of Esau. And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy as his brother Esau's hands. So he blessed him. And, he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And, he said, I am." It would be unbecoming to scrutinize Rebecca's or Jacob's conduct in this Jewish transaction; we are nowhere enjoined to imitate it. Noah, when offended with his son Ham, appears to have thought it proper to curse Ham's son, Canaan, for his father's fault. It would seem that the brute creation were commissioned to avenge filial impiety." The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." The Roman punishment for Parricide was that the offender, after being scourged, should be sewed up in a sack with a dog, a cock, a viper and an ape, and then be thrown into the sea or some deep river. Juvenal observes that Nero, who put to death his mother, and his tutor Seneca, ought to have at least a brace of each of these lively companions. The ape, which is not a native of Italy, indicates that the crime was not known till the state had grown old and vicious; it had in fact nearly attained six hundred years. It is an interesting circumstance connected with this subject, that the first public cause which Cicero pleaded was the defence of Sextius Roscius who was accused of parricide. In a work composed by Cicero late in life, he tells us that when he came to dwell on the punishment prescribed by the law for parricide, and to express the reflections to which it gave rise, the applause from the masses of the Roman people that crowded the vast space of the Forum was perfectly deafening. Cicero evidently takes great pleasure in calling to mind the gratifying circumstance, but he intimates that his eloquence on that occasion was not approved of by his maturer judgment; and he ascribes its effect, in a large measure, to the great surprise of his countrymen at the powers of his oratory which were, for the first time, displayed to them, and which, even at their first exhibition, appeared to be different from any thing they had before witnessed. Aristophanes, in his famous play of the Clouds, in which he attacks Socrates, endeavours to bring the popular indignation against him to a climax, by representing that he taught sons to ill-treat their parents. As to the introduction of Clouds, and, in another of Aristophanes's comedies, Birds for the Dramatis Persone in a play, it is necessary to recollect that the theatre of Athens was open to the sky; Mr. Wordsworth, of Harrow school, who travelled in Greece, has shewn how necessary it is to take localities into consideration, in reading the productions of the Athenian dramatists and orators. In the Clouds, an old man takes his son to be instructed by Socrates. This leads to an Episode of two characters representing the old and new schools. In their dialogue there is this bold sarcasm on the popular religion. The representative of the old school having talked of justice, is asked by his opponent, where it was to be found? With the immortal gods. If it be there, how chanced it Jupiter himself escaped for his unnatural deeds to his own father? After hearing the arguments, the old man decides in favour of the new school, at the head of which is Socrates. When the son comes back from school, he teaches his father how to cheat his creditors, for which his father greatly commends him and his instructor. But shortly afterwards he beats his father, and offers to prove that he is right in doing so. The Clouds desire that the point may be argued, observing that if the young man succeeds, the skins of old people will be reduced as thin as cobwebs. The young man reasons the matter logically, and having convinced his father that he ought to be beat, says that he shall next beat his mother, and, if required, shew that he is right in that also. Of Aristophanes, Milton says, in his celebrated Areopagitica:- "Plato recommended the reading of Aristophanes, the loosest of the old comedians, to his royal scholar Dyonisius; and may be excused, if holy Chrysostom, as is reported, nightly studied so much the same author, and had the art to cleanse a scurrilous vehemence into the style of a rousing sermon." Virgil, when describing, in his sixth Enead, the crimes which were punished in the infernal regions, specifies that of beating a parent, (pulsatusve parens.) One of the most striking passages in Virgil occurs in the third Ænead, where Æneas, in relating to Dido his adventures, among which is the carrying of his father on his shoulders from the conflagration of Troy, when he comes to mention his father's death, he immediately breaks off into an affectionate apostrophe. There is a very entertaining comedy by Massinger called the Old Law. An edict is passed, that every man is to be put to death on reaching the age of fourscore, and every woman at threescore. The plot turns on the efforts of a young woman, by a mock funeral (like that of Milton) and other stratagems, to save her father-in-law's life. But there are several comic scenes where old people consult the lawyers in order to quibble away the edict; and use black lead combs to darken their hair, and other devices to appear younger. So attempts are made by the young people to antedate entries in the parish registry, in order to cut short the lives of parents (which is called forwarding the clock). The king, though he undertook to kill the old people (which it is observed was not another slaughter of the Innocents) kept them in a snug place; they re-appear in the last scene very much to the chagrin of their chop-fallen successors. It would fill more pages than this book contains were we to notice all the frequent passages in English literature regarding filial disobedience tending towards Gretna Green. The following extracts from Sheridan's Duenna will call to the reader's recollection many similar sentiments and incidents: If a daughter you have, she's the plague of your life; Sighing and whining, Dying and pining, Oh what a plague is an obstinate daughter! When scarce in their teens, they have wit to perplex us, With letters and lovers for ever they vex us; While each still rejects the rich suitor you've brought her, Wrangling and jangling, Flouting and pouting, Oh what a plague is an obstinate daughter! Don Jerome, (the father) from a window, threatens to shoot Don Antonio the lover of his daughter Louisa : L. & A. We soon, perhaps, may meet again; J. Hence, or these slugs are through your brain! In our plays these overt acts of filial disobedience are often abetted by the character whom Cowley calls "Machiavel, the waiting-maid," as in the following song in Lionel and Clarissa: I'm but a poor servant, 'tis true, ma'am ; In grief would I sit? the dickens* a bit ; No, faith, I would search the world through, ma'am, To find what my liking could hit. Set in case a young man, In my fancy there ran, It might anger my friends and relations; But if I had regard, It should go very hard, Or I'd follow my own inclinations. Corneille was famous for his scenes rather than for his plays, as Racine shone more in his plays than in his scenes. One of the most celebrated scenes of Corneille, is in the play of the Cid. Don Diegue, having received an affront from the father of Chimene, engages his son to fight with him— Chimene's father falls. But Don Diegue's son Don Rodrigue, who kills him, is Chimene's accepted lover-Chimene's heart is torn by opposite passions, at last she concludes Je cours sans balancer oú mon honneur m'oblige, * Dickens, used by a female in Shakspeare. Dr. Johnson could not find out its etymology. Marry come up-another feminine exclamation, is an abbreviated prayer to the Virgin Mary, to come up and give assistance. The Roman men and women used different familiar oaths from each other. |