* Yet to each separate form adapt with care 175 Such limbs, such robes, such attitude and air, As best befit the head, and best combine

To make one whole, one uniform design:

+ Learn action from the dumb; the dumb shall teach

How happiest to supply the want of speech. 180
↑ Fair in the front, in all the blaze of light,
The Hero of thy piece should meet the sight.
Supreme in beauty: lavish here thine art,
And bid him boldly from the canvass start :

§ Singula membra, suo capiti conformia, fiant Unum idemque simul corpus cum vestibus ipsis : ¶ Mutorumque silens positura imitabitur actus.

|| Prima figurarum: seu princeps dramatis, ultrò Prosiliat media in tabula, sub lumine primo 130 Pulchrior ante alias, reliquis nec operta figuris.

* IX. Conformity of the Limbs and Drapery to the Head.

+ X. Action of the Mutes

to be imitated.

§ IX. Figura sit una mem. bris et vestibus.

TX. Mutorum actiones imitandæ.

XI. The principal Figure. XI. Figura princeps.

* While round that sov'reign form th' inferior

train

In groups collected fill the pictur'd plain;

185

190

Fill, but not crowd; for oft some open space
Must part their ranks and leave a vacant place,
Lest artlessly dispers'd, the sever'd crew,
At random rush on our bewilder'd view ;
Or parts with parts, in thick confusion bound,
Spread a tumultuous chaos o'er the ground.
+ In every figur'd group the judging eye
Demands the charms of contrariety;
In forms, in attitudes, expects to trace
Distinct inflections, and contrasted grace,

195

Agglomerata simul sint membra, ipsæque figuræ

Stipentur, circumque globos locus usque vacabit; Nè, malè dispersis dum visus ubique figuris Dividitur, cunctisque operis fervente tumultu 135 Partibus implicitis, crepitans confusio surgat.

¶ Inque figurarum cumulis non omnibus idem Corporis inflexus, motusque ; vel artubus omnes Conversis pariter non connitantur eodem;

* XII. Groups of Figures.

+ XIII. Diversity of Attitude in Groups.

+ XII. Figurarum globi seu cumuli.

XIII. Positurarum diversitas in cumulis.

Where art diversely leads each changeful line,
Opposes, breaks, divides the whole design:
Thus, when the rest in front their charms display,
Let one with face averted turn away;

200

Shoulders oppose to breasts, and left to right, With parts that meet and parts that shun the sight. This rule in practice uniformly true

Extends alike to many forms or few.

206

*Yet keep thro' all the piece a perfect poise:
If here in frequent troops the figures rise,
There let some object tower with equal pride;
And so arrange each correspondent side,

Sed quædam in diversa trahant contraria mem

140

bra, Transverséque aliis pugnent, et cætera frangant. Pluribus adversis aversam oppone figuram, Pectoribusque humeros, et dextera membra sinistris,

Seu multis constabit opus, paucisve figuris.

+Altera pars tabulæ vacuo neu frigida campo 145 Aut deserta siet, dum pluribus altera formis Fervida mole sua supremam exsurgit ad oram. Sed tibi sic positis respondeat utraque rebus, Ut si aliquid sursum se parte attollat in unâ,

* XIV. A Balance to be + XIV. Tabulæ libramentum. kept in the Picture.

That, through the well connected plan, appear
No cold vacuity, no desert drear.

210

"Say does the Poet glow with genuine rage, Who crowds with pomp and noise his bustling stage?

Devoid alike of taste that Painter deem,

Whose flutt'ring works with num'rous figures

teem; .

A task so various how shall art fulfil,

215

When oft the simplest forms elude our skill?
But, did the toil succeed, we still should lose
That solemn majesty, that soft repose,
Dear to the curious eye, and only found,
Where few fair objects fill an ample ground. 220

Sic aliquid parte ex aliâ consurgat, et ambas 150 Equiparet, geminas cumulando æqualiter oras.

+ Pluribus implicitum personis drama supremo In genere, ut rarum est, multis ita densa figuris Rarior est tabula excellens; vel adhuc ferè nulla Præstitit in multis, quod vix bene præstat in

unâ :

Quippe solet rerum nimio dispersa tumultu,
Majestate carere gravi, requieque decora ;
Nec speciosa nitet, vacuo nisi libera campo.

* XV. Of the number of Figures.

155

+ XV. Numerus Figura

rum.

Yet if some grand important theme demand
Of many needful forms a busy band,
Judgment will so the several groups unite,
That one compacted whole shall meet the sight.
*The joint in each extreme distinctly treat, 225
Nor e'er conceal the outline of the feet;

+The hands alike demand to be exprest
In half-shown figures rang'd behind the rest;
Nor can such forms with force or beauty shine,
Save when the head and hands in action join. 230
Each air constrain'd and forc'd, each gesture rude,
Whate'er contracts or cramps the attitude,

160

Sed si opere in magno, plures thema grande requirat
Esse figurarum cumulos, spectabitur unà
Machina tota rei; non singula quæque seorsim.
Præcipua extremis raro internodia membris
Abdita sint; sed summa pedum vestigia nunquam.
|| Grátia nulla manet, motusque, vigorque figuras
Retro aliis subter majori ex parte latentes.
Ni capitis motum manibus comitentur agendo.
¶ Difficiles fugito aspectus, contractaque visu

* XVI. The Joints of the Feet.

+ XVII. The motion of the Hands with the Head.

XVIII. What things are to be avoided in the Distribution of the Piece.

165

§ XVI. Internodia et Pedes.

|| XVII. Motus manuum motui capitis jungendus.

¶ XVIII. Quæ fugienda in distributione et compositione.