certain. This is what we may obferve, as to the Transitions, the Circumstances, and the Motives, in which the principal Artifice of a Narration confifts. Let us proceed to confider. the remaining Parts; fuch as the Figures, the Paffions, the Defcriptions, the Speeches, the Reflections, the Characters, the Digref fions, and all that enters into the Oeconomy of hiftorical Difcourfe. XVI. The only Service that Figures perform to History, is to warm and enliven it: An Orator, who defigns to impofe upon the Minds of his Hearers, fcarce ever fpeaks without Figures, that he may the better play the Springs and Engines of his Art under this Covert: But an Hiftorian who proposes only to inftruct, fhould be more fparing in their Ufe. Nor can the Simplicity of an historical Stile, reconcile it felf to this Varnish, and this artificial Air, which would injure its ingenuons Plainnefs and Freedom. Lucian is never more happy in his Critick, than when he opposes himself to these vain Embellishments of Eloquence, fo improper for the Strictness of History, which if attir'd with too many of them, looks (as he says) like Hercules in a Woman's Drefs; the last Expreffion of Indecency. Much lefs (as he adds) is it capable of those bright Strokes of the Poets, by which they fmite the Heart, and raise the Soul, and disturb the Sense, and work all the Movements of the Passions. Hiftory, which is fimple and natural, and which has no Defign upon me, ought to leave my Heart free, that I may make an impartial Judgment of its Reports. Elo quence, quence, and Art of Fallacy and Deceit, may rob me of my Liberty, and perfuade me by Force: but Hiftory, which ftands confin'd within the Limits of bare Inftruction, cannot with any Decorum, make use of Figures otherwife than to Temper its natural Coldness, and to make it more pleasant and converfable. 'Tis thus, that Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon, refresh the Spirit of their Readers: and if Saluft, Livy, or Mariana, fpeak figuratively, 'tis never to put a Cheat upon the Publick. Tacitus is by no Means fo fcrupulous; he has the Air of one that would always dazzle and confound: The Hardinefs of his Metaphors, and other Figures, over-strain his Expreffion. But Cafan feems to be in the other Cafar Extreme; while he follows a plain, naked feripfit Discourse without Figures, or any ornamen- Commental Advantage. A figur'd Expreffion, if made tarios, qui nudi funt, with true Art, may fometimes be more agree- abfque omable, than any proper Terms; because it gives ni ornatu more lively and pleafing Ideas to the Mind, orationis. and more strengthens and ennobles a Stile. Cic. Nay, there is a Boldness of Language, conducted by Wifdom and Judgment, which may be very allowable in Places that require more than ordinary Heat and Motion. But Pater- Nihil teOculus's Exclamation on the Death of Cicero, is men egifti over-violent; his Zeal has the Start of his Marce Antoni, Judgment, and, fupplies him with Figures (cogit enim which have too much Vehemence for the Stile excedere of Hiftory: His Heat and Tranfport of In- propofiti dignation feem to hurry him beyond his formam Character, tho' introduc'd with an Apology. operis eFigures, if they would look well in an hifto- indignarical Work, must be chafte and modeft; and tio) &c. muft not fuffer the Flights of Poetry, or the Grandour of Oratory: They must not (fays rumpens (fays Lucian) be fparkling, or nicely wrought and labour'd, except in the Defcription of a Battel, where an Hiftorian may hoift the Flag of Eloquence, if he does not, at the fame time, put up too much Sail. XVII. The Paffions are another great Beauty of Narration, if prudently mixt, and drawn with true Judgment. Indeed, they will not bear the fame Degree of Heat,, which they have in the Theatre: they are not play'd, but barely reported; and therefore muft appear with an other Air. An Hiftorian may give fome Warmth to his Difcourfe; but he muft not himself be heated by it: He must therefore ftudy human Nature to the Bottom, and unveil all thofe fecret Motions of the Heart, which are excited by the several Paffions, that he may represent them to the Life. This Part, rightly perform'd, will make a Narration more fweet and affecting. Thucydides has here the Advantage of Herodotus: The former, in the Judgment of Dionyfius Halicarnaffeus, being the more eloquent and pathetick, tho' the latter is very often more gay and fprightly. Hermogenes propofes, as an admirable Model of a fweet, affectionate, and moving Narration, the Death of Panthea, Queen of Sufiana, in the feventh Book of Xenophon's Cyropedia. 'Tis indeed one of the finest Places of that fine Author: every Thing is touch'd with all the Strokes of Tendernefs and Pity. Photius highly commends Jofephus, for his Art of moving the Affectus, e-Paffions. Quintilian maintains that Livy has os præcipuè excell'd all other Hiftorians in this fweet and qui dulci eres funt, nemo biftoricorum Livio magis commendavit. Quint. delicate Manner of Painting the fofter Affetions of which we have very lovely Inftances, in the Rape of the Sabine Virgins, and those Female Stratagems by which they afterwards difarm'd their Fathers on the one side, and their Husbands on the other: The Death of Lucretia, and the Publick expofing of her Body, to incenfe the People against the Family of the Tarquins: Vetturia, in Tears at the Feet of her Son Coriolanus, befeeching him to raife the Siege of Rome: Virginia ftab'd by the Hand of her own Father: The Confternation at Rome, after the Battle of Canna: with many other Pieces in this Work, exprefs'd with the moft compaffionate Air, and in the most melting Language. And 'tis in this Author, that we are to ftudy the Art of drawing the Paffions fuch as they ought to appear in Hiftory: for he never raifes his Temper, but when the Occafion juftifies his Warmth. Tacitus has taken no Care to manage his Fire; and therefore he is always in a Flame: His over-vehement Phrafe, and his unnatural Portraits hinder him from making a true and juft Impreffion. I forbear to speak of other Hiftorians, of whom the greatest Part have neither understood the Nature of the Affections, nor the Manner of applying to them. This is a very peculiar Rhetorick, requiring a Depth of good Senfe, and an exact Knowledge of Morality. But, in general, if we defire a Narration fhould pleafe, we must keep it from cooling upon our Hands, by difcreetly throwing in these Ardencies and Emotions, by which Nature is wont to exprefs herself. XVIII. ་ XVIII. The Affectation that most Historians betray in the Ufe of Defcriptions, has brought them under fome dif-repute with the Judicious. Nothing indeed is fo childish as a light Defcription in a serious Hiftory. Young Authors are wont to set their Hearts upon these Ornaments, without confidering whether they are decent and proper: Whereas they ought never to be applied, but with the greatest Caution, and all Strictnefs of Sobriety. The Rule is, to introduce them fo far only as they ferve to illuftrate Things, that are effential to the main Subject. Of this exact Kind is the Defcription of the Island Caprea, in the fourth Book of Tacitus's Annals; upon which, Tiberius fhut himself up in his Retirement towards the Clofe of his Life; it becomes neceffary, and being concife, elegant, and beautiful, we may fay, 'tis nicely as it ought to be. Saluft's Defcription of the Field of Battel, in the Defeat of Jugurtha by Metellus, gives us a much clearer Notion of the Engagement: We see the undaunted Courage of the Romans, as well as the Experience and Conduct of the Numi dian King, by the Advantage which the latter gain'd in poffeffing himself of the higher Ground: And the whole Action is much better display'd by this exact Draught of the Scene, which the Hiftorian fets before our Eyes. Such likewife is the Description, in the twenty fecond Book of Livy, of the Poft where. Hannibal attack'd Minutius; which feems very artificially touch'd. The Situation of Pella, the Metropolis of Macedon, inferted in the 44th Book of the fame Hiftorian, |