Aristote Poetics 25.22

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Pour défendre les Poëtes, on employe ſouvent auſſi l'autorité de l'uſage, qui fait, par exemple, qu'on appelle du vin, un vin qui eſt mêlé d'eau. Et c'eſt ainſi qu'on excuſe ces expreſſions d'Homere qui dit des botines d'eſtain, quoyqu'elles fuſſent de fer, & qu'il n'y eût qu'un peu d'eſtain dans la ſoudure; qui appelle Ouvriers en airain, les forgerons qui travaillent le fer, & qui dit, en parlant de Ganymede, qu'il verſe du vin aux Dieux, quoyque les Dieux ne boivent pas de vin. Mais toutes ces expreſſions peuvent être ſauvées auſſi par la metaphore.

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.) — 25 focus
Περὶ ποιητικῆς (OCR draft) Perseus (Aristotle, De arte poetica liber. Rudolf Kassel, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965. Reference edition for passage alignment.) — 25 focus
Poetics, Greek text (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) Experimental (Ingram Bywater's Greek text of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1909.) — 25 focus
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.) — 25 focus
Translations (13)
Poetics (W. H. Fyfe) (OCR draft) Perseus (William Hamilton Fyfe's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, Loeb Classical Library, 1939 printing.) — 25 focus
Arabic Poetics (Badawī edition, 1953) (OCR draft) (The ancient Arabic translation of Aristotle's Poetics in ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Badawī's 1953 edition.) — 25 focus
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.) — 25 focus
Aristotle on the Art of Poetry (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) Experimental (Ingram Bywater's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1909.) — 25 focus
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.) — 25.22 focus
7. When a word, in any passage, appears to express a contradiction, we must consider, in how many different SENSES it may there be taken. Here, for instance-
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.) — 25.22 focus
As to the way in which contradictions may be excused, they should be considered in the same light as confutations in an argument. We should observe if the same thing is spoken of or to the same person or in the same manner, if the person speaks in his own person
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.) — 25.22 focus
It is probable, therefore, that this objection is erroneous.
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.) — 25 focus
Poetica d'Aristotile (Bernardo Segni, 1549) (OCR draft) Experimental (Bernardo Segni's 1549 Florentine Italian translation, aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.) — 25 focus
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.) — 25 focus
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.) — 25 focus
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.) — 25 focus
Arabic Poetics (Abū Bishr Mattā; Tkatsch edition, unaligned) (OCR draft) Experimental (Tkatsch's edition of the medieval Arabic translation in its original, unaligned segmentation.) — 25 focus

Commentary

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

19. mvp-aristotle-comment-1020

τὰ δὲ διαιρέσει, scil. λυτέον. Διαίρεσις—a wider term than our 'punctuation '—is the opposite of σύνθεσις ( comp. Soph. el. 4, 166 a23 ), and includes every sort of break in reading, even one only just enough to keep words from being taken together in construction.
The kind of difficulty to which this solution is applicable, may be seen from the instances in the Sophistici elenchi,
ἐγώ σ᾽ ἔθηκα δοῦλον ὄντ᾽ ἐλεύθερον
( 4, 166 a36 ), and
ἔστιν ἀγαθὸν ὄντα σκυτέα μοχθηρὸν εἶναι;
339 (20, 177 b14) —where the words are ambiguous and admit of being construed in two different ways. With this may be compared what Aristotle says in the Rhetoric ( 3. 5, 1407 b 14 ) on the ambiguities in Heraclitus :
τὰ γὰρ Ἡρακλείτου διαστίξαι ἔργον διὰ τὸ ἄδηλον εἶναι ποτέρῳ πρόσκειται, τῷ ὕστερον ἢ τῷ πρότερον, οἷον ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ αὐτοῦ τοῦ συγγράμματος· φησὶ γὰρ “τοῦ λόγου τοῦδ᾽ ἐόντος ἀεὶ ἀξύνετοι ἄνθρωποι γίγνονται”.
ἄδηλον γὰρ τὸ ἀεί πρὸς ὁποτέρῳ (δεῖ) διαστίξαι. On the beginnings of formal punctuation in Greece see Schmidt, Beiträge zur Gesch. der Grammatik p. 506 , and Meisterhans, Grammatik³ p. 11 .

19. mvp-aristotle-comment-1021

Ἐμπεδοκλῆς. The passage here quoted appears in the editions of Empedocles in a somewhat different form,
αἶψα δὲ θνήτ᾽ ἐφύοντο, τὰ πρὶν μάθον ἀθάνατ᾿ εἶναι, ζωρά τε τὰ πρὶν ἄκρητα, διαλλάξαντα κελεύθους
( fr. 35, 14-15 Diels ); and it is known that Theophrastus read it thus, as he adduced it to show that ζωρότερον in Homer meant τὸ κεκραμένον: Athenaeus 423 F .
Θεόφραστος δ᾽ ἐν τῷ περὶ μέθης ζωρότερόν φησιν εἶναι τὸ κεκραμένον.
This is not the place to consider either the reading recognized by Theophrastus or his interpretation of ζωρότερον and ζωρά. Aristotle has a different reading, ζωρά τε πρὶν κέκρητο; and any difficulty that may have been found in it he meets by simply affirming the possibility of another διαίρεσις, another way of construing the words. He does not dispute the meaning which was assigned to ζωρά; his assumption presumably was that ζωρά= ἄκρατα ( v. b15 ). The positive ζωρός no longer existed in Attic; but in Ionic the comparative ζωρότερον was to be found in Herodotus and Hippocrates, in the sense of 'having but a small admixture of water': Herod. 6, 84
Κλεομένεα δὲ λέγουσι ἡκόντων τῶν Σκυθῶν... μαθεῖν τὴν ἀκρητοποσίην παρ᾿ αὐτῶν... ἔκ τε τόσου, ὡς αὐτοὶ λέγουσι, ἐπεὰν ζωρότερον βούλωνται πιεῖν, “ ἐπισκύθισον” λέγουσι
 (where ζωρότερον πίνειν = ἀκρατοποτεῖν). — Hippocrates 2, 654 Κ.
οἶνον, ἣν μή τι κωλύῃ, πίνειν ζωρότερον παλαιὸν ἐπὶ τέσσαρας ημέρας.
 There is one instance of it in Attic prose, in Theophrastus Char. 4, 9
δεινὸς φαγεῖν καὶ ζωρότερον πιεῖν
 ('ungemischten Wein zu trinken', R. Meister). Aristotle does not say what the question was that had been raised by the critics; it may be supposed, however ( comp. Hermann ad loc.), to have turned on the πρίν before κέκρητο, which owing to its ambiguous position may be construed with either ζωρά or κέκρητο. If one construes it with κέκρητο, the clause will mean 'things pure had been before that mixed'; but in that case an objector might very well urge the inconsistency between this and the statement in the preceding line, in which Empedocles speaks of the 'mortal' forms as assumed by the elements only when mixed up together in the actual world ( comp. Zeller, Ph. d. Gr. 340 COMMENTARY 22 p. 784 ). On the other hand, if the πρίν be taken with ζωρά, the sense will be 'things before that pure were found mixed up together' (for the tense of κέκρητο v. Kühner, Gr. Gr. 1. 1 p. 152 ; Goodwin, Synt. of Gk. Moods and Tenses § 52 ); and the objection of the critic is answered. The integrity of the text of the present passage has been doubted in recent times by several scholars of distinction. Bergk ( Kl. Schriften 2 p. 86) has suggested ζωρά τε πρὶν τὰ κέκρητο; Gomperz ( Hermes 31 p. 469) ζωρά τε ἃ (i. e. θ' ἃ) πρὶν κέκρητο; and Diels ( on Emped. l. c.) ζωρά τε τὰ πρὶν ἔκρητο (on the analogy of ἔπλητο).

19. mvp-aristotle-comment-1022

1461a25 ἀθάνατα. As Aristotle is so apt to curtail his quotations, it is hardly necessary to restore ἀθάνατ᾿ (εἶναι). For the omission of εἶναι see on 24, 1459 b9 .
1461a26

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

35. mvp-aristotle-comment-631

25.19 35. Le même Hippias défend auſſi par le même moyen ce Poëte dans ce paſſage, où aprés avoir parlé d'un bois bien sec, on l'accuſe de dire ensuite, qu'une partie de ce bois eft corrompue par la pluye.] 1

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

246. mvp-aristotle-comment-246

NOTE 246.

25.19 P. 128. AND MIX'D BEFORE UNMIX'D.
Ζωρά τε τὰ πρὶν ΑΚΡΗΤΑ,
[
διαλλάττοντα κελεύθους
: for so the verse is completed, in Simplicius and Athenæus.] This seems the best and most authentic reading, and Dacier's the most reasonable explanation. The meaning of the words,
ζωρόν, ζωρότερον
, was matter of great dispute among the antients themselves. See Plutarch's Sympos. Prob. V. 4. — M. Batteux, taking it to mean pure, unmixed, reads, consistently with that idea, for
ἄκρητα, ΚΕΚΡΑΤΟ.
But, that this word, whatever it was, meant unmixed, seems plain from the passage of Athenæus, p. 423, 424 , about Theophrastus ; who, it seems, in a treatise on drunkenness, adduced these very lines of Empedocles to prove, that the meaning of
ζωρότερον
was, not pure wine, but wine mixed with water.
The expression,
διαλλάττοντα κελεύθους
, seems to prove, as Dacier has explained it, that the second verse was not intended merely as explanatory repetition, in other terms, of the change described in the first, but as descriptive of a contrary change; an interpretation which is somewhat supported by the two following lines of the same Poet, on the same subject: —
Ἄλλοτε μὲν, φιλότητι συνερχόμεν’ εἰς ἓν ἅπαντα, Ἄλλοτε δ’ αὖ, δίχ’ ἕκαστα φορεύμενα νείκεος ἔχθει.
1 —and, perhaps, still better, by the lines quoted by Aristotle, Phys. Auscult. VIII. p. 408. The expression —
ΜΑΘΟΝ ἀθάνατ’ εἶναι
— is well explained by Casaubon, upon Athenæus, p. 718,
μαθον
,
pro εἰώθεισαν, aut ἐπεφύκεισαν
: —
"didicerant esse, pro erant, vel solebant, esse,"
&c. See also the verses just referred to, in the Phys. Auscult. where the same expression occurs —
ΜΕΜΑΘΗΚΕ φύεσθαι.
Of
διαίρεσις
and
σύνθεσις
, and the ambiguity of punctuation, as a source of sophistical argumentation, more may be seen, if it be thought worth seeing, Rhet. II. 24, p. 580. De Soph. Elench. p. 284, 288, 303, ed. Duval.

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

25.14. mvp-aristotle-comment-122 25.19

THE IMPOSSIBLE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED AS CONDUCING ON THE WHOLE EITHER TO THE END, WHICH IT IS THE AIM OF POETRY TO ATTAIN, OR TO EXCELLENCE OF CHARACTER, OR AS BEING AGREEABLE TO RECEIVED OPΙΝΙΟΝ.

I IMAGINE Aristotle alludes here to the pursuit of Hector in the Iliad, which he has twice mentioned as incurring this blame, and that he is now shewing us on what principles it may be vindicated. [C] Note VII. Chap. xv. First,
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. First, It conduces to the main end of poetry, the production of interest, [D] for we must be more interested for the event of a single combat than the destruction of one person by superior numbers; and such a circumstance will afford greater variety and produce greater effect in the detail. Secondly, The character of Achilles, in point of courage at least, if not [E] of conduct, will be raised; and the valor and address of both combatants will be shewn in a more confpicuous light. It is impoffible for contempt of inevitable death to be more strongly expressed than in the two lines uttered by Achilles after the dying prophecy of Hector. • Die thou the first-when Jove and heav'n ordain, • I follow thee.' [F] And thirdly, As to its being agreeable to received opinion, it is very possible it might be fo; and we may safely give it credit on the authority of the Stagirite. Our modern novel writers are sometimes apt to carry the second excuse a little too far, and favor us with perfect monsters. Sir Charles Grandifon is a much more improbable character than Caliban. The. [D] 'Even in comic composition expreffions, though sometimes falling into the improbable, ← become probable from exciting laughter, as this, "he possessed an estate no bigger than a. " Lacedæmonian's letter;" laughter being a paffion though a pleasing one... LONGINUS,, Sect. XXXVIII.. [E] Note v. Chap. xxiv.. [F] Τέθναθι,-Κῆρα δ᾽ ἐγὼ τότε δέξομαι ὑππότε κεν δὴ Ζεὺς ἐθέλη τελέσαι, ἠδ'᾽ ἀθάναλοι θεὸι ἄλλοι. 3 X 2 manners
manners of Caliban, for what we know, may be very natural for a being composed of a witch and a fiend; but we immediately know the manners of Sir Charles Grandison are perfectly unnatural in a mere man. Perfection of character, befides the objection [G] formerly made to it, will always be infipid and uninteresting. I am inclined to think the Helen of Zeuxis, if it were composed, as we are told it was, from a selection of the best features of the most beautiful women of Greece, could not be a very interesting piece. The Abbe Terrasson, who seems to push the idea of perfection as far as it can reasonably go, speaking of the Telemachus, which he praises above all other epopees for drawing so excellent a character of a young hero, adds, 'The epic hero being proposed as a model for imitation, it is not allowable to elevate him above human nature. We may leave him flight failings which may even sometimes draw him into misfortunes, • if we chuse it, in the course of the poem. I have not therefore faid, ' that the hero of the epopee should be perfectly virtuous. I have only • said that he ought to be essentially virtuous.' [G] Note III. Chap. XIII. NOTE

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

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-195

Ritter, cap. 25 § 12

αἶψα δὲ - πρὶν κέκριτο: si quaereretur quid ipse Empedocles, cuius hic frustula nonnulla afferuntur, scriptum dederit, plura in his quamvis Poeticae codicibus repugnantibus aliter conformanda existimarem, ut alii editores existimarunt: sed cum id potius restituendum sit quod hic homo apud Empedoclem legerit, immo legere voluerit, sequi codices cum Bekkero tutissimum mihi videtur. nimirum magnus hic difficultatum et conditor et destructor Empedoclis verbis a sese pro suo consilio mutilatis et immutatis inesse difficultatem, si legendo iungamus τὰ πρὶν μάθον ἀθάνατα ζῷα, sed eam tolli si post ἀθάνατα incisione facta iungamus ζῷα τε πρὶν κέκριτο, quaeque prius animalia habita erant. si veram ipsius Empedoclis sententiam cognoscere velis, adeas fontes limpidiores, quos recludunt Athenaeus X. p. 424 A. Plutarchus Quaest. convival. V, 4. Simplicius ad δόμεν, infinitivum pro imperativo accipiendum, ut transpositus accentus culpam fraudis a love reiiceret in Somnium": immo λυτικὸς iste neque lovem neque Somnium in culpa esse voluit, sed id dicentem fecit Iovem (concedas vero ut ille gloriam sibi comparet) quod vere factum esse narratur in Il. A 67-283.Aristotel. de Caelo tom. I. 507. ed. Brandis. Eustathius p. 746, 56., unde hi versus prodeunt αἶψα δ' ἔθνεά 11) τ᾽ ἐφύοντο, τὰ πρὶν μάθον ἀθάνατ᾿ εἶναι, ζωρά τε τὰ πρὶν ἄκρητα διαλλάξαντα κελεύθους.