Languages & literature > Abridgement of lectures on rhetoric

ANTIENT COMEDY. 293
Brought into a&ual contraft in any of die circumftan-
cos of life.
The ftyle of comedy ought to be pure, lively, and
elegant, generally imitating the tone of polite conver-
fation, and never defcending into grofs expreflions.
Rhyme is notfuitable to comic compofition ; for what
has poetry to do with the converfation of men in com¬
mon life ? The current of the dialogue fhould be eafy
without pertnefs, and genteel without flippancy. The
wit fhould never be ftudied, nor unfeafonable.
ANTIENT COMEDY".
T H E antient comedy was an avowed fatire againfl
particular perfons, brought upon the ftage by name;
Such are the plays of Ariftophanes ; and compofitions of
fo Angular a nature illuftrate well the turbulent and li-
centious ftate of Athens. The moft illuftrious perfon-
ages, generals and magiftrates, were then made the fub-
jeds of comedy. Vivacity,, fatire, and buffoonery are
the charaifteri (tics of Ariftophanes. On many occa-
fions he difplays genius and force ; but his performan¬
ces give us no high idea-of the attic tafte for wit in his
age. His ridicule is extravagant; his wit farcical; his
perfonal raillery cruel and biting; and his obfcenity
intolerable.
Soon after the age of Ariftophanes the liberty of at¬
tacking perfons by name on the ftage was prohibited
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