must be touch'd by the Poet in his Narration. The Peloponnesian War is a proper Subject for History, the Siege of Athens for an epic Poem, and the Death of Alcibiades for a Tragedy.
As the Difference, therefore, betwixt History and epic Poetry consists only in the Degrees of Connexion, which bind together those several Events, of which their Subject is compos'd, 'twill be difficult, if not impossible, by Words, to determine exactly the Bounds, which separate them from each other. That is a Matter of Taste more than of Reasoning; and perhaps, this Unity may often be discovered in a Subject, where, at first View, and from an abstract Consideration, we should least expect to find it.
'Tis evident, that Homer, in the Course of his Narration, exceeds the first Proposition of his Subject; and that the Anger of Achilles, which caus'd the Death of Hector, is not the same with that which produc'd so many Ills to the Greeks. But the strong Connexion betwixt these two Movements, the quick Transition from one to the other, the Contraste[1] betwixt the Effects of Concord and Discord amongst thePrinces,
- ↑ Contraste or Contrariety is a Species of Connexion among Ideas, which may, perhaps, be consider'd as a Species of Resemblance. Where two Objects are contrary, the one destroys the other, i.e. is the Cause of its Annihilation, and the Idea of the Annihilation of an Object implies the Idea of its former Existence.
