xlli P R E F A G E. 



that is, rejlraint and endurance ; if, on the other hand, reafon is 

 forcibly overcome by the irrational part, then are produced either 

 ^K^KTio. or f^(xXoi',cici^ that is, incontinence^ or want of command of 

 one's felf, 2i.n^foftncfs or effeminacy. Now thefe difpofitions of mind 

 are but half virtues and half vices ; for reafon is found and healthy, 

 but the irrational parts of the mind are difeafed ; and as far as the 

 QufJiog and eTTiOvLux are maftered and compelled to fubmit by the 

 rational part, (o far lyz^xT^ia. and Ka^rs^ioc are virtues ; but in fo far as 

 the irrational part fubmits with force and compulfion, fo that the ad:ion 

 may be confidered as in fome fenfe not voluntary, thefe difpofitions 

 are vices ; for virtue mufl do its duty with pleafure, and not with 

 pain ; and nothing muft be pleafant to the virtuous man but what is 

 good and virtuous *\ Again, with refpe(5t to f^xXocKia and dz^anx^ 



in 



* There Is a fine fentiment to this purpofe in Milton's Comus. It is where he 

 makes the Lady fay to the enchanter Comiis (that is, Pleafure) when he ofFers her his 

 delicious cup, as he calls it : 



That which is not good is not delicious 

 To a wife and well-governed appetite : 

 that Is, an appetite in fubjecStion to the rational part, and which is pleafed with no- 

 thing but what Reafon approves of : It is a noble fentiment, but expreiTed in a man- 

 ner which v/ill appear flat and infipid to thofe who admire the prefent fafhioiwble ftyle, 

 far removed from the fimplicity of the Antients. Milton v/as not only the greateil 

 fcholar and fineft writer of his age, but a good philofopher, and v/as well acquainted 

 with the fragments remaining of the Pythagorean Philofophy, as appears from his 

 Tractate upon Education. His Comus is, I think, one of the fineft produdions of 

 modern times, and I don't know whether to admire moft the poetry of it or the phi- 

 lofophy, which is of the nobleft kind. The fubject of it I like better than that of 

 the Paradife Loft, which, I think, is not human enough to touch the common feel- 

 ings of humanity, as poetry ought to do; the Divine Perfonages he has introduced are 

 of too high a kind to aft any part in poetry, and the fcene of the adlion is, for the greater 

 part, quite out of Nature. But the fubjecl of the Comus is a fine Mythological Tale, 

 marvellous enough, as all poetical fubjedts fhould be, but at the fame time human. He 

 begins his piece in the manner of Euripides, and the defcending Spirit that prologifes^ 

 makes the fined and grandeft opening of any theatrical piece that I know, antient or 

 modern. The conduft of the piece is anfwerable to the beginning, and the verfification 



of 



