Aristotle Poetics 25.15

Thomas Twining (Translator)

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In order to judge whether what is said, or done, by any character, be well, or ill, we are not to consider that speech or action alone 1 , whether in itself it be good, or bad, but also by whom it is spoken or done, to whom, at what time, in what manner, or for what end-whether, for instance, in order to obtain some greater good, or to avoid some greater evil.

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.) — 25 focus
Περὶ ποιητικῆς (OCR draft) Perseus (Aristotle, De arte poetica liber. Rudolf Kassel, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965. Reference edition for passage alignment.) — 25 focus
Poetics, Greek text (Ingram Bywater, 1909) (OCR draft) Experimental (Ingram Bywater's Greek text of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1909.) — 25 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.) — 25 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.) — 25 focus
Arabic Poetics (Badawī edition, 1953) (OCR draft) (The ancient Arabic translation of Aristotle's Poetics in ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Badawī's 1953 edition.) — 25 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.) — 25 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.) — 25 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.) — 25.15 focus
But this may be considered as metaphorical. It is right also when a word seems to be capable of giving contrary senses, to examine how many significations it may have in the passage before us; as in these lines of Homer : • Five plates of various metal, various mould, • Compos'd the shield, of brass each outward fold, • Of tin each inward and the middle gold;
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.) — 25.15 focus
And thus οἲη δ’ ἂμμορος is said of Orion metaphorically. For that which is most known, is called alone or sole13.
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.) — 25 focus
La poëtique d'Aristote (André Dacier, 1692) (OCR draft) Experimental (André Dacier's French translation of Aristotle's Poetics, published in 1692.) — 25.15 focus
Pour bien connoître ſi une choſe eſt bien ou mal dite, ou bien, ou mal faite, il ne faut pas ſe contenter d'examiner la choſe même, & de voir ſi elle eſt bonne ou mauvaiſe, il faut encore avoir égard à celuy qui parle, ou qui agit, & à celuy à qui il s'adreſſe, & bien peſer le temps, le moyen, & la fin; car certaines choſes, qui paroiſſent mauvaiſes, peuvent être faites pour procurer un plus grand bien, ou pour éviter un plus grand mal.
Poetica d'Aristotile (Bernardo Segni, 1549) (OCR draft) Experimental (Bernardo Segni's 1549 Florentine Italian translation, aligned to the Kassel reference passage sequence.) — 25 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.) — 25 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.) — 25 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.) — 25 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.) — 25 focus

Notes on the current edition

Poetics

1. This is plainly connected with what precedes, which cannot be properly applied without taking in the consideration of character, circumstances, motives, &c.-The speech of Satan, for example, in Parad. Lost, IV. 32, taken in itself, is horrible: referred to the character who speaks it, nothing can be better. It is, poetically speaking, exactly what it should be.

Commentary

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

2. mvp-aristotle-comment-962

1460b8 ἐπεὶ γάρ ἐστι κτέ. Aristotle prepares us for the various kinds of λύσεις by laying down a series of postulates, which may supply the defence with arguments to meet the attacks of the critics. In the first place, he tells us, as the poet is an imitator in much the same way as a painter is that, one must remember that his imitation or picture of things may be either of things as they are (or were), or 324 COMMENTARY 14608 of things as they should be, or of things as they are said or supposed to be. Secondly, as an imitator in language, the poet has by custom more liberty in the use of words than is allowed to a prose writer. Thirdly, if the technical correctness of his description of a thing is questioned, it is to be remembered that poetry, as a distinct art, has a correctness of its own, and that the right in poetry is not the same thing as the right in other arts or sciences, in politics for instance. At the same time, as the matter of poetry brings it into relation with other arts and sciences, their standard of correctness cannot be ignored in poetry. An offence, however, against their rule of correctness may often be condoned; and in certain cases it even admits of justification ( b24), if it is seen to conduce to the poetical effect.

2. mvp-aristotle-comment-963

1460b9 ζωγράφος ἤ τις ἄλλος εἰκονοποιός: see on 2, I448/8 5. The term εἰκονοποιός comprises the sculptor as well as the painter of portraits.

2. mvp-aristotle-comment-964

1460b10 οἷα ἦν ἢ ἔστιν. In chap. 2 Aristotle was speaking of persons only. In the present passage he uses the neuter in order to include the poetic descriptions of things and acts. The order of the words ἦν ἢ ἔστιν is intentional, stories of the past being regarded as the normal subjects of both epic poetry and Tragedy (see on 2, I448°I8 ). It may be observed that in 1461 2 Aristotle avails himself of the distinction implied in οἷα ἦν ἢ ἔστιν, and suggests that a certain incident, which had been criticized in Homer, may have been probable enough in Homeric times.

2. mvp-aristotle-comment-965

1460b11 οἷά φασιν καὶ δοκεῖ, scil. εἶναι (which covers the ground of both ἦν and ἔστιν). The difference between the two things ( οἷά φασιν, οἷα δοκεῖ), so far as there is one, is like that between τὰ λεγόμενα and τὰ δοκοῦντα-'what people usually say', and 'what people usually think, or suppose'.

2. mvp-aristotle-comment-966

1460b11_2 οἷα εἶναι δεῖ: comp. b 34.
1460b11_3

3. mvp-aristotle-comment-967

λέξει ἢ καὶ γλώτταις κτέ. λέξις is properly a generic term, including the metaphor, the strange word, etc. Here, however., Aristotle adds ἢ καὶ γλώτταις κτέ., in order to remind us of the fact that these various unusual forms of expression are a recognized part of the poetic vocabulary. The practical effect of the addition is to modify the sense of λέξει, and make it stand for κυρίᾳ λεξεl, just as in 1, 1447 29 ( v. ad loc.) the addition of ἢ τοῖς μέτροις has a reflex influence on the preceding word λόγοις, limiting it for the moment to the sense of 'prose'. The generic word ὄνομα likewise is occasionally used in a context which gives it the more [ 25. 14608-14 325 1460b II specific sense of κύριον ὄνομα (see on 22, I458°28 ). It is hardly necessary, therefore, to restore (κυρίᾳ) λέξει with Heinsius, or λέξει ⟨ἢ kvpiq⟩ with Twining, or λέξει (ἢ κυρίοις ὀνόμασιν) with Vahlen.

3. mvp-aristotle-comment-968

1460b12 πάθη τῆς λέξεως: i. e. the modifications seen in the ἐπεκτετα- μένον. the ὑφῃρημένον, and the ἐξηλλαγμένον ὄνομα ( 21, 1458 1 ), which, though substantially identical with the ordinary words ( 22, 1458b4 ), are distinguished from them through some deviation of form. The term πάθος is used in this same sense by Theophrastus in a fragment of his Περὶ λέξεως ( Rabe, De Theophrasti libris περὶ λέξεως p. 6 ): τίς ἡ κυρία λέξις, τίς δ᾽ ἡ μεταφορική; καὶ τίνα τὰ πάθη αὐτῆς, οἷον τί ἀποκοπή, τί συγκοπή, τί ἀφαίρεσις;

4. mvp-aristotle-comment-969

1460b13 δίδομεν γὰρ ταῦτα: a recognition of what were afterwards known as poetic licences. Aristotle has already shown their use and legitimacy in poetry ( 22,I458*34 )
1460b13_2

4. mvp-aristotle-comment-970

πρὸς δὲ τούτοις κτέ. The kind of criticism Aristotle has in mind is one sufficiently familiar to us moderns; we know that a picture, for instance, is often censured for errors of anatomy, and a novel for errors of history or archaeology. In Aristotle's view technical accuracy in such points, though desirable ( b27), is neither the one thing nor the first thing needful in a poem. Poetry, as a distinct art, has an end, a procedure, and a correctness of its own; and it is thus quite possible for a description in a poem to be poetically right, even though it may be wrong in some technical detail.

4. mvp-aristotle-comment-971

1460b14 τῆς πολιτικῆς. Πολιτική, as the art which deals with human life and conduct, might easily seem to stand in a very intimate relation to poetry, which has to depict human life and conduct ( comp. 6, 1450 8 16
μίμησις πράξεως καὶ βίου
); and as a matter of history the connexion between the two arts was posited in the common notion of the older poets being authorities on all questions of πολιτική, and the great teachers of moral and political wisdom ( comp. Plato Rep. 598 D, 606 E ; also Dümmler, Kl. Schriften I p. 30 ). It is not without reason, therefore., that Aristotle takes πολιτική as his instance here, and emphasizes the distinction between the 'political' and the 'poetical' standard of right.. It may perhaps be thought that in affirming this distinction Aristotle anticipates the idea of 'Art for Art', and regards poetry as raised above the limitations imposed on all ordinary human activities by social or moral law. Such a notion would ill accord with what we read elsewhere in the Poetics. In Aristotle's view [ 326 COMMENTARY 1460 14 a deviation in poetry from the ethically right is, just like one from probability or truth, an exceptional procedure, and to be condoned only when it is seen to be necessary for the ultimate poetical effect. The tragic hero, if one is to feel pity for him in his misfortunes, should be a good man either better than, or at least as good as, the average of mankind. The secondary personages too should be each good in their way, unless the plot happens to require a character of a lower type; in which case his baseness should be no more than is wanted for the evolution of the story. Even Comedy, as Aristotle conceives it, has its ethical limitations: the comic personage, though by hypothesis worse than the average man, is worse only up to a certain point; his faults of character or conduct being such as may be laughed at, i.e. they do not excite anger or abhorrence in the normally minded spectator in the theatre. The tacit assumption throughout the Poetics is that the theatrical public is on the whole normal in its moral instincts and sympathies, and that the poet should never lose sight of the fact. Readers of the Nicomachean Ethics will remember that in the Aristotelian hierarchy of arts all the other arts are regarded as subordinate to πολιτική, the supreme art, which deals with the whole social and moral order of the State, and that there is no hint of the so-called 'aesthetic' arts being outside its purview and control.

5. mvp-aristotle-comment-972

1460b15 αὐτῆς δὲ τῆς ποιητικῆς διττὴ ἁμαρτία. The argument may be thus restated: There is always a twofold possibility of error in the poet's μίμησις or description of things. (1) Starting with a correct idea of the object to be described, he may fail to express his own meaning; in which case his art as a poet (or μιμητής) is at fault, and his faulty description is a sign of artistic or literary incapacity. (2) On the other hand the error may be simply due to his starting with an erroneous idea of the object; in which case it arises not from lack of descriptive power on his part, but from insufficient knowledge of something outside poetry, and it is thus in the accidents rather than the essentials of the poetic art. Vahlen quotes Soph. el. 33, 1826 33
ἀπορία δ᾽ ἐστὶ διττή, ἡ μὲν ἐν τοῖς συλλογισμοῖς ... ἡ δ᾽ ἐν τοῖς ἐριστικοῖς,
 to show that an article is not wanted before ἁμαρτία.

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

3. mvp-aristotle-comment-598

25.2 3. Car il represente un ſujet tel qu'il étoit, ou tel qu'il est; tel qu'on le dit, ou qu'il paroît; ou tel qu'il doit être.] 1

4. mvp-aristotle-comment-599

25.3 4. Et pour cela il ſe fert, ou de mots propres, ou de mots étrangers, ou des metaphores, & de tous les autres changemens de la diction, dont les Poëtes ont la liberté de se fervir.] 2

5. mvp-aristotle-comment-600

25.4 5. D'ailleurs, il faut bien ſe ſouvenir qu'on ne doit pas juger de l'excellence de la Poësie, comme de celle de la Politique, ny mème comme de celle de tous les autres Arts.] 3

6. mvp-aristotle-comment-601

25.5 6. Quand elle choisit des ſujets au deſſus de fes forces & de ſa portée, voilà celuy qui vient d'elle.] 4

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

228. mvp-aristotle-comment-228

NOTE 228.

25.3 P. 123. IN WORDS, EITHER COMMON, OR FOREIGN, &C.
Λέξει ἢ καὶ γλώτταις—.
Heinf. [Heinsius]
ΚΥΡΙΑι λέξει, ἢ καὶ γλώτταις.
The insertion seems necessary, but would, perhaps, be better thus:
λέξει, Η ΚΥΡΙΑι, καὶ γλώτταις,
&c. Victorius and other commentators suppose
κυρίᾳ
to be understood. But this I cannot conceive.
Λέξις
appears clearly to be used here, as in cap. xxii. for diction in general, including, as in that chapter, every sort of words.

229. mvp-aristotle-comment-229

NOTE 229.

25.3 P. 123. WHICH ARE THE PRIVILEGE OF POETS.
ΔΙΔΟΜΕΝ γὰρ ταῦτα τοῖς ποιηταῖς.
The same expression is made use of by Isocrates , in the following passage, to which I referred in NOTE 5, p. 158, and in which the privileges and advantages of the Poet are well set forth, and the importance of verse to the effect of even the best poetry, is strongly insisted on.
Τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ποιηταῖς πολλοὶ ΔΕΔΟΝΤΑΙ κόσμοι. Καὶ γὰρ πλησιάζοντας τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τοὺς θεοὺς οἷόν τ’ αὐτοῖς ἐστι ποιῆσαι, καὶ διαλεγομένους, καὶ συναγωνιζομένους, οἷς ἂν βουληθῶσι· καὶ περὶ τούτων δηλῶσαι, μὴ μόνον τοῖς τεταγμένοις ὀνόμασιν, ἀλλὰ, τὰ μὲν, ξένοις, τὰ δὲ, καινοῖς, τὰ δὲ, μεταφοραῖς· καὶ μηδὲν παραλιπεῖν, ἀλλὰ πᾶσι τοῖς εἴδεσι διαποικῖλαι τὴν ποἰησιν.
1
Τοῖς δὲ περὶ τοὺς λόγους οὐδὲν ἔξεστι τῶν τοιούτων· ἀλλ’ ἀποτόμως, καὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων τοῖς πολιτικοῖς, καὶ τῶν ἐνθυμημάτων τοῖς περὶ αὐτὰς τὰς πράξεις, ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι χρῆσθαι.
2
Πρὸς δὲ τούτοις, οἱ μὲν μετὰ μέτρων καὶ ῥυθμῶν ἅπαντα ποιοῦσιν· οἱ δὲ οὐδενὸς τούτων κοινωνοῦσιν· ἃ τοσαύτην ἔχει χάριν, ὥς, ἂν καὶ τῇ λέξει, καὶ τοῖς ἐνθυμήμασιν, ἔχῃ κακῶς, ὅμως ταῖς γε εὐρυθμίαις καὶ ταῖς συμμετρίαις ψυχαγωγοῦσι τοὺς ἀκούοντας. Καταμάθοι δ’ ἄν τις ἐκεῖθεν τὴν δύναμιν αὐτῶν· ἢν γάρ τις τῶν ποιημάτων τῶν εὐδοκιμούντων τὰ μὲν ὀνόματα καὶ τὰς διανοἰας καταλίπῃ, τὸ δὲ ΜΕΤΡΟΝ διαλύσῃ, φανήσεται πολὺ καταδεεστέρα τῆς δόξης, ἧς νῦν ἔχομεν περὶ αὐτῶν.
3 See NOTE 5, p. 158, the passage from Plato .

230. mvp-aristotle-comment-230

NOTE 230.

25.4 P. 123. WHAT IS RIGHT IN THE POETIC ART, IS A DISTINCT CONSIDERATION FROM WHAT IS RIGHT IN THE POLITICAL, OR ANY OTHER ART.
This is one of those passages, which the commentators appear to me to have darkened by illustration. See, particularly, Dacier's note. His account of the difference between Poetry and all other arts, seems evidently false. What Aristotle says of Poetry—that it has two kinds of faults, essential, and incidental—is, at least, true of all other imitative arts. It is even true, as Beni has shewn, of Rhetoric and Logic. 4 Aristotle only says, (to give the passage literally,)
"the rightness of the poetic, and the rightness of the political art, are not the same, nor of any other art and the poetic art."
The plain meaning of which appears to me to be that which I have given—that the
ὀρθότης
, or rectitude, of Poetry itself, is not to be confounded with that of Politics, nor of any other art that may be the incidental subject of the Poetry, which, in itself, may be good, and even excellent, though it may deliver things false or inaccurate in Politics, Natural History, Navigation, Geography, &c. This sense of the passage seems clear of all the difficulties with which the common explanation is embarrassed, and leads naturally to the following division of the faults of Poetry, into essential and incidental. Castelvetro is the only one, of the commentators I have consulted, who appears to agree with me, if I understand him rightly, in this explanation of the passage.
The allusion, here, to the severe objections of PLATO, who would allow of Poetry no farther than as it could be made to coincide with the views of his own strict and moral legislation, has been sufficiently pointed out. 5 The reader may see, particularly, a fine passage to this purpose in the seventh book of his Laws, [ p. 817, ed. Serr. ], where, addressing the Tragic Poets, he refuses to admit them into his republic, till the magistrates have satisfied themselves, by inspection of their poems, that they contain nothing but what is in perfect unison with the laws and moral discipline of the state.
—Μὴ δὴ δόξητε ἡμᾶς ῥᾳδίως γε οὕτως ὑμᾶς ποτε παρ’ ἡμῖν ἐάσειν, σκηνάς τε πήξαντας κατ’ ἀγορὰν, καὶ καλλιφώνους ὑποκριτὰς εἰσαγομένους, μεῖζον φθεγγομένους ἡμῶν, ἐπιτρέψειν ὑμῖν δημηγορεῖν πρὸς παῖδάς τε καὶ γυναῖκας καὶ τὸν πάντα ὄχλον, τῶν αὐτῶν λέγοντας ἐπιτηδευμάτων πέρι μὴ τὰ αὐτὰ ἅπερ ἡμεῖς, ἀλλ’, ὡς τὸ πολὺ, καὶ ἐναντία τὰ πλεῖστα. Σχεδὸν γάρ τοι κἂν μαινοἰμεθα τελέως ἡμεῖς τε καὶ ἅπασα ἡ πόλις, ἥτις ἐν ὑμῖν ἐπιτρέποι δρᾶν τὰ νῦν λεγόμενα, πρὶν κρῖναι τὰς ἀρχὰς, εἴτε ῥητὰ καὶ ἐπιτήδεια πεποιήκατε λέγειν εις τὸ μέσον, εἴτε μή. Νῦν οὖν, παῖδες μαλακῶν μουσῶν ἔκγονοι, ἐπιδείξαντες τοῖς ἄρχουσι πρῶτον τὰς ὑμετέρας παρὰ τὰς ἡμετέρας ᾠδὰς, ἂν μὲν τὰ αὐτὰ γε, ἢ καὶ βελτίω, τὰ παρ’ ὑμῶν φαίνηται λεγόμενα, δώσομεν ὑμῖν χορόν· εἰ δὲ μὴ, ὦ φίλοι, οὐκ ἂν ποτε δυναίμεθα.
— De Leg. VII. p. 817. To this way of talking it was a plain and direct answer, to say—
Οὐχ ἡ αὐτὴ ὀρθότης ἐστὶ τῆς ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΗΣ καὶ τῆς ΠΟΙΗΤΙΚΗΣ.
In what is added—
οὐδὲ ἄλλης τέχνης καὶ ποιητικῆς
—Aristotle may, I think, be supposed to glance more particularly at that part of the tenth book of Plato's Republic, where he exposes the idle notion, current among the rhapsodists, that Homer was a perfect master of all arts and sciences. And with respect to the absurdity of this notion, Aristotle undoubtedly agreed with him. But there was danger, lest the credit of Homer should suffer from the manner in which Plato combated this idea. For those extravagant admirers of Homer not only asserted the fact, that he had an accurate knowledge of every art and science on which he touched, but they went farther, and maintained, that such accuracy was essential to a good Poet:
Ἀνάγκη γὰρ,
they urged,
τὸν ἀγαθὸν ποιητὴν, εἰ μέλλει περὶ ὧν ἂν ποιῇ, καλῶς ποιήσειν, εἰδότα ἄρα ποιεῖν, ἢ μὴ οἷόντε εἶναι ποιεῖν.
Now Plato, whose object here is to vindicate his rigid exclusion of all mimetic poetry, and that of Homer in particular, from his republic, confutes the fact, without confuting the general position. While he shews the pretensions of the Homerists to be false, he seems, at least, to allow, that they ought to be true. For he flings in no savings; he no where says, what Aristotle has here said for him—that the want of this supposed accurate knowledge of arts and sciences no way affects the character of Homer as a Poet. By denying that he had that knowledge, and, at the same time, not denying, or not expressly denying, that he ought to have it, he leaves the reader to understand, that he meant to detract, on this account, from his merit as an imitator. And this, indeed, is perfectly consonant to the whole design of this part of his work, which was, to discredit poetic imitation in general, by shewing the distance of its representations from truth. 6

231. mvp-aristotle-comment-231

NOTE 231.

25.5 P. 123. THE FAULTS OF POETRY, &C.
The original is—
ΑΥΤΗΣ δὲ τῆς ποιητικῆς διττὴ ἡ ἁμαρτία.
The word
αὐτῆς
appears to me to make strange confusion. For Aristotle is here distinguishing two sorts of faults in Poetry, essential and incidental; and his expression, presently after, for the former, is
ΑΥΤΗΣ ἡ ἁμαρτία
—
"a fault of the Poetry itself."
As the text stands, therefore, it is just as if he had said—
"There are two faults of the Poetry itself: one, of the Poetry itself, and the other, incidental."
— Accordingly Dacier, Batteux, and almost all the translators, neglect the word
αὐτῆς
. Possibly it might, originally, have stood thus : —
οὐδὲ ἄλλης τέχνης, καὶ ποιητικῆς ἀυτῆς. Τῆς ΔΕ ποιητικῆς,
&c.

Commentary on the Poetics (Henry James Pye, 1792) (OCR draft) (Henry James Pye's 1792 English commentary, aligned to the Kassel reference edition.) focus

25.1. mvp-aristotle-comment-109 25.3

NEITHER IS THE PROPRIETY OF POETRY THE SAME WITH THAT OF THE POLITICAL OR ANY OTHER ART.

ARISTOTLE means, that in other arts, such as the theory of government, geography, history, the merit of their professors must solely depend on their accurate acquaintance with every circumftance at all relative to the subject on which they write. Now this is by no means the cafe with poetry, which only requires a probable imitation of human actions
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. actions and manners. Had the Winter's Tale of Shakespear been a history, or a treatise on geography, it would have been essentially defective from his supposing Bohemia to be a maritime country. But this has not the smallest effect on the interest, and confequently on the merit of the play. Had Shakespear chofen a mode of imitation to which his powers were unequal, (we may suppose any thing,) and consequently written a bad play, the fault would have been essential, but having undertaken an imitation to which his powers were perfectly equal, and which therefore he executed well, no fault can fall on the play, the action, manners and sentiments, because the poet did not know that Bohemia was an inland country. For it is not the office of the poet to instruct his hearers in particular subjects of art, but to awaken his paffions by general representations of nature. The author of the Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful makes the following remark on this subject in his introduction to that elegant work. Why should a perfon be shocked at a shipwreck on the coast of Bohemia who does not know but that Bohemia may be an island in the Atlantic Ocean? and after all, what reflection is this on the natural good taste of the perfon here supposed." It is true however that at present such an error would condemn the best play that could be possibly written. For there are so many more perfons now, who understand the first elements of geography than are capable of feeling, or judging of a tragedy. Besides, it is impoffible that a poet of the present day could have that general knowledge of human events, and propriety of conduct, fit to enable him to imitate human actions and manners, and be so grofsly ignorant as this must shew him to be. The mistake of Shakespear is a proof of the general igno- 3 S2 rance
rance of his age. Were a poet now to make such an error, it would be corrected in the rehearsal, even by the scene-shifters. A mistake of the same kind, as the illustration from the hind by Aristotle, occurs in the Ode on Spring, by Mr. Warton, one of the most beautiful and original descriptive poems in our language, and which strongly shews the force of poetical imitation in (A) rendering objects that have no beauty in themselves highly beautiful in description. I suppose there are few scenes less pleasing and picturesque in themselves than the view from Catherine Hill near Winchester, over the bare adjacent downs, and on the Itchin at its feet, formed into a navigable canal, and creeping through a wide valley of flat-water meadow, intersected often at right angles by strait narrow water courses. But hear the poet, and observe how the scene appears in the picture he has given of it without changing the features of the original. 'O'er the broad downs, a novel race, • Frisk the lambs with faltering pace, • And with eager bleatings fill • The foss that skirts the beacon'd hill. • His free born vigor yet unbroke • To lordly man's ufurping yoke, • The bounding colt forgets to play, Basking beneath the noontide ray. • And stretch'd upon the daisies pied • Of a green dingle's floping fide; [D] See Note 1. Chap. IV. • While
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. • While far beneath where nature spreads • Her boundless length of level meads, • In loose luxuriance taught to stray • A thousand tumbling rills inlay • With filver veins the vale, or pass • Redundant through the sparkling grass.' Besides the general beauty of the description it must have a particular one in the eyes of every Wykhamist as recalling the idea of the days of early youth, the joys of which are strongly impressed on the memory, while the hours of school restraint, which sometimes confidered going to hills even as a task, are but faintly traced. But to return to the object of the note. What hypercritic would cenfure these lines: ، Scarce a bee with airy wing • Murmurs the blossom'd boughs around, ، That cloath the garden's SOUTHERN MOUND.' Because the fouth wall of a garden is its northern bound ? An impropriety is often found in the works of the earlier engravers from copying directly from the drawing, which occasions the figures of the impreffion to be reversed, and the sword to be in the warrior's left hand, and the shield on his right. This is never discovered without being purposely looked for. As Aristotle observes however, that such errors, however trifling they may be, are still errors, and as fuch ought to be avoided if possible: we may justly censure the arrogance of these writers, who founding their pretenfions
pretenfions to fame on higher excellencies, wantonly, and sometimes wilfully, affect to be negligent and even ignorant of flighter things. This species of self importance will often obtrude itself into the conversation of those persons who think too highly of their own merit, where to the difcerning it has an effect directly the reverse of that which is proposed [B]. It is nevertheless sometimes a defect attending real merit. I knew a gentleman high, and defervedly so, in literary reputation, who had this foible in a great degree. He thought it shewed superior attention to things of extraordinary consequence to pay none to common occurrences. He lived near London; and a friend happening in the spring to ask him the state of vegetation in the country, he answered him, that he was too much employed in other objects to give any attention to things of that nature. His friend, a little piqued at such an absurd affectation of consequence, replied, ' I am furprized, Sir, at that, fince Solomon, who ⚫ had fome reputation for wisdom in his day, could speak of plants from the cedar of Libanus to the hyffop that grew on the wall.' That agreeable and honeft egotist Montaigne speaks of his own ignorance and want of dexterity in many of the common offices of life; but so far from priding himself on it he prefaces his account with the following remark. • But great minds are univerfal minds; open, and pre- ، pared for every thing, and if not actually informed, immediately • capable of receiving information. MONTAIGNE'S Essays, L. II. Ch. XVII. ON PRESUMPTION. [B] The true, strong, and found mind, is the mind that can equally embrace great things ، and small. Now I am told the king of Pruffia will say to a fervant, " Bring me a bottle " of such a wine, which came in such a year; it lies in such a corner of the cellar." BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON, Vol. 11. p. 254. Exactly
POETIC OF ARISTOTLE. Exactly correspondent with this was the judgment passed by a country clergyman on a late nobleman in high estimation both in the literary and the political world. 'My lord - -' he said, ' is not a great man: he • does not know wheat from barley.'

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

1. mvp-aristotle-comment-184

Ritter, cap. 25 § 1

Quae in poetarum operibus sive iure sive iniuria reprehenduntur, ea pluribus modis variisque artificiis diluere vel excusare licet. Noli, lector, gravari vel mihi indignari te rursus in uncos illos fatales incurrere: non enim libido mea eos posuit, sed ipsa veritas expostulavit ut illi carnificis officio fungerentur. itaque animum attende et rem cognosce. de problematis loquimur eorumque solutionibus. προβλήματα verus Aristoteles dixit quaestiones et breves disputationes de rebus quibusdam nondum satis exploratis proponendas, quarum ipse ingentem numerum conscripsit et solvere operam dedit in libris illis Προβλημάτων etiamnum conservatis. sed quae hoc capite percensentur προβλήματα, sunt difficultates ad vituperandos poetas epicos et in his prae ceteris Homerum argute excogitatae, quae non tam ad seriam sobriamque doctrinam expromendam quam ad ostentandam vanam scientiam sedulo et turbate propinantur: λύσεις autem quae dicuntur artificia sunt, quibus illae difficultates ( απορίαι, ἀπορήματα, προβλήματα, ζητήματα, ἐνστάσεις, ἐπιτιμήσεις ς. ἐπιτιμήματα) speciosius plerumque quam verius dissolvuntur. hoc genus captiosarum quaestionum a parvis initiis increscere coepit,posteaquam Zoilus Amphipolitanus non multo ante Aristotelis aetatem editis novem in Homerum libris, in quibus ingenii subtilitatis partim exercendae partim iactandae ac venditandae gratia permulta venerandi vatis vitia coarguere conatus erat, alios ad eandem laudis viam ingrediendam excitavit, alios ad vindicandum ab iniquis reprehensionibus optimum poetam impulit ¹). in his relatos legimus ipsum Aristotelem de quo statim videbimus, tum eius discipulum Heraclidem Ponticum, denique Sosibium et Zenonem Stoicae sectae conditorem et Athenodorum Arati poetae fratrem 2). mire vero illis quaestionibus et concipiendis et solvendis delectabantur Musei Alexandrini alumni et praeceptores, ut narrat Porphyrius in scholiis ad Iliadem I. 688. p. 272 a 4 ed. Bekk. ἐν τῷ μουσείῳ τῷ κατ' ᾿Αλεξάνδρειαν νόμος ἦν προβάλλεσθαι ζήτημα καὶ τὰς γινομένας λύσεις ἀναγράφεσθαι. conf. eadem scholia ad K. 372. Ad Aristotelem revertimur. is igitur et ipse eiusmodi quaestiones et solutiones pertractasse traditur opere ἀπορημάτων sive προβλημάτων Ὁμηρικῶν sex vel septem libris evulgato. eorum qui mentionem fecit primus est Phrynichus (saeculo post Christum altero) s. v. βασίλισσα p. 225 ed. Lob. βασίλισσαν ᾿Αλκαῖόν φασι τὸν κωμῳδοποιὼν καὶ ᾿Αριστοτέλην ἐν τοῖς Ὁμήρου ἀπορήμασιν εἰρηκέναι. Diogenes (V, 12, 26) in catalogo librorum Aristoteliorum ponit ἀπορημάτων Ὁμηρικῶν α΄ β' γ' δ' ε' ς', vitae Aristoteliae auctor incertus apud Menagium απορημάτων Ὁμηρικῶν ζ'. conf. Pseudo-Ammonius in vita Aristotelis: ὁ μὲν οὖν ᾿Αριστοτέλης ἔτι νέος ὢν τὴν τῶν ἐλευθέρων παιδείαν ἐπαιδεύετο, ὡ δηλοῖ τὰ γεγραμμένα αὐτῷ περὶ ποιητικῶν καὶ πρὸς ποιητάς, ἔτι μέντοι τὰ Ὁμήρου προβλήματα. sed quid testimonia curiose anquirimus, cum fragmenta satis prolixa ex illo opere a Por- 1) Lege Fr. A. Wolfii Prolegomena ad Homerum c. XLII, post quem hunc litterarum Graecarum historiae locum egregie illustravit K. Lehrs Regimontanus de Aristarchi studiis Homericis р. 200-229 2) Conf. Lehrsius 1. 1. pag. 227.phyrio in Homericas quaestiones recepta in scholiis ad Iliadem etiamnum legamus? sed ea ipsa fragmenta ita omni ingenii vigore et doctrinae commendatione carent, ut nihil cogitari possit ieiunius, ut Aristotelem in Aristoteliis reperire nullo modo possis. lege quae referuntur ad B. 73. 169. 183. 305. 649. Г. 276. 277. 441. 4.88.277. E. 576. 741. 778. Z. 234. H. 93. 228. I. 17. Κ. 153. 198. 252 (pag. Suo 285 b 6). П. 233. Т. 108. Ψ. 269. Ω. 15. 569. iure igitur recteque Lehrsius 3) existimavit subditicio libro usum esse Porphyrium. plane enim abhorret a gravitate viri sana mente et acri iudicio praediti sex septemve libris, vel animi iocique causa, eiusmodi consectari nugas et ineptias, quales ex illo Aristotelis opere transcripsit Porphyrius. itaque hoc statuemus, obscurum quendam grammaticum aetatis Alexandrinae, cum quaestiones Homericas in corpus collectas redegisset, falso auctore inscripto fucum fecisse hominibus credulis et divini philosophi nomen venerantibus. iam vero, et huc in mea causa potissimum attendi volo, duae ἀπορίαι et duae λύσεις a Porphyrio ex illo Aristotelis opere transcriptae (ad Iliad. K. 152. p. 279 b 42 et ad K. 252. p. 285 b 6) omnino consentiunt cum duabus isdem difficultatibus et solutionibus quae in huius capitis paragraphis 7 et 13. afferun- 3) De Aristarchi stud. Hom. p. 227: "Saepissime Aristotelis Ὁμηρικὰ ζητήματα a Porphyrio in commentariis Homericis afferuntur ut, si quidem ea genuina sunt, haud contemnenda ex hoc libro hodie exstent fragmenta. sed equidem nondum potui mihi persuadere, non subdititio libro usum esse Porphyrium. tam omnia ei commemorata ieiuna sunt atque ab Aristotelis ingenio et doctrina aliena. denique cur a commentatoribus Homericis reliquisque Homericas quaestiones tractantibus, ut Plutarcho, hic liber nunquam ad partes vocatus, a solo Porphyrio adscitus?" haec Lehrsius. ego monendum praeterea existimo ne Phrynichum quidem suis oculis vidisse librum istum obscurum et falso nomine venditatum: quippe scribit : βασίλισσάν φάσι ᾿Αριστοτέλην ἐν τοῖς Ὁμήρου ἀπορήμασιν εἰρη κέναι. ....tur, unde coniectura nascatur omnes ἀπορίας et λύσεις hoc capite memoratas ex illo ampliore opere subditicio sumptas et in brevius contractas esse, verum de hac re quae liquido demonstrari certe nequit unusquisque iudicaverit et existimaverit suo arbitratu; ultro concedamus adeo Aristotelem exercitationis aut animi causa in difficultatibus Homericis conquirendis et solvendis elaborasse aliquando, illae tamen nihil faciunt ad artis poeticae et generum poesis naturam accuratius declarandam, ut hoc caput importune absurdeque intrusum esse liqueat. porro ea scribere quae in huius capitis initio et fine proponuntur, isdem bis terve inculcatis, non est hominis sano iudicio instructi, controversias autem conquirere, ut factum videmus §. 9-14., non est iocantis, sed hominis inepti est et otio operaque abutentis. quid igitur de toto hoc loco sentiemus? quid causae fuit cur ille intersereretur? scilicet qui Aristotelis artem poeticam suorum aequalium usui accommodare ausus est, is cum bene versatus esset in istis quaestionibus et solutionibus, haud licere putavit, ut huic operi deesset argumenti tam gravis et tam acriter illa aetate agitati explicatio. quod igitur abesse sine summo libri detrimento non posse videbatur, id pro virili parte supplere ipse adgressus est. luculentas huius sententiae rationes statim ad singulos locos proferemus. περὶ δὲ προβλημάτων- γένοιτ' ἂν φανερόν: sinistre inducitur de re nova disputatio, quae nullo vinculo cum cetero libri argumento cohaeret. non minus bene verbi causa potuit inferre περὶ δὲ τῶν ἁρμονιῶν-ὧδ᾽ ἂν θεωροῦσι γένοιτ᾽ ἂν φανερόν. notanda est etiam ista sive improba modestia sive animi trepidatio in his ἐκ πόσων τε καὶ ποίων ΑΝ εἰδῶν εἴη, ὧδ᾽ ΑΝ θεωροῦσι γένοιτ' ΑΝ φανερόν. utrumque prodit hominem sua alienis inserentem. ἢ γὰρ οἷα ἦν ἢ ἔστιν, ἢ οἷα φασὶ καὶ δοκεῖ: poetam imitari οἷα ἦν ἢ ἐστιν, non verum est, sed haec conscribere proprium est rerum scriptoris et annalium confectoris. veri Aristotelis de hac re sententia longe diversa proposita est c. 9. porro οἷα φασὶ καὶ δοκεῖ enarrat mythographus et ὁ λογοποιός. poeta traditas fabulas non quidem solvit, sed multa pro consilio suo mutat et nove disponit. vid. с. 14, 5. с. 15, 8. с. 17, 3. او

2. mvp-aristotle-comment-185

Ritter, cap. 25 § 2

ταῦτα δ' ἐξαγγέλλεται λέξει ἢ καὶ γλώτταις καὶ μεταφοραῖς: sic scribit quasi γλῶτται et μεταφοραί ad λέξιν non pertineant: quippe suo more λέξιν intelligit κυρίαν λέξιν quae caret insolitis et translatis vocibus. mirum est et puerile quod addit, esse multas orationis affectiones, et magis mirum illud δίδομεν γὰρ ταῦτα τοῖς ποιηταῖς. cur haec ille poetis concedit? scilicet benignus est et humanus.

3. mvp-aristotle-comment-186

Ritter, cap. 25 § 3

πρὸς δὲ τούτοις - καὶ ποιητικῆς : quaesitum est varieque disputatum cur, dum scribit non eandem esse recti normam politicae artis atque poeticae, politicam prae ceteris huc adsciverit, qua de re equidem ita existimo : politica propria est oratorum et ab his prae ceteris perscrutanda. facultatis autem dicendi cum sit τέχνη, cumque item sit τέχνη ποιητική, tamen utriusque diversam esse rationem, ut quod in una reprehendatur non semper in altera reprehensione dignum sit, hoc technicus obscure monuit. idem (non Aristoteles) c. 6, 16. scripsit τρίτον δὲ ἡ διάνοια. τοῦτο δ᾽ ἐστὶ τὸ λέγειν δύνασθαι τὰ ἐνόντα καὶ τὰ ἁρμότ τοντα, ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν λόγων (in orationibus) τῆς πολιτικῆς καὶ ῥητορικῆς ἔργον ἐστίν. post τῆς πο λιτικῆς καὶ τῆς ποιητικῆς tarde succedunt illa οὐδὲ ἄλλης τέχνης καὶ ποιητικῆς, et continuo tertium subsequitur αὐτῆς δὲ τῆς ποιητικῆς, cetera. summa et in his et in ceteris infantia deprehenditur. ἡ μὲν γὰρ καθ' αυτήν, ἡ δὲ κατὰ συμβεβηκός: peccatorum quibus poesis obnoxia est unum genus ad ipsam pertinet, alterum ad accidens. ecce interpolator quaedam inaudivit de notionibus illis Aristoteliis, quae τὸ συμβεβηκὸς et τὸ ὡς ἀληθῶς ὂν appellantur: sed eas dum ad suam disputationem accommodare studet, non proficit hilum, ut mox videbimus.