EPI
proper Action , but an Action Epifodified, or a real Epifode ; which, tho' at the Discretion of the Poet, is yet neceffary and proper to the Subject.
From what has been faid, we may venture to define Epifodes to be neceffary Parts of the Action, extended and fill'd up with probable Circumftances. Now, an Epifode is only a Part of an Action 5 and not a whole Action. And this Part of the Action, which is the Bafis, or Ground of the Epifode, muft not, when Efifodified, retain any Thing of the Simplicity which it had when mil exprefs'd in general, in the Plan of the Fable.
Arifiotle rehearfing the Parts of the Plan of the OdyJJe, fays cxprefly, that they are proper ; and by that, diilin- guifhes them from Epifodes. Thus, in the Oedipus of Sophocles, the ceafing of the Plague at Thebes is no Epi- fode. 'Tis only the Ground, and Matter of an Epifode, which the Poet might have ufed, had he pleafed. And Arifiotle, obferving that Homer, in the Iliad, had taken but few Things for his Subject, but that he had ufed Abundance of his Epifodes, intimates, that the Subject contains in it felf Abundance of Epifodes, which the Poet may ufe, or let alone, at Pleafure. That is, it contains the Grounds, or Stamina thereof, which may either be left in their general and fimple Brevity, as Seneca has done the ceafing of the Plague ; or may be extended and un- folded, as the fame Author has done the Punifhment of Oedipus.
The Subject of a Poem is lengthen'd two Ways : Either, by the Poets making ufe of a great many of his Epifodes 5 or by amplifying, and giving a great Extent to every one. By this latter Method, chiefly, "it is, that the Epic Poets lengthen their Poems much beyond the ^Dramatic. It mull be added, that there are certain Parts of an Action, which, of themfelves, don't naturally prefent or afford more than one Epifode $ fuch as the Death of Heclor, of ^turnUS, or the like : Whereas, there are other Parts of the Fable more copious and fertile, and which oblige the Poet to make divers Epifodes on each , tho' laid down in the firft Plan, with as much Simplicity as the relf : Such are the Battels of the Trojans and Grecians 5 the Abfence of Ulyffes ; the Wanderings of Mneas, &c. For Ulyffes's Abience fo many Years from his own Country, required his Prefence elfewhcre ; and the Defign of the Fable was to throw him into feveral Dangers, and different Countries.
Now each Peril, and each new Country, furnifh'd an Epifode, which the Poet might ufe if he pleas'd.
The Rcfiilt of the whole is, that Epifodes are not Actions, but Parts of Actions ; that they ate not added to the Action and Matter of the Poem, but that they make that Action and Matter themfelves, as the Members make the Body : That, of Courfe, they are not to be fetch'd from elfewhere, but rais'd from the Ground, or Fund of the Action : That they ate not united, and connected with the Action, but with one another : That all the Pans of an Action are not fo many Epifodes, but only fuch as are amplified, and extended with particular Circumftances : And, laftly, that their Union with each other, is neceffary in the Ground of the Epifode, and probable in the Circumftances thereof. See Action.
EPISODIC, in Poetry. A Fable is faid to be Epifodic, when it is fwell'd with unneceffary Incidents ; and its Epifodes are not neceffarily, nor properly connected with each other. See Episode.
Arifiotle lays it down, that thofe Tragedies are mofl defective, whofe Epifodes have no Connection, or Depcn- dance, on each other ; which he calls Epifodic, q. d. fupcr- abundant in Epifodes ; by Reafon fo many little Epifodes can never compofe one whole one ; but neceffarily remain in a vicious Plurality. See Fable.
The moft fimple Actions are moft fubjeit to this Irrc- oularity ; in that, having fewer Incidents and fewer Parts than others, they affotd lefs Matter. An unwary Poet would fometimes have confumed his whole Stock in the fiift, or fecond Time that his Actors appear'd between the Chorus's : and be driven to a Neceffity of looking out for other Actions, to fupply the remaining Intervals. Arift. 'Poem. C. 9.
The firft French Poets did the like : To fill each AS, they took fo many different Actions of a Hero ; which had no other Connection between them, but that they were done by the fame Perfon. Bojfu p. joif.
If an Epifode be ufed, the Names and Circumftances whereof are unneceffary, and whofe Ground and Subject is no Part of the Action, that is of the Matter of the Poem ; fuch an Epifode renders the Fable Epifodic. This Irregu- larity is difcover'd, when one may take away a whole Epifode, without fubftituting any Thing in its Room ; and yet leave no Chafm, or Defect in the Poem. The Hi- ftory of Hypfippile, in Statius's Thebaid, affords an Inftance of thefe faulty Epijodes. If the whole Story of that illu- itrious Nurfe were retrench'd, the Sequel of the principal
[ 327 ]
EPI
Action would be the better foi
Nor woulf any Body
imagine he had forgot any Thing, or that there was any Member of his Action wanting. BojTu.
EPISPASTIC, in Medicine, a Remedy, which beino externally applied, draws or attrafls the Humour to the Part; call'd alfo an Attractive. See Attractive.
Of Epifpafiicks there are fome which act very pently and others with a deal of Violence. Thofe of the latter Kind fwell, and bloat the Skin, make it Red, and even raife Blifters thereon. See Vesicatory.
The principal fimple Epifpafiicks are Pellitory, Garlic Muflard, Onions, Teafi, Goofe-dang, and that oip idgeons Cantharides, ike.
The Word is Greek, form'd of &? and fx«4>, traho, I draw.
EPISTATES, in Antiquity, a Commander, or Perfon,
™ s the Direction and Government of a People.
The Term is of confiderable Ufe, in fpeaking of the antient Government of Athens ; where the Eplftates was the Senator in Command for that Day, or whofe Turn it was to prefide that Day.
The Conftitution was this : The ten Tribes of Athens, elected every Year by Lot, each of them fifty Senators ; which made a Senate of five Hundred. Every Tribe had the Precedence in its Turn, and furrender'd it again, fuc- ceflively, to another. The fifty Senators in Office were call'd Prytanes ; the particular Place where they affem- bled Prytonetim ; and the Term, or Duration, of their Office, viz. thirty five Days, Prytania. During thefe thirty five Days, ten, of the fifty Prytanes, prcfided weekly, under the Name of Proedres. And of thefe Proedres, there was one to prefide each Day of the Week, under the Title of Epiftates.
No Perfon was allow'd to hold this Office more than once in his whole Life ; left he (hould fall too much into the Taft of Dominion. The Senators of all the other Tribes ftill voted, according to the Order the Lot had given them ; but the Prytanes alone convened the Affem- blies ; the Proedres, laid the Bufinefs before them ; and the Epiftates, took their Votes and Opinions.
It muft be added, that of the ten Proedres, of each Week, there were but feven that could prefide, each his Day, in Quality of Epiftates. The ten Proedres elected the feven Prytanes. See Prytanes.
The Word is derived from the Greek, &n } fuper, over, and iaifu, fid, I ftand.
EPISTEMONARCH, a Dignitary in the Greek Church.
The Epiftemonarch was appointed to watch over the Doctrines of the Church ; and to infpect, or furvey every Thing relating to the Faith, in Quality of Cenfor thereof.
His Office anfwer'd pretty much to that of Magifier fieri Palatii at Rome.
The Word is derived from the Greek, thd\t.i, fcio, I know, of &fawpa y Science, Knowledge, and ecjiui, Command 7 Precedence.
EPISTLE, a Letter miffive. See Letter.
The Term Epifile is now fcarce ufed, but for Letters wrote in Verfe ; and Letters Dedicatory. See Epifile Dedicatory.
In fpeaking of Letters wrote by Moderns, or rather, in the modern Languages, we never n!k the Word Epifile. Thus, we fay, the Letters, not Epifiles, of the Cardinal ^' OJfat i °f Voiture, of Balzac, of Ho'joel, of Farquhar, &c. But thofe wrote by the Antients, or rather in the Antient Languages, we call Epifiles : As the Epifiles, not Letters, of Cicero, Pliny, Seneca, Busbequius, Launoy, &c. Of St. Augnfiin, St. Jerome, &c. The Epifiles of St. Paul, St. Peter, St. John, Sec. to the Romans, Co- rinthians, &c.
The Word is form'd of the Greek, Oi^>m, mitto, I fend. '
EPISTOLARY, a Term chiefly ufed in the Phrafe Epiftolary Style. See Style.
The Word is, fometimes, alfo applied to Authors who have wrote Epifiles or Letters : The principal Epiftolary Authors, are Sidonius ApoUinaris, Tally, the younger Pliny, Seneca the Philofopher, Petrarch, Politian, Busbequius, Erafmus, Lipfms, Muret, Afcham, Milton, Petau, Launoi, Sarau, Balzac, and Voiture.
EPISTOMIUM, in Hydraulicks, a Plug, or Inftmment by the Application whereof, an Aperture may be open'd, and fhut again at Pleafure.
EPISTROPHEUS, from ane'^i, converts, I turn about ; the fame with Cardo. See Cardo.
EPISTYLE, in the antient Architecture, a Term ufed by the Greeks, for what we call Architrave, viz. a Maf- five of Stone, or Piece of Wood, laid immediately over the Capital of a Column. See Architrave.
The
