Aristotle Poetics 4.21

Theodore Alois Buckley (Translator)

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for it would perhaps be a great toil to discuss every particular. 1 2 3

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.

Editions (5)
Περὶ ποιητικῆς (OCR draft) (Aristotle, Poetics. Immanuel Bekker, editor, Aristotelis Opera, volume 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1837.) — 4 focus
Περὶ ποιητικῆς (OCR draft) Perseus (Aristotle, De arte poetica liber. Rudolf Kassel, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965. Reference edition for passage alignment.) — 4 focus
Poetics, Greek text (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) Experimental (Ingram Bywater's Greek text of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1909.) — 4 focus
Poetics, Greek text (S. H. Butcher, 1911) (OCR draft) Experimental (S. H. Butcher's Greek text from Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, fourth edition, 1911.) — 4 focus
Poetics, Greek text (Franz Ritter, 1839) (OCR draft) Experimental (Franz Ritter's 1839 Greek edition, corrected against OCR of the represented copy and aligned to the conventional Perseus chapter-and-subchapter sequence.) — 4 focus
Translations (13)
Poetics (W. H. Fyfe) (OCR draft) Perseus (William Hamilton Fyfe's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, Loeb Classical Library, 1939 printing.) — 4 focus
Arabic Poetics (Badawī edition, 1953) (OCR draft) (The ancient Arabic translation of Aristotle's Poetics in ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Badawī's 1953 edition.) — 4 focus
Poetics (S. H. Butcher, 1911) (OCR draft) Experimental (S. H. Butcher's English translation from Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, fourth edition, 1911.) — 4 focus
Aristotle on the Art of Poetry (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) Experimental (Ingram Bywater's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1909.) — 4 focus
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.) — 4.21 focus
to enter into a minute detail would, perhaps, be a task of some length.
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.) — 4.21 focus
To investigate each of them separately would be a work of great length. 1
Poetica Latine conversa (Franciscus Ritter, 1839) (OCR draft) Experimental (Franz Ritter's Latin translation, corrected against OCR of the represented copy and aligned to the conventional Perseus chapter-and-subchapter sequence.) — 4 focus
La poëtique d'Aristote (André Dacier, 1692) (OCR draft) Experimental (André Dacier's French translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1692.) — 4.21 focus
Mais il ſuffit d'en avoir parlé en general, car ce ſeroit peut-être une entrepriſe, & trop longue & trop difficile que de traiter de chacune en particulier.
Poetica d'Aristotile (Bernardo Segni, 1549) (OCR draft) Experimental (Bernardo Segni's 1549 Florentine Italian translation, aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.) — 4 focus
De poetica (Antonio Riccobono, 1587) (OCR draft) Experimental (Antonio Riccobono's Latin translation, first published in 1587; text represented from Immanuel Bekker's 1831 edition.) — 4 focus
De arte poetica liber (William of Moerbeke, ca. 1277) (OCR draft) Experimental (William of Moerbeke's medieval Latin translation, represented by the 1953 Aristoteles Latinus edition.) — 4 focus
Arabic Poetics (Abū Bishr Mattā; Tkatsch edition) (OCR draft) Experimental (The Arabic translation attributed to Abū Bishr Mattā, edited by Jaroslaus Tkatsch in 1928 and aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.) — 4 focus
Arabic Poetics (Abū Bishr Mattā; Tkatsch edition, unaligned) (OCR draft) Experimental (Tkatsch's edition of the medieval Arabic translation in its original, unaligned segmentation.) — 4 focus

Notes on the current edition

Poetics

1. See my introduction to Aeschylus, p. vii. ed. Bohn.
2. See ibid. note.
3. Satyric, from the share which those fantastic beings called Satyrs, the companions and play-fellows of Bacchus, had in the earliest Tragedy, of which they formed the chorus. Joking and dancing were essential attributes of these rustic semi-deities. Hence the " ludicrous language” and the " dancing genius " of the old Tragedy, to which the TROCHAIC or running metre here spoken of was peculiarly adapted; being no other than this : " Jolly mortals, fill your glasses, noble deeds are done by wine." The reader will not confound satyric with satiric; nor the Greek satyric drama with the satire of Roman origin. See Harris's Phil. Arrang. p. 460, note. Dacier's Preface to Horace's Satires. The two words are of different derivations. Twining.
4. CHAP. V.]
5. Comedy an imitation of the ridiculous.

Commentary

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

1. mvp-aristotle-comment-93

1. mvp-aristotle-comment-94

1448b4 ἐοίκασι Setting aside the antiquarian questions raised in chap. 3, Aristotle asserts that the birth of poetry was due to large natural causes. The origin of poetry generally ( γεννῆσαι μὲν ὅλως) is attributable to the imitative instinct in all men. The origin of the two great kinds of poetry ( διεσπάσθη δὲ b24), of which Tragedy and Comedy were the ultimate developments, is attributable to the personal tendencies and differences of character in the individual poets ( τὰ οἰκεῖα ἤθη b24).

1. mvp-aristotle-comment-95

1448b5 αἰτίαι δύο The two causes are those mentioned in the immediate context, τὸ μιμεῖσθαι (b5) and τὸ χαίρειν τοῖς μιμήμασι (b8). These Aristotle regards as two distinguishable facts in human nature. τὸ χαίρειν τοῖς μιμήμασι, instead of coming in as a mere afterthought after τὸ μιμεῖσθαι, involves a different idea, and relates to a different class of persons—the public interested in works of art, as distinct from the artists who produce them.
1448b7
μιμητικώτατον : Probl. 30. 6, 956 a 14
Διὰ τί ἀνθρώπῳ πειστέον δὴ μᾶλλον ἢ ἄλλῳ ζῴῳ; ... ἢ ὅτι μιμητικώτατον;
. μανθάνειν γὰρ δύναται διὰ τοῦτο. Vahlen illustrates this use of the neuter singular by De somn. 3, 457 b 24
καταπίπτουσι ... οἱ ἄνθρωποι, μόνον γὰρ ὀρθὸν τῶν ζῴων
, and Pol. 1. 2, 1253 a 16
τοῦτο γὰρ πρὸς τἆλλα ζῷα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἴδιον, τὸ μόνον ἀγαθοῦ καὶ κακοῦ ... αἴσθησιν ἔχειν
.

2. mvp-aristotle-comment-96

1448b8 μαθήσεις : Quintilian 10. 2, 1
Neque enim dubitari potest quin artis pars magna contineatur imitatione. nam ut invenire primum fuit estque praecipuum, sic ea quae bene inventa sunt utile sequi
.
1448b9

3. mvp-aristotle-comment-97

σημεῖον A σημεῖον is that which proves or confirms a proposition; an αἴτιον, something that explains or gives a reason for it. Aristotle defines a σημεῖον in An. pr. 2. 27, 70 a 7
σημεῖον δὲ βούλεται εἶναι πρότασις ἀποδεικτικὴ ἀναγκαία ἢ ἔνδοξος
.

3. mvp-aristotle-comment-98

ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων : 're ipsa'. τῶν ἔργων here is often rendered by 'works of art'.

3. mvp-aristotle-comment-99

1448b10 γὰρ αὐτὰ λυπηρῶς ὁρῶμεν : Rhet. 1. 11, 1371 b 4
ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ μανθάνειν τε ἡδὺ καὶ τὸ θαυμάζειν, καὶ τὰ τοιάδε ἀνάγκη ἡδέα εἶναι οἷον τό τε μεμιμημένον ... καὶ πᾶν ὃ ἂν εὖ μεμιμημένον ᾖ, κἂν μὴ ἡδὺ αὐτὸ τὸ μεμιμημένον· οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ τούτῳ χαίρει, ἀλλὰ συλλογισμός ἐστιν ὅτι τοῦτο ἐκεῖνο, ὥστε μανθάνειν τι συμβαίνει
. — De part. an. 1. 5, 645 a 11
καὶ γὰρ ἂν εἴη παράλογον καὶ ἄτοπον, εἰ τὰς μὲν εἰκόνας αὐτῶν [i.e. τῶν ζῴων τῶν μὴ κεχαρισμένων] θεωροῦντες χαίρομεν ὅτι τὴν δημιουργήσασαν τέχνην συνθεωροῦμεν
.

3. mvp-aristotle-comment-100

1448b12 ἀτιμοτάτων : De anima 1. 2, 404 b 3
ἐν ἅπασι γὰρ ὑπάρχειν αὐτὸν [i.e. νοῦν] τοῖς ζώοις, καὶ μεγάλοις καὶ μικροῖς καὶ τιμίοις καὶ ἀτιμοτέροις
. — De part. an. 1. 5, 645 a 15 .
1448b13

4. mvp-aristotle-comment-101

καὶ τοῦτο . For the conjunction comp. 13, 1453 a 17
σημεῖον δὲ καὶ τὸ γιγόμενον
. — De somno 3, 456 a 28
σημεῖον δὲ τούτων καὶ τὰ ὑπνωτικά
. — Meteor. 2. 8, 367 a 11
τεκμήριον δ᾿ ἐστὶ καὶ τὸ γιγνόμενον
.
1448b16

5. mvp-aristotle-comment-102

θεωροῦντας μανθάνειν : comp. Rhet. 1. c. , and Plato Rep. 475 D
οἱ ... φιλοθεάμονες πάντες ἔμοιγε δοκοῦσι τῷ καταμανθάνειν χαίροντες τοιοῦτοι εἶναι
. Our pleasure in the contemplation of a picture or other work of imitative art is explained here to be the natural concomitant of an intellectual act, the discovery or recognition on our part of the meaning of the picture.
1448b17

6. mvp-aristotle-comment-103

οὐχ ᾗ . οὐχὶ for οὐχ ᾗ is found in Kb in Eth. N. 8. 12, 1161 b 1, 18 and in D (the Marcianus) in An. post. 1. 23, 84 b 8 .
1448b20

7. mvp-aristotle-comment-104

κατὰ φύσιν δὲ ὄντος ἡμῖν τοῦ μιμεῖσθαι What Aristotle is now considering is the evolution of the poet ; and he tells us that the imitative aptitude of the poet is only a higher and more developed form of that natural aptitude for imitation which is common to all mankind.

7. mvp-aristotle-comment-105

καὶ τῆς ἁρμονίας καὶ τοῦ ῥυθμοῦ seem to be added as an afterthought, in recognition of the historical connexion between music and poetry. Except in its lyric forms, however, poetry was now no longer combined with music ; in Aristotle's view, also, even metre is at the most only one of its accidents ( 1, 1447 b 11 ).

7. mvp-aristotle-comment-106

1448b22 ἐξ ἀρχῆς is much the same thing as ἐν ἀρχῇ. The antithesis between ἐξ ἀρχῆς πεφυκότες and προάγοντες will be not unlike that in Metaph. A 2, 982 b 13
ἐξ ἀρχῆς μὲν τὰ πρόχειρα τῶν ἀπόρων θαυμάσαντες, εἶτα κατὰ μικρὸν οὕτω προϊόντες
.

7. mvp-aristotle-comment-107

αὐτά : loosely used for 'their work' or 'performances'; it anticipates what is termed in the next line 'their improvisations'. προάγειν is here (and again in 4, 1449 a 13 ) a transitive verb. The meaning of the word in the present context is to 'advance', or 'carry a stage further', as may be seen from the parallel in Soph. el. 33, 183 b
οἱ μὲν γὰρ τὰς ἀρχὰς εὑρόντες παντελῶς ἐπὶ μικρόν τι προήγαγον· οἱ δὲ νῦν εὐδοκιμοῦντες ... οὕτως ηὐξήκασιν
.

7. mvp-aristotle-comment-108

1448b23 αὐτοσχεδιασμάτων On the verb αὐτοσχεδιάζειν = 'to speak off-hand, without premeditation or previous study'. The fact is described in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes 54
θεὸς δ᾿ ὑπὸ καλὸν ἄειδεν, ἐξ αὐτοσχεδίης πειρώμενος
. The phallic-song, in which Aristotle finds the germ of Comedy, was sometimes described as an ᾠδὴ αὐτοσχέδιος.
1448b24

8. mvp-aristotle-comment-109

διεσπάσθη δὲ corresponds with the γεννῆσαι μὲν ὅλως in b4. κατὰ τὰ οἰκεῖα ἤθη: comp. Plato Rep. 396 C sqq. .

8. mvp-aristotle-comment-110

1448b25 τὰς καλὰς ... πράξεις καὶ τὰς τῶν τοιούτων As Düntzer and Bernays have shown, this is not a tautology, as the actions of those who are καλοὶ (τῶν τοιούτων) are not always καλαὶ πράξεις; comp. Plato Rep. 396 C
μάλιστα μὲν μιμούμενος τὸν ἀγαθὸν ἀσφαλῶς τε καὶ ἐμφρόνως πράττοντα, ἐλάττω δὲ καὶ ἧττον ἢ ὑπὸ νόσων ἢ ὑπὸ ἐρώτων ἐσφαλμένον ἢ καὶ ὑπὸ μέθης ἢ τινος ἄλλης ξυμφορᾶς
.

8. mvp-aristotle-comment-111

1448b27 ψόγους has the same same concrete sense of 'invectives' in Plato Laws 829 C
ἐγκώμιά τε καὶ ψόγους ποιεῖν
. The earliest, as well as the most eminent representative of this kind of literature, was Archilochus, the
ψογερὸς Ἀρχίλοχος βαρυλόγοις ἔχθεσιν πιαινόμενος
of Pindar ( Pyth. 2. 100 ).

8. mvp-aristotle-comment-112

ὕμνους καὶ ἐγκώμια : Plato Rep. 607 A
ὕμνους θεοῖς καὶ ἐγκώμια τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς
. — Etym. Gud. s. v. ὕμνος
Ὕμνος ἐγκωμίου διαφέρει καθὸ ὁ μὲν ὕμνος ἐπὶ θεοῦ λέγεται τὸ δὲ ἐγκώμιον ἐπὶ ἀνθρώπου
. On hymns and encomia as very primitive forms of Greek poetry see Bergk, Gr. Litt. 1 p. 423.
1448b29

9. mvp-aristotle-comment-113

εἰκὸς δὲ εἶναι πολλούς , scil. τοιούτους; comp. Goulston's version, 'verisimile autem est, qui talia condiderint, extitisse multos'. Aristotle says this because he thinks that even in those days the baser sort ( οἱ εὐτελέστεροι b26) were probably in a majority ; he has no romantic illusions as to the superiority of the men of an earlier age ( Pol. 2. 8, 1269 a 5 ). On the pre-Homeric poets, to whom Aristotle refers, comp. Sextus Emp. Adv. math. 1. 204
οὐχ ὑπὸ πάντων ὁμολογεῖται ποιητὴς ἀρχαιότατος εἶναι Ὅμηρος· ἔνιοι γὰρ Ησίοδον προήκειν τοῖς χρόνοις λέγουσιν, Λίνον τε καὶ Ὀρφέα καὶ Μουσαῖον καὶ ἄλλους παμπληθεῖς
: see also Bernhardy Gr. Litt. 1 p. 308. Aristotle, however, was quite aware that the writings which bore the names of these legendary poets were not really by them ( H. A. 6. 6, 563 a 18 ; see Bernays, Dialoge d. Aristot. p. 95).
1448b30

10. mvp-aristotle-comment-114

ἐκείνου ὁ Μαργίτης : Eustratius on Eth. N. 6. 7, 1141 a 14 (p. 320 30 Heylb.)
παράγει . . . καί τινα ποίησιν Μαργίτην ὀνομαζομένην Ὁμήρου. μνημονεύει δ᾿ αὐτῆς οὐ μόνον αὐτὸς Ἀριστοτέλης ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ Περὶ ποιητικῆς ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἀρχίλοχος καὶ Κρατίνος καὶ Καλλίμαχος ἐν τῷ ἐπιγράμματι καὶ μαρτυροῦσιν εἶναι Ὁμήρου τὸ ποίημα
. On the Margites, which Aristotle thus attributes to Homer, see Kinkel, EGF. p. 64. This statement in the Poetics does not throw any light on the question of the original form of the Margites, whether the iambic lines in it were a primitive part of the poem, or subsequently added by Pigres (see Goettling, Op. Acad. p. 167, and Hiller, N. Jahrb. f. Phil. 1887 p. 13 for a discussion of it) ; it stands in a parenthesis, and must not be taken in any direct connexion with the ἐν οἷς... ἰαμβεῖον ἦλθε μέτρον that follows.

10. mvp-aristotle-comment-115

καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα refers to writings more or less like the Margites by post-Homeric poets—not to other minor poems of a light order attributable to Homer himself, as Bergk (Gr. Litt. 1 p. 775) suggests.

10. mvp-aristotle-comment-116

ἐν οἷς = ἐν δὲ τούτοις, scil. τοῖς ψόγοις, the relative beginning a new sentence, as in 24, 1459 b 12
οἷς ἅπασιν
. — Phys. 8. 3, 253 b 12
πρὸς οὓς . . οὐ χαλεπὸν ἀπαντῆσαι
. — Metaph. Θ 3, 1046 b 33
οἷς τὰ συμβαίνοντα ἄτοπα οὐ χαλεπὸν ἰδεῖν
. — Λ 8, 1074 b 8
ὧν εἴ τις χωρίσας αὐτὸ λάβοι μόνον τὸ πρῶτον
.

10. mvp-aristotle-comment-117

1448b31 κατὰ τὸ ἁρμόττον : 17, 1455 b 10
κατὰ τὸ εἰκός
. — Rhet. 1. 1, 1355 a 22 and 9, 1367 b 12
κατὰ τὸ προσῆκον
 (opposed to παρὰ τὸ προσῆκον). — Eth. N. 4. 6, 1123 a 20
παρὰ τὸ δέον
. The reading of the Aldine (and of Parisinus 2038), καὶ τὸ ἁρμόττον, has been accepted by Bon. Ind. 357 b 48 .

10. mvp-aristotle-comment-118

1448b32 ἦλθε : the verb has the same sense in Eth. N. 5. 8, 1133 a 20
ἐφ᾿ ὃ τὸ νόμισμα ἐλήλυθε
. — Pol. 1. 9, 1258 a 6
τὸ ἕτερον εἶδος τῆς χρηματιστικῆς διὰ τοῦτ᾿ ἐλήλυθεν
.

10. mvp-aristotle-comment-119

1448b33 ἰαμβεῖον καλεῖται : Strabo 422 Cas.
ὁ μὲν (scil. ὁ δάκτυλος) ὕμνοις ἐστὶν οἰκεῖος ὁ δ᾿ ἴαμβος κακισμοῖς
. — Proclus Chrestom. 7, p. 346 Gaisf.
τὸν ἴαμβον τάττεσθαι μὲν ἐπὶ λοιδορίας τὸ παλαιόν· καὶ γὰρ καὶ τὸ ἰαμβίζειν κατά τινα γλῶσσαν λοιδορεῖν ἔλεγον ... ἔοικε δὲ ὁ ἴαμβος τὸ μὲν παλαιὸν ἐπὶ τῶν εἰς ψόγον καὶ ἔπαινον γραφομένων ὁμοίως λέγεσθαι ἐπεὶ δέ τινες ἐπλεόνασαν ἐν ταῖς κακολογίαις τὸ μέτρον, ἐκεῖθεν τὸ ἰαμβίζειν εἰς τὸ ὑβρίζειν ὑπὸ τῆς συνηθείας ἐκπεσεῖν
. — Schol. Hephaest. 6, p. 182 Gaisf.
ἐκλήθη δὲ ἴαμβος, ἀφ᾿ οὗ τὸ μέτρον παρονομάζεται ἰαμβικόν, ἐπείπερ οἱ ὑβρίζειν καὶ λοιδορεῖν τινὰς βουλόμενοι τούτῳ ἐχρῶντο τῷ μέτρῳ· ἰαμβίζειν γὰρ ἔλεγον οἱ παλαιοὶ τὸ ὑβρίζειν
. — Suetonii Reliq. p. 19 Reiff.
Iambus est carmen maledicum appellatum est autem παρὰ τὸ ἰαμβίζειν, quod est maledicere
.
1448b34

11. mvp-aristotle-comment-120

τῶν παλαιῶν . The reference is apparently to Homer and Archilochus, as the first and greatest representatives of the two great directions in poetry; comp. Velleius Paterc. 1. 5
Neque quenquam alium, cuius operis primus auctor fuerit, in eo perfectissimum praeter Homerum et Archilochum reperiemus
. Dio Chrysost. Or. 33, p. 5 R.
δύο γὰρ ποιητῶν γεγονότων ἐξ ἅπαντος τοῦ αἰῶνος, οἷς οὐδένα τῶν ἄλλων συμβάλλειν ἄξιον, Ὁμήρου τε καὶ Ἀρχιλόχου, τούτων Ὅμηρος μὲν σχεδὸν πάντα ἐνεκωμίασε Ἀρχίλοχος δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν ἐναντίαν ἦκε [fort. ἠξε], τὸ ψέγειν
. Their pre-eminence is implied in the juxtaposition of the two names in Heraclitus fr. 119 (42 Diels)
τόν τε Ὅμηρον ἔφασκεν ἄξιον ἐκ τῶν ἀγώνων ἐκβάλλεσθαι καὶ ῥαπίζεσθαι καὶ Ἀρχίλοχον ὁμοίως
.

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-121

τὰ σπουδαῖα : [no further note in snippet].

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-122

ποιητής : comp. Plato Apol. 18 B
τὰ μετέωρα φροντιστής
.

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-123

1448b35 οὐχ ὅτι εὖ , scil. ἐποίησεν. Homer 'wrote well', as a master of the art of poetic expression (comp. 24, 1459 b 16 ; 1460 b 1 ) ; his poems are 'imitations', or pictures of human life, which distinguishes them from those of Empedocles and others (comp. 1, 1447 b 15 ) ; and they are moreover 'dramatic imitations', i. e. not unlike those in the Drama (comp. 24, 1460 a 5 ). In this way, then, Aristotle intimates that Homer not only dealt with the same kind of subject as Tragedy ( τὰ σπουδαία), but also anticipated the dramatic manner.

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-124

1448b36 σχήματα . . . ὑπέδειξεν , 'marked out for us the great outlines of Comedy'. σχῆμα has the same sense in 5, 1449 b 3 , and in Plato Laws 5, 737 D
σχήματος ἕνεκα καὶ ὑπογραφῆς
. For the use of ὑπέδειξε comp. Rhet. 3. 2, 1404 b 25
ὅπερ Εὐριπίδης ποιεῖ καὶ ὑπέδειξε πρῶτος
. — Ath. Pol. 41
Ἀριστείδης μὲν ὑπέδειξεν, Ἐφιάλτης δὲ ἐπετέλεσεν
. — Isocrates 268 C
ταῦτα πράττοντες καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις ὑποδεικνύοντες
.

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-125

1448b37 οὐ ψόγον ἀλλὰ τὸ γελοῖον δραματοποιήσας The sense is that, when Homer passed from σπουδαία to φαῦλα, his treatment of the latter was more akin to that in the comic poets than to that in the ἰαμβοποιοί; Margites with him was only ridiculous—not vicious or held up to obloquy as vicious, as a writer of ψόγοι would have made him. A ψόγος dwells on some serious vice of character; whereas Comedy, as Aristotle conceives it, deals only with those lesser faults which we are able to laugh at (see on 5, 1449 a 33 ). This view of the Margites is not quite in harmony with that in 4, 1448 b 30 , where it is regarded as a ψόγος, the first known instance of the kind. With οὐ ψόγον Vahlen supplies ποιήσας from the δραματοποιήσας that follows. This is legitimate enough, but hardly necessary, as δραματοποιεῖν, 'to write, or describe, as a dramatist would' (see on 22, 1458 b 9 ) is just as applicable to ψόγον as it is to τὸ γελοῖον (comp. Tyrwhitt's rendering 'non vituperium sed ridiculum dramatice exprimens'). The meaning Aristotle attaches to it may be seen from μιμήσεις δραματικὰς ἐποίησεν in b35 (v. ad loc.).

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-126

1448b38 ὥσπερ Ἰλιὰς καὶ ἡ Ὀδύσσεια Vahlen illustrates this insertion of the article before Ὀδύσσεια by De resp. 17, 478 b 28
ἔστι δὲ θάνατος καὶ ἡ φθορὰ πᾶσιν ὁμοίως τοῖς μὴ ἀτελέσιν
, and Rhet. 3. 13, 1414 b 13
ἔσται οὖν ... διήγησις ἕτερον καὶ ἡ ἐπιδιήγησις καὶ προδιήγησις
, and a number of other passages in Aristotle (comp. also Riddell, Digest of Idioms § 240 G). On the other hand Spengel would restore the article before Ἰλιὰς on account of its appearance in the parallel in 26, 1462 b 8
ὥσπερ ἡ Ἰλιὰς ἔχει πολλὰ τοιαῦτα μέρη καὶ ἡ Ὀδύσσεια
 (comp. also 24, 1459 b 14
ἡ μὲν Ἰλιὰς ... ἡ δὲ Οδύσσεια
). There is as a rule nothing exceptional or anomalous in Aristotle's usage in reference to the article with the titles of books. He is apt to omit it, just as Athenaeus does, when the title is given in the actual form which it would have as the heading of a MS. (comp. Apollonius Synt. 1, 26), after the preposition ἐν. The Poetics supply a number of examples of this usage, e.g. 16, 1455 a 2
ἐν Ἀλκίνου ἀπολόγῳ
. — 24, 1460 a 35
τὰ ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ ἄλογα
. — 14, 1454 a 1
ἐν Ἀντιγόνη
. — 16, 1455 a 4
ἐν Χοηφόροις
. — 24, 1460 a 31
ἐν Ἠλέκτρᾳ
. — 32
ἐν Μυσοῖς
. — 25, 1461 a 21
ἐν Ορέστῃ
. In 24, 1460 a 30 , however, the traditional text omits the article with a title in the nominative; for it is clear that Οἰδίπους in this place means the Oedipus Tyrannus, in the same way as with us 'Hamlet' may mean the play, not the person. In many places in which the article is omitted, the title is used in a general sense as a common noun; thus in Soph. el. 24, 180 a 21
δός μοι Ιλιάδα
 means 'give me an Iliad' (i. e. a copy of the Iliad). Instances of this in the Poetics are 8, 1451 a 20
Ἡρακληίδα Θησηίδα
, 'a Heracleid, a Theseid'. — 24, 1459 b 15
Ὀδύσσειαν
, 'an Odyssey'. — 23, 1459 a 3
Ἰλιάδος καὶ ᾿Ὀδυσσείας
, 'a poem like the Iliad or Odyssey'. — b 4
Κυπρίων
, 'a poem like the Κύπρια'. I am inclined to think, therefore, that Spengel was right in suggesting ὥσπερ (ἡ) Ιλιάς in the present passage; and also that in 24, 1460 a 30 the true reading must be ὥσπερ (ὁ) Οἰδίπους.
1449a3

13. mvp-aristotle-comment-127

ἑκατέραν τὴν ποίησιν recalls the distinction drawn in 4, 1448 b 24 between the two great forms of poetry, the higher and the lower.

13. mvp-aristotle-comment-128

κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν φύσιν : 4, 1448 b 24
κατὰ τὰ οἰκεῖα ἤθη
.

13. mvp-aristotle-comment-129

1449a4 ἀντὶ τῶν ἰάμβων κωμῳδοποιοὶ ἐγένοντο Vahlen compares De part. an. 2. 13, 657 b 34
ἀντὶ ταύτης τῆς φυλακῆς πάντα σκληρόφθαλμά ἐστιν
, and Herod. 7. 62
ἀντὶ τῶν πίλων μιτρηφόροι ἦσαν
.

13. mvp-aristotle-comment-130

1449a7 ἔχει... τοῖς εἶδεσιν ἱκανῶς Aristotle assumes that Tragedy has by this time attained to its natural form ( 15
ἔσχε τὴν αὐτῆς φύσιν
); but he declines to consider the question whether there is still a possibility of improvement in the treatment of its various formative constituents. The suggestion that the εἴδη here meant are the same as the μέρη distinguished in chap. 6 , from another point of view, is due to Madius. εἶδος in the sense of a formative constituent is perhaps unique in Aristotle, but there are certainly a few instances of it in Plato Rep. iv , where the three faculties in the soul are sometimes described as εἴδη ( 434 D , 439 E , 440 B ) and sometimes as μέρη ( 442 B, C ). The alternative interpretation is to take εἴδη in the logical sense of 'species'. This view, though not improbable in itself (comp. 18, 1455 b 32 ), is hardly reconcileable with the use of εἴδη in 6, 1450 a 13 as a designation for the μέρη with which the chapter is dealing.

13. mvp-aristotle-comment-131

αὐτό τε καθ᾿ αὑτὸ κρῖναι The conjunction serves to connect κρῖναι with ἐπισκοπεῖν, the second clause being complementary to the first (comp. 6, 1450 b 3 ). Similarly in De anima 3. 3, 427 b 15
φαντασία γὰρ ἕτερον καὶ αἰσθήσεως καὶ διανοίας· αὐτή τε οὐ γίγνεται ἄνευ αἰσθήσεως, καὶ ἄνευ ταύτης οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπόληψις
, the second clause ( αὐτή τε κτέ.) is explanatory of the first. κρῖναι has been taken as an infinitive of limitation by Vahlen, who quotes H. A. 9. 38, 622 a 20
τῶν δ᾿ ἐντόμων ἐργατικώτατον ζῴων ἐστί, σχεδὸν δὲ καὶ πρὸς τἆλλα συγκρίνεσθαι πάντα, τό τε τῶν μυρμήκων γένος καὶ τὸ τῶν μελιττῶν
. As far as I can see, an infinitive of limitation would not be quite in place in a passage like the present. For the antithesis between καθ᾿ αὑτὸ and πρὸς τὰ θέατρα comp. Top. 5. 1, 128 b 16
ἀποδίδοται δὲ τὸ ἴδιον ἢ καθ᾿ αὐτὰ καὶ ἀεὶ ἢ πρὸς ἕτερον καὶ ποτέ
. — Cat. 6, 5 b 16
οὐδὲν γὰρ αὐτὸ καθ᾿ αὑτὸ μέγα λέγεται ἢ μικρόν, ἀλλὰ τῷ πρὸς ἕτερον ἀναφέρεσθαι
. κρίνειν has an indirect question after it in Metaph. A 4, 984 b 31
τούτους μὲν οὖν πῶς χρὴ διανείμαι ἐξέστω κρίνειν ὕστερον
.
1449a9
γενομένης δ᾿ οὖν ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς αὐτοσχεδιαστικής =
γενομένη δ᾿ οὖν ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς αὐτοσχεδιαστική
. Having begun with γενομένης αὐτοσχεδιαστικῆς, scil. τῆς τραγῳδίας, Aristotle sees that the same is true of Comedy, and adds a parenthesis to show that; after which he says in 13
ηὐξήθη
, just as though γενομένη... αὐτοσχεδιαστική had begun the clause. For another instance of a gen. abs. in lieu of a nominative see 17, 1455 a 3 . A parenthetical addition of very similar form is found in 5, 1449 b 12 , and also in Metaph. Θ 10, 1051 b 11 . ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς is used adverbially in the same sense as ἐξ ἀρχῆς. Several of the recent editors and translators, however, take ἀρχῆς and αὐτοσχεδιαστικῆς together as meaning an 'improvisational beginning'. This certainly simplifies matters, but it may be doubted whether ἀρχὴ αὐτοσχεδιαστική would naturally bear that meaning.

14. mvp-aristotle-comment-132

1449a11 τῶν ἐξαρχόντων
ἐξάρχειν τὸν διθύραμβον, ἢ τὰ φαλλικά, dicebantur qui choro utrivis canendo praeiverunt; qui, ut verisimile est, ab initio poetae ipsi fuerunt
, says Tyrwhitt, quoting Archilochus ( fr. 77 Bergk
ὡς Διωνύσοι᾿ ἄνακτος καλὸν ἐξάρξαι μέλος οἶδα διθύραμβον
). By the ἐξάρχων here Aristotle means the poet-composer, who supplied both words and air, and taught them to the chorus—not as is sometimes supposed, the κορυφαῖος, who was only one of the chorus. ἐξάρχειν διθύραμβον is practically a synonym for διδάσκειν διθύραμβον, the expression in Herodotus i. 23. It is clear that Aristotle has in his own mind a general view of the historical development of early Greek poetry, but he tells us as little as possible about it. The intention of the Poetics is to give us a theory of the Epic and of the Drama, not a treatise on the history and archaeology of the Drama. Tragedy began when the author of the dithyramb came forward with an 'improvisation', i. e. with a ῥῆσις or spoken statement, which he improvised in the interval between the two halves of the song of the chorus. The allusion in τῶν ἐξαρχόντων in the text is probably to Thespis, whom he is known to have mentioned in a fragment preserved by Themistius Or. 26, 382 Dind.
οὐ προσέχομεν Ἀριστοτέλει ὅτι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὁ χορὸς εἰσιὼν ᾔδεν εἰς τοὺς θεούς, Θέσπις δὲ πρόλογόν τε καὶ ῥῆσιν ἐξεῦρεν;
. The 'prologue and speech' introduced by Thespis may be identified with the improvisations of the actor-poet, which transformed the Dithyramb into Tragedy.

14. mvp-aristotle-comment-133

1449a12 φαλλικά Photius Lex.
Φαλλικόν· ποίημα αὐτοσχέδιον ἐπὶ τῷ φαλλῷ ἀδόμενον
. — Hesychius
Φαλλικόν· ὄρχημά τι· οἱ δὲ μέλος· ἄλλοι ᾠδὴν αὐτοσχέδιον ἐπὶ τῷ φαλλῷ ἀδομένην
. In these phallus-songs Aristotle sees the origin of Comedy; it arose through the author of the song 'improvising' some scurrilous tale, and becoming in this way the forerunner of the single actor of the earliest form of Comedy.

14. mvp-aristotle-comment-134

1449a13 προαγόντων : see on 4, 1448 b 22 .
1449a14

15. mvp-aristotle-comment-135

μεταβολάς : 5, 1449 a 37
αἱ τῆς τραγῳδίας μεταβάσεις
.

15. mvp-aristotle-comment-136

1449a15 ἐπαύσατο For the tense of the participle comp. An. post. 2. 1, 89 b 27
εὑρόντες γὰρ ὅτι ἐκλείπει πεπαύμεθα
. — Meteor. 1. 3, 339 b 32
θεωρήσαντες ἂν τὰ νῦν δεικνύμενα ... ἴσως ἂν ἐπαύσαντο ταύτης τῆς παιδικῆς δόξης
.

15. mvp-aristotle-comment-137

φύσιν : Pol. 1. 2, 1252 b 32
ἡ δὲ φύσις τέλος ἐστίν· οἷον γὰρ ἕκαστόν ἐστι τῆς γενέσεως τελεσθείσης, ταύτην φαμὲν τὴν φύσιν εἶναι ἑκάστου, ὥσπερ ἀνθρώπου ἵππου οἰκίας
.

16. mvp-aristotle-comment-138

καὶ τό τε τῶν ὑποκριτῶν πλῆθος There is no need to assume a lacuna here. Having shown how Tragedy began with a single actor, Aristotle proceeds to note the introduction of a second, and after that, of a third actor. The increasing prominence of the actor is in his view the most significant fact in the evolution of the Drama. The καί is explanatory, introducing a series of statements in support of the original assertion that Tragedy underwent many changes before attaining to its ultimate form.

16. mvp-aristotle-comment-139

ὑποκριτῶν The actor is called a ὑποκριτής because he was the poet's spokesman, who interpreted his text to the public. The term must have acquired this sense at the time when the poet left the acting to others, instead of being himself the performer of his pieces, as he originally was according to Rhet. 3. 1, 1403 b 23 . The position of the ὑποκριτής was analogous to that of the ῥαψῳδός; they were both intermediaries who interpreted the words of a poet to the public. Plato in the Ion in one place terms him a ἑρμηνεύς and in another ὑποκριτής, apparently without any difference of meaning: Ion 530 C
τὸν γὰρ ῥαψῳδὸν ἑρμηνέα δεῖ τοῦ ποιητοῦ τῆς διανοίας γίγνεσθαι τοῖς ἀκούουσι
, and 535 E
οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ θεατὴς τῶν δακτυλίων ὁ ἔσχατος ... ὁ δὲ μέσος σὺ ὁ ῥαψῳδὸς καὶ ὑποκριτής, ὁ δὲ πρῶτος αὐτὸς ὁ ποιητής
.

16. mvp-aristotle-comment-140

1449a16 Αἰσχύλος comp. the Aristotelian survey of the progress of the Drama in Themistius Or. 26 p. 382 Dind.
οὐ προσέχομεν Ἀριστοτέλει ὅτι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὁ χορὸς εἰσιὼν ᾔδεν εἰς τοὺς θεούς, Θέσπις δὲ πρόλογόν τε καὶ ῥῆσιν ἐξεῦρεν, Αἰσχύλος δὲ τρίτον ὑποκριτὴν καὶ ὀκρίβαντας, τὰ δὲ πλείω τούτων Σοφοκλέους ἀπελαύσαμεν καὶ Εὐριπίδου?
 There is no doubt a discrepancy between this and the statement in the text about Aeschylus, but it need not disturb us, unless we assume Aristotle to have been incapable of a change of opinion even on a small matter of learned research. Ancient opinion was divided on the point: Vita Aeschyli (Dindorf, Poet. scen. prol. p. 3)
ἐχρήσατο δ᾿ ὑποκριτῇ πρώτῳ μὲν Κλεάνδρῳ, ἔπειτα καὶ τὸν δεύτερον αὐτῷ προσῆψε Μυννίσκον τὸν Χαλκιδέα τὸν δὲ τρίτον ὑποκριτὴν αὐτὸς ἐξεῦρεν, ὡς δὲ Δικαίαρχος ὁ Μεσσήνιος, Σοφοκλῆς
.

16. mvp-aristotle-comment-141

1449a17 τὸν λόγον the portion recited or spoken, as opposed to τὰ τοῦ χοροῦ, the portion sung ( 18, 1456 a 28
τὰ ἀδόμενα
); comp. the use of λόγοι in 6, 1450 b 6, 9 in the sense of the speeches or ῥήσεις in a play. Λόγος is a word with a Protean variety of meanings even in the Poetics. In 1, 1447 a 22 it means 'language', as opposed to metre and music; in 6, 1450 b 15 'prose', as distinct from verse; in 22, 1459 a 13 an 'oration', as opposed to a poem; in 15, 1454 a 18 (comp. 19, 1456 a 37 ), the 'language', as distinct from the action, of the personages; in 17, 1455 b 17 (comp. 5, 1449 b 8 ), the 'story', as distinct from its setting in the actual poem. And in 20, 1457 a 23 it is one of the technical terms of Aristotelian logic or grammar.

16. mvp-aristotle-comment-142

1449a18 πρωταγωνιστὴν παρεσκεύασεν 'made it assume the leading part in the play'. For this metaphorical use of πρωταγωνιστής comp. that of the derivative πρωταγωνιστεῖν in Pol. 8. 4, 1338 b 29
ὥστε τὸ καλὸν ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τὸ θηριῶδες δεῖ πρωταγωνιστεῖν· οὐ γὰρ λύκος οὐδὲ τῶν ἄλλων θηρίων τι ἀγωνίσαιτο ἂν οὐθένα καλὸν κίνδυνον, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός
. Instances of this extension of meaning (which is common enough in later Greek) will be found in HSt. s.v. πρωταγωνιστής . Aristotle is apt to use technical terms of theatrical origin in their popular sense (see on 14, 1453 b 8
χορηγίας
) even in a book like the Poetics.

16. mvp-aristotle-comment-143

σκηνογραφίαν i. e. Sophocles was the first to have the screen behind the actors painted to represent the façade of a palace or a temple, or whatever else the play required as its background. The improvement here ascribed to Sophocles was sometimes attributed to Aeschylus ( Sommerbrodt, Scaenica p. 142 ; Haigh, Attic Th. p. 181 ).
1449a19

17. mvp-aristotle-comment-144

ἔτι δὲ τὸ μέγεθος so as to suggest an idea of the importance or dignity of the object: comp. Eth. N. 4. 4, 1122 b 32
μέγεθος ἔχει καὶ ἀξίωμα
. — Pol. 5, 10, 1313 a 7
τὸ μέγεθος καὶ τὸ ἀξίωμα τῆς ἀρχῆς
. The ἀπεσεμνύνθη in the next line shows this to be at any rate by implication the sense of μέγεθος in the present passage. Aristotle evidently had in his own mind a clear and precise conception of the origin of Tragedy, though it is difficult for us to recover more than fragments of it from a statement so brief and allusive as that in the text. He merely tells us (1) that the most primitive tragedies dealt with short stories; (2) that the language of the primitive actor, instead of being serious and solemn, was sportive or jocose , and (3) in trochaics, not in iambics. By way of explanation of this last point, he adds that, as Tragedy was originally akin to the satyric drama, the language of the primitive tragic actor had still something of the rhythm of the dance about it. Aristotle's idea of the original tragic actor may possibly have been that he also was made up as a satyr. He certainly mentions one characteristic of the stage-satyr, his jesting language , and seems to imply another, viz. his dance-like movements.

17. mvp-aristotle-comment-145

ἐκ μικρῶν μύθων : such as might be told, for instance, in a single act. For the asyndeton comp. 5, 1449 b 12 ; De anima 3. 2, 426 b 24 ; De sensu 3, 440 a 8
οἷον ἐνίοτε οἱ γραφῆς ποιοῦσιν· ἑτέραν χρόαν ἐφ᾿ ἑτέραν ἐναργεστέραν ἐπαλείφουσιν
; Metaph. Θ 10, 1051 b 11 .

17. mvp-aristotle-comment-146

1449a20 ὀψὲ ἀπεσεμνύνθη The time meant is presumably the age of Phrynichus.

17. mvp-aristotle-comment-147

1449a21 ἐκ τετραμέτρου ἰαμβεῖον ἐγένετο : Rhet. 3. 1, 1404 a 30
οἱ τὰς τραγῳδίας ποιοῦντες ... ἐκ τῶν τετραμέτρων εἰς τὸ ἰαμβεῖον μετέβησαν διὰ τὸ τῷ λόγῳ τοῦτο τῶν μέτρων ὁμοιότατον εἶναι τῶν ἄλλων
.
1449a23

18. mvp-aristotle-comment-148

ὀρχηστικωτέραν : 24, 1459 b 37
τὸ δὲ ἰαμβεῖον καὶ τετράμετρον κινητικὰ καὶ τὸ μὲν ὀρχηστικὸν τὸ δὲ πρακτικόν
. — Rhet. 3. 8, 1408 b 32
τῶν δὲ ῥυθμῶν ὁ μὲν ἡρῷος σεμνὸς καὶ λεκτικῆς ἁρμονίας δεόμενος, ὁ δ᾿ ἴαμβος αὐτή ἐστιν ἡ λέξις ἡ τῶν πολλῶν διὸ μάλιστα πάντων τῶν μέτρων ἰαμβεῖα φθέγγονται λέγοντες. δεῖ δὲ σεμνότητα γενέσθαι καὶ ἐκστῆσαι. ὁ δὲ τροχαῖος κορδακικώτερος δηλοῖ δὲ τὰ τετράμετρα· ἔστι γὰρ ῥυθμὸς τροχαῖος τὰ τετράμετρα
. — Longinus 41. 1
μικροποιοῦν δ᾿ οὐδὲν οὕτως ἐν τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς ὡς ῥυθμὸς κεκλασμένος λόγου καὶ σεσοβημένος, οἷον δὴ πυρρίχιοι καὶ τροχαῖοι καὶ διχόρειοι, τέλεον εἰς ὀρχηστικὸν συνεκπίπτοντες
. ὀρχηστικός in this connexion means practically μιμητικὸς ὀρχήσεως, just as ἠθικός in the Poetics means μιμητικὸς ἤθους. Similarly λεκτικός = μιμητικὸς λέξεως (comp. 21, 1459 a 12 ), πρακτικός = μιμητικὸς πράξεως, and παθητικός = μιμητικὸς πάθους.

18. mvp-aristotle-comment-149

λέξεως , 'speech' as opposed to song (comp. on 21, 1459 a 12 ).

18. mvp-aristotle-comment-150

1449a24 αὐτὴ ἡ φύσις : 24, 1460 a 4
αὐτὴ ἡ φύσις διδάσκει τὸ ἁρμόττον αὐτῇ αἱρεῖσθαι
. — De caelo 3. 8, 306 b 15
ἔοικεν ἡ φύσις αὐτὴ τοῦτο σημαίνειν ἡμῖν
. — Hippocrates 3 p. 606 K.
ἀνευρίσκει ἡ φύσις αὐτὴ ἑωυτῇ τὰς ἐφόδους οὐκ ἐκ διανοίας, οἷον τὸ σκαρδαμύσσειν καὶ ἡ γλῶσσα ὑπουργέει καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα τοιαῦτα· ἀπαίδευτος ἡ φύσις ἐοῦσα καὶ οὐ μαθοῦσα τὰ δέοντα ποιέει
.

18. mvp-aristotle-comment-151

1449a26 λεκτικὸν : 21, 1459 a 11
ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἰαμβείοις διὰ τὸ ὅτι μάλιστα λέξιν μιμεῖσθαι ταῦτα ἁρμόττει ὅσοις κἂν ἐν λόγοις τις χρήσαιτο
. Comp. also Rhet. 3. 1, 1404 a 30 , 3. 8, 1408 b 32 . The term is sufficiently explained by
πλεῖστα γὰρ ἰαμβεῖα λέγομεν ἐν τῇ διαλέκτῳ τῇ πρὸς ἀλλήλους
in 26 .

19. mvp-aristotle-comment-152

διαλέκτῳ , 'talk', 'converse', as in Plato Symp. 203 A
διὰ τούτου πᾶσά ἐστιν ἡ ὁμιλία καὶ ἡ διάλεκτος θεοῖς πρὸς ἀνθρώπους
: comp. Rhet. 3. 8, 1408 b 34
μάλιστα πάντων τῶν μέτρων ἰαμβεῖα φθέγγονται λέγοντες
, and 3. 2, 1404 b 34
πάντες γὰρ μεταφοραῖς διαλέγονται
. For the general meaning of διάλεκτος see on 22, 1458 b 32 . Horace's alternis aptus sermonibus (A. P. 81) is a distant echo of this statement of Aristotle's. Cicero also observes that ordinary speech constantly falls into iambics: Orator 189
senarios vero et Hipponacteos effugere vix possumus; magnam enim partem ex iambis nostra constat oratio
.

19. mvp-aristotle-comment-153

1449a27 λεκτικῆς ἁρμονίας ἁρμονία here seems to mean 'pitch' ( τόνος) as in Rhet. 3. 1, 1403 b 31 . Aristoxenus recognizes a similar distinction between the musical and the conversational μέλος:
λέγεται γὰρ δὴ καὶ λογῶδές τι μέλος, τὸ συγκείμενον ἐκ τῶν προσῳδιῶν τῶν ἐν τοῖς ὀνόμασιν· φυσικὸν γὰρ τὸ ἐπιτείνειν καὶ ἀνιέναι ἐν τῷ διαλέγεσθαι
.

20. mvp-aristotle-comment-154

ἐπεισοδίων : see on 12, 1452 b 20 .

20. mvp-aristotle-comment-155

1449a30 ὡς ἕκαστα κοσμηθῆναι λέγεται is added to explain the main statement, τὰ ἄλλα . . . ἔστω εἰρημένα. For the general form of the sentence Vahlen compares Metaph. Γ 3, 1005 b 19
τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ ἅμα ὑπάρχειν τε καὶ μὴ ὑπάρχειν ἀδύνατον τῷ αὐτῷ καὶ κατὰ τὸ αὐτό καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα προσδιορισαίμεθ᾿ ἄν, ἔστω προσδιωρισμένα
.

20. mvp-aristotle-comment-156

κοσμηθῆναι = ἐπικοσμηθῆναι. Certain elements in a play Aristotle dismisses as κόσμοι, decorative accessories rather than structural parts of the work. With this use of κοσμεῖν we may compare that of ἡδύνειν in 6, 1449 b 28 and 24, 1460 b 3 , to denote the addition of accessories designed to make the work agreeable to us.

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

1. mvp-aristotle-comment-71

4.1 L y a deux cauſes principales, & toutes deux fort naturelles, qui ſemblent avoir produit la Poësie.] 1

2. mvp-aristotle-comment-72

4.2 Car ils different des autres animaux, en ce qu'ils ſont tous très-portez à l'imitation.] 2

3. mvp-aristotle-comment-73

4.2 Que par ſon moyen ils apprenent les premiers élemens des Sciences.] 3

4. mvp-aristotle-comment-74

4.2 Et que toutes les imitations leur donnent un ſingulier plaiſir.] 4

5. mvp-aristotle-comment-75

4.4 C'eſt que les Philoſophes ne ſont pas les ſeuls qui aiment à apprendre, & que cette paſſion eſt égalemeut naturelle à tous les autres hommes.] 5

6. mvp-aristotle-comment-76

4.4 Quoyqu'ils n'apprenent pas tous également.] 6

7. mvp-aristotle-comment-77

4.6 Le plaiſir qu'ils ont alors, ne vient pas de la beauté del'imitation, mais de celle de l'art ou du mélange, & de la vivacité des couleurs, &c.] 7

8. mvp-aristotle-comment-78

4.7 Si l'imitation nous eſt naturelle, le nombre & l'harmonie ne le font pas moins.] 8

9. mvp-aristotle-comment-79

4.7 Sous le mot de nombre, je comprens auſſi les vers qui évidemment en font partie.] 9

10. mvp-aristotle-comment-80

4.7 Car ceux qui ſe trouverent le plus de talent pour l'une & pour l'autre.] 10

11. mvp-aristotle-comment-81

4.7 Luy donnerent peu à peu la naiſſance par des eſſais faits ſur le champ.] 11

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-82

4.8 Mais elle changea bien-tôt de forme ſelon le different naturel des Poëtes.] 12

13. mvp-aristotle-comment-83

4.9 Il ne nous reſte aucun Poëme de cette ſorte.] 13

14. mvp-aristotle-comment-84

4.10 Par exemple, ſon Margites.] 14

15. mvp-aristotle-comment-85

4.10 Où l'on a auſſi employé le vers ïambe, comme le plus propre pour les railleries.] 15

16. mvp-aristotle-comment-86

4.10 C'eſt pourquoy on appelle preſentement ces Poëmes du nom de ce vers.) 16

17. mvp-aristotle-comment-87

4.10 Parce que ce n'eſt que des invectives continuelles.] 17

18. mvp-aristotle-comment-88

4.11 Et comme Homere a tenu ſans contredit le premier rang dans le Poëme heroïque & tragique.) 18

19. mvp-aristotle-comment-89

4.12 C'eſt le ſeul qui merite le nom de Poëte, non ſeulement parce qu'il a bien écrit.] 19

20. mvp-aristotle-comment-90

4.12 Mais encore parce qu'il a fait des imitations dramatiques.] 20

21. mvp-aristotle-comment-91

4.12 Il a été auſſi le premier qui a donné, comme un crayon de la Comedie, en changeant en plaiſanteries les railleries piquantes des premiers Poëtes.] 21

22. mvp-aristotle-comment-92

4.12 En effet ſon Margites a avec la Comedie le même rapport que ſon Iliade & ſon Odyßée ont avec la Tragedie.] 22

23. mvp-aristotle-comment-93

4.13 Les autres Poëtes qui vinrent après luy, & qui étoient naturellement portez à l'un ou à l'autre de ces deux genres de Poëſie, ſelon qu'ils avoient plus ou moins de force.] 23

24. mvp-aristotle-comment-94

4.13 Au lieu de faire des ïambes.] 24

25. mvp-aristotle-comment-95

4.13 Quitterent les vers heroïques.] 25

26. mvp-aristotle-comment-96

4.13 Ces deux dernieres ſortes d'ouvrages leur ayant paru plus nobles.] 26

27. mvp-aristotle-comment-97

4.14 Or d'examiner preſentement ſi la Tragedie eſt dans ſa perfection & ſi elle a receu la forme qui luy convient.] 27

28. mvp-aristotle-comment-98

4.14 Et par rapport à elle, & par rapport au theatre.] 28

29. mvp-aristotle-comment-99

4.15 La Tragedie donc & la Comedie, étant nées des impromptu dont j'ay parle.] 29

30. mvp-aristotle-comment-100

4.15 Et l'autre à ces chanſons obſcenes.] 30

31. mvp-aristotle-comment-101

4.15 Qui autoriſées par la Coûtume & par les Loix, ſe chantent encore de notre temps dans pluſieurs Villes.] 31

32. mvp-aristotle-comment-102

4.15 Chacun ajoutant quelque choſe à leur beauté à meſure qu'on découvroit ce qui convenoit à leur caractere.] 32

33. mvp-aristotle-comment-103

4.16 Pour la Tragedie aprés beaucoup de changemens.] 33

34. mvp-aristotle-comment-104

4.16 Quand elle eut tout ce qui luy étoit propre.) 34

35. mvp-aristotle-comment-105

4.16 Eſchyle fut le premier qui mit deux Acteurs ſur la Scene, Car il n'y en avoit qu'un avant luy.] 35

36. mvp-aristotle-comment-106

4.16 Il diminua les chants du chœur.] 36

37. mvp-aristotle-comment-107

4.16 Il inventa l'idée d'un principal perſonnage.] 37

38. mvp-aristotle-comment-108

4.16 Sophocle ajoûta un troiſième Acteur aux deux d'Eſchyle.] 38

39. mvp-aristotle-comment-109

4.16 Orna la Scene de belles décorations.) 39

40. mvp-aristotle-comment-110

4.17 Enfin elle ne receut que fort tard la grandeur & la gravité qui luy étoient convenables.] 40

41. mvp-aristotle-comment-111

4.17 Qu'elle avoit retenu de ces pieces ſatyriques d'où elle ſortoit] 41

42. mvp-aristotle-comment-112

4.18 Le vers ïambe trimetre ſucceda au vers tetrametre dont elle s'étoit toujours ſervie, parce qu'elle étoit toute ſatyrique, & pleine de danſes, & de mouvement.] 42

43. mvp-aristotle-comment-113

4.19 Mais aprés que la diction qui luy étoit propre fut établie.] 43

44. mvp-aristotle-comment-114

4.19 Car l'iambe eſt de tous les vers le plus propre pour la converſation.] 44

45. mvp-aristotle-comment-115

4.19 Et tres rarement des hexametres, qui ne nous échapent jamais, que lorſque nous franchiſſons les bornes du diſcours ordinaire, & que nous changeons d'harmonie & de ton.] 45

46. mvp-aristotle-comment-116

4.20 Le nombre des Epiſodes s'augmenta auſſi avec le temps.] 46

Commentary on the Poetics (Thomas Twining, 1789) (OCR draft) (Thomas Twining's notes on Aristotle's Poetics, aligned to the Kassel reference edition.) focus

21. mvp-aristotle-comment-21

NOTE 21.

4.3 P. 70. THE FIGURES OF THE MEANEST AND MOST DISGUSTING ANIMALS.
Θηρίων τε μορφας των ΑΤΙΜΟΤΑΤΩΝ
.—This reading is strongly supported by the arguments of Victorius, the authority of MSS, and the sense and purport of the passage itself, which seems to require instances of mean, or disgusting, rather than of terrible, objects. Thus too Plutarch , in the passages referred to by Victorius, which undoubtedly allude to this of Aristotle.—
Γεγραμμένην ΣΑΥΡΑΝ η ΠΙΘΗΚΟΝ, ἰδοντες ήδομεθα και θαυμαζομεν, ουχ ὡς καλον, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ὁμοιον ἐσιᾳ γαρ ἐ δυναται καλον γενέσθαι ΤΟ ΑΙΣΧΡΟΝ
κ. τ. αλ. And presently after—
και ΝΟΣΩΔΗ μεν ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΝ, και ΥΠΟΥΛΟΝ,
ὡς ἀτερπες θεαμα, φευγομεν
κ. τ. αλ.—See also his Sympos. Problems. lib. v. Prob. 1.

22. mvp-aristotle-comment-22

NOTE 22.

4.4 P. 70. TO LEARN IS A NATURAL PLEASURE.
To the same purpose, in his Rhetoric, lib. i. cap. xi. p. 537. Ed. Duval.
"Επει δε το ΜΑΝΘΑΝΕΙΝ τε ήδυ, και το θαυμάζειν, και τα τοιαυτα, ἀναγκη ήδεα ειναι, το τε μεμιμημενον, ώσπερ ΓΡΑΦΙΚΗ, και ΑΝΔΡΙΑΝΤΟΠΟΙΪΑ, και ΠΟΙΗΤΙΚΗ, και παν ὁ ἀν ἐυ μεμιμημενον , καν μη ή ήδὺ το μιμημα γαρ ἐπι τετῳ χαιρει, άλλα συλλογισμού ἐστι, ὅτι ΤΟΥΤΟ ΕΚΕΙΝΟ· ώστε ΜΑΝΘΑΝΕΙΝ τι συμβαινει."
1
"And as it is by nature delightful to LEARN, to ADMIRE, and the like, hence we necessarily receive pleasure from imitative arts, as PAINTING, SCULPTURE, and POETRY, and from whatever is well imitated, even though the original may be disagreeable; for our pleasure does not arise from the beauty of the thing itself, but from the inference the discovery, that 'THIS IS THAT,' &c. so that we seem to LEARN something."
—
Μανθανειν
to learn, to know, i. e. merely to recognize, discover, &c. See Harris, On Music, Painting, &c. ch. iv. note (b) . The meaning is sufficiently explained by what follows. Dryden , who scarce ever mentions Aristotle without discovering that he had looked only at the wrong side of the tapestry, says—
"Aristotle tells us, that imitation pleases because it affords matter for a rea-
2
soner to enquire into the truth or falsehood of imitation,"
&c. 3 But Aristotle is not here speaking of reasoners, or inquiry; but, on the contrary, of the vulgar, the generality of mankind, whom he expressly opposes to philosophers, or reasoners: and his
συλλογίζεσθαι
is no more than that rapid, habitual, and imperceptible act of the mind, that
"raisonnement aussi prompt que le coup d'œil,"
(as it is well paraphrased by M. Batteux ,) by which we collect, or infer, from a comparison of the picture with the image of the original in our minds, that it was intended to represent that original.
The fullest illustration of this passage is to be found in another work of Aristotle, his Rhetoric, lib. iii. cap. x. , 4 where he applies the same principle to metaphorical language, and resolves the pleasure we receive from such language, into that which arises from the
μαθησις ΤΑΧEIA
—the exercise of our understandings in discovering the meaning, by a quick and easy perception of some quality or qualities common to the thing expressed, and the thing intended—to a mirror, for example, and to the theatre, when the latter is is called metaphorically,
"The mirror of human life."
5
In the Problems, Sect. 19, Prob. V. the same principle is applied to Music. The Problem is, Why we are more pleased with singing when we are acquainted with the air that is sung, than when it is new to us?—And one of the answers is,
ὅτι ἡδυ το μανθανειν
. i. e. to say, this is such a tune, or song, &c. And indeed the pleasure afforded by recognition, is no where, perhaps, more visibly illustrated, than in the raptures and rhythmical agitation of a popular audience, at the return of the leading air, in that species of infallible ear-trap, the RONDEAU.
I must add, as somewhat amusing, that Plato makes use of this principle to prove a dog to be a philosophical animal:
"for, (he argues,)
το φιλομαθες και φιλοσοφον, τ'αυτον
, the love of knowing, and the love of wisdom, are one and the same thing. Now dogs are delighted with knowing, simply, and disinterestedly; they fawn upon every one whom they know, and bark at the approach of every stranger; 6 and that, without having ever experienced good from the one, or harm from the other."
7
The philosophy of Aristotle here, though undoubtedly true, as far as it goes, will, I am afraid, to those who examine it, hardly appear to be perfectly satisfactory, or to reach the bottom of the subject. It is however to be considered, that what he has said, seems applicable chiefly to rude and unskilful spectators, and should, perhaps, be considered as a description of the effect of a picture or a statue upon children, and the multitude, who are little accustomed to view works of imitative art. And even with respect to them, the principle seems scarcely applicable but to portraits, and individual resemblances, such as may not be instantly recognized. When we look at a picture of that kind, we may not discover, till after a comparison of, at least, a few moments, that it is an imitation of this or that person; but, that it is an imitation of a man, we see at once and where there is not even a momentary ignorance, or doubt, I do not see how any information can be said to be acquired by the spectator, nor how, on the philosopher's own principles, (if I rightly understand him,) the pleasure conveyed by the imitation, can, in any sense, be resolved into that, which the mind receives from the exertion of its own powers in inferring, or discovering, the resemblance.
I say, on Aristotle's own principles, because, in the passage above referred to, where he explains himself more fully in applying the principle to metaphor, he expressly allows, that this pleasure of recognition, is not afforded by proper or common words, since they instantly suggest their meaning and cannot be mistaken. 8 Now a painting, considered as an imitation of a man, a horse, a house, in general, obviously answers in this respect, unless the imitation be grossly imperfect, to the common and familiar word; the one suggesting its original, as readily and immediately, as the other suggests its idea. 9
Among Aristotle's illustrations of this physical principle of the pleasure of self-information, as it might be called, there are two short passages, in particular, which seem to be so explicit with regard to the nature of that pleasure, that I will venture to add to the length of this note by a transcript and translation of them both. They will, I think, satisfy the learned reader that I have not, in the foregoing remarks, misrepresented the philosopher's meaning. After having applied the principle to metaphor, he applies it in like manner to the enthymemes, or arguments, of the orator.
"Διο ἐτε τα ἐπιπολαια των ἐνθυμηματων ευδοκιμει (ἐπιπολαια γαρ λέγομεν τα παντι δηλα, και ῾Α ΜΗΔΕΝ ΔΕΙ ΖΗΤΗΣΑΙ·) ἐτε όσα ειρημενα ἀγνοκμενα ἐστι᾿ ἀλλ᾿ ὅσων, ἡ ἁμα λεγομενων ἡ γνωσις γινεται, και ει μη προτερον ὑπηρχεν, μικρον ύστερίζει ἡ διανοια γίνεται γαρ ῾ΟΙΟΝ ΜΑΘΗΣΙΣ· ἐκεινως δε, οὐδετερον."
10
"For the same reason, we are pleased, neither with superficial arguments, (by which we mean such as are obvious to every one, and require no thought or search in the hearer;) nor with such as we do not understand when we have heard them; but, with those, which the mind apprehends, either while we hear them, (though not at first,) or in the moment after they are delivered:—for by these, we, in a manner, LEARN something: by the others, we learn nothing in either of these ways."
The other passage, in which the nature of the pleasure that Aristotle means is still more expressly marked, is this:
"Παντων δε των συλλογισμων θορυβειται μαλιστα τα τοιαυτα όσα ἀρχομενα ΠΡΟΟΡΩΣΙ, μη τῳ ἐπιπολης ἐἶναι ἁμα γαρ και ΑΥΤΟΙ ΕΦ ΕΑΥΤΟΙΣ ΧΑΙΡΟΥΣΙ προαισθανομενοι και ὅσων τοσετον ὑστεριζεσιν, ὡσθ άμα ειρημενων γνωρίζειν."
"Of all arguments, those are most applauded 11 , of which the audience have no sooner heard the beginning, than they foresee the conclusion;—not, however, from their being trite and obvious; for they are pleased, [not only with the ingenuity of the speaker, but] at the same time, WITH THEMSELVES and their own sagacity. Those arguments, also, afford pleasure, which, the moment after they are delivered, we are no longer at a loss to apprehend."

23. mvp-aristotle-comment-23

NOTE 23.

4.4 P. 70. IN A MORE TRANSIENT AND COMPENDIOUS MANNER.
Επι βραχυ
:—literally,
"for a short time."
AS PLATO , Rep. iii. p. 396 ,
κατα βραχυ
, for a moment—
en passant
. Dacier's explanation—
Quoi qu'ils ne soient pas tous egalement propres à apprendre,
—is, surely, wide of Aristotle's purpose. None of the versions, that I have seen, seem to give the exact idea, except that of Heinsius :—
"Quamquam minor BREVIORQUE ad hos perveniat voluptas."

24. mvp-aristotle-comment-24

NOTE 24.

4.6 P. 70. FROM THE WORKMANSHIP.—
Δια την ΑΠΕΡΓΑΣΙΑΝ
—
"neatness"—"finishing,"
&c. In the following passages of PLATO , it is opposed to a slight sketch:—
και αυτων τετων [sc. δικαιοσυνης, σωφροσυνης, &c.] ἐχ ΥΠΟΓΡΑΦΗΝ δει, ώσπερ νυν θεασασθαι, άλλα την τελεωτάτην ΑΠΕΡΓΑΣΙΑΝ μη παριέναι
Rep. vi. p. 504 . So again, lib. viii. p. 548 , the verb,
ἀπεργαζεσθαι
, is opposed to
ὑπογραφειν
.

25. mvp-aristotle-comment-25

NOTE 25.

4.7 P. 70. METRE—A SPECIES OF RHYTHM.
Μορια
—parts. The following passage will ascertain the sense of the word in this place, and justify my version. Explaining the different senses in which the word
Mep
was used, Aristotle says,
ἔτι, εις το διαιρεθειη ἀν, ἄνευ τε Ποσε, και ταυτα ΜΟΡΙΑ λεγεται τετε διο τα ΕΙΔΗ, το ΓΕΝΟΥΣ φασιν είναι ΜΟΡΙΑ
.— Metaphys. lib. v. cap. 25. So, in this treatise, cap. 5. —
τε Αισχρε ἐστι το Γελοιον ΜΟΡΙΟΝ
—
"a part, or species, of the ridiculous."

26. mvp-aristotle-comment-26

NOTE 26.

4.7 P. 70. THOSE PERSONS, IN WHOM, ORIGINALLY, THESE PROPENSITIES WERE THE STRONGEST, &c.
It is obvious to remark here, that Aristotle, in this deduction of the art from the mimetic and musical instincts, includes verse in his idea of Poetry, which he, at least, considered as imperfect without it. All that he drops, elsewhere, to the disparagement of metre, must be understood only comparatively... An eminent writer has adjusted this matter... in his Dissertation On the idea of Universal Poetry . 12 What is there said, of
"the origin and first application of Poetry among all nations,"
will furnish the best comment I can give, upon the passage which is the subject of this note.
"Poetry is every where of the most early growth, preceding every other sort of composition; and being destined for the ear, that is, to be either sung, or at least recited, it adapts itself, even in its first rude essays, to that sense of measure, and proportion in sounds, which is so natural to us. The hearer's attention is the sooner gained by this means, his entertainment quickened, and his admiration of the performer's art excited. Men are ambi-
tious of pleasing, and ingenious in refining upon what they observe will please. So that musical cadences and harmonious sounds, which nature dictated, are farther softened and improved by art, till Poetry become as ravishing to the ear, as the images, it presents, are to the imagination. In process of time, what was at first the extemporaneous production of genius or passion, under the conduct of a natural ear, becomes the labour of the closet, and is conducted by artificial rules; yet still, with a secret reference to the sense of hearing, and to that acceptation which melodious sounds meet with in the recital of expressive words."

27. mvp-aristotle-comment-27

NOTE 27.

4.10 P. 71. MARGITES.
The scraps that have been preserved of this Poem, the Dunciad of HOMER , are so few, and so short, that it may be worth while, for the convenience of the reader, to collect them.—
Μεσαων θεράπων και ἐκηβολε Απολλωνα,
13 —a line as likely to be found in one kind of Poem as in another... The other fragments are a little more interesting, as they give some idea of the hero of the Poem.
ΤΟΝΔ᾽ ἐτ᾿ ἀν σκαπτηρα θεοι θεσαν, ἐτ᾿ ἀροτηρα, Ουτ᾿ ἄλλως τι σοφον πασης δ ήμαρτανε τέχνης.
Preserved by Aristotle, Eth. lib. vi. cap. 7
Πολλ᾿ ἡπιστατο ἐργα, κακως δ ήπιστατο παντα.
Plato, Alcib. Secund. p. 147. Ed. Serrani.

28. mvp-aristotle-comment-28

NOTE 28.

4.12 P. 71. HIS MARGITES BEARS THE SAME ANALOGY TO COMEDY, AS HIS ILIAD AND ODYSSEY TO TRAGEDY.
Whenever Aristotle speaks of
COMEDY
, we must remember, that he speaks of the Old, or Middle Comedy, which was no other than what we should call farce, and to which his definition of Comedy was adapted:
μιμησις φαυλοτέρων
; that is, as he explains himself,
"an imitation of RIDICULOUS characters."
14 —This remark is necessary to explain what is here said of the Margites.
A Poem, which, as far we can form any idea of it, celebrated the blunders and absurdities of an idiot, cannot well be conceived to have been analogous to any thing, that would now be denominated a Comedy. It seems to verge to the very bottom of the dramatic scale;
"jusq' au bouffon; celui-ci sera l'extrême de la Comedie, le
plus bas degré de l'echelle, opposé au terrible qui est à l'autre bout."
15 The Bourgeois Gentilhomme of Moliere is certainly farce, however excellent in its way. But Mons. Jourdain is a very Ulysses, compared with Margites.

29. mvp-aristotle-comment-29

NOTE 29.

4.14 P. 72. BY SUCH SUCCESSIVE IMPROVEMENTS AS WERE MOST OBVIOUS.
Ὅσον ἐγινετο φανερον αυτης
—literally,
"so much of it as was manifest."
I doubt of the reading: but, taking it as it stands, I have given what appears to me to offer itself as the most natural and simple meaning of the expression, if not the only one that it will reasonably bear.

30. mvp-aristotle-comment-30

NOTE 30.

4.16 P. 72. ÆSCHYLUS-----ABRIDGED THE CHORAL PART.
The words are,
ΤΑ το χορό
. Aristotle would hardly have expressed himself thus, had he meant, as Madius , Bayle , and others, have understood, a retrenchment in the number of choral performers.
ΤΑ τε χορε
, the choral part, is opposed to
ΤΑ άπο σκηνης
, the dialogue, Prob. xv. of Sect. 19. It is singular, that Stanley should misunderstand this passage; and still more singular, that he should cite Philostratus , who is directly against him: for his words are,
συνεστειλε τες χορός, ΑΠΟΤΑΔΗΝ ΟΝΤΑΣ
:
"he contracted the chorusses, which were immoderately long."
16
This is confirmed by one of Aristotle's Problems, referred to by Victorius. The Problem is,
Δια τι οι περι Φρυνίχον ἦσαν μαλλον μελοποιοι
; (meaning, I suppose, more Musicians than the dramatic Poets of his own time:) The answer is,
ή, δια το πολλαπλασια είναι τοτε τα μέλη ἐν ταις των μετρων τραγωδίαις
; 17 I believe the passage may be rectified by transposition—
πολλ. είναι τοτε τα μέλη των μέτρων ἐν τ. Τ.
Perhaps, too, we should read,
των ΤΡΙΜΕΤΡΩΝ
. But, even taking it as it stands, it may sufficiently answer our purpose, as it shews clearly enough how much the Lyric parts of Tragedy, before the time of Æschylus, wanted contraction.
The prolixity of the Tragic Chorus, we know, was sometimes trying to the patience of an Athenian audience. This is pleasantly glanced at by Aristophanes in his Ορνιθες: where the Chorus of birds, descanting on the convenience of wings, tell the spectators, that if they had wings, whenever, in the Theatre, they
"found themselves hungry, and were tired with the Tragic Chorus, they might fly home and eat their dinners, and fly back again, when the Chorus was over."
ΧΟΡ. Ουδεν ἐς᾿ ἀμεινον, ἐδ᾽ ἡδιον, φυσαι πτερα. Αυτιχ, ύμων των θεατων ἐι τις ὴν ὑποπτερο, Ειτα, πανων, τοις χοροισι των Τραγῳδων ήχθετο, Εκπετομενοι ἐν ἑτα ἠρισησεν, ἐλθων ὀικαδε, Κατ᾿ ἀν, ἐμπλησθεις, ἐφ ἡμας ἀυθις κατεπτατο.
v. 786.

31. mvp-aristotle-comment-31

NOTE 31.

4.16 P. 72. AND MADE THE DIALOGUE THE PRINCIPAL PART OF TRAGEDY.
—
Και τον λογον πρωταγωνισην παρεσκευασε.
Victorius, and others, have supposed Aristotle to mean the Prologue. But it seems to be a sufficient objection to this sense, that no example has been produced of the word
πρωταγωνισην
, used as merely synonymous to
πρωτο
; as signifying first only, not principal. Nor is it easy to discover any reason, why Aristotle should have recourse here to an unusual and ambiguous expression, when, presently after, in speaking of the improvements of Comedy [ cap. v. ], he makes use of the proper and established term,
προλογ
. There seem to be no words in the Greek language, of which the sense is more clearly fixed, than that of
πρωταγωνισης—πρωταγωνιζειν
. They occur frequently, and always, as far as I know, in the same sense, of principal—
primas agere
, &c. To this sense, therefore, I thought it necessary to adhere.
But I confess I cannot be satisfied with either of the explanations which have been given of the word
ΛΟΓΟΣ
. It appears strange to say, that Æschylus first introduced two actors, and then to add, as a distinct improvement, that he also first introduced a principal part or character:—unless we are to understand, what seems not very probable, that the two actors even of Æschylus himself were, at first, personages of equal dignity and importance in the drama... and that, afterwards, he was the first who corrected this error... and reduced the drama to unity of action by a proper subordination of characters. But, admitting this sense to be without difficulty, the expression of it, I think, is not.
Λόγος
, for a part in the drama,
role, personnage
, (as Dacier ,) character, &c. seems harsh, and unusual. At least, I know no example of it.
The difficulties which attend both the expression and the sense, in each of these interpretations, have almost convinced me, that the very construction of the words has been mistaken; and that the meaning is,
"he made the discourse, or dialogue, the principal part of Tragedy."
This is well connected with what precedes, and agreeable to the known history of the Tragic drama, in which, originally, the Chorus was the essential, and the Episodes, or dra- matic part, only the accessory. But Æschylus
"abridged the Chorus, and made the Episodic part the principal."
Λόγος
, here, may well be understood to mean what Aristotle elsewhere calls
λεξις
; the speaking, or recitative, part of Tragedy, whether delivered by one or more actors, as opposed to the
μέλη
, or Lyric part. 18
Παρεσκευασε
,
reddidit, effecit
, &c. as...
ευσεβεστερες τε και σωφρονεςέρες της συνοντας παρεσκευασεν
"magis pios et temperatos reddidit."
19 And thus Aristotle himself, cap. xix.
ὅταν ἡ ἐλεεινα δεινα δεη παρασκευαζαν.
i. e. to make things piteous, terrible, &c. as in Goulston's version; and that of the accurate Piccolomini :—
"Quando occorre d'havere à far parere le cose, à miserabili, atroci,"
&c. 20 If the use of
πρωταγωνισης
as an adjective be an objection, it is one to which the other explanations are equally liable. On the whole, I have not scrupled to prefer this sense in my version.

32. mvp-aristotle-comment-32

NOTE 32.

4.16 P. 72. SOPHOCLES ADDED THE DECORATION OF PAINTED SCENERY.
To adjust exactly the rival claims of Æschylus and Sophocles with respect to the
oψις
, or decoration, of the Tragic stage, would be a desperate undertaking. Some accounts are so liberal to Æschylus, as scarce to leave his successors any room for farther improvements. They give him
"paintings, machinery, altars, tombs, trumpets, ghosts, and furies:"
—to which others add a very sin- gular species of Tragic improvement, the
"exhibition of drunken men."
—
την δε σκηνην ἐκοσμησε, και την όψιν των θεωμενων κατεπληξε τη λαμπρότητι - ΓΡΑΦΑΙΣ και μηχαναίς, βωμοις τε και τάφοις, σαλπιγξιν, ειδωλοις, ἔριννυσι.
21 —And Athenæus says,
πρωτου ἐκεινΘ----παρηγαγε την των ΜΕΘΥΟΝΤΩΝ ΟΨΙΝ ἐς τραγωδιαν.
p. 428. He adds an example. In the Tragedy called Καβειροι, he introduced
"Jason and his retinue drunk!"
The passage given by Dacier from Vitruvius is very general; it says only,
"scenam fecit."
22 This may, or may not, include painting; which, indeed, rather seems to be implied, in what follows, about the improvements of Democritus and Anaxagoras , where the
"imagines ædificiorum in scenarum picturis"
are mentioned. But all this is far outweighed by the testimony of Aristotle, who here explicitly attributes the introduction of painted Scenery to Sophocles.

33. mvp-aristotle-comment-33

NOTE 33.

4.17 P. 72. IT WAS LATE BEFORE TRAGEDY----ATTAINED ITS PROPER DIGNITY.
—
Οιψε ἀπεσεμνωθη
:—and to
"late,"
we might add, imperfectly. For, what Horace says of the Roman Tragedy, is, in some measure, though perhaps not equally, applicable to the Greek:
in longum tamen ævum Manferunt, hodieque manent veftigia ruris.
Ep. ad Aug. v. 160. Prejudice aside, it cannot surely be said, that the Greek Tragedy, in the hands, at least, of Æschylus, Sophocles, or Euripides, ever attained its proper dignity. I do not speak of modern dignity; of that uniform, unremitting strut of pomp and solemnity, which is now required in Tragedy. This was equally unknown to the manners, and to the Poetry, of the antients. I speak only of such a degree of dignity as excludes, not simplicity, but meanness—the familiar, the jocose, the coarse, the comic. Now it cannot, I think, be said, with any truth, that these are thoroughly excluded in any of the Greek Tragedies that are extant: in some of them they are admitted to a very considerable degree.
In particular, something of this sort—of what the French call
mesquin
—is almost constantly to be found in the short dialogue of the Greek Tragedies; in that part, I mean, which the eye, when we turn over any Tragedy, easily distinguishes from the rest, by its being carried on in a regular alternation of single verses. In this
"close fighting"
of the dialogue, as Dryden calls it, 23 which seems to have retained something of the spirit of the old satyric diverbia, where...
VERSIBUS ALTERNIS opprobria rustica fundunt,
HOR. —in this part of the dialogue, we generally find... somewhat more than what Brumoy calls
"un petit vernis de familiarité ;"
24 especially when these scenes are, as they often are, scenes of altercation and angry repartee. 25 In the Iphigenia in Aulide of Euripides , Menelaus, in the struggle with the old messenger for the letter, threatens to break his head with his sceptre,
Σκηπτρῳ ταχ άρα σον καθαιμάξω καρα.
v. 311. Fairly rendered by Mr. Potter's verse—
"Soon shall thy head this sceptre stain with blood."
Unfairly dignified by Brumoy's prose—
"Prends garde qu'une mort prompte ne punisse ton audace."
Even Sophocles, who gave the Tragic tone, in general, its proper pitch, between the
ογκος
of Æfchylus, and the
ίσχνοτης
of Euripides, 26 is by no means free from some mixture of this alloy in the language of his short dialogue. For example: in the scene between Ulysses and Neoptolemus in the Philoctetes, [v. 1250,] when Neoptolemus declares his resolution of restoring to Philoctetes his bow and arrows, at which Ulysses expresses his surprise by a repetition of the question,
Τι φης; τιν ειρηκας λογον;
—Neoptolemus replies,
"Would you have me tell you the same thing two or three times over?"
Δις τ'αυτα βέλει και τρις ἀναπολειν μ ἐπη;
v. 1238 [Oxford turn v. 1267]. In another scene... between Teucer and Menelaus, after a long altercation about the interment of Ajax, Menelaus says—
ὧν σοι φρασω τονδ᾽ ἐστιν ἐχι θαπτεον.
 —to which Teucer replies—
Συ δ' ἀντακεσον τετον ὡς τεθαψεται.
Ajax, v. 1140 [Oxford turn v. 1159]. In plain English, but no plainer than the Greek—
"M. One thing I'll tell you—he shall not be buried. T. And I'll tell another thing—he shall be buried."
—Certainly this approaches very nearly to the language of a contest between two washer-women. 27
These may be reckoned among the passages, in which the spirit of Sophocles, according to the observation of a great critic,
σβεννυται άλογως πολλακις, και πίπτει άτυχεστατα
. 28 In the Antigone there is a scene of altercation between Creon, Ismene, and Antigone, in which, when Ismene, pleading for her sister, asks Creon whether he will put her to death, who was to become the wife of his son, his answer is—
ΑΡΩΣΙΜΟΙ γαρ χάτερων εισιν ΓΥΑΙ.
v. 569 [Oxford turn v. 576].
The prejudiced admirers of the antients are very angry at the least insinuation that they had any idea of our barbarous Tragi-Comedy. But after all, it cannot be dissembled, that, if they had not the name, they had the thing, or something very nearly approaching to it. If that be Tragi-Comedy, which is partly serious and partly comical, I do not know why we should scruple to say, that the Alcestis of Euripides is, to all intents and purposes, a Tragi-Comedy. I have not the least doubt, that it had upon an Athenian audience the proper effect of Tragi-Comedy; that is, that in some places it made them cry, and in others, laugh. And the best thing we have to hope, for the credit of Euripides , is, that he intended to produce this effect. For though he may be an unskilful Poet, who purposes to write Tragi-Comedy, he surely is a more unskilful Poet, who writes one without knowing it.
The learned reader will understand me to allude particularly to the scene, in which the domestic describes the behaviour of Hercules ; and to the speech of Hercules himself, which follows. 29 Nothing can well be of a more comic cast than the servant's complaint. He describes the hero as the most greedy 30 and ill- mannered guest he had ever attended, under his master's hospitable roof; calling about him, eating, drinking, and singing, in a room by himself, while the master and all the family were in the height of funereal lamentation. He was not contented with such refreshments as had been set before him;
ἐτι σωφρονως ἔδεξατο Τα προστυχοντα ξενια Αλλ ἐι τι μη φερομεν, ΩΤΡΥΝΕΝ φερεια
Then he drinks—
Ἕως ἐθερμην᾿ ἀυτον ἀμφιβασα φλοξ
—crowns himself with myrtle, and sings,
ΑΜΟΥΣ ΥΛΑΚΤΩΝ
—and all this, alone.
"Cette description,"
says Fontenelle ,
"est si burlesque, qu'on diroit d'un crocheteur qui est de confrairie ."
31 A censure somewhat justified by Euripides himself, who makes the servant take Hercules for a thief:—
πανέργον ΚΛΩΠΑ και ΛΗΙΣΤΗΝ τινα.
The speech of Hercules ,
φιλοσοφεντου ἐν μεθῃ
, as the scholiast observes, (v. 776,)
"philosophizing in his cups,"
is still more curious. It is, indeed, full of the
φλοξ όνε
, and completely justifies the attendant's description. Nothing can be more jolly. It is in the true spirit of a modern drinking song; recommending it to the servant to uncloud his brow, enjoy the present hour, think nothing of the morrow, and drown his cares in love and wine:
ΟΥΤΟΣ τι σεμνον και πεφροντικού βλέπεις; 32 Ου χρη σκυθρωπον, κ. τ. αλ. ΔΕΥΡ ΕΛΘ᾽, ὅπως ἀν και σοφωτέρου γενη. Τα θνητα πραγματ οἰδας ἦν ἐχει φυσιν; ΟΙΜΑΙ μεν ΟΥ· ΠΟΘΕΝ ΓΑΡ; –ἀλλ᾿ ἀκει με. Βροτοις άπασι κατθανειν ὀφειλεται, Κεκ ἐστι θνητων όστις ἐξεπισταται Την άυριον μελλεσαν ἐι βιωσεται. Ευφραινε σαυτον ΠΙΝΕ! –τον καθ ήμεραν Βιον λογίζε σον, τα δ' άλλα, της τυχης. Τιμα δε και την πλειστον ήδιστην θεων ΚΥΠΡΙΝ βροτοισιν κ. τ. λ.
v. 773-812 [Oxford turn v. 783-812].
If any man can read this, without supposing it to have set the audience in a roar, I certainly cannot demonstrate that he is mistaken. I can only say, that I think he must be a very grave man himself, and must forget that the Athenians were not a very grave people. The zeal of Pere Brumoy in defending this Tragedy, betrays him into a little indiscretion. He says,
"tout cela à fait penser à quelques critiques modernes que cette piece etoit une Tragicomedie; chimere inconnu aux anciens. Cette piece est du gout des autres Tragedies antiques."
33 Indeed they, who call this play a Tragi-Comedy, give it rather a favourable name; for, in the scenes alluded to, it is, in fact, of a lower species than our Tragi-Comedy: it is, rather, burlesque Tragedy; what Demetrius calls
τραγωδια παίζεσα
. 34 Much of the comic cast prevails in other scenes; though mixed with those genuine strokes of simple and universal nature, which abound in this Poet, and which I should be sorry to exchange for that monotonous and unaffecting level of Tragic dignity, which never falls, and never rises.
I will only mention one more instance of this Tragi-comic mixture, and that from Sophocles . The dialogue between Minerva and Ulysses , in the first scene of the Ajax, from v. 74 to 88 , is perfectly ludicrous. The cowardice of Ulysses is almost as comic as the cowardice of Falstaff . In spite of the presence of Minerva, and her previous assurance, that she would effectually guard him from all danger by rendering him invisible, when she calls Ajax out, Ulysses, in the utmost trepidation, exclaims—
Τι δρας, Αθανα; μηδαμως σφ' ἐξω καλει. 35
Minerva answers—
Ου σιγ άνεξη, μηδε δείλιαν ἀρεις; 36
But Ulysses cannot conquer his fears:—
ΜΗ, ΠΡΟΣ ΘΕΩΝ-ἀλλ᾽ ἐνδον ἀρκειτω μένων. 37
And in this tone the conversation continues; till, upon Minerva's repeating her promise that Ajax should not see him, he consents to stay; but in a line of most comical reluctance, and with an afide, that is in the true spirit of Sancho Pança :—
Μενοιμ᾿ ἀν ΗΘΕΛΟΝ Δ᾽ ΑΝ ΕΚΤΟΣ ΩΝ ΤΥΧΕΙΝ.
v. 88. No unprejudiced person, I think, can read this scene without being convinced, not only, that it must have actually produced, but that it must have been intended to produce, the effect of Comedy. 38
It appears, indeed, to me, that we may plainly trace in the Greek Tragedy, with all its improvements, and all its beauties, pretty strong marks of its popular and Tragi-comic origin. For,
Τρα-
γῳδια
, we are told, was, originally, the only dramatic appellation 39 ; and when, afterwards, the ludicrous was separated from the serious, and distinguished by its appropriated name of Comedy, the separation seems to have been imperfectly made, and Tragedy, distinctively so called, seems still to have retained a tincture of its original merriment. Nor will this appear strange, if we consider the popular nature of the Greek spectacles. The people, it is probable, would still require, even in the midst of their Tragic emotion, a little dash of their old satyric fun, and Poets were obliged to comply, in some degree, with their taste. 40
When we speak of the Greek Tragedies as correct and perfect models, we seem merely to conform to the established language of prejudice, and content ourselves with echoing, without reflection or examination, what has been said before us. Lord Shaftsbury , for example, talks of Tragedy's being
"raised to its height by Sophocles and Euripides, and no room left for further excellence or emulation."
41 I should be sorry to be ranked in the class of those critics, who prefer that Poetry which has the fewest faults, to that which has the greatest beauties. 42 I mean only to combat that conventional and hearsay kind of praise, which has so often held out the Tragedies of the Greek Poets, as elaborate and perfect models, such as had received the last polish of art and meditation. The true praise of Æschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, is, (in kind at least, though not in degree,) the praise of Shakspeare; that of strong, but irregular, unequal, and hasty genius. Every thing, which this genius and the feeling of the moment could produce... these writers possess in great abundance: what meditation, and
"the labour and delay of the file"
only can effect, they too often want. Of Shakspeare, however, compared with the Greek Poets, it may justly, I think, be pronounced, that he has much more, both of this want, and of that abundance.

34. mvp-aristotle-comment-34

NOTE 34.

4.18 P. 72. ORIGINALLY, THE TROCHAIC TETRAMETER WAS MADE USE OF, &c.
As the Trochaic measure was still occasionally admitted, even in the improved and serious Greek Tragedy, and, in particular, occurs very frequently in the Tragedies of Euripides, it is natural to suppose, that a still more frequent use of it would be one of the characteristics of the fatyric drama, which seems to have been only a sort of revival, in an improved and regular form, of the old Trochaic Tragedy with its chorus of dancing fatyrs. It seems therefore somewhat remarkable, though I have not seen it noticed, that in the only fatyric drama extant, the CYCLOPS, and that written by Euripides, who has made so much use of this measure in his Tragedies, not a single Trochaic tetrameter is to be found.

35. mvp-aristotle-comment-35

NOTE 35.

4.19 P. 73. THE IAMBIC IS, OF ALL METRES, THE MOST COLLOQUIAL, &c.
Compare Rhet. lib. iii. cap. i. and cap. viii. Ed. Duval. And Demet. Περι Ἑρμ. Sect. 43.

36. mvp-aristotle-comment-36

NOTE 36.

4.19 P. 73. ----SELDOM INTO HEXAMETER, AND ONLY WHEN WE DEPART FROM THE USUAL MELODY OF SPEECH.
It has been thought strange, that Aristotle should introduce here the mention of hexameters, when he has been speaking only of Trochaic and Iambic verse, and is accounting for the adoption of the latter, in preference, not to the hexameter, but to the Trochaic tetrameter: and it has, therefore, been doubted, whether we should not read
τετραμετρα
43 . But the established reading, I believe, is right. The Trochaic tetrameter, Aristotle has, both here, and in his Rhetoric, characterized as
σατυρικον - τροχερον όρχης ικωτερον
and even
κορδακικωτερον
44 . He did not, I apprehend, consider it as being, in any degree,
λεκτικóν
. It was therefore entirely out of the question, when a metre proper for the general dialogue of Tragedy was to be sought for: but the bexameter was not so; and it might, without absurdity, be asked by an objector, as Castelvetro and Piccolomini have observed, why that species of verse was not adopted; especially as the Tragic Poets were the successors of the Epic, or Heroic, and Homer, according to Plato, was "the first of Tragic Poets" 45 . As its character was grave and stately, it might seem, on that account, well adapted to Tragedy, where, indeed, we actually find it occasionally introduced. But Aristotle objects to it as less proper, because, though
σεμνον
, it was at the same time, least
λεκτικον
. He allows, however, that it was not so remote from the rhythm of common speech, but that it might be casually produced, like the Iambic, though it rarely happened. He even goes so far, as to allow, in his concluding chapter, that Tragedy "might adopt the Epic metre." 46 —All this seems to afford sufficient support to the common reading. The Heroic and Iambic feet are, in the same manner, considered together, Rhet. iii. 8.
By
λεκτικη άρμονια
, Aristotle means what Aristoxenus calls
ΜΕΛΟΣ λογωδες
47 . We must not suppose him to use the word
ἁρμονια
here, in that lax and general sense, in which we commonly apply it to the rhythm of speech, when we talk of the harmony of a verse or a period. He speaks with his usual accuracy. Speech, as well as Music, has its melody and its rhythm; and these, in speech animated by passion, are so modified, as to approach, more or less perceptibly, to musical melody and rhythm. 48 And what Aristotle here asserts, I think, is, that the Greeks seldom, or never, departed so far from the usual rhythm of speech, as to run into hexameter verse, except when they were led, by the same cause, to depart equally from its usual melody or tones.

37. mvp-aristotle-comment-37

NOTE 37.

4.20 P. 73. THE EPISODES WERE MULTIPLIED.
The mistakes, into which some commentators have been led by annexing to the term
Επεισοδιον
, as applied by Aristotle to Tragedy, the modern and Epic idea of a digression, "hors-d'œuvre, intermede, morceau d'attache", have been well pointed out by Le Bossu, Tr. du Poeme Ep. liv. ii. ch. iv. v. vi. . But he appears to me to have gone too far, and to have fallen into the opposite error, by extending the word even to the most essential parts of the general action, to which he will not allow the
ἐπεισοδια
to be, in any sense, added, united, &c.-but insists that they constitute that action, "comme les membres font la matiere des corps." With this idea, he had, indeed, some reason to call the word
ἐπασοδιον
, "terme trompeur;" for, in this application of it, all sight of its etymological sense is lost. By all that I can gather from an attentive comparison of all the passages in which Aristotle uses the word, there appears to me no reason to suppose, that he any where meant to apply it indiscriminately to all the incidents of a fable; and it is for this reason that I have no where ventured to render it by the word incident, which would have been too general. Le Bossu's definition is," Les Episodes sont les parties necessaires de l'action etendues avec des circonstances vraisemblables." -The death of Cato, for example, in the Tragedy of Addison, answers to this definition. But would Aristotle have called that an Episode? I can scarce think it. The most I can conceive is, that he might have applied the term
ἐπεισοδια
to the particular circumstances and detail of the action, which were the additions of the Poet's fancy. Le Bossu mentions, as an instance, the escape of Orestes by means of the ablution, in the Iphig. in Taur. of Euripides; which, he says, Aristotle calls an Episode. But, it is not the escape of Orestes, (
ἡ σωτηρια
) that Aristotle so denominates; this was an essential circumstance, and is expressly included by him in that general sketch of the plot, into which the
ἐπεισοδια
were afterwards to be worked: and one of these Episodes was the detail of the manner in which the escape was effected,
δια της καθάρσεως
. - See NOTE 143 .
The word
ἐπεισοδιον
is, I think, used by Aristotle only in two senses: 1. The technical sense, in which it is clearly defined to mean, all that part, or, rather, those parts, of a Tragedy, that are included between entire choral odes. 49 2. It is evidently applied, in other passages, to the particular parts, subordinate actions, circumstances, or incidents, of the fable; but only, I think, to such, as were not essential parts of the Poet's plan or story, though they might be, and indeed ought to be, closely connected with it:-such, as, however important in the action, by contributing to promote the catastrophe, were yet no way necessitated by history, or popular tradition, or, in subjects of pure invention, by the Poet's general and determined plan, but depended on the invention or the choice of the Poet, who might, without any alteration in the
καθόλε λογώ
, as Aristotle calls it, of his drama, have conducted the action to its catastrophe by different means.
The word
ἐπεισοδιον
, then, appears to me never to be used by Aristotle but in its proper and derivative sense, of something more or less adventitious or accessory-something inserted, superadded, introduced, at pleasure, by the Poet. But the Epic Poem, from its extent of plan, and the variety requisite to its purpose, admits, and requires, subordinate actions of greater length and slighter relation to the principal action of the fable, than is consistent with the shorter compass, closer unity, and different end, of Tragedy. As the Episodes of Epic Poetry, therefore, had more distinctness, entireness, and projection from the subject, if I may so express myself, than those of Tragedy, this, as it was the most obvious, became in time almost the only, application of the term; till, at length, from the frequent abuse of this Epic privilege of variety, and the
μεταβαλλαν τον ἀκεοντα
, scarce any other idea was annexed to the word Episode, than that of digression, bors-d'œuvre, something foreign to the subject, or connected with it only by the slightest thread. Hence, too, in modern language, the word, I think, is applied only to entire actions of this additional, or digressive kind; not to the minuter circumstances or incidents which form the detail of an action. Thus, we call the whole story of Dido, in the Aneid, an Episode; but we should not give that name to any of the incidents by which the death of Turnus (an action essential to the fable,) is circumstantiated, though equally introduced and supplied by the Poet, and therefore equally, in Aristotle's sense,
ἐπεισοδια
. And so much, as to his use of this term, in general. Whether these remarks are well or ill founded, will best appear, when we come to apply them to the particular passages in which the word occurs. In that now before us, it is used, I think, in the second of the two senses I mentioned; and its best comment seems to be another passage, cap. xxiv. where the critic observes the advantage which the Epic Poem has in the variety of its Episodes, and assigns the want of that variety, as one common cause of ill success in Tragic writing: –
το γαρ ΟΜΟΙΟΝ ταχυ πληρεν ἐκπιπτειν ποια τας τραγωδίας
.

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

4.1. mvp-aristotle-comment-7 4.2

THOSE THINGS WHICH WE VIEW WITH PAIN IN THEMSELVES, WE LIKE TO SEE REPRESENTED AS ACCURATELY AS POSSIBLE; SUCH AS THE FIGURES OF THE MOST SAVAGE WILD BEASTS, AND OF DEAD BODIES.

I CANNOT agree here with Mr. Twining in the reason he gives for prefering with Vittorio ἀτιμοθάτων, to ἀγριοζάτων,–' the sense of the passage • itself:-which (he says) seems to require instances of mean and dif- • gusting rather than of terrible objects;' since a dead body with which it is joined certainly comes under the last circumstance, and was a usual exhibition in ancient tragedy. For we should recollect that Aristotle, though he draws the allufion from painting, must still be supposed to keep his eye on the subject he is treating of, poetic, and more especially, tragic imitation; which could never be confidered in any light as an amusement, if the terrible scenes which it produces did not come under the cafe of the illustration here brought from painting, pleasing as an imitation though disagreeable in reality; disagreeable, not from producing mean and difgusting objects, but from awakening too strongly the pafsions by affecting and terrible ones. The author of the Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful, justly observes, when danger or pain press too nearly they are incapable of giving any delight, and are simply terrible, but at certain distances, and
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. ' and with certain modifications, they are delightful, as we every day experience [A]. It must, however, be confessed, that the following remark of the fame judicious critic, is strongly in favor of Mr. Twining and Vittorio. When the object represented in painting or poetry is such as we should • have no defire of seeing in reality, then I may be sure that its power * in poetry or painting is owing to the power of imitation, and to no 'cause operating in the thing itself. So it is with most of the pieces ' which the painters call still life. In these a cottage or a dunghill, the • meanest and most ordinary furniture of the kitchen are capable of giving us pleasure. But when the object of the painting or poem is • such as we should run to see if real, let it affect us with what odd fort ' of sense it will, we may rely upon it that the power of the poem or ، ، picture is more owing to the nature of the thing itself than to the mere effect of the imitation, or to a confideration of the skill of the imitator, however excellent [B].' In the letters of Mr. Jackson of Exeter, we find an observation something fimilar as to painting. ' A deep road, a puddle of water, a bank ' covered with docks and briars, and an old tree or two, are all the cir- ، * cumstances in many a fine landscape. As clowns and half-ftarved cattle are the figures a landscape-painter chuses for his pictures; fo rough-looking fellows, wrapped up in sheets and blankets, are chofen by the history painter to express the greatest personages, and in the ، [A] Part i, sect. vii. See also part iv. sect. vii. [B] Part i. sect. xvi. P ' most
• most dignified actions of their lives [c].' Nearly the same observa- ' tion is made by M. Marmontel [D]. From this circumstance in painting, however, I have often heard a false conclufion drawn; and because the various tints of autumnal decay afford a better subject to a painter than the luxuriant charms of summer, it is not uncommon to hear that season preferred as being really more beautiful. The poet knows better; for one poetical description of autumn, there are a thousand of spring (E). As well might a real [c] Letter VI. [D] See Encyclopedie, Art. Interêt. fituation [E] 'To the appearance of spring, the imagination joins that of the seasons which are to • follow; to the tender buds that are perceived by the eye, the imagination adds, flowers, • fruit, shades, and sometimes the mysteries they may conceal. It brings into one point of ⚫ view the scenes that are to fucceed, and sees things less as they are than as it wishes them to be. On the contrary, in autumn we can only contemplate the scene before us. If we › wish to anticipate the spring, our course is stopped by winter, and our frozen imagination • expires among snows, and fogs.' EMILIUS, Vol. I. 1. 1. • Yet in these presages rude, • 'Midst her pensive solitude, • Fancy with prophetic glance • Sees the teeming months advance; • The field, the forest, green, and gay, • The dappled flope, the tedded hay, • Sees the reddening orchard blow, • The harvest wave, the vintage flow: • Sees June unfold his gloffy robe • Of thousand hues o'er all the globe; • Sees Ceres grasp her crown of corn, And plenty load her ample horn.' WARTON. In
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. situation of distress be preferred to tranquility, because it excites the feeling more in imitation. In regard to imitation as effected by the fine arts in general, I perfectly agree with Metaftafio, that to render an imitation pleasing, (especially of a terrible object, or of an object that does not of itself interest us,) it is necessary that the means of imitation should be apparent [F]. This appears in painting from the [G] greater excellence allowed to a good picture, compared with those representations of letters, newspapers and deal boards, which sometimes really deceive the eye; and in fculpture, from the great fuperiority of a fine statue, to a piece of colored wax work. Even in personal mimicry, it seems that the resemblance In painting we confine ourselves to the individual scene; in poetry we go more to cause and effect. For as Mr. Gilpin observes, the business of the poet is only to excite ideas, ⚫ that of the painter to represent them. The pencil fixes the scene in the happy moment; and ' the fading tints of autumn become perennial; but the idea excited by the poet connects the falling leaf and the disagreeable impression of decay with it, and anticipates the dreary scenes ' of winter.' [F] That which is called an imitation has always something in it that is not in the original. If the prototype and transcript be exactly alike; if there be nothing in the one which is not ' in the other, we may call the latter a representation, a copy, a draught, or a picture of the * former, but not an imitation. BEATTIE ON POETRY AND MUSIC, Part i. chap. v. p. 94. [G] Deception, which is so often recommended by writers on the theory of painting, ⚫ instead of advancing the art, is, in reality, carrying it back to its infant state. The first essays of painting were certainly nothing but mere imitations of individual objects, and • when this amounted to a deception the artist had accomplished his purpose.' NOTE BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS ON MR. MASON'S TRANSLATION OF FRESNOΥ. P2 may
may be too striking, as in the story of the person who was hissed for not imitating the squeaking of a pig, so naturally as his competitor, though it proved to be the animal itself, which he had concealed under his coat. The fame circumstance will be found in theatrical imitation [H]. An actor who has really a defect, will never represent such a defect well on the stage. In Hill's Actor [1] there is a very just observation on this. • There are some characters in which a representation of old age is necessary, but even in these it is better that it should be a pre- • tended than a real age we fee. The stage is the scene of reprefenta- ، ، tion, not realities. Mr. Foote pleases more in Fondlewife than an old man possibly could: and the reason is evident: we wish to fee the representation of a ridiculous, not of a pitiable old fellow. We expect to be entertained with the follies of age, not disgusted with its in- • firmities. The poet can feparate these perfectly in the character that ' he draws; and when a person of real judgment is to represent it, he ، also can feparate all that is contemptible, from what is the object [к] [H] This does not apply to excellence, as human nature is always inadequate to our idea of poetical perfection. [1] Chap. x. page 166. [K] See Ariftotle's idea of comedy, at the beginning of chapter v.. In the Dictionnaire d'Anecdotes, Art. ACTEUR, the following story is told, on what founda tion I know not. The authority quoted is a book entitled l'Anné. Litteraire. ' An actor, • after having for thirty years played with success, in several parts, had the misfortune to lame • himself, and ever afterwards limped. In spite of this misfortune, as his paffion was for tragedy, ⚫ he concluded that from this accident he was the fittest person in the world to play Richard the Third, whom Shakespear, the author of the tragedy, had represented as lame. Our actor • flattered himself with the most brilliant success. He presented himself to the audience with • the greatest confidence. But when he came to repeat these words, " the dogs bark at me « as I halt by them," there was a general laugh, and he was obliged to quit the stage.' of
POETRY OF ARISTOTLE. ' of compaffion, and shew it singly.' I remember an instance of a French gentleman, who spoke English with the accent of his country, performing the Frenchman in Lethe, on a private theatre, with very indifferent effect. Irish and Scotch characters, it is true, are often well represented by persons of those countries, but such actors are all able to speak good English in other parts, and know how far to carry the imitation. I conceive a Scotchman, or an Irishman, whose conversation was always strongly marked by their respective dialects, would succeed no better than the French gentleman I have mentioned. To apply this to the illustration of Aristotle. Certainly the picture of a dead body will in general give no disgust, or excite no painful horror, however well executed: but a dead body might be so formed in wax-work, as absolutely for a moment to deceive the eye, and then, even if the deception were declared before its exhibition, I doubt if the spectator would receive any other pleasure than what might arise from the accuracy of the workmanship. But even in a picture, if circumstances in themselves really disgusting are added, horror will rather be excited than pleasure, as in the (L) print of a robber entering a vault to plunder it, and some engravings from Holben's celebrated picture of Death's Dance, which I have seen. The fame thing is incident also to poetry, as in a little poem on the death of a lady, which begins, ' In yonder grave my Helen lies.' The effect produced on the mind, by the different degrees of exactness in picturesque imitation, may perhaps be illustrated by the common [L] See Beattie on Poetry and Music, Part i. chap. vi. page 124, note. looking-
looking-glass, the plano-convex mirror on a black foil, and the camera obfcura. The looking-glass is the exact representation, or rather reflection of nature, without any apparent alteration in the objects, (for the reverfing them is not observed ;) and a landscape seen in it, however fine, only gives the fame pleasure as when seen through a window, except from the frame, which, if the glass is not too large, both from its artificial boundary, and confining the eye to a part of the view, will give the landscape something more of a picturesque character, than when the objects are seen without it. (M) The plano-convex mirror pleases more, as having more the appearance of an imitation produced by art, and objects in themselves infignificant and mean, acquire a beauty from this, and afford delight. But the camera-obfcura gives by far the greatest pleasure, as having every property of a picture, except that it possesses the superior advantage of expreffing motion, as well as color and figure. And I am inclined to imagine, that even an affecting or terrific object seen in it, would in some measure partake of that alleviation which Aristotle ascribes to artificial imitation. As painting imitates entirely by natural means, (I mean as opposed to symbols) it is able to imitate the most exactly of any art except colored statuary; but as its means of imitation are always apparent, the imitation can never be too exact to please, except in objects that are in themselves loathsome and disgusting. The fame may be faid of statues in stone or [M] I have not the least doubt of this being the cause why we fee fome scenes in the planoconvex mirror with greater pleasure than in nature. I am surprised it did not occur to Mr. Gilpin, who is sensible of the effect, but is at a loss to account for it. REMARKS ON FOREST SCENERY, Vol. II. p. 224. If he had shewn it to the first countryman he met, in all probability he would have solved the doubt at once, by telling him it looked like a picture. metal, ง
III POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. metal, where the material, the mean of imitation is, I think, yet more apparent; but in coloured statuary, or wax-work, where the imitation may for a short time be concealed, that pleasure is not produced, which is the proper refult of imitative art, and objects of pity and terror may be so accurately represented as to be really painful. The collection of figures in wax-work coloured, dressed, and fitting down at card tables, exhibited some years ago by Mrs. Wright, on first entrance gave exactly the idea of a well dressed assembly, and the impression remained after the illusion ceased. Nothing of this fort is produced by painting or statuary, and yet how different and superior to this surprise is the pleasure we receive from a portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds, or a statue of Banks. As to music I am very ill qualified to treat it scientifically, therefore I hope the musical reader will forgive me if my language is deficient in technical accuracy, provided I make myself understood. But I conceive where it is an imitative art, it imitates sometimes by natural means, and sometimes by compact. Its natural means are the imitation of certain sounds, as the noise of a battle, the finging of birds, the ringing or tolling of bells. Its imitation by compact consists in expreffing forrow by flow movements, anger by quick; high and low, by high and low notes: most of these imitations are rather fanciful than real [N]. The chief energy of music, (to those I mean who, in the words of Shakespear, really have it in their fouls, and with the want of which, many who possess it so as to be tremblingly alive to its effects are upbraided, [N] See Beattie on Poetry and Music, Part 1. Chap. vi. Sect. 1, paffim. because
because they take no delight in the dexterity of a performer's execution of difficult passages ;) I say to those who really feel the energy of mufic, it chiefly arises from the power it possesses of raifing, heightening, or foftening the passions. Nevertheless the influence it derives from the combination of ideas is often mistaken both for imitation and sympathy [o]. Mr. Twining, who I believe is a very good musician, observes that the • best instrumental music,' (and I prefume vocal music where the words are not heard, or not understood, comes under the fame predicament 'expref- ، fively performed,) leaves the hearer to the free operation of his emotions on his fancy, and as it were to the free choice of fuch ideas as are to him ' most adapted to re-act upon and heighten the emotion which occafions ' them.' [P]. That is, in other words, that the effect of musical expreffion depends much on the temper of our own minds, at the time. Now that temper must be greatly influenced by any ideas that a particular strain may raise in us from circumstances that have formerly attended our hearing it [Q]. Will the grenadier march have the fame effect on a warrior [o] 'Such is the secret union when we feel A fong, a flower, a name at once restore • Those long-connected scenes where first they mov'd 'The attention.' AKENSIDE. [P] Differtation on music as an imitative art, page 49. For an application of this to the different kinds of verfification, as confidered particularly congenial with different kinds of poetry, see note Iv. chap. xxiv. [Q] 'There is in fouls a sympathy with sounds; And as the mind is pitch'd, the ear is pleased • With melting sounds or martial, brifk or grave. ، Some
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. warrior whom it has led on to battle, and a man who was never at a review? But this is not peculiar to musical sounds. A nightingale fings very differently to the perfon who has only heard it in a cage in London, and the lover who has listened to its voice in the woods in the company of his mistress, or fighed to it in her abfence. The cry of a pack of fox hounds in a hollow cover, in which the sportsman hears the finest music, is the mere barking of dogs to the sober citizen. Neither is this fympathy confined to sound, it is equally active in the objects of the other senses. Roufseau says [R], 'I do not know whether to congratulate or pity the man of wisdom, but insensibility, whose bosom was never agi- • tated by the odour of the flowers that adorned the bosom of his • mistress.' From this association of ideas, however, music derives a power very much resembling imitation, and which has a very strong effect on the < Some chord in unison with what we hear ' Is touch'd within us, and the heart replies, • How foft the music of the evening bells < Falling at intervals upon the ear * In cadence sweet! Now dying all away, • Now pealing loud again, and louder still * Clear and fonorous as the gale comes on. * With easy force it opens all the cells Where memory flept; wherever I have heard • A kindred melody, the scene recurs, ' And with it all its pleasures.' COWPER. This kind of recollection resembles imitation in making pleasing objects afford additional pleasure, and in throwing some pleasure over melancholy objects, which last also will be equally destroyed in both if the sensation is too strong. [R] Emilius, Vol. 1. Part 1. paffions.
passions. The RANS DES VACHES, mentioned by Rousseau in his Dictionary of Mufic, though without any thing striking in the composition, has such a powerful influence over the Swiss, and impresses them with so violent a defire to return to their own country, that it is forbidden to be played in the Swiss regiments in the French service, on pain of death. There is also another circumftance relating to music, which makes it in some instances more than imitation. Certain musical instruments are from custom constantly attendant on certain actions, as the organ on religion, and the drum and fife on war and its preparations; therefore when these instruments are heard, our ideas are not raised by association only, but as far as the sense of hearing is concerned an actual deception takes place. If my other senses do not undeceive me when I hear a drum and fife play a march, I conclude soldiers are marching by; and if I hear a choir and an organ, I imagine myself in or near a place of religious worship. The absurd attempt to make the found an echo to the sense,' by mentioning the names of musical inftruments in language, and then accompanying that language with the found of the instruments that are named, is very justly censured by Mr. Jackson of Exeter [s]. There is a ridiculous instance of a musical pun of this kind in a fong of that agreeable compofer, Dibden, in the Padlock, where, while Don Diego is finging Horns! horns! I defy you,' he is accompanied by Frenchhorns. The effect of music when combined with poetry, is also principally eccafioned by association. The notion that the words of a fong and its [s] Preface to his Opera Iv. tune
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. tune are particularly adapted to each other, often arises from constantly hearing them together. I will not dispute that some movements are more suited to one kind of poetry than another, or deny that an elegy and a drinking song require a different kind of music to accompany them; but undoubtedly the words of a song often stamp a character on the tune which of itself it would never have acquired. Since the popular fong of Hosier's Ghost was written, how many fea songs have been put to the same tune? Would not a person be induced to think from this, that it was particularly adapted to maritime ideas? Yet it was originally composed for a fong on a very different subject, which began 'Welcome, ' welcome, brother debtor.' I am far, however, from meaning to assert that music has not strong powers of exciting our feelings, independent of the subject or the words it accompanies, or any kind of association whatever, and that there is no real difference between a jig and a dirge. A particular instance, something applicable to this, occurs to me. Dr. Armstrong, in his SKETCHES, asks • Who was it that threw out those dreadful wild expressions of • distraction and melancholy in LADY CULROSS'S DREAM, an old composition now I am afraid loft, perhaps because it was almost too • terrible for the ear?' A modern collector of old ballads has however found the WORDS, and tells us he can perceive nothing terrible in them. The natural means of imitation poffefsed by poetry are few and weak, and are solely confined to the versification. Most of the verses quoted as proofs of its power in this respect, make more impression on the imagination than the ear. I am astonished how Mr. Harris [T] could give [T] Discourse on Music, Poetry and Painting, page 73. poetry
poetry the preference to music in its ability to imitate found. I should very much doubt, should the strongest instance of verfification conveying the fenfe by the found, be repeated to a person of however good an ear, who was unacquainted with the language, if he would discover the imitation: but should the music of those two airs of Handel, which begin Hush, ye pretty warbling choir,' and 'Let the merry bells ring ' round,' be played to a person of the most irreligious ears, and the imitation would be instantly obvious. But the powers of imitation by means of compact, which are poffefsed by poetry, are infinite; they are applicable to actions and pafiions, which they can follow through all their various forms and modifications; they can comprehend every being in nature or in art, animate or inanimate; and their nobler objects and extensive field of imitation more than compensate for any inferiority in the particular means [u]. But there is one species of poetical imitation, nearer to nature, and in every respect superior to those effected by any other art; I mean the modern drama well acted. In comedy, and the private life tragedy in profe, the representation is exact, it ceafes to be imitation, it is the thing itself, and therefore, to judge by my own feelings, (I can have no other criterion to judge those of others,) such representations of scenes of terror and deep distress are dreadful, they press too nearly on the mind, the deception is for the time compleat, the horror [v] of the scene is not foftened by the apparent means of imitation so as to be pleasing. I rife from feeing fuch tragedies as George Barnwell, the Fatal Curiosity and [u] See Gerard on Taste, Part 1.. Sect. IV. [v] Encyclopedie, Art. Illusion, by Marmontel. See Note v, Chap. vI.. the
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. the Gamester, with nearly the same sensation as if I had been actually present at scenes of the fame kind in real life. In the higher tragedy, the blank verse, the [w] exalted perfonages, and the inadequacy of the theatrical [x] apparatus to the objects represented, fufficiently discover the means of imitation, and the most tragical catastrophe will not be always so affecting as to displease. I say not always, because there are, in my opinion, some cafes where the distress may be too forcibly worked up even in the higher tragedy, but this will be examined more at large when we come to confider Aristotle's idea of the proper effect of tragedy, and the most perfect construction of tragic fable [v]. It is however obvious that our theatrical language and apparatus is infinitely more natural than that of the Grecian stage. And perhaps it may admit a doubt, whether even Aristotle, if he had feen a Garrick in Lear, or a Siddons in Isabella, would have given the preference to the unhappy catastrophe, or afferted that a tragedy attained its end by reading as well as in representation [z]. W In [w] It is true, the Bishop of Worcester fays, 'Whatever be the unhappy incidents in the • story of private men, it is CERTAIN they must take faster hold of the imagination, and of < course impress the heart more forcibly when related of the higher characters in life.' Dis- SERTATION ON THE PROVINCES OF THE DRAMA, page 168; and this is corroborated by the quotation of the two concluding lines of the Hippolytus of Euripedes. I have the utmost deference for the opinion of fo elegant a critic and fo pathetic a poet, but the direct contrary is to me so CERTAIN from my own feelings and experience, that I cannot acquiefce in it. 'Amicus Plato, amicus Socrates, fed magis amica veritas.' [x] See note III. on Chap. XI, and note 1. on Chap. xxvI. (Y) See Note VII. Ch. XIII. [z] Chap. xxvI. The means of imitation are as much or more liable to err from being too defective, or too apparent, than from the oppofite quality; and this I take to have been the cafe with
[A] In comedy where the effect is chearful, the complete delufion rather encreases the pleasure; and even in the serious comedy the present anxiety is alleviated by the certainty of a happy catastrophe.

4.2. mvp-aristotle-comment-8 4.9

MARGITES.

FROM the account given of this fictitious personage by Suidas, and Eustathius, he must have been an absolute ideot, and therefore an improper object of ridicule even in the grossest and lowest kind of farce. But the fragments of the poem itself, which are quoted by Aristotle, Eth. L. vI. ch. viii. and by Plato, Alcibiad. 11. especially the last, give the outline of a character that would not be unfit for modern comedy. [B] • Nor skill to dig or plow, the gods impart; • Unwife in all, he fail'd in every art.'- • Much had he learn'd but all had learn'd amiss.' The character of Mrs. Baynard, in Smollet's novel Humphrey Clinker, is fomething like the hint in the last line, 'She could read, and write, and with the ancient Greek tragedy. In the passage here referred to, it is probable that Ariftotle means to compare the tragedy when read, with the epopee, and not with the fame tragedy acted. [A] Encyclopedie, Art. Illufion. [Β] Τόνδ᾽ ἔτ᾿ ἀρ σκαπλῆρα θεοὶ θέσαν ἔτ᾿ ἀροθῆρα Ουτ᾿ ἄλλως τι σοφόν, πάσης δ᾽ ἡμάρτανε τέχνης- Πολλ᾽ ἠπίςαλο ἔργα κακῶς δὲ ἠπίςαλο πάνια. fing,
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. 。 ، fing, and play on the harpsichord, and smatter French, and take a hand ' at whift, or ombre, but even these accomplishments she knew by halves, ' and excelled in nothing.* It must be remarked, that though Aristotle says the Margites was in iambics, all the fragments we have are hexameters. But Hephæstion and M. Victorinus, quoted by Mr. Winstanley in a note, both observe that the iambics were mixed with hexameters.

4.3. mvp-aristotle-comment-9 4.10

AS HOMER THEREFORE WAS THE GREATEST POET ON SERIOUS SUBJECTS, STANDING ALONE IN POINT OF EXCELLENCE, NOT ONLY FROM THE GENERAL MERIT OF HIS IMITATIONS, BUT FROM THE DRAMATIC FORM HE GAVE THEM, SO HE ALSO FIRST TAUGHT THE PROPER SYSTEM OF COMEDY.

SO Lord Shaftesbury, 'He (Homer) paints so as to need no infcription over his figures, to tell what they are or what he intends by them; a few words let fall on any flight occafion from any of the parties he introduces, are fufficient to denote their manners and distinct character. From a finger or a toe he can represent to our thoughts, the frame and • fashion of a whole body. He wants no other help of art to personate ⚫ his heroes, and make them living. There was no more left for tragedy to do after him than to erect a stage, and draw his dialogues and characters into scenes, turning in the fame manner upon one principal • action, or event, with that regard to place, and time, which was suit- • able to a real spectacle. Even comedy itself was adjudged to this great ' master,
master, it being derived from those parodies or mock humours of which ' he had given the specimen (c) in a concealed fort of raillery, inter- ' mixed with the fublime.' ADVICE TO AN AUTHOR, Part 1. Sect. 111.

4.4. mvp-aristotle-comment-10 4.18

OF ALL VERSE THE IAMBIC IS MOST CALCULATED FOR DISCOURSE.

THIS account of iambic verse, and its distinction from hexameter, is applicable to our rhymed and blank verse. All attempts to introduce rhyme into the drama, though aided by the melodious and flowing verfification of Dryden, have failed. For to use the expreffion of Ariftotle, nature herself had pointed out the proper measure. Dryden carried his predilection for rhyme so far as to make a tragedy in rhyme of Paradife Loft. Perhaps the best specimen we have of dramatic rhyme is in the dialogue of Henry and Emma. Prior is less scrupulous about confining his sense to the couplet than Pope, or even Dryden. Whether blank or rhymed verse is the best adapted to the epopee, will be enquired elsewhere [D]. But there is a difference between epic and dramatic blank verse, the latter afsuming a greater freedom of cadence, and the frequent use of one or two redundant syllables at the end of the line, of [c] Not only in his Margites, but even in his Iliad and Odyssey.' Euftathius observes, that Thersites in the Iliad, and Elpenor in the Odyssey, are kind of sketches of the character which he drew more at large in the Margites. [D] See Note Iv. Chap. xxiv. which
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. which the opening of the Fair Penitent is a good example. In this, as in every other province of the drama, Shakespear is unrivalled. Mr. Mason, in his Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Whitehead, (fee page 59, et seq.) has given a good criticism on the excellence of dramatic language; and in his poems of Elfrida and Caractacus, a compleat model for imitation. R CHAP.

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

1. mvp-aristotle-comment-17

Ritter, cap. 4 § 1

Quae causae genuisse poesin videantur, quaeque eandem in diversas formas sive species ( εἴδη) discreverint. orta est poesis ex conaminibus extemporalibus, cumque alii honestos imitarentur, alii pravos, partim encomia hymnique partim vituperationes exstiterunt, ex quibus initiis paulatim et poemata heroica et iambi prodierunt. interiecto deinde tempore cum ars poetica altius coleretur, pro iambis comoedia successit, pro epicis carminibus tragoedia. haec multas passa mutationes, quarum potissimae Aeschylo auctore et Sophocle invaluerunt, substitit, postquam suam naturam assecuta est. ἐοίκασι δὲ - φυσικαί: quoniam duae causae ubique ad poesin procreandam, h. e. ad opera artis poeticae excitanda, valuerunt, eas in hominum natura sitas esse ( φυ σικὰς εἶναι vel φύσει εἶναι) manifestum est.

2. mvp-aristotle-comment-18

Ritter, cap. 4 § 2

τό τε γάρ μιμεῖσθαι-χαίρειν τοῖς μιμήμασι πάντας: duae illae causae sunt imitandi facultas humano generi innata et voluptas quam ex imitamentis omnes percipiunt. primaria enuntiationis membra duo sunt, prius τὸ τε γὰρ μιμεῖσθαι σύμφυτον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐκ παίδων ἐστί', alterum τὸ χαίρειν τοῖς μιμήμασι πάντας. quae parenthesis signo circumdata, ea ad pronuntiatum prius explicandum et adprobandum accesserunt. μιμήματα opera sunt imitatione quacumque expressa, quae imitamenta a Latinis argenteae aetatis scriptoribus aliquoties appellantur.

3. mvp-aristotle-comment-19

Ritter, cap. 4 § 3

σημεῖον δὲ τούτου τὸ συμβαῖνον ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων: signum h. 1. memoratum eiusmodi est quo quid verisimile fiat, non unde antecedens pronuntiatum necessario consequatur. vid. Analyt. prior. II, 27. p. 70 a 7. σημεῖον δὲ βούλεται εἶναι πρότασις ἀποδεικτικὴλ ἀναγκαία ἢ ἔνδοξος. Rhetor. I, 2. p. 1357 b 1. τῶν δὲ σημείων τὸ μὲν οὕτως ἔχει ὡς τῶν καθ᾽ ἕκαστόν τι πρὸς τὸ καθόλου, τὸ δὲ ὡς τῶν καθόλου τι πρὸς τὸ κατὰ μέρος. τούτων δὲ τὸ μὲν ἀναγκαῖον τεκμήριον, τὸ δὲ μὴ ἀναγκαῖον ἀνώνυμόν ἐστι κατὰ τὴν διαφοράν. ἀναγκαῖα μὲν οὖν λέγω ἐξ ὧν γίνεται συλλογισμός. aliud σημεῖον eiusdem generis recurrit infra §. 14. cf. c. 13. §. 5 et 7. - ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων: ἔργα h. 1. vocantur opera imitatione effecta oculisque consideranda. etiam numeri quod efficiunt et concentus eo nomine designatur in Politicis VIII, 5. p. 1340 a 21 et b 7. δῆλον δὲ ἐκ τῶν ἔρ γων. – λαμβάνουσι γὰρ τὰ μαρτύρια τῶν λόγων ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν ἔργων. quae hoc Poeticae loco ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων, eadem Plutarchus ἐπὶ τῶν θεαμάτων designavit. lege locum statim transcribendum. τούτων τὰς εἰκόνας-θεωροῦντες: similia Plutarchus protulit in Quaestion. conviv. V, 1. p. 674 A (vol. III. p. II. pag. 757 ed. Wyttenb.): καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν θεαμάτων ὅμοια πεπόνθαμεν· ἀνθρώπους μὲν γὰρ ἀποθνήσκοντας καὶ νοσοῦντας ἀνιαρῶς ὁρῶμεν, τὸν δὲ γεγραμμένον Φιλοκτήτην καὶ τὴν πεπλασμένην Ἰοκάστην... ἡδόμεθα καὶ θαυμάζομεν.

4. mvp-aristotle-comment-20

Ritter, cap. 4 § 4

αἴτιον δὲ καὶ τούτου: causa autem huius ipsius rei ( τοῦ χαίρειν τοῖς μιμήμασι) est quod cet. postquam duas esse artis poeticae causas dixit, imitandi studium et delectationem ex imitamentis consecutam, pergit etiam huius delectationis causam explicare. particula xai indicat eius rei causam iam exponi, quae ipsa alius rei causa modo posita erat. hanc loci sententiam non intellexit qui scripturam a libris M 14 et 16 exhibitam αἴτιον δὲ καὶ τοῦτο dedit, quasi tertia poeticae artis causa succederet, quas duas esse paulo ante pronuntiatum est. conf. Augustus Matthiae in diurnis Ienens. a. 1805. n. 224. ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ βραχύ κοινωνοῦσιν αὐτοῦ: sed breve tempus commercium eius (discendi) continuant. omnes quidem homines ducuntur cupiditate discendi et sciendi (vid. Metaphysica A. 1), sed longe plurimi vulgari contenti eruditione alia negotia gerenda suscipiunt, philosophi totam vitam in discendo consumunt. hac: : de re cum aliis locis Plato disputavit, tum in Gorgia p. 483- 486. conf. Cicer. Tuscul. II, 1.

5. mvp-aristotle-comment-21

Ritter, cap. 4 § 5

ὅτι συμβαίνει θεωροῦντας μανθάνειν καὶ συλλογίζεσθαι τί ἕκαστον: uberius eandem sententiam prompsit in Rhetoricis I, 11. p. 1371 b 4. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ μανθάνειν τε ἡδὺ καὶ τὸ θαυμάζειν, καὶ τὰ τοιάδε ἀνάγκη ἡδέα εἶναι οἷον το τε μεμιμημένον, ὥσπερ γραφικὴ καὶ ἀνδριαντοποιία καὶ ποιητική, καὶ πᾶν ὃ ἂν εὖ μεμιμημένον ᾖ, κἂν ᾖ μὴ ἡδὺ αὐτό τε τὸ μεμιμημένον· οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ τούτῳ χαίρει, ἀλλὰ συλλογισμός ἐστιν ὅτι τοῦτο ἐκεῖνο, ὥστε μαν θάνειν τι συμβαίνει. neque tam bene neque tam accurate voluptatis ex imitamentis quae percipitur causam explicuit Plutarchus Quaestion. conviv. V, 1. p. 673 D (III. pag. 756 ap. Wyttenb.): ὅτι φύσει λογικοὶ καὶ φιλότεχνοι γεγονότες πρὸς τὸ λογικῶς καὶ τεχνικῶς πραττόμενον οἰκείως διακείμεθα καὶ θαυμάζομεν ἂν ἐπιτυγχάνηται. οὐχὶ μίμημα: haec est constans librorum scriptura quos inspexit Victorius et Bekkerus, eorum quoque quorum notitiam Burgesio (vid. Tyrwhitti ed. p. 241) debemus, neque ab his discedere codices Mediceos equidem quovis pignore contendam, quamquam Winstanleius οὐ διὰ μίμημα exhibendo et de suis codicibus tacendo Buhlio et Graefenhanio fidem fecit, hoc sumptum esse ex quattuor illis codicibus Mediceis. οὐ διὰ μίμημα in "quodam excuso" Victorius invenit idemque bene intellexit hoc ad correctorem referendum esse, quamquam et alii editores et ipse Bekkerus eo adquieverunt. sed ita locum legi non posse vel inde manifestum est quod verbum ποιήσει subiecto suo caret, cui etiamsi μιμητής vel aliud nomen ultro concedere cogitandoque supplere velis, Graecae tamen linguae ratio postulabit οὐ διὰ μίμησιν, ut recte monuit Hermannus. sed id quoque quod nititur librorum auctoritate, οὐχὶ μίμημα, ipsum non sufficit, propterea quod iam subsequentia illa ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἀπεργασίαν non habent quo referantur. huic quidem incommodo occurrit coniectura Hermanni ουχ, ᾗ μίμημα, non, quatenus imitamentum; sed vel sic frustra quaerimus quo ποιήσει referamus. quae cumreputo, crediderim post οὐχὶ μίμημα quoddam enuntiationis membrum intercidisse, ac locum sic supplere tentaverim : οὐχὶ μίμημα, ᾗ μίμημα, ποιήσει τὴν ἡδονὴν ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἀπεργασίαν, h. e. non imitamentum faciet delectationem, quatenus est imitamentum, sed per artificium cet.

6. mvp-aristotle-comment-22

Ritter, cap. 4 § 6

κατὰ φύσιν δὲ ὄντος: quod modo σύμφυτον dixit, id iam κατὰ φύσιν ὂν designavit. quod enim natura insitum nobis, idem naturae nostrae consentaneum est. καὶ τῆς ἁρμονίας καὶ τοῦ ῥυθμοῦ: concentum numerumque hominibus natura insitum esse nondum quidem demonstravit, sed id tum a legentibus ultro sibi concedi sperare potuit, tum alius esse disputationis vidit. τὰ γὰρ μέτρα ὅτι μόρια τῶν ῥυθμῶν ἐστί, φανερόν: metra materiam numero suggerunt, quam dum ille moderatur certaeque legi subiungit, eius materiae partes (metra) numeri partes videntur, eaedemque procreari quasi a numero videntur, unde illud πατήρ μέτρου ῥυθμός. lege quae docte disputavit Boeckhius de Metris Pindari I, p. 5. 18 sqq. conf. Aristot. Rhetor. III, 8. p. 1408 b 28. ὁ δὲ τοῦ σχήματος τῆς λέξεως ἀριθμὸς ῥυθμός ἐστιν, ο ὗ καὶ τὰ μέτρα τμητά. ἐξ ἀρχῆς πεφυκότες - ἐκ τῶν αὐτοσχεδιασμά των: a principio aevum agentes et illa (imitandi studium et numerum atque concentum) potissimum promoventes pое- sin procreaverunt ex subitis conaminibus, h. e. imitandi illam facultatem numeroque et concentui obsequendi studium hominibus insitum cum nonnulli ex primis mortalibus prae ceteris sensim sensimque promoverent, poesis exorta et subitis conaminibus excitata est. ἐξ ἀρχῆς πεφυκότες sunt homines quidam qui inter primos mortales fuere, οἱ ἐξ ἀρχῆς πεφυκότες vel ἐξ ἀρχῆς οἱ πεφ. sunt primi mortales. articulus igitur recte abest a libris AcNa et M 14 XIV 21 et GLQ, neque nominatim ex ullo codice affertur. sed vide quo eventu recentior interpolator (Italus quidam) in hoc loco concinnando grassatus sit, ut editores tantum non omnes ¹) illum 1) Libenter memoramus et laudamus quod Graefenhanius unus ex novis editoribus ab interpolatore sibi h. 1. cavit.sequerentur, nonnulli alias emendandi vias circumspicerent. nam primum pro καὶ αὐτὰ (quod inest AcBcNa et M omnibus et GLPQ) edunt Aldinum exemplar secuti πρὸς αὐτὰ. hoc πρὸς cum illatum esset, πεφυκότες consistere per sese non potuit, cum iam non de incertis quibusdam hominibus, sed de certo hominum genere sermo esset; articulo igitur opus erat, ut tandem prodiret quod apud Aldum et plerosque editores legitur, οἱ πεφυκότες πρὸς αὐτὰ μάλιστα, h. e. qui ad illa instructi potissimum erant.

7. mvp-aristotle-comment-23

Ritter, cap. 4 § 7

διεσπάσθη δὲ κατὰ τὰ οἰκεῖα ἤθη ἡ ποίησις: secundum proprios mores tam eorum qui imitabantur quam eorum qui imitando exprimerentur duo poesis genera nata sunt, quorum alterum maledicta in viles homines et improbos iecit, alterum laudibus honestos prosecutum est. haec a philosopho probabiliter disputari, non ab rerum scriptore ut rem in facto positam narrari, id ex iis quae continuo (§. 8) sequuntur apparet. πρῶτον ψόγους, ὥσπερ ἕτεροι ὕμνους καὶ ἐγκώμια: alii maledictis pravos homines insectabantur, alii laudibus celebrabant viros fortes ( ἐγκώμια) et deos deorumque prolem ( ὕμνους). sane notabile videtur et grave quod Aristoteles agnoscit poesin lyricae similem iam ante Homerum florentem, sed encomia illa antiquissima hymnosque epicae poesi cognata ab eodem cogitari liquet ex iis quae mox (§. 9) proferuntur, καὶ ἐγένοντο τῶν παλαιῶν οἱ μὲν ἡρωϊκῶν οἱ δὲ ἰάμβων ποιηταί. itaque secundum Aristotelis sententiam haec fuerunt Graecae poesis primordia et incrementa et vicissitudines: ex primis illis et priscis poetis alii maledicta iecerunt, alii laudes decantaverunt, utrique ex tempore; illi interiecto temporis spatio iambos, h. e. ma- Jedicta arte quadam composita nec ex tempore fusa, hi iusta carmina ad claros viros laudandos accommodata, h. e. epopoeias, facere adgressi sunt. tertia tandem artis poeticae immutatio paulo post (§. 10) describitur: quippe illi qui iambos ante confecerant, comoedias scribere, qui carmina epica condiderant, tragoedias docere coeperunt.

8. mvp-aristotle-comment-24

Ritter, cap. 4 § 8

οἷον ἐκείνου ὁ Μαργίτης, καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸ ἁρμόττον ἰαμβεῖον ἦλθε μέ τρον: haec postrema ἐν οἷς – μέτρον non ad Homeri Margitam sed ad similia poemata illud subsequentia et vituperationes fundentia pertinent, quod ut facilius in oculos incurrat, comma post Μαργίτης positum est. nam etiamsi in eo Margita, de cuius versibus grammatici inde a saeculo post Christum altero (primus est Hephaestio) loquuntur, aliquot iambos hexametris immixtos fuisse certum videatur, hos ta men Aristoteles aut nondum vidit aut raro dispersos non curavit hoc loco, cum scripsit ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸ ἁρμόττον ἰαμβεῖον ἦλθε μέτρον, h. e. in quibus etiam metrum iambicum apte prodiit: nam haec non de versibus nonnullis interpositis sed de versuum genere in illis carminibus constanter admisso intelligenda sunt. ipsa verba ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸ ἁρμόττον ἦλθε östendunt novum illud versuum genus (iambos) post Homerum esse inventum: haec enim scripsit respiciens versus heroos Homeri proprios. dabo aliud quo idem adprobabitur. dicit Aristoteles iambicum metrum inde duxisse nomen, quod eo utentes maledictis sese in vicem proscinderent ( ὅτι ἐν τῷ μέτρῳ τούτῳ ἰάμβίζον ἀλλήλους): sed cum in Margita nulla inessent maledicta ( οὐ ψόγον ἀλλὰ τὸ γελοῖον δραματοποιήσας), ad hoc carmen non possunt pertinere illa ἐν οἷς καὶ τὸ ἁρμόττον ἰαμβεῖον ἦλθε μέτρον. itaque post Homerum versus iambicos prodisse Aristoteles existimavit. inde consequitur iambos illos, qui herois versibus immixti erant, ab Aristotele in suo Margitae exemplari aut non inventos aut pro interpolatis habitos esse. de versibus iambicis Margitae admixtis veterum testimonia haec ad nos pervenerunt. Hephaestio de Metris p. 112 ed. Gaisford. μετρικὰ δὲ ἄτακτα ὅσα ἐκ μέτρων μὲν ὁμολογουμένων συνέστηκε τάξιν δὲ καὶ ἀνακύκλησιν οὐκ ἔχει, οὔτε κατὰ στίχον οὔτε κατὰ συστήματα, οἷός ἐστιν ὁ Μαργίτης ὁ εἰς Ὅμηρον ἀναφερόμενος, ἐν ᾧ παρἐσπαρται τοῖς ἔπεσιν (hexametris) ἰαμβικά, καὶ ταῦτα οὐ κατ᾽ ἴσον σύστημα. idem p. 120. τοιοῦτός ἐστι ( ἐκ μέτρων ἀτάκτων) καὶ ὁ Μαργίτης Ὁμήρου· οὐ γὰρ τεταγμένῳ ἀριθ- μῷ ἐπῶν τὸ ἰαμβικὸν ἐπιφέρεται. ad haec scholiasta scripsit μετὰ γὰρ δέκα στίχους ἐπιφέρει ἴαμβον, καὶ πάλιν μετὰ πέντε καὶ ὀκτώ. Marius Victorinus p. 2572. ed. Putsch. hoc (iambico) genere versuum, ut supra (p. 2512) diximus, primus usus est Homerus in Margite suo, nec tamen totum carmen ita digestum perfecit: nam duobus pluribusve hexametris ante positis istum subiiciens copulavit. conf. idem p. 2524. et Atilius Fortunatianus p. 2692. exemplum eiusmodi copulationis ex Margita protulit Lindemannus in Lyra I. p. 82. sumptum ex grammatico quodam Latino bibliothecae Berolinensis ἦλθέ τις εἰς Κολοφῶνα γέρων καὶ θεῖος ἀοιδός, Μουσάων θεράπων καὶ ἑκηβόλου ᾿Απόλλωνος, φίλῃς ἔχων ἐν χερσὶν εὔφθογγον λύρην. cetera quae ex Margita afferuntur fragmenta versibus herois inclusa leguntur. Aristot. Ethic. Nicom. VI, 7. p. 1141 a 14. εἶναι δέ τινας σοφοὺς οἰόμεθα οὐ κατὰ μέρος οὐδ᾽ ἄλλο᾿ τι σοφούς, ὥσπερ Ὅμηρός φησιν ἐν τῷ Μαργίτῃ τὸν δ᾽ οὔτ᾽ ἂρ σκαπτῆρα θεοὶ θέσαν οὔτ᾽ ἀροτῆρα οὔτ᾽ ἄλλως τε σοφόν, πάσης δ᾽ ἡμάρτανε τέχνης. secundi versus alterum hemistichium ab Aristotele non transcriptum cum ceteris servavit Clemens Alexandrinus Strom. I. pag. 281 A. ed. Sylb. (I. p. 329. ed. Potter). falsus Plato in Alcibiade altero p. 147 Β. οὐ γὰρ δήπου Ὅμηρον ἀγνοεῖν δοκεῖς ὅτι οὐχ οἷόντε ἦν ἐπίστασθαι κακῶς. ἐκεῖνος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ λέγων τὸν Μαργίτην πολλὰ μὲν ἐπίστασθαι, κακῶς δέ, φησι, πάντα ἠπίστατο. inde Buttmannus hunc versum elicuit πόλλ' ἠπίστατο ἔργα, κακῶς δ' ἠπίστατο πάντα. Iam pauca de recta loci scriptura dicenda restant. κατὰ τὸ ἁρμόττον inest AcBcNa et GLPQ, idemque inesse Mediceis, quamvis tacente Winstanleio et zai pro κατά exhibente, non est quod dubitemus. καὶ τὸ ἁρμόττον ab Aldo profectum recte dextreque correctum videtur. nam cum in lectione librorum scriptorum articulus ante ἰαμβεῖον μέτρον desideretur, aut καὶ τὸ ἁρμόττον aut κατὰ τὸ ἁρμόττον τὸpro κατὰ τὸ ἁρμόττον scribi potest. nitate praestat. prior ratio remedii le- ὅτι ἐν τῷ μέτρῳ τούτῳ ἰάμβιζον ἀλλήλους: a verbo ἰάπ - τειν (iac - ere) factum est nomen ἴαμβος, id quod iacitur, h. e. maledictum; inde rursus descendit verbum ἰαμβίζειν, maledictis incessere. cf. Marius Victorinus p. 2525. appellatur autem iambicum ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰαμβίζειν, quod Graece significat maledicere et carpere..

9. mvp-aristotle-comment-25

Ritter, cap. 4 § 9

μόνος γὰρ οὐχ ὅτι εὖ, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι καὶ μιμήσεις δραματικὰς ἐποίησεν : cum in versu praecedente virtutis praestantiaeque Homeri mentio facta esset, ea hisce interiectis breviter vindicatur: quippe ille epicam imitationem non modo bene instituit, sed etiam dramaticam eius formam unus recte adhibuit, quatenus ipse perpauca exsequitur narrando sed alios enarrantes et loquentes inducit. accuratius hoc exposuit c. 24, 7. aptum vero erat eam Homeri virtutem h. 1. memorare, cum paulo post idem poeta tragoediae comoediaeque formam ostendisse dicatur. οὐ ψόγον ἀλλὰ τὸ γελοῖον δραματοποιήσας: duo sunt quae hic edocemur; eorum unum ad argumentum Margitae, alterum ad formam eiusdem pertinet. Margitam qui fecit, is non unum aliquem maledictis lacessivit, sed exemplar stulti hominis et multa inepte molientis proposuit; non τὸ καθ' ἕκαστον pangere voluit, sed missa singulos carpendi consuetudine ( ἀφέμενος τῆς ἰαμβικῆς ἰδέας) secutus est τὸ καθόλου 2). praeter hoc discimus Margitae non defuisse for- 2) Quam vere hoc ab Aristotele traditum sit, cum ex aliis veterum scriptorum locis tum ex Eustathii commentariis ad Odyss. K. p. 1669, 49. cognoscere licet: οὕτως ἔγνωμεν καὶ τὸν ἄφρονα Μαργίτην, τὸν ἀπὸ τοῦ μαργαίνειν ὅ ἐστι μωραίνειν· ὃν ὁ ποιήσας τὸν ἐπιγραφόμενον Ὁμήρου Μαργίτην ὑποτίθεται εὐπόρων μὲν εἰς ὑπερβολὴν γονέων φῦναι· γήμαντα δὲ μὴ συμπεσεῖν τῇ νύμφῃ, ἕως ἀναπεισθεῖσα ἐκείνη τετραυματίσθαι τὰ κάτω ἐσκήψατο, φαρμακόν τε μηδὲν ὠφελήσειν ἔφη, πλὴν εἰ τὸ ἀνδρεῖον αἰδοῖον ἐκεῖ ἐφαρμοσθείη. καὶ οὕτως θεραπείαςmam illam dramaticam, qua Homeri Ilias et Odyssea tantopere excellunt. nimirum stultus iste et ineptus cum uxore et matre sua et patre aliisque hominibus colloquendo stultitiae documenta edidit. ceterum Margites pro Homeri carmine habetur a scriptoribus Graecis antiquis, non solum ab Aristotele et ignoto illo Alcibiadis secundi auctore sed etiam a Zenone Stoico. vid. Dio Chrysost. Orat. 53. tom. II. p. 275 ed. Reisk. γέγραφε δὲ καὶ Ζήνων ὁ φιλόσοφος εἴς τε τὴν Ἰλιάδα καὶ τὴν Ὀδυσσείαν καὶ περὶ τοῦ Μαργίτου. sed grammatici Alexandrini nonnisi duo magna illa poemata vel unam Iliadem Homero relinquentes cum ceteris Margitam quoque ei abiudicaverunt 3), unde factum ut scriptores posterioris aetatis ab illorum iudicio pendentes de huius poematis auctore dubitanter loquerentur, veluti scholiasta Aristophanis ad Aves v. 914. ἐπεπίστευτο δὲ καὶ ὁ Μαργίτης τοῦ Ὁμήρου εἶναι, Eustathius ad Odyss. K. ρ. 1669, 50. ὁ ποιήσας τὸν ἐπιγραφόμενον Ὁμήρου Μαργίτην, alii. Callimachus tamen Homerum carminis auctorem videtur existimasse, quod coniicere forsitan liceat ex iis quae refert Harpocratio s. V. Μαργίτης: ἐκάλουν δὲ τοὺς ἀνοήτους οὕτω διὰ τὸν εἰς Ὅμηρον ἀναφερόμενον Μαργίτην, ὅπερ ποίημα Καλλίχάριν ἐκεῖνος ἐπλησίασεν. conf. Dio Chrysost. Orat. 67. tom. II. p. 362. ed. Reisk. Suidas s. v. Μαργίτης. Tzetzes Chiliad. IV, 869-871. Histor. VI, 62. 595. ipso Μαργίτου nomine quoddam hominum genus denotari vix est cur moneamus. ex radice MP vel stirpe MAPI (ea motum quendam inaequabilem videtur significare) nomen μάργος et μάργης (insanus vel stultus) nascitur, item verbum μαργᾶν et μαργαίνειν (insanire) atque μαργοῦν (et insanum esse et insanum facere aliquem). a μάργος fit μαργίτης, ut ab ἁγνὸς ἁγνίτης, λευκός λευκίτης, μάκαρ μακαρίτης, πεζὸς πεζίτης, ψαφαρὸς ψαφαρίτης. μάργος insanus est, sed μαργίτης qui insanus vel stultus esse perseverat, h. e. qui omnibus factis dictisque insaniam ostendit. 3) Eustathius ad. II. p. 4, 30. εἰ δὲ καὶ ἕτερα ποιήματά εἰσιν Ὁμήρου, οἷον καὶ ὁ Μαργίτης καὶ ἡ τῶν μυῶν καὶ βατράχων μάχη, ἄλλοι καὶ αὐτὸ ἐξήτασαν πρὸς ἀκρίβειαν. μάχος θαυμάζειν ἔοικεν. ex ceteris illis grammaticis nonnulli Margitae auctorem in incerto reliquerunt, alii coniectura utique incerta eundem assequi voluerunt. horum fidem sequitur Suidas dum scribit Πίγρης: Κάρ, ἀπὸ ῾Αλικαρνασσοῦ, ἀδελφὸς ᾿Αρτεμισίας ... ὃς τῇ Ἰλιάδι παρενέβαλε κατὰ στίχον ἐλεγεῖον οὕτω γράψας μῆνιν ἄειδε θεά Πηληϊάδεω Αχιλῆος, Μοῦσα, σὺ γὰρ πάσης πείρατ' ἔχεις σοφίης. ἔγραψε καὶ τὸν εἰς Ὅμηρον φερόμενον Μαργίτην καὶ Βατραχομυομαχίαν. hanc illi coniecturam ita conceperunt, ut quem in Batrachomyomachia ridiculum tractasse argumentum cognossent, eidem Margitam humane concederent. vere igitur vir ingeniosus Fr. Welckerus huic opinioni nihil tribuendum esse putat in Cyclo epico p. 415., ubi aliam etiam illius coniecturae causam exponit sibi probatam ac Nitzschio in Histor. Hom. I. p. 106. scilicet cum critici illi Pigretem elegos Iliadi inseruisse cognitum haberent, eos propter iambos Margitae intextos huius carminis eundem auctorem esse statuisse. conferenda sunt quae Welckerus in eodem libro p. 184. perdocte, ut solet, de Margita exposuit. coniecturam valde incertam de hoc poemate protulit Wassenberghius ad Vitas Homeri p. 11 sqq..

10. mvp-aristotle-comment-26

Ritter, cap. 4 § 10

οἱ μὲν ἀντὶ τῶν ἰάμβων κωμῳδοποιοί ἐγένοντο, οἱ δὲ ἀντὶ τῶν ἐπῶν τραγῳδοδιδάσκαλοι : loquendi brevitatem ita excusare licet et explicare, ut Aristoteli, scribenti ἀντὶ τῶν ἰάμβων et ἀντὶ τῶν ἐπῶν, non tam ante animum obversaretur quod re vera posuit, κωμῳδοποιοί et τραγῳδοδιδάσκαλοι, quam ποιηταὶ κωμῳδιῶν et διδάσκαλοι τραγῳδιῶν. vid. ad c. 1, 7. 8, 3.

11. mvp-aristotle-comment-27

Ritter, cap. 4 § 11

τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐπισκοπεῖν εἰ ἄρ᾽ ἔχει κτλ. paulo ante (§. 7-10) docuit tum quomodo nata sit et epica poesis et iambica, tum qua ratione pro his ipsis tragoedia invaluerit et comoedia. iam dicit hoc, quaerere utrum tragoedia omnino respondeat ( ἔχει ἱκανῶς) necne formis illis poeticis ( τοῖς εἴδεσιν), h. e. formis quae in poesi adhiberi possunt, ita ut tragoedia omnium poeticae artis generum sit perfectis-.: sima, an species poetica magis perfecta ab ullo mortalium possit excogitari, id alius esse disputationis. non ea est (hoc vulgo existimant) loci sententia, alius esse disputationis, num tragoedia, qua est tragoedia, satis culta sit an non sit: hoc enim certum fuisse Aristoteli ex §. 12. apparet: καὶ πολλὰς μεταβολὰς μεταβαλοῦσα ἡ τραγῳδία ἐπαύσατο, ἐπεὶ ἔσχε τὴν αὑτῆς φύσιν. declarat igitur se anquirere iam nolle an nova quadem poesis immutatione novisque εἴδεσι pro comoedia et tragoedia prolatis perfectius quidquam fieri et excogitari possit quam tragoedia, sed haec ipsa quomodo paulatim culta sit explicaturum se esse. αὐτό τε καθ' αὑτὸ κρινόμενον καὶ πρὸς τὰ θέατρα: ubi quaeritur utrum tragoedia cultissima sit et perfectissima ex omnibus quot esse possunt poesis genera an alia species magis instructa et perculta proferri possit, quid ibi theatra sibi velint vix intelligas. eiusmodi quaestio nonnisi ita explicari posse videtur, ut illud poesis genus per sese spectetur. frigere igitur illud additamentum videatur. accedit aliud: nam κρινόμενον ab Aldo propagatum adhuc in nullo codice repertum est, sed pro illo participio κρίνεται ἢ ναὶ inest in libris AcBc et Get M XIV, κρίνεται ἦναι Μ 21 et Parisiensi 2938, κρίνεται εἶναι Na et LQ et M 14 16. codicum vestigia κρίνεται ἢ ναὶ aperte commendant, quod quo casu ex κρινόμενον corrumpi potuerit assequi vix licet. donec igitur et iusta auctoritas pro forma κρινόμενον afferatur et apta huic loco explicatio promatur, hanc meam suspicionem producere locumque nove constituere non temerarium erit: τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐπισκοπεῖν εἰ ἄρ᾽ ἔχει ἤδη ἡ τραγωδία τοῖς εἴδεσιν ἱκανῶς ἢ οὔ [ αὐτό τε καθ' αὑτὸ κρίνεται; ἢ καὶ 4) πρὸς τὰ θέατρα;], ἄλλος λόγος. vides, mi lector, quo haec tendant. curiosus quidam quae in margine interrogavit, ea in verborum contextum recepta ac deinde ab Italo quodam interpolata videntur. sed dico videntur, ideoque in ipsis ver- 4) Istud vai ante καὶ per διττογραφίαν natum conieceris.bis nihil mutandum putavi, sed hanc meam coniecturam lectori expendendam commendo.

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-28

Ritter, cap. 4 § 12

καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐξαρχόντων τὸν διθύραμβον: antiquissimam tragoediae formam non diversam fuisse significat a prisco illo dithyramborum genere, cum chorus satyrorum circa Bacchi aram caprumque ei numini immolatum τραγωδίαν sive τραγικὴν ἀοιδὴν (Bocks - gesang) decantando saltaret. haec est enim nativa ac prima τραγῳδίας significatio. nimirum τραγωδίας nomen decompositum ( παρασύνθετον) est ex τραγωδός, unde etiam τραγῳδέω, plane ut κωμῳδέω et κωμῳδία ex κωμῳδός, ἀρνῳδέω et ἀρνῳδία ex ἀρνῳδός. τραγωδία est igitur id quod canit tragoedus ( ἀοιδὴ τοῦ τραγῳδοῦ): ipse tragoedus est ὃς τράγον ἀείδει. quamvis enim prisci illi tragoedi non ipsum caprum sed deum cui caper mactabatur canerent, ab hominibus tamen nomen eis inditum est ab ea re quae oculis potissimum exposita esset 4). ἐξάρχειν τὸν διθύραμβον hic dictum est de iis qui dithyramborum et canendorum et saltandorum auctores erant et magistri. quoniam αὐτοσχεδιαστικῶς dithyrambum 4) Varias nominis τραγωδίας etymologias collectas proposuit vir pereximius Fr. Welckerus in Appendice operis de trilogia Aeschylia editi p. 240. quam ipse ceteris praetulit ab Etymol. Magno acceptam τραγῳδία ὅτι τὰ πολλὰ οἱ χοροὶ ἐκ σατύρων συνίσταντο, οὓς ἐκάλουν τράγους –, ea mihi non probatur, propterea quod τραγωδία non est nomen compositum ( σύνθετον) ex τράγος et ᾠδή, sed decompositum ( παρασύνθετον) est ex τραγωδός. tertia eiusdem nominis explicandi ratio ὅτι τράγος τῇ ᾠδῇ ἄθλον ἐτίθετο —, ab antiquis auctoribus certatim tradita et magni Bentleii assensu (Opusc. p. 315 sqq.) comprobata, nuper merito repudiata est a Iacobo in Quaestionibus Sophocl. p. 85 et 104., a Welckero l. indic., aliis. id tamen dubitari vix poterit, quin dithyrambi cantores sacris illis peractis hoc laboris praemium tulerint, ut una cum sacerdotibus sacrificii ministris capri mactati carne vescerentur. forsitan inde orta sit fabula ista de hirco in praemium certaminis ( ὡς ἄθλον) proposito.inchoabant, eis neque γράφειν neque ποιεῖν neque συνιστάναι tribui potuit. ὁ ἐξάρχων et laudes dei et cantandi modos saltandique figuras ita inchoavit, ut ceteri praeeuntem circa Bacchi aram sequerentur. haec ad intellectum verborum Aristotelis dixisse sufficiat: rem illam ipsam ex omnibus quot ad nos venerunt testimoniis veterum scriptorum explicare alius est disputationis, quae nostra aetate acerrime et agitata est et agitatur. ἡ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν τὰ φαλλικά: ut φαλλός signum est potentiae genitalis masculi generis animantibus concessae, ita τὰ φαλλικά carmina sunt ad φαλλόν in pompa decantata eademque ad Bacchum hanc vim iuvantem celebrandum accommodata. a priscis illis dithyrambis ita diversa fuerunt, ut primum vim genitricem praedicarent, tum ut in pompa, non circa aram, recitarentur. haec comissantium turba (cui nomen κῶμος) habebat quem τὰ φαλλικά ex tempore canere atque saltare incipientem ( ἐξάρχοντα) sequeretur. duci ceterisque cantoribus nomen erat κωμῳδοί, h. e. τοῦ κώμου ἀοιδοί, Sänger des (schwärmenden) Aufzuges. inde per παρασύνθεσιν factum est verbum κωμῳδέω et nomen κωμῳδία. grassari in tali comissantium turba est κωμάζειν. – ἃ ἔτι καὶ νῦν - νομιζόμενα: hos serioris aetatis φαλλοφόρους vel ἰθυφάλλους descripsit Semus Delius apud Athenaeum XIV. p. 622 C. κατὰ μικρὸν ηυξήθη ὅσον ἐγίγνετο φανερὸν αὐτῆς : Thespin aliosque ante Aeschylum tragoediarum scriptores significat. accuratius haec quae ad historiam artis poeticae pertinerent in opere περὶ ποιητῶν exsecutus videtur.

13. mvp-aristotle-comment-29

Ritter, cap. 4 § 13

ex multis tragicae artis vicissitudinibus et incrementis quinque commemorasse contentus est, quorum tria Aeschylo inventori, duo Sophocli debentur. primum et alterum, dico numerum actorum usque ad duos auctum et partes chori imminutas, arcte inter se cohaerent alterumque ex priore pendet. nam cum in tragoedia Thespidis unus actor esset, is nonnisi cum choro colloqui aut sua choro narrare poterat: sed cum alterum Aeschylus actorem produxisset,iam unus cum altero sermones conferre atque ambo inter se agere coeperunt; iam aptum et necessarium visum est tragicis poetis, ut quod alteri parti accessisset alteri detraherent, h. e. ut chori carmina partesque paulum contraherent. tertium Aeschyli inventum est illud καὶ τὸν λόγον πρωταγωνιστὴν παρεσκεύασεν : per nomen abstractum quod vocamus actorem primarum partium designavit 5). ex duabus personis in scena agentibus cum una adeo excelleret ut ad eam actio potissimum referretur, unitas actionis sustineri facilius potuit. itaque etiam huius rei inventio gravissima erat. τρεῖς δὲ καὶ σκηνογραφίαν Σοφοκλῆς: tertium actorem in eadem ἐπεισοδίου parte cum duobus aliis colloquentem agentemque a Sophocle inventum esse consentientes Aristoteli tradunt et Dicaearchus in Auctario vitae Aeschyliae Robortelliano laudatus et Diogenes Laertius III, 34. et auctor vitae Sophocliae et Suidas s. ν. Σοφοκλῆς. Aeschylo huius inventionis laudem tribuit scriptor incertus Auctarii illius a Robortello editi, facta tamen Dicaearchi dissentientis mentione. ex levi sane recordatione Themistius (in Orat. XXVI. p. 382. ed. Dindorf.) haec scripsit : ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ σεμνή τραγωδία μετὰ πάσης ὁμοῦ τῆς σκευῆς καὶ τοῦ χοροῦ καὶ τῶν ὑποκριτῶν παρελήλυθεν εἰς τὸ θέατρον; καὶ οὐ προσέχομεν ᾿Αριστοτέλει ὅτι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὁ χορὸς εἰσιὼν 6) ᾔδεν εἰς τοὺς θεούς, Θέσπις δὲ πρόλογόν τε καὶ ῥῆσιν ἐξεῦρεν, Αἰσχύλος δὲ τρίτον ὑποκριτὴν καὶ ὀκρίβαντας, τὰ δὲ 5) Similiter iustus orator, quem Aristophanes in Nubibus v. 887. producit, in libro illo optimo Ravennate δίκαιος λόγος appellatur, et iniustus iusto quaerenti quis sit respondet sese λό yov esse. 6) Ad εἰσιών ex praecedentibus εἰς τὸ θέατρον intellectu trahendum est. vide ut orator antiquissimae illi τραγῳδίᾳ theatrum largiatur, in quod chorus ingressus deos (debuit Bacchum) се- cinerit; vide ut alterum actorem Thespidi concedat, cum post huius commemorationem ad Aeschylum transgressus narret tertium ab hoc actorem adhibitum esse. πλείω τούτων Σοφοκλέους ἀπελαύσαμεν καὶ Εὐριπίδου; hic homo tertium actorem ad Aeschylum refert, Aristoteles ad Sophoclem, hic duos actores in Thespidis fabula deprehendit, Aristoteles secundum actorem ab Aeschylo inventum tradit, hic plura etiam ab Euripide reperta agnoscit, Aristoteles de Euripidis inventis nihil inaudivit. tam incredibilia et iis quae in Poetica legimus contraria Aristoteles aliis in libris enarrare non potuit: immo hic quarti post Christum saeculi scriptor ex hoc nostro loco sapientiam suam omnem videtur hausisse. hoc certum est, illum leviter scripsisse et dormitantem. itaque non maiorem eius verbis fidem tribuerim, quam iis quae nostra aetate quendam memini effutire: die Gymnasien sind, was sie bei den Griechen und Römern schon waren, Anstalten für höhere wissenschaftliche Bildung 7). unus igitur qui laude illa Sophoclem privare voluit restat scriptor qui in Auctario a Robortello evulgato pronuntiat αὐτὸς ( Αἰσχύλος) τὸν τρίτον ὑποκριτὴν ἐξεῦρεν. nimirum ille sive eius auctores (si quos habuit) tertium actorem in nonnullis Aeschyli fabulis, ut in Eumenidibus et Choephoris, invenientes atque eam rem non satis pensitantes, contra unice id spectantes, Aeschylum natu maiorem esse Sophocle, illi continuo inventionis gloriam concesserunt. vide quae de hac re disputavit Lessingius in Vita Sophoclia p. 104 sqq. tom. 10. ed. Berolin. Welckerus in Trilogia Aeschylia p. 515. Schultzius de Vita Sophoclis p. 70 sqq. Alterum Sophoclis inventum ad colendam tragicae demonstrationis magnificentiam aptum σκηνογραφία fuit, h. e. ea pingendi ratio qua imagines ex longinquo visae perfectam quandam et pulchram formam praebent. bene Passovius in Lexico interpretatur perspectivische Mah- 7) Dum haec scribo, liber novus in oculos incidit in quo viris doctis offeruntur haece: Wenn es eine richtige Bemerkung ist, dass Socrates die Ethik in die Philosophie eingeführt habe, wie Sophocles die zweite Person in den dramatischen Dialog, cet.lerey. hanc Sophocles ad scenam exornandam primus adhibuit, cum solita illa pingendi ars haud dubie iam ante ipsum circa scenas versata esset. aliud est de quo loquitur Vitruvius in praefatione libri VII.

14. mvp-aristotle-comment-30

Ritter, cap. 4 § 14

ἔτι δὲ τὸ μέγεθος ἐκ μικρῶν μύθων καὶ λέξεως γελοίας - ὀψὲ ἀπεσεμνύνθη: ἀποσεμνύνειν est ea magnificentiae specie circumdare, ut quidquid contrarium est amoveatur. sero id factum vere dicit Aristoteles, cum etiam in fabulis Aeschyli et Sophoclis nonnulla ridiculae dictionis vestigia compareant. plura haud dubie apud Thespin (eum enim potissimum hic videtur respicere) supererant, sed illud noli colligere ex his verbis, totam Thespidis dictionem ridiculam sive γελοίαν fuisse et omnes eius tragoedias ex fabulis perexiguis compositas esse. componitur enim h. 1. tragoedia plane exculta ( ἡ ἀποσεμνυνθεῖσα) et perfecta cum ea quae ex satyrorum ludicris mutaverat 8), et parvae fabulae ( μικροὶ μῦθοι) prae complexionibus rerum, quales in perfectis exhibentur tragoediis, dicuntur. haec igitur si de Thespide eiusque aequalibus intelligenda sunt, quod negari vix poterit, verba illa interiecta διὰ τὸ ἐκ σατυρικοῦ μεταβαλεῖν magni momenti sunt ad artis tragicae apud Athenienses primordia et incrementa accuratius definienda. inde enim cum appareat Thespidis fabulam ex satyrico genere ( ἐκ τοῦ σατυρικοῦ) iam mutasse ( μεταβαλεῖν), indidem censequitur ab eodem poeta satyrorum chorum ex tragoedia amandatum aliumque novo tragoediae generi magis convenientem substitutum esse, id quod aliis indiciis egregie confirmatur. conf. quae docte disputata sunt a Welckero in Appendice ad trilog. Aeschyl. p. 257-273. τό τε μέτρον ἐκ τετραμέτρου ἰαμβεῖον ἐγένετο: pergit tragoediam dramaticam inventore Thespide recens natam componere cum ea quam Aeschylus et Sophocles a se mire cultam praestiterunt. nimirum cum Thespis et qui 8) Id ipsum Thespide auctore factum esse ex aliis veterum locis colligitur. mutare οὐδετέρως positum esse neminem fugiet.aetate suppares plerumque in partibus cantu carentibus tetrametro trochaico uterentur, inde ab Aeschyli invento in eius locum senarius plerumque successit. si quis ex his verbis concludere vellet Thespidis aequaliumque tragoediis senarium omnino defuisse, is non minus erraret quam si quis hoc loco fretus diceret Aeschylum et Sophoclem tetrametrum e dialogo omnino removisse. neque vero id dicere vult philosophus, antiquissimam illam τραγικὴν ἀοιδὴν actore carentem tetrametris inclusam fuisse, a Thespidis autem aetate senarium successisse : nam si prisca τραγικὴ ἀοιδὴ tetrametris constaret et pro iis senarii succederent, ecce aderat tragoedia meris senariis composita, qualem nunquam exstitisse certum est. inde manifestum est non componi h. 1. tragoediam istam dithyrambicam et eam quam Thespis invenit, sed eam quae iam non tota canendo et saltando sed colloquiis etiam peragebatur (Thespidis), cum ea quae ad summum culturae gradum pervenerat. hoc ita se habere certius etiam collato ex Rhetoricis loco III, 1. pag. 1404 a 29. intelligitur: οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ τὰς τραγῳδίας 9) ποιοῦντες ἔτι χρῶνται τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον, ἀλλ᾽ ὥσπερ καὶ ἐκ τῶν τετραμέτρων εἰς τὸ ἰαμβεῖον μετέβησαν διὰ τὸ τῷ λόγῳ τοῦτο τῶν μέτρων ὁμοιότατον εἶναι, οὕτω καὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων ἀφείκασιν ὅσα παρὰ τὴν διάλεκτόν ἐστιν. quae igitur ab uno Thespidis actore in narrationibus et in colloquiis cum choro habitis plerumque tetrametris adstricta pronuntiabantur, ea ab Aeschyli aetate duo illi actores versibus iambicis inclusa loquebantur, 9) Οἱ τὰς τραγῳδίας ποιοῦντες sunt earum tragoediarum scriptores quae vulgo vocantur, ut et tota sententia et ipsum verbum ποιεῖν monstrat. non recte me iudice Welckerus in Appendice ad trilog. Aeschyl. p. 239. statuit dithyrambum et iustam tragoediam uno τραγῳδίας nomine ab Aristotele comprehensam esse. locum ex Rhetoricis allatum cum ego aliter ac Welckerus intelligendum et pro certo duce habendum existimem, iis quoque quae idem vir ingeniosus in libro laudato p. 262 et 263. de hoc Poeticae loco exposuit, omni ex parte assentiri non possum.ita tamen ut hoc paulatim in consuetudinem converteretur : nam et in Aeschyli Persis (ea omnium quas etiamnum legimus tragoediarum antiquissima est) tetrametri sat multi in colloquiis admissi leguntur (vid. 155-245.703-758), neque a ceteris principum tragoediae scriptorum fabulis prorsus relegati sunt. verba igitur το τε μέτρον ἐκ τετραμέτρου ἰαμβεῖον ἐγένετο, item quae subsequuntur λέξεως δὲ γενομένης αὐτὴ ἡ φύσις τὸ οἰκεῖον μέτρον εὗρεν, non de mutatione subito facta accipere licet, sed de ea quae sensim sensimque et longo temporis intervallo invaluit. nam τὸ μὲν γὰρ πρῶτον τετραμέτρῳ ἐχρῶντο - τὴν ποίησιν: haec usque ad λεκτικῆς ἁρμονίας per parenthesin inseruntur, quod cum non vidissent priores editores, illi in subsequentibus ἔτι δὲ ἐπεισοδίων πλήθη verbum unde haec pendeant frustra circumspexerunt. dum scribit Aristoteles τὸ μὲν γὰρ πρῶτον - ποίησιν, non respicit priscam illam τραγικὴν ἀοιδὴν ex tempore fusam, cuius numerum fortasse ne ipse quidem satis cognitum habuit, sed eam dramaticae tragoediae formam quae non multo ante Aeschylum fuit. si totius loci habitum diligenter consideramus, hoc intelligimus, inde a §. 13. nonnisi de tragoedia dramatica (non etiam de lyrica ἀοιδῇ τραγικῇ quae fuit ante Thespin) loqui Aristotelem apparet, ita ut eam formam quae erat ante Aeschylum componat cum ea quae Aeschylo auctore et Sophocle effloruit. sed rursus cavendum ne illis διὰ τὸ σατυρικὴν εἶναι τὴν ποίησιν tantum tribuamus ut, aliis locis indiciisque quamvis repugnantibus, Thespidi et Choerilo Phrynichoque satyrorum chorum tribuamus: nam σατυρικὴν (motoriam levemque) quomodo intelligi velit adiecto καὶ ὀρχηστικωτέραν satis declaravit. de numero trochaico levioribus argumentis et saltatoriae poesi apto Aristoteles in Rhetoricis III, 8. p. 1408 b 36. haec exponit: ὁ δὲ τροχαῖος κορδακικώτερος· δηλοῖ δὲ τὰ τετράμετρα· ἔστι γὰρ τροχερός ῥυθμὸς τὰ τετράμετρα. λέξεως δὲ γενομένης: quamquam Thespidis tragoediae aliqua λέξις denegari nequit, unus tamen eius actor quasipro supplemento chori canentis saltantisque accipi potuit. id Aristoteles videtur fecisse, cum λέξιν eo nomine dignam Aeschyliae demum tragoediae duos actores inter sese colloquentes producenti concesserit. sed si quis λέξεως δὲ γενομένης de ipso Thespide dictum existimet, ego quidem non vehementer refragabor, sed vel sic non sequetur Thespidem illum esse qui tetrametris senarios substituerit: nam illa αὐτὴ ἡ φύσις τὸ οἰκεῖον μέτρον εὗρεν non ita intelligi necesse est, ut statim post λέξιν inductam numerus iambicus successerit, sed de hoc numero sensim sensimque in prisci locum recepto accipi possunt. - μάλιστα γὰρ λεκτικὸν -τὸ ἰαμβεῖόν ἐστιν: conf. Rhetor. III, 8. p. 1408 b 33. ὁ δὲ ἴαμβος αὐτὴ ἐστιν ἡ λέξις τῶν πολλῶν· διὸ μάλιστα πάντων τῶν μέτρων ἰαμβεῖα φθέγγονται λέγοντες. – καὶ ἐκβαίνοντες τῆς λεκτικῆς ἁρμονίας: nove sed apte communis sermonis habitum λεκτικὴν ἁρμονίαν appellavit. his repugnantia tradere videtur in Rhetoricis III, 8. p. 1408 b 32. ὁ μὲν ἠρῷος ( ῥυθμός) σεμνὸς καὶ λεκτικὸς καὶ ἁρμονίας δεόμενος, sed videtur tantum. nam eo loco ἁρμovía concentus est instrumentorum musicorum, quo carere hexameter ideoque nudo sermoni convenire ( λεκτικός) recte dicitur. itaque coniectura a Tyrwhitto ad Poeticam p. 136. proposita ( καὶ λεκτικῆς ἁρμονίας δεόμενος) et sane solerter excogitata carere poterimus. ἔτι δὲ ἐπεισοδίων πλήθη καὶ τὰ ἄλλα: verbum ἐγένετο ex initio §. 14. vel aliud cognatae significationis assumptum intelligendum est.

15. mvp-aristotle-comment-31

Ritter, cap. 4 § 15

περί μὲν οὖν τούτων τοσαῦτα desunt AcBcNa et Mediceis omnibus et GQ; in P (Parisiensi 2040) adscripta margini reperiuntur, et Vallae Pacciique versiones Latinae itemque exemplar Aldinum eadem agnoscunt. omissa videntur a correctore qui ἔτι δὲ ἐπεισοδίων πλήθη quo referret cum non inveniret, deletis nonnullis scripsit ἔτι δὲ ἐπεισοδίων πλήθη καὶ τὰ ἄλλα, ὡς ἕκαστα κοσμηθῆναι λέγεται, ἔστω ἡμῖν εἰρημένα. iam structuram iste sustentavit, sententiam pessum dedit: nihil enim eiusmodi adhuc dictum est.5. §. 1. 121