Aristotle Poetics 25.26

ed. Henry James Pye

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as no blame can be incurred. And, by saying it is what a sensible man ought not to deliver, the fault, indeed, is pointed out but no excuse made, which is here the express design of Aristotle. His meaning must certainly be, that, before an absurdity is blamed, the character of the person who utters it should be considered;

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.) — 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.) — 25.26 focus
The Impossible, in general, is to be justified by referring, either to the end of Poetry itself, or to what is best, or to opinion.
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.) — 25.26 focus
Thus irrationality is used [without any necessity] by Euripides in his Aegeus, and viciousness, in the character of Menelaus, in his 1 Orestes. The reprehensions, therefore, may be derived from five species.
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
La poëtique d'Aristote (André Dacier, 1692) (OCR draft) Experimental (André Dacier's French translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1692.) — 25.26 focus
En general, quand on accuſe les Poëtes d'avoir dit quelque choſe d'impoſſible, il faut examiner cette impoſſibilité, par raport à la Poeſie, ou par raport à ce qui eſt mieux, ou par raport à la renommée.
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

26. mvp-aristotle-comment-1048

ὅλως δὲ κτέ. This concluding paragraph, in intention at any rate, puts the main points in the preceding discussion into a more general form. The language in b 23 is to be noticed; ἀδύνατα is clearly used as the opposite of the οἷα ἦν ἢ ἔστιν, ἄλογα of the οἷά φασιν καὶ δοκεῖ, and βλαβερά of the οἷα εἶναι δεῖ in 25, 1460 b 10 . Some of the points in the previous statement are either passed over or only just hinted at. On the other hand two new points are introduced: the plea of poetical necessity, instead of being limited to 'impossibilities' ( comp. 25, 1460 b 23 ), is indirectly said to be an excuse for the 'improbable' and the 'morally offensive' also ( comp. b 19
ἀλογίᾳ καὶ μοχθηρίᾳ
); and besides this we have the dialectical rule of caution in b 15, which might very well have found a place in the main discussion, as a pendant to that in 31. The whole chapter in fact, however excellent in substance, is hardly a model of logical arrangement.

26. mvp-aristotle-comment-1049

τὸ ἀδύνατον μὲν πρὸς τὴν ποίησιν. Vahlen takes these words together in the sense of 'the impossible in poetry', and supposes only two solutions to be recognized, those denoted by πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον ἢ πρὸς τὴν δόξαν. The chief objection to this view is that it seems to exclude the solution given in 25, 1460 b 24 , where poetical necessity is said to justify even 'impossibilities'. The reason that follows, πρός τε γὰρ τὴν ποίησιν κτέ., adds a very necessary qualification, viz. that the impossibility has to be disguised and made credible ( πιθανόν) by arts of expression; comp. 24, 1460 a 27
ἀδύνατα εἰκότα
, and 24, 1460 b 2
ἀφανίζει ἡδύνων τὸ ἄτοπον
. A second solution is by reference πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον—a point which Aristotle illustrates here from painting, and not as in 25, 1460 b 33 from poetry. A third is by reference πρὸς τὴν δόξαν i. e. by showing that the impossibility has been accepted and sanctioned by opinion ( comp. 25, 1460 b 10
οἷά φασιν καὶ δοκεῖ
, and 1460 b 35
οὕτω φασίν
).

26. mvp-aristotle-comment-1050

1461b10 πρὸς τὴν ποίησιν: Meteor. 2. 3, 357 a 26
πρὸς ποίησιν μὲν γὰρ οὕτως εἰπὼν [scil. Empedocles] ἴσως εἴρηκεν ἱκανῶς (ἡ γὰρ μεταφορὰ ποιητικόν), πρὸς δὲ τὸ γνῶναι τὴν φύσιν οὐχ ἱκανῶς.
— Fr. 147 (Teubn.)
οὐδὲ γὰρ πρὸς τὴν ποίησιν πρὸ ἔργου ἦν ἡ τούτων μνήμη.

26. mvp-aristotle-comment-1051

ἀνάγειν, to explain by reference to something ( comp. Bon. Ind. 42 a 37 ).

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

44. mvp-aristotle-comment-640

25.26 44. En general, quand on accuſe les Poëtes d'avoir dit quelque chose d'impoſſible, il faut examiner cette impoſibilité par raport à la Poësie, par raport à ce qui est mieux, ou par raport à la Renommée.] 1

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

17. mvp-aristotle-comment-200

Ritter, cap. 25 § 17

-19. hic idem recurrit quod in capitis 12. segmento 1 et 3. deprehendimus: nam ut illic quae multo sudore excogitavit bis propinavit interpolator ineptissime, sic quae iam subsequuntur (§. 17) eadem sunt atque quae paulo ante (§. 4-8) posita erant, et quae proxime sequuntur (§. 18), ea partim §. 15. partim §. 8. proposita erant: quae autem §. 19. continentur, ea vero Aristoteli (c. 15, 5) furatus est. iste hoc argumentum tam grave esse putavit, ut bis de eo exponendum videretur. - διαμάρτημα τὸ πρόβλημα είκός ἐστιν: problema exercitationis causa ad reprehendendum poetam inventum errore fere nititur. εἰκός adverbii loco positum videtur, ut idem sit quod κατ' εἰκός. ὅλως δὲ τὸ ἀδύνατον - δεῖ ἀνάγειν: si poeta aliquis quod fieri non potest admisit, id ad poesin referre decet, h. e. videndum utrum ipsa peccaverit an alius artis peccatum acceperit. argutam hanc distinctionem accuratius persecutus est §. 4-8. τοιούτους δ' εἶναι οἷους Ζεύξις ἔγραφεν: Zeuxis quos pinxit, ii maxime ad similitudinem veritatis expressi erant et apti ad illusionem faciendam, sed idem eo colorum splendore imagines suas exornavit, ut in rerum natura nihil quod plane simile esset inveniri posset. conf. Od. Mülleri Archaeolog. art. §. 137 ed. 2. νατον ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον: subintellige τὸ ἀδύ δεῖ ἀνάγειν. quae sequuntur τὸ γὰρ παράδειγμα δεῖ ὑπερέχειν πρὸς ἃ φασι τἄλογα, eorum haec est sententia: exemplar enim assurgere debet prae iis quae ratione carere dicunt. oratio negligenter conformata est. conf. §. 6.interdum vero ratione non carent quae videntur carere, οὕτω τε καὶ ὅτι - παρὰ τὸ εἰκὸς γίνεσθαι. haec in brevius contracta transcripta sunt ex c. 18, 6.