Discovery in general has been explained already. As
for the species of Discovery, the first to be noted is (1) the
least artistic form of it, of which the poets make most use
through mere lack of invention, Discovery by signs or marks.
Of these signs some are congenital, like the 'lance-head
which the Earth-born have on them,'
or 'stars,' such as
Carcinus brings in in his Thyestes;
others acquired after birth
—these latter being either marks on the body, e. g. scars, or
external tokens, like necklaces, or to take another sort of
instance, the ark in the Discovery in Tyro.
Even these,
however, admit of two uses, a better and a worse; the
scar of Ulysses is an instance; the Discovery of him through
it is made in one way by the nurse and in another by the
swineherds.
rance is less artistic, as indeed are all such as imply reflexion;
whereas one bringing them in all of a sudden, as in the
Bath-story, is of a better order.
Next after these are (2)
Discoveries made directly by the poet; which are inartistic
for that very reason; e.g.
Orestes' Discovery of himself in
Iphigenia: whereas his sister reveals who she is by the letter,
Orestes is made to say himself what the poet rather than
the story demands.
from the first-mentioned fault, since he might have presented
certain tokens as well. Another instance is the 'shuttle's
voice' in the Tereus of Sophocles.
(3) A third species is
Discovery through memory, from a man's consciousness
being awakened by something seen or heard. Thus in The
Cyprioe of Dicaeogenes, the sight of the picture makes
the man burst into tears; and in the Tale of Alcinous,
hearing the harper Ulysses is reminded of the past and
weeps; the Discovery of them being the result.
(4) A fourth
kind is Discovery through reasoning; e.g. in The Choephoroe:
'One like me is here; there is no one like me but Orestes;
he, therefore, must be here.' Or that which Polyidus the
Sophist suggested for Iphigenia; since it was natural for
Orestes to reflect: 'My sister was sacrificed, and I am to
be sacrificed like her.' Or that in the Tydeus of Theodectes:
'I came to find a son, and am to die myself.' Or that in
The Phinidae: on seeing the place the women inferred their
fate, that they were to die there, since they had also been
exposed there.
(5) There is, too, a composite Discovery
arising from bad reasoning on the side of the other party.
An instance of it is in Ulysses the False Messenger: he
said he should know the bow—which he had not seen;
but to suppose from that that he would know it again (as
though he had once seen it) was bad reasoning.
(6) The
best of all Discoveries, however, is that arising from the
incidents themselves, when the great surprise comes about
through a probable incident, like that in the Oedipus of
Sophocles; and also in Iphigenia; for it was not improbable
that she should wish to have a letter taken home. These
last are the only Discoveries independent of the artifice
of signs and necklaces.
Next after them come Discoveries
through reasoning.
Poetics. Aristotle. Ingram Bywater (Translator), ed. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. 1909.