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3352 
ed. As afterwards in the feet, which are 
enfolded by the ferpent, and inthe arms 
which ftruggle, we yet fee the remains of 
the fituation or preceding a€tior, there 
refults combined aétion of efforts and 
of flight, of fuffering and of activity, of 
tenfion and of relaxation, which perhaps 
would not be poflible under any other con- 
dition. Weare loft in admiration at the 
wifdom of the artiit, when we try to ap- 
ply the bite to any other place; the 
whole gefture, the whole movement would 
be changed, and neverthelefs we cannot 
imagine it more proper ; it is therefore a 
principal merit in the artift to have pre- 
{ented us witha fenfible effect, and alfo to 
have fhewn us the fenfible caufe of it. 
I repeat it,—the point of the bite deter- 
mines the actual movement of the mem- 
bers ; the fight of the inferior part of the 
body, its contraction, the cheft which 
advances, the fhoulder which defcends, 
the movement of the head, and even all 
the features of the countenance, are, in 
my opinion, decided by this momentane- 
ous, painful, and unexpetted irritation. 
But, far be it from me to wifh to di- 
vide the unity of human nature, to wish 
to deny the aétion of the intellectual force 
of this man of a form fo excellent, to 
overlook the fufferings and the efforts of 
a creat nature. Methinks I alfo fee the 
inquietude, the fear, the terror, the pater- 
nal affection, moving in thofe veins, 
{welling in that heart, wrinkling that 
front. I readily admit that the artift has 
xeprefented, at the fame time, the molt 
elevated degree, both of corporal fuffer- 
ings, and of intellectual fufferings ; out I 
would not have us to be tranfported too 
feelingly at the monument itfelf, at the 
impreilions which the monument makes 
upon us, efpecially, as we do not fee the 
effe&t of the poifon, in a body which has 
juft been feized by the teeth of the ferpent, 
as w edo not fee the agony in a found, beau- 
tifal body, which makes efforts, and 
which is but jut hurt. Let me be per- 
mitted to make an obfervation here, 
which is of confiderable importance for 
the arts ot defign; the greateft pathetic 
expreffion which they can reprefent, de- 
pends on the paflage from one ftage to 
another. Let us view a lively infant, 
who runs, leaps, and amufes himielf, with 
all the pleafure and energy pofiible, who 
afterwards has been fuddenly ftruck hard 
by one of his comrades, or who has been 
wounded either phyfically or morally : 
this new fenfaticn is communicated to all 
his members hike an eleétrical fhock ; 

Obfervations on the Laocoon. f a 
and a fimilar, fudden, and pathetic paf- 
{age in the moft elevated fenfe, is an op- 
polition of which we have no idea, if we 
have not feen it. In this cafe, it is there- 
fore evident that the intelleétual man aéts 
as well as the phyfical man. When ia a 
like paffage there ftill remain evident 
traces of the preceding ftate, there retults 
a fubjeét the moft elegant for the arts of 
defign; this is the cafe of the Laocoon, 
where the efforts and the fufferings are 
united at the fame moment. It is thus 
that Eurydice, who is bitten in the heel 
by a ferpent on which fhe has trod, at the 
inttant when fhe is croffing a meadow, 
and is returning, fatisfied with the flow- 
ers fhe has gathered, would be a very pa- 
thetic ftatue, if the artift could exprefs 
the double ftate otf fatistacétion with 
which fhe walked, and of the pain which 
arrefts her fteps ; not only by the flowers 
which are falling, but further by the di- 
rection of all her members, and the un- 
dulation of the folds. 
When we have feized, in this fenfe, the 
principal figure, we may calt a free and 
fure glance on the proportions, the grada- 
tions, and the oppofition of all the parts of 
the entire work. ; 
The {ubjeét chofen is one of the hap 
pieft that can be imagined. Men ftrug- 
gling with dangerous animals, and more- 
over with animals which act, not as pow- 
erful maffes, but as divided forces, which 
do not menace on one fide alone, which do 
not require a concentrated refiftance, but 
which, according to their extended orga- 
Rization, are capable of paralyfng more 
or lefs, three men without wounding 
them. This mode of paralyting, joined 
to the great movement, already fpreads 
over the ex/emble, a certain degree of re- 
pofe and unity. The artifthas been able 
to indicate, by degrees, the effects of the 
ferpents; one only infolds, the other is 
irritated, and wounds his adverfary. The 
three perfonages are alfo chofen with 
much wifdom: a robuit and well-made 
‘man, who has already paffed the age of 
the greateft energy, and who is lefs capable 
of fupporting grief and fuffering. Let us 
fubititute for him, in imagination, a 
young man, lively and robuft, and the 
groupe will lofe all its value! With 
him suffer two young perfons, who, in 
proportion to him, are very fmall. They. 
are, mareover, two beings fufceptible of 
the fentiment cf pain. 
[ For the conclufion of this admirable ar- 
ticle, fee page 399.] 
