the main subject, and are introduced too early. The only other episode of much length is the account of the siege of Syene, and the battle between Oroondates and Hydaspes, which occupy the whole of the ninth book; and, however well described, entirely take away our concern in the fate of Chariclea, and in fact, in proportion to the excellence of the description, at the very moment when the story is approaching to a crisis, and when our interest would have been raised the highest, had our impressions remained uninterrupted. Next to the nature of the subject, and the arrangement of the incidents, the Ornaments of a romance should be chiefly considered; of these the most important are the Style, the Characters, the Sentiments, and the Descriptions. The Style of Heliodorus has been blamed as too figurative and poetical; but this censure seems chiefly applicable to those passages where he has interwoven verses of the Greek poets, from whom he has frequently borrowed. All his comparisons are said to be taken from Homer; but Sophocles, whom he often imitates, and sometimes copies, appears to have been his favourite author. Yet, considering the period in which Heliodorus lived, his style is remarkable for its elegance and perspicuity, and would not have disgraced an earlier age. "His diction," says Photius,' "is such as becomes the subject; it possesses great sweetness and simplicity, and is free from affectation; the words used are expressive, and if sometimes figurative, as might be expected, they are always perspicuous, and such as clearly exhibit the object of which the delineation is attempted. The periods too are constructed so as to correspond with the variations of the story; they have an agreeable alternation of length and shortness; and, finally, the whole composition is such as to have a correspondence with the narration." In the painting of Character, Heliodorus is extremely defective; Theagenes, in particular, is a weak and insipid personage. The author, indeed, possesses a wonderful art of introducing those who are destined to bear a part in the 1 Cod. lxxiii. p. 158. romance, in situations calculated to excite sympathy, but as we become acquainted with them we lose all concern in their fate from their insipidity. In fact, Chariclea is the only interesting person in the work. She is represented as endued with great strength of mind, united to a delicacy of feeling, and an address which turns every situation to the best advantage. Indeed in all the ancient romances the heroine is invariably the most engaging and spirited character;—a circumstance which cannot but surprise, when we consider what an inferior part the women of Greece acted in society, and how little they mingled in the affairs of life. Heliodorus has been ridiculed by Gabriel Guéret, the author of Le Parnasse Réformé, for having attributed to his hero such excessive modesty, that he gave his mistress a box on the ear when she approached to embrace him [vii. 7]. These railleries, however, are founded on misrepresentation. Theagenes met Chariclea at Memphis, but mistaking both her person and character from her wretched dress and appearance, he inflicted a blow to get rid of her importunities-an unhandsome reception, no doubt, to any woman, but which proves nothing as to his sentiments concerning Chariclea. The reader will perhaps remark as he advances, that pirates and robbers have a principal share in the action of the succeeding Greek romances, as well as in the Ethiopic adventures. Their leaders are frequently the second characters, and occupy the part of the unsuccessful lovers of the heroine; but are not always painted as endued with any peculiar bad qualities, or as exciting horror in the other persons of the work. Nor is this representation inconsistent with the manners of the period in which the action of these romances is placed. In the early ages of Greece, piracy was not accounted a dishonourable employment. In the ancient poets, those that sail along the shore are usually accosted with the question, whether they are pirates, as if the enquiry could not be considered a reproach from those who were anxious to be informed, and as if those who were interrogated would not scruple to acknowledge their vocation. Even at the time of the Peloponnesian war, the Etolians, Acarnanians, and some other nations, subsisted by piracy; 66 and in the early ages of Greece, it was the occupation of all those who resided near the coast. "The Grecians," says Thucydides, in the very beginning of his History [i. 5], took up the trade of piracy under the command of persons of the greatest ability amongst them; and for the sake of enriching such adventurers and subsisting their poor, they landed and plundered by surprise unfortified places, or scattered villages. Nor was this an employment of reproach, but rather an instrument of glory. Some people of the continent are even at the present day a proof of this, as they still attribute honour to such exploits, if performed with due respect and humanity." Heliodorus abounds in Descriptions, some of which are extremely interesting. His accounts of many of the customs of the Egyptians are said to be very correct, and he describes particular places with an accuracy which gives an appearance of reality to his romance.1 He seldom, however, delineates the great outlines of nature, or touches on those accidents which render scenery sublime or beautiful -he chiefly delights in minute descriptions of the pomp of embassies and processions, and, as was natural in a priest, of sacrifices, or religious rites. These might be tiresome or even disgusting in a modern novel, but the representation of manners, of customs, and of ceremonies, is infinitely more valuable in an old romance, than pictures of general nature. There can be no doubt that Theagenes and Chariclea has supplied with materials many of the early writers of Romance. It was imitated in the composition of Achilles Tatius, and subsequent Greek fablers; and although I cannot trace the resemblance which is said to exist between the work of Heliodorus, and that species of modern novel first introduced by Richardson, it was unquestionably the model of those heroic fictions, which, through the writings of Gomberville and Scudéry, became for a considerable period so popular and prevalent in France. The modern. 2 1 Schöll (History of Greek Literature, iii. p. 154), however, disputes the accuracy of Heliodorus, and considers his descriptions imaginary. See also Villemain, Mélanges Historiques, p. 425, Essai sur les romans grecs, and M. Chassang, Histoire du Roman dans l'antiquité, p. 425, in 2 Barbauld's Preface to Richardson. the same sense. Italian poets have also availed themselves of the incidents that occur in the work of Heliodorus.' Thus the circumstances of the birth and early life of Clorinda, related by Arsete in the twelfth canto of the Jerusalem Delivered, are taken, with hardly any variation, from the story of the infancy of Chariclea. The proposed sacrifice and subsequent discovery of the birth of Chariclea have likewise been 1 Giambattista Basile took also from it the subject of his "Teagene." Lieb. 2 "In Ethiopia once Senapus reign'd, (And still perchance he rules the happy land) Her pictured room a sacred story shows, Here oft the Queen her secret faults confess'd, A new-born infant like herself in hue: ני Gerus. Liberat. Hoole's version, canto xii. v. 161, etc. imitated in the Pastor Fido of Guarini, and through it in the Astrea of D'Urfé. Racine had at one time intended writing a drama on the subject of this romance, a plan which has been accomplished by Dorat, in his tragedy of Theagenes and Chariclea, which was acted at Paris in the year 1762. It also suggested the plot of an old English tragi-comedy by J. Gough, entitled The Strange Discovery (1640). Hardy, the French poet, wrote eight tragedies in verse on the same subject, without materially altering the groundwork of the romance, an instance of literary prodigality which is perhaps unexampled. The story, though well fitted for narrative, is unsuitable for tragedy, which indeed is acknowledged by Dorat in his preliminary discourse. "I was seized," observes he, "with enthusiasm; I raised a tottering edifice with romantic proportions, and wrote with inconceivable warmth a cold and languid drama.” If we may judge by success, the events of the romance are better adapted to furnish materials to the artist than the tragic poet. Two of the most striking incidents that occur in the work of Heliodorus have been finely delineated by Raphael, in separate paintings, in which he was assisted by Giulio Romano. In one he has seized the moment when Theagenes and Chariclea meet in the temple of Delphos, and Chariclea presents Theagenes with a torch to kindle the sacrifice [iii. 5]. In the other he has chosen for his subject the capture of the Tyrian ship, in which Calasiris was conducting Theagenes and Chariclea to the coast of Sicily. The vessel is supposed to have already struck to the pirates, and Chariclea is exhibited, by the light of the moon, in a suppliant posture, imploring Trachinus that she might not be separated from her lover and Calasiris [v. 26].1 Theagenes and Chariclea was received with much applause in the age in which it appeared. The popularity of a work invariably produces imitation; and hence the style of composition which had recently been introduced, was soon adopted by various writers.2 1 I have made several attempts to verify this statement and ascertain the whereabouts of these pictures, but without success. Ed. 2 It would even appear that commentaries had been written upon it. Rohde, pp. 443 and 522. |