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Puiſque la Tragedie eſt une imitation de ce qu'il y a de plus excellent parmi les hommes, nous devons imiter les bons Peintres, qui en donnant à chacun ſa veritable forme, & en les faiſant ſemblables, les repreſentent toûjours plus beaux. Il faut tout de même qu'un Poëte qui veut imiter un homme colére & emporté, ou quelqu'autre caractére ſemblable, ſe remette bien plus devant les yeux ce que la colére doit faire vray-ſemblablement, que ce qu'elle a fait, & c'eſt ainſi qu'Homere & Agathon ont formé le caractére d'Achille.

11.

Poetics. Aristote. Paris. 1692.

Current edition Experimental

La poëtique d'Aristote (André Dacier, 1692) (OCR draft) (fra) (André Dacier's French translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1692.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (4)

Περὶ ποιητικῆς (OCR draft) (Aristotle, Poetics. Immanuel Bekker, editor, Aristotelis Opera, volume 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1837.) — 15 focus

Περὶ δὲ τὰ ἤθη τέτταρά ἐστιν ὧν δεῖ στοχάζεσθαι, ἓν μὲν καὶ πρῶτον, ὅπως χρηστὰ ᾖ.

Ἕξει δὲ ἦθος μέν, ἐὰν ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη ποιῇ φανερὰν ὁ λόγος ἢ ἡ πρᾶξις προαίρεσίν. τινα, φαῦλον μὲν ἐὰν φαύλην, χρηστὸν δ᾿ ἐὰν χρηστήν.

Ἔστι δὲ ἐν ἑκάστῳ γένει· καὶ γὰρ γυνή ἐστι χρηστὴ καὶ δοῦλος· καίτοι γε ἴσως τούτων τὸ μὲν χεῖρον, τὸ δὲ ὅλως φαῦλόν ἐστιν.

Δεύτερον δὲ τὰ ἁρμόττοντα· ἔστι γὰρ ἀνδρεῖον μὲν τὸ ἦθος, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ἁρμόττον γυναικὶ τὸ ἀνδρείαν ἢ δεινὴν εἶναι.

Τρίτον δὲ τὸ ὅμοιον· τοῦτο γὰρ ἕτερον τοῦ χρηστὸν τὸ ἦθος καὶ ἁρμόττον ποιῆσαι, ὥσπερ εἴρηται.

Τέταρτον δὲ τὸ ὁμαλόν· κἂν γὰρ ἀνώμαλός τις ᾖ ὁ τὴν μίμησιν παρέχων καὶ τοιοῦτον ἦθος ὑποτιθείς, ὅμως ὁμαλῶς ἀνώμαλον δεῖ εἶναι.

Ἔστι δὲ παράδειγμα πονηρίας μὲν ἤθους μὴ ἀναγκαῖον οἷον ὁ Μενέλαος ὁ ἐν τῷ Ὀρέστῃ,

τοῦ δὲ ἀπρεποῦς καὶ μὴ ἁρμόττοντος ὅ τε θρῆνος Ὀδυσσέως ἐν τῇ Σκύλλῃ καὶ ἡ τῆς Μελανίππης ῥῆσις,

τοῦ δὲ ἀνωμάλου ἡ ἐν Αὐλίδι Ἰφιγένεια· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔοικεν ἡ ἱκετεύουσα τῇ ὑστέρᾳ.

Χρὴ δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἤθεσιν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν πραγμάτων συστάσει, ἀεὶ ζητεῖν ἢ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ τὸ εἰκός, ὥστε τὸν τοιοῦτον τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγειν ἢ πράττειν ἢ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ εἰκός,

καὶ τοῦτο μετὰ τοῦτο γίνεσθαι ἢ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ εἰκός. Φανερὸν οὖν ὅτι καὶ τὰς λύσεις τῶν μύθων ἐξ αὐτοῦ δεῖ τοῦ μύθου συμβαίνειν, καὶ μὴ ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ Μηδείᾳ ἀπὸ μηχανῆς καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰλιάδι τὰ περὶ τὸν ἀπόπλουν·

ἀλλὰ μηχανῇ χρηστέον ἐπὶ τὰ ἔξω τοῦ δράματος ἢ ὅσα πρὸ τοῦ γέγονεν, ἃ οὐχ οἷόν τε ἄνθρωπον εἰδέναι, ἢ ὅσα ὕστερον, ἃ δεῖται προαγορεύσεως καὶ ἀγγελίας· ἅπαντα γὰρ ἀποδίδομεν τοῖς θεοῖς ὁρᾶν.

Ἄλογον δὲ μηδὲν εἶναι ἐν τοῖς πράγμασιν, εἰ δὲ μή, ἔξω τῆς τραγῳδίας, οἷον τὰ ἐν τῷ Οἰδίποδι τῷ Σοφοκλέους.

Ἐπεὶ δὲ μίμησίς ἐστιν ἡ τραγῳδία βελτιόνων, ἡμᾶς δεῖ μιμεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς εἰκονογράφους· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι ἀποδιδόντες τὴν ἰδίαν μορφήν, ὁμοίους ποιοῦντες, καλλίους γράφουσιν. Οὕτω καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν μιμούμενον καὶ ὀργίλους καὶ ῥᾳθύμους καὶ τἆλλα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἔχοντας ἐπὶ τῶν ἠθῶν, ἐπιεικείας ποιεῖν παράδειγμα ἢ σκληρότητος δεῖ, οἷον τὸν Ἀχιλλέα Ἀγάθων καὶ Ὅμηρος.

Ταῦτα δὴ δεῖ διατηρεῖν, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὰ παρὰ τὰς ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀκολουθούσας αἰσθήσεις τῇ ποιητικῇ· καὶ γὰρ κατ᾿ αὐτὰς ἔστιν ἁμαρτάνειν πολλάκις. Εἴρηται δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς ἐκδεδομένοις λόγοις ἱκανῶς.

Περὶ ποιητικῆς (OCR draft) Perseus (Aristotle, De arte poetica liber. Rudolf Kassel, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965. Reference edition for passage alignment.) — 15 focus

περὶ δὲ τὰ ἤθη τέτταρά ἐστιν ὧν δεῖ στοχάζεσθαι, ἓν μὲν καὶ πρῶτον, ὅπως χρηστὰ ᾖ.

ἕξει δὲ ἦθος μὲν ἐὰν ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη ποιῇ φανερὸν ὁ λόγος ἢ ἡ πρᾶξις προαίρεσίν τινα ἥ τις ἂν ᾖ, χρηστὸν δὲ ἐὰν 20 χρηστήν.

ἔστιν δὲ ἐν ἑκάστῳ γένει· καὶ γὰρ γυνή ἐστιν χρηστὴ καὶ δοῦλος, καίτοι γε ἴσως τούτων τὸ μὲν χεῖρον, τὸ δὲ ὅλως φαῦλόν ἐστιν.

δεύτερον δὲ τὸ ἁρμόττοντα· ἔστιν γὰρ ἀνδρείαν μὲν τὸ ἦθος, ἀλλ’ οὐχ ἁρμόττον γυναικὶ οὕτως ἀνδρείαν ἢ δεινὴν εἶναι.

τρίτον δὲ τὸ ὅμοιον. τοῦτο γὰρ ἕτερον 25 τοῦ χρηστὸν τὸ ἦθος καὶ ἁρμόττον ποιῆσαι ὡς προείρηται.

τέταρτον δὲ τὸ ὁμαλόν. κἂν γὰρ ἀνώμαλός τις ᾖ ὁ τὴν μίμησιν παρέχων καὶ τοιοῦτον ἦθος ὑποτεθῇ, ὅμως ὁμαλῶς ἀνώμαλον δεῖ εἶναι.

ἔστιν δὲ παράδειγμα πονηρίας μὲν ἤθους μὴ ἀναγκαίας οἷον ὁ Μενέλαος ὁ ἐν τῷ Ὀρέστῃ,

τοῦ 30 δὲ ἀπρεποῦς καὶ μὴ ἁρμόττοντος ὅ τε θρῆνος Ὀδυσσέως ἐν τῇ Σκύλλῃ καὶ ἡ τῆς Μελανίππης ῥῆσις,

τοῦ δὲ ἀνωμάλου ἡ ἐν Αὐλίδι Ἰφιγένεια· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔοικεν ἡ ἱκετεύουσα τῇ ὑστέρᾳ.

χρὴ δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἤθεσιν ὁμοίως ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν πραγμάτων συστάσει ἀεὶ ζητεῖν ἢ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ τὸ εἰκός, 35 ὥστε τὸν τοιοῦτον τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγειν ἢ πράττειν ἢ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ εἰκὸς καὶ τοῦτο μετὰ τοῦτο γίνεσθαι ἢ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ εἰκός.

φανερὸν οὖν ὅτι καὶ τὰς λύσεις τῶν μύθων ἐξ αὐτοῦ δεῖ τοῦ 1454b 1 μύθου συμβαίνειν, καὶ μὴ ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ Μηδείᾳ ἀπὸ μηχανῆς καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰλιάδι τὰ περὶ τὸν ἀπόπλουν.

ἀλλὰ μηχανῇ χρηστέον ἐπὶ τὰ ἔξω τοῦ δράματος, ἢ ὅσα πρὸ τοῦ γέγονεν ἃ οὐχ οἷόν τε ἄνθρωπον εἰδέναι, ἢ ὅσα ὕστερον, ἃ 5 δεῖται προαγορεύσεως καὶ ἀγγελίας· ἅπαντα γὰρ ἀποδίδομεν τοῖς θεοῖς ὁρᾶν.

ἄλογον δὲ μηδὲν εἶναι ἐν τοῖς πράγμασιν, εἰ δὲ μή, ἔξω τῆς τραγῳδίας, οἷον τὸ ἐν τῷ Οἰδίποδι τῷ Σοφοκλέους.

ἐπεὶ δὲ μίμησίς ἐστιν ἡ τραγῳδία βελτιόνων ἢ ἡμεῖς, δεῖ μιμεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς 10 εἰκονογράφους· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι ἀποδιδόντες τὴν ἰδίαν μορφὴν ὁμοίους ποιοῦντες καλλίους γράφουσιν· οὕτω καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν μιμούμενον καὶ ὀργίλους καὶ ῥᾳθύμους καὶ τἆλλα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἔχοντας ἐπὶ τῶν ἠθῶν τοιούτους ὄντας ἐπιεικεῖς ποιεῖν † παράδειγμα σκληρότητος οἷον τὸν Ἀχιλλέα ἀγαθὸν καὶ Ὅμηρος † .

15 ταῦτα δὴ διατηρεῖν, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὰ παρὰ τὰς ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀκολουθούσας αἰσθήσεις τῇ ποιητικῇ· καὶ γὰρ κατ’ αὐτὰς ἔστιν ἁμαρτάνειν πολλάκις· εἴρηται δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς ἐκδεδομένοις λόγοις ἱκανῶς.

Poetics, Greek text (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) Experimental (Ingram Bywater's Greek text of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1909.) — 15 focus

Περὶ δὲ τὰ ἤθη τέτταρά ἐστιν ὧν δεῖ στοχάζεσθαι, ἓν
μὲν καὶ πρῶτον, ὅπως χρηστὰ ᾖ.

ἕξει δὲ ἦθος μὲν ἐὰν
ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη ποιῇ φανερὸν ὁ λόγος ἢ ἡ πρᾶξις προαίρεσίν
τινα ᾖ, χρηστὸν δὲ ἐὰν χρηστήν.

ἔστιν δὲ ἐν
ἑκάστῳ γένει· καὶ γὰρ γυνή ἐστιν χρηστὴ καὶ δοῦλος,
καίτοι γε ἴσως τούτων τὸ μὲν χεῖρον, τὸ δὲ ὅλως φαῦλόν
ἐστιν.

δεύτερον δὲ τὸ ἁρμόττοντα· ἔστιν γὰρ ἀνδρεῖον
μὲν τὸ ἦθος, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ἁρμόττον γυναικείῳ τὸ ἀνδρείαν ἢ
δεινὴν εἶναι.

τρίτον δὲ τὸ ὅμοιον. τοῦτο γὰρ ἕτερον τοῦ
χρηστὸν τὸ ἦθος καὶ ἁρμόττον ποιῆσαι ὥσπερ εἴρηται.

τέταρτον δὲ τὸ ὁμαλόν. κἂν γὰρ ἀνώμαλός τις ᾖ ὁ τὴν
μίμησιν παρέχων καὶ τοιοῦτον ἦθος ὑποτιθείς, ὅμως ὁμαλῶς
ἀνώμαλον δεῖ εἶναι.

ἔστω δὲ παράδειγμα πονηρίας μὲν
ἤθους μὴ ἀναγκαίου οἷον ὁ Μενέλαος ὁ ἐν τῷ Ὀρέστῃ,

τοῦ
δὲ ἀπρεποῦς καὶ μὴ ἁρμόττοντος ὅ τε θρῆνος ὁ τοῦ Ὀδυσσέως
ἐν τῇ Σκύλλῃ καὶ ἡ τῆς Μελανίππης ῥῆσις,

τοῦ δὲ ἀνωμάλου
ἡ ἐν Αὐλίδι Ἰφιγένεια· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔοικεν ἡ ἱκετεύουσα τῇ
ὑστέρᾳ.

χρὴ δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἤθεσιν ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν
πραγμάτων συστάσει ἀεὶ ζητεῖν ἢ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ τὸ εἰκός,
ὥστε τὸν τοιοῦτον τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγειν ἢ πράττειν ἢ ἀναγκαῖον
ἢ εἰκὸς καὶ τοῦτο μετὰ τοῦτο γίνεσθαι ἢ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ εἰκός.

φανερὸν οὖν ὅτι καὶ τὰς λύσεις τῶν μύθων ἐξ αὐτοῦ δεῖ τοῦ
μύθου συμβαίνειν, καὶ μὴ ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ Μηδείᾳ ἀπὸ μηχανῆς
καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰλιάδι τὰ περὶ τὸν ἀπόπλουν.

ἀλλὰ μηχανῇ
χρηστέον ἐπὶ τὰ ἔξω τοῦ δράματος, ἢ ὅσα πρὸ τοῦ
γέγονεν ἃ οὐχ οἷόν τε ἄνθρωπον εἰδέναι, ἢ ὅσα ὕστερον ἃ
δεῖται προαγορεύσεως καὶ ἀγγελίας· ἅπαντα γὰρ ἀποδίδομεν
τοῖς θεοῖς ὁρᾶν.

ἄλογον δὲ μηδὲν εἶναι ἐν τοῖς πράγμασιν,
εἰ δὲ μή, ἔξω τῆς τραγῳδίας, οἷον τὸ ἐν τῷ
Οἰδίποδι τῷ Σοφοκλέους.

ἐπεὶ δὲ μίμησίς ἐστιν ἡ τραγῳδία
βελτιόνων, ἡμᾶς δεῖ μιμεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς εἰκονογράφους·
καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι ἀποδιδόντες τὴν ἰδίαν μορφὴν ὁμοίους
ποιοῦντες καλλίους γράφουσιν· οὕτω καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν μιμούμενον
καὶ ὀργίλους καὶ ῥᾳθύμους καὶ τἆλλα τὰ τοιαῦτα
ἔχοντας ἐπὶ τῶν ἠθῶν τοιούτους ὄντας ἐπιεικεῖς ποιεῖν
παράδειγμα σκληρότητος, οἷον τὸν Ἀχιλλέα Ἀγάθων καὶ
Ὅμηρος,

ταῦτα δὴ διατηρεῖν, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὰ παρὰ
τὰς ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀκολουθούσας αἰσθήσεις τῇ ποιητικῇ·
καὶ γὰρ κατ᾽ αὐτὰς ἔστιν ἁμαρτάνειν πολλάκις· εἴρηται
δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς ἐκδεδομένοις λόγοις ἱκανῶς.

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.) — 15 focus

Περὶ δὲ τὰ ἤθη τέτταρά ἐστιν ὧν δεῖ στοχάζεσθαι, ἓν μὲν καὶ πρῶτον, ὅπως χρηστὰ ᾖ.

ἕξει δὲ ἦθος μέν, ἐὰν ο ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη ποιῇ φανερὰν ὁ λόγος ἢ ἡ πρᾶξις προαίρεσίν τινα, χρηστὸν δ᾽ ἐὰν χρηστήν.

ἔστι δὲ ἐν ἑκάστῳ γένει· καὶ γὰρ γυνή ἐστι χρηστὴ καὶ δοῦλος· καίτοι γε ἴσως τούτων τὸ μὲν χεῖρον, τὸ δὲ ὅλως φαῦλόν ἐστιν.

δεύτερον δὲ τὰ ἁρμόττοντα· ἔστι γὰρ ἀνδρεῖον μὲν τὸ ἦθος, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὡρμόττον γυναικὶ τὸ ἀνδρείαν ἢ δεινὴν εἶναι.

τρίτον δὲ τὸ¹ ὅμοιον· τοῦτο γὰρ ἕτερον τοῦ χρηστὸν τὸ ἦθος καὶ ἁρμόττον ποιῆσαι, ὥσπερ εἴρηται.

τέταρτον δὲ τὸ ὁμαλόν· κἂν γὰρ ἀνώμαλός τις ᾖ ὁ τὴν μίμησιν παρέχων καὶ τοιοῦτον ἦθος ὑποτιθείς, ὅμως ὁμαλῶς ἀνώμαλον δεῖ εἶναι.

ἔστι δὲ παράδειγμα πονηρίας μὲν ἤθους μὴ ἀναγκαῖον οἷον ὁ Μενέλαος ὁ ἐν τῷ Ορέστῃ,

τοῦ δὲ ἀπρεποῦς καὶ μὴ ἁρμόττοντος ὅ τε θρῆνος Ὀδυσσέως ἐν τῇ Σκύλλῃ καὶ ἡ τῆς Μελανίππης ῥῆσις,

τοῦ δὲ ἀνωμάλου ἡ ἐν Αυλίδι Ιφιγένεια· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔοικεν ἡ ἱκετεύουσα τῇ ὑστέρᾳ.

χρὴ δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἤθεσιν, ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν πραγμάτων συστάσει, ἀεὶ ζητεῖν ἢ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ τὸ εἰκός, ὥστε τὸν τοιοῦτον τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγειν ἢ πράττειν ἢ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ εἰκός, καὶ τοῦτο μετὰ τοῦτο γίνεσθαι ἢ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ εἰκός.

φανερὸν οὖν ὅτι καὶ τὰς λύσεις η τῶν μύθων ἐξ αὐτοῦ δεῖ τοῦ μύθου συμβαίνειν, καὶ μὴ ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ Μηδείᾳ ἀπὸ μηχανῆς καὶ ἐν τῇ Ιλιάδι τὰ περὶ τὸν ἀπόπλουν·

ἀλλὰ μηχανῇ χρηστέον ἐπὶ τὰ ἔξω τοῦ δράμ²ατος ἢ ὅσα πρὸ τοῦ γέγονεν, ἃ οὐχ οἷόν τε ἄνθρωπον εἰδέ ναι, ἢ ὅσα ὕστερον, ἃ δεῖται προαγορεύσεως καὶ ἀγγελίας· ἅπαντα γὰρ ἀποδίδομεν τοῖς θεοῖς ὁρᾶν.

ἄλογον δὲ μηδὲν εἶναι ἐν τοῖς πράγμασιν, εἰ δὲ μή, ἔξω τῆς τραγῳδίας, οἷον τὰ ἐν τῷ Οἰδίποδι τῷ Σοφοκλέους.

ἐπεὶ δὲ μίμησίς ἐστιν ἡ τραγῳδία βελτιόνων, ἡμᾶς δεῖ μιμεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς εἰκονογράφους· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι ἀποδιδόντες τὴν ἰδίαν μορφήν, ὁμοίους ποιοῦντες, καλλίους γράφουσιν· οὕτω καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν μιμούμενον καὶ ὀργίλους καὶ ῥᾳθύμους καὶ τἆλλα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἔχοντας ἐπὶ τῶν ἠθῶν [τοιούτους ὄντας] ἐπιεικεῖς ποιεῖν [παράδειγμα σκληρότητος], οἷον τὸν Ἀχιλλέα Ἀγάθων καὶ Ὅμηρος.

ταῦτα δὴ δεῖ διατηρεῖν, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὰς παρὰ τὰς ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀκολουθούσας αἰσθήσεις τῇ ποιητικῇ· καὶ γὰρ κατ᾿ αὐτὰς ἔστιν ἁμαρτάνειν πολλάκις. εἴρηται δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς ἐκδεδομένοις λόγοις ἱκανῶς.

Translations (13)

Poetics (W. H. Fyfe) (OCR draft) Perseus (William Hamilton Fyfe's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, Loeb Classical Library, 1939 printing.) — 15 focus

Concerning character there are four points to aim at. The first and most important is that the character should be good.

The play will show character if, as we said above,¹ either the dialogue or the actions reveal some choice; and the character will be good, if the choice is good.

20 But this is relative to each class of people. Even a woman is good and so is a slave, although it may be said that a woman is an inferior thing and a slave beneath consideration.

The second point is that the characters should be appropriate. A character may be manly, but it is not appropriate for a woman to be manly or clever.

Thirdly, it should be like.² This is different from making the character good and from making it appropriate in the sense of the word as used above.

Fourthly, it should be consistent. Even if the original be inconsistent and offers such a character to the poet for representation, still he must be consistently inconsistent.

An example of unnecessary badness of character is Menelaos in the Orestes³;

of character that is unfitting and inappropriate the lament of Odysseus in the Scylla⁴ and Melanippe’s speech⁵;

of inconsistent character Iphigeneia in Aulis , for the suppliant Iphigeneia is not at all like her later character.

In character-drawing just as much as in the arrangement of the incidents one should always seek what is inevitable or probable, so as to make it inevitable or probable that such and such a person should say or do such and such; and inevitable or probable that one thing should follow another.

Clearly therefore the denouement⁶ of each play should also be the result of the plot itself and not produced mechanically as in the Medea and the incident of the embarkation in the Iliad. 1454b 1 ⁷

The god in the car⁸ should only be used to explain what lies outside the play, either what happened earlier and is therefore beyond human knowledge, or what happens later and needs to be foretold in a proclamation. For we ascribe to the gods the power of seeing everything.

There must, however, be nothing inexplicable in the incidents, or, if there is, it must lie outside the tragedy. There is an example in Sophocles’ Oedipus.⁹

Since tragedy is a representation of men better than ourselves we must copy the good portrait-painters who, while rendering the distinctive form and making a likeness, yet paint people better than they are. It is the same with the poet. When representing people who are hot-tempered or lazy, or have other such traits of character, he should make them such, yet men of worth [an example of hardness]¹⁰; take the way in which Agathon and Homer portray Achilles.

Keep, then, a careful eye on these rules and also on the appeal to the eye¹¹ which is necessarily bound up with the poet’s business; for that offers many opportunities of going wrong. But this subject has been adequately discussed in the published treatises.¹²

Arabic Poetics (Badawī edition, 1953) (OCR draft) (The ancient Arabic translation of Aristotle's Poetics in ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Badawī's 1953 edition.) — 15 focus

〈الأخلاق؛ الاحتمال والضرورة؛ «الإله بالآلة»〉

فأما فى العادات فلنتكلم الآن فنقول: إن العادات التى منها نتعرف الحق ونستدل عليه — أربع: الأول منها هو أن تكون العادات جياداً، ويكون كل واحد منها — إن كان قول الأمر الذى هو أعرف قد يؤثر بالفعل الإرادى فى الاعتقاد شيئاً — أن تكون حال كل واحدة من العادات هذه الحال. والخير والجيد إن كان موجوداً فهو موجود خيراً فى كل جنس. وذاك أنه قد توجد مرأة جيدة وفعل جيد. هذا على أنه لعله يكون هذا منهم رذل وهذا مزيف.

والثانى ذلك الذى يصلح. وذلك أن العادة التى هى للرجال قد توجد، إلا أنها لا تصلح للمرأة، ولا أيضاً أن ترى فيها ألبتة.

والثالثة الشبيه بذلك: أن الذى له هذه العادة غير ذلك الذى له عادة جيدة إن كان قد يصلح أن يفعل أيضاً، كما تقدم فقيل.

وأما الرابعة فذاك المتساوى. وذلك أنه إن كان إنسان مما يأتى بالتشبيه والمحاكاة مساوياً، ووضع مثل هذا الخلق كذلك على جهة التساوى، فقد يجب أن يكون غير مساو.

وأيضاً أما مثال رذيلة العادة فليس هو ضرورى، وذلك كما كانت الرحمة لأورسطس والحزن عليه. وما كان غير لائق هو أنه لما كان يصلح ويطابق مثل نوح أوديسوس على المعروفة بـ«ـأسقلى» البحرانية، ولا أيضاً النصنصة ونلحبس (!) المعروفة بميلانافى؛ فأما الذى للامتساوى فكحال ايفيغانيا فى دير المعروف [ببنات] بأولى، وذلك أنه ما تشبهت تلك التى كانت تتضرع بتلك الأخيرة.

وقد يجب أن يطلب دائماً مجرى التشابه كما نطلب ذلك فى قوام الأمور أيضاً: إما ما هو على الحقيقة، وإما ما هو ضرورى، وإما الشبيه. وعند هذه تكون العادة ضرورية أو شبيهاً.

ومن البين أن أواخر الخرافات إما ينبغى أن تعرض لها وتنوبها من العادة نفسها، وليس كالحال فيما كان من الحيلة عند «ميديا» وكما كان إلى «الياذس» من انقلاب المراكب، لا للغرق، لكن إنما ينبغى أن نستعمل نحو خارج القينة، وآخرها الحيلة إما بمقدار ما احتملوا هؤلاء المذكورين، وإما بمبلغ ما لا يمكن الإنسان أن يقف ويعرف أو بمبلغ ما يحتاجون أخيراً فى المقولة أو القول. وذلك أن كل شىء يسلم إلى الآلهة يرى ويبصر؛ فأما ما هو خارج عن النطق فلا ينبغى أن يكون فى الأمور، وإلا كان هذا المعنى خارجاً عن المدائح، بمنزلة ما كان ما أتى به أوديفس من محاكاة سوفقلس حريصاً.

والتشبيه والمحاكاة هى مدائح الأشياء التى هى فى غاية الفضيلة، أو كما يجب أن يشبهوا المصورون الحذاق الجياد؛ وذلك أن هؤلاء بأجمعهم عندما يأتون بصورهم وخلقهم من حيث يشبهون يأتون بالرسوم جياداً، كذلك الشاعر أيضاً عندما يشبه الغضابى والكسالى يأتى هذه الأشياء الأخر التى توجد لهم فى عاداتهم، فعلى هذا ينبغى للحذاق أن يأتوا بمثال الصعوبة، بمنزلة ما أبان أوميروس من خبر أخيلوس.

وهذه ينبغى أن تحفظ؛ ومع هذه أيضاً الاحساسات التى تلزمهم فى صناعة الشعر من الاضطرار، وذلك أن كثيراً ما قد يكون فى هذه زلل وخطأ. وقد تكلم فيها كلاماً كافياً فى الأقاويل التى أتى بها.

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.) — 15 focus

In respect of Character there are four things to be
aimed at. First, and most important, it must be good.

Now any speech or action that manifests moral purpose
of any kind will be expressive of character: the character
will be good if the purpose is good.

This rule is relative
to each class. Even a woman may be good, and also a
slave;
though the woman may be said to be an inferior
being, and the slave quite worthless.

The second thing
to aim at is propriety. There is a type of manly valour;
but valour in a woman, or unscrupulous cleverness, is in-
appropriate.

Thirdly, character must be true to life: for
this is a distinct thing from goodness and propriety, as here
described.

The fourth point is consistency: for though
the subject of the imitation, who suggested the type,
be inconsistent, still he must be consistently inconsistent.

As an example of motiveless degradation of character, we
have Menelaus in the Orestes;

of
character indecorous and inappropriate, the lament of Odysseus in
the Scylla, and the speech of Melanippe:

of inconsistency, the
Iphigenia at Aulis, — for Iphigenia the suppliant in no
way resembles her later self.

In the portraiture of character, as in the structure of the
plot, the poet should always aim either at the necessary
or the probable.
Thus a person of a given character should speak or act in
a given way, by the rule either of necessity or of probability;
just as this event should follow that by necessary or probable
sequence.

It is therefore evident that the unravelling
of the plot, no less than the complication, must arise out
of the plot itself,

it must not be brought about by the
Deus ex Machina as in the Medea, or in the Return of
the Greeks in the Iliad.
The Deus ex Machina should
be employed only for events external to the drama, —
for antecedent or subsequent events, which lie beyond
the range of human knowledge, and which require to be
reported or foretold; for to the gods we ascribe the power
of seeing all things.

Within the action there must be
nothing irrational. If the irrational cannot be excluded,
it should be outside the scope of the tragedy.
Such is
the irrational element in the Oedipus of Sophocles.

Again, since Tragedy is an imitation of persons who
are above the common level, the example of good portrait-
painters should be followed.
They, while reproducing
the distinctive form of the original, make a likeness
which is true to life and yet more beautiful.
So too
the poet, in representing men who are irascible or
indolent, or have other defects of character, should
preserve the type and yet ennoble it.
In this way
Achilles is portrayed by Agathon and Homer.

These then are rules the poet should observe. Nor
should he neglect those appeals to the senses, which,
though not among the essentials, are the concomitants of
poetry;
for here too there is much room for error. But
of this enough has been said in our published treatises.

Aristotle on the Art of Poetry (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) Experimental (Ingram Bywater's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1909.) — 15 focus

In the Characters there are four points to aim at. First
and foremost, that they shall be good.

There will be an
element of character in the play, if (as has been observed)
what a personage says or does reveals a certain moral
purpose;
and a good element of character, if the purpose
so revealed is good.

Such goodness is possible in every
type of personage, even in a woman or a slave, though the
one is perhaps an inferior, and the other a wholly worthless
being.

The second point is to make them appropriate. The
Character before us may be, say, manly;
but it is not appro-
priate in a female Character to be manly, or clever.

The
third is to make them like the reality, which is not the same
as their being good and appropriate, in our sense of the
term.

The fourth is to make them consistent and the same
throughout;
even if inconsistency be part of the man before
one for imitation as presenting that form of character, he
should still be consistently inconsistent.

We have an in-
stance of baseness of character, not required for the story,
in the Menelaus in Orestes;

of the incongruous and un-
befitting in the lamentation of Ulysses in Scylla, and in
the (clever) speech of Melanippe;

and of inconsistency in
Iphigenia at Aulis, where Iphigenia the suppliant is utterly
unlike the later Iphigenia.

The right thing, however, is
in the Characters just as in the incidents of the play to
endeavour always after the necessary or the probable;
so that
whenever such-and-such a personage says or does such-
and-such a thing, it shall be the probable or necessary
outcome of his character;
and whenever this incident
follows on that, it shall be either the necessary or the
probable consequence of it.

From this one sees (to digress
for a moment) that the Dénouement also should arise out
of the plot itself, and not depend on a stage-artifice, as in
Medea, or in the story of the (arrested) departure of the
Greeks in the Iliad.

The artifice must be reserved for
matters outside the play for past events beyond human
knowledge, or events yet to come, which require to be
foretold or announced; since it is the privilege of the Gods
to know everything.

There should be nothing improbable
among the actual incidents. If it be unavoidable, however,
it should be outside the tragedy, like the improbability in
the Oedipus of Sophocles.

But to return to the Characters.
as Tragedy is an imitation of personages better than the
ordinary man, we in our way should follow the example of
good portrait-painters, who reproduce the distinctive features
of a man, and at the same time, without losing the likeness,
make him handsomer than he is.
The poet in like manner,
in portraying men quick or slow to anger, or with similar
infirmities of character, must know how to represent them
as such, and at the same time as good men, as Agathon
and Homer have represented Achilles.

All these rules one must keep in mind throughout, and
further, those also for such points of stage-effect as directly
depend on the art of the poet, since in these too one may
often make mistakes.
Enough, however, has been said on
the subject in one of our published writings.

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.) — 15.11 focus

Since Tragedy is an imitation of what is best, we should follow the example of skilful portrait-painters; who, while they express the peculiar lineaments, and produce a likeness, at the same time improve upon the original¹. And thus, too, the Poet, when he imitates the manners of passionate men, (or of indolent, or any other of a similar kind,) should draw an example approaching rather to a good, than to a hard and ferocious character: as Achilles is drawn, by AGATHO, and by HOMER.

[15]

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.) — 15.11 focus

examples either of mildness or severity. So Achilles is drawn as a good character even by Homer [F]. These rules ought to be observed and not only these but such also as regard those objects of the other senses, that necessarily accompany dramatic poetry;

The Poetic of Aristotle (Theodore Alois Buckley) (OCR draft) Experimental (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.) — 15.11 focus

and those who are similarly affected in their manners, should form an example of equity, or asperity: such as Agatho and Homer have represented Achilles. ¹ These things, indeed, it is necesary to observe; and besides these, such perceptions of the senses as are attendant upon poetry, besides ²³⁴⁵ the necessary ones.10 For in these, errors are fre-. quently committed.

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.) — 15 focus

In moribus autem quattuor sunt quae oportet sectari, unum ac primum, ut boni sint.

habebit autem mores, si, ut dictum est, manifestum faciat oratio vel actio studium quoddam, et bonos quidem, si bonum.

inest autem hoc in quovis genere: nam et mulier est bona et servus; quamquam fortasse alterum genus deterius, alterum omnino vile est.

secundum vero ut apti sint: sunt enim viriles quidam mores, sed non aptum mulieri esse virilem vel terribilem, tertium ut similes: hoc enim aliud atque bonos mores et aptos facere, ut dictum est.

quartum vero ut sibi constent: etenim quamvis inconstans sit qui imitationem praebet et eiusmodi mores suppeditat, tamen constanter inconstantem esse oportet.

est

autem exemplar pravitatis morum haud necessarium qualis Menelaus in Oreste,

eorum qui absurdi et non apti lamentatio Ulixis in Scylla et Melanippae oratio, eorum qui sibi non constant Iphigenia Aulidensis:

nam quae supplicat nihil similis videtur ei quae postea est.

decet autem etiam in moribus, ut in factorum compositione, semper sectari sive quod necessarium sive quod verisimile, ut talem talia dicere vel facere sive necessarium sive verisimile sit, utque hoc post illud fieri sive necessarium sive verisimile sit.

itaque manifestum est etiam solutiones fabularum ex ipsa fabula debere contingere, et non sicuti in Medea ex machina et in Iliade quae pertinent ad discessum:

sed machina utendum in iis 3 quae extra fabulam sunt, sive quae ante acciderunt, quae homo scire non potest, sive quae postea, quae indigent praedictione et expositione: omnia enim cernere dis tribuimus.

quod ratione careat nihil inesse in factis decet, sin minus, extra tragoediam, ut quae sunt in Oedipo Sophoclis.

sed quoniam imitatio est tragoedia meliorum, imitari nos decet bonos pictores: etenim illi propriam cuiusque speciem dum praebent, similes exhibentes, meliores pingunt; sic quoque pocta dum imitatur iracundos et inertes et qui cetera huiusmodi in moribus habent [eos qui tales sunt] bonos facere debet [exemplar asperitatis], sicut Achillem Agatho et Homerus.

haec igitur decet observare, et insuper eas perceptiones quae praeter necessarias poesin comitantur: nam in his quoque peccari saepe solet. dictum autem de iis in libris editis quantum est satis.

Poetica d'Aristotile (Bernardo Segni, 1549) (OCR draft) Experimental (Bernardo Segni's 1549 Florentine Italian translation, aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.) — 15 focus

Vanto a' coſtumi ſon quattro coſe, che biſogna hauere in confideratione Vna, & la principale è, in che modo i coſtumi ui fieno buoni.¹

Ha rà costume il parlare, & laattione, ſe ella (ſi come s'è detto) e detto) vi farà qualche elettione manifeſta. Fia il coſtu me cattiuo, ſe l'elettione fia cattiua. Et buono, ſe l'elet. tione fia buona.

Et queſto ſi può vedere in ciaſchedun genere, conciofia che la Donna, & il ſeruo poſſa eſſer buono, anchor che forse l'un de due ſia men buo no, & l'altro fia in tutto cattiuo Nel ſecondo luogo è quando i coſtumi ſono contienienti, concioſſa che e ſi poffa efprimere vn coſtume forte;

ma e non è già conueniente à vna Donna l'apparire o forte, ò terribile. Nel terzo luogo è, che e' fia fimile.

Et ciò non è il medefimo col fare il costume, è buono, ò conueniente; ficome 10'ho detto Nel quarto & vltimo è, che e fia uguale;

et auuenga che l'Iftrione, che fa l'imitatione, & che tal coftume ci mette dauanti appariſca inequale: nondimeno detta inequalità debbe eſſere retta ugual mente.

In effempio di coſtume cattiuo, & non neceffa rio fiaci Menelao nello Oreſte.

Et di coſtume indecoto,& non conueniente il pianto dVliffe nella Scilla:& il parlare che fa Menalippe.

Et di coſtume inuguale, fiaci Ifigenia nella Aulide; doue ella, fupplicheuole da prima, non appariſce la medefima in vltimo.

Debbefi nel formare coſtumi, coſi come nel formare il fuggetto, ricercaruiſi ſempre il neceffario,ò il verifimile; & fa re, che l'un caſo ſucceda doppo l'altro nell'uno de' due modı. Et diqui è manifeſto, che gli ſcioglimenti d'eſſe Fauole da eſſe Fauole debbono dependere;

& non fi come è nella Medea, per via di Macchine, ò come è quella nella Iliade, quando i Greci voleuon con l'arma ta ritornarfene à cafa.

Ma la Macchina ſi debbe vſare nelle coſe, che fon fuori della Tragedia, ò in tutte quel le, che ſeguite imprima, era impoſsibile, che vno le fapeſſe; o intutte quelle, che, douendo ſeguire dappoi, hanna biſogno d'eſſere indouinate, o racconte:concio RR ΙΑΤΡΟΙΕΤICA ſia che agli Dei s'attribuiſca la preſcienza di tutte le co ſe.

Che egli è nel vero coſa diſconueneuole à crederfi, che nelle attioni ſteſſe non ſia coſa alcuna da ſcior la Fauola;& ſe pure ella non v'è, ella ſarà fuori della Tragedia:ficome ella è tolta nello Edippo di Sofocle.

Ma conciofia che ella ſia imitatione d'huomini, & di coſe eccellenti; perciò imitiſi in queſto il modo tenuto da buon dipintori, 1 quali nel formar le propie figure per renderle ſimili le dipıngono ſempre più belle. Che il Poeta medefimamente nello imitare vno adirato, vno da poco,ò vnaltro di ſimili coſtumi, debbe ſempre fingerlo per eſſempio dell'una, ò dell'altra qualità di coſtu meiſicome fa Homero d'Acchille, che lo finge vno ef ſempio di Fortezza, Et queſte ſono le cofe, che auuere tir' fi debbono;

& oltradiqueſto quei ſentimenti, che conſeguitano alla Poetica neceſſariamente: conciofia: che mediante queſti noi cinganniamo molteuoltex Della qual materia n'ho 10 ragionato à bastanza negli ſcritti ſopra di ciò dati fuori gilansiodo

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.) — 15 focus

Ceterum de moribus quattuor sunt quae spectare oportet. unum quidem et primum, quomodo boni sint.

habebit autem mores, si, ut dictum est, oratio aut actio manifestam efficiat praeelectionem aliquam; malos quidem, si malam, bonos vero, si bonam,

est vero hoc in unoquoque genere: etenim mulier est bona et servus, etiamsi fortasse ex his illud quidem peius, hoc omnino malum est. secundum est, quando sint convenientes: est enim virorum mos,

sed non conveniens mulieri, fortem vel terribilem esse. tertium quando sint similes:

hoc enim aliud est ab eo quod est bonos et convenientes mores facere, ut dictum est. quartum,

quomodo aequales: tametsi enim inaequalis quidam sit qui praebet imitationem, et talibus moribus suppositus sit,

tamen aequaliter inaequalem oportet esse. est autem exemplum improborum morum non ex necessitate, ut Menelaus in Oreste,

eius vero quod non deceat et non conveniat, tum lamentatio Ulyssis in Scylla, tum Menalippae dictio.

at inaequalium in Aulide Iphigenia: nullam enim in partem similis est, dum orat, ei quae apparet posterius.

oportet autem et in moribus, ut etiam in rerum constitutione, semper quaerere vel necessarium vel verisimile; et hoc post hoc fieri vel ex necessitate vel ex verisimilitudine.

apparet igitur et solutiones fa¿ bularum ex ipsa oportere fabula contingere, et non ut in Medea a machina, et in Iliade ea quae sunt circa renavigationem.

sed machina uti opus est ad ea quae sunt extra actionem, aut quaecunque ante facta sunt, quae fieri non potest ut homo sciat, aut quaecunque postea, quae egent praedicatione et nuntiatione: omnia enim videre tribuimus diis.

at sine ratione in rebus nihil esse oportet: sin minus, id extra tragoediam sit, ut quae sunt in Oedipode Sophoclis.

quoniam autem tragoedia est meliorum imitatio, oportet nos imitari bonos formarum fictores. etenim illi cum tribuant propriam formam, faciendo similes pulchriores fingunt. sic etiam oportet poetam imitantem et iracundos et socordes et alia talia habentes in moribus, cum tales sint, probitatis facere exemplum ac duritiae, at Achillem bonum etiam Homerus.

iam vero haec oportet servare, et ad haec ea quae sub sensum cadunt consequentia poëticae, praeter illa quae sunt ex necessitate: etenim secundum ipsa saepenumero contingit peccare. dictum autem est satis de ipsis in editis libris.

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.) — 15 focus

Circa mores autem quatuor sunt que oportet coniecturare '

unum quidem et primum, quatinus boni sint ; habebit autem morem quidem si, sicut dictum est, faciat manifestum sermo aut actio electionem que sit, bonum autem si bona.

Est autem in unoquoque genere; et enim mulier est bona et servus, et quidem forte horum hoc quidem peius, hoc autem totaliter pravum est. —

Secundum autem congruentia; est enim virilis quidem mos, sed non congruens mulieri aut virilem aut diram esse. —

Tertium autem quod simile ; hoc enim alterum a bonum morem et congruum facere, sicut dictum est. —

Quartum autem quod regulare. Et si enim irregularis aliquis sit qui imitationem exhibet et talem morem supponens, tamen regulariter irregularem autem esse. —

Est autem exemplum malignitatis quidem moris non necessarium, puta Menelaus qui in Horeste,

indecentis autem et non congruentis lamentatio Odysei in Skyla et que Melaniptis series;

irregularis autem que in Aulide Ifigenia; nichil enim visa est ministrans posteriori. —

Oportet autem et in moribus sicut et in rerum consistentia semper querere aut quod necessarium aut quod verisimile, ut talem talia dicere aut agere sit necessarium aut verisimile, et hoc post hoc fieri aut necessarium aut verisimile. —

Manifestum igitur quod et solutiones fabularum oportet ex ipsa fabula accidere et non sicut in Medea ab ingenio et in Iliade que circa simplicem ;

sed ingenio utendum deinde extra opus, aut quecumque ante hoc fuerunt que non possibile hominem nosse, aut quecumque posterius que indigent preappellatione et nuntiatione ; omnia enim attribuimus diis videre.

Irrationabile autem nichil esse in rebus, si autem non, extra tragodiam, puta quod in Oidipode Sophocleis. —

Quoniam autem imitatio est tragodia meliorum, nos oportet imitari bonos ymaginum pictores; et enim illi assignantes propriam formam similes facientes meliores pingunt ; sic et poetam imitantem et iracundos et desides et alia talia habentes in moribus tales entes epieikees facere ; exemplar duriciei velut Achillem Agathon et Homerus.

Hec itaque observare eas que preter eas que ex necessitate assequentes sensus poetice ; et enim secundum ipsas est peccare multotiens ; dictum est autem de ipsis in traditis sermonibus sufficienter.

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.) — 15 focus

‏فاما فى العادات فلنتكلم الان فنقول ان العادات التى منها يتعرف الحق ويستدل عليه اربع الاول منها هو ان يكون العادات جيادا

‏ويكون كل واحد منها ان كان قول الامر الذى هو اعرف قد يوثر بالفعل الارادى فى الاعتقاد شيا ما ان يكون حال كل واحد من العادات هذه الحال

‏والخير والجيد ان كان موجودا فهو موجود [خيرا] فى كل جنس وذاك انه قد يوجد مرة جيدة وفعل جيد هذا على انه لعله يكون هذا منهم ردل وهذا مزيف

‏والثانى ذلك الذى يصلح وذلك ان العادة التى هى للرجال قد توجد الا انها لا تصلح للمرة ولا ايضا ان ترى فيها الثيه

‏والثالثة الشبيه بذلك ان الذى له هذه العادة غير ذلك الذى له عادة جيدة اذ كان قد يصلح ان يفعل ايضا كما تقدم فقيل⸫

‏واما الرابعة فذاك المتساوى وذلك انه ان كان انسان مما ياتى بالتشبه والمحاكاة مساو ووضع مثل هذا الخلق كذلك على جهة التساوى فقد يجب ان يكون غير مساو

‏وايضا اما مثال رذيلة العادة فليس هو ضرورى وذلك كما كانت الرحمة لاورسطس

‏والحزن عليه وما كان غير لايق هو انه لما كان يصلح ويطابق مثل نوح اودسيوس على المعرفة باسقلى البحرانية ولا ايضا الٮصٮصه وٮلجس المعروفة بميلانافى

‏فاما الذى للا متساو فكحال ايفيغانيا فى دير [المعروف ببنات اوى] وذلك انه ما تشبهت تلك التى كانت تتضرع بتلك الاخيرة

‏وقد يجب ان يطلب دايما مجرى التشابه كما نطلب ذلك فى قوام الامور ايضا اما ما هو على الحقيقة واما ما هو ضرورى واما الشبيه وعند هذه تكون العادة ضرورية او شبيه

‏ومن البين ان اواخر الخرافات انما ينبغى ان تعرض لها وتنوبها من العادة نفسها وليس كحال فيما كان من الحيلة عند ميديا وكما كان مما كان الى اٮٮلس من انقلاب المراكب [لا للغرق]

‏لكن انما ينبغى ان يستعمل نحو خارج القينة واخرها الحيلة اما بمقدار ما احٮملوا هولا المذكورين واما بمبلغ ما لا يمكن الانسان ان يقف ويعرف او بمبلغ ما يحتاجون اخيرا ڡى المقولة او القول وذلك ان كل شى نسلم الى الالهة يرى ويبصر

‏فاما ما هو خارج عن النطق فلا ينبغى ان يكون فى الامور والا كان هذا المعنى خارجا عن المدايح بمنزلة ما كان ما اتا به اوديقس من محاكاة سوفقلس حرٮصا

‏والتشبيه والماحكاة هى مدايح الاشيا التى هى فى غاية الفضيلة او كما يجب ان سٮهوا المصورون الحذاق الجياد وذلك ان هولا باجمعهم عند ما ياتون بصورهم وخلقهم من حيث يشبهون ياتون بالرسوم جيادا كذلك الشاعر ايضا عند ما يشبه الغضابى والكسالى ياتى هذه الاشيا الاخر التى توجد لهم فى عاداتهم فعلى هذا ينبغى للحذاق ان ياتوا بمثال الصعوبة بمنزلة ما اجاں اوميرس من خبر اخيلوس

‏وهذه ينبغى ان تحفظ ومع هذه ايضا الاحساسات التى تلزمهم فى صناعة الشعر من الاضطرار وذلك انه كثيرا ما قد يكون فى هذه زلل وخطا وقد تكلم فيها كلاما كافيا فى الاقاويل التى اتى بها

Arabic Poetics (Abū Bishr Mattā; Tkatsch edition, unaligned) (OCR draft) Experimental (Tkatsch's edition of the medieval Arabic translation in its original, unaligned segmentation.) — 15 focus

‏ويكون كل واحد منها ان كان قول الامر الذى هو اعرف قد يوثر بالفعل الارادى فى الاعتقاد شيا ما

‏ان يكون حال كل واحد من العادات هذه الحال

‏والثانى ذلك الذى يصلح وذلك ان العادة التى هى للرجال قد توجد الا انها لا تصلح للمرة ولا ايضا ان ترى فيها الثيه

‏وايضا اما مثال رذيلة العادة فليس هو ضرورى وذلك كما كانت الرحمة لاورسطس والحزن عليه وما كان غير لايق هو انه لما كان يصلح ويطابق مثل نوح اودسيوس على المعرفة باسقلى البحرانية ولا ايضا الٮصٮصه وٮلجس المعروفة بميلانافى فاما الذى للا متساو فكحال ايفيغانيا فى دير [المعروف ببنات اوى] وذلك انه ما تشبهت تلك التى كانت تتضرع بتلك الاخيرة

‏ومن البين ان اواخر الخرافات انما ينبغى ان تعرض لها وتنوبها من العادة نفسها وليس كحال فيما كان من الحيلة عند ميديا وكما كان مما كان الى اٮٮلس من انقلاب المراكب [لا للغرق] لكن انما ينبغى ان يستعمل نحو خارج القينة واخرها الحيلة اما بمقدار ما احٮملوا هولا المذكورين واما بمبلغ ما لا يمكن الانسان ان يقف ويعرف او بمبلغ ما يحتاجون اخيرا ڡى المقولة او القول وذلك ان كل شى نسلم الى الالهة يرى ويبصر

‏كذلك الشاعر ايضا عند ما يشبه الغضابى والكسالى ياتى هذه الاشيا الاخر التى توجد لهم فى عاداتهم فعلى هذا ينبغى للحذاق ان ياتوا بمثال الصعوبة بمنزلة ما اجاں اوميرس من خبر اخيلوس

‏وهذه ينبغى ان تحفظ ومع هذه ايضا الاحساسات التى تلزمهم فى صناعة الشعر من الاضطرار وذلك انه كثيرا ما قد يكون فى هذه زلل وخطا

—

Commentary

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

11. mvp-aristotle-comment-551

ἐπεὶ δὲ κτἑ. At this point Aristotle returns to the subject of the ἤθη, which according to his theory (1454 a 17-26) should be at once χρηστά, ἁρμόττοντα, ὅμοια, and ὁμαλά, in order to meet any doubt that may arise as to the possibility of an ἦθος being at once χρηστόν and ὅμοιον. He shows that the corresponding difficulty has been solved in a sister art, that of the portrait-painter, who without sacrificing the likeness makes a man look handsomer than he is ( ὁμοίους ποιοῦντες καλλίους γράφουσιν); so that, if the painter can do this, there is no reason why the literary artist also should not be able to represent a tragic personage truthfully, with any infirmities of character which form part of the received idea of him ( ὀργίλους καὶ ῥᾳθύμους καὶ τάλλα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἔχοντας ἐπὶ τῶν ἠθῶν b12), and at the same time as a good man (ἐπιεικεῖς b13).

11. mvp-aristotle-comment-552

1454b8_2 βελτιόνων: see 2, 1448 4 , 11 , 18 .

11. mvp-aristotle-comment-553

1454b9 ἡμᾶς, 232 COMMENTARY 1454 b 9 'we poets', as is shown by what follows in οὕτω καὶ τὸν ποιητήν. Aristotle speaks as though his hearers were poets, and studying the art of poetry for practical purposes. The Poetics in fact, whatever else they may be, are a practical treatise on Poetry; and the assumption throughout is that one is to learn from them how to write a good poem. Similarly in Rhet. 1. 8, 1366 a 12

ἡμᾶς

means 'we orators' (

δέοι ἂν τὰ ἤθη τῶν πολιτειῶν ἑκάστης ἔχειν ἡμᾶς

11. mvp-aristotle-comment-554

1454b10 καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι. Aristotle might no doubt have said ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι. Vahlen illustrates the construction from Soph. el. 16, 175 a 27

συμβαίνει δέ ποτε καθάπερ ἐν τοῖς διαγράμμασιν· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖ ἀναλύσαντες ἐνίοτε συνθεῖναι πάλιν ἀδυνατοῦμεν· οὕτω καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐλέγχοις εἰδότες παρ᾿ ὃ ὁ λόγος συμβαίνει συνεῖραι διαλύσαι τὸν λόγον ἀποροῦμεν

, and other parallels in Aristotle (v. Bon. Ind. 546 ).

11. mvp-aristotle-comment-555

1454b12 ὀργίλους καὶ ῥᾳθύμους, 'too quick or too slow to anger'; the contrast is like that between ὀξύς and ῥάθυμος in Eth. E. 8. 5, 1240 a 1

ἀνομοίοις χαίρουσιν, οἷον αὐστηροὶ εὐτραπέλοις καὶ ὀξεῖς ῥᾳθύμις

11. mvp-aristotle-comment-556

1454b12_2 καὶ τἆλλα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἔχοντας is added in order to include all similar defects of character, i. e. defects which are not incompatible with a general goodness of disposition.

11. mvp-aristotle-comment-557

1454b14 παράδειγμα σκληρότητος. For the reason for bracketing the two words see J. of Phil. 14 p. 47 . If they are not an ordinary 'adscript', they may possibly represent a marginal note by Aristotle himself to indicate that a second instance, one of σκληρότης [obstinacy?], was to be added. According to Galen (t. 18. 2 p. 879-80 K.) notes of a very similar description were to be found embedded in the text of Hippocrates.

1454b14_2

11. mvp-aristotle-comment-558

Ἀγάθων: perhaps, as Tyrwhitt suggests, in his Telephus ( Nauck, TGF. p. 764 ).

1454b15

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-559

διατηρεῖν. This quasi-imperatival use of the infinitive (without δεῖ οι χρή) is common enough in Aristotle ( Bon. Ind. 343 a 22 ). For the compound διατηρεῖν comp. Eth. N. 10. 8, 1178 a 13

διατηροῦντες τὸ πρέπον ἑκάστῳ

. — Aeschines in Ctes. 6

ὅταν διατηρηθῶσιν οἱ νόμοι

. — Philemon 94. 6 Kock

ὃς γε ταῦτα πάντα διατηρεῖ

. At this point Aristotle sums up by saying that the rules laid down for the μῦθος and ἤθη in a play must be observed throughout by the poet. But besides these general principles of construction, it is necessary in practice to consider the spectators (comp. Teichmüller, Aristot. Forsch. 2 p. 204) and the impression (αἰσθήσεις) the work is likely to make on them when presented on the stage, as it is easy to produce a bad impression through some fault of practical stage-craft. This seems to be the sense of the present 15. 14549-16. 1454 20 233 passage; Aristotle, however, avoids details, and refers to another writing of his for a fuller explanation of his precept. The incident mentioned in 17, 1455 b 26 may perhaps be taken as an instance of the kind of fault he has in mind.

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-560

1454b15_2 τὰ παρὰ τὰς ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀκολουθούσας αἰσθήσεις. For παρά in a sense approximating to that of διά see Bon. Ind. 562 a 10 and Bernays, Dialoge des Aristot. p. 138. αἰσθήσεις means the impression produced on the spectators, i. e. as we should say, the stage-effect of a play. The qualification, however, τὰς ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀκολουθούσας τῇ ποιητικῇ, limits the responsibility of the poet to that part of the stage-effect which directly depends on his own art ( ἀκολουθούσας τῇ ποιητικῇ); so far as it depends on that of others — actors, costumiers, and the like — it is not within his province ( 6, 1450b17 ). This interpretation, which is as old as Victorius, is much more probable than that of Bernays and others, who suppose the reference in the text to be to the business of the costumier and stage-manager. Throughout the Poetics Aristotle resolutely ignores all such matters as outside the art of poetry proper; and it is inconceivable that he should have given them any special attention in a work like the dialogue περὶ ποιητῶν ( ἐν τοῖς ἐκδεδομένοις λόγοις). For the plural αἰσθήσεις comp. ὄψεις in 6, 1450 a 13, b 20 , and Kühner, Gr. Gr.³ 2. 1 p. 17 .

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-561

1454b18 ἐν τοῖς ἐκδεδομένοις λόγοις: i. e. in the now lost dialogue περὶ ποιητῶν, as Bernays following Victorius has shown (Dialoge des Aristot. p. 27; comp. Bon. Ind. 226b35 ). The reference must be to a work (1) by Aristotle himself, (2) published and written for publication, and (3) on a kindred subject.

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

23. mvp-aristotle-comment-383

15.11 Puisque la Tragedie est une imitation de ce qu'il y a de plus excellent parmy les hommes, nous devons imiter les bons Peintres, qui en donnant à chacun ſa veritable forme, & en les faiſant ſemblables, les reprefentent toûjours plus beaux.]¹

24. mvp-aristotle-comment-384

15.11 Il faut tout de mème qu'un Poète qui veut imiter un homme colére & emporté, ou quelqu'autre caractère ſemblable, ſe remette bien plus devant les yeux ce que la colére doit faire vray-ſemblablement, que ce qu'elle a fait.]²

25. mvp-aristotle-comment-385

15.11 Et c'est ainsi qu' Agathon & Homere ont formé le cara-ctere d'Achille.]³

26. mvp-aristotle-comment-386

15.12 Il faut obferver toutes ces chofes, & outre cela fatisfaire à toutes celles que demandent les deux ſentimens qui font inſepa-rables de la Poëſie, & qui en font les feuls juges.]⁴

27. mvp-aristotle-comment-387

15.12 Car il arrive tres ſouvent qu'on péche de ce côté-là.]⁵

28. mvp-aristotle-comment-388

15.12 Mais il en a été affez parlé dans les Traitez que nous avons donnez ſur cette matière.]⁶

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

117. mvp-aristotle-comment-117

NOTE 117. P. 95.

15.11 OR OF INDOLENT—.

Ραθυμους

: — indolent — nonchalant. Hesychius explains

Ραθυμα, ΜΗ ΠΟΝΗΤΙΚΟΣ ἀλλ᾿ ΕΚΛΥΤΟΣ

. It is improperly rendered, "

timide

," by M. Batteux, and "

mansueto

," by the Italian translators.

118. mvp-aristotle-comment-118

NOTE 118. P. 95.

15.11 SHOULD DRAW AN EXAMPLE APPROACHING RATHER TO A GOOD, THAN TO A HARD AND FEROCIOUS, CHARACTER.

The original is —

Ουτω και τον ποιητην, μιμουμενον και ὀργιλους και ῥαθυμους, και τ'αλλα τα τοιαυτα ἐχοντας ἐπι των ἠθων, ἐπιεικειας ποιειν παραδειγμα η σκληροτητα δει: οἷον τον Αχίλλεα Αγαθων και Όμηρος

. — A passage that has much perplexed and divided the commentators. Of all the explanations which this perplexity has produced, that of Dacier is the most improbable and ill-founded. He forces

ῥαθυμους

into the sense of, emporté, furieux, and makes it

"encherir sur ὀργιλος."

Επιεικεια

, he wrenches from the obvious and proper sense in which it is continually used by Aristotle, into that of probability. And the result of this violent operation upon the passage, is the following strange version: —

"Il faut tout de même, qu’un Poete qui veut imiter un homme colere et emporté, ou quelqu’ autre caractere semblable, se remette bien plus devant les yeux ce que la colere doit faire vraisemblablement (i. e.

ἐπιεικειας

) que ce qu’elle a fait (i. e.

σκληροτητα

!) et c’est ainsi,"

&c.

I may venture to leave all this to the learned reader’s rejection, without any farther comment. I shall only just observe, that the expression,

ΚΑΙ ὀργ. ΚΑΙ ῥαθ.

evidently marks different characters; not, as Dacier makes it, different degrees only of the same character.

Heinsius first suggested, that the phrase

ἐπιεικειας η σκληροτητα

, was elliptical, and

μαλλον

to be understood. But in spite of the "

Attica venustas

," I am much more inclined to suspect an omission of the word. Aristotle would hardly have used a mode of expression so unavoidably ambiguous — or rather, that would, almost unavoidably, lead to a wrong sense; for, the fact is, that all the commentators, before Heinsius, understood the

, as indeed every reader, I believe, would at first naturally understand it, in the disjunctive sense of, or. Besides this, I doubt whether any example of this elliptic phrase occurs in Aristotle’s works. That it may, I will not take upon me to deny; but it seems, at least, very unusual. An instance of it I have not found; but the reader may find many instances of the full phrase,

μαλλον η

, even in this treatise. ¹ However, one, or the other, of these suppositions, it seems necessary to adopt. The passage will then, without forcing the words

ἐπιεικεια

and

σκληροτης

from their usual and proper signification, afford a clear and consistent meaning.

Επιεικεια

is used, I think, here, as it is in cap. xiii. in the general sense of good. ²

Σκληροτης

plainly relates only to his first instance, of the

ὀργιλος

, the angry character, of which it seems to express the extreme degree. In the Ethics ad Nicom. we have —

ΑΓΡΙΟΙ και ΣΚΛΗΡΟΙ

, as synonymous, or very nearly so. A passage of Plato may serve to illustrate and confirm this sense of the word. ³ Speaking of the

θυμοειδες

, or irascible nature, he says, it may produce the

ἀγριον

: —

και όρθως μεν τραφεν, ἀνδρειον ἂν ειη ΜΑΛΛΟΝ Δ' ΕΠΙΤΑΘΕΝ ΤΟΥ ΔΕΟΝΤΟΣ, ΣΚΛΗΡΟΤΕΡΟΝ τε και χαλεπον γεγνοιτ' ἀν, ὡς το εικος

. — And just before —

ΑΓΡΙΟΤΗΤΟΣ τε και ΣΚΛΗΡΟΤΗΤΟΣ, και αὖ μαλακιας τε και ἡμεροτητος

. ⁴

The sense of the passage, then, will be, that, in order to reconcile the first precept, of the

χρηστον

, with the third, of the

ὁμοιον

, the character should be brought as near to a good one, as is consistent with the circumstance of likeness. Thus, if such a character as that of Achilles is to be drawn, its striking features are to be preserved, but, at the same time, to be rather improved and softened, than exaggerated. For the expression must be observed. Aristotle does not say absolutely, according to the sense of Heinsius, that Achilles ought to be drawn, or was drawn,

παραδειγμα ἐπιεικειας

, but rather so than otherwise; —

ΜΑΛΛΟΝ η σκληροτητα

. M. Batteux has very well expressed the spirit of the rule, though he has generalized it, and made it refer to all that precedes

και ὀργιλους, και ῥαθυμους

, &c. — whereas it appears plainly, from what has been said of the force of

σκληροτης

, that the words,

ἐπιεικειας ποιειν παραδ. η σκληρ.

can be applied only to the

ὀργιλοι

; for as to the

ῥαθυμους

, such a character may, indeed, be flattered into the

ἐπιεικης

, but cannot well, by any distortion, be made to appear

σκληρος

"Loin de charger encore le defaut, il le rapprochera de la vertu"

Still, however, what every one, I believe, naturally expects at the first reading of this passage, as it now stands, is, that after having mentioned two instances of faulty characters, the

ὀργιλοι

, and the

ῥαθυμοι

, Aristotle should mention two corresponding instances of good qualities bordering upon, or connected with, each, and of which the Poet might avail himself, to give to each a favour- able turn. But, instead of this, we have a good, and a bad quality, (

ἐπιεικεια

, and

σκληροτης

,) both of which, as we have seen, can be made to relate only to his first instance, the

ὀργιλος

; so that all the rest, between the words

ὀργιλους

, and

ἐπιεικειας

, must be parenthetical. The harshness and embarrassment of such a construction, led me formerly to suspect an error in one of the words,

ἐπιεικειας

, or

σκληροτητα

; and a conjecture was suggested to me by a passage in the Rhetoric, which, I hope, will at least be thought plausible enough to excuse my laying it before the reader. The suspicion seemed to fall upon

σκληροτητα

; for the

ἐπιεικεια

would answer well enough as a softening, or improvement, of

ῥαθυμια

; as an indolent man, who concerns himself about nothing, and cares only for his own ease, is often spoken of as a quiet, good kind of man. Instead of

σκληροτητα

, then, I thought it not improbable, that Aristotle might have written

ἁπλοτητα

. The passage of Aristotle himself which suggested this to me, is in the first book of his Rhetoric, cap. ix. where, delivering the usual precepts relative to the art of encomiastic misrepresentation, he says,

Ληπτεον δε-----ἑκαστον, ἐκ των παρακολουθουντων αει, κατα το ΒΕΛΤΙΣΤΟΝ· οἷον, ΤΟΝ ΟΡΓΙΛΟΝ και τον μανικον, ῾ΑΠΛΟΥΝ και τον αυθαδη, μεγαλοπρεπη και σεμνον

· κ. τ. αλλ. The whole passage is much to the purpose of this place; and is, plainly, not more applicable to the Rhetorician, with respect to the hero of his oration, than it is to the Poet, with respect to the hero of his poem. A passage of Euripides will add, perhaps, some probability to this conjecture. In the Iphigenia at Aulis, Achilles thus draws his own character: Iphigenia at Aulis, v. 926.

Εγω δ’ ἐν ἀνδρως εὐσεβεστάτου τραφεις, Χειρωνος, ἔμαθον τους τροπους ῾ΑΠΛΟΥΣ ἔχειν. Και τοις Ατρείδαις, ἢν μεν ἡγωνται καλως, Πεισομεθ᾽. — ὅταν δε μη καλως, οὐ πεισομεθ'.

Where the meaning of

τροπες άπλες

, is very well fixed by the two subsequent lines, and by the expression,

ἐλευθεραν φυσιν

, in the verse that follows them.

Plato, also, in the Hippias, talks much of the simplicity, truth, and sincerity, of Achilles; as if, in his view, they were the pro- minent features of what was good in the Homeric character of that hero. When Socrates asks Hippias, whether Achilles is not represented by Homer as an artful, designing character, Hippias answers —

Ἥκιστά γε, ὦ Σωκρατες, ἀλλ᾿ ῾ΑΠΛΟΥΣΤΑΤΟΣ

. And, again,

ὡς ὁ μεν Αχιλλευς εἴη ἀληθης τε και ῾ΑΠΛΟΥΣ· ὁ δε Οδυσσευς πολυτροπος τε και ψευδης

. ⁵ And the following lines are there quoted, in which Homer has made Achilles strongly mark this feature of his own character: Il. ix. 308.

Διογένες Λαερτιάδη, πολυμηχαν᾿ Οδυσσευ, Χρη μεν δη τον μυθον ἀπηλεγεως ἀποειπειν, Ἧι περ δη φρονεω τε, και ὡς τετελεσμενον ἐσται· Εχθρα γαρ μοι κεινος ὁμως ἀΐδαο πυλησιν, Ὡς χ᾿ ἑτερον μεν κευθει ἐνι φρεσιν, ἀλλο δε βαζει.

The sense, then, of the passage before us, according to this conjecture, would be this: — If the Poet choose for the subject of his imitation a passionate, or an indolent man, he should give to the former the cast of plain sincerity, and honest frankness; and to the other, (the

ῥαθυμος

) that of moderation, gentleness, ⁶ good-nature, and what the French, by an expressive word which our language wants, term, bonhommie. But I dwell too long upon a mere conjecture. The evident propriety of the word

σκληροτης

, as applicable to the unsoftened and unflattered character of Achilles, may justly, perhaps, protect it from suspicion; though, on the other hand, the passages I have adduced, added to the improbability of the ellipse supposed by Heinsius, the embarrassment of the parenthesis, and the advantage of leaving the

to its most obvious, disjunctive, sense, prevent me from a total rejection of this idea.

The word

παραδειγμα

, here, is taken by most of the commentators ⁷ to mean a perfect ideal model — "

summum exemplar

." Of this I see no reason. I take it to be used here, as it is generally, I believe, if not always, used by Aristotle, merely for an example. Of this the reader may easily satisfy himself by consulting the useful index to Mr. Winstanley’s edition.

119. mvp-aristotle-comment-119

NOTE 119. P. 95.

15.11 AS ACHILLES IS DRAWN BY AGATHO AND BY HOMER. PLATO, in the third book of his Republic, gives a very different view of the Homeric Achilles. He makes him a mere compound of extreme pride and extreme meanness:

ὡστε ἔχειν ἐν αυτῳ νοσηματα δυο ἐναντιω ἀλληλοιν, ἀνελευθερίαν μετα φιλοχρηματίας, και αὖ ὑπερηφανιαν θεων τε και ἀνθρωπων

. ⁸ To which we may add, as a companion, Dr. Jortin’s portrait of Achilles:

"A boisterous, rapacious, mercenary, cruel, and unrelenting brute; and the reader pities none of his calamities, and is pleased with none of his successes!"

⁹ This is far enough from the

παραδειγμα ἐπιεικειας

. But for a juster account of this matter, and for the best illustration of this passage of Aristotle that can be given, I refer the reader to Dr. Beattie’s analysis of the character of this hero, as drawn by Homer; ¹⁰

120. mvp-aristotle-comment-120

NOTE 120. P. 95.

15.12 AND BESIDES THESE, WHATEVER RELATES TO THOSE SENSES WHICH HAVE A NECESSARY CONNECTION WITH POETRY.

Here are two readings:

τας παρα τα ἐξ ἀναγκης ἀκολουθουσας ἀισθησεις τη ποιητικη

: and,

τα παρα τας ἐξ ἀναγκης

, &c. but in both, the object, and general sense of the passage, seem to be the same, though in both, the expression, it must be confessed, is sufficiently embarrassed and obscure. I have preferred the latter, (which is that of Victorius,) as being, on the whole, the clearest. ¹¹

The senses that belong to, accompany, or are connected with, Poetry, are, plainly, the sight, and the hearing, as relative to the

Οψις

, or Spectacle, in the whole extent of that term, and to the

Μελοποιία

or Music. When these are said to be

ἐξ ἀναγκης ἀκολουθουσαι τη ποιητικη

, it cannot be meant that the parts relative to them are essential to the Tragic Poem, like the fable, manners, &c. ¹² but only, that they are necessary appendages of the drama in its complete state, as designed for representation. This is perfectly conformable to what was before said of the

Οψις

; ¹³ that, though confessedly, in one view,

ἥκιστα οἰκειον της ποιητικης

, yet, in another view,

ΕΞ ΑΝΑΓΚΗΣ ἀν εἴη τι μοριον της Τραγωδίας ὁ της Οψεως κοσμος

. ¹⁴

The drift of the precept is obvious. The decoration should be such as to agree with the rules just laid down for the manners. The scenery, dresses, action, &c. must be

ἁρμοττοντα, ὁμοια

— probability, nature, and the costume, must be observed. Even the

μιμησις βελτιονων

, the improved imitation, has here, too, its obvious application. The squalid hair, and ragged dress, of Electra, ¹⁵ must, as well as the

σκληροτης

of Achilles, be a little flattered in the representation, and not too like, &c.

The rule extends, also, to the Melopæia, or the Music; which, from other passages of Aristotle’s works, we may suspect to have been sometimes such, as sacrificed propriety, and just expression — the

ἠθη

, the

πρεπον

, &c. to the depraved taste of what he calls the

Φορτικοι

spectators. ¹⁶¹⁷ It is probable that Aristotle alludes, also, to cap. xvii. ¹⁸ and to the mistakes, which the Poet is liable to commit, who composes without keeping the stage, and the effects of representation, in his eye. Though the Poet neither painted the scenes, nor made the dresses, yet all this formed one of the six constituent parts of Tragedy; fell, of course, under the direction and control of the Poet, and was of the utmost importance to the success of his piece, at a time when representation was almost essential to the idea of dramatic poetry.

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

15.8. mvp-aristotle-comment-57 15.11

THESE RULES OUGHT TO BE OBSERVED; AND NOT ONLY THESE, BUT SUCH ALSO AS REGARD THOSE OBJECTS OF THE OTHER SENSES THAT NECESSARILY ACCOMPANY DRAMATIC POETRY.

BY this I imagine Aristotle means the theatrical apparatus, such as the dress, and masks of the actors, on the proper adapting of which to various characters, much of the effect of dramatic representation must have depended. In the article of dress both the ancient and modern theatre were much in the fame circumstance; but as to the masks, the ancients, at least in comedy, as we may gather from Julius Pollux, were mechanically exact in adapting them to particular characters, which cannot be the cafe as to the modern stage where the actors appear without such monstrous difguises. However the manners, both as to the dress and the figure of the actors may be divided in the fame way as in the compofition of the drama itself.. For first as to goodness. It is obvious that the dress of the characters not only in tragedy, but in comedy and even farce, must be above the level of real life, as is evident in the theatrical representation of shepherds and beggars. As to the perfon of the performer the fame holds in a more essential degree especially in actresses. In real life we know Yy from

from every day's experience, that very plain women are capable of exciting very violent attachment; and if we look among our acquaintance for those who have formed imprudent connections with the sex, we shall not always find the objects remarkable for their personal charms. But a person who does not feel this particular attachment, or if he does, contemplates it in another person, can only conceive beauty as the natural object of love. [G] A Romeo therefore fighing to an ugly Juliet, and apparently turned of forty, will not only excite ridicule but disgust. The theatre is much more delicate in this refpect than it was formerly. I have seen Mr. Havard and Mrs. Pritchard perform Constant and Lady Brute, when the progress of age and decay was marked not only by their figure but by the tremulous modulation of their voice. This however never appeared in Garrick; he acted even young Hamlet and Archer with propriety till he quitted the stage. One of the most beautiful and elegant women living either on or off the stage will, I hope, forgive me for citing her as an example of an impropriety exactly of an opposite nature; I mean in the character of Mrs. Oakley. I will not pretend to determine how far a most lovely and accomplished woman might, in real life, contrive to render herself disagreeable and troublesome to a husband, by conftant and unreasonable jealousy; but every general spectator will be rather inclined to think the man, whom Miss Farren, from suspicious fondness, cannot bear to have out of her company a moment, an object of envy rather than pity or ridicule. The requifite of goodness alfo on the modern theatre applies to the scenery, as in chambers and cottages; indeed this is also sometimes defective [G] See Hill's Actor, paffim. from

POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. from being too good. There is no poffibility of representing the inside of Bobadil's' convenient cabin,' on a London theatre. Secondly, The dress and persons of the performers should be in character, and the scenery likewife. A foldier should not be dressed like a senator or acted by an old or feeble man; neither should the scene represent a room when the dialogue shews the action is in a wood. The third requisite differs from this only as particular characters do from general ones. Prince Henry should not be as fat as Falstaff. Firelocks should not be introduced at the battle of Philippi; nor should the scene represent St. James's Park when Richard falls by the hand of his competitor in Bofworth field. A breach of the fourth requisite consistency was fully exemplified by the practice of the old theatre taken notice of in Note v. on Chap. vI. when one or two characters only were dressed in the habit of the time or place of the drama, and the rest in the fashionable dress of the day. Yy 2 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

8. mvp-aristotle-comment-108

Ritter, cap. 15 § 8

quarta lege in moribus fingendis observanda absoluta et contrariis exemplis illustrata, iam ad mores revertitur, ut nonnulla quae partim ex primo praecepto partim ex fine tragoediae proposito consequuntur adiungeret. οὕτω καὶ τὸν ποιητήν - ᾿Αγάθων καὶ Ὅμηρος:tragicus poeta quamquam iracundos et socordes et aliis morum vitiis infectos describit, hos tamen meliores ostendere (h. e. ἐπιεικεῖς ποιεῖν) debet quam vulgo esse solent, qualem Achillem alioquin iracundum finxit Agatho in Telepho tragoedia et Homerus in postrema Iliadis rhapsodia. hanc explicationem sumpsi non ex fallaci editionum scriptura sed ex codicum lectione glossematis repurgata. codices enim tantum non omnes. (AcBcNa et Momnes et P, alii) haec exhibent : τὰ τοιαῦτα ἔχοντας ἐπὶ τῶν ἠθῶν τοιούτους ὄντας ἐπιεικεῖς ποιεῖν παράδειγμα σκληρότητος, οἷον κτλ., quae sana sunt et dilucida, si duo interpretamenta avelluntur. nam τοιούτους ὄντας est explicatio verborum τὰ τοιαῦτα ἔχοντας ἐπὶ τῶν ἠθῶν, itemque παράδειγμα σκληρότητος nota est marginalis, ab eo adscripta qui Achillis nomine excitatus hunc fuisse durum virum et obstinatum lectores admonere voluit. Agathonis Telephum ab Athenaeo X.. p. 454 D. commemoratum respici acute coniecit Tyrwhittus. Homerus Achillem Priamo mitem ac plane ἐπιεικῆ in postremo Iliadis libro descripsit. verisimile est eundem Achillem multis Telephi precibus fatigatum sub exitum tragoediae illius ab Agathone evulgatae mitem et placidum prodisse. vulgo. codicibus invitis Aldum auctorem secuti legunt: τὰ τοιαῦτα ἔχοντας ἐπὶ τῶν ἠθῶν, ἐπιεικείας ποιεῖν παράδειγμα, ἢ σκληρότητος δεῖ, οἷον ατλ. sed. vide quam incerto fundamento haec nitantur. particulam ἢ et verbum δεῖ nulli codici inest, ἐπιεικείας ex uno Leidensi affertur. alii suspectum illud ἢ pro aut alii pro potius quam accipiunt, sed illi sententiam hanc non aptam procudunt, quasi duritiae exemplar tragoediae praecipue conveniat, hi Aristoteli loquendi genus ei incognitum offerunt: quamvis enim interdum ante ἢ notio potius a Graecis suppleatur, eiusmodi tamen loci ita conformati sunt, ut omnis significationis dubitatio exclusa sit. 1) Verba τοιούτους ὄντας quamquam ex Mediceis non afferuntur, inesse tamen admodum verisimile est. etiam Victorius illa invenit in "calamo exaratis libris,16.

9. mvp-aristotle-comment-109

Ritter, cap. 15 § 9

καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὰς παρὰ τὰς ἐξ ἀνάγ κης ἀκολουθούσας αἰσθήσεις τῇ ποιητικῇ: h. e. et insuper eas perceptiones quae praeter necessarias poesin comitantur. an mores boni sint aptique sibique constent, an cum ipsa factorum serie conveniant necne, id ex ipsa poesi necessario percipitur. sed poesin etiam saltatio et musica comitari possunt, quod si fit, in his quoque artibus τὸ ἠθικὸν probe observandum est. nomen αἴσθησις similiter positum c. 7, 6., praepositio παρὰ (praeter) c. 14, 7. τὰς παρὰ τὰς recepi ex AcNa et L: ceteri aut τὰ παρὰ τὰς aut τὰς παρὰ τὰ. quos statim dicit λόγους ἐκδεδομένους, intelligere videtur librum a se περὶ μουσικῆς et περὶ παιδείας olim conscriptum, tum etiam illa quae in Politicis etiamnum de musica (VIII, 5 sqq.) exposita legimus.

Aristote Poetics 15.11

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NOTE 117. P. 95.

NOTE 118. P. 95.

NOTE 119. P. 95.

NOTE 120. P. 95.

THESE RULES OUGHT TO BE OBSERVED; AND NOT ONLY THESE, BUT SUCH ALSO AS REGARD THOSE OBJECTS OF THE OTHER SENSES THAT NECESSARILY ACCOMPANY DRAMATIC POETRY.

Ritter, cap. 15 § 8

Ritter, cap. 15 § 9

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