Or was the term “enthusiasm,” after painful affection of the bowels, first applied10 to the contortions11 of the Pythia, who, on the Delphian tripod, admitted the inspiration of Apollo in a place apparently12 intended for the receptacle of body rather than of spirit?
What do we understand by enthusiasm? How many shades are there in our affections! Approbation13, sensibility, emotion, distress14, impulse, passion, transport, insanity15, rage, fury. Such are the stages through which the miserable16 soul of man is liable to pass.
A geometrician attends at the representation of an affecting tragedy. He merely remarks that it is a judicious17, well-written performance. A young man who sits next to him is so interested by the performance that he makes no remark at all; a lady sheds tears over it; another young man is so transported by the exhibition that to his great misfortune he goes home determined18 to compose a tragedy himself. He has caught the disease of enthusiasm.
The centurion19 or military tribune who considers war simply as a profession by which he is to make his fortune, goes to battle coolly, like a tiler ascending20 the roof of a house. C?sar wept at seeing the statue of Alexander.
Ovid speaks of love only like one who understood it. Sappho expressed the genuine enthusiasm of the passion, and if it be true that she sacrificed her life to it, her enthusiasm must have advanced to madness.
The spirit of party tends astonishingly to excite enthusiasm; there is no faction21 that has not its “energumens,” its devoted22 and possessed23 partisans24. An animated25 speaker who employs gesture in his addresses, has in his eyes, his voice, his movements. a subtle poison which passes with an arrow’s speed into the ears and hearts of his partial hearers. It was on this ground that Queen Elizabeth forbade any one to preach, during six months, without an express licence under her sign manual, that the peace of her kingdom might be undisturbed.
St. Ignatius, who possessed very warm and susceptible26 feelings, read the lives of the fathers of the desert after being deeply read in romances. He becomes, in consequence, actuated by a double enthusiasm. He constitutes himself knight27 to the Virgin28 Mary, he performed the vigil of arms; he is eager to fight for his lady patroness; he is favored with visions; the virgin appears and recommends to him her son, and she enjoins29 him to give no other name to his society than that of the “Society of Jesus.”
Ignatius communicates his enthusiasm to another Spaniard of the name of Xavier. Xavier hastens away to the Indies, of the language of which he is utterly30 ignorant, thence to Japan, without knowing a word of Japanese. That, however, is of no consequence; the flame of his enthusiasm catches the imagination of some young Jesuits, who, at length, make themselves masters of that language. These disciples32, after Xavier’s death, entertain not the shadow of a doubt that he performed more miracles than ever the apostles did, and that he resuscitated33 seven or eight persons at the very least. In short, so epidemic34 and powerful becomes the enthusiasm that they form in Japan what they denominate a Christendom (une Chrétienté). This Christendom ends in a civil war, in which a hundred thousand persons are slaughtered35: the enthusiasm then is at its highest point, fanaticism36; and fanaticism has become madness.
The young fakir who fixes his eye on the tip of his nose when saying his prayers, gradually kindles37 in devotional ardor38 until he at length believes that if he burdens himself with chains of fifty pounds weight the Supreme39 Being will be obliged and grateful to him. He goes to sleep with an imagination totally absorbed by Brahma, and is sure to have a sight of him in a dream. Occasionally even in the intermediate state between sleeping and waking, sparks radiate from his eyes; he beholds40 Brahma resplendent with light; he falls into ecstasies41, and the disease frequently becomes incurable42.
What is most rarely to be met with is the combination of reason with enthusiasm. Reason consists in constantly perceiving things as they really are. He, who, under the influence of intoxication43, sees objects double is at the time deprived of reason.
Enthusiasm is precisely44 like wine, it has the power to excite such a ferment45 in the blood-vessels, and such strong vibrations in the nerves, that reason is completely destroyed by it. But it may also occasion only slight agitations46 so as not to convulse the brain, but merely to render it more active, as is the case in grand bursts of eloquence47 and more especially in sublime48 poetry. Reasonable enthusiasm is the patrimony49 of great poets.
This reasonable enthusiasm is the perfection of their art. It is this which formerly50 occasioned the belief that poets were inspired by the gods, a notion which was never applied to other artists.
How is reasoning to control enthusiasm? A poet should, in the first instance, make a sketch51 of his design. Reason then holds the crayon. But when he is desirous of animating52 his characters, to communicate to them the different and just expressions of the passions, then his imagination kindles, enthusiasm is in full operation and urges him on like a fiery courser in his career. But his course has been previously53 traced with coolness and judgment54.
Enthusiasm is admissible into every species of poetry which admits of sentiment; we occasionally find it even in the eclogue; witness the following lines of Virgil (Eclogue x. v. 58):
Jam mihi per rupes videor lucosque sonantes
Ire; libet Partho torquere cydonia cornu
Spicula; tanquam haec sint nostri medicina furoris,
Aut deus ille malis hominum mitescere discat!
Nor cold shall hinder me, with horns and hounds
To third the thickets55, or to leap the mounds56.
And now, methinks, through steepy rocks I go,
And rush through sounding woods and bend the Parthian bow:
As if with sports my sufferings I could ease,
Or by my pains the god of Love appease57.
The style of epistles and satires58 represses enthusiasm, we accordingly see little or nothing of it in the works of Boileau and Pope.
Our odes, it is said by some, are genuine lyrical enthusiasm, but as they are not sung with us, they are, in fact, rather collections of verses, adorned60 with ingenious reflections, than odes.
Of all modern odes that which abounds61 with the noblest enthusiasm, an enthusiasm that never abates62, that never falls into the bombastic63 or the ridiculous, is “Timotheus, or Alexander’s Feast,” by Dryden. It is still considered in England as an inimitable masterpiece, which Pope, when attempting the same style and the same subject, could not even approach. This ode was sung, set to music, and if the musician had been worthy64 of the poet it would have been the masterpiece of lyric59 poesy.
The most dangerous tendency of enthusiasm in this occurs in an ode on the birth of a prince of the bast, rant31, and burlesque65. A striking example of this occurs in an ode on the birth of a prince of the blood royal:
Où suis-je? quel nouveau miracle
Tient encore mes sens enchantés
Quel vaste, quel pompeux spectacle
Frappe mes yeux épouvantés?
Un nouveau monde vient d’éclore
L’univers se reforme encore
Dans les ab?mes du chaos66;
Et, pour réparer ses ruines
Je vois des demeures divines
Descendre un peuple de héros.
— J. B. Rousseau.
“Ode on the Birth of the Duke of Brittany.”
Here we find the poet’s senses enchanted67 and alarmed at the appearance of a prodigy68 — a vast and magnificent spectacle — a new birth which is to reform the universe and redeem69 it from a state of chaos, all which means simply that a male child is born to the house of Bourbon. This is as bad as “Je chante les vainqueurs, des vainqueurs de la terre.”
We will avail ourselves of the present opportunity to observe that there is a very small portion of enthusiasm in the “Ode on the Taking of Namur.”
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1 bowels | |
n.肠,内脏,内部;肠( bowel的名词复数 );内部,最深处 | |
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2 agitation | |
n.搅动;搅拌;鼓动,煽动 | |
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3 vibrations | |
n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 );震动;感受;(偏离平衡位置的)一次性往复振动 | |
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4 dilation | |
n.膨胀,扩张,扩大 | |
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5 intestines | |
n.肠( intestine的名词复数 ) | |
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6 contractions | |
n.收缩( contraction的名词复数 );缩减;缩略词;(分娩时)子宫收缩 | |
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7 fiery | |
adj.燃烧着的,火红的;暴躁的;激烈的 | |
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8 vividly | |
adv.清楚地,鲜明地,生动地 | |
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9 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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10 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
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11 contortions | |
n.扭歪,弯曲;扭曲,弄歪,歪曲( contortion的名词复数 ) | |
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12 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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13 approbation | |
n.称赞;认可 | |
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14 distress | |
n.苦恼,痛苦,不舒适;不幸;vt.使悲痛 | |
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15 insanity | |
n.疯狂,精神错乱;极端的愚蠢,荒唐 | |
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16 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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17 judicious | |
adj.明智的,明断的,能作出明智决定的 | |
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18 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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19 centurion | |
n.古罗马的百人队长 | |
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20 ascending | |
adj.上升的,向上的 | |
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21 faction | |
n.宗派,小集团;派别;派系斗争 | |
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22 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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23 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
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24 partisans | |
游击队员( partisan的名词复数 ); 党人; 党羽; 帮伙 | |
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25 animated | |
adj.生气勃勃的,活跃的,愉快的 | |
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26 susceptible | |
adj.过敏的,敏感的;易动感情的,易受感动的 | |
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27 knight | |
n.骑士,武士;爵士 | |
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28 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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29 enjoins | |
v.命令( enjoin的第三人称单数 ) | |
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30 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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31 rant | |
v.咆哮;怒吼;n.大话;粗野的话 | |
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32 disciples | |
n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 );门徒;耶稣的信徒;(尤指)耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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33 resuscitated | |
v.使(某人或某物)恢复知觉,苏醒( resuscitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34 epidemic | |
n.流行病;盛行;adj.流行性的,流传极广的 | |
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35 slaughtered | |
v.屠杀,杀戮,屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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36 fanaticism | |
n.狂热,盲信 | |
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37 kindles | |
(使某物)燃烧,着火( kindle的第三人称单数 ); 激起(感情等); 发亮,放光 | |
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38 ardor | |
n.热情,狂热 | |
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39 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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40 beholds | |
v.看,注视( behold的第三人称单数 );瞧;看呀;(叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现)哎哟 | |
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41 ecstasies | |
狂喜( ecstasy的名词复数 ); 出神; 入迷; 迷幻药 | |
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42 incurable | |
adj.不能医治的,不能矫正的,无救的;n.不治的病人,无救的人 | |
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43 intoxication | |
n.wild excitement;drunkenness;poisoning | |
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44 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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45 ferment | |
vt.使发酵;n./vt.(使)激动,(使)动乱 | |
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46 agitations | |
(液体等的)摇动( agitation的名词复数 ); 鼓动; 激烈争论; (情绪等的)纷乱 | |
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47 eloquence | |
n.雄辩;口才,修辞 | |
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48 sublime | |
adj.崇高的,伟大的;极度的,不顾后果的 | |
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49 patrimony | |
n.世袭财产,继承物 | |
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50 formerly | |
adv.从前,以前 | |
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51 sketch | |
n.草图;梗概;素描;v.素描;概述 | |
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52 animating | |
v.使有生气( animate的现在分词 );驱动;使栩栩如生地动作;赋予…以生命 | |
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53 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
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54 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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55 thickets | |
n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 );丛状物 | |
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56 mounds | |
土堆,土丘( mound的名词复数 ); 一大堆 | |
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57 appease | |
v.安抚,缓和,平息,满足 | |
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58 satires | |
讽刺,讥讽( satire的名词复数 ); 讽刺作品 | |
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59 lyric | |
n.抒情诗,歌词;adj.抒情的 | |
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60 adorned | |
[计]被修饰的 | |
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61 abounds | |
v.大量存在,充满,富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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62 abates | |
减少( abate的第三人称单数 ); 减去; 降价; 撤消(诉讼) | |
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63 bombastic | |
adj.夸夸其谈的,言过其实的 | |
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64 worthy | |
adj.(of)值得的,配得上的;有价值的 | |
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65 burlesque | |
v.嘲弄,戏仿;n.嘲弄,取笑,滑稽模仿 | |
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66 chaos | |
n.混乱,无秩序 | |
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67 enchanted | |
adj. 被施魔法的,陶醉的,入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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68 prodigy | |
n.惊人的事物,奇迹,神童,天才,预兆 | |
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69 redeem | |
v.买回,赎回,挽回,恢复,履行(诺言等) | |
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