Monsieur Bossu's Treatise of the Epick Poem/Chapter 21
CHAP. III.
As for what has been said, you may consult what the Practice of the Poets was, when they compos'd the Works we have been speaking of. After the Fable was invented, and the Names impos'd on the Personages, the Author was to consider all the Circumstances of his Action, and what parts were finest and most suitable to the Movements of the Theatre, and to his own design; and then he was to make as many parts of his Representation, as there were distinct Narrations between the Songs of the Chorus.
To give you a famous Instance of this, and such an Instance as is well known to the whole World, we will make use of Seneca's Oedipus, without minding the several Absurdities that are therein.
Oedipus begs the Gods to tell him the means of putting a stop to the Plague that then rag'd at Thebes: The Oracle returns him this Answer, That the Death of King Laïus his Predecessor must be Reveng'd. He makes enquiry after the Murderers, and finds, that he was not only guilty of this Man's Death, but besides was the very Son of Laïus, whom he had Murder'd, and of Jocasta his Widow, whom he had Marry'd. He punishes himself severely for it, and by this means restores the Health of his Country.
You see then this Famous Fable, and in truth the most just, and the best invented, as to the Moral, and the Theatral part, of any Antiquity can boast of.
The [1]Grecians, for whom it was compos'd, were extremely pleas'd to see the Crimes and the Misfortunes of Kings: And the Moral instruction, that was most in Vogue at that time, was such a one as did beget in Men an Aversion to Monarchy, and a love to Democracy, which they call'd liberty. What the Poets feign'd of Oedipus contain'd all these things; and was very proper to prevent the Grandees from Aspiring to Tyranny, and to inspire others with a Resolution never to endure it.
This Fable being thus conceiv'd has very naturally these five parts. The first comprehends the Misfortunes of the People. The second is the Enquiry into the Cause and the Remedy of these Misfortunes. The third is the Discovery thereof. The fourth is the Effect of this Discovery, and the performance of what the Gods requir'd, namely the punishing those Crimes, that had been the Cause of the Ills which the People suffer'd. And the fifth is the Cure and Joy that ought to be the Consequence of the Repentance and Punishment of Oedipus.
But this last part was very improper for the Theatre. The Calm and Languishing Passions, of which the spectators upon this occasion were hardly capable, would have enervated and spoil'd the Beauty of those violent Passions so proper to Tragedy, and with which the Audience were to be inspir'd. The Poet then was not to make an exact Episode of this last part. On the other hand, he has divided the second part into two, and has supply'd his five Acts in the following Method.
1. The Plague rag'd in the City of Thebes, and brought so many Miseries and dreadful Deaths upon them, that King Oedipus, touch'd with the Misfortune of his Subjects, would freely have left the Kingdom: But he hopes for some Relief from the Oracle he has sent to consult, and attends its Answer.
2. Creon brings him the Answer, and informs him, That the Cause of the Thebans Misfortunes, is the Murder committed upon the person of his Predecessor King Laïus: And that the Remedy is the punishing of the Murderer. Oedipus sets himself upon his duty of punishing the Offence: And to discover who this Murderer was, whom no body as yet knew, he orders Tiresias to be sent for. This Priest began by a Sacrifice, but that made no discovery of the thing in question.
3. He then had recourse to more powerful means. He calls up from the shades below the Ghost of Laïus, who discovers to him that King Oedipus is the Assassin that ought to be punished; and moreover, that this Prince, who thought himself innocent, was at the same time guilty of Incest and Parricide. But Oedipus, inform'd of this only by Creon, and supposing he was born at Corinth, Son to King Polybus and Queen Meropa, is very confident of his own Innocence, and gives no Credit to the Report Creon made him. He is perswaded 'tis a Falshood invented to out him of the Kingdom, to which Creon was next Heir.
4. But at last he understands that he did kill Laïus, and was his Son, and Jocasta's, whom he had ignorantly married.
5. He punishes himself severely, plucks out his own eyes, goes into Exile, and so restores Health and Quietness to his People.
- ↑ Reges & exactos Tyrannos Densum humeris bibit aure Vulgus. Hor.