| OCR Text |
Show 210 THE CODE OF TERPSICHORE. observes, that Medea did not kill her children ; that was a crime invented by Euripides. In the QZdipus of Sophocles, Jocasta strangles herself; according to Seneca, she died by the sword. Both Sophocles and Euripides have written upon the subject of Electra; but one represents her a virgin, always dwelling in her own country, while the other describes her married and living out of her native land. T h e latter poet, in his Trojans, sacrifices Polixenes at the tent of Achilles; and in his Hecuba, the same Polixenes is slain in Thrace. W h e n a poet is engaged in describing imaginary beings, he sometimes allows his fancy to transport him beyond the bounds of probability, but some resemblance to nature must always be preserved ; some meaning or allegorical sense should always be perceptible. The poet, in short, must imitate those sculptors who, though producing colossal statues, of dimensions immensely super-human, yet still preserved the proportions of m a n in his ordinary size. Taste and judgment thus ever avoid folly and extravagance ; and thus treated, subjects of the fabulous, allegorical, or fairy nature, may insure success. Numerous examples of this kind might be cited. W e may, therefore, conclude, that there is no necessity for making any alteration either in history or fable as it is generally received; the authors, however, m ay be allowed to make some slight changes in the action, provided they are of a nature uniform with the subject, and calculated to increase dramatic effect. Additions as well as retrenchments should be made judiciously, and in those places only where they are required, particular care being taken that the general resemblance between parts be not destroyed. In such compositions the author has permission to exercise his invention ; but let him remember that his fictions should wear the garb of truth. |
