For before they found out those laws there were many
excellent poets that fulfilled them, amongst whom none more perfect than
Sophocles, who lived a little before Aristotle.
excellent poets that fulfilled them, amongst whom none more perfect than
Sophocles, who lived a little before Aristotle.
Ben Jonson - Discoveries Made Upon Men, and Some Poems
--The poet is the
nearest borderer upon the orator, and expresseth all his virtues, though
he be tied more to numbers, is his equal in ornament, and above him in
his strengths. And (of the kind) the comic comes nearest; because in
moving the minds of men, and stirring of affections (in which oratory
shows, and especially approves her eminence), he chiefly excels. What
figure of a body was Lysippus ever able to form with his graver, or
Apelles to paint with his pencil, as the comedy to life expresseth so
many and various affections of the mind? There shall the spectator see
some insulting with joy, others fretting with melancholy, raging with
anger, mad with love, boiling with avarice, undone with riot, tortured
with expectation, consumed with fear; no perturbation in common life but
the orator finds an example of it in the scene. And then for the
elegancy of language, read but this inscription on the grave of a comic
poet:
"Immortales mortales si fas esset fiere,
Flerent divae Camoenae Naevium poetam;
Itaque postquam est Orcino traditus thesauro,
Obliti sunt Romae lingua loqui Latina. " {146a}
_L. AElius Stilo_. --_Plautus_. --_M. Varro_. --Or that modester testimony given
by Lucius AElius Stilo upon Plautus, who affirmed, "_Musas_, _si Latine
loqui voluissent_, _Plautino sermone fuisse loquuturas_. " And that
illustrious judgment by the most learned M. Varro of him, who pronounced
him the prince of letters and elegancy in the Roman language.
_Sophocles_. --I am not of that opinion to conclude a poet's liberty within
the narrow limits of laws which either the grammarians or philosophers
prescribe.
For before they found out those laws there were many
excellent poets that fulfilled them, amongst whom none more perfect than
Sophocles, who lived a little before Aristotle.
_Demosthenes_. --_Pericles_. --_Alcibiades_. --Which of the Greeklings durst
ever give precepts to Demosthenes? or to Pericles, whom the age surnamed
Heavenly, because he seemed to thunder and lighten with his language? or
to Alcibiades, who had rather Nature for his guide than Art for his
master?
_Aristotle_. --But whatsoever nature at any time dictated to the most
happy, or long exercise to the most laborious, that the wisdom and
learning of Aristotle hath brought into an art, because he understood the
causes of things; and what other men did by chance or custom he doth by
reason; and not only found out the way not to err, but the short way we
should take not to err.
_Euripides_. --_Aristophanes_. --Many things in Euripides hath Aristophanes
wittily reprehended, not out of art, but out of truth. For Euripides is
sometimes peccant, as he is most times perfect. But judgment when it is
greatest, if reason doth not accompany it, is not ever absolute.
_Cens. Scal.
nearest borderer upon the orator, and expresseth all his virtues, though
he be tied more to numbers, is his equal in ornament, and above him in
his strengths. And (of the kind) the comic comes nearest; because in
moving the minds of men, and stirring of affections (in which oratory
shows, and especially approves her eminence), he chiefly excels. What
figure of a body was Lysippus ever able to form with his graver, or
Apelles to paint with his pencil, as the comedy to life expresseth so
many and various affections of the mind? There shall the spectator see
some insulting with joy, others fretting with melancholy, raging with
anger, mad with love, boiling with avarice, undone with riot, tortured
with expectation, consumed with fear; no perturbation in common life but
the orator finds an example of it in the scene. And then for the
elegancy of language, read but this inscription on the grave of a comic
poet:
"Immortales mortales si fas esset fiere,
Flerent divae Camoenae Naevium poetam;
Itaque postquam est Orcino traditus thesauro,
Obliti sunt Romae lingua loqui Latina. " {146a}
_L. AElius Stilo_. --_Plautus_. --_M. Varro_. --Or that modester testimony given
by Lucius AElius Stilo upon Plautus, who affirmed, "_Musas_, _si Latine
loqui voluissent_, _Plautino sermone fuisse loquuturas_. " And that
illustrious judgment by the most learned M. Varro of him, who pronounced
him the prince of letters and elegancy in the Roman language.
_Sophocles_. --I am not of that opinion to conclude a poet's liberty within
the narrow limits of laws which either the grammarians or philosophers
prescribe.
For before they found out those laws there were many
excellent poets that fulfilled them, amongst whom none more perfect than
Sophocles, who lived a little before Aristotle.
_Demosthenes_. --_Pericles_. --_Alcibiades_. --Which of the Greeklings durst
ever give precepts to Demosthenes? or to Pericles, whom the age surnamed
Heavenly, because he seemed to thunder and lighten with his language? or
to Alcibiades, who had rather Nature for his guide than Art for his
master?
_Aristotle_. --But whatsoever nature at any time dictated to the most
happy, or long exercise to the most laborious, that the wisdom and
learning of Aristotle hath brought into an art, because he understood the
causes of things; and what other men did by chance or custom he doth by
reason; and not only found out the way not to err, but the short way we
should take not to err.
_Euripides_. --_Aristophanes_. --Many things in Euripides hath Aristophanes
wittily reprehended, not out of art, but out of truth. For Euripides is
sometimes peccant, as he is most times perfect. But judgment when it is
greatest, if reason doth not accompany it, is not ever absolute.
_Cens. Scal.
