The life and writings of Henry Fuseli Volume I Part 29

[20] Iliad, xi. v. 15, seq. Conf. Iliad, ii. v. 42, seq.

[21] Iliad, xiv. v. 170, seq.

[22] Iliad, xviii. v. 478-607.

[23] Iliad, iv. v. 105-111.

[24] Iliad, ii. v. 101-8.

[25] Clarke, who has preserved this name in his marginal version, contends strenuously, and with great reason, that Outis ought not to be translated; and in a pa.s.sage which he quotes from the _Acta Eruditorum_, we see much fault found with Giphanius and other interpreters of Homer, for having translated it. It is certain that, in Homer, the word is declined, not as ??t?? -t????, which signifies no man, but as ??t?? -t?d??, making ??t?? in the accusative, consequently, as a proper name. It is sufficient that the ambiguity was such as to deceive the friends of the Cyclops. Outis is said by some (perhaps absurdly) to have been a name given to Ulysses, on account of his having larger ears than common.

[26] 'Outis as a _name_, could only denote him who bore it; but as a _noun_, it signifies, _no man_, which accounts sufficiently for the ludicrous mistake of his brethren.'

[27] _Vos_, the admirable translator of the Odyss. in German hexameters, well aware that the question here lay not between grammar and licence, puerility of conceit, or dignity of fiction, but between sense and nonsense, without deigning to notice the contest of commentators, has rendered ??t??, by "Niemand," in the first instance, and afterwards varies it with "Keiner."

"Niemand ist mein Name; denn Niemand nennen mich alle.

Niemand wurgt mich, ihr Freund', arglistig! und Keiner gewaltsam!

Wenn dir denn keiner gewalt anthut."--

[28] The first, in ??T. A. v. 28.

?a? te ?a? p??t?? ?at' ?a?a?et??

The second, in ??T. P. v. 57-8.

?e?e ?as????ta? e?e?; T???sa? ?a?a?et??

where the scholiast explains it by ??ataa??t??, and the notes deduce it from a compound of the A ?p?tat??? and a?a?: a derivation more probable than that of our translator from ?a, and the Doric a???; unless we suppose that Homer made use for his substantives, of the Ionic, and for his compound adjectives, of the Doric dialects!

[29] Plin. L. x.x.xiii. c. 4. 'Electro auctoritas, Homero teste qui Menelai regiam, auro, electro, argento, ebore fulgere tradit.' Helen, he continues, consecrated a cup of electrum at Lindos, 'mammae suae mensura,'

and adds, 'electri natura ad lucernarum lumina clarius argento splendere.'

[30] ??? de et' ??????? ????----?a? ?e?a??? (_sc._ ????) ??e???t??

?pe?????? ???at?a ??? e?e? ?f?t?????? ????.----

[31] Bayle is mistaken in supposing that the marriage of Lorenzo took place in 1471. Speaking of Machiavelli, he says, Il ne marque pas l'annee de ce mariage, ce qui est un grand defaut dans un ecrivain d'histoire; mais on peut recueillir de sa narration que ce fut l'an 1471. _Dict. Hist. art. Politien._ In correcting Bayle, Menckenius falls into a greater error, and places this event in 1472. _Menk. in vita Pol._ p. 48.

[32] 'How grateful to our sensations, how distinct to our imagination appear the

"Speluncae, vivique lacus, ac frigida Tempe, Mugitusque bom, mollesque sub arbore somni."

[33] 'Published for the first time at the close of the present work.'

[34] If Virgil has given us a highly-finished personification of Rumour, if Horace speaks of his _atra Cura_, if Lucretius present us with an awful picture of Superst.i.tion, their portraits are so vague as scarcely to communicate any discriminate idea, and are characterized by their operation and effects, rather than by their poetical insignia. Of the ancient Roman authors, perhaps there is no one that abounds in these personifications more than the tragedian Seneca; yet what idea do we form of Labour, when we are told that

"Labor exoritur durus, et omnes Agitat curas, aperitque domos:"

'Or, of Hope or Fear, from the following pa.s.sage:

"Turbine magni, spes solicitae Urbibus errant, trepidique metus."

'The personification of Hope, by Tibullus, (Lib. II. Eleg. 6.) is scarcely worthy of that charming author; and if he has been happier in his description of Sleep, (Lib. I. Eleg. 1.) it is still liable to the objections before mentioned.'

[35] 'It is commonly understood that the idea of a systematic arrangement, for securing to states, within the same sphere of political action, the possession of their respective territories, and the continuance of existing rights, is of modern origin, having arisen among the Italian States, in the fifteenth century. _Robertson's Hist. of Ch.

V._ v. i. sec. 2.--But Mr. Hume has attempted to shew that this system, if not theoretically understood, was at least practically adopted by the ancient states of Greece, and the neighbouring governments. _Essays_, v.

1. _part 2. Essay 7._--In adjusting the extent to which these opinions may be adopted, there is no great difficulty. Wherever mankind have formed themselves into societies, (and history affords no instance of their being found in any other,) the conduct of a tribe, or a nation, has been marked by a general will: and states, like individuals, have had their antipathies and predilections, their jealousies, and their fears. The powerful have endeavoured to oppress the weak, and the weak have sought refuge from the powerful, in their mutual union.

Notwithstanding the great degree of civilization that obtained among the Grecian States, their political conduct seems to have been directed upon no higher principle: conquests were pursued as opportunity offered, and precautions for safety were delayed till the hour of danger arrived. The preponderating ma.s.s of the Roman Republic attracted into it's vortex whatever was opposed to it's influence: and the violent commotions of the middle ages, by which that immense body was again broken into new forms, and impelled in vague and eccentric directions, postponed to a late period the possibility of regulated action. The transactions in Italy, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, bear indeed a strong resemblance to those which took place among the Grecian States: but it was not till nearly the close of the latter century that a system of general security and pacification was clearly developed, and precautions taken for insuring its continuance. Simple as this idea may now appear, yet it must be considered, that, before the adoption of it, the minds of men, and consequently the maxims of states, must have undergone an important change: views of aggrandizement were to be repressed; war was to be prosecuted, not for the purpose of conquest, but of security; and, above all, an eye was to be found that could discern, and a mind that could comprehend, so extended an object.'

[36] 'Objects of horror and disgust, the cold detail of deliberate barbarity, can never be proper subjects of art, because they exclude the efforts of genius. Even the powers of Shakspeare are annihilated in the butcheries of t.i.tus Andronicus. Yet the reputation of some of the most celebrated Italian painters has been princ.i.p.ally founded on this kind of representation. "Ici," says M. Tenhove, "c'est S. Etienne qu'on lapide, et dont je crains que la cervelle ne rejaillisse sur moi; plus loin, c'est S. Barthelemi tout sanglant, tout ecorche; je compte ses muscles et ses nerfs. Vingt fleches ont crible Sebastien. L'horrible tete du Baptiste est dans ce plat. Le gril de S. Laurent sert de pendant a la chaudiere de S. Jean. Je recule d'horreur."--_Mem. Gen. lib._ x. May it not be doubted whether spectacles of this kind, so frequent in places devoted to religious purposes, may not have had a tendency rather to keep alive a spirit of ferocity and resentment, than to inculcate those mild and benevolent principles in which the essence of religion consists?'

[37] Our author has given ample opportunities to Mr. Tenhove, a Dutch writer on nearly the same subject with his own, to display a disparity of manner singularly contrasting with his own sober and authentic page.

Mr. T. is apparently a wit and a man of feeling, but at all times ready to sacrifice matter to whim, or to subst.i.tute a.s.sertion for proof: thus, in talking of the celebrated cameo representing the punishment of Marsyas, once the property of Lorenzo, he tells us, that of old it belonged to Nero, who used it as the seal of his death-warrants, and who probably a.s.sumed the att.i.tude of the Apollo engraved on it, whilst he a.s.sisted at the flogging of one Menedemus, a singer who had excited his jealousy; a tale partly invented, partly perverted from Suetonius, who tells something similar of Caligula and Apelles. In another place, (p.

178, note b.) after ridiculing with somewhat prolix propriety the Florentine custom of subst.i.tuting, even in grave writing, the nicknames of their countrymen to their real ones, he adds, that it is a custom laughed at and disapproved by the rest of Italian writers, though undoubtedly he had read of Cola di Rienzi, Ma.s.saniello, t.i.tta Borghese, Giorgione, Il Tintoretto, Fra Bastiano, and t.i.tian himself. "Pauperis esset numerare pecus."

[38] Giorgio Vasari and Ascanio Condivi. Our author, though a patient admirer of the first, is offended at the "insufferable minuteness" of the second. It would be unfair to consider Condivi as the literary compet.i.tor of Vasari, yet great respect is to be paid to a narrative composed under the immediate eye of Michaelagnolo himself. His "Otto scudi al mese poco piu o meno," whether they reflect much or little honour on the liberality of Lorenzo, have at least a right to rank with the "quattro mazzi, che erano quaranti libbre da candele di sego,"

which, the knight of Arezzo informs us, he sent as a present to Michaelagnolo. Vasari Vita di M. A. B. tom. vi. p. 328.

[39] This lady is called Mrs. Wollstonecraft, instead of Mary Wollstonecraft, throughout this Narrative, in conformity to the memoirs which have hitherto appeared of her.

[40] This and subsequent quotations respecting Mrs. Wollstonecraft are taken from her letters to Fuseli.

[41] "Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman, by William G.o.dwin."

[42] Mrs. Bysshe Sh.e.l.ly.

[43] Mr. Meyer was a painter of reputation, both in miniature and enamel.

[44] La Terribil Via, applied by Agostino Caracci to Michael Angelo.

[45] This alludes to Mr. Fuseli's proposals for a gallery filled with pictures painted by him from subjects taken from Milton's Paradise Lost.

[46] This elegant translation, in verse, was published under the t.i.tle of "The Nurse."

[47] Sir Thomas Lawrence, in a discourse which he delivered as President of the Royal Academy, on the 10th December 1823, says, in reference to the Milton Gallery, "the many sublime designs by the great author of this, whose unapproached invention and high attainments enforce this tribute to living genius."

[48] For an elucidation of this pa.s.sage, refer to Suetonius, edit.

Burmanni, v. 2. p. 171.

[49] A name which Fuseli gave to a sprained knee.

[50] This alludes to a contest which occurred on the way to Paris: the "inquisitive traveller," Mr. Farington, was disposed to sleep at St.

Juste; the rest of the party desired to push on. Mr. Moore, who had the regulation of the journey, decided the question by ordering out the horses.

[51] Fuseli made this observation not only in reference to the physiognomic cast of David's countenance, but his face was also disfigured by a hare-lip.

[52] The writer of this saw the picture in the year 1779, and made observations on the spot.