SECT. XX.—THE CRIES OF ANIMALS
SUCH sounds as imitate the natural inarticulate voices of men, or any animals in pain or danger, are capable of conveying great ideas; unless it be the well-known voice of some creature, on which we are used to look with contempt. The angry tones of wild beasts are equally capable of causing a great and awful sensation.
Hinc exaudiri gemitus irœque leonum
Vincla recusantum, et sera sub nocte rudentum;
Setigerique sues, atque in prœsepibus ursi
Sœvire; et formœ magnorum ululare luporum.
It might seem that these modulations of sound carry some connexion with the nature of the things they represent, and are not merely arbitrary; because the natural cries of all animals, even of those animals with whom we have not been acquainted, never fail to make themselves sufficiently understood; this cannot be said of language. The modifications of sound, which may be productive of the sublime, are almost infinite. Those I have mentioned are only a few instances to show on what principles they are all built.