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.