Sweet is the breath of morn, her rifing fweet, 2 When men are actuated, &c.-] Longinus here, in explaining the Nature of the Hyperbaton, and again in the Close of the Section, has made ufe of an Hyperbaton, or (to speak more truly) of a certain confused and more extensive Compass of a Sentence. Whether he did this by Accident, or Defign, I cannot determine; tho' Le Fevre thinks it a piece of Art in the Author, in order to adapt the Diction to the Subject, Dr. Pearce. 3 An Imitation of thefe, &c.-] This fine Remark may be illustrated by a celebrated Paffage in ShakeSpear's Hamlet, where the Poet's Art has hit off the strongest and most exact Refemblance of nature. The Behaviour of his Mother makes fuch Impreffion on the young Prince, that his Mind is big with Abhorrence of it, but Expressions fail him. He begins abruptly, abruptly, but as Reflexions croud thick upon his Mind, he runs off into Commendations of his Father, Some Time after, his Thoughts turn again on that Action of his Mother, which had raised his Refentments, but he only touches it, and flies off again. In short he takes up eighteen Lines in telling us, that his Mother married again, in lefs than two Months after her Hufband's Death. But two months dead! nay, not fo much, not two- Hyperion to a Satyr: fo loving to my mother, Vifit her face too roughly. Heav'n and earth! Must I remember?-why, he would bang on him, By what it fed on; yet within a month Let me not think-Frailty, thy name is Woman! Ob heav'n! a beast that wants difcourfe of reason, 4. He feems to invert, &c.] The eloquence of St. Paul, in moft of his Speeches and Argumentations, bears a very great Resemblance to that of Demosthenes, as described in this Section by Longinus. Some important portant Point being always uppermoft in his View, he often leaves his Subject, and flies from it with brave Irregularity, and as unexpectedly again returns to his Subject, when one would imagine that he had entirely loft fight of it. For inftance, in his Defence before King Agrippa, Acts c. xxvi. when, in order to wipe off the Afperfions thrown upon him by the Jews, that he was a turbulent and feditious Perfon, he fets out with clearing his Character; proving the Integrity of his Morals, and his inoffenfive unblameable Behaviour, as one, who hoped, by those means, to attain thatHappiness of another Life, for which the twelve Tribes ferved God continually in the Temple on a fudden he drops the Continuation of his Defence, and cries out, "Why Should it be thought a Thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?" It might be reasonably expected, that this would be the End of his Argument; but by flying to it, in so quick and unexpected a Transition, he catches his Audience before they are aware, and strikes dumb his Enemies, tho' they will not be convinced. And this Point being once carried, he comes about again as unexpectedly, by, I verily thought, &c. and goes on with his Defence, till it brings him again to the fame Point of the Resurrection, in v. 23. 66 SEC T. XXIII. 1 Polyptotes] Longinus gives no Inftance of this Figure: but one may be produced from Cicero's Oration for Calius, where he fays: "We will contend "with Arguments, we will refute Accufations by "Evidences brighter than Light itself: Fact fhall "engage 66 engage with Fact, Caufe with Caufe, Reafon with "Reason.” To which may be added that of Virgil, Æn. 1. x. v. 361: Hæret pede pes, denfufque virò vir. Dr. Pearce. 2 Collections.] The Orator makes ufe of this Figure, when instead of the Whole of a Thing, he num bers up all its Particulars: of which we have an In ftance in Cicero's Oration for Marcellus: The Centu fion has no fhare in this Honour, the Lieutenant none, the Cobort none, the Troop none. If Cicero had faid, The Soldiers have no fhare in this Honour, this would have declared his Meaning, but not the Force of the Speaker. See alfo Quintilian, Inftit. orat. l. viii. c. 2. dè congerie verborum ac fententiarum idem fignificantium. Dr. Pearce. 3 Changes.] Quinctilian gives an Inftance of this Figure, Inftit. orat. l. ix. c. 3. from Cicero's Oration for Sex. Rofcius: "For tho' he is Master of so much "Art, as to seem the only Perfon alive, who is fit "to appear upon the Stage; yet he is poffeffed of "fuch noble Qualities, that he seems to be the only "Man alive, who may feem worthy never to appear "there. Dr. Pearce. 4 Gradations.] There is an Inftance of this Figure in Rom. v. It is continued throughout the Chapter, but the Branches of the latter part appear not plainly, because of the Transpositions. It begins ver. 1. Therefore being juftified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jefus Chrift. By whom alfo we have accefs by faith into this Grace, wherein we ftand, and re joice in hope of the glory of God. And not only fo, but we glory in tribulations alfo, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed, because, &c. &c. 5 Changes either of time-gender-] Changes of Cafe and Gender fall not under the District of the English Tongue. On thofe of Time, Perfon, and Number, Longinus enlarges in the Sequel. 6 The Beauty of this Figure will, I fear, be loft in the Translation. But it must be obferved, that the Word crowd, is of the fingular, and appear, of the plural Number. Allowance must be made in fuch cafes, for when the Genius of another Language will not retain it, the original Beauty muft unavoidably fly off. 7 For to bang fuch Trappings, &c. -] I have given this Paffage fuch a Turn, as, I hope, will clear the Meaning to an English Reader. The literal Translation is, For hanging the bells every where favours too much of the Sophist or Pedant. The Metaphor is borrowed from a Cuftom among the Ancients, who at public Games and Concourfes were used to hang little Bells (davas) on the Bridles and Trapping of their Horfes, that their continual chiming might add Pomp to the Solemnity. The Robe or Ephod of the High-prieft, in the Mofaic Difpenfation, had this Ornament of Bells, tho' another Reason, besides the Pomp and Dignity of the Sound, is alledged for it in Exodus xxviii. 33. SECT. |