That it should be one the first away alone, and
by itself, no man that hath tasted letters ever would say, especially
having required before a just magnitude and equal proportion of the parts
in themselves.
by itself, no man that hath tasted letters ever would say, especially
having required before a just magnitude and equal proportion of the parts
in themselves.
Ben Jonson - Discoveries Made Upon Men, and Some Poems
For
that which happens to the eyes when we behold a body, the same happens to
the memory when we contemplate an action. I look upon a monstrous giant,
as Tityus, whose body covered nine acres of land, and mine eye sticks
upon every part; the whole that consists of those parts will never be
taken in at one entire view. So in a fable, if the action be too great,
we can never comprehend the whole together in our imagination. Again, if
it be too little, there ariseth no pleasure out of the object; it affords
the view no stay; it is beheld, and vanisheth at once. As if we should
look upon an ant or pismire, the parts fly the sight, and the whole
considered is almost nothing. The same happens in action, which is the
object of memory, as the body is of sight. Too vast oppresseth the eyes,
and exceeds the memory; too little scarce admits either.
_What is the utmost bounds of a fable_. --Now in every action it behoves
the poet to know which is his utmost bound, how far with fitness and a
necessary proportion he may produce and determine it; that is, till
either good fortune change into the worse, or the worse into the better.
For as a body without proportion cannot be goodly, no more can the
action, either in comedy or tragedy, without his fit bounds: and every
bound, for the nature of the subject, is esteemed the best that is
largest, till it can increase no more; so it behoves the action in
tragedy or comedy to be let grow till the necessity ask a conclusion;
wherein two things are to be considered: first, that it exceed not the
compass of one day; next, that there be place left for digression and
art. For the episodes and digressions in a fable are the same that
household stuff and other furniture are in a house. And so far from the
measure and extent of a fable dramatic.
_What by one and entire_. --Now that it should be one and entire. One is
considerable two ways; either as it is only separate, and by itself, or
as being composed of many parts, it begins to be one as those parts grow
or are wrought together.
That it should be one the first away alone, and
by itself, no man that hath tasted letters ever would say, especially
having required before a just magnitude and equal proportion of the parts
in themselves. Neither of which can possibly be, if the action be single
and separate, not composed of parts, which laid together in themselves,
with an equal and fitting proportion, tend to the same end; which thing
out of antiquity itself hath deceived many, and more this day it doth
deceive.
_Hercules_. --_Theseus_. --_Achilles_. --_Ulysses_. --_Homer and
Virgil_. --_AEneas_. --_Venus_. --So many there be of old that have thought the
action of one man to be one, as of Hercules, Theseus, Achilles, Ulysses,
and other heroes; which is both foolish and false, since by one and the
same person many things may be severally done which cannot fitly be
referred or joined to the same end: which not only the excellent tragic
poets, but the best masters of the epic, Homer and Virgil, saw. For
though the argument of an epic poem be far more diffused and poured out
than that of tragedy, yet Virgil, writing of AEneas, hath pretermitted
many things. He neither tells how he was born, how brought up, how he
fought with Achilles, how he was snatched out of the battle by Venus; but
that one thing, how he came into Italy, he prosecutes in twelve books.
The rest of his journey, his error by sea, the sack of Troy, are put not
as the argument of the work, but episodes of the argument. So Homer laid
by many things of Ulysses, and handled no more than he saw tended to one
and the same end.
_Theseus_. --_Hercules_.
that which happens to the eyes when we behold a body, the same happens to
the memory when we contemplate an action. I look upon a monstrous giant,
as Tityus, whose body covered nine acres of land, and mine eye sticks
upon every part; the whole that consists of those parts will never be
taken in at one entire view. So in a fable, if the action be too great,
we can never comprehend the whole together in our imagination. Again, if
it be too little, there ariseth no pleasure out of the object; it affords
the view no stay; it is beheld, and vanisheth at once. As if we should
look upon an ant or pismire, the parts fly the sight, and the whole
considered is almost nothing. The same happens in action, which is the
object of memory, as the body is of sight. Too vast oppresseth the eyes,
and exceeds the memory; too little scarce admits either.
_What is the utmost bounds of a fable_. --Now in every action it behoves
the poet to know which is his utmost bound, how far with fitness and a
necessary proportion he may produce and determine it; that is, till
either good fortune change into the worse, or the worse into the better.
For as a body without proportion cannot be goodly, no more can the
action, either in comedy or tragedy, without his fit bounds: and every
bound, for the nature of the subject, is esteemed the best that is
largest, till it can increase no more; so it behoves the action in
tragedy or comedy to be let grow till the necessity ask a conclusion;
wherein two things are to be considered: first, that it exceed not the
compass of one day; next, that there be place left for digression and
art. For the episodes and digressions in a fable are the same that
household stuff and other furniture are in a house. And so far from the
measure and extent of a fable dramatic.
_What by one and entire_. --Now that it should be one and entire. One is
considerable two ways; either as it is only separate, and by itself, or
as being composed of many parts, it begins to be one as those parts grow
or are wrought together.
That it should be one the first away alone, and
by itself, no man that hath tasted letters ever would say, especially
having required before a just magnitude and equal proportion of the parts
in themselves. Neither of which can possibly be, if the action be single
and separate, not composed of parts, which laid together in themselves,
with an equal and fitting proportion, tend to the same end; which thing
out of antiquity itself hath deceived many, and more this day it doth
deceive.
_Hercules_. --_Theseus_. --_Achilles_. --_Ulysses_. --_Homer and
Virgil_. --_AEneas_. --_Venus_. --So many there be of old that have thought the
action of one man to be one, as of Hercules, Theseus, Achilles, Ulysses,
and other heroes; which is both foolish and false, since by one and the
same person many things may be severally done which cannot fitly be
referred or joined to the same end: which not only the excellent tragic
poets, but the best masters of the epic, Homer and Virgil, saw. For
though the argument of an epic poem be far more diffused and poured out
than that of tragedy, yet Virgil, writing of AEneas, hath pretermitted
many things. He neither tells how he was born, how brought up, how he
fought with Achilles, how he was snatched out of the battle by Venus; but
that one thing, how he came into Italy, he prosecutes in twelve books.
The rest of his journey, his error by sea, the sack of Troy, are put not
as the argument of the work, but episodes of the argument. So Homer laid
by many things of Ulysses, and handled no more than he saw tended to one
and the same end.
_Theseus_. --_Hercules_.
