The poor Man in his haulmy Cot Is fubject to his Laws; Nor can the Guards, who wait From Death defend our Kings. Horace's Thought is more figurative and more lively, according to Pere Bouhours; Malherb's more natural and more fine; and I think the French preferable to the Latin. MEN of the best Tafte, delight most in Thoughts that have Elevation and Sublime Thoughts. Sublimity. Grandeur in a Thought is what tranfports and ravifhes, provided it is agreeable to the Subject; for it is a standing Rule to think as the Subject requires; and nothing is more out of Reafon, than to have fublime Thoughts on a Subject which demands ordinary Ones: 'Tis better to have ordinary Thoughts on a Subject which demands fublime Ones. Longinus fays, on the Elevation of Thought, That it does not perfuade, but tranfport. Non ad perfuafionem, fed ad ftuporem rapiunt Grandia. Pere Bourbours makes ufe of the Latin Verfion, and not of the original Greek. Quintilian says of the Unreasonableness of ufing fublime Thoughts on a Subject which requires only ordinary Ones; A fermone tenui fublime difcordat, fitq; corruptum quia in plano tumet. The fublime does not agree with, but corrupt it by fwelling it too much, Lib. 8. c. 3. Longinus mentions a Saying of Timeus, who in praifing Alexander has this Expreffion: He conquer'd all Afia, in much lefs Time than Ifocrates took to make his Panegyrick on the Athenians ; which is not so bad as what Balzac faid in his Letter to La Motte Aigron, Je meurs, &c. I wish I may dye, if the leaft Part of the Difcourfe you show'd me, is not worth more than all the Dutch have done, excepting the Prince of Orange's Victories. Longinus accufes Timeus for the Puerility and Meannefs of the Comparifon between theKing of Macedon and a Sophift, and between the Conquest of Afia and an Oration; but there is however more Proportion between an illuftrious Conqueror, and a famous Orator; between the Effect of Heroick Virtue, and a Master-piece of Eloquence, than between the leaft part of a fmall Difcourfe, and all that a wife and happy Nation had done: For excepting the Prince of Orange's Victories, fince Balzac will have them excepted, to what Height has the Re F 3 publick publick of Holland carry'd their Power by Sea and Land, maugre all the Force and Politicks of Spain! HOWEVER, the Thought of Timeus, which Longius condemns, is vicious, because Ifocrates's Panegyrick had no manner of Relation to Alexander's Victories." Hermogenes has establish'd feveral De Form. Orat. c. 6. Orders and Degrees of noble and majeftick Thoughts, as he calls them. Noble and Majeftick THE firft Order is of those that have Relation to the Gods, and exprefs fomething Divine. Thus according to this Rhetorician's Doctrine, there's a great Deal of Dignity in the Saying of the Greek Father, That Chriftianity is an Imitation of the Divine Life; and of a Latin Father; That to love One's Enemies, is to revenge One's felf like God; than which nothing can be faid more fine and more grand. Cicero fays fomething like it, Homines ad Deos nulla re propius accedunt quam Salute hominibus danda: Orat. pro Ligar. Mankind never approach fo near to the Gods in any Thing, as in giving Life to Men. Of the fame Kind is the Thought of Valerius Paterculus upon Cato, Lib. 1. Homo Virtuti fimillimus, per omnia Ingenio Diis quam Hominibus propior, qui nunquam recte fecit ut facere videretur. A Man very nearly refembling Virtue it felf, his Soul in all Things more like Gods than Men, who never did a good Thing, that he might be feen to do to do it. Of the fame Kind alfo is the Thought of Seneca, upon Fortune's using the Virtuous ill: Si magnus Vir cecidit, magnus jacuit: Non magis illum putes contemni, quam cum edium facrarum ruine calcantur; quas religiofi æque ac ftantes adorant. Confolat ad Helviam. If a great Man falls, His Fall does not leffen his Greatness; we have the Same Regard for him, as for thofe demolish'd Temples, the Ruins of which, religious Men revere and adore. In this Order, must be rank'd the famous Thought of Sannazarius on the City of Venice. The Poet feigns, that Neptune rifing above the Waters in the Adriatick Sea, and giving Law to the Ocean, addreffes himself to Jupiter, by Way of Infult; Boaft now as much as you pleafe of your Capitol, and the renown'd Walls of your Mars: If you prefer Tyber to the Sea, behold this City, and you will then fay, that City was built by Men, and this by Gods. Si Pelago Tybrim præfers urbem afpice utramque : THE Nobleness of Thought, as Hermogenes teaches, arifes alfo from the Nature of the Things, which are human, indeed, but pafs among Mankind for great and illuftrious, as Power, Generofity, Wifdom, Valour, Victories and Triumphs. You have receiv'd nothing from Fortune, faid Cicero to Cæfar, greater than the Power of preferving the Lives of an infinite Number of Persons, and nothing better of Nature than the Will to do it. Nihil habet nec Fortuna tua majus quam ut poffis: Nec Natura tua melius quam ut velis confervare quam plurimos. Orat. pro Ligar. 'Twasipoken like a God, and human Wit cannot extend farther. All the wafte of Eloquence in the French Panegyricks on Lewis XIV, are Chaff in Comparifons of this folid and beautiful Thought. Velleius Paterculus, in whofe History, fome Criticks think, there are many Things more piquant than in Livy, fays of the Roman Orator: Omnia incrementa fua fibi debuit Vir ingenio maximus, qui efficit ne quorum arma vicerimus, eorum ingenio vinceremur. He ow'd his Elevation to himself only, and his Genius binder'd the conquer'd Nations having as much Advantage over the Romans as to Wit,as the Romans had over them as to Valour. Seneca the elder, faid fomething ftill more magnificent of Cicero; Illud Ingenium quod folum Populus Romanus par imperio fuo habuit: Controverf. Lib. 1. He was the only Roman whofe Wit was equal to the Empire. The Virtue of Cato, gave Occafion to many fine Thoughts in the Writings of the Antients. Secretofque pios, his dantem jura Catonem. Æneid. 8vo. Holy Shade had probably been better, confidering how that other Term is appropriated in the Chriftian System. Horace fays of Cato: Et cuncta terrarum Subacta Præter atrocem animum Catonis. F 4 Virgil Virgil and Horace's Thoughts are in the main equally noble; for it is as glorious to be at the Head of honeít Men, giving them Laws, as to be the only Man that refus'd to fubmit to the Conqueror of the World. But if we judge by Appearance, there is more Elevation, and more Majefty in Horace's Thought than in Virgil's. I will not pretend to determine, whether they both speak of the fame Cato, 'Tis certain, Horace means Cato of Utica, and fo probably does Virgil, because in the preceeding Verse he mentions Catiline, which could have no Relation to Cato the Elder. AN antient Poet, a great Imitator of Virgil, has a very noble Thought upon Hannibal, whom 'twas propos'd to attack while was at a Feaft: You will deceive your felf, faid a Citizen of Capua to the young Man who had form'd fo bold a Defign, If you think to find Hannibal at Table difarm'd, the Majefty with which he's cloath'd, and which never leaves him; The Majefty he has acquir'd by So many Battles and Victories, will stand him inftead of a Shield and a Sword; if thou dost approach him, thou will be furpris'd to fee around him the Battles of Cannæ, Trebia, and Thrafymene, with the Ghost of the great Paulus. Wonderfully grand. Fallit te menfas inter quod credis inermem, Tot bellis quæfita Viro, tot cædibus armat Majeftas eterna ducem : Si admoveris Ora Cannas & Trebiam ante oculos, Trafymenaque bufta, Et Pauli ftare ingentem miraberis Umbram. Sil. Ital. ONE of the most celebrated French Orator's of the laft Age, made ufe of the fame Thought in a large Poem, fpeaking of the great Prince of Conde's never being alone in the most folitary Walks of Chantilly: The Images of Rocroy, Lens, Friburgh, Norlinguen, Senef, prefent themfelves every where before you, and you fancy you fee the Ghofts of the Generals of the Armies you have routed. Another Poet fpeaking of the Battle of Tolhuys, after the Paffage of the Rhine fays; Qua ruis, exanimes fugiunt fine vulnere turma Multa Oculis Norlingua & Lentia multa recurfat. The Enemies flew away half dead at his Approach without a Wound: They had NOR LINGUEN and FRIBURGH, ever before their Eyes. In the Poem St. Louis, the Poet, fpeaking of two Bodies of the Army fent from Greece, fays: One would have thought, they had defcended from from those antient Greeks, who made themfelves Mafters of Afia, and obtained these famous Victories of Thermopile and Arbela: De ces Peres fameux les Noms & la Memoire, Qui combattent encore, & regnent dans l' Hiftoire, Infpir'd them with an Air of Glory and of Valour: And when they march'd, the Word thro' all their Ranks, Quintilian fays, Cæfar has fo much Vehemence in his Writing, fo much Vivacity, fo much Fire, that he seems to speak with the fame Air, and the fame Strength, with which he fought, Tanta in eo vis eft, id acumen, ea concitatio, ut illum eodem animo videatur dixiffe quo bellavit, Lib. x. c. I. Cæfar had an admirable Talent for Eloquence; but it is faid of him, he had rather conquer Men than perfwade them, and that he conquer'd only to have the Glory of pardoning. Cicero fpeaks more nobly, 'Tis not neceffary to have the Alps for a Defence against the Gauls, nor the Rhine against the Germans: If the Mountains were levell'd, and the deepest Rivers dry'd up, Italy would have nothing to fear. The glorious Actions, and the Victories of Cæfar, would defend her better than all the Ramparts with which Nature has fortify'd her. Perfecit ille ut fi montes refediffent, amnes exaruiffent, non Nature prefidio, fed Victoria fua rebufque geftis Italiam munitam haberemus. Con. Pifo. Velleius Patercu.us fays of Pompey, Ut primum ex Africa, iterum ex Europa, tertio ex Afia triumpharet, & quot Partes terrarum Orbis funt, totidem faceret monumenta Victorie fue; He triumphed first in Africa, then in Europe, then in Afia, as if he was to have as many Monuments of his Victories as there are Parts of the World. Valer. Max. fpeaking of Pompey's Reception of Tigranes King of Armenia, after he had routed him, fays: In priftinum Fortune habitum reftituit: æque pulchrum effe judicans, & vincere Reges & facere; He refor'd him to his former Fortune, reckoning it as glorious to make |