Aristotle Poetics 22.12

Thomas Twining (Translator)

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But how great a difference is made by a proper and temperate use of such words, may be seen in heroic verse.

Poetics. Aristotle. Thomas Twining (Translator). London, UK. 1789.

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Current edition Experimental

Poetics (Thomas Twining, 1789) (OCR draft) (English) (Thomas Twining's English translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1789 and aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.)

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.) — 22 focus
Περὶ ποιητικῆς (OCR draft) Perseus (Aristotle, De arte poetica liber. Rudolf Kassel, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965. Reference edition for passage alignment.) — 22 focus
Poetics, Greek text (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) Experimental (Ingram Bywater's Greek text of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1909.) — 22 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.) — 22 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.) — 22 focus
Arabic Poetics (Badawī edition, 1953) (OCR draft) (The ancient Arabic translation of Aristotle's Poetics in ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Badawī's 1953 edition.) — 22 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.) — 22 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.) — 22 focus
The Poetic of Aristotle (Henry James Pye, revised 1792) (OCR draft) Experimental (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.) — 22.12 focus
What would be the effect, if, in this verse of Homer, • Not this weak pigmy wretch of mean design,' Od. ix. we should insert the common words LITTLE and VILE; or, in this verse for • A tripod table and ignobler seat,' Od. xx. we should say
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.) — 22.12 focus
And,
Νῦν δέ μ᾽ ἐὼν ὀλίγος τε καὶ οὐτιδανὸς καὶ ἄκικυς,
by inserting proper [and common] words, it will be,
Νῦν δέ μ᾽ ἐὼν μικρός τε καὶ ἀσθενικὸς καὶ ἀειδής7.
And,
Δίφρον ἀεικέλιον καταθεὶς, ὀλίγην τε τράπεζαν.
Δίφρον μοχθηρὸν καταθεὶς, μικράν τε τράπεζαν.
 1 2 3
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.) — 22 focus
La poëtique d'Aristote (André Dacier, 1692) (OCR draft) Experimental (André Dacier's French translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1692.) — 22.12 focus
Pour être convaincu de la beauté que donnent à la diction ces expreſſions figurées, pourvû qu'elles ſoient convenables, bien placées & miſes avec meſure, il ne faut que prendre des vers d'un Poëme Epique, ou d'une Tragedie, & y changer les termes.
Poetica d'Aristotile (Bernardo Segni, 1549) (OCR draft) Experimental (Bernardo Segni's 1549 Florentine Italian translation, aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.) — 22 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.) — 22 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.) — 22 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.) — 22 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.) — 22 focus

Commentary

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

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-834

15 τὸ δὲ ἁρμοττόντως. This is considered (1) in reference to these epic licences ( ἐπέκτασις, ἀποκοπή, ἐξαλλαγή), and (2) in reference to the use of metaphor, etc. (b 17).

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-835

ὅσον διαφέρει: Isocrates 87 c
καίτοι μ᾿ οὐ λέληθεν ὅσον διαφέρουσι τῶν λόγων εἰς τὸ πείθειν οἱ λεγόμενοι τῶν ἀναγιγνωσκομένων.
16

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-836

ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπῶν θεωρείσθω: because these metrical licences are so marked a feature in the epic diction (see on b 7). The proof here is not unlike that by which Isocrates 191 A shows the literary value of metre:
οἱ μὲν μετὰ μέτρων καὶ ῥυθμῶν ἅπαντα ποιοῦσιν, οἱ δ' οὐδενὸς τούτων κοινωνοῦσιν· τοσαύτην ἔχει χάριν, ὥστ᾽ ἂν καὶ τῇ λέξει καὶ τοῖς ἐνθυμήμασιν ἔχῃ κακῶς, ὅμως αὐταῖς ταῖς εὐρυθμίαις καὶ ταῖς συμμετρίαις ψυχαγωγοῦσι τοὺς ἀκούοντας.
γνοίη δ᾽ ἄν τις ἐκεῖθεν τὴν δύναμιν αὐτῶν· ἣν γάρ τις τῶν ποιημάτων τῶν εὐδοκιμούντων τὰ μὲν ὀνόματα καὶ τὰς διανοίας καταλίπῃ, τὸ δὲ μέτρον διαλύσῃ, φανήσεται πολὺ καταδεέστερα τῆς δόξης ἧς νῦν ἔχομεν περὶ αὐτῶν.

12. mvp-aristotle-comment-837

16 τῶν ὀνομάτων ; i. e. the normal words, the words themselves, as distinct from the ἐπεκτάσεις, etc., of them (see above on 28).

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

13. mvp-aristotle-comment-523

22.12 13. Pour étre convaincu de la beauté que donnent à la diction ces expreſſions figurées, pourvû qu'elles foient convenables, bien placées & avec meſure, il ne faut que prendre des vers d'un Poëme Epique, ou d'une Tragedie, & y changer les termes.] 1

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

202. mvp-aristotle-comment-202

NOTE 202. P. 111.

22.12 HOW GREAT A DIFFERENCE IS MADE, &C.
Όσον διαφερει.
Not
"quantum excellat,"
as Goulston and others translate; but, "what a difference the proper use of such words makes"—"how different the effect is." As, above, cap. x.
ΔΙΑΦΕΡΕΙ γαρ πολυ
—"it makes a great difference:" and, cap. xviii.
τι ΔΙΑΦΕΡΕΙ
.—Nothing more common than this use of the word. The difference here expressed, is, plainly, between the
ἁρμοττον
, and the
ἀπρεπως
, in the use of such words:
χρωμενα ΑΠΡΕΠΩΣ τα άυτα ἐν ἀπεργασαιτο ΤΟ ΔΕ ΑΡΜΟΤΤΟΝ όσον διαφερει κ. τ. λ.

203. mvp-aristotle-comment-203

NOTE 203. P. 111.

22.12 AND TEMPERATE USE OF SUCH WORDS.
Εντιθεμενων των ὀνοματων ἐις το μετρον
:—literally, "the words being put into the metre:" i. e. as Victorius and others explain it, "taking care, that, in changing the words, you do it
"falvo metro."
" 1 A very unnecessary caution surely; besides that the Greek hardly says that, whatever it may mean. Let us try its meaning by the fairest test, that of strict and literal translation; for we can sometimes see nonsense in English, which we cannot see in Greek. "But what difference is made by a proper use of such words, may be observed in hexameter verse, when the words are put into (i. e. as it is explained, adapted to) the metre." — What words?— Metaphorical, foreign, extended, &c. of which he had just been speaking. Very well. But how put in, or adapted to, the metre?—for not a word has yet been said about changing the words. Goulston understands, putting in these poetical words instead of the proper and common words. I see nothing of this in the original.
In short, it appears to me, that nothing tolerable can be made of the phrase,
ἐις το μετρον
, taken in this sense. If it might be taken, as some have taken it, adverbially, for
μετρίως
—to a moderate degree—all would be well. 2 "Let it be considered in heroic verse, what a difference is made by such words, when properly used, and not inserted, or introduced, too frequently." But I cannot think that the expression will admit of this sense, though somewhat favoured, perhaps, by the circumstance of
μετρον
having been just before used in the sense of moderation:
το δε μετρον, κοινον άπαντων
, &c. If the article
το
were omitted, the adverbial sense would be less improbable; but,
εις ΤΟ μετρον
, can only, I think, mean into the metre. Still, however, I incline to think this was Aristotle's meaning, and that he probably wrote
ἐις το ΜΕΤΡΙΟΝ
. A single letter makes all the difference. The word
μετριον
, as far as that may add any probability to my conjecture, occurs in that part of the Rhetoric where he is treating of the very same subject—the proper and moderate use of metaphors, epithets, and other tropical and ornamental words, in oratory. Thus, III. 2, p. 586 , speaking of epithets and diminutives, he says,
ευλαβείσθαι δε δει, και παρατηρειν ἐν ἀμφοιν ΤΟ ΜΕΤΡΙΟΝ.
And again, of epithets—
δει στοχαζεσθαι ΤΟΥ ΜΕΤΡΙΟΥ.
p. 587. As this was the only satisfactory sense I could make of the words, I have ventured to give it in my version.

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

7. mvp-aristotle-comment-165

Ritter, cap. 22 § 7

τὸ δὲ ἁρμόττον ὅσον διαφέρει, ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπῶν θεωρείσθω, ἐντιθεμένων τῶν ὀνομάτων εἰς τὸ μέτρον: iustus extensionum modus significatur per τὸ δὲ ἁρμόττον. in epicis carminibus extensiones potissimum adhibentur; quae causa est cur dixerit, hoc considerandum esse ἐπὶ τῶν ἐπῶν. pergit ἐντιθεμένων τῶν ὀνομάτων εἰς τὸ μέτρον, nominibus metro includendis: ὀνόματα dicuntur ut ταῖς ἐκτάσεσιν opponantur. suadet Aristoteles ut quis in versibus epicorum pro extentis formis vulgares numero iuste adstringat, si velit intelligere quantum iustus extensionum modus valeat. contra haec ἐντιθεμένων τῶν ὀνομάτων εἰς τὸ μέτρον in margine a sciolo quodam posita existimo illa quae modo ex Aristoteliis sublevavi, τὸ δὲ μέτρον κοινὸν ἁπάντων ἐστὶ τῶν μερῶν. nimirum nasutulus iste cogitavit: "quid tandem nomina metro includamus, cum sermo sit de poetica dictione, cum omnes quae enumerantur formae, et extensiones et metaphorae cet., versibus iam adstrictae a nobis inveniantur ?" Αἰσχύλος μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῷ Φιλοκτήτῃ : de Aeschyli Philocteta nobis perdito praeclare disputatum est ab Hermanno in Opuscul. III. p. 119 sqq. fragmenta Euripidei Philoctetae Augustus Matthiae et Dindorfius collecta exhibent. tres trium tragoediae Graecae principum Philoctetas inter se comparare instituit Gruppius in Ariadna p. 417-452. — φαγέδαινα ή: quamvis versus vitium optime et facil- 1) τὸ αὐτὸ ἀπεργάσοιτο: is idem efficeret, h. e. ut irrideretur faceret.lime ab Hermanno φαγέδαιναν scribente sublatum videatur, ego tamen non imitabor. nam in versu Aeschylio particula quaedam post φαγέδαινα inserta esse potuit (ex. gr. r' vel d'), quam Aristoteles prudens omittere voluit. idem, si re vera apud Aeschylum φαγέδαιναν legebat, tamen suo verborum contextui nominativum magis convenire ratus hoc immutare potuit, ut saltem Aristotelis editori non liceat codicibus nou iuvantibus quidquam mutare. ὁ δὲ ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐσθίει τὸ θοινᾶται μετέθηκεν: Euripides metaphoram captavit, ubi abstinere ab ea debuit. θοινᾶται est species, ἐσθίει genus. Euripidis metaphora secunda est ex iis quae c. 21, 4. enumeratae sunt. νῦν δέ μ᾽ ἐὼν ὀλίγος: est versus Homeri Odyss. I. 515. qui subsequitur ab Aristotele factus est. ὀλίγος pro μικρὸς species est 2) pro specie, οὐτιδανὸς pro ἀειδὴς genus est pro specie, ἄκικυς pro ἀσθενικὸς glossa est. conf. c. 21, 3-5. ἄκικους iterum legitur in Odyss. Φ. 131. δίφρον ἀεικέλιον: est versus Homericus ex Odyss. T. 259. αεικέλιος pro μοχθηρός species est pro genere. vid. c. 21, 5. in nostris Homeri exemplaribus παραθεὶς legimus, non καταθείς. hoc aut memoriae Aristotelis aut diversitati scripturae, quae eius Homericae Odysseae exemplari inerat, tribuendum erit. - ἠϊόνες βοόωσιν: sumptum est ex Homeri Iliade P. 265. βοᾶν cum proprie de mugitu boum et κράζειν item atque κρώζειν de clamore corvorum dicatur, ἠϊόνες κράζουσιν humile atque ridiculum, ἠϊόνες βοόωσιν dignum apparet. κράζειν est kreischen, quo verbo in nonnullis Germaniae regionibus clamorem inaequalem et minus gravem, praecipue infantilem, exprimunt. itaque crociunt quod in versione mea Latina posui non omnino respondet: sed alia verba Latina sonum denotantia magis etiam a Graeco recedunt.