Poetics. Aristote. Paris. 1692.
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.
2.
mvp-aristotle-comment-523
18
ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη:
in
6, 1450 b 8
.
a 21
108.
mvp-aristotle-comment-108
NOTE 108. P. 92.
15.2
THE MANNERS SHOULD BE GOOD.
Good, in the usual sense of moral goodness; the only sense which
χρηστα, applied to manners, will bear, and which, even though the word would admit of other senses, would here be fixed, beyond a doubt, by the plain, unequivocal expression of the whole passage. Dacier admires and follows the nonsense of Le Bossu, who makes
χρηστα ηθη mean
poetically good; that is, well marked by the Poet, in which sense, the rule is equally well observed by Milton in his Satan, and by Richardson in his Grandison.
"There are," according to this "best interpreter of Aristotle,"
"deux sortes de bonté dans les mœurs; l'une que l'on peut appeller morale, et qui est propre à la vertu: et l'autre est la poetique, à laquelle les hommes les plus vicieux ont autant de part que les gens de bien." How could Mr. Harris, with his thorough knowledge of the Greek language, recommend all this, as
"a fine and copious commentary on this part of Aristotle's Poetics?"
[On Music, &c. p. 83, note.]
I shall not waste time in confuting, what has been sufficiently confuted long ago
1
. Aristotle says plainly, the
ηθος will be
χρηστον, if the
προαιρεσις is
χρηστη, and the contrary: —
φαυλον μεν, [sc. ηθος εξει,] εαν φαυλην [sc. προαιρεσιν ποιῃ φανεραν,] χρηστον δε, εαν χρηστην. See, now, Dacier's version of this:
"Il y a des mœurs dans un discours, ou dans une action, lorsque l'un et l'autre font connoitre l'inclination ou la resolution telle qu'elle est, mauvaise si elle est mauvaise, bonne si elle est bonne."
The best comment I have seen on this passage is that of
Heinsius, (cap. xiv.)
which I shall therefore give entire.
"Cæterum, in moribus, quatuor tenenda esse docet Aristoteles; quorum primum est, ut sint boni. Quod est exponendum pluribus. Inter ea quæ quam maximè in Tragœdiâ reprehendebat PLATO, vel præcipuum hoc erat;—quod nimirum varia, non uniformis, sit illius imitatio; et occasione oblatâ, probos juxta improbosque imitetur; nonnunquam autem improbos tantum: quo facillimè animum decipi humanum, qui dum solum respicit decorum, quod propositum est illi, bonorum sæpe, et malorum, discrimen non agnoscit, et, ut ipse Poeta, utrosque mores imitatur; quo nihil magis in republicâ perniciosum excogitari potest . Quippe ratione istâ scholam vitiorum, non virtutum, fieri theatrum; et quidem quanto magis hanc in partem inclinamus omnes. Præterea, interpretes Platonis—alium admitti ab eo negant Poetam, quam qui Actiones imitetur; cætera enim delectare quidem, non autem docere; plerumque vero mores vitiare ac corrumpere, ideoque nocere magis quam prodesse. Huic ut occurreret Philosophus, primum hoc de moribus præceptum esse voluit, probi ut essent; tales enim esse in Tragœdiâ non modo posse, quod negabat Plato, sed et, quantum ratio poematis permitteret, debere . Confirmant hoc exempla tragicorum; qui sine ullâ lege hanc tamen legem sunt secuti. Etiam posteriores critici, qui nonnullas veterum hoc nomine notârunt, quod aut omnes, aut plerasque, pessime moratas haberent personas. Qualis est, ex. grat. Euripidæ Orestes; in quo, præter Pyladen, improbi omnium sunt mores. Neque enim hæc mens Aristotelis, aut non alios quam optimè moratos, esse inducendos, aut, si alii inducantur, quos fuisse improbos constat, probos iis tribuendos esse mores: sed, ut, quantum ratio permittit, plures optime morati in eodem inducantur dramate. Quamvis enim et utrique requiruntur, et tam horum quam illorum ratione constet decorum, probos tanto esse præferendos, quanto plus conducunt cum spectantur."
To do full justice to Aristotle's meaning, it must be observed, 1. That what he says should be understood chiefly, though by no means solely, as some have explained it, of the principal characters. 2. That the word
Χρηστος does not imply a character of high and exemplary virtue. It seems to answer to our popular expression,
a good sort of man; and it excludes absolutely, only habitual vice, bad disposition,
πονηρια, ΜΟΧΘΗΡΙA, as it is expressed in a passage that should be compared with this . 3. That the rule, even with respect to such characters, is not absolute; as is evident from Aristotle's expression, when he gives an example of the violation of it,
παραδειγμα πονηριας ΜΗ ΑΝΑΓΚΑΙΟΝ: and, again, in cap. xxv.
οταν ΜΗ ΑΝΑΓΚΗΣ ΟΥΣΗΣ, κ. τ. αλ. . 4. That what he presently adds,
εστι δε εν εκαστῳ γενει, is a necessary modification of the precept, and shows, that he did not mean to exclude comparative badness of manners, but meant only—as good as may be, consistently with the observance of the other requisites mentioned—the
αρμοττον, and the
ομοιον.
The reason of the precept, Aristotle has not given us. But, it appears, I think, clearly, from his substituting the word
ΒΛΑΒΕΡΑ (hurtful, pernicious,) for
μοχθηρα, or
πονηρα, in his enumeration of the greatest faults of Poetry at the end of cap. xxv. that, however he might differ from Plato as to the hurtful tendency of Tragedy, and of imitative Poetry in general, he so far at least agreed with him, as to admit the danger of those poetical, embellished, and flattering, exhibitions of vice, in which, as
one of the most eloquent of modern writers expresses it,
"L'auteur, pour faire parler chacun selon son caractere, est forcé de mettre dans la bouche des mechants leurs maximes, et leurs principes, revetus de tout l'eclat des beaux vers, et debités d'un ton imposant et sententieux, pour l'instruction du parterre."
2
With respect to characters of atrocious villainy, such as that of Glenalvon in
Douglas, which can excite only pure detestation, I believe the ideas of Plato, and perhaps of Aristotle, were very nearly, if not exactly, the same. This admirable writer has expressed in the concluding note of his
Nouvelle Eloise:
"En achevant de relire ce recueil, je crois voir pourquoi l'interêt, tout foible qu'il est, m'en est si agréable, et le fera, je pense, à tout lecteur d'un bon naturel. C'est qu'au moins ce foible interêt est pur et sans melange de peine; qu'il n'est point excité par des noirceurs, par des crimes, ni melé du tourment de haïr. Je ne sçaurois concevoir quel plaisir on peut prendre à imaginer et composer le personnage d'un scelerat, à se mettre à sa place tandis qu'on le représente, a lui prèter l'éclat le plus imposant. Je plains beaucoup les auteurs de tant de Tragédies pleines d'horreurs, lesquels passent leur vie à faire agir et parler des gens qu'on ne peut écouter ni voir sans souffrir," &c.
15.2.
mvp-aristotle-comment-51
15.2
A WOMAN, OR EVEN A SLAVE MAY BE DRAWN WITH THIS EX- CELLENCE OF CHARACTER, THOUGH IT IS PROBABLE THAT A WOMAN SHOULD BE WORSE THAN A MAN, AND THAT A SLAVE SHOULD BE ABSOLUTELY BAD.
THIS decifion of Aristotle does not appear very favourable to the ladies [2]. Metastasio is angry with him for having thus without any neceffity, insulted half the human race. But if the principles on which Metastasio explains this passage, as mentioned in the preceding. note are right, there will be no insult at all. For if goodness of manners means manners strongly marked, it will be obvious to common observation that the remark is just, without recurring to Athens, where women were almost as much secluded from the general commerce of the world, in the time of Aristotle, as they are now, but even at the present time in western Europe, where they mix so much and take so active a part in society; I am speaking in general, there may be particular exceptions; but these it is not the province of poetry, at least of tragedy to imitate. A professed delineator of manners almost in our own time, has pronounced the same judgement on the sex. Pope says, and he quotes a lady as the author of the remark, Nothing so true as what you once let fall; • Moft women have no character at all.' [Q] Bossu (whom Mr. Harris calls Ariftotle's best interpreter) observes, ' As for the fex, • Aristotle says in his Poetic, that there are fewer good women than others, and that they do < more harm than good.' In what part of the Poetic did he find this passage? My
My hypothefis it is true, will not afford this excuse for the Stagirite's want of gallantry. But whoever reflects on the fituation of the Grecian women, must know they could not poffefs that goodness of character which I imagine Ariftotle to mean, in an equal degree with men. For they were very little better than in a state of domestic fervitude, and therefore could feldom have opportunities of exerting dignity of character. This is by no means the cafe with the modern female character. Their manners, indeed, are not so strongly marked as those of men, nor afford so much variety, but they are equally capable of this poetical goodness, as far as they are marked, with those of men. I do not mean such characters as Lady Macbeth and Medea, who do not properly pofsess female manners, but such as Juliet, as Constance, as Desdemona, and as Belvidera. As for a flave, our tragic drama knows no such character as existed under that name in the FREE republic of Athens. Zanga and Oroonoko are captive heroes. I would not be understood however, either as wishing to palliate or apologize, for the opinion of Arifstotle in this or any other place where I think him abfolutely in the wrong. Of the unfavourable idea he entertained of the fair sex there can be no doubt. This is proved beyond contradiction, from a passage in his natural history (R) of animals, which Mr. Twining has quoted, and I shall venture to tranflate, as a compleat specimen of the purest absurdity. • Woman is more apt to pity and • fall into tears than man. She is more given to envy, more ready to • find fault, fonder of scandal, and more apt to give blows. She is • also more addicted to anxiety and despondency, more impudent, more * false, more easily deceived and less apt to forget, also more wakeful, [R] Book IX. Chap. I. • and
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. [s] and yet more slothful, and on the whole more obstinate than • men.' Perhaps I may be thought to take up the cause of the most amiable part of our species too warmly, when I declare this passage alone is a fufficient answer to all those, who think Ariftotle never in the wrong. The philosopher is not here speaking of the civil but the natural character of woman, confidered as an animal, as the female of the human race. He is enquiring into the nature of females in general throughout the whole of animated nature. These are his words. Females (he says, with an ، exception as to tigers and bears) are lefs ferocious but more malicious, • deceitful, and infidious than males, and more attentive in nourishing ' their young.- The traces of these manners are to be found, as I may say, in all animals, but they are most confpicuous in those whose manners are most marked, and especially in mankind whose nature is • most perfect, so that these habits will be most confpicuous in them.' And then follows the definition above quoted. Here therefore the ladies are marked as the representatives of the whole creation, with the flattering exception indeed of tigresses and she-bears; but certainly moft of the distinctions between the sexes mentioned by Aristotle are diftinctions of artificial habit, the consequences of custom and education, and not natural habit or instinct. In fome of them, as timidity and softness, the ancient and modern females agree; in others, as impudence and [s] Αγρυπνότερον καὶ οκνηρότερον. Of this apparent paradox, Mr. Twining gives the following humorous solution. ، More able to keep late hours, and at the same time more lazy than men,' might not this be rendered 'fonder of fitting up late, and lying in bed late;' perhaps this may be the cafe in general at present, as the ladies are fonder of dancing, and as yet at least, though I doubt if that will continue, not quite fo fond of sporting as the men. diffimulation,,
diffimulation, they differ, on account of their different mode of life. But wherever male jealoufy and tyranny, in modern times, reduces females to the fituation of flaves, the qualities of flaves will still be found in them. Surely there is not more difference between the characters of men and women, as stated by Aristotle, than there is between a foldier and an attorney (T). And I should hardly impute this to natural instinct. I have heard it observed, that on examining the ruins either of Pompeia or Herculaneum, the bodies of the men were found in the attitude of resistance, the women in that of refignation, which I conceive to be as much the consequence of habit as the discovery faid to have been made of a young man in women's cloaths, by attempting to draw a chair in a method which his dress would not permit [u]. To In a note on the former edition of my translation, I have faid a more perfect character might be found among women than men. trace the causes of this, may perhaps throw fome light on the subject of the preceding note. The qualities that raise men in the esteem of the world, that render them in the general opinion of mankind great and respectable on which poetical goodness of character depends, are often not connected, but [T] I do not mean to say, that there are not particular instances of good or bad dispositions refifting the force of habit; there are certainly rapacious and cunning soldiers, mafculine women, and honeft and even liberal-minded attorneys, for I cannot agree with Mr. Shenstone, or at least am more lucky in my acquaintance with them, as I know several in whom the gentleman, the christian, and the man is NOT (as he afferts) swallowed up in the lawyer. [U] Is not the imputation of these distinctions to natural causes something on the fame principle with the remark of the old groom, who had found, from long experience, that cropped horses were naturally good? frequently
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. frequently even in oppofition to what may strictly be called moral virtue. That a degree of this poetical goodness is not incompatible even with atrocious crimes, has already been observed; and we may add, that in modern times it frequently depends on acknowledged vices, as a certain degree of gallantry and duelling. In regard to the first, how nearly has Fielding made Joseph Andrews an object of ridicule; and what pains is he obliged to employ to excuse him, by his violent attachment to another woman. The same may be observed as to duelling, in the character of Sir Charles Grandison, who, after all the trouble Richardfon has taken to draw him perfect, is neither the object of our love or our respect. Indeed the poet's pencil is not always true to his intention (x). I have no doubt that Rowe, in the Fair Penitent, meant to make Altamont the object of our esteem, and Lothario of our detestation. But he has fo contrived in the execution, that we despise Altamont, and the gallant gay Lothario is the favorite of the spectators, though he is an unprincipled, and in one instance a despicable villain, for no crime can be more truly defpicable than boasting of a woman's favors. The same may be faid of two other characters in different works, Lovelace and Sir Charles Grandifon. But a woman may be drawn perfectly good, and at the same time perfectly interesting, for there is no virtue in the catalogue of moral or christian duties that is not becoming, and does not both give and receive additional lustre, when possessed by that amiable sex. The utmost exertions of patience, and meekness, which at least fink the dignity of the tragic hero, raise the tragic heroine in our esteem. The characters of Imogen, of Desdemona, and of Cordelia, are as nearly patterns of [x] Maffinger has fucceeded in this in his Fatal Dowry, from which Rowe entirely borrowed his plot, though without any acknowledgement. See a comparison between these plays in the Observer, No. 89, 90, 91.
Tt perfection
perfection as human nature will admit, erring only as to that passion which we have already mentioned as furnishing [Y] that μεγάλη ἁμαρτία, that great frailty which causes the distress of virtuous characters without awakening our disgust, or sinking them in our esteem. manners. Before I quit this part of the subject I must make one observation, though it partly anticipates the subject of the next note. It relates to the tendency my fair countrywomen have to violate in real life an example of Ariftotle given to enforce the neceffity of poetical propriety of He tells us ⚫ there is a character of courage and fierceness adapted to men, which would be very improper in a woman.' My own feelings on this head are so much in unison with those of the Stagirite, that I am as much disgusted at seeing a delicate and accomplished woman drawing a bow, or managing a spirited hunter, as I should be at a man's working a pair of ruffles, or embroidering a waistcoat. These exercises are not only unfit for female delicacy but even destructive of female beauty, as they tend to make the arm mufcular, and consequently to rob it of its first grace, rotundity, and softness of outline. There is even something repugnant to our sensations in seeing a woman skilful in things that do not become her sex. In such cases there is a beauty even in awkwardness. There is a masterly stroke in Rousseau's Emilius [z] exemplifying this. Sophia could not fit still. She rose with vivacity. She ran over the whole shop, examined the tools, felt the smoothness ' of the planks, picked up the shavings, looked at our hands, and faid • she liked this kind of work because it was so clean. She playfully ، attempted even to imitate Emilius. With her white and delicate hand • she run a plane over a board, the plane slid on without having any [Y] See Note Iv. Chap. XIII. [z] Vol. II. Part II. • effect.
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. • effect. I thought I beheld the god of love in the air laughing and • beating his wings. I thought I heard him shout with delight, and fay, " Hercules is revenged." ، Homer who lived in more natural times than Aristotle, or the Greek tragic writers, was much more favorable to the characters of women. In what amiable colors has he drawn Helen, the cause of so much war and bloodshed. How different is the behaviour of Hector to her, and that of the pious Æneas of Virgil! Her lamentation over the body of Hector, in the last book of the Iliad, is beyond expreffion beautiful [A]. The cafe with regard to flavery was different, and Homer expresses himself on that head with nearly as much strength as Ariftotle. [B]' Jove fix'd it certain that whatever day • Makes man a flave, takes half his worth away.' POPE'S ODYSSEY, 1. xvii. v. 393- [A] Madam Dacier's criticism on this speech is the very Βαθος of the absurd. • Homer • does not say this only to shew the goodness and humanity of Hector, but also to support the • probability of the poem. For if Hector, who was master in Troy, both on account of ⚫ his own valor and the old age of Priam, had not been in the interests of Helen, there • would have been no likelihood of her not being delivered up to the Greeks in the course of so fatal a war.' Madam Dacier in this remark omits the testimony Helen bears to the paternal tenderness shewn her by Priam. Ἑκυρὸς δὲ, πατὴρ ὡς, ἤπιος ἀιεὶ. There is the fame omission in Pope's tranflation. [Β] Ἥμισυ γὰρ τ᾿ ἀρετῆς ἀποαίνυται ἐυρύοπα Ζεὺς ᾿Ανέρος εὖτ᾿ ἂν μιν κατὰ δέλιον ἦμαρ ἕλησεν. Tt2 ODYSSEY, 1. XVII. v. 322. NOTE
1.
mvp-aristotle-comment-101
Ritter, cap. 15 § 1
Quae in exprimendis moribus personarum agentium tragico poetae observanda sint, quae fugienda docetur. Mores hominum in tragoedia agentium proximo post fabulam loco cum supra (c. 6, 14) collocati essent, nemo quidem mirabitur post absolutam fabulae explicationem auctorem adgredi ad morum pertractationem, sed id mirum videbitur unicuique attento animo totum librum perlegenti, ab hoc loco nimium languescere argumenti propositi expositionem, adeo ut modo nonnisi disiecta membra summi philosophi et prudentissimi hominis agnoscere videamur, modo virum ineptum et sola doctrina superbientem intueamur. prius illud cadit in disputationem quae c. 15. continetur. de moribus enim tragoediae pauca quaedam et ieiuna digitis enumerantur adiectis quibusdam non contemnendis observationibus. sed tam arida et tenuis est haec expositio, ut qui eam antecedenticomparaverit, vix Aristotele dignam iudicare possit. num, igitur pro suppositicia habenda est? non puto: nam quae interpolator ille a nobis saepe per hunc librum deprehensus inseruit, ea tot indiciis coarguuntur, ut haec de moribus dicta isti tribuere non possim. itaque sic statuo, Ari! stotelis de moribus disputationem ab isto interpolatore in epitomam redactam et nonnullis in locis mutatam ad nos per venisse. :
ὅπως χρηστά ᾖ: hoc praeceptum consequitur ex illis quae с. 13, 1-4. exposita leguntur. conf. c. 2 extr ceterum is cuius probi mores sunt minoribus nihilo minus vін! tiis obnoxius esse et magnis erroribus constrictus teneri potr est. –
ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη: epitomator idemque interpolator ad sua ipsius (c. 6, 17) bona ante exprompta provocat.
χρηστὸν δ' ἐὰν χρηστήν: quod ante
χρηστὸν plerique codices
ἢ vel
ἢ addunt, id ex proximo versu (
χρηστὰ ᾖ) huc delatum est. in editionibus praeterea legimus
φαῦλον μὲν ἐὰν φαύλην, sed hoc additamentum abest ab AcBcNa et. M omnibus et LPQ, neque adesse oportet, cum dicenti nihil propositum sit, nisi ut quos intelligat bonos mores indicet. me: lius adeo et facilius sequentia sic succedunt. nam cum scribit
ἔστι δὲ ἐν ἑκάστῳ γένει, ad
ἔστι intelligendum est
χρηστὸν ἦθος, idque fieri commode potest, si sola illa
χρηστὸν δ᾽ ἐὰν χρηστήν praecesserunt.
καίτοι γε ἴσως-φαῦλόν ἐστιν: genus muliebre virili comparatum sequius est et deterius, et servorum genus. cum liberis et ingenuis collatum omnino vile est, sed in suo genere unusquisque bene moratus esse ac studere rebus honestis potest. mira haec nobis videri solent, sed Aristotelis non minus severum de feminis iudicium legimus in eius Hi storia animalium IX, 1. p. 608 b 8-15.