81.
mvp-aristotle-comment-81
NOTE 81. P. 84.
10.1
FABLES-SIMPLE, AND COMPLICATED.
It is high time to discard the technical jargon of
implex fables, used by Addison, and others, after the French writers .
1
If any authority were requisite for speaking English, I have that of Mr. Harris, who renders Aristotle's
ἁπλοι
, and
πεπλεγμενοι
, by simple, and complicated.
Phil. Inq. p. 146.
82.
mvp-aristotle-comment-82
NOTE 82. P. 84.
10.2
WHEN ITS CATASTROPHE IS PRODUCED WITHOUT EITHER REVOLUTION OR DISCOVERY.
Ἀνευ περιπέτειας ἢ ἀναγνωρισμεως ἡ μεταβασις γινεται.
—
Μεταβασις
, is the change of fortune which constitutes the catastrophe of the piece. This, which is common to all Tragedy, must not be confounded with the
Περιπετεια
, which, however important, is not essential. Le Bossu, Dacier, and others, by not attending to this distinction, have introduced much confusion into one of the clearest parts of Aristotle's work. Thus, Dacier says—
"Il appelle fable simple, celle ou il n'y a ni changement d'etat, ni reconnoissance, et dont le denouement n'est qu'un simple passage de l'agitation et du trouble au repos et à la tranquillité."
He adopts the language of Le Bossu
2
. Undoubtedly, there are Tragedies without a sudden and unexpected reverse of fortune; but where is the Tragedy, antient or modern, in which there is no "changement d'etat?" This would be no other than a Tragedy without a catastrophe. Thus, these writers take
μεταβασις
to signify the mere passage, progress, or suite, of the piece
3
: whereas it clearly signifies a change; a transition from prosperous to adverse, or at least from adverse to more adverse, fortune, or the contrary; as Beni has well observed
4
. The sense of the word is clearly fixed by other passages; and in cap. xviii. he expressly makes the
μεταβασις
, such a change of fortune as is common to every Tragedy.
Ἔστι δε ΠΑΣΗΣ τραγῳδίας, το μεν, δεσις, το δε, λυσις.
λέγω δε δεσιν μεν εἶναι την ἀπ᾿ ἀρχης μεχρι τουτου του μερους ὃ ἔσχατον ἐστιν, ἐξ οὗ ΜΕΤΑΒΑΙΝΕΙ εις ευτυχίαν· λυσιν δε, την ἀπο της ἀρχης ΤΗΣ ΜΕΤΑΒΑΣΕΩΣ μέχρι τέλους.
Mr. Harris, in his
Philol. Inquiries, p. 145, &c. seems to have deserted Aristotle for Le Bossu, who, with little reason, in my opinion, passed with him, as well as with Lord Shaftesbury, for "Aristotle's best interpreter
5
." Throughout his chapter on this subject, above referred to, he appears to me to confound the
μεταβασις
, or change, which Aristotle makes essential to all Tragedy, with that particular kind of change which he denominates
περιπετεια
: for he uses, repeatedly, the word revolution, (his translation of
περιπετεια
,) to express what Aristotle means by
μετάβασις, μεταβαινειν, μεταβαλλειν
. He speaks of
Othello, and
Lear, as complicated fables, and having revolutions. And so, indeed, they have, if we take the word in Aristotle's sense of
μεταβασις
; I do not see that they have, in his sense of
περιπετεια
. In neither of those Tragedies can it, I think, be said, that the catastrophe is produced by a sudden change, to the reverse of what is expected, by the spectator, from the circumstances of the action. At least, with respect to
Othello, this seems to admit of no dispute. [See the next NOTE.]
The Abbé Batteux gives, I think very properly, the
Polieucte of Corneille, as an example of the simple fable.
"La fable simple, qui n' a ni revolution subite, ni reconnoissance; qui commence, continue, s'acheve, sans secousses, ni retours inattendus. Ainsi Polieucte reçoit le baptême, son zele lui fait renverser les autels des payens, il est arrêté, jugé, mis à mort: c'est une fable simple."
Principes de la Lit. tome iii. p. 84.
Victorius, Beni, Piccolomini, and Goulston, agree with me in my idea of this passage, where the words,
συνεχης και μιας
, are not put to characterize the simple fable, as Victorius well observes, but refer merely to that unity and continuity of action, which had been established as necessary to Tragedy in general.
