5 Poem. The vertues you distribute there amongst so many noble Persons represent in the reading the image but of one mans vertue to my fancy, which is your own, and that so deeply imprinted as to stay for ever there, and govern all the rest of my thoughts and affections in the way of honouring and serving you to the utmost of my power, that am, Sir, Your most humble and obedient Servant, IO Paris, Ian. 10, 1650. II. PREFACE TO HOMER'S ODYSSES, TRANSLATED BY THO. HOBBES OF MALMSBURY 1675 TO THE 15 He READER, concerning The VERTUES of an HEROIQUE POEM The Vertues required in an Heroick Poem, and indeed in all Writings published, are comprehended all in this one word, Discretion. And Discretion consisteth in this, That every part of the Poem be conducing, and in good order placed, to the End and Designe of the Poet. And the Designe is not only to profit, but also to delight the Reader. By Profit, I intend not here any accession of Wealth, 20 either to the Poet, or to the Reader; but accession of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, by the example of such Great and Noble Persons as he introduceth speaking, or describeth acting. For all men love to behold, though not to practise, Vertue. So that at last the work of an Heroique Poet is no more but to furnish an ingenuous Reader (when his leisure abounds) with the diversion of an honest and delightful Story, whether true or feigned. 5 But because there be many men called Critiques, and Wits, and Vertuosi, that are accustomed to censure the Poets, and most of them of divers Judgments: How is it possible (you'l say) to please them all? Yes, very well; if the Poem be as it should be. For men can judge what's 10 good, that know not what is best. For he that can judge what is best, must have considered all those things (though they be almost innumerable) that concur to make the reading of an Heroique Poem pleasant. Whereof I'll name as many as shall come into my mind. 15 And they are contained, first, in the choice of words. Secondly, in the construction. Thirdly, in the contrivance of the Story or Fiction. Fourthly, in the Elevation of the Fancie. Fifthly, in the Justice and Impartiality of the Poet. Sixthly, in the clearness of Descriptions. Seventhly, 20 in the Amplitude of the Subject. And (to begin with words) the first Indiscretion is, The use of such words as to the Readers of Poesie (which are commonly Persons of the best Quality) are not sufficiently known. For the work of an Heroique Poem is 25 to raise admiration, principally, for three Vertues, Valour, Beauty, and Love; to the reading whereof Women no less than Men have a just pretence, though their skill in Language be not so universal. And therefore forein words, till by long use they become vulgar, are unintelligi- 30 ble to them. Also the names of Instruments and Tools of Artificers, and words of Art, though of use in the Schools, are far from being fit to be spoken by a Heroe. He may delight in the Arts themselves, and have skill in some of them; but his Glory lies not in that, but in Courage, 35 5 Nobility, and other Vertues of Nature, or in the Command he has over other men. Nor does Homer in any part of his Poem attribute any praise to Achilles, or any blame to Alexander, for that they had both learnt to play upon the Ghittarre. The character of words that become a Heroe are Property and Significancy, but without both the malice and lasciviousness of a Satyr. Another Vertue of an Heroique Poem is the Perspicuity and the Facility of Construction, and consisteth in a 10 natural contexture of the words, so as not to discover the labour but the natural ability of the Poet; and this is usually called a good Style. For the order of words, when placed as they ought to be, carries a light before it, whereby a man may foresee the length of his period, as 15 a torch in the night shews a man the stops and unevenness in his way. But when plac'd unnaturally, the Reader will often find unexpected checks, and be forced to go back and hunt for the sense, and suffer such unease, as in a Coach a man unexpectedly finds in passing over a furrow. And 20 though the Laws of Verse (which have bound the Greeks and Latines to number of Feet and quantity of Syllables, and the English and other Nations to number of Syllables and Rime) put great constraint upon the natural course of Language, yet the Poet, having the liberty to depart from 25 what is obstinate, and to chuse somewhat else that is more obedient to such Laws, and no less fit for his purpose, shall not be, neither by the measure nor by the necessity of Rime, excused; though a Translation often may. A third Vertue lies in the Contrivance. For there 30 is difference between a Poem and a History in Prose. For a History is wholly related by the Writer; but in a Heroique Poem the Narration is, a great part of it, put upon some of the persons introduced by the Poet. So Homer begins not his Iliad with the injury done by Paris, but 35 makes it related by Menelaus, and very briefly, as a thing notorious; nor begins he his Odysses with the departure of Ulysses from Troy, but makes Ulysses himself relate the same to Alcinous, in the midst of his Poem; which I think much more pleasant and ingenious than a too precise and close following of the time. 5 A fourth is in the Elevation of Fancie, which is generally taken for the greatest praise of Heroique Poetry; and is so, when governed by discretion. For men more generally affect and admire Fancie than they do either Judgment, or Reason, or Memory, or any other intellectual Vertue; and 10 for the pleasantness of it, give to it alone the name of Wit, accounting Reason and Judgment but for a dull entertainment. For in Fancie consisteth the Sublimity of a Poet, which is that Poetical Fury which the Readers for the most part call for. It flies abroad swiftly to fetch in both 15 Matter and Words; but if there be not Discretion at home to distinguish which are fit to be used and which not, which decent and which undecent for Persons, Times, and Places, their delight and grace is lost. But if they be discreetly used, they are greater ornaments of a Poem by much than 20 any other. A Metaphor also (which is a Comparison contracted into a word) is not unpleasant; but when they are sharp and extraordinary, they are not fit for an Heroique Poet, nor for a publique consultation, but only for an Accusation or Defence at the Bar. 25 A fifth lies in the Justice and Impartiality of the Poet, and belongeth as well to History as to Poetry. For both the Poet and the Historian writeth only (or should do) matter of Fact. And as far as the truth of Fact can defame a man, so far they are allowed to blemish the reputation 30 of Persons. But to do the same upon Report, or by inference, is below the dignity not only of a Heroe but of a Man. For neither a Poet nor an Historian ought to make himself an absolute Master of any mans good name. None of the Emperors of Rome whom Tacitus or any other 35 Writer hath condemned, was ever subject to the Judgment of any of them, nor were they ever heard to plead for themselves, which are things that ought to be antecedent to condemnation. Nor was, I think, Epicurus the Philosopher 5 (who is transmitted to us by the Stoicks for a man of evil and voluptuous life) ever called, convented, and lawfully convicted, as all men ought to be before they be defamed. Therefore 'tis a very great fault in a Poet to speak evil of any man in their Writings Historical. ΙΟ A sixth Vertue consists in the perfection and curiosity of Descriptions, which the ancient writers of Eloquence called Icones, that is, Images. And an Image is always a part, or rather the ground, of a Poetical comparison. As, for example, when Virgil would set before our eyes 15 the fall of Troy, he describes perhaps the whole Labour of many men together in the felling of some great Tree, and with how much ado it fell. This is the Image. To which if you but add these words, So fell Troy, you have the Comparison entire; the grace whereof lieth 20 in the lightsomness, and is but the description of all, even of the minutest, parts of the thing described; that not onely they that stand far off, but also they that stand near, and look upon it with the oldest spectacles of a Critique, may approve it. For a Poet is a Painter, and should paint 25 Actions to the understanding with the most decent words, as Painters do Persons and Bodies with the choicest colours to the eye; which, if not done nicely, will not be worthy to be plac'd in a Cabinet. The seventh Vertue which lying in the Amplitude of the 30 Subject, is nothing but variety, and a thing without which a whole Poem would be no pleasanter than an Epigram, or one good Verse; nor a Picture of a hundred figures better than any one of them asunder, if drawn with equal art. And these are the Vertues which ought especially to be 35 looked upon by the Critiques, in the comparing of the Poets, |