human
Can you write me a poem about joseph warton, theocritus and virgil in the style of Thomas Paine?
assistant
Sure, here's a poem about joseph warton, theocritus and virgil in the style of Thomas Paine:
  Rapin's _De Carmine Pastorali_,
prefixed to Thomas Creech's translation
RICHARD C. BOYS, University of Michigan
H.T. SWEDENBERG, JR., University of California, Los Angeles
EMMETT L. AVERY, State College of Washington
LOUIS I. BREDVOLD, University of Michigan
BENJAMIN BOYCE, University of Nebraska
CLEANTH BROOKS, Louisiana State University
JAMES L. CLIFFORD, Columbia University
ARTHUR FRIEDMAN, University of Chicago
SAMUEL H. MONK, University of Minnesota
JAMES SUTHERLAND, Queen Mary College, London
Lithoprinted from copy supplied by author
trouble, since no man can rationally doubt of the goodness of my
And this must needs be a hard Task, since I have no guide,
neither _Aristotle_ nor _Horace_ to direct me.... And I am of
opinion that none can treat well and clearly of any kind of
_Poetry_ if he hath no helps from these two (p. 16).
Yet in this difficulty I will follow _Aristotle's_ Example, who
being to lay down Rules concerning _Epicks_, propos'd _Homer_
as a Pattern, from whom he deduc'd the whole Art; So I will
gather from _Theocritus_ and _Virgil_, those Fathers of
_Pastoral_, what I shall deliver on this account (p. 52).
Reduced to its simplest terms, Rapin's theory is Virgilian. When
deducing his theory from the works of Theocritus and Virgil, his
until the time of Dr. Johnson and Joseph Warton.
In France the most prominent opponent to the theory formulated by
incorrect to imply that Rapin's and Fontenelle's theories of
Rapin, and much of the language--terminology and set phrases--of
_Rapine's_ Discourse is counted the best on this Poem, for 'tis
the longest. You will easily excuse my not mentioning all his
Defects and Errors in this Preface. I shall only say then, that
instead of looking into the true Nature of the Pastoral Poem,
and then judging whether _Theocritus_ or any of his Followers
have brought it to it's utmost Perfection or not. _Rapine_
takes it for granted that _Theocritus_ and _Virgil_ are
infallible; and aim's at nothing beyond showing the Rules which
he thinks they observ'd. Facetious Head! (_Works_, Oxford,
The influence of Rapin on the development of the pastoral,
nevertheless, was salutary. Finding the genre vitiated with wit,
And to speak from the very bottome of my heart... methinks he
is much more happy in a Wood, that at ease contemplates this
universe, as his own, and in it, the Sun and Stars, the
pleasing Meadows, shady Groves, green Banks, stately Trees,
flowing Springs, and the wanton windings of a River, fit
objects for quiet innocence, than he that with Fire and Sword
disturbs the World, and measures his possessions by the wast
that lys about him (p. 4).
Reprinted here from the copy owned by the Boston Athenaeum by
permission.
*       *       *       *
Written by RAPIN.
frightful dress, that real, or fancy'd Poverty could put them in.
soberer sort will be ready to object.
Now to manifest this, I shall not rely on the authority of the
His own small Flock each Senator did keep.
_Lucretius_ mentions an extraordinary happiness, and as it were
Divinity in a _Sheaperd's_ life,
Thro Sheapards ease, and their Divine retreats.
{4} The Muses that the Country Love.
The Rural Muse upon the Mountains feeds.
Taught Trees to sound his _Amaryllis_ name.
Take the Poets description
Here Lowly Innocence makes a sure retreat,
A harmless Life, and ignorant of deceit,
and free from fears with various sweet's encrease,
And all's or'e spread with the soft wings of Peace:
Here Oxen low, here Grots, and purling Streams,
And Spreading shades invite to easy dreams.
And thus Horace,
Happy the man beyond pretence
Such was the state of Innocence, &c.
{6} And from this head I think the dignity of _Bucolicks_ is
explication: for tis not probable that _Asinius Pollio_, _Cinna_,
Thro all the Woods they heard the pleasing noise
Of chirping Birds, and try'd to frame their voice,
And Imitate, thus Birds instructed man,
And taught them Songs before their Art began.
{8} First weary at his Plough the labouring Hind
In certain feet his rustick words did bind:
His dry reed first he tun'd at sacred feasts
To thanks the bounteous Gods, and cheer his Guests.
_In certain feet_ according to _Bern Cylenius_ of _Verona_ his
Italian Plough-men sprung from antient _Troy_
Did sport unpolish't Rhymes--
For Whilst soft Evening Gales blew or'e the Plains
And shook the sounding Reeds, they taught the Swains,
And thus the Pipe was fram'd, and tuneful Reed,
And whilst the Flocks did then securely feed,
The harmless Sheapards tun'd their Pipes to Love,
{9} And Amaryllis name fill'd every Grove.
appears by these Verses.
Here underneath a shade by purling Springs
The Sheapards Dance, whilst sweet _Amyntas_ sings;
Thus first the new found Pipe was tun'd to Love,
And Plough-men taught their Sweet hearts to the Grove,
arrose, This _Maximus Tyrius_ confirms in his Twenty first
determined: _Epicharmus_ one of _Pythagoras_ his School, in his
*alkyoni* mentions one _Diomus_ a _Sicilian_, who, if we believe
_Diodorus Siculus_ *en tois mythologoumenois*, seems to make
_Daphnis_ the son of _Mercury_ and a certain _Nymph_, to be the
Author; and agreeable to this, _Theon_ an old _scholiast_ on
_Theocritus_, in his notes upon the first _Idyllium_ mentioning
_Diodorus Siculus Polydore Virgil_ readily assents.
Some ascribe the Honor to _Bacchus_ the President of the _Nymphs,
extreamly delighted in solitude and Woods; and some say _Mercury_
pretentions, but things and solid truth is that we seek after.
_Valla the Placentine_, a curious searcher into Antiquity, thinks
afterwards passing into _Italy_ were there named _Bucoliastæ_.
afterward expiated by his Sister _Iphigenia_: But how can any one
But who soft Elegies was the first that wrote
Grammarians doubt, and cannot end the doubt:
present Circumstances: to this Solitude invited, and the extream
Meditation, Meditation and Invention produc'd a Verse; which is
Whilst under _Helicon_ he fed his Lambs.
For then the Rural Muses reign'd.
From whence 'tis very plain, that as _Donatus_ himself observ'd,
Now let us inquire into the nature of _Pastoral_, in what its
But here _Benius_ in his comments upon _Aristotle_ hath started a
incomparable Master of _Heroick_ Poetry amongst the _Lyricks_?
Others with _Cæsius Bassus_ and _Isacius Tzetzes_ hold that that
difficulty I confess, for _Laertius_ who accurately weighs this
numbers may be employed is various; either mean and low, as in
For as in _Dramatick_ Poetry the Dignity and meanness of the
{20} The Goatherd and the heavy Heardsmen came,
And ask't what rais'd the deadly Flame.
My present inquiry must be what is the _Subject Matter_ of a
sounding in _Homers Iliad_.
{21} Sparta was fir'd with Rage
And gather'd Greece to prosecute Revenge.
And _Theocritus_ his verses are sometimes as sounding and his
And gaping Hell received his mighty Soul:
*anêr hyperoplos enêmeros, endiaaske
deinos idein*
Cydippe, Homer, doth not fit thy Muse.
For certainly _Pastorals_ ought not to rise to the Majesty of
For lo! he sung the Worlds stupendious birth,
How scatter'd seeds of sea, of Air, and Earth,
And purer Fire thro universal night
And empty space did fruitfully unite:
From whence th' innumerable race of things
By circular successive order springs:
And afterward
How Pyrra's Stony race rose from the ground,
And Saturn reign'd with Golden plenty crown'd,
How bold _Prometheus_ (whose untam'd desire,
Rival'd the Sun with his own Heavenly Fire)
Now doom'd the _Scythian_ Vulturs endless prey
Severely pays for Animating Clay:
Alcmaritanus_ in my opinion is a trifler, who, in his comments on
Sicilian Muse begin a loftier strain,
The Bushes and the Shrubs that shade the Plain
Delight not all; if I to Woods repair
My Song shall make them worth a Consuls Care.
If I to Woods repair
My Song shall make them worth a _Consuls_ care.
When his _Thalia_ rais'd her bolder voice
And Kings and Battles were her lofty choice,
_Phoebus_ did twitch his Ear, mean thoughts infuse,
And with this whisper check't th' inspiring Muse.
A Sheapard, Tityrus, his Sheep should feed,
And choose a subject suited to his reed,
humble, which _Theocritus_ very happily expresseth by this word
*Boukoliasdên* _i.e._ as the interpreters explain it, sing humble
Whilst on his Reed he Shepherd's stifes conveys,
And soft complaints in smooth Sicilian lays.
Baseness was a great wonder in that Age;
action of a _Shepherd_; which caution is very necessary to be
_Theocritus_ seems to have made that Pipe, on which he tun'd his
_Pastorals_ and which he consecrated to _Pan_ of ten Reeds, as
_Salmasius_ in his notes on _Theocritus's_ Pipe hath learnedly
observed: _in which two Verses always make one Reed of the Pipe,
I shall not here enquire, tho it may seem proper, whether we can
decently bring into an Eclogue Reapers, Vine-dressers, Gardners,
Of Poetry in General _Socrates_, as _Plato_ tells us, would have
Poetry is differenc't from _Tragick_ only by {29} the manner of
Now I shall explain what sort of _Fable_; _Manners_, _Thought_,
Concerning the Fable which _Aristotle_ calls, *synthesin tôn
pragmatôn*, I have but one thing to say: this, as the Philosopher
{31} Happy _Eurotas_ as he flow'd along
Heard all, and bad the Laurels learn the Song.
Let each be grac't with that which suits him best.
For this, as 'tis a rule relateing to _Poetry_ in general, so it
_Italians_ grievously offend, for they make their _Shepherds_ too
_Megarensians_, who observ'd no _Decorum_ in their _Theater_, but
themselves are rude and unpolisht: And this proves that they
Now as too much neatness in _Pastoral_ is not to be allow'd, so
That the Thought may be commendable, it must be suitable to the
Cruel _Alexis_ can't my Verses move?
Hast thou no Pitty? I must dye for Love_.
And again,
He neither Gods, nor yet my Verse regards.
pronunciation: and his reflection was very smart.
Like Pidgeons you have mouths from Ear to Ear.
imaginable: for as Innocence in Life, so purity and simplicity in
happy_: Such is this of _Virgil_, unwholsome to us Singers is the
Of Juniper, 'tis an unwholsome shade:
Than which in my opinion nothing can be more simply; nothing more
_Theocritus deserves the greatest commendation for his happy
imitation of the simplicity of his Shepherds_, Virgil _hath mixt
Another qualification and excellence of _Pastoral_ is to imitate
Colours express'd, and tho his Art was very extraordinary yet his
These Fields and Corn shall a Barbarian share?
I wonder'd why all thy complaints were made,
And the like you may every where meet with, as
_Mopsus_ weds _Nisa_, what may'nt Lovers hope?
and in the second _Eclogue_,
{40} Whom dost thou fly ah frantick! oft the Woods
Hold Gods, and _Paris_ equal to the Gods.
Let all things change, let Pears the Firs adorn
Now _Daphnis_ dyes.
And in the third _Eclogue_.
But when she saw, how great was the surprize! &c.
And any one may find a great many of the like in _Theocritus_ and
delicate Composures: And this I account the greatest grace in
Opinion _Virgil_ excells _Theocritus_ in this, for _Virgil_ is
Now why _Bucolicks_ should require such Brevity, and be so
_Pastoral_ must dissemble, and hide even that which it would {42}
And to the Bushes flys, yet would be seen.
And _Virgils_ happy Muse in Eclogues plays,
soft and facetious;
Which _Fabius_ takes to signify the most taking neatness and most
Interpreters of these words are not of the same mind: But if by
Then there are three things in which, as in its parts, the whole
{45} _Aristotle_ assigns two efficient Causes of _Poetry_, The
groveling mean Actions: And every one, according to the various
Not to mention other kinds of _Poetry_, what particular Genius is
Discourse, for as every part of it ought to be full of simple and
excellent _Arts_ sprang from _Poetry_ at first.
Which what is honest, base, or just, or good,
Better than _Crantor_, or _Chrysippus_ show'd.
profits.
notable Exploits; but how can _Bucolicks_ apply these or the like
_Modicius_, as _Pontanus_ cites him in his Notes on _Virgil's_
But when tis the end of _Comedy_, as _Jerom_ in his Epistle to
To look on all mens lives as in a Glass,
And take from those Examples for our Own,
better pleas'd with the severity of _Philosophy_, and her harsh,
proclaim _Poetry_ to be frivolous, and useless.
_Rules for writing_ Pastorals.
E'en in the midst and fury of the Joys,
Some thing that's better riseth, and destroys.
difficult to be compos'd, especially since the expression must be
The first Rule shall be about the _Matter_, which is either the
_Character_ might be given, which _Quintilian_ bestow'd on
_Sicilian_ Muse begin a loftier strain.
So he invocates _Arethusa_, when _Cornelius Gallus Proconsul of
One Labor more O _Arethusa_ yield.
Tell Goddess, you can tell.
_Pastoral_ is either _Alternate_, or hath but _one Person_, or is
evident from that of _Theocritus_.
Sing _Rural_ strains, for as we march along
We may delight each other with a Song.
In which the _Poet_ shows that _alternate_ singing is proper to a
Be every _Fable_ simple, and but one:
A Kid belongs to thee, and Kids are good,
Or that in _Virgil's_ seventh Eclogue,
This Pail of Milk, these Cakes (_Priapus_) every year
Expect; a little Garden is thy care:
Thou'rt Marble now, but if more Land I hold,
If my Flock thrive, thou shalt be made of Gold,
than which I cannot imagine more simple, and more ingenuous
expressions. To which may be added that out of his _Palemon_,
And I love _Phyllis_, for her Charms excell;
At my departure O what tears there fell!
She sigh'd, Farewell Dear Youth, a long Farewell.
Pines murmurings, Goatherd, are a pleasing sound,
_and most of his expressions, not to say all, are of the same
The glossy Plums I'le bring, and juicy Pear,
Such as were once delightful to my Dear:
I'le crop the Laurel, and the Myrtle tree,
Confus'dly set, because their Sweets agree.
For since the matter must be low, to avoid being abject, and
Therefore never let any one, that designs to write _Pastorals_,
Young sportive Creatures, and of spotted hue,
Which suckled twice a day, I keep for you:
These_ Thestilis _hath beg'd, and beg'd in vain,
But now they're Hers, since You my Gifts disdain.
For what can be more Rustical, than to design those _Goats_ for
_Alexis_, at that very time when {59} he believes _Thestylis's_
winning importunity will be able to prevail? yet there is nothing
broken, as that in _Virgil_,
He that loves _Bavius_ Verses, hates not Thine:
And in the same _Eclogue_,
--It is not safe to drive too nigh,
The Bank may fail, the Ram is hardly dry:
To learn this Art what won't _Amyntas_ do?
{60} Dear Nymph, dear as my Goats, you dy'd.
And how soft and tender is that in the third _Idyllium_,
And she may look on me, she may be won,
She may be kind, she is not perfect Stone,
And in this _concise_, close way of Expression lies the chiefest
--I see that I must die:
Or _Daphnis's_ despair, which _Thyrsis_ sings in the first
Ye Wolves, and Pards, and Mountain Bores adieu,
The Herdsmen now must walk no more with You.
Nor have I any mind to be reliev'd:
I'le dy, yet tell my Love e'en whilst I dy:
Or that of _Corydon_,
He lov'd, but could not hope for Love again.
For tho _Pastoral_ doth not admit any violent passions, such as
Woods, and purling Streams, mourning the unsupportable anger, the
His was no common flame, nor could he move
In the old Arts, and beaten paths of Love,
No Flowers nor Fruits sent to oblige the Fair,
For all violent Perturbations are to be diligently avoided by
_Bucolicks_, whose nature it is to be _soft_, and _easie_: For in
Ah, far from home and me You wander o're
The _Alpine_ snows, the farthest Western shore,
And frozen _Rhine_. When are we like to meet?
Ah gently, gently, lest thy tender feet
Sharp Ice may wound.
To these he may sometimes joyn some short Interrogations made to
Did not You Streams, and Hazels, hear the Nymphs?
Or give the very Trees, and Fountains sense, as in _Tityrus_,
Thee (_Tityrus_) the Pines, and every Vale,
The Fountains, Hills, and every shrub did call:
{63} When _Phyllis_ comes, my wood will all be green.
And this sort of Expressions is frequent in _Theocritus_, and
_Virgil_, and in these the delicacy of _Pastoral_ is principally
contain'd, as one of the old _Interpreters_ of _Theocritus_ hath
observ'd on this line, in the eighth _Idyllium_,
Ye Vales, and Streams, a race Divine:
writes to _Libo_, gives this Character,
His words are soft, and each expression sweet.
_Virgil_ useth no Numbers but _Heroick_, from whence it may be
inferr'd, that those are the fittest.
Young _Chromis_ and _Mnasylus_ chanct to stray,
Where (sleeping in a Cave) _Silenus_ lay,
Whose constant Cups fly fuming to his brain,
And always boyl in each extended vein:
His trusty Flaggon, full of potent Juice,
Was hanging by, worn out with Age, and Use, &c.
But tho you must be sparing in your _Descriptions_, yet your
Rough Storms to Trees, to Birds the treacherous Snare,
Are frightful Evils; Springes to the Hare,
And _Damoetas_ in _Virgil's_ _Palæmon_,
Woolves sheep destroy, Winds Trees when newly blown,
Storms Corn, and me my _Amaryllis_ frown.
And that in the eighth _Eclogue_,
As Clay grows hard, Wax soft in the same fire,
So _Daphnis_ does in one extream desire.
_Phyllis_ the Hazel loves; whilst _Phyllis_ loves that Tree,
{67} Myrtles than Hazels of less fame shall be.
_Innocence_ of the _golden_ Age. There is another thing in which
Thus much seem'd necessary to be premis'd out of _RAPIN_, for the