Aristotle Poetics 16.10

ed. Henry James Pye

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Aristotle says the discovery is made by false reasoning; but here the deception is supposed to be made by false reasoning

Poetics. Aristotle. ed. Henry James Pye. London. 1792.

Current edition Experimental

The Poetic of Aristotle (Henry James Pye, revised 1792) (OCR draft) (English) (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.)

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.) — 16 focus
Περὶ ποιητικῆς (OCR draft) Perseus (Aristotle, De arte poetica liber. Rudolf Kassel, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965. Reference edition for passage alignment.) — 16 focus
Poetics, Greek text (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) Experimental (Ingram Bywater's Greek text of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1909.) — 16 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.) — 16 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.) — 16 focus
Arabic Poetics (Badawī edition, 1953) (OCR draft) (The ancient Arabic translation of Aristotle's Poetics in ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Badawī's 1953 edition.) — 16 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.) — 16 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.) — 16 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.) — 16.10 focus
There is also a compound sort of discovery, arising from false inference in the audience 1 ; as in Ulysses the False Messenger: he asserts, that he shall know the bow, which he had not seen; the audience falsely infer, that a discovery, by that means, will follow.
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.) — 16.10 focus
There is also a certain compound [discovery], which is produced from the false inference of the spectator, as in the " Ulysses the False Messenger." For he says, he should know the bow, which he had not seen; but the [audience], as if he must be known through this, on this account infer falsely. 1
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.) — 16 focus
La poëtique d'Aristote (André Dacier, 1692) (OCR draft) Experimental (André Dacier's French translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1692.) — 16.10 focus
Il y a encore une cinquiéme eſpece de reconnoiſſance qui ſe fait auſſi par un raiſonnement qui eſt ſuivi d'une fauſſe conſequence que tire le ſpectateur, comme dans le faux Ulyſſe; car ſur ce que celuy-cy dit, qu'il reconnoîtra un arc, qu'il n'a jamais vû, le ſpectateur trompé par cette propoſition, attend qu'il ſe fera reconnoître de cette maniére, & ſe laiſſe ainſi ſurprendre à ce faux raiſonnement.
Poetica d'Aristotile (Bernardo Segni, 1549) (OCR draft) Experimental (Bernardo Segni's 1549 Florentine Italian translation, aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.) — 16 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.) — 16 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.) — 16 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.) — 16 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.) — 16 focus

Commentary

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

10. mvp-aristotle-comment-590

ἐκ παραλογισμοῦ: comp. 4 ἐκ συλλογισμοῦ. Vahlen, who connects this directly with συνθετή, supposes the two factors in the Discovery to be a συλλογισμός on the side of the one, and a παραλογισμός on the side of the other of the two parties:
'quae [scil. ἀναγνώρισις] ut ex simplici unius ratiocinatione prodire, ita composita esse potest alterius ex syllogismo, paralogismo alterius'
(comp. also the discussion in his Zur Kritik Aristotelischer Schriften p. 16). The illustration, however, from the Ὀδυσσεὺς ψευδάγγελος does not seem to imply anything more than an erroneous inference by one party ( παραλογισμὸς ὁ θατέρου) from some statement made by the other. The reasoning in this instance Aristotle appears to regard as the illogical parallel to that in the Choephoroe: just as the recognition of Orestes by Electra came about through συλλογισμός on her part, so that of A by B, the two personages in the Ὀδυσσεὺς ψευδάγγελος, is supposed to come about through a παραλογισμός on the part of the latter. The fallacy to be found there may have arisen from the ambiguity of the word 'know'. A having said 'I shall know the bow', B may have taken this to mean that he would know it again ( ἀναγνωριοῦντος)—which was not true (comp. οὐχ ἑωράκει). In our ignorance of the play and its plot it is idle to speculate further as to the way in which the actual Discovery may have been worked out in it. The present is one of many passages showing Aristotle's affection for the forms of logic even when dealing with matters of poetry (see on 16, 1454 b 28 ).

10. mvp-aristotle-comment-591

θατέρου: comp. 11, 1452 b 4 . The error in the text of A c ( θεάτρου) is the converse of that in the inferior MSS. of Plato's Laws 659 A ( θατέρου for θεάτρου).

10. mvp-aristotle-comment-592

15 ὡς δὴ κτέ. Both text and interpretation here are in the highest degree doubtful. ὡς δὴ ἐκείνου ἀναγνωριοῦντος seems to be practically an object-clause after ποιῆσαι; for this use of the gen. absol. with ὡς see Kühner, Gr. Gr. 2. 2 p. 93 , or Goodwin, Synt. of Gk. Moods and Tenses § 917 (comp. Lobeck on Soph. Aj. 281 ). After ἀναγνωριοῦντος we may understand τὸ τόξον, from τὸ τόξον ἔφη γνώσεσθαι in the preceding line—the distinction between γνώσεσθαι and ἀναγνωριοῦντος being like that between λήψις and ἀνάληψις in De mem. 2, 451 a 20
οὔτε γὰρ μνήμης ἐστὶν ἀνάληψις ἡ ἀνάμνησις οὔτε λήψις
.

10. mvp-aristotle-comment-593

διὰ τούτου ποιῆσαι. ποιῆσαι here may perhaps have the sense of 'suppose' or 'assume' (comp. Herod. 7. 184 ; Xenoph. An. 5. 7. 9 ; Ast, Lex. Plat. 3 p. 136 ). The comma usually placed after τούτου has been removed in order that διὰ τούτου may be connected with ποιῆσαι, so as to mean 'through' or 'in consequence of this statement'; comp. the use of διά in Soph. el. 1, 165 a 1
ὁ συλλογισμὸς ἐκ τινῶν ἐστι τεθέντων ὥστε λέγειν ἕτερόν τι ἐξ ἀνάγκης τῶν κειμένων διὰ τῶν κειμένων
. If the comma is retained, ἀναγνωριοῦντος διὰ τούτου must mean either 'would reveal himself by this' (see on 11, 1452 b 5 ), or 'would recognize him by this'. Butcher, keeping παραλογισμόν, and reading with Bekker and the Aldine ἐποίησε instead of ποιῆσαι, translates the clause thus:
'This remark led Odysseus to imagine that the other would recognize him through the bow, thus suggesting a false inference.'
18

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

20. mvp-aristotle-comment-408

16.10 Il y a encore une cinquième eſpece de reconnoiſſance, qui ſe fait auſſi par un raiſonnement qui eſt ſuivi d'une fauſſe con-ſequence que tire le ſpectateur, comme dans le faux Ulyſſe.] 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

132. mvp-aristotle-comment-132

NOTE 132. P. 97.

16.10 THERE IS ALSO A COMPOUND SORT, &C.When the meaning of an author cannot be satisfactorily explained, all that a translator can do, is, to be particularly careful to render faithfully his words. This I have endeavoured to do here: but whether I have done even this, the manifest corruption of the text must leave uncertain. Whatever sense may be enveloped in the Greek, I hope remains enveloped in the English. But what that is, I will not undertake to say.
With respect to the title of the drama,
Οδυσσευς Ψευδαγγελος
, if I have not given it its only possible sense, I have, surely, given it its most natural and obvious sense: — Ulysses in the disguise of a messenger. For I am really not able to see, how the words, without violent twisting, can be made to signify passively, as Castelvetro would have it,
"Ulisse di cui sono recate false novelle;"
though Victorius has pronounced a man to be a fool, who pretends to determine which of these two meanings is the right one. 1 Had a false Ulysses been meant, it seems probable, that the word
Ψευδοδυσσευς
would rather have been used; as
Ψευδηράκλης
, The false Hercules, was the title of a Comedy of Menander.
Αναγνωριεντα . . τε θεατρου
: I see no other construction, as the text stands. And so Victorius:
"Spectatores ita accepisse illam vocem, tanquam si ipsi, rei illius auxilio, ipsum agnituri essent."
Ulysses seems to have been a rich and valuable resource to the dramatic writers. His history furnished the subjects of many Comedies, as well as Tragedies. See Cassaubon upon Athenæus, p. 297 . There were, Ulysses Wounded — Ulysses Mad — Ulysses the Deserter — Ulysses Shipwrecked — Ulysses Weaving, &c. — The subject of the play here mentioned seems to have been suggested by Homer, Od. Τ. 120 . But, what it was — how this discovery was compound (
συνθετος
) — or how, indeed, it was a discovery at all — what the precise paralogism was, &c. I confess myself totally unable, from the short, perplexed, and probably corrupt words of the text, to make out. The reader may see, however, a great variety of different conjectures in the commentators; and I believe when he has read them all he will find himself just where he was. For my part, I leave this bow of Ulysses to be bent by stronger arms than mine: —
Ω φίλοι, οὐ μεν ἐγω τανυω — λαβετω δε και άλλος.

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

16.4. mvp-aristotle-comment-61 16.10

THE FOURTH IS BY REASONING.

THIS mode of discovery must also come under the fame class with the preceding one, and arise from some sudden effect wrought on the character by his reasoning, or rather from his reasoning being over-heard, which occasions his discovery, and not from the reasoning itself. For an inference occafioned by the circumstances, is the fource of every kind of discovery; as recollection, mentioned in the last note is the cause of our recognizing the perfon in the morning whom we parted with the evening before. Befides all the examples given by Aristotle imply this, except that from the Choephori if the tragedy of that name written by Æschylus is meant, which remains to be proved, [H], as several tragedies of the fame name and even on the same story may differ, and frequently do, as to the manner of arranging the circumftances of the fable, and bringing about the catastrophe. [H] See Note Iv. Chap. XVIII. See also Mr. Twining, Note 130. This
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. This mode seems to border strongly on the worst possible discovery that of over-hearing a foliloquy, as in the discovery of King Henry to the Foresters in Hen. VI. Part III.

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

7. mvp-aristotle-comment-116

Ritter, cap. 16 § 7

ἔστι δέ τις καὶ συνθετὴ ἐκ παραλογι σμοῦ τοῦ θεάτρου: agnitionem compositam dicere videtur ubi spectatores ( τὸ θέατρον) sperant fore ut aliquis agnoscatur is quem esse ipsi falso ratiocinati sunt, sed paulo post alium illum esse atque opinati sunt intelligunt. haec agnitio ita composita est, ut spectatores in agnoscenda persona quadam primo errent, mox eadem quae sit cognoscant. hoc videtur accidisse in Ulixe mendace nuntio, fabula nobis haud cognita. personatus quidam Ulixes se Ulixem esse probare voluit; spectatores verum esse Ulixem credentes exspectabant illum se pro Ulixe per arcum, quem sibi notum esse iactabat, probaturum esse, sed neque probavit, et alium quendam esse innotuit. sed haec omnia in coniectura versantur: nam ut certi nihil pronuntiari possit, scriptoris negligentiaprospexit. - τὸ μὲν γὰρ τόξον ἔφη : quis dixit? personatus Ulixes: sane, sed nota quam parcus sit hic homo in subiectis definiendis. statim τὸ δέ AcBc et M XIV 16 21 et GLPQ, τῷ δὲ Na et ( τῷ δὲ) Μ 14. τὸ δέ est theatrum; verba ὡς δι' ἐκείνου ἀναγνωριοῦντος de Telemacho falsum Ulixem percontante dicta accipio. editores Aldo auctore ὁ δὲ legunt, sed ea coniectura nihil expeditur: iam enim quis sit o δé nescimus, neque cur theatri mentio facta sit liquet, et genitivus ille absolutus magis etiam offendit. ubi res tam incerta est, a coniecturis abstinere praestat, ceterum statim ἐποιήσατο exspectamus, non ἐποίησε. itaque etiam hoc sciri certo nequit, an veteres editores corruptam codicum scripturam ποιῆσαι vere correxerint. certe ex ποιῆσαι non magis facile ἐποιήσατο fiat quam ἐποίησε.