登陆注册
14821500000030

第30章

And let Persius, the last of the first three worthies, be contented with this Grecian shield, and with victory--not only over all the Grecians, who were ignorant of the Roman satire--but over all the moderns in succeeding ages, excepting Boileau and your lordship.

And thus I have given the history of satire, and derived it as far as from Ennius to your lordship--that is, from its first rudiments of barbarity to its last polishing and perfection; which is, with Virgil, in his address to Augustus -

"Nomen fama tot ferre per annos, . . .

Tithoni prima quot abest ab origine Caesar."

I said only from Ennius, but I may safely carry it higher, as far as Livius Andronicus, who, as I have said formerly, taught the first play at Rome in the year ab urbe condita CCCCCXIV. I have since desired my learned friend Mr. Maidwell to compute the difference of times betwixt Aristophanes and Livius Andronicus; and he assures me from the best chronologers that Plutus, the last of Aristophanes' plays, was represented at Athens in the year of the 97th Olympiad, which agrees with the year urbis conditae CCCLXIV. So that the difference of years betwixt Aristophanes and Andronicus is 150; from whence I have probably deduced that Livius Andronicus, who was a Grecian, had read the plays of the old comedy, which were satirical, and also of the new; for Menander was fifty years before him, which must needs be a great light to him in his own plays that were of the satirical nature. That the Romans had farces before this, it is true; but then they had no communication with Greece; so that Andronicus was the first who wrote after the manner of the old comedy, in his plays: he was imitated by Ennius about thirty years afterwards. Though the former writ fables, the latter, speaking properly, began the Roman satire, according to that description which Juvenal gives of it in his first:-

"Quicquid agunt homines, votum, timor, ira voluptas, Gaudia, discurses, nostri est farrago libelli."

This is that in which I have made hold to differ from Casaubon, Rigaltius, Dacier, and indeed from all the modern critics--that not Ennius, but Andronicus, was the first who, by the archaea comedia of the Greeks, added many beauties to the first rude and barbarous Roman satire; which sort of poem, though we had not derived from Rome, yet nature teaches it mankind in all ages and in every country.

It is but necessary that, after so much has been said of satire, some definition of it should be given. Heinsius, in his Dissertations on Horace, makes it for me in these words:- "Satire is a kind of poetry, without a series of action, invented for the purging of our minds; in which human vices, ignorance, and errors, and all things besides which are produced from them in every man, are severely reprehended--partly dramatically, partly simply, and sometimes in both kinds of speaking, but for the most part figuratively and occultly; consisting, in a low familiar way, chiefly in a sharp and pungent manner of speech, but partly also in a facetious and civil way of jesting, by which either hatred or laughter or indignation is moved." Where I cannot but observe that this obscure and perplexed definition, or rather description of satire, is wholly accommodated to the Horatian way, and excluding the works of Juvenal and Persius as foreign from that kind of poem.

The clause in the beginning of it, "without a series of action," distinguishes satire properly from stage-plays, which are all of one action and one continued series of action. The end or scope of satire is to purge the passions; so far it is common to the satires of Juvenal and Persius. The rest which follows is also generally belonging to all three, till he comes upon us with the excluding clause, "consisting, in a low familiar way of speech" which is the proper character of Horace, and from which the other two (for their honour be it spoken) are far distant. But how come lowness of style and the familiarity of words to be so much the propriety of satire that without them a poet can be no more a satirist than without risibility he can be a man? Is the fault of Horace to be made the virtue and standing rule of this poem? Is the grande sophos of Persius, and the sublimity of Juvenal, to be circumscribed with the meanness of words and vulgarity of expression? If Horace refused the pains of numbers and the loftiness of figures are they bound to follow so ill a precedent? Let him walk afoot with his pad in his hand for his own pleasure, but let not them be accounted no poets who choose to mount and show their horsemanship. Holyday is not afraid to say that there was never such a fall as from his odes to his satires, and that he, injuriously to himself, untuned his harp.

The majestic way of Persius and Juvenal was new when they began it, but it is old to us; and what poems have not, with time, received an alteration in their fashion?--"which alteration," says Holyday, "is to after-times as good a warrant as the first." Has not Virgil changed the manners of Homer's heroes in his AEneis? Certainly he has, and for the better; for Virgil's age was more civilised and better bred, and he writ according to the politeness of Rome under the reign of Augustus Caesar, not to the rudeness of Agamemnon's age or the times of Homer. Why should we offer to confine free spirits to one form when we cannot so much as confine our bodies to one fashion of apparel? Would not Donne's satires, which abound with so much wit, appear more charming if he had taken care of his words and of his numbers? But he followed Horace so very close that of necessity he must fall with him; and I may safely say it of this present age, that if we are not so great wits as Donne, yet certainly we are better poets.

But I have said enough, and it may be too much, on this subject.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 窃冥

    窃冥

    如果能穿越到异界,你会去哪里?魔法?斗气?仙侠?冥界,作为宇宙的起点,也是宇宙各个文明的连接点。一个来自地球,受尽嘲笑和欺辱的呆萌少年,一个偶然的机会拜当地城隍爷为师,以一个冥界公务员的身份踏入修仙大道。“不怨天公偏,不尤人心恶,定有一天,命运掌中握,生死笔下写!我命由我不由天!”(老司机就要发车啦,想去哪里由你定~)
  • 复仇计划之生死之约

    复仇计划之生死之约

    简介没什么好看的啦,看文哦!!!!!!!!
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • Hello校草大人

    Hello校草大人

    【新书已发:《模拟女友:校草大人请留步》】一夜之间,家破人亡,她突然后悔喜欢上他了,当她决定放手,他却突然向她伸出了手,给予她温暖与希望,她突然弄不懂他的用意了,犹豫着要不要放上,他却强劲地拉住她的手,放在自己手上:“安可可,你这辈子只能是我的人!”
  • 火龙决

    火龙决

    他说,要放下恩怨,过自己的生活!他说,要小心女人,否则后果难料!他说,要凤凰涅槃,浴火重生!他说,要扭转乾坤,改换天命!他说,要溅血成花一朵,舍半生只求一缘!他说,风起日落,天行有常,只盼明日能共沐晨光!神闻之,大笑,曰:汝等之愚行,正中下怀!颤抖吧,无知的地球人!于是乎……
  • 守护甜心之醉梦颠沛

    守护甜心之醉梦颠沛

    从那时知道,尽管全世界都不再信任我,但唯有你,始终知晓一切的真心。或许这场戏是一个骗局,可我仍心甘情愿的跟你走,因为你,我看到了世间所有的璀璨。悔恨后的匆匆离别,淡的不是你我之间的情,埋没的是从前迟迟放不下的恨意。你执起我的右手,我紧握着你的左手,无声地诉说着最美的承诺。繁华经年的散去,若依然守护着最纯真的初衷,我便无怨的和你在一起。与你在一起,哪怕前方有再大的阻扰,也不怕了……(温馨提示:1、本文情节纯属虚构,并不与动漫原著的结局相符合;2、此文不属唯梦或几梦文,若是请勿闯入)
  • 火影忍者穿越麟

    火影忍者穿越麟

    平成年代21岁的陈天麟误入火影世界,在火影忍者木叶村中化身为宇智波麟,应为看过火影忍者,逃过宇智波鼬的灭族过程,并且激发出写轮眼。在火影世界里的陈天麟知道想回到现实状态是不太可能的呢,还不如在火影世界里闯个天下!
  • 在北大听演讲

    在北大听演讲

    北京大学是中国著名的高等学府,无数文人学者、国家政要、商界巨子都把能来北大演讲作为一种荣幸。他们相信,在北大里会有他们的知音和听众……
  • 忏族覆劫破剑人

    忏族覆劫破剑人

    当世界不再由人类主宰,当人类不再是万物之灵……人类成为了异族的奴隶,从出生的瞬间,生命不再属自己。日月同存,历史颠覆,问天能否降下天谴,祭我人族存亡大劫。
  • 有风吹过的夏天

    有风吹过的夏天

    12岁的夏天有吃不完的干冰,有你陪着我前行,夏天是一首歌,单曲循环着。