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| Of those who reject the Doctrines of Philosophers, as well as those of Scripture: and that we ought to believe the Poets in All Things, or disbelieve them in All.
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Chapter X.—Of those who reject the Doctrines of Philosophers, as
well as those of Scripture: and that we ought to believe the Poets in
All Things, or disbelieve them in All.
There are, however, some persons so infatuated, that when they meet with
such sentiments as these, they are neither converted or alarmed: nay,
they even treat them with contempt and scorn, as if they listened to
the inventions of fable; applauding, perhaps, the beauty of the
eloquence, but abhorring the severity of the precepts. And yet they
give credence to the fictions of the poets, and make both civilized and
barbarous3410
countries ring with exploded and
false tales. For the poets assert that the judgment of souls after
death is committed to men whose parentage they ascribe to the gods,3411
| 3411 Rhadamanthus was a son of Jove (or Vulcan) and Europa. Cf. Hom.
Il. 14. 322; Od. 4. 564, 7. 323. | extolling their righteousness and
impartiality and represent them as guardians of the dead. The same
poets describe the battles of the gods and certain usages of war among
them, and speak of them as subject to the power of fate. Some of these
deities they picture to us as cruel, others as strangers to all care
for the human race, and others again as hateful in their character.
They introduce them also as mourning the slaughter of their own
children, thus implying their inability to succor, not strangers
merely, but those most dear to them. They describe them, too, as
subject to human passions, and sing of their battles and wounds, their
joys and sorrows. And in all this they appear worthy of belief.3412
| 3412 [There can be no doubt (though the fact is not immediately
apparent from the wording of the text), that the spirit of this passage
is ironical.—Bag.] | For if we suppose them to be moved by a
divine impulse to attempt the poetic art, we are bound to believe them
and to be persuaded of what they utter under this inspiration. They
speak, then, of the calamities to which their divinities are subject;
calamities which of course are altogether true! But it will be objected
that it is the privilege of poets to lie, since the peculiar province
of poetry is to charm3413
| 3413 Rather “cheat,” or “delude.” Mr. Charles
Dudley Warner, essayist and novelist, says in an interesting essay on
the relation of fiction to life, that the object of fiction is to
produce illusions, and the test of its art is its power to produce such
illusion. | the spirits of
the hearers, while the very essence of truth is that things told be in
reality exactly what they are said to be.3414
| 3414 There is a temptation here to adopt the translation of
Molz. “Truth lies in the fiction, however, when what is
told corresponds to reality.” Mr. Warner, in his lecture, goes on
to say that the object of fiction is to reveal what is,—not the
base and sordid things only or peculiarly, but the best possibilities,
and gives an exquisite exposition of the fact that the idealism of true
fiction is simply the realism of the nobler characteristics and truths.
The truth is, that the object of fiction or poetry as art is to produce
the image,—fill the whole personality with a picture. This is
only gained in its highest form when every detail exactly corresponds
to truth or reality. The function of fiction is not illusion, but
realization. Its object is the reproduction of truth. Molz.
makes Constantine say that fiction is true when it corresponds to
reality, though the forms be not historical or actual. This is a true
observation, but not what Constantine says. He says in substance, with
Mr. Warner, that the object is to produce illusion or deceive, while
the idea of truth is just the reverse. | Let us grant that it is a characteristic
of poetry occasionally to conceal the truth. But they who speak
falsehood do it not without an object; being influenced either by a
desire of personal gain or advantage, or possibly, being conscious of
some evil conduct, they are induced to disguise the truth by dread of
the threatening vengeance of the laws. But surely it were possible for
them (in my judgment), by adhering faithfully to truth at least while
treating of the nature of the Supreme Being, to avoid the guilt at once
of falsehood and impiety.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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