The Poetical Works of Mark Akenside Part 6

'Do you imagine,' says Socrates to Aristippus, 'that what is good is not beautiful? Have you not observed that these appearances always coincide? Virtue, for instance, in the same respect as to which we call it good, is ever acknowledged to be beautiful also. In the characters of men we always [1] join the two denominations together.

The beauty of human bodies corresponds, in like manner, with that economy of parts which const.i.tutes them good; and in every circ.u.mstance of life, the same object is constantly accounted both beautiful and good, inasmuch as it answers the purposes for which it was designed.'

--_Xenophont. Memorab. Socrat_. 1.iii.c.8.

This excellent observation has been ill.u.s.trated and extended by the n.o.ble restorer of ancient philosophy. (See the _Characteristics_, vol.

ii., pp. 339 and 422, and vol. iii., p. 181.) And another ingenious author has particularly shewn, that it holds in the general laws of nature, in the works of art, and the conduct of the sciences (_Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue_, treat, i. Section 8). As to the connexion between beauty and truth, there are two opinions concerning it. Some philosophers a.s.sert an independent and invariable law in nature, in consequence of which all rational beings must alike perceive beauty in some certain proportions, and deformity in the contrary. And this necessity being supposed the same with that which commands the a.s.sent or dissent of the understanding, it follows, of course, that beauty is founded on the universal and unchangeable law of truth.

But others there are who believe beauty to be merely a relative and arbitrary thing; that, indeed, it was a benevolent provision in nature to annex so delightful a sensation to those objects which are best and most perfect in themselves, that so we might be engaged to the choice of them at once, and without staying to infer their usefulness from their structure and effects; but that it is not impossible, in a physical sense, that two beings, of equal capacities for truth, should perceive, one of them beauty, and the other deformity, in the same proportions. And upon this supposition, by that truth which is always connected with beauty, nothing more can be meant than the conformity of any object to those proportions upon which, after careful examination, the beauty of that species is found to depend. Polycletus, for instance, a famous ancient sculptor, from an accurate mensuration of the several parts of the most perfect human bodies, deduced a canon or system of proportions, which was the rule of all succeeding artists. Suppose a statue modelled according to this: a man of mere natural taste, upon looking at it, without entering into its proportions, confesses and admires its beauty; whereas a professor of the art applies his measures to the head, the neck, or the hand, and, without attending to its beauty, p.r.o.nounces the workmanship to be just and true.

[Footnote 1: This the Athenians did in a peculiar manner, by the words [Greek: kalokagathus] and [Greek: kalokagathia].]

ENDNOTE G.

'_As when Brutus rose_,' etc.--P. 18.

Cicero himself describes this fact--'Ca.s.sare interfecto--statim cruentum alte extollens M. Brutus pugionem, Ciceronem nominatim exclamavit, atque ei recuperatam libertatem est gratulatus.'

--_Cic. Philipp_. ii. 12.

ENDNOTE H.

'_Where Virtue rising from the awful depth Of Truth's mysterious bosom_,' etc.--P. 20.

According to the opinion of those who a.s.sert moral obligation to be founded on an immutable and universal law; and that which is usually called the moral sense, to be determined by the peculiar temper of the imagination and the earliest a.s.sociations of ideas.

ENDNOTE I.

'_Lyceum_.'--P. 21.

The school of Aristotle.

ENDNOTE J.

'_Academus_.'--P. 21.

The school of Plato.

ENDNOTE K.

'_Ilissus_.'--P. 21.

One of the rivers on which Athens was situated. Plato, in some of his finest dialogues, lays the scene of the conversation with Socrates on its banks.

BOOK SECOND.

ENDNOTE L

'_At last the Muses rose_,' etc.--P. 22.

About the age of Hugh Capet, founder of the third race of French kings, the poets of Provence were in high reputation; a sort of strolling bards or rhapsodists, who went about the courts of princes and n.o.blemen, entertaining them at festivals with music and poetry.

They attempted both the epic, ode, and satire; and abounded in a wild and fantastic vein of fable, partly allegorical, and partly founded on traditionary legends of the Saracen wars. These were the rudiments of Italian poetry. But their taste and composition must have been extremely barbarous, as we may judge by those who followed the turn of their fable in much politer times; such as Boiardo, Bernardo, Ta.s.so, Ariosto, etc.

ENDNOTE M.

'_Valclusa_.'--P. 22.

The famous retreat of Francisco Petrarcha, the father of Italian poetry, and his mistress, Laura, a lady of Avignon.

ENDNOTE N.

'_Arno_.'--P. 22.

The river which runs by Florence, the birth-place of Dante and Boccaccio.

ENDNOTE O.

'_Parthenope_.'--P. 23.

Or Naples, the birth-place of Sannazaro. The great Torquato Ta.s.so was born at Sorrento in the kingdom of Naples.

ENDNOTE P.

'_The rage Of dire ambition_,' etc.--P. 23.

This relates to the cruel wars among the republics of Italy, and abominable politics of its little princes, about the fifteenth century. These, at last, in conjunction with the papal power, entirely extinguished the spirit of liberty in that country, and established that abuse of the fine arts which has been since propagated over all Europe.

ENDNOTE Q.

'_Thus from their guardians torn, the tender arts_,' etc.--P. 23.

Nor were they only losers by the separation. For philosophy itself, to use the words of a n.o.ble philosopher, 'being thus severed from the sprightly arts and sciences, must consequently grow dronish, insipid, pedantic, useless, and directly opposite to the real knowledge and practice of the world.' Insomuch that 'a gentleman,'

says another excellent writer, 'cannot easily bring himself to like so austere and ungainly a form: so greatly is it changed from what was once the delight of the finest gentlemen of antiquity, and their recreation after the hurry of public affairs! From this condition it cannot be recovered but by uniting it once more with the works of imagination; and we have had the pleasure of observing a very great progress made towards their union in England within these few years.

It is hardly possible to conceive them at a greater distance from each other than at the Revolution, when Locke stood at the head of one party, and Dryden of the other. But the general spirit of liberty, which has ever since been growing, naturally invited our men of wit and genius to improve that influence which the arts of persuasion gave them with the people, by applying them to subjects of importance to society. Thus poetry and eloquence became considerable; and philosophy is now, of course, obliged to borrow of their embellishments, in order even to gain audience with the public.

ENDNOTE R.