To conclude, because the Precepts had need be [1]concise, that so they may be more easily conceiv'd, and less burden the Memory; and because nothing can be more effectual thereto, than proposing one single Idea, and collecting all things so well together, that so they may be present to our Minds all at once, the Poets have reduc'd all to one [2]single Action, under one and the same Design, and in a Body whose Members and Parts should be homogeneous.
CHAP. III.
The Definition of the Epick Poem.
That which we have observ'd concerning the Nature of the Epick Poem, gives us a just Idea of it, which we may express thus:
"The EPOPEA is a Discourse invented by Art, to form the Manners by such Instructions as are disguis'd under the Allegories of some one important Action, which is related in Verse, after a probable, diverting, and surprizing Manner."
This here is the Definition of the Epopéa, and not of Poetry it self. For that is an Art of making all sorts of Poems, of which the Epick is but a part. The Epopéa then is not an Art, but an artificial thing, as 'tis express'd in the Definition, which says 'tis a Discourse invented by Art.
It is likewise one sort of Poem, as 'tis intimated in the Definition by its being call'd a Discourse in Verse: And the rest distinguishes it from all other sorts of Poems.
The Action of Comedy is not very important; and besides the [3]Poet says nothing, but only the Persons he introduces, say and act All, just as in Tragedy. For this reason both This and That is stil'd a Dramatick Poem. And thus it is plain the Epopéa is neither Tragedy nor Comedy.
Nor is it a piece of Natural Philosophy, as the Poems of Empedocles and Lucretius: Nor a Treatise of Husbandry, and the like, as the Georgicks of Virgil: Because these Pieces are not design'd to form Men's Manners, and the Instructions contain'd in them are naked, simple, and proper, without Disguise and Allegories.
This
