence, 427, n. Some supposed instances of Licences in Juvenal and Virgil explained, 429, &c. Greece. Linus first brought learning into Greece from Phoeni- cia, 48. Greeks not the original discoverers of science, 5. Greeks obtained from Egypt astronomy and their mythology, 8. Greek philosophers travelled into Egypt, 9. Classical preju- dices in favour of Greek literature almost inveterate, 11. Imitations by the Greeks, not usually, if ever, disclosed in the course of classical education, 11. Instances of poems among the Jews, prior to the time of the Greeks, 12. Grotius, his opinion on the nature of Hebrew Poetry, 15. H. Hare ( Bishop J, a shameful interpolation by him, in a passage from Aristotle, 84, n. 259. His classification of seventeen sorts of Poetical Licences, 302. Hephcestion, his opinion as to Poeonic verse, 136. Heroic Verse. Heroic the first sort of Poetry, 48. The Spon- dee admitted, in Heroic Poetry, in exchange for the Dactyl, 89.. Admits only feet exactly equivalent, 89. What feet it receives, 114. Besides the Dactyl and Spondee, it ad- mits the Anapaest, Amphibrachys, and Proceleusma, 114. Anapaest, an example of, from Homer, 115. Another from Virgil, 117. Another from Horace, 118. Amphibrachys, an example of, from Homer, 119. Four examples from Virgil, 120, 121. Proceleusma, an instance of, 122. Several from Virgil, 123. These feet admissible at the end of the verse also, 1.25. Dactyl, examples of, 125. Anapaest, instances of, 125. Amphibrachys, instance of, 126. Hexameter Verse. Hexameter verse the earliest kind among the Jews, as well as among the Greeks, 35. Poems written by Linus in Hexameter verse, 49. Linus, Musaeus, Homer, and Hesiod, all wrote in Hexameter verse, 51. Hexameter verse originally the only kind, 79. Hymns to Bacchus originally in that metre, 80. — See also Heroic Verse. Homer, an example from him of an Anapaest in Heroic verse, Xi4 INDEX. 115. An example from him, of an Amphibrachys in an He- roic verse, 119. Horace objects to all deviations from rule, 97. Passages from him, 93, 99. An example from him, of an Anapaest in an Heroic verse, 118. His opinion as to the Chorus, 171. Remarks on it, 171. His sentiments as to the use of the Tibiae, 172. Horace's sentiments as to Iambic examined, 443, &c. Objections to him and his testimony, 447. His Odes to be new regulated, 469. An Ode of Horace arranged as Bacchiac, 472. Another so treated, 472. Reasons for the present irregularity, 474. Hubert (Theodore), his opinion as to the nature of Hebrew- Poetry, 15. Remarks on it, 16. I and J. Iambic Verse. Archilochus the supposed inventor, or rather introducer, of Iambic verse into Greece, 56. Iambic the se- cond sort of Poetry, 56. Iambic Trimeter acatalectic, Iam- bic Tetrameter catalectic, used by Archilochus, 58, 59. Iambic Trimeter acatalectic, intermixed with Trochaic Te- trameter catalectic, appears used, but probably it ought to be arranged as all Trimeters, 63. Iambic and Trochaic verses may be intermixed, 63. Archilochus uses, on another occa- sion, Trochaic Trimeter acatalectic and Iambic Trimeter acatalectic together, 64. He appears to have introduced, to- gether with the Trochaic, the Iambic foot also, in the same line, 64. Reasonable he should do so, 65. He did not apply Iambic for invective, but probably only used it, because it was cheerful and fit for Lyric purposes, 65> Present etymo- logy of the name Iambic not defensible, 66. A new one pro- posed, 67. Iambic verse introduced by Archilochus, as bet- ter suiting Lyric subjects, 80. The Tribrachys received in the Iambic, instead of the Iambus, 89. In the Iambic me- tres of four times, received instead of those of three, 90. Of what feet Iambic verse consists, 127. Victorinus's opinion, that there are three sorts of Iambic, viz. Iambic, Trochaic, and a mixture of both, 127. Remarks on it, 128. Eight sorts of feet deducible from the Iambus and Spondee, the two fundamental feet of the Iambic, 128. What they are, stated, .128. Five of these already acknowledged by Grammarians, 128. Trochee not admitted by them, 128. Victorinus, his opinion on that point, 130, n. Terentianus Maurus, his sen- timents on that subject, 129, n. Amphibrachys not received by the Grammarians, 130. Nor Proceleusma, 130. An ex- ample of the Proceleusma, 130, n. Trochee admissible, and no reason for excluding it, 131. Instances from iEschylus, Sophocles, and Juba, 129, n. Juba's opinion, 129. Amphi- brachys and Proceleusma equally admissible, 1 32. Iambic verse not properly applicable to Comedy, 271, &c. Greek INDEX. Comic verse probably not Iambic, 271. Priscian says, that Comic writers used Iambic verse, and introduced into it five sorts of feet, 294. He says the verses are either Monometers, &c. 295. Priscian says, Terence used Trochaic metre, mixed and confused with Iambic, 296. Aristotle's contradictory opinions as to Iambic, 400. Objections to them, and the con- tradictions pointed out, 401. Terentianus Maurus's defini- tion of Iambic verse censured, 402. His description of Iam- bic in another place, 403. His account of Scazontic Iambic, 403. Of Iambic catalectic Tetrameter, 404. Objections to all these, 404. Diomedes, his sentiments as to Iambic, 405. Victorinus, his opinion as to the admission of (he Trochee xvith the Iambus, 408. Remarks on it, 409. Latin Comic metre cannot be Iambic, 442. Priscian's opinion that it is Iambic examined, 442. Horace's sentiments as to Iambic examined, 443, &c. Objections to him and his testimony, 447. Jerom (St.), his opinion as to the nature of Hebrew Poetry, 14, 24. His and Scaliger's opinions compared, 26. Ionic Verse. Victorinus's sentiments on Ionic verse, 407. Ob- jections to them, 407. Josephics, his opinion as to the nature of Hebrew Poetry, 14, 23, 24. Juba, his opinion as to the admission of the Trochee in Iam- bic verse, 129. Juvenal, a supposed instance of a Licence in him explained, 429. L. Le Clerc, his opinion on the nature of Hebrew Poetry, 15. His opinion refuted, 18. Licences (Poetical), do not seem to have been used in Hebrew Poetry, 32. None admissible, 92. Precepts did not precede, but follow the invention of arts, 94. Every deviation from rule a defect, 95. Deviation cannot be justified, 96. No instance of necessity, 96. Poetical Licences perpetually claimed by the Grammarians, 97. Horace objects to all de- viations from rule, 97. Passages from him, 98, 99. Poetical Licences no other than blemishes, 99. Licences supposed, where none existed, 99. All objectionable, as deviations from rule, 100, &c. Rule intended to produce excellence, and prevent error and deformity, 100. Priscian says, viola- tions of Prosodia frequent among Dramatic writers, 100, 296. And that Terence used them more than others, 100, 296. If so, they are not models of excellence, 101. And Terence is more culpable than all others, 101. It cannot be supposed the au- dience would have tolerated them, 101 » Constant violation of rule, and perpetual variety of verse, would render all prose verse, 102. If indulgences unlimited, impossible to decide as to the nature of any species of Poetry, 102. Poetical Li- 3 INDEX. cences not authorized by violent elisions and contractions in manuscripts, because they occur in prose works also, 103. Instances of this kind in the Florentine Pandect, 103. A si- milar example in Terence, edit. 1479, 104, n. Affectations of Ennius and Lucretius, no justification for Poetical Li- cences, 105. No pretence that rules of Prosodia different in Plautus, Terence, Virgil, or Horace's times, 107. Nature of apparent variations from rule, ill understood, 108. Not violations of rule, 108. Licentious readings sometimes pre- ferred, 108. Motive to this, a wish in the Critic to display his own learning, 109. Poetical Licences, doubtful if any really exist in Virgil and Horace, 111. Many Licences removable, by the application of the musical principle, for the reception of all equivalent feet, 111. Others may be prevented, by preferring another reading, 112. Others are merely an observance of some rule in the Greek Prosodia, where the Latin had not followed it, 1 13. And the remain- der principally; if not wholly, consist of contractions of vow- els, or dissolutions of diphthongs, 113. They do not, there- fore, affect the quantities of syllables, 113. Hare (Bishop), his classification of seventeen sorts of Poetical Licences, 302. Caesura claimed as a Licence for a long syllable, 415. But the Caesura and Licence fall in different places, 415. Re- marks on the lines themselves, 416. All the above-mentioned instances may be corrected by a small alteration, 417. Li- cence of making a diphthong short before a vowel, not allow- able, 419. The instances explained, 419. Contraction of two vowels unjustly claimed in a particular instance, 421. A line in Homer corrected, 422. Dividing one word at the end of a line absurd, 423. Rejection of the letter S before a consonant, not Justifiable, 427. The supposed instance is read differently in different copies, and free from any Licence, 427, n. Some supposed instances of Licences in Juvenal and Virgil explained, 428, &c. Linus, first brought learning into Greece from Phoenicia, 48. Poems written by him in Hexameter verse, 49. Loivth ( Bishop J, his opinion as to the nature of Hebrew Po- etry, 32. Lucretius, his affectations, no justification for Poetical Li- cences, 105. M. MaMiscripts. Authority of manuscripts and ancient copies not to be received in contradiction to Prosodia, 304, Errors of manuscripts described and stated, 304. Similar defects in printed editions, 308. Not peculiar to the works of Greek authors, 309. No manuscript can be of authority merely as a manuscript, or from its age, 310. But its merit must be '.determined by its observance or neglect of the rules of Gram- mar- and Prosodia, ,310- Transcribers of manuscripts,' who INDEX/ they were, and what their qualifications,' merits, and defects, 312. Brencman correct in his opinion, as to the necessity Of knowing the merits and faults of transcribers and correctors, 313. What Brencman has said, though applied by him to the Florentine manuscript of the Pandect only, equally ap- plicable to manuscripts in general, 314. The earliest manu- scripts of Terence and Plautus supposed of the same age with that manuscript, 314. Difficulty of reading manuscripts, $16. Few persons able to do it, 317. The Florentine ma- nuscript described, 318, &c. Scribes, Writers, or Copyists, their different kinds, 323. Librarii, simple Copyists, 323. Notarii, those who used compendious methods of writing, 323. Antiquarii, those who copied ancient characters, 323. Singularii, short-hand writers, or those who used ab- breviations, 323. Exceptores, notaries who took down in writing from dictation what was spoken, 324. Calculatores, accountants, 325. Tabularii, copyists of accounts, 325. Rationarii, keepers of accounts, 325. Logistae, the same sort of persons, 325. Miniculatores, miniature painters, or illuminators, who ornamented and decorated the initial letters and other places, 326. Enfranchised slaves formerly betook themselves to this employment, 326. Afterwards, whoever chose to do so, in hopes of reward, and for hire, 326. And, at length, the monks, 327. Copyists of the Florentine manuscript were, by profession, KaXXtypa