ful Discovery and Perepetie, by afferting that Paris carry'd only away a Phantom, form'd by Venus, to impofe on him, while the true Helena was conveyed to Pharos, and fhelter'd there in' the Temple from the Love of Theoclymenes, till the Arrival of Menelaus on that Coat, with his Followers, and the Phantom of Helena, which vanishes away, and he finds the real Helena, and makes his Escape with her for Greece.

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I have often thought, that if our Poets wou'd study the Nature and true Beauties of Tragedy fomething more, the uncertain Part of our own Hiftory wou'd be as advantageous to them; and Milton seems of the fame Mind in the Writing of his English Hiftory. Befides, the Nation being the fame, the Customs. and Manners wou'd have a more Natural Influence on the Audience, and the Poet wou'd avoid fome Abfurdities in the Manners, which many have been guilty of, by placing their Scenes in Foreign Countries; for tho the Scene be at Indoftan, or Conftantinople, the Manners are all Northern, English, &c. But of all Foreign Stories thofe of Greece and Rome are the most valuable; because our common Liberty has given us Sentiments, in many things, common with them. I know not but if we fhou'd ever aut-live our Liberties, but then the Seraglio may afford us as useful Examples; but as long as Cato pleafes, it does not appear that we are much in Love with Slavery.

I come next to the Manners, which has the fecond Place in Eminence to the Plot or Fable. I know it has been objected, and I my felf was once of that Opinion, that Cato was by no means a proper Hero for Tragedy; a Stoic by Profeffion, and therefore fuppofed to be without Paffions, whereas Paffion is the very Characteristic of that Poem, Violenta Tragedia.

But in reviewing the Life of that Roman, I found that his Love for his Country was not without Paffion, and that of great Violence, as his bursting into Tears in going over the Field where the Conflict of Dyrrachium was; and his doing the fame whenever Mention was made of the Battle of Pharfalia. His Sword being conveyed away privately the Night of his Death by the Order of his Friends, on miffing it he called one of his Slaves

Slaves and bid him fetch it, but not being obeyed he grew fo angry, that he ftruck his Slave with fuch Force that he hurt his own Hand, crying out he was betray'd, and should be deliver'd to the Enemy Naked and Unarmed. And his after-Words to his Sons and Friends fhew plainly, that he was not so much a Stoic as to be void of Paffion, efpecially in the Cause of his Friends and his Country.

This being thus plain, let us examine his Manners as a Dramatic Perfon, for as fuch only we have to do with him here.

The Manners, as we have fhewn, fhould have Four Qualities, which all meet in Cato. They must be good, that is, well mark'd; they must be like, they must be convenient and equal. Thus the Manners of Cato are poetically good, that is, well marked; for his Difcourfe makes us clearly fee his Inclinations, and what Refolutions he will be certain to take. The Manners of the Poetical Cato are like; that is, they are conformable to those, which true History gives this Roman.

In Hiftory, he was of a Sedate, but Stern Inflexible Temper, a conflant Lover of his Country and its Laws; he was of fingular Integrity, and thought no Caufe good, that was not founded on Juftice; incapable of Corruption; and an irreconcileable Enemy to thofe, he thought Enemies to his Country; and of unquestionable Courage both in the Field and the Senate. Now there is not one of thefe Qualities but are vifible in our Poetic Cato, even in the First Scene of his Appearance. As his, Conduct between Sempronius and Lucius, and to Decius, on his Meffage from Cafar, make it evident.

The Manners of our CATO are likewife Convenient, that is, every where confiftent: As they begin, fo they end; and He is always the Same, which makes Them alfo Equal.

Thus we have feen the Manners of our Tragic Hero to be Good, Like, Convenient and Equal; and we fhall foon find that they are alfo Neceffary, for the Carrying on the Action. I have laid it down as a Rule, that there are Three Sorts of Qualities, that compofe the Character of a Hero. First Such as are abfolutely Neceffary for the Fable or Action; and those are most to appear, and prevail above the reft, fince the

Hero is to be known by them: The Second are to Embellish the First; and the Third, to Suftain Both.

The First of these in our CATO, is, the Love of his Country, which appears whereever he is feen: And this is fet off by an invincible Refolution; and Both are fuftain'd by a very uncommon Fortitude.

Thus I have likewife gone thro' my Examination of the Manners of CATO, by the Juft Rules of Ariftotle himself; and fhown, beyond Contradiction, that Mr. Addifon has arriv'd at a Perfection in this Particular; in which he is alfo almoft fingular among his Contemporary Tragic Writers, (if we add those of King Charles II.'s Reign to them) except Otway, fome of Lee's Plays, and One or Two of Mr. Dryden's.

It may perhaps be expected, that having gone thro' the Plot, and the Principal Character, I should likewise fay fomething of the other Dramatick Perfons, that fill up this Play: But having already fhown, that they are all dependent on the Main Action, and produc'd by the Beginning of it; I fhall only fay, that they are perfectly diftinguish'd: The Sedatenefs of Portius, is fufficiently diftinct from the Fiery Temper of Marcus. The Two Characters of Sempronius and Syphax, are diftinguifh'd in themselves, tho' Carrying on the fame Treacherous Cause, nor are they furnish'd with Manners, that are not necessary to the Bufinefs they are engag'd in. They are not made more wicked, than they fhou'd be, merely to introduce a Villain; but as Love or Luft, and a Fear below a Friend of Cato's, engag'd Sempronius in his Treachery, fo overcome by fuch Paffions, in this Age, they wou'd almost be pity'd. More may be faid for Syphax, no Subject of Rome, nor indu'd with those Principles, that were worn out then in the Romans themfelves; a Numidian, an African, that was not willing to perish in a Cause, in the Success of which he cou'd expect to be no Gainer.

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`Gainer. In fhort, he is what we may call Wicked, but not guilty of fuch Breaches of common Honefty or confirm'd Villany, as are too frequent on our Stage, and have nothing Dramatic in them. The Character of Womanhood is every where preferv'd in the Ladies, in whom Modesty fhines, and Virtue is always confpicuous. Juba is every where honourable, and a true Pupil of Cato, and promifing that Man, that he afterwards was in Reality; he does nothing unworthy a Prince, nor indeed of a

Roman.

All I have to fay of the Sentiments is, that I cannot find any, but what are the Natural Product of the Manners, the Occafion, and Paffion. And I am fatisfy'd, that every one will excuse my faying nothing of the Diction, fince that is what every one will allow to be Juft and Dramatic, vary'd according to the Subject. The Paffions are not clogg'd with infipid founding Epithets, that make the Paffion languish, that is, when they have any Paffions to exprefs.

I fhall here conclude, That as this Celebrated Tragedy of Cato has receiv'd the general Applause of the Town; the Reader may judge, by the Examination I have made, by the known and allow'd Rules of the Drama, how much Justice there was in that Applause.

Est ubi recte judicat est ubi peccat.

Hor.

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