8.
mvp-aristotle-comment-220
τῆς μὲν πράξεως ὁ μῦθος ἡ μίμησις
To complete the statement Aristotle might very well have added a clause like
τῶν δὲ πραττόντων τὰ ἤθη καὶ αἱ διάνοιαι
; and it has been suggested (
J. of Phil. 5 p. 119
) that these words or something equivalent must have dropped out.
In a context like the present, however, this second point may have been left to be mentally supplied by the reader (comp. Vahlen ad loc.), as the emphatic mention of the first point (
τῆς μὲν πράξεως κτέ.) is enough to suggest it (comp.
De interpr. 14, 23 b 30
, and Waitz ad loc.). For this use of
μέν solitarium comp.
26, 1462 b 5
, and Waitz on
An. pr. 2. 11, 61 b 19
.
8.
mvp-aristotle-comment-221
1450a4
τοῦτον
(=
τοῦτο) is preparative and explained by
τὴν σύνθεσιν τῶν πραγμάτων. The assimilation of gender has been a stumbling-block to Madius and others, though found again in
22, 1458 a 26
αἰνίγματός τε γὰρ ἰδέα αὕτη ἐστί, τὸ λέγοντα ὑπάρχοντα ἀδύνατα συνάψαι
(comp.
Kühner, Gr. Gr. 2. 1 p. 74
).
8.
mvp-aristotle-comment-222
1450a6
διάνοιαν
scil.
εἶναι λέγω. Instead of attempting a definition, Aristotle evades the difficulty by saying that
διάνοια is manifested in the argumentative and reflective utterances of the dramatis personae (comp. infra
b 11
).
The statement here is merely provisional, as one may see by comparing the fuller exposition in
19, 1456 a 34 — b 8
—where we are told among other things that the
διάνοια of a personage may be shown in his actions as well as in his words.
Διάνοια in the sense it bears in the Poetics is, like
ἦθος, an element in the personality of the dramatis personae. It is their intellectual capacity, as evinced in their language (or it may be, in their actions), and it is to be seen whenever they argue or make an appeal to the feelings of their hearers, in other words, when they reason or plead with one of the other dramatis personae in the same sort of way as a rhetor might do.
Hence it is that the general theory of the
διάνοια in a play is said (
19, 1456 a 34
) to belong to Rhetoric rather than Poetry; and a speech with a great display of
διάνοια in it is a rhetorical speech (v. on
b 6
).
The term answering to Aristotle's
διάνοια in Isocrates is
ἐνθυμήματα, 'arguments':
Isocr. 191 B
μετὰ μέτρων καὶ ῥυθμῶν ἅπαντα ποιοῦσιν . . . τοσαύτην ἔχει χάριν, ὥστ᾿ ἂν καὶ τῇ λέξει καὶ τοῖς ἐνθυμήμασιν . . . ἔχῃ κακῶς, ὅμως αὐταῖς ταῖς εὐρυθμίαις καὶ ταῖς συμμετρίαις ψυχαγωγοῦσι τοὺς ἀκούοντας
. —
319 D
καὶ γὰρ τῇ λέξει ποιητικωτέρᾳ καὶ ποικιλωτέρᾳ τὰς πράξεις δηλοῦσι, καὶ τοῖς ἐνθυμήμασιν ὀγκωδεστέροις καὶ καινοτέροις χρῆσθαι ζητοῦσιν
.
8.
mvp-aristotle-comment-223
λέγοντες
: comp.
b 6
ἐπὶ τῶν λόγων
, and
b 7
πολιτικῶς ἐποίουν λέγοντας
. Aristotle is thinking more immediately of the
ῥήσεις in a tragedy, and of the intellectual, i. e. the rhetorical or argumentative, capacity they may reveal in the personages.
8.
mvp-aristotle-comment-224
1450a7
ἀποδεικνύασίν τι
:
ἀποδεικνύουσί τι ὡς ἔστιν ἢ ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν
. —
19, 1456 a 37
τό τε ἀποδεικνύναι καὶ τὸ λύειν
. —
Rhet. 1. 1, 1355 a 5
ἡ δὲ πίστις ἀπόδειξίς τις· τότε γὰρ πιστεύομεν μάλιστα ὅταν ἀποδεδεῖχθαι ὑπολάβωμεν
.
8.
mvp-aristotle-comment-225
ἢ καὶ ἀποφαίνονται γνώμην
The equivalent in
b 12
is the more general expression,
καθόλου τι ἀποφαίνονται
, but it is hardly worth while to bring the two passages into unison by restoring here (with
Bernays, Zwei Abhandl. p. 155
)
ἢ καθόλου ἀποφαίνονται, on the assumption that
γνώμην may have come in as a gloss.
A
γνώμη as defined in the Rhetoric is a maxim, or general proposition relating to the conduct of life:
Rhet. 2. 21, 1394 a 21
ἔστι δὲ γνώμη ἀπόφανσις, οὐ μέντοι περὶ τῶν καθ᾿ ἕκαστον, οἷον ποιός τις Ιφικράτης, ἀλλὰ καθόλου· καὶ οὐ περὶ πάντων καθόλου, οἷον ὅτι τὸ εὐθὺ τῷ καμπύλῳ ἐναντίον, ἀλλὰ περὶ ὅσων αἱ πράξεις εἰσί, καὶ αἱρετὰ ἢ φευκτά ἐστι πρὸς τὸ πράττειν
.
The corresponding Latin term was sententia:
Quintilian 8. 5. 3
Antiquissimae sunt quae proprie . . . sententiae vocantur, quas Graeci γνώμας appellant: utrumque autem nomen ex eo acceperunt, quod similes sunt consiliis aut decretis
.
