The Spectator Volume Ii Part 16

Percunctatorem fugito, nam Garrulus idem est.

Hor.

There is a Creature who has all the Organs of Speech, a tolerable good Capacity for conceiving what is said to it, together with a pretty proper Behaviour in all the Occurrences of common Life; but naturally very vacant of Thought in it self, and therefore forced to apply it self to foreign a.s.sistances. Of this Make is that Man who is very inquisitive. You may often observe, that tho he speaks as good Sense as any Man upon any thing with which he is well acquainted, he cannot trust to the Range of his own Fancy to entertain himself upon that Foundation, but goes on to still new Enquiries. Thus, tho you know he is fit for the most polite Conversation, you shall see him very well contented to sit by a Jockey, giving an Account of the many Revolutions in his Horses Health, what Potion he made him take, how that agreed with him, how afterwards he came to his Stomach and his Exercise, or any the like Impertinence; and be as well pleased as if you talked to him on the most important Truths. This Humour is far from making a Man unhappy, tho it may subject him to Raillery; for he generally falls in with a Person who seems to be born for him, which is your talkative Fellow. It is so ordered, that there is a secret Bent, as natural as the Meeting of different s.e.xes, in these two Characters, to supply each others Wants.

I had the Honour the other Day to sit in a publick Room, and saw an inquisitive Man look with an Air of Satisfaction upon the Approach of one of these Talkers.

The Man of ready Utterance sat down by him, and rubbing his Head, leaning on his Arm, and making an uneasy Countenance, he began; There is no manner of News To-day. I cannot tell what is the Matter with me, but I slept very ill last Night; whether I caught Cold or no, I know not, but I fancy I do not wear Shoes thick enough for the Weather, and I have coughed all this Week: It must be so, for the Custom of was.h.i.+ng my Head Winter and Summer with cold Water, prevents any Injury from the Season entering that Way; so it must come in at my Feet; But I take no notice of it: as it comes so it goes. Most of our Evils proceed from too much Tenderness; and our Faces are naturally as little able to resist the Cold as other Parts. The _Indian_ answered very well to an _European_, who asked him how he could go naked; I am all Face.

I observed this Discourse was as welcome to my general Enquirer as any other of more Consequence could have been; but some Body calling our Talker to another Part of the Room, the Enquirer told the next Man who sat by him, that Mr. such a one, who was just gone from him, used to wash his Head in cold Water every Morning; and so repeated almost _verbatim_ all that had been said to him. The Truth is, the Inquisitive are the Funnels of Conversation; they do not take in any thing for their own Use, but merely to pa.s.s it to another: They are the Channels through which all the Good and Evil that is spoken in Town are conveyed. Such as are offended at them, or think they suffer by their Behaviour, may themselves mend that Inconvenience; for they are not a malicious People, and if you will supply them, you may contradict any thing they have said before by their own Mouths. A farther Account of a thing is one of the gratefullest Goods that can arrive to them; and it is seldom that they are more particular than to say, The Town will have it, or I have it from a good Hand: So that there is room for the Town to know the Matter more particularly, and for a better Hand to contradict what was said by a good one.

I have not known this Humour more ridiculous than in a Father, who has been earnestly solicitous to have an Account how his Son has pa.s.sed his leisure Hours; if it be in a Way thoroughly insignificant, there cannot be a greater Joy than an Enquirer discovers in seeing him follow so hopefully his own Steps: But this Humour among Men is most pleasant when they are saying something which is not wholly proper for a third Person to hear, and yet is in itself indifferent. The other Day there came in a well-dressed young Fellow, and two Gentlemen of this Species immediately fell a whispering his Pedigree. I could overhear, by Breaks, She was his Aunt; then an Answer, Ay, she was of the Mothers Side: Then again in a little lower Voice, His Father wore generally a darker Wig; Answer, Not much. But this Gentleman wears higher Heels to his Shoes.

As the Inquisitive, in my Opinion, are such merely from a Vacancy in their own Imaginations, there is nothing, methinks, so dangerous as to communicate Secrets to them; for the same Temper of Enquiry makes them as impertinently communicative: But no Man, though he converses with them, need put himself in their Power, for they will be contented with Matters of less Moment as well. When there is Fuel enough, no matter what it is--Thus the Ends of Sentences in the News Papers, as, _This wants Confirmation, This occasions many Speculations_, and _Time will discover the Event_, are read by them, and considered not as mere Expletives.

One may see now and then this Humour accompanied with an insatiable Desire of knowing what pa.s.ses, without turning it to any Use in the world but merely their own Entertainment. A Mind which is gratified this Way is adapted to Humour and Pleasantry, and formed for an unconcerned Character in the World; and, like my self, to be a mere Spectator. This Curiosity, without Malice or Self-interest, lays up in the Imagination a Magazine of Circ.u.mstances which cannot but entertain when they are produced in Conversation. If one were to know, from the Man of the first Quality to the meanest Servant, the different Intrigues, Sentiments, Pleasures, and Interests of Mankind, would it not be the most pleasing Entertainment imaginable to enjoy so constant a Farce, as the observing Mankind much more different from themselves in their secret Thoughts and publick Actions, than in their Night-caps and long Periwigs?

_Mr_. SPECTATOR,

_Plutarch_ tells us, that _Caius Gracchus_, the _Roman_, was frequently hurried by his Pa.s.sion into so loud and tumultuous a way of Speaking, and so strained his Voice as not to be able to proceed. To remedy this Excess, he had an ingenious Servant, by Name _Licinius_, always attended him with a Pitch-pipe, or Instrument to regulate the Voice; who, whenever he heard his Master begin to be high, immediately touched a soft Note; at which, 'tis said, _Caius_ would presently abate and grow calm.

Upon recollecting this Story, I have frequently wondered that this useful Instrument should have been so long discontinued; especially since we find that this good Office of _Licinius_ has preserved his Memory for many hundred Years, which, methinks, should have encouraged some one to have revived it, if not for the publick Good, yet for his own Credit. It may be objected, that our loud Talkers are so fond of their own Noise, that they would not take it well to be check'd by their Servants: But granting this to be true, surely any of their Hearers have a very good t.i.tle to play a soft Note in their own Defence. To be short, no _Licinius_ appearing and the Noise increasing, I was resolved to give this late long Vacation to the Good of my Country; and I have at length, by the a.s.sistance of an ingenious Artist, (who works to the Royal Society) almost compleated my Design, and shall be ready in a short Time to furnish the Publick with what Number of these Instruments they please, either to lodge at Coffee-houses, or carry for their own private Use. In the mean time I shall pay that Respect to several Gentlemen, who I know will be in Danger of offending against this Instrument, to give them notice of it by private Letters, in which I shall only write, _Get a_ Licinius.

I should now trouble you no longer, but that I must not conclude without desiring you to accept one of these Pipes, which shall be left for you with _Buckley_; and which I hope will be serviceable to you, since as you are silent yourself you are most open to the Insults of the Noisy.

_I am, SIR_, &c.

W.B.

I had almost forgot to inform you, that as an Improvement in this Instrument, there will be a particular Note, which I call a Hush-Note; and this is to be made use of against a long Story, Swearing, Obsceneness, and the like.

No. 229. Thursday, Nov. 22, 1711. Addison.

--Spirat adhuc amor, Vivuntque commissi calores aeoliae fidibus puellae.

Hor.

Among the many famous Pieces of Antiquity which are still to be seen at _Rome_, there is the Trunk of a Statue [1] which has lost the Arms, Legs, and Head; but discovers such an exquisite Workmans.h.i.+p in what remains of it, that _Michael Angelo_ declared he had learned his whole Art from it. Indeed he studied it so attentively, that he made most of his Statues, and even his Pictures in that _Gusto_, to make use of the _Italian_ Phrase; for which Reason this maimed Statue is still called _Michael Angelo's_ School.

A Fragment of _Sappho_, which I design for the Subject of this Paper, [2] is in as great Reputation among the Poets and Criticks, as the mutilated Figure above-mentioned is among the Statuaries and Painters.

Several of our Countrymen, and Mr. _Dryden_ in particular, seem very often to have copied after it in their Dramatick Writings; and in their Poems upon Love.

Whatever might have been the Occasion of this Ode, the English Reader will enter into the Beauties of it, if he supposes it to have been written in the Person of a Lover sitting by his Mistress. I shall set to View three different Copies of this beautiful Original: The first is a Translation by _Catullus_, the second by Monsieur _Boileau_, and the last by a Gentleman whose Translation of the _Hymn to Venus_ has been so deservedly admired.

Ad LESBIAM.

_Ille mi par esse deo videtur, Ille, si fas est, superare divos, Qui sedens adversus identidem te, Spectat, et audit.

Dulce ridentem, misero quod omnis Eripit sensus mihi: nam simul te, Lesbia, adspexi, nihil est super mi_ Quod loquar amens.

_Lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus Flamnia dimanat, sonitu suopte Tinniunt aures, gemina teguntur Lumina nocte_.

My learned Reader will know very well the Reason why one of these Verses is printed in _Roman_ Letter; [3] and if he compares this Translation with the Original, will find that the three first Stanzas are rendred almost Word for Word, and not only with the same Elegance, but with the same short Turn of Expression which is so remarkable in the _Greek_, and so peculiar to the _Sapphick_ Ode. I cannot imagine for what Reason Madam _Dacier_ has told us, that this Ode of _Sappho_ is preserved entire in _Longinus_, since it is manifest to any one who looks into that Authors Quotation of it, that there must at least have been another Stanza, which is not transmitted to us.

The second Translation of this Fragment which I shall here cite, is that of Monsieur _Boileau_.

Heureux! qui pres de toi, pour toi seule sopire: Qui jout du plaisir de tentendre parler: Qui te voit quelquefois doucement lui sorire.

Les Dieux, dans son bonheur, peuvent-ils legaler?

Je sens de veine en veine une subtile flamme Courir par tout mon corps, si-tost que je te vois: Et dans les doux transports, ou segare mon ame, Je ne scaurois trouver de langue, ni de voix.

Un nuage confus se repand sur ma vue, Je nentens plus, je tombe en de douces langueurs; Et pale, sans haleine, interdite, esperdue, Un frisson me saisit, je tremble, je me meurs.

The Reader will see that this is rather an Imitation than a Translation.

The Circ.u.mstances do not lie so thick together, and follow one another with that Vehemence and Emotion as in the Original. In short, Monsieur _Boileau_ has given us all the Poetry, but not all the Pa.s.sion of this famous Fragment. I shall, in the last Place, present my Reader with the _English_ Translation.

I. Blest as th'immortal G.o.ds is he, The Youth who fondly sits by thee, And hears and sees thee all the while Softly speak and sweetly smile.

II. Twas this deprived my Soul of Rest, And raised such Tumults in my Breast; For while I gaz'd, in Transport tost, My Breath was gone, my Voice was lost:

III. My Bosom glowed; the subtle Flame Ran quick through all my vital Frame; O'er my dim Eyes a Darkness hung; My Ears with hollow Murmurs rung.

IV. In dewy Damps my Limbs were child; My Blood with gentle Horrors thrill'd; My feeble Pulse forgot to play; I fainted, sunk, and dy'd away.

Instead of giving any Character of this last Translation, I shall desire my learned Reader to look into the Criticisms which _Longinus_ has made upon the Original. By that means he will know to which of the Translations he ought to give the Preference. I shall only add, that this Translation is written in the very Spirit of _Sappho_, and as near the _Greek_ as the Genius of our Language will possibly suffer.