Aristotle Poetics 26.9

Theodore Alois Buckley (Translator)

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In the next place, tragedy has every thing which the epopee possesses. For it may use metre,

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.) — 26.9 focus
Tragedy has the advantage in the following respects. It possesses all that is possessed by the Epic; it might even adopt its metre 1 :
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.) — 26.9 focus
Tragedy, then, has every requisite in common with the epopee, (since it may equally use verse,) [G] with the additional ornaments of music and 1 2
La poëtique d'Aristote (André Dacier, 1692) (OCR draft) Experimental (André Dacier's French translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1692.) — 26.9 focus
La Tragedie a tout ce qu'on trouve dans le Poëme Epique, car elle pourroit auſſi ſe ſervir du vers hexametre,

Commentary

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

9. mvp-aristotle-comment-1097

1462a14 ἔπειτα corresponds with the πρῶτον μὲν in 5. There is the same or an even greater interval between the words in Metaph. N. 2, 1089 a 15 , in Pol. 5. 11, 1314 b14 , in Aeschines in Tim. 161 , in Isocrates 197 A , and in Alcidamas De Soph. 3 . The answer to the opponents of Tragedy is twofold: (1) that their reasoning is not quite conclusive; and (2) that they ignore a whole series of facts which tell in favour of Tragedy. The series begins with διότι πάντ᾽ ἔχει ὅσαπερ ἡ ἐποποιία, and ends with ἔτι ἧττον μία ἡ μίμησις ἡ τῶν ἐποποιῶν ( b3); all that follows as far as μίμησις in b11 is a justification of this last proposition. To this, however, is added a further point, ἔτι τῷ τῆς τέχνης ἔργῳ ( scil. διαφέρει), in the short formula which summarizes this part of the argument in b12, εἰ οὖν τούτοις διαφέρει πᾶσιν καὶ ἔτι τῷ τῆς τέχνης ἔργῳ.

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

16. mvp-aristotle-comment-667

26.9 16. La Tragedie a tout ce qu'on trouve dans l'Epopée.] 1

17. mvp-aristotle-comment-668

26.9 17. Car elle pourroit auſſi ſe ſervir du vers hexametre.] 2

Commentary on the Poetics (Henry James Pye, 1792) (OCR draft) (Henry James Pye's 1792 English commentary, aligned to the Kassel reference edition.) focus

26.3. mvp-aristotle-comment-128 26.9

AND TRAGEDY POSSESSES ANOTHER ADVANTAGE IN CONFINING THE ACTION BY WHICH THE END OF THE IMITATION IS ATTAINED WITHIN A NARROWER COMPASS. FOR BEING AS IT WERE CONDENSED, IT BECOMES MORE INTERESTING THAN IF IT WERE PROTRACTED THROUGH A LONGER PERIOD OF TIME.

IN the course of these notes I have more than once had occafion to remark how much, in all works of imitation, interest depends on detail, and here the fuperiority of the drama is eminently apparent. Chusing only a small, and that the most affecting part of a tale, it is at full liberty to bring even the most minute circumstance from which interest may arife, into full view, without at all injuring the natural unity of time, or the proportional length of the other parts. Besides, the events and their causes are never fo far removed from each other as to lose one link of connexion; nor are the passions allowed to cool from being interrupted by intervening incidents. It also derives another great advantage from the shortness of the composition. A tragedy may be read, and always is represented, without [o] See the above quotation from Arift. Rhet. and Cic. de Orat. any
any interruption, a thing impoffible in the epopee, by which the impression is made much stronger; and the connexion of the events, the dependence of the parts on each other, and the result of the catastrophe from the whole, is much more readily comprehended, and more eafily remembered. The shortest novel is feldom read but at intervals. haps it is to avoid, or at least lessen this disadvantage, that Aristotle proposes reducing the length of the epopee [P] to that of the number of tragedies usually performed without intermission. But I imagine it would not have effected the end. However an Athenian audience might have been fafcinated by the music, the acting, the scenery, and the company [2], to fit so many hours during the representation of a favorite spectacle, I much doubt if they would have listened so long to the recitation of an epic poem, or have perused it so long with attention. Per- [P] See Note II. Chap. xiv. [Q] The convenience of the ancient theatre for conversation, and the portico allotted for the purpose of walking and converfing (between the intervals of the different pieces I presume,) is explained at large by M. Boindin, in his Differtation on the Ancient Theatres, in les Memoires de l'Academi des Inscriptions, Tom. I. p. 136. In the modern theatre the spectators are nailed to their seats during the whole performance, if the house is full; and a single spectator, seated among strangers, is in this country at least, engaged in almost as folitary an amusement as reading in his closet. NOTE

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

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.