It was excellently said
of Plutarch, poetry was a speaking picture, and picture a mute poesy.
of Plutarch, poetry was a speaking picture, and picture a mute poesy.
Ben Jonson - Discoveries Made Upon Men, and Some Poems
_Decipimur specie_. --There is a greater reverence had of things remote or
strange to us than of much better if they be nearer and fall under our
sense. Men, and almost all sorts of creatures, have their reputation by
distance. Rivers, the farther they run, and more from their spring, the
broader they are, and greater. And where our original is known, we are
less the confident; among strangers we trust fortune. Yet a man may live
as renowned at home, in his own country, or a private village, as in the
whole world. For it is virtue that gives glory; that will endenizen a
man everywhere. It is only that can naturalise him. A native, if he be
vicious, deserves to be a stranger, and cast out of the commonwealth as
an alien.
_Dejectio Aulic_. --A dejected countenance and mean clothes beget often a
contempt, but it is with the shallowest creatures; courtiers commonly:
look up even with them in a new suit, you get above them straight.
Nothing is more short-lived than pride; it is but while their clothes
last: stay but while these are worn out, you cannot wish the thing more
wretched or dejected.
_Poesis_, _et pictura_. --_Plutarch_. Poetry and picture are arts of a
like nature, and both are busy about imitation.
It was excellently said
of Plutarch, poetry was a speaking picture, and picture a mute poesy.
For they both invent, feign and devise many things, and accommodate all
they invent to the use and service of Nature. Yet of the two, the pen is
more noble than the pencil; for that can speak to the understanding, the
other but to the sense. They both behold pleasure and profit as their
common object; but should abstain from all base pleasures, lest they
should err from their end, and, while they seek to better men's minds,
destroy their manners. They both are born artificers, not made. Nature
is more powerful in them than study.
_De pictura_. --Whosoever loves not picture is injurious to truth and all
the wisdom of poetry. Picture is the invention of heaven, the most
ancient and most akin to Nature. It is itself a silent work, and always
of one and the same habit; yet it doth so enter and penetrate the inmost
affection (being done by an excellent artificer) as sometimes it
overcomes the power of speech and oratory. There are divers graces in
it, so are there in the artificers. One excels in care, another in
reason, a third in easiness, a fourth in nature and grace. Some have
diligence and comeliness, but they want majesty. They can express a
human form in all the graces, sweetness, and elegancy, but, they miss the
authority. They can hit nothing but smooth cheeks; they cannot express
roughness or gravity. Others aspire to truth so much as they are rather
lovers of likeness than beauty.
