In that humour he
doth many senseless things, and at last falls upon the Grecian flock and
kills a great ram for Ulysses: returning to his senses, he grows ashamed
of the scorn, and kills himself; and is by the chiefs of the Greeks
forbidden burial.
doth many senseless things, and at last falls upon the Grecian flock and
kills a great ram for Ulysses: returning to his senses, he grows ashamed
of the scorn, and kills himself; and is by the chiefs of the Greeks
forbidden burial.
Ben Jonson - Discoveries Made Upon Men, and Some Poems
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_. --_Juvenal_. --_Codrus_. --_Sophocles_. --_Ajax_. --
_Ulysses_. --Contrary to which, and foolishly, those poets did, whom the
philosopher taxeth, of whom one gathered all the actions of Theseus,
another put all the labours of Hercules in one work. So did he whom
Juvenal mentions in the beginning, "hoarse Codrus," that recited a volume
compiled, which he called his Theseide, not yet finished, to the great
trouble both of his hearers and himself; amongst which there were many
parts had no coherence nor kindred one with another, so far they were
from being one action, one fable. For as a house, consisting of divers
materials, becomes one structure and one dwelling, so an action, composed
of divers parts, may become one fable, epic or dramatic. For example, in
a tragedy, look upon Sophocles, his Ajax: Ajax, deprived of Achilles'
armour, which he hoped from the suffrage of the Greeks, disdains; and,
growing impatient of the injury, rageth, and runs mad.
In that humour he
doth many senseless things, and at last falls upon the Grecian flock and
kills a great ram for Ulysses: returning to his senses, he grows ashamed
of the scorn, and kills himself; and is by the chiefs of the Greeks
forbidden burial. These things agree and hang together, not as they were
done, but as seeming to be done, which made the action whole, entire, and
absolute.
_The conclusion concerning the whole_, _and the parts_. --_Which are
episodes_. --_Ajax and Hector_. --_Homer_. --For the whole, as it consisteth of
parts, so without all the parts it is not the whole; and to make it
absolute is required not only the parts, but such parts as are true. For
a part of the whole was true; which, if you take away, you either change
the whole or it is not the whole. For if it be such a part, as, being
present or absent, nothing concerns the whole, it cannot be called a part
of the whole; and such are the episodes, of which hereafter. For the
present here is one example: the single combat of Ajax with Hector, as it
is at large described in Homer, nothing belongs to this Ajax of
Sophocles.
You admire no poems but such as run like a brewer's cart upon the stones,
hobbling:--
"Et, quae per salebras, altaque saxa cadunt,
Accius et quidquid Pacuviusque vomunt.
Attonitusque legis terrai, frugiferai. " {160a}
SOME POEMS.
TO WILLIAM CAMDEN.
CAMDEN! most reverend head, to whom I owe
All that I am in arts, all that I know--
How nothing's that!
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_. --_Juvenal_. --_Codrus_. --_Sophocles_. --_Ajax_. --
_Ulysses_. --Contrary to which, and foolishly, those poets did, whom the
philosopher taxeth, of whom one gathered all the actions of Theseus,
another put all the labours of Hercules in one work. So did he whom
Juvenal mentions in the beginning, "hoarse Codrus," that recited a volume
compiled, which he called his Theseide, not yet finished, to the great
trouble both of his hearers and himself; amongst which there were many
parts had no coherence nor kindred one with another, so far they were
from being one action, one fable. For as a house, consisting of divers
materials, becomes one structure and one dwelling, so an action, composed
of divers parts, may become one fable, epic or dramatic. For example, in
a tragedy, look upon Sophocles, his Ajax: Ajax, deprived of Achilles'
armour, which he hoped from the suffrage of the Greeks, disdains; and,
growing impatient of the injury, rageth, and runs mad.
In that humour he
doth many senseless things, and at last falls upon the Grecian flock and
kills a great ram for Ulysses: returning to his senses, he grows ashamed
of the scorn, and kills himself; and is by the chiefs of the Greeks
forbidden burial. These things agree and hang together, not as they were
done, but as seeming to be done, which made the action whole, entire, and
absolute.
_The conclusion concerning the whole_, _and the parts_. --_Which are
episodes_. --_Ajax and Hector_. --_Homer_. --For the whole, as it consisteth of
parts, so without all the parts it is not the whole; and to make it
absolute is required not only the parts, but such parts as are true. For
a part of the whole was true; which, if you take away, you either change
the whole or it is not the whole. For if it be such a part, as, being
present or absent, nothing concerns the whole, it cannot be called a part
of the whole; and such are the episodes, of which hereafter. For the
present here is one example: the single combat of Ajax with Hector, as it
is at large described in Homer, nothing belongs to this Ajax of
Sophocles.
You admire no poems but such as run like a brewer's cart upon the stones,
hobbling:--
"Et, quae per salebras, altaque saxa cadunt,
Accius et quidquid Pacuviusque vomunt.
Attonitusque legis terrai, frugiferai. " {160a}
SOME POEMS.
TO WILLIAM CAMDEN.
CAMDEN! most reverend head, to whom I owe
All that I am in arts, all that I know--
How nothing's that!
