"David Hume - Of the Rise and Progress of the Arts and Sciences" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hume David)

could justly pretend to have imitated them.

A man's genius is always, in the beginning of life, as much
unknown to himself as to others; and it is only after frequent
trials, attended with success, that he dares think himself
equal to those undertakings, in which those, who have
succeeded, have fixed the admiration of mankind. If his own
nation be already possessed of many models of eloquence, he
naturally compares his own juvenile exercises with these, and
being sensible of the great disproportion, is discouraged from
any farther attempts, and never aims at a rivalship with those
authors, whom he so much admires. A noble emulation is the
source of every excellence. Admiration and modesty naturally
extinguish this emulation. And no one is so liable to an
excess of admiration and modesty, as a truly great genius.

Next to emulation, the greatest encourager of the noble arts
is praise and glory. A writer is animated with new force, when
he hears the applauses of the world for his former
productions; and, being roused by such a motive, he often
reaches a pitch of perfection, which is equally surprizing to
himself and to his readers. But when the posts of honour are
all occupied, his first attempts are but coldly received by
the public; being compared to productions, which are both in
themselves more excellent, and have already the advantage of
an established reputation. Were MoliЉre and Corneille to bring
upon the stage at present their early productions, which were
formerly so well received, it would discourage the young
poets, to see the indifference and disdain of the public. The
ignorance of the age alone could have given admission to the
Prince of Tyre; but it is to that we owe The Moor: Had Every
man in his humour been rejected, we had never seen Volpone.

Perhaps, it may not be for the advantage of any nation to have
the arts imported from their neighbours in too great
perfection. This extinguishes emulation, and sinks the ardour
of the generous youth. So many models of Italian painting
brought into England, instead of exciting our artists, is the
cause of their small progress in that noble art. The same,
perhaps, was the case of Rome, when it received the arts from
Greece. That multitude of polite productions in the French
language, dispersed all over Germany and the North, hinder
these nations from cultivating their own language, and keep
them still dependent on their neighbours for those elegant
entertainments.

It is true, the ancients had left us models in every kind of
writing, which are highly worthy of admiration. But besides
that they were written in languages, known only to the
learned; besides this, I say, the comparison is not so perfect