379 



a sublime and a disgusting image, he says ov yap 

 $iwov Trowtiv to o<JwAof, ocXXx [MtrriTov. Among 

 the different passages which he has quoted as 

 sublime, there are none on which he has more 

 fully expatiated, than those in which terror is 

 the leading character; and what perhaps is 

 the most convincing proof of his opinion, 

 be has cited other passages intended to be 

 sublime, but which, as he shews, are not 

 so, because the authors of them failed in 

 their aim of making them terrible; and that, 

 no doubt might remain on his reader's 

 mind, he has distinctly pointed out the cause 

 of the failure, by opposing to their want of 

 judgment, the skill and judgment of Homer in 

 selecting those circumstances, by which the 

 terrible is most strongly impressed on the 

 imagination. It is said, however, that hivn 

 signifies also what is excellent, or striking in 

 various ways, as well as terrible; but how came 

 it by such a signification ? Clearly because 

 terror in its various modifications, is the cause 

 of all that is most striking. The [talians apply 

 such expressions to any striking works of art ; 

 a fine picture or statue (no matter what the 

 subject) is called un spaveato; and the style of 

 the grandest of modern artists is called 



Di Michel' Agnol' la terrib.it' via. 



A more familiar instance may be given to the 

 English reader, of the use which is continually 

 eel 



