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Thus e.gr. I fay, that certain PerfonS united together for the Frefervation of fome thing that belong'*! to them in common 5 coining to difagree ; their divifion left them, open to an Enemy who ruin'd them. Such is the firft pjan of a Fable. The Action prefented by this Narration has four Conditions : It is universal, imitated, feign'd, and contains a moral Truth under an Allegory.
The Names given to the feveral Perlbns, begin to spe- cify the Fable. Efop ufes thofe of Brutes.
Two Dogs, fays he, appointed to watch a Flock, fall out, fight, and leave all open to the Wolf, who carries off what he pleafes. If you would have the Action more lingular, and render the Fable rational, take the Names of Men. (pridoMiant and Qrwtes, Brothers by a fecond Venter, were left very rich by their Father's Will: But difagreeing about the Partition of their Effects, they engaged themfelves fo far againft each other, that they took no care of their com- mon Intereft, againft Clitander their eldeft Brother, by the firft Venter 5 which lair, artfully inflaming their Quarrel, and feigning he had no View but to fame moderate Aug- mentation, which might be made him without preffing them; he, in the meantime, gets the Judges on his fide, and the other Perfons intruded with the Affair, procures the Will to be annull'd, and becomes entituled to the whole Eilate the Brothers were at Variance about.
Now, this Fable is rational ; but the Names being feign'd, as well as the Things, and befides, the Perfons being only of a private Rank, it is neither Epic, nor Tragic. Howe- ver, it may be employ 'd in Comedy ; it being a Rule laid down by Arifiotle, that Epic and Tragic Poets only invent Things ; but Comic Poets invent both Names and Things. See Comedy, &c.
To accommodate this comic Fable more to the Mode and Tafte of the Town, fome 1)Qrinda muft be imagin'd to have been promised to Clitander ; but her Father, finding him difinherited by the Will, changes his Refolution, and will have her marry one of the rich, fenfelefs, younger Bro- thers, whom ihe defpifed, £5?c. ,
But to return. The Fiction may be fo difguifed with the Truth of Hiftory, that . there ihall not appear any Fiction at all. To effect. this, the Poet looks back into Hiftory, for the Names of fome Perfons to whom the feign'd Action either really or probably did happen ; and relates it under thofe known Names, with Circumftances which do not change any thing of the Ground of the Fable* Thus, In the War of 1302, between King c Pbilip the Fair, and the Flemijh : The French Army was under the Command of Robert, Earl of Artois, as General, and Ralph de Ne/le, his Conftable* Eeing in the Plain of Courtray, in light of the Enemy, the Conftable was of O- pinion it were eafy to ftarve them; and that it was not Worth while to hazard fo many of the Nobles, againft a vile, defperate Populace. This Advice the Earl rejected with Scorn, taxing the Conftable with Cowardice and In- fidelity. It fhall be feen, anfwers the Conftable, which of us two is the braveft, and the mofl faithful ; and clapping Spurs to h's Florfe, led the whole French Cavalry precipi- tately to the Charge. This Precipitation, with the Dull they rais'd, prevented their feeing a large deep Ditch, be- hind which the Bemifb were pofted. The Cavalry there- fore plunging into it, perifh'd miferably ; and the Infantry, aftoni/li'd with the Lofs, let themfelves be cut in piecesjby the Enemy. Thus may Fiction be made to confiil with Truth.
As for the Fable, it matters but little, whether the Per. fons be called 'Dogs ; or Orontes and c Pridamant ; or Ro- bert of Artois, and Ralph de Neflc 5 or Achilles and Aga- memnon.
The Epic Fable we mall now propofe in its juft Extent, under thefe two Names, laft mention'd. It is too ft.ort for the Epopea in the two preceding ones. We chufe the Fa- ble tf the Iliad, as being the fincft Plan of an Epic Poem in the World; and at the fame time the moft ufeful Sy- flem of the Precepts of the Art ; it being hence, that ■Arifiotle was furnifli'd with all his Reflexions.
In every difcrete Undertaking the End is the firft Thing pi"opofed ; and by this the whole Work and all its Parts are regulated : Confequently, the Deh'gn of the Epopea being to form the Manners, 'tis with this firft View the Poet mull begin. Now, the Philofopher dwelling on Virtues and Vices 'fi general, the Inftruclions he gives, ferve equally for all States and all Ages ; but the Poet has a more immediate Regard to his Countrymen, and the prcfiing Occafions of his fellow Citizens. On this view it is that he chufes his Moral, which he is to infinuate into the People, by accom- modating himfelf to their peculiar Cuftoms, Genius and In- clinations. See how Homer has acquitted himfelf of all this.
He faw the Greeks, for whom he wrote, divided into as many States, as Cities ; each thereof was a Body apart, snd had its Government, independant of the reft. Yet were thefe different States frequently obliged to unite into
one Body againft their common Enemies. Here then were two forts of Government, too different to be commodioufly treated in one Poem. The Poet accordingly had Recourle to two Fables; the one for all Greece, coniider'd as con- federated together, only confifting of independant Parts: the other, for each particular State ; fuch as they are in Time of Peace, and without the firft Relation. The firft is the Subject of the Iliad, the fecond of the Odyfjee. See Iliad and Odyssee.
For the firft kind of Government, all Experience agrees, that that only Thing can render it happy, and its Defigns fuccefsful, is a good Understanding, and due Subordination among the fcveral Chiefs that compofe it ; and that Mifun- derftandings, a defire of Swa'y,ci?c. are the inevitable Bane of fuch Confederacies. The beft Inftruclion therefore that could be given them, was to fet bafore their Eyes the De- struction of the People, and even of the Princes themfelves, thro' the Ambition and Difcord of thefe latter. Homer therefore, for the Ground or Moral of his Fable, chofe this great Truth, that the Mifunderftandings of Princes ruin their States. I./ing, fays he, the Wrath of Achilles fo fa- tal to the Greeks, and which dejlrofd fo many Heroes, occafioned hy a T)ifagreement between King Agamemnon and that c Pri?2ce.
To enforce this Truth, he reprefents divers confederate States firft at Variance, and unprofperous ; then reconciled and victorious. All which he thus includes in one univerfat Action.
Several independant Princes league againft a common Enemy : he whom they chufe as their Leader, affronts the braveft of all the Confederacy; upon which the of- fended Prince withdraws, and refufes any longer to fight for the Common Caufe. This Mifunderftanding gives the Enemy fo much Advantage, that the Confederates are rea- dy- to rclinquifh the Enterprize. The difaffected Perfon himfelf becomes a Sharer in the Calamities of his Allies 5 one of his chief Friends and Favourites being kill'd by the Chief of the Enemies. Thus, both Parties grown wife at their own Cofts, are reconciled. Upon which the valiant Prince again joining in the War, turns the Scale to his own Party, and kills the Enemy's Chief.
Such is the firft general Plan of the Poem. To render this probable and more intercfting, Circumftances of Time, Place, Perfons, &c. are to be added; that is, he looks in Hiftory, or Tradition, for Perfons, to whom fuch Action may with Truth or Probability be attributed.
He pitches on the Siege of 'Troy, and fuppofes the Ac- tion to have paffed there. The brave, cholerick Character he calls Achilles - 7 the General, Agaynemnon 7 the Chief of the Enemies, Hetjor, Sic. To infinuate himfelf unto his Readers, he accomodates himfelf to their Manners, Ge- nius, Views, &c. And to render his Fable more interefting, makes his chief Perfons, and thofe who remain'd at length victorious, to be Greeks, the Fathers of thofe very People. The Courfe of the Work is fill'd up, and extended with other ufeful Leflbns and Inftructions. See Episode.
That the Epopea in all its Glory is ftill juftiy and firict- ly a mere Fable, in the fame Senfe as the Fictions of E- fbp's are, is fhewn by M- Sojfu, in a Parallel between the Fable of the Jliad, and that of Efop already mention'd. The moral Inftruction is vifibly the fame in both : fo is the Fiction. All the Difference lies in the Names and Qualities of the Perfons.
Homer's arc Kings; he calls 'em Achilles, (Patroclt/s, &c. and the general Good to be preferv'd, he calls the Greeks. Efop, after this manner, gives his Perfons the Names of Beafts. The l £ogs are confederated, the Wolf is their Ene- my ; and what Homer calls the Greeks, he calls Sheep. One fays, that while the confederate Princes are at Variance, Heeler rufties on the Greeks, and makes them pay dear for the Folly of their Soveraigns (Delirant Reges, ■plcBuntitr Achivi): but that the Allies, brought by Misfortunes to themfelves again, re-unite, repulfe HeHor, and kill him. The other, that while the Dogs are together by the Ears, the Wolf falls on the Sheep ; and that the Dogs, teeing the Havock he makes, join together, drive him away, and kill him.
The two Fables were capable of a ftill nearer Refem- blance. Homer has extended his by long Speeches, De- fcriptions, Comparifons and particular Actions ; and that of Efop might be amplified after the like Manner, without corrupting or altering it.
There needs only to relate what Caufe fet the Dogs at Variance, and mew the Rife of the fatal W r rath in ail its Circumftances ; to make fine Defcriptions of the Plain wherein the Sheep fed, and of fome neighbouring Wood, where the Wolf was fhelter'd : to give this Enemy Whelps to rear; make them follow their Father in fearch of Prey j and defcribe the Carnage they made at divers Expeditions : nor would the Genealogy of the Hero's be forgotten. The Wolf -mould boaft himfelf a Defendant of I.ycaony and ene of the Dogs be fprung in a direct Line from Canicnla.
Which
