Aristotle, Rhetoric, John Henry Freese (Translator), 3.11.7

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Chapter

← Previous Next →

[7] Similarly, you wish to destroy him ( πέρσαι).¹ Jokes of both these kinds² must be suitably expressed. Similar instances are such witticisms as saying that the empire of the sea was not the beginning of misfortunes for the Athenians, for they benefited by it; or, with Isocrates,³ that empire was the beginning of misfortunes for the city; in both cases that which one would not have expected to be said is said, and recognized as true. For, in the second example, to say that empire is empire shows no cleverness, but this is not what he means, but something else; in the first, the ἀρχή which is negatived is used in a different sense.

Rhetoric. Aristotle. John Henry Freese (Translator). London. 1926.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

The "Art" of Rhetoric (English) (Aristotle. The "Art" of Rhetoric. Freese, John Henry, translator. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1926 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Ῥητορική Perseus (Aristotle. Aristotelis Ars Rhetorica. Ross, William David, editor. Oxford: Clarendon Press,1959 (printing).) — 3.11.7 focus

[7] καὶ τὸ βούλει αὐτὸν πέρσαι. δεῖ δὲ ἀμφότερα προσηκόντως λεχθῆναι. οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὰ ἀστεῖα, οἷον τὸ φάναι 5 Ἀθηναίοις τὴν τῆς θαλάττης ἀρχὴν μὴ ἀρχὴν εἶναι τῶν κακῶν· ὄνασθαι γάρ. ἢ ὥσπερ Ἰσοκράτης τὴν ἀρχὴν τῇ πόλει ἀρχὴν εἶναι τῶν κακῶν. ἀμφοτέρως γὰρ ὃ οὐκ ἂν ᾠήθη τις ἐρεῖν, τοῦτʼ εἴρηται, καὶ ἐγνώσθη ὅτι ἀληθές· τό τε γὰρ τὴν ἀρχὴν φάναι ἀρχὴν εἶναι οὐθὲν σοφόν, ἀλλʼ 10 οὐχ οὕτω λέγει ἀλλʼ ἄλλως, καὶ ἀρχὴν οὐχ ὃ εἶπεν ἀπόφησιν, ἀλλʼ ἄλλως.

Notes on the current edition

Rhetoric

1. There is obviously a play on πέρσαι (aor. 1 infin. of πέρθω) and Πέρσαι (Persians), but no satisfactory interpretation of the joke has been suggested.

2. The paradoxical and verbal. Suitably may refer to the manner of delivery; to being used at the proper time; or to taking care that the word is one that may be used in the two senses.

3. Isoc. 5.61 ; Isoc. 8.101 . The point in the illustrations lies in the use of ἀρχή, first in the sense of empire, then in that of beginning. It could be said that the empire of the sea was or was not the beginning of misfortunes for Athens ; for at first it was highly beneficial to them, but in the end brought disaster, and thus was the beginning of evil.

Aristotle Rhetoric 3.11.7

John Henry Freese (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers