Chapter 1

Series Two: _Essays on Poetry_

No. 3

Rapin's _De Carmine Pastorali_, prefixed to Thomas Creech's translation of the _Idylliums_ of Theocritus (1684)

With an Introduction by J.E. Congleton and a Bibliographical Note

The Augustan Reprint Society July, 1947 Price: 75c

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GENERAL EDITORS

RICHARD C. BOYS, University of Michigan EDWARD NILES HOOKER, University of California, Los Angeles H.T. SWEDENBERG, JR., University of California, Los Angeles

ADVISORY EDITORS

EMMETT L. AVERY, State College of Washington LOUIS I. BREDVOLD, University of Michigan BENJAMIN BOYCE, University of Nebraska CLEANTH BROOKS, Louisiana State University JAMES L. CLIFFORD, Columbia University ARTHUR FRIEDMAN, University of Chicago SAMUEL H. MONK, University of Minnesota JAMES SUTHERLAND, Queen Mary College, London

Lithoprinted from copy supplied by author by Edwards Brothers, Inc. Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A. 1947

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INTRODUCTION

Recent students of criticism have usually placed Rapin in the School of Sense. In fact Rapin clearly denominates himself a member of that school. In the introduction to his major critical work, _Reflexions sur la Poetique d'Aristote_ (1674), he states that his essay "is nothing else, but Nature put in Method, and good _Sense_ reduced to Principles" (_Reflections on Aristotle's Treatise of Poesie_, London, 1731, II, 131). And in a few passages as early as "A Treatise de Carmine Pastorali" (1659), he seems to imply that he is being guided in part at least by the criterion of "good _Sense_." For example, after citing several writers to prove that "brevity" is one of the "graces" of pastoral poetry, he concludes, "I could heap up a great many more things to this purpose, but I see no need of such a trouble, since no man can rationally doubt of the goodness of my Observation" (p.41).

The basic criterion, nevertheless, which Rapin uses in the "Treatise" is the authority of the Ancients--the poems of Theocritus and Virgil and the criticism of Aristotle and Horace. Because of his constant references to the Ancients, one is likely to conclude that he (like Boileau and Pope) must have thought they and Nature (good sense) were the same. In a number of passages, however, Rapin depends solely on the Ancients. Two examples will suffice to illustrate his absolutism. At the beginning of "_The Second_ Part," when he is inquiring "into the nature of _Pastoral,_" he admits: And this must needs be a hard Task, since I have no guide, neither _Aristotle_ nor _Horace_ to direct me.... And I am of opinion that none can treat well and clearly of any kind of _Poetry_ if he hath no helps from these two (p. 16).

In "_The Third_ Part," when he begins to "lay down" his _Rules for writing_ Pastorals," he declares: Yet in this difficulty I will follow _Aristotle's_ Example, who being to lay down Rules concerning _Epicks_, propos'd _Homer_ as a Pattern, from whom he deduc'd the whole Art; So I will gather from _Theocritus_ and _Virgil_, those Fathers of _Pastoral_, what I shall deliver on this account (p. 52).

These passages represent the apogee of the neoclassical criticism of pastoral poetry. No other critic who wrote on the pastoral depends so completely on the authority of the classical critics and poets. As a matter of fact, Rapin himself is not so absolute later. In the section of the _Réflexions_ on the pastoral, he merely states that the best models are Theocritus and Virgil. In short, one may say that in the "Treatise" the influence of the Ancients is dominant; in the _Réflexions_, "good _Sense_."

Reduced to its simplest terms, Rapin's theory is Virgilian. When deducing his theory from the works of Theocritus and Virgil, his preference is almost without exception for Virgil. Finding Virgil's eclogues refined and elegant, Rapin, with a suggestion from Donatus (p. 10 and p. 14), concludes that the pastoral "belongs properly to the _Golden Age_" (p. 37)--"that blessed time, when Sincerity and Innocence, Peace, Ease, and Plenty inhabited the Plains" (p. 5). Here, then, is the immediate source of the Golden Age eclogue, which, being transferred to England and popularised by Pope, flourished until the time of Dr. Johnson and Joseph Warton.

In France the most prominent opponent to the theory formulated by Rapin is Fontenelle. In his "Discours sur la Nature de l'Eglogue" (1688) Fontenelle, with studied and impertinent disregard for the Ancients and for "ceux qui professent cette espèce de religion que l'on s'est faite d'adorer l'antiquité," expressly states that the basic criterion by which he worked was "les lumières naturelles de la raison" (_OEuvres_, Paris, 1790, V, 36). It is careless and incorrect to imply that Rapin's and Fontenelle's theories of pastoral poetry are similar, as Pope, Joseph Warton, and many other critics and scholars have done. Judged by basic critical principles, method, or content there is a distinct difference between Rapin and Fontenelle. Rapin is primarily a neoclassicist in his "Treatise"; Fontenelle, a rationalist in his "Discours." It is this opposition, then, of neoclassicism and rationalism, that constitutes the basic issue of pastoral criticism in England during the Restoration and the early part of the eighteenth century.

When Fontenelle's "Discours" was translated in 1695, the first phrase of it quoted above was translated as "those Pedants who profess a kind of Religion which consists of worshipping the Ancients" (p.294). Fontenelle's phrase more nearly than that of the English translator describes Rapin. Though Rapin's erudition was great, he escaped the quagmire of pedantry. He refers most frequently to the scholiasts and editors in "_The First Part_" (which is so trivial that one wonders why he ever troubled to accumulate so much insignificant material), but after quoting them he does not hesitate to call their ideas "pedantial" (p. 24) and to refer to their statements as grammarian's "prattle" (p. 11). And, though at times it seems that his curiosity and industry impaired his judgment, Rapin does draw significant ideas from such scholars and critics as Quintilian, Vives, Scaliger, Donatus, Vossius, Servius, Minturno, Heinsius, and Salmasius.

Rapin's most prominent disciple in England is Pope. Actually, Pope presents no significant idea on this subject that is foreign to Rapin, and much of the language--terminology and set phrases--of Pope's "Discourse" comes directly from Rapin's "Treatise" and from the section on the pastoral in the _Reflections_. Contrary to his own statement that he "reconciled" some points on which the critics disagree and in spite of the fact that he quotes Fontenelle, Pope in his "Discourse" is a neoclassicist almost as thoroughgoing as Rapin. The ideas which he says he took from Fontenelle are either unimportant or may be found in Rapin. Pope ends his "Discourse" by drawing a general conclusion concerning his _Pastorals_: "But after all, if they have any merit, it is to be attributed to some good old authors, whose works as I had leisure to study, so I have not wanted care to imitate." This statement is diametrically opposed to the basic ideas and methods of Fontenelle, but in full accord with and no doubt directly indebted to those of Rapin.

The same year, 1717, that Pope 'imitated' Rapin's "Treatise," Thomas Purney made a direct attack on Rapin's neoclassic procedure. In the "Preface" to his own _Pastorals_ he expresses his disapproval of Rapin's method, evidently with the second passage from Rapin quoted above in mind: _Rapine's_ Discourse is counted the best on this Poem, for 'tis the longest. You will easily excuse my not mentioning all his Defects and Errors in this Preface. I shall only say then, that instead of looking into the true Nature of the Pastoral Poem, and then judging whether _Theocritus_ or any of his Followers have brought it to it's utmost Perfection or not. _Rapine_ takes it for granted that _Theocritus_ and _Virgil_ are infallible; and aim's at nothing beyond showing the Rules which he thinks they observ'd. Facetious Head! (_Works_, Oxford, 1933, pp. 51-52. The Peroy Reprints, No. XII)

The influence of Rapin on the development of the pastoral, nevertheless, was salutary. Finding the genre vitiated with wit, extravagance, and artificiality, he attempted to strip it of these Renaissance excrescencies and restore it to its pristine purity by direct reference to the Ancients--Virgil, in particular. Though Rapin does not have the psychological insight into the esthetic principles of the genre equal to that recently exhibited by William Empson or even to that expressed by Fontenelle, he does understand the intrinsic appeal of the pastoral which has enabled it to survive, and often to flourish, through the centuries in painting, music, and poetry. Perhaps his most explicit expression of this appreciation is made while he is discussing Horace's statement that the muses love the country: And to speak from the very bottome of my heart... methinks he is much more happy in a Wood, that at ease contemplates this universe, as his own, and in it, the Sun and Stars, the pleasing Meadows, shady Groves, green Banks, stately Trees, flowing Springs, and the wanton windings of a River, fit objects for quiet innocence, than he that with Fire and Sword disturbs the World, and measures his possessions by the wast that lys about him (p. 4).

René Rapin (1621-1687), in spite of his duties as a Jesuit priest and disputes with the Jansenists, became one of the most widely read men of his time and carried on the celebrated discussions about the Ancients with Maimbourg and Vavasseur. His _chef-d'oeuvre_ without contradiction is _Hortorum libri IV_. Like Virgil, Spenser, Pope, and many aspiring lesser poets, he began his literary career by writing pastorals, _Eclogae Sacrae_ (1659), to which is prefixed in Latin the original of "A Treatise de Carmine Pastorali."

J.E. Congleton University of Florida

Reprinted here from the copy owned by the Boston Athenaeum by permission.

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A

TREATISE

de CARMINE PASTORALI

Written by RAPIN.

_The First Part_.

To be as short as possible in my discourse upon the present Subject, I shall not touch upon the Excellency of _Poetry_ in general; nor repeat those high _Encomiums_, (as that tis the most divine of all human Arts, and the like) which _Plato_ in his _Jone_, _Aristotele_ in his _Poetica_, and other Learned men have copiously insisted on: And this I do that I might more closely and briefly pursue my present design, which, no doubt will not please every man; for since I treat of that part of _Poetry_, which (to use _Quintilian's_ words,) by reason of its Clownishness, is affraid of the Court and City; some may imagine that I follow _Nichocaris_ his humor, who would paint only the most ugly and deform'd, and those too in the meanest and most frightful dress, that real, or fancy'd Poverty could put them in.

{2} For some think that to be a Sheapard is in it self mean, base, and sordid; And this I think is the first thing that the graver and soberer sort will be ready to object.

But if we consider how honorable that employment is, our Objectors from that Topick will be easily answer'd, for as _Heroick_ Poems owe their dignity to the Quality of _Heroes_, so _Pastorals_ to that of _Sheapards_.

Now to manifest this, I shall not rely on the authority of the _Fabulous_, and _Heroick_ Ages, tho, in the former, a God fed Sheep in _Thessaly_, and in the latter, _Hercules_ the Prince of _Heroes_, (as _Paterculus_ stiles him) graz'd on mount _Aventine_: These Examples, tis true, are not convinceing, yet they sufficiently shew that the employment of a Sheapard was sometime look'd upon to be such, as in those Fabulous times was not alltogether unbecomeing the _Dignity_ of a _Heroe_, or the _Divinity_ of a _God_: which consideration if it cannot be of force enough to procure excellence, yet certainly it may secure it from the imputation of baseness, since it was sometime lookt upon as fit for the greatest in Earth or Heaven.

But not to insist on the authority of _Poets_, _Sacred Writt_ tells us that _Jacob_ and _Esau_, two great men, were Sheapards; And _Amos_, one of the Royal Family, asserts the same of himself, for _He was_ among _the Sheapards of Tecua_, following that employment: The like by Gods own appointment {3} prepared _Moses_ for a Scepter, as _Philo_ intimates in his life, when He tells us, _that a Sheapards Art is a suitable preparation to a Kingdome_; the same He mentions in the Life of _Joseph_, affirming that the care a Sheapard hath over his Cattle, very much resembles that which a King hath over his Subjects: The same _Basil_ in his Homily de _S. Mamm. Martyre_ hath concerning _David_, who was taken from following the Ews great with young ones to feed _Israel_, for He says that the Art of feeding and governing are very near akin, and even Sisters: And upon this account I suppose twas, that Kings amongst the _Greeks_ reckoned the name of Sheapard one of their greatest titles, for, if we believe _Varro_, amongst the Antients, the best and bravest was still a Sheapard: Every body knows that the _Romans_ the worthiest and greatest Nation in the World sprang from _Sheapards_: The Augury of the Twelve Vulturs plac't a Scepter in _Romulus's_ hand which held a Crook before; and at that time, as _Ovid_ says,

His own small Flock each Senator did keep.

_Lucretius_ mentions an extraordinary happiness, and as it were Divinity in a _Sheaperd's_ life,

Thro Sheapards ease, and their Divine retreats.

And this is the reason, I suppose, why the solitude of the Country, the shady Groves, and security of that happy Quiet was so grateful to the Muses, for thus _Horace_ represents them,

{4} The Muses that the Country Love.

Which Observation was first made by _Mnasalce_ the _Sicyonian_ in his Epigram upon _Venus_

The Rural Muse upon the Mountains feeds.

For sometimes the Country is so raveshing and delightful, that twill raise Wit and Spirit even in the dullest Clod, And in truth, amongst so many heats of Lust and Ambition which usually fire our Citys, I cannot see what retreat, what comfort is left for a chast and sober Muse.

And to speak from the very bottome of my heart, (not to mention the integrity and innocence of Sheapards upon which so many have insisted, and so copiously declaimed) methinks he is much more happy in a Wood, that at ease contemplates this universe, as his own, and in it, the Sun and Stars, the pleasing Meadows, shady Groves, green Banks, stately Trees, flowing Springs, and the wanton windings of a River, fit objects for quiet innocence, than he that with Fire and Sword disturbs the World, and measures his possessions by the wast that lys about him: _Augustus_ in the remotest East fights for peace, but how tedious were his Voyages? how troublesome his Marches? how great his disquiets? what fears and hopes distracted his designs? whilst _Tityrus_ contented with a little, happy in the enjoyment of his Love, and at ease under his spreading Beech.

Taught Trees to sound his _Amaryllis_ name.

{5} On the one side _Meliboeus_ is forc't to leave his Country, and _Antony_ on the other; the one a Sheapard, the other a great man, in the Common-Wealth; how disagreeable was the Event? the Sheapard could endure himself; and sit down contentedly under his misfortunes, whilst lost _Antony_, unable to hold out, and quitting all hopes both for himself and his Queen, became his own barbarous Executioner: Than which sad and deplorable fall I cannot imagine what could be worse, for certainly nothing is so miserable as a Wretch made so from a flowrishing & happy man; by which tis evident how much we ought to prefer before the gaity of a great and shining State, that Idol of the Crowd, the lowly simplicity of a Sheapards Life: for what is that but a perfect image of the state of Innocence, of that golden Age, that blessed time, when Sincerity and Innocence, Peace, Ease, and Plenty inhabited the Plains?

Take the Poets description

Here Lowly Innocence makes a sure retreat, A harmless Life, and ignorant of deceit, and free from fears with various sweet's encrease, And all's or'e spread with the soft wings of Peace: Here Oxen low, here Grots, and purling Streams, And Spreading shades invite to easy dreams.

And thus Horace,

Happy the man beyond pretence Such was the state of Innocence, &c.

{6} And from this head I think the dignity of _Bucolicks_ is sufficiently cleared, for as much as the Golden Age is to be preferred before the _Heroick_, so much _Pastorals_ must excell _Heroick_ Poems: yet this is so to be understood, that if we look upon the majesty and loftiness of _Heroick_ Poems, it must be confest that they justly claim the preheminence; but if the unaffected neatness, elegant, graceful smartness of the expression, or the polite dress of a Poem be considered, then they fall short of _Pastorals_: for this sort flows with Sweet, Elegant, neat and pleasing fancies; as is too evident to every one that hath tasted the sweeter muses, to need a farther explication: for tis not probable that _Asinius Pollio_, _Cinna_, _Varius_, _Cornelius Gallus_, men of the neatest Wit, and that lived in the most polite Age, or that _Augustus Cæsar_ the Prince of the _Roman_ elegance, as well as of the common Wealth, should be so extreamly taken with _Virgils Bucolicks_, or that _Virgil_ himself a man of such singular prudence, and so correct a judgment, should dedicate his Eclogues to those great Persons; unless he had known that there is somewhat more then ordinary Elegance in those sort of Composures, which the wise perceive, tho far above the understanding of the Crowd: nay if _Ludovicus Vives_, a very learned man, and admired for politer studies may be believed, there is somewhat more sublime and excellent in those _Pastorals_, than the Common {7} sort of Grammarians imagine: This I shall discourse of in an other place, and now inquire into the Antiquity of Pastorals.

Since _Linus_, _Orpheus_, and _Eumolpus_ were famous for their Poems, before the _Trojan_ wars; those are certainly mistaken, who date Poetry from that time; I rather incline to their opinion who make it as old as the World it self; which Assertion as it ought to be understood of Poetry in general, so especially of _Pastoral_, which, as _Scaliger_ delivers, was the most antient kind of Poetry, and resulting from the most _antient_ way of Liveing: _Singing first began amongst Sheapards as they fed their Flocks, either by the impulse of nature, or in imitation of the notes of Birds, or the whispering of Trees._

For since the first men were either _Sheapards_ or _Ploughmen_, and _Sheapards_, as may be gathered out of _Thucydides_ and _Varro_, were before the others, they were the first that either invited by their leisure, or (which _Lucretius_ thinks more probable) in imitation of Birds, began a tune.

Thro all the Woods they heard the pleasing noise Of chirping Birds, and try'd to frame their voice, And Imitate, thus Birds instructed man, And taught them Songs before their Art began.

In short, tis so certain that Verses first began in the Country that the thing is in it self evident, and this _Tibullus_ very plainly signifies,

{8} First weary at his Plough the labouring Hind In certain feet his rustick words did bind: His dry reed first he tun'd at sacred feasts To thanks the bounteous Gods, and cheer his Guests.

_In certain feet_ according to _Bern Cylenius_ of _Verona_ his interpretation _in set measures_: for _Censorinus_ tells us, that the antient Songs were loose and not ty'd up to any strict numbers, and afterwards by certain laws and acknowledged rules were confin'd to such and such measures: for this is the method of Nature in all her works, from imperfect and rude beginnings things take their first rise, and afterwards by fit and apposite additions are polish't, and brought to perfection: such were the Verses which heretofore the _Italian_ Sheapards and Plough-men, as _Virgil_ says, sported amongst themselves.

Italian Plough-men sprung from antient _Troy_ Did sport unpolish't Rhymes--

_Lucretius_ in his Fifth Book _de Natura Rerum_, says, that Sheapards were first taught by the rushing of soft Breezes amongst the Canes to blow their Reeds, and so by degrees to put their Songs in tune.

For Whilst soft Evening Gales blew or'e the Plains And shook the sounding Reeds, they taught the Swains, And thus the Pipe was fram'd, and tuneful Reed, And whilst the Flocks did then securely feed, The harmless Sheapards tun'd their Pipes to Love, {9} And Amaryllis name fill'd every Grove.

From all which tis very plain that _Poetry_ began in those days, when Sheapards took up their employment: to this agrees _Donatus_ in his Life of _Virgil_, and _Pontanus_ in his Fifth Book of Stars, as appears by these Verses.

Here underneath a shade by purling Springs The Sheapards Dance, whilst sweet _Amyntas_ sings; Thus first the new found Pipe was tun'd to Love, And Plough-men taught their Sweet hearts to the Grove,

Thus the _Fescennine_ jests when they sang harvest-home, and then too the Grape gatherers and Reapers Songs began, an elegant example of which we have in the Tenth _Idyllium_ of _Theocritus_.

From this birth, as it were, of _Poetry_, Verse began to grow up to greater matters; For from the common discourse of _Plough-men_ and _Sheapards_, first _Comedy_, that Mistress of a private Life, next _Tragedy_, and then _Epick Poetry_ which is lofty and _Heroical_ arrose, This _Maximus Tyrius_ confirms in his Twenty first dissetation, where he tells us that Plough-men just comeing from their work, and scarce cleansed from the filth of their employment, did use to flurt out some sudden and _extempore_ Catches; and from this beginning Plays were produc'd and the Stage erected: Thus {10} much concerning the _Antiquity_, next of the _Original_ of this sort.

About this Learned men cannot agree, for who was the first Author, is not sufficiently understood; _Donatus_, tis true, tells us tis proper to the Golden Age, and therefore must needs be the product of that happy time: but who was the Author, where, what time it was first invented hath been a great Controversy, and not yet sufficiently determined: _Epicharmus_ one of _Pythagoras_ his School, in his *alkyoni* mentions one _Diomus_ a _Sicilian_, who, if we believe _Athænæus_ was the first that wrote _Pastorals: those that fed Cattle had a peculiar kind of Poetry, call'd Bucolicks, of which Dotimus a Sicilian was inventer:_

_Diodorus Siculus_ *en tois mythologoumenois*, seems to make _Daphnis_ the son of _Mercury_ and a certain _Nymph_, to be the Author; and agreeable to this, _Theon_ an old _scholiast_ on _Theocritus_, in his notes upon the first _Idyllium_ mentioning _Daphnis_, adds, _he was the author of Bucolicks_, and _Theocritus himself_ calls him _the Muses Darling_: and to this Opinion of _Diodorus Siculus Polydore Virgil_ readily assents.

But _Mnaseas_ of _Patara_ in a discourse of his concerning _Europa_, speaks thus of a Son of _Pan_ the God of Sheapards: _Panis Filium Bubulcum à quo & Bucolice canere:_ Now Whether _Mnaseas_ by that _Bubulcum_, means only a _Herds-man_, or one skilled in _Bucolicks_, is uncertain; but if _Valla's_ {11} judgment be good, tis to be taken of the latter: yet _Ælian_ was of another mind, for he boldly affirms that _Stesichorus_ called _Himeræus_ was the first, and in the same place adds, that _Daphnis_ the Son of _Mercury_ was the first Subject of _Bucolicks_.