Poetics. Aristotle. Theodore Alois Buckley (Translator). London. 1857.
The Poetic of Aristotle (Theodore Alois Buckley) (OCR draft) (English) (Theodore Alois Buckley's English translation, first published in 1850 and represented from the Henry G. Bohn 1857 printing; corrected against a second OCR and aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.)
Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.
20.
mvp-aristotle-comment-263
παραπλήσιον κτέ.
This clause Castelvetro and others would transpose and insert after
σύστασιν πραγμάτων in 33. It comes in, however, naturally enough where it stands, as an afterthought to illustrate the secondary position (
δεύτερον δὲ τὰ ἤθη) of the element of character in a play.
So also in the sister art of painting, says Aristotle, the colouring is of subordinate importance in comparison with the design which makes the work to mean something and be like something; a portrait is a portrait, and will give us the pleasure of one, even though executed in mere whites and greys; whereas a medley of much more beautiful colours without a design to give them meaning will not produce the same pleasure, because we cannot see that it represents anything. The nature of the pleasure found in a work of imitative art was explained in
4, 1448 b 13
.
20.
mvp-aristotle-comment-264
1450b1
εἰ γάρ τις ἐναλείψειε κτέ.
The sense is thus given by Goulston:
'si quis tabulam, pigmentis licet pulcherrimis, temere fusimque illeverit; non perinde spectantem oblectet, ac si, albo licet colore, imaginem delinearet certam: pari modo in tragoediis absque constitutione rerum minus valent mores quam morum expers fabula.'.
The object left to be understood with
ἐναλείψειε is
τὸν πίνακα, the 'panel' or 'canvas', as we should say;
ἀλείφειν and
ἐπαλείφειν are used in just the same way, in the sense of covering a surface with colour.
ἐναλείφειν, it is to be observed, has apparently a different kind of object in
De gen. an. 2. 6, 743 b 23
οἱ γραφεῖς ὑπογράψαντες ταῖς γραμμαῖς οὕτως ἐναλείφουσι τοῖς χρώμασι τὸ ζῷον ('painters first sketch the outline of the figure before proceeding to work it out in colour').
χύδην means 'without system or order', i.e. without a design to give form and sense to the whole.
The direct opposite of this unmeaning medley of the most beautiful colours (
εἴ τις ἐναλείψειε τοῖς καλλίστοις φαρμάκοις χύδην) is a portrait in plain whites and greys (
λευκογραφήσας εἰκόνα); in what follows, therefore,
εἰκόνα serves as an antithesis to
χύδην (comp. Vahlen, Symb. Phil. Bonn. p. 166) and
λευκογραφήσας to
τοῖς καλλίστοις φαρμάκοις.
λευκογραφεῖν, as a derivative from
λευκογράφος (a word no longer to be found), is to 'paint monochromes in white', i.e. in shades of white and grey (it would seem) on a dark ground. Zeuxis, whom Aristotle has just mentioned in 27, was among other things a painter of monochromes in white—
pinxit et monochromata ex albo (
Pliny N. H. 35. 64
; comp.
Brunn, Gr. Künstler 2 p. 55
).
A portrait, however, even though it be a mere monochrome in whites (comp.
λευκογραφήσας εἰκόνα), will have a meaning, and give the mind the intellectual pleasure which accompanies the recognition of the meaning (comp.
4, 1448 b 15
); whereas a medley of beautiful colours has no meaning, and the pleasure it gives the beholder is of a wholly different order (comp.
4, 1448 b 18
οὐχ ᾗ μίμημα ποιήσει τὴν ἡδονὴν ἀλλὰ διὰ ... τὴν χροιάν). The antithesis, therefore, is simply between beautiful colours without an
εἰκών, and an
εἰκών without any beauty of colour.
Vahlen's view of the import of these words is somewhat different. He thinks that
λευκογραφήσας may denote the preliminary sketch (like
ὑπογράφειν in the above-quoted passage in the De gen. an.) in white, which is afterwards filled in with colour, when the picture comes to be finished; so that the clause may be taken to describe two stages in the process of painting, (1)
λευκογραφεῖν εἰκόνα, and (2)
ἐναλείφειν φαρμάκοις, and serves to illustrate the order of procedure in Tragedy, where the
μῦθος is said to come first, as the
ἀρχὴ τῆς τραγῳδίας, and the
ἤθη second:
'orationis formam sic accipio, εἴ τις ἐναλείψειε τοῖς καλλίστοις φαρμάκοις χύδην, οὐκ ἂν ὁμοίως εὐφράνειεν καὶ λευκογραφήσας εἰκόνα εἰ ἐναλείψειε φαρμάκοις', ut χύδην, h. e. nulla ante delineatione facta, et λευκογραφήσας εἰκόνα inter se opponantur'. This very subtle interpretation seems to me to read more into Aristotle's words than is required for the argument. Aristotle would perhaps have said:
οὐκ ἂν ὁμοίως εὐφράνειε καὶ εἰ λευκογραφήσας εἰκόνα οὕτως ἐναλείψειε τοῖς φαρμάκοις.
1450b3
46.
mvp-aristotle-comment-186
47.
mvp-aristotle-comment-187
6.20
47.
Car ſi quelqu'un jettoit confuſement & pêle-mêle, les plus belles couleurs ſur une toile, il ne feroit pas le même plaiſir que le ſimple crayon d'un portrait.]
2
48.
mvp-aristotle-comment-188
6.20
48.
En un mot, la Tragedie eſt une imitation d'une action, & par conſequent elle eſt principalement une imitation de perſonnes qui agiſſent.]
3
15.
mvp-aristotle-comment-49
Ritter, cap. 6 § 15
-19. quae iam sequuntur ab aliena manu Aristotelis operi inserta esse dico, et inserta quidem ab antiquo interpolatore qui hanc disputationem mancam esse ratus, cum unius fabulae dignitatis explicatio ei sufficere non videretur,ceterarum etiam partium ordinem et gradus exponendos sibi sumpsit, sed efficere quod operae pretium esset tamen non potuit, ut haec pro insiticiis habeam, quinque mihi suadent argumenta. 1. ordo singulis sententiis et nexus deest. 2. quae iam dicta sunt inepte repetuntur. 3. definitiones partim falsae partim inanes proponuntur. 4. nonnulla prioribus repugnant. 5. exposita fabulae prae ceteris partibus praestantia, post §. 14. apte pergere Aristoteles potest ut pergit capitis 7. initio. mores autem post fabulam gravissimam tragoediae partem esse, hoc sibi a legentibus concedi sperare ille poterat. singula ordine persequar. ·
παραπλήσιον - εἰκόνα: rerum complexionem primum tragoediae negotium esse, proximum autem descriptionem morum, id pessime hoc exemplo illustrari amantissimus quisque veritatis libenter mihi concesserit. scilicet
φάρμακα pulcherrima et fuse illita comparavit iste cum moribus, imaginem albam delineatam cum fabula. utrisque delectari homines statuit, sed coloribus istis fuse illitis non aeque (
οὐχ ὁμοίως) atque imagine alba delineata. itaque (sic ille ratiocinatus est) fabula magis delectat quam mores, ideoque mores post fabulam collocandi sunt. hem hominem acutum. praeterea
ἐναλείφειν τοῖς καλλίστοις φαρμάκοις est illinere pulcherrimis coloribus, ubi deest quid coloribus inducatur : quippe debuit
ἐναλείψειε τὰ κάλλιστα φάρμακα. sed quaeritur possitne vitari offensio, si hic locus in fine §. 12. post
ἔχουσα δὲ μῦθον καὶ σύστασιν πραγμάτων inseratur, id quod fecerunt et Buhlius et Hermannus. ego non sequar; primum quia transpositio ipsa violentum est remedium, tum quia non esse Aristotelis scio in re manifesta post minimum intervallum ex eadem arte exemplum petere, quod fit si haec post §. 12. inseruntur, deinde quod comparatio vel sic male instituta est: nam tum colores nullo ordine (
χύδην) illiti conferuntur moralibus sermonibus deinceps positis, cet. aliud indicium, quo transpositionem perperam fieri liquet, ex sequentibus (§. 15 extr.) se offert: nam transpositione facta, iam illa
ἔστι τε μίμησις πράξεως,
καὶ διὰ ταύτην μάλιστα τῶν
πραττόντων sic legi non possunt, sed pro
τε cum Hermanno
γὰρ substituendum est. sed quis tandem pro
γὰρ ponere
τε animum induxisset, si id ab initio fuisset? immo
τε non mutandum: interpolator enim iam alterum affert
σημεῖον, unde mores post fabulam proximum locum occupare iste prò- bare intendit, idque imperite adnectit
ἔστι τε μίμησις κτλ., imperite quidem sed tam bene quam ab isto exspectari potest. ipsam suam sapientiam hausit ex Aristoteliis illis (§. 10)
οὔκουν ὅπως τὰ ἤθη μιμήσωνται πράττουσιν,
ἀλλὰ τὰ ἤθη συμπεριλαμβάνουσι διὰ τὰς πράξεις. cum scribit
τῶν πραττόντων, cogitavit iste
τῆς ποιότητος (vel
ἤθων)
τῶν πραττόντων. fortasse respexit etiam illa (§. 9)
ἡ γὰρ τραγῳδία μίμησίς ἐστιν οὐκ ἀνθρώπων ἀλλὰ πράξεως.