Poetics. Aristotle. ed. Henry James Pye. London. 1792.
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.
4.
mvp-aristotle-comment-754
κύριον.
The
κύριον ὄνομα is the established and familiar term for a thing, as distinct from the
γλῶττα, the
μεταφορά and the other
ξενικὰ ὀνόματα (see on
22, 1458ª22
). In actual usage, however, the
κύριον ὄνομα is more especially opposed to the metaphor. As the metaphor is an
ἀλλότριον ὄνομα (
infra b7), the
κύριον ὄνομα is much the same thing as the
οἰκεῖον or 'proper' name for the thing; comp.
Rhet.
3. 2, 1404b 31
τὸ δὲ κύριον καὶ τὸ οἰκεῖον [=
i. e.
τὸ
οἰκεῖον]
καὶ μεταφορὰ μόναι χρήσιμοι πρὸς τὴν τῶν ψιλῶν λόγων λέξιν. Hence it is that in Latin
proprie often represents the
κυρίως, and
propria nomina the
κύρια ὀνόματα of Greek writers.
Horace has an attempt at a more literal translation of the latter term in
A. P.
234
Non ego inornata et dominantia nomina solum verbaque, Pisones, satyrorum scriptor amabo. In
Isocrates
190 D-E
the designation for the words in common use, in contradistinction to those belonging more especially to poetry, is
τὰ τεταγμένα or
τὰ πολιτικὰ ὀνόματα.
4.
mvp-aristotle-comment-755
κόσμος.
The term reappears in
22, 1458 b 33
. As
Aristotle's explanation is lost (see on b33), the technical sense to be attached to it is a matter of conjecture. In
Isocrates
190 D
(see above on b1) the metaphor, the strange word, and the coined word are grouped together under the general head of
κόσμοι; and
Aristotle himself in the
Rhetoric (
3. 2, 1404 b5
and
1405ª14
) uses the verb
κοσμεῖν in an equally wide sense, to denote the embellishment of style by means of metaphor and other unusual forms of expression. In the present passage, however, it is clear that the term
κόσμος must have a special meaning, since instead of including the
γλῶττα, the
μεταφορά, etc., it is expressly distinguished and made to stand apart from them. The only positive hint we have in the
Poetics of the sense of the term is in
22, 1459ª11
, where it is said to be allowable not only in epic poetry, but also in oratory and in the iambic parts of Tragedy:
ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἰαμβείοις διὰ τὸ ὅτι μάλιστα λέξιν μιμεῖσθαι ταῦτα ἁρμόττει τῶν ὀνομάτων ὅσοις κἂν ἐν λόγοις τις χρήσαιτο· ἔστι δὲ τὰ τοιαῦτα τὸ κύριον καὶ μεταφορὰ καὶ κόσμος.
Aristotle is generally supposed to be referring to the
epitheton ornans; in support of which interpretation
Tyrwhitt and others point to the use of
κόσμος in
Rhet.
3. 7, 1408 a 13
μηδ' ἐπὶ τῷ εὐτελεῖ ὀνόματι ἐπῇ κόσμος· εἰ δὲ μή, κωμῳδία φαίνεται, οἷον ποιεῖ Κλεοφῶν· ὁμοίως γὰρ ἔνια ἔλεγε καὶ εἰ εἶπειεν ἂν πότνια συκή.
This passage in the
Rhetoric, however, does not justify this view.
πότνια is regarded there as a
κόσμος, not because it is a certain kind of epithet, but because it is a
γλῶττα (
v. on b4), and therefore one of the unusual words which according to the
Rhetoric (
3. 2, 1404 b5
) serve to embellish the style. An
epitheton ornans need not be of this kind; in
γάλα λευκόν, for instance, the epithet is
κύριον ὄνομα. As the
κόσμος, according to the classification in the text, is a special kind of word, distinguished from the
κύριον ὄνομα on the one side and the
γλῶττα,
μεταφορά, etc., on the other, we may perhaps suppose it to be the ornamental synonym, a word, for example, like
Πηλείδης for Achilles,
Ἤφαιστος for fire,
ὄλεθρος for one who causes destruction - the kind of word which in the ancient classification of tropes came under the heads of synecdoche, antonomasia, and metonymia (comp.
Volkmann,
Rhetorik der Gr. u. Röm. p. 421-5). If
Aristotle's
κόσμος does not include such synonyms, he has ignored what he elsewhere (
Rhet.
3. 2, 1404b39
) knows to be an important element in the poetic vocabulary.
Cicero
De Oratore
3. 167
distinguishes between the 'coined' word,
factum verbum (
Aristotle's
πεποιημένον ὄνομα), the 'transferred' word,
translatum verbum (
i. e.
μεταφορά), and the 'ornamental equivalent',
ornandi causa proprium proprio commutatum; this last being apparently identical with the
κόσμος of the
Poetics. We must not forget that
Aristotle recognizes some words as being more beautiful than others:
Rhet.
3. 2, 1405 a 6
καὶ ἀπὸ καλῶν [
scil.
δεῖ μεταφέρειν]·
κάλλος δὲ ὀνόματος τὸ μέν, ὥσπερ Λικύμνιος λέγει, ἐν τοῖς ψόφοις ἢ τῷ σημαινομένῳ [
i. e. either in its sound or in its associations],
καὶ αἶσχος δὲ ὡσαύτως with which we may compare the definition of
Theophrastus (
ap.
Demetr.
De eloc.
173
),
κάλλος ὀνόματός ἐστι τὸ πρὸς τὴν ἀκοὴν ἢ πρὸς τὴν ὄψιν ἡδὺ ἢ τὸ τῇ διανοίᾳ ἔντιμον (
v.
Rabe,
De Theophrasti libris περὶ λέξεως p. 44). It would be strange if this very obvious artifice of poetical expression were overlooked by
Aristotle in a book like the
Poetics.
5.
mvp-aristotle-comment-489
21.2.
mvp-aristotle-comment-87
21.4
NOUNS ARE EITHER PROPER OR FOREIGN, OR METAPHORICAL, OR ORNAMENTAL, OR INVENTED FOR THE PURPOSE, OR LENGTHENED, OR SHORTENED, OR CHANGED.
BY PROPER, Aristotle means words used in their common acceptation, as in plain conversation, in contradistinction to all the other modes he has mentioned, and not to the γλῶττα or foreign word only; though in his first example he opposes these to each other for the obvious reason he gives, of the saine word partaking of both qualities, though with respect to different persons. This fort of foreign words introduced into poetry, did not resemble the ridiculous practice of those travelled coxcombs who are continually larding their conversation with French and Italian phrafes; but, as is observed in the note on the tranflation, related only to the different dialects of Greece. We have nothing that resembles this so much as the introduction of such Scottish words as BOURN, EYNE, &c. which, to an English ear, has a very agreeable effect, and gives a kind of Doric fimplicity to the lower kind of paftoral poetry. But this to a Scotchman has the fame effect as our own provincial language would have to an Englishman. This however will in no case suit the higher walks of the drama and epopee. Had Scotland continued a separate kingdom the two dialects might have been distinct and of equal dignity, and have given our poets this source of variety. See BEATTIE ON LUDICROUS COMPOSITION, Chap. 11. near the end. The
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. The use of Metaphors is so frequent in common conversation as hardly to require explanation; such expreffions as a cool reasoner,' ' a warm debater,' are examples. Sometimes even a word is more common in its metaphorical than its proper sense, as for instance, to RUMINATE. By a fingular chance this word, though of no dignity in its figurative sense, acquires dignity in its proper sense, and is a perfect instance of the use of foreign words in elevating the style of poetry; as in Milton,
• Others fill'd with pasture gazing fat • Or bedward RUMINATING.' The example taken from Homer, of a ship to illustrate the transfer of a word from genus to species is sufficiently plain. We say commonly a ship lies at anchor from the quiet situation she is in when at anchor, which may be termed a species of lying still compared to the agitation of a voyage. The example of the change from species to genus (fee the tranflation) is equally clear and still in common use, though we usually employ the modefter term of a thousand; the Romans still more moderate, contented themselves with fix hundred. On the same principle the abfent lover counts his hours by centuries. As for the transfer from species to species, however comfortably obscure the Greek examples are, I think the sense of the precept is sufficiently clear; it means, I conceive, the transfer of a figurative expression usually connected with one word, to another word to which it is not usually applied, though the meaning of it is the fame. I esteem Castlevetro's example perfectly just; and agree with Mr. Twining in thinking any man who chuses MAY speak so, though I do not think it would be often advisable for him to avail himself of this liberty. I do not quote the Italian critic as our own learned countryman Martinus Scriblerius
Scriblerius has furnished us with examples in his account of the figure Catachrefis, a master of which he tells us will say, Mow the beard, Shave the field, Pin the plank, Nail my fleeve. In ludicrous composition this figure is of great use. The humour of low comedy and farce frequently depends on it. The failor applies his fea-terms to all the objects of common life, the gardener talks of the first row of a regiment, and the foldier of a front rank of French-beans. But this figure is not entirely banished from more serious compofition. The pensive poet wanders O'er the dry smooth-SHAVEN green,' and the hero of romance Mows down squadrons with his enchanted sword. This figure is sometimes used in common speech, as when we fay a warrior is PRODIGAL OF LIFE, or a spendthrift BLEEDS FREELY. It must be allowed this mode of arranging figures comes so near the next, and the examples seem so applicable to both, that I am not able well to diftinguish them. The particular inftance given by Aristotle of the transfer of metaphor by analogy is very clear. Calling Beauty the arms of Venus, and Arms the ornament of Mars, exhibits a more familiar example. In regard to calling a shield the cup of Mars, I must differ TOTO COELO from Piccolomini, who thinks the resemblance of the two things as to form,
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. form, can have any possible connection with the metaphor, and that it would be spoiled if lance were substituted for shield [B], because the form of the Greek φιάλη, or cup, bore some resemblance to a shield. This might have been the cafe with a poet who composed, as the Laputan philosopher proposed to converse, by things instead of words. But surely to one who uses the arbitrary symbols of things to express his thoughts instead of things themselves, resemblance of effect rather than resemblance of shape is the source of metaphor, and on this principle I should think the cup of Bacchus bore more analogy to an offenfive than a defenfive weapon. I never heard the metaphor in the second ode of Anacreon, where he makes female beauty serve both as a fword and a shield, blamed on this principle; but I never could fancy any resemblance, as to form, between a handsome woman and either of those instruments [c]. Calling a shield' the wineless cup of Mars' is termed by Harles [D], ' a most daring metaphor.' Perhaps it will hardly seem so, if we take a more common instance, and call love the bloodless war of Venus.. Of the ornamented word mentioned by Aristotle he takes no further notice. Metastasio supposes it explained in that paragraph of the Epistle. to the Pisos which begins, • Non ego inornata et dominantia verba folum,' &c. [B] See Twining, Note 185. [c] In some cases however too great a natural dissimilitude between the objects has a bad effect. See Note VII. Chap. xxi. [D] See Note on the translation.. 3 Η΄ But
But whoever reads that whole passage must be convinced, that if inornata there is opposed to κόσμος here, κόσμος must comprehend every other species of ornament of which language is capable; all of which he has here claffed with it, as being different modifications of exception to (κύρια), words in their proper and common form. Aristotle also at the end of the next chapter, again distinguishes κόσμος in this manner. He says such words are most calculated for Iambic verse as are most fit for common discourse of which it is an imitation, viz. the proper, the metaphorical, and the ornamented. Though from this we do not see what the critic meant by κόσμος, we fee clearly that he did not mean by it either an assemblage of all the other ornaments of language, or any elevation or change of style much over-topping the modesty of common difcourse. Invented words can never be supposed to fignify any arbitrary name that the poet may chuse to impose, but a name whose signification must, from derivation or fome other cause, be sufficiently expressive of the fense it is intended to convey. Such, for instance, as courser for horse. Of lengthened names the Italian has many; but [E] Metastasio observes they cannot be introduced into serious works: in English poetry they are not uncommon; we use ' devoid' for 'void,' ' distain' for ' stain;' and Milton puts ' eremite' for ' hermit,' adding one fyllable and lengthening a vowel. We also shorten words in verse, as 'morn,' ' eve,' ' mead.' Indeed all ellisions of vowels properly fall under this description. There are other figures of speech not mentioned by the critic here, but which modern critics are full of, and which seem indeed, in fact, to [B] Estrutto della Poetica, page 333be,
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. be, what Mr. [F] Spence calls, peccadillos against grammar; but which the blind admirers of the ancients first give Greek names to, and then call figures of rhetoric. On this principle all the errors against grammatical precision [G] which are pointed out even in our best writers, may be converted into beauties. Quintilian was however of a different opinion. (H) ‘Every form will • become a fault if it is not produced by choice but by accident, though it is often defended by authority, by time, and by custom.' [F] See Essay on the Odyssey, p. 117. [G] Masclef in his Hebrew Grammar, Chap. XXII. points out 102 instances of words of an anomalous form in the Hebrew Bible. Of these, from Dr. Kennicott's collation of Mss. 78 appear to be errors of the tranfcribers or printers. [H] Effet enim omne schema vitium fi non peteretur sed acciderit; verum auctoritate, ve tuftate, confuetudine, plerumque defenditur. 3 H 2 CHAP.
2.
mvp-aristotle-comment-148
Ritter, cap. 21 § 2
ἢ κόσμος: omnium nominis generum quae hoc loco memorantur, definitiones continuo subsequuntur :
κόσμος autem quid sit non definitur. bis eadem vox recurrit c. 22, 3 et 10., et bis quidem inepte, ut mox declarabimus. quid igitur est
κόσμος ? interpretantur Latine ornatus et cogitant de epithetis ornantibus, sed haec ab Aristotele
κόσμον appellata esse unde probabitur? moneo ne quis abuti velit iis quae Aristoteles Rhetor. III, 7 init. scribit:
τὸ δὲ ἀνάλογόν ἐστιν,
ἐὰν μήτε περὶ εὐόγκων αὐτοκαβδάλως λέγηται μήτε περὶ εὐτελῶν σεμνῶς,
μήδ᾽ ἐπὶ τῷ εὐτελεῖ ὀνόματι ἐπῇ κόσμος. nam hic universe locutus est, cum ornari nomen magnifico epitheto recte dicere posset: alioqui nomine
ἐπιθέτων utitur, ut ibidem pag. 1408 b 11.
τὰ δὲ ὀνόματα τὰ διπλᾶ καὶ τὰ ἐπίθετα πλείω ἁρμόττει τῷ παθητικῶς λέγοντι. conf. III, 2. p. 1405 a 10. ipse
κόσμος, si ponamus esse idem quod
ἐπίθετον, et
γλῶττα et
μεταφορά, denique quodcumque praeter
κύριον esse potest. testis est ipse Aristoteles Rhetor. III, 2 sub initium :
τῶν δ᾽ ὀνομάτων καὶ ῥημάτων σαφή (
τὴν λέξιν)
μὲν ποιεῖ τὰ κύρια,
μὴ ταπεινὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ κεκοσμέ νην τἆλλα ὀνόματα ὅσα εἴρηται ἐν τοῖς περὶ ποιητικῆς. ita- ...que
κόσμος vel ob hanc causam adiungi hic non potest. quapropter eam vocem et hic et duobus aliis locis ex nota marginali natam existimo. scilicet
κόσμον explicationis gratia aliquis in margine posuit, ut sex illa nominum genera quae praeter
κύριον memorantur ad orationis ornatum conferre moneret.