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.
6.
mvp-aristotle-comment-1089
1462a
ὑποκριτικῆς:
see on
19, 1456 b 10
.
6.
mvp-aristotle-comment-1090
1462a6
σημείοις:
i.e. the significant movements, of hand or head for instance, by which the spoken word may be accompanied (
comp.
Aristoxenus p. 411, 13 Marquard
, and
Ath. 628 D
; see also
Sommerbrodt l. c. p. 213
).
6.
mvp-aristotle-comment-1091
1462a6_2
ῥαψῳδοῦντα.
The
ῥαψῳδός is tacitly assumed to be a kind of
ὑποκριτής (see on
5, 1449
a15
).
6.
mvp-aristotle-comment-1092
1462a7
Σωσίστρατος ... Μνασίθεος.
Nothing further is known of either. It is evident that the one was a rhapsodist and the other a professional singer.
6.
mvp-aristotle-comment-1093
1462a7_2
διᾴδοντα.
As
Tyrwhitt (quoting
Theocritus 5. 22
) points out,
διάδειν is '
certatim sive in certamine canere'; it implies that
Mnasitheus sang, no doubt as a
κιθαρῳδός, in an
ἀγών, i.e. in a public performance in the theatre. The word is explained in the Lexicon in
Bekker's
Anecdota 37,
διάσασθαι τὸ διαμιλλήσασθαι ἐν ᾠδῇ τινι. The same idea of competition is found in
διαθεῖν,
διακολακεύεσθαι,
διαπίνειν, etc.
Gomperz aptly compares the saying ascribed to
Diogenes the Cynic (
Stob.
Fl. 4. 112
),
Διογένης ἔλεγε διαπαλαίοντας μὲν πολλοὺς ὁρᾶν καὶ διατρέχοντας, διακαλοκαγαθιζομένους δὲ οὔ.
10.
mvp-aristotle-comment-661
26.6
10. Mais premierement tout ce qu'on vient de dire contre la Tragedie n'est pas contre l'art du Poëte, c'est contre celuy de l'Acteur.]
1
11.
mvp-aristotle-comment-662
26.6
11. Outre que ce défaut n'est pas moins commun à ceux qui recitent un Poeme Epique, comme Softrate, ou qui le chantent comme Mnefitheus d'Opunte.]
2
12.
mvp-aristotle-comment-663
265.
mvp-aristotle-comment-265
NOTE 265. P. 132.
26.6
LIKE BAD FLUTE-PLAYERS, WHO WHIRL THEMSELVES ROUND, WHEN THEY WOULD IMITATE THE MOTION OF THE DISCUS—.
This is one of those antique curiosities, which we stare at, without knowing very well what to make of it. —
Αν ΔΙΣΚΟΝ δεη μιμείσθαι. We should think it very strange, if we were told of a flute-player having occasion to imitate a quoit. But we are not to understand this of a mere instrumental solo, but of a performer accompanying words sung by a Chorus, (as appears from the mention of the
Coryphæus,) and endeavouring, in an absurd manner, to express them. The antient
Αυλητης, or
Tibicen, was not, it seems, a mere sedentary performer, like those of a modern orchestra. He accompanied the Chorus with his person, as well as with his instrument, and seems to have paraded about the stage, in a pompous dress; to have made a part of the
ὄψις, or show, and to have joined in all the turns, and returns, and various evolutions, of the choral dance. Hence the description of
Horace
:
A. P. 214.
Sic priscae motumque et luxuriam addidit arti
Lucian, in his Harmonides
, describing the requisites of a good
Tibicen, traxitque VAGUS per pulpita vestem. Αυλητης, mentions, among the rest, —
και ΒΑΙΝΕΙΝ ἐν ῥυθμῳ.
1
The great masters, no doubt, respected themselves, and confined their motion to the dignity of a sort of rhythmic strut. But
Aristotle
here, is describing the tricks of the
φαυλοι or
φορτικοι performers. Such a performer might have occasion, or rather take occasion, to imitate the whirling or rolling of a disc, if the subject, for example, of the choral song chanced to be the story of
Apollo and Hyacinthus; which is mentioned by
Lucian
in a long list of fabulous subjects, enumerated as a part of the knowledge requisite to an accomplished pantomimic dancer. Or, the subject might be taken from
Homer, Od. 6. 186, &c.
Κυλιόμενοι.
Dacier
, in his note, translates this, "rolling themselves upon the ground." This would be
φορτικον indeed. Yet in this idea he follows
Victorius
; who enters into a discussion, of some length, to prove that
κυλιομενοι can mean nothing but rolling on the ground. Nor will he allow the difficulty of doing this while they were playing to be a sufficient objection. Certainly, the usual and proper sense of the word is on his side. But it was natural enough, surely, to apply to the motion imitating, the term proper to the motion imitated.
2
266.
mvp-aristotle-comment-266
NOTE 266. P. 132.
26.6
AND PULL THE CORYPHÆUS WHEN SCYLLA IS THE SUBJECT.
Έλκοντες τον Κορυφαιον. — To imitate Scylla, —
"naves in saxa trahentem," as
Virgil
has expressed it. But it is not easy to see, how the performer, at least while he was playing, could well spare a hand for this operation. This was even worse than what we call humouring a catch; when, for instance, a singer who is performing
Purcell's
"Fie, nay prithee, John" thinks it necessary to collar his neighbour.
26.1.
mvp-aristotle-comment-126
26.6
TRAGEDY ALSO AS WELL AS THE EPOPEE MAY ATTAIN ITS END WITHOUT REPRESENTATION, FOR WE CAN JUDGE OF ITS MERIT BY READING ONLY.
THIS is strictly true; and perhaps there are few good tragedies in which the effect is not in general, at least as forcible in the closet as on the stage, even in the modern theatre. In the strongly impaffioned parts, where every other confideration of effect is lost in feeling, we are wonderfully moved by the natural efforts of a Garrick and a Siddons; but this is independent of the stage effect, and would be as strong in a room as on the stage. But the appearance of scene-shifters, the panting [M] dead bodies, and other circumstances of the same nature that must necessarily attend the representation, rather weaken than encrease the force of the illufion; and the exception just made can extend only to few performers. There are not many actors who are able to give us in the representation, the ideas we form of the characters of Shakespear from reading his plays. Mr. Jackson, who to the highest merit in one, adds an accurate and elegant taste in all the polite arts, says, 'I have seldom any pleasure from the representation of Shakespear's plays, unless it be • from some scenes of conversation merely without paffion. The speeches [M] Note II. Chap. xx. 3 Y 2 ' which
' which have any thing affecting in the expression are generally so overacted as to cease to be " the mirror of nature [в]." There is in fact always fomething wanting in the apparatus of the drama, I mean especially in tragedy[c], to keep up the delusion. Here the painter has the advantage; he has only, it is true, a point of time to imitate, but this point he can imitate accurately. He can paint the horse starting at the dead bodies in the field of Bofworth or Agincourt; he has no need of rofin for the artificial and almost ridiculous flash of lightning which precedes the thunder of the scene-shifter; his imitative corruscations seem really to divide the clouds and threaten the wretched head of the night-wandering monarch. He can also stain the bosom of Juliet with blood without exciting our disgust, and shew us the bleeding rings from which the eyes of Glofter have been torn without raising too violent and offenfive a sensation of horror. If fuch is the effect of the modern theatrical apparatus on the interest of the drama, what must have been that of the ancient with all its exaggerated and unnatural appendages? Increasing the improbability in the strongest degree, and robbing the representation of its chief effect, the natural expression of the paffions, by the display of their operation on the human form and countenance through the exertions of a good actor. If however there are few actors who are able to do justice to the characters of Shakespear, there are also few other dramatic characters who [B] Letter XIV. [c] This is not fo much the cafe with comedy. A handsome room, a street, or even a view of St. James's Park, may be represented accurately enough. If the apparatus fails in comedy, it is generally not from deficiency but the contrary. See Note VIII. Chap. xv. do
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. do not owe much of their merit to the exertion of the performers in general. It is not every play that justifies the observation which is the subject of this note. Dr. Francklin, in the preface to his excellent tranflation of Sophocles, observes in commendation of the ancient mask, 'That the actor was not, as on our stage, left at liberty to murder fine language and sentiment by wrong accent and false pronunciation, by hurrying over some parts with precipitancy and drawling out others into a tedious monotony, a good voice and a tolerable ear were all that the poet required of him.' Dr.Francklin forgets that this argument proves too much; since applied to a good actor the reverse is equally true. Would it be no disadvantage to dramatic effect to hide the speaking features of a Garrick behind a deformed vizor; or distort the pathetic tones of Mrs. Siddons by a speaking trumpet? Indeed the effect was tried on Mr. Garrick. The only character of Shakespear in which he could not fucceed was Othello. What must have been loft from his not being able to mark by his expreffive countenance, the conflict of the various passions in his bosom while Iago was working on his jealoufy! I will conclude this note with the opinion of an eminent critic on the subject. A fluctuation of passion and refined sentiments would have ' made no figure on the Grecian stage. Imagine the discording scene between Brutus and Caffius in Julius Cæfar to be there exhibited, or the ' handkerchief in the Moor of Venice; how flight would be their effect, when pronounced in a mask and through a pipe! The workings of nature upon the countenance, and the inflexions of voice so deeply ، ' affecting in modern representation, would have been entirely loft. If a great
A COMMENTARY ON THE CHAP. XXVI. ، a great genius had arifen with talents for composing a pathetic tragedy ' in perfection, he would have made no figure in Greece. HOME'S Sketches of the History of Man, Book 1. Sk. v. 2.
3.
mvp-aristotle-comment-206
Ritter, cap. 26 § 3
πρῶτον μὲν οὐ τῆς ποιητικῆς κτλ. tragoedia speciose adhuc accusata iam ita defenditur, ut primum ab illis accusatoribus non poeticam sed histrionum artem peti, deinde non quemcumque imitandi modum repudiandum esse doceatur.
ἐπεὶ ἔστι περιεργάζεσθαι τοῖς σημείοις καὶ ῥαψῳδοῦντα: iniqua ista tragoediae accusatio eodem iure intendi potest in epopoeiam: nam carminis epici recitator (
ὁ ῥαψῳδός) et ipse modum excedere potest nimia manuum corporisque iactatione. rhapsodus
σχήμασι (Tanz - Figuren) quidem non utitur, sed motibus simplicioribus gestibusque (
σημείοις) non minus egredi modum potest.
ὅπερ ἐποίει Σωσίστρατος κτλ. proprium est huius scriptoris laudare auctores admodum obscuros. de Sosistrato nihil aliunde accepimus, neque de Mnasitheo Opuntio: illum poemata epica nimio cum gestu recitasse, hunc lyrica decantasse in certaminibus musicis ob hunclocum suspicari licet. pro priore
ἐποίει codices qui memorantur omnes
έστι praebent, quod ex versu antegresso forte huc delatum verbum genuinum et ab Aldo restitutum de sede sua deiecit. ceterum repetitum continuo
ἐποίει nonnullam auctoris infantiam arguit.
εἶτα οὐδὲ κίνησις - ὄρχησις: non id vitio verti tragoediae potest quod multo motu utitur, sed nonnisi motus et saltatio deteriorum vituperanda est. illa
εἴπερ μηδ' ὄρχησις (si ne saltatio quidem omnis despicienda est) aetatem prodere videntur, cum saltatio obsolescere et contemni inciperet. -
μιμουμένων: exspectamus
μιμουμένοις, sed in conformanda oratione hic homo mira lascivia grassari solet. conf. c. 25, 18.
οὐ πινόντων οἶνον. c. 26, 1.
οὐκ αἰσθανο μένων. –
διὰ γὰρ τοῦ ἀναγινώσκειν φανερὰ ὁποία τις ἐστίν: hausta haec sunt ex loco male intellecto c. 14, 1. conf. Comment. in c. 14, 1. et in c. 6, 19.
καὶ