EPIGRAM, AND ILLUSTRATIONS. "I heard thy fate, loved friend, and dropped a tear; 121 The epigram is now made to embrace any brief expression of a startling thought.. "Silence is the most effective eloquence." "Riches empty the soul and the pocket; poverty replenishes both." Hesiod says: Such expressions are allied to wit, in which antithesis is often employed. 42. Further Examples, and Conclusion. "Is not wild Shakspeare thine and nature's boast ?" "He that's convinced against his will Is of the same opinion still." "A fool with judges; among fools a judge.” "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven." Dr. Campbell justly remarks: "The excess itself,” in the use of antithesis, "into which some writers have fallen, is an evidence of its value-of the lustre and emphasis which antithesis is calculated to give to the expression. There is no risk of intemperance in using a liquor which has neither spirit nor flavor." An antithetical form of expression, when there is no contrast in the thoughts, is jejune and displeasing. F CHAPTER VI. ALLEGORIES AND FABLES. 43. Definition, and Illustrations.-An Allegory is a fictitious narrative or description so constructed as to suggest thoughts and facts entirely different from those which it appears to relate. The word is derived from the Greek άλλος, another, and αγορεύω το speak, and means literally what speaks another thing; that is, it speaks one thing, and means another. The nature of it will be best appreciated by studying some examples. In the prophesy of Hosea, chap. x. ver. 1, we read, "Israel is an empty vine." This is called either a metaphor or a trope, because "vine" is used in a figurative sense for a "nation" preserved by Jehovah as a grape-vine is cared for by a gardener. It will be observed that "Israel" is mentioned, so that no ingenuity is required on the part of the reader to determine what the writer means. Now let us suppose that the word "Israel" was not mentioned, but that the writer should describe a "vine," but yet so describe it that the reader should soon perceive that the writer meant to have him think about a nation, which he was describing under the figure of a vine. This would be an Allegory. ALLEGORY AND FABLE. 123 Fortunately we have just such an instance in the eightieth Psalm. 66 "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt." [Observe, the writer does not inform us that vine represents the nation of Israel. If he did so, he would begin with a comparison, or he might use a metaphor, but he leaves it to our discrimination to perceive that though he says "vine," he means Israel.] Thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it." [It would have been more allegorical to say, Thou hast rooted up the wild vines, and planted it.] "Thou preparedst room for it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars; she sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by do pluck her? The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and behold and visit this vine." This is a beautiful allegory, and the Bible has several more good specimens. The parable of the Prodigal Son is a pure allegory. No key to its real meaning is given, but every reader of good sense knows that it is designed to convey a meaning entirely different from the literal signification of the words. It is so with all the parables of the Saviour, all being allegorical. In the Book of Proverbs, chap. ix., and the first six verses, a short Allegory will be found. 44. The Fable, and Illustrations.-The word fable is derived from the Latin fabula, and meant originally nearly the same thing as an allegory, a fictitious narrative. But as it is contrary to the genius of the English language to have two words meaning precisely the same thing, fable, by usage, has acquired a different shade of signification. A Fable is a fictitious story, in itself improbable, generally impossible, but nevertheless conveying or illustrating some moral instruction, or some opinion. It differs from an Allegory, first, in being improbable and necessarily fictitious, and second, in convey. ing generally one simple moral lesson, or opinion, without exhibiting numerous points of similarity, as the Allegory does, between the thing described and the instruction meant. In the Second Book of Kings, chap. xiv. ver. 9, we read: "The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle." This of course could not be true, and it is therefore a fable, but the meaning of it was well understood when it was first uttered. No better fables have ever been written than the famous productions commonly called the Fables of Esop, which have probably been wrought into their present expressiveness and beauty by many different minds. 45. The Use of Fables.-Fables are seldom introduced into sober composition to illustrate and enforce truth, on account of the difficulty of constructing one that shall be at the same time dignified and appropriate. They are generally composed by writers who have a genius for them, or who study to produce them, and they are often alluded to or quoted by other writers. Among the ancient Athenians it was a common amusement for some one at a dinner-table INSTANCES OF ALLEGORY. 125 to relate a fable for the gratification of his friends. Roman history presents an instance in which a fable was invented and related with good effect. The Plebeians were in rebellion against the Patricians, when, to appease their violence, Menenius Agrippa is said to have related to the people the following fable: "Once on a time all the members of the body revolted against the Belly, because it received every thing and contributed nothing. So the Hand said it would no longer carry food to the Mouth; the Mouth said it would no longer receive it; and the Teeth said they would no longer chew it. They all declared they would no longer slave, as they had done, for the lazy and ungrateful Belly. So they rose in insurrection, but, lo! while the rebellious members sought to punish the Belly, they languished and punished themselves."* 46. Further Illustrations of the Allegory.—Allegories are much more frequently employed. It would be easy to collect a volume of them from the best authors in the English language. Plato, in one of his profound Dialogues,† describes an under-ground cave, having an opening toward the light of a great fire, peopled by persons who have worn chains on their legs and necks all their lives. Between the fire and the miserable creatures is a road, and they are amusing themselves with looking at their own shadows on the opposite wall and listening to words that seem to come from the images, but are only echoes of their own voices. The description is *This story, related in Roman history, has been repeated by many; among others, by Shakspeare in Coriolanus, act i. scene 1, who has expanded it without improvement. The apostle Paul has presented the same illustration, in the form of a supposition, very forcibly in 1 Corinthians xii. 20. †The Republic, book vii. chap. i. |