Poetics. Aristotle. Theodore Alois Buckley (Translator). London. 1857.
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.
9.
mvp-aristotle-comment-763
δὴ μυρί᾽ Ὀδυσσεὺς κτέ.:
Il.
2, 272
.
9.
mvp-aristotle-comment-764
ἀπ᾿ εἴδους:
Rhet.
3. 11, 1413a14
καὶ αἱ παροιμίαι μεταφοραὶ ἀπ᾿ εἴδους ἐπ᾿ εἶδός εἰσιν· οἷον ἄν τις ὡς ἀγαθὸν πεισόμενος αὐτὸς ἐπαγά-
γηται εἶτα βλαβῇ ὡς ὁ Καρπάθιός φησι τὸν λαγώ. ἄμφω γὰρ τὸ εἰρημένον πεπόνθασιν. See
Rhet.
3. 10, 1410 b 14
and
11, 1411b 26
for other instances of this description.
The two quotations in the text, which have been supposed to be fragments either of some epic poet (
Kinkel,
EGF. p. 72) or of a parodist (
Brandt,
Parod. gr. rel. p. 112), were probably both of them from the
Καθαρμοί of
Empedocles. The second,
τεμὼν ἀτειρέι χαλκῷ, is, as
Vahlen has pointed out, identical with part of the Empedoclean line (fr. 143
Diels), preserved by
Theo Smyrnaeus:
Arithm. p. 20
Gelder (=p. 15
Hiller)
η̂ των͂ πολιτικῶν [Πλατωνικῶν Hiller] λόγων παράδοσις τὸ μὲν πρῶτον έχει καθαρμόν τινα ... ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς κρηνάων ἄπο πέντ᾿ ἀνιμῶντά φησιν ἀτειρέι χαλκῷ δεῖν ἀπορρύπτεσθαι, ὁ δὲ Πλάτων ἀπὸ πέντε μαθημάτων δεῖν φησι ποιεῖσθαι τὴν κάθαρσιν. The exact form of the verse of
Empedocles is perhaps irrecoverable, but it is not difficult to see that
Theo's
ἀνιμῶντα is a prosaic substitute for the
τεμὼν preserved by
Aristotle (comp.
Diels,
Hermes15, 173
).
ἀτειρής—a favourite epithet with
Empedocles (
v.
Diels,
Index p. 232)—is a reminiscence of
Homer. The same may be said also of
χαλκός, if it meant, as it probably did in
Empedocles (
v.
Bullialdus
ad loc. p. 128 ed.
Gelder), a brazen urn, such as was used in certain rites.
Aristotle elsewhere refers to
Empedocles in a way which implies that his poems might be assumed to be familiar to every one (
v. on b 24). As he regards him as a master of metaphor (
μεταφορικός fr. 70; see on
1, 1447b18
), there is a special propriety in his quoting instances of metaphor from the writings of
Empedocles.
ἀφελεῖν τι.
The recent interpreters seem to agree in supposing this to mean 'a kind of removing' (
auferre aliquod in
Lat.), though a very different view was taken of it by
Victorius,
Heinsius,
Goulston,
Tyrwhitt,
Hermann, and
Ritter, who represent it by
auferre aliquid or
auferre quiddam. The now usual rendering implies that the infinitive is treated as an ordinary substantive, with the indefinite pronoun attached to it in the same way as in
ἡδονή τις,
γένεσίς τις, and the like. There is no recorded instance of this construction in classical Greek. In the parallels in the
Sophistici Elenchi (
22, 178b12 sqq.
) the
τι in
ποιεῖν τι,
πάσχειν τι, and
αἰσθάνεσθαί τι is assuredly (as
Pacius saw) the object after these verbs. Aristotle's assumption is that a generic may be supplanted by a specific term, when it comes to be applied to a special kind of object. Thus
ἑστάναι, said of a ship, is supplanted by
ὁρμεῖν, and
ἀφελεῖν, said of water, by
ἀρύσαι. If he had had the instance cited in b 27 before him here, he might very well have said
τὸ σπείρειν ἀφιέναι τί ἐστι where the
τι would have represented the accusative,
τὸν καρπόν, of the later passage.
12.
mvp-aristotle-comment-496
21.9
12. La metaphore de l'eſpece au genre, comme dans cet endroit du même Poëte, certainement Vlyſſe a fait dix mille bonnes actions.]
1
181.
mvp-aristotle-comment-181
NOTE 181. P. 108.
21.9
A THOUSAND IS A CERTAIN DEFINITE MANY. —
Το γαρ μύριον, πολυ ἐστι. — Here, I may venture, I believe, for once, to adopt the positive tone of emendatory criticism.
Legendum omnino,
πολυ ΤΙ. The sense, indeed, no one can mistake: but the text, as it stands, does not express that sense. It says only, "for a thousand is many, which he now uses instead of many." There can be no doubt, that Aristotle added
ΤΙ here, as in all the other instances,
ἐσταναι ΤΙ — ὠφελεων ΤΙ.
1
But, to put the matter beyond all doubt, he afterwards, speaking of the same fort of metaphor, says,
το γαρ Παντες άντι του Πόλλοι, κατα μεταφοραν, είρηται· το γαρ Παν, ΠΟΛΥ ΤΙ.
2
I am surprised that so very obvious an error should have escaped the notice of all the commentators I am acquainted with.
4.
mvp-aristotle-comment-150
Ritter, cap. 21 § 4
μεταφορὰ δ' ἐστίν: Aristoteles metaphoram latiore sensu intelligit quam nos solemus, qui nonnisi tertiam et quartam speciem ab illo commemoratam pro metaphora accipimus. noster dicendi usus etiam Ciceronis aetate obtinuit. vid. eius de Orat. lib. III. c. 38 sqq.
ἀπ᾿