Thomas Twining Poetics 29

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Poetics. Thomas Twining. London. 1789.

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Current edition Experimental

Commentary on the Poetics (Thomas Twining, 1789) (OCR draft) (English) (Thomas Twining's notes on Aristotle's Poetics, aligned to the Kassel reference edition.)

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Commentary

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

14. mvp-aristotle-comment-132

1449a11 τῶν ἐξαρχόντων
ἐξάρχειν τὸν διθύραμβον, ἢ τὰ φαλλικά, dicebantur qui choro utrivis canendo praeiverunt; qui, ut verisimile est, ab initio poetae ipsi fuerunt
, says Tyrwhitt, quoting Archilochus ( fr. 77 Bergk
ὡς Διωνύσοι᾿ ἄνακτος καλὸν ἐξάρξαι μέλος οἶδα διθύραμβον
). By the ἐξάρχων here Aristotle means the poet-composer, who supplied both words and air, and taught them to the chorus—not as is sometimes supposed, the κορυφαῖος, who was only one of the chorus. ἐξάρχειν διθύραμβον is practically a synonym for διδάσκειν διθύραμβον, the expression in Herodotus i. 23. It is clear that Aristotle has in his own mind a general view of the historical development of early Greek poetry, but he tells us as little as possible about it. The intention of the Poetics is to give us a theory of the Epic and of the Drama, not a treatise on the history and archaeology of the Drama. Tragedy began when the author of the dithyramb came forward with an 'improvisation', i. e. with a ῥῆσις or spoken statement, which he improvised in the interval between the two halves of the song of the chorus. The allusion in τῶν ἐξαρχόντων in the text is probably to Thespis, whom he is known to have mentioned in a fragment preserved by Themistius Or. 26, 382 Dind.
οὐ προσέχομεν Ἀριστοτέλει ὅτι τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ὁ χορὸς εἰσιὼν ᾔδεν εἰς τοὺς θεούς, Θέσπις δὲ πρόλογόν τε καὶ ῥῆσιν ἐξεῦρεν;
. The 'prologue and speech' introduced by Thespis may be identified with the improvisations of the actor-poet, which transformed the Dithyramb into Tragedy.

14. mvp-aristotle-comment-133

1449a12 φαλλικά Photius Lex.
Φαλλικόν· ποίημα αὐτοσχέδιον ἐπὶ τῷ φαλλῷ ἀδόμενον
. — Hesychius
Φαλλικόν· ὄρχημά τι· οἱ δὲ μέλος· ἄλλοι ᾠδὴν αὐτοσχέδιον ἐπὶ τῷ φαλλῷ ἀδομένην
. In these phallus-songs Aristotle sees the origin of Comedy; it arose through the author of the song 'improvising' some scurrilous tale, and becoming in this way the forerunner of the single actor of the earliest form of Comedy.

14. mvp-aristotle-comment-134

1449a13 προαγόντων : see on 4, 1448 b 22 .
1449a14

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

27. mvp-aristotle-comment-97

4.14 Or d'examiner preſentement ſi la Tragedie eſt dans ſa perfection & ſi elle a receu la forme qui luy convient.] 1

28. mvp-aristotle-comment-98

4.14 Et par rapport à elle, & par rapport au theatre.] 2

Commentary on the Poetics (Thomas Twining, 1789) (OCR draft) (Thomas Twining's notes on Aristotle's Poetics, aligned to the Kassel reference edition.) focus

29. mvp-aristotle-comment-29

NOTE 29.

4.14 P. 72. BY SUCH SUCCESSIVE IMPROVEMENTS AS WERE MOST OBVIOUS.
Ὅσον ἐγινετο φανερον αυτης
—literally,
"so much of it as was manifest."
I doubt of the reading: but, taking it as it stands, I have given what appears to me to offer itself as the most natural and simple meaning of the expression, if not the only one that it will reasonably bear.

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

11. mvp-aristotle-comment-27

Ritter, cap. 4 § 11

τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐπισκοπεῖν εἰ ἄρ᾽ ἔχει κτλ. paulo ante (§. 7-10) docuit tum quomodo nata sit et epica poesis et iambica, tum qua ratione pro his ipsis tragoedia invaluerit et comoedia. iam dicit hoc, quaerere utrum tragoedia omnino respondeat ( ἔχει ἱκανῶς) necne formis illis poeticis ( τοῖς εἴδεσιν), h. e. formis quae in poesi adhiberi possunt, ita ut tragoedia omnium poeticae artis generum sit perfectis-.: sima, an species poetica magis perfecta ab ullo mortalium possit excogitari, id alius esse disputationis. non ea est (hoc vulgo existimant) loci sententia, alius esse disputationis, num tragoedia, qua est tragoedia, satis culta sit an non sit: hoc enim certum fuisse Aristoteli ex §. 12. apparet: καὶ πολλὰς μεταβολὰς μεταβαλοῦσα ἡ τραγῳδία ἐπαύσατο, ἐπεὶ ἔσχε τὴν αὑτῆς φύσιν. declarat igitur se anquirere iam nolle an nova quadem poesis immutatione novisque εἴδεσι pro comoedia et tragoedia prolatis perfectius quidquam fieri et excogitari possit quam tragoedia, sed haec ipsa quomodo paulatim culta sit explicaturum se esse. αὐτό τε καθ' αὑτὸ κρινόμενον καὶ πρὸς τὰ θέατρα: ubi quaeritur utrum tragoedia cultissima sit et perfectissima ex omnibus quot esse possunt poesis genera an alia species magis instructa et perculta proferri possit, quid ibi theatra sibi velint vix intelligas. eiusmodi quaestio nonnisi ita explicari posse videtur, ut illud poesis genus per sese spectetur. frigere igitur illud additamentum videatur. accedit aliud: nam κρινόμενον ab Aldo propagatum adhuc in nullo codice repertum est, sed pro illo participio κρίνεται ἢ ναὶ inest in libris AcBc et Get M XIV, κρίνεται ἦναι Μ 21 et Parisiensi 2938, κρίνεται εἶναι Na et LQ et M 14 16. codicum vestigia κρίνεται ἢ ναὶ aperte commendant, quod quo casu ex κρινόμενον corrumpi potuerit assequi vix licet. donec igitur et iusta auctoritas pro forma κρινόμενον afferatur et apta huic loco explicatio promatur, hanc meam suspicionem producere locumque nove constituere non temerarium erit: τὸ μὲν οὖν ἐπισκοπεῖν εἰ ἄρ᾽ ἔχει ἤδη ἡ τραγωδία τοῖς εἴδεσιν ἱκανῶς ἢ οὔ [ αὐτό τε καθ' αὑτὸ κρίνεται; ἢ καὶ 4) πρὸς τὰ θέατρα;], ἄλλος λόγος. vides, mi lector, quo haec tendant. curiosus quidam quae in margine interrogavit, ea in verborum contextum recepta ac deinde ab Italo quodam interpolata videntur. sed dico videntur, ideoque in ipsis ver- 4) Istud vai ante καὶ per διττογραφίαν natum conieceris.bis nihil mutandum putavi, sed hanc meam coniecturam lectori expendendam commendo.

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-28

Ritter, cap. 4 § 12

καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐξαρχόντων τὸν διθύραμβον: antiquissimam tragoediae formam non diversam fuisse significat a prisco illo dithyramborum genere, cum chorus satyrorum circa Bacchi aram caprumque ei numini immolatum τραγωδίαν sive τραγικὴν ἀοιδὴν (Bocks - gesang) decantando saltaret. haec est enim nativa ac prima τραγῳδίας significatio. nimirum τραγωδίας nomen decompositum ( παρασύνθετον) est ex τραγωδός, unde etiam τραγῳδέω, plane ut κωμῳδέω et κωμῳδία ex κωμῳδός, ἀρνῳδέω et ἀρνῳδία ex ἀρνῳδός. τραγωδία est igitur id quod canit tragoedus ( ἀοιδὴ τοῦ τραγῳδοῦ): ipse tragoedus est ὃς τράγον ἀείδει. quamvis enim prisci illi tragoedi non ipsum caprum sed deum cui caper mactabatur canerent, ab hominibus tamen nomen eis inditum est ab ea re quae oculis potissimum exposita esset 4). ἐξάρχειν τὸν διθύραμβον hic dictum est de iis qui dithyramborum et canendorum et saltandorum auctores erant et magistri. quoniam αὐτοσχεδιαστικῶς dithyrambum 4) Varias nominis τραγωδίας etymologias collectas proposuit vir pereximius Fr. Welckerus in Appendice operis de trilogia Aeschylia editi p. 240. quam ipse ceteris praetulit ab Etymol. Magno acceptam τραγῳδία ὅτι τὰ πολλὰ οἱ χοροὶ ἐκ σατύρων συνίσταντο, οὓς ἐκάλουν τράγους –, ea mihi non probatur, propterea quod τραγωδία non est nomen compositum ( σύνθετον) ex τράγος et ᾠδή, sed decompositum ( παρασύνθετον) est ex τραγωδός. tertia eiusdem nominis explicandi ratio ὅτι τράγος τῇ ᾠδῇ ἄθλον ἐτίθετο —, ab antiquis auctoribus certatim tradita et magni Bentleii assensu (Opusc. p. 315 sqq.) comprobata, nuper merito repudiata est a Iacobo in Quaestionibus Sophocl. p. 85 et 104., a Welckero l. indic., aliis. id tamen dubitari vix poterit, quin dithyrambi cantores sacris illis peractis hoc laboris praemium tulerint, ut una cum sacerdotibus sacrificii ministris capri mactati carne vescerentur. forsitan inde orta sit fabula ista de hirco in praemium certaminis ( ὡς ἄθλον) proposito.inchoabant, eis neque γράφειν neque ποιεῖν neque συνιστάναι tribui potuit. ὁ ἐξάρχων et laudes dei et cantandi modos saltandique figuras ita inchoavit, ut ceteri praeeuntem circa Bacchi aram sequerentur. haec ad intellectum verborum Aristotelis dixisse sufficiat: rem illam ipsam ex omnibus quot ad nos venerunt testimoniis veterum scriptorum explicare alius est disputationis, quae nostra aetate acerrime et agitata est et agitatur. ἡ δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν τὰ φαλλικά: ut φαλλός signum est potentiae genitalis masculi generis animantibus concessae, ita τὰ φαλλικά carmina sunt ad φαλλόν in pompa decantata eademque ad Bacchum hanc vim iuvantem celebrandum accommodata. a priscis illis dithyrambis ita diversa fuerunt, ut primum vim genitricem praedicarent, tum ut in pompa, non circa aram, recitarentur. haec comissantium turba (cui nomen κῶμος) habebat quem τὰ φαλλικά ex tempore canere atque saltare incipientem ( ἐξάρχοντα) sequeretur. duci ceterisque cantoribus nomen erat κωμῳδοί, h. e. τοῦ κώμου ἀοιδοί, Sänger des (schwärmenden) Aufzuges. inde per παρασύνθεσιν factum est verbum κωμῳδέω et nomen κωμῳδία. grassari in tali comissantium turba est κωμάζειν. – ἃ ἔτι καὶ νῦν - νομιζόμενα: hos serioris aetatis φαλλοφόρους vel ἰθυφάλλους descripsit Semus Delius apud Athenaeum XIV. p. 622 C. κατὰ μικρὸν ηυξήθη ὅσον ἐγίγνετο φανερὸν αὐτῆς : Thespin aliosque ante Aeschylum tragoediarum scriptores significat. accuratius haec quae ad historiam artis poeticae pertinerent in opere περὶ ποιητῶν exsecutus videtur.