Dennis, The Advancement and Reformation of Modern Poetry, ch. 10

ジョン・デニス
『現代詩の発展と改革：批評論文』より
第10章
神々を扱う詩において古代の人々は現代人よりも優れており、
なかでももっとも敬虔かつ道徳的な箇所がもっとも詩的に
偉大である

しかし、神々にふれない詩においては古代の人々が現代人を上まわることはない。逆に、古代の人々のほうが優れている宗教詩について言えば、なかでも特に敬虔かつ道徳的な箇所がもっとも驚嘆と称賛に値するものとなっている。古代の詩人たちの作品中もっとも敬虔かつ道徳的な箇所というのは、神々に対して人が直接言葉を発するところ、すなわち支援の懇願・訴えかける叫びや、逆に神々が人に意思を伝えてくださる場面、すなわちお告げや自然を超えるできごとなどのことである。前者は、世界のあらゆるところに見られるふつうの信仰のなかで人々が神々に捧げるものであり、また後者は自然にはありえない啓示や尋常でない奇跡を含む宗教においておこることである。

詩において偉大なものはみな、最高に優れた特別な力がそこに感じられるから偉大なのであり、広く理解されているように、それが詩にとっていちばん重要なこと、言わば詩という体における頭のようなものである。この特別な力、それが詩の原動力たる激情である。また、すでに見たように激情には、神に憑かれたような狂乱状態とふつうの激情の二種がある。詩におけるこの後者、ふつうの激情も信仰によって高く強いものとなることを、以下、証明しよう。特に扱うのは、悲劇と叙事詩に見られるこの種の激情である。長めのオードには狂乱が宿ることが多く、そこにふつうの激情があらわれるのはどちらかと言えばまれである。

まずは驚き、圧倒され、憧れる、ということについてであるが、このような激情を読者にもたらすのは、それに値する叙事詩の英雄の行為である。その英雄に対して、神々が知恵を授ける・よい方向に仕向ける、など通常ありえないような支援をしていたなら、読者が抱くこの激情はさらに強いものとなる。もともと尋常でないほど勇敢で偉大で、驚き・憧れの対象である英雄が、さらに神々によって高く評価にされ、直接手助けするほど大事にされていたならば、彼はまさに奇跡的な存在と考えざるをえないからである。神が特別に彼を導き、そのために自然の秩序がひっくり返る、雲や嵐が彼の味方をする、神々が下りてきて彼を支えたり、悪い道をふさいだりする、などということがあったならば。

次に、恐怖および他者の苦しみ・悲しみに対する共感についてであるが、これらは悲劇において支配的な激情であり、そして信仰や道徳と関連する場合にさらに強いものとなる。アリストテレスが『詩学』で言うように、悲劇とは苦しみ・悲しみに対する共感や恐怖をかき立てる行為やできごとを描く。そんな行為・できごとが予期せぬかたちで続けば、共感と恐怖は驚きとともに生じる。が、アリストテレスが解説するように、予期せぬできごと・行為であっても、本当に偶然生じることは特に評価されない。曰く、明らかにいつも最大限の驚き・衝撃を観客に与えるのは、偶然であると同時に何らかの意図、何らかの見えない因果によって生じたとも思われるできごとや行為だからである。アルゴスの人だかりのなか、ミテュスの石像が彼を殺した者の上に倒れてこの殺人者が即死した、という話はまさにその典型だ。アリストテレスも言っているが、これが偶然とは到底考えられない。この類の話を含めば物語は当然よりよいものとなる－－つまり彼が言っているのは、悲劇においても叙事詩においても、驚きをもたらす主題は神々や道徳と関連することによってより強力なものとなる、神々の意図が背後で強く作用しているように見えるできごとが常にもっとも恐ろしく、もっとも強く心を揺さぶる、ということなのである。理由は考えるまでもない。わたしたちの激情の土台にあるのは、自分がかわいいという感覚であり、また恐怖や共感とは、わたしたちと同じような他者、同じような状況のなかでわたしたちが犯すような・犯しそうな過ちを犯してしまった不運な人々の、苦境を見て感じるものである。そのような過ちに対する罰は神々からのものである、と感じられれば感じられるほど、わたしたちはそのような人々を強く憐れむことになる。

と言うのも、もし彼らを襲う悲しみ・苦しみが単に偶然の産物であったなら、それは過ちを犯そうが犯すまいが誰に降りかかってもおかしくないように見えてしまう。そうならないように、予期せぬかたちで次から次へとおきるできごとは、言わば必然でなければならない。過ちの結果として罰が下るように見えれば見えるほど、それがまさかという時に、しかし必然的におこるものであればあるほど、その背後にある神の意図がより強く感じられるようになり、またより強くわたしたちの平静は揺さぶられることになる。つまりわたしたちは、より大きな衝撃と恐怖を感じることになる。が、神が関係することの帰結は、もともと強い驚愕・称賛・恐怖のような激情がさらに強くなることだけではない。驚愕と称賛は、言わば魂を上に向かわせる。恐ろしいものは強く人を恐れさせると同時に、通常であれば人を貶めるみじめな感情を気高いものにする。例えば、悲しみなどを、である。激情にかられるディドの次の言葉を見るといい。

（つづく）

*****
John Dennis (1657-1734)
From The Advancement and Reformation of Modern Poetry:
A Critical Discourse.
Chapter 10
That in their Sacred Poetry, in which the Ancients,
excell'd the Moderns, those places were greatest,
and most Poetical that had most of Religion.

But as the Ancients did not surpass the Moderns in Poetry that was not Sacred, so in that sort of Poetry where they did excel them, they were never so admirable as where they were most Religious. Now the passages of the Ancient Poets, which seem to have most Religion in them, are either those addresses by which men approach'd the Gods, as Invocations, Apostrophes, and the like; or those condescensions, by which the Gods communicated themselves to men, as Revelations, Machines, &c. the first of which are Duties that belong to universal Natural Religion, the second to Religion which is Reveal'd, Extraordinary and Miraculous.

Every thing that is great in Poetry must be great by the Genius that is felt in it, which is the chief thing in Poetry, according to the general acceptation of it; and the principal thing in the Materia Poetica, or the Body of Poetry. Now all Genius is Passion because it moves, and all Passion is either Enthusiasm or ordinary Passion, as we declar'd above. Now that even ordinary Passion in Poetry is heighten'd by Religion, we shall endeavour to prove. And we shall most insist upon those ordinary Passions, which are most to be found in Tragedy and in Epick Poetry. For, as for the greater Ode, that seems to be the peculiar province of Enthusiasm, and ordinary Passions in that are more rarely to be met with.

First then Admiration, which is the Reigning Passion in Epick Poetry, I mean that which is admirable in the action of the Hero, is heighten'd by Revelations, by Machines, and the Ministration of the Gods. For that Ministration, those Machines, and those Revelations are all Miraculous. And the man who was admirable before for his extraordinary Valour and his Native Greatness, becomes more wonderful, when we behold him the esteem and immediate concern of Heaven, when we see him the peculiar care of Providence, when we find the order of Nature inverted, the Skies grown factious upon his account, and Gods descending to sustain or oppose him.

But Secondly, Terror and Compassion, which are the Reigning Passions in Tragedy are Heighten'd by Religion. Tragedy, says Aristotle in his Poetick, is the Imitation of an action which excites Compassion and Terror. Now those two Passions proceed from Surprize, when the Incidents spring one from another against our expectation. For those Incidents, continues the Philosopher, are always more admirable than those which arrive by chance; which is evident from this, says he, that even of accidental things, those are always the most wonderful and most surprizing, which at the same time that they arrive by Chance, seem to fall out by Design; and by a certain particular secret conduct, of which Nature was what they relate of the Statue of Mitys at Argos, which fell upon his Murderer, and kill'd him upon the spot, in the midst of a great Assembly. For that by no means, says the Philosopher, seems to be the work of Chance. From whence ir follows, says he, of necessity, that those Fables where there is this conduct, will always seem preferable to those that have it not. Thus Aristotle declares that the Wonderful in Tragedy, as well as in Epick Poetry, is Heightned by Religion, that those Tragical Incidents that appear to have most of Providence in them, are always most moving and Terrible. The Reason is plain. For all our Passions are grounded upon the Love of our selves; and Terror and Compassion spring from the Calamities of our equals; that is, of those who being in circumstances resembling ours, and committing faults which we either commit, or to which we are liable, are upon that unfortunate. For the more there appears to be of Providence in the punishment, the more we pity the persons.

For if their calamities appear to be the work of Chance, they might as well have hapned to those who have not committed such faults, as to those who have. And therefore a Train of Incidents, which, contrary to our expectation, surprizingly produce one another, is necessary, because the more plainly the punishment appears the result of the faults, and the more clearly we are convinc'd of this when we least expect it, Providence appears the more in the case, and our security is shaken the more, and the more we are mov'd and Terrified. But Religion does not only heighten those Passions which are great in themselves, as Admiration and Terror are; for Admiration raises the Soul, and every thing that is Terrible, is certainly great to him to whom it is Terrible, but it ennobles those which are commonly base and dejected; as for example, Grief; witness that passage in the Passion of Dido:

Testatur moritura Deos, & conscia fati
Sydera. ---

And that Noble Apostrophe afterwards:

Sol qui Terrarem flammis, &c.

And that Sublime Apostrophe of Seinon in the Second Book:

--- Ille Dolis instructus & arte pelasgâ
Sustulit exutas vinclis, ad Sydera palmas,
Vos eterni ignes & non violabile vestrum
Numen ait, vos arae ensesque nefandi
Quos fugi, vittaeque Deum quas Hostia gessi, &c.

But to come to the other sort of Passion, which gives Poetry its force and its greatness, Religious Enthusiasm must necessarily be greater than Human Enthusiasm can be, because the Passions that attend on Religious Ideas, when a man is capable of Reflecting on them as he should do, are stronger than those which attend on Prophane Ideas, as has been said above, and has been partly shewn by examples. And as ordinary Passion is Heightned by Religion, so Human Enthusiastick Passions are heightned by Religious Enthusiasm. We shall give an example of this in Terror, by which I mean not that Common Passion which Aristotle treats of in his Rhetorick and in his Poetick, and of which we spoke in the former part of this Chapter; but that Enthusiastick Terror, which springs from the Ideas unknown to him who feels it. Virgil in his first Book of the Aeneis describes a Tempest, which carries Double Terror along with it; the ordinary one, which springs from the concern which we have for the Hero; and the Enthusiastick one, which the Ideas would carry along with them, tho they were separated from that concern which we feel for the Hero. The Description is Grave, and Severe, and Exalted, because the Poet was mov'd by the Terrible Ideas. For that which is Terrible, is always great to him to whom it is Terrible, as we said before; and that which is Great is Admirable, and then he who is Terrified is always serious, and very much in Earnest. The same Description where the Terror is at the Height is vehement.

Insequitur cumulo praeruptus aquae Mons,
Hi summo in fluctu pendent, his unda Dehiscens
Terram inter fluctus aperit, furit aestus arenis.

Because that which is very Terrible is Wonderful and Astonishing, and he who is astonish'd, being transported beyond himself, must of necessity express himself with that sort of Fury which we call Vehemence. Virgil, by setting so many Terrible Images in motion, had set this Tempest before his Eyes, or rather had transported himself as it were into it. Now, any one who has been upon the brink of a Wreck, and consequently has been very much Terrify'd himself, and seen others Astonish'd, cannot but have felt the same motions that he feels in Reading this passage, and cannot but have observ'd that others who felt them, express'd themselves with the same Fury and Vehemence that the Poet does, tho not with the same Elegance. But tho this Storm is Terrible in it self and Wonderful, yet the Machines, which prepare, and raise, and allay it, very much add to its Greatness and genuine Terror, and it is quite another thing when it is consider'd with the cause of it, which is the Anger of Juno, and the Compliance of Aeolus, and with that which follow'd upon it, which is the Indignation of Neptune, and the exertion of his absolute power.

The passages of the Ancient Poets that were most Religious, were their Invocations, Apostrophes, or the like; or those which contain'd the Miraculous part of their Religion, their Signs, Apparitions, Oracles, and other Revelations.

For their Invocations, Apostrophes, and the like, which were all of them either a sort of Prayers, or Divine Attestations, they are most of them very sublime, and attended with a strong Enthusiasm. And how could it be otherwise, but that the Ancient Poets, who were men of great Learning, of great Passions great Eloquence, and great Parts; when with study and pains, and with all their endeavours to be Enthusiastick, they address'd themselves to their Gods, should be extremely agitated, when we see very plainly that a sort of Modern Enthusiasts, who have neither Learning nor Parts, nor the least tincture of good Letters, are even in their Extempore Prayers disturb'd with very fierce Enthusiasms.

For the Apostrophe, we have given examples of it already, and therefore we shall only say here, that Longinus mentions it as one of the Figures that contribute the most to the Sublime. For the Invocation, we shall bring an Example of it, from the seventh Book of Virgil, and the Reader is desir'd to take notice what addition of Enthusiasm attends it.

Nunc age, qui reges, Erato, quae tempora rerum.
Quis Latio antiquo fuerit status, advena classem
Cum primum Ausoniis exercitus appulit oris.
Expediam, & primae revocabo exordia pugnae.
Tu natem, tu diva mone, dicam horrida bella:
Dicam acies, actosque animis in funera reges,
Tyrrhenamque manum, totamque sub arma coactam
Hesperiam, major rerum mihi nascitur ordo:
Majus opus moveo. ---

And from Horace, Lib. 3. Ode 4.

Descende coelo, & dic age tibia
Regina long am Calliope Melos,
Seu voce nunc mavis acuta,
Seu fidibus citharave Phoebi:
Auditis? an me ludit Amabilis
Insania? audire & videor pios
Errare per lucos, amoenae
Quos & aquae subeunt & aurae.

But to come to those passages of the Ancient Poems, in which the Miraculous part of their Religion was contain'd, and their Revelation more nearly concern'd, as their Signs and Wonders, and their private Inspirations; but above all, the Apparitions of their Gods and their Oracles, it is no wonder if those passages, speaking of things that strike mankind with the last Astonishment, have almost all the Enthusiasm of which the mind of man is with Reason capable. Horace is by no means a cold Writer, and yet he is far from writing every where with the same degree of Fury, and the same Rapture, that he does in the beginning of the Nineteenth Ode of the Second Book.

Baccham in remotis carmina rupibus
Vidi docentem, (credite posteri)
Nymphasque discentes, & aures
Capripedum Satyrorum acutas.
Evae, recenti mens trepidat metu,
Plenoque Bacchi pectore turbidum
Letatur, Evae, parce Liber,
Parce, gravi metuende thyrso.

Nor is Virgil every where so Enthusiastick, as he is in the beginning of the Sixth Book, where the Cumaean Sibyl rages with the Delphick God.

Ventum er at ad limen, cum virgo, poscere sata
Tempus ait, Deus, ecce Deus cui talia fanti
Ante fores subito, non vultus non color unus
Non comtae mansere contae, sed pectus anhelum
Et Rabie fera corda tument, majorque videri,
Nee mortale sonans, afflata est numine quando
Jam propiore Dei. ---

The Hero now the Sacred Floor approach'd,
When on a sudden the Prophetick Maid,
This is the Fearful Time t' enquire of Fate;
And said it with a voice and with a look,
That now were hers no more.
For raving, Lo the God, the God, she cries,
While half disclosing her distorted Face,
Her Tresses in a wild disorder stare.
And now she pants, she swells, she foams with Rage,
And now her Shape looks hideous to the eye,
And now she Thunders in a dreadful Tone,
While all the Godhead raging in her Breast,
With his tempestuous Spirit shakes her soul.

In short, any thing that immediately concerns Revelation has so great an Influence upon Poetry, that it is able to change even the Nature of Writing, and Exalt that very sort of Poetry, which by its Character is Low and Humble; as for Example, the Eclogue: The fourth Eclogue of Virgil will be easily granted by all to be very Sublime. But what is it that makes it so? Why there is at once in that Eclogue an Invocation, and an Apostrophe, and a Revelation of sundry Miracles to come. The Fifth Eclogue between Menalcas and Mopsus, begins with all the Humility, and all the Simplicity, that is proper and peculiar to the Eclogue.

Men. Cur non Mopse, boni quoniam convenimus Ambo,
Tu Calamos in flare Leves, ego Diecre versus.
Hic corilis mixtas inter consedimus ulmos?

And thus Mr Duke has with the same Simplicity translated it.

Men. Mopsus, Since Chance does us together bring,
And you so well can Pipe, and I can Sing,
Why sit we not beneath this secret shade,
By Elms and Hazels mingling Branches made?

But this very Menalcas changes his Tone in a wonderful manner, when in the same Eclogue he comes to the Apotheosis of Daphnis.

Candidus insueti miratur limen Olympi
Sub pedibusque videt Nubes & sydera Daphnis.

And you may easily see that the Gentleman who translated it, who wants no Genius, felt the extream alteration of the Spirit.

Daphnis now wondring at the Glorious show,
O're Heavens bright Pavement does Triumphant go,
And sees the moving Clouds, and the fixt Stars below.

But let us see a little how Virgil goes on.

Ergo Alacris Sylvas, & caetera rura voluptas
Panaque pastoresque tenet, Dryadasque puellas,
Nic Lupus Insidias pecori, nec Retia cervis
Ulla Dolum meditantur, amat bonus otia Daphnis.

Therefore new Joys make glad the Woods, the Plains,
Pan and the Dryades, and the chearful Swains,
The Wolf no Ambush for the Flock does lay,
No cheating Nets the harmless Deer betray,
Daphnis a General Peace Commands, and Nature does obey.

But Virgil goes on.

Ipsi Letitia voces ad Sydera Jactant
Intonsi montes, ipsae jam carmina Rupes
Ipsa sonant Arbusta, Deus, Deus Ille Menalca.
Sis bonus o foelixque tuis! ---

Hark! the glad Mountains raise to Heav'n their voice,
Hark! the hard Rocks in mystick tunes rejoyce!
Hark! thro the Thickets, wondrous Songs resound,
A God, a God, Menalcas, he is crown'd,
O be propitious! O be good to thine!

But now 'tis time to ask a question, What is the reason that Virgil, who knew the Character of the Eclogue better than any man, and who was so throughly convinc'd that the Discourses of Shepherds ought to be simple, and their affections soft and gentle affections, and who besides has been always us'd to introduce his persons speaking perfectly in their Characters, should bring in Menalcas in this Eclogue talking in so exalted a manner, and with so strong an Enthusiasm? Why he has given the Reason in the preceding Verses.

--- Ipsae jam carmina Rupes
Ipsa sonant Arbusta, Deus, Deus Ille Menalca.

'Tis that he was satisfied that very violent Enthusiasms flow so necessarily from the wonders of Religion, that they were as natural to Shepherds as they were to Kings, as being to both alike unavoidable. But what Influence the Miraculous part of Religion had on the Ancient Poetry, we shall discover more at large in the following Chapter.

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