Aristotle Poetics 26.4

Theodore Alois Buckley (Translator)

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Chapter
← Previous Next →
as the modern actors are in the estimation of their predecessors3. Hence, Myniscus called Callipides an ape, in consequence of carrying his imitation to a great excess. And there was also a similar opinion respecting Pindar [the player]. But as these latter actors are to the former, so is the whole art of tragedy to the epopee.

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.

Translations (3)
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.) — 26.4 focus
Such is Tragedy. It may also be compared to what the modern actors are in the estimation of their predecessors; for Myniscus used to call Callipides, on account of his intemperate action, the ape-and Tyndarus was censured on the same account. What these performers are with respect to their predecessors, the Tragic imitation, when entire, is to the Epic.
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.) — 26.4 focus
Now, the same censure that the older actors cast on the modern ones, may, according 1 2 3 4 5
La poëtique d'Aristote (André Dacier, 1692) (OCR draft) Experimental (André Dacier's French translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1692.) — 26.4 focus
C'eſt là le défaut de la Tragedie, & c'eſt le reproche que les anciens Comediens faiſoient aux plus jeunes, car ſur ce que Callippide étoit exceſſif dans ſes geſtes, Muniſcus l'appelloit le ſinge. On faiſoit la même raillerie du Comedien Pindare, de ſorte qu'à ce compte la Tragedie ſeroit auprés de l'Epopée, ce que ces derniers Acteurs ſont auprés des premiers.

Commentary

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

4. mvp-aristotle-comment-1086

1461b34 Μυννίσκος. On Mynniscus of Chalcis (the protagonist in some of the later plays of Aeschylus) and his younger contemporary, Callipides, see Völker, Diss. Halens. 4 pp. 153, 177. In calling Callipides an 'ape' Mynniscus may have meant no more than this, that his acting was so exaggerated as to be ridiculous and a mere caricature, the ape being a sort of caricature of humanity ( comp. Top. 3. 2, 117 b 17
σκοπεῖν δὲ καὶ εἰ ἐπὶ τὸ γελοιότερον εἴη ὅμοιον, καθάπερ ὁ πίθηκος τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ
).

4. mvp-aristotle-comment-1087

1461b35 Πινδάρου. Nothing further is known of this actor ( Völker l.c. p. 155 ).
1461b35_2

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

6. mvp-aristotle-comment-657

26.4 6. C'est le reproche que les anciens Comediens faisoient aux plus jeunes.] 1

7. mvp-aristotle-comment-658

26.4 7. Car ſur ce que Callippide étoit exceſſif dans ſes geftes, Muniscus l'appelloit le ſinge.] 2

8. mvp-aristotle-comment-659

26.4 8. De forte qu'à ce compte la Tragedie feroit auprés de l'Epopée, ce que ces derniers Acteurs font auprés des premiers.] 3

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

2. mvp-aristotle-comment-205

Ritter, cap. 26 § 2

ἡ μὲν οὖν τραγῳδία τοιαύτη ἐστίν: tragoedia talis est quae omnia imitando peragat ideoque molestae imitationis crimen subeat. τοιαύτη ad praegressa pertinere, non ad subsequentia, ex καὶ particulae ὡς addita liquet: quemadmodum etiam priores de posterioribus actoribus sentiebant, h. e. tragoedia omnia imitando exsequitur ; idem recentiores tragicos actores committere seniores credebant. ὡς λίαν - Καλλιππίδην ἐκάλει : Callippides nobilis tragoediarum actor Socratis aequalis erat. vid. Xenoph. Conviv. c. 3, 11. imperia remigibus dabat, cum Alcibiades triumphans Athenas rediret civibus suis reconciliatus. Athen. XII. p. 535 D. ea agendi arte excelluit, ut quamvis eodem in loco permaneret tamen currere videretur, unde proverbio locum dedit, vid. Sueton. in Tiberio c. 38. quem cursitare ac ne cubiti quidem mensuram progredi proverbio Graeco notatum est. conf. Cic. ad Attic. XIII, 12. Plutarch. Ages. c. 21. Apophthegm Lacon. p. 212 F (I. 2. p. 848 apud Wyttenb.), idem ubi quaerit bellone an pace clariores fuerint Athenienses p. 348 E et F (II. 1. p. 429). τραγικοὶ δὲ αὐτοῖς ὑποκριταί, καὶ Νικόστρατοι καὶ Καλλιππίδαι καὶ Μηνίσκοι καὶ Θεόδωροι· καὶ Πῶλοι, συνίτωσαν. Myniscum sive Meniscum Chalcidensem Callippide natu maiorem fuisse, id et hic locus docet et vita Aeschyli a Robortello aucta, unde hunc Aeschyli histrionem fuisse accepimus. τοιαύτη δὲ δόξα καὶ περὶ Πινδάρου ἦν: qui hic memoratur, fuisse eum histrionem tragicum nimia actione insignem verba ipsa produnt: nomen autem a librariis corruptum videtur. fortasse fuit περὶ Θεοδώρου, sed vide quam putide diligens in re sane minuta fuerit et quam sinistre haec verba prioribus addiderit. Theodori mentionem facit Plutarchus loco ante transcripto et in Praecept. gerend. reipubl. p. 816 F (IV. I. 274), Aristoteles in Rhetor. III, 2 sub init. ὡς δὲ οὗτοι ἔχουσι πρὸς αὐτούς: οὗτοι designat Callippiden et omnes in agendo nimios, αὐτούς pertinet ad eos qui modice agebant, ut Myniscus faciebat. ἡ ὅλη τέχνη πρὸς τὴν ἐποποιίαν ἔχει: ἡ ὅλη τέχνη poesis tragica appellatur, cum proxime ante singuli quidam tragici histriones enumerati essent. οὐδὲν δέον ται τῶν σχημάτων: quasi praeteriens causam memorat, quam fautores epopoeiae in suae sententiae subsidium afferant: figuris nihil egent. editores Aldo auctore legunt δι' ὃ οὐδὲν δέονται τῶν σχημάτων, vel διὸ cet. vel οἱ οὐδὲν cet., sed neque o ἳ neque διὸ in ullo codice adhuc repertum est.