Page:Monsieur Bossu's Treatise of the epick poem - Le Bossu (1695).djvu/59

Book I. a Chariot, and crying, Bless me! what a Dust do I make?

The Truth lies under no Difficulty here, since the Moral Instruction ought always to be true.

But suppose the imitated Action be taken out of History, would this pass for a Fiction? The Difficulty is the same, if it be taken from a Fable that is already known, since after this manner, the Poet would at little invent and feign it, as if he had found it in History: And yet if the Author feigns nothing, we may well dispute with him the Name of Poet.

To this we answer, that the Poet ought to feign one General Action; then he should look for the Names of some Persons (to whom a parallel Action has either truly or probably happen'd) in History, or some well-known Fables: And lastly, he ought to place his Action under these Names. Thus it will be really feign'd and invented by the Author, and yet will seem to be taken out of some very ancient History and Fable. This we shall explain by what follows: we will begin to do so by the Instance of a Fable compos'd after this Method.

first thing we are to begin with for Composing a Fable, is to chuse the Instruction, and the point of Morality, which is to serve as its Foundation, according to the Design and End we propose to our selves.

I would, for Instance, exhort two Brothers, or any other Persons, who hold an Estate in Common, to agree well together, the better to preserve it: And this is the End of the Fable, and the first thing I thought on.

For this purpose I endeavour to imprint upon their Minds this Maxim; That a Misunderstanding between Friends is the ruin of Families, and of all sorts of Societies. This Maxim which I make choice of, is the Point of Morality, and the Truth which serves as a Foundation to the Fable I would compose.

In the next place this Moral Truth must be reduc'd into Action, and a general Action must be feign'd in Imitation of the true and singular Actions of those who have been ruin'd by a Misunderstanding that has happen'd among them. I say then, that several Persons were engaged together to look after an Estate, which they hold in Common. They fall out with one another, and this Difference leaves them defenceless to the Will of an Enemy who ruins them.