CHAPTER IV_Dionysius of Halicarnassus On Literary Composition Being the Greek Text of the De Compositione Verborum

TO CHANGE ORDER IS TO DESTROY BEAUTY

To show yet more conclusively the great force wielded by the faculty of

composition both in poetry and prose, I will quote some passages which

are universally regarded as fine, and show what a different air is

imparted to both verse and prose by a mere change in their arrangement.

First let these lines be taken from the Homeric poems:—

But with them was it as with a toil-bowed woman righteous-souled—

In her scales be the weights and the wool, and the balance on high doth

she hold

Poised level, that so may the hard-earned bread to her babes be doled.[91]

This metre is the complete heroic metre of six feet, the basis

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πόδα βαινόμενον. ἐγὼ δὴ τῶν ὀνομάτων τούτων μετακινήσας

τὴν σύνθεσιν τοὺς αὐτοὺς στίχους ἀντὶ μὲν ἑξαμέτρων ποιήσω

τετραμέτρους, ἀντὶ δὲ ἡρωϊκῶν προσοδιακοὺς τὸν τρόπον

τοῦτον·

ἀλλ’ ἔχεν ὥστε γυνὴ χερνῆτις τάλαντ’ ἀληθής, 5

ἥ τ’ εἴριον ἀμφὶς καὶ σταθμὸν ἔχουσ’ ἀνέλκει

ἰσάζουσ’, ἵν’ ἀεικέα παισὶν ἄροιτο μισθόν.

τοιαῦτά ἐστι τὰ πριάπεια, ὑπό τινων δ’ ἰθυφάλλια λεγόμενα,

ταυτί·

οὐ βέβηλος, ὦ τελέται τοῦ νέου Διονύσου, 10

κἀγὼ δ’ ἐξ εὐεργεσίης ὠργιασμένος ἥκω.

ἄλλους πάλιν λαβὼν στίχους Ὁμηρικούς, οὔτε προσθεὶς

αὐτοῖς οὐδὲν οὔτε ἀφελών, τὴν δὲ σύνθεσιν ἀλλάξας μόνον

ἕτερον ἀποδώσω γένος τὸ τετράμετρον καλούμενον Ἰωνικόν·

ὣς ὁ πρόσθ’ ἵππων καὶ δίφρου κεῖτο τανυσθείς, 15

βεβρυχώς, κόνιος δεδραγμένος αἱματοέσσης.

ὣς ὁ πρόσθ’ ἵππων καὶ δίφρου κεῖτο τανυσθείς,

αἱματοέσσης κόνιος δεδραγμένος, βεβρυχώς.

1 πόδα δάκτυλον PMV || τῶν] τῶν αὐτῶν PV 3 προσωιδιακοὺς FP:

προσῳδικοὺς MV 5 ἔχεν FMV: ἔχον P scholl. Hermogenis || τάλαντ’ F:

τάλαντα PMV 6 ἥ τ’ FM: ἣ PV || ἐχ(ων)ουσ’ P: ἔχουσα F || ἄνελκει

P: ἕλκει F 8 [ὑ]πό τινων δὲ ἰθυφάλλια cum litura F, MV: διφίλια P

10 συμβέβηλος F || τελεταί (sic) P: λέγεται FMV || δρονύσου P 11

εὐεργεσίης P: ἐργασίης MV: ἐργασίας F || ὀργιασμένος F: ὡργια*σμένος P

13 οὐδὲν αὐτοῖς PV 14 γένος τὸ F: μέλος PMV || τὸ ante καλούμενον

dant PMV 16, 17 om. F 16 αἱματοσέσ(η)ς P: αἱματοέσης V

3. Maximus Planudes (Walz _Rhett. Gr._ v. 491), referring to this

passage, says: ἃ πῶς ἂν εἶεν προσῳδικὰ (v. προσῳδιακὰ) καὶ προσόμοια

τοῖς πριαπείοις, ἢ πάλιν πῶς ταῦτα πριάπεια, οὐδαμῶς ἔχω συνορᾶν. For

the _prosodia_ (προσόδια, sc. ᾄσματα: also called προσοδιακοί), or

processional songs, see Weir Smyth’s _Greek Melic Poets_ p. xxxiii.;

and for the various metres employed see pp. xxxiv., xxxv. _ibid._

It is clear that Dionysius is not here thinking specially of the

so-called προσοδιακὸς πούς (– – ᴗ). Cp. Bacchyl. _Fragm._ 19 (Bergk: 7,

Jebb).—Reading προσῳδικοὺς (with the inferior MSS.), and translating

by ‘accentual,’ A. J. Ellis (_English, Dionysian, and Hellenic

Pronunciation of Greek_ p. 37) thinks that Dionysius means “verses in

which the effect of high pitch was increased by superadding stress,

so as to give it preponderance over mere quantity”; and he points out

that E. M. Geldart shows (_Journal of Philology_ 1869, vol. ii. p. 160)

that these transformed lines of Homer, if read as modern Greek, would

give rather rough στίχοι πολιτικοί, or the usual modern accentual verse

[the ‘city verses’ referred to by Gibbon, c. 53]. Though it is perhaps

unlikely that Dionysius makes any direct reference to such a change, a

stress-accent may, even in his day, have gradually been triumphing over

that pitch-accent which was consistent with the observance of metrical

quantity. Cp. F. Spencer _French Verse_ p. 70.

5. The metrical difficulties presented by these sections of the _C. V._

are discussed in Amsel’s _de Vi atque Indole Rhythmorum quid Veteres

Iudicaverint_ pp. 32 ff. The unprofitably ingenious efforts of some

ancient writers to derive every kind of metre from the heroic hexameter

and the iambic trimeter might be capped, and parodied, by an attempt

to turn such a line as _Il._ xxiii. 644 (ἔργων τοιούτων. ἐμὲ δὲ χρὴ

γήραϊ λυγρῷ) into an iambic trimeter: the only thing needed being that

the ι of γήραϊ should be not adscript but subscript. So Schol. Ven. A

(_ad loc._) ὅτι ὁ στίχος οὗτος καὶ ἑξάμετρος γίνεται καὶ τρίμετρος παρὰ

τὴν ἀγωγὴν τῆς προφορᾶς, and Schol. Townl. ἐπιτέτευκται ὁ στίχος ταῖς

κοιναῖς, ὥστ’ ἢν θέλωμεν καὶ ἴαμβος ἔσται, ὡς τὸ “σμύρνης ἀκράτου καὶ

κέδρου νηλεῖ καπνῷ” (for the doubtful ascription of this last line to

Callimachus see Schneider’s _Callimachea_ ii. 777).

10. For the author of these Priapean verses—Euphorion (or Euphronius)

‘of the Chersonese’—see the long discussion in Susemihl’s _Gesch. d.

griech. Litt. in der Alexandrinerzeit_ i. 281, 283. It is Hephaestion

(_de Metris Enchiridion_ c. 16, ed. Westphal) who attributes the lines

Εὐφορίωνι τῷ Χερρονησιώτῃ.

15. The commentators on Hermogenes secure trochees by changing the

order of the words in this line—ἔκειτο καὶ δίφρου τανυσθείς, or

τανυσθεὶς κεῖτο καὶ δίφρου.

[Page 87]

of which is the dactyl. I will change the order of the words, and

will turn the same lines into tetrameters instead of hexameters, into

prosodiacs instead of heroics. Thus:—

But it was with them as with a righteous-souled woman toil-bowed,

In her scales weights and wool lie, on high doth she hold the balance

Level-poised, so that bread hardly-earned may be doled to her babes.

Such are the following Priapean, or (as some call them) ithyphallic,

lines:—

I am no profane one, O young Dionysus’ votaries;

By his favour come I too initiate as one of his.[92]

Taking again other lines of Homer, and neither adding nor withdrawing

anything, but simply varying the order, I will produce another kind of

verse, the so-called Ionic tetrameter:—

So there outstretched was he lying, his steeds and his chariot before,

Groaning, convulsively clutching the dust that was red with his gore.[93]

So there outstretched was he lying, his steeds and his chariot before,

At the dust that was red with his gore clutching convulsively, groaning.

[Page 88]

τοιαῦτ’ ἐστὶ τὰ Σωτάδεια ταυτί·

ἔνθ’ οἱ μὲν ἐπ’ ἄκραισι πυραῖς νέκυες ἔκειντο

γῆς ἐπὶ ξένης, ὀρφανὰ τείχεα προλιπόντες

Ἑλλάδος ἱερῆς καὶ μυχὸν ἑστίης πατρῴης,

ἥβην τ’ ἐρατὴν καὶ καλὸν ἡλίου πρόσωπον. 5

δυναίμην δ’ ἂν ἔτι πολλὰς ἰδέας μέτρων καὶ διαφόρους εἰς τὸν

ἡρωϊκὸν ἐμπιπτούσας στίχον ἐπιδεικνύναι, τὸ δ’ αὐτὸ καὶ τοῖς

ἄλλοις ὀλίγου δεῖν πᾶσι συμβεβηκὸς μέτροις τε καὶ ῥυθμοῖς

ἀποφαίνειν, ὥστε τῆς μὲν ἐκλογῆς τῶν ὀνομάτων τῆς αὐτῆς

μενούσης, τῆς δὲ συνθέσεως μόνης μεταπεσούσης τά τε 10

μέτρα μεταρρυθμίζεσθαι καὶ συμμεταπίπτειν αὐτοῖς τὰ

σχήματα, τὰ χρώματα, τὰ ἤθη, τὰ πάθη, τὴν ὅλην τῶν

ποιημάτων ἀξίωσιν· ἀλλ’ ἀναγκασθήσομαι πλειόνων ἅψασθαι

θεωρημάτων, ὧν ἔνια ὀλίγοις πάνυ ἐστὶ γνώριμα. ἐπὶ πολλῶν

δ’ ἴσως καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα ἐπὶ τῶν τοιούτων καλῶς ἂν ἔχοι 15

τὰ Εὐριπίδεια ταῦτα ἐπενεγκεῖν·

μή μοι

λεπτῶν θίγγανε μύθων, ψυχή·

τί περισσὰ φρονεῖς; εἰ μὴ μέλλεις

σεμνύνεσθαι παρ’ ὁμοίοις. 20

ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἐάσειν μοι δοκῶ κατὰ τὸ παρόν. ὅτι δὲ

καὶ ἡ πεζὴ λέξις τὸ αὐτὸ δύναται παθεῖν τῇ ἐμμέτρῳ μενόντων

μὲν τῶν ὀνομάτων, ἀλλαττομένης δὲ τῆς συνθέσεως,

πάρεστι τῷ βουλομένῳ σκοπεῖν. λήψομαι δ’ ἐκ τῆς Ἡροδότου

λέξεως τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ἱστορίας, ἐπειδὴ καὶ γνώριμός ἐστι 25

τοῖς πολλοῖς, μεταθεὶς τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς διαλέκτου μόνον.

1 τοιαῦτα PMV || Σωτάδεια Planudes: σωτάδια libri 2 ἄκραισι FM:

ἄκραις PV || ἔγκειντο F 5 ἥβη, suprascr. ν P^1 || ἐρατὴν Hermannus:

ἐραστὴν F: ἐρατεινὴν PMV 6 δυναίμην PV: ἐδυνάμην FM 7 δὲ PMV ||

καὶ P: κἂν F: κἀν MV 8 τε om. F 9 ὀμάτων, suprascr. νο P^1 10

μεταπιπτούσης (πεσούσης in marg.) F: μεταπεσούσης M: μάλιστα πεσούσης

PV 12 τὰ πάθη om. P 13 ἀλλ’ ἀναγκασθήσομαι] ἀναγκασθήσομαι δὲ F:

ἀλλ’ ἀν(αν)κασθήσομαι P || ἅπτεσθαι P 14 γνώρισμα F^1 15 δὲ PMV

|| καὶ om. P 19 μέλλοις F 21 οὗν F 22 ἐμμέτρω ὄντων PMV 23

τῶν F: τῶν αὐτῶν E: om. PMV || ἀλλασομένης P: ἀλλασσομένης MV 24 τῶ

βουλομέν(ω) P || δὲ PMV et =90= 1 25 ἐπειδὴ F: ἐπεὶ PMV

1. These lines of Sotades are quoted by two of the commentators on

Hermogenes—by John of Sicily (Walz vi. 243) and by an anonymous

scholiast (Walz vii. 985). See further in Glossary, s.v. =Σωτάδειος=.

7. Palaeographically κἀν (MV) is tempting, since the other readings

(κἂν and καὶ) could easily be derived from it. But the difficulty is

that Dionysius seems elsewhere to use the simple dative with συμβαίνω,

and would probably have expressed the meaning ‘in the case of’ by ἐπί

with the genitive. καὶ ἔν γε τῇ ἀρχαίᾳ τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ φωνῇ αὐτὸ συμβαίνει

τὸ ὄνομα (Plato _Crat._ 398 B) is not parallel.

12. Quintil. _Inst. Or._ ix. 4. 14, 15 “nam quaedam et sententiis

parva et elocutione modica virtus haec sola commendat. denique quod

cuique visum erit vehementer, dulciter, speciose dictum, solvat et

turbet: aberit omnis vis, iucunditas, decor ... illud notasse satis

habeo, quo pulchriora et sensu et elocutione dissolveris, hoc orationem

magis deformem fore, quia neglegentia collocationis ipsa verborum luce

deprehenditur.”

21. =ἐάσειν μοι δοκῶ= = _omittere mihi placet_; cp. Aristoph. _Plut._

1186, _Aves_ 671, _Vespae_ 177.

22. Compare the interesting passage in Cic. _Orat._ 70. 232 “Quantum

autem sit apte dicere, experire licet, si aut compositi oratoris bene

structam collocationem dissolvas permutatione verborum; corrumpatur

enim tota res ... perierit tota res ... videsne, ut ordine verborum

paululum commutato, eisdem tamen verbis stante sententia, ad nihilum

omnia recidant, cum sint ex aptis dissoluta?” [Various examples are

given in the course of the section.]

23. The Epitome here has μενόντων γὰρ τῶν αὐτῶν ὀνομάτων,

ἀλλαττομένης δὲ τῆς συνθέσεως, #καταφανὲς τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ ἄμουσόν τε καὶ

ἀκαλλώπιστον#.

[Page 89]

Such are the following Sotadean lines:—

There upon the summit of the burning pyres their corpses lay

In an alien land, the widowed walls forsaken far away,

Walls of sacred Hellas; and the hearths upon the homeland shore,

Winsome youth, the sun’s fair face—forsaken all for evermore![94]

I could, if I wished, adduce many more different types of measures

all belonging to the class of the heroic line, and show that the same

thing is true of almost all the other metres and rhythms, namely that,

when the choice of words remains unaltered and only the arrangement is

changed, the verses invariably lose their rhythm, while their formation

is ruined, together with the complexion, the character, the feeling,

and the whole effectiveness of the lines. But in so doing I should be

obliged to touch on a number of speculations, with some of which very

few are familiar. To many speculations, perhaps, and particularly to

those bearing on the matter in hand, the lines of Euripides may fitly

be applied:—

With subtleties meddle not thou, O soul of mine:

Wherefore be overwise, except in thy fellows’ eyes

Thou lookest to be revered as for wisdom divine?[95]

So I think it wise to leave this ground unworked for the present. But

anyone who cares may satisfy himself that the diction of prose can be

affected in the same way as that of verse when the words are retained

but the order is changed. I will take from the writings of Herodotus

the opening of his History, since it is familiar to most people, simply

changing the

[Page 90]

“Κροῖσος ἦν Λυδὸς μὲν γένος, παῖς δ’ Ἀλυάττου, τύραννος δ’

ἐθνῶν τῶν ἐντὸς Ἅλυος ποταμοῦ· ὃς ῥέων ἀπὸ μεσημβρίας

μεταξὺ Σύρων τε καὶ Παφλαγόνων ἐξίησι πρὸς βορέαν ἄνεμον

εἰς τὸν Εὔξεινον καλούμενον πόντον.” μετατίθημι τῆς λέξεως

ταύτης τὴν ἁρμονίαν, καὶ γενήσεταί μοι οὐκέτι ὑπαγωγικὸν 5

τὸ πλάσμα οὐδ’ ἱστορικόν, ἀλλ’ ὀρθὸν μᾶλλον καὶ ἐναγώνιον·

“Κροῖσος ἦν υἱὸς μὲν Ἀλυάττου, γένος δὲ Λυδός, τύραννος δὲ

τῶν ἐντὸς Ἅλυος ποταμοῦ ἐθνῶν· ὃς ἀπὸ μεσημβρίας ῥέων

μεταξὺ Σύρων καὶ Παφλαγόνων εἰς τὸν Εὔξεινον καλούμενον

πόντον ἐκδίδωσι πρὸς βορέαν ἄνεμον.” οὗτος ὁ χαρακτὴρ οὐ 10

πολὺ ἀπέχειν ἂν δόξειεν τῶν Θουκυδίδου τούτων· “Ἐπίδαμνός

ἐστι πόλις ἐν δεξιᾷ εἰσπλέοντι τὸν Ἰόνιον κόλπον· προσοικοῦσι

δ’ αὐτὴν Ταυλάντιοι βάρβαροι, Ἰλλυρικὸν ἔθνος.”

πάλιν δὲ ἀλλάξας τὴν αὐτὴν λέξιν ἑτέραν αὐτῇ μορφὴν ἀποδώσω

τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον· “Ἀλυάττου μὲν υἱὸς ἦν Κροῖσος, 15

γένος δὲ Λυδός, τῶν δ’ ἐντὸς Ἅλυος ποταμοῦ τύραννος ἐθνῶν·

ὃς ἀπὸ μεσημβρίας ῥέων Σύρων τε καὶ Παφλαγόνων μεταξὺ

πρὸς βορέαν ἐξίησιν ἄνεμον ἐς τὸν καλούμενον πόντον

Εὔξεινον.” Ἡγησιακὸν τὸ σχῆμα τοῦτο τῆς συνθέσεως,

μικρόκομψον, ἀγεννές, μαλθακόν· τούτων γὰρ τῶν λήρων 20

1 κροῖσσος P || ἀλυάττεω E 2 ἄλυος FMV ut 8, 16 infra FPMV 3 ἐξίησιν

P 4 μαιτατίθημι P: μάρτυρα τίθημι M 5 γενησετέμοι suprascr. αί P^1

|| ὑπαγωγικὸν F: ἐπαγ(ω)γικον suprascr. ϋ P: ἐπαγωγικὸν MV 6 οὐδε

P,MV 7 ἦν Ἀλυάττου μὲν παῖς E || ἀλυ*άττου P 9 παφλαγόνων καὶ σύρων

F 10 ὁ suprascr. P^1 11 δόξειε F 12 (εστι) * * P || πρ(οσ)οικοῦσιν

P 13 δὲ PV 14 δὲ ἀλλάξας F: διαλλάξας PMV || αὐτῆι add. in margine

F^1: αὐτὴν PM 16 δ’ om. PV 18 ἐξίησιν FM: ἔξεισιν PV || ἐς F: εἰς

PMV ut supra 20 ἀγεννες P,V: ἀγενὲς FMa

3. Hude (following Dionysius) conjecturally restores τε in the text

of Herodotus. Usener, on the other hand, thinks that Dionysius has

deliberately inserted τε here and in l. 17 while omitting it in l. 9.

10. This rugged re-writing of Herodotus shows a real appreciation of

style and should be compared with the remarks which Demetrius (_de

Eloc._ § 48) makes on Thucydides’ avoidance of smoothness and evenness

of composition, and on his liking for jolting rhythms (e.g. “from

other maladies this year, by common consent, was free,” rather than

“by common consent, this year was free from other maladies”): καὶ ὁ

Θουκυδίδης δὲ πανταχοῦ σχεδὸν φεύγει τὸ λεῖον καὶ ὁμαλὲς τῆς συνθέσεως,

καὶ ἀεὶ μᾶλλόν τι προσκρούοντι ἔοικεν, ὥσπερ οἱ τὰς τραχείας ὁδοὺς

πορευόμενοι, ἐπὰν λέγῃ ὅτι “τὸ μὲν δὴ ἔτος, ὡς ὡμολόγητο, ἄνοσον ἐς τὰς

ἄλλας ἀσθενείας ἐτύγχανεν ὄν.” ῥᾷον μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἥδιον ὧδ’ ἄν τις εἶπεν,

ὅτι “ἄνοσον ἐς τὰς ἄλλας ἀσθενείας ὂν ἐτύγχανεν,” ἀφῄρητο δ’ αὐτοῦ τὴν

μεγαλοπρέπειαν.—Hermogenes (Walz _Rhett. Gr._ iii. 206) shows how the

passage would be changed for the worse by such a πλαγιασμός as the use

of a genitive absolute at the start: e.g. Κροίσου ὄντος κτλ.

11. From this point onwards, the less important of the manuscript

variants are not recorded in the _critical apparatus_, except in the

case of P which the editor has examined personally.

12. Demetrius (_de Eloc._ § 199), in quoting this passage, reads

ἐσπλέοντι εἰς: and this may be correct reading in Thucyd. i. 24.

19. Hegesias, in the eyes of Dionysius, was a writer whose originality

displayed itself in unnatural contortions of language; cp.

Introduction, pp. 52-55 _supra_. The merits of a natural, untutored

prose-order have been indicated once for all by Molière (_Le Bourgeois

Gentilhomme_ ii. 4): “MONSIEUR JOURDAN. Je voudrais donc lui mettre

dans un billet: _Belle Marquise, vos beaux yeux me font mourir

d’amour_; mais je voudrais que cela fût mis d’une manière galante,

que cela fût tourné gentiment ... Non, vous dis-je, je ne veux que

ces seules paroles-là dans le billet; mais tournées à la mode, bien

arrangées comme il faut. Je vous prie de me dire un peu, pour voir,

les diverses manières dont on les peut mettre.—MAÎTRE DE PHILOSOPHIE.

On les peut mettre premièrement comme vous avez dit: _Belle Marquise,

vos beaux yeux me font mourir d’amour._ Ou bien: _D’amour mourir me

font, belle Marquise, vos beaux yeux_. Ou bien: _Vos yeux beaux d’amour

me font, belle Marquise, mourir_. Ou bien: _Mourir vos beaux yeux,

belle Marquise, d'amour me font_. Ou bien: _Me font vos yeux beaux

mourir, belle Marquise, d’amour_. [This is, apparently the crowning

absurdity.]—M. JOURDAIN. Mais de toutes ces façons-là, laquelle

est la meilleure?—MAÎTRE DE PHILOSOPHIE. Celle que vous avez dite:

_Belle Marquise, vos beaux yeux me font mourir d’amour_.—M. JOURDAIN.

=Cependant je n’ai point étudié, et j’ai fait cela tout du premier

coup.=”

20. The phrase is perhaps suggested by Aristoph. _Nub._ 359 σύ τε,

λεπτοτάτων λήρων ἱερεῦ, φράζε πρὸς ἡμᾶς ὅ τι χρῄζεις. Cp. Cic. _pro

Sestio_ 17. 39 “stuprorum sacerdos,” and also D.H. p. 169 (note on

καὶ πολὺς ὁ τελέτης ἐστὶν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις παρ’ αὐτῷ). ‘Hierophant,’

‘adept,’ ‘past master,’ will give something of the idea.

[Page 91]

nature of the dialect: “Croesus was a Lydian by birth and the son of

Alyattes. He was lord over all the nations on this side of the river

Halys, which flows from the south between Syria and Paphlagonia, and

falls, towards the north, into the sea which is called the Euxine.”[96]

I change the order here, and the cast of the passage will become no

longer that of a spacious narrative, but tense rather and forensic:

“Croesus was the son of Alyattes, and by birth a Lydian. He was lord,

on this side of the river Halys, over all nations; which river from the

south flowing between Syria and Paphlagonia runs into the sea which

is called the Euxine and debouches towards the north.” This style

would seem not to differ widely from that of Thucydides in the words:

“Epidamnus is a city on the right as you enter the Ionian Gulf: its

next neighbours are barbarians, the Taulantii, an Illyrian race.”[97]

Once more I will recast the same passage and give a new form to it as

follows: “Alyattes’ son was Croesus, by birth a Lydian. Lord over all

nations he was, on this side of the river Halys; which river, from the

south flowing between Syria and Paphlagonia, falls, with northward run,

into the Euxine-called sea.” This affected, degenerate, emasculate way

of arranging words resembles that of Hegesias, the high-priest of this

kind of nonsense. He

[Page 92]

ἱερεὺς ἐκεῖνος ἀνὴρ τοιαῦτα γράφων· “Ἐξ ἀγαθῆς ἑορτῆς

ἀγαθὴν ἄγομεν ἄλλην.” “Ἀπὸ Μαγνησίας εἰμὶ τῆς μεγάλης

Σιπυλεύς.” “Οὐ γὰρ μικρὰν εἰς Θηβαίων ὕδωρ ἔπτυσεν ὁ

Διόνυσος· ἡδὺς μὲν γάρ ἐστι, ποιεῖ δὲ μαίνεσθαι.”

ἅλις ἔστω παραδειγμάτων. ἱκανῶς γὰρ οἴομαι πεποιηκέναι 5

φανερὸν ὃ προὔκειτό μοι, ὅτι μείζονα ἰσχὺν ἔχει τῆς

ἐκλογῆς ἡ σύνθεσις. καί μοι δοκεῖ τις οὐκ ἂν ἁμαρτεῖν

εἰκάσας αὐτὴν τῇ Ὁμηρικῇ Ἀθηνᾷ· ἐκείνη τε γὰρ τὸν

Ὀδυσσέα τὸν αὐτὸν ὄντα ἄλλοτε ἀλλοῖον ἐποίει φαίνεσθαι,

τοτὲ μὲν μικρὸν καὶ ῥυσὸν καὶ αἰσχρὸν 10

πτωχῷ λευγαλέῳ ἐναλίγκιον ἠδὲ γέροντι,

τοτὲ δὲ τῇ αὐτῇ ῥάβδῳ πάλιν ἐφαψαμένη

μείζονά τ’ εἰσιδέειν καὶ πάσσονα θῆκεν ἰδέσθαι, κὰδ δὲ κάρητος

οὔλας ἧκε κόμας ὑακινθίνῳ ἄνθει ὁμοίας, 15

αὕτη τε τὰ αὐτὰ λαμβάνουσα ὀνόματα τοτὲ μὲν ἄμορφα καὶ

πτωχὰ καὶ ταπεινὰ ποιεῖ φαίνεσθαι τὰ νοήματα, τοτὲ δ’

ὑψηλὰ καὶ πλούσια [καὶ ἁδρὰ] καὶ καλά. καὶ τοῦτ’ ἦν

σχεδὸν ᾧ μάλιστα διαλλάττει ποιητής τε ποιητοῦ καὶ ῥήτωρ

ῥήτορος, τὸ συντιθέναι δεξιῶς τὰ ὀνόματα. τοῖς μὲν οὖν 20

ἀρχαίοις ὀλίγου δεῖν πᾶσι πολλὴ ἐπιτήδευσις ἦν αὐτοῦ, παρ’

ὃ καὶ καλά ἐστιν αὐτῶν τά τε μέτρα καὶ τὰ μέλη καὶ οἱ

λόγοι· τοῖς δὲ μεταγενεστέροις οὐκέτι πλὴν ὀλίγων· χρόνῳ δ’

1 ἀνὴρ libri: cf. D.H. p. 169 5 ἅλις F: ἂν P || ἔστω F: ἔστω τῶν

PMV || ἱκαν(ῶς) P^1 7 δοκεῖ τις οὐκ ἂν PV: οὐ δοκεῖ τις EFM ||

ἁμαρτάνειν PMV 10 μὲν μικρὸν καὶ ῥυσὸν EF: μὲν ῥυσὸν καὶ μικρὸν PMV

11 ἠδὲ] ἠδὲ καὶ F || γέροντα P 12 ῥάβδω P 15 ὑακινθίν(ω) P 16 αὕτη

Sylburgius: αὐτή libri 17 πτωχὰ καὶ ταπεινὰ PMV: ταπεινὰ καὶ πτωχὰ EF

|| δὲ PMV 18 καὶ ἁδρὰ delevit Sadaeus || τοῦτ’ ἦν σχεδὸν ὧι PE: τοῦτ’

ἦν ὃ (ᾧ M) FM: τούτῳ V 19 διαλάττει P 20 τὸ EFP: τῷ MV 21 πᾶσιν P

|| ἐπιτήδευσις Sylburgius: ἐπίδοσις libri 22 τε om. PV 23 οὐκ ἔστι

P || χρον(ω) P

2. Possibly Hegesias began one of his books in this grandiloquent

fashion, referring to his birth in Magnesia at the foot of Mount

Sipylus.

3. =μικράν=: understand ψακάδα or λιβάδα. Casaubon conjectured μιαρὰν:

Reiske, μικρὰν <χολὴν>.

4. =ἡδύς=: sc. ὁ ποταμός. An easy course would be to change ἡδύς to ἡδύ

with Reiske; but there is no manuscript variant, and the ambiguity and

awkward ellipse may be part of Hegesias’ offence.

13. Vettori suggested the omission here of θῆκεν ἰδέσθαι.

16. Cp. Isocr. Paneg. § 8 ἐπειδὴ δ’ οἱ λόγοι τοιαύτην ἔχουσι τὴν φύσιν,

ὥσθ’ οἷον τ’ εἶναι περὶ τῶν αὐτῶν πολλαχῶς ἐξηγήσασθαι, καὶ τά τε

μεγάλα ταπεινὰ ποιῆσαι καὶ τοῖς μικροῖς περιθεῖναι, κτλ.

17. The antitheses are ὑψηλά)(ταπεινά, πλούσια)(πτωχά, καλά)(ἄμορφα.

The order πτωχὰ καὶ ταπεινά in PMV gives a chiasmus. ἁδρά is the gloss

of some rhetorician on ὑψηλά (cp. _de Demosth._ c. 34, where this gloss

actually occurs in one of the manuscripts). The word ἁδρός does not

belong to Dionysius’ rhetorical terminology; cp. Long. p. 194.

18. =ἦν=, ‘was all the time,’ ‘is after all’ (cp. =192= 8, etc.).

20. Quintil. ix. 4. 16 “itaque ut confiteor, paene ultimam oratoribus

artem compositionis, quae quidem perfecta sit, contigisse: ita illis

quoque priscis habitam inter curas, in quantum adhuc profecerant, puto.

neque enim mihi quamlibet magnus auctor Cicero persuaserit, Lysian,

Herodotum, Thucydiden parum studiosos eius fuisse”; Dionys. Hal. _de

Demosth._ c. 36 πολλή τις ἐγένετο ἐν τοῖς ἀρχαίοις ἐπιθυμία καὶ πρόνοια

τοῦ καλῶς ἁρμόττειν τὰ ὀνόματα ἔν τε μέτροις καὶ δίχα μέτρων, καὶ

πάντες, ὅσοι σπουδαίας ἐβουλήθησαν ἐξενεγκεῖν γραφάς, οὐ μόνον ἐζήτησαν

ὀνομάσαι τὰ νοήματα καλῶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὰ <τὰ ὀνόματα> εὐκόσμῳ συνθέσει

περιλαβεῖν.

21. The conjecture =ἐπιτήδευσις= may be illustrated by =70= 6, =212=

19, =256= 18, and also by _de Demosth._ c. 36 (the sentence preceding

that just quoted).—The manuscript reading ἐπίδοσις might possibly be

retained and translated “made numerous contributions to it.” Disselbeck

suggests δόσις, and compares _de Demosth._ cc. 18, 48, 51.

[Page 93]

writes, for instance, “After a goodly festival another goodly one keep

we.” “Of Magnesia am I, the mighty land, a man of Sipylus I.” “No

little drop into the Theban waters spewed Dionysus: Oh yea, sweet it

is, but madness it engendereth.”[98]

Enough of examples. I think I have I sufficiently proved my point

that composition is more effective than selection. In fact, it seems

to me that one might fairly compare the former to Athena in Homer.

For she used to make the same Odysseus appear now in one form, now in

another,—at one time puny and wrinkled and ugly,

In semblance like to a beggar wretched and eld-forlorn,[99]

at another time, by a fresh touch of the selfsame wand,

She moulded him taller to see, and broader: his wavy hair

She caused o’er his shoulders to fall as the hyacinth’s purple rare.[100]

So, too, composition takes the same words, and makes the ideas they

convey appear at one time unlovely, beggarly and mean; at another,

exalted, rich and beautiful. A main difference between poet and poet,

orator and orator, really does lie in the aptness with which they

arrange their words. Almost all the ancients made a special study of

this; and consequently their poems, their lyrics, and their prose are

things of beauty. But among their successors, with few exceptions, this

was no longer so.

[Page 94]

ὕστερον παντάπασιν ἠμελήθη καὶ οὐδεὶς ᾤετο δεῖν ἀναγκαῖον

αὐτὸ εἶναι οὐδὲ συμβάλλεσθαί τι τῷ κάλλει τῶν λόγων·

τοιγάρτοι τοιαύτας συντάξεις κατέλιπον οἵας οὐδεὶς ὑπομένει

μέχρι κορωνίδος διελθεῖν, Φύλαρχον λέγω καὶ Δοῦριν καὶ

Πολύβιον καὶ Ψάωνα καὶ τὸν Καλλατιανὸν Δημήτριον 5

Ἱερώνυμόν τε καὶ Ἀντίγονον καὶ Ἡρακλείδην καὶ Ἡγησιάνακτα

καὶ ἄλλους μυρίους· ὧν ἁπάντων εἰ τὰ ὀνόματα

βουλοίμην λέγειν, ἐπιλείψει με ὁ τῆς ἡμέρας χρόνος. καὶ τί

δεῖ τούτους θαυμάζειν, ὅπου γε καὶ οἱ φιλοσοφίαν ἐπαγγελλόμενοι

καὶ τὰς διαλεκτικὰς ἐκφέροντες τέχνας οὕτως εἰσὶν 10

ἄθλιοι περὶ τὴν σύνθεσιν τῶν ὀνομάτων ὥστε αἰδεῖσθαι καὶ

λέγειν; ἀπόχρη δὲ τεκμηρίῳ χρήσασθαι τοῦ λόγου Χρυσίππῳ

τῷ Στωϊκῷ (περαιτέρω γὰρ οὐκ ἂν προβαίην)· τούτου γὰρ

οὔτ’ ἄμεινον οὐδεὶς τὰς διαλεκτικὰς τέχνας ἠκρίβωσεν οὔτε

ἁρμονίᾳ χείρονι συνταχθέντας ἐξήνεγκε λόγους τῶν γοῦν 15

ὀνόματος καὶ δόξης ἀξιωθέντων. καίτοι σπουδάζειν γέ τινες

1 οὐδεῖσ P 2 τι om. P || τ(ω) P 3 κατέλειπον P 4 φύταρχον PM

5 σάωνα PMV: στατωνα [**TN: φ written above first τ of στατωνα]

F || καλατιανὸν P: καλαντιανὸν MV: καλανδιανὸν F 6 ἀντίγονον F:

ἀντίλογον PMV || ἡγησι(α)νακτα P,F: ἡγησίννακτα M: ἡγησίαν μάγνητα V

7 εἰ post ὀνόματα ponunt PMV 9 οἱ F^2P: om. F^1: οἱ τὴν MV 12 τῶι

λόγωι χρυσίππου τοῦ στωικοῦ PMV 13 τοῦτο F 14 οὔτε (ante ἄμεινον)

PMV 15 χείρονι ante ἁρμονίᾳ habent PMV || γ’ οὖν F,M: om. PV 16

σπουδάζειν PMV: σπουδάζεσθαι F

1. =ᾤετο δεῖν ἀναγκαῖον αὐτὸ εἶναι=: pleonasm. Perhaps ᾤετ’ ἀσκεῖν

ἀναγκαῖον αὐτὸ εἶναι, or the like.

4. =Phylarchus=: a native of Athens, or (acc. to some ancient

authorities) of Naucratis in Egypt. He flourished under Ptolemy

Euergetes (247-222 B.C.), and continued (in 28 books) the historical

works of Hieronymus and Duris. The period covered was that from

Pyrrhus’ invasion of the Peloponnese to the death of Cleomenes (272-220

B.C.). Remains in C. Müller _Fragm. Hist. Gr._ i. 334-58.

=Duris of Samos=: a pupil of Theophrastus. Flourished under Ptolemy

Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.); wrote a history which extended from the

battle of Leuctra to the year 281 or later. Among his other writings

was a Life of Agathocles. Fragments in C. Müller ii. 466-88. He is

mentioned in Cic. _ad Att._ vi. 1. 18: “num idcirco Duris Samius, homo

in historia diligens, quod cum multis erravit, irridetur?”

5. =Polybius=: see Introduction, pp. 51, 52 _supra_.

=Psaon=, of Plataea: a third-century historian, who wrote in thirty

books. Cp. C. Müller iii. 198 (and ii. 360).

=Demetrius= (of Callatis, Calatis, Callatia, or Callantia: the town

appears under all these names): wrote thirty books of history in the

third century. Cp. C. Müller iv. 380, 381.

6. =Hieronymus=, of Cardia: wrote, in the third century, a history of

the Diadochi and the Epigoni. Fragments in C. Müller ii. 450-61.

=Antigonus=: of uncertain date (probably second century) and country,

but apparently identical with the Antigonus mentioned, among writers

who had touched on early Roman history, in _Antiqq. Rom._ i. 6 πρῶτον

μέν, ὅσα κἀμὲ εἰδέναι, τὴν Ῥωμαϊκὴν ἀρχαιολογίαν ἐπιδραμόντος Ἱερωνύμου

τοῦ Καρδιανοῦ συγγραφέως, ἐν τῇ περὶ τῶν Ἐπιγόνων πραγματείᾳ· ἔπειτα

Τιμαίου τοῦ Σικελιώτου, τὰ μὲν ἀρχαῖα τῶν ἱστοριῶν ἐν ταῖς κοιναῖς

ἱστορίαις ἀφηγησαμένου, τοὺς δὲ πρὸς Πύρρον τὸν Ἠπειρώτην πολέμους

εἰς ἰδίαν καταχωρίσαντος πραγματείαν· ἅμα δὲ τούτοις Ἀντιγόνου τε καὶ

Πολυβίου, καὶ Σιληνοῦ, καὶ μυρίων ἄλλων τοῖς αὐτοῖς πράγμασιν οὐχ

ὁμοίως ἐπιβαλόντων· ὧν ἕκαστος ὀλίγα, καὶ οὐδὲ αὐτὰ διεσπουδασμένως

οὐδὲ ἀκριβῶς, ἀλλ’ ἐκ τῶν ἐπιτυχόντων ἀκουσμάτων συνθείς, ἀνέγραψεν.—In

the present passage Ἀντίλογον, Ἀντίλοχον, Ἀντίοχον, and Ἀμφίλοχον are