Aristotle Poetics 26.5

ed. Henry James Pye

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Chapter
← Previous Next →
and that the epopee is calculated for politer persons who do not require the addition of action and scenery. But tragedy, for meaner persons, being more adapted to the vulgar, and consequently inferior.

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.

Translations (3)
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.) — 26.5 focus
The latter, then, it is urged, addresses itself to hearers of the better sort, to whom the addition of gesture is superfluous: but Tragedy is for the people 1 ; and being, therefore, the most vulgar kind of imitation, is evidently the inferior.
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.) — 26.5 focus
They say, therefore, that the epopee is calculated for hearers of the better sort, on which account it does not require scenery; but that tragedy is calculated for the vulgar. Hence, tragic imitation, which is troublesome to the spectator, will evidently be inferior to epic imitation.
La poëtique d'Aristote (André Dacier, 1692) (OCR draft) Experimental (André Dacier's French translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1692.) — 26.5 focus
On ſoûtient donc que le Poëme Epique étant fait pour les plus honnêtes gens, il n'a beſoin d'être ſoûtenu d'aucun mouvement, ny d'aucun geſte, & que la Tragedie étant faite pour le peuple a beſoin de ce ſecours, & que par conſequent elle eſt inferieure à l'Epopée.

Commentary

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

5. mvp-aristotle-comment-1088

σχημάτων: the attitudes or postures assumed by the dancer. In the dance, which, it is to be remembered, was a species of acting (see on 1, 1447 a27 ), σχῆμα had the technical sense explained by Plutarch, Qu. conv. 9. 15, 747 C-E
ἡ γὰρ ὄρχησις ἔκ τε κινήσεων καὶ σχέσεων συνέστηκεν, ὡς τὸ μέλος τῶν φθόγγων καὶ τῶν διαστημάτων· ἐνταῦθα δ᾽ αἱ μοναὶ πέρατα τῶν κινήσεών εἰσι. φοράς μὲν οὖν τὰς κινήσεις ὀνομάζουσι, σχήματα δὲ σχέσεις καὶ διαθέσεις, εἰς ἃς φερομέναι τελευτῶσιν αἱ κινήσεις, ὅταν Ἀπόλλωνος ἢ Πανὸς τινος Βάκχης σχῆμα διαθέντες ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος γραφικῶς τοῖς εἴδεσιν
 ἐπιμένωσι . 26. 1461 30-1462 12 355
εν ὀρχήσει τὸ μὲν σχῆμα μιμητικόν ἐστι μορφῆς καὶ ἰδέας, καὶ πάλιν ἡ φορὰ πάθους τινὸς ἐμφαντικὸν ἢ πράξεως ἢ δυνάμεως
( comp. Sommerbrodt, Scaenica p. 216 ).
1462a1

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

9. mvp-aristotle-comment-660

26.5 9. On foûtient donc que l'Epopée étant faite pour les plus honnètes gens.] 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

2. mvp-aristotle-comment-205

Ritter, cap. 26 § 2

ἡ μὲν οὖν τραγῳδία τοιαύτη ἐστίν: tragoedia talis est quae omnia imitando peragat ideoque molestae imitationis crimen subeat. τοιαύτη ad praegressa pertinere, non ad subsequentia, ex καὶ particulae ὡς addita liquet: quemadmodum etiam priores de posterioribus actoribus sentiebant, h. e. tragoedia omnia imitando exsequitur ; idem recentiores tragicos actores committere seniores credebant. ὡς λίαν - Καλλιππίδην ἐκάλει : Callippides nobilis tragoediarum actor Socratis aequalis erat. vid. Xenoph. Conviv. c. 3, 11. imperia remigibus dabat, cum Alcibiades triumphans Athenas rediret civibus suis reconciliatus. Athen. XII. p. 535 D. ea agendi arte excelluit, ut quamvis eodem in loco permaneret tamen currere videretur, unde proverbio locum dedit, vid. Sueton. in Tiberio c. 38. quem cursitare ac ne cubiti quidem mensuram progredi proverbio Graeco notatum est. conf. Cic. ad Attic. XIII, 12. Plutarch. Ages. c. 21. Apophthegm Lacon. p. 212 F (I. 2. p. 848 apud Wyttenb.), idem ubi quaerit bellone an pace clariores fuerint Athenienses p. 348 E et F (II. 1. p. 429). τραγικοὶ δὲ αὐτοῖς ὑποκριταί, καὶ Νικόστρατοι καὶ Καλλιππίδαι καὶ Μηνίσκοι καὶ Θεόδωροι· καὶ Πῶλοι, συνίτωσαν. Myniscum sive Meniscum Chalcidensem Callippide natu maiorem fuisse, id et hic locus docet et vita Aeschyli a Robortello aucta, unde hunc Aeschyli histrionem fuisse accepimus. τοιαύτη δὲ δόξα καὶ περὶ Πινδάρου ἦν: qui hic memoratur, fuisse eum histrionem tragicum nimia actione insignem verba ipsa produnt: nomen autem a librariis corruptum videtur. fortasse fuit περὶ Θεοδώρου, sed vide quam putide diligens in re sane minuta fuerit et quam sinistre haec verba prioribus addiderit. Theodori mentionem facit Plutarchus loco ante transcripto et in Praecept. gerend. reipubl. p. 816 F (IV. I. 274), Aristoteles in Rhetor. III, 2 sub init. ὡς δὲ οὗτοι ἔχουσι πρὸς αὐτούς: οὗτοι designat Callippiden et omnes in agendo nimios, αὐτούς pertinet ad eos qui modice agebant, ut Myniscus faciebat. ἡ ὅλη τέχνη πρὸς τὴν ἐποποιίαν ἔχει: ἡ ὅλη τέχνη poesis tragica appellatur, cum proxime ante singuli quidam tragici histriones enumerati essent. οὐδὲν δέον ται τῶν σχημάτων: quasi praeteriens causam memorat, quam fautores epopoeiae in suae sententiae subsidium afferant: figuris nihil egent. editores Aldo auctore legunt δι' ὃ οὐδὲν δέονται τῶν σχημάτων, vel διὸ cet. vel οἱ οὐδὲν cet., sed neque o ἳ neque διὸ in ullo codice adhuc repertum est.