" Dicam Tanti pace viri, quo non solertlor alter Naturam rerum ad leges componere niotiis, Ac Mundi partes justa perpendere libra, Et radium solis transverso piismate fractum Septeni in primi^enos perniaiisurosque colores Solvere" (ii, ST4-SS0).
Yet how different is this deprecatory commendation
from the enthusiastic eulogy bestowed on Des Cartes!
"Quo nomine dicam
Naturae senium, Patria? decus, sic decus aevi
Cartesium nostri, quo se jactabit aluinno
Gallia l'ceta viris, ac duplicis arte Minervae"
(viii, 55-59). This is the manifest reflection of the tribute of Lucre- tius to the " Graius homo," Epicurus. We may endure with patience Polignac's contempt for the materialistic tendencies of Locke's philosophy, and his omission of bis contemporaries, Malebranche and the much greater Leibnitz (an omission which may be satisfactorily ex- plained), but we cannot fail to observe his utter inabil- ity to discern the scientific acumen, and the wonderful faculty of logical co-ordination and development, which characterized his chosen antagonist Lucretius. One of the most admired, and probably the most brilliant pas- sage in the Anti-Lucretius, is the opening, in which he announces his subject and its difficulties, and does ear- nest homage to the exquisite graces of the Poman poet. But this inauguration of his thesis does not prevent hini from speaking of the spirit and doctrines of Lucretius in terms which reveal rather the controversialist eager to display his own powers in the best light than the sincere inquirer anxious to discover and to promulgate only the truth. With all our regard for the courtly and clerical poet, we must confess him to be more of a dilettante than a philosopher or adept in science.
But, while thus taking exception to the substance and argumentation of the poem, and to the narrowness and fanaticism inseparable from the advocacy of fantas- tic and erroneous theories, attention may be justly called to the general execution of the difficult task, and to many episodical disquisitions, which assail by anticipa- tion the speculations of Darwin and the evolutionists, and present many topics and many suggestions which merit careful examination in connection with the scien- tific controversies that distract our own day by the re- vival of ancient hallucinations.
Whatever deductions may be properly made from the Anti-Lucretius on the score of scientific superficial- ity and philosophic aberration, the work merits high praise on account of its design and execution: and still deserves consideration as a memorable and singularly graceful production of the modern Latin muse.
The versification and expression of Polignac have been unfavorably compared with the excellences of some of the earlier Latinists. In making the compari- son with Vida, one of the chief of those elders, some ad- vantage may be derived from a direct, though unequal, counterpart to one of his poems. The description of the game of chess in the Anti-Lucretius may be fairly con- sidered in connection with the Scacchia, L^udus, of the Cremonese poet. The same ingenuity in rendering the stiffness of classic Latinity plastic, for the purpose of describing things and processes entirely unknown to the classical vocabulary, may be admired in both. In the one instance chess is employed only as an illustra- tion, and the description occupies only fifteen lines (Anti-Lucr. iii, 892-906); in the other it constitutes the thesis of a descriptive poem. In a few lines, and in a mere illustration, there is, of course, no opportunity for detail. Nor is there room for such elaborate intri- cacy of narration — such subtle twisting in and twisting
Pol. MI IJKKT1IKKN
354
POLITI AX
out of facile diction -nor for Buch surprising felicity of
n of old forma to new and undesigned uses, in the later episode as in the earlier poena. There i- noth- ing possible within 1 1 1 « - narrower field which, for curious dexterity, .-1.111111- of being adduced as a parallel t>-r Yi- explanation of the diverse movements of the pit " ■ 168 ■• or for his expla-
nation of the manoeuvres and fortunes of the game. Bui ii may I"- permitted to acl upon the art i~t— maxim, id we may discern in the episode of Polignac (notwithstanding the deficiency of materi- als for an accurate and minute comparison 1 a command over the resources of the Latin tongue « hich is nol un- worthy of Villa, even in Buch fantastic sports of fancy and erudition. It the larger faculties of the poel are considered, Vida's epic, the Ckristiad, fails to exhibil sin h compass of expression, such grace and dignity, and even melody of utterance, or Buch vigor of imagination, as the Anti-Lucretius. Both Vlda and Polignac, it is true fall into the unclassical frailty of terminating their hexameters too frequently with monosyllabli clitics. They are careless of 1 ti< i r caesuras, and repeat
1 ften certain easy forms and mannerisms. There
may be more liquidity and so thness in Vida, but
there is more elevation and a more masculine gravity in Polignac. [f the former adheres with unconscious imitation t" the transparent fluency of Virgil, the latter with equal success, but with deliberate endeavor, repro- duces the peculiarities, and not rareh the splendors, of Lucretius, in the very diction of the greater Roman poet. But, whatever judgment may be passed on *i 1 1 n -r the absolute "r the relative turrit of the Anti-Lucretius, it remains a very remarkable poem, which deserves to In- reclaimed from the oblivion in which it lias been Buffered to remain so long. It was a praiseworthy and noble effort to repel the advances of scepticism in the