The modest critick, or, Remarks upon the most eminent historians, antient and modern with useful cautions and instructions as well for writing as reading history : wherein the sense of the greatest men on this subject is faithfully abridged / by one of the Society of the Port-Royal.

XII. The Narration.

History being, properly speaking, nothing but a w Rehearsal of things past, and in the same order as they came to pass, ought also to be a continued Narration. x There∣fore, as it hath nothing more essen∣tial than the knowing how to re∣late well, so, nothing is more dif∣ficult. y For it is a great Art to fix an unconstant and fickle Rea∣der's mind. What wisdom does it not require to mannage every where those colours that are necessary to give the resemblance to things, and to mix constantly with them

those features, those light touches, those graces, that warmth, that quickness, which hinders a Nar∣ration from languishing? how dexterous must an Historian be, to use both Art and Wit, in what he says, yet not to seem to do so; z And by all the variety of Ex∣pressions, Figures and Thoughts, to adorn every part of his History, without the least smatch of Osten∣tation? what knowledg ought he to have, to discern what must be said, and what let alone, to speak and hold his Peace, to dwell no longer than is fit upon the Points he treats of; to explain things at large, or by degrees, as necessity or a good Decorum requires; to en∣large or shorten them; to retrench, by a felicity of Expression, those Topicks, which otherwise would be insipid, and never to weary the Reader by too great an uniformi∣ty? In fine, what a Judgment to separate carefully that which is be∣comming from that which is not Decent? for upon that chiefly runs all the Beauty of a Narrati∣on,

and all the Grace of History. But a Narration is perfect when∣ever it has nothing of Superflui∣ty. This is, in a word, the ut∣most perfection it is capable of be∣ing brought to. The Rules lay'd down by Cicero and a Quintilian say no more: after them I have nothing to say. For when once the Superfluities are cut off, the Circumlocutions which are not useful, the feigned Descriptions which are onely fit to make a shew, and all the vain Ornaments of the Discourse are suppress'd, every thing comes close to its point. b The Vigour, the Strength and the Dignity, all support each other, without any Flatness. In that c Thucydides out-did Horedotus, who is too big in some places, where he gives himself too much to the fineness of his Imagination. d Salust is of a Character exact and short. He is properly commen∣dable for the quickness and tor∣rent of his Discourse. e That is it which animates him, and makes him so lively. Caesar's Nar∣ration

is admirable for its Purity and Eloquence, but it is not quick enough; and he wants of that Strength which he found too abounding in Terence. f As for Livy, he has a way of rehersing that is very taking, by that Art he has of mixing in his Narration small things with great ones; be∣cause great ones, when too much enlarg'd, tire the Reader by rea∣son of the great Attention they require, and small ones refresh him: it is with that same Method that he varies his Adventures; that he interchanges sad things for de∣lightful ones; that Mannages his Light and his Shade with a wise and judicious Temper, that so he may keep the Reader in tune by that Variety. For a Narration becomes insipid, as soon as it wants diversity of Accidents, Adventures, Figures, and Expressions. You must even allow some intervals to things, that your Reader may take breath, and not intermix your matter by too great a confusion of things. It is a fault that Dionysius Haly∣carnassaeus

judges g Thucydides guil∣ty of, in the third Book of his Hi∣story, where he so mixes the se∣veral Interests h of the Athenians, Lacedemonians, and of the other Peo∣ple of Greece, that he confounds, in a manner, the very appearance of things, by a Narration too much loaded with Matter: and this fai∣lure is incident to those of a copi∣ous and fluent Invention. Tho' the i order of Times be the most natural to a Narration, because it unfolds things pass'd; there is ne∣vertheless an order of Reason in ranging Events, which ought par∣ticularly to be the study of an Historian. It is only by that secret Order that you may endear your Reader, so as to imprint your own Sentiments on his Mind, when you shew him Men acting naturally as they ought: and when you shew him their Manners, their Thoughts, their Designs and their Motives, as they are in a kind of dependency upon each other in the same natural order, which joyns them well together,

k An Historian that can well put those things together, is a great Man; that is the thing which plea∣ses, and not those extraordinary Events which People run after for want for Judgment; for nothing is more taking than to see men act in that Order; that alone, when all comes to all, fixes the mind. Livy excell'd in that, because he fol∣low'd closely that Order, by draw∣ing the Thread of his History with a connexion of Discourse, and by weaving together always those A∣ctions that are of an equal size. l Longinus has well observed, that Thucydides breaks the Order of things, to surprize the Reader by that disorder, by bringing in un∣expected Occurrences in his Nar∣ration: He tells even sometimes things past in the present time, shewing them as thô they were pas∣sing actually, which makes the Reader more attentive, and affects him most. Tacitus is of a soaring Spirit, who does not say things in order. His great sense, shut up in the compass of a few words, has not

an extent proportioned to his Rea∣der's minds, who are often over∣whelmed with it: and having not a natural strain in what he says, he scarce ever fits his words to mens Notions; he does not instruct well: For Example, when on the occasi∣on of the Papian Law he explains the ground of the Laws; or in an∣other place, he speaks of Asylums, he does not return to the origin of things; he shews nothing clearly, or he does it ill; as when he ex∣plains the Religion of the Jews, l. 5. of his History; his very Style is not fir for it, which is a great fault in an Historian, whose chiefest Profes∣sion is to instruct. After all, a Narration is good (which way so∣ever it is digested) when it plea∣ses.

Notes

• w

  Historia est narratio rei gestae, per quam ea quae facta sunt dig∣noscuntur. Isi∣dor. l. 1. Orig.
• x

  Expositio praeteritorum Temporum. Fab. l. 4. c. 2.
• y

  Custodia fidelis rerum gestarum. Tit. Liv. l. 6. Annal.
• z

  Dare ora∣tionis varios vultus. gau∣dent enim res varietate. Fab. l. 9. c. 2.
• a

  Circumcisa expositio rei quae superva∣cuis caret. Fab. l. 4. c. 1.
• b

  Densus, brevis, semper instans sibi co∣mitatis affecti∣bus. Thucydi∣des. Fab. l. 10. c. 1.
• c

  Thucydides verbis aptus & pressus. Cic. l. 2. de Orat.
• d

  Immorta∣lem illam Sa∣lustis velocita∣tem consequu∣tus Livius. Fab. l. 10. c. 1.
• e

  Illa Salusti∣ana brevitas, qua nihil apud aures erudiras perfectius esse potest, captan∣da. ibid.
• f

  Livius in narrando mi∣ra jucundita∣tis, clarissimi∣que candoris, ita ducuntur omnia tum re∣bus, tum per∣sonis accom∣modata. Fab. l. 10. c. 1.
• g

  Thucydides creber rerum frequentia. Cic. l. 2. de Orat.
• h

  Dionysius Halyc. tractat. de judic. Thu∣cyd.
• i

  Rerum ratio ordinem temporum de∣siderat. Cic. l. 2. de Orat.
• k

  In rebus magnis, memo∣riaque dignis, confilia pri∣mum, deinde act•…•…, postea e∣ventus expe∣ctantur, Cic. l. 2. de Orat.
• l

  Longin. c. 18.