ARISTOTLE de Arte Poetica Griego-Inglés

De arte poetica
Aristotle
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.
ABISTOTElis
DE ARTE POETICA,
5
(VAHLEN'S TEXT):
WITH TRANSLATION
EDWAKD BOSS ¥..

Second EditioHt
PARKER AND CO.

OXFOBD, AND 6 SOUTHAMPTON-STBEET,
BIAAND, LONDON*
1885.
'
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PEEFACE.
WEE following translation is from Vablen's Text of
1874, and embodies generally the views expressed
in his Beitrdge and Admtatio ChrammaUca. In I. 6
howerar I haê followed 8t. Hilaiiey and in a few
other passagee I have heen nnahle to agree with
Vahlcn. The translation is as far as possible literal
but certain words must necessarily be differently ren-
,
dered in different places, e.g. :
haimony.
hioKfKTOi conversation, languagej prose.
tn€iv68iou episode, act.
Acîff style, speech, language, prose.

X0yos word, story, speech, conTersation, prose*
metre, Terse, measare, extent.
imitation, representation.
Doun, name, term, word.
900ot feeling, suffering, disaster.
figures, forms, acting, posturing.
A few notes are added to explain the translation or

supplement Mr. Moore's commentary. The suggestions
for filling up the laeuM in the text are from Vahlen.
, Oei. im.
E. B. WHAETOK
170308
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ARISTOTLE'S 008.
1 Of Poetry and ite kinds:— wkat capacity each
has; how plots should be arranged if the treatment
is to be correct; farther, of the number and nature

of the parts whereof each kind consists; and so of
other points belonging to the same department — let
us now treat, begiauing, in the natural order^ with

first principles.
2 Epic poetry, Tragedy and Comedy, the Dithyramb,
and most part of fiute and guitar playing, are all (to
3 speak generally) iinitatiom: they differ one from ano-
ther in three points, according as they are imitations
(1) by different means (2) of different objects (3) in dif-
4 forent manners. For as men— some by art, some' by

practice—can imitate and reproduce things by colours
and figures, or by the voice, so all the fore-mentioned
arts effect the imitation by measure and w^rdi and

mwiCf either singly or combined. Thus
(a) By the use of WMOfure and mwie alone; Flute
and guitar playing, and whatever other arts are of

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ABISIOTLS'S POSIIGS. 7
like capacity, e.g. pipe-playing : while most * dancers

imitate by the use of measure itself, without music, as
thej by figoied measates imitate oharacter and feelmg
and action,
0) By the use of words mfhavt muste, or metre: 6

£pic, whether it combine different metres, or (as it
has hitherto done) employ a single kind \ We could 7 —

not include under the term ' epic ' the Mimes of So-
phnm and Xenardins and the Dialognea of Plato,
nor any imitation by means of iambics or elegiacs or
the like. But people in general, associating poetry
with metre, call poets ' elegiac or epic,' naming them
* *
not because they are imitators, hut indiscriminately ac-

cording to their metre. For if they set forth the prin- 8
ciples of medicine or music in metre, people will call
them poets, though, except the metre, there is nothing
in common between Homer and Empedocles : the one
should be called a poet^ the other rather a physicist.
So likewise if any one effect the imitation by mingling 9
all metres (as Chasremon did in hie * Centaur,' a rhap-
sody made up of all metres), we shall have to calf
him a poet ^. On these points we may thus distiu- 10
guish. There are however
(y) Some kinds of imitation which use all the fore-
mentioned means, that is, mea9ur$ and nmie and
metre ^ as do the Dithyramb and Nome, Tragedy and
Comedy they : differ in that some use them all together,
and some separately.
These, then, I call the distinguishing marks of these
arts, the meam whereby they effect tiie imitation*
* Beading oi (joWoiy rwv

^ Though we ooald not call juiai an *ekttiae' or * epic ' poet.
^
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ABISIOILE's P02IICS. 9
2 Since those who imitate imitate persons acting^ who

nrast be either enperior or inferior (for oharaetere per-
haps always fall into these two classes, as all men differ
in character by defect or excellence), i.e. either better
than we are» or worse^ or like »— as among painters
Polygnotoa depicted men better than they are, Panson
2 worse, Dionysius as they are, — it is clear that each of
the fore-mentioned kinds of imitation will have these

distinguishing marks, and will thns differ by imitating
S different objects. For in dancing also, and in flute and
guitar playing, these inequalities may arise; and so
with prose, and with yerse unaccompanied by music (e.g.

Homer depicted men better than they are, Hegemon of
Thasos the inventor of parody, and Nicochares author
4 of the Deliad, worse, Cleophon as they are) ; and so
likewise with Dithyrambs and Nomes, one might re-
present gods as Argas** did, or Cyclopes as Timotheus
and Philoxenus. And in this very point Tragedy
differs from Comedy: the one would represent men
better than they are, the other worse.
3 There. is yet a third difference, according to the

mamm in which we may imitate each of these ob-
jects. For imitation by the same means and of the
same objects may be sometimes by narration (whether
one identify oneself with the character, as Homer does,
or retain one*e own individuality), sometimes with
2 all the imitators acting and exerting themselyes. To
these three diiferences, of means, object, and manner,
' Beading &inttp (^ 'Ap)yas (an unknown poet).
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ASI8I0IL£'S P0SIIC8. 11
imitation (as we said at the beginning) is open. So

that in one point Sophocles will be the same kind of
imitator with Homer, for both imitate superior per-
sons; in another with Aristophaneey for both imitate
persone acting and doing. Whence also, some say, 3
plays are called Dramas, because the writers imitate

personB aeting. Wherefore also Tragedy and Comedy
are daimed by the Dorians, —^Tragedy by some of the
Peloponnesians, Comedy by the Megarians in Greece
(who say it arose at the time they had a democracy)

and Sicily (whence was the poet Epicharmus, who liyed
long before Chionides or Magnes), —who appeal to the
names, as they say that they call Tillages kdmai (while

the Athenians call them denm)^ comedians being named
not from rerelling in the hlhim but from wandering
about the kdmai when they were slighted in the city;
and that they call acting drdn^ the Atheoians praUnm.
Thus mnoh for the number and nature of the dif* 4
ferences incident to imitation.
Poetry in general seems to have originated from two 4
canses, both natural ones; it is innate in men from 2
childhood (1) to imitate — and herein we differ from
other animals, in that we arc the most imitatiYe, and
acquire our first knowledge through imitation —and
(2) to delight in imitations. Witness what happens 8
in actual fact: we delight in viewing the most exact
delineations of objects which in themselTes we see
with disgust, e.g. figures of the lowest animals or of
corpses. Another reason is that learning is a great 4
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ailisioile's poetics. 13
pleasure not only to pbilofiwpben bnt aKeo to othera
who partake of it in a similar way but only to a sligbt

6 extent. For the reason why we delight in fleeing de-
lineations is that by Tiewing them we can learn, and

conclude what each is, e.g. that 'this is so and so;'
since unless one has seen the object itself, an imitation
of it will fail to produce pleasure except through the

execution or oolonring or some such cause.
6 Imitation and musio and measure being natural to
us, and verse being plainly a subdivision of measure,
persons originBlly disposed to Tersificationy and im-
proving it probably by degrees, created poetry by
7 their experiments. And poetry divided itself accord-
ing to individual character: the better sort imitated
good actions and those of good men, the vulgar those
of inferior persons: the former began by composing
8 hymns and panegyrics, the latter invectives. AVe can
ascribe no such production to any who lived before
Homer, though probably there were many such writers
but beginning with Homer we may enumerate e.g. his
Margites and the like* In these the Iambic metre ap-

propriately appears, a satire being now called an Iam-
bic poem because it was in tliis metre that they sa-
9 tirised each other ; and some of the old poets became
writers of heroics, some of iambics. And as Homer
was above all the poet of the superior style —for he alone
imitates not merely correctly but dramatically — so he
too first suggested the form of Comedy, employing dra-

matically not invective but ridicule : his Margites has
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abistotie's poetics. 15
the same relation to Comedy as the Iliad and OdjAsej
to Tragedy.
Tragedy and Comedy having arisen, those impelled 10
by their individual nature to one style or the other
became either writers of Tragedy instead of epic, or of
Comedy instead of satire; the one form in each case

being higher and of more repute thstn the other. To H
enquire however whether Tragedy, considered ^ either
in itself or with refisience to the spectators, is now

perfect in its kinds, is another matter. Tragedy and ^
Comedy having thus begun in experimentation — the
one originating with the leaders of the Dithyramb, the
other with those of the phallic song still in Togne in
many of our cities —grew by degrees, improvemoDts
being made as each branch developed itself ; and after

many changes Tragedy reposed in the attainment of
its natural form. -Sschylus first increased the num- 18
ber of actors from one to two, shortened the part

of the choms, and made the dialogue prominent';
Sophocles added a third actor and scene-painting. Fur- 1^
ther, the plot, originally short, was lengthened, and
the style, originally ludicrous (through its being a de-
velopment of the Satyric drama), was finally elevated
The metre was changed from Trochaic Tetrameter to
Iambic Trimeter : at the first the Trochaic was used
through its being proper to Satyric dramas, and better
suited for dancing, but when style arose Nature herself
discovered the proper metre ; Iambic being of all
tiie
metres the most like prose, as is proved by the fact

* Beading for icpivrrai I) ya2. See Notes at end.
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olisioilb's poetics. 17
that in conversation one with another we employ Iam-

bics most of all metres, Hexameters seldom and only
when we depart from the banaony of pzose. Then
le farther came the multiplication of the acts : how other
points are said to hare been perfected we may forbear
to discuss, as it would probably be a great task to ex-
plain them in detail.
5 Comedy is, as we hare said (ir. 7), an imitation of
persone inferior^ not ia every defecti bnt to £w as the
IndicroQS ie a subdivision of the deformed, being an
error or deformity neitlier painful nor harmful, as e.g.
a ludicrous mask is deformed and distorted but does
not connote pain.
8 The stages in the history of Tragedy, and their
anthers, are known ; those in the history of Comedy,
through its not oriînially being thought much of, are
not; nor was it till late that the Archon allowed
a chorus for comic actors, they being volunteers. And
ithad attained a certain form before the comic poets
8 actually so called are recorded. We know not who
introduced masks, or prologues, or more actors than
one, &c. Plots w« re introduced by Epicharnuis and
Phormis Comt dv came originally from Sicily, and it
;
was at Athens that Crates first gsTO up the satiric

type, and began to generalise tbe story or plot^ . . · ·
4 Epic agrees with Tragedy only to a considerable ex-
tent that of being an imitation of superior charac-
ters: they differ in that Epic has a simple metre,
and is narrative. Further, as to compass of action^
Tragedy endeavours to be -contained if possible within
one revolution of the sun, or to exceed but little, while
Spic is not tied to time, and herein differs irom Tra-
' fi«Tpou in et^ moiugical eenBe, cf . xxii. 6, xxvi. 6.
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Tragedy and Epio.
' Of the
fOBXEOI.
gedy ; though at fint the same was the ease with hoth
eonstitoeiit parts seme are
19
common, some peculiar to Tragedy ; so that whoever

nnderstaiids good and bad Tragedy understands also
good and had Bpic ; mnee everything that has

belongs also to Tragedy, though not all to Epic that
belongs to Traged/.
Of imitation by means of hezametexs, and of Comedy, 6
we will speak hereafter; let ns now treat of Tragedy,
and take the deîtion of its essence resulting from
what has been said* Tragedy is "a representation of 2
snperior and complete action of a certain compass, in
embellished language of either kind according to the
several 'psJM of the play, in the way of action not
of narrative, eflEecting by means of pity and fear the
purging of such feelings."
By 'embeUished language' I mean that which has 3
measore and harmony (or mnsic) ; and by * in the dif-
ferent kinds scTerally ' that some effects are produced by
verse alone, some agaia by music. And since we effect 4
the representation by action, first of all the arrange-
ment of the decoration must be an element in Tragedy
and next mnnc and sfyle, as it is by these means
that we effect the representation. By ' mnsic ' I mean
that of which the whole capacity is apparent, by style
*
*
the construction of the verses itself. And since Tragedy 5

isa representation of action, and action is carried on
by actors who must be of one kind or another in cha-
racter and aentiment (from which qualities we say
that action is of one kind or another), there will be
two causes of action, character and sentiment, and it
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ASISIOILB'e POXIIOS. 2
ie by the action that we succeed or fail. The plot is
the lepieeentation of the action; and by 'plot' I here
mean the constmetion of incident, by character' that *
whereby we eay the actors are of one kind or another,

by sentiment that whereby they in speaking
* *
anjthiog or set forth an opinion.

7 Ail Tragedy then mnat have sis parte, to make it
of one kind or another: plot, oharacteri eentimenty
style, decoration, rnneic.' The means whereby we re-
present things form two parts , the manner one ^, the
objects three ; and these are all. These classes, so to
say, moat of onr poets employ, eyery play embracing
plot, character, aentunent, style, decoration, and mnsie
^ alike. Of these the most important is the arrange-
ment of incident ; for Tragedy is a representation not
of persons but of action and life, happiness and un-
happiness; and happiness and unhappiness^ consist in
10 action, the end being action, not a qnality. Men
are of one kind or another according to their character,
happy or unhappy according to their actions : we do
not therefore act in order to represent character, but
include character on account of the action, so that the
incidents and the plot are the end of Tragedy, and the
^ênd is always the most important thing* Further,
Tragedy may snbsiet withont character, withont action
it cannot the tragedies of most young poets are with-
:
ont character, and so in general with many poets as ;
among painters Zenzis compared with Polygnotus^

Zenxis^ style lacks character, Polygnotns excels in
^
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ABimiEK^S lOIXIOB. 23
paiPtiDg it. Fuxiheri if one set in order epeeohee shew- 12

ing*eharaoter and well oonsbmeted at to atyle and een-
timent, he will not effect the real business of Tragedy
80 much as would a play which employed these means
in a lower form but had a plot and arrangement of in-
cident. Moreover the greatest of the means whereby IS
Tragedy attracts — revolutions and recognitions — are
aahdivieiQne of the plot, further, witness the iaot that 1^
beginnem In compoaition can ancoeed sooner in style
and character than in arrangement of incident ;
e.g.
the earliest poets almost without exception. The plot ^
then is the basis and as were soul of Tragedy,

it
character coming next. It is the same thing as in 15

painting: if one were to lay on the most beautiful
colours promiscuously he would not please so much as
if he first drew a sketch. The representation is a
representation of action, and,on this account above
ally of actors. —
comes sentiment, that is, the 16
^Third
power of expressing what is contained in the story or
consonant with it, which, in the dialogue, is the busi-
ness of Politic and Khetoric: the old poete make
their characters speak like citizens, those of our
day like rhetoricians. Character is whatever shews 17
choice, what, if the case is not clear, one chooses or
rejects (so that speeches in which there is nothing at
all for the speaker to choose or reject contain no cha-
racter) : sentiment is that whereby we prove the ex-
istence or non-existence of anything, or set forth
a general proposition.
Fourth comes the style of the speeches ; and by 18
sfyle X mean* ae I said before, expresaion by meana
24
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ABURCOTU'e ·
19 of namee ; whioh has the same efibot in poetvy and
25
in prose.
Of the rest, the fifth element is music, the greatest
of all embelliehments ; the sixth, decoration, which is
attractiye, but least artistio and least proper to poetry,
as Tragedy may have its effect even without compe-

tition or actors, and farther with the execution of de-
coration the mechaoio'e art is more concerned than
the poet's.
7 These things defined, let us next say of what
kind the arrangement of incident ahould be ; for this
Sis the first and greatest element in Tragedy. We
have laid down that Tragedy is the representation
8 of whole and complete action of some compass: for
there may be a whole of no compass. A whole is that
which has beginning and middle and end. The be-
ginning is that which does not itself of necessity fol-
low anything, but after which something must be or
occur, as the end is that whioh must itself (of neces-
sity or in general) follow something, though nothing

need follow it; the middle is that which follows
aomething else as something else follows it. Thus
a well-arranged plot must neither begin nor end at
4 random, hut fall under the forementioned forms, fur-
ther, since the beautiful, whether in a figure or in
anything else which consists of parts, must not only
baTe these in order but also be of a definite compass—
for beauty lies in compass and order, so that a figure
would not be beautiful if it were very small (as the
eight of it, being instantaneousy would then be a con-
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AXIBIOIU'e POBZICS. 37
ftued one) or rery large (as then the eight would not
be comprehensive, unity and completeness in it would
be wanting to the apeotator^ e.g. if the figore were
a thonsand milee long)ît is necessary, as in the caee 5
of bodies or figures (which must have size, but a size

oompreheneible at once), so in the ease of plots, that
they should have compass, but a compass adapted to
the memory. It is not for art to fix the limit of com- 6
jmes required by competition and taste ; for if a hun-
dred tragedies were competing they would compete
by the hour-glass (as is said to have once been done) ,*
but as for the limit fixt by the nature of the case, the 7
greatest consistent with simultaneous comprehension is

always the best. Or, to express it by simple definition,
a sufficient limit of compass is * such as» when events

succeed each other according to probability or neces*
sity, allows a change from adversity to prosperity or
viee versd.*
A plot is ofitf, not, as some think, if it be concerned 8

with one person; for many, nay, numberless things
may happen to one person, in some of which there
ia no unity ; and so likewise there may be many ac-
tions of one person which do not make up one action.
Thus it seems all poets err who write a Heracleid or 2

Iheseid or the like, thinking that as Heracles was one
person so his story must be one. Homer, among other 8
excellencies, seems to have seen this clearly, whether
from art or from genius : in writing the Odyssey he
did not introduce everything that happened to Odys<
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abisioile's poetics. 29
eeos, e.g. hie being wounded on Parnassus or feigning
madneae when the amy was aseembling (no one of

which eyents followed neceraarily or probably on
finother), but composed the Odyssey on one action,
4 ae we may say, and so the Iliad. As tiien in other
mimetic arts one representation is the representation,

of one object, so the plot (being a representation of
action) mnst be the representation of one complete
action, and the parts of the action be so arranged that
if any be transposed or removed the whole will be
broken np and disturbed; for what provee nothing
by its insertion or omission is no part of the whole.
9 It is plain also from what we have said that it is
not a poet's business to relate what occurred, but

what might occur, what is according to probability
2 or necessity possible. The historian and the poet
differ not by writing in prose or verse —for we might
put Herodotus into Terse, and it would be a history
as much in verse as in prose, —but in that one relates
8 what occurred, the other what might occur. Thus

poetry is superior to and more philosophic than his-
tory ; poetry treats more of the general, history
4 of the particular. The general teUs us to what
kind of man it would occur, according to probability
or necessity, to say or do things of a oertain kind (and
at this poetry aims in giving names to the characters)
the particular, what Alcibiadee did or what happened

5 to him. In Comedy this has now become dear : we
arrange the plot by means of probable incidents, and
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81
thea apply nanee at random^ ingtead of writiiigy like

the iambio poets, about indiyidnalB. In Tragedy we
keep to recorded names, the reason being that tbe
possible is credible: what has not ocenrred we no
way believe to be possible, but what has occurred
was plainly possible, or it would not haye oocnned.
In some tragedies however one or two of the names 7
are known ones and the rest £ctitioas, as in others
all; e.g. in Agathon's Flower" inoidente and names

are alike fictitious, and yet it pleases. So that 8
we must not always seek to keep to the receiTod
stories with which tragedies are concerned ; it would
eren be absurd to do so, since even the known events
are known to few and yet please alL It is clear from 9
this that the poet should be a '

maker' of plots rather
than of yerses, as he is a * maker' by reason of his
being an imitator, and what he imitates is action.
Even if therefore it happens that he writes of what

has occurred, he is none the less tbe * maker' of it;
for some things that have occurred may well have been
such as would probably haye occurred and might haye
occurred, and so he is the '
maker' of them.
Of simple plots or actions the episodic are the worst. 10
By an episodic plot I mean one in which there is nei-
ther probability nor necessity in the sequence of the
episodes. Such acti<m is produced by inferior poets

through their own iuferiority, by good poets on ac-
Digitizeu ^jj^-'Îe
82 APDTOTEAOYS
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^ poxncB.
count of the actore': engaging in oompetition, and

lengthening out the plot beyond its capabilities,
S3
they
11 are often forced to pervert the order. And since the
imitation is imitation not only of a complete action bat
also of thinge pitiful and terrible, and these are eepe-
dallj such if thej happen unexpectedly (for this is
what strikes ns most^), and still more so if they

12 happen unexpectedly one through another — for they
will then produce more astonishment than if they oc-
curred mechanically m accidentally, since acd*
dents seem most astonishing when they appear to have
happened as it were designedly, as e.g. the statue of
Mitys at Argos killed his murderer by falling on him
as he looked at it : for such things seem not to happe^^
at random, —each plots must be the better.
10 Plots are either simple or complex, as the actions of
which they are representations are in themselves either
9 simple or complex. By simple action I mean that in
which (it being, as we have defined it, continuoas and
one) the change occurs without revolution or recog.
nition; by complex, that in which the change is ac-
S companied by rerolntion or recognition or both. All
this must arise from the very arrangement of the plot,
so that all follows (necessarily or probably) from what
has happened before : it makes much difEerence whether
things happen in consequence of others or merely after
others.
U A revolution is a change of the action to the reverse,
as we have^said (vii. 7), and that, as we idso say (x. 3),
according to necessity or probability. Thus in the
CBdipus Bex the Corinthian who comes to cheer CBdi-
pus and relieve him of his fear about his mother does
*
'
Or perhaps
Beading
*
the requirements of the stage.'
4 ylvtrai 2 ^, Zrw
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84 AFirrOTEAOYS 012.
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aeisioile's poetics. 85
the reverse by shewing him who he is ; in the Lyn-

ceue^ the hero is being led to death and Danaus fol-
lowing to slay him, when the result of the action is
that he is sayed and Danaus killed.

A reoognition, as the name signifies, is a change 2
from ignorance to knowledge (whether to friendship or
to enmity) in the characters depicted to display pros-
perity or adversity. The best kind of recognition is
one accompanied by levolntion, as in the (Edipne Eex.
There are also other kinds, as the recognition may 8
refer to inanimate objects, or to anything that happens
as has been said ; or we may recognise whether any
one has done a thing or not. But the kind most per-
tinent to the plot and to the action is the first men-

tioned ; for such recognition and revolution will in- 4
volve either pity or fear, and Tragedy is laid down to
be the representation of such actions ; and, further,

prosperity or adversity will in such cases ensue.
Since, then, recognition is a recognition of persons, 5
some kinds are of one person by the other simply,
when it is known who the other is; in others each
person must recognise the other, as Iphigenia ^ becomes
known to Orestes by the sending of the letter, while
he in order to be recognised by her requires another
method.
With these subjects then are concerned two parts oi (i
the plot, revolution and recognition : the third is suf-
fering. Of these, rcTolution and recognition have been

^ Of Theodectes. > In the Ipk Taux. of Euripidee.
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AXI8I0TLB*e POEXEGS. 87
mffering ie liiutfiil or poinftil aetioii, e.g.
death on the stage, excess of pain, wounding, &c.
12 The parte of Tragedy which we must treat as kinds
we have mentioned abore (yi. 7) ; the parts relating to
length and to the several divisions are these, prohgm
fpisod$ ixodui chorus and of the ohoniB the parsdos

and the stasimon. These are common to all plays : pe-
culiar to some are the eonge from the stage and the
hommoi.
The prologue is the whole of the tragedy before the
entrance of the chorus ; the spuods, all between entire
chorie songs ; the sxodusy all alter which there is no
song by the chorus. Of the choral part, the parodos
ia the first speech of the whole chomSy the siasmon
a song by the chorus without anapaests or trochees, the
kommos a lament between chorus and actor.
8 The parts of Tragedy which we must so treat we

have mentioned before (vi. 7); the parts relating to
length and to the several divisions are these.

13 Kext to the fore-mentioned points we may discnss
what to aim at and what to avoid in arranging plots,
8 and how to effect the object of Tragedy. Since the con-

etmction of the best tragedy should be representatiTe
of things pitiful and terrible (for this is the property
of such representation), and not simple but complex,
in the first place it is clear that we must not have
(1) good men changing from prosperity to adversity
(for this would be neither pitiful nor terrible, but re-
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AUSIOILS'e POXXICS.
polaiYe), nor (2) the bad from adrenity to proepeiity
(for this is the least tragie method of all, as involTrng

none of our requisites, being neither provocative of
ssrmpathy nor pitiM nor terrible) ; nor again (3) the

very wicked falling from prosperity into adversity (for
such arrangement would provoke sympathy, but nei-

ther pity nor fear; as the one is for the innooent suf-
fering, the other for one's own like —pity for the inno-
cent, fear for one's like ;

-
so that the result would
be neither pitiful nor terrible). The intermediate cha-
raoter then is left ; and such is one neither dietin- 3

guished by Tirtue or justice, nor fsUiog into adversity
through vice or wickedness, but failing through some

êrror, being a person of great repute and prosperity, e.g.
(Edipus, Thyestes, and the famous men of such houses.
The well-coostructed plot then must be simple ra- ^
j'ther than, as some say, double ; and the change must

be not from adversity to prosperity but reversely
) from prosperity to adversity, and not through wicked-

'
ness but through great error on the part either of such
'â man as we have described or of one better (not

worse) than such. Witness this fact: at first poets ^
admitted any plot, now the best tragedies are con-
structed on the fortune? of a few houses, e.g. those
of Alcmsson (£dipus Orestes Meleager Thyestes Tele-
phtts and whatever other persons have chanced to do
or suffer terrible things.
8uoh then is the arrangement of the artistically
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abistotle's posncs. 41
best tragedy. Whence also they make the same mis-

take " who blame Euripides for thus doing in his trage*
dies, many of his ending unhappily : for this is aocoid*
ing to oar etatement correct, and a strong proof is that
on the stage and in competition such if well acted
appear moat tragic, and Enripidee, whatever else he
may manage ill, yet appears the most tragie of poets.
7 The second kind of arrangement — by some c-illed
the first — is that which has a double arrangement, like

the Odyssey, and ends differently for good and bad.
It is pnt first on account of the spectators' weakness,
to which poets pander who write to gratify the spec-
9 tators. But such pleasure is not derived from Tragedy,
bnt rather proper to Comedy, in which if the bitterest
enemies, like Orestes and JBgisthus, appear in the

story, they go out friends at the finish, and no one is
ki]led by any.
1^ The pitiful and terrible may arise either out of the
spectacle or out of the very arrangement of incident,

the latter beiog the higher kind and shewing a better
poet. For the plot should be so arranged that, even
apart from the spectacle, the hearer shudders at the
incidents before him and feels pity at the results, as
^ one would do on hearing the story of (Edipua. To
produce this effect by means of the spectacle is less
artistic and requires apparatus. Those who by means

of the spectacle produce not the terrible but only the
marvellous have no part in Tnigedy ; for we sliould
not seek from Tragedy any pleasure, but that which is
* As the peraone mentioned in sect. 4 init
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ABISIOZU'e POBtlCe. 43
proper to it. And eiooe tbe poet should by the repre- 8

sentation produce the pleasure arising from pity and
fear, it is plain that this must be brought about by the
incidents; let us therefore gather what kinds of oc-
ourrences appear pitiful or tetrible.
Such aetioDs must be either those of Mends one to 4
another, or of enemies, or of neutrals. If, then, an
enemy thus treat an enemy, he does nothing to pro-
voke pity whether he act or intend to act (except so
far as the suffering goes), nor do neutrals; but when
sufferings are inflicted by Mends on each otiier — e.g.
when a brother kills or intends to kill or in any such
way treats a brother, a son a father, a mother a son or
iâ son a mother, — it is what we should seek. We must 5

not however destroy received stories, I mean e.g. that
of Glytnameetra slain by Orestes or Eriphyle by Alo-
msBon, but invent for ourselves and use tradition aright.
What this means we may explain more clearly.
The action may
be carried on (1) knowingly and 6
consciously, as the old poets had it, and as Euripides
also makes Medea kill her children ; or (2) the charae-
ters may act, and unknowingly do something terrible,
and then afterwards recognise each other as friends, as
does the (Edipus of Sophocles (the action liowever

being outside the play), or the A 1cm seen of Astydamas,
or Telegonus in the Wounded Odysseus (the action
being within the tragedy). Further, a third head in 7
addition, (3) one may be about to do in ignorance
something irrevocable, and then recognise the truth
before doing it. Beside these there is no other way
the ohsraoters must either act or not| and that either
conscionsly or unoonscionsly.
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abisioilb's poexicb. 45
Of these ways the worst is (1) knowiogly to intend

and not act ; for this the repulsive elementi
and is not tragical, for it excludes suffering ; whenoe
no one uses it naturally, unless rarely, as in the An»
8 tigone Haemon intends to kill Creon. Next comes
(2) the exeeution of the purpose ; and it is hest to act
in ignorance and then recognise the truth, as then the
repulsive element is absent and the recognition is
9 itxikiog. Bat best of all is (3) the last, I mean as in

the CieephontesA Merope is about to slay her son and
instead of slaying recognises him ; or as in the Iphi-
genia in Tauri the sister recognises the brother, in
the Helle the eon the mother whom he is about to
expose. It is on this account that tragedies, as we
liave already said (xiii. 6), are concemed with the
fortunes of a small number of fiunilies : XK>ets experi-
men ted and found out, not by art but by chance, how
to produce such efifect in their plots, and so are com-
pelled to recur to the hooses in which such disasters
10 have oeeurred.
Of the arrangement of incident, and of the right
kind of plots, we have now said enough.
With regard to the character ° there are four points

to aim at: first and foremost, that it be a good one.
11 The play will have character if, as we have said
(vi. 17), speech or action reveal choice of any kind,
15 and good character if good choice. This may be in

any class, for even a woman or a slave may be good,
though perhaps the former is inferior and the latter
wholly base. — Îhe second point hBfiinm of chaiaoter:
• OtEoxipidML • Of the hero.

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AsmoiLB's poxrm 47
a chaiaeter may be maiiljy and yet it may not be

fitting for a woman to be thns manly or cleyer. —The 8
third is conformity"^ : thie is different from making
the character good and fitting: in the way we have
described. —The fourth is consistency : evenif he who 4
giree ooeasion for the representation and suggests such
character be ineonsietenty he should yet be consistently
ineonsietent.
A gratuitous example of badness of character is 5
Menclaus in the Orestus ^ : of the unseemly and un-
fitting the lament of Odysseus in the Scylla or the
speech of Melanippei: of inconsistency the Iphigenia
in Aulis^y for Iphigenia when she supplicates is quite
unlike her later character.
We must in the character, as in the arrangement of 6
incident, seek always either necessity or probahility, so

that it be either necessary or probable that such a man
should say or do such things, as it is that one thing
should happen after another. It is plain then that 7

the solution of the plot should ansa out of tlie plot
and not be mechanical as in the Medea
itself, or the
passage about the sailing away from Troy in the Iliad.
Hechanical means should be used for things outside
the play, whether what has happened before which
it is impossible for a man to know, or what happens
after which needs prophecy or repot ting : to the gods

we attribute omniscience. Nor should there be in the'
action anything irrational, unless it be outside the
tragedy as in the QBdipus Bex of Sophocles.
Since Tragedy is a representation of superior pi rsons, 8
we must imitate the skilful statuary who, assigning

r With tiaditioo. « Of Enripidas.
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axistotle's poetics, 49
the proper form, depicts men like what they are but
handsomer. So should the poet, in representing pas-
sionate or indolent men or those who have any such
faults of character, make them tolerahle and yet the
same : e.g. with etuhhornneee, as Agathon and Homer
9 represent Achilles. These points he should observe,
and in addition to these the impressions which, besides
those that are inherent, accompany poetry; for in
respeet to these also there are many possihle kinds of
error* But of this we have said enough in onr already
published works.
16 What recognition is we have already explained
(xi. 2) ; as for its kinds, the first and least artistic,
which through poyerty poets use most, is that by
8 tokens. Of these, some are ooogenital, as * the spear*
marks that the Earthbom hear/ or star-marks such as
Carcinus introduces in his Thyestes some adven- ;
titious, whether corporal, e.g. scars, or separable, neck-
lets, and as in the Tyro% where the recognition Is by
8 means of the cradle. These too may be used with or

without skill, e.g. by means of the scar Odysseus was
recognised in one way by his nurse, in another by the
swineherds : for recognitions intended to produce con-
viction, and all of this kind, are the less artistic.
Those brought about by a revolution, as in the Wash-
4 ing of Odysseus ^, are better. Next come those in- —
vented by the poet and therefore inartistic. Thus
Orestes in the Iphigenia in Tauri reveals himself as
Orestes : she reveals herself by means of the letter,
he says what is required by the poet but not by the
story; wherefore this borders on the fore-mentioned

error, as he might have carried tokens with him. So
' 01 Sophodee.
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£* poxncB. 51
in the Tereae of Sopbodee * the shutUe^B Toioe*.^—-The 5

hy reooUeetion, through imderetandiDg
third kind ie
something when one sees it; as in the Cyprians of
Dicaeogenes, where Menelaufi weeps on seeing the
statue of Helen, and in the etory told to Aldnous,
where Odyesena hearing the harpist rememhere and
weeps, whence the reeognition in each case. ^The · —
one like Electra has ,
fourth kind is by inference, e.g. in the Choephorce,
** some
no one is like her
but Orestes, therefore Orestes has come." So in the
Iphigenia of Foljidue the Sophist, it is natural for
Orestes to infer that as his sister was sacrificed so he
himself is to be sacrificed. So in the Tydeus of Theo-
dectes, the hero
is to lose his own
coming to find his son *
life.
pies seeing the place infer

80 in the Phineido, the
tiieir fiette :
infers that
·
here they are
he
fated to die, because here they were exposed.

A recognition may also be constructed by false in- 7
ference of the spectators, as in Odysseus the Palse
Messenger the pretender says he would know the bow
which he has not seen, and a folse inference is raised
as Ihougfa he were thereby about to reveal himself.
But the best of all kinds of recognition is when the g
surprise arises by probalile means out of the incidents
themselves, as in the CEdipus Rex of Sophocles, and
the Iphigenia in Tauri (for it is probable that she
would wish to entrust Orestes with a letter): such
alone need no artificial tokens, such as necklets. Next
best are those by inference.
In arranging the plot and working it out by Ian-
gnage the poet should as & as possible set it all
before one's eyes ; for thus the spectator, as though

• Sea Note at end. · BiomedflL
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v^jQi
AJUSTOILB S P0£TIC8, 53
present at the action itself, will most sensibly find out

what ie appropriate^ and eontradictioQe be least likely
to escape notice. Witness the fault found with Car-
oinus : Amphiaraus had left the temple, and this if he
h id not seen it^ would have escaped the notice of the
Rpcctator but when it was put on tlio stage the spec-
;
tators were disgusted and the piece failed.

2 As far as possible also the poet should vork out the
plot, by acting it : for, starting with the same nature,
those who feel anything are most effective the sufferer ;
suffers, and the angry man storms, in the most genuine

manner. Wherefore poetry requires either cleyerness
or enthusiasm: clever people are iuquisitivei enthu-
siasts are easily moved.
3 Such recognised plots, as well as those he himself in-
vents, the poet should set forth as to the general idea,
then introduce episodes and complications. I mean
that the general idea e.g. of the Ipiiigenia in Tauri
may thus be seen A certain maiden having been
:
brought to the altar, and having vanished out of the

si^ht of the sacrificers and settled in a country where
it was the custom to sacrifice strangers to the goddess,
holds this priesthood: after a while it happens that

the priestess' brother comes, and that because (for
some reason outside the general idea) the god bade
him come thither (for what purpose is again outside
the story) and on his arrival being seized and about
;
to be sacrificed he reveals himself, whether as Euri-

pides relates or as Polyidus does (who says, not im-
probably, that not only the sister but also the brother
was to have been sacrificed), and hence the rescue,
4 Next after this, assuming the names of his characters,
he should introduce episodes, and see that they be
appropriate, as In the case of Orestes* the madness
through which he was taken prisoner and the rescue
5 through dramas the episodes
^ i.e. in reading. • Inthelpb. laur.
2001
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JJBnrOTLB'e Foxiioe. 55
are tliort, while in £pic they serve to lengthen. The

story of the Odyaaey is of a email compass man : A
being ahroad for many years, persecuted by Poseidon
and alone, while his home affairs are in this position^
that suitors waste his estate and plot against his son,
he himself arrives after a storm, and revealing himself
to certain persons falls on his enemies, saves himself
and destroys them. This then is the essential part,
the rest episodic.
In every tragedy half is the complication, half the 13
solution :the circumstances outside the plot, and otten
some that are not outside, form the complication, the
rest the solution. I mean that the complication is
from the beginning to the last part, whtre tlie chunge
comes from adversity to prosperity or vice versa ^ ;
the solution, from the beginning of the change to the
end. Thus in the Lynceus of Theodectes the compli-
cation coneiete of the antecedent action, the seizuie
of the bo^» and again their bringing before the court
the solution ' is from the accusation of murder to the
end.
Of Tragedy there are four kinds, just as we said 2
(zIL 1) there were four parts' : (1) the simple
(2) the complex, of which the basis is reTolution and
recognition: (3) the pathetic, e.g. those on Ajax or
Ixion: (4) the ethical, e.g. the Phthiotian Women*
and the Peleus *. The marvellous is found in e.g. the
Phorcides ^, the Prometheus and the State of Hades.
We should try to include if possible all elements, 3
or at least the most important, and of them the greatest
5^
number, especially seeing how people now carp at
poets: there have been good poets in each braiidi,
* Keading ficra/So/vciy
4^ f^vylat fit 9ifTrvxtavy,
us 4 ^
*
*
Beading ^vruu
See Note at end.
^^«>·^,^ 8* ^> ^' «^.
f Inserting ^ bt -], the deiinition of it being lost.
Of Sophocles. · Of Sophocles or Euripides.
^ Of Adgrlus.
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HISIOILE's P0JEIIC8. 67
and 80 they expect one man to excel each in his pecu-

liar skill. It ie perhaps not right at all to call tra-
gedies different or the same on account of the plot,

though we may identify thoee in which the same com-
plication and appear'. Many poets who excel
in complication fail in solution : both branches should
4 always be mastered. — We
must remember what has
several times (· said, and not make
4, XYiL 6) been
Tragedy an epic anrangement. By epic I mean full of
plots, aa it would be if one took the whole plot of the
Iliad. For in £pic, on account of its length, the parts
receive fitting compass in dramas the result is quite
;
6 contrary to expectation. Por proof^ all who take the

whole story of the fall of Troy and not parts of it aa
Enripides does, or the tale of Niobe and not parts of
it as JSschylus does, either fail, or compete at a dis-
advantage : hereby alone even Agathon failed. —In
revolutions with simple incidents^ poets seek their
object by emprises* ; for this is tragic, and proTOcatiTe
6 of sympathy. This oceurs when the wise but wicked
man (e.g. Sisyphus) is deceived, or the braye but un-
just is worsted : and this is a probable occurrence,
for, as Agathon says, it is probable that many im-
probable things will happen.
7 The chorus should be assumed to be one of the
actors and part of the whole, engaging in the compe-
tition as in Sophocles not as in Euripides. In other
poets the Pongs have no more to do with the plot than
with a different tragedy; wherefore they sing inter-
ludes, a practice first started by Aji-atiion. But what
diiference does it make Avhether they sing inti'rludes
or transfer a speech (or a wlioio act) from one play
into another ?
See Notes at end.
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ABI8I0XLB*8 POXXICe. 59
Other points baTuig been discuseed, it remains to 10

speak of sentiment and style. The topic of sentiment
is treated in work on Rhetoric, as it belongs
our
rather to that branch. To it appertaine all the effect
that shoold be produced by the language: the sub-
diviflions of which are—proving and refhting, and pro-
ducing emotion (e.g. pity, fear, anger, &o.) and ex-
aggerated or reduced ideas. It is plain that in the 3
arrangement of incident we must take the subdivisions
of sentiment^® from the same heads" when we have to
produce the pitiful or terrible, the great or small, the

probable or improbable; but there is this difference,
lliat in a drama such effects must be clear without

explanation, in a speech they must be produced by
the speaker and follow from the language. For what
would be the use of a speaker if even without lan-
guage all were sufficiently clear ?
As to style, one department of enquiry consists of 4
the figures of speech the knowledge of which belongs
;
to the art of speaking and to him who has such science

e.g., what is command, prayer, narration, threattmng,
questioning, answering, &c. Now no objection de-
serving of attention can be brought against poetry by
reason of knowledge or ignozanoe of these things,:
what error can we suppose there is in what Protagoras 5
finds fault with, that the poet, pretending to pray,
really commands when he says'*, '*Sing, goodees, 0
the wxathy" as he declares that bidding one do or not
do a thing is commanding ? Iiot us therefore pass this
by as a question for another art, not for poetry.
All speech has the following parts: the letter, 20
syllable, connective particloi artiolOy noun, verb, in-
flexion, sentence.
A letter is an indiviaible sound, not of any kind, but 2
I* *
See Note at end* « i.e. those of Bhetoric. Biad 1. 1.
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A&ISTOILS'e PosncB. 61
that out of which an intelligible sound may arise ; for

beasts also have indivieible eottadB, none of whioh I
8 call a letter. Its enbdiyieione are: TOwel, aemiTowely
mute. A
Towel is that which vithout contact* has
an audible sound : a semiTowel is that which with
such contact has an audible sound, e.g. *, r: a mute
is that which, with contact, has in itself no sound, but
in conjunction with a towqI becomeB audible, e.g. d.

4 These differ according to the shape of the mouth, the
position, haying rough or smooth breathing, being long
or short, of acute or grave or circumflex accent : the
consideration of which details belongs to works on
metre.
5 A syllable is a non-significant sound composed of a
mute and a semiyowel or vowel gr without : is a syl-
lable, and 80 with a, gra. But the differences of these
too it is for the science of metre to consider.
6 A connective particle is a non-significant sound which
neither deprives of nor invests with signification a sound
that may be made up of several sounds : it may be
placed ^ either at one extremity or in the middle, but
'
ought not to stand by itself at the beginning of a sen-

tence: e.g.y either^ In other words, a
non-significant soundwhich out of several sounds de-
noting one sound may form one significant sound.
7 An article is a non-significant sound shewing the be-
ginning or end or division of a sentences, .... e.g.,
abouit^ araundf &c. In other words, a non-significant
sound which neither deprives of nor invests with
* Of the organs oi speech.
' Wflading ^vcîmciwi riBteBeu^ md Ammt.
« Ezami^, idloirad by a seoond dsfimtion, should hem
follow.
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' P0SIIC8.
eigniftoation a loaod made vp of eevenl Boundsi and

which may be plaoed eitlier at ooe extremity or ia
68
the middle.
A noun is a compoeite significant sound without 8
connotation of time, no part of which is in itself sig-
nificant : oomponnda we do not nae either part
for in
as thongh were in itself significant, eg., in Thto-
it
dorus the ddron has no signification.

A verb is a composite significant sound connoting 9
time, no part of which is in itself significant (any
*
more than in the case of the noun) or * white
: * man '
does not signify whrn^ hut ^walks' or 'has walked*

connotes time present or past.
An inflexion of noun or verb is that wbich signifies 10
either (1) the relation 'of him,' *to him,' and the
Uke^; or (2) the relation *to one,' *to manyV e.g.,
'man,' 'men;' or (3) the relution of the manner of
speaking, e.g. according as we ask or command. 'Did
he walk' or 'walk thou' axe infiexions of the verb
under these heads.
A sentence is a composite significant sound, some 11
parts of which are in themselTes significant. Kot
erery sentence is composed of noun -f- verb, but a sen-
tence may be without a verb (e.g. the definition of
Man though it will always have some significant part,
e.g. *
Cleon ' in * Cleon walks.' A sentence may be 18
one in either of two ways it may signiiy one thing,
:
or it may consist of several elements united by con-

nective particles. Thus the word Man is one sentence
b« cause it signifies one thing, the Iliad bt^cause of the
cojinective particles.
Nouns are ot two kinds: (1) simple, by which I 21
mean composed of non-signiticant eiciuents, e.g. earth,
and (2) double, whether composed of a significant -f-
^ «Qen.Dat.Aoe.
' ie. as { ' Le. the xdatioD of
Unw.
Nnmber.
2
3
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AJOsioxLs'e .
a non-significant element (though not in the word
65
or son-sigDifioaDt) or of significaiit
itself significant
elements. A
noim may also be triple or qnadraple or
multiplex, like most bombastic words, such as Hermo- *
Caico-Xanthus.*
2 Every noun is either ordinary or strange, meta-
phorical or ornamental or inyented, lengthened or

d shortened or altered. By ordinary I mean what all
use,by strange what some use thus it is plain that
:
the same word may be both ordinary and strange,

though not to the same persons, as (spear) is
to the Cyprians an ordinary term, to us a strange one.
4 Metaphor is extension of an improper term, whether
(1) from genus to species, or (2) from species to genus,
or (8) from species to species, or (4) by analogy. By
(1) *from genus to species' 1 mean e.g. Here stands *
my ship^,^ as being moored is a kind of standing: by

(2) from species to genus ' e.g. Ten thousand good
' '
deeds has Odysseus doneS' as ten thousand is a great

number, and here used for a great number: by (3)
*from species to species' e.g. draining the life with
the steel,' or 'cutting with tireless steel,' as here the
poet calls cutting draining and draining cutting, both
6 being to take something away: by (4) analogy I mean
when the second is to the first as tiie fourtii to the
third, as then one may use the fourth for the second
or the second for the fourth, tômetimee even adding
that to which the word rt i'ers instead of which the
poet uses a metaphorical one I mean e.g. a cup is
to Dionysos as a shield to Ares, one may therefore call

a cup 'the shield of Bionysos' or a shield 'the oup
kOdys8^LX86. >IliadiL272. u gee Note at end.
F
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A&I8I0XLS*e rosxioi. 67
of Ares:* or, ae old age is to life, so is evening to day,
one may therefiire oall eveiiing * day's old age 'or old
age 'lifb'e evening* (as Empedocles does), or Mife'e
setting.' In some cases there is no analogous term in 7
ezistenoei but we may still speak in the same way
thus the scattering of com is sowing, bnt the enn's
scattering rays has no name, this, however, stands to
the son as sowing to com, whence wo say ' sowing the

god-created rays.' This kind of metaphor we mays
also use in another way, and while employing an im-
proper term exclude a proper one, as if one should call
a shield the cnp not * of Axes ' bnt * wanting wine.'
An invented word is one never need by any at all, 9
but made by the poet himself : for some seem to be
of this kind, e.g. * sprouters ' for horns and ' suppli-
cator' for priest.
A word is lengthened if it have a vowel longer than 10
it should be, or a syllable inserted ; shortened, if part
of it be removed. Thus (lengthened) vîfor for wSktmf,
for U\eoy \8€ \(^ for " : (shortened)
to, Kpi, li^ " in * the faces of both become one.'

A word is altered when we keep part of it and invent 11
part, e.g. ^€( for de(i0y in * on the right breast®.'
ôuns themselves are either Masculine or Teminine 12
or Neuter. Masculine are such as end in y, />, s, or
the letters compounded with r, which are two in num-
ber, and : feminine such as end in the vowels
» for 9 ^$
Beading ·\4$
i(îs.
rh ^^) \$·
· Iliad v. 393.
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AM8T0TL£'8 POETICS. 69
always loDg, 17 and and, among those capable of

lengthening, a (so that the numbers of the letters in
which Masculine and Feminine nouns end are qual, e
i and being the same with s), No noun ends in

a mute, nor in « short yowel: three only end in 1,
/mX« imcAi; five in vi*. lêuters end in these

Towels, and in and f.
22 The perfection of style is to be clear without being

mean. The style composed of ordinary terms is the
dearest, but mean: e.g. the poetry of Cleophon and
of ethenelus. That which uses foreign words is
stately, and unlike the common (by foreign I mean
strange, metaphorical, with lengthenings, and cvcry-
2 thing UD-ordinary) ; but if one make all like this, the
result will be eith^ a riddle or a jargon îf it consist —

of metaphors a riddle, if of strange words a jargon.
For it is the essence of a riddle to combine inconsistent
ideas in describing facts (which we cannot do by the
putting together of words, but may by metaphor, as
'
I saw one glueing brass with fire upon another,' and
the like) ; while from the use of strange words arises
8 a jargon. With these then a poem should be diver-

sified : this — the use of strange words, metaphors,
ornamentation, and the other fore-mentioned kinds
wil^ prevent its being common or mean, while the use
of ordi;?ary language will give clearness.
4 Towarcu: making the style clear without being com-
mon much may be done by extension and contraction
and alteration of words; for through being unusual
and differing from the ordinary forms such will pre-
V 1.6· yiwv 96pv rSrv ir6M,

70 APISTOTEAOYS DOIHTIKHS.
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71
vmt the fltylo from bcin^ oominooy wliile through the

intcnnixtiire of the usual forme oleamess ie eeonred.
Thus they are not right in their criticism who find 5
fault with such a form of language and ridicule the

poety as did Eudeidee of old, on the ground that it is
eeey to write poetry if oae he allowed to lengthen as

maeh as one pleaeee: he makes iamhiee oat of pure
proee,
and
Ouk gêramenos ton ekei —nou Sllehordn ptnoimi
To be coiispicuouB for such use of lengthening would 6
be ludicrous, but moderation ie equally necessary in
all hrauchee : if one used strange words, or metaphors,
or tenns of any kind, improperly and with a ludicrous
purpose, he would produce the same effect. How im* 7
portant fitness is we may obserre in Epic by intro-
ducing ordinary terms into the verse ; and in the case
of strange words also, or metaphors, or terms of any
kind, one may see, by substituting ordinary terras,
that we speak truly. Thus, ^schylus and Euripides
wrote the same line, which hy Euripides' changing
hut one word, and using a strange term instead of an
ordinary and usual one, appears beautiful instead of
poor : -^schylus says in his Philoctetes '
the ulcer
Mhich eats the flesh of my foot,' Euripides for 'eats'
substitutes 'feasts on**.' So if for 'now being small
and worthless and uncomely * ' one substitute the ordi-
nary terms 'now being tiny and crank and uncomely:'
for setting a sorry stool and small board
*
setting ' '
a shabby stool and tiny board :' for the shores bellow ·'
» u gee Notes at end. Odyssey ix. 615. <i
' Ibid« xz. 259. · Iliad xvii. 265.
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abisioxle's poxeicb. 73
,
8 ^ the shores shhek.' Further, Ariphrades used to ridi-
cule the tragedians for neing forme that no one would
introduce in prose, as
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It IB through their not being ordinary forme that all
such prevent the style from being common ; but this

he knew not.
9 It is a great thing to use appropriately each of the .
fore-mentioned, whether compounds or strange terms;

but greatest of all to be apt at Metaphor. This alone
cannot be got from another, and is a proof of clever-
ness: to use metaphors well is to see resemblances.
10 Of names, the compound are most fitting in dithy-

rambs, the strange in heroic Terse, the metaphorical
in iambic. In heroic verse all the fore-mentioned may
be used, but in iambic, through its imitating prose as
closely as possible, those names are fitting which one
would use in conversation: such are ordinary, meta-
phorical, and ornamental names.
On Tragedy, and imitation by means of action, let
the above suffice us.
23 As to narrative metrically -imitative poetry, it is
dear that we must make the plot (as in Tragedy)

dramatic, and on one whole and complete action hav*
ing beginning and middle and end (in order that like
one whole figure it may produce the proper pleasure)
and that the usual histories should not resemble it, in
< For aw» " Por iy ^.
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AMsemu^B Fomcs. 75
wbush we have to depict not one action bnt one period,

. with whatever happened in it to one or more persons,
each event having hut a casual relation to the others.
Ae the ea*fight at Salamis, and the battle with the %
Garthaginiana in Sicily, occurred abovt the same time
but with no common relation to the same aim, so in sue-
eeeaiye perioda one thing sometimee happena after an-
other with no one aim appearing. And so perhaps most
poets write. Wherefore, as we said before (viii. 3), 3
in this also Homer beside others will appear divine,

in his not attempting to treat the whok war,
though it had beginning and end ; it wonld either have
been too long and not simultaneously comprehensible,
or elae, had he kept down the compass, he would have
been hampered by the variety of the anbject. As it
is, he takes one part, and introduces numy episodes in
the story, e.g. the Catalogue of the Ships and other

episodes whereby he interrupts the treatment: while
others treat of one person and one period and one com-
plex action, e.g. the anthor of the Cypria' and of the
Little Iliad'. Thus out of the
Iliad or Odyssey may 4
be made bnt one tragedy or two, but out of the Cypria
several, out of the Little Iliad over eight, e.g. the
Adjudging of Achilles' Arms, tl>e Philoctetes, the I*ieop-
tolemus, the Enrypylus, the Beggar's Adventure the
Laoonian Women,
the Fall of Troy {i.e^ the Sailing
away to Tenedos, the Sinon, the Trojan Women).
Further, Epic must embrace the Fame kinds as 24
Tragedy (xviii. 2), being either simple or complex,
pathetic or ethical; and the same parts (excluding
* BtasinnB. r Lssehsi. » See Note at end.
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Abisiotle's Fovncs. 77
iniiric and deeoration), ae rerolndon and reoognitinn

2 and suiFering are required Further the senti-
ment and style must be correct. Of all these elements
Homer made the first and fullest use: of his two
poema, the Iliad ia aimple and pathetie, the Odyssey
complex, being a recognition throughout and that an
ethical one. And besides this, in sentiment and style
he surpasses every one.
8 Epio differs from Tragedy in (1) compasB of ar-
rangement and (2) metre. (1) Of the compass the
limit given above (vii. 5) may suffice : beginning and
end should be simultaneously compix hen'=;ible, as will
be the case if the arrange ment be shorter than those
of the old poets, and confined to the joint length of
4 the tragedies intended for one hearing. Epic how-
ever has many properties which allow increase of
length, as in Tragedy cannot represent several
scenes going on simultaneously, but only that which
is on the stage and performed by the actors, while in
Epic, through its being narrative, we may treat se-
veral scenes simnltaneonsly developing; by which
property the bulk of the poem is increased. So that
Epic has this advantage in point of magnificence and
power of transporting the hearer and introducing
varied episodes; while monotony, soon cloying, makes
tragedies &il.
5 (2) The heroic metre has establif^hed itself through
experiment. If one composed a narrative imitation in
any other metre^ or in several, it would seem im-
proper: the heroic is the most dignified and weighty
of metrei,— wherefore it above all admits strange
" See Note at end.
78 !.
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terms and metaphon,»aiid nanatiFe imltatioii stands
79
aboTe all others. The iamhie and troehaie are lively

metres, the one suited for action the other for dancing.
Still more absurd would it be to mix metres, as Chae- 6
remon (i. 9) did. Wherefore no one has ever compoeed

a long arrangement in any metre but the heroic : as we
have saidy Nature herself teaches ns to choose the fit
metre far it.
Homer is worthy of praise (among many other rea- 7
eons) in that he, alone among poets, is not ignorant
of the part he himself should take. The poet himself
shoold say yery little, or he will not be an imitator.
Others compete in person thronghoaty the imitations
are few and hr between: Homer, alter a short pre-
lude, at once introduces a man or woman or any
other character, none lacking character but all pos-
sessing it.
In Tragedy we should introduce the wonderful : the 8

irrational, from which especially the wonderful resolts,
is more in place in Epic, becaose one does not m the

actor. The drcumstances of the pursuit of Hector',
if on the stage, wonld seem laaicrous, the Greeks
standing still and not pursuing, Achilles beckoning
them biu)k; but in Epic this escapes notice. And the
witness the fact that all add
something in telling a story, with the idea that they
are giving pleasure.
Homer above all has tanght others the rights
way to nse deception. Deception is false infer-
ence: men think, when one thing is or occurs if
another is utt occurs, that if the latter is or occurs the
tVirmer is or occurs and this is a deception. Where-
:
iore, if the firat thing is a deception, and another is
• IBaauiL 188 sq.
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A&ISIOILB'e ». 81
or occurs which must be or occur if the first is or

occurs, we pre-suppose the first for through know-
;
ing the second to be tme our minds falsely infer the

10 first to be real. There is an example of this in the
Washing of Odysseus (xvi. 3).
We ehould choose piobable impossibilities rather
than improbable possibilities and the plot should not
;
be made up of irrational parts, but should, if possible,

contain nothing irrational, or, if it must be, it should
be outside the story, as in the (Edipus Rex the hero's
not knowing how Laius was slain; not in the drama,
as in the Electra*^ the account of the Pythian games,
or in the Mysians^ the man who cofnes without speak-
ing from Tegea to Mysia. So that to say that other-
wise the plot would have been spoilt is ludicrous for ;
plots should not be so arranged at all, or, if one so

make them and they seem fairly reasonable, one should
allow even an absurdity. How intolerable the irra-
tional circumstances in the Odyssey, about the putting
out of Odysseus ®, might have been, we ehould see if
an inferior poet treated them as it is, by other ex-
:
cellences the poet embellishes and conceals the ab-

surdity.
11 Pains should be taken with the style in the parts
where the action is suspended, which shew neither
character nor sentiment; as again an over-briiiiunt
style obscures characterand sentiment.
25 Problems and their solutions, with the number and
nature of their kinds, we shall understand if we con-
sider as follows. Since the poet is as much an imi-
tator as the painter or any other artist, he must imitate
—
always one of three things either things as they were
or are, or things as they are said and thought to be,
2 or things as they oughi to be. AH this is expressed
» See Note at end. · Of Sophodes.
*
*» Of Êschylus or Sophocles.
« In Ithaoa by the PiiSftcians, Odyssej ziii. 119 sq.
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RinOILB'e POBTZOS. 83
by langnagey whether in ordinary terms' or in strange

terms or in metaphors; and there are many affections
of language allowed to poets. Besides this, there is not 8
the 8;ime kind of correctness required in politics and in
poetry, any m^^re than in any other art and in poetry
and in poetry itself there are two kinds of error possi-
ble, the essential and the accidental. If one propose to 4
represent things correctly, aud err in the representa-
tion through* want of ability, the error is in ihe
poetry; but if the proposal be incorrect, and one pro-
pose to represent e.g. a horse advancing both his
right feet at once, or commit an error in any art, e.g.
medicine or any other of any kind, the error is not
eseentiaL With these considerations in view we may 5
answer the objections contained in onr problems.
(1) First, objections against the art itself: if im-
possibilities haye been introduced it is an errors but
«n excusable one if the poetry attain its end, ie. if
thus one make this or aootner |part more striking.
The pursuit of Hector (xziv, 8) is an iustanoe. If
however the end might more or less have been at-
tained with regard had to the art in question* the error
is inexcusable; for if possible we should err
at all.
(2) FuHher, which is the error, the artist's, or an

accidental one of some kind ? It is a less error not
to know that a hind has no horns than to paint one
inartistically.
(3) Besides this, if it be objected that the poet has 6
represented things not indeed truly, yet perhaps as
they ought to be, we should answer just as Sopho-
cles did when he said that he depicted men as they
ought to be, Euripides as they are. But if he has 7
represented things neither truly nor as they ought to
be, we may answer that thus men say they are ; e.g.,
•
* Beading «{«,
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as regards the gods, perhaps it were better not to
depict things so, nor are they so, but the poet chances
^
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A&ieiOTLE'S P0SXIC8. 85
to represent them as Xenophanes does at any rate : mm

say they are so. Other iliinjis it were ptîhaps bettt r
not so to represent, but so they actually were, as in
the passage about the arms, Their spears siood up-
right on the butt end^;" for thus they were then wout
to place them, as the lUyrians still do.
8 (4) As to whether any one has spoken or acted
rightly or wrongly, we must consider the question by
looking not only to the word or act itself as good or
bad, but to the speaker or doer, observing to whom it
is said or done, when, for whom, or why; e.g. whether
to gain a greater good or escape a greater evil.
9 (5) Other problems we must solve by looking at the
( ^,
language. Thus, in the case of a strange lenu,
the poet means perhaps not mules but
watchmen: in speaking of Dolon, *who was evil of
look ^,' he means not that he was deformed in body
but foul of visage, as the Cretans call a itdr face good- '
looking:' by 'make it stronger^* he means not 'un«

mixt ' wine, as for haid drinkerSy but ' mist quicker.'
10 (6) Another expreseion may be metapboncal, e.g.
' so all gods and men slept through the night while
at the same time he says ' when indeed they looked on
the plain of Troy with the noise of flutes imd pipes
being used metuphorically for many, as aU is a
species of many : and so * only the Bear has no part
in Ocean's bathV the best known may be oalled
the only one*
11 (7) Or we may solve objections by changing the
accent, as Hippias of Thasos did with dtdd|Mi^ dc ol "|
and rh fi^jr o0 ttanmvBtTQi (^
^'
13 (8) or the punctuation, as in Empedodes, 'Things

which before knew how to be inmiortal* quickly grew
mortal, and things, pure before, were mixt/ or * things
pure, before were mixt:'
18 (9) or by suggi sting ambiguity : the words * More
than two-thirds of the night are passed, and a third
part yet remains"' mig^t also mean 'More than half
' lUad X. 152. · Ibid, i 50. ^ Ibid. x. 316.
> Ibid. is. 908. i Ibid. z. 11. » ibid. 18. > Ibid, zviii.
489 = Odyssey » Mrar^ cImu. · Iliad z. 252.

^» SeeKotesatend. y. 275.
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abistoilb's poetics. 87
the night is passeci, two of its parts, and a third pait

jet remains/ the word more being ambiguous
(10) or by reference to the custom of speech. Any- li
thing drunk mixt we call wine, whence Ganymede is
said to *pour wine to Zeus",* though the gods do not
drink wine': and workers in iron we ciedl copper-
smiths, whence the poet says *The greaye of feeeh-
wrought tin*^.' This too will be metaphorical.
(11) When a word seems to signify a contradiction, 15
we mnst coDeider in how many senses it might in this
place he eigniflcant, e.g. 'There stopt tike hrasen
spear 4:' in how many different semes it might 'there
he stayed^' we may explain in this way (ht that, er-
as one may best think it was, contrariwise to what
Glancon says, that people irrationally assume thiogs 16
'
and conclude for themselves after passing judgment,

and raise objections as though tiie poet had said wiiat
they think he ought to have said, if it contradict their
own idea.' This has been the case with the history
of Icarius^: people suppose he was a Laconian, and
if so, it is absurd that Telemachus when he came to
Lacedaemon should not have met him the truth per-
:
haps is as the CephaUcnians say, who declare tliat

Odysseus married one of their people, and that the
name was Icadius not Icarius. The problem then
is probably due to an error.
(12) The poetically impoi^sible should in general be 17
referred either (a) to expediency or {) to opinion.
For (a) if it is impossible that people should be like
this, yet it is belter to represent them as Zeuxis
painted them**, because the ideal should excel: and
an impossible probability is poetically i>referabie
to a possible impiobability (zxiy. 10) The irrational
should be reierred to what people say: we may c-·
plain either in this way, or that occasionally the thiug
may not be irrational, tor probably things will happen
even against probability (. 6). Contradictions, as 18
we hare explained ihem, we should view as in testing
• niad xz. 234. ' But nectar. i Iliad xx. 270.
»tittst4 SeeNotMatond.
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AJUeiOTCB'S FOBTICB 89
qaeatione of words : Do we mean the samething and

in refeience to the eame and in the same manner ? So
that the poet himself ehonld consider what it is in re-
ference to which he speaks, or whatever an intelligent
19 man assumes. The objection to irrationality and vice
is justified when one without any necessity exist-
ing employs ihe irrational (as Euripides in the case of
^gens') or the yicions (as in the case of Menelans in
the Orestes).
20 Objections then are drawn from five classes: they
may be that the statement is either impossible, or ir-
rationaly or dangerous, or contradictory^ or contrary to
correctness.
artistic The solutionB may he deduced
from the fore-mentioned divisions, twelve in numher.
28 One might question which is the superior, epic imi-
tation or tragic. For if the loss vulgar is the su-
perior, and that addressed to a superior class of specta-
tors is always the superior, it is clear that the style
which imitares everything is very vulgar for as
;
though people would not understand without exag-

geration, the performers employ much movement, e.g.
inferior flute-players whirl round if they have to imi-
tate quoit throwing, and pull the leader of the choras
2 if they be playing the 8cylla (xv. 5). 8uoh then is
Tragedy, and so the older actors thought of their suc«
cessors : Mynniscus called Oallippides an ape on account
of his extravagances, and such was the character of Pin-
darus; and as these stand to their predecessors* so the
whole art stands to Epic. Epic then'* they say, "is ad.
dressed to apectators of the better dasa, who haye no
need of posturing. Tragedy to the hase : if then Tra-
gedy is vulgar, it clearly must be the inferior."
8 (1) Now
in the first place the charge attaches not
to the poet's art but to tne actor's, since it ia possible
' In the Medea.
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ABISrOXIS'e POETICS. 91
to gesticulate too mnoh in reciting epic poetry also, as

Sonstratus did, or lyric, as Mnasitiieus of Opos.
(2) Next, not all moTement is to be condemned,
any more than all dancing, but only that of ba>i(T
artists :Mîtness the fault found with Gallippides and
now with others, as not imitating free- women.
(3) Further, Tragedy eren without movement has
its effect, as Epic has, for we can appreciate it by
reading if then in other resp( cts it is superior t«>
:
Epic, mov( ment cannot be essential to it.

(4) Next, it surpasses Epic in that it possesses all 4
that Epic possesses. —
for it may even employ the epic
metre", —
and further (no small eleinent) music and
decoration and it is by music that pleasure is mo>i
;
sensibly produced.
(d) Next, whether read or acted it possesses clear-
ness.
(6) Further, it surpasses Epic by attaining the end 5
of imitation within a less compass; for the con-
densed is pleasanter than that which is spread over
a length of time, I mean e.g« if one were to make
the (Edipus Bex of Sophooles into a poem as long as
the Iliad.
(7) Further, epic imitation is less truly one : wit-
ness the fact that out of any epic imitation several
tragedies may be made. So that, should we make but
one plot, it will either, if briefly expressed, appear
truncate, or, if we keep the compass of the proper
measure', £>pun out. Oiherwise the imitation wilt
lack unity * ; I mean e.g. if it be composed of several
actions, as the Iliad and Odyssey have many such
parts, in themselves of some length; and poems like
these are as perfectly arranged as possible, and so iar
as possible are imitations oi one action.
If then Tragedy excels Epic in all these points, and 7
further in attaining the object of art lor Tragedy —
• e.g.
5e , ^
Soph. Trach. 1009 sq. *
h\
i.e.
».
of Epic. * Beading
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AJBISTOTLBfe POBIXCe. 93
should produce not any pleasure, but that laid down

(xi7. 8) — ît plainly must be the enpeiior, ae attaining
its end better than Epio does.
8 On Tragedy then and Epic, with their kinds and
parts, — the -ints in which each excels; the causes
of success or failure; objections and their sulutions—
let this much suffice*
^ ^,
ADDITIONAL NOTES.
* Xiyoi <(»2 « TL 8, and go

together. Or^ ineerting Mra^s befm iruialAte,
*'Bj the nee of iDonfo, prose or wae: *Epie* (in ito etymo-
logical sense), whether it (if in verse) combine different metres,
or employ a single kind. *Epic' has hitherto been without
a name ; for (unless we extended the meaning of the term) we
conld not give any common name to (1) the Mimes of Sophron
and Xenarchus and the Dialogues of Plato, nor use it if
(2) any one by means of iambics or ele-

effected the imitation
giacs or the like .... or again (3) by mingling all metres
.... though we should still have to caU him a poet.'' The
connexion of thought is equally obscure with either transla-
tion.
' jueAos s= 0|)/A«vk above, cf. YI. 3 : 4¥ apparently »<«
in sect. 4.
* Or "introduce one chief speaker.**
* The words = o{ 4 *^ « Mf iydpoirr;
^ i.e. the embroideiy sent by Philomela to Procne ulU her

•tory.
* i.e. wp6\oyo$
/,
4*
$ ^^^ HôHos (or, according to
Vahlen,
7 Or, reading «' taws ^^ ,
perhaps not at all aUke in plot may be called the same, i.e.
vcidoj, ^dos).
" Two tragedies
those in which the same complication and solution appear."

^ As opposed to iiwK^ ffôîf, ziii.
7» with a different end
lor good and bad.
9 Yahlen translates attain their object wondeiliiUy welL*
*
10 Supplying Te4s
<tf««<fo> aW^ eS Kiyu

^^ ^^
M^tî Tff dMwetat.
" The words " wpo<m$4u9i^^
^ ^). wphs S itrrtf
Thus Odyssey xL 125,
4* 49
ft wrtpk nfiwl wÂerrac, to (the aimple word,
Digitizer Ly v^jQOgle
ASDinOHAX. .
inskead of whidi the poet luee ·|) is added mivei ae being
• that to which the ample word
^ * I saw Epieharee going to Marathon,* and

deeixe ahoold I drink hie hdleboro' (supplying
lines axe Iiunhie Tetrameters.
» EnripideB' line
lefeni.*
was appaientlj ^wyiâump %

. * Kot with
The
cdpitm
i.e. Odysseus in Tr<^, Odyssey iv. 247 sq.

u The common parts are plot (of whieh revolution, leoog.
nitUm, and suffering are sabdivisions, jL 6), oharaeter, senti-
ment, sfyle (vi. 7).
wpoa9uvm sc. Set, it is natonl to Inrther sappose ^the
first thing to be tme^.
V Beading «dyrcr for ,
Iliad ii. 1.
>· niad ii, 16 (in i^parently the original text) : would ^
he Infinitire (used as Imperative).
» Iliad zziii. 828: * part whereof is rotted by rain theoom-
mon reading being
» Siad The danses must be transposed,
(MPder
. . .
xxi. 592.
being Mtr . . .
But the last example seems irrelevant.

« . · . » the right
«cv»(i|Ta<
^ was the golden fold, in which the Bpeea

i.e. stopt, ontside
or in the middle f
^ Father of Penelope.
^ Who made his Helen by selecting the best parte of several
models.
^ In translating, the elanses beginning wpl^
uip9r0T*poif and ^fl &8iOyaroii>^ tomôvs c2mm should be trans-
««
posed.
(nnttb hji ))»lur tub €·, Cntnt Kerb, ··

•
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Ac^iff style, speech, language, prose.

A few notes are added to explain the translation or

has; how plots should be arranged if the treatment

is to be correct; farther, of the number and nature

other points belonging to the same department — let

us now treat, begiauing, in the natural order^ with

2 Epic poetry, Tragedy and Comedy, the Dithyramb,

3 speak generally) iinitatiom: they differ one from ano-

ther in three points, according as they are imitations

(1) by different means (2) of different objects (3) in dif-

4 forent manners. For as men— some by art, some' by

and figures, or by the voice, so all the fore-mentioned

arts effect the imitation by measure and w^rdi and

and guitar playing, and whatever other arts are of

10 >a;c. ovdci/ yap ^ €§ - /

like capacity, e.g. pipe-playing : while most * dancers

0) By the use of words mfhavt muste, or metre: 6

has hitherto done) employ a single kind \ We could 7 —

not because they are imitators, hut indiscriminately ac-

* Beading oi (joWoiy rwv

2 Since those who imitate imitate persons acting^ who

the fore-mentioned kinds of imitation will have these

with prose, and with yerse unaccompanied by music (e.g.

3 There. is yet a third difference, according to the

' Beading &inttp (^ 'Ap)yas (an unknown poet).

' ' ' , ' ·. ' '

imitation (as we said at the beginning) is open. So

sons; in another with Aristophaneey for both imitate

persone acting and doing. Whence also, some say, 3

plays are called Dramas, because the writers imitate

(who say it arose at the time they had a democracy)

names, as they say that they call Tillages kdmai (while

pleasure not only to pbilofiwpben bnt aKeo to othera

who partake of it in a similar way but only to a sligbt

lineations is that by Tiewing them we can learn, and

since unless one has seen the object itself, an imitation

of it will fail to produce pleasure except through the

Margites and the like* In these the Iambic metre ap-

too first suggested the form of Comedy, employing dra-

the same relation to Comedy as the Iliad and OdjAsej

by their individual nature to one style or the other

became either writers of Tragedy instead of epic, or of

Comedy instead of satire; the one form in each case

in itself or with refisience to the spectators, is now

being made as each branch developed itself ; and after

ber of actors from one to two, shortened the part

metres the most like prose, as is proved by the fact

& ytkowp 6 €\¥

that in conversation one with another we employ Iam-

was at Athens that Crates first gsTO up the satiric

1450a cliwu rivas),

€UTta dvo «2Wtty Ikavoiav

mora ravras itaX wavrttm

common, some peculiar to Tragedy ; so that whoever

good and had Bpic ; mnee everything that has

the construction of the verses itself. And since Tragedy 5

rocovroty otop r&p irp^r

whereby we eay the actors are of one kind or another,

anjthiog or set forth an opinion.

ont character, and so in general with many poets as ;

among painters Zenzis compared with Polygnotus^