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.
Poetics
268.
mvp-aristotle-comment-268
NOTE 268. P. 133.
26.11
TO HEARERS OF THE BETTER SORT—.
Θεατας ἐπιεικεις: to which he opposes
φαυλους. The word
ἐπιεικεις seems rightly explained here by
Dacier
— "les honnêtes gens; c'est à dire, les gens qui ont eu une meilleure education." The passage, which he quotes from
Plato
, is much to the purpose of this chapter.
Συγχωρω δη τόγε τοσετον και ἐγω τοις πολλοις, δειν την μεσικην ήδονη κρινεσθαι μη μεντοι των ἐπιτυχοντων άλλα σχεδον ἐκεινην είναι μεσαν καλλιστην, ἡτις ΤΟΥΣ ΒΕΛΤΙΣΤΟΥΣ, και ΙΚΑΝΩΣ ΠΕΠΑΙΔΕΥΜΕΝΟΥΣ τερπει. —
De Leg. II. p. 658.
Aristotle
uses
ἐπιεικης in the same sense,
Eth. Nicom. IV. 8, p. 186, ed. Wilk.
—
τοιαυτα λεγειν και άκκειν, δια τῳ ΕΠΙΕΙΚΕΙ ΚΑΙ ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΩι άρμοττει.
272.
mvp-aristotle-comment-272
NOTE 272. P. 134.
26.11
IT HAS THE ADVANTAGE OF GREATER CLEARNESS—AS WELL IN READING, AS IN REPRESENTATION.
Ειτα, και το ἐναργες ἐχει, και ἐν τῇ ἀναγνωσει, και ἐπι των ἐργων. — It seems rather strange, that, immediately after mentioning the
ἐναργες of the
ὄψις,
Aristotle
should say —
"Then, it has also the
&c. It was this which induced me to suspect, that for
ἐναργες,"ἐναργεστατα, in the preceding passage, we should read —
ἐνΕργεστατα:
"By means of which, [i. e. of the
But the objection is, perhaps, not of sufficient force to warrant a departure from the established reading of all the manuscripts,
ὄψις,] the pleasures we receive from Tragedy (those, of terror and pity excited by imitation, as he says cap. xiv.
1
) are rendered more forcible and efficacious."ἐναργεστατα: and we may, well enough, understand the author, as if he had said —
"Then, farther, another advantage is, that Tragedy has this
ἐναργες, not only on the stage, and on account of the
Ὄψις, but even in reading also."
That
ἀναγνωσει is right, (not
ἀναγνωρισει,) I cannot entertain a doubt. Nothing can be more evidently nonsensical than this distinction —
"both in the discoveries, and in the incidents;" as if a discovery were not an incident.
The expression,
ἔπι των ἐργων, for,
in representation, acting, performance, &c. seems liable to no difficulty. Thus,
De Rep. VIII. 455
,
δηλον ἐκ των ΕΡΓΩΝ — from what happens in the performance of such music. And see
ibid. cap. vi.
throughout which,
ἐργα is repeatedly used for musical performance; particularly,
p. 457
, —
τα θαυμασια και περιττα ΤΩΝ ΕΡΓΩΝ,
"surprising and elaborate performance."
26.4.
mvp-aristotle-comment-129
26.11
THE ILIAD AND ODYSSEY ARE AS MUCH THE IMITATION OF ONE ACTION AS THE NATURE OF THE COMPOSITION WOULD ADMIT
THE action of the Iliad has been blamed as defective in point of unity; a cenfure, I confefs, that does not seem eafily answered. The anger of Achilles, which is the avowed subject of the poem, is transferred from Agamemnon to Hector, producing two different actions, one of which terminates with the reconciliation of Achilles and Agamemnon, the other with the death of Hector. The unity of the poem cannot arise from the anger only, which is a quality, and which can only be confidered as the cause of the action to which unity is necessary. If the character of Achilles which is anger, be uniformly kept up through ten different actions, will it follow that fuch uniformity will be sufficient to give the proper epic unity to them all? If so, the authors of the Theseid and the Heracleid were right, who thought a poem possessed a proper degree of unity if it related to one person [R]: Bossu tries to answer the objection in this manner. • These two * parts of the Iliad are joined very regularly. If Achilles had not been [R] See Chap. VIII.. ! • incenfed
، incenfed against Agamemnon, he would have fought himself, and not • have expofed his friend alone against Hector in his armour, which was ' the cause of the rashness and death of that friend; and further, to ، ⚫ blend the two parts better with each other, the second begins a long time before we fee what will be the end of the first. All the conditions of reconciliation are proposed on the part of Agamemnon, before • the death of Patroclus, and even before he thinks of engaging in the ، battle. The consent of Achilles is wanted alone, and his not giving • it till after the death of Patroclus connects it with that of Hector; and we may truly say, that the rage and vengeance of Achilles against Hector, which is the second part of the poem, is the only cause of the reconciliation which finishes the first part.' TREATISE ON THE EPIC POEM, Part 1. Book 11. Chap. VII. ، I own the force of this reasoning does not strike me. If any event connected even intimately with the catastrophe, which is the foundation of a new action, however congenial with the former, is sufficient to unite the two actions so as to produce the epic unity, with a very little management the Iliad and Odyssey might have been so united. And on this principle the Fairy Queen may be called a regular epopee. I cannot but think the reconciliation of Achilles and Agamemnon, however brought about, is the solution of the plot of the Iliad as the death of Turnus is of the Æneid. But we have before [s] observed, that every catastrophe must be defective which leaves us in doubt as to the fate of the principal characters, as far as it is connected, or arifes from the action; in which respect the catastrophe of the Eneid is [s] Note 1. Chap. vII. faulty.
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. faulty. This error Homer, who judged better of human feelings, avoided. In the words of Mr. Hume, 'Though it is evident that in ' the course of his narrative he exceeds the first propofition of his fubject, and that the anger of Achilles, which caused the death of Hector, ' is not the same with that which produced so many ills to the Greeks. • Yet the strong connexion between these two movements, the quick • tranflation from one to another, the contrast between the effects of • concord and discord among the princes, and the natural curiofity we • have to fee Achilles in action after such long repose, all these causes carry on the reader, and produce a sufficient unity in the subject.' HUME'S ESSAY ON THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS, Sect. III. After what I have said on this matter, I must add, that though I cannot possibly agree with the Stagirite, in thinking that the Iliad is as much the imitation of one action as the nature of the epopee will admit; yet I by no means wish it other than it is, or would facrifice the seven laft books of it to the observation of any critical rule whatever.
4.
mvp-aristotle-comment-207
Ritter, cap. 26 § 4
ἔπειτα διότι πάντ᾽ ἔχει -τὴν μουσικήν καὶ τὴν ὄψιν ἔχει: iniqua reprehensione repulsa, iam transit ad praestantiam tragoediae prae epopoeia vindicandam, quod ita instituit ut ulna sua adhibita monstret tragoediae non modo quidquam deesse eorum quibus epopoeia instructa sit, sed eandem plura etiam habere quam epopoeiam. -
γὰρ τῷ μέτρῳ ἔξεστι χρῆσθαι: non haec est falsi auctoris sententia, versus epopoeiae proprios, h. e. hexametros heroos, etiam in tragoediam admitti posse, sed ut doceat nullam epopoeiae partem tragoediae deesse, metricam orationem (
τὸ μέτρον) etiam tragoediae competere monet (Aristoteles ipse saltem
τὰ μέτρα scripsisset. conf. Comment. ad c. 1, 6 et 10), ceteras partes communes (
μύθον ἤθη διάνοιαν) silentio praetermittens et festinans ad partes quae tragoediae peculiares epopoeiae desunt, ad
μουσικὴν et
ὄψιν. sed de hoc nomine (
τὴν μουσικήν) quid tandem dicemus? num verus Aristoteles unquam lyricam tragoediae partem
μουσικὴν appellavit? non fecit neque facere potuit: immo proprium eius partis nomen est
μελοποιία. vid. c. 6, 4 et 7. c. 24, 1. itaque hoc nomen nove et mire positum alieni auctoris manum prodit. sententia illa c. 24, 1.
καὶ τὰ μέρη ἔξω μελοποιίας καὶ ὄψεως ταὐτά (
δεῖ ἔχειν τὴν ἐποποιίαν τῇ τραγῳδίᾳ) leviter vitiata et male expressa h. J. repetitur. sed magis offendunt quae sequuntur,
δι' ἧς (
ὄψεως)
αἱ ἡδοναὶ συνίστανται ἐναργέστατα:
ἡδονὴν effici a tragoedia libenter damus,
ἡδονὰς (Lüste vel Freuden) praefracte negamus. interpolator illud a se ante dictum (c. 6, 19) sinistre repetivit. —
καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀναγνωρίσει καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων: agnitio non bene memoratur, quia non omnibus tragoediis inest aut inesse debet. conf. c. 10, 2.
ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων obscure dictum est de rebus ante oculos spectantium exhibendis. alio intellectu
ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων a vero Aristotele positum est c. 4, 3.