The perfection of style is to be clear without being mean. The clearest
style is that which uses only current or proper words; at the same
time it is mean:--witness the poetry of Cleophon and of Sthenelus. That
diction, on the other hand, is lofty and raised above the commonplace
which employs unusual words. By unusual, I mean strange (or rare) words,
metaphorical, lengthened,--anything, in short, that differs from the
normal idiom. Yet a style wholly composed of such words is either a
riddle or a jargon; a riddle, if it consists of metaphors; a jargon, if
it consists of strange (or rare) words. For the essence of a riddle is
to express true facts under impossible combinations. Now this cannot be
done by any arrangement of ordinary words, but by the use of metaphor it
can. Such is the riddle:--'A man I saw who on another man had glued the
bronze by aid of fire,' and others of the same kind. A diction that
is made up of strange (or rare) terms is a jargon. A certain infusion,
therefore, of these elements is necessary to style; for the strange (or
rare) word, the metaphorical, the ornamental, and the other kinds above
mentioned, will raise it above the commonplace and mean, while the use
of proper words will make it perspicuous. But nothing contributes more
to produce a clearness of diction that is remote from commonness than
the lengthening, contraction, and alteration of words. For by deviating
in exceptional cases from the normal idiom, the language will gain
distinction; while, at the same time, the partial conformity with usage
will give perspicuity. The critics, therefore, are in error who censure
these licenses of speech, and hold the author up to ridicule. Thus
Eucleides, the elder, declared that it would be an easy matter to be
a poet if you might lengthen syllables at will. He caricatured the
practice in the very form of his diction, as in the verse: '{Epsilon pi
iota chi alpha rho eta nu / epsilon iota delta omicron nu / Mu alpha rho
alpha theta omega nu alpha delta epsilon / Beta alpha delta iota zeta
omicron nu tau alpha}, or, {omicron upsilon kappa / alpha nu / gamma /
epsilon rho alpha mu epsilon nu omicron sigma / tau omicron nu / epsilon
kappa epsilon iota nu omicron upsilon /epsilon lambda lambda epsilon
beta omicron rho omicron nu}. To employ such license at all obtrusively
is, no doubt, grotesque; but in any mode of poetic diction there must
be moderation. Even metaphors, strange (or rare) words, or any similar
forms of speech, would produce the like effect if used without propriety
and with the express purpose of being ludicrous. How great a difference
is made by the appropriate use of lengthening, may be seen in Epic
poetry by the insertion of ordinary forms in the verse. So, again, if
we take a strange (or rare) word, a metaphor, or any similar mode of
expression, and replace it by the current or proper term, the truth of
our observation will be manifest. For example Aeschylus and Euripides
each composed the same iambic line. But the alteration of a single word
by Euripides, who employed the rarer term instead of the ordinary one,
makes one verse appear beautiful and the other trivial. Aeschylus in his
Philoctetes says: {Phi alpha gamma epsilon delta alpha iota nu alpha /
delta / eta / mu omicron upsilon / sigma alpha rho kappa alpha sigma /
epsilon rho theta iota epsilon iota / pi omicron delta omicron sigma}.
Euripides substitutes {Theta omicron iota nu alpha tau alpha iota}
'feasts on' for {epsilon sigma theta iota epsilon iota} 'feeds on.'
Again, in the line, {nu upsilon nu / delta epsilon / mu /epsilon omega
nu / omicron lambda iota gamma iota gamma upsilon sigma / tau epsilon /
kappa alpha iota / omicron upsilon tau iota delta alpha nu omicron sigma
/ kappa alpha iota / alpha epsilon iota kappa eta sigma), the difference
will be felt if we substitute the common words, {nu upsilon nu / delta
epsilon / mu / epsilon omega nu / mu iota kappa rho omicron sigma /
tau epsilon / kappa alpha iota / alpha rho theta epsilon nu iota kappa
omicron sigma / kappa alpha iota / alpha epsilon iota delta gamma
sigma}. Or, if for the line, {delta iota phi rho omicron nu / alpha
epsilon iota kappa epsilon lambda iota omicron nu / kappa alpha tau
alpha theta epsilon iota sigma / omicron lambda iota gamma eta nu /
tau epsilon / tau rho alpha pi epsilon iota sigma / omicron lambda iota
gamma eta nu / tau epsilon / tau rho alpha pi epsilon zeta alpha nu,}
We read, {delta iota phi rho omicron nu / mu omicron chi theta eta rho
omicron nu / kappa alpha tau alpha theta epsilon iota sigma / mu iota
kappa rho alpha nu / tau epsilon / tau rho alpha pi epsilon zeta alpha
nu}.
Or, for {eta iota omicron nu epsilon sigma / beta omicron omicron omega
rho iota nu, eta iota omicron nu epsilon sigma kappa rho alpha zeta
omicron upsilon rho iota nu}
Again, Ariphrades ridiculed the tragedians for using phrases which no
one would employ in ordinary speech: for example, {delta omega mu alpha
tau omega nu / alpha pi omicron} instead of {alpha pi omicron / delta
omega mu alpha tau omega nu}, {rho epsilon theta epsilon nu}, {epsilon
gamma omega / delta epsilon / nu iota nu}, {Alpha chi iota lambda lambda
epsilon omega sigma / pi epsilon rho iota} instead of {pi epsilon rho
iota / 'Alpha chi iota lambda lambda epsilon omega sigma}, and the like.
It is precisely because such phrases are not part of the current idiom
that they give distinction to the style. This, however, he failed to
see.
It is a great matter to observe propriety in these several modes of
expression, as also in compound words, strange (or rare) words, and so
forth. But the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor.
This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for
to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances.
Of the various kinds of words, the compound are best adapted to
Dithyrambs, rare words to heroic poetry, metaphors to iambic. In heroic
poetry, indeed, all these varieties are serviceable. But in iambic
verse, which reproduces, as far as may be, familiar speech, the most
appropriate words are those which are found even in prose. These
are,--the current or proper, the metaphorical, the ornamental.
Concerning Tragedy and imitation by means of action this may suffice.