Erigit eructans, liquefactaque faxa fub auras Horrid and wafte, its entrails fraught with fire; Mr. Addison. Longinus's fhort Description has the fame Spirit and Grandeur with Virgil's. The fidera lambit in the fourth Line has the Swell in it, which Longinus, Sect. iii. calls fuper-tragical. This is the Remark of Dr. Pearce; and it is obfervable, that Mr. Addison has taken no notice of those Words in his Translation. SECT. XXXVI. I Never fails of its use and advantage.] Longinus in the preceding Section had faid, that Men view with Amaze the celeftial Fires (fuch as the Sun and Moon) tho' they are frequently obfcured; the cafe is the fame with the burning Mountain Etna, tho' it cafts up pernicious Fire from its Abyss: But here, when he returns to the fublime Authors, he intimates, that the Sublime is the more to be admired, because far from being useless or amufing, it is of great service to its Authors, as well as to the Public. Dr. Pearce. 2 Coloffus.] 2 Coloffus.] The Coloffus was a most famous Statue of Apollo, erected at Rhodes by Jalyfius, of a Size fo vaft, that the Sea ran, and Ships of the greatest Burden failed, between its Legs. Idem. SECT. XXXVII. I Similes and Comparisons differ.] The manner in which Similes or Comparisons differ from Metaphors, we cannot know from Longinus, because of the Gap which follows in the Original; but they differ only in the Expreffion. To fay that, fine Eyes are the Eyes of a Dove, or that, Cheeks are a Bed of Spices, are strong Metaphors, which become Comparisons, if expreffed thus, are as the Eyes of a Dove, or as a Bed of Spices. These two Comparisons are taken from the Description of the Beloved in the Song of Solomon (v. 10-16.) in which there are more of great Strength and Propriety, and an uncommon Sweet> nefs. My Beloved is fweet and ruddy, the chief among ten thoufand. His Head is as the most fine gold; his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of a dove by the rivers of water, wash'd with milk, and fitly fet. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as fweet flowers; his lips like lilies, dropping fweetfmelling myrrh. His hands are as gold-rings fet with the beryl: his belly is as bright as ivory over-laid with Sapphire. His legs are as pillars of marble fet upon fockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most fweet, yea, be is altogether lovely. 1 Panegyric.] This is the most celebrated Oration of Ifocrates, which after ten, or, as fome fay, fifteen Years Labour spent upon it, begins in fo indiscreet a manner. Longinus, Sect iii, has cenfured Timeus, for a frigid Parallel between the Expedition of Alexander and Ifocrates, yet Gabriel de Petra, an Editor of Longinus, is guilty of the fame Fault, in making even an Elephant more expeditious than Ifocrates, because they breed fafter, than he wrote. 2 Thofe Hyperboles, &c.] The whole of this Remark is curious and refined. It is the importance of a Paffion, which qualifies the Hyperbole, and makes that commendable, when uttered in warmth and vehemence, which in coolness and fedateness would be infupportable. So Caffius fpeaking invidiously of Cafar, in order to raise the Indignation of Brutus ; Why, man, he doth beftride the narrow world Like a Coloffus, and we petty men Walk under bis huge legs, and peep about To find ourselves difhonourable graves. So, again, in return to the fwelling Arrogance of a Bully, To whom? to thee? what art thou? have not I Thy words I grant are bigger: for I wear not My dagger in my mouth Shakespear's Cymbeline. Hyperboles literally are Impoffibilities, and therefore can only then be feasonable or productive of Sublimity, when the Circumftances may be stretched beyond their proper fize, that they may appear without fail important and great. 3 So in Comedy, &c.] The Author has hitherto treated of Hyperboles as conducive to Sublimity, which has nothing to do with Humour and Mirth, the peculiar Province of Comedy. Here the Incidents must be fo over-ftretched, as to promote Diverfion and Laughter. Now what is moft abfurd and incredible, fometimes becomes the keenest Joke. But there is Judgment even in writing Abfurdities and Incredibilities, otherwise instead of raising the Laugh, they fink below it, and give the Spleen. Genius and Discretion are requifite to play the fool with Applause. 4 A Lacedemonian letter.] Demetrius Phalareus has commended one of these Letters, for its fententious and expreffive Concifenefs, which has been often quoted to illuftrate this Paffage. It is very well worth Obfervation. The Direction is longer than the Letter. The Lacedemonians to Philip. "Dionyfius is at Corinth.” At the Time when this was written, Dionyfius, who for his Tyranny had been driven out of Sicily, taught School at Corinth, for Bread. So that it was a Hint to Philip, not to proceed, as he had begun, to imitate his Conduct, left he should be reduced to the fame neceffitous Condition. 5 Shakespear has made Richard III. fpeak a merry Diafyrm upon himself; N 3 I, that I, that am rudely ftamp'd, and want love's majesty, SECT. XXXIX. 1 The fifth and last fource, &c.] The Author, in the fifth Divifion, treats of Compofition, or fuch a Structure of the Words and Periods, as conduces moft to harmony of Sound. This Subject has been handled, with the utmost nicety and refinement, by the ancient Writers, particularly Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus and Demetrius Phalareus. The former, in his Treatife on the Structure of Words, has recounted the different forts of Stile, has divided each into the Periods of which it is compofed, has again fubdivided thofe Periods into their different Members, thofe Members into their Words, thofe Words into Syllables, and has even anatomized the very Syllables into Letters, and made Observations on the different natures and founds of the Vowels, Halfvowels, and Mutes. He fhews, by Inftances drawn from Homer, Herodotus, Thucydides, &c. with what artful Management, those great Authors have sweetened and enobled their Compofitions, and made their Sound to echo to the Senfe. But a Stile, he fays, may be sweet without any Grandeur, and may be grand |