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.
20.
mvp-aristotle-comment-263
παραπλήσιον κτέ.
This clause Castelvetro and others would transpose and insert after
σύστασιν πραγμάτων in 33. It comes in, however, naturally enough where it stands, as an afterthought to illustrate the secondary position (
δεύτερον δὲ τὰ ἤθη) of the element of character in a play.
So also in the sister art of painting, says Aristotle, the colouring is of subordinate importance in comparison with the design which makes the work to mean something and be like something; a portrait is a portrait, and will give us the pleasure of one, even though executed in mere whites and greys; whereas a medley of much more beautiful colours without a design to give them meaning will not produce the same pleasure, because we cannot see that it represents anything. The nature of the pleasure found in a work of imitative art was explained in
4, 1448 b 13
.
20.
mvp-aristotle-comment-264
1450b1
εἰ γάρ τις ἐναλείψειε κτέ.
The sense is thus given by Goulston:
'si quis tabulam, pigmentis licet pulcherrimis, temere fusimque illeverit; non perinde spectantem oblectet, ac si, albo licet colore, imaginem delinearet certam: pari modo in tragoediis absque constitutione rerum minus valent mores quam morum expers fabula.'.
The object left to be understood with
ἐναλείψειε is
τὸν πίνακα, the 'panel' or 'canvas', as we should say;
ἀλείφειν and
ἐπαλείφειν are used in just the same way, in the sense of covering a surface with colour.
ἐναλείφειν, it is to be observed, has apparently a different kind of object in
De gen. an. 2. 6, 743 b 23
οἱ γραφεῖς ὑπογράψαντες ταῖς γραμμαῖς οὕτως ἐναλείφουσι τοῖς χρώμασι τὸ ζῷον ('painters first sketch the outline of the figure before proceeding to work it out in colour').
χύδην means 'without system or order', i.e. without a design to give form and sense to the whole.
The direct opposite of this unmeaning medley of the most beautiful colours (
εἴ τις ἐναλείψειε τοῖς καλλίστοις φαρμάκοις χύδην) is a portrait in plain whites and greys (
λευκογραφήσας εἰκόνα); in what follows, therefore,
εἰκόνα serves as an antithesis to
χύδην (comp. Vahlen, Symb. Phil. Bonn. p. 166) and
λευκογραφήσας to
τοῖς καλλίστοις φαρμάκοις.
λευκογραφεῖν, as a derivative from
λευκογράφος (a word no longer to be found), is to 'paint monochromes in white', i.e. in shades of white and grey (it would seem) on a dark ground. Zeuxis, whom Aristotle has just mentioned in 27, was among other things a painter of monochromes in white—
pinxit et monochromata ex albo (
Pliny N. H. 35. 64
; comp.
Brunn, Gr. Künstler 2 p. 55
).
A portrait, however, even though it be a mere monochrome in whites (comp.
λευκογραφήσας εἰκόνα), will have a meaning, and give the mind the intellectual pleasure which accompanies the recognition of the meaning (comp.
4, 1448 b 15
); whereas a medley of beautiful colours has no meaning, and the pleasure it gives the beholder is of a wholly different order (comp.
4, 1448 b 18
οὐχ ᾗ μίμημα ποιήσει τὴν ἡδονὴν ἀλλὰ διὰ ... τὴν χροιάν). The antithesis, therefore, is simply between beautiful colours without an
εἰκών, and an
εἰκών without any beauty of colour.
Vahlen's view of the import of these words is somewhat different. He thinks that
λευκογραφήσας may denote the preliminary sketch (like
ὑπογράφειν in the above-quoted passage in the De gen. an.) in white, which is afterwards filled in with colour, when the picture comes to be finished; so that the clause may be taken to describe two stages in the process of painting, (1)
λευκογραφεῖν εἰκόνα, and (2)
ἐναλείφειν φαρμάκοις, and serves to illustrate the order of procedure in Tragedy, where the
μῦθος is said to come first, as the
ἀρχὴ τῆς τραγῳδίας, and the
ἤθη second:
'orationis formam sic accipio, εἴ τις ἐναλείψειε τοῖς καλλίστοις φαρμάκοις χύδην, οὐκ ἂν ὁμοίως εὐφράνειεν καὶ λευκογραφήσας εἰκόνα εἰ ἐναλείψειε φαρμάκοις', ut χύδην, h. e. nulla ante delineatione facta, et λευκογραφήσας εἰκόνα inter se opponantur'. This very subtle interpretation seems to me to read more into Aristotle's words than is required for the argument. Aristotle would perhaps have said:
οὐκ ἂν ὁμοίως εὐφράνειε καὶ εἰ λευκογραφήσας εἰκόνα οὕτως ἐναλείψειε τοῖς φαρμάκοις.
1450b3
21.
mvp-aristotle-comment-265
ἔστιν τε μίμησις πράξεως κτέ.
supports the statement (38-39) before the parenthesis by recalling the general fact on which it is based (v. 20-23).
1450b4
22.
mvp-aristotle-comment-266
τρίτον δὲ ἡ διάνοια
As the intellectual quality of the dramatis personae comes out mainly in what they are made to say,
διάνοια is provisionally explained (see on 6) as a power of making the best of one's case or of saying the right thing.
22.
mvp-aristotle-comment-267
1450b5
τὰ ἐνόντα
scil.
ἐν τοῖς πράγμασιν, as in
Isocr. 292 E
ὑπισχνοῦνται τοιούτους ῥήτορας τοὺς συνόντας ποιήσειν ὥστε μηδὲν τῶν ἐνόντων ἐν τοῖς πράγμασι παραλιπεῖν (comp.
Bon. Ind. 250 a 56
). The whole expression
τὰ ἐνόντα καὶ τὰ ἁρμόττοντα covers the same ground as that in
Rhet. 2. 22, 1396 b 5
τὰ ἐνδεχόμενα καὶ τὰ ἐπικαιρότατα.
22.
mvp-aristotle-comment-268
1450b6
ἐπὶ τῶν λόγων
has been taken to mean 'in soluta oratione' (Paccius), and 'in orationibus' (Valla) or 'in eloquentia', 'bei der Beredsamkeit' (Vahlen). The explanation, however, in the context,
ἐποίουν λέγοντας (57), is enough to show that the
λόγοι Aristotle has in mind are the
λόγοι in a play, i.e. the
ῥήσεις put into the mouths of the personages. This is apparently the sense the word bears in the next sentence also,
τῶν λόγων ἐν οἷς μηδ᾿ ὅλως ἔστιν τι προαιρεῖται ἢ φεύγει ὁ λέγων (b 9).
22.
mvp-aristotle-comment-269
τῆς πολιτικῆς καὶ ῥητορικῆς ἔργον
Aristotle seems to be thinking of what is said in a play by the chief personages (e. g. the tragic hero), and of the kind of intellectual capacity (
διάνοια) revealed in their statements. One has to remember that the chief personages in ancient Tragedy are not ordinary men, and that the tragic hero is expressly said by Aristotle (
13, 1453 a 10-21
) to be always in the best tragedies a man of great position and lineage. In a play, therefore, such personages might very well be made to speak
πολιτικῶς, 'like statesmen', and to show a statesmanlike power of saying what is appropriate to the situation before them (
τὰ ἁρμόττοντα). But it would also be possible to make them speak
ῥητορικῶς, 'like rhetors', with something of the rhetor's cleverness in seizing on the various possible points that may be urged on the occasion (
τὰ ἐνόντα, i.e.
τὰ ἐνδεχόμενα).
Though
ῥητορική stands in a certain relation to
πολιτική (
Rhet. 1. 2, 1356 a 27
), the distinction between them is a very real one with Aristotle;
πολιτική is with him the practical wisdom of the statesman (
Eth. N. 6. 8, 1141 b 23
), and
ῥητορική only a form of the art of argumentation—a
δύναμις τοῦ πορίσαι λόγους (
Rhet. 1. 2, 1356 a 33
), or
δύναμις περὶ ἑκάστου τοῦ θεωρῆσαι τὸ ἐνδεχόμενον πιθανόν (
Rhet. 1. 2, 1355 b 26
). There is no reference to
πολιτική in
chap. 19
. Aristotle may perhaps have felt that the practice of the later dramatists (
οἱ νῦν) was too firmly established to admit of change, and that the tragic personages accordingly must still be allowed to speak
ῥητορικῶς, as they did in the Tragedy of his time.
1450b7
23.
mvp-aristotle-comment-270
ἀρχαῖοι
: the dramatists anterior to Euripides (see on
6, 1450 a 25
).
23.
mvp-aristotle-comment-271
πολιτικῶς . ... λέγοντας
which Valla rendered by 'civiliter dicentes', is often taken to mean 'to speak the language of civil life', like ordinary citizens, as distinct from the professional orator. But as the context shows that the ability to speak
πολιτικῶς implies something of
πολιτική in the speaker (comp.
Newman on Pol. 2. 11, 1273 b 12
),
πολιτικῶς would seem rather to mean 'like a
πολιτικός'—the statesman being assumed to say that which is befitting (
τὰ ἁρμόττοντα) without any ostentation of rhetorical cleverness (comp.
HSt. s. v. πολιτικός
).
Vahlen (Symb. phil. Bonn. p. 175) supposes the expression to coincide in sense with the
ἠθικῶς λέγειν of
Rhet. 3. 17, 1418 b 38
which means
ἀπὸ προαιρέσεως λέγειν, as opposed to
ἀπὸ διανοίας λέγειν (
Rhet. 3. 16, 1417 a 23
). The objection to this interpretation is twofold. (1) Aristotle is to all appearance not contrasting
διάνοια with
ἦθος, but distinguishing between the two forms it may assume in the dramatic
ῥήσεις. (2)
πολιτικῶς λέγειν can hardly be identical with
ἠθικῶς λέγειν; the personages in Comedy speak
ἠθικῶς, but it would be a paradox to say of them that they speak
πολιτικῶς, in the sense of there being something of
πολιτική in their utterances.
23.
mvp-aristotle-comment-272
1450b8
ῥητορικῶς
Euripides is termed by Aristophanes (
Pax 534
) a
ποιητὴς ῥηματίων δικανικῶν. Quintilian also (10. 1, 68) thinks the study of his plays one of the best preparations for the bar:
'Illud quidem nemo non fateatur necesse est, iis qui se ad agendum comparant utiliorem longe fore Euripidem. namque is et sermone magis accedit oratorio generi et sententiis densus et in iis quae a sapientibus tradita sunt paene ipsis par, et dicendo ac respondendo cuilibet eorum qui fuerunt in foro diserti comparandus.'.
24.
mvp-aristotle-comment-274
1450b09
ὁποῖά τις.
This (the reading of
o) is very rightly retained by
Vahlen, who translates the clause by
quod aperiat voluntatem, qualia quis in quibus apertum non est aut appetat aut fugiat; the explanation is added to show that
προαίρεσις is to be taken in a wide sense, which may include aversion as well as desire. For an explanatory clause of this form
comp.
16, 1455b10
συνελογίσαντο τὴν εἱμαρμένην ὅτι ἐν τούτῳ εἵμαρτο ἀποθανεῖν, and
Plato
Rep. 535 A
μέμνησαι οὖν τὴν προτέραν ἐκλογὴν τῶν ἀρχόντων, οἷους ἐξελέξαμεν ;
ἐν οἷς οὐκ ἔστι δῆλον is added because there are situations in which the moral purpose of the agent is too obvious to require to be revealed in an 'ethical' speech; see
19, 1456 b7
for a parallel statement on the subject of
διάνοια.
24.
mvp-aristotle-comment-275
1450b9_2
προαιρεῖται.
Though the usual opposite of
φεύγειν is the simple verb
αἱρεῖσθαι (
Bon. Ind. 18b3
), there is a certain propriety in
προαιρεῖται in a clause explanatory of
προαίρεσις. The word is found in a similar antithesis in
Eth. N. 10. 1, 1172b25
τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἡδέα προαιροῦνται, τὰ δὲ λυπηρὰ φεύγουσιν.
24.
mvp-aristotle-comment-276
1450b11
διόπερ κτέ.
In the
Rhetoric we are told that a mathematical argument does not admit of any colouring of character, because the facts with which it deals are indifferent to us—not objects of either desire or aversion:
Rhet. 3. 16, 1417b9
διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἔχουσιν οἱ μαθηματικοὶ λόγοι ἤθη, ὅτι οὐδὲ προαίρεσιν· τὸ γὰρ οὗ ἕνεκα οὐκ ἔχουσιν. In like manner a speech in a play may be on a subject wholly indifferent to the speaker, and in that case there is no room for any infusion of
ἦθος into his statement.
1450b12
25.
mvp-aristotle-comment-277
καθόλου τι ἀποφαίνονται
replaces the
ἀποφαίνονται γνώμην in 7 (
v. ad loc.).
1450b13
26.
mvp-aristotle-comment-278
τέταρτον δὲ τῶν ἐν λόγῳ κτέ.
On the reading which I have ventured to introduce into the text see the
J. of Phil. 5 p. 1191.
It is clear that the four elements in a tragedy, the
μύθος
ἤθη
διάνοια and
λέξις, belong to it as a work of literature, and that the music and 'spectacle' are accessories, which attach to it only when it comes to be acted on the stage. Apart from these accessories, a tragedy is, like an epic (
comp.
23, 1459 b10
), a
μίμησις ἐν λόγῳ (see on
1, 1447 29
), and all the elements which constitute it are
ἐν λόγῳ.
τὰ ἐν λόγῳ, therefore, is a comprehensive designation for the four literary elements, as distinct from the non-literary elements (
τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν b 15), the music and 'spectacle', with which the enumeration concludes. If
τῶν μὲν λόγων be retained, the genitive
1
has to be taken as an objective gen. after
λέξις.
Valla renders the words by
orationum dictio,
Paccius by
sermonum dictio, and
Goulston by
ipsarum orationum elocutio. The main difficulty, however, is in the particle, which has never been satisfactorily explained.
Vahlen formerly (
Symb. Phil. Bonn. p. 181
) connected the clause with that which follows in 615
τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν κτέ., supposing the sense to be 'viertens für die Dialoge (
τῶν λόγων) die sprachliche Form; für das übrige (
τῶν λοιπῶν) die Melopöie'. His later view (1885) is that the
μέν in
τῶν μὲν λόγων may be an instance of
μέν solitarium, and that
Aristotle may have meant at first to append something about the
τῶν δὲ μελῶν... Such a division of the fourth part, it seems to me, is wholly inconsistent with the general scheme of the six parts, which is throughout this chapter so clearly before
Aristotle's mind, as well as with the express mention of the
μελοποιία in its proper place in the next sentence.
26.
mvp-aristotle-comment-279
1450b13_2
ὥσπερ πρότερον εἴρηται.
If the reference is to
6, 1449 b 34
, where the
λέξις is defined as
ἡ τῶν μέτρων σύνθεσις,
Aristotle must have forgotten the exact terms of his previous formula. The point, however, is practically the same in both instances;
λέξις is to be understood in the sense of 'diction' or 'expression in language', and not in any of the other senses which the word might bear (see on
23, 1459 12
).
26.
mvp-aristotle-comment-280
1450b14
διὰ τῆς ὀνομασίας
διὰ τῶν ὀνομάτων, i. e. by means of the words or language of the speaker. As the
ὄνομα, which includes the verb and the adverb as well as the noun, is the directly significant part of all language,
ὀνομασία means practically the same thing as vocabulary or language.
26.
mvp-aristotle-comment-281
1450b14_2
ἑρμηνείαν,
'communication', 'expression'; the Latin equivalent for it is
interpretatio. After
ἑρμηνείαν we may supply τῶν ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ, the spoken word being the outward sign or expression of a thought in the mind:
De interpr. 1, 16ª3
ἔστι μὲν οὖν τὰ ἐν τῇ φωνῇ τῶν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ παθημάτων σύμβολα. On the meaning of
ἑρμηνεία in
Aristotle see
Waitz,
Organon 1 p. 323
, and
Steinthal,
Gesch. der Sprachwissenschaft 1 p. 235.
26.
mvp-aristotle-comment-282
1450b15
ἔχει τὴν αὐτὴν δύναμιν
ταὐτὸ δύναται, 'is practically the same thing' (see on
1, 1447ª8
).
27.
mvp-aristotle-comment-283
1450b16
πέντε
Similar instances of an intrusive numeral will be found in
Rhet. 1. 2, 1356 21
, and
1. 13, 1373 b3
(
v.
Roemer
ad loc.).
Vahlen accepts the correction πέμπτον, in the sense of
quinto loco: 'reliquarum autem partium (h. e. quae post illas quattuor iam reliquae sunt duae) quinto loco
μελοποιία gravissimum est condimentum,
ὄψις autem ad poeticam artem omnino non pertinet'.
1450b16_2
27.
mvp-aristotle-comment-284
μέγιστον τῶν ἡδυσμάτων:
see on
6, 1449 b 25
(
ἡδυσμένῳ). For the pleasure given by music
comp.
Pol. 8. 5, 1339 b 20
τὴν δὲ μουσικὴν πάντες εἶναί φαμεν τῶν ἡδίστων. —
1340 a 2
δεῖ μὴ μόνον τῆς κοινῆς ἡδονῆς μετέχειν ἀπ᾿ αὐτῆς, ἧς ἔχουσι πάντες αἴσθησιν· ἔχει γὰρ ἡ μουσικὴ τὴν ἡδονὴν φυσικήν, διὸ πάσαις ἡλικίαις καὶ πᾶσιν ἤθεσιν ἡ χρῆσις αὐτῆς ἐστι προσφιλής. —
οἱ μὲν γὰρ νέοι διὰ τὴν ἡλικίαν ἀνήδυντον οὐδὲν ὑπομένουσιν ἑκόντες, ἡ δὲ μουσικὴ φύσει τῶν ἡδυσμένων [ἡδυσμάτων] ἐστίν.
Bernays (
Zwei Abhandl. p. 157) supposed that a further statement on the subject of music, like that in the
Anonymus De Comedy (
Kaibel,
CGF. 1 p. 52
),
μέλος τῆς μουσικῆς ἐστιν ἴδιον, ὅθεν ἀπ᾿ ἐκείνης τὰς αὐτοτελεῖς ἀφορμὰς δεήσει λαμβάνειν, may have dropped out after
ἡδυσμάτων.
1450b17
28.
mvp-aristotle-comment-285
ψυχαγωγικόν:
see on 33.
28.
mvp-aristotle-comment-286
1450b17_2
ἀτεχνότατον:
13, 1453 67
τὸ δὲ διὰ τῆς ὄψεως τοῦτο παρασκευάζειν ἀτεχνότερον καὶ χορηγίας δεόμενόν ἐστιν.
ἄτεχνος is frequently used in the sense of 'depending on means outside the art itself';
comp.
Rhet. 3. 16, 1416 b 18
σύγκειται γὰρ ἔχων ὁ λόγος τὸ μὲν ἄτεχνον, οὐθὲν γὰρ αἴτιος ὁ λέγων τῶν πράξεων, τὸ δ᾽ ἐκ τῆς τέχνης. The opposite of it in this sense is
ἔντεχνος (
Bon. Ind. 11964
).
28.
mvp-aristotle-comment-287
1450b18
ἡ γὰρ τῆς τραγῳδίας δύναμις κτέ.
The tragic effect may be produced by a good tragedy even without any actual performance of it on a stage, i. e. as a mere work of literature (
comp.
14, 1453b4
, and
26, 1462ª11
). The reading of A
o here,
ὡς γὰρ, is defended by
Vahlen, who translates it by
quia enim (wenn nämlich), on the assumption that the apodosis is omitted in the same way as in
Eth. N. 8. 6, 1157 3
οἱ δ᾽ ἀγαθοὶ δι᾽ αὐτοὺς φίλοι· ᾗ γὰρ ἀγαθοί [scil. φίλοι εἰσίν].—
8. 10, 1159 10
οἱ χρήσιμοι δὲ καὶ ἡδεῖς ἐπὶ πλεῖον διαμένουσιν ἕως γὰρ ἂν πορίζωσιν ἡδονὰς ἢ ὠφελείας ἀλλήλοις [scil. διαμένουσιν], and certain more or less similar passages. The present passage (with the reading
ὡς γὰρ) does not seem to me to be a genuine parallel. On behalf of the amended reading (
ἡ γὰρ) it has to be remembered that a confusion between ἡ and the compendium for ὡς is not so uncommon in MSS. of a certain date (
Bast,
Comm. Palaeogr. p. 780
).
28.
mvp-aristotle-comment-288
1450b18_2
ἄνευ ἀγῶνος.
ἀγών is generally rendered by
certamen or 'contest', but it is not clear that that is the sense
Aristotle attaches to it in the present and other places (
7, 1451b
;
13, 1453ª27
) of the
Poetics. It seems to mean rather little more than a 'public performance'. Similarly
ἀγωνίζεσθαι in
7, 1451ª8
and
24, 146089
means apparently 'to perform in public',
συναγωνίζεσθαι in
18, 1456ª26
'to take part in such a performance'; and
ἀγώνισμα in
9, 1451b37
a 'work to be performed in public'. The word
ἀγωνιστής, likewise, in
Pol. 8. 7, 1342=18
and
Probl. 19. 15, 918b 28
, means no more than a 'public' or 'professional performer' (
comp.
πρωταγωνιστής etc.). In
Rhet. 3. 12, 1413b4
ἀγωνιστικὴ λέξις means the style allowable in public speaking, as distinct from the
γραφικὴ λέξις, the more formal style required for a purely literary work. The idea of contest or competition, there- fore, is not always a recognizable element in the meaning of this group of words (
comp.
Nitzsch,
De historia Homeri 2 p. 113
).
28.
mvp-aristotle-comment-289
1450b18_3
ἀγῶνος καὶ ὑποκριτῶν:
13, 1453ª27
ἐπὶ τῶν σκηνῶν καὶ τῶν ἀγώνων. —
Probl. 19. 15, 918 28
ὁ μὲν γὰρ ὑποκριτὴς ἀγωνιστής. —
Rhet. 3. 12, 141358
ἔστι δὲ λέξις γραφικὴ μὲν ἡ ἀκριβεστάτη, ἀγωνιστικὴ δὲ ἡ ὑποκριτικωτάτη κτέ. The present clause shows that the
ὄψις is
ἥκιστα οἰκεῖον τῆς ποιητικῆς; the next, that it is
ἀτεχνότατον.
28.
mvp-aristotle-comment-290
1450b18_4
ὄψεων:
for the plural see on
6, 1449b 33
.
28.
mvp-aristotle-comment-291
1450b18_5
σκευοποιοῦ,
the theatrical costumier, who enabled the actors to appear in character by supplying the masks, dresses, and other paraphernalia of their make-up;
comp.
Aristophanes
Eq. 230
καὶ μὴ δέδιθ· οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἐξῃκασμένος. ὑπὸ τοῦ δέους γὰρ αὐτὸν οὐδεὶς ἤθελε τῶν σκευοποιῶν εἰκάσαι (v. Schol. ad loc.). —
Aelian
V. H. 2. 13
οἱ σκευοποιοὶ ἔπλασαν αὐτὸν ὡς ὅτι μάλιστα ἐξεικάσαντες. —
Pollux 4. 115
σκευὴ μὲν ἡ τῶν ὑποκριτῶν στολή . . . σκευοποιός δὲ ὁ προσωποποιός. —
2. 47
ἡ δὲ νέα κωμῳδία καὶ προσωποποιὸν εἴρηκεν ὃν ἡ ἀρχαία σκευοποιὸν ἐκάλει (ν. Meineke, FCG. 4 p. 680). For
σκευή in the sense of the make-up of actors see
Eurip. Suppl. 1054
,
Aristoph. Ran. 108
,
Plato Rep. 577 b.
46.
mvp-aristotle-comment-186
47.
mvp-aristotle-comment-187
6.20
47.
Car ſi quelqu'un jettoit confuſement & pêle-mêle, les plus belles couleurs ſur une toile, il ne feroit pas le même plaiſir que le ſimple crayon d'un portrait.]
2
48.
mvp-aristotle-comment-188
6.20
48.
En un mot, la Tragedie eſt une imitation d'une action, & par conſequent elle eſt principalement une imitation de perſonnes qui agiſſent.]
3
49.
mvp-aristotle-comment-189
6.21
49.
Après les mœurs viennent les ſentimens, c'eſt-à-dire, la faculté d'exprimer les choſes qui ſont du ſujet.]
4
50.
mvp-aristotle-comment-190
51.
mvp-aristotle-comment-191
52.
mvp-aristotle-comment-192
53.
mvp-aristotle-comment-193
6.24
53.
Les mœurs ſont ce qui découvre l'inclination de celuy qui parle, & le parti qu'il prendra.]
8
54.
mvp-aristotle-comment-194
55.
mvp-aristotle-comment-195
6.24
55.
C'eſt pourquoy tous les diſcours, qui ne font pas ſentir d'abord à quoy ſe reſoudra celuy qui parle, ſont ſans mœurs.]
10
56.
mvp-aristotle-comment-196
57.
mvp-aristotle-comment-197
58.
mvp-aristotle-comment-198
59.
mvp-aristotle-comment-199
6.27
59.
Aprés la diction vient la muſique, qui eſt le plus grand de tous les agrémens que la Tragedie puiſſe employer.]
14
60.
mvp-aristotle-comment-200
61.
mvp-aristotle-comment-201
6.28
61.
Mais elle ne regarde pas proprement l'art du Poëte, & ne fait point partie de la Poësie.]
16
62.
mvp-aristotle-comment-202
6.28
62.
Et d'ailleurs tout ce qui regarde la décoration eſt bien plus du reſſort des Ouvriers & des ingenieurs, que de celuy des Poëtes.]
17
55.
mvp-aristotle-comment-55
NOTE 55. P. 78.
6.22
TO THIS PART BELONGS, &c.-
Aristotle is not here defining
Διανοἰα, as his expression,
τουτο δε ΕΣΤΙ, seems, at first view, to imply: he is only explaining the subservience of the sentiments to the manners; he is shewing why they are next in rank and importance to the manners; namely, because manners or characters, are, in great part at least, manifested by the sentiments.
Dacier's note here is good.
"Aristote suit ici l'ordre naturel. Les sentimens font pour les mœurs, ce que les mœurs font pour l'action. Comme un Poete tragique ne peut bien imiter une action, qu'en employant les mœurs, il ne peut non plus bien marquer les mœurs, que par le moyen des sentimens, & par consequent les sentimens tiennent le troisieme rang dans la Tragedie."
56.
mvp-aristotle-comment-56
NOTE 56. P. 78.
6.22
WHICH, IN THE DIALOGUE, DEPENDS ON THE POLITICAL AND RHETORICAL ARTS.
Ὅπερ, ἐπι των λόγων, της πολιτικής και ῥητορικης ἔργον ἐστιν. — I have not seen the words,
ἐπι των λογων, satisfactorily explained. I cannot agree with those commentators, who by
λογοι, here, understand, oratory, prose eloquence, as opposed to Poetry: a sense, indeed, very common, in Aristotle and other writers; but if we adopt it here, how follows—
ὁι ΓΑΡ ἀρχαιοι πολιτικώς ΕΠΟΙΟΥΝ λέγοντας? for here, Aristotle evidently speaks of Poets; not of orators, as Dacier renders it. The passage, then, fairly translated, would stand thus:—"which, (i. e. the choice of proper sentiments,) in ORATORY, is the business of the political and rhetorical arts: FOR the antient Tragic Poets made their characters speak politically," &c. Nothing can well be more incoherent.
Επι των λόγων, means, I think, in the
speeches,
discourse, or
dialogue part of the drama, as distinguished from the choral or lyric part, which had nothing, or comparatively nothing, to do with
ηθος or character, and in which the Poet was, of course, to draw his
διανοια, or thoughts, principally at least, from different sources; not from the stores of civil wisdom, or rhetorical art, but from those of Religion, Ethics, Mythology, and Poetry. The word
λογοι, is clearly used in the same sense, in a passage that presently follows:—
διοπερ ἐκ ἐχεσιν ήθη ἐνιοι των ΛΟΓΩΝ—"some of the speeches, or the dialogue."
57.
mvp-aristotle-comment-57
NOTE 57. P. 78.
6.23
FOR THE ANTIENTS MADE THEIR CHARACTERS SPEAK IN THE STYLE OF POLITICAL AND POPULAR ELOQUENCE; BUT NOW, THE RHETORICAL MANNER PREVAILS.
Οι μεν γαρ άρχαιοι ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΩΣ ἐποιουν λεγοντας, οι δε νυν, ῥητορικως. — So,
Rhet. lib. ii. cap. xxii. p. 573
,
ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΩι συλλογισμῳ—a Civil or Oratorical syllogism, as opposed to the strict dialectic syllogism: a distinction which he presently after expresses by,
ἀκριβεστερον, and
ΜΑΛΑΚΩΤΕΡΟΝ, συλλογίζεσθαι [ibid.] And thus, here, the same term,
πολιτικως, is used, to distinguish the popular, and less laboured, though more solid, eloquence of the Senate or the Forum, from the studied and declamatory composition of the professed rhetoricians. A similar use of the word occurs in the passage quoted in NOTE 229, from the
Euagoras of Isocrates
, where,
ὀνομασι ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΟΙΣ, is plainly synonymous with
ὀνομασι ΚΥΡΙΟΙΣ. See also
Dion. Halicarn. De Struct. Orat. p. 4. ed. Upton
, and Faber's note.
That Aristotle, however, by Politics (
ἡ πολιτικη), means only, as Dacier asserts,
"l'usage commun, le langage ordinaire des peuples," cannot, surely, be admitted. The force and extent of the term is well known
1
.
"CIVILIS SCIENTIA,"
Quintilian
says,
"idem quod SAPIENTIA est." It comprehended all the necessary knowledge of the
Πολιτικά, the
vir civilis, the public man. It included, of course, eloquence, or the faculty of public speaking, but that, of a kind very different from the
"umbratile genus," as Cicero calls it, of the rhetorical schools
2
. What Aristotle says of the old Tragic Poets, that they made their personages speak like such a man, not like a Rhetorician, cannot be better illustrated than by Quintilian's character of Euripides.
"Illud quidem nemo non fateatur necesse est, iis qui se ad agendum comparent, utiliorem longè Euripidem fore. Namque is, et in sermone—magis accedit oratorio generi, et sententiis densus; et in iis quæ à sapientibus tradita sunt, penè ipsis par, et in dicendo ac respondendo cuilibet eorum qui fuerunt IN FORO DISERTI comparandus."
[lib. x. cap. i.]
That Dacier, with so precise and clear an expression before his eyes, as,
ΕΠΟΙΟΥΝ λεγοντας, should understand this of the antient orators, and roundly pronounce Victorius to be mistaken in applying it to the Poets, seems perfectly unaccountable. I do not see in this passage any foundation for the refinement of Castelvetro, Dacier, and other commentators, who refer the
ἐνοντα to the political science, and the
ἁρμοττοντα to rhetoric. The word
ἁρμοττοντα, has, I think, the same sense as in cap. xv. and means, such sentiments, or thoughts, as, being adapted to the person speaking, are expressive of the manners: for it is in this view, as I before remarked, that Aristotle is here considering the Sentiments, or
Διανοια.
Τα ἐνοντα, as Victorius has observed, is equivalent to
τα ὑπαρχοντα; and it was clearly the business of rhetoric (
ῥητορικης ἔργον,) to teach both the
ὑπαρχοντα and the
ἁρμοττοντα. See
Rhet. lib. ii. cap. xxii. p. 573, E.
and
lib. iii. cap. vii. p. 590, D. ed. Duval
.
3
58.
mvp-aristotle-comment-58
NOTE 58. P. 78.
6.24
THERE ARE SPEECHES, THEREFORE, WHICH ARE WITHOUT MANNERS----AS NOT CONTAINING, &C.
The reading I have followed is, I think, fully authorised, by MSS. and by common sense. See Mr. Winstanley's note, p. 282.—The Abbé Batteux has given the passage thus, from a MS. (No. 2117,) in the King of France's library.
Ἔστι δε ήθος μεν το τοιοῦτον, ὃ δηλοι την προαιρεσιν, ὁποια τις ἐσιν· διοπερ ἐκ ἐχεσιν ἠθη ἐνιοι των λογων, ἐν οἷς ἐκ ἐστι δηλον ὅτι προαιρειται η φευγει ὁ λεγων. The common reading stands thus:—
Ἔστι δε ήθη μεν το τοιουτον, ὃ δηλοι την προαιρεσιν, ὁποια τις ἐσιν, ἐν οἷς ἐκ ἐστι δηλον, προαιρειται, η φευγει ὁ λέγων· διοπερ ἐκ ἐχεσιν ήθη ἐνιοι των λογων. — Which is thus rendered by Mr. Harris:
"MANNERS OF CHARACTER is that which discovers WHAT THE DETERMINATION [of a speaker] will be, in matters, where IT IS NOT YET MANIFEST, whether he chuses to do a thing, or to avoid it." Now if this were true, I do not see how there could be any
ηθος, in any play, after the first discovery of the speaker's character. In the
Avare of Moliere, for instance, it is sufficiently manifest from the very first scene in which Harpagon appears, what his avarice will lead him to chuse or to avoid, in any circumstance of the drama. Is there, for that reason, no
ηθος, no sentiments that mark his character, in any thing he says during the rest of the play?
4
Nay, more; according to this reading, there can be no
ηθος at all in any part of that drama: for the
προαιρεσις or propensity of the Miser is completely known to every reader or spectator from the very title of the piece. I know, indeed, that
Le Bossu
, and others, have given a meaning to this passage, by making Aristotle say, what he certainly does not say—viz. when it is not yet manifest "ex indicio dicentis," what the will, or choice, of the speaker is. But if the common reading were right, we might, surely, expect to find the words,
ἐν οἷς ἐκ ἐστι δηλον, &c. subjoined in other places where he defines the
ηθος. Yet we have nothing like it in cap. xv. initio; nor in the second book of his
Rhetoric
, where he says only,
ηθος δ᾽ ἐχεσιν λογοι, ἐν ὁσοις δηλη ἡ προαιρεσις: nor in other passages of the same work, relative to the same subject. Piccolomini's translation agrees with mine, and is expressed with his usual accuracy.
"—Ma il costume nel parlar' é quello, il quale mostra fuora, è apparir fà il volere, et l'elettion di chi parla. Peroche alcuni parlari si truovano, li quali non hanno costume; come ch' in essi non appaia, et non si manifesti, quello, che elegga, ò fugga, con la sua volontà, chi parla."
6.5.
mvp-aristotle-comment-18
6.28
THE DECORATIONS OF THE STAGE, THOUGH VERY INTERESTING, HAVE THE LEAST CONNECTION WITH THE POETIC ART.
NOTWITHSTANDING the vast size, and superb decorations of the ancient theatres, which were looked upon as a national concern, and kept up at the national expence, they were neither so natural, or so interesting, as those of the moderns. They had no change of scene; for what some critics have urged from a passage in the third Georgic, and [Τ] Δευτέρα δὲ ἕνεκα προσισορείσθω τὰ καλὰ τὴν Οδύσσειαν, ὅπως ἢ σοι γνώριμον, ὡς ἡ ἀπακμὴ τὸ πάθους ἐν τῷις μεγάλοις συἱγραφεῦσι κὶ ποιητᾶις ἐις ἦθος ἐκλύεθαι. Sect. ix. [U] See note Iv. chap. xxvi. the
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. the observation of Servius on it, in support of the contrary opinion, is certainly ill founded. [x] ' Or as the turning scene its aspect shifts.'- The note of Servius explains how this was done, either by the turning of a machine, for a representation of which the reader is referred to Dr. Warton's Virgil; or by drawing up and letting down curtains. But it appears from Vitruvius, L. v. that this change of scene was according to the different kind of drama, to each of which a particular scene was appropriated, that continued through the whole performance, and was always the fame in every performance of the same kind. The scenery of tragedy represented palaces, whose fronts were ornamented with columns and statues; comedy had the common houses and streets of a city; and the satyric scene was adorned by trees, cottages, rocks, and caves. As tragedy, therefore, was always confined to an area before a palace, and comedy to a street, those actions only could be represented with propriety, which might happen in the open air: this, however, was little additional restraint to tragedy, confined, as it was, by the continual prefence of the chorus; and comedy often broke through it, as may be shewn from many scenes of Ariftophanes. Indeed, I am inclined to think the decoration of the theatre was rather meant to imitate the scene of representation, than of action; and that the area before a palace, or public building, was confidered as a proper place for the exhibition of tragedy, authorised by the magiftrate, while a common ftreet was a likely place for the assembly of the voluntary [Y] performers of comedy; and [x] ' Vel scena ut versis difcedat frontibus.'- [Y] See what Ariftotle says, of the origin and progress of these two species of the drama, in chapters Iv and v. the
the fatyric pieces being less improved, and of inferior estimation, were confidered like comedy in its origin, as performed by village strollers, (See Poetic, Chap. 111.) On any other principle than this, (the stability of the scene, during the performance, being proved by the concurring testimony of all writers on the subject ;) a manifest absurdity must have attended many of the Greek tragedies, where the scene of action is apparently not laid in a town. Sophocles, who is called by Ariftotle the inventor of painted scenery, affords two striking instances of this kind. One in the Ajax, where Minerva says to Ulyffes, [z]' Now on the camp's remotest verge I find you, • Where Ajax' tents the Grecian navy guard.' The other in the Philoctetes, which begins, [A] ' And now we tread the unfrequented sands • Of defart Lemnos' fea-encircled shore.' It has already been observed in a [B] note on the fourth chapter, that the modern drama represented, is the most exact of any of the imitations effected by the arts; if, therefore, according to the hypothefis we have adopted, the illufion, as to objects disagreeable in themselves, was kept up too strongly, they would cease to please, and the practice of our theatre juftifies the remark. The actor does not avail himself of circumstances which are made use of by the dramatic painter with success. Our stage [B] Note 1. [Ζ] Κὰι νῦν ἐπὶ σκηναῖς σε ναυτικᾶις ὁρῶ Αἴαντος, ἔνθα τάξιν ἐσχάτην ἔχει. [Α] Ακλὴ μὲν ἤ δε τῆς περιῤῥύτον χθονός Λήμνε βροζοις ἄσειπζους ἐδ᾽ ὀικαμένη. is
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. is never stained with blood flowing from the wounds of the dying characters; for, as a very elegant critic observes, 'We ought to exclude those means of imitation which render it too frightfully and horribly true, as when blood is concealed in a bladder under the dress of an actor who ' is to appear to kill himself, and it overflows the theatre.' ENCYCLO- PEDIE, ART. ILLUSION, by M. Marmontel. That our theatre formerly adopted this practice, appears from a stage direction in Dryden's King Arthur, relating to the single combat between Arthur and Ofwald. It begins, 'They fight with sponges in ' their hands, dipt in blood; after some equal passes and clofing, they • both appear wounded.' I cannot quit this subject without paying the tribute of gratitude to the memory of Mr. Garrick, for the improvement he made in the general probability of representation, and particularly in the characteristic dresses of the British theatre. Before his time, or, rather, before his reformation of the stage, which was long subsequent to his being the chief ornament of it, all tragedies were performed in the modern dress, and even Cato used to strut over the stage in a tye wig; and, in fome instances, when this infringement of the coftumi was only partial, the abfurdity was only rendered more glaring. While Brutus and Caffius were in full trimmed coats, and tyes, Cæfar had a robe, a bob wig, and a laurel crown; and Falstaff was as much distinguished by his dress as by his humour, from the other persons of the drama. The reformation of this impropriety is become universal, and extends even to the provincial theatre. Z CHAP.
15.
mvp-aristotle-comment-49
Ritter, cap. 6 § 15
-19. quae iam sequuntur ab aliena manu Aristotelis operi inserta esse dico, et inserta quidem ab antiquo interpolatore qui hanc disputationem mancam esse ratus, cum unius fabulae dignitatis explicatio ei sufficere non videretur,ceterarum etiam partium ordinem et gradus exponendos sibi sumpsit, sed efficere quod operae pretium esset tamen non potuit, ut haec pro insiticiis habeam, quinque mihi suadent argumenta. 1. ordo singulis sententiis et nexus deest. 2. quae iam dicta sunt inepte repetuntur. 3. definitiones partim falsae partim inanes proponuntur. 4. nonnulla prioribus repugnant. 5. exposita fabulae prae ceteris partibus praestantia, post §. 14. apte pergere Aristoteles potest ut pergit capitis 7. initio. mores autem post fabulam gravissimam tragoediae partem esse, hoc sibi a legentibus concedi sperare ille poterat. singula ordine persequar. ·
παραπλήσιον - εἰκόνα: rerum complexionem primum tragoediae negotium esse, proximum autem descriptionem morum, id pessime hoc exemplo illustrari amantissimus quisque veritatis libenter mihi concesserit. scilicet
φάρμακα pulcherrima et fuse illita comparavit iste cum moribus, imaginem albam delineatam cum fabula. utrisque delectari homines statuit, sed coloribus istis fuse illitis non aeque (
οὐχ ὁμοίως) atque imagine alba delineata. itaque (sic ille ratiocinatus est) fabula magis delectat quam mores, ideoque mores post fabulam collocandi sunt. hem hominem acutum. praeterea
ἐναλείφειν τοῖς καλλίστοις φαρμάκοις est illinere pulcherrimis coloribus, ubi deest quid coloribus inducatur : quippe debuit
ἐναλείψειε τὰ κάλλιστα φάρμακα. sed quaeritur possitne vitari offensio, si hic locus in fine §. 12. post
ἔχουσα δὲ μῦθον καὶ σύστασιν πραγμάτων inseratur, id quod fecerunt et Buhlius et Hermannus. ego non sequar; primum quia transpositio ipsa violentum est remedium, tum quia non esse Aristotelis scio in re manifesta post minimum intervallum ex eadem arte exemplum petere, quod fit si haec post §. 12. inseruntur, deinde quod comparatio vel sic male instituta est: nam tum colores nullo ordine (
χύδην) illiti conferuntur moralibus sermonibus deinceps positis, cet. aliud indicium, quo transpositionem perperam fieri liquet, ex sequentibus (§. 15 extr.) se offert: nam transpositione facta, iam illa
ἔστι τε μίμησις πράξεως,
καὶ διὰ ταύτην μάλιστα τῶν
πραττόντων sic legi non possunt, sed pro
τε cum Hermanno
γὰρ substituendum est. sed quis tandem pro
γὰρ ponere
τε animum induxisset, si id ab initio fuisset? immo
τε non mutandum: interpolator enim iam alterum affert
σημεῖον, unde mores post fabulam proximum locum occupare iste prò- bare intendit, idque imperite adnectit
ἔστι τε μίμησις κτλ., imperite quidem sed tam bene quam ab isto exspectari potest. ipsam suam sapientiam hausit ex Aristoteliis illis (§. 10)
οὔκουν ὅπως τὰ ἤθη μιμήσωνται πράττουσιν,
ἀλλὰ τὰ ἤθη συμπεριλαμβάνουσι διὰ τὰς πράξεις. cum scribit
τῶν πραττόντων, cogitavit iste
τῆς ποιότητος (vel
ἤθων)
τῶν πραττόντων. fortasse respexit etiam illa (§. 9)
ἡ γὰρ τραγῳδία μίμησίς ἐστιν οὐκ ἀνθρώπων ἀλλὰ πράξεως.
16.
mvp-aristotle-comment-50
Ritter, cap. 6 § 16
τρίτον δὲ διάνοια.
τοῦτο κτλ.
διάνοιαν Aristoteles definivit §. 6., interpolator definitionem h. 1. promit ab Aristotelia multum diversam et paulo post (§. 17) aliam etiam cum Aristotelia convenientem. num haec Aristostoteli tribuemus ? num Aristolelem eodem capite ter ad idem revolvi putabimus? sed vide mihi priorem hanc interpolatoris definitionem
διανοίας: esse facultatem dicendi (
τὸ λέγειν δύνασθαι) quae in re sint quaeque apta sint. nimirum Aristoteles
διάνοιαν partem tragoediae intelligit (den Gedankengehalt), interpolator eandem pro facultate humana accipit (die Fähigkeit das Richtige und Passende zu sagen.) -
ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν λόγων κτλ. technicus noster digreditur ad orationes. conf. Commentar. ad c. 25,3. quod sequitur
οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀρχαῖοι πολιτικῶς ἐποίουν λέγοντας,
οἱ δὲ νῦν ῥητορικῶς, perperam de poetis tragicis antiquis et novis dictum esse multi crediderunt: immo tota illa digressio
ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν λόγων - ῥητορικῶς aperte oratores spectat, non poetas. distinguit interpolator inter oratores politicos, h. e. qui de veris causis dicebant, et scholasticos qui fictas componebant.
17.
mvp-aristotle-comment-51
Ritter, cap. 6 § 17
ὃ δηλοῖ τὴν προαίρεσιν ὁποία τις: haec hausta sunt ex Rhetoricis III, 16. p. 1417 a 15. statim autem discurrit iterum ad orationes,
διόπερ οὐκ
ἔχουσιν ἦθος τῶν λόγων ἐν οἷς cet., et mire scribit
τῶν λόγων ἐν οἷς cet. pro
τῶν λόγων ὅσοις μηδ' ὅλως ἔνεστι, quam insolentiam in Latina interpretatione servavi. iam tertium revolvitur homo inconstantissimus ad
διάνοιαν, et nunc quidem eius definitionem promit Aristoteli consentientem, sed suae modo prolatae repugnantem.
18.
mvp-aristotle-comment-52
Ritter, cap. 6 § 18
τέταρτον - δύναμιν: haec omnia inania sunt et inepta et Aristoteliis male convenientia. Aristoteles enim
λέξιν partem tragoediae constituit, et quidem eam partem quae numeris inclusa est sed cantu et saltatione caret, senarios, etiam tetrametros et anapaestos plerosque, hic homo orationum elocutionem intelligit et paulo post non recte Aristotelis definitione percepta addit
λέξιν esse
τὴν διὰ τῆς ὀνομασίας ἑρμηνείαν. scilicet interpolator explicat quam
λέξιν vulgo intelligant homines, Aristoteles eodem nomine nove usus est ad designandam tragoediae partem.
ἐπὶ τῶν λόγων: in orationibus prosa sermone conscriptis.
19.
mvp-aristotle-comment-53
Ritter, cap. 6 § 19
quae a §. 15 usque ad hunc locum tractavi, ea non esse Aristotelis in posterum omnes credituros esse spero : sed quae iam sequuntur fortasse defendi possunt, si quis in fine §. 14. verba
δεύτερον δὲ τὰ ἤθη a me Aristoteli relicta etiam interpolatori tribuat, ut finis §. 14. et initium §. 19. in hunc modum connectantur
ἀρχὴ μὲν οὖν καὶ οἷον ψυχὴ ὁ μύθος τῆς τραγῳδίας·
τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν πέντε ἡ μελοποιία μέγιστον τῶν ἡδυσμάτων. sed haec quoque defensio consistere nequit. nam cum adhuc, ex medio sublatis illis §. 15-18., de duobus (de moribus et fabula) dictum esset, pergere debuit
τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν τεττάρων, non
πέντε. neque ratio est, cur
διάνοιαν et
λέξιν silentio transmitti,
ὄψιν autem et
μελοποιίαν rursus memorari vellet. accedunt alia quae statim afferentur.
τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν πέντε: quomodo quinque partes supersunt, cum post quattuor ante commemoratas duae restent,
μελοποιία et
ὄψις ? dixerit aliquis, postremo disputatum esse de dictione (
λέξει), quam respiciens Aristoteles scripserit
τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν πέντε. sed haec vana sunt. sic enim )haec prodit sententia,
μελοποιίαν excepta dictione (
λέξει) omnium partium summum esse condimentorum tragoediae, sed quis
λέξιν condimentum tragoediae appellaverit? immo tragoediae ne sunt quidem condimenta, sed sunt dictionis (
λέξεως), numeri videlicet et cantus. vid. c. 6, 3. hoc
πέντε igitur dormitanti homini tribuendum erit.
ἡ δὲ ὄψις-ποιητικῆς: haec per se non falsa videntur, sed vix conciliari poterunt cum illa Aristotelis sententia (§. 4) quae
ὄψιν necessariam tragoediae partem constituit. neque id verum omnino videtur,
ὄψιν esse
ἀτεχνότατον καὶ ἥκιστα οἰκεῖον τῆς ποιητικῆς: immo in excogitandis rerum et casuum formis in scena repraesentandis magna poе- tae solertia versari potest. interpolator de rebus quibusdam externis cogitasse videtur. id apparet ex additis
ἡ γὰρ τῆς τραγῳδίας δύναμις καὶ ἄνευ ἀγῶνος καὶ ὑποκριτῶν ἐστίν. est sane, sed tamen sine
ὄψει tragoedia consistere non potest: nam si legitur tantum,
ὄψις illa suppleri a legentibus vel audientibus debet, ut ne sic quidem deesse possit. -
ἔτι δὲ κυριωτέρα- τῶν ποιητῶν ἐστίν: etiam haec argumento sunt, interpolatorem quid
ὄψιν Aristoteles intellexerit non satis percepisse. numerum pluralem apud verum Aristotelem in hoc opere non invenio. vid. c. 6, 8., ubi
ὄψεις in loco ab aliena manuinserta. numeri insolentiam tenui in Latina interpretatione.