Aristotle Poetics 17.6

Theodore Alois Buckley (Translator)

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for instance, in the " Iphigenia5," a certain virgin on the point of being sacrificed, and vanishing from the view of those who were to sacrifice her, and being brought to another country in which it was a law to sacrifice strangers to a certain goddess, she is appointed the priestess of these rites. Some time after, it happened that the brother of the priestess came to this place ; [but on what account ? Because some god had ordered him, for a certain reason which does not pertain to the general view of the tragedy,] to come thither, [but why he did so is foreign to the fable6]. The brother, therefore, coming, and being made captive, discovered [his sister], when he is going to be sacrificed ; whether, as Euripides says, [by an epistle,] or, as Poly ides feigns, speaking according to probability, because he said, it was not only requisite that the sister, but that he also should be sacrificed:—and hence safety arises. 1

Poetics. Aristotle. Theodore Alois Buckley (Translator). London. 1857.

Current edition Experimental

The Poetic of Aristotle (Theodore Alois Buckley) (OCR draft) (English) (Theodore Alois Buckley's English translation, first published in 1850 and represented from the Henry G. Bohn 1857 printing; corrected against a second OCR and aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (4)
Περὶ ποιητικῆς (OCR draft) (Aristotle, Poetics. Immanuel Bekker, editor, Aristotelis Opera, volume 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1837.) — 17 focus
Περὶ ποιητικῆς (OCR draft) Perseus (Aristotle, De arte poetica liber. Rudolf Kassel, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965. Reference edition for passage alignment.) — 17 focus
Poetics, Greek text (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) Experimental (Ingram Bywater's Greek text of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1909.) — 17 focus
Poetics, Greek text (Franz Ritter, 1839) (OCR draft) Experimental (Franz Ritter's 1839 Greek edition, corrected against OCR of the represented copy and aligned to the conventional Perseus chapter-and-subchapter sequence.) — 17 focus
Translations (13)
Poetics (W. H. Fyfe) (OCR draft) Perseus (William Hamilton Fyfe's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, Loeb Classical Library, 1939 printing.) — 17 focus
Arabic Poetics (Badawī edition, 1953) (OCR draft) (The ancient Arabic translation of Aristotle's Poetics in ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Badawī's 1953 edition.) — 17 focus
Poetics (S. H. Butcher, 1911) (OCR draft) Experimental (S. H. Butcher's English translation from Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, fourth edition, 1911.) — 17 focus
Aristotle on the Art of Poetry (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) Experimental (Ingram Bywater's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1909.) — 17 focus
Poetics (Thomas Twining, 1789) (OCR draft) Experimental (Thomas Twining's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1789 and aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.) — 17.6 focus
The general argument, for instance, of the Iphi-genia, should be considered in this way: "A virgin, on the point of being sacrificed, is imperceptibly conveyed away from the altar, and transported to another country, where it was the custom to sacrifice all strangers to Diana. Of these rites she is appointed priestess. It happens, some time after, that her brother arrives there." 1 . But why?-because an oracle had commanded him, for some reason exterior to the general plan. For what purpose? This, also, is exterior to the plan 2 . "He arrives, is seized, and, at the instant that he is going to be sacrificed, the discovery is made.". And this may be, either in the way of Euripides, or like that of Polyides 3 , by the natural reflection of Orestes, that-"it was his fate also, as it had been his sister's, to be sacrificed;" by which exclamation he is saved.
The Poetic of Aristotle (Henry James Pye, revised 1792) (OCR draft) Experimental (Henry James Pye's revised 1792 English translation, corrected against the 1788 first edition, aligned to the Kassel reference edition, and supplied with a selective apparatus of substantive 1788 readings.) — 17.6 focus
and is transported to another country, in which there ' is a law to offer up all strangers to a certain goddess, to whom she is appointed priestess. Some time afterwards, her brother accidentally ' arrives there:' (the reason of his coming being the command of an oracle, which has nothing to do with the general plan and the cause of which is foreign to the fable.) He comes, is seized and is on • the point of being sacrificed when he is discovered by his sister;' (either in the manner feigned by Euripides [E] or as, with probability, 1 2 3
Poetica Latine conversa (Franciscus Ritter, 1839) (OCR draft) Experimental (Franz Ritter's Latin translation, corrected against OCR of the represented copy and aligned to the conventional Perseus chapter-and-subchapter sequence.) — 17 focus
La poëtique d'Aristote (André Dacier, 1692) (OCR draft) Experimental (André Dacier's French translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1692.) — 17.6 focus
De cette maniére il met tout ſon ſujet dans un ſeul point de veüe. Par exemple, voicy le ſujet de l'Iphigenie mis comme je l'entends: Une jeune Princeſſe eſt miſe ſur un Autel pour y étre ſacrifiée, elle diſparoît tout d'un coup aux yeux des Sacrificateurs, & eſt portée dans un autre Pays, où la Coûtume eſt de ſacrifier les Etrangers à la Deeſſe qui y préſide. On l'établit Prêtreſſe du Temple. Quelques années aprés le frere de cette Princeſſe arrive dans ce même lieu. Pourquoy y vient-il ? Pour obéir à un Oracle. Pourquoy cet Oracle? Cela eſt hors de la Fable generale & univerſelle. Qu'y vient-il faire ? Cela eſt hors du ſujet. Il n'eſt pas plûtôt arrivé, qu'il eſt pris. Le voilà ſur le point d'être ſacrifié; mais la reconnoiſſance ſe fait dans ce moment, ou de la maniére qu'Euripide l'a imaginée, ou ſelon la vray-ſemblance que Polyides a tres bien gardée, en faiſant dire par ce Prince, ce n'eſt donc pas aſſez que ma sœur ayt été ſacrifiée, il faut que je le ſois auſſi! Et c'eſt ce qui le ſauve.
Poetica d'Aristotile (Bernardo Segni, 1549) (OCR draft) Experimental (Bernardo Segni's 1549 Florentine Italian translation, aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.) — 17 focus
De poetica (Antonio Riccobono, 1587) (OCR draft) Experimental (Antonio Riccobono's Latin translation, first published in 1587; text represented from Immanuel Bekker's 1831 edition.) — 17 focus
De arte poetica liber (William of Moerbeke, ca. 1277) (OCR draft) Experimental (William of Moerbeke's medieval Latin translation, represented by the 1953 Aristoteles Latinus edition.) — 17 focus
Arabic Poetics (Abū Bishr Mattā; Tkatsch edition) (OCR draft) Experimental (The Arabic translation attributed to Abū Bishr Mattā, edited by Jaroslaus Tkatsch in 1928 and aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.) — 17 focus
Arabic Poetics (Abū Bishr Mattā; Tkatsch edition, unaligned) (OCR draft) Experimental (Tkatsch's edition of the medieval Arabic translation in its original, unaligned segmentation.) — 17 focus

Notes on the current edition

Poetics

1. 4. The episodes must be suitable

Commentary

Commentary on the Poetics (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) (Ingram Bywater's English commentary on Aristotle's Poetics.) focus

6. mvp-aristotle-comment-625

1455b τῇ θεῷ. The goddess meant is Artemis, to whom Iphigenia had been offered in sacrifice ( τυθείσης τινὸς κόρης b 3 ) at Aulis.

6. mvp-aristotle-comment-626

ἀνεῖλεν ὁ θεὸς ... ἐλθεῖν ἐκεῖ. The reading here was practically settled long ago by Düntzer ( Rettung d. Aristot. Poetik p. 180). Aristotle is merely reproducing in his own form the statement in Iph. Taur. 82, where Orestes, in an address to Apollo, is made to say: ἐλθὼν δὲ σ᾿ ἠρώτησα πῶς τροχηλάτου μανίας ἂν ἔλθοιμ᾿ ἐς τέλος πόνων τ᾿ ἐμῶν· σὺ δ᾿ εἶπας [= ἀνεῖλεν ὁ θεὸς] ἐλθεῖν Ταυρικῆς μ᾿ ὅρους χθονός [= ἐλθεῖν ἐκεῖ], ἔνθ᾿ "Αρτεμις σὴ ξύγγονος βωμοὺς ἔχει, λαβεῖν τ᾿ ἄγαλμα θεᾶς... λαβόντα δ᾿ ... Ἀθηναίων χθονὶ δοῦναι. This incident in the previous history of Orestes is outside the actual story or plot of the Iphigenia ( ἔξω τοῦ μύθου); all that is really essential for the dramatic situation is that τῷ ἀδελφῷ συνέβη ἐλθεῖν τῆς ἱερείας.

6. mvp-aristotle-comment-627

ἔξω τοῦ μύθου, which seems to have been explained by the adscript ἔξω τοῦ καθόλου, is equivalent to ἔξω τοῦ δράματος (see on 14, 1453 b 32 ), outside the action of the piece.

6. mvp-aristotle-comment-628

ληφθείς = συλληφθείς (comp. Bremi on Lysias in Eratosth. § 16).

6. mvp-aristotle-comment-629

ἀνεγνώρισεν, scil. ὅτι Ὀρέστης (see on 11, 1452 b 5 ).

6. mvp-aristotle-comment-630

Πολύιδος: see on 16, 1455 a 6 .

Remarques sur la poëtique d'Aristote (André Dacier, 1692) (OCR draft) (André Dacier's French commentary on Aristotle's Poetics.) focus

11. mvp-aristotle-comment-418

17.6 Mais la reconnoiſſance ſe fait en ce moment, ou de la ma-nière qu'Euripide l'a imaginée, ou ſelon la vray-ſemblance que Polyides a tres bien gardée.] 1

Commentarius in Aristotelis Poeticam (Franciscus Ritter, 1839) (OCR draft) (Ritter's Latin commentary, extracted from the 1839 volume, divided by Ritter's chapters and sections, and linked to the corresponding Perseus reference subsections.) focus

3. mvp-aristotle-comment-120

Ritter, cap. 17 § 3

τούτους τε λόγους καὶ τοὺς πεποιημένους - ἐκτίθεσθαι καθόλου: per τούτους λόγους tragoediarum argumenta eiusmodi denotantur, quae paulo ante μύθοι appellati erant, argumenta ex fabulosa historia petita. illa cum statim ab initio capitis voce μύθους designasset et, cum Amphiarai exemplum afferret, unice respexisset, ea per τούτους λόγους indicare apte potuit. alius generis sunt οἱ πεποιημένοι, argumenta quae a tragicis excogitata 1) εὔπλαστος est qui facile in quemcumque animi motum flectitur et formatur, talis qualem Horatio magistro (Art. poet. v. 163) cereum flecti vocaveris.iam tragoedias scripturis in promptu exstant. καὶ αὐτὸν ποιοῦντα: poeta in argumentis sive mythicis sive ab aliis excogitatis rite conformandis ipse inveniendi solertiam ostendere debet. conf. c. 14, 5. αὐτὸν δὲ ( τὸν ποιητὴν) εὑρίσκειν δεῖ, καὶ τοῖς παραδεδομένοις χρῆσθαι καλῶς. ἐκτίθε σθαι καθόλου: sibi explicare universe, h.e. das Allgemeine der Fabel vor seinem Geiste entfalten sive auseinander legen. respicit poetam tragoediam componere adgressurum. - sed de loci scriptura nonnulla monenda restant. lectionem a nobis exhibitam, τούτους τε λόγους καὶ τοὺς π. praebent AcBcNa et LQ et plures Victorii codices; plebis vestigia eodem ducunt: nonnulli enim καὶ ante τοὺς omittunt, nonnulli τοὺς ante λόγους addunt (GP). quod paulo post sequitur, παρατείνειν, acute a Victorio et vere excogitatum est. conf. c. 9, 10. παρὰ τὴν δύναμιν παρατείναντες τὸν μῦθον, κτλ. codicum discrepantias in notis criticis indicavimus. χρόνῳ δ᾽ ὕστερον - ἐλθὼν δὲ καὶ ληφθεὶς: plura h. 1. turbata sunt sive insertis ab illo antiquo interpolatore admonitionibus plane inutilibus, sive (quod ego statuere malim) receptis in operis contextum adnotationibus marginalibus. primum igitur post συνέβη additum est ἐλθεῖν, cum verbum auxiliare infinitivo suo carere videretur: nam qui paulo post ἐλθεῖν ἐκεῖ huc pertinere non vidit, is prius ἐλθεῖν interposuit. ac sane interposita ista admonitione infinitivus ἐλθεῖν ἐκεῖ ita divulsus est a verbo συνέβη, ut alius requiri videretur; admonitionem dico τὸ δὲ, ὅτι ἀνεῖλεν ὁ θεός, διὰ τίν αἰτίαν, quae ipsa ex duabus conflata est. una haec est τὸ δὲ, διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν (illud autem, ob quam causam frater sacerdotis itinere suscepto in illam terram venerit), altera haec τὸ δὲ, ὅτι ἀνεῖλεν ὁ θεός (Apollo Delphicus), quae causam ipsam exponit. utrumque colon non a diversis auctoribus profectum esse dico, sed ab uno imperite propositum et sinistre iunctum, τὸ δὲ, ὅτι ἀνεῖλεν ὁ θεός, διὰ τίν' αἰτίαν, existimo. illud igitur, cur frater iter suscipiat et illuc veniat, h. e. Apollinis responsum Oresti datum, non pertinere adgeneralem argumenti conceptionem ( ἔξω τοῦ καθόλου esse) admonemur, quae admonitio utique supervacanea est. sed quae succedit altera observatio, καὶ ἐφ᾽ ὅτι δὲ, ἔξω τοῦ μύθου, ea magis etiam imperitum hominem arguit: scilicet itineris a fratre suscepti consilium non est extra fabulam ( έξω τοῦ μύθου), immo intra fabulam est, sed est extra id quod generale ( ἔξω τοῦ καθόλου). itaque τὸν μῦθον et τὸ καθόλου imperite commiscuit. nihil eiusmodi ineptiarum subsequenti summario Odysseae admixtum est. ἀνεγνώρισεν - ἔδει τυθῆναι: ἀνεγνώρισεν, cum dedit, unam Euripidis Iphigeniam respexit: in ea enim Orestes prior sororem agnoscit. contra res accidit in fabula Polyidi. is enim quo magis spectantium animos arrigeret, Orestem captum usque ad aram adduci ibique illum hoc exclamare fecit, sibi iam eandem sortem obtingere quae prius sorori; qua voce Iphigenia excitata fratrem agnovit. illa κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς εἰπὼν - ἔδει τυθῆναι ad unum Polyidum pertinent. εἰπὼν breviter dictum est pro εἰπεῖν ( τὸν Ὀρέστην) ποιήσας. – Polyidum sophistam aliunde non cognovimus, nisi idem est ille quem nobilem dithyrambicum Olymp. 95, 3. floruisse tradit Diodorus XIV. c. 46 extr. ἤκμασαν δὲ κατὰ τοῦτον ἐνιαυτὸν οἱ ἐπισημότατοι διθυραμβοποιοί, Φιλόξενος Κυθήριος, Τιμόθεος Μιλήσιος, Τελέστης Σελινούντιος, Πολύειδος ὃς καὶ ζωγραφικῆς καὶ μουσικῆς εἶχεν ἐμπειρίαν.