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.
16.
mvp-aristotle-comment-138
καὶ τό τε τῶν ὑποκριτῶν πλῆθος
There is no need to assume a lacuna here. Having shown how Tragedy began with a single actor, Aristotle proceeds to note the introduction of a second, and after that, of a third actor. The increasing prominence of the actor is in his view the most significant fact in the evolution of the Drama. The
καί is explanatory, introducing a series of statements in support of the original assertion that Tragedy underwent many changes before attaining to its ultimate form.
16.
mvp-aristotle-comment-139
ὑποκριτῶν
The actor is called a
ὑποκριτής because he was the poet's spokesman, who interpreted his text to the public. The term must have acquired this sense at the time when the poet left the acting to others, instead of being himself the performer of his pieces, as he originally was according to
Rhet. 3. 1, 1403 b 23
. The position of the
ὑποκριτής was analogous to that of the
ῥαψῳδός; they were both intermediaries who interpreted the words of a poet to the public. Plato in the
Ion in one place terms him a
ἑρμηνεύς and in another
ὑποκριτής, apparently without any difference of meaning:
Ion 530 C
τὸν γὰρ ῥαψῳδὸν ἑρμηνέα δεῖ τοῦ ποιητοῦ τῆς διανοίας γίγνεσθαι τοῖς ἀκούουσι, and
535 E
οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ θεατὴς τῶν δακτυλίων ὁ ἔσχατος ... ὁ δὲ μέσος σὺ ὁ ῥαψῳδὸς καὶ ὑποκριτής, ὁ δὲ πρῶτος αὐτὸς ὁ ποιητής.
16.
mvp-aristotle-comment-140
1449a16
Αἰσχύλος
comp. the Aristotelian survey of the progress of the Drama in
Themistius Or. 26 p. 382 Dind.
οὐ προσέχομεν Ἀριστοτέλει ὅτι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὁ χορὸς εἰσιὼν ᾔδεν εἰς τοὺς θεούς, Θέσπις δὲ πρόλογόν τε καὶ ῥῆσιν ἐξεῦρεν, Αἰσχύλος δὲ τρίτον ὑποκριτὴν καὶ ὀκρίβαντας, τὰ δὲ πλείω τούτων Σοφοκλέους ἀπελαύσαμεν καὶ Εὐριπίδου? There is no doubt a discrepancy between this and the statement in the text about Aeschylus, but it need not disturb us, unless we assume Aristotle to have been incapable of a change of opinion even on a small matter of learned research. Ancient opinion was divided on the point:
Vita Aeschyli (Dindorf, Poet. scen. prol. p. 3)
ἐχρήσατο δ᾿ ὑποκριτῇ πρώτῳ μὲν Κλεάνδρῳ, ἔπειτα καὶ τὸν δεύτερον αὐτῷ προσῆψε Μυννίσκον τὸν Χαλκιδέα τὸν δὲ τρίτον ὑποκριτὴν αὐτὸς ἐξεῦρεν, ὡς δὲ Δικαίαρχος ὁ Μεσσήνιος, Σοφοκλῆς.
16.
mvp-aristotle-comment-141
1449a17
τὸν λόγον
the portion recited or spoken, as opposed to
τὰ τοῦ χοροῦ, the portion sung (
18, 1456 a 28
τὰ ἀδόμενα); comp. the use of
λόγοι in
6, 1450 b 6, 9
in the sense of the speeches or
ῥήσεις in a play.
Λόγος is a word with a Protean variety of meanings even in the Poetics. In
1, 1447 a 22
it means 'language', as opposed to metre and music; in
6, 1450 b 15
'prose', as distinct from verse; in
22, 1459 a 13
an 'oration', as opposed to a poem; in
15, 1454 a 18
(comp.
19, 1456 a 37
), the 'language', as distinct from the action, of the personages; in
17, 1455 b 17
(comp.
5, 1449 b 8
), the 'story', as distinct from its setting in the actual poem. And in
20, 1457 a 23
it is one of the technical terms of Aristotelian logic or grammar.
16.
mvp-aristotle-comment-142
1449a18
πρωταγωνιστὴν παρεσκεύασεν
'made it assume the leading part in the play'. For this metaphorical use of
πρωταγωνιστής comp. that of the derivative
πρωταγωνιστεῖν in
Pol. 8. 4, 1338 b 29
ὥστε τὸ καλὸν ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τὸ θηριῶδες δεῖ πρωταγωνιστεῖν· οὐ γὰρ λύκος οὐδὲ τῶν ἄλλων θηρίων τι ἀγωνίσαιτο ἂν οὐθένα καλὸν κίνδυνον, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἀνὴρ ἀγαθός. Instances of this extension of meaning (which is common enough in later Greek) will be found in
HSt. s.v. πρωταγωνιστής
. Aristotle is apt to use technical terms of theatrical origin in their popular sense (see on
14, 1453 b 8
χορηγίας) even in a book like the Poetics.
16.
mvp-aristotle-comment-143
σκηνογραφίαν
i. e. Sophocles was the first to have the screen behind the actors painted to represent the façade of a palace or a temple, or whatever else the play required as its background. The improvement here ascribed to Sophocles was sometimes attributed to Aeschylus (
Sommerbrodt, Scaenica p. 142
;
Haigh, Attic Th. p. 181
).
1449a19
33.
mvp-aristotle-comment-103
34.
mvp-aristotle-comment-104
35.
mvp-aristotle-comment-105
4.16
Eſchyle fut le premier qui mit deux Acteurs ſur la Scene, Car il n'y en avoit qu'un avant luy.]
3
36.
mvp-aristotle-comment-106
37.
mvp-aristotle-comment-107
38.
mvp-aristotle-comment-108
39.
mvp-aristotle-comment-109
30.
mvp-aristotle-comment-30
NOTE 30.
4.16
P. 72. ÆSCHYLUS-----ABRIDGED THE CHORAL PART.
The words are,
ΤΑ το χορό. Aristotle would hardly have expressed himself thus, had he meant, as
Madius
,
Bayle
, and others, have understood, a retrenchment in the number of choral performers.
ΤΑ τε χορε, the choral part, is opposed to
ΤΑ άπο σκηνης, the dialogue,
Prob. xv. of Sect. 19.
It is singular, that
Stanley
should misunderstand this passage; and still more singular, that he should cite
Philostratus
, who is directly against him: for his words are,
συνεστειλε τες χορός, ΑΠΟΤΑΔΗΝ ΟΝΤΑΣ:
"he contracted the chorusses, which were immoderately long."
1
This is confirmed by one of Aristotle's Problems, referred to by Victorius. The Problem is,
Δια τι οι περι Φρυνίχον ἦσαν μαλλον μελοποιοι; (meaning, I suppose, more Musicians than the dramatic Poets of his own time:) The answer is,
ή, δια το πολλαπλασια είναι τοτε τα μέλη ἐν ταις των μετρων τραγωδίαις;
2
I believe the passage may be rectified by transposition—
πολλ. είναι τοτε τα μέλη των μέτρων ἐν τ. Τ. Perhaps, too, we should read,
των ΤΡΙΜΕΤΡΩΝ. But, even taking it as it stands, it may sufficiently answer our purpose, as it shews clearly enough how much the Lyric parts of Tragedy, before the time of Æschylus, wanted contraction.
The prolixity of the Tragic Chorus, we know, was sometimes trying to the patience of an Athenian audience. This is pleasantly glanced at by
Aristophanes
in his
Ορνιθες: where the Chorus of birds, descanting on the convenience of wings, tell the spectators, that if they had wings, whenever, in the Theatre, they
"found themselves hungry, and were tired with the Tragic Chorus, they might fly home and eat their dinners, and fly back again, when the Chorus was over."
ΧΟΡ. Ουδεν ἐς᾿ ἀμεινον, ἐδ᾽ ἡδιον, φυσαι πτερα. Αυτιχ, ύμων των θεατων ἐι τις ὴν ὑποπτερο, Ειτα, πανων, τοις χοροισι των Τραγῳδων ήχθετο, Εκπετομενοι ἐν ἑτα ἠρισησεν, ἐλθων ὀικαδε, Κατ᾿ ἀν, ἐμπλησθεις, ἐφ ἡμας ἀυθις κατεπτατο.
v. 786.
31.
mvp-aristotle-comment-31
NOTE 31.
4.16
P. 72. AND MADE THE DIALOGUE THE PRINCIPAL PART OF TRAGEDY.
—
Και τον λογον πρωταγωνισην παρεσκευασε. Victorius, and others, have supposed Aristotle to mean the Prologue. But it seems to be a sufficient objection to this sense, that no example has been produced of the word
πρωταγωνισην, used as merely synonymous to
πρωτο; as signifying first only, not principal. Nor is it easy to discover any reason, why Aristotle should have recourse here to an unusual and ambiguous expression, when, presently after, in speaking of the improvements of Comedy [
cap. v.
], he makes use of the proper and established term,
προλογ. There seem to be no words in the Greek language, of which the sense is more clearly fixed, than that of
πρωταγωνισης—πρωταγωνιζειν. They occur frequently, and always, as far as I know, in the same sense, of principal—
primas agere, &c. To this sense, therefore, I thought it necessary to adhere.
But I confess I cannot be satisfied with either of the explanations which have been given of the word
ΛΟΓΟΣ. It appears strange to say, that Æschylus first introduced two actors, and then to add, as a distinct improvement, that he also first introduced a principal part or character:—unless we are to understand, what seems not very probable, that the two actors even of Æschylus himself were, at first, personages of equal dignity and importance in the drama... and that, afterwards, he was the first who corrected this error... and reduced the drama to unity of action by a proper subordination of characters. But, admitting this sense to be without difficulty, the expression of it, I think, is not.
Λόγος, for a part in the drama,
role, personnage, (as
Dacier
,) character, &c. seems harsh, and unusual. At least, I know no example of it.
The difficulties which attend both the expression and the sense, in each of these interpretations, have almost convinced me, that the very construction of the words has been mistaken; and that the meaning is,
"he made the discourse, or dialogue, the principal part of Tragedy." This is well connected with what precedes, and agreeable to the known history of the Tragic drama, in which, originally, the Chorus was the essential, and the Episodes, or dra- matic part, only the accessory. But Æschylus
"abridged the Chorus, and made the Episodic part the principal."
Λόγος, here, may well be understood to mean what Aristotle elsewhere calls
λεξις; the speaking, or recitative, part of Tragedy, whether delivered by one or more actors, as opposed to the
μέλη, or Lyric part.
3
Παρεσκευασε,
reddidit, effecit, &c. as...
ευσεβεστερες τε και σωφρονεςέρες της συνοντας παρεσκευασεν
"magis pios et temperatos reddidit."
4
And thus Aristotle himself,
cap. xix.
ὅταν ἡ ἐλεεινα δεινα δεη παρασκευαζαν. i. e. to make things piteous, terrible, &c. as in
Goulston's
version; and that of the accurate
Piccolomini
:—
"Quando occorre d'havere à far parere le cose, à miserabili, atroci," &c.
5
If the use of
πρωταγωνισης as an adjective be an objection, it is one to which the other explanations are equally liable. On the whole, I have not scrupled to prefer this sense in my version.
32.
mvp-aristotle-comment-32
NOTE 32.
4.16
P. 72. SOPHOCLES ADDED THE DECORATION OF PAINTED SCENERY.
To adjust exactly the rival claims of Æschylus and Sophocles with respect to the
oψις, or decoration, of the Tragic stage, would be a desperate undertaking. Some accounts are so liberal to Æschylus, as scarce to leave his successors any room for farther improvements. They give him
"paintings, machinery, altars, tombs, trumpets, ghosts, and furies:"—to which others add a very sin- gular species of Tragic improvement, the
"exhibition of drunken men."—
την δε σκηνην ἐκοσμησε, και την όψιν των θεωμενων κατεπληξε τη λαμπρότητι - ΓΡΑΦΑΙΣ και μηχαναίς, βωμοις τε και τάφοις, σαλπιγξιν, ειδωλοις, ἔριννυσι.
6
—And
Athenæus
says,
πρωτου ἐκεινΘ----παρηγαγε την των ΜΕΘΥΟΝΤΩΝ ΟΨΙΝ ἐς τραγωδιαν.
p. 428.
He adds an example. In the Tragedy called
Καβειροι, he introduced
"Jason and his retinue drunk!"
The passage given by
Dacier
from
Vitruvius
is very general; it says only,
"scenam fecit."
7
This may, or may not, include painting; which, indeed, rather seems to be implied, in what follows, about the improvements of
Democritus
and
Anaxagoras
, where the
"imagines ædificiorum in scenarum picturis" are mentioned. But all this is far outweighed by the testimony of Aristotle, who here explicitly attributes the introduction of painted Scenery to Sophocles.
13.
mvp-aristotle-comment-29
Ritter, cap. 4 § 13
ex multis tragicae artis vicissitudinibus et incrementis quinque commemorasse contentus est, quorum tria Aeschylo inventori, duo Sophocli debentur. primum et alterum, dico numerum actorum usque ad duos auctum et partes chori imminutas, arcte inter se cohaerent alterumque ex priore pendet. nam cum in tragoedia Thespidis unus actor esset, is nonnisi cum choro colloqui aut sua choro narrare poterat: sed cum alterum Aeschylus actorem produxisset,iam unus cum altero sermones conferre atque ambo inter se agere coeperunt; iam aptum et necessarium visum est tragicis poetis, ut quod alteri parti accessisset alteri detraherent, h. e. ut chori carmina partesque paulum contraherent. tertium Aeschyli inventum est illud
καὶ τὸν λόγον πρωταγωνιστὴν παρεσκεύασεν : per nomen abstractum quod vocamus actorem primarum partium designavit 5). ex duabus personis in scena agentibus cum una adeo excelleret ut ad eam actio potissimum referretur, unitas actionis sustineri facilius potuit. itaque etiam huius rei inventio gravissima erat.
τρεῖς δὲ καὶ σκηνογραφίαν Σοφοκλῆς: tertium actorem in eadem
ἐπεισοδίου parte cum duobus aliis colloquentem agentemque a Sophocle inventum esse consentientes Aristoteli tradunt et Dicaearchus in Auctario vitae Aeschyliae Robortelliano laudatus et Diogenes Laertius III, 34. et auctor vitae Sophocliae et Suidas s.
ν.
Σοφοκλῆς. Aeschylo huius inventionis laudem tribuit scriptor incertus Auctarii illius a Robortello editi, facta tamen Dicaearchi dissentientis mentione. ex levi sane recordatione Themistius (in Orat. XXVI. p. 382. ed. Dindorf.) haec scripsit :
ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡ σεμνή τραγωδία μετὰ πάσης ὁμοῦ τῆς σκευῆς καὶ τοῦ χοροῦ καὶ τῶν ὑποκριτῶν παρελήλυθεν εἰς τὸ θέατρον;
καὶ οὐ προσέχομεν ᾿Αριστοτέλει ὅτι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὁ χορὸς εἰσιὼν 6)
ᾔδεν εἰς τοὺς θεούς,
Θέσπις δὲ πρόλογόν τε καὶ ῥῆσιν ἐξεῦρεν,
Αἰσχύλος δὲ τρίτον ὑποκριτὴν καὶ ὀκρίβαντας,
τὰ δὲ 5) Similiter iustus orator, quem Aristophanes in Nubibus v. 887. producit, in libro illo optimo Ravennate
δίκαιος λόγος appellatur, et iniustus iusto quaerenti quis sit respondet sese
λό yov esse. 6) Ad
εἰσιών ex praecedentibus
εἰς τὸ θέατρον intellectu trahendum est. vide ut orator antiquissimae illi
τραγῳδίᾳ theatrum largiatur, in quod chorus ingressus deos (debuit Bacchum) се- cinerit; vide ut alterum actorem Thespidi concedat, cum post huius commemorationem ad Aeschylum transgressus narret tertium ab hoc actorem adhibitum esse.
πλείω τούτων Σοφοκλέους ἀπελαύσαμεν καὶ Εὐριπίδου; hic homo tertium actorem ad Aeschylum refert, Aristoteles ad Sophoclem, hic duos actores in Thespidis fabula deprehendit, Aristoteles secundum actorem ab Aeschylo inventum tradit, hic plura etiam ab Euripide reperta agnoscit, Aristoteles de Euripidis inventis nihil inaudivit. tam incredibilia et iis quae in Poetica legimus contraria Aristoteles aliis in libris enarrare non potuit: immo hic quarti post Christum saeculi scriptor ex hoc nostro loco sapientiam suam omnem videtur hausisse. hoc certum est, illum leviter scripsisse et dormitantem. itaque non maiorem eius verbis fidem tribuerim, quam iis quae nostra aetate quendam memini effutire: die Gymnasien sind, was sie bei den Griechen und Römern schon waren, Anstalten für höhere wissenschaftliche Bildung 7). unus igitur qui laude illa Sophoclem privare voluit restat scriptor qui in Auctario a Robortello evulgato pronuntiat
αὐτὸς (
Αἰσχύλος)
τὸν τρίτον ὑποκριτὴν ἐξεῦρεν. nimirum ille sive eius auctores (si quos habuit) tertium actorem in nonnullis Aeschyli fabulis, ut in Eumenidibus et Choephoris, invenientes atque eam rem non satis pensitantes, contra unice id spectantes, Aeschylum natu maiorem esse Sophocle, illi continuo inventionis gloriam concesserunt. vide quae de hac re disputavit Lessingius in Vita Sophoclia p. 104 sqq. tom. 10. ed. Berolin. Welckerus in Trilogia Aeschylia p. 515. Schultzius de Vita Sophoclis p. 70 sqq. Alterum Sophoclis inventum ad colendam tragicae demonstrationis magnificentiam aptum
σκηνογραφία fuit, h. e. ea pingendi ratio qua imagines ex longinquo visae perfectam quandam et pulchram formam praebent. bene Passovius in Lexico interpretatur perspectivische Mah- 7) Dum haec scribo, liber novus in oculos incidit in quo viris doctis offeruntur haece: Wenn es eine richtige Bemerkung ist, dass Socrates die Ethik in die Philosophie eingeführt habe, wie Sophocles die zweite Person in den dramatischen Dialog, cet.lerey. hanc Sophocles ad scenam exornandam primus adhibuit, cum solita illa pingendi ars haud dubie iam ante ipsum circa scenas versata esset. aliud est de quo loquitur Vitruvius in praefatione libri VII.