Aristotle, Rhetoric, John Henry Freese (Translator), 3.2.14

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[14] As for epithets, they may be applied from what is vile or disgraceful, for instance, the matricide, or from what is more honorable, for instance, the avenger of his father.¹ When the winner in a mule-race offered Simonides a small sum, he refused to write an ode, as if he thought it beneath him to write on half-asses; but when he gave him a sufficient amount, he wrote,

Hail, daughters of storm-footed steeds!²

and yet they were also the daughters of asses. Further, the use of diminutives amounts to the same.

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

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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).) — 3.2.14 focus

[14] καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐπιθέτοις ἔστιν μὲν τὰς ἐπιθέσεις ποιεῖσθαι ἀπὸ φαύλου ἢ αἰσχροῦ, οἷον ὁ μητροφόντης, ἔστι δʼ ἀπὸ τοῦ βελτίονος, οἷον ὁ πατρὸς ἀμύντωρ· καὶ ὁ Σιμωνίδης, ὅτε μὲν ἐδίδου μισθὸν ὀλίγον αὐτῷ ὁ νικήσας τοῖς ὀρεῦσιν, οὐκ ἤθελε ποιεῖν, ὡς 25 δυσχεραίνων εἰς ἡμιόνους ποιεῖν, ἐπεὶ δʼ ἱκανὸν ἔδωκεν, ἐποίησε

χαίρετʼ ἀελλοπόδων θύγατρες ἵππων·

Simonides fr. 7 καίτοι καὶ τῶν ὄνων θυγατέρες ἦσαν. ἔστιν αὖ τὸ ὑποκορίζεσθαι·

Notes on the current edition

Rhetoric

1. Eur. Orest. 1588 . In the preceding line Menelaus accuses Orestes as a matricide and ready to heap murder on murder, to which Orestes replies, you should rather call me the avenger of my father Agamemnon, who had been murdered by his wife Clytaemnestra, the mother of Orestes. Matricide and avenger of his father show the good and bad sides of the deed of Orestes.

2. Frag. 7 ( P.L.G. 3, p. 39O). The winner of the mule race was Anaxilaus of Rhegium .

Aristotle Rhetoric 3.2.14

John Henry Freese (Translator)

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