# Monsieur Bossu's Treatise of the Epick Poem/Chapter 25

CHAP. VII.
There are four Qualifications in the Epick Action: the first is its Unity; the second its Integrity; the third its Importance; and the fourth its Duration. We will begin with the first.
In this place we shall consider the Unity of the Action, not only in the first Draught and Model of the Fable, but in the extended and Episodiz'd Action. And in truth, if the Episodes are not added to the Action, but on the contrary are the necessary parts thereof; it is plain, that they ought to be comprehended in it, and its Unity still preserv'd: And the Fables which Aristotle calls Episodical are such, wherein some Episodes that are foreign, and not duly connected, add some Actions to the Action of the Poem, and so spoil the Unity of it.
The Unity of the Epick Action, as well as the Unity of the Fable, does not consist either in the Unity of the Hero, or in the Unity of Time: This is what we have already taken notice of. But 'tis easier to tell wherein it does not consist, than 'tis to discover wherein it does.
From the Idea I have conceived thereof by reading our Authors, these three things, I suppose, are necessary thereto. The first is, to make use of no Episode, but what arises from the very Platform and Foundation of the Action, and is as it were a Natural Member of this Body. The second is, exactly to unite these Episodes, and these Members, with one another. And the third is, never to finish any Episode so as it may seem to be an entire Action; but to let each Episode still appear in its own particular Nature, as the Member of a Body, and as a Part of it self not compleat.
We have already established the first of these three Qualifications, in the Doctrine we laid down concerning the Episodes; and perhaps enough has been said about it: but yet we will clear up this Doctrine by some Instances taken from the principal Episodes of the Æneid.
In the Scheme we have drawn of the Fable and Action of this Poem, we have observed, that Æneas ought of necessity to be a King newly elected, and the Founder of an Empire rais'd upon the Ruins of a decay'd State: that this Prince should be oppos'd by wicked Men: and lastly, that he should be established by Piety and the Force of Arms.
​The first part of this Action is the Alteration of a State, of a King, and of a Priest. And this is Virgil's first Episode, contain'd in his second Book, wherein thePoet describes the Subversion of the Trojan Empire in Asia, the Death of King Priam, and of the Priest Panthus. To all this he adds the Choice which both Gods and Men make of Æneas to be the Successor of these two deceased Persons, and to re-establish the Empire of the Trojans in Italy.
The second part of the Action begins, when Æneas sets himself upon his Duty, executes the Orders he receives, and marches for Italy. Virgil has plac'd almost all this second Episode in his third Book: the rest lies in the first, in the fifth, and in the beginning of the seventh.
The third part of the Action is the Establishing Religion and Laws. Religion consists in Sacrifices, in Funeral Rites, and Festival Sports. Æneas performed all these; and the Poet took care from time to time to advertise his Readers, that these Ceremonies were not to be consider'd as so many particular Actions, or as the simple Effects of the Hero's Piety upon some particular Occasions; but as sacred Rites, which he was going to transfer into Italy under the Quality of the Founder of the Roman Empire. By this means, no body can doubt of his meaning, nor take these Acts of Religion, and these Episodes, for any thing else but the necessary and essential Parts of his Action and Matter. This Part furnishes the Poet with several Episodes, which he distributes into several parts of his Work; as in the third Book, where Æneas receives from Helenus the Ceremonies which hereafter he was oblig'd to institute: in the fifth, where he celebrates the Sports hard by his Father's Tomb: And elsewhere almost throughout the whole Poem.
Virgil design'd his sixth Book for the other part about Laws, viz. for the Morality, for the Politicks, and for the forming such a Genius as was to animate the Body-Politick of the Roman State.
After these parts of the Action, which contain the performance of the Hero's Designs, we are to consider likewise the Obstacles he meets with, which make up the Intrigues of the Action. These Obstacles are the Effects of Juno's Passion. And we might say, that this Opposition is no less proper to the Æneid, than the Opposition of Neptune is to the Odysseïs. Now we observ'd that Aristotle placed the Anger of this God in the first Draught of the Greek Poem among the Incidents that are proper to it.
​The first of these Intrigues, and the most considerable Obstacle of all, is that of Dido, which takes up the first and fourth Book. The second is the Burning of his Fleet in the fifth Book. The third is the Love, the Ambition, and the Valour of Turnus. This last supply'd him with a great many Episodes, being the Cause of all the War Æneas met with in Italy. It begins at the seventh Book, and is not over till the End of the Poem. 'Tis thus that the Episodes of the Æneid are deduc'd from the Fable and the very Essence of the Action.
The second Thing we said was necessary for the Unity of the Action, is the Unity and the Connexion of the Episodes with one another. For besides that Relation and Proportion which all the Members ought to have with one another, so as to constitute but one Body, which should be homogeneous in all its parts; 'tis requir'd farther, that these Members should be, not contiguous as if they were cut off and clap'd together again, but uninterrupted and duly connected. Without this, the natural Members would not make up that Union, which is necessary to constitute a Body.
The Continuity and Situation of Episodes is not exact, when they only follow one another: but they should be plac'd one after another so as the first shall either be necessarily or probably the Cause of that which follows. Aristotle finds fault with Incidents that are without any Consequence or Connexion; and he says that the Poems, wherein such sorts of Episodes are, offend against the Unity of Action. He brings, as an Instance of this Defect, the Wound which Ulysses receiv'd upon Parnassus, and the Folly he counterfeited before the Grecian Princes: because one of these Incidents could not have happen'd as a Consequence of the other; Homer could not have given them a necessary Connexion and Continuity: nor has he spoil'd the Unity of the Odysseïs by such a Mixture.
But he gives us a compleat Instance of the Continuity we speak of, in the Method whereby he has connected the two parts of his Iliad; which are the Anger of Achilles against Agamemnon, and the Anger of the same Hero against Hector. The Poet would not have duly connected these two Episodes, if before the Death of Patroclus, Achilles had been less inexorable, and had accepted of the Satisfaction Agamemnon offer'd him. This would have made two Angers and two Revenges quite different from, and independent of one another. And though both had been necessary and essential to the Fable, to make it appear what Mischiefs Discord, and what Advantages Concord is the Cause of: Yet the Unity would have been only in the Fable, but the Action would have been double and Episodical: because the first Episode would ​not have been the Cause of the second, nor the second a Consequence of the first.
These two parts of the Ilaid are joyn'd together very regularly. If Achilles had never fell out with Agamemnon, he would have fought in person, and not have expos'd his Friend singly against Hector, under those Arms that were the cause of this Young man's Rashness and Death. And besides, the better to joyn these two parts with one another, the second is begun a great while before one sees what Event the first ought to have. All the Articles of the Reconciliation are propos'd, and one might say, that this Reconciliation, with respect to Agamemnon, is made before the Death of Patroclus, and even before it was ever thought of exposing him to a Battel. There was nothing more wanting but Achilles's Consent: and since that was not given till the Death of Patroclus had made him resolve upon that of Hector; it may be truly affirmed, that the Anger and the Revenge of Achilles against Hector, which is nothing else but the second part of the Poem, is the only cause of the Reconciliation, which finish'd the first part.
But for the Unity of a Body, it is not enough that all its Members be natural, and duly united and compacted together; 'tis farther requisite, that each Member should be no more than a Member; an imperfect Part, and not a finish'd compleat Body. This is the third Qualification we said was necessary to preserve the Unity of the Epick Action.
For the better understanding of this Doctrine, we must take notice that an Action may be entire and compleat two ways: The first is, by perfectly compleating it, and making it absolutely entire with respect to the principal Persons that are interested therein, and in the principal Circumstances which are employ'd about it. The second way is by compleating it only with respect to some Persons, and in some Circumstances that are less principal. This second way preserves the Action in its regular Unity, the other destroys it. We will give you an Instance of each.
The Greeks were assembled together to revenge the Affront offer'd to Menelaus, and to force the Trojans to restore him his Wife, whom Paris had stollen away. There happens a Difference between Agamemnon and Achilles. This last being highly incens'd, abandons the Common Cause, and withdraws himself; so that in his Absence Agamemnon's Army was worsted by the Trojans. But the Boldness of the King of Kings puts him upon engaging the Enemy without Achilles. Away he marches to give them a general Assault with all his Forces.
The Fight began with the Duel between Menelaus and Paris. They sight without Seconds, upon Condition that Helen should be the Conquerour's; and the War decided by this Combat. Tho' the Anger of Achilles was the Cause of this Combat, and whatever Interest ​he might have therein; yet 'tis plain, that Menelaus, Paris, and Helen are so far the principal Personages concern'd, that if this Action had been finished with respect to them, it would have been quite finish'd: it would not have made a part of the Action and of the Revenge of Achilles, but a compleat Action; which would have put an End to the Revenge, and render'd the Anger of this Hero ineffectual. Therefore Homer has not finish'd this Action: Paris being hard put to it escapes, and Menelaus is wounded with a Dart by Pandarus; by this means Achilles begins to be reveng'd, and this Incident becomes an exact Episode.
Virgil has manag'd the Episode of Dido another way. He has finish'd it so, that the Union of his main Action is as Regular as the Art of Poetry requires. The Address of this great Poet consists in ordering it so, that Dido, in whom this Incident is compleat, was not the chief Personage; and her Marriage was only a simple Circumstance of an Action, that is not finish'd, and yet is the Soul and the only Foundation of this particular Action: in a word, Æneas is the Hero of this Episode, which is only invented to retard the Settlement of this Hero in Italy.
This is manifest, if we would but reflect on what the Skill and Care of the Poet has left us about it. Juno, who carried on all this Intrigue, was very little concern'd for Dido's Happiness. If she had lov'd her so well, she should have diverted the Trojan Fleet from her Coasts; upon which place she her self did cast them, which was the only Cause of this Queens Miseries. When she proposes the Match to Venus with so much Ardency, 'twas only the top of her Countenance. Her whole Aim was to keep Æneas in Africk, and to bestow on Carthage the Empire of the World, which belonged only to Italy, and depended upon the Stars of this Hero. You see then the only thing she drives at, the rest is only counterfeit, and a Means whereby she endeavours to accomplish this End.
Dido her self makes it appear how less considerable her Person is than that of Æneas, and that she is only brought in to hinder the Designs of this Prince. 'Tis she, that courts him, and would have him for her King, Husband, and Protector, against the Rage of her Brother and the Incursions of Iarbas. But she could only obtain a Marriage for a Month or so, as was customary now and then in those times. Æneas tells her plainly, that the Name of Husband should be no Hinderance to his Departure, and his Designs for Italy: and he declares, that this Condition of not leaving Carthage was not in the Articles of their Alliance.
​The more an Episode may seem to be a compleat Action, the more care should the Poet take to prepare the Reader's mind, before he engages him in it. This is what Virgil did in the Episode we mentioned. All the beginning of the first Book does sufficiently inform the Reader, that the Stay of Æneas at Carthage was only a hindrance and constraint which he was forced to submit to. The Poet is likewise obliged to repeat this Advertisement at the beginning of these Episodes; that so the Reader may know to what the Poet engages him. Thus the Trojans were scarce got to Carthage, but they give out that their Design is for Italy. And before Dido made the least shew of her Designs upon Æneas; the Poet spends the second and third Books to inform us of this Hero's Design, and the necessity of his going to Italy, according to the Orders he received from the Oracles and the Gods. All this is declar'd in his Speech to Dido her self. To conclude, All this Episode is so full of this main Design, that the Poet is not willing we should lose the sight of it for a Moment. Therefore Æneas is doubtless the Hero of this Episode: and we ought to look upon this Incident rather as an Obstacle laid to hinder the Settlement of the Trojans in Italy, as the History of Dido, in whom it is a compleat Action.
* ↑ Sacra suosque tibi commendat Troja penates: Hos cape fatorum comites, hic mœnia quære, &c. Æneid. 2.
* ↑ Hac casti maneant in relligione Nepotes. Æneid. 3.
* ↑ Hinc maxima porro Accepit Roma, & patrium servavit honorem. Æneid. 5.
* ↑ (Greek characters) Poet. cap. 8.
* ↑ Fœlix, heu! nimium fœlix, si littora tantum. Nunquam Dardaniæ tetigissent nostra carinæ. Æneid. 4.
* ↑ Sensit enim simulatâ mente locutam. Quo regnum Italiæ Libycas averteret oras.
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