Chapter XVI

POETIC SKILL IN THE CHOICE AND IN THE COMBINATION OF WORDS

The poets and prose-writers themselves, then, with their eye on each object in turn, frame—as I said—words which seem made for, and are pictures of, the things they connote. But they also borrow many words from earlier writers, in the very form in which those writers fashioned them—when such words are imitative of things, as in the following instances:—

For the vast sea-swell on the beach crashed down with a thunder-shock.[136]

And adown the blasts of the wind he darted with one wild scream.[137]

Even as when the surge of the seething sea falls dashing (On a league-long strand, with the roar of the rollers thunderous-crashing).[138]

And his eyes for the hiss of the arrows, the hurtling of lances, were keen.[139]

The great originator and teacher in these matters is Nature, who prompts us to imitate and to assign words by which things are pictured, in virtue of certain resemblances which are founded in reason and appeal to our intelligence. It is by her that we have been taught to speak of the bellowing of bulls, the whinnying of horses, the snorting of goats, the roar of fire, the

[Page 160]

βρόμον καὶ πάταγον ἀνέμων καὶ συριγμὸν κάλων καὶ ἄλλα τούτοις ὅμοια παμπληθῆ τὰ μὲν φωνῆς μιμήματα, τὰ δὲ μορφῆς, τὰ δὲ ἔργου, τὰ δὲ πάθους, τὰ δὲ κινήσεως, τὰ δ’ ἠρεμίας, τὰ δ’ ἄλλου χρήματος ὅτου δήποτε· περὶ ὧν εἴρηται πολλὰ τοῖς πρὸ ἡμῶν, τὰ κράτιστα δ’ ὡς πρώτῳ τὸν ὑπὲρ 5 ἐτυμολογίας εἰσαγαγόντι λόγον, Πλάτωνι τῷ Σωκρατικῷ, πολλαχῇ μὲν καὶ ἄλλῃ μάλιστα δ’ ἐν τῷ Κρατύλῳ.

τί δὴ τὸ κεφάλαιόν ἐστί μοι τούτου τοῦ λόγου; ὅτι παρὰ μὲν τὰς τῶν γραμμάτων συμπλοκὰς ἡ τῶν συλλαβῶν γίνεται δύναμις ποικίλη, παρὰ δὲ τὴν τῶν συλλαβῶν σύνθεσιν 10 ἡ τῶν ὀνομάτων φύσις παντοδαπή, παρὰ δὲ τὰς τῶν ὀνομάτων ἁρμονίας πολύμορφος ὁ λόγος· ὥστε πολλὴ ἀνάγκη καλὴν μὲν εἶναι λέξιν ἐν ᾗ καλά ἐστιν ὀνόματα, κάλλους δὲ ὀνομάτων συλλαβάς τε καὶ γράμματα καλὰ αἴτια εἶναι, ἡδεῖαν δὲ διάλεκτον ἐκ τῶν ἡδυνόντων τὴν ἀκοὴν γίνεσθαι κατὰ τὸ παραπλήσιον 15 ὀνομάτων τε καὶ συλλαβῶν καὶ γραμμάτων, τάς τε κατὰ μέρος ἐν τούτοις διαφοράς, καθ’ ἃς δηλοῦται τά τε ἤθη καὶ τὰ πάθη καὶ αἱ διαθέσεις καὶ τὰ ἔργα τῶν προσώπων καὶ τὰ συνεδρεύοντα τούτοις, ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης κατασκευῆς τῶν γραμμάτων γίνεσθαι τοιαύτας. 20

χρήσομαι δ’ ὀλίγοις παραδείγμασι τοῦ λόγου τοῦδε τῆς σαφηνείας ἕνεκα· τὰ γὰρ ἄλλα πολλὰ ὄντα ἐπὶ σαυτοῦ συμβαλλόμενος εὑρήσεις. ὁ δὴ πολυφωνότατος ἁπάντων τῶν

2 μιμήματα EPM: μιμητικὰ V: μηνύματα F 3 ἔργων E: ἔργα M 4 ἐρημίας F || δήποτε FMV: δὴ P 5 δ’ ὡς F: δε νέμω (νέμων M) ὡς PMV 9, 10, 11 παρὰ] περὶ R || γραμμάτων] πραγμάτων F: cf. =158= 5 10 δύναμις RF: σύνθεσις EPV || σύνθεσιν EF: συνθέσεις PMV: θέσεις R 12 λόγος REF: λόγος [γ]ίνεται cum litura P, MV 13 κάλλους REF: καλῶν PV 14 αἴτια RMV: αἰτίαν F: αἴτιον EP 15 κατὰ F: καὶ PMV 20 τοιαύτας Us.: τοιαύτα F, PMV 21 παραδείγμασι F: δείγμασιν P, MV 23 ἁπάντων τῶν MV: ἁπάντων FP

1. Cp. Virg. Aen. i. 87 “insequitur clamorque virum stridorque rudentum”; Ap. Rhod. Argon. i. 725 ὑπὸ πνοιῇ δὲ κάλωες | ὅπλα τε νήια πάντα τινάσσετο νισσομένοισιν.

5. So Diog. Laert. (auctore Favorino in octavo libro Omnigenae historiae): καὶ πρῶτος ἐθεώρησε τῆς γραμματικῆς τὴν δύναμιν (Vit. Plat. 25).

8. The following passage (from =ὅτι= to =καλὰ αἴτια=) is quoted in schol. anon. in Hermog. (Walz Rhett. Gr. vii. 1049), with the prefatory words ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ περὶ συνθέσεως ὀνομάτων περὶ λέξεως διαλαμβάνων λέγει ὅτι κτλ.

10. The endless possibilities of these syllabic, verbal, and other permutations had evidently impressed the imagination of Dionysius: together with their climax in literature itself, and in all the great types of literature.

12. “This sentence (=ὥστε πολλὴ ἀνάγκη ... γράμματα καλὰ αἴτια εἶναι=) puts boldly the truth which Aristotle had evaded or pooh-poohed in his excessive devotion to the philosophy of literature rather than to literature itself” (Saintsbury History of Criticism i. 130).

21. =παραδείγμασι= is perhaps to be preferred to δείγμασι here: cp. =164= 16.

22. =ἐπὶ σαυτοῦ= = per te ipsum, tuopte Marte: cp. =96= 21 ἐσκόπουν δ’ αὐτὸς ἐπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ γενόμενος.

23. =πολυφωνότατος= In this respect Homer’s great compeer is Shakespeare, in whose dramas “few things are more remarkable than the infinite range of style, speech, dialect they unfold before us” (Vaughan Types of Tragic Drama p. 165).—The passage of Dionysius which follows might be endlessly illustrated from Shakespeare; e.g. from Sonnet civ., Romeo and Juliet ii. 2 and v. 3, Antony and Cleopatra ii. 2 (speeches of Enobarbus), Tempest iii. 1. In the scene of the Tempest, correspondence and variety are alike conspicuous. Ferdinand’s address (beginning “Admired Miranda!”) tallies—to the line and even to the half-line—with Miranda’s reply, and the concluding lines are, in the one case,

But you, O you, So _p_erfect and so _p_eerless, are created Of every creature’s best;

and, in the other,

But I _p_rattle Something too wildly, and my father’s _p_recepts I therein do forget.

In the same scene the lines—

O, she is Ten times more gentle than her father’s crabbed, And he’s composed of harshness,

would have a very different effect (cp. quotation from Aristotle’s Poetics on =78= 9 supra) if written as follows:—

O, she is Ten times more gracious than her sire is stern, And he is merely cruel

(‘merely’ being understood, of course, in the Shakespearian sense of ‘absolutely’).

[Page 161]

rushing of winds, the creaking of hawsers, and numerous other similar imitations of sound, form, action, emotion, movement, stillness, and anything else whatsoever. On these points much has been said by our predecessors, the most important contributions being by the first of them to introduce the subject of etymology, Plato the disciple of Socrates, in his Cratylus especially, but in many other places as well.

What is the sum and substance of my argument? It is that it is due to the interweaving of letters that the quality of syllables is so multifarious; to the combination of syllables that the nature of words has such wide diversity; to the arrangement of words that discourse takes on so many forms. The conclusion is inevitable—that style is beautiful when it contains beautiful words,—that beauty of words is due to beautiful syllables and letters,—that language is rendered charming by the things that charm the ear in virtue of affinities in words, syllables, and letters; and that the differences in detail between these, through which are indicated the characters, emotions, dispositions, actions and so forth of the persons described, are made what they are through the original grouping of the letters.

To set the matter in a clearer light, I will illustrate my argument by a few examples. Other instances—and there are plenty of them—you will find for yourself in the course of your own investigations. When Homer, the poet above all others

[Page 162]

ποιητῶν Ὅμηρος, ὅταν μὲν ὥραν ὄψεως εὐμόρφου καὶ κάλλος ἡδονῆς ἐπαγωγὸν ἐπιδείξασθαι βούληται, τῶν τε φωνηέντων τοῖς κρατίστοις χρήσεται καὶ τῶν ἡμιφώνων τοῖς μαλακωτάτοις, καὶ οὐ καταπυκνώσει τοῖς ἀφώνοις τὰς συλλαβὰς οὐδὲ συγκόψει τοὺς ἤχους παρατιθεὶς ἀλλήλοις τὰ δυσέκφορα, πραεῖαν δέ 5 τινα ποιήσει τὴν ἁρμονίαν τῶν γραμμάτων καὶ ῥέουσαν ἀλύπως διὰ τῆς ἀκοῆς, ὡς ἔχει ταυτί

ἡ δ’ ἴεν ἐκ θαλάμοιο περίφρων Πηνελόπεια Ἀρτέμιδι ἰκέλη ἠὲ χρυσῇ Ἀφροδίτῃ.

Δήλῳ δήποτε τοῖον Ἀπόλλωνος παρὰ βωμῷ 10 φοίνικος νέον ἔρνος ἀνερχόμενον ἐνόησα.

καὶ Χλῶριν εἶδον περικαλλέα, τήν ποτε Νηλεὺς γῆμεν ἑὸν μετὰ κάλλος, ἐπεὶ πόρε μυρία ἕδνα.

ὅταν δ’ οἰκτρὰν ἢ φοβερὰν ἢ ἀγέρωχον ὄψιν εἰσάγῃ, τῶν τε φωνηέντων οὐ τὰ κράτιστα θήσει ἀλλὰ τῶν ψοφοειδῶν ἢ 15 ἀφώνων τὰ δυσεκφορώτατα λήψεται καὶ καταπυκνώσει τούτοις τὰς συλλαβάς, οἷά ἐστι ταυτί

σμερδαλέος δ’ αὐτῇσι φάνη κεκακωμένος ἅλμῃ.

τῇ δ’ ἐπὶ μὲν Γοργὼ βλοσυρῶπις ἐστεφάνωτο δεινὸν δερκομένη, περὶ δὲ Δεῖμός τε Φόβος τε. 20

ποταμῶν δέ γε σύρρυσιν εἰς χωρίον ἓν καὶ πάταγον ὑδάτων ἀναμισγομένων ἐκμιμήσασθαι τῇ λέξει βουλόμενος οὐκ ἐργάσεται λείας συλλαβὰς ἀλλ’ ἰσχυρὰς καὶ ἀντιτύπους

2 ἐπαγαγὼν F 3 χρήσεται ... μαλακωτάτοις om. F 4 συγκόπτει P 6 ποιεῖ P 12 χλωρὴν F || ἴδον PMV || ἥν F 13 γῆμεν ἑὸν] τημέναιον F || μετα P, M: κατα F: διὰ EV 19 γοργῶι sic F: γοργὼ ceteri || βλοσυρώπις F (metri, ut videtur, gratia) 22 ἐργάσεται Us.: ἐργάζεται F: ἔτι EPMV 23 ἀντιτύπους F: ἀντιτύπους θήσει EPMV

1. =κάλλος=: cp. scholium in P, ση(μείωσαι) πῶς κάλλος ἡδο(νῆς) ἐπαγωγὸν δείκνυ(σιν) Ὅμ(η)ρ(ος).

3. =χρήσεται ... καταπυκνώσει ... συγκόψει ... ποιήσει=: general truths expressed by means of the future tense.

8. Cp. Virg. Aen. i. 496 “regina ad templum, forma pulcherrima Dido, | incessit magna iuvenum stipante caterva. | qualis in Eurotae ripis aut per iuga Cynthi | exercet Diana choros,” etc.; and Aen. xii. 67 “Indum sanguineo veluti violaverit ostro | si quis ebur, aut mixta rubent ubi lilia multa | alba rosa: tales virgo dabat ore colores.”

13. In Odyss. xi. 282 the textual evidence is reported as follows: “διὰ FHJK, ss. XTU^2, Dion. Hal. comp. verb. 16; δια P; μετὰ XDSTUW, An. Ox. iv. 310. 5, Bekker An. 1158, Eust.; μετα G” (Ludwich ad loc.).—In the present passage of Dionysius the reading μετά gives an additional =μ= in the line: γῆ=μ=εν ἑὸν =μ=ετὰ κάλλος, ἐπεὶ πόρε =μ=υρία ἕδνα. For some instances in which the authorities vary between μετά and κατά see Ebeling’s Lexicon Homericum, s.v. μετά.

14. In his selection of tragic qualities Dionysius seems perhaps to have in view, once more, the Aristotelian doctrine of two extremes and a mean.—As the epithet =ἀγέρωχος= so closely follows the quotations from Homer, it is natural to suppose that Dionysius uses the word in the Homeric sense of lordly, august, rather than in the later (bad) sense of haughty, insolent.

15. Sauppe would insert τὰ δυσηχέστατα καὶ between ἀλλὰ and τῶν ψοφοειδῶν.

[Page 163]

many-voiced, wishes to depict the young bloom of a lovely countenance and a beauty that brings delight, he will use the finest of the vowels and the softest of the semi-vowels; he will not pack his syllables with mute letters, nor impede the utterance by putting next to one another words hard to pronounce. He will make the harmony of the letters strike softly and pleasingly upon the ear, as in the following lines:—

Now forth of her bower hath gone Penelope passing-wise Lovely as Artemis, or as Aphrodite the Golden.[140]

Only once by the Sun-god’s altar in Delos I chanced to espy So stately a shaft of a palm that gracefully grew thereby.[141]

Rose Chloris, fair beyond word, whom Nereus wedded of old, For her beauty his heart had stirred, and he wooed her with gifts untold.[142]

But when he introduces a sight that is pitiable, or terrifying, or august, he will not employ the finest of the vowels. He will take the hardest to utter of the fricatives or of the mutes, and will pack his syllables with these. For instance:—

But dreadful he burst on their sight, with the sea-scum all fouled o’er.[143]

And thereon was embossed the Gorgon-demon, with stony gaze Grim-glaring, and Terror and Panic encompassed the Fearful Face.[144]

When he wishes to reproduce in his language the rush of meeting torrents and the roar of confluent waters, he will not employ smooth syllables, but strong and resounding ones:—

[Page 164]

ὡς δ’ ὅτε χείμαρροι ποταμοὶ κατ’ ὄρεσφι ῥέοντες ἐς μισγάγκειαν συμβάλλετον ὄβριμον ὕδωρ.

βιαζόμενον δέ τινα πρὸς ἐναντίον ῥεῦμα ποταμοῦ μετὰ τῶν ὅπλων καὶ τὰ μὲν ἀντέχοντα, τὰ δ’ ὑποφερόμενον εἰσάγων ἀνακοπάς τε ποιήσει συλλαβῶν καὶ ἀναβολὰς χρόνων καὶ 5 ἀντιστηριγμοὺς γραμμάτων

δεινὸν δ’ ἀμφ’ Ἀχιλῆα κυκώμενον ἵστατο κῦμα, ὤθει δ’ ἐν σάκεϊ πίπτων ῥόος, οὐδὲ πόδεσσιν εἶχε στηρίξασθαι.

ἀραττομένων δὲ περὶ πέτρας ἀνθρώπων ψόφον τε καὶ μόρον 10 οἰκτρὸν ἐπιδεικνύμενος, ἐπὶ τῶν ἀηδεστάτων τε καὶ κακοφωνοτάτων χρονιεῖ γραμμάτων, οὐδαμῇ λεαίνων τὴν κατασκευὴν οὐδὲ ἡδύνων·

σύν τε δύω μάρψας ὥστε σκύλακας ποτὶ γαίῃ κόπτ’· ἐκ δ’ ἐγκέφαλος χαμάδις ῥέε, δεῦε δὲ γαῖαν. 15

πολὺ ἂν ἔργον εἴη λέγειν, εἰ πάντων παραδείγματα βουλοίμην φέρειν ὧν ἄν τις ἀπαιτήσειε κατὰ τὸν τόπον τόνδε· ὥστε ἀρκεσθεὶς τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἐπὶ τὰ ἑξῆς μεταβήσομαι. φημὶ δὴ τὸν βουλόμενον ἐργάσασθαι λέξιν καλὴν ἐν τῷ συντιθέναι τὰς φωνάς, ὅσα καλλιλογίαν ἢ μεγαλοπρέπειαν ἢ σεμνότητα περιείληφεν 20 ὀνόματα, εἰς ταὐτὸ συνάγειν. εἴρηται δέ τινα περὶ τούτων καὶ Θεοφράστῳ τῷ φιλοσόφῳ κοινότερον ἐν τοῖς περὶ

2 ὄβριμον FP: ὄμβριμον EM^2V 9 στηρίξασθαι F Hom.: στηρίζεσθαι PMV 10 δραττομένων F || περι F, V: παρα P, M 11 ἐπιδεικνύμενος F: ἐνδεικνύμενος PMV 14 ποτι F, MV: προτὶ P: cf. =202= 6 infra. 17 κατὰ τὸν τόπον τόνδε ὧν ἄν τις ἀπαιτήσειε (hoc verborum ordine) PV || κατὰ F: καὶ κατὰ PV 20 καλλιλογίαν ἢ F: καλλιλογίαν καὶ PMV 21 τὸ αὐτὸ F: τοῦτο PMV

1. Cp. Virg. Aen. ii. 496 “non sic, aggeribus ruptis cum spumeus amnis | exiit oppositasque evicit gurgite moles, | fertur in arva furens cumulo camposque per omnes | cum stabulis armenta trahit.”

7. Cp. Virg. Aen. x. 305 “solvitur (sc. puppis Tarchontis) atque viros mediis exponit in undis, | fragmina remorum quos et fluitantia transtra | impediunt retrahitque pedes simul unda relabens.”

14. Cp. Virg. Aen. v. 478, “durosque reducta | libravit dextra media inter cornua caestus | arduus, effractoque illisit in ossa cerebro.”—Demetr. (de Eloc. § 219), in quoting this passage of Homer, couples with it Il. xxiii. 116 πολλὰ δ’ ἄναντα κάταντα πάραντά τε δόχμιά τ’ ἦλθον (Virgil’s “quadripedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum,” Aen. viii. 596).—Another good Virgilian instance of adaptation of sound to sense is Georg. iv. 174 “illi inter sese magna vi bracchia tollunt | in numerum, versantque tenaci forcipe ferrum.”

18. =φημί= seems (cp. the legal use of aio) to approximate to the sense of κελεύω (as in Pind. Nem. iii. 28, Soph. Aj. 1108). Either so, or (as Upton suggested) we may insert δεῖν, or the sense may simply be, “I say that the man who aims ... does combine, etc. (i.e. when he knows his own business).”

19. For the construction =λέξιν καλὴν ἐν τῷ συντιθέναι τὰς φωνάς= cp. Fragm. of Duris of Samos, Ἔφορος δὲ καὶ Θεόπομπος τῶν γενομένων πλεῖστον ἀπελείφθησαν, οὔτε γὰρ μιμήσεως μετέλαβον οὐδεμίας οὔτε #ἡδονῆς ἐν τῷ φράσαι#, αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ γράφειν μόνον ἐπεμελήθησαν.

20. Here, again, the Aristotelian ‘mean’ may possibly be intended.

22. =Theophrastus=: for other references to Theophrastus in the Scripta Rhetorica of Dionysius see de Lysia cc. 6, 14; de Isocr. c. 3; de Din. c. 2; de Demosth. c. 3. The passage of Theophrastus which Dionysius has in mind here is no doubt that mentioned by Demetr. de Eloc. § 173 ποιεῖ δὲ εὔχαριν τὴν ἑρμηνείαν καὶ τὰ λεγόμενα καλὰ ὀνόματα. ὡρίσατο δ’ αὐτὰ Θεόφραστος οὕτως· κάλλος ὀνόματός ἐστι τὸ πρὸς τὴν ἀκοὴν ἢ πρὸς τὴν ὄψιν ἡδύ, ἢ τὸ τῇ διανοίᾳ ἔντιμον.

[Page 165]

And even as Wintertide torrents down-rushing from steep hill-sides Hurl their wild waters in one where a cleft of the mountain divides.[145]

When he depicts a hero, though heavy with his harness, putting forth all his energies against an opposing stream, and now holding his own, now being carried off his feet, he will contrive counter-buffetings of syllables, arresting pauses, and letters that block the way:—

Round Achilles the terrible surge towered seething on every side, And a cataract dashed and crashed on his shield: all vainly he sought Firm ground for his feet.[146]

When men are being dashed against rocks, and he is portraying the noise and their pitiable fate, he will linger on the harshest and most ill-sounding letters, altogether avoiding smoothness or prettiness in the structure:—

And together laid hold on twain, and dashed them against the ground Like whelps: down gushed the brain, and bespattered the rock-floor round.[147]

It would be a long task to attempt to adduce specimens of all the artistic touches of which examples might be demanded in this one field. So, contenting myself with what has been said, I will pass to the next point.

I hold that those who wish to fashion a style which is beautiful in the collocation of sounds must combine in it words which all carry the impression of elegance, grandeur, or dignity. Something has been said about these matters, in a general way, by the philosopher Theophrastus in his work on Style, where he

[Page 166]

λέξεως, ἔνθα ὁρίζει, τίνα ὀνόματα φύσει καλά· παραδείγματος ἕνεκα, ὧν συντιθεμένων καλὴν οἴεται καὶ μεγαλοπρεπῆ γενήσεσθαι τὴν φράσιν, καὶ αὖθις ἕτερα μικρὰ καὶ ταπεινά, ἐξ ὧν οὔτε ποίημα χρηστὸν ἔσεσθαί φησιν οὔτε λόγον. καὶ μὰ Δία οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ ταῦτα εἴρηται τῷ ἀνδρί. εἰ μὲν οὖν 5 ἐγχωροίη πάντ’ εἶναι τὰ μόρια τῆς λέξεως ὑφ’ ὧν μέλλει δηλοῦσθαι τὸ πρᾶγμα εὔφωνά τε καὶ καλλιρήμονα, μανίας ἔργον ζητεῖν τὰ χείρω· εἰ δὲ ἀδύνατον εἴη τοῦτο, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ πολλῶν ἔχει, τῇ πλοκῇ καὶ μίξει καὶ παραθέσει πειρατέον ἀφανίζειν τὴν τῶν χειρόνων φύσιν, ὅπερ Ὅμηρος εἴωθεν ἐπὶ 10 πολλῶν ποιεῖν. εἰ γάρ τις ἔροιτο ὅντιν’ οὖν ἢ ποιητῶν ἢ ῥητόρων, τίνα σεμνότητα ἢ καλλιλογίαν ταῦτ’ ἔχει τὰ ὀνόματα ἃ ταῖς Βοιωτίαις κεῖται πόλεσιν Ὑρία καὶ Μυκαλησσὸς καὶ Γραῖα καὶ Ἐτεωνὸς καὶ Σκῶλος καὶ Θίσβη καὶ Ὀγχηστὸς καὶ Εὔτρησις καὶ τἆλλ’ ἐφεξῆς ὧν ὁ ποιητὴς μέμνηται, οὐδεὶς 15 ἂν εἰπεῖν οὐδ’ ἥντιν’ οὖν ἔχοι· ἀλλ’ οὕτως αὐτὰ καλῶς ἐκεῖνος συνύφαγκεν καὶ παραπληρώμασιν εὐφώνοις διείληφεν ὥστε μεγαλοπρεπέστατα φαίνεσθαι πάντων ὀνόματα·

Βοιωτῶν μὲν Πηνέλεως καὶ Λήϊτος ἦρχον Ἀρκεσίλαός τε Προθοήνωρ τε Κλονίος τε, 20 οἵ θ’ Ὑρίην ἐνέμοντο καὶ Αὐλίδα πετρήεσσαν Σχοῖνόν τε Σκῶλόν τε πολύκνημόν τ’ Ἐτεωνόν, Θέσπειαν Γραῖάν τε καὶ εὐρύχορον Μυκαλησσόν, οἵ τ’ ἀμφ’ Ἅρμ’ ἐνέμοντο καὶ Εἰλέσιον καὶ Ἐρυθράς, οἵ τ’ Ἐλεῶν’ εἶχον ἠδ’ Ὕλην καὶ Πετεῶνα, 25 Ὠκαλέην Μεδεῶνά τ’ ἐυκτίμενον πτολίεθρον.

ἐν εἰδόσι λέγων οὐκ οἴομαι πλειόνων δεῖν παραδειγμάτων.

1 ἔνθα] καθ’ ὃ F 2 γενήσεσθαι] γίνεσθαι F 3 αὖθις om. F 4 χρηστὸν ἔσεσθαι] χρήσιμον F 5 ἄπο FPMV || εἴρηται τῷ ἀνδρὶ F: τῷ ἀνδρὶ εἴρηται PMV 7 καλλιρρήμονα s 11 ἢ ποιητῶν P: ποιητῶν FM 13 βοιωτίαις PV: βοιωτικαῖς F: βοιωτίας M 15 τᾶλλ’ ἐφεξῆς F: τἄλλα ἑξῆς PM, V 17 συνὕφαγκεν F, EP: συνύφαγγε M: συνύφανεν V 18 μεγαλοπρεπέστερα E || πάντων] τούτων V || ὀνόματα PMV: ὀνομάτων EF 25 ἥδ’ F: οἵδ’ M: ἰδ’ V

1. =παραδείγματος ἕνεκα= looks like an adscript (possibly on ὁρίζει: to indicate that there were many other topics in Theophrastus’ book), which has found its way into the text.

4. For the distinction between poetry and prose cp. Aristot. Rhet. iii. 3 (1406 a) ἐν μὲν γὰρ ποιήσει πρέπει γάλα λευκὸν εἰπεῖν, ἐν δὲ λόγῳ τὰ μὲν ἀπρεπέστερα, τὰ δέ, ἂν ᾖ κατακορῆ, ἐξελέγχει καὶ ποιεῖ φανερὸν ὅτι ποίησίς ἐστιν, ἐπεὶ δεῖ γε χρῆσθαι αὐτοῖς, and iii. 4 (1406 b) χρήσιμον δὲ ἡ εἰκὼν καὶ ἐν λόγῳ, ὀλιγάκις δέ· ποιητικὸν γάρ.

5. =οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ= = ‘haud ab re.’

The minute variations in word-order between F and P are not usually given in the critical footnotes. But the fact that P places (here and in =164= 17) the verb at the end of the sentence is noteworthy.

18. Cp. Virg. Georg. iv. 334-44; Aen. vii. 710-21; Milton Par. Lost i. 351-5. 396-414, 464-9, 576-87 (especially 583-7); and see Matthew Arnold (On translating Homer: Last Words p. 29) as to Hom. Il. xvii. 216 ff.

26. Dionysius (here as elsewhere) doubtless intended his remarks to apply to the lines that follow his quotation, as well as to those actually quoted.

27. =ἐν εἰδόσι=: this expressive phrase is as old as Homer himself (Il. x. 250 εἰδόσι γάρ τοι ταῦτα μετ’ Ἀργείοις ἀγορεύεις). It occurs also in Thucyd. (ii. 36. 4 μακρηγορεῖν ἐν εἰδόσιν οὐ βουλόμενος ἐάσω).

[Page 167]

distinguishes two classes of words—those which are naturally beautiful (whose collocation, for example, in composition will, he thinks, make the phrasing beautiful and grand), and those, again, which are paltry and ignoble, of which he says neither good poetry can be constructed nor good prose. And, really and truly, our author is not far from the mark in saying this. If, then, it were possible that all the parts of speech by which a given subject is to be expressed should be euphonious and elegant, it would be madness to seek out the inferior ones. But if this be out of the question, as in many cases it is, then we must endeavour to mask the natural defects of the inferior letters by interweaving and mingling and juxtaposition, and this is just what Homer is accustomed to do in many passages. For instance, if any poet or rhetorician whatsoever were to be asked what grandeur or elegance there is in the names which have been given to the Boeotian towns,—Hyria, Mycalessus, Graia, Eteonus, Scolus, Thisbe, Onchestus, Eutresis, and the rest of the series which the poet enumerates,—no one would be able to point to any trace of such qualities. But Homer has interwoven and interspersed them with pleasant-sounding supplementary words into so beautiful a texture that they appear the most magnificent of all names:—

Lords of Boeotia’s host came Leitus, Peneleos, Prothoenor and Arcesilaus and Clonius for battle uprose, With the folk that in Hyrie dwelt, and by Aulis’s crag-fringed steep, And in Schoinus and Scolus, and midst Eteonus’ hill-clefts deep, In Thespeia and Graia, and green Mycalessus the land broad-meadowed, And in Harma and Eilesius, and Erythrae the mountain-shadowed, And they that in Eleon abode, and in Hyle and Peteon withal, And in Ocalee and in Medeon, burg of the stately wall.[148]

As I am addressing men who know their Homer, I do not

[Page 168]

ἅπας γάρ ἐστιν ὁ κατάλογος αὐτῷ τοιοῦτος καὶ πολλὰ ἄλλα, ἐν οἷς ἀναγκασθεὶς ὀνόματα λαμβάνειν οὐ καλὰ τὴν φύσιν ἑτέροις αὐτὰ κοσμεῖ καλοῖς καὶ λύει τὴν ἐκείνων δυσχέρειαν τῇ τούτων εὐμορφίᾳ. καὶ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἅλις.

XVII

ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τοὺς ῥυθμοὺς ἔφην οὐ μικρὰν μοῖραν ἔχειν 5 τῆς ἀξιωματικῆς καὶ μεγαλοπρεποῦς συνθέσεως, ἵνα μηδεὶς εἰκῇ με δόξῃ λέγειν ῥυθμοὺς καὶ μέτρα μουσικῆς οἰκεῖα θεωρίας εἰς οὐ ῥυθμικὴν οὐδ’ ἔμμετρον εἰσάγοντα διάλεκτον, ἀποδώσω καὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ τούτων λόγον. ἔχει δ’ οὕτως·

πᾶν ὄνομα καὶ ῥῆμα καὶ ἄλλο μόριον λέξεως, ὅ τι μὴ 10 μονοσύλλαβόν ἐστιν, ἐν ῥυθμῷ τινι λέγεται· τὸ δ’ αὐτὸ καλῶ πόδα καὶ ῥυθμόν. δισυλλάβου μὲν οὖν λέξεως διαφοραὶ τρεῖς. ἢ γὰρ ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων ἔσται βραχειῶν ἢ ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων μακρῶν ἢ τῆς μὲν βραχείας, τῆς δὲ μακρᾶς. τοῦ δὲ τρίτου τούτου ῥυθμοῦ διττὸς ὁ τρόπος· ὁ μέν τις ἀπὸ βραχείας ἀρχόμενος 15 καὶ λήγων εἰς μακράν, ὁ δ’ ἀπὸ μακρᾶς καὶ λήγων εἰς βραχεῖαν. ὁ μὲν οὖν βραχυσύλλαβος ἡγεμών τε καὶ πυρρίχιος καλεῖται, καὶ οὔτε μεγαλοπρεπής ἐστιν οὔτε σεμνός· σχῆμα δ’ αὐτοῦ τοιόνδε

λέγε δὲ σὺ κατὰ πόδα νεόχυτα μέλεα. 20

1 αὐτῷ Toupius: αὐτῶν libri 6 μηδεὶς EF: μή κέ (καὶ M^2) τις PM: μή μέ τις V 7 με om. PMV 10 καὶ ῥῆμα om. P 12 τέσσαρες E 13 βραχέων FM 20 νεόχυτα EF: νεόλυτα PMV

1. Usener’s =αὐτῷ= (“all his Catalogue is on the same high level”) is perhaps preferable to the manuscript reading αὐτῶν, which, however, may be taken to refer to πόλεσιν (=166= 13). Usener’s suggestion has, it should be pointed out, been anticipated by Toup (ad Longin. p. 296).

5. In this chapter Dionysius seems to have specially in view Aristotle’s Rhetoric iii. 8 (cp. note on =255= 25 infra) and the Ῥυθμικὰ στοιχεῖα of Aristoxenus. But his general standpoint probably comes nearer to that of Aristophanes of Byzantium and Dionysius Thrax: he is, that is to say, primarily a metrist and a grammarian, and at times looks upon the rhythmists and musicians with some distrust.

11, 12. Dionysius agrees here with Aristoxenus, Ῥυθμικὰ στοιχεῖα ii. 16 ᾧ δὲ σημαινόμεθα τὸν ῥυθμὸν καὶ γνώριμον ποιοῦμεν τῇ αἰσθήσει, πούς ἐστιν εἷς ἢ πλείους ἑνός: and § 18 ibid. ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἐξ ἑνὸς χρόνου ποὺς οὐκ ἂν εἴη φανερόν, κτλ.

17. See Introduction (p. 6 supra) for a classified list of the metrical feet mentioned in this chapter. Voss says as to the πυρρίχιος, “nullum ex eo alicuius momenti constitui potest carmen, cum numero et pondere paene careat. aptus dumtaxat ad celeres motus exprimendos, cuius modi erant armati saltus Corybantum apud Graecos, et Saliorum apud Romanos”; see also Hermog. II. ἰδ. i. (Walz iii. p. 293, lines 1-11). Some sensible remarks on the whole question are made by Quintil. ix. 4. 87: “miror autem in hac opinione doctissimos homines fuisse, ut alios pedes ita eligerent aliosque damnarent, quasi ullus esset, quem non sit necesse in oratione deprehendi. licet igitur paeona sequatur Ephorus, inventum a Thrasymacho, probatum ab Aristotele, dactylumque, ut temperatos brevibus ac longis; fugiat molossum et trochaeum, alterius tarditate alterius celeritate damnata; herous, qui est idem dactylus, Aristoteli amplior, iambus humanior videatur; trochaeum ut nimis currentem damnet eique cordacis nomen imponat; eademque dicant Theodectes ac Theophrastus, similia post eos Halicarnasseus Dionysius: irrumpent etiam ad invitos, nec semper illis heroo aut paeone suo, quem, quia versum raro facit, maxime laudant, uti licebit. ut sint tamen aliis alii crebriores, non verba facient, quae neque augeri nec minui nec sicuti modulatione produci aut corripi possint, sed transmutatio et collocatio.”

20. =λέγε δὲ σύ= κτλ.: source unknown; perhaps the reference is to the tearing of Pentheus limb from limb.—A similar line in Latin would be: “id agite peragite celeriter,” Marius Victorinus Ars Gramm. iii. 1.

[Page 169]

think there is need to multiply examples. All his Catalogue of the towns is on the same high level, and so are many other passages in which, being compelled to take words not naturally beautiful, he places them in a setting of beautiful ones, and neutralizes their offensiveness by the shapeliness of the others. On this branch of my subject I have now said enough.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XVII. ON RHYTHMS, OR FEET

I have mentioned that rhythm contributes in no small degree to dignified and impressive composition; and I will treat of this point also. Let no one suppose that rhythm and metre belong to the science of song only; that ordinary speech is neither rhythmical nor metrical; and that I am going astray in introducing those subjects here.

In point of fact, every noun, verb, or other part of speech, which does not consist of a single syllable only, is uttered in some sort of rhythm. (I am here using “rhythm” and “foot” as convertible terms.) A disyllabic word may take three different forms. It may have both syllables short, or both long, or one short and the other long. Of this third rhythm there are two forms: one beginning in a short and ending in a long, the other beginning in a long and ending in a short. The one which consists of two shorts is called hegemon or pyrrhich, and is neither impressive nor solemn. Its character is as follows:—

Pick up the limbs at thy feet newly-scattered.[149]

[Page 170]

ὁ δ’ ἀμφοτέρας τὰς συλλαβὰς μακρὰς ἔχων κέκληται μὲν σπονδεῖος, ἀξίωμα δ’ ἔχει μέγα καὶ σεμνότητα πολλήν· παράδειγμα δ’ αὐτοῦ τόδε

ποίαν δῆθ’ ὁρμάσω, ταύταν ἢ κείναν, κείναν ἢ ταύταν; 5

ὁ δ’ ἐκ βραχείας τε καὶ μακρᾶς συγκείμενος ἐὰν μὲν τὴν ἡγουμένην λάβῃ βραχεῖαν, ἴαμβος καλεῖται, καὶ ἔστιν οὐκ ἀγεννής· ἐὰν δ’ ἀπὸ τῆς μακρᾶς ἄρχηται, τροχαῖος, καὶ ἔστι μαλακώτερος θατέρου καὶ ἀγεννέστερος· παράδειγμα δὲ τοῦ μὲν προτέρου τοιόνδε 10

ἐπεὶ σχολὴ πάρεστι, παῖ Μενοιτίου.

τοῦ δ’ ἑτέρου

θυμέ, θύμ’ ἀμηχάνοισι κήδεσιν κυκώμενε.

δισυλλάβων μὲν δὴ μορίων λέξεως διαφοραί τε καὶ ῥυθμοὶ καὶ σχήματα τοσαῦτα· τρισυλλάβων δ’ ἕτερα πλείω τῶν 15 εἰρημένων καὶ ποικιλωτέραν ἔχοντα θεωρίαν. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ἁπασῶν βραχείων συνεστώς, καλούμενος δὲ ὑπό τινων χορεῖος [τρίβραχυς πούς], οὗ παράδειγμα τοιόνδε

Βρόμιε, δορατοφόρ’, ἐνυάλιε, πολεμοκέλαδε,

ταπεινός τε καὶ ἄσεμνός ἐστι καὶ ἀγεννής, καὶ οὐδὲν ἂν ἐξ 20

5 ἢ κείναν κείναν ἢ ταύταν PMV: ἢ κείναν ἢ ταύταν E, F 10 μὲν om. PMV 11 ἐπεὶ σχολὴ EMV: ἐπὶ σχολῆι FP 13 κήδεσι κεκυκώμενε sic F 14 μὲν EPMV: om. F 17 χορεῖος MV: om. FP 18 τρίβραχυς] τροχαῖος F. uncinis includendum vel τρίβραχυς πούς vel χορεῖος tamquam glossema quod, margini olim adscriptum, in textum postea irrepserit 20 καὶ ἀγεννής om. P

2. The high rank assigned to the spondee is noted in schol. anon. ad Hermog. II. ἰδ. (Walz Rhett. Gr. vii. 1049): τάττει (sc. Διονύσιος) δὲ τὸν σπονδεῖον μετ’ αὐτῶν (sc. μετὰ τῶν καλῶν ῥυθμῶν).—For Dionysius’ view of the spondee and other feet see also Walz viii. 980 Διονύσιος μὲν ἐν τῷ περὶ συνθέσεως ὀνομάτων φησὶν ὅτι ὁ δάκτυλος κτλ.

4. Euripides’ Hec. 162-4 runs thus in G. G. A. Murray’s text:—

ποίαν ἢ ταύταν ἢ κείναν στείχω; †ποῖ δ’ ἥσω; †ποῦ τις θεῶν †ἢ δαιμόνων †ἐπαρωγός;

As the editor remarks later, “metrum nec in se perfectum,” etc. See also Porson’s note on the same passage of the Hecuba.—For a Latin spondaic line cp. Ennius “olli respondit rex Albai longai” (Annal. Reliq. i. 31 Vahlen).

7. The iambus and the trochee abound in ordinary speech, and must therefore be used in oratory with moderation: cp. Cic. de Oratore iii. 47 “nam cum sint numeri plures, iambum et trochaeum frequentem segregat ab oratore Aristoteles, Catule, vester, qui natura tamen incurrunt ipsi in orationem sermonemque nostrum; sed sunt insignes percussiones eorum numerorum et minuti pedes”; Orator 56. 189 “versus saepe in oratione per imprudentiam dicimus; quod vehementer est vitiosum, sed non attendimus neque exaudimus nosmet ipsos; senarios vero et Hipponacteos effugere vix possumus; magnam enim partem ex iambis nostra constat oratio”; Aristot. Rhet. iii. 8. 4 ὁ δ’ ἴαμβος αὐτή ἐστιν ἡ λέξις ἡ τῶν πολλῶν· διὸ μάλιστα πάντων τῶν μέτρων ἰαμβεῖα φθέγγονται λέγοντες: Poet. iv. 14 μάλιστα γὰρ λεκτικὸν τῶν μέτρων τὸ ἰαμβεῖόν ἐστιν· σημεῖον δὲ τούτου· πλεῖστα γὰρ ἰαμβεῖα λέγομεν ἐν τῇ διαλέκτῳ τῇ πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἑξάμετρα δὲ ὀλιγάκις καὶ ἐκβαίνοντες τῆς λεκτικῆς ἁρμονίας: Demetr. de Eloc. § 43 ὁ δὲ ἴαμβος εὐτελὴς καὶ τῇ τῶν πολλῶν λέξει ὅμοιος. πολλοὶ γοῦν μέτρα ἰαμβικὰ λαλοῦσιν οὐκ εἰδότες.

9. Cp. Aristot. Rhet. iii. 8 ὁ δὲ τροχαῖος κορδακικώτερος· δηλοῖ δὲ τὰ τετράμετρα· ἔστι γὰρ ῥυθμὸς τροχαῖος τὰ τετράμετρα.

11. As in Hor. Epod. ii. 1 “Beatus ille, qui procul negotiis.”

13. This line of Archilochus is preserved (together with the six that follow it) in Stobaeus Florileg. i. 207 (Meineke). For a similar Latin trochaic verse see Marius Victorinus i. 12 “Roma, Roma cerne, quanta sit Deum benignitas.”

18. For the effect of tribrachs in Latin cp. Marius Victorinus i. 12 “nemus ave reticuit, ager homine sonat.”

20. =καὶ ἀγεννής=: these words are absent from P; perhaps rightly. They do not sort well with καὶ οὐδὲν ... γενναῖον.

[Page 171]

That which has both its syllables long is called a spondee, and possesses great dignity and much stateliness. Here is an example of it:—

Ah, which way must I haste?—had I best flee By this path? or by that path shall it be?[150]

That which is composed of a short and a long is called iambus if it has the first syllable short; it is not ignoble. If it begins with the long syllable, it is called a trochee, and is less manly than the other and more ignoble. The following is an example of the former:—

My leisure serves me now, Menoetius’ son.[151]

Of the other:—

Heart of mine, O heart in turmoil with a throng of crushing cares![152]

These are all the varieties, rhythms, and forms of disyllabic words. Those of the trisyllabic are distinct; they are more numerous than those mentioned, and the study of them is more complicated. First comes that which consists entirely of short syllables, and is called by some choree (or tribrach), of which the following is an example:—

Bromius, wielder of spears, Lord of war and the onset-cheers.[153]

This foot is mean and wanting in dignity and nobility, and

[Page 172]

αὐτοῦ γένοιτο γενναῖον. ὁ δ’ ἐξ ἁπασῶν μακρῶν, μολοττὸν δ’ αὐτὸν οἱ μετρικοὶ καλοῦσιν, ὑψηλός τε καὶ ἀξιωματικός ἐστι καὶ διαβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ πολύ· παράδειγμα δὲ αὐτοῦ τοιόνδε

ὦ Ζηνὸς καὶ Λήδας κάλλιστοι σωτῆρες.

ὁ δ’ ἐκ μακρᾶς καὶ δυεῖν βραχειῶν μέσην μὲν λαβὼν τὴν 5 μακρὰν ἀμφίβραχυς ὠνόμασται, καὶ οὐ σφόδρα τῶν εὐσχήμων ἐστὶ ῥυθμῶν ἀλλὰ διακέκλασταί τε καὶ πολὺ τὸ θῆλυ καὶ ἀγεννὲς ἔχει, οἷά ἐστι ταυτί

Ἴακχε θρίαμβε, σὺ τῶνδε χοραγέ.

ὁ δὲ προλαμβάνων τὰς δύο βραχείας ἀνάπαιστος μὲν καλεῖται, 10 σεμνότητα δ’ ἔχει πολλήν· καὶ ἔνθα δεῖ μέγεθός τι περιτιθέναι τοῖς πράγμασιν ἢ πάθος, ἐπιτήδειός ἐστι παραλαμβάνεσθαι· τούτου τὸ σχῆμα τοιόνδε

βαρύ μοι κεφαλᾶς ἐ πίκρανον ἔχειν.

ὁ δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς μακρᾶς ἀρχόμενος, λήγων δὲ εἰς τὰς βραχείας 15 δάκτυλος μὲν καλεῖται, πάνυ δ’ ἐστὶ σεμνὸς καὶ εἰς τὸ κάλλος τῆς ἑρμηνείας ἀξιολογώτατος, καὶ τό γε ἡρωϊκὸν μέτρον ἀπὸ τούτου κοσμεῖται ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ· παράδειγμα δὲ αὐτοῦ τόδε

Ἰλιόθεν με φέρων ἄνεμος Κικόνεσσι πέλασσεν.

οἱ μέντοι ῥυθμικοὶ τούτου τοῦ ποδὸς τὴν μακρὰν βραχυτέραν 20

3 διαβεβηκῶς (ῶ suprascripto) P: διαβέβηκεν ὡς M^1: διαβεβηκὼς ὡς M^{2}V: διαβέβηκεν F || τοιόνδε F: τόδε PMV 5 δυεῖν P: δυοῖν MV: β F 6 μακρὰν F: μακρὰν ἑκατέρας τῶν βραχειῶν PMV || εὐσχήμων EF: εὐσχημόνων PMV 7 διακεκόλασται F: κέκλασται E 8 ἀγεννες P, M: ἀγενὲς V: ἀηδὲς F 9 θρίαμβε L. Dindorfius: διθύραμβε libri 11 μέγεθός τι F: μέγεθος PV: μεγέθη M || περιτιθέναι F: περιθεῖναι PMV 12 περιλαμβάνεσθαι F 14 κεφαλᾶς E: κεφαλὰς F: κεφαλῆς PMV || ἔχειν P: ἔχει EFMV 16 δάκτυλος EFM: δακτ̑ P: δακτυλικὸς V || τὸ κάλλος τῆς ἑρμηνείας EF: κάλλος ἁρμονίας PMV 17 ὑπὸ R

2. =ἀξιωματικός=: various modern examples of the rhythmical effect of long and short syllables will be found in Demetr., e.g. p. 219. Here may be added, from George Meredith’s Love in the Valley—

Thicker crowd the shades as the grave East deepens Glowing, and with crimson a long cloud swells. Maiden still the morn is; and strange she is, and secret; Strange her eyes; her cheeks are cold as cold sea-shells.

Here the long syllables in italics may be contrasted with:

Deals she an unkindness, ’tis but her rapid measure, – ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ Even as in a dance; and her smile can heal no less.

9. Virg. Ecl. viii. 68 might be fancifully divided in such a way as to present several feet of this kind:

ᴗ – ᴗ ᴗ – ᴗ ᴗ – ᴗ ᴗ – ᴗ ᴗ – ᴗ “[ducite] ab urbe | domum me|a carmin|a, ducit|e Daphnim.”

16. Cp. Long. de Sublim. xxxix. 4 ὅλον τε γὰρ ἐπὶ τῶν δακτυλικῶν εἴρηται ῥυθμῶν· εὐγενέστατοι δ’ οὗτοι καὶ μεγεθοποιοί, διὸ καὶ τὸ ἡρῷον, ὧν ἴσμεν κάλλιστον, μέτρον συνιστᾶσιν.

19. This is of course the very start of Odysseus’ adventures as recounted by himself. He sails away from Ilium on as many dactyls as possible.—For dactyls freely used in the Virgilian hexameter cp. Aen. ix. 503 “at tuba terribilem sonitum procul aere canoro [increpuit, etc.]”; Georg. iii. 284 “sed fugit interea, fugit irreparabile tempus.”

20. =τούτου τοῦ ποδός.= “Unless a lacuna be assumed, a rather violent assumption, the phrase [i.e. τούτου τοῦ ποδός] must simply resume the αὐτοῦ just before the hexameter, the τούτου just before that, and the δάκτυλος two lines earlier, which immediately follows the phrase of description,” Goodell Greek Metric p. 172.

[Page 173]

nothing noble can be made out of it. But that which consists entirely of long syllables—molossus, as the metrists call it—is elevated and dignified, and has a mighty stride. The following is an example of it:—

O glorious saviours, Zeus’ and Leda’s sons.[154]

That which consists of a long and two shorts, with the long in the middle, bears the name of amphibrachys, and has no strong claim to rank with the graceful rhythms, but is enervated and has about it much that is feminine and ignoble, e.g.—

Triumphant Iacchus that leadest this chorus.[155]

That which commences with two shorts is called an anapaest, and possesses much dignity. Where it is necessary to invest a subject with grandeur or pathos, this foot may be appropriately used. Its form may be illustrated by—

Ah, the coif on mine head all too heavily weighs.[156]

That which begins with the long and ends with the shorts is called a dactyl; it is decidedly impressive, and remarkable for its power to produce beauty of style. It is to this that the heroic line is mainly indebted for its grace. Here is an example:—

Sped me from Ilium the breeze, and anigh the Ciconians brought me.[157]

The rhythmists, however, say that the long syllable in this foot

[Page 174]

εἶναί φασι τῆς τελείας, οὐκ ἔχοντες δ’ εἰπεῖν ὅσῳ, καλοῦσιν αὐτὴν ἄλογον. ἕτερός ἐστιν ἀντίστροφον ἔχων τούτῳ ῥυθμόν, ὃς ἀπὸ τῶν βραχειῶν ἀρξάμενος ἐπὶ τὴν ἄλογον τελευτᾷ· τοῦτον χωρίσαντες ἀπὸ τῶν ἀναπαίστων κυκλικὸν καλοῦσι παράδειγμα αὐτοῦ φέροντες τοιόνδε 5

κέχυται πόλις ὑψίπυλος κατὰ γᾶν.

περὶ ὧν ἂν ἕτερος εἴη λόγος· πλὴν ἀμφότεροί γε τῶν πάνυ καλῶν οἱ ῥυθμοί. ἓν ἔτι λείπεται τρισυλλάβων ῥυθμῶν γένος, ὃ συνέστηκεν ἐκ δύο μακρῶν καὶ βραχείας, τρία δὲ ποιεῖ σχήματα· μέσης μὲν γὰρ γινομένης τῆς βραχείας, ἄκρων δὲ 10 τῶν μακρῶν κρητικός τε λέγεται καὶ ἔστιν οὐκ ἀγεννής. ὑπόδειγμα δὲ αὐτοῦ τοιοῦτον

οἱ δ’ ἐπείγοντο πλωταῖς ἀπήναισι χαλκεμβόλοις.

ἂν δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν αἱ δύο μακραὶ κατάσχωσιν, τὴν δὲ τελευτὴν ἡ βραχεῖα, οἷά ἐστι ταυτί 15

σοὶ Φοῖβε Μοῦσαί τε σύμβωμοι,

ἀνδρῶδες πάνυ ἐστὶ τὸ σχῆμα καὶ εἰς σεμνολογίαν ἐπιτήδειον. τὸ δ’ αὐτὸ συμβήσεται κἂν ἡ βραχεῖα πρώτη τεθῇ τῶν μακρῶν· καὶ γὰρ οὗτος ὁ ῥυθμὸς ἀξίωμα ἔχει καὶ μέγεθος· παράδειγμα δὲ αὐτοῦ τόδε 20

τίν’ ἀκτάν, τίν’ ὕλαν δράμω; ποῖ πορευθῶ;

τούτοις ἀμφοτέροις ὀνόματα κεῖται τοῖς ποσὶν ὑπὸ τῶν μετρικῶν βακχεῖος μὲν τῷ προτέρῳ, θατέρῳ δὲ ὑποβάκχειος. οὗτοι δώδεκα ῥυθμοί τε καὶ πόδες εἰσὶν οἱ πρῶτοι καταμετροῦντες

1 ὅσω F: πόσω PMV 2 ἕτερός ἐστιν F: ἕτερον δὲ PMV || ἔχων F: τινα PMV 3 ἐπὶ τὴν ἄλογον FP^{1}V: ἐπί τιν’ ἄλογον P^2: ἐπί τινα λόγον M || τελευτᾶι τοῦτον FM: τοῦτον τελευτᾷ V: τελευτᾶι P 4 κυκλικὸν FM^2: κύκλον PM^{1}V 6 ὑψί*πολος cum rasura F: ὑψίπυλον PMV 8 τρισύλλαβον F 9 συνέστηκεν F: συνέστηκε μὲν PMV || δὲ ποιεῖ F: δὲ ἔχει PV 12 τοιοῦτον PM: τοιόνδε FV 13 πρώταις FM^2 || ἀπήναισι EP: ἀπήνεσι MV: ἀπήνεσσι F || χαλκεμβόλοις EF: χαλκεμβόλοισιν PMV 14 ἂν F: ἐὰν PMV 15 ἡ F: om. PMV 16 σοὶ EPMV: σὺ F || σύμβωμοι EFMV: συμβῶμεν Ps 17 πάνυ ἐστὶ τὸ EF: δὲ πάνυ τοῦτο PMV || εἰσ σεμνότητα (σ pr. suprascripto) λογίαν P 18 πρώτη τεθῆι P, MV: συντεθῆι F 21 τίν’ ἀκτάν, τίν’ ὕλαν] τίνα γᾶν τινυδἂν F 22 τοῖς ποσὶν FPM: ῥυθμοῖς V 23 παλιμβάκχειος E

1. =ὅσῳ=: cp. =190= 9, where there is the same divergence between F and PMV.

2, 4. See Glossary under =ἄλογος= and =κυκλικός=.

13. Usener suggests that this line may possibly come from the Persae of Timotheus, some newly-discovered fragments of which were issued by Wilamowitz-Moellendorff in 1903.—Similarly, in Latin, cretics may be found in such lines of Terence as “tum coacti necessario se aperiunt” (Andr. iv. 1).

16.

– – ᴗ – – ᴗ – – ᴗ “O Phoebus | O Muses | co-worshipped”

might give the metrical effect, in a rough and uncouth way. In Latin cp. “baccare, laetare praesente Frontone” (Rufinus _de Metris Comicorum_).

18. =πρώτη τεθῇ τῶν μακρῶν=, ‘at the head of’; cp. note on =98= 7 supra.

21. After πορευθῶ P has a gap which would contain a dozen letters, and in the middle of the gap the original copyist has written οὐδ(ὲν) λείπ(ει).

[Page 175]

is shorter than the perfect long. Not being able to say by how much, they call it “irrational.” There is another foot having a rhythm corresponding to this, which starts with the short syllables and ends with the “irrational” one. This they distinguish from the anapaest and call it “cyclic,” adducing the following line as an example of it:—

On the earth is the high-gated city laid low.[158]

This question cannot be discussed here; but both rhythms are of the distinctly beautiful sort. One class of trisyllabic rhythms still remains, which is composed of two longs and a short. It takes three shapes. When the short is in the middle and the longs at the ends, it is called a cretic and has no lack of nobility. A sample of it is:—

On they sped, borne on sea-wains with prows brazen-beaked.[159]

But if the two long syllables occupy the beginning, and the short one the end, as in the line

Phoebus, to thee and the Muses worshipped with thee,[160]

the structure is exceptionally virile, and is appropriate for solemn language. The effect will be the same if the short be placed before the longs; for this foot also has dignity and grandeur. Here is an example of it:—

To what shore, to what grove shall I flee for refuge?[161]

To the former of these two feet the name of bacchius is assigned by the metrists, to the other that of hypobacchius. These are the twelve fundamental rhythms and feet which measure all

[Page 176]

ἅπασαν ἔμμετρόν τε καὶ ἄμετρον λέξιν, ἐξ ὧν γίνονται στίχοι τε καὶ κῶλα· οἱ γὰρ ἄλλοι πόδες καὶ ῥυθμοὶ πάντες ἐκ τούτων εἰσὶ σύνθετοι. ἁπλοῦς δὲ ῥυθμὸς ἢ ποὺς οὔτ’ ἐλάττων ἔσται δύο συλλαβῶν οὔτε μείζων τριῶν. καὶ περὶ μὲν τούτων οὐκ οἶδ’ ὅτι δεῖ τὰ πλείω λέγειν. 5

XVIII

ὧν δ’ ἕνεκα νῦν ὑπήχθην ταῦτα προειπεῖν (οὐ γὰρ δὴ τὴν ἄλλως γέ μοι προὔκειτο μετρικῶν καὶ ῥυθμικῶν ἅπτεσθαι θεωρημάτων, ἀλλὰ τοῦ ἀναγκαίου ἕνεκα), ταῦτ’ ἐστίν, ὅτι διὰ μὲν τῶν γενναίων καὶ ἀξιωματικῶν καὶ μέγεθος ἐχόντων ῥυθμῶν ἀξιωματικὴ γίνεται σύνθεσις καὶ γενναία καὶ μεγαλοπρεπής, 10 διὰ δὲ τῶν ἀγεννῶν τε καὶ ταπεινῶν ἀμεγέθης τις καὶ ἄσεμνος, ἐάν τε καθ’ ἑαυτοὺς ἕκαστοι τούτων λαμβάνωνται τῶν ῥυθμῶν, ἐάν τε ἀλλήλοις κατὰ τὰς ὁμοζυγίας συμπλέκωνται. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἔσται δύναμις ἐξ ἁπάντων τῶν κρατίστων ῥυθμῶν συνθεῖναι τὴν λέξιν, ἔχοι ἂν ἡμῖν κατ’ 15 εὐχήν· εἰ δ’ ἀναγκαῖον εἴη μίσγειν τοῖς κρείττοσι τοὺς χείρονας, ὡς ἐπὶ πολλῶν γίνεται (τὰ γὰρ ὀνόματα κεῖται τοῖς πράγμασιν ὡς ἔτυχεν), οἰκονομεῖν αὐτὰ χρὴ φιλοτέχνως καὶ διακλέπτειν τῇ χάριτι τῆς συνθέσεως τὴν ἀνάγκην ἄλλως τε καὶ πολλὴν τὴν ἄδειαν ἔχοντας· οὐ γὰρ ἀπελαύνεται ῥυθμὸς 20 οὐδεὶς ἐκ τῆς ἀμέτρου λέξεως, ὥσπερ ἐκ τῆς ἐμμέτρου.

μαρτύρια δὲ ὧν εἴρηκα παραθεῖναι λοιπόν, ἵνα μοι καὶ πίστιν ὁ λόγος λάβῃ. ἔσται δ’ ὀλίγα περὶ πολλῶν. φέρε δή, τίς οὐκ ἂν ὁμολογήσειεν ἀξιωματικῶς τε συγκεῖσθαι καὶ

4 ἔσται EF: ἐστὶ PMV || δύο EF: δυεῖν P: δυοῖν MV 5 τὰ πλείω FM: πλείω PV 7 μετρικῶν καὶ ῥυθμικῶν F: ῥυθμικῶν (ῥυθμῶν MV) τε καὶ μετρικῶν PMV 10 γενναία F: βεβαία PMV 14 δῆλον post συμπλέκωνται praestant FMV: om. P || ἁπάντων τῶν PMV: ἁπάντων F 17 κεῖται F: ἔκκειται PM: ἔγκειται V 20 οὐ FP: οὐδὲ MV 23 ἔσται FPM: ἔστι V

3. =ἁπλοῦς δὲ ... μείζων τριῶν.= A. J. Ellis (p. 48) says, “This gives a simple and convenient rule for practising the quantitative pronunciation of words of more than three syllables.... The effect of quantity in prose is the most difficult thing for moderns to appreciate. Hence the only easy pronunciation of Greek is the modern, where quantity is entirely neglected, and a force-accent used precisely as in English.”

5. On the subject of metrical feet Aristotle (Rhet. iii. 8) is brief; Cicero (Orator cc. 63, 64) is fuller; while Dionysius in this chapter enters into still further details. Reference may also be made to Quintil. ix. 4. 45 ff. and to Demetr. de Eloc. §§ 38 ff.

6. This passage (down to l. 21) brings out clearly the importance of rhythm in prose-writing.

16. =εἴη=: the less agreeable alternative is pleasantly treated as though it were the more remote. Cp. εἴη on =166= 8 (though there ἐγχωροίη stands in the earlier clause, =166= 6).

17. H. Richards (Classical Review xix. 252) suggests ἐπίκειται (or σύγκειται), in order to account for the ἔκκειται of PM and the ἔγκειται of V.

21. Would not ὥσπερ =οὐδὲ= ἐκ τῆς ἐμμέτρου (or the like: cp. =100= 18) be required if the meaning were “any more than from the metrical”? The author’s point is brought out more clearly in =192= 21, =196= 8, etc. Cp. Quintil. ix. 4. 87, “miror autem in hac opinione doctissimos homines fuisse, ut alios pedes ita eligerent aliosque damnarent, quasi ullus esset, quem non sit necesse in oratione deprehendi” (the passage is more fully quoted on p. 169 supra).

23. =περί=: no change in the reading is necessary; cp. =200= 4 ὀλίγα περὶ πολλῶν, and =136= 6 ὀλίγα ὑπὲρ πολλῶν θεωρημάτων.

[Page 177]

language, metrical or unmetrical, and from them are formed lines and clauses. All other feet and rhythms are but combinations of these. A simple rhythm, or foot, will not be less than two syllables, nor will it exceed three. I do not know that more need be said on this subject.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XVIII. EFFECT OF VARIOUS RHYTHMS

The reason why I have been led to make these preliminary remarks (for certainly it was no part of my design to touch without due cause on metrical and rhythmical questions, but only so far as it was really necessary) is this, that it is through rhythms which are noble and dignified, and contain an element of greatness, that composition becomes dignified, noble, and splendid, while it is made a paltry and unimpressive sort of thing by the use of those rhythms that are ignoble and mean, whether they are taken severally by themselves, or are woven together according to their mutual affinities. If, then, it is within human capacity to frame the style entirely from the finest rhythms, our aspirations will be realized; but if it should prove necessary to blend the worse with the better, as happens in many cases (for names have been attached to things in a haphazard way), we must manage our material artistically. We must disguise our compulsion by the gracefulness of the composition: the more so that we have full liberty of action, since no rhythm is banished from non-metrical language, as some are from metrical.

It remains for me to produce proofs of my statements, in order that my argument may carry conviction. Wide as the field is, a few proofs will suffice. Thus it is surely beyond dispute

[Page 178]

μεγαλοπρεπῶς τὴν Θουκυδίδου λέξιν τὴν ἐν τῷ ἐπιταφίῳ ταύτην· “Οἱ μὲν πολλοὶ τῶν ἐνθάδε ἤδη εἰρηκότων ἐπαινοῦσι τὸν προσθέντα τῷ νόμῳ τὸν λόγον τόνδε, ὡς καλὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐκ τῶν πολέμων θαπτομένοις ἀγορεύεσθαι αὐτόν.” τί οὖν ἐστιν ὃ πεποίηκε ταύτην μεγαλοπρεπῆ τὴν σύνθεσιν; τὸ ἐκ 5 τοιούτων συγκεῖσθαι ῥυθμῶν τὰ κῶλα. τρεῖς μὲν γὰρ οἱ τοῦ πρώτου προηγούμενοι κώλου σπονδεῖοι πόδες εἰσίν, ὁ δὲ τέταρτος ἀνάπαιστος, ὁ δὲ μετὰ τοῦτον αὖθις σπονδεῖος, ἔπειτα κρητικός, ἅπαντες ἀξιωματικοί. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κῶλον διὰ ταῦτ’ ἐστὶ σεμνόν· τὸ δὲ ἑξῆς τουτί “#ἐπαινοῦσι τὸν 10 προσθέντα τῷ νόμῳ τὸν λόγον τόνδε#” δύο μὲν ὑποβακχείους ἔχει τοὺς πρώτους πόδας, κρητικὸν δὲ τὸν τρίτον, εἶτ’ αὖθις ὑποβακχείους δύο καὶ συλλαβὴν ὑφ’ ἧς τελειοῦται τὸ κῶλον· ὥστ’ εἰκότως σεμνόν ἐστι καὶ τοῦτο ἐκ τῶν εὐγενεστάτων τε καὶ καλλίστων ῥυθμῶν συγκείμενον. τὸ δὲ δὴ 15 τρίτον κῶλον “#ὡς καλὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐκ τῶν πολέμων θαπτομένοις ἀγορεύεσθαι αὐτόν#” ἄρχεται μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ κρητικοῦ ποδός, δεύτερον δὲ λαμβάνει τὸν ἀνάπαιστον καὶ τρίτον σπονδεῖον καὶ τέταρτον αὖθις ἀνάπαιστον, εἶτα δύο τοὺς ἑξῆς δακτύλους, καὶ σπονδείους δύο τοὺς τελευταίους, εἶτα κατάληξιν. 20 εὐγενὲς δὴ καὶ τοῦτο διὰ τοὺς πόδας γέγονεν. τὰ

2 ἤδη εἰρηκότων EP: ἤδη om. MV: εἰρηκότων ἤδη F (perperam: cf. vv. 6, 7) 3 τὸν (ante λόγον) om. F 9 κριτικός PM || πρῶτον FM: πρῶτον αὐτῶ PV 10 τοῦτο PMV 11 ὑποβακχείους ... αὖθις om. P 14 συγγενεστάτων P 21 δὴ PV: δὲ FM

3. =τὸν προσθέντα= κτλ.: viz. τὸν νομοθέτην, δηλονότι τὸν Σόλωνα (schol. ad Thucyd. ii. 35). Dionysius has this passage of Thucydides in view when he writes (Antiqq. Rom. v. 17) ὀψὲ γάρ ποτ’ Ἀθηναῖοι προσέθεσαν τὸν ἐπιτάφιον ἔπαινον τῷ νόμῳ, εἴτ’ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπ’ Ἀρτεμισίῳ καὶ περὶ Σαλαμῖνα καὶ ἐν Πλαταιαῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς πατρίδος ἀποθανόντων ἀρξάμενοι, εἴτ’ ἀπὸ τῶν περὶ Μαραθῶνα ἔργων.—Bircovius illustrates the rhythmical effect of the Greek by a similar analysis of the exordium of Livy’s History, “facturusne operae pretium sim, si a primordio urbis res populi Romani perscripserim, nec satis scio nec, si sciam, dicere ausim, quippe qui cum veterem tum vulgatam esse rem videam, dum novi semper scriptores aut in rebus certius aliquid allaturos se aut scribendi arte rudem vetustatem superaturos credunt.”

6. The first clause is clearly meant to be divided as follows:

The formation of the anapaest is noticeable, and in other ways the metrical division seems rather arbitrary. For ἐνθάδε ἤδη (without elision of the final ε) cp. n. on =180= 8. [Here and elsewhere, no attempt has been made to secure metrical equivalence between the Greek original and the English version.]

Goodell (Chapters on Greek Metric p. 42) says of the analysis which begins here: “It is incredible that the rhetor supposed he was describing the actual spoken rhythm, in the sense of Aristoxenus; he was giving the quantities of the syllables in the conventional way, and his readers so understood him.”

9. Cp. the metrical effect of

– ᴗ – ᴗ – ᴗ ᴗ – ᴗ ᴗ – – ᴗ – – “Who is this | that cometh | from Edom | with dyed garm(ents) | from Bozrah?”

10. Second clause:

16. Third clause:

It is to be noticed that Dionysius treats the final syllable of ἀγορεύεσθαι as long before αὐτόν, and (more unaccountably) the final syllable of καλὸν as long before ἐπί. The length of the diphthong -αι might, no doubt, be maintained in prose utterance; but it is not easy to see on what principle -ο̆ν could be pronounced -ο̄ν before ἐπί. It might indeed be urged that the final syllable of a rhythmical phrase must (like that of a metrical line) be regarded as indifferent (long or short): cp. Cic. Orat. 63. 214 “persolutas;—dichoreus; nihil enim ad rem, extrema illa longa sit an brevis.” But this is to remind us once more that, though there is a sound general basis for the observations of Dionysius, it is easy for both ancient and modern theorists to frame rules more definite than the facts warrant.

[Page 179]

that the following passage in the Funeral Speech of Thucydides is composed with dignity and grandeur: “Former speakers on these occasions have usually commended the statesman who caused an oration to form part of this funeral ceremony: they have felt it a fitting tribute to men who were brought home for burial from the fields of battle where they fell.”[162] What has made the composition here so impressive? The fact that the clauses are composed of impressive rhythms. For the three feet which usher in the first clause are spondees, the fourth is an anapaest, the next a spondee once more, then a cretic,—all stately feet. Hence the dignity of the first clause. The next clause, “have usually commended the statesman who caused an oration to form part of this funeral ceremony,”[163] has two hypobacchii as its first feet, a cretic as its third, then again two hypobacchii, and a syllable by which the clause is completed; so that this clause too is naturally dignified, formed as it is of the noblest and most beautiful rhythms.

The third clause, “they have felt it a fitting tribute to men who were brought home for burial from the fields of battle where they fell,” begins with the cretic foot, has an anapaest in the second place, a spondee in the third, in the fourth an anapaest again, then two dactyls in succession, closing with two spondees and the terminal syllable. So this passage also owes its noble ring to its rhythmical structure; and most of the

[Page 180]

πλεῖστα δ’ ἐστὶ παρὰ Θουκυδίδῃ τοιαῦτα, μᾶλλον δὲ ὀλίγα τὰ μὴ οὕτως ἔχοντα, ὥστ’ εἰκότως ὑψηλὸς εἶναι δοκεῖ καὶ καλλιεπὴς ὡς εὐγενεῖς ἐπάγων ῥυθμούς.

τὴν δὲ δὴ Πλατωνικὴν λέξιν ταυτηνὶ τίνι ποτὲ ἄλλῳ κοσμηθεῖσαν οὕτως ἀξιωματικὴν εἶναι φαίη τις ἂν καὶ καλήν, 5 εἰ μὴ τῷ συγκεῖσθαι διὰ τῶν καλλίστων τε καὶ ἀξιολογωτάτων ῥυθμῶν; ἔστι γὰρ δὴ τῶν πάνυ φανερῶν καὶ περιβοήτων, ᾗ κέχρηται ὁ ἀνὴρ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἐπιταφίου ἀρχήν· “ἔργῳ μὲν ἡμῖν οἵδε ἔχουσιν τὰ προσήκοντα σφίσιν αὐτοῖς· ὧν τυχόντες πορεύονται τὴν εἱμαρμένην πορείαν.” ἐν τούτοις δύο 10 μέν ἐστιν ἃ συμπληροῖ τὴν περίοδον κῶλα, ῥυθμοὶ δὲ οἱ ταῦτα διαλαμβάνοντες οἵδε· βακχεῖος μὲν ὁ πρῶτος· οὐ γὰρ δή γε ὡς ἰαμβικὸν ἀξιώσαιμ’ ἂν ἔγωγε τὸ κῶλον τουτὶ ῥυθμίζειν ἐνθυμούμενος ὅτι οὐκ ἐπιτροχάλους καὶ ταχεῖς ἀλλ’ ἀναβεβλημένους καὶ βραδεῖς τοῖς οἰκτιζομένοις προσῆκεν ἀποδίδοσθαι 15 τοὺς χρόνους· σπονδεῖος δ’ ὁ δεύτερος· ὁ δ’ ἑξῆς δάκτυλος διαιρουμένης τῆς συναλοιφῆς· εἶθ’ ὁ μετὰ τοῦτον σπονδεῖος· ὁ δ’ ἑξῆς μᾶλλον κρητικὸς ἢ ἀνάπαιστος· ἔπειθ’, ὡς ἐμὴ δόξα, σπονδεῖος· ὁ δὲ τελευταῖος ὑποβάκχειος, εἰ δὲ βούλεταί τις, ἀνάπαιστος· εἶτα κατάληξις. τούτων τῶν 20 ῥυθμῶν οὐδεὶς ταπεινὸς οὐδὲ ἀγεννής. τοῦ δὲ ἑξῆς κώλου τουδί “#ὧν τυχόντες πορεύονται τὴν εἱμαρμένην πορείαν#” δύο μέν εἰσιν οἱ πρῶτοι πόδες κρητικοί, σπονδεῖοι δὲ οἱ μετὰ τούτους δύο· μεθ’ οὓς αὖθις κρητικός, ἔπειτα τελευταῖος ὑποβάκχειος. ἀνάγκη δὴ τὸν ἐξ ἁπάντων συγκείμενον 25

1 ὀλίγα τὰ F: ὀλίγα PMV 3 καλλίστης P || ὡς] καὶ FMV: om. P || εὐγενείας P: εὐγενὴς MV || ἐπάγων F: ὡς ἐκλέγων τοὺς PMV 4 ταυτηνὶ Us.: ταύτην εἰ F: ταύτην PMV 7 φανερὸν καὶ περιβόητον F 9 οἵδ’ ἔχουσιν P: οἵδ’ ἔχουσι FMV 13 ἰαμβικὸν FP: ἴαμβον MV 15 προσήκει F 16 δ ὁ δεύτερος F: δε ἕτερος P, V: δ’ ἕτερος M 17 εἴθ’ ὁ F: εἶτα PMV 19 ὡς F: ὡς ἡ PMV 25 δὴ] δεῖ F

4. The passage from the Menexenus is quoted by Dionysius in the de Demosth. c. 24, with the remark ἡ μὲν εἰσβολὴ θαυμαστὴ καὶ πρέπουσα τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις πράγμασι κάλλους τε ὀνομάτων ἕνεκα καὶ σεμνότητος καὶ ἁρμονίας, τὰ δ’ ἐπιλεγόμενα οὐκέθ’ ὅμοια τοῖς πρώτοις κτλ. It is also given, as an illustration of the musical and other effects of periphrasis, in the de Sublimitate c. 28: ἆρα δὴ τούτοις μετρίως ὤγκωσε τὴν νόησιν, ἢ ψιλὴν λαβὼν τὴν λέξιν ἐμελοποίησε, καθάπερ ἁρμονίαν τινὰ τὴν ἐκ τῆς περιφράσεως περιχεάμενος εὐμέλειαν;—A somewhat similar period in Latin is that of Sallust (Bell. Catilin. i. 1), “omnes homines, qui sese student praestare ceteris animalibus, summa ope niti decet, ne vitam silentio transeant veluti pecora, quae natura prona atque ventri oboedientia finxit.”

8. First clause:

Here three points call for comment: (1) οἵδε ἔχουσιν (and not οἵδ’ ἔχουσιν with FPMV) was clearly (cp. l. 16) read by Dionysius: so in the text of Plato himself; (2) the lengthening of τά before προσήκοντα (although the usage of Comedy would seem to show that such lengthening was uncommon in the language of ordinary life) is preferred as giving a cretic; (3) very strangely, it is thought possible to scan the final syllable of σφίσιν as long (cp. =178= 17, =184= 2, 8).

13. We have a considerable part of an iambic line if we scan thus:

– – ᴗ – – – ᴗ – ᴗ ἔργῳ | μὲν ἡ|μῖν οἵδ’ | ἔχου|σι.

19. For =ὡς ἐμὴ δόξα= cp. de Demosth. c. 39.

22. Second clause:

[Page 181]

passages in Thucydides are of this stamp; indeed, there are few that are not so framed. So he thoroughly deserves his reputation for loftiness and beauty of language, since he habitually introduces noble rhythms.

Again, take the following passage of Plato. What can be the device that produces its perfect dignity and beauty, if it is not the beautiful and striking rhythms that compose it? The passage is one of the best known and most often quoted, and it is found near the beginning of our author’s Funeral Speech: “In very truth these men are receiving at our hands their fitting tribute: and when they have gained this guerdon, they journey on, along the path of destiny.”[164] Here there are two clauses which constitute the period, and the feet into which the clauses fall are as follows:—The first is a bacchius, for certainly I should not think it correct to scan this clause as an iambic line, bearing in mind that not swift, tripping movements, but retarded and slow times are appropriate to those over whom we make mourning. The second is a spondee; the next is a dactyl, the vowels which might coalesce being kept distinct; after that, a spondee; next, what I should call a cretic rather than an anapaest; then, according to my view, a spondee; in the last place a hypobacchius or, if you prefer to take it so, an anapaest; then the terminal syllable. Of these rhythms none is mean nor ignoble. In the next clause, “when they have gained this guerdon, they journey on, along the path of destiny,” the two first feet are cretics, and next after them two spondees; after which once more a cretic, then lastly a hypobacchius. Thus the discourse is composed entirely of beautiful rhythms, and it necessarily follows that it is itself

[Page 182]

καλῶν ῥυθμῶν καλὸν εἶναι λόγον. μυρία τοιαῦτ’ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν καὶ παρὰ Πλάτωνι. ὁ γὰρ ἀνὴρ ἐμμέλειάν τε καὶ εὐρυθμίαν συνιδεῖν δαιμονιώτατος, καὶ εἴ γε δεινὸς ἦν οὕτως ἐκλέξαι τὰ ὀνόματα ὡς συνθεῖναι περιττός, #καί νύ κεν ἢ παρέλασσεν# τὸν Δημοσθένη κάλλους ἑρμηνείας ἕνεκεν, #ἢ ἀμφήριστον 5 ἔθηκεν#. νῦν δὲ περὶ μὲν τὴν ἐκλογὴν ἔστιν ὅτε διαμαρτάνει, καὶ μάλιστα ἐν οἷς ἂν τὴν ὑψηλὴν καὶ περιττὴν καὶ ἐγκατάσκευον διώκῃ φράσιν, ὑπὲρ ὧν ἑτέρωθί μοι δηλοῦται σαφέστερον. συντίθησι δὲ τὰ ὀνόματα καὶ ἡδέως καὶ καλῶς νὴ Δία, καὶ οὐκ ἄν τις αὐτὸν ἔχοι κατὰ τοῦτο μέμψασθαι τὸ 10 μέρος.

ἑνὸς ἔτι παραθήσομαι λέξιν, ᾧ τὰ ἀριστεῖα τῆς ἐν λόγοις δεινότητος ἀποδίδωμι. ὅρος γὰρ δή τίς ἐστιν ἐκλογῆς τε ὀνομάτων καὶ κάλλους συνθέσεως ὁ Δημοσθένης. ἐν δὴ τῷ περὶ τοῦ στεφάνου λόγῳ τρία μέν ἐστιν ἃ τὴν πρώτην 15 περίοδον συμπληροῖ κῶλα, οἱ δὲ ταῦτα καταμετροῦντες οἵδε εἰσὶν ῥυθμοί· “#πρῶτον μέν, ὦ ἄνδρες Ἀθηναῖοι, τοῖς θεοῖς εὔχομαι πᾶσι καὶ πάσαις#.” ἄρχει δὲ τοῦδε τοῦ κώλου βακχεῖος ῥυθμός, ἔπειθ’ ἕπεται σπονδεῖος, εἶτ’ ἀνάπαιστός 20 τε καὶ μετὰ τούτον ἕτερος σπονδεῖος, εἶθ’ ἑξῆς κρητικοὶ τρεῖς, σπονδεῖος δ’ ὁ τελευταῖος. τοῦ δὲ δευτέρου κώλου τοῦδε “#ὅσην εὔνοιαν ἔχων ἐγὼ διατελῶ τῇ τε#

1 ἐστιν εὑρεῖν F, E: ἐστι PMV 2 ἐμμέλειαν EFM: εὐμέλειαν PV 3 οὕτως EF: οὗτος PMV 5 δημοσθένην EPV: δημοσθένεα M || κάλλους FMV: καὶ ἄλλους P: κάλλος E 6 ὅτε EF: ἃ PV: ἃ καὶ M 9 συντίθησι δὲ EF: δὲ συντίθησιν P, MV 12 ἑνὸς] ἐν οἷς P 13 ἀποδίδωμι F: καταδίδωμι PMV 16 ταῦτα] κατὰ ταῦτα PV 17 ῥυθμοί F: οἱ ῥυθμοί PMV 18 δὲ τοῦδε V: τοῦδε PM: δὲ F

2. =ἐμμέλειαν=: cp. =122= 21, unless =130= 6 should seem to support the reading εὐμέλειαν in the present passage.

5. For Δημοσθένην (as given by some manuscripts) cp. Demetr. de Eloc. § 175 καὶ ὅλως τὸ νῦ δι’ εὐφωνίαν ἐφέλκονται οἱ Ἀττικοί, “Δημοσθένην” λέγοντες καὶ “Σωκράτην.”

7. Cp. Long. de Sublim. c. iii. ὀλισθαίνουσι δ’ εἰς τοῦτο τὸ γένος ὀρεγόμενοι μὲν τοῦ περιττοῦ καὶ πεποιημένου καὶ μάλιστα τοῦ ἡδέος, ἐποκέλλοντες δὲ εἰς τὸ ῥωπικὸν καὶ κακόζηλον.—Dionysius perhaps fails to see that a high-pitched style may sometimes be used μετ’ εἰρωνείας, as Aristotle (Rhet. iii. 7. 11) says in reference to the Phaedrus.

8. =ἑτέρωθι=: cp. de Demosth. cc. 6, 7, 24-29, and Ep. ad Cn. Pomp. cc. 1, 2.—For the probable order in which the ‘Scripta Rhetorica’ appeared see D.H. pp. 5-7. The de Comp. Verb. is referred to twice in the de Demosth. (cc. 49, 50).—With =δηλοῦται= (not δεδήλωται, de Din. c. 13, de Demosth. c. 49; nor δηλωθήσεται, de Lysia cc. 12, 14) cp. de Isaeo c. 2, de Demosth. c. 57.

9. Dionysius is fond of the asseveration νὴ Δία, ‘mehercule.’

17. First clause:

—The expression καταμετροῦντες may indicate that Dionysius himself wrote marks of quantity over the syllables in question: such marks are given by F in =178= 2-4, 10, 11, 16, 17, and are also found in the Paris Manuscript (1741) of Demetr. de Eloc. §§ 38, 39.—With the rhythmical effect of this passage of Demosthenes, Bircovius compares “Si, patres conscripti, pro vestris immortalibus in me fratremque meum liberosque nostros meritis parum vobis cumulate gratias egero, quaeso obtestorque, ne meae naturae potius, quam magnitudini vestrorum beneficiorum, id tribuendum putetis” (Cic. Post Reditum in Senatu Oratio init.).

22. Second clause:

—There are fresh difficulties in the “scansion” here. Dionysius speaks as if the last syllable of εὔνοιαν may (and indeed preferably) be counted long: this involves the lengthening of a short vowel before a single consonant, cp. n. on =180= 8.—With regard to the paeons, διατελῶ will form a “catalectic” paeon (ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ –), but τῇ τε πόλει will not form a “procatarctic” paeon (– ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ) unless the final syllable of πόλει is reckoned short.—To extract a molossus from καὶ πᾶσιν, the last syllable of πᾶσιν must be lengthened. Strange as it appears, the cumulative evidence seems (if our text is sound) to show that Dionysius would (at any rate, for the purpose of prose rhythm) lengthen a short vowel before a single consonant.

[Page 183]

beautiful. Countless instances of this kind are to be found in Plato as well as in Thucydides. For this author has a perfect genius for discovering true melody and fine rhythm, and if he had only been as able in the choice of words as he is unrivalled in the art of combining them, he “had even outstript” Demosthenes, so far as beauty of style is concerned, or “had left the issue in doubt.”[165] As it is, he is sometimes quite at fault in his choice of words; most of all when he is aiming at a lofty, unusual, elaborate style of expression. With respect to this I explain myself more explicitly elsewhere. But he does most assuredly put his words together with beauty as well as charm; and from this point of view no one could find any fault with him.

I will cite a passage of one other writer,—the one to whom I assign the palm for oratorical mastery. Demosthenes most certainly forms a sort of standard alike for choice of words and for beauty in their arrangement. In the Speech on the Crown there are three clauses which constitute the first period; and the rhythms by which they are measured are as follows: “first of all, men of Athens, I pray to all the gods and goddesses.”[166] A bacchius begins this first clause; then follows a spondee; next an anapaest, and after this another spondee; then three cretics in succession, and a spondee as the last foot. In the second clause, “that all the loyal affection I bear my whole life through to the

[Page 184]

#πόλει καὶ πᾶσιν ὑμῖν#” πρῶτος μὲν ὑποβάκχειός ἐστι πούς, εἶτα βακχεῖος, εἰ δὲ βούλεταί τις, δάκτυλος· εἶτα κρητικός· μεθ’ οὕς εἰσι δύο σύνθετοι πόδες οἱ καλούμενοι παιᾶνες· οἷς ἕπεται μολοττὸς ἢ βακχεῖος, ἐγχωρεῖ γὰρ ἑκατέρως αὐτὸν διαιρεῖν· τελευταῖος δὲ ὁ σπονδεῖος. τοῦ δὲ τρίτου κώλου τοῦδε 5 “#τοσαύτην ὑπάρξαι μοι παρ’ ὑμῶν εἰς τουτονὶ τὸν ἀγῶνα#” ἄρχουσι μὲν ὑποβάκχειοι δύο, ἕπεται δὲ κρητικός, ᾧ συνῆπται σπονδεῖος· εἶτ’ αὖθις βακχεῖος ἢ κρητικός, καὶ τελευταῖος πάλιν κρητικός, εἶτα κατάληξις. τί οὖν ἐκώλυε καλὴν ἁρμονίαν εἶναι λέξεως, ἐν ᾗ μήτε πυρρίχιός ἐστι ποὺς 10 μήτε ἰαμβικὸς μήτε ἀμφίβραχυς μήτε τῶν χορείων ἢ τροχαίων μηδείς; καὶ οὐ λέγω τοῦτο, ὅτι τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων ἕκαστος οὐ κέχρηταί ποτε καὶ τοῖς ἀγεννεστέροις ῥυθμοῖς. κέχρηται γάρ· ἀλλ’ εὖ συγκεκρύφασιν αὐτοὺς καὶ συνυφάγκασι διαλαβόντες τοῖς κρείττοσι τοὺς χείρονας. 15

οἷς δὲ μὴ ἐγένετο πρόνοια τούτου τοῦ μέρους, οἱ μὲν ταπεινάς, οἱ δὲ κατακεκλασμένας, οἱ δ’ ἄλλην τινὰ αἰσχύνην καὶ ἀμορφίαν ἐχούσας ἐξήνεγκαν τὰς γραφάς. ὧν ἐστι πρῶτός τε καὶ μέσος καὶ τελευταῖος ὁ Μάγνης ὁ σοφιστὴς Ἡγησίας· ὑπὲρ οὗ μὰ τὸν Δία καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους θεοὺς ἅπαντας οὐκ οἶδα τί 20 χρὴ λέγειν, πότερα τοσαύτη περὶ αὐτὸν ἀναισθησία καὶ παχύτης ἦν ὥστε μὴ συνορᾶν, οἵτινές εἰσιν ἀγεννεῖς ἢ εὐγενεῖς ῥυθμοί, ἢ τοσαύτη θεοβλάβεια καὶ διαφθορὰ τῶν φρενῶν ὥστ’ εἰδότα τοὺς κρείττους ἔπειτα αἱρεῖσθαι τοὺς χείρονας, ὃ καὶ μᾶλλον πείθομαι· ἀγνοίας μὲν γάρ ἐστι καὶ τὸ κατορθοῦν πολλαχῇ, 25

2 εἶτα κρητικός F: ἔπειτα κρητικός PMV 3 παιᾶνες F: παίωνες PMV 4 ἐκατέρως F: ἑκατέρους PMV || αὐτὸν PV: αὐτῶν FM 5 τοῦδε F: τοῦ PMV 7 ἔπεται δὲ F: ἔπειτα δε P, M: ἔπειτα V 8 καὶ F: καὶ ὁ PMV 11 ἴαμβος F || τροχαίων F: τῶν τροχαίων PMV 17 κατακεκλεισμένας F || καὶ F: ἢ PMV 19 μέσος καὶ τελευταῖος F: τελευταῖος καὶ μέσος PMV || ὁ σοφιστὴς F: σοφιστὴς PMV 20 οἶδα τί F: οἶδ’ ὅ τι PMV 22 ἀγεννεῖς F: εὐγενεῖς PMV || εὐγενεῖς F: ἀγενεῖς PV^1: ἀγεννεῖς MV^2 25 πολλαχῆι FP, M: πολλαχοῦ V

4. =ἐγχωρεῖ γὰρ ἑκατέρως αὐτὸν διαιρεῖν=: this statement should be noted, together with the a priori grounds on which Dionysius elsewhere (e.g. =180= 12-16) makes his choice between the alternatives which present themselves.

6. Third clause:

—If τουτονὶ is a bacchius, it must be scanned

– – ⏓ τουτονὶ:

and if τὸν ἀγῶν(α) is a cretic, it must be scanned

– ᴗ – τὸν ἀγῶν|α!

There are, no doubt, many cases of abnormal lengthening in Homeric versification (e.g. φίλε κασίγνητε at the beginning of a line, Il. iv. 155), but not to such an extent as would satisfy ‘Eucleides the elder’: οἷον Εὐκλείδης ὁ ἀρχαῖος, ὡς ῥᾴδιον ποιεῖν, εἴ τις δώσει ἐκτείνειν ἐφ’ ὁπόσον βούλεται, ἰαμβοποιήσας ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ λέξει,—“Ἐπιχάρην εἶδον Μαραθῶνάδε βαδίζοντα” (Aristot. Poet. c. xxii.).

11. =μήτε ἰαμβικὸς ... τροχαίων μηδείς=: it is obvious that we could discover some of these feet in the passage if we were to choose our own way of dividing it. If in Latin, for example, we were to take such a sentence as quonam igitur pacto probari potest insidias Miloni fecisse Clodium? (Cic. pro Milone 12. 32), we could extract dactyls, spondees, trochees, iambi, cretics, anapaests, etc. from the various section into which we chose to divide it: e.g.

And so with several other possible scansions (cp. Laurand Études sur le style de Cicéron p. 138).

19. For =Hegesias= cp. Introduction, pp. 52-5 supra.

20. =μὰ τὸν Δία ... λέγειν=: reminiscent of Demosth. Philipp. iii. 54, Fals. Leg. 220.

[Page 185]

city and all of you,”[167] first comes a hypobacchius; then a bacchius or, if you prefer to take it so, a dactyl; then a cretic; after which there are two composite feet called paeons. Next follows a molossus or a bacchius, for it can be scanned either way. Last comes the spondee. The third clause, “may as fully be accorded by you to support me in this trial,”[167] is opened by two hypobacchii. A cretic follows, to which a spondee is attached. Then again a bacchius or a cretic; last a cretic once more; then the terminal syllable. Is not a beautiful cadence inevitable in a passage which contains neither a pyrrhic, nor an iamb, nor an amphibrachys, nor a single choree or trochee? Still, I do not affirm that none of those writers ever uses the more ignoble rhythms also. They do use them; but they have artistically masked them, and have only introduced them at intervals, interweaving the inferior with the superior.

Those authors who have not given heed to this branch of their art have published writings which are either mean, or flabby, or have some other blemish or deformity. Among them the first and midmost and the last is the Magnesian, the sophist Hegesias. Concerning him, I swear by Zeus and all the other gods, I do not know what to say. Was he so dense, and so devoid of artistic feeling, as not to see which the ignoble or noble rhythms are? or was he smitten with such soul-destroying lunacy, that though he knew the better, he nevertheless invariably chose the worse? It is to this latter view that I incline. Ignorance often blunders into the right path: only wilfulness

[Page 186]

προνοίας δὲ τὸ μηδέποτε. ἐν γοῦν ταῖς τοσαύταις γραφαῖς, αἷς καταλέλοιπεν ὁ ἀνήρ, μίαν οὐκ ἂν εὕροι τις σελίδα συγκειμένην εὐτυχῶς. ἔοικεν δὴ ταῦτα ὑπολαβεῖν ἐκείνων κρείττω καὶ μετὰ σπουδῆς αὐτὰ ποιεῖν, εἰς ἃ δι’ ἀνάγκην ἄν τις ἐμπεσὼν ἐν λόγῳ σχεδίῳ δι’ αἰσχύνης θεῖτο φρόνημα ἔχων 5 ἀνήρ. θήσω δὲ καὶ τούτου λέξιν ἐκ τῆς ἱστορίας, ἵνα σοι γένηται δῆλον ἐκ τῆς ἀντιπαραθέσεως, ὅσην μὲν ἀξίωσιν ἔχει τὸ εὐγενὲς ἐν ῥυθμοῖς, ὅσην δ’ αἰσχύνην τὸ ἀγεννές. ἔστιν δ’ ὃ λαμβάνει πρᾶγμα ὁ σοφιστὴς τοιόνδε. Ἀλέξανδρος πολιορκῶν Γάζαν χωρίον τι τῆς Συρίας πάνυ ἐχυρὸν τραυματίας 10 τε γίνεται κατὰ τὴν προσβολὴν καὶ τὸ χωρίον αἱρεῖ χρόνῳ. φερόμενος δ’ ὑπ’ ὀργῆς τούς τ’ ἐγκαταληφθέντας ἀποσφάττει πάντας, ἐπιτρέψας τοῖς Μακεδόσι τὸν ἐντυχόντα κτείνειν, καὶ τὸν ἡγεμόνα αὐτῶν αἰχμάλωτον λαβών, ἄνδρα ἐν ἀξιώματι καὶ τύχης καὶ εἴδους, ἐξ ἁρματείου δίφρου δῆσαι κελεύσας 15 ζῶντα καὶ τοὺς ἵππους ἐλαύνειν ἀνὰ κράτος ἐν τῇ πάντων ὄψει διαφθείρει. τούτων οὐκ ἂν ἔχοι τις εἰπεῖν δεινότερα πάθη οὐδ’ ὄψει φοβερώτερα. πῶς δὴ ταῦτα ἡρμήνευκεν ὁ σοφιστής, ἄξιον ἰδεῖν, πότερα σεμνῶς καὶ ὑψηλῶς ἢ ταπεινῶς καὶ καταγελάστως. 20

“ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἔχων τὸ σύνταγμα προηγεῖτο. καί πως

2 αἷς F: ἃς PMV 3 δὴ F: δε P, MV 4 ἄν τις ἐμπεσὼν PMV: ἐμπεσὼν ἄν τις F 5 θεῖτο F: ἔθετο PMV 6 ἐκ τῆς F: ἐξ PMV 8 ἔστιν δ’ F: τί δὲ PMV 10 ἐχυρὸν] εὐχερῶς F 11 χρόνῳ φερόμενος δ’ F: χρόνῳ φερόμενος ὁ δ’ PMV 12 τε ἐγκαταληφθέντας PMV: τε καταλειφθέντας F 14 αὐτὸν PMV 16 ἐλαύνων MV 17 τούτων F: τοῦτον PMV 18 οὐδὲ ὄψεις φοβεροτέρας (-ωτ- M) PMV 19 πότερα F: πότερον PMV 21 καὶ πῶς F

1-3. Cp. Dryden Mac Flecknoe ll. 19, 20, “The rest to some faint meaning make pretence, | But Shadwell never deviates into sense.” The wilfulness and malice prepense (πρόνοια) of Hegesias’ stupidity may be illustrated by Dr. Johnson’s remark about Thomas Sheridan: “Why, Sir, Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an access of stupidity, Sir, is not in nature” (Boswell’s Life of Johnson i. 453).

4. The reading of PMV seems preferable, since ἄν is not infrequently attached to adverbs or adverbial phrases such as δι’ ἀνάγκην.

5. =θεῖτο=: τίθεμαι used for ἡγοῦμαι, as in =208= 13 and =232= 25.—Contrast the active θήσω in the next line.

9. Arrian (Exped. Alexandri ii. 25. 4) thus describes the commencement of Alexander’s siege, and Batis’ defence, of Gaza (332 B.C.): Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ ἐπ’ Αἰγύπτου ἔγνω ποιεῖσθαι τὸν στόλον. καὶ ἦν αὐτῷ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα τῆς Παλαιστίνης καλουμένης Συρίας προσκεχωρηκότα ἤδη· εὐνοῦχος δέ τις, ᾧ ὄνομα ἦν Βάτις, κρατῶν τῆς Γαζαίων πόλεως, οὐ προσεῖχεν Ἀλεξάνδρῳ, ἀλλὰ Ἄραβάς τε μισθωτοὺς ἐπαγόμενος καὶ σῖτον ἐκ πολλοῦ παρεσκευακὼς διαρκῆ ἐς χρόνιον πολιορκίαν καὶ τῷ χωρίῳ πιστεύων, μήποτε ἂν βίᾳ ἁλῶναι, ἔγνω μὴ δέχεσθαι τῇ πόλει Ἀλέξανδρον. In continuing and completing (cc. 26, 27) his narrative of the siege, Arrian makes no mention of the fate of Batis. On this point Plutarch, too, is silent (Vit. Alex. c. 25), and so is Diodorus Siculus xvii. 48. 7. The obviously rhetorical cast of Hegesias’ narrative, and of that of Curtius (Histor. Alexandri Magni iv. 6, 7-30), should cause it to be accepted with greater reserve than Grote (xi. 469 n. 1) thinks needful to maintain.—For the probable share of Cleitarchus in propagating this story about Alexander see C. Müller Scriptores Rerum Alexandri Magni pp. 75, 142; and for his bombast cp. Long. de Sublim. iii. 2 and Demetr. de Eloc. § 304.

11. =χρόνῳ=: viz. after a two months’ siege (Ἀλέξανδρος δὲ στρατεύσας ἐπὶ Γάζαν φρουρουμένην ὑπὸ Περσῶν καὶ δίμηνον προσεδρεύσας εἷλε κατὰ κράτος τὴν πόλιν, Diod. Sic. xvii. 48. 7).—Batis was supported by only a small force: “modico praesidio muros ingentis operis tuebatur,” Curtius iv. 6. 7.

14. =ἡγεμόνα=: Curtius iv. 6. 7 “praeerat ei Betis, eximiae in regem suum fidei.” Josephus (Ant. Iud. xi. 8. 3 Naber) gives the name of the governor as Βαβημήσης. Arrian gives Batis. ‘Baetis’ seems the right form in =188= 13, and so perhaps in Curtius.

15. =εἴδους=. It must have been from the point of view of his countrymen that Batis possessed εἶδος (cp. =188= 16). Usener suggests ἤθους.

=ἐξ ἁρματείου δίφρου=: cp. Xen. Cyrop. vi. 4. 9 ταῦτ’ εἰπὼν κατὰ τὰς θύρας τοῦ ἁρματείου δίφρου ἀνέβαινεν ἐπὶ τὸ ἅρμα, where (as here) δίφρος = sella aurigae.

21. =τὸ σύνταγμα=: no doubt the ὑπασπισταί are meant: Alexander is represented as advancing at the head of his Guards.—In the English translation of the passage that follows no attempt has been made to reproduce all the peculiarities of Hegesias’ style.

[Page 187]

never does. At all events, in the host of writings which the man has left behind him, you will not find one single page successfully put together. He seems, indeed, to have regarded his own methods as better than those of his predecessors, and to have followed them with enthusiasm; and yet anybody else, if he were to be driven into such errors in an impromptu speech, would blush for them, were he a man of any self-respect. Well, I will quote a passage from him also, taken from his History, in order to make clear to you, by means of a comparison, how splendid noble rhythms are, and how disgraceful are their opposites. The following is the subject treated by the sophist. Alexander when besieging Gaza, an unusually strong position in Syria, is wounded during the assault and takes the position after some delay. In a transport of anger he massacres all the prisoners, permitting the Macedonians to slay all who fall in their way. Having captured their commandant, a man of distinction for his high station and good looks, he gives orders that he should be bound alive to a war-chariot and that the horses should be driven at full speed before the eyes of all; and in this way he kills him. No one could have a story of more awful suffering to narrate, nor one suggesting a more horrible picture. It is worth while to observe in what style our sophist has represented this scene—whether with gravity and elevation or with vulgarity and absurdity:—

“The King advanced, at the head of his division. It seems

[Page 188]

ἐβεβούλευτο τῶν πολεμίων τοῖς ἀρίστοις ἀπαντᾶν ἐπιόντι· τοῦτο γὰρ ἔγνωστο, κρατήσασιν ἑνὸς συνεκβαλεῖν καὶ τὸ πλῆθος. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἐλπὶς αὕτη συνέδραμεν εἰς τὸ τολμᾶν, ὥστ’ Ἀλέξανδρον μηδέποτε κινδυνεῦσαι πρότερον οὕτως. ἀνὴρ γὰρ τῶν πολεμίων εἰς γόνατα συγκαμφθεὶς ἔδοξε τοῦτ’ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ 5 τῆς ἱκετείας ἕνεκα πρᾶξαι. προσέμενος δ’ ἐγγὺς μικρὸν ἐκνεύει τὸ ξίφος ἐνέγκαντος ὑπὸ τὰ πτερύγια τοῦ θώρακος, ὥστε γενέσθαι τὴν πληγὴν οὐ καιριωτάτην. ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν αὐτὸς ἀπώλεσεν κατὰ κεφαλῆς τύπτων τῇ μαχαίρᾳ, τοὺς δ’ ἄλλους ὀργὴ πρόσφατος ἐπίμπρα. οὕτως ἄρα ἑκάστου τὸν 10 ἔλεον ἐξέστησεν ἡ τοῦ τολμήματος ἀπόνοια τῶν μὲν ἰδόντων, τῶν δ’ ἀκουσάντων, ὥσθ’ ἑξακισχιλίους ὑπὸ τὴν σάλπιγγα ἐκείνην τῶν βαρβάρων κατακοπῆναι. τὸν μέντοι Βαῖτιν αὐτὸν ἀνήγαγον ζῶντα Λεόνατος καὶ Φιλωτᾶς. ἰδὼν δὲ πολύσαρκον καὶ μέγαν καὶ βλοσυρώτατον (μέλας γὰρ ἦν καὶ τὸ χρῶμα), 15 μισήσας ἐφ’ οἷς ἐβεβούλευτο καὶ τὸ εἶδος ἐκέλευσεν διὰ τῶν ποδῶν χαλκοῦν ψάλιον διείραντας ἕλκειν κύκλῳ γυμνόν. πιλούμενος δὲ κακοῖς περὶ πολλὰς τραχύτητας ἔκραζεν. αὐτὸ δ’ ἦν, ὃ λέγω, τὸ συνάγον ἀνθρώπους. ἐπέτεινε μὲν γὰρ ὁ

1 ἐβεβούλευτο PMV: ἐβουλεύετο F || ἀπαντᾶν om. F || ἐπιόντι Radermacher: ἐπιών F: εἰσιῶν P, MV 2 συνεκβαλεῖν FMV: συνεκβάλλειν Ps 3 εἰς τὸ τολμᾶν PMV: om. F 4 πρότερον ἢ οὕτως F 5 συγκαμφθεὶς PMV: συγκαθίσας F 6 ἰκετείας F || προσέμενος F: προέμενος PMV 7 ὑπὸ PMV: ἐπὶ F 8 τὴν F: καὶ τὴν PMV 10 ἐπίμπρα F: ἐπίμπρατο MV: ἐπὶ παλαιαῖς P || οὕτως ἄρα F: οὕτως γὰρ PMV 11 ἐξέστησεν] ἐξήτασεν F || τολμήματος F: τολμήσαντος PMV 12 εξακισχιλίους F, MV: τετρακισχιλίους P 13 βαῖστ[ϊ]ν cum litura P: βασιλέα FMV || αὐτὸν] Sylburgius: αὐτῶν FM: αὐτοῦ PV 15 καὶ (ante βλοσυρώτατον) F: ὡς PMV || βροσυρώτατον P: βδελυρώτατον FMV || καὶ τὸ χρῶμα PMV: τὸ σῶμα F 17 ψαλ(ιον) P: ψαλλίον V: ψέλιον F: ψέλλιον M 18 ἔκραξεν F

1. Blass (Rhythm. Asian. p. 19) would read εἰσιόντι, comparing intravit in Curtius iv. 6. 23.

3. =συνέδραμεν=: cp. Propert. iii. 9. 17 “est quibus Eleae concurrit palma quadrigae; | est quibus in celeres gloria nata pedes.”

6. =τῆς ἱκετείας=: Hegesias may have used the article in order to avoid the hiatus Ἀλεξάνδρῳ ἱκετείας. F omits it (as unnecessary).

7. =τὰ πτερύγια τοῦ θώρακος=: cp. Schol. Venet. B ad Hom. Il. iv. 132 ἵνα μὴ χαλεπὴ γένηται ἡ πληγή, εἰς τοῦτο τὸ μέρος ἄγει, καθ’ ὃ ἀλλήλοις ἐπιφερόμενα τὰ πτερύγια τοῦ θώρακος ἐσφίγγετο ὑπὸ τοῦ ζωστῆρος. See also the references given under πτέρυξ in L. & S., and in Stephanus.—Perhaps Hegesias has Il. iv. 132 directly in mind. The meaning will then be (with F’s reading ἐπί), “as his assailant had struck it [the sword] against the skirts of Alexander’s corselet.” But the account in Curtius iv. 6. 15 seems to confirm ὑπό: “quo conspecto, Arabs quidam, Darei miles, maius fortuna sua facinus ausus, gladium clipeo tegens, quasi transfuga genibus regis advolvitur. ille adsurgere supplicem, recipique inter suos iussit. at barbarus gladio strenue in dextram translato cervicem adpetiit regis: qui exigua corporis declinatione evitato ictu in vanum manum barbari lapsam amputat gladio.”

10. =ἐπίμπρα=: cp. Curtius iv. 6. 24 “inter primores dimicat; ira quoque accensus, quod duo in obsidione urbis eius vulnera acceperat.” The reading of P, ἐπὶ παλαιαῖς, apparently means ‘over and above the ancient ὀργαί,’ and it is possible that Hegesias wrote both this and ἐπίμπρα: or ἐπὶ παλαιαῖς may gloss πρόσφατος.

12. The number, as given by Curtius (iv. 6. 30), was “circa decem milia.”

=ὑπὸ τὴν σάλπιγγα ἐκείνην= = ὑπὸ τὸ σάλπισμα ἐκεῖνο: cp. Aristot. Rhet. iii. 6 οἷον τὸ φάναι τὴν σάλπιγγα εἶναι μέλος ἄλυρον.

15. =βλοσυρώτατον=: cp. Curtius iv. 6. 27 “non interrito modo sed contumaci quoquo vultu intuens regem.” Usener conjectures βλοσυρωπόν, with considerable probability: cp. =162= 19 supra.

17. =ψάλιον=: cp. Hesych. ψάλια· κρίκοι, δακτύλιοι, and Antiq. Rom. ii. 38 καὶ αὐτὴν (Τάρπειαν) ἔρως εἰσέρχεται τῶν ψαλίων, ἃ περὶ τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς βραχίοσιν ἐφόρουν (οἱ Σαβῖνοι), καὶ τῶν δακτυλίων.—Probably here a large curb-chain is meant, rather than a cheek-ring, which would be too small. So Curtius iv. 6. 29 “per talos enim spirantis lora traiecta sunt [cp. Virg. Aen. ii. 273], religatumque ad currum traxere circa urbem equi gloriante rege, Achillen, a quo genus ipse deduceret, imitatum se esse poena in hostem capienda.” In Homer ἱμάντες are employed (=190= 13).

18. =πιλεῖν= (‘to pound,’ ‘to knead’) is one of the many forced metaphors in this excerpt from Hegesias.

[Page 189]

that the leaders of the enemy had formed the design of meeting him as he approached. For they had come to the conclusion that, if they overcame him personally, they would be able to drive out all his host in a body. Now this hope ran with them on the path of daring, so that never before had Alexander been in such danger. One of the enemy fell on his knees, and seemed to Alexander to have done so in order to ask for mercy. Having allowed him to approach, he eluded (not without difficulty) the thrust of a sword which he had brought under the skirts of his corselet, so that the thrust was not mortal. Alexander himself slew his assailant with a blow of his sabre upon the head, while the king’s followers were inflamed with a sudden fury. So utterly was pity, in the breasts of those who saw and those who heard of the attempt, banished by the desperate daring of the man, that six thousand of the barbarians were cut down at the trumpet-call which forthwith rang out. Baetis himself, however, was brought before the king alive by Leonatus and Philotas. And Alexander seeing that he was corpulent and huge and most grim (for he was black in colour too), was seized with loathing for his very looks as well as for his design upon his life, and ordered that a ring of bronze should be passed through his feet and that he should be dragged round a circular course, naked. Harrowed by pain, as his body passed over many a rough piece of ground, he began to scream. And it was just this detail which I now mention that brought people together. The torment racked him,

[Page 190]

πόνος, βάρβαρον δ’ ἐβόα, δεσπότην καθικετεύων· γελᾶν δὲ ὁ σολοικισμὸς ἐποίει. τὸ δὲ στέαρ καὶ τὸ κύτος τῆς σαρκὸς ἐνέφαινε Βαβυλώνιον ζῷον ἕτερον ἁδρόν. ὁ μὲν οὖν ὄχλος ἐνέπαιζε, στρατιωτικὴν ὕβριν ὑβρίζων εἰδεχθῆ καὶ τῷ τρόπῳ σκαιὸν ἐχθρόν.” 5

ἆρά γε ὅμοια ταῦτ’ ἐστὶ τοῖς Ὁμηρικοῖς ἐκείνοις, ἐν οἷς Ἀχιλλεύς ἐστιν αἰκιζόμενος Ἕκτορα μετὰ τὴν τελευτήν; καίτοι τό γε πάθος ἐκεῖνο ἔλαττον· εἰς ἀναίσθητον γὰρ σῶμα ἡ ὕβρις· ἀλλ’ ὅμως ἄξιόν ἐστιν ἰδεῖν, ὅσῳ διενήνοχεν ὁ ποιητὴς τοῦ σοφιστοῦ· 10

ἦ ῥα, καὶ Ἕκτορα δῖον ἀεικέα μήδετο ἔργα· ἀμφοτέρων μετόπισθε ποδῶν τέτρηνε τένοντε ἐς σφυρὸν ἐκ πτέρνης, βοέους δ’ ἐξῆπτεν ἱμάντας, ἐκ δίφροιο δ’ ἔδησε· κάρη δ’ ἕλκεσθαι ἔασεν· ἐς δίφρον δ’ ἀναβὰς ἀνά τε κλυτὰ τεύχε’ ἀείρας 15 μάστιξεν δ’ ἐλάαν, τὼ δ’ οὐκ ἀέκοντε πετέσθην. τοῦ δ’ ἦν ἑλκομένοιο κονίσαλος· ἀμφὶ δὲ χαῖται κυάνεαι πίμπλαντο, κάρη δ’ ἅπαν ἐν κονίῃσι κεῖτο πάρος χαρίεν· τότε δὲ Ζεὺς δυσμενέεσσι δῶκεν ἀεικίσσασθαι ἑῇ ἐν πατρίδι γαίῃ. 20 ὣς τοῦ μὲν κεκόνιτο κάρη ἅπαν· ἡ δέ νυ μήτηρ τίλλε κόμην, ἀπὸ δὲ λιπαρὴν ἔρριψε καλύπτρην τηλόσε, κώκυσεν δὲ μάλα μέγα παῖδ’ ἐσιδοῦσα· ᾤμωξεν δ’ ἐλεεινὰ πατὴρ φίλος, ἀμφὶ δὲ λαοὶ

1 καθικετεύων Schaefer: καὶ ἱκετεύων libri 2 κοῖτος F: κῦτος MV || σαρκὸς F: γαστρὸς PMV 3 ἐνέφαινε MV^2: ἀνέφαινε F: ἐνεφαίνετο P || ἀδρὸν F: ἁδρόν MV: ἀνδρος P 9 ἐστιν om. P || ὅσω F: πόσω PMV 12 τένοντε F: τένοντας PMV 14 ἔασεν] ἔδησεν F 16 μάστιξέν ῥ’ Hom. || ἀέκοντε FMV Hom.: ἄκοντε P 18 πίμπλαντο] πίτναντο Hom. 22 τίλλε F Hom.: τῆλε PM: τεῖλε V

1. It is not clear whether the strict distinction between βαρβαρισμός (wrong vocabulary, spelling, or pronunciation) and =σολοικισμός= (wrong syntax) is here maintained. Possibly Batis may have offended (1) by using a word (δεσπότης) abhorrent to all free men of Greek blood, or (2) by using it in the wrong case, or (3) by mispronouncing it: cp. Sandys History of Classical Scholarship i. 148, for the comprehensiveness of the term σολοικισμός. But if it be held that σολοικισμός cannot occur in one isolated word (cp. Quintil. i. 5. 36), then it may be supposed that the reference here is to grammatical blunders in other words ejaculated by the unhappy Batis.

3. =Βαβυλώνιον ζῷον=: a comparison suggests itself with the Assyrian bulls represented in reliefs (cp. Tennyson’s Maud, “That oil’d and curl’d Assyrian Bull”).—The reading of P, ἕτερον ἀνδρός, might mean ‘far different from a man’ (viri: not ἀνθρώπου, hominis).

4. Hegesias’ use of =στρατιωτικός= may be compared with de Lys. c. 12 (of Iphicrates) ἥ τε λέξις πολὺ τὸ φορτικὸν καὶ στρατιωτικὸν ἔχει καὶ οὐχ οὕτως ἐμφαίνει ῥητορικὴν ἀγχίνοιαν ὡς στρατιωτικὴν αὐθάδειαν καὶ ἀλαζονείαν.

7. =ἐστιν αἰκιζόμενος=: not simply a periphrasis for αἰκίζεται.

8. For Hector’s insensibility cp. Murray’s Rise of the Greek Epic pp. 118, 132.—The savagery of Achilles was, nevertheless, generally felt to need extenuation, as may be seen from the curious explanations proffered in the scholia: e.g. ὁ δὲ Καλλίμαχός φησιν ὅτι πάτριόν ἐστι Θεσσαλοῖς τοὺς τῶν φιλτάτων φονέας σύρειν περὶ τοὺς τῶν φονευθέντων τάφους, κτλ.

11. Cp. Virg. Aen. ii. 268 ff. (the vision of the mangled Hector).

[Page 191]

and he kept uttering outlandish yells, asking mercy of Alexander as ‘my lord’; and his jargon made them laugh. His fat and his bulging corpulence suggested to them another creature, a huge-bodied Babylonian animal. So the multitude scoffed at him, mocking with the coarse mockery of the camp an enemy who was so repulsive of feature and so uncouth in his ways.”[168]

Is this description, I ask, comparable with those lines of Homer in which Achilles is represented as maltreating Hector after his death? And yet the suffering in the latter case is less, for it is on a mere senseless body that the outrage is inflicted. But it is worth while, nevertheless, to note the vast difference between the poet and the sophist:—

He spake, and a shameful mishandling devised he for Hector slain; For behind each foot did he sunder therefrom the sinews twain From the ankle-joint to the heel: hide-bands through the gashes he thrust; To his chariot he bound them, and left the head to trail in the dust. He hath mounted his car, and the glorious armour thereon hath he cast, And he lashed the horses, and they with eager speed flew fast. And a dust from the haling of Hector arose, and tossed wide-spread His dark locks: wholly in dust his head lay low—that head Once comely: ah then was the hero delivered over of Zeus In his very fatherland for his foes to despitefully use. So dust-besprent was his head; but his mother was rending her hair The while, and she flung therefrom her head-veil glistering-fair Afar, and with wild loud shriek as she looked on her son she cried; And in piteous wise did his father wail, and on every side

[Page 192]

κωκυτῷ τ’ εἴχοντο καὶ οἰμωγῇ κατὰ ἄστυ. τῷ δὲ μάλιστ’ ἂρ ἔην ἐναλίγκιον, ὡς εἰ ἅπασα Ἴλιος ὀφρυόεσσα πυρὶ σμύχοιτο κατ’ ἄκρης.

οὕτως εὐγενὲς σῶμα καὶ δεινὰ πάθη λέγεσθαι προσῆκεν ὑπ’ ἀνδρῶν φρόνημα καὶ νοῦν ἐχόντων. ὡς δὲ ὁ Μάγνης εἴρηκεν, 5 ὑπὸ γυναικῶν ἢ κατεαγότων ἀνθρώπων λέγοιτ’ ἂν καὶ οὐδὲ τούτων μετὰ σπουδῆς, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ χλευασμῷ καὶ καταγέλωτι. τί οὖν αἴτιον ἦν ἐκείνων μὲν τῶν ποιημάτων τῆς εὐγενείας, τούτων δὲ τῶν φλυαρημάτων τῆς ταπεινότητος; ἡ τῶν ῥυθμῶν διαφορὰ πάντων μάλιστα, καὶ εἰ μὴ μόνη. ἐν 10 ἐκείνοις μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲ εἷς ἄσεμνος στίχος οὐδ’ ἀδόκιμος, ἐνταῦθα δὲ οὐδεμία περίοδος ἥτις οὐ λυπήσει.

εἰρηκὼς δὴ καὶ περὶ τῶν ῥυθμῶν ὅσην δύναμιν ἔχουσιν, ἐπὶ τὰ λειπόμενα μεταβήσομαι.

XIX

ἦν δέ μοι τρίτον θεώρημα τῶν ποιούντων καλὴν ἁρμονίαν 15 ἡ μεταβολή. λέγω δὲ οὐ τὴν ἐκ τῶν κρειττόνων ἐπὶ τὰ χείρω (πάνυ γὰρ εὔηθες), οὐδέ γε τὴν ἐκ τῶν χειρόνων ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐν τοῖς ὁμοειδέσι ποικιλίαν. κόρον γὰρ ἔχει καὶ τὰ καλὰ πάντα, ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ ἡδέα, μένοντα ἐν τῇ ταυτότητι· ποικιλλόμενα δὲ ταῖς μεταβολαῖς ἀεὶ καινὰ μένει. 20 τοῖς μὲν οὖν τὰ μέτρα καὶ τὰ μέλη γράφουσιν οὐχ ἅπαντα

2 ἂρ FP: ἄρ’ MV 4 εὐγενὲς σῶμα F: εὐγενῶς ἅμα PMV || δεινὰ FPM: δεινῶς V 6 ὑπὸ F: ὡς ὑπὸ PMV 8 ἦν F: om. PMV 10 πάντων FM: om. PV || καὶ εἰ FPM: εἰ καὶ V || ἐν om. P 11 οὐδὲ εἷς P, MV: οὐδεὶς F || οὐδὲ (οὐδ’ V) ἀδόκιμος MV: ἢ ἀδόκιμος F: om. P 12 ἥτις οὐ λυπήσει om. F 13 δὴ F: δὲ PMV 15 δέ] δή F 19 μένοντα PMV: ὄντα EF 20 δὲ EF: δ’ ἐν PMV || ἀεὶ EF: ὡς ἀεὶ MV: om. P 21 τοῖς EF: ἐν τοῖς PV: ἐν οἷς M

5. =φρόνημα=, ‘pride,’ ‘spirit,’ ‘mettle,’ ‘feeling,’ ‘self-respect’: cp. =186= 5.

6. =κατεαγότων=, ‘enervated,’ ‘effeminate’ (Lat. fractus): cp. Philo Jud. i. 262 (Mangey) ἄνανδροι καὶ κατεαγότες καὶ θηλυδρίαι τὰ φρονήματα, i. 273 πάθεσι τοῖς κατεαγόσι καὶ τεθηλυμμένοις.

8, 9. =ἐκείνων= refers to the passage last quoted, =τούτων= to that quoted first. The remoteness implied in ἐκείνων is here that of greatness and antiquity; the nearness in τούτων, that of the commonplace and recent.

10. The reading εἰ καὶ (‘although’) would perhaps be preferable in sense, if only it had better manuscript attestation. [In =198= 15 there is a similar fluctuation between καὶ εἰ and εἰ καί.]

13. For various points of rhythm and metre raised in cc. 18, 19, and elsewhere, reference may be made to the Introduction, pp. 33-9.

16. For the importance of variety (especially in relation to rhythm) cp. a well-known fragment of Isocrates’ Art of Rhetoric: ὅλως δὲ ὁ λόγος μὴ λόγος ἔστω, ξηρὸν γάρ· μηδὲ ἔμμετρος, καταφανὲς γάρ. ἀλλὰ μεμίχθω παντὶ ῥυθμῷ, μάλιστα ἰαμβικῷ ἢ τροχαϊκῷ (“prose must not be merely prose, or it will be dry; nor metrical, or its art will be undisguised; but it should be compounded with every sort of rhythm, particularly iambic or trochaic”). The views of Theophrastus on the point are reported in Cic. de Orat. iii. 48. 184 ff. “namque ego illud adsentior Theophrasto, qui putat orationem, quae quidem sit polita atque facta quodam modo, non astricte, sed remissius numerosam esse oportere,” etc.

18. =κόρον=: cp. Ep. ad Cn. Pomp. c. 3 κόρον δ’ ἔχει, φησὶν ὁ Πίνδαρος [Nem. vii. 52], καὶ μέλι καὶ τὰ τέρπν’ ἄνθε’ ἀφροδίσια, and Hom. Il. xiii. 636 πάντων μὲν κόρος ἐστί, κτλ.

19. =μένοντα= avoids the awkward hiatus ἡδέα ὄντα. The fact that μένει follows shortly is not a conclusive objection, since Dionysius, and Greek authors generally, were free from the bad taste which avoids, at all costs, repetitions of this kind: cp. λαμβανόμενα ... λήψεται (=106= 18).

[Page 193]

Through the city the folk brake forth into shriek and wail at the sight. It was like unto this above all things, as though, from her topmost height To the ground, all beetling Troy in flame and in smoke were rolled.[169]

That is the way in which a noble corpse and terrible sufferings should be described by men of feeling and understanding. But after the fashion of this Magnesian they could be described by women only or effeminate men, and even by them not in earnest, but in a spirit of derision and mockery. To what, then, is due the nobility of these lines, as compared with the miserable absurdities of the other passage? Chiefly, if not entirely, to the difference in the rhythms. In the quotation from Homer there is not one unimpressive or unworthy verse, while in that from Hegesias every single sentence will prove offensive.

Having now discussed the importance of rhythm, I will pass on to the topics that remain.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XIX. ON VARIETY

The third cause of beautiful arrangement that was to be examined is variety. I do not mean the change from the better to the worse (that would be too foolish), nor yet that from the worse to the better, but variety among things that are similar. For satiety can be caused by all beautiful things, just as by things sweet to the taste, when there is an unvarying sameness about them; but if diversified by changes, they always remain new. Now writers in metre and in lyric measures cannot introduce

[Page 194]

ἔξεστι μεταβάλλειν ἢ οὐχ ἅπασιν οὐδ’ ἐφ’ ὅσον βούλονται. αὐτίκα τοῖς μὲν ἐποποιοῖς μέτρον οὐκ ἔξεστι μεταβάλλειν, ἀλλ’ ἀνάγκη πάντας εἶναι τοὺς στίχους ἑξαμέτρους· οὐδέ γε ῥυθμόν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀπὸ μακρᾶς ἀρχομένοις συλλαβῆς χρήσονται καὶ οὐδὲ τούτοις ἅπασι. τοῖς δὲ τὰ μέλη γράφουσιν 5 τὸ μὲν τῶν στροφῶν τε καὶ ἀντιστρόφων οὐχ οἷόν τε ἀλλάξαι μέλος, ἀλλ’ ἐάν τ’ ἐναρμονίους ἐάν τε χρωματικὰς ἐάν τε διατόνους ὑποθῶνται μελῳδίας, ἐν πάσαις δεῖ ταῖς στροφαῖς τε καὶ ἀντιστρόφοις τὰς αὐτὰς ἀγωγὰς φυλάττειν· οὐδέ γε τοὺς περιέχοντας ὅλας τὰς στροφὰς ῥυθμοὺς καὶ 10 τὰς ἀντιστρόφους, ἀλλὰ δεῖ καὶ τούτους τοὺς αὐτοὺς διαμένειν· περὶ δὲ τὰς καλουμένας ἐπῳδοὺς ἀμφότερα κινεῖν ταῦτα ἔξεστι τό τε μέλος καὶ τὸν ῥυθμόν. τά τε κῶλα ἐξ ὧν ἑκάστη συνέστηκε περίοδος ἐπὶ πολλῆς ἐξουσίας δέδοται αὐτοῖς ποικίλως διαιρεῖν ἄλλοτε ἄλλα μεγέθη καὶ σχήματα 15 αὐταῖς περιτιθέντας, ἕως ἂν ἀπαρτίσωσι τὴν στροφήν· ἔπειτα πάλιν δεῖ τὰ αὐτὰ μέτρα καὶ κῶλα ποιεῖν. οἱ μὲν οὖν ἀρχαῖοι μελοποιοί, λέγω δὲ Ἀλκαῖόν τε καὶ Σαπφώ, μικρὰς ἐποιοῦντο στροφάς, ὥστ’ ἐν ὀλίγοις τοῖς κώλοις οὐ πολλὰς εἰσῆγον τὰς μεταβολάς, ἐπῳδοῖς τε πάνυ ἐχρῶντο ὀλίγοις· οἱ 20 δὲ περὶ Στησίχορόν τε καὶ Πίνδαρον μείζους ἐργασάμενοι τὰς περιόδους εἰς πολλὰ μέτρα καὶ κῶλα διένειμαν αὐτὰς οὐκ ἄλλου τινὸς ἢ τῆς μεταβολῆς ἔρωτι. οἱ δέ γε διθυραμβοποιοὶ

8 ὑποθῶνται FE: ὑπόθωνται PMV 9 τε καὶ PMV (cf. l. 6 supra): καὶ EF 11 τὰς ἀντιστροφὰς PM: τοὺς ἀντιστρόφους F: ἀντιστροφὰς V 12 ἐπῳδὰς V || ταῦτά ἐστιν F 14 ἑκάστη συνέστηκεν περίοδος PMV: συνέστηκε περίοδος ἑκάστη E: συνέστηκε περίοδος F 15 αὐτοῖς secl. Usener 16 αὐταῖς PMV: αὐτοῖς EF || ἂν om. F 18 δὲ om. EF 20 εἰσῆγον τὰς PMV: εἰσῆγον EF

5. =οὐδὲ τούτοις ἅπασι=: e.g. not the cretic, and (strictly) not the trochee.

7. =ἐναρμονίους ... χρωματικὰς ... διατόνους=: the distinction between these scales is indicated in Macran’s Harmonics of Aristoxenus p. 6: “Was it then possible to determine for practical purposes the smallest musical interval? To this question the Greek theorists gave the unanimous reply, supporting it by a direct appeal to facts, that the voice can sing, and the ear perceive, a quarter-tone; but that any smaller interval lies beyond the power of ear and voice alike. Disregarding then the order of the intervals, and considering only their magnitudes, we can see that one possible division of the tetrachord was into two quarter-tones and a ditone, or space of two tones; the employment of these intervals characterized a scale as of the Enharmonic genus. Or again, employing larger intervals one might divide the tetrachord into, say, two-thirds of a tone, and the space of a tone and five-sixths: or into two semitones, and the space of a tone and a half. The employment of these divisions or any lying between them marked a scale as Chromatic. Or finally, by the employment of two tones one might proceed to the familiar Diatonic genus, which divided the tetrachord into two tones and a semitone. Much wonder and admiration has been wasted on the Enharmonic scale by persons who have missed the true reason for the disappearance of the quarter-tone from our modern musical system. Its disappearance is due not to the dulness or coarseness of modern ear or voice, but to the fact that the more highly developed unity of our system demands the accurate determination of all sound-relations by direct or indirect resolution into concords; and such a determination of quarter-tones is manifestly impossible.”

18. =ἀρχαῖοι=: as compared, say, with Pindar.

20. =οἱ δὲ περὶ Στησίχορόν τε καὶ Πίνδαρον=: the two possible senses of this and similar phrases may be illustrated from Plutarch, viz. (1) the man and his followers, e.g. οἱ περὶ Δημοσθένην (Plutarch Vit Demosth. 28. 2); (2) the man himself, e.g. τοὺς περὶ Αἰσχίνην καὶ Φιλοκράτην (ibid. 16. 2: cp. 30. 2) = ‘Aeschines and Philocrates.’ So with οἱ ἀμφί and οἱ κατά. But sense (2) needs careful scrutiny wherever it seems to occur; the meaning may simply be ‘men like Aeschines,’ etc.—For the ‘graves Camenae’ of Stesichorus cp. Hor. Carm. iv. 9. 8, and Quintil. x. 1. 62 “Stesichorus quam sit ingenio validus, materiae quoque ostendunt, maxima bella et clarissimos canentem duces et epici carminis onera lyra sustinentem.”

21. Such long periods are particularly effective (cp. =196= 13) when they include clauses of various lengths and end with an impressive one: e.g. Cic. Catil. ii. 1. 1 “Tandem aliquando, Quirites, L. Catilinam, | furentem audacia, | scelus anhelantem, | pestem patriae nefarie molientem, | vobis atque huic urbi ferro flammaque minitantem, | ex urbe vel eiecimus, | vel emisimus, | vel ipsum egredientem verbis prosecuti sumus”; and similarly Bossuet Oraison funèbre de Henriette-Marie de France: “Celui qui règne dans les cieux | et de qui relèvent tous les empires, | à qui seul appartient la gloire, la majesté et l’indépendance | est aussi le seul qui se glorifie de faire la loi aux rois, | et de leur donner, quand il lui plaît, de grandes et de terribles leçons.”

[Page 195]

change everywhere; or rather, I should say, cannot all introduce change, and none as much as they wish. For instance, epic writers cannot vary their metre, for all the lines must necessarily be hexameters; nor yet the rhythm, for they must use those feet that begin with a long syllable, and not all even of these. The writers of lyric verse cannot vary the melodies of strophe and antistrophe, but whether they adopt enharmonic melodies, or chromatic, or diatonic, in all the strophes and antistrophes the same sequences must be observed. Nor, again, must the rhythms be changed in which the entire strophes and antistrophes are written, but these too must remain unaltered. But in the so-called epodes both the tune and the rhythm may be changed. Great freedom, too, is allowed to an author in varying and elaborating the clauses of which each period is composed by giving them different lengths and forms in different instances, until they complete a strophe; but after that, similar metres and clauses must be composed for the antistrophe. Now the ancient writers of lyric poetry—I refer to Alcaeus and Sappho—made their strophes short, so that they did not introduce many variations in the clauses, which were few in number, while the use they made of the epode was very slight. Stesichorus and Pindar and their schools framed their periods on a larger scale, and divided them into many measures and clauses, simply from the love of variety. The dithyrambic poets used to change the modes also,

[Page 196]

καὶ τοὺς τρόπους μετέβαλλον, Δωρίους τε καὶ Φρυγίους καὶ Λυδίους ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ᾄσματι ποιοῦντες, καὶ τὰς μελῳδίας ἐξήλλαττον, τοτὲ μὲν ἐναρμονίους ποιοῦντες, τοτὲ δὲ χρωματικάς, τοτὲ δὲ διατόνους, καὶ τοῖς ῥυθμοῖς κατὰ πολλὴν ἄδειαν ἐνεξουσιάζοντες διετέλουν, οἵ γε δὴ κατὰ Φιλόξενον καὶ 5 Τιμόθεον καὶ Τελεστήν, ἐπεὶ παρά γε τοῖς ἀρχαίοις τεταγμένος ἦν καὶ ὁ διθύραμβος.

ἡ δὲ πεζὴ λέξις ἅπασαν ἐλευθερίαν ἔχει καὶ ἄδειαν ποικίλλειν ταῖς μεταβολαῖς τὴν σύνθεσιν, ὅπως βούλεται. καὶ ἔστι λέξις κρατίστη πασῶν, ἥτις ἂν ἔχῃ πλείστας 10 ἀναπαύλας τε καὶ μεταβολὰς ἐναρμονίους, ὅταν τουτὶ μὲν ἐν περιόδῳ λέγηται, τουτὶ δ’ ἔξω περιόδου, καὶ ἥδε μὲν ἡ περίοδος ἐκ πλειόνων πλέκηται κώλων, ἥδε δ’ ἐξ ἐλαττόνων, αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν κώλων τὸ μὲν βραχύτερον ᾖ, τὸ δὲ μακρότερον, καὶ τὸ μὲν αὐτουργότερον, τὸ δὲ ἀκριβέστερον, ῥυθμοί τε 15 ἄλλοτε ἄλλοι καὶ σχήματα παντοῖα καὶ τάσεις φωνῆς αἱ καλούμεναι προσῳδίαι διάφοροι κλέπτουσαι τῇ ποικιλίᾳ τὸν κόρον. ἔχει δέ τινα χάριν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις καὶ τὸ οὕτω συγκείμενον ὥστε μὴ συγκεῖσθαι δοκεῖν. καὶ οὐ πολλῶν δεῖν οἶμαι λόγων εἰς τοῦτο τὸ μέρος· ὅτι γὰρ ἥδιστόν τε καὶ 20 κάλλιστον ἐν λόγοις μεταβολή, πάντας εἰδέναι πείθομαι. παράδειγμα δὲ αὐτῆς ποιοῦμαι πᾶσαν μὲν τὴν Ἡροδότου λέξιν, πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν Πλάτωνος, πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν Δημοσθένους· ἀμήχανον γὰρ εὑρεῖν τούτων ἑτέρους ἐπεισοδίοις τε πλείοσι καὶ ποικιλίαις εὐκαιροτέραις καὶ σχήμασι πολυειδεστέροις 25 χρησαμένους· λέγω δὲ τὸν μὲν ὡς ἐν ἱστορίας σχήματι, τὸν

7 καὶ F: om. PMV 8 ἔχει καὶ ἄδειαν PMV: καὶ ἄδειαν ἔχει F: ἔχει E 10 ἔχη F: ἔχει P: ἔχοι EMV 11 ἐναρμονίους EF: ἁρμονίας PMV 14 ᾖ] τι F 15 αὐτουργότερον F: αὐτῶν (om. E) γοργότερον τὸ δὲ βραδύτερον EPMV || τὸ δὲ ἀκριβέστερον om. EF 18 ἐν P^2MV: ἐτι P^1: om. F 19 καὶ F: om. PMV || δεῖν οἶμαι F: δὲ οἴομαι δεῖν PMV 20 τοῦτο PMV: τουτὶ F 21 μεταβολή FP: ἡ μεταβολή MV 24 ἀμήχανον PMV: ἀδύνατον EF 25 ποικίλαις F || εὐκαιροτέροις EF: εὐροωτέραις PMV 26 μὲν ὡς] μὲν P || ἱστορίαις PMV || σχήματι EF: σχηματισμὸν PM: σχηματισμῷ V

1. For the characteristics of the various modes cp. (besides the Republic and the Politics) Lucian Harmonides i. 1 καὶ τῆς ἁρμονίας ἑκάστης διαφυλάττειν τὸ ἴδιον, τῆς Φρυγίου τὸ ἔνθεον, τῆς Λυδίου τὸ Βακχικόν, τῆς Δωρίου τὸ σεμνόν, τῆς Ἰωνικῆς τὸ γλαφυρόν.

3. =τοτὲ μὲν ... τοτὲ δέ=: cp. =132= 19, where (as here) F and P have τότε.

5. =ἐνεξουσιάζοντες=, ‘using full liberty,’ ‘showing their independence.’ Cp. de Thucyd. c. 8 ... οὔτε προστιθεὶς τοῖς πράγμασιν οὐδὲν ὃ μὴ δίκαιον οὔτε ἀφαιρῶν, οὐδὲ ἐνεξουσιάζων τῇ γραφῇ, ἀνέγκλητον δὲ καὶ καθαρὰν τὴν προαίρεσιν ἀπὸ παντὸς φθόνου καὶ πάσης κολακείας φυλάττων, and c. 24 ibid. ἐν δὲ τοῖς συνθετικοῖς καὶ τοῖς προθετικοῖς μορίοις καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς διαρθροῦσι τὰς τῶν ὀνομάτων δυνάμεις ποιητοῦ τρόπον ἐνεξουσιάζων (translated in D.H. p. 135). So Hor. Carm. iv. 2. 10 “seu per audaces nova dithyrambos | verba devolvit numerisque fertur | lege solutis.”

=οἱ κατά= may refer simply to the individuals mentioned, or to them and their contemporaries: cp. note on =194= 20.

For =Philoxenus=, =Timotheus= (including the newly discovered Persae), and =Telestes= see Jebb’s Bacchylides pp. 47-55; Weir Smyth’s Greek Melic Poets pp. 460-7; W. von Christ _Gesch. der Griech. Litt._^3 pp. 188, 189.

8. =ἐλευθερίαν ἔχει καὶ ἄδειαν=: it is a mistake to cut out καὶ ἄδειαν on the authority of E alone. An Epitomizer would naturally omit the words, while Dionysius’ liking for amplitude and rhythm would as naturally lead him to use them. Cp. Demosth. Timocr. § 205 εἰ δέ τις εἰσφέρει νόμον ἐξ οὗ τοῖς ὑμᾶς βουλομένοις ἀδικεῖν ἡ πᾶσ’ #ἐξουσία καὶ ἄδεια# γενήσεται, οὗτος ὅλην ἀδικεῖ τὴν πόλιν καὶ καταισχύνει πάντας. The word ἄδεια is found also in l. 5 supra and =176= 20. The repetition within a few sentences is not inconsistent with Dionysius’ practice in such matters: cp. note on =192= 19 supra.

[Page 197]

introducing Dorian and Phrygian and Lydian modes in the same song; and they varied the melodies, making them now enharmonic, now chromatic, now diatonic; and in the rhythms they continually showed the boldest independence,—I mean Philoxenus, Timotheus, Telestes, and men of their stamp,—since among the ancients even the dithyramb had been subject to strict metrical laws.

Prose-writing has full liberty and permission to diversify composition by whatever changes it pleases. A style is finest of all when it has the most frequent rests and changes of harmony; when one thing is said within a period, another without it; when one period is formed by the interweaving of a larger number of clauses, another by that of a smaller; when among the clauses themselves one is short, another longer, one roughly wrought, another more finished; when the rhythms take now one form, now another, and the figures are of all kinds, and the voice-pitches—the so-called “accents”—are various, and skilfully avoid satiety by their diversity. There is considerable charm, among efforts of this kind, in what is so composed that it does not seem to be artificially composed at all. I do not think that many words are needed on this point. Everybody, I believe, is aware that, in prose, variety is full of charm and beauty. And as examples of it I reckon all the writings of Herodotus, all those of Plato, and all those of Demosthenes. It is impossible to find other writers who have introduced more episodes than these, or better-timed variations, or more multiform figures: the first in the narrative form, the second in graceful dialogue,

[Page 198]

δ’ ὡς ἐν διαλόγων χάριτι, τὸν δ’ ὡς ἐν λόγων ἐναγωνίων χρείᾳ. ἀλλ’ οὐχ ἥ γε Ἰσοκράτους καὶ τῶν ἐκείνου γνωρίμων αἵρεσις ὁμοία ταύταις ἦν, ἀλλὰ καίπερ ἡδέως καὶ μεγαλοπρεπῶς πολλὰ συνθέντες οἱ ἄνδρες οὗτοι περὶ τὰς μεταβολὰς καὶ τὴν ποικιλίαν οὐ πάνυ εὐτυχοῦσιν· ἀλλ’ ἔστι παρ’ αὐτοῖς εἷς 5 περίοδου κύκλος, ὁμοειδὴς σχημάτων τάξις, φυλακὴ συμπλοκῆς φωνηέντων ἡ αὐτή, ἄλλα πολλὰ τοιαῦτα κόπτοντα τὴν ἀκρόασιν. οὐ δὴ ἀποδέχομαι τὴν αἵρεσιν ἐκείνην κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ μέρος. καὶ αὐτῷ μὲν ἴσως τῷ Ἰσοκράτει πολλαὶ χάριτες ἐπήνθουν ἄλλαι ταύτην ἐπικρύπτουσαι τὴν ἀμορφίαν, παρὰ 10 δὲ τοῖς μετ’ ἐκεῖνον ἀπ’ ἐλαττόνων τῶν ἄλλων κατορθωμάτων περιφανέστερον γίνεται τοῦτο τὸ ἁμάρτημα.

εἷς ἔτι καταλείπεταί μοι λόγος ὁ περὶ τοῦ πρέποντος. καὶ γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις χρώμασιν ἅπασι παρεῖναι δεῖ τὸ πρέπον, καὶ εἴ τι ἄλλο ἔργον ἀτυχεῖ τούτου τοῦ μέρους, καὶ εἰ μὴ 15 τοῦ παντός, τοῦ κρατίστου γε ἀτυχεῖ. περὶ μὲν οὖν ὅλης τῆς ἰδέας ταύτης οὐχ οὗτος ὁ καιρὸς ἀνασκοπεῖν· βαθεῖα γάρ τις αὐτοῦ καὶ πολλῶν πάνυ δεομένη λόγων ἡ θεωρία. ὅσα δὲ εἰς τοῦτο συντείνει τὸ μέρος ὑπὲρ οὗ τυγχάνω ποιούμενος τὸν λόγον, εἰ μὴ καὶ τὰ πάντα, μηδὲ τὰ πλεῖστα, ὅσα γε οὖν 20 ἐγχωρεῖ, λεγέσθω.

ὁμολογουμένου δὴ παρὰ πᾶσιν ὅτι πρέπον ἐστὶ τὸ τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις ἁρμόττον προσώποις τε καὶ πράγμασιν, ὥσπερ ἐκλογὴ τῶν ὀνομάτων εἴη τις ἂν ἡ μὲν πρέπουσα τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις ἡ δὲ ἀπρεπής, οὕτω δήπου καὶ σύνθεσις. παράδειγμα 25 δὲ τούτου χρὴ λαμβάνειν τὴν ἀλήθειαν. ὃ δὲ λέγω, τοιοῦτόν

1 ὡς ἐναγωνίων (om. ἐν λόγων) F 2 οὐχ ἥ γε PMV: οὐχ ἡ E: οὐχὶ ἡ F || ἐκείνου EF: ἐκείνω PM: ἐκείνων V 3 ἀλλὰ καὶ περιδεῶσ P 5 εἷς περιόδου om. FE 6 τις post κύκλος add. E (vocabulis εἷς περιόδου omissis) || φυλακὴ EF: φυσικὴ M: λέξις P: om. V 7 ἀλλὰ F 8 αἴρεσιν F: διαίρεσιν P 10 ἄλλαι EF: om. PMV 11 ἀπ’ EPV: οὐκ ἀπ’ F, M || τῶν ἄλλων om. F 12 γίνεται om. F 13 εἷς ἔτι PMV: ἔτι τις F: ἔτι E 14 καὶ Schaefer: ὡς libri || χρώμασι F: σχήμασιν PMV || ἅπασι om. F 15 ἄλλο om. P || καὶ εἰ F: εἰ καὶ PMV 18 αὐτοῦ P: αὕτη FMV || πάνυ δεομένη PMV: δεομένη σφόδρα F 20 τὰ πάντα PMV: πάντα F 21 λεγέσθω] γενέσθω F 23 ἀρμόττον F, E: ἁρμόζον PMV || ὥσπερ F: ὥσπερ ἡ PMV 25 καὶ E: καὶ ἡ FPMV 26 λαμβάνειν F: παραλαμβάνειν PMV

2. The following passage emphasizes in a striking way the supreme importance of variety as an element in excellence of style.

6. =φυλακή=: P’s reading λέξις may, as Usener suggests, be a relic of φύλαξις.

14. The manuscript reading ὡς suggests the possibility that some such words as εἴρηται πρότερον have been lost after ἀτυχεῖ in l. 16.

18. =αὐτοῦ=, ‘the matter,’ ‘the question.’ Cp. Eurip. Phoen. 626 αὐτὸ σημανεῖ (res ipsa declarabit). See also note on =140= 14 supra.

[Page 199]

the third in the practical work of forensic oratory. As for the methods of Isocrates and his followers, they are not to be compared with the styles of those writers. The Isocratic authors have composed much with charm and distinction; but in regard to change and diversity they are anything but happy. We find in them one continually recurring period, a monotonous order of figures, the invariable observance of vowel-blending, and many other similar things which fatigue the ear. I cannot approve that school on this side. In Isocrates himself, it may be conceded, many charms were displayed which helped to hide this blemish. But among his successors, by reason of their fewer redeeming excellences, the fault mentioned stands out more glaringly.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XX. ON APPROPRIATENESS

It still remains for me to speak about appropriateness. All the other ornaments of speech must be associated with what is appropriate; indeed, if any other quality whatever fails to attain this, it fails to attain the main essential,—perhaps fails altogether. Into the question as a whole this is not the right time to go; it is a profound study, and would need a long treatise. But let me say what bears on the special department which I am actually discussing; or if not all that bears on it, nor even the largest part, at all events as much as is possible.

It is admitted among all critics that appropriateness is that treatment which suits the actors and actions concerned. Just as the choice of words may be either appropriate or inappropriate to the subject matter, so also surely must the composition be. This statement I had best illustrate from actual life. I refer to

[Page 200]

ἐστιν· οὐχ ὁμοίᾳ συνθέσει χρώμεθα ὀργιζόμενοι καὶ χαίροντες, οὐδὲ ὀλοφυρόμενοι καὶ φοβούμενοι, οὐδ’ ἐν ἄλλῳ τινὶ πάθει ἢ κακῷ ὄντες, ὥσπερ ὅταν ἐνθυμώμεθα μηδὲν ὅλως ἡμᾶς ταράττειν μηδὲ παραλυπεῖν. δείγματος ἕνεκα ταῦτ’ εἴρηκα ὀλίγα περὶ πολλῶν, ἐπεὶ μυρία ὅσα τις ἂν εἰπεῖν ἔχοι τὰς ἰδέας 5 ἁπάσας ἐκλογίζεσθαι βουλόμενος τοῦ πρέποντος· ἓν δὲ ὃ προχειρότατον ἔχω καὶ κοινότατον εἰπεῖν ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, τοῦτ’ ἐρῶ. οἱ αὐτοὶ ἄνθρωποι ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ καταστάσει τῆς ψυχῆς ὄντες ὅταν ἀπαγγέλλωσι πράγματα οἷς ἂν παραγενόμενοι τύχωσιν, οὐχ ὁμοίᾳ χρῶνται συνθέσει περὶ πάντων, ἀλλὰ 10 μιμητικοὶ γίνονται τῶν ἀπαγγελλομένων καὶ ἐν τῷ συντιθέναι τὰ ὀνόματα, οὐδὲν ἐπιτηδεύοντες ἀλλὰ φυσικῶς ἐπὶ τοῦτο ἀγόμενοι. ταῦτα δὴ παρατηροῦντα δεῖ τὸν ἀγαθὸν ποιητὴν καὶ ῥήτορα μιμητικὸν εἶναι τῶν πραγμάτων ὑπὲρ ὧν ἂν τοὺς λόγους ἐκφέρῃ, μὴ μόνον κατὰ τὴν ἐκλογὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων 15 ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τὴν σύνθεσιν. ὃ ποιεῖν εἴωθεν ὁ δαιμονιώτατος Ὅμηρος καίπερ μέτρον ἔχων ἓν ὡς καὶ ῥυθμοὺς ὀλίγους, ἀλλ’ ὅμως ἀεί τι καινουργῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ φιλοτεχνῶν, ὥστε μηδὲν ἡμῖν διαφέρειν γινόμενα τὰ πράγματα ἢ λεγόμενα ὁρᾶν. ἐρῶ δὲ ὀλίγα, οἷς ἄν τις δύναιτο παραδείγμασι χρῆσθαι πολλῶν. 20 ἀπαγγέλλων δὴ πρὸς τοὺς Φαίακας Ὀδυσσεὺς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πλάνην καὶ τὴν εἰς ᾅδου κατάβασιν εἰπὼν τὰς ὄψεις τῶν ἐκεῖ κακῶν ἀποδίδωσιν. ἐν δὴ τούτοις καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν Σίσυφον διηγεῖται πάθη, ᾧ φασι τοὺς καταχθονίους θεοὺς ὅρον πεποιῆσθαι τῆς τῶν δεινῶν ἀπαλλαγῆς, ὅταν ὑπὲρ ὄχθου 25 τινὸς ἀνακυλίσῃ πέτρον· τοῦτο δὲ ἀμήχανον εἶναι καταπίπτοντος ὅταν εἰς ἄκρον ἔλθῃ πάλιν τοῦ πέτρου. πῶς οὖν

3 μηδὲν ὅλως ἡμᾶς F: καὶ μηδὲν ἡμᾶς ὅλως PMV || πράττειν μηδὲ παραλυπεῖν F: ταράττηι μηδὲ παραλυπηῖ P, MV 4 δείγματος F: δείγματος ἢ παραδείγματος PMV 5 ἐπεὶ μυρία PMV: μυρία ἄλλα ἐστὶν F || ἂν F: αἴτια PMV 10 ἀλλὰ PMV: ἀλλὰ καὶ EF 13 δὴ F: δὲ PMV 17 καίπερ EF: καί τοι P, MV || ἓν ὡς] ἑν(ως) P: ἐν ᾧ M: ἓν V: om. EF 18 αὐτοῖς EF: τούτοις PV: τούτω M 20 παράδειγμα P: παραδείγματι V || πολλῶν F: ἐπὶ πολλῶν PMV 21 δὴ FP: οὖν MV 26 πέτρον F: πέτρον τινά PMV 27 τοῦ πέτρου om. F

1. It is implied that no general rules can be laid down on this point, but we must trust to nature,—to the aesthetic perceptions of the individual author,—on the principle that “tristia maestum | vultum verba decent, iratum plena minarum, | ludentem lasciva, severum seria dictu,” Hor. Ars P. 105-7.

3. An early reading may have been ὥσπερ εὐθυμούμεθα ὅταν μηδὲν ὅλως ἡμᾶς ταράττῃ μηδὲ παραλυπῇ.

7. =προχειρότατον=: lit. ‘readiest to hand.’—The verb προχειρίζεσθαι is used often by Dionysius (=76= 2, =236= 21, =250= 13) in the meaning ‘to select.’

13. =ταῦτα δὴ παρατηροῦντα=: Dionysius would (as the trend of his argument throughout the treatise shows) have an author not only observe, but improve upon, the methods of ordinary people. There is no real discrepancy between this passage and that quoted (=78= 18 supra) from Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria.

17. =ῥυθμοὺς ὀλίγους=: the two feet (dactyl and spondee) apparently are meant. Of course, the hexameter line can be so divided as to yield longer feet such as the βακχεῖος (see =206= 11) or the molossus; but such divisions are not natural.

18. =καινουργῶν ... καὶ φιλοτεχνῶν=: see D.H. p. 46.

26. Here, and in =202= 8, =πέτρος= is used to represent Homer’s λᾶας: in =202= 10, 13, πέτρα. ὄχθος (=202= 9) = Homer’s λόφος.

[Page 201]

the fact that we do not put our words together in the same way when angry as when glad, nor when mourning as when afraid, nor when under the influence of any other emotion or calamity as when conscious that there is nothing at all to agitate or annoy us.

These few words on a wide subject are merely examples of the countless other things which could be added if one wished to treat fully all the aspects of appropriateness. But I have one obvious remark to make of a general nature. When the same men in the same state of mind report occurrences which they have actually witnessed, they do not use a similar style in describing all of them, but in their very way of putting their words together imitate the things they report, not purposely, but carried away by a natural impulse. Keeping an eye on this principle, the good poet and orator should be ready to imitate the things of which he is giving a verbal description, and to imitate them not only in the choice of words but also in the composition. This is the practice of Homer, that surpassing genius, although he has but one metre and few rhythms. Within these limits, nevertheless, he is continually producing new effects and artistic refinements, so that actually to see the incidents taking place would give no advantage over our having them thus described. I will give a few instances, which the reader may take as representative of many. When Odysseus is telling the Phaeacians the story of his wanderings and of his descent into Hades, he brings the miseries of the place before our eyes. Among them, he describes the torments of Sisyphus, for whom they say that the gods of the nether world have made it a condition of release from his awful sufferings to have rolled a stone over a certain hill, and that this is impossible, as the stone invariably falls down again just as it reaches the top. Now it is

[Page 202]

δηλώσει ταῦτα μιμητικῶς καὶ κατ’ αὐτὴν τὴν σύνθεσιν τῶν ὀνομάτων, ἄξιον ἰδεῖν·

καὶ μὴν Σίσυφον εἰσεῖδον κρατέρ’ ἄλγε’ ἔχοντα, λᾶαν βαστάζοντα πελώριον ἀμφοτέρῃσιν· ἦ τοι ὁ μὲν σκηριπτόμενος χερσίν τε ποσίν τε 5 λᾶαν ἄνω ὤθεσκε ποτὶ λόφον·

ἐνταῦθα ἡ σύνθεσίς ἐστιν ἡ δηλοῦσα τῶν γινομένων ἕκαστον, τὸ βάρος τοῦ πέτρου, τὴν ἐπίπονον ἐκ τῆς γῆς κίνησιν, τὸν διερειδόμενον τοῖς κώλοις, τὸν ἀναβαίνοντα πρὸς τὸν ὄχθον, τὴν μόλις ἀνωθουμένην πέτραν· οὐδεὶς ἂν ἄλλως εἴποι. καὶ 10 παρὰ τί γέγονε τούτων ἕκαστον; οὐ μὰ Δί’ εἰκῇ γε οὐδ’ ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου. πρῶτον μὲν ἐν τοῖς δυσὶ στίχοις οἷς ἀνακυλίει τὴν πέτραν, ἔξω δυεῖν ῥημάτων τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς λέξεως μόρια πάντ’ ἐστὶν ἤτοι δισύλλαβα ἢ μονοσύλλαβα· ἔπειτα τῷ ἡμίσει πλείους εἰσὶν αἱ μακραὶ συλλαβαὶ τῶν βραχειῶν 15 ἐν ἑκατέρῳ τῶν στίχων· ἔπειτα πᾶσαι διαβεβήκασιν αἱ τῶν ὀνομάτων ἁρμονίαι διαβάσεις εὐμεγέθεις καὶ διεστήκασι πάνυ αἰσθητῶς, ἢ τῶν φωνηέντων γραμμάτων συγκρουομένων ἢ τῶν ἡμιφώνων τε καὶ ἀφώνων συναπτομένων· ῥυθμοῖς τε δακτύλοις καὶ σπονδείοις τοῖς μηκίστοις καὶ πλείστην ἔχουσι διάβασιν 20 ἅπαντα σύγκειται. τί δή ποτ’ οὖν τούτων ἕκαστον δύναται; αἱ μὲν μονοσύλλαβοί τε καὶ δισύλλαβοι λέξεις, πολλοὺς τοὺς μεταξὺ χρόνους ἀλλήλων ἀπολείπουσαι, τὸ χρόνιον ἐμιμήσαντο τοῦ ἔργου· αἱ δὲ μακραὶ συλλαβαί, στηριγμούς τινας ἔχουσαι καὶ ἐγκαθίσματα, τὴν ἀντιτυπίαν καὶ τὸ βαρὺ καὶ τὸ μόλις· 25 τὸ δὲ μεταξὺ τῶν ὀνομάτων ψῦγμα καὶ ἡ τῶν τραχυνόντων

8 μέτρου F 9 ὄχλον F 10 μόλις EF: μόγις PMV || ἄλλος F 11 οὐ μὰ Δί’ Radermacher: οὐκ ἂν F: οὐ γὰρ PMV 12 μὲν ἐν Schaefer: μὲν FMV: ἐν P, E 13 ἀνακυλίει EF: ἀνακινεῖ PV 15 μακραὶ om. F 16 ἔπειτα πᾶσαι F: ἔπειθ’ ἅπασαι PMV || διαβεβλήκασιν F 18 γραμμάτων FP: om. EMV 19 τε (post ῥυθμοῖς) F: τε καὶ EPMV 21 ποτ’ οὖν F: om. PMV 22 τοὺς EF: om. PMV 25 βαρὺ EFM^2V: βραδὺ PM^1 || μόλις EF: μόγις PMV

6. Cp. Demetr. de Eloc. § 72 ἐν δὲ τῷ μεγαλοπρεπεῖ χαρακτῆρι σύγκρουσις παραλαμβάνοιτ’ ἂν πρέπουσα ἤτοι διὰ μακρῶν, ὡς τὸ “λᾶαν ἄνω ὤθεσκε.” καὶ γὰρ ὁ στίχος μῆκός τι ἔσχεν ἐκ τῆς συγκρούσεως, καὶ μεμίμηται τοῦ λίθου τὴν ἀναφορὰν καὶ βίαν. So Eustathius: τὸ δὲ “λᾶαν ἄνω ὤθεσκε ποτὶ λόφον” ἐπαινεῖται χάριν τῆς συνθήκης. ἐμφαίνει γὰρ τὴν δυσχέρειαν τοῦ τῆς ὠθήσεως ἔργου τῇ τῶν φωνηέντων ἐπαλληλίᾳ, δι’ ὧν ὀγκούντων τὸ στόμα οὐκ ἐᾶται τρέχειν ὁ λόγος, ἀλλ’ ὀκνηρὰ βαίνει συνεξομοιούμενος τῇ ἐργωδίᾳ τοῦ ἄνω ὠθεῖν. The Homeric passage is imitated in Pope’s Essay on Criticism, “When Ajax strives some rock’s vast weight to throw, | The line too labours, and the words move slow.”—For the effect of the long unblended vowels cp. the first of Virgil’s two well-known lines, “ter sunt conati imponere Pelio Ossam | scilicet, atque Ossae frondosum involvere Olympum” (Georg. i. 282).

15. It is not easy to see how this result is reached. Perhaps in l. 5 the last syllable of ἤτοι is counted long for the purpose of the argument. A perception of the difficulty may have led to the omission of μακραί in F.

18. The meaning is: ‘either by repetition of vowels [ἄλγε’ ἔχοντα, λᾶαν] or by the juxtaposition of semi-vowels and mutes [with the semi-vowels first: μὴν Σίσυφον, εἰσεῖδον κρατερά, λᾶαν βαστάζοντα].’—In =204= 15 the words πέδονδε κυλίνδετο may be taken to express the ‘bumps’ of the stone as it rolls down.

22. Cp. Quintil. ix. 4. 98 “est enim quoddam in ipsa divisione verborum latens tempus, ut in pentametri medio spondeo, qui nisi alterius verbi fine alterius initio constat, versum non efficit.”—The effect of the short syllables in counterfeiting delay may be illustrated by Cic. pro Milone 11. 28 “paulisper, dum se uxor, ut fit, comparat, commoratus est.”

[Page 203]

worth while to observe how Homer will express this by a mimicry which the very arrangement of his words produces:—

There Sisyphus saw I receiving his guerdon of mighty pain: A monster rock upheaving with both hands aye did he strain; With feet firm-fixed, palms pressed, with gasps, with toil most sore, That rock to a high hill’s crest heaved he.[170]

Here it is the composition that brings out each of the details—the weight of the stone, the laborious movement of it from the ground, the straining of the man’s limbs, his slow ascent towards the ridge, the difficulty of thrusting the rock upwards. No one will deny the effect produced. And on what does the execution of each detail depend? Certainly the results do not come by chance or of themselves. To begin with: in the two lines in which Sisyphus rolls up the rock, with the exception of two verbs all the component words of the passage are either disyllables or monosyllables. Next, the long syllables are half as numerous again as the short ones in each of the two lines. Then, all the words are so arranged as to advance, as it were, with giant strides, and the gaps between them are distinctly perceptible, in consequence of the concurrence of vowels or the juxtaposition of semi-vowels and mutes; and the dactylic and spondaic rhythms of which the lines are composed are the longest possible and take the longest possible stride. Now, what is the effect of these several details? The monosyllabic and disyllabic words, leaving many intervals between each other, suggest the duration of the action; while the long syllables, which require a kind of pause and prolongation, reproduce the resistance, the heaviness, the difficulty. The inhalation between the words and the juxtaposition

[Page 204]

γραμμάτων παράθεσις τὰ διαλείμματα τῆς ἐνεργείας καὶ τὰς ἐποχὰς καὶ τὸ τοῦ μόχθου μέγεθος· οἱ ῥυθμοὶ δ’ ἐν μήκει θεωρούμενοι τὴν ἔκτασιν τῶν μελῶν καὶ τὸν διελκυσμὸν τοῦ κυλίοντος καὶ τὴν τοῦ πέτρου ἔρεισιν. καὶ ὅτι ταῦτα οὐ φύσεώς ἐστιν αὐτοματιζούσης ἔργα ἀλλὰ τέχνης μιμήσασθαι 5 πειρωμένης τὰ γινόμενα, τὰ τούτοις ἑξῆς λεγόμενα δηλοῖ. τὴν γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς κορυφῆς ἐπιστρέφουσαν πάλιν καὶ κατακυλιομένην πέτραν οὐ τὸν αὐτὸν ἡρμήνευκε τρόπον, ἀλλ’ ἐπιταχύνας τε καὶ συστρέψας τὴν σύνθεσιν· προειπὼν γὰρ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ σχήματι 10

ἀλλ’ ὅτε μέλλοι ἄκρον ὑπερβαλέειν

ἐπιτίθησι τοῦτο

τότ’ ἐπιστρέψασκε κραταιίς· αὖτις ἔπειτα πέδονδε κυλίνδετο λᾶας ἀναιδής. 15

οὐχὶ συγκατακεκύλισται τῷ βάρει τῆς πέτρας ἡ τῶν ὀνομάτων σύνθεσις, μᾶλλον δὲ ἔφθακε τὴν τοῦ λίθου φορὰν τὸ τῆς ἀπαγγελίας τάχος; ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ. καὶ τίς ἐνταῦθα πάλιν αἰτία; καὶ γὰρ ταύτην ἄξιον ἰδεῖν· ὁ τὴν καταφορὰν δηλῶν τοῦ πέτρου στίχος μονοσύλλαβον μὲν οὐδεμίαν, δισυλλάβους 20 δὲ δύο μόνας ἔχει λέξεις. τοῦτ’ οὖν καὶ πρῶτον οὐ διίστησι τοὺς χρόνους ἀλλ’ ἐπιταχύνει· ἔπειθ’ ἑπτακαίδεκα συλλαβῶν οὐσῶν ἐν τῷ στίχῳ δέκα μέν εἰσι βραχεῖαι συλλαβαί, ἑπτὰ δὲ μακραί, οὐδ’ αὗται τέλειοι· ἀνάγκη δὴ κατασπᾶσθαι καὶ

1 καὶ τὰς ἐποχὰς EF: ἐποχάς τε PMV 6 τὴν ... ἐπιστρέφουσαν ... κατακυλιομένην πέτραν EF: τὸν ... ἐπιστρέφοντα ... κατακυλιόμενον πέτρον PMV 13 τοῦτο EFM^1: τούτω PM^2V 14 ἐπιστρέψασ κε P, E: ἐπιστέψασ (ρ suprascr.) καὶ F, MV: ἀποστρέψασκε Hom. || κραταὶ· ἲσ P: κραταις F: κραταιὴ ἴς MV 15 αὖθις PMV 16 συγκατακεκύλισται PMV: συγκυλίεται EF 18 ἐμοί τε PM: ἐμοὶ F 19 ταύτην PMV: ταύτης F || ἄξιον ἰδεῖν PV: ἰδεῖν ἄξιόν ἐστιν F 21 οὖν καὶ F(E): οὐκ ἐᾶι P, MV || οὐ διίστησι E: οὐδ’ ἵστησι F: διεστηκέναι PMV 24 δὲ F: δὲ μόναι PMV || οὐδ’ F: καὶ οὐδ’ PMV || αὗται F: αὐταὶ PMV || τέλειοι FPV: τέλειαι M || δὴ F: οὖν PMV || κατασπᾶσθαι F: κατεσπάσθαι PM: κατεσπᾶσθαι V

15. “Downward anon to the valley rebounded the boulder remorseless” (Sandys, in Jebb’s Rhetoric of Aristotle p. 172). Voss marks the contrast between the slow and the rapid line by translating the one by “Eines Marmors Schwere mit grosser Gewalt fortheben,” and the other by “Hurtig mit Donnergepolter entrollte der tückische Marmor.”—For similar adaptations of sound to sense cp. Lucret. iii. 1000 “hoc est adverso nixantem trudere monte | saxum quod tamen e summo iam vertice rursum | volvitur et plani raptim petit aequora campi”; Virg. Aen. vi. 616 “saxum ingens volvunt alii, radiisque rotarum | districti pendent”; id. ib. viii. 596 “quadripedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum” (in imitation of Il. xxiii. 116); id. ib. v. 481 “sternitur exanimisque tremens procumbit humi bos”; id. ib. ii. 304-8 “in segetem ... de vertice pastor”; Racine Phèdre v. 6 “L’essieu crie et se rompt: l’intrépide Hippolyte | Voit voler en éclats tout son char fracassé; | Dans les rênes lui-même il tombe embarrassé”; Pope’s “Up a high hill he heaves a huge round stone” (Odyss. xi.) or his “That like a wounded snake drags its slow length along” (Essay on Criticism), as compared with his “Thunders impetuous down, and smokes along the ground” (Odyss. xi.).—It is an interesting question whether Dionysius overstates his case when he makes ‘Homer’ as conscious and sedulous an artist (ἀεί τι καινουργῶν καὶ φιλοτεχνῶν, =200= 18) as any later imitator. It is, however, unlikely that even the earliest poets who were late enough to produce consummate music were insensible to the effect of the music they produced. But great poets in all ages have had their ear so attuned by long use and practice to the music of sounds as to choose the right letters, syllables, and words almost unconsciously.

19. =ταύτην=: Usener reads ταῦτ’ ἦν: but (1) ταύτην refers naturally to αἰτία; (2) with ἄξιον the verb is often omitted, e.g. =186= 19, =202= 2; (3) if there were a verb, ἐστίν would here be more natural than ἦν.

22. The meaning is that the absence of short words implies the absence of frequent breaks, and this absence contributes to rapid utterance.

24. =τέλειοι=, ‘perfect longs.’ The diphthongs in αὖτις, ἔπειτα, and ἀναιδής, are simply long by nature; they are not long by position as well. The ο in πέδονδε, and the ι in κυλίνδετο, are long by position but not by nature. The ᾶ in λᾶας, and the η in ἀναιδής, are long by nature but not (in the former case) by position. “Of the seven long syllables not one—except the last—contains more elements than are needful to make it pass for long and at the same time avoid hiatus; that is, no long vowel or diphthong is followed by more than one consonant; two consonants occur only where required to extend a short vowel to a long syllable” (Goodell Greek Metric p. 175). Compare =150= 22-=154= 3, and see also Gloss., s.v. τέλειος.—M here has τέλειαι (not τέλειοι): cp. τελείας in =174= 1.

[Page 205]

of rough letters indicate the pauses in his efforts, the delays, the vastness of the toil. The rhythms, when it is observed how long-drawn-out they are, betoken the straining of his limbs, the struggle of the man as he rolls his burden, and the upheaving of the stone. And that this is not the work of Nature improvising, but of art attempting to reproduce a scene, is proved by the words that follow these. For the poet has represented the return of the rock from the summit and its rolling downward in quite another fashion; he quickens and abbreviates his composition. Having first said, in the same form as the foregoing,

but a little more, And atop of the ridge would it rest[171]—

he adds to this,

some Power back turned it again: Rushing the pitiless boulder went rolling adown to the plain.[172]

Do not the words thus arranged roll downhill together with the impetus of the rock? Indeed, does not the speed of the narration outstrip the rush of the stone? I certainly think so. And what is the reason here again? It is worth noticing. The line which described the downrush of the stone has no monosyllabic words, and only two disyllabic. Now this, in the first place, does not break up the phrases but hurries them on. In the second place, of the seventeen syllables in the line ten are short, seven long, and not even these seven are perfect. So

[Page 206]

συστέλλεσθαι τὴν φράσιν τῇ βραχύτητι τῶν συλλαβῶν ἐφελκομένην. ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις οὐδ’ ὄνομα ἀπὸ ὀνόματος ἀξιόλογον εἴληφεν διάστασιν· οὔτε γὰρ φωνήεντι φωνῆεν οὔτε ἡμιφώνῳ ἡμίφωνον ἢ ἄφωνον, ἃ δὴ τραχύνειν πέφυκεν καὶ διιστάναι τὰς ἁρμονίας, οὐδέν ἐστι παρακείμενον. οὐ δὴ γίνεται διάστασις 5 αἰσθητὴ μὴ διηρτημένων τῶν λέξεων, ἀλλὰ συνολισθαίνουσιν ἀλλήλαις καὶ συγκαταφέρονται καὶ τρόπον τινὰ μία ἐξ ἁπασῶν γίνεται διὰ τὴν τῶν ἁρμονιῶν ἀκρίβειαν. ὃ δὲ μάλιστα τῶν ἄλλων θαυμάζειν ἄξιον, ῥυθμὸς οὐδεὶς τῶν μακρῶν οἳ φύσιν ἔχουσιν πίπτειν εἰς μέτρον ἡρωϊκόν, οὔτε 10 σπονδεῖος οὔτε βακχεῖος ἐγκαταμέμικται τῷ στίχῳ, πλὴν ἐπὶ τῆς τελευτῆς· οἱ δ’ ἄλλοι πάντες εἰσὶ δάκτυλοι, καὶ οὗτοι παραδεδιωγμένας ἔχοντες τὰς ἀλόγους, ὥστε μὴ πολὺ διαφέρειν ἐνίους τῶν τροχαίων. οὐδὲν δὴ τὸ ἀντιπρᾶττον ἐστὶν εὔτροχον καὶ περιφερῆ καὶ καταρρέουσαν εἶναι τὴν φράσιν ἐκ τοιούτων 15 συγκεκροτημένην ῥυθμῶν. πολλά τις ἂν ἔχοι τοιαῦτα δεῖξαι παρ’ Ὁμήρῳ λεγόμενα· ἐμοὶ δὲ ἀποχρῆν δοκεῖ καὶ ταῦτα, ἵν’ ἐγγένηταί μοι καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων εἰπεῖν.

ὧν μὲν οὖν δεῖ στοχάζεσθαι τοὺς μέλλοντας ἡδεῖαν καὶ καλὴν ποιήσειν σύνθεσιν ἔν τε ποιητικῇ καὶ λόγοις ἀμέτροις, 20 ταῦτα κατ’ ἐμὴν δόξαν ἐστὶ τὰ γοῦν κυριώτατα καὶ κράτιστα. ὅσα δὲ οὐχ οἷά τε ἦν, ἐλάττω τε ὄντα τούτων καὶ ἀμυδρότερα καὶ διὰ πλῆθος δυσπερίληπτα μιᾷ γραφῇ, ταῦτ’ ἐν ταῖς καθ’ ἡμέραν γυμνασίαις προσυποθήσομαί σοι, καὶ πολλῶν καὶ ἀγαθῶν ποιητῶν τε καὶ συγγραφέων καὶ ῥητόρων μαρτυρίοις χρήσομαι. 25 νυνὶ δὲ τὰ καταλειπόμενα ὧν ὑπεσχόμην καὶ οὐδενὸς ἧττον ἀναγκαῖα εἰρῆσθαι, ταῦτ’ ἔτι προσθεὶς τῷ λόγῳ παύσομαι

1 συστέλεσθαι P: συντελεῖσθαι F 4 διιστάναι F: διιστάνειν PMV 5 διάτασις F 6 διηρτημένη F 10 ἡρωϊκὸν F: ἡρῶιον P, MV 12 οὗτοι F: οὗτοί γε PMV 17 δοκεῖ καὶ FM: ἐδόκει P: εἰδοκεῖ V 19 ἡδεῖαν καὶ καλὴν F: καλὴν καὶ ἡδεῖαν PMV 23 μιᾶι F: μὴ PM: om. V 24 σοι καὶ PMV: καὶ F || ἀγαθῶν καὶ ποιητῶν τε (τε om. M) καὶ P, M 25 μαρτυρίοις F: μαρτυρι(ας) P: μαρτυρίαις MV 26 νυνὶ F: νῦν PMV

1. =τῇ βραχύτητι= κτλ.: i.e. the utterance must necessarily be rapid when the syllables are short and trip along.

2. “Again, as between words, there is no hiatus, no semi-vowel or mute meets a semi-vowel, there is no rhetorical pause and no elision, the words almost run together into one” (Goodell Greek Metric p. 175).

11. =βακχεῖος=: see note on =200= 17 supra.

13. =τὰς ἀλόγους= [συλλαβάς]: i.e. the long syllables in πέδονδε and κυλίνδετο.—With Usener’s conjecture παραμεμιγμένας the meaning will be “and these too are such as have irrational syllables incorporated with them.”

14. =τροχαίων=: Schaefer suggests τριβραχέων, Sauppe χορείων.

18. =ἐγγένηται=: cp. Antiqq. Rom. vi. 9 ὦ μακάριοι μέν, οἷς ἂν ἐγγένηται τὸν ἐκ τοῦδε τοῦ πολέμου θρίαμβον καταγαγεῖν. In =68= 11 σχολή is added, ἐὰν δ’ ἐγγένηταί μοι σχολή: and in =224= 22 χρόνος is found in P and V.

23. =ἐν ταῖς καθ’ ἡμέραν γυμνασίαις=: this is one of the incidental references which show that Dionysius taught rhetoric at Rome.

[Page 207]

the line has to go tumbling down-hill in a heap, dragged forward by the shortness of the syllables. Moreover, one word is not divided from another by any appreciable interval, for vowel does not meet vowel, nor semi-vowel or mute meet semi-vowel—conjunctions the natural effect of which is to make the connexions harsher and less close-fitting. There is, in fact, no perceptible division if the words are not forced asunder, but they slip into one another and are swept along, and a sort of great single word is formed out of all owing to the closeness of the junctures. And what is most surprising of all, not one of the long feet which naturally fit into the heroic metre—whether spondee or bacchius—has been introduced into the line, except at the end. All the rest are dactyls, and these with their irrational syllables hurried along, so that some of the feet do not differ much from trochees. Accordingly nothing hinders the line from being rapid, rounded and swift-flowing, welded together as it is from such rhythms as this. Many such passages could be pointed out in Homer. But I think the foregoing lines amply sufficient, and I must leave myself time to discuss the remaining points.

The aims, then, which should be steadily kept in view by those who mean to form a charming and noble style, alike in poetry and in prose, are in my opinion those already mentioned. These, at all events, are the most essential and effective. But those which I have been unable to mention, as being more minute and more obscure than these, and, owing to their number, hard to embrace in a single treatise, I will bring before you in our daily lessons, and I will draw illustrations in support of my views from many good poets, historians, and orators. But now I will go on to add to this work, before concluding it, the remainder of the points which I promised to treat of, and the discussion of which is as indispensable as any: viz. what

[Page 208]

* * * τίνες εἰσὶ διαφοραὶ τῆς συνθέσεως καὶ τίς ἑκάστης χαρακτὴρ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ, τῶν τε πρωτευσάντων ἐν αὐταῖς μνησθῆναι καὶ δείγματα ἑκάστου παρασχεῖν, ὅταν δὲ ταῦτα λάβῃ μοι τέλος, τότε κἀκεῖνα διευκρινῆσαι τὰ παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἀπορούμενα, τί ποτ’ ἐστὶν ὃ ποιεῖ τὴν μὲν πεζὴν 5 λέξιν ὁμοίαν ποιήματι φαίνεσθαι μένουσαν ἐν τῷ τοῦ λόγου σχήματι, τὴν δὲ ποιητικὴν φράσιν ἐμφερῆ τῷ πεζῷ λόγῳ φυλάττουσαν τὴν ποιητικὴν σεμνότητα· σχεδὸν γὰρ οἱ κράτιστα διαλεχθέντες ἢ ποιήσαντες ταῦτ’ ἔχουσιν ἐν τῇ λέξει τἀγαθά. πειρατέον δὴ καὶ περὶ τούτων, ἃ φρονῶ, 10 λέγειν. ἄρξομαι δ’ ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου.

XXI

ἐγὼ τῆς συνθέσεως εἰδικὰς μὲν διαφορὰς πολλὰς σφόδρα εἶναι τίθεμαι καὶ οὔτ’ εἰς σύνοψιν ἐλθεῖν δυναμένας οὔτ’ εἰς λογισμὸν ἀκριβῆ, οἴομαί τε ἴδιον ἡμῶν ἑκάστῳ χαρακτῆρα ὥσπερ ὄψεως, οὕτω καὶ συνθέσεως ὀνομάτων παρακολουθεῖν, 15 οὐ φαύλῳ παραδείγματι χρώμενος ζῳγραφίᾳ· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τὰ αὐτὰ φάρμακα λαμβάνοντες ἅπαντες οἱ τὰ ζῷα γράφοντες οὐδὲν ἐοικότα ποιοῦσιν ἀλλήλοις τὰ μίγματα, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἐν ποιητικῇ τε διαλέκτῳ καὶ τῇ ἄλλῃ πάσῃ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὀνόμασι χρώμενοι πάντες οὐχ ὁμοίως αὐτὰ συντίθεμεν. 20 τὰς μέντοι γενικὰς αὐτῆς διαφορὰς ταύτας εἶναι πείθομαι μόνας τὰς τρεῖς, αἷς ὁ βουλόμενος ὀνόματα θήσεται τὰ οἰκεῖα, ἐπειδὰν τούς τε χαρακτῆρας αὐτῶν καὶ τὰς διαφορὰς ἀκούσῃ. ἐγὼ μέντοι κυρίοις ὀνόμασιν οὐκ ἔχων αὐτὰς προσαγορεῦσαι ὡς ἀκατονομάστους μεταφορικοῖς ὀνόμασι καλῶ τὴν μὲν αὐστηράν, τὴν δὲ γλαφυράν [ἢ ἀνθηράν], τὴν δὲ τρίτην

1 hiatum indicavit Schottius 2 τε om. F 4 κακεῖνα P, MV: καὶ ταῦτα F || διευκρινήσω V || τοῖς FM: om. PV 5 μὲν F: om. PMV 7 λόγῳ om. PV 9 ἢ om. P 11 δὲ ἀπὸ MV: δὲ κατὰ P 12 εἰδικὰς F (E): ἰδικὰς PMV || διαφορὰς πολλὰς F: πολλὰς διαφορὰς PMV 13 εἰς συλλογισμὸν F 14 ἴδιον ἡμῶν ἑκάστῳ χαρακτῆρα] ἰδιώματα ἑκάστῳ χαρακτῆρι F 16 φαύλω F: φαύλως PMV || ζωγραφία F: ζωγραφιαίω PM 19 πάσῃ Us.: ἁπάση libri 20 ἅπαντες F 22 μόνας EF: om. PMV 25 ἀκατονομάστοις PV 26 ἢ ἀνθηράν om. P

3. As the sentence stands, the infinitives μνησθῆναι, παρασχεῖν and διευκρινῆσαι are without regular government. βουλόμενος may be inserted after μνησθῆναι, or (as Usener prefers to think) something like ἀναγκαῖον γὰρ ἡγοῦμαι πρῶτον μὲν παραστῆσαι may be supposed to have fallen out between παύσομαι and τίνες.

7. Dionysius’ practice of variety in his own style is shown by his use of ἐμφερῆ here, as compared with ὁμοίαν in l. 6.

12. This and the following chapters should be compared carefully with de Demosth. cc. 36 ff.

21. For Greek views as to types of style in general (not simply ἁρμονίαι) reference may be made to Demetr. pp. 28 ff.

24. At this point in the Epitome, the Darmstadt codex has (in the margin) ὁ δὲ Πλούταρχος τὸ μὲν τῆς συνθέσεως ἁδρόν, τὸ δὲ ἰσχνόν, τὸ δὲ μέσον καλεῖ.

26. =ἢ ἀνθηράν=: cp. =232= 25 (where P again omits the second epithet) and =248= 9 (with critical note).

[Page 209]

are the different styles of composition and what the usual distinguishing mark of each is. I will include some mention of those who have been eminent in them, and will also add examples from each author. When the treatment of these points is completed, I must proceed to dispose of certain difficulties very generally felt: what it can be that makes prose appear like a poem though retaining the form of prose, and verse like prose though maintaining the loftiness of poetry; for almost all the best writers of prose or poetry have these excellences in their style. I must do my best, then, to set forth my views on these matters also. I will begin with the first.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXI. THREE MODES, OR STYLES, OF COMPOSITION

I assert without any hesitation that there are many specific differences of composition, and that they cannot be brought into a comprehensive view or within a precise enumeration; I think too that, as in personal appearance, so also in literary composition, each of us has an individual character. I find not a bad illustration in painting. As in that art all painters from life take the same pigments but mix them in the most diverse ways, so in poetry and in prose, though we all use the same words, we do not put them together in the same manner. I hold, however, that the essentially different varieties of composition are the three following only, to which any one who likes may assign the appropriate names, when he has heard their characteristics and their differences. For my own part, since I cannot find recognized names for them, inasmuch as none exist, I call them by metaphorical terms—the first austere, the second smooth (or florid), the third

[Page 210]

εὔκρατον· ἣν ὅπως ποτὲ γίνεσθαι φαίην ἄν, ἔγωγε ἀπορῶ, καὶ “δίχα μοι νόος ἀτρέκειαν εἰπεῖν,” εἴτε κατὰ στέρησιν τῶν ἄκρων ἑκατέρας εἴτε κατὰ μῖξιν· οὐ γὰρ ῥᾴδιον εἰκάσαι τὸ σαφές. μή ποτ’ οὖν κρεῖττον ᾖ λέγειν, ὅτι κατὰ τὴν ἄνεσίν τε καὶ τὴν ἐπίτασιν τῶν ἐσχάτων ὅρων οἱ διὰ 5 μέσου γίνονται πολλοὶ πάνυ ὄντες· οὐ γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐν μουσικῇ τὸ ἴσον ἀπέχει τῆς νήτης καὶ τῆς ὑπάτης ἡ μέση, τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ἐν λόγοις ὁ μέσος χαρακτὴρ ἑκατέρου τῶν ἄκρων ἴσον ἀφέστηκεν, ἀλλ’ ἔστι τῶν ἐν πλάτει θεωρουμένων ὡς ἀγέλη τε καὶ σωρὸς καὶ ἄλλα πολλά. ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐχ οὗτος 10 ὁ καιρὸς ἁρμόττων τῇ θεωρίᾳ ταύτῃ· λεκτέον δ’, ὥσπερ ὑπεθέμην, καὶ περὶ τῶν χαρακτήρων οὐχ ἅπανθ’ ὅσ’ ἂν εἰπεῖν ἔχοιμι (μακρῶν γὰρ ἄν μοι πάνυ δεήσειε λόγων), ἀλλ’ αὐτὰ τὰ φανερώτατα.

XXII

τῆς μὲν οὖν αὐστηρᾶς ἁρμονίας τοιόσδε ὁ χαρακτήρ· 15 ἐρείδεσθαι βούλεται τὰ ὀνόματα ἀσφαλῶς καὶ στάσεις λαμβάνειν ἰσχυράς, ὥστ’ ἐκ περιφανείας ἕκαστον ὄνομα ὁρᾶσθαι, ἀπέχειν τε ἀπ’ ἀλλήλων τὰ μόρια διαστάσεις ἀξιολόγους αἰσθητοῖς χρόνοις διειργόμενα· τραχείαις τε χρῆσθαι πολλαχῇ καὶ ἀντιτύποις ταῖς συμβολαῖς οὐδὲν αὐτῇ διαφέρει, οἷαι 20 γίνονται τῶν λογάδην συντιθεμένων ἐν οἰκοδομίαις λίθων αἱ μὴ εὐγώνιοι καὶ μὴ συνεξεσμέναι βάσεις, ἀργαὶ δέ τινες καὶ

1 εὔκρατον EF: κοινὴν PMV 2 κατὰ E: κατὰ τὴν FPMV 3 μίξιν F 4 ἦι P: ἦν F || κατὰ τὴν FPMV: κατὰ E 5 τε καὶ τὴν PMV: τε καὶ F: καὶ E 6 ἐν om. P 7 νήτης F: νεάτης PMV 8 χαρακτὴρ om. PV 9 ἴσως F 11 ὥσπερ F: ὡς PMV 12 καὶ F: om. PMV || ὅσα εἰπεῖν codd.: ἂν ins. Schaeferus 13 ἄν μοι F: ἂν οἶμαι PMV || δεήσειε F: δεήσει P: δεήσειν MV 17 περιφερίας F 18 διατάσεις F 20 οἷαι F: οἳ P: οἷον MV 21 αἱ μη F: αἱ μὴτε P, MV 22 καὶ μὴ F: μὴδε P || ἀργαὶ δὲ] γὰρ αἷδε F

1. Here (and in =246= 11) it is open to question whether κοινήν does not fit the context better than εὔκρατον.

2. The passage of Pindar is quoted in Cic. Ep. ad Att. xiii. 38 “nunc me iuva, mi Attice, consilio, ‘πότερον δίκᾳ τεῖχος ὕψιον,’ id est utrum aperte hominem asperner et respuam, ‘ἢ σκολιαῖς ἀπάταις.’ ut enim Pindaro sic ‘δίχα μοι νόος ἀτρέκειαν εἰπεῖν.’ omnino moribus meis illud aptius, sed hoc fortasse temporibus.”

3. =κατὰ μῖξιν=: sc. τῶν ἄκρων. —Cp. de Demosth. c. 36 οἱ δὲ συνθέντες ἀφ’ ἑκατέρας τὰ χρησιμώτατα τὴν μικτὴν καὶ μέσην ἐζήλωσαν ἀγωγήν.

4. =μή ποτ’ ... ᾖ=: a favourite Platonic usage, e.g. Gorgias 462 E μὴ ἀγροικότερον ᾖ τὸ ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, Apol. 39 A ἀλλὰ μὴ οὐ τοῦτ’ ᾖ χαλεπόν, ὦ ἄνδρες, θάνατον ἐκφυγεῖν, ἀλλὰ πολὺ χαλεπώτερον πονηρίαν.

5. The intermediate, or eclectic, styles are numerous and differ greatly according as they relax or strain the extreme, or pronounced, styles: cp. de Demosth. c. 37 init.

8. A point worth considering is how far this may seem to make for or against the view that the Dionysian doctrine of styles is Peripatetic in origin, being derived from Theophrastus.

10. =σωρός=: cp. σωρείτης (Lat. acervalis, Cic. de Div. ii. 4. 11), in the sense which it bears in Hor. Ep. ii. 1. 45-47 and Cic. Academ. ii. 16. 49.

15. Batteux (p. 249) would illustrate the austere style from Rousseau’s Ode i. 2 (tirée du Psaume xviii.), “Les cieux instruisent la terre | À révérer leur auteur; | Tout ce que leur globe enserre | Célèbre un Dieu créateur,” etc.—With c. 22 of the C.V. should be compared, throughout, cc. 38, 39 of the de Demosth.

18. =ἀπέχειν τε= κτλ.: i.e. it (the austere style) aims at dividing its clauses from one another by appreciable pauses.

[Page 211]

harmoniously blended. How I am to say the third is formed I am at a loss to know—“my mind is too divided to utter truth”[173]: I cannot see whether it is formed by eliminating the two extremes or by fusing them—it is not easy to hit on any clear answer. Perhaps, then, it is better to say that it is by relaxation and tension of the extremes that the means, which are very numerous, arise. The case is not as in music, where the middle note is equally removed from the lowest and the highest. The middle style in writing does not in the same way stand at an equal distance from each of the two extremes; “middle” is here a vague general term, like “herd,” “heap,” and many others. But the present is not the right time for the investigation of this particular point. I must say what I undertook to say with regard to the several styles—not all that I could (I should need a very long treatise to do that), but just the most salient points.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

XXII. AUSTERE COMPOSITION

The characteristic feature of the austere arrangement is this:—It requires that the words should be like columns firmly planted and placed in strong positions, so that each word should be seen on every side, and that the parts should be at appreciable distances from one another, being separated by perceptible intervals. It does not in the least shrink from using frequently harsh sound-clashings which jar on the ear; like blocks of building stone that are laid together unworked, blocks that are not square and smooth, but preserve their natural roughness and irregularity.

[Page 212]

αὐτοσχέδιοι· μεγάλοις τε καὶ διαβεβηκόσιν εἰς πλάτος ὀνόμασιν ὡς τὰ πολλὰ μηκύνεσθαι φιλεῖ· τὸ γὰρ εἰς βραχείας συλλαβὰς συνάγεσθαι πολέμιον αὐτῇ, πλὴν εἴ ποτε ἀνάγκη βιάζοιτο.

ἐν μὲν δὴ τοῖς ὀνόμασι ταῦτα πειρᾶται διώκειν καὶ τούτων γλίχεται· ἐν δὲ τοῖς κώλοις ταῦτά τε ὁμοίως ἐπιτηδεύει 5 καὶ τοὺς ῥυθμοὺς τοὺς ἀξιωματικοὺς καὶ μεγαλοπρεπεῖς, καὶ οὔτε πάρισα βούλεται τὰ κῶλα ἀλλήλοις εἶναι οὔτε παρόμοια οὔτε ἀναγκαίᾳ δουλεύοντα ἀκολουθίᾳ, ἀλλ’ εὐγενῆ καὶ λαμπρὰ καὶ ἐλεύθερα, φύσει τ’ ἐοικέναι μᾶλλον αὐτὰ βούλεται ἢ τέχνῃ, καὶ κατὰ πάθος λέγεσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ κατ’ 10 ἦθος. περιόδους δὲ συντιθέναι συναπαρτιζούσας ἑαυταῖς τὸν νοῦν τὰ πολλὰ μὲν οὐδὲ βούλεται· εἰ δέ ποτ’ αὐτομάτως ἐπὶ τοῦτο κατενεχθείη, τὸ ἀνεπιτήδευτον ἐμφαίνειν θέλει καὶ ἀφελές, οὔτε προσθήκαις τισὶν ὀνομάτων, ἵνα ὁ κύκλος ἐκπληρωθῇ, μηδὲν ὠφελούσαις τὸν νοῦν χρωμένη, οὔτε ὅπως αἱ 15 βάσεις αὐτῶν γένοιντο θεατρικαί τινες ἢ γλαφυραί, σπουδὴν ἔχουσα, οὐδ’ ἵνα τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ λέγοντος ὦσιν αὐτάρκεις συμμετρουμένη μὰ Δία, οὐδ’ ἄλλην τινὰ [πραγματείαν] τοιαύτην ἔχουσα ἐπιτήδευσιν οὐδεμίαν. ἔτι τῆς τοιαύτης ἐστὶν ἁρμονίας καὶ ταῦτα ἴδια· ἀγχίστροφός ἐστι περὶ τὰς πτώσεις, 20 ποικίλη περὶ τοὺς σχηματισμούς, ὀλιγοσύνδεσμος, ἄναρθρος, ἐν πολλοῖς ὑπεροπτικὴ τῆς ἀκολουθίας, ἥκιστ’ ἀνθηρά, μεγαλόφρων, αὐθέκαστος, ἀκόμψευτος, τὸν ἀρχαϊσμὸν καὶ τὸν πίνον ἔχουσα κάλλος.

ταύτης δὲ τῆς ἁρμονίας πολλοὶ μὲν ἐγένοντο ζηλωταὶ κατά 25

1 εἰς F: ἐκ PMV 2 συλλαβὰς F: συλλαβῆς PMV 3 ποτε καὶ ἡ ἀνάγκη F 5 ὁμοίως Us.: ὁμοίως ἢ οὐχ ἧττον P: οὐχ ἧττον ὁμοίως F: οὐχ ἧττον MV 6 καὶ (alt.) EF: καὶ τοὺς PMV 7 καὶ οὔτε EF: ἐκλέγεται καὶ οὔτε PMV || εἶναι om. P 8 παρ’ ὅμοια F || ἀναγκαίαι P, M: ἀνάγκηι F, E: ἀναγκαῖα V || ἀκολουθίαι ἀλλ’ P, MV: ἀκόλουθα δὲ καὶ EF 9 λαμπρὰ EF: ἁπλᾶ PMV 10 ἡ τέχνη F || λέγεται EF 11 συναπαρτιζούσας E: συναπαρτιζούσαις F: συναρτιζούσας PM: συναρμοζούσας V || ἑαυταῖς EF (coniecerat Uptonus): om. PMV 12 οὐδὲ EF: οὔτε PMV 17 ἔχουσα Sylburgius: ἔχουσαι libri || τοῦ δέοντος P 18 συμμετρουμένη Schaeferus: συμμετρούμεναι libri || πραγματείαν secl. Usenerus 19 ἔχουσα P: ἔχουσαν FM: om. V || ἐπίτηδ’ οὐδεμι(αν) P: ἐπιτηδεύει οὐδὲ FMV || ἔτι Uptonus: ἐπὶ libri || ἐστὶν F: om. PMV 20 καὶ FP: κατὰ MV || ἴδια] δὲ MV || ἀγχίστροφός PM: ἀντίρροπός F 21 ἄναρθρος] ἀναίσθιος F 22 ὑπεροπτικὴ] ὑποδεκτικὴ F 23 ἀκόμψευστον F || τὸν EF: τὸ PMV 24 πῖνον libri || ἔχοντα F || κάλλος om. F 25 δὲ om. EF

8. Perhaps ἀνάγκῃ δουλεύοντα, ἀνακόλουθα δὲ καί: with ἐπὶ (‘in the case of’) retained in l. 19.

11. The meaning is that the austere style does not seek for periods containing a complete thought, and that, if accidentally it stumbles into them, it wishes to emphasize (by means of careful abstention from all artificial means of rounding off the sentence) the absence of premeditation.—With regard to Upton’s conjecture ἑαυταῖς it should be noticed that this is only one of many instances in which his acuteness has since been confirmed by manuscript authority.

18. =μὰ Δία=: cp. (for the order) νὴ Δία =120= 9. μά is here used because of the preceding negatives.

22. =ἐν πολλοῖς ὑπεροπτική= κτλ.: in other words, such a style delights in anacolutha.

19-24. It is to be noticed, in this and other sentences, that Dionysius often so writes as to reflect the character of the style he is for the moment describing.—Baudat (p. 58) illustrates the style in question by quotations from Malherbe and Boileau, and adds: “Chacun connaît ces vers du Cor d’Alf. de Vigny:

Roncevaux! Roncevaux! dans ta sombre vallée L’ombre du grand Roland n’est donc pas consolée!

Le son on y revient six fois, le son an trois fois, le son au deux fois; ils sont tous trois sourds et la rime en ée seule est sonore. La succession de ces sons produit une harmonie dure, qui a quelque chose de voilé et de funèbre; on croit entendre le grondement de l’orage.”

[Page 213]

It is prone for the most part to expansion by means of great spacious words. It objects to being confined to short syllables, except under occasional stress of necessity.

In respect of the words, then, these are the aims which it strives to attain, and to these it adheres. In its clauses it pursues not only these objects but also impressive and stately rhythms, and tries to make its clauses not parallel in structure or sound, nor slaves to a rigid sequence, but noble, brilliant, free. It wishes them to suggest nature rather than art, and to stir emotion rather than to reflect character. And as to periods, it does not, as a rule, even attempt to compose them in such a way that the sense of each is complete in itself: if it ever drifts into this accidentally, it seeks to emphasize its own unstudied and simple character, neither using any supplementary words which in no way aid the sense, merely in order that the period may be fully rounded off, nor being anxious that the periods should move smoothly or showily, nor nicely calculating them so as to be just sufficient (if you please) for the speaker’s breath, nor taking pains about any other such trifles. Further, the arrangement in question is marked by flexibility in its use of the cases, variety in the employment of figures, few connectives; it lacks articles, it often disregards natural sequence; it is anything rather than florid, it is aristocratic, plain-spoken, unvarnished; an old-world mellowness constitutes its beauty.

This mode of composition was once zealously practised by

[Page 214]

τε ποίησιν καὶ ἱστορίαν καὶ λόγους πολιτικούς, διαφέροντες δὲ τῶν ἄλλων ἐν μὲν ἐπικῇ ποιήσει ὅ τε Κολοφώνιος Ἀντίμαχος καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς ὁ φυσικός, ἐν δὲ μελοποιίᾳ Πίνδαρος, ἐν τραγῳδίᾳ δ’ Αἰσχύλος, ἐν ἱστορίᾳ δὲ Θουκυδίδης, ἐν δὲ πολιτικοῖς λόγοις Ἀντιφῶν. ἐνταῦθα ἡ μὲν ὑπόθεσις ἀπῄτει 5 πολλὰ παρασχέσθαι τῶν εἰρημένων ἑκάστου παραδείγματα, καὶ ἴσως οὐκ ἀηδὴς ἂν ὁ λόγος ἐγένετο πολλοῖς ὥσπερ ἄνθεσι διαποικιλλόμενος τοῖς ἐαρινοῖς· ἀλλ’ ὑπέρμετρον ἔμελλε φανήσεσθαι τὸ σύνταγμα καὶ σχολικὸν μᾶλλον ἢ παραγγελματικόν· οὐ μὲν δὴ οὐδ’ ἀνεξέλεγκτα παραλιπεῖν τὰ ῥηθέντα ἥρμοττεν, 10 ὡς δὴ φανερὰ καὶ οὐ δεόμενα μαρτυρίας· ἔδει δέ πως τὸ μέτριον ἀμφοῖν λαβεῖν καὶ μήτε πλεονάσαι τοῦ καιροῦ μήτ’ ἐλλιπεῖν τῆς πίστεως. τοῦτο δὴ πειράσομαι ποιῆσαι δείγματα λαβὼν ὀλίγα παρὰ τῶν ἐπιφανεστάτων ἀνδρῶν. ποιητῶν μὲν οὖν Πίνδαρος ἀρκέσει παραληφθείς, συγγραφέων δὲ Θουκυδίδης· 15 κράτιστοι γὰρ οὗτοι ποιηταὶ τῆς αὐστηρᾶς ἁρμονίας. ἀρχέτω δὲ Πίνδαρος, καὶ τούτου διθύραμβός τις οὗ ἐστιν ἡ ἀρχή·

δεῦτ’ ἐν χορόν, Ὀλύμπιοι, ἐπί τε κλυτὰν πέμπετε χάριν, θεοί, πολύβατον οἵ τ’ ἄστεος ὀμφαλὸν θυόεντα 20 ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς Ἀθάναις

1 ποιητικοὺς F 2 ἐπικῇ Sylburgius: ἐπιεικη F: ἐπιεικεῖ PMV: om. E 5 ποιητικοῖς F 8 ἐαρινοῖς] ἀριθμ(οις) P 10 οὐδ’ ἀνεξέλεγκτα P: οὐδ’ ἀνεξέλεκτα M: οὐδ’ ἂν ἐξέλεγκτα F 12 μέτριον PV: μέτρον FM 13 δὴ F 17 τίς οὖν ἐστιν ἀρχῆι P || ἡ ἀρχὴ E: ἀρχὴ FMV 18 δεῦτ’ EFM^2V: ΐδετ’ P, M^1 || ἐν χορὸν EFV: ἐν σχορ(ὸν) P 19 πέμπεται P 20 οἵ τ’] οἳ F || ἄστεως F (ἄστεος praestat idem =222= 14) 21 ἀθήναις libri: sed cf. n. crit. ad =222= 14

2. For =Antimachus of Colophon= cp. de Imitat. ii. 6 Ἀντίμαχος δὲ εὐτονίας [ἐφρόντισεν] καὶ ἀγωνιστικῆς τραχύτητος καὶ τοῦ συνήθους τῆς ἐξαλλαγῆς: Catullus xcv. 20 “at populus tumido gaudeat Antimacho”: Quintil. x. 1. 53 “contra in Antimacho vis et gravitas et minime vulgare eloquendi genus habet laudem. sed quamvis ei secundas fere grammaticorum consensus deferat, et affectibus et iucunditate et dispositione et omnino arte deficitur, ut plane manifesto appareat, quanto sit aliud proximum esse, aliud parem.” Plato’s admiration for his poetry is said to have been great.

3. For =Empedocles= as being a physicist rather than a poet see Aristot. Poet. i. 9 καὶ γὰρ ἂν ἰατρικὸν ἢ φυσικόν τι διὰ τῶν μέτρων ἐκφέρωσιν, οὕτω καλεῖν εἰώθασιν, οὐδὲν δὲ κοινόν ἐστιν Ὁμήρῳ καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλεῖ πλὴν τὸ μέτρον, διὸ τὸν μὲν ποιητὴν δίκαιον καλεῖν, τὸν δὲ φυσιολόγον μᾶλλον ἢ ποιητήν. But on the other side cp. Lucret. i. 731 “carmina quin etiam divini pectoris eius | vociferantur et exponunt praeclara reperta, | ut vix humana videatur stirpe creatus.” The fragments of Empedocles go far to justify Lucretius’ opinion; and the true poetic gifts of Empedocles, as of Lucretius himself, may have been seen in his work as a whole, even more than in its parts.

3, 4. The μεγαλοπρέπεια of =Pindar= is emphasized in the de Imitat. B. vi. 2.—Similarly, ibid., as to =Aeschylus=: ὁ δ’ οὖν Αἰσχύλος πρῶτος ὑψηλός τε καὶ τῆς μεγαλοπρεπείας ἐχόμενος, κτλ.

5. For other references to =Antiphon= see de Isaeo c. 20, de Thucyd. c. 51, de Demosth. c. 8, Ep. i. ad Amm. c. 2, and C.V. c. 10. Also Thucyd. viii. 68 Ἀντιφῶν ἀνὴρ Ἀθηναίων τῶν καθ’ ἑαυτὸν ἀρετῇ τε οὐδενὸς δεύτερος καὶ κράτιστος ἐνθυμηθῆναι γενόμενος καὶ ἃ γνοίη εἰπεῖν.—For =Thucydides= himself see D.H. passim (especially pp. 30-34, 104 ff., 130 ff.).

17. G. S. Farnell Greek Lyric Poetry p. 417: “The excited nature of the rhythm throughout, and the rapturous enthusiasm with which the approach of spring is described, are eminently characteristic of the dithyramb at its best; and it is easy to understand how such a style, in the hands of inferior poets, degenerated into the florid inanity which characterizes the later dithyrambic poets.”

18. =δεῦτ’ ἐν χορόν=, ‘come ye to the dance.’ “ἐν cum accus. (eight times in Pindar, chiefly in the Aeolic odes) is a relic of the original stage of the language when this preposition had the functions of the Latin in. It is preserved in Boeotian, Thessalian, North-West Greek, Eleian, Arcadian, Cyprian, and perhaps even in the Attic ἔμβραχυ. The accusative use was abandoned on the rise of ἐν-ς (cf. ab-s), which, before a vowel, became εἰς, before a consonant, ἐς” (Weir Smyth Greek Melic Poets p. 359). P’s curious reading ἐν σχορ(ὸν) is to be noticed.

20. =ὀμφαλόν=: the reference is to the Athenian Acropolis, and the passage suggested a fitting motto to Otto Jahn for his Pausaniae Descriptio Arcis Athenarum.

[Page 215]

many authors in poetry, history, and civil oratory; pre-eminently in epic poetry by Antimachus of Colophon and Empedocles the natural philosopher, in lyric poetry by Pindar, in tragedy by Aeschylus, in history by Thucydides, and in civil oratory by Antiphon. At this point the subject would naturally call for the presentation of numerous examples of each author cited, and possibly the discourse would have been rendered not unattractive if bedecked with many such flowers of spring. But then the treatise would probably be felt to be excessively long—more like a course of lectures than a manual. On the other hand, it would not be fitting to leave the statements unsubstantiated, as though they were obvious and not in need of proof. The right thing, no doubt, is after all to take a sort of middle course, neither to exceed all measure, nor yet to fall short of carrying conviction. I will endeavour to do so by selecting a few samples from the most distinguished authors. Among poets it will be enough to cite Pindar, among prose-writers Thucydides; for these are the best writers in the austere style of composition. Let Pindar come first, and from him I take a dithyramb which begins—

Shed o’er our choir, Olympian Dominations, The glory of your grace, O ye who hallow with your visitations The curious-carven place,

[Page 216]

οἰχνεῖτε πανδαίδαλόν τ’ εὐκλέ’ ἀγοράν, ἰοδέτων λάχετε στεφάνων τᾶν τ’ ἐαριδρόπων ἀοιδᾶν· Διόθεν τέ με σὺν ἀγλαΐᾳ ἴδετε πορευθέντ’ ἀοιδᾶν δεύτερον ἐπὶ τὸν κισσοδέταν θεόν, 5 τὸν Βρόμιον ἐριβόαν τε βροτοὶ καλέομεν, γόνον ὑπάτων μὲν πατέρων μέλπομεν γυναικῶν τε Καδμεϊᾶν [ἔμολον]. ἐναργέα τελέων σάματ’ οὐ λανθάνει, φοινικοεάνων ὁπότ’ οἰχθέντος Ὡρᾶν θαλάμου 10 εὔοδμον ἐπάγῃσιν ἔαρ φυτὰ νεκτάρεα· τότε βάλλεται, τότ’ ἐπ’ ἄμβροτον χέρσον ἐραταὶ ἴων φόβαι, ῥόδα τε κόμαισι μίγνυται ἀχεῖ τ’ ὀμφαὶ μελέων σὺν αὐλοῖς, ἀχεῖ τε Σεμέλαν ἑλικάμπυκα χοροί. 15

ταῦθ’ ὅτι μέν ἐστιν ἰσχυρὰ καὶ στιβαρὰ καὶ ἀξιωματικὰ καὶ πολὺ τὸ αὐστηρὸν ἔχει τραχύνει τε ἀλύπως καὶ πικραίνει μετρίως τὰς ἀκοὰς ἀναβέβληταί τε τοῖς χρόνοις καὶ διαβέβηκεν ἐπὶ πολὺ ταῖς ἁρμονίαις καὶ οὐ τὸ θεατρικὸν δὴ τοῦτο καὶ γλαφυρὸν ἐπιδείκνυται κάλλος ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀρχαϊκὸν 20 ἐκεῖνο καὶ αὐστηρόν, ἅπαντες ἂν εὖ οἶδ’ ὅτι μαρτυρήσειαν οἱ

2 ιοδέτ(ων) P, MV: ἰαδέτων E: ὅδ’ ἐγὼν F || λαχετε P, EMV: λάχει F (cp. =224= 4) || τᾶν τ’ ἐαριδρόπων Us.: ἄντε ἀριδρόπων F: τ’ ἀντ’ ἐαριδρέπων P: τάν τε ἀριδρέπτων E: τ’ ἀντ’ ἐπαριδρέπων M: τῶν ἐαριδρέπτων V || ἀοιδάν EFV: λοιβάν PM 3 Διόθεν τέ με] διατεθέντε F 4 πορευθέντα· οἱ δἂν F: πορευθέντες ἀοιδαὶ (ἀοιδαῖς EV) ceteri 5 κισσοδέταν s: κισσοδόνταν deleto ν priore P (κισσοδόταν leg. Us.): κισσοδαη F, EMV 6 τὸν P: ὃν ceteri || βρόμιον ὃν EFMV: βρόμι(ον). τ(ον) P 7 μὲν P: τε EV: μέν τε FM || μέλπε P: μέλπομεν ceteri 8 ἔμολον P: σεμέλαν EV: σεμέλην FM 9 ἐναργέα τελέων Us.: ἐναργεα νεμέω P, E: ἐν ἄλγεα τεμεῶι F: ἐν ἀργέα νεμέα MV || σάματ’ Us.: τεμάντιν F: μάντιν cett. 10 φοινικοεάνων Kock: φοινικοεάων F: φοίνικος ἐανῶν cett. || οἰχθόντες F || ὧραν F: ὥραν cett. || θάλαμοι F 11 εὐόαμον F || ἐπάγοισιν F: ἐπαΐωσιν cett. 12 τότε om. F || ἄμβροτον χέρσον EFV: ἀμβρόταν (αμσβρόταν P) χθόν’ PM 12-13 ἐραταὶ (ἐρατὰς V) ἴων φόβαι ῥόδατε EV: ἐρατέων φοβερόδατε F: ἐρατὰν· ΐον φοβεράτε P, M 13 κόμισι F || μίγνυται PM: μίγνυνται EFV 14 ἀχεῖ τε F: οἰχνεῖ τ’ EPM: οἰχνεῖτε V: ὑμνεῖτε s || ὀμφᾶι F: ὀμφᾶ E: ὀμφα V: ὀμφαῖς PM 15 ἀχεῖ τε Hermannus: οἰχνεῖ τε libri: ὑμνεῖτε s 18 ἀναβέβληται F: ἀνακέκληται PMV 19 ἐπὶ F: ἐπὶ τὸ PMV || καὶ οὐ τὸ Us.: καὶ οὔτε PMV: οὐ τὸ F 21 καὶ FM: καὶ τὸ PV || εὖ F: om. PMV

2. λαχεῖν would be infinitive for imperative, or (rather) infinitive of purpose after a verb of motion (just as Boeckh, in l. 7 infra, reads μελπέμεν).

λοιβᾶν (λοιβάν PM) might be taken to refer to honey, or to ‘drink-offerings of spring-gathered herbs.’

4. =δεύτερον=: “post Iovem patrem secundo loco ad Bacchum filium,” Boeckh. Or the reference may be to a previous visit of Pindar to Athens.

9. ‘The clear-seen tokens of his rites are not unnoticed.’ In other words, the return of spring indicates to the god that his festival is at hand: cp. Aristoph. Nub. 311 (Weir Smyth).

12. =βάλλεται ... ἀχεῖ ... ἀχεῖ=: schema Pindaricum.

15. “Metre: paeonic-logaoedic as Ol. 10, Pyth. 5. Schmidt (Eurythmie 428) regards the metre as logaoedic throughout. The fragment belongs to the ἀπολελυμένα μέλη, that is, it is not divided into strophes,” Weir Smyth.

21. It is convenient to use ‘readers’ occasionally in the translation. But ‘hearers’ (οἱ ἀκούοντες) would more naturally be used by a Greek: just as λόγους (=218= 1) is strictly ‘discourse’ rather than ‘literature.’

[Page 217]

The heart of Athens, steaming with oblations, Wide-thronged with many a face. Come, take your due of garlands violet-woven, Of songs that burst forth when the buds are cloven.

Look on me—linked with music’s heaven-born glamour Again have I drawn nigh The Ivy-wreathed, on earth named Lord of Clamour, Of the soul-thrilling cry. We hymn the Babe that of the Maid Kadmeian Sprang to the Sire throned in the empyrean.

By surest tokens is he manifested:— What time the bridal bowers Of Earth and Sun are by their crimson-vested Warders flung wide, the Hours. Then Spring, led on by flowers nectar-breathing, O’er Earth the deathless flings Violet and rose their love-locks interwreathing: The voice of song outrings An echo to the flutes; the dance his story Echoes, and circlet-crowned Semele’s glory.[174]

That these lines are vigorous, weighty and dignified, and possess much austerity; that, though rugged, they are not unpleasantly so, and though harsh to the ear, are but so in due measure; that they are slow in their time-movement, and present broad effects of harmony; and that they exhibit not the showy and decorative prettiness of our day, but the austere beauty of a distant past: this will, I am sure, be attested by all readers

[Page 218]

μετρίαν ἔχοντες αἴσθησιν περὶ λόγους. τίνι δὲ κατασκευασθέντα ἐπιτηδεύσει τοιαῦτα γέγονεν (οὐ γὰρ ἄνευ γε τέχνης καὶ λόγου τινός, αὐτοματισμῷ δὲ καὶ τύχῃ χρησάμενα τοῦτον εἴληφε τὸν χαρακτῆρα), ἐγὼ πειράσομαι δεικνύναι.

τὸ πρῶτον αὐτῷ κῶλον ἐκ τεττάρων σύγκειται λέξεως 5 μορίων, ῥήματος καὶ συνδέσμου καὶ δυεῖν προσηγορικῶν· τὸ μὲν οὖν ῥῆμα καὶ ὁ σύνδεσμος συναλοιφῇ κερασθέντα οὐκ ἀηδῆ πεποίηκε τὴν ἁρμονίαν· τὸ δὲ προσηγορικὸν τῷ συνδέσμῳ συντιθέμενον ἀποτετράχυκεν ἀξιολόγως τὴν ἁρμογήν· τὸ γὰρ #ἐν χορὸν# καὶ ἀντίτυπον καὶ οὐκ εὐεπές, τοῦ μὲν συνδέσμου 10 λήγοντος εἰς ἡμίφωνον στοιχεῖον τὸ ν̄, τοῦ δὲ προσηγορικοῦ τὴν ἀρχὴν λαμβάνοντος ἀφ’ ἑνὸς τῶν ἀφώνων τοῦ χ̄· ἀσύμμικτα δὲ τῇ φύσει ταῦτα τὰ στοιχεῖα καὶ ἀκόλλητα· οὐ γὰρ πέφυκε κατὰ μίαν συλλαβὴν τοῦ χ̄ προτάττεσθαι τὸ ν̄, ὥστε οὐδὲ συλλαβῶν ὅρια γινόμενα συνάπτει τὸν ἦχον, ἀλλ’ 15 ἀνάγκη σιωπήν τινα γενέσθαι μέσην ἀμφοῖν τὴν διορίζουσαν ἑκατέρου τῶν γραμμάτων τὰς δυνάμεις. τὸ μὲν δὴ πρῶτον κῶλον οὕτω τραχύνεται τῇ συνθέσει. κῶλα δέ με δέξαι λέγειν οὐχ οἷς Ἀριστοφάνης ἢ τῶν ἄλλων τις μετρικῶν διεκόσμησε τὰς ᾠδάς, ἀλλ’ οἷς ἡ φύσις ἀξιοῖ διαιρεῖν τὸν 20 λόγον καὶ ῥητόρων παῖδες τὰς περιόδους διαιροῦσι.

τὸ δὲ τούτῳ παρακείμενον κῶλον τὸ “#ἐπί τε κλυτὰν πέμπετε χάριν θεοί#” διαβέβηκεν ἀπὸ τοῦ προτέρου διάβασιν ἀξιόλογον καὶ περιείληφεν ἐν αὑτῷ πολλὰς ἁρμονίας ἀντιτύπους. ἄρχει μὲν γὰρ αὐτοῦ στοιχεῖον ἓν τῶν φωνηέντων τὸ 25 ε̄ καὶ παράκειται ἑτέρῳ φωνήεντι τῷ ῑ· εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ ἔληγε

1 λόγους ... τέχνης καὶ om. F || τινὶ δε P 3 δὲ καὶ F: καὶ PMV || χρησάμενον F 4 ἐγὼ PMV: ὃν ἐγὼ F 5 αὐτὸ F 10 καὶ ἀντίτυπον EF: ἀντίτυπόν τε PMV || εὐεπὲς EF: εὐπετὲς PMV 13 τῆι φύσει P, M in marg. F: om. F^1: τῆ ῥύσει V 14 προτάττεσθαι F: προτετάχθε P, MV 15 οὐδὲ PMV: οὔτε F || ὅρια] ὄρια F: δύο (β̄ P) μόρια EPM: δύο τὰ μόρια V || συνάπτει] τύπτει F 16 γενέσθαι EF: γίγνεσθαι P: γίνεσθαι MV || μέσοιν EM 17 ἑκατέρων EF 18 με δέξαι PV: μ’ ἔδοξε FM 19 λέγειν F: νυνὶ λέγειν PMV 22 δὲ τούτω PV: δ’ επι τούτων F, M 23 θεοὶ FM: om. PV || διαβέβηκεν F: βέβηκέ τε PMV 24 αὑτῷ] Sch., αὐτῷ libri 26 ἔληγεν ὁ F: ἔληξεν τὸ P, MV

5. =αὐτῷ=: sc. in this author, or in this passage. Cp. =168= 1, =230= 29.

13. Dionysius’ general object is to show that there is a kind of intentional discord or clash in Pindar’s dithyramb.

17. ‘If each of the letters is uttered with its proper quality,’ viz. if we say ἐν χορόν and not ἐγ χορόν.

19. =Ἀριστοφάνης=: not, of course, the comic poet of Athens, but the grammarian of Byzantium.—From this passage, and from =278= 5 infra, it would appear that Aristophanes divided the text of Pindar and other lyric poets into metrical cola. Such cola are found in the recently-discovered Bacchylides papyrus (written probably in Dionysius’ own century—the first century B.C.), which is also the earliest manuscript in which accents are used.

21. =ῥητόρων παῖδες=: cp. =266= 8 ζωγράφων τε καὶ τορευτῶν παισίν, ‘the generation of painters and sculptors.’ So ζωγράφων παῖδες Plato Legg. 769 B, παῖδες ῥητόρων Luc. Anach. 19. The term will include pupils or apprentices, as well as sons: cp. Plato Rep. v. 467 A ἢ οὐκ ᾔσθησαι τὰ περὶ τὰς τέχνας, οἷον τοὺς τῶν κεραμέων παῖδας, ὡς πολὺν χρόνον διακονοῦντες θεωροῦσι πρὶν ἅπτεσθαι τοῦ κεραμεύειν; Earlier still we have the schools of the bards—the Ὁμηρίδαι or Ὁμήρου παῖδες, like ‘the sons of the prophets’ in the Old Testament. As used by later writers, the periphrasis with παῖδες may be compared with οἱ περί, οἱ ἀμφί (cp. note on =194= 20 supra).

26. “The passages relating to Ὀλύμπιοι ἐπί, and καὶ Ἀθηναίων (Thuc. i. 1), where the word in each case is said to end in ι, have led some persons to suppose that Dionysius pronounced οι and αι as real diphthongs of two vowels ending in ι. We know, however, that at this time αι was a single vowel ε prolonged, and that it was only called a diphthong because written with two letters, just as ea in each, great are often spoken of as a diphthong, in place of a digraph. We know also that ι subscript was not pronounced, and yet Dionysius speaks of ἀγλαΐᾳ as ending with ι. Consequently there is no need to suppose that οι was a real diphthong either. The language is merely orthographical. As to the amount of pause, we find similar combinations within the same Greek word: οι and ε in οἴεται, ν and δ in ἄνδρα, αι and α in Αἴας; while ν before τ is quite common as in ὄντων, and ν before π, κ becomes μ, γ, as in ἔμπορος, ἐγκρατής. Hence much of this criticism may be fanciful. But it is certain that there is a different feeling respecting the collision of letters which end and begin a word, and those which come together in the same word. Thus in French poetry open vowels are entirely forbidden. It is impossible to say ‘cela ira’ in serious French verse. Yet ‘haïr’ is quite admissible. Hence there may be some foundation for the preceding observations, which, however, like many others in the treatise, ride a theory very hard,” A. J. E. [The observations of the critic, himself, must obviously be accepted with considerable reserve: see, for example, the note on =230= 19 infra.]

[Page 219]

whose literary sense has been tolerably developed. I will attempt to show by what method such results have been achieved, since it is not by spontaneous accident, but by some kind of artistic design, that this passage has acquired its characteristic form.

The first clause consists of four words—a verb, a connective, and two appellatives. Now the mingling and the amalgamation of the verb and the connective have produced a rhythm which is not without its charm; but the combination of the connective with the appellative has resulted in a junction of considerable roughness. For the words ἐν χορόν are jarring and uneuphonious, since the connective ends with the semivowel ν, while the appellative begins with one of the mutes, χ. These letters by their very nature cannot be blended and compacted, since it is unnatural for the combination νχ to form part of a single syllable; and so, when ν and χ are the boundaries of adjacent syllables, the voice cannot be continuous, but there must necessarily be a pause separating the letters if each of them is uttered with its proper sound. So, then, the first clause is roughened thus by the arrangement of its words. (You must understand me to mean by “clauses” not those into which Aristophanes or any of the other metrists has arranged the odes, but those into which Nature insists on dividing the discourse and into which the disciples of the rhetoricians divide their periods.)

The next clause to this—ἐπί τε κλυτὰν πέμπετε χάριν θεοί—is separated from the former by a considerable interval and includes within itself many dissonant collocations. It begins with one of the vowels, ε, in close proximity to which is another vowel, ι—the letter which came at the end of the preceding

[Page 220]

τὸ πρὸ αὐτοῦ. οὐ συναλείφεται δὲ οὐδὲ ταῦτ’ ἀλλήλοις, οὐδὲ προτάττεται κατὰ μίαν συλλαβὴν τὸ ῑ τοῦ ε̄· σιωπὴ δέ τις μεταξὺ ἀμφοῖν γίνεται, διερείδουσα τῶν μορίων ἑκάτερον καὶ τὴν βάσιν αὐτοῖς ἀποδιδοῦσα ἀσφαλῆ. ἐν δὲ τῇ κατὰ μέρος συνθέσει τοῦ κώλου τοῖς μὲν #ἐπί τε# συνδέσμοις ἀφ’ ὧν 5 ἄρχεται τὸ κῶλον, εἴτε ἄρα πρόθεσιν αὐτῶν δεῖ τὸ ἡγούμενον καλεῖν, τὸ προσηγορικὸν ἐπικείμενον μόριον τὸ #κλυτὰν# ἀντίτυπον πεποίηκε καὶ τραχεῖαν τὴν σύνθεσιν· κατὰ τί ποτε; ὅτι βούλεται μὲν εἶναι βραχεῖα ἡ πρώτη συλλαβὴ τοῦ #κλυτάν#, μακροτέρα δ’ ἐστὶ τῆς βραχείας ἐξ ἀφώνου τε 10 καὶ ἡμιφώνου καὶ φωνήεντος συνεστῶσα. τὸ δὲ μὴ εἰλικρινῶς αὐτῆς βραχὺ καὶ ἅμα τὸ ἐν τῇ κράσει τῶν γραμμάτων δυσεκφόρητον ἀναβολήν τε ποιεῖ καὶ ἐγκοπὴν τῆς ἁρμονίας. εἰ γοῦν τὸ κ̄ τις ἀφέλοι τῆς συλλαβῆς καὶ ποιήσειεν #ἐπί τε λυτάν#, λυθήσεται καὶ τὸ βραδὺ καὶ τὸ τραχὺ τῆς 15 ἁρμονίας. πάλιν τῷ #κλυτὰν# προσηγορικῷ τὸ #πέμπετε# ῥηματικὸν ἐπικείμενον οὐκ ἔχει συνῳδὸν οὐδ’ εὐκέραστον τὸν ἦχον, ἀλλ’ ἀνάγκη στηριχθῆναι τὸ ν̄ καὶ πιεσθέντος ἱκανῶς τοῦ στόματος τότε ἀκουστὸν γενέσθαι τὸ π̄· οὐ γὰρ ὑποτακτικὸν τῷ ν̄ τὸ π̄. τούτου δ’ αἴτιον ὁ τοῦ στόματος 20 σχηματισμὸς οὔτε κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν τόπον οὔτε τῷ αὐτῷ τρόπῳ τῶν γραμμάτων ἐκφέρων ἑκάτερον· τοῦ μὲν γὰρ ν̄ περὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν γίνεται ὁ ἦχος καὶ τῆς γλώττης ἄκροις τοῖς ὀδοῦσι προσανισταμένης καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος διὰ τῶν ῥωθώνων μεριζομένου, τοῦ δὲ π̄ μύσαντός τε τοῦ στόματος 25

2 προτάττεται] παρ’ οἷς τάττεται F || τις FM: τις ἡ PV 4 ἀσφαλῆι· ἐν δὴ P 5 τοῦ κώλου F: τῶν κώλων PMV || σύνδεσμον F 6 δεῖ] δὴ F 8 κατα τί ποτε· ὅτι F: κατά τι δήποτε PMV 9 μὲν εἶναι] μένειν F 11 καὶ ἡμιφώνου om. P || ἑστῶσα P 13 δυσεκφόρητον F: δυσεκφώνητον E: δυσέκφορον PMV 14 ποιήσει EF 17 τὸν om. EF 18 ἀνάγκηι P 19 τοῦ στόματος τότε E: το̈́ῦτοτε et in margine στομ(ατος) F: τοῦ π̄ τότε M: τότε V: τούτου Ps 20 αἴτιον EF: αἴτιος PMV || στόματος] σχήματος V. 22 ἐκφέρον F || ἑκάτερον F: ἑκάτερον τὸ π̄ καὶ τὸ ν̄ PMV || νῦ FM: om. PV 23 γίνεται F: τε γίνεται PMV || γλώττης F: γλώσσης PMV 24 προἀνισταμένης F, M 25 τε τοῦ στόματος om. F

15. =λυτάν=, =λυθήσεται=: possibly an intentional play on words.

18. Clearly Dionysius does not believe that, in this passage, final ν before initial π was pronounced as μ—κλυτάν as κλυτάμ: though final ν sometimes appears under this form in inscriptions, as also does medial ν in such compounds as συμπόσιον. The literal meaning of the passage seems to be, ‘The ν must be firmly planted [pronounced distinctly, dwelt upon], and κλυτὰν πέμπετε cannot be run together in one word, as κλυταμπέμπετε or the like might be.’

[Page 221]

clause. These letters, again, do not coalesce with one another, nor can ι stand before ε in the same syllable. There is a certain silence between the two letters, which thrusts apart the two elements and gives each a firm position. In the detailed arrangement of the clause the postposition of the appellative part of speech κλυτάν to the connectives ἐπί τε with which the phrase opens (though perhaps the first of these connectives should rather be called a preposition) has made the composition dissonant and harsh. For what reason? Because the first syllable of κλυτάν is ostensibly short, but actually longer than the ordinary short, since it is composed of a mute, a semi-vowel, and a vowel. It is the want of unalloyed brevity in it, combined with the difficulty of pronunciation involved in the combination of the letters, that causes retardation and interruption in the harmony. At all events, if you were to remove the κ from the syllable and to make it ἐπί τε λυτάν, there would be an end to both the slowness and the roughness of the arrangement. Further: the verbal form πέμπετε, subjoined to the appellative κλυτάν, does not produce a harmonious or well-tempered sound. The ν must be firmly planted and the π be heard only when the lips have been quite pressed together, for the π cannot be tacked on to the ν. The reason of this is the configuration of the mouth, which does not produce the two letters either at the same spot or in the same way. ν is sounded on the arch of the palate, with the tongue rising towards the edge of the teeth and with the breath passing in separate currents through the nostrils; π with the lips closed, the tongue

[Page 222]

καὶ οὐδὲν τῆς γλώττης συνεργούσης τοῦ τε πνεύματος κατὰ τὴν ἄνοιξιν τῶν χειλῶν τὸν ψόφον λαμβάνοντος ἀθροῦν, ὡς καὶ πρότερον εἴρηταί μοι· ἐν δὲ τῷ μεταλαμβάνειν τὸ στόμα σχηματισμὸν ἕτερον ἐξ ἑτέρου μήτε συγγενῆ μήτε παρόμοιον ἐμπεριλαμβάνεταί τις χρόνος, ἐν ᾧ διίσταται τὸ λεῖόν τε 5 καὶ εὐεπὲς τῆς ἁρμονίας. καὶ ἅμα οὐδ’ ἡ προηγουμένη τοῦ #πέμπετε# συλλαβὴ μαλακὸν ἔχει τὸν ἦχον ἀλλ’ ὑποτραχύνει τὴν ἀκοὴν ἀρχομένη τε ἐξ ἀφώνου καὶ λήγουσα εἰς ἡμίφωνον. τῷ τε #χάριν# τὸ #θεοὶ# παρακείμενον ἀνακόπτει τὸν ἦχον καὶ ποιεῖ διερεισμὸν ἀξιόλογον τῶν μορίων, τοῦ μὲν εἰς ἡμίφωνον 10 λήγοντος τὸ ν̄, τοῦ δὲ ἄφωνον ἔχοντος ἡγούμενον τὸ θ̄· οὐδενὸς δὲ πέφυκε προτάττεσθαι τῶν ἀφώνων τὰ ἡμίφωνα.

τούτοις ἐπιφέρεται τρίτον κῶλον τουτί “#πολύβατον οἵ τ’ ἄστεος ὀμφαλὸν θυόεντα ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς Ἀθάναις οἰχνεῖτε#.” ἐνταῦθα τῷ τε #ὀμφαλὸν# εἰς τὸ ν̄ λήγοντι τὸ 15 #θυόεντα# παρακείμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ θ̄ ἀρχόμενον ὁμοίαν ἀποδίδωσιν ἀντιτυπίαν τῇ πρότερον, καὶ τῷ #θυόεντα# εἰς φωνῆεν τὸ ᾱ λήγοντι ζευγνύμενον τὸ “#ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς#” ἀπὸ φωνήεντος τοῦ ε̄ λαμβάνον τὴν ἀρχὴν διέσπακε τῷ μεταξὺ χρόνῳ τὸν ἦχον οὐκ ὄντι ὀλίγῳ. τούτοις ἐκεῖνα ἕπεται 20 “#πανδαίδαλόν τ’ εὐκλέ’ ἀγοράν#”· τραχεῖα κἀνταῦθα καὶ ἀντίτυπος ἡ συζυγία· ἡμιφώνῳ γὰρ ἄφωνον συνάπτεται τῷ ν̄ τὸ τ̄ καὶ διαβέβηκεν ἀξιόλογον διάβασιν ὁ μεταξὺ τοῦ τε προσηγορικοῦ τοῦ #πανδαίδαλον# καὶ τῆς συναλοιφῆς τῆς συναπτομένης αὐτῷ χρόνος· μακραὶ μὲν γὰρ ἀμφότεραι, 25 μείζων δὲ οὐκ ὀλίγῳ τῆς μετρίας ἡ συναλείφουσα τὰ δύο συλλαβή, ἐξ ἀφώνου τε καὶ δυεῖν συνεστῶσα φωνηέντων· εἰ

1 γλώττης F: γλώσσης PMV || συνεργούσης] μεριζομένη συνεργούσης F: ἐνεργούσης PV 2 ὡς F: ὡς δὴ PMV 3 δὲ F: δὴ PMV || τὸ στόμα PMV: τὸν F 5 εν ὧι διίσταται P: δι’ οὗ συνίσταται FMV || λεῖόν τε F: λεῖον PMV 6 εὐεπὲς F: εὐπετὲς PV: εὐτελὲς M 7 μακρὸν P 8 ἀρχομένη F: ἄρχουσά PMV 10 ποιεῖ F: ποιεῖ τὸν PMV || διερεισμὸν Us.: ἐρισμὸν P: διορισμὸν FMV 11 τὸ ν̄ Sylburgius: τοῦ ν̄ (νῦ F) FMV: om. P || θῆτα F 14 ἀθάναις F: ἀθήναις PMV 16 θῆτα F 18 ζευγνύμενον F: ἐπεζευγμένον PMV 19 λαμβάνοντος F 20 ἦχον] χρόνον F 21 τραχεῖα κἀνταῦθα om. F 22 συνάπτεται F: συνάπτεται γράμμα PMV 23 διάβασιν FM^1: διάστασιν PVM^2 25 συναπτομένης F: ἐπισυναπτομένης PMV || χρόνος F: om. PMV || μακρὰ et ἀμφότερα F || μὲν γὰρ] μὲν P: γὰρ F: γάρ εἰσιν MV 26 μετρίας F: συμμετρίας PMV || τὰ δύο συλλαβή Us.: τὰς δύο (β̄ P) συλλαβὰς libri 27 δυεῖν FP: δυοῖν MV

2. =ὡς καὶ πρότερον εἴρηταί μοι=: the passages which seem to be meant (=144= 22 and =148= 15) do not exactly tally with the present one.

12. We must supply κατὰ μίαν συλλαβήν, which words are found in =218= 14 and =220= 2 (cp. =230= 4): otherwise we are confronted with such examples to the contrary as ἔνθα and (in this immediate context) μεταλαμβάνειν, ἀρχόμενον, etc.

21. =τ’ εὐ-= are treated as one syllable. So in =218= 22, Dionysius probably intends us to divide as follows:

ᴗ ᴗ – ἐπιτε|κλυτάν,

etc.

23. In Dionysius’ own words, it might be said that the interval between the article ὁ and the noun χρόνος with which it agrees is quite an ‘appreciable gap.’ Cp. Introduction, p. 12 supra.

24. =τῆς συναλοιφῆς=: the fused or blended syllable—τ’ εὐ-.

[Page 223]

doing none of the work, and the breath forming a concentrated noise when the lips are opened, as I have said before. While the mouth is taking one after another shapes that are neither akin nor alike, some time is consumed, during which the smoothness and euphony of the arrangement is interrupted. Moreover, the first syllable of πέμπετε has not a soft sound either, but is rather rough to the ear, as it begins with a mute and ends with a semi-vowel. θεοί coming next to χάριν pulls the sound up short and makes an appreciable interval between the words, the one ending with the semi-vowel ν, the other beginning with the mute θ. And it is unnatural for a semi-vowel to stand before any mute.

Next follows this third clause, πολύβατον οἵ τ’ ἄστεος ὀμφαλὸν θυόεντα ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς Ἀθάναις οἰχνεῖτε. Here θυόεντα which begins with θ, being placed next to ὀμφαλὸν which ends in ν, produces a dissonance similar to that previously mentioned; and ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς which opens with the vowel ε, being linked to θυόεντα which ends with the vowel α, interrupts the voice by the considerable interval of time there is between them. Following these come the words πανδαίδαλόν τ’ εὐκλέ’ ἀγοράν. Here, too, the combination is rough and dissonant. For the mute τ is joined to the semi-vowel ν; and the interval between the appellative πανδαίδαλον and the elided syllable which follows it is quite an appreciable gap; for both syllables are long, but the syllable which unites the two letters ε and υ, consisting as it does of a mute and two vowels, is considerably longer than the average. At any rate, if the τ in the syllable

[Page 224]

γοῦν τις αὐτῆς ἀφέλοι τὸ τ̄ καὶ ποιήσειε #πανδαίδαλον εὐκλέ’ ἀγοράν#, εἰς τὸ δίκαιον ἐλθοῦσα μέτρον εὐεπεστέραν ποιήσει τὴν ἁρμονίαν.

ὅμοια τούτοις ἐστὶ κἀκεῖνα “#ἰοδέτων λάχετε στεφάνων#.” παράκειται γὰρ ἡμίφωνα δύο ἀλλήλοις τὸ ν̄ καὶ τὸ λ̄, φυσικὴν 5 οὐκ ἔχοντα συζυγίαν τῷ μήτε κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοὺς <τόπους μήτε καθ’> ὁμοίους σχηματισμοὺς τοῦ στόματος ἐκφέρεσθαι. καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τούτοις λεγόμενα μηκύνεταί τε ταῖς συλλαβαῖς καὶ διέστηκε ταῖς ἁρμονίαις ἐπὶ πολύ “#στεφάνων τᾶν τ’ ἐαριδρόπων#”· μακραὶ γὰρ καὶ δεῦρο συγκρούονται συλλαβαὶ τὸ δίκαιον 10 ὑπεραίρουσαι μέτρον, ἥ τε λήγουσα τοῦ #στεφάνων# μορίου δυσὶ περιλαμβάνουσα ἡμιφώνοις φωνῆεν γράμμα φύσει μακρὸν καὶ ἡ συναπτομένη ταύτῃ τρισὶ μηκυνομένη γράμμασιν ἀφώνῳ καὶ φωνήεντι μακρῶς λεγομένῳ καὶ ἡμιφώνῳ· διερεισμός τε οὖν γέγονε τοῖς μήκεσι τῶν συλλαβῶν, καὶ ἀντιτυπία τῇ παραθέσει 15 τῶν γραμμάτων, οὐκ ἔχοντος τοῦ τ̄ συνῳδὸν τῷ ν̄ τὸν ἦχον, ὃ καὶ πρότερον εἴρηκα. παράκειται δὲ καὶ τῷ #ἀοιδᾶν# εἰς τὸ ν̄ λήγοντι ἀπὸ τοῦ δ̄ ἀρχόμενον ἀφώνου τὸ #Διόθεν# τε καὶ τῷ #σὺν ἀγλαΐᾳ# εἰς τὸ ῑ λήγοντι τὸ #ἴδετε πορευθέντ’ ἀοιδᾶν# ἀρχόμενον ἀπὸ τοῦ ῑ. πολλά τις ἂν εὕροι τοιαῦτα 20 ὅλην τὴν ᾠδὴν σκοπῶν.

ἵνα δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν εἰπεῖν ἐγγένηταί μοι, Πινδάρου μὲν ἅλις ἔστω, Θουκυδίδου δὲ λαμβανέσθω λέξις ἡ ἐκ τοῦ προοιμίου ἥδε·

Θουκυδίδης Ἀθηναῖος ξυνέγραψε τὸν πόλεμον τῶν 25

1 ἀφέλοι Us. (coll. =220= 14): ἀφέλοιτο libri 2 εὐπετεστέραν PM^1V: εὐεπεστέραν M^2: εὐεπεστάτην F 4 ἰωδέτων M: ὃ δ’ ἐγὼν F || λάχετε στεφάνων PMV: λάχει F 5 γὰρ F: om. PMV 6 αὐτοὺς ὁμοίους F: ὁμοίους PMV: τόπους μήτε καθ’ ins. Usenerus 9 τᾶν τ’] τ’ αὖτ’ P: τ’ αὖ M: ἄν τ’ F: τῶν τ’ V || ἐαριδρόπων F: ἔαριδρέπων PM: ἐἀριδρέπτων V 13 ἡ] μὴ F || μηκυνομένη FM^2: μηκυνθεῖσα PM^1V 14 διερισμός M: διορισμός V 17 ὃ F: ὡς PMV || δὲ] τε F || ἀοιδὰν codd.: λοιβὰν s 18 ἀφώνου FM: ἄφωνον PV || διατεθὲν τε F: διόθεν τέ με PMV 19 πορευθέντα· οἱ δε F: πορευθέντες ἀοιδαν (-δὰν M, -δανὶ V) PMV 20 ἀρχόμενον] ἀρχαῖοι μόνον F 22 μοι F: μοι χρόνος PV: μοι χρόνων M 25 τῶν] τὸν P

1. =ποιήσειε ... ποιήσει=: cp. =220= 14, =256= 23.

6. If Usener’s supplement be not accepted, we might read τῷ μηδὲ κατὰ τοὺς ὁμοίους σχηματισμούς, κτλ.

10. =δεῦρο συγκρούονται=, ‘meet here with a clash,’ as it were.

17. =παράκειται= κτλ.: viz. the ν of ἀοιδᾶν comes next to the δ in διόθεν, and the ι at the end of ἀγλαΐᾳ precedes the ι in ἴδετε.—For ν and δ in juxtaposition cp. English and (where the d is often slurred in pronunciation) and, on the other hand, English sound (where the d is not original).

19. The ι at the end of =ἀγλαΐᾳ= seems, therefore, to have been regarded by Dionysius as a separate letter, and not as an ι ἀνεκφώνητον. Perhaps it was sounded in music; cp. the final e in French. In Dionysius’ time it was not uncommon to omit it even in writing: πολλοὶ γὰρ χωρὶς τοῦ ι γράφουσι τὰς δοτικάς, καὶ ἐκβάλλουσι δὲ τὸ ἔθος φυσικὴν αἰτίαν οὐκ ἔχον (Strabo xiv. 1. 50).

22. =ἐγγένηταί μοι=: cp. de Lysia c. 16 ἵνα δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἰδεῶν ἐγγένηταί μοι τὰ προσήκοντα εἰπεῖν, κτλ.

23. Bircovius compares, with the following passage of Thucydides, the opening of Sallust’s Bell. Iug. v. 1: “Bellum scripturus sum, quod populus Romanus cum Iugurtha rege Numidarum gessit, primum quia magnum et atrox variaque victoria fuit, dehinc quia tum primum superbiae nobilitatis obviam itum est; quae contentio divina et humana cuncta permiscuit eoque vecordiae processit ut studiis civilibus bellum atque vastitas Italiae finem faceret.”

24. =τοῦ προοιμίου=: probably the first twenty-three chapters are meant—as far as the word Ἐπίδαμνός ἐστι πόλις κτλ.

25. In the English translation no attempt has been made to reproduce the style of the original Greek. For this purpose the long sentences employed in early English prose-writers are most suitable; e.g. Francis Bacon’s rendering (Considerations touching a War with Spain iii. 516, in Harleian Miscellany v. 84) of Thucyd. i. 23: “The truest cause of this war, though least voiced, I conceive to have been this: that the Athenians being grown great, to the terror of the Lacedemonians, did impose upon them the necessity of a war; but the causes that went abroad in speeches were these,” etc. Thomas Hobbes’ translation of the opening of the History keeps close to the sentence-structure of the original: “Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the war of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians as they warred against each other, beginning to write as soon as the war was on foot; with expectation it should prove a great one, and most worthy the relation of all that had been before it: conjecturing so much, both from this, that they flourished on both sides in all manner of provision; and also because he saw the rest of Greece siding with the one or the other faction, some then presently and some intending so to do,” etc. Hobbes’ version is well known; but the unpublished translation of Francis Hickes [1566-1631], from which the following extract has been taken by the courtesy of the Librarian of Christ Church, Oxford, is also of much interest: “Thucydides the Athenian hath written the warres of the Peloponnesians and Athenians, with all the manner and fashion of their fight, and tooke in hande to put the same in writinge, as soone as ever the said warres weare begone, for a hope he had, that they would be great, and more worthy of memorie, than all the warres of former tyme have been: conjecturinge so much, because he sawe them both so richlie abound with all provisions thereunto belonginge, and all the rest of the Grecian nations, readie to joyne themselves to the one side or the other; some, presentlie upon their fallinge out, and the rest intendinge to do the like. This, no doubt, was the greatest stirre, that ever was amonge the Grecians, consistinge likewise partly of the Barbarians, and to speake in a word, of many and sundrie nations. As for the acts achieved by them before the tyme of this warre, or former matters yet of more antiquitie, it is impossible to finde out any certaintie, because the tyme is so long past, since they weare performed: but, by these conjectures, which upon due examination of former tymes, I believe to be true, I must thinke they weare of no great moment, either for the course of warre, or any other respect. Now it is most probable, that the country which we now call Grece, had not in old tyme any settled inhabitants, but did often change her dwellers, who weare still easie to be removed from their possessions if they weare urged by any greater forces, for when there was as yet no trade of Merchandise amongst men: no free entercourse of traffique one with another, either by land or sea: none that tilled any more ground, than what would serve to sustaine their present lives: none that had any money in this purse nor any that planted the earth with fruits for they knewe not how soone others would come and bereave them of it, their cities beinge all unwalled and bearing the mind, that they should everie where finde enough to serve their turnes for their dailie sustenance, they weare therefore easie to be driven out of any place; and for that cause, did nether strengthen themselves with great cities, nor warlike furniture for defence.”

[Page 225]

be removed and πανδαίδαλον εὐκλέ’ ἀγοράν be read, the syllable, falling into the normal measure, will make the composition more euphonious.

The words ἰοδέτων λάχετε στεφάνων are open to the same criticism as those already mentioned. For here two semi-vowels, ν and λ, come together, although they do not naturally admit of amalgamation owing to the fact that they are not pronounced <at the same regions nor> with the same configurations of the mouth. The words that follow these have their syllables lengthened and are widely divided from one another in arrangement: στεφάνων τᾶν τ’ ἐαριδρόπων. For here also there is a concurrence of long syllables which exceed the normal measure,—the final syllable of the word στεφάνων which embraces between two semi-vowels a vowel naturally long, and the syllable linked with it, which is lengthened by means of three letters, a mute, a vowel pronounced long, and a semi-vowel. Separation is produced by the lengths of the syllables, and dissonance by the juxtaposition of the letters, since the sound of τ does not accord with that of ν, as I have said before. Next to ἀοιδᾶν, which ends in ν, comes Διόθεν τε, which begins with the mute δ, and next to σὺν ἀγλαΐᾳ, which ends in ι, comes ἴδετε πορευθέντ’ ἀοιδᾶν, which begins with ι. Many such features may be found on a critical examination of the whole ode.

But in order to leave myself time for dealing with what remains, no more of Pindar. From Thucydides let us take this passage of the Introduction:—

“Thucydides, an Athenian, composed this history of the war

[Page 226]

Πελοποννησίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων ὡς ἐπολέμησαν πρὸς ἀλλήλους, ἀρξάμενος εὐθὺς καθισταμένου καὶ ἐλπίσας μέγαν τε ἔσεσθαι καὶ ἀξιολογώτατον τῶν προγεγενημένων, τεκμαιρόμενος ὅτι ἀκμάζοντές τε ᾖσαν ἐς αὐτὸν ἀμφότεροι παρασκευῇ τῇ πάσῃ, καὶ τὸ ἄλλο Ἑλληνικὸν ὁρῶν 5 ξυνιστάμενον πρὸς ἑκατέρους, τὸ μὲν εὐθύς, τὸ δὲ καὶ διανοούμενον. κίνησις γὰρ αὕτη μεγίστη δὴ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐγένετο καὶ μέρει τινὶ τῶν βαρβάρων, ὡς δ’ εἰπεῖν καὶ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἀνθρώπων. τὰ γὰρ πρὸ αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ ἔτι παλαιότερα σαφῶς μὲν εὑρεῖν διὰ χρόνου πλῆθος ἀδύνατα 10 ἦν· ἐκ δὲ τεκμηρίων, ὧν ἐπὶ μακρότατον σκοποῦντί μοι πιστεῦσαι ξυμβαίνει, οὐ μεγάλα νομίζω γενέσθαι οὔτε κατὰ τοὺς πολέμους οὔτε ἐς τὰ ἄλλα. φαίνεται γὰρ ἡ νῦν Ἑλλὰς καλουμένη οὐ πάλαι βεβαίως οἰκουμένη, ἀλλὰ μεταναστάσεις τε οὖσαι τὰ πρότερα καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἕκαστοι 15 τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀπολείποντες βιαζόμενοι ὑπό τινων ἀεὶ πλειόνων. τῆς γὰρ ἐμπορίας οὐκ οὔσης οὐδ’ ἐπιμιγνύντες ἀδεῶς ἀλλήλοις οὔτε κατὰ γῆν οὔτε διὰ θαλάσσης, νεμόμενοί τε τὰ ἑαυτῶν ἕκαστοι ὅσον ἀποζῆν καὶ περιουσίαν χρημάτων οὐκ ἔχοντες οὐδὲ γῆν φυτεύοντες, ἄδηλον 20

1 καὶ] τε καὶ P 4 τε om. EF || ἦσαν libri: sed apud Thucydidem lectio potior ᾖσαν [“ᾖσαν F g Schol. Plat. Rep. 449 A Suid. Phot.: ἦσαν cett.”] 6 πρὸς ... διανοούμενον om. P 9 πλεῖστον EF: πλεῖστων sic P: πλείστων MV || καὶ τὰ EFs: καὶ PMV 10 ἐρεῖν P 11 μακρότερον F 13 πολεμίους P || τὰ ἄλλα PMV: τ’ ἄλλα F 16 ἀπολιπόντες F 17 ἐπιμιγνῦντες ἀλλήλοις (om. ἀδεῶς) F 20 οὐδὲ γῆν φυτεύοντες om. F

4. =ᾖσαν=: cp. schol. ad Thucyd. i. 1 ᾖσαν] μετὰ σπουδῆς ἐπορεύοντο.

9. =τά= (before ἔτι) is omitted by the Palatine and the Ambrosian MSS. in de Thucyd. c. 20.

[Page 227]

which the Peloponnesians and the Athenians waged against one another. He began as soon as the war broke out, in the expectation that it would be great and memorable above all previous wars. This he inferred from the fact that both parties were entering upon it at the height of their military power, and from noticing that the rest of the Greek races were ranging themselves on this side or on that, or were intending to do so before long. No commotion ever troubled the Greeks so greatly: it affected also a considerable section of the barbarians, and one may even say the greater part of mankind. Events previous to this, and events still more remote, could not be clearly ascertained owing to lapse of time. But from such evidence as I find I can trust however far back I go, I conclude that they were not of great importance either from a military or from any other point of view. It is clear that the country now called Hellas was not securely settled in ancient times, but that there were migrations in former days, various peoples without hesitation leaving their own land when hard pressed by superior numbers of successive invaders. Commerce did not exist, nor did men mix freely with one another on land or by sea. Each tribe aimed at getting a bare living out of the lands it occupied. They had no reserve of capital, nor did they plant the ground with fruit-trees, since it was uncertain, especially as they had

[Page 228]

ὂν ὁπότε τις ἐπελθὼν καὶ ἀτειχίστων ἅμα ὄντων ἄλλος ἀφαιρήσεται, τῆς τε καθ’ ἡμέραν ἀναγκαίου τροφῆς πανταχοῦ ἂν ἡγούμενοι ἐπικρατεῖν οὐ χαλεπῶς ἀνίσταντο.

αὕτη ἡ λέξις ὅτι μὲν οὐκ ἔχει λείας οὐδὲ συνεξεσμένας ἀκριβῶς τὰς ἁρμονίας οὐδ’ ἔστιν εὐεπὴς καὶ μαλακὴ καὶ 5 λεληθότως ὀλισθάνουσα διὰ τῆς ἀκοῆς ἀλλὰ πολὺ τὸ ἀντίτυπον καὶ τραχὺ καὶ στρυφνὸν ἐμφαίνει, καὶ ὅτι πανηγυρικῆς μὲν ἢ θεατρικῆς οὐδὲ κατὰ μικρὸν ἐφάπτεται χάριτος, ἀρχαϊκὸν δέ τι καὶ αὔθαδες ἐπιδείκνυται κάλλος, ὡς πρὸς εἰδότας ὁμοίως τοὺς εὐπαιδεύτους ἅπαντας οὐδὲν δέομαι λέγειν, ἄλλως 10 τε καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦτό γε τοῦ συγγραφέως ὁμολογήσαντος, ὅτι εἰς μὲν ἀκρόασιν ἧττον ἐπιτερπὴς ἡ γραφή ἐστι, “#κτῆμα δ’ εἰσαεὶ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀγώνισμα εἰς τὸ παραυτίκα ἀκούειν σύγκειται#.” τίνα δ’ ἐστὶ τὰ θεωρήματα οἷς χρησάμενος ὁ ἀνὴρ οὕτως ἀπηνῆ καὶ αὐστηρὰν πεποίηκε τὴν ἁρμονίαν, δι’ 15 ὀλίγων σοι σημανῶ· ῥᾴδιον γὰρ ἔσται μικρὰ μεγάλων εἶναι δείγματα τοῖς μὴ χαλεπῶς ἐπὶ τὴν τοῦ ὁμοίου τε καὶ ἀκολούθου μεταβαίνουσιν θεωρίαν.

3 ἀνίστατο F: ἀπανίσταντο Thucyd. 4 αὕτη EF: αὕτη πάλιν PMV || συνεζευγμένας EV 5 καὶ μαλακὴ EFM: om. PV 6 ὀλισθάνουσα P: ὀλισθαίνουσα FMV 7 καὶ τραχὺ om. EF || στριφνὸν F 11 αὐτοῦ τοῦτό γε PMV: αὐτοῦ τε F: αὐτοῦ E 14 ὁ ἀνὴρ EF: ἀνὴρ PMV 15 ἀπηνῆ M: ἀπεινῆ F: εὐπινῆ PV || διαλόγων F^1 16 σοι σημανῶ PM: σημανῶ EFV || ῥᾴδιον Us.: ῥαιδία F: ῥαῖον P, MV || ἐσται F: ἐστι PMV 18 μεταβαίνουσαι F: μεταβαίνουσι MV

3. For estimates of Thucydides’ style in general cp. not only this passage of Dionysius but also D.H. pp. 131-59, 175-82 (Text and Translation of Ep. ii. ad Amm., together with notes and some references to Marcellinus); Croiset Thucydide: Livres i.-ii. pp. 102 ff. and Histoire de la littérature grecque iv. pp. 155 ff.; Girard Essai sur Thucydide pp. 210-19; Blass Att. Bereds. i. pp. 203-44; Norden Kunstprosa i. pp. 96-101; Jebb in Hellenica pp. 306 ff.

4. This long sentence (Il. 4-14) is, itself, a good example of Greek word-order and the lucidity possible to it.

7. Batteux (pp. 250-3) maintains, in detail, that these comments on the style of Thucydides would also apply to a passage of Bossuet (in the Oraison funèbre de Henriette Anne d’ Angleterre, duchesse d’Orléans), which “a tous les caractères d’une composition austère; c’est partout un style robuste, nerveux, âpre même quelquefois, et presque rustique.” The passage is that which describes the abasement of all human grandeur by Death: “La voilà, malgré ce grand cœur, cette princesse si admirée et si chérie; la voilà, telle que la mort nous l’a faite. Encore ce reste tel quel va-t-il disparaître; cette ombre de gloire va s’évanouir, et nous l’allons voir dépouillée même de cette triste décoration. Elle va descendre à ces sombres lieux, à ces demeures souterraines, pour y dormir dans la poussière avec les grands de la terre, comme parle Job; avec ces rois et ces princes anéantis, parmi lesquels à peine peut-on la placer, tant les rangs y sont pressés, tant la mort est prompte à remplir ces places,” etc. Batteux begins his careful and interesting analysis as follows: “Nul choix des sons. Malgré ce grand cœur est dur. Cette princesse si est sifflant: si admirée et si; choc de voyelles. La voilà telle que la mort nous l’a faite: mots jetés plutôt que placés. Encore ce reste tel quel va-t-il dis: pointes de rochers. De cette triste décoration n’est guère plus doux. Et ces trois monosyllables brefs et rocailleux, comme parle Job, etc.

9. =αὔθαδες ... κάλλος=: this happy description of Thucydides’ style shows that Dionysius saw in style a mirror of the man (cp. ἀνδρὸς χαρακτὴρ ἐκ λόγου γνωρίζεται, Menand. Fragm. 72, and Dionys. H. Antiqq. Rom. i. 1 ἐπιεικῶς γὰρ ἅπαντες νομίζουσιν εἰκόνας εἶναι τῆς ἑκάστου ψυχῆς τοὺς λόγους).—The general drift of Dionysius’ phrase is, of course, commendatory: he does not (cp. =120= 8, 9) mean ‘but such beauty as it (Thucydides’ style) displays is archaic and perverse.’

12. These well-known words of Thucydides (i. 22. 4) are quoted also in de Thucyd. c. 7.—A scholium on Thucyd. (l.c.) runs: κτῆμα] κέρδος. κτῆμα, τὴν ἀλήθειαν· ἀγώνισμα, τὸν γλυκὺν λόγον. αἰνίττεται δὲ τὰ μυθικὰ Ἡροδότου. The passage is well elucidated by Lucian, and by Pliny the Younger: (1) Lucian de conscribenda historica c. 42 ὁ δ’ οὖν Θουκυδίδης εὖ μάλα τοῦτ’ ἐνομοθέτησε, καὶ διέκρινεν ἀρετὴν καὶ κακίαν συγγραφικήν, ὁρῶν μάλιστα θαυμαζόμενον τὸν Ἡρόδοτον, ἄχρι τοῦ καὶ Μούσας κληθῆναι αὐτοῦ τὰ βιβλία. κτῆμα γάρ φησι μᾶλλον ἐς ἀεὶ συγγράφειν ἤπερ ἐς τὸ παρὸν ἀγώνισμα, καὶ μὴ τὸ μυθῶδες ἀσπάζεσθαι, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀλήθειαν τῶν γεγενημένων ἀπολείπειν τοῖς ὕστερον, (2) Pliny Ep. v. 8 “nam plurimum refert, ut Thucydides ait, κτῆμα sit an ἀγώνισμα: quorum alterum oratio, alterum historia est.”

13. =εἰσαεί=: Thucydides himself no doubt wrote ἐς αἰεί: see Marcellinus § 52 for αἰεί (rather than ἀεί) as constituting a mark of ἡ ἀρχαία Ἀτθίς in Thucydides.

14. =ὁ ἀνὴρ= (divisim) should probably be read: cp. =230= 23.

17. The meaning possibly is, “you can easily proceed with the same line of observation right through work which is consistently of a similar character to this.”

[Page 229]

no fortifications, when some invader would come and rob them of their property. They also thought that they could command the bare necessities of daily life anywhere; and so, for all these reasons, they made no difficulty about giving up their land.”[175]

There is no need for me to say, when all educated people know it as well as I, that this passage is not smooth or nicely finished in its verbal arrangement, and is not euphonious and soft, and does not glide imperceptibly through the ear, but shows many features that are discordant and rough and harsh; that it does not make the slightest approach to attaining the grace appropriate to an oration delivered at a public festival or to a speech on the stage, but is marked by a sort of antique and self-willed beauty. Indeed, the historian himself admits that his narrative is but little calculated to give pleasure when heard: “it has been composed as a possession for all time rather than as an essay to be recited at some particular competition.”[176] I will briefly point out to you the principles by following which the author has made the arrangement so rugged and austere. Small things will readily serve you as samples of great: you can easily go on noting resemblances and making comparisons for yourself.

[Page 230]

αὐτίκα ἐν ἀρχῇ τῷ #Ἀθηναῖος# προσηγορικῷ τὸ #ξυνέγραψε# ῥῆμα ἐφαρμοττόμενον διίστησιν ἀξιολόγως τὴν ἁρμονίαν· οὐ γὰρ προτάττεται τὸ σ̄ τοῦ ξ̄ κατὰ συνεκφορὰν τὴν ἐν μιᾷ συλλαβῇ γινομένην· δεῖ δὲ τοῦ σ̄ σιωπῇ καταληφθέντος τότε ἀκουστὸν γενέσθαι τὸ ξ̄. τοῦτο δὲ τραχύτητα 5 ἐργάζεται καὶ ἀντιτυπίαν τὸ πάθος. ἔπειθ’ αἱ μετὰ τοῦτο γινόμεναι συγκοπαὶ τῶν ἤχων, τοῦ τε ν̄ <καὶ τοῦ π̄> καὶ τοῦ τ̄ καὶ τοῦ π̄ καὶ τοῦ κ̄ τετράκις ἑξῆς ἀλλήλοις παρακειμένων, χαράττουσιν εὖ μάλα τὴν ἀκοὴν καὶ διασαλεύουσιν ἀξιολόγως τὰς ἁρμονίας, ὅταν φῇ “#τὸν πόλεμον τῶν Πελοποννησίων 10 καὶ Ἀθηναίων#”· τούτων γὰρ τῶν μορίων τῆς λέξεως οὐδὲν ὅ τι οὐ καταληφθῆναί τε δεῖ καὶ πιεσθῆναι πρότερον ὑπὸ τοῦ στόματος περὶ τὸ τελευταῖον γράμμα, ἵνα τὸ συναπτόμενον αὐτῷ τρανὴν καὶ καθαρὰν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ λάβῃ δύναμιν. ἔτι πρὸς τούτοις ἡ τῶν φωνηέντων παράθεσις ἡ κατὰ τὴν 15 τελευταίαν τοῦ κώλου τοῦδε γενομένη ἐν τῷ #καὶ Ἀθηναίων# διακέκρουκε τὸ συνεχὲς τῆς ἁρμονίας καὶ διέστακεν πάνυ αἰσθητὸν τὸν μεταξὺ λαβοῦσα χρόνον· ἀκέραστοι γὰρ αἱ φωναὶ τοῦ τε ῑ καὶ τοῦ ᾱ καὶ ἀποκόπτουσαι τὸν ἦχον· τὸ δ’ εὐεπὲς οἱ συνεχεῖς τε καὶ οἱ συλλεαινόμενοι ποιοῦσιν ἦχοι. 20

καὶ αὖθις ἐν τῇ δευτέρᾳ περιόδῳ τὸ προηγούμενον κῶλον τουτί “#ἀρξάμενος εὐθὺς καθισταμένου#” μετρίως ἁρμόσας ὁ ἀνὴρ ὡς ἂν εὔφωνόν τε μάλιστα φαίνοιτο καὶ μαλακόν, τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο πάλιν ἀποτραχύνει καὶ διασπᾷ τοῖς διαχαλάσμασι τῶν ἁρμονιῶν· “#καὶ ἐλπίσας μέγαν τε ἔσεσθαι καὶ 25 ἀξιολογώτατον τῶν προγεγενημένων#.” τρὶς γὰρ ἀλλήλοις ἑξῆς οὐ διὰ μακροῦ παράκειται τὰ φωνήεντα συγκρούσεις ἐργαζόμενα καὶ ἀνακοπὰς καὶ οὐκ ἐῶντα τὴν ἀκρόασιν ἑνὸς κώλου συνεχοῦς λαβεῖν φαντασίαν· ἥ τε περίοδος αὐτῷ λήγουσα εἰς τὸ “#τῶν προγεγενημένων#” οὐκ ἔχει τὴν 30 βάσιν εὔγραμμον καὶ περιφερῆ, ἀλλ’ ἀκόρυφός τις φαίνεται

2 ἐφαμαρτόμεν(ον) F: ἐπαγόμενον E 6 μετὰ τούτων F 7 καὶ τοῦ π̄ (post ν̄) ins. Uptonus 8 παρακειμένων Us.: παρακείμεναι libri 11 οὐδὲν PMV: οὐθὲν EF 12 οὖν F: οὐχὶ EPMV: οὐ <σιωπῇ> Us. 13 ὑπὸ] ἐπὶ P || τελευταῖαν F, MV: om. P 17 διέστακεν P, MV: διέστηκε EF 18 γὰρ EF: τε γὰρ PMV 21 καὶ αὖτις F: αὖθις PMV || τὸ F: om. PMV 24 ἀποτραχύνει PV: ἐπιτραχύνει FM || διαχαλάσμασιν P: ἀπὸχαλασμασι F 26 τρὶς Sauppe: τρία libri 27 ἑξῆς οὐ] ἐξ ἴσου P 29 λαβεῖν φαντασίαν F: φαντασίαν λαμβάνειν PMV

9. Perhaps an effect analogous to that of syncopation in music is meant.

10, 11. Different words, and a different order, seem hardly possible here. If πόλεμον were put after Ἀθηναίων, the juxtaposed letters would be much the same as in the existing arrangement.

16. =τελευταίαν=: it may be that some word like συγκοπήν is to be supplied. Or τελευτὴν may be read: or τελευταῖα.

19. The present passage (lines 15-19) shows, as Blass (Ancient Greek Pronunciation p. 66) remarks, that the educated pronunciation of the Augustan period did not confuse αι with ε.

22-5. Here, again, the author would hardly have much choice in the arrangement of the words in question.

26. =τρίς=: viz. in the words καὶ ἐλπίσας, τε ἔσεσθαι, καὶ ἀξιολογώτατον.

[Page 231]

At the very beginning the verb ξυνέγραψε, being appended to the appellative Ἀθηναῖος, makes an appreciable break in the verbal structure, since σ is never placed before ξ with a view to being pronounced in the same syllable with it. The sound of σ must be sharply arrested by an interval of silence before the ξ is heard; and this circumstance causes roughness and dissonance. Moreover, the interruptions of the voice in what follows, in consequence of the four successive juxtapositions νπ, ντ, νπ, νκ, grate violently upon the ear, and cause a remarkable succession of jolts when he says τὸν πόλεμον τῶν Πελοποννησίων καὶ Ἀθηναίων. Of these words there is not one that must not first be checked by the mouth with a stress on the last letter, in order that the next letter to it may be uttered clearly and purely with its own proper quality. Furthermore, the juxtaposition of vowels which is found at the end of this clause in the words καὶ Ἀθηναίων has broken and made a gap in the continuity of the arrangement, by demanding quite an appreciable interval, since the sounds of ι and α are unmingled and there is an interruption of the voice between them: whereas euphony is caused by sounds which are continuous and smoothly blended.

Again, in the second period the first clause ἀρξάμενος εὐθὺς καθισταμένου has been pretty successfully arranged by the author in the way in which it would produce the most smooth and euphonious effect. But he roughens and dislocates the very next clause by sundering its joints: καὶ ἐλπίσας μέγαν τε ἔσεσθαι καὶ ἀξιολογώτατον τῶν προγεγενημένων. For thrice in close succession vowels are juxtaposed which cause clashings and obstructed utterance, and make it impossible for the ear to take in the impression of one continuous clause; and the period which he ends with the words τῶν προγεγενημένων has no well-defined and rounded close, but seems to be without beginning or

[Page 232]

καὶ ἀκατάστροφος, ὥσπερ μέρος οὖσα τῆς δευτέρας ἀλλ’ οὐχὶ [τῆς πρώτης] τέλος.

τὸ δ’ αὐτὸ πέπονθε καὶ ἡ τρίτη περίοδος· καὶ γὰρ ἐκείνης ἀπερίγραφός ἐστι καὶ ἀνέδραστος ἡ βάσις τελευταῖον ἐχούσης μόριον “#τὸ δὲ καὶ διανοούμενον#”· πολλὰς ἅμα καὶ αὐτὴ 5 περιέχουσα φωνηέντων τε πρὸς φωνήεντα ἀντιτυπίας καὶ ἡμιφώνων πρὸς ἡμίφωνα καὶ ἄφωνα, ἅσπερ ἐργάζεται τὰ μὴ συνῳδὰ τῇ φύσει τραχύτητας. ἵνα δὲ συνελὼν εἴπω, δώδεκά που περιόδων οὐσῶν ἃς παρεθέμην, εἴ τις αὐτὰς συμμέτρως μερίζοι πρὸς τὸ πνεῦμα, κώλων δὲ περιλαμβανομένων ἐν 10 ταύταις οὐκ ἐλαττόνων ἢ τριάκοντα, τὰ μὲν εὐεπῶς συγκείμενα καὶ συνεξεσμένα ταῖς ἁρμονίαις οὐκ ἂν εὕροι τις ἓξ ἢ ἑπτὰ τὰ πάντα κῶλα, φωνηέντων δὲ συμβολὰς ἐν ταῖς δώδεκα περιόδοις ὀλίγου δεῖν τριάκοντα, ἡμιφώνων τε καὶ ἀφώνων ἀντιτύπων καὶ πικρῶν καὶ δυσεκφόρων παραβολάς, ἐξ ὧν αἵ 15 τε ἀνακοπαὶ καὶ τὰ πολλὰ ἐγκαθίσματα τῇ λέξει γέγονε, τοσαύτας τὸ πλῆθος ὥστε ὀλίγου δεῖν καθ’ ἕκαστον αὐτῆς μόριον εἶναί τι τῶν τοιούτων. πολλὴ δὲ καὶ ἡ τῶν κώλων ἀσυμμετρία πρὸς ἄλληλα καὶ ἡ τῶν περιόδων ἀνωμαλία καὶ ἡ τῶν σχημάτων καινότης καὶ τὸ τῆς ἀκολουθίας ὑπεροπτικὸν 20 καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὅσα χαρακτηρικὰ τῆς ἀκομψεύτου τε καὶ αὐστηρᾶς ἐπελογισάμην ὄντα ἁρμονίας. ἅπαντα γὰρ διεξιέναι πάλιν ἐπὶ τῶν παραδειγμάτων καὶ καταδαπανᾶν εἰς ταῦτα τὸν χρόνον οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἡγοῦμαι.

XXIII

ἡ δὲ γλαφυρὰ [καὶ ἀνθηρὰ] σύνθεσις, ἣν δευτέραν ἐτιθέμην

2 τῆς πρώτης uncis inclusit Usenerus 4 ἐχούσης Us.: ἔχουσα libri 7 καὶ ... ἐργάζεται om. F || καὶ ἄφωνα P: om. FMV || ἅσπερ] ἅπερ PMV 8 τραχύτητας F: καὶ τραχύτητας PMV 9 εἴ τις] εἴπερ F 10 δὲ F: δὲ τῶν PMV || περιλαμβανομένων F: ἐμπεριλαμβανομένων PMV 11 ταύταις F: αὐταῖς PMV 12 τις ἑξῆς ἢ πάντα ταῦτα κῶλα F 13 συλλαβὰς F 14 καὶ ἀφώνων καὶ ἀντιτύπων P 17 τοσαύτας Uptonus: τοσαῦτα libri (cf. =160= 20) 20 σχημάτων F: σχηματισμῶν PMV 21 τὰ ἄλλα PMV: τἆλλα F || χαρακτηρικὰ F: χαρακτηριστικὰ PV: χαρακτηριστικὰ καὶ M || ἀκομψεύστου FMV 22 αὐστηρᾶς] ἰσχυρᾶς F || ἀπελογησάμην PM^2: ἐπελογησάμην M^1V || διεξιέναι F: ἐπεξιέναι PMV 25 καὶ ἀνθηρὰ om. P || ἐτιθέμην F: ἐθέμην PMV

1. Dionysius seems to discern three periods in the first sentence of Thucydides, viz. (1) Θουκυδίδης ... ἀλλήλους (2) ἀρξάμενος ... προσγεγενημένων, (3) τεκμαιρόμενος ... διανοούμενον. The general sense here is: ‘as there is no connexion between ἀρξάμενος and τεκμαιρόμενος, we must take the latter as beginning a new period, and yet logically ἀρξάμενος belongs to it.’ If the words τῆς πρώτης are to be retained at all, they might possibly be transported with τῆς δευτέρας: ‘as though it were a part of the first period and not the end of the second.’

4. Usener’s =ἐχούσης= seems likely, though the words καὶ γὰρ ... ἡ βάσις might be regarded as parenthetical and ἔχουσα as in agreement with περίοδος.

18. =πολλὴ δὲ καί= κτλ.: cp. Cic. Orat. ix. 32. 33 “itaque numquam est (Thucydides) numeratus orator ... sed, cum mutila quaedam et hiantia locuti sunt, quae vel sine magistro facere potuerunt, germanos se putant esse Thucydidas.”

25. For =ἀνθηρά= cp. n. on =208= 26 supra.—The whole chapter should be compared with de Demosth. c. 40. In c. 49 of that treatise Dionysius refers expressly to his previously written de Compositione: εἰ δέ τις ἀπαιτήσει καὶ ταῦτ’ ἔτι μαθεῖν ὅπῃ ποτ’ ἔχει, τοὺς ὑπομνηματισμοὺς ἡμῶν λαβών, οὓς περὶ τῆς συνθέσεως τῶν ὀνομάτων πεπραγματεύμεθα, πάντα ὅσα ποθεῖ τῶν ἐνθάδε παραλειπομένων εἴσεται (cp. c. 50 ibid.).

[Page 233]

conclusion, as if it were part of the second period and not its termination.

The third period has the same characteristics. There is a lack of roundness and stability in its foundation, since it has for its concluding portion τὸ δὲ καὶ διανοούμενον. Further, it too contains many clashings of vowel against vowel and of semi-vowels against semi-vowels and mutes—discords produced by things in their very nature inharmonious. To sum up, here are some twelve periods adduced by me—if the breathing-space be taken as the criterion for the division of period from period; and they contain no fewer than thirty clauses. Yet of these not six or seven clauses in all will be found to be euphoniously composed and finished in their structure; while of hiatus between vowels in the twelve periods there are almost thirty instances, together with meetings of semi-vowels and mutes which are dissonant, harsh, and hard to pronounce. It is to this that the stoppages and the many retardations in the passage are due; and so numerous are these concurrences that there is one of the kind in almost every single section of it. There is a great lack of symmetry in the clauses, great unevenness in the periods, much innovation in the figures, disregard of sequence, and all the other marks which I have already noted as characteristic of the unadorned and austere style. I do not consider it necessary to waste our time by going over the whole ground once more with the illustrative passages.

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us

Chapter XVI…

Cite this passage

MLA

APA

Chicago

Chapter XVI

XVII. ON RHYTHMS, OR FEET

XVIII. EFFECT OF VARIOUS RHYTHMS

XIX. ON VARIETY

XX. ON APPROPRIATENESS

XXI. THREE MODES, OR STYLES, OF COMPOSITION

XXII. AUSTERE COMPOSITION