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.
XX
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.