Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Battle of The Books is a mock-heroic written by Jonathan Swift that was first published in 1704. It is a light-hearted satire to ridicule the contemporary modern authors of Swift’s era while he defended the classicist Ancient writers. Jonathan Swift was the assistant of Sir William Temple who wrote "An Essay upon the Ancient and Modern Learning" in 1692. This essay by Temple raised the debate of Ancient versus Modern in which Temple favored Ancient writers and concluded that the Moderns had, in fact, very little to add to the store of knowledge that had been inherited from the classical past. Temple used the metaphor of dwarf and giant in his essay and suggested that modern man was just a dwarf standing upon the "shoulders of giants," that is, the modern man saw farther because he begins with the observations and learning of the ancients. Temple’s essay was opposed by Richard Bentley, the classicist librarian of the Royal Library and critic William Wotton too published his own essay opposing William Temple’s debate in favor of the Ancients. Richard Bentley was highly knowledgeable and the proponents of the Ancients avoided opposing his essay through scholarly arguments thus, they employed witty satires. Jonathan Swift was not involved in this debate but William Temple was his major patron and thus, he too wrote a light-hearted satire in a mock-heroic style to offer his support in favor of the Ancient writers.
The side of Moderns includes Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, John Dryden, Aphra Behn, and Abraham Cowley while the Ancient warriors include Holmer, Horace, Virgil, Plato, Aristotle, and others.
Summary of The Battle of The Books:
Jonathan Swift clarifies the purpose of this satire with the beginning note of the book which says that the work is about the “famous dispute … about ancient and modern learning.” The battle of the books is staged in the King’s Corner of St. James Library. The author satirically says that he is trying to give an impartial account of the battle fought between the Ancients and the Modems in the regal library, as a result of the mismanagement of the librarian, Bentley, who showed undue favor to the Moderns.
In the Preface of the book, Swift explains the nature of satire. He says that most people enjoy satire because they often fail to see themselves in the satire while they relate it to others. However, even if someone sees himself in the satire and gets offended, Swift says that it won’t be a problem because anger weakens the counterargument. He further says that weak satires apply “wit without knowledge,” while strong ones have depth.
The whole book can be divided into five major incidences. While four of the incidences involve the battle between the books and their Ancient and Modern authors, there is an allegory of the spiders and the bees in between.
First Incidence: The author says that the main argument began because of pride and want. The dispute between the Ancients and Moderns is about the right to live on the highest peak of Parnassus hill. He says that during times of scarcity, people often fight like dogs to secure resources but when there is plenty, they live peacefully. He then explains the nature of the dispute.
The Parnassus hill has two peaks. While the Ancients are living on the highest peak, the Moderns are situated on the lower peak. Because of their lower peak, they are jealous of the Ancients who think they are superior beings. However, the moderns are increasing in numbers. They send an emissary to the Ancients with a message that says that the Ancients should step down to a lower position otherwise the Moderns would use shovels and level the said hill as low as they would deem proper. The Ancients were surprised by this ‘insolence’ of amateur authors. They rejected the offer and said that instead of trying to lower their peak, the Moderns should work for raising the height of their own peak. The Ancients offer proper assistance for the Moderns in raising the height of their peak but the Moderns reject the offer as they know that they can easily outnumber the Ancients.
The hostility between Ancients and Moderns soon reaches the St. James Library where the Ancient and Modern books engage in argument and make opposing camps within the library. In one camp, there are books of Plato, Homer, Virgil, and others, in the other camp, works of Descartes, Dryden, Hobbes, Aquinas, and others make their team. Richard Bentley, the Royal librarian openly shows his support for the Moderns while he is hostile against the Ancients. William Temple thus decides to organize the defense of the Ancients.
Second Incidence: The second incidence involves an allegory of the spider and the bee. Swift describes a dusty spider web as a huge fortress of a well-fed, strong spider who is the best in architecture and mathematics. The spider decorates its mansion “in the modern style.” One day, a bee accidentally enters the web. The spider mocks the bee and shows off its architectural skills with pride. The bee struggles to get free and offers a counterargument of “long search, much study, true judgment, and distinction of things.” At last, the bee manages to come out of the web but in the process, the web is broken. The spider gets furious and rebukes the bee as a ‘universal plunderer’ for being insolent and impudent. While all the books are eagerly listening to the arguments of the spider and the bee, the works of Aesop turn towards the Ancients and join their side, alleging that the arguments of the spider and the bee is a good allegory for the Moderns and Ancients. The spider boasts “of his native stock and great genius,” particularly in architecture and mathematics, while the bee and the Ancients are content “to pretend to nothing of our own beyond our wings and our voice” and “whatever [else] we have got has been by infinite labor and search, and ranging through every corner of nature.”
Third Incidence: As the Moderns reject the proposal of the Ancients to raise the height of their own peak, they engage in a battle. The side of the Ancients includes Homer, Pindar, Virgil, Herodotus, Lucan, Euclid, Plato, Aristotle, Livy, and William Temple. The Moderns are represented by Milton, Tasso, Dryden, Withers, Cowley, Descartes, Harvey Denham, Gondibert, and a host of others. The reflection inspires the books too to begin the battle and they retreat to opposite sides of the library to choose their leaders and make their strategy. The Moderns are greater in number and they have several ugly weapons and several heavy but untrained fighters including Thomas Aquinas who is “without either arms, courage, or discipline,” on the battlefield.
The epic poets Milton and Tasso lead the horseriders of Moderns while Holmer is the horse rider of the Ancients who kills five Moderns one after another. His victims are Gondibert, Denham, Wedey, Perrault, and Fontenelle. Another Ancient horse rider is Pindar who kills Oldham, Aphra Behn, and Cowley. Aristotle is the main archer of the Ancients who flings an arrow at Bacon but hits Descartes, Swift is implying that Aristotle’s work is superior to that of Descartes but perhaps not to Bacon’s. Virgil is rather a slow fighter who is failing to manage his heavy armor made of gold. As Virgil faces Dryden, Dryden shows his unwillingness to a trial of strength. Dryden says that Virgil is like a father figure to him and he won’t fight against him. He rather offers an amicable exchange of armor as a sign of amity between the two. Virgil willingly accepts the proposal and Dryden takes off Virgil's Golden armor in exchange for his rusty armor. Similarly, The Roman poet Lucan and the Modern epic poet Blackmore agree to exchange gifts and fight no more.
Fourth Incidence: The fourth incidence happens before the Commencement of the war as the scene changes to the Milky Way. Fate alerts Jove (Jupiter) about the impending battle. Jove calls a meeting of all gods to discuss the matter. Momus takes the side of the Moderns while Pallas (Athena) shows favor for the Ancients. Jove himself remains undecided and consults the book of Fate and learns what will happen regarding the battle, but he tells nobody.
Momun takes the help of the goddess of criticism to assist the Moderns. Goddess of criticism is more than happy to assist him because Wotton, a major fighter of the Modernists is her own son. She takes the help of her parents' Pride, and Ignorance and engages her siblings, Opinion, and Noise in the battle. The goddess of Criticism goes to the Library and disguises herself as Bentley to have a word with Wotton. She encourages Wotton and offers him two assistants namely Dullness and Ill-manners.
Fifth Incidence: Inspired by the goddess of Criticism and assisted by Dullness and Ill-manners, Wotton attacks William Temple, a fighter of the Ancients who looks more like Moderns. Meanwhile, Apollo has made up his mind to side with the Ancients. He calls upon Christian Boyle to take revenge against Wotton. As Wotton sees Boyle charging towards him, he gets frightened and runs away. As Boyle chases Wotton, he sees Bentley too and confronts them alone. As Boyle fights against Bentley and Wotton, divine Pallas offers him her lance. Boyle takes the lance and kills both Bentley and Wotton in a single stroke. As the two men fall, their bodies get intertwined, almost indistinguishable from one another, like a pair of skewered woodcocks. The account of the battle ends here with a clear victory of the Ancients.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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