第829页 / 共1391页

Then he will adopt a mode of narration such as we have

illustrated out of Homer, that is to say, his style will be both

imitative and narrative; but there will be very little of the

former, and a great deal of the latter. Do you agree?

Certainly, he said; that is the model which such a speaker must

necessarily take.

But there is another sort of character who will narrate anything,

and, the worse he is, the more unscrupulous he will be; nothing

will be too bad for him: and he will be ready to imitate

anything, not as a joke, but in right good earnest, and before a

large company. As I was just now saying, he will attempt to

represent the roll of thunder, the noise of wind and hail, or the

creaking of wheels, and pulleys, and the various sounds of

flutes, pipes, trumpets, and all sorts of instruments: he will

bark like a dog, bleat like a sheep, or crow like a cock; his

entire art will consist in imitation of voice and gesture, and

there will be very little narration.