III.

HENCE We may perceive the juft Foun- SECT. dation of the well-known Maxim in rhetorical Composition, Artis eft celare artem. In every other Art, where the End is Pleafure, Inftruction, or Admiration, the greater Art the Mafter difplays, the more effectually he gains his Purpofe. But where the End is Perfuafion, the Discovery of his Art muft defeat its Force and Defign. For ere he can perfuade, he must seem to apply to his Hearer's Reafon, while, in Fact, he is working on his Imagination and Affections: Now this, once known, muft defeat his Purpose; because nothing can perfuade but what has the Appearance of Truth.

HENCE too we may fee where the true Medium lies between the too frequent Ufe, and delicate Avoidance of poetical Images, in Eloquence. Metaphors, Similies, bold Figures, and glowing Expreffions are proper, fo far as they point the Imagination to the main Subject on which the Paffion is to be excited: When they begin to amufe, they grow abfurd. abfurd. And here, by the way, lies the effential Difference between the Epic and Tragic Compofition. For the Epic, tending chiefly to Admiration and Instruction, allows a full Display of Art; But

III.

SECT. the Tragic, being of the perfuafive Kind, muft only regard and touch upon poetical Images in this fingle View, as they tend to rowze the Paffions of the Soul. MACROBIUS hath collected many elegant Examples of this poetic Elocution from the Eneid: He hath ranged them in Claffes, and pointed out the Fountains whence the great Poet drew his Pathos: And fure, it may with Truth be affirmed, that "the Mafter"ftrokes of that divine Work are rather of "the Tragic, than the Epic Species."

THESE Remarks will enable us to difcover the Impropriety of an Opinion commonly held; "that the Reafon why Elo

quence had fuch Power, and wrought "fuch Wonders in Athens and Rome, was, "because it had become the general Tafte "and Study of the Times: That confe

quently thefe Cities were more fenfible "to its Charms, and therefore more warmly "affected by it." Now, though with regard to pure Poetry or ftrict Argument, where either Pleafure or Truth are the purpofed Ends, this Reasoning might hold; yet, when applied to Eloquence, it seems to

Saturnal. 1. iv. paffim.
Effay on Eloquence,

See Mr. Hume's

be

III.

be without Foundation. For where Igno- SECT. rance is predominant, there any Application to the Fancy or the Paffions is most likely to wear the Appearance of Reason, and therefore the most likely to persuade. As Men improve in Knowledge, fuch Application must proportionably lofe its Force, and true Reasoning prevail. Hence it should feem, that they who make the conftituent Principles of Eloquence familiar to their Imagination, muft of all others be beft enabled to feparate Truth from its Appearances, and distinguish between Argument and Colouring. An artful Oration will indeed afford great Pleasure to one who hath applied himself to the Study of Rhetoric: Yet, not fo as that he fhall be perfuaded by it: On the contrary, his Pleasure confifts in a reflex Act of the Understanding; and arifes from the very Circumftance which prevents Perfuafion, a Discovery of the Master's Art.

THE true Reason therefore, why Eloquence gained fuch mighty Power in these famed Republics was, "because the Ora"tors addreffed themselves to the People as "their fudges." Here the Art triumphed: for it had not Reafon to inftruct, but Imagination and Paffion to controul. According

ly

III.

SECT. ly we find, that no fooner was the popular
Government deftroy'd, and the fupreme
Power lodged in a fingle Hand, than Elo-
quence began fenfibly to languifh and de-
cay: The mighty Orators, who could fway
the Paffions of a mixed Multitude, found
their Art baffled and overthrown when op-
pofed to the cool Determinations of cunning
Ministers, or the determined Will of arbi-
trary Masters. Thus with great Judgment,
though not much Honefty, the Roman Poet
exhorts his Countrymen to difdain the low
Accomplishments of Eloquence: He knew
they belonged to a Republic:

Excudent alii fpirantia mollius æra —
Orabunt caufas melius -

Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, me

mento:

Hæ tibi erunt artes'.

With the fame Penetration he lays the
Scene in a popular Affembly, when he gives
us a Picture of Eloquence triumphant. I
mean in that fine Paffage where he com-
pares NEPTUNE filling the Noife of the
Waves, to an Orator appeafing the Madness
of the People:

r Eneïd. 1. vi.

Ac

1

Ac veluti magno in populo cum fæpe coorta eft SE CT.
Seditio, fævitque animis ignobile vulgus;

Jamque faces et faxa volant; furor arma mi

niftrat ;

Tum pietate gravem ac meritis fi forte virum

quem

Confpexere, filent, arretifque auribus aftant:
Ille regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet :
Sic cunctus pelagi cecidit fragor'.

'Tis true, we have a fuppofed Inftance on
Record, of the Power of TULLY'S Elo-
quence, after Liberty was destroy'd, even on
the great Deftroyer himself.
When we

read the Oration, we ftand amazed at its
Effects: For fure there is nothing equal to
them in the Compofition itself: And it
ар-
pears an Event almoft unaccountable, that
CESAR, who was himself an accomplished
Orator, who knew all the Windings of the
Art, and was at the fame Time of the most
determined Spirit, fhould be fo fhaken on
this Occafion as to tremble, drop his Papers,
and acquit the Prifoner. Though many
have attributed this to the Force of TUL-
LY'S Elocution"; it feems rather to have
been the Effect of CESAR's Art. We

Y

• En. l. i. * Pro Ligario. ▾ Cafaubon, Sir

III.

W. Temple, Mr. Hume, &c.

know