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.
28.
mvp-aristotle-comment-1053
1461b12
οἵους Ζεύξις ἔγραφεν.
In
25, 1460 b 18
also the allusion is apparently to a picture. We have been told in an earlier chapter (
6, 1450 a 27
) that the personages of
Zeuxis lacked character, i. e. that he sacrificed expression to beauty. The criticism implied in the present passage is that they are 'impossibilities', in other words, of an impossible beauty, not like real men and women (i. e. not
οἷα ἦν ἢ ἔστιν,
25, 1460 b 10
).
The answer to this is that they are, like the characters in
Sophocles (
25, 1460 b 33
), better than the reality, what men and women ought to be. This justification of
Zeuxis, which recalls what has been said elsewhere of
Polygnotus (
2, 1448 a 5
), and of
Homer (
15, 1454 b 14
), may very well represent
Aristotle's own view of him and his work. It was certainly a common view of him in antiquity (
comp.
Maximus Tyrius
Diss. 32. 5
).
28.
mvp-aristotle-comment-1054
1461b13
ἀλλὰ βέλτιον
(
scil.
τοιούτους εἶναι) is a vivid way of putting the respondent's answer to the objection (see on
25, 1460 b 33
).
28.
mvp-aristotle-comment-1055
τὸ γὰρ παράδειγμα δεῖ ὑπερέχειν.
As
Aristotle says in
15, 1454 b 9
, a true artist, instead of keeping too closely to his model, will make his portrait more beautiful than the real man.
1461b14
254.
mvp-aristotle-comment-254
NOTE 254.
25.28
P. 130. THE IMITATIONS OF POETRY SHOULD RESEMBLE THE PAINTINGS OF ZEUXIS-.
Τοιούτους δ’ εἶναι, οἵους Ζεῦξις ἔγραφεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον· τὸ γὰρ παράδειγμα δεῖ ὑπερέχειν.
M. Batteux proposes this arrangement:—
Ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον· τὸ γὰρ παράδειγμα δεῖ ὑπερέχειν, τοιούτους δ’ εἶναι, οἵους Ζεῦξις ἔγραφεν.
1
That the words,
τοιούτους δ’ εἶναι, οἵους Ζεῦξις ἔγραφεν, belong to the second way of defending the impossible, by referring it to the
βέλτιον — οἷα δεῖ εἶναι, &c. seems clear. Nor is it any objection to this, as some have thought it,
2
that Aristotle had before mentioned the paintings of Zeuxis, as deficient in the expression of the manners.
3
For it by no means follows, from this deficiency of Zeuxis as to manners, that he did not represent
πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον, with respect to beauty, grace, dignity of form, &c.: and it seems to be this kind of improvement, in painting, by which Aristotle, here and elsewhere, illustrates the
μίμησις βελτίον of poetry.
4
Compare, particularly,
cap. xv.
Ἐπεὶ δὲ μίμησίς ἐστιν ἡ Τραγῳδία βελτιόνων δεῖ...
5
The story of the manner, in which Zeuxis is said to have collected the
βέλτιον for his famous picture of Helen, is well known. See
Cic. de Invent. II. 1.
Plin. Nat. Hist. XXXV. 9.
Bayle, art. ZEUXIS.
I agree, therefore, perfectly with Mr. Winstanley, that the words,
τοιούτους δ’ εἶναι οἵους Ζ. ἔγρ. should be transposed: but I do not see, that any alteration, farther than the mere transposition, is necessary. I would read —
Ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον· [scil. δεῖ ἀνάγειν] τοιούτους δ’ εἶναι [scil. δεῖ] οἵους Ζεῦξις ἔγραφεν· τὸ γὰρ παράδειγμα δεῖ ὑπερέχειν.
17.
mvp-aristotle-comment-200
Ritter, cap. 25 § 17
-19. hic idem recurrit quod in capitis 12. segmento 1 et 3. deprehendimus: nam ut illic quae multo sudore excogitavit bis propinavit interpolator ineptissime, sic quae iam subsequuntur (§. 17) eadem sunt atque quae paulo ante (§. 4-8) posita erant, et quae proxime sequuntur (§. 18), ea partim §. 15. partim §. 8. proposita erant: quae autem §. 19. continentur, ea vero Aristoteli (c. 15, 5) furatus est. iste hoc argumentum tam grave esse putavit, ut bis de eo exponendum videretur. -
διαμάρτημα τὸ πρόβλημα είκός ἐστιν: problema exercitationis causa ad reprehendendum poetam inventum errore fere nititur.
εἰκός adverbii loco positum videtur, ut idem sit quod
κατ' εἰκός.
ὅλως δὲ τὸ ἀδύνατον - δεῖ ἀνάγειν: si poeta aliquis quod fieri non potest admisit, id ad poesin referre decet, h. e. videndum utrum ipsa peccaverit an alius artis peccatum acceperit. argutam hanc distinctionem accuratius persecutus est §. 4-8.
τοιούτους δ' εἶναι οἷους Ζεύξις ἔγραφεν: Zeuxis quos pinxit, ii maxime ad similitudinem veritatis expressi erant et apti ad illusionem faciendam, sed idem eo colorum splendore imagines suas exornavit, ut in rerum natura nihil quod plane simile esset inveniri posset. conf. Od. Mülleri Archaeolog. art. §. 137 ed. 2.
νατον ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον: subintellige
τὸ ἀδύ δεῖ ἀνάγειν. quae sequuntur
τὸ γὰρ παράδειγμα δεῖ ὑπερέχειν πρὸς ἃ φασι τἄλογα, eorum haec est sententia: exemplar enim assurgere debet prae iis quae ratione carere dicunt. oratio negligenter conformata est. conf. §. 6.interdum vero ratione non carent quae videntur carere,
οὕτω τε καὶ ὅτι - παρὰ τὸ εἰκὸς γίνεσθαι. haec in brevius contracta transcripta sunt ex c. 18, 6.