,,on ,,the ,,art ,,of ,,poetry ,by ,aristotle ,translated ,by ,ingram ,bywater ,with ,a ,preface ,by ,gilbert ,murray ,oxford ,at ,the ,clarendon ,press ,first ,published #aibj ,reprinted #aibe1 #aibh1 #aicb1 #aich1 #aide1 #aidg #aiea1 #aied1 #aiei4 #aifb ,printed ,in ,great ,britain ,,preface ,in the tenth book of the ,republic1 when ,plato has completed his final burning denunciation of ,poetry1 the false ,siren1 the imitator of things which themselves are shadows1 the ally of all that is low and weak in the soul against that which is high and strong1 who makes us feed the things we ought to starve and serve the things we ought to rule1 he ends with a touch of compunction3 ',we will give her champions1 not poets themselves but poet-lovers1 an opportunity to make her defence in plain prose and show that she is not only sweet--as we well know--but also helpful to society and the life of man1 and we will listen in a kindly spirit4 ,for we shall be gainers1 ,i take it1 if this can be proved4' ,aristotle certainly knew the passage1 and it looks as if his treatise on poetry was an answer to ,plato's challenge4 ,few of the great works of ancient ,greek literature are easy reading4 ,they nearly all need study and comment1 and at times help from a good teacher1 before they yield up their secret4 ,and the ,poetics cannot be accounted an exception4 ,for one thing the treatise is fragmentary4 ,it originally consisted of two books1 one dealing with ,tragedy and ,epic1 the other with ,comedy and other subjects4 ,we possess only the first4 ,for another1 even the book we have seems to be unrevised and unfinished4 ,the style1 though luminous1 vivid1 and in its broader division systematic1 is not that of a book intended for publication4 ,like most of ,aristotle's extant writing1 it suggests the ,,ms4 of an experienced lecturer1 full of jottings and adscripts1 with occasional phrases written carefully out1 but never revised as a whole for the general reader4 ,even to accomplished scholars the meaning is often obscure1 as may be seen by a comparison of the three editions recently published in ,england1 all the work of savants of the first eminence1 7#a7 or1 still more strikingly1 by a study of the long series of misunderstandings and overstatements and corrections which form the history of the ,poetics since the ,renaissance4 7#a7 ,prof4 ,butcher1 #ahie and #ahih2 ,prof4 ,bywater1 #aiji2 and ,prof4 ,margoliouth1 #aiaa4 ,but it is of another cause of misunderstanding that ,i wish principally to speak in this preface4 ,the great edition from which the present translation is taken was the fruit of prolonged study by one of the greatest ,aristotelians of the nineteenth century1 and is itself a classic among works of scholarship4 ,in the hands of a student who knows even a little ,greek1 the translation1 backed by the commentary1 may lead deep into the mind of ,aristotle4 ,but when the translation is used1 as it doubtless will be1 by readers who are quite without the clue provided by a knowledge of the general habits of the ,greek language1 there must arise a number of new difficulties or misconceptions4 ,to understand a great foreign book by means of a translation is possible enough where the two languages concerned operate with a common stock of ideas1 and belong to the same period of civilization4 ,but between ancient ,greece and modern ,england there yawn immense gulfs of human history2 the establishment and the partial failure of a common ,european religion1 the barbarian invasions1 the feudal system1 the regrouping of modern ,europe1 the age of mechanical invention1 and the industrial revolution4 ,in an average page of ,french or ,german philosophy nearly all the nouns can be translated directly into exact equivalents in ,english2 but in ,greek that is not so4 ,scarcely one in ten of the nouns on the first few pages of the ,poetics has an exact ,english equivalent4 ,every proposition has to be reduced to its lowest terms of thought and then re-built4 ,this is a difficulty which no translation can quite deal with2 it must be left to a teacher who knows ,greek4 ,and there is a kindred difficulty which flows from it4 ,where words can be translated into equivalent words1 the style of an original can be closely followed2 but no translation which aims at being written in normal ,english can reproduce the style of ,aristotle4 ,i have sometimes played with the idea that a ruthlessly literal translation1 helped out by bold punctuation1 might be the best4 ,for instance1 premising that the words poesis1 poetes mean originally 'making' and 'maker'1 one might translate the first paragraph of the ,poetics thus3-- ,,making3 kinds of making3 function of each1 and how the ,myths ought to be put together if the ,making is to go right4 ,number of parts3 nature of parts3 rest of same inquiry4 ,begin in order of nature from first principles4 ,epos-making1 tragedy-making 7also comedy71 dithyramb-making 7and most fluting and harping71 taken as a whole1 are really not ,makings but ,imitations4 ,they differ in three points2 they imitate 7a7 different objects1 7b7 by different means1 7c7 differently 7i4e4 different manner74 ,some artists imitate 7i4e4 depict7 by shapes and colours4 7,obs4 sometimes by art1 sometimes by habit47 ,some by voice4 ,similarly the above arts all imitate by rhythm1 language1 and tune1 and these either 7#a7 separate or 7#b7 mixed4 ,rhythm and tune alone1 harping1 fluting1 and other arts with same effect--e4g4 panpipes4 ,rhythm without tune3 dancing4 7,dancers imitate characters1 emotions1 and experiences by means of rhythms expressed in form47 ,language alone 7whether prose or verse1 and one form of verse or many73 this art has no name up to the present 7i4e4 there is no name to cover mimes and dialogues and any similar imitation made in iambics1 elegiacs1 c4 ,commonly people attach the 'making' to the metre and say 'elegiac-makers'1 'hexameter-makers1' giving them a common class-name by their metre1 as if it was not their imitation that makes them 'makers'74 ,such an experiment would doubtless be a little absurd1 but it would give an ,english reader some help in understanding both ,aristotle's style and his meaning4 ,for example1 their enlightenment in the literal phrase1 'how the myths ought to be put together4' ,the higher ,greek poetry did not make up fictitious plots2 its business was to express the heroic saga1 the myths4 ,again1 the literal translation of poetes1 poet1 as 'maker'1 helps to explain a term that otherwise seems a puzzle in the ,poetics4 ,if we wonder why ,aristotle1 and ,plato before him1 should lay such stress on the theory that art is imitation1 it is a help to realize that common language called it 'making'1 and it was clearly not 'making' in the ordinary sense4 ,the poet who was 'maker' of a ,fall of ,troy clearly did not make the real ,fall of ,troy4 ,he made an imitation ,fall of ,troy4 ,an artist who 'painted ,pericles' really 'made an imitation ,pericles by means of shapes and colours'4 ,hence we get started upon a theory of art which1 whether finally satisfactory or not1 is of immense importance1 and are saved from the error of complaining that ,aristotle did not understand the 'creative power' of art4 ,as a rule1 no doubt1 the difficulty1 even though merely verbal1 lies beyond the reach of so simple a tool as literal translation4 ,to say that tragedy 'imitates good men' while comedy 'imitates bad men' strikes a modern reader as almost meaningless4 ,the truth is that neither 'good' nor 'bad' is an exact equivalent of the ,greek4 ,it would be nearer perhaps to say that1 relatively speaking1 you look up to the characters of tragedy1 and down upon those of comedy4 ,high or low1 serious or trivial1 many other pairs of words would have to be called in1 in order to cover the wide range of the common ,greek words4 ,and the point is important1 because we have to consider whether in ,chapter ,,vi ,aristotle really lays it down that tragedy1 so far from being the story of un-happiness that we think it1 is properly an imitation of eudaimonia--a word often translated 'happiness'1 but meaning something more like 'high life' or 'blessedness'4 7#a7 7#a7 ,see ,margoliouth1 p4 #aba4 ,by water1 with most editors1 emends the text4 ,another difficult word which constantly recurs in the ,poetics is prattein or praxis1 generally translated 'to act' or 'action'4 ,but prattein1 like our 'do'1 also has an intransitive meaning 'to fare' either well or ill2 and ,professor ,margoliouth has pointed out that it seems more true to say that tragedy shows how men 'fare' than how they 'act'4 ,it shows their experiences or fortunes rather than merely their deeds4 ,but one must not draw the line too bluntly4 ,i should doubt whether a classical ,greek writer was ordinarily conscious of the distinction between the two meanings4 ,certainly it is easier to regard happiness as a way of faring than as a form of action4 ,yet ,aristotle can use the passive of prattein for things 'done' or 'gone through' 7e4g4 #eb;a1 #bb1 #bi3 #ee;a1 #be74 ,the fact is that much misunderstanding is often caused by our modern attempts to limit too strictly the meaning of a ,greek word4 ,greek was very much a live language1 and a language still unconscious of grammar1 not1 like ours1 dominated by definitions and trained upon dictionaries4 ,an instance is provided by ,aristotle's famous saying that the typical tragic hero is one who falls from high state or fame1 not through vice or depravity1 but by some great hamartia4 ,hamartia means originally a 'bad shot' or 'error'1 but is currently used for 'offence' or 'sin'4 ,aristotle clearly means that the typical hero is a great man with 'something wrong' in his life or character2 but ,i think it is a mistake of method to argue whether he means 'an intellectual error' or 'a moral flaw'4 ,the word is not so precise4 ,similarly1 when ,aristotle says that a deed of strife or disaster is more tragic when it occurs 'amid affections' or 'among people who love each other'1 no doubt the phrase1 as ,aristotle's own examples show1 would primarily suggest to a ,greek feuds between near relations4 ,yet some of the meaning is lost if one translates simply 'within the family'4 ,there is another series of obscurities or confusions in the ,poetics which1 unless ,i am mistaken1 arises from the fact that ,aristotle was writing at a time when the great age of ,greek tragedy was long past1 and was using language formed in previous generations4 ,the words and phrases remained in the tradition1 but the forms of art and activity which they denoted had sometimes changed in the interval4 ,if we date the ,poetics about the year #ccj ,b4,c41 as seems probable1 that is more than two hundred years after the first tragedy of ,thespis was produced in ,athens1 and more than seventy after the death of the last great masters of the tragic stage4 ,when we remember that a training in music and poetry formed a prominent part of the education of every wellborn ,athenian1 we cannot be surprised at finding in ,aristotle1 and to a less extent in ,plato1 considerable traces of a tradition of technical language and even of aesthetic theory4 ,it is doubtless one of ,aristotle's great services that he conceived so clearly the truth that literature is a thing that grows and has a history4 ,but no writer1 certainly no ancient writer1 is always vigilant4 ,sometimes ,aristotle analyses his terms1 but very often he takes them for granted2 and in the latter case1 ,i think1 he is sometimes deceived by them4 ,thus there seem to be cases where he has been affected in his conceptions of fifth-century tragedy by the practice of his own day1 when the only living form of drama was the ,new ,comedy4 ,for example1 as we have noticed above1 true ,tragedy had always taken its material from the sacred myths1 or heroic sagas1 which to the classical ,greek constituted history4 ,but the ,new ,comedy was in the habit of inventing its plots4 ,consequently ,aristotle falls into using the word mythos practically in the sense of 'plot'1 and writing otherwise in a way that is unsuited to the tragedy of the fifth century4 ,he says that tragedy adheres to 'the historical names' for an aesthetic reason1 because what has happened is obviously possible and therefore convincing4 ,the real reason was that the drama and the myth were simply two different expressions of the same religious kernel 7p4 #dd74 ,again1 he says of the ,chorus 7p4 #fe7 that it should be an integral part of the play1 which is true2 but he also says that it' should be regarded as one of the actors'1 which shows to what an extent the ,chorus in his day was dead and its technique forgotten4 ,he had lost the sense of what the ,chorus was in the hands of the great masters1 say in the ,bacchae or the ,eumenides4 ,he mistakes1 again1 the use of that epiphany of a ,god which is frequent at the end of the single plays of ,euripides1 and which seems to have been equally so at the end of the trilogies of ,aeschylus4 ,having lost the living tradition1 he sees neither the ritual origin nor the dramatic value of these divine epiphanies4 ,he thinks of the convenient gods and abstractions who sometimes spoke the prologues of the ,new ,comedy1 and imagines that the ,god appears in order to unravel the plot4 ,as a matter of fact1 in one play which he often quotes1 the ,iphigenia ,taurica1 the plot is actually distorted at the very end in order to give an opportunity for the epiphany47#a7 7#a7 ,see my ,euripides and his ,age1 pp4 #bba-de4 ,one can see the effect of the tradition also in his treatment of the terms ,anagnorisis and ,peripeteia1 which ,professor ,bywater translates as ',discovery and ,peripety' and ,professor ,butcher as ',recognition and ,reversal of ,fortune'4 ,aristotle assumes that these two elements are normally present in any tragedy1 except those which he calls 'simple'2 we may say1 roughly1 in any tragedy that really has a plot4 ,this strikes a modern reader as a very arbitrary assumption4 ,reversals of ,fortune of some sort are perhaps usual in any varied plot1 but surely not ,recognitions8 ,the clue to the puzzle lies1 it can scarcely be doubted1 in the historical origin of tragedy4 ,tragedy1 according to ,greek tradition1 is originally the ritual play of ,dionysus1 performed at his festival1 and representing1 as ,herodotus tells us1 the 'sufferings' or 'passion' of that ,god4 ,we are never directly told what these 'sufferings' were which were so represented2 but ,herodotus remarks that he found in ,egypt a ritual that was 'in almost all points the same'4 7#a7 ,this was the well-known ritual of ,osiris1 in which the god was torn in pieces1 lamented1 searched for1 discovered or recognized1 and the mourning by a sudden ,reversal turned into joy4 ,in any tragedy which still retained the stamp of its ,dionysiac origin1 this ,discovery and ,peripety might normally be expected to occur1 and to occur together4 ,i have tried to show elsewhere how many of our extant tragedies do1 as a matter of fact1 show the marks of this ritual47#b7 7#a7 ,cf4 ,hdt4 ii4 #dh2 cf4 #db1add4 ,the name of ,dionysus must not be openly mentioned in connexion with mourning 7ib4 #fa1 #acb1 #hf74 ,this may help to explain the transference of the tragic shows to other heroes4 7#b7 ,in ,miss ,harrison's ,themis1 pp4 #cda-fc4 ,i hope it is not rash to surmise that the much-debated word katharsis1 'purification' or 'purgation'1 may have come into ,aristotle's mouth from the same source4 ,it has all the appearance of being an old word which is accepted and re-interpreted by ,aristotle rather than a word freely chosen by him to denote the exact phenomenon he wishes to describe4 ,at any rate the ,dionysus ritual itself was a katharmos or katharsis--a purification of the community from the taints and poisons of the past year1 the old contagion of sin and death4 ,and the words of ,aristotle's definition of tragedy in ,chapter ,,vi might have been used in the days of ,thespis in a much cruder and less metaphorical sense4 ,according to primitive ideas1 the mimic representation on the stage of 'incidents arousing pity and fear' did act as a katharsis of such 'passions' or 'sufferings' in real life4 7,for the word pathemata means 'sufferings' as well as 'passions'47 ,it is worth remembering that in the year #cfa ,b4,c41 during ,aristotle's lifetime1 ,greek tragedies were introduced into ,rome1 not on artistic but on superstitious grounds1 as a katharmos against a pestilence 7,livy vii4 #b74 ,one cannot but suspect that in his account of the purpose of tragedy ,aristotle may be using an old traditional formula1 and consciously or unconsciously investing it with a new meaning1 much as he has done with the word mythos4 ,apart from these historical causes of misunderstanding1 a good teacher who uses this book with a class will hardly fail to point out numerous points on which two equally good ,greek scholars may well differ in the mere interpretation of the words4 ,what1 for instance1 are the 'two natural causes' in ,chapter ,,iv which have given birth to ,poetry8 ,are they1 as our translator takes them1 7#a7 that man is imitative1 and 7#b7 that people delight in imitations8 ,or are they 7#a7 that man is imitative and people delight in imitations1 and 7#b7 the instinct for rhythm1 as ,professor ,butcher prefers8 ,is it a 'creature' a thousand miles long1 or a 'picture' a thousand miles long which raises some trouble in ,chapter ,,vii8 ,the word zoon means equally 'picture' and 'animal'4 ,did the older poets make their characters speak like 'statesmen'1 politikoi1 or merely like ordinary citizens1 politai1 while the moderns made theirs like 'professors of rhetoric'8 7,chapter ,,vi1 p4 #ch2 cf4 ,margoliouth's note and glossary74 ,it may seem as if the large uncertainties which we have indicated detract in a ruinous manner from the value of the ,poetics to us as a work of criticism4 ,certainly if any young writer took this book as a manual of rules by which to 'commence poet'1 he would find himself embarrassed4 ,but1 if the book is properly read1 not as a dogmatic text-book but as a first attempt1 made by a man of astounding genius1 to build up in the region of creative art a rational order like that which he established in logic1 rhetoric1 ethics1 politics1 physics1 psychology1 and almost every department of knowledge that existed in his day1 then the uncertainties become rather a help than a discouragement4 ,they give us occasion to think and use our imagination4 ,they make us1 to the best of our powers1 try really to follow and criticize closely the bold gropings of an extraordinary thinker2 and it is in this process1 and not in any mere collection of dogmatic results1 that we shall find the true value and beauty of the ,poetics4 ,the book is of permanent value as a mere intellectual achievement2 as a store of information about ,greek literature2 and as an original or first-hand statement of what we may call the classical view of artistic criticism4 ,it does not regard poetry as a matter of unanalysed inspiration2 it makes no concession to personal whims or fashion or ennui4 ,it tries by rational methods to find out what is good in art and what makes it good1 accepting the belief that there is just as truly a good way1 and many bad ways1 in poetry as in morals or in playing billiards4 ,this is no place to try to sum up its main conclusions4 ,but it is characteristic of the classical view that ,aristotle lays his greatest stress1 first1 on the need for ,unity in the work of art1 the need that each part should subserve the whole1 while irrelevancies1 however brilliant in themselves1 should be cast away2 and next1 on the demand that great art must have for its subject the great way of living4 ,these judgements have often been misunderstood1 but the truth in them is profound and goes near to the heart of things4 ,characteristic1 too1 is the observation that different kinds of art grow and develop1 but not indefinitely2 they develop until they 'attain their natural form'2 also the rule that each form of art should produce 'not every sort of pleasure but its proper pleasure'2 and the sober language in which ,aristotle1 instead of speaking about the sequence of events in a tragedy being 'inevitable'1 as we bombastic moderns do1 merely recommends that they should be 'either necessary or probable' and 'appear to happen because of one another'4 ,conceptions and attitudes of mind such as these constitute what we may call the classical faith in matters of art and poetry2 a faith which is never perhaps fully accepted in any age1 yet1 unlike others1 is never forgotten but lives by being constantly criticized1 re-asserted1 and rebelled against4 ,for the fashions of the ages vary in this direction and that1 but they vary for the most part from a central road which was struck out by the imagination of ,greece4 ,g4 ,m ,,aristotle ,,on ,,the ,,art ,,of ,,poetry #a ,our subject being ,poetry1 ,i propose to speak not only of the art in general but also of its species and their respective capacities2 of the structure of plot required for a good poem2 of the number and nature of the constituent parts of a poem2 and likewise of any other matters in the same line of inquiry4 ,let us follow the natural order and begin with the primary facts4 ,epic poetry and ,tragedy1 as also ,comedy1 ,dithyrambic poetry1 and most flute-playing and lyre-playing1 are all1 viewed as a whole1 modes of imitation4 ,but at the same time they differ from one another in three ways1 either by a difference of kind in their means1 or by differences in the objects1 or in the manner of their imitations4 ,i4 ,just as form and colour are used as means by some1 who 7whether by art or constant practice7 imitate and portray many things by their aid1 and the voice is used by others2 so also in the above-mentioned group of arts1 the means with them as a whole are rhythm1 language1 and harmony--used1 however1 either singly or in certain combinations4 ,a combination of rhythm and harmony alone is the means in flute-playing and lyre-playing1 and any other arts there may be of the same description1 e4g4 imitative piping4 ,rhythm alone1 without harmony1 is the means in the dancer's imitations2 for even he1 by the rhythms of his attitudes1 may represent men's characters1 as well as what they do and suffer4 ,there is further an art which imitates by language alone1 without harmony1 in prose or in verse1 and if in verse1 either in some one or in a plurality of metres4 ,this form of imitation is to this day without a name4 ,we have no common name for a mime of ,sophron or ,xenarchus and a ,socratic ,conversation2 and we should still be without one even if the imitation in the two instances were in trimeters or elegiacs or some other kind of verse--though it is the way with people to tack on 'poet' to the name of a metre1 and talk of elegiac-poets and epic-poets1 thinking that they call them poets not by reason of the imitative nature of their work1 but indiscriminately by reason of the metre they write in4 ,even if a theory of medicine or physical philosophy be put forth in a metrical form1 it is usual to describe the writer in this way2 ,homer and ,empedocles1 however1 have really nothing in common apart from their metre2 so that1 if the one is to be called a poet1 the other should be termed a physicist rather than a poet4 ,we should be in the same position also1 if the imitation in these instances were in all the metres1 like the ,centaur 7a rhapsody in a medley of all metres7 of ,chaeremon2 and ,chaeremon one has to recognize as a poet4 ,so much1 then1 as to these arts4 ,there are1 lastly1 certain other arts1 which combine all the means enumerated1 rhythm1 melody1 and verse1 e4g4 ,dithyrambic and ,nomic poetry1 ,tragedy and ,comedy2 with this difference1 however1 that the three kinds of means are in some of them all employed together1 and in others brought in separately1 one after the other4 ,these elements of difference in the above arts ,i term the means of their imitation4 #b ,,ii4 ,the objects the imitator represents are actions1 with agents who are necessarily either good men or bad--the diversities of human character being nearly always derivative from this primary distinction1 since the line between virtue and vice is one dividing the whole of mankind4 ,it follows1 therefore1 that the agents represented must be either above our own level of goodness1 or beneath it1 or just such as we are in the same way as1 with the painters1 the personages of ,polygnotus are better than we are1 those of ,pauson worse1 and those of ,dionysius just like ourselves4 ,it is clear that each of the above-mentioned arts will admit of these differences1 and that it will become a separate art by representing objects with this point of difference4 ,even in dancing1 flute-playing1 and lyre-playing such diversities are possible2 and they are also possible in the nameless art that uses language1 prose or verse without harmony1 as its means2 ,homer's personages1 for instance1 are better than we are2 ,cleophon's are on our own level2 and those of ,hegemon of ,thasos1 the first writer of parodies1 and ,nicochares1 the author of the ,diliad1 are beneath it4 ,the same is true of the ,dithyramb and the ,nome3 the personages may be presented in them with the difference exemplified in the444 of444 and ,argas1 and in the ,cyclopses of ,timotheus and ,philoxenus4 ,this difference it is that distinguishes ,tragedy and ,comedy also2 the one would make its personages worse1 and the other better1 than the men of the present day4 #c ,,iii4 ,a third difference in these arts is in the manner in which each kind of object is represented4 ,given both the same means and the same kind of object for imitation1 one may either 7#a7 speak at one moment in narrative and at another in an assumed character1 as ,homer does2 or 7#b7 one may remain the same throughout1 without any such change2 or 7#c7 the imitators may represent the whole story dramatically1 as though they were actually doing the things described4 ,as we said at the beginning1 therefore1 the differences in the imitation of these arts come under three heads1 their means1 their objects1 and their manner4 ,so that as an imitator ,sophocles will be on one side akin to ,homer1 both portraying good men2 and on another to ,aristophanes1 since both present their personages as acting and doing4 ,this in fact1 according to some1 is the reason for plays being termed dramas1 because in a play the personages act the story4 ,hence too both ,tragedy and ,comedy are claimed by the ,dorians as their discoveries2 ,comedy by the ,megarians--by those in ,greece as having arisen when ,megara became a democracy1 and by the ,sicilian ,megarians on the ground that the poet ,epicharmus was of their country1 and a good deal earlier than ,chionides and ,magnes2 even ,tragedy also is claimed by certain of the ,peloponnesian ,dorians4 ,in support of this claim they point to the words 'comedy' and 'drama'4 ,their word for the outlying hamlets1 they say1 is comae1 whereas ,athenians call them demes--thus assuming that comedians got the name not from their comoe or revels1 but from their strolling from hamlet to hamlet1 lack of appreciation keeping them out of the city4 ,their word also for 'to act'1 they say1 is dran1 whereas ,athenians use prattein4 ,so much1 then1 as to the number and nature of the points of difference in the imitation of these arts4 #d ,it is clear that the general origin of poetry was due to two causes1 each of them part of human nature4 ,imitation is natural to man from childhood1 one of his advantages over the lower animals being this1 that he is the most imitative creature in the world1 and learns at first by imitation4 ,and it is also natural for all to delight in works of imitation4 ,the truth of this second point is shown by experience3 though the objects themselves may be painful to see1 we delight to view the most realistic representations of them in art1 the forms for example of the lowest animals and of dead bodies4 ,the explanation is to be found in a further fact3 to be learning something is the greatest of pleasures not only to the philosopher but also to the rest of mankind1 however small their capacity for it2 the reason of the delight in seeing the picture is that one is at the same time learning--gathering the meaning of things1 e4g4 that the man there is so-and-so2 for if one has not seen the thing before1 one's pleasure will not be in the picture as an imitation of it1 but will be due to the execution or colouring or some similar cause4 ,imitation1 then1 being natural to us--as also the sense of harmony and rhythm1 the metres being obviously species of rhythms--it was through their original aptitude1 and by a series of improvements for the most part gradual on their first efforts1 that they created poetry out of their improvisations4 ,poetry1 however1 soon broke up into two kinds according to the differences of character in the individual poets2 for the graver among them would represent noble actions1 and those of noble personages2 and the meaner sort the actions of the ignoble4 ,the latter class produced invectives at first1 just as others did hymns and panegyrics4 ,we know of no such poem by any of the pre-,homeric poets1 though there were probably many such writers among them2 instances1 however1 may be found from ,homer downwards1 e4g4 his ,margites1 and the similar poems of others4 ,in this poetry of invective its natural fitness brought an iambic metre into use2 hence our present term 'iambic'1 because it was the metre of their 'iambs' or invectives against one another4 ,the result was that the old poets became some of them writers of heroic and others of iambic verse4 ,homer's position1 however1 is peculiar3 just as he was in the serious style the poet of poets1 standing alone not only through the literary excellence1 but also through the dramatic character of his imitations1 so too he was the first to outline for us the general forms of ,comedy by producing not a dramatic invective1 but a dramatic picture of the ,ridiculous2 his ,margites in fact stands in the same relation to our comedies as the ,iliad and ,odyssey to our tragedies4 ,as soon1 however1 as ,tragedy and ,comedy appeared in the field1 those naturally drawn to the one line of poetry became writers of comedies instead of iambs1 and those naturally drawn to the other1 writers of tragedies instead of epics1 because these new modes of art were grander and of more esteem than the old4 ,if it be asked whether ,tragedy is now all that it need be in its formative elements1 to consider that1 and decide it theoretically and in relation to the theatres1 is a matter for another inquiry4 ,it certainly began in improvisations--as did also ,comedy2 the one originating with the authors of the ,dithyramb1 the other with those of the phallic songs1 which still survive as institutions in many of our cities4 ,and its advance after that was little by little1 through their improving on whatever they had before them at each stage4 ,it was in fact only after a long series of changes that the movement of ,tragedy stopped on its attaining to its natural form4 7#a7 ,the number of actors was first increased to two by ,aeschylus1 who curtailed the business of the ,chorus1 and made the dialogue1 or spoken portion1 take the leading part in the play4 7#b7 ,a third actor and scenery were due to ,sophocles4 7#c7 ,tragedy acquired also its magnitude4 ,discarding short stories and a ludicrous diction1 through its passing out of its satyric stage1 it assumed1 though only at a late point in its progress1 a tone of dignity2 and its metre changed then from trochaic to iambic4 ,the reason for their original use of the trochaic tetrameter was that their poetry was satyric and more connected with dancing than it now is4 ,as soon1 however1 as a spoken part came in1 nature herself found the appropriate metre4 ,the iambic1 we know1 is the most speakable of metres1 as is shown by the fact that we very often fall into it in conversation1 whereas we rarely talk hexameters1 and only when we depart from the speaking tone of voice4 7#d7 ,another change was a plurality of episodes or acts4 ,as for the remaining matters1 the superadded embellishments and the account of their introduction1 these must be taken as said1 as it would probably be a long piece of work to go through the details4 #e ,as for ,comedy1 it is 7as has been observed7 an imitation of men worse than the average2 worse1 however1 not as regards any and every sort of fault1 but only as regards one particular kind1 the ,ridiculous1 which is a species of the ,ugly4 ,the ,ridiculous may be defined as a mistake or deformity not productive of pain or harm to others2 the mask1 for instance1 that excites laughter1 is something ugly and distorted without causing pain4 ,though the successive changes in ,tragedy and their authors are not unknown1 we cannot say the same of ,comedy2 its early stages passed unnoticed1 because it was not as yet taken up in a serious way4 ,it was only at a late point in its progress that a chorus of comedians was officially granted by the archon2 they used to be mere volunteers4 ,it had also already certain definite forms at the time when the record of those termed comic poets begins4 ,who it was who supplied it with masks1 or prologues1 or a plurality of actors and the like1 has remained unknown4 ,the invented ,fable1 or ,plot1 however1 originated in ,sicily1 with ,epicharmus and ,phormis2 of ,athenian poets ,crates was the first to drop the ,comedy of invective and frame stories of a general and non-personal nature1 in other words1 ,fables or ,plots4 ,epic poetry1 then1 has been seen to agree with ,tragedy to this extent1 that of being an imitation of serious subjects in a grand kind of verse4 ,it differs from it1 however1 7#a7 in that it is in one kind of verse and in narrative form2 and 7#b7 in its length--which is due to its action having no fixed limit of time1 whereas ,tragedy endeavours to keep as far as possible within a single circuit of the sun1 or something near that4 ,this1 ,i say1 is another point of difference between them1 though at first the practice in this respect was just the same in tragedies as in epic poems4 ,they differ also 7#c7 in their constituents1 some being common to both and others peculiar to ,tragedy--hence a judge of good and bad in ,tragedy is a judge of that in epic poetry also4 ,all the parts of an epic are included in ,tragedy2 but those of ,tragedy are not all of them to be found in the ,epic4 #f ,reserving hexameter poetry and ,comedy for consideration hereafter1 let us proceed now to the discussion of ,tragedy2 before doing so1 however1 we must gather up the definition resulting from what has been said4 ,a tragedy1 then1 is the imitation of an action that is serious and also1 as having magnitude1 complete in itself2 in language with pleasurable accessories1 each kind brought in separately in the parts of the work2 in a dramatic1 not in a narrative form2 with incidents arousing pity and fear1 wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions4 ,here by 'language with pleasurable accessories' ,i mean that with rhythm and harmony or song superadded2 and by 'the kinds separately' ,i mean that some portions are worked out with verse only1 and others in turn with song4 ,i4 ,as they act the stories1 it follows that in the first place the ,spectacle 7or stage-appearance of the actors7 must be some part of the whole2 and in the second ,melody and ,diction1 these two being the means of their imitation4 ,here by ',diction' ,i mean merely this1 the composition of the verses2 and by ',melody'1 what is too completely understood to require explanation4 ,but further3 the subject represented also is an action2 and the action involves agents1 who must necessarily have their distinctive qualities both of character and thought1 since it is from these that we ascribe certain qualities to their actions4 ,there are in the natural order of things1 therefore1 two causes1 ,character and ,thought1 of their actions1 and consequently of their success or failure in their lives4 ,now the action 7that which was done7 is represented in the play by the ,fable or ,plot4 ,the ,fable1 in our present sense of the term1 is simply this1 the combination of the incidents1 or things done in the story2 whereas ,character is what makes us ascribe certain moral qualities to the agents2 and ,thought is shown in all they say when proving a particular point or1 it may be1 enunciating a general truth4 ,there are six parts consequently of every tragedy1 as a whole1 that is1 of such or such quality1 viz4 a ,fable or ,plot1 ,characters1 ,diction1 ,thought1 ,spectacle and ,melody2 two of them arising from the means1 one from the manner1 and three from the objects of the dramatic imitation2 and there is nothing else besides these six4 ,of these1 its formative elements1 then1 not a few of the dramatists have made due use1 as every play1 one may say1 admits of ,spectacle1 ,character1 ,fable1 ,diction1 ,melody1 and ,thought4 ,,ii4 ,the most important of the six is the combination of the incidents of the story4 ,tragedy is essentially an imitation not of persons but of action and life1 of happiness and misery4 ,all human happiness or misery takes the form of action2 the end for which we live is a certain kind of activity1 not a quality4 ,character gives us qualities1 but it is in our actions--what we do--that we are happy or the reverse4 ,in a play accordingly they do not act in order to portray the ,characters2 they include the ,characters for the sake of the action4 ,so that it is the action in it1 i4e4 its ,fable or ,plot1 that is the end and purpose of the tragedy2 and the end is everywhere the chief thing4 ,besides this1 a tragedy is impossible without action1 but there may be one without ,character4 ,the tragedies of most of the moderns are characterless--a defect common among poets of all kinds1 and with its counterpart in painting in ,zeuxis as compared with ,polygnotus2 for whereas the latter is strong in character1 the work of ,zeuxis is devoid of it4 ,and again3 one may string together a series of characteristic speeches of the utmost finish as regards ,diction and ,thought1 and yet fail to produce the true tragic effect2 but one will have much better success with a tragedy which1 however inferior in these respects1 has a ,plot1 a combination of incidents1 in it4 ,and again3 the most powerful elements of attraction in ,tragedy1 the ,peripeties and ,discoveries1 are parts of the ,plot4 ,a further proof is in the fact that beginners succeed earlier with the ,diction and ,characters than with the construction of a story2 and the same may be said of nearly all the early dramatists4 ,we maintain1 therefore1 that the first essential1 the life and soul1 so to speak1 of ,tragedy is the ,plot2 and that the ,characters come second--compare the parallel in painting1 where the most beautiful colours laid on without order will not give one the same pleasure as a simple black-and-white sketch of a portrait4 ,we maintain that ,tragedy is primarily an imitation of action1 and that it is mainly for the sake of the action that it imitates the personal agents4 ,third comes the element of ,thought1 i4e4 the power of saying whatever can be said1 or what is appropriate to the occasion4 ,this is what1 in the speeches in ,tragedy1 falls under the arts of ,politics and ,rhetoric2 for the older poets make their personages discourse like statesmen1 and the moderns like rhetoricians4 ,one must not confuse it with ,character4 ,character in a play is that which reveals the moral purpose of the agents1 i4e4 the sort of thing they seek or avoid1 where that is not obvious--hence there is no room for ,character in a speech on a purely indifferent subject4 ,thought1 on the other hand1 is shown in all they say when proving or disproving some particular point1 or enunciating some universal proposition4 ,fourth among the literary elements is the ,diction of the personages1 i4e4 as before explained1 the expression of their thoughts in words1 which is practically the same thing with verse as with prose4 ,as for the two remaining parts1 the ,melody is the greatest of the pleasurable accessories of ,tragedy4 ,the ,spectacle1 though an attraction1 is the least artistic of all the parts1 and has least to do with the art of poetry4 ,the tragic effect is quite possible without a public performance and actors2 and besides1 the getting-up of the ,spectacle is more a matter for the costumier than the poet4 #g ,having thus distinguished the parts1 let us now consider the proper construction of the ,fable or ,plot1 as that is at once the first and the most important thing in ,tragedy4 ,we have laid it down that a tragedy is an imitation of an action that is complete in itself1 as a whole of some magnitude2 for a whole may be of no magnitude to speak of4 ,now a whole is that which has beginning1 middle1 and end4 ,a beginning is that which is not itself necessarily after anything else1 and which has naturally something else after it2 an end is that which is naturally after something itself1 either as its necessary or usual consequent1 and with nothing else after it2 and a middle1 that which is by nature after one thing and has also another after it4 ,a well-constructed ,plot1 therefore1 cannot either begin or end at any point one likes2 beginning and end in it must be of the forms just described4 ,again3 to be beautiful1 a living creature1 and every whole made up of parts1 must not only present a certain order in its arrangement of parts1 but also be of a certain definite magnitude4 ,beauty is a matter of size and order1 and therefore impossible either 7#a7 in a very minute creature1 since our perception becomes indistinct as it approaches instantaneity2 or 7#b7 in a creature of vast size--one1 say1 #a1jjj miles long--as in that case1 instead of the object being seen all at once1 the unity and wholeness of it is lost to the beholder4 ,just in the same way1 then1 as a beautiful whole made up of parts1 or a beautiful living creature1 must be of some size1 a size to be taken in by the eye1 so a story or ,plot must be of some length1 but of a length to be taken in by the memory4 ,as for the limit of its length1 so far as that is relative to public performances and spectators1 it does not fall within the theory of poetry4 ,if they had to perform a hundred tragedies1 they would be timed by water-clocks1 as they are said to have been at one period4 ,the limit1 however1 set by the actual nature of the thing is this3 the longer the story1 consistently with its being comprehensible as a whole1 the finer it is by reason of its magnitude4 ,as a rough general formula1 'a length which allows of the hero passing by a series of probable or necessary stages from misfortune to happiness1 or from happiness to misfortune'1 may suffice as a limit for the magnitude of the story4 #h ,the ,unity of a ,plot does not consist1 as some suppose1 in its having one man as its subject4 ,an infinity of things befall that one man1 some of which it is impossible to reduce to unity2 and in like manner there are many actions of one man which cannot be made to form one action4 ,one sees1 therefore1 the mistake of all the poets who have written a ,heracleid1 a ,theseid1 or similar poems2 they suppose that1 because ,heracles was one man1 the story also of ,heracles must be one story4 ,homer1 however1 evidently understood this point quite well1 whether by art or instinct1 just in the same way as he excels the rest in every other respect4 ,in writing an ,odyssey1 he did not make the poem cover all that ever befell his hero--it befell him1 for instance1 to get wounded on ,parnassus and also to feign madness at the time of the call to arms1 but the two incidents had no probable or necessary connexion with one another--instead of doing that1 he took an action with a ,unity of the kind we are describing as the subject of the ,odyssey1 as also of the ,iliad4 ,the truth is that1 just as in the other imitative arts one imitation is always of one thing1 so in poetry the story1 as an imitation of action1 must represent one action1 a complete whole1 with its several incidents so closely connected that the transposal or withdrawal of any one of them will disjoin and dislocate the whole4 ,for that which makes no perceptible difference by its presence or absence is no real part of the whole4 #i ,from what we have said it will be seen that the poet's function is to describe1 not the thing that has happened1 but a kind of thing that might happen1 i4e4 what is possible as being probable or necessary4 ,the distinction between historian and poet is not in the one writing prose and the other verse--you might put the work of ,herodotus into verse1 and it would still be a species of history2 it consists really in this1 that the one describes the thing that has been1 and the other a kind of thing that might be4 ,hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history1 since its statements are of the nature rather of universals1 whereas those of history are singulars4 ,by a universal statement ,i mean one as to what such or such a kind of man will probably or necessarily say or do--which is the aim of poetry1 though it affixes proper names to the characters2 by a singular statement1 one as to what1 say1 ,alcibiades did or had done to him4 ,in ,comedy this has become clear by this time2 it is only when their plot is already made up of probable incidents that they give it a basis of proper names1 choosing for the purpose any names that may occur to them1 instead of writing like the old iambic poets about particular persons4 ,in ,tragedy1 however1 they still adhere to the historic names2 and for this reason3 what convinces is the possible2 now whereas we are not yet sure as to the possibility of that which has not happened1 that which has happened is manifestly possible1 else it would not have come to pass4 ,nevertheless even in ,tragedy there are some plays with but one or two known names in them1 the rest being inventions2 and there are some without a single known name1 e4g4 ,agathon's ,anthens1 in which both incidents and names are of the poet's invention2 and it is no less delightful on that account4 ,so that one must not aim at a rigid adherence to the traditional stories on which tragedies are based4 ,it would be absurd1 in fact1 to do so1 as even the known stories are only known to a few1 though they are a delight none the less to all4 ,it is evident from the above that1 the poet must be more the poet of his stories or ,plots than of his verses1 inasmuch as he is a poet by virtue of the imitative element in his work1 and it is actions that he imitates4 ,and if he should come to take a subject from actual history1 he is none the less a poet for that2 since some historic occurrences may very well be in the probable and possible order of things2 and it is in that aspect of them that he is their poet4 ,of simple ,plots and actions the episodic are the worst4 ,i call a ,plot episodic when there is neither probability nor necessity in the sequence of episodes4 ,actions of this sort bad poets construct through their own fault1 and good ones on account of the players4 ,his work being for public performance1 a good poet often stretches out a ,plot beyond its capabilities1 and is thus obliged to twist the sequence of incident4 ,tragedy1 however1 is an imitation not only of a complete action1 but also of incidents arousing pity and fear4 ,such incidents have the very greatest effect on the mind when they occur unexpectedly and at the same time in consequence of one another2 there is more of the marvellous in them then than if they happened of themselves or by mere chance4 ,even matters of chance seem most marvellous if there is an appearance of design as it were in them2 as for instance the statue of ,mitys at ,argos killed the author of ,mitys' death by falling down on him when a looker-on at a public spectacle2 for incidents like that we think to be not without a meaning4 ,a ,plot1 therefore1 of this sort is necessarily finer than others4 #aj ,plots are either simple or complex1 since the actions they represent are naturally of this twofold description4 ,the action1 proceeding in the way defined1 as one continuous whole1 ,i call simple1 when the change in the hero's fortunes takes place without ,peripety or ,discovery2 and complex1 when it involves one or the other1 or both4 ,these should each of them arise out of the structure of the ,plot itself1 so as to be the consequence1 necessary or probable1 of the antecedents4 ,there is a great difference between a thing happening propter hoc and post hoc4 #aa ,a ,peripety is the change from one state of things within the play to its opposite of the kind described1 and that too in the way we are saying1 in the probable or necessary sequence of events2 as it is for instance in ,oedipus3 here the opposite state of things is produced by the ,messenger1 who1 coming to gladden ,oedipus and to remove his fears as to his mother1 reveals the secret of his birth4 ,and in ,lynceus3 just as he is being led off for execution1 with ,danaus at his side to put him to death1 the incidents preceding this bring it about that he is saved and ,danaus put to death4 ,a ,discovery is1 as the very word implies1 a change from ignorance to knowledge1 and thus to either love or hate1 in the personages marked for good or evil fortune4 ,the finest form of ,discovery is one attended by ,peripeties1 like that which goes with the ,discovery in ,oedipus4 ,there are no doubt other forms of it2 what we have said may happen in a way in reference to inanimate things1 even things of a very casual kind2 and it is also possible to discover whether some one has done or not done something4 ,but the form most directly connected with the ,plot and the action of the piece is the first-mentioned4 ,this1 with a ,peripety1 will arouse either pity or fear--actions of that nature being what ,tragedy is assumed to represent2 and it will also serve to bring about the happy or unhappy ending4 ,the ,discovery1 then1 being of persons1 it may be that of one party only to the other1 the latter being already known2 or both the parties may have to discover themselves4 ,iphigenia1 for instance1 was discovered to ,orestes by sending the letter2 and another ,discovery was required to reveal him to ,iphigenia4 ,two parts of the ,plot1 then1 ,peripety and ,discovery1 are on matters of this sort4 ,a third part is ,suffering2 which we may define as an action of a destructive or painful nature1 such as murders on the stage1 tortures1 woundings1 and the like4 ,the other two have been already explained4 #ab ,the parts of ,tragedy to be treated as formative elements in the whole were mentioned in a previous ,chapter4 ,from the point of view1 however1 of its quantity1 i4e4 the separate sections into which it is divided1 a tragedy has the following parts3 ,prologue1 ,episode1 ,exode1 and a choral portion1 distinguished into ,parode and ,stasimon2 these two are common to all tragedies1 whereas songs from the stage and ,commoe are only found in some4 ,the ,prologue is all that precedes the ,parode of the chorus2 an ,episode all that comes in between two whole choral songs2 the ,exode all that follows after the last choral song4 ,in the choral portion the ,parode is the whole first statement of the chorus2 a ,stasimon1 a song of the chorus without anapaests or trochees2 a ,commas1 a lamentation sung by chorus and actor in concert4 ,the parts of ,tragedy to be used as formative elements in the whole we have already mentioned2 the above are its parts from the point of view of its quantity1 or the separate sections into which it is divided4 #ac ,the next points after what we have said above will be these3 7#a7 ,what is the poet to aim at1 and what is he to avoid1 in constructing his ,plots8 and 7#b7 ,what are the conditions on which the tragic effect depends8 ,we assume that1 for the finest form of ,tragedy1 the ,plot must be not simple but complex2 and further1 that it must imitate actions arousing pity and fear1 since that is the distinctive function of this kind of imitation4 ,it follows1 therefore1 that there are three forms of ,plot to be avoided4 7#a7 ,a good man must not be seen passing from happiness to misery1 or 7#b7 a bad man from misery to happiness4 ,the first situation is not fear-inspiring or piteous1 but simply odious to us4 ,the second is the most untragic that can be2 it has no one of the requisites of ,tragedy2 it does not appeal either to the human feeling in us1 or to our pity1 or to our fears4 ,nor1 on the other hand1 should 7#c7 an extremely bad man be seen falling from happiness into misery4 ,such a story may arouse the human feeling in us1 but it will not move us to either pity or fear2 pity is occasioned by undeserved misfortune1 and fear by that of one like ourselves2 so that there will be nothing either piteous or fear-inspiring in the situation4 ,there remains1 then1 the intermediate kind of personage1 a man not pre-eminently virtuous and just1 whose misfortune1 however1 is brought upon him not by vice and depravity but by some error of judgement1 of the number of those in the enjoyment of great reputation and prosperity2 e4g4 ,oedipus1 ,thyestes1 and the men of note of similar families4 ,the perfect ,plot1 accordingly1 must have a single1 and not 7as some tell us7 a double issue2 the change in the hero's fortunes must be not from misery to happiness1 but on the contrary from happiness to misery2 and the cause of it must lie not in any depravity1 but in some great error on his part2 the man himself being either such as we have described1 or better1 not worse1 than that4 ,fact also confirms our theory4 ,though the poets began by accepting any tragic story that came to hand1 in these days the finest tragedies are always on the story of some few houses1 on that of ,alemeon1 ,oedipus1 ,orestes1 ,meleager1 ,thyestes1 ,telephus1 or any others that may have been involved1 as either agents or sufferers1 in some deed of horror4 ,the theoretically best tragedy1 then1 has a ,plot of this description4 ,the critics1 therefore1 are wrong who blame ,euripides for taking this line in his tragedies1 and giving many of them an unhappy ending4 ,it is1 as we have said1 the right line to take4 ,the best proof is this3 on the stage1 and in the public performances1 such plays1 properly worked out1 are seen to be the most truly tragic2 and ,euripides1 even if his elecution be faulty in every other point1 is seen to be nevertheless the most tragic certainly of the dramatists4 ,after this comes the construction of ,plot which some rank first1 one with a double story 7like the ,odyssey7 and an opposite issue for the good and the bad personages4 ,it is ranked as first only through the weakness of the audiences2 the poets merely follow their public1 writing as its wishes dictate4 ,but the pleasure here is not that of ,tragedy4 ,it belongs rather to ,comedy1 where the bitterest enemies in the piece 7e4g4 ,orestes and ,aegisthus7 walk off good friends at the end1 with no slaying of any one by any one4 #ad ,the tragic fear and pity may be aroused by the ,spectacle2 but they may also be aroused by the very structure and incidents of the play--which is the better way and shows the better poet4 ,the ,plot in fact should be so framed that1 even without seeing the things take place1 he who simply hears the account of them shall be filled with horror and pity at the incidents2 which is just the effect that the mere recital of the story in ,oedipus would have on one4 ,to produce this same effect by means of the ,spectacle is less artistic1 and requires extraneous aid4 ,those1 however1 who make use of the ,spectacle to put before us that which is merely monstrous and not productive of fear1 are wholly out of touch with ,tragedy2 not every kind of pleasure should be required of a tragedy1 but only its own proper pleasure4 ,the tragic pleasure is that of pity and fear1 and the poet has to produce it by a work of imitation2 it is clear1 therefore1 that the causes should be included in the incidents of his story4 ,let us see1 then1 what kinds of incident strike one as horrible1 or rather as piteous4 ,in a deed of this description the parties must necessarily be either friends1 or enemies1 or indifferent to one another4 ,now when enemy does it on enemy1 there is nothing to move us to pity either in his doing or in his meditating the deed1 except so far as the actual pain of the sufferer is concerned2 and the same is true when the parties are indifferent to one another4 ,whenever the tragic deed1 however1 is done within the family--when murder or the like is done or meditated by brother on brother1 by son on father1 by mother on son1 or son on mother--these are the situations the poet should seek after4 ,the traditional stories1 accordingly1 must be kept as they are1 e4g4 the murder of ,clytaemnestra by ,orestes and of ,eriphyle by ,alcmeon4 ,at the same time even with these there is something left to the poet himself2 it is for him to devise the right way of treating them4 ,let us explain more clearly what we mean by 'the right way'4 ,the deed of horror may be done by the doer knowingly and consciously1 as in the old poets1 and in ,medea's murder of her children in ,euripides4 ,or he may do it1 but in ignorance of his relationship1 and discover that afterwards1 as does the ,oedipus in ,sophocles4 ,here the deed is outside the play2 but it may be within it1 like the act of the ,alcmeon in ,astydamas1 or that of the ,telegonus in ,ulysses ,wounded4 ,a third possibility is for one meditating some deadly injury to another1 in ignorance of his relationship1 to make the discovery in time to draw back4 ,these exhaust the possibilities1 since the deed must necessarily be either done or not done1 and either knowingly or unknowingly4 ,the worst situation is when the personage is with full knowledge on the point of doing the deed1 and leaves it undone4 ,it is odious and also 7through the absence of suffering7 untragic2 hence it is that no one is made to act thus except in some few instances1 e4g4 ,haemon and ,creon in ,antigone4 ,next after this comes the actual perpetration of the deed meditated4 ,a better situation than that1 however1 is for the deed to be done in ignorance1 and the relationship discovered afterwards1 since there is nothing odious in it1 and the ,discovery will serve to astound us4 ,but the best of all is the last2 what we have in ,cresphontes1 for example1 where ,merope1 on the point of slaying her son1 recognizes him in time2 in ,iphigenia1 where sister and brother are in a like position2 and in ,helle1 where the son recognizes his mother1 when on the point of giving her up to her enemy4 ,this will explain why our tragedies are restricted 7as we said just now7 to such a small number of families4 ,it was accident rather than art that led the poets in quest of subjects to embody this kind of incident in their ,plots4 ,they are still obliged1 accordingly1 to have recourse to the families in which such horrors have occurred4 ,on the construction of the ,plot1 and the kind of ,plot required for ,tragedy1 enough has now been said4 #ae ,in the ,characters there are four points to aim at4 ,first and foremost1 that they shall be good4 ,there will be an element of character in the play1 if 7as has been observed7 what a personage says or does reveals a certain moral purpose2 and a good element of character1 if the purpose so revealed is good4 ,such goodness is possible in every type of personage1 even in a woman or a slave1 though the one is perhaps an inferior1 and the other a wholly worthless being4 ,the second point is to make them appropriate4 ,the ,character before us may be1 say1 manly2 but it is not appropriate in a female ,character to be manly1 or clever4 ,the third is to make them like the reality1 which is not the same as their being good and appropriate1 in our sense of the term4 ,the fourth is to make them consistent and the same throughout2 even if inconsistency be part of the man before one for imitation as presenting that form of character1 he should still be consistently inconsistent4 ,we have an instance of baseness of character1 not required for the story1 in the ,menelaus in ,orestes2 of the incongruous and unbefitting in the lamentation of ,ulysses in ,scylla1 and in the 7clever7 speech of ,melanippe2 and of inconsistency in ,iphigenia at ,aulis1 where ,iphigenia the suppliant is utterly unlike the later ,iphigenia4 ,the right thing1 however1 is in the ,characters just as in the incidents of the play to endeavour always after the necessary or the probable2 so that whenever such-and-such a personage says or does such-and-such a thing1 it shall be the probable or necessary outcome of his character2 and whenever this incident follows on that1 it shall be either the necessary or the probable consequence of it4 ,from this one sees 7to digress for a moment7 that the ,denouement also should arise out of the plot itself1 arid not depend on a stage-artifice1 as in ,medea1 or in the story of the 7arrested7 departure of the ,greeks in the ,iliad4 ,the artifice must be reserved for matters outside the play--for past events beyond human knowledge1 or events yet to come1 which require to be foretold or announced2 since it is the privilege of the ,gods to know everything4 ,there should be nothing improbable among the actual incidents4 ,if it be unavoidable1 however1 it should be outside the tragedy1 like the improbability in the ,oedipus of ,sophocles4 ,but to return to the ,characters4 ,as ,tragedy is an imitation of personages better than the ordinary man1 we in our way should follow the example of good portrait-painters1 who reproduce the distinctive features of a man1 and at the same time1 without losing the likeness1 make him handsomer than he is4 ,the poet in like manner1 in portraying men quick or slow to anger1 or with similar infirmities of character1 must know how to represent them as such1 and at the same time as good men1 as ,agathon and ,homer have represented ,achilles4 ,all these rules one must keep in mind throughout1 and further1 those also for such points of stage-effect as directly depend on the art of the poet1 since in these too one may often make mistakes4 ,enough1 however1 has been said on the subject in one of our published writings4 #af ,discovery in general has been explained already4 ,as for the species of ,discovery1 the first to be noted is 7#a7 the least artistic form of it1 of which the poets make most use through mere lack of invention1 ,discovery by signs or marks4 ,of these signs some are congenital1 like the 'lance-head which the ,earth-born have on them'1 or 'stars'1 such as ,carcinus brings in in his ,thyestes2 others acquired after birth--these latter being either marks on the body1 e4g4 scars1 or external tokens1 like necklaces1 or to take another sort of instance1 the ark in the ,discovery in ,tyro4 ,even these1 however1 admit of two uses1 a better and a worse2 the scar of ,ulysses is an instance2 the ,discovery of him through it is made in one way by the nurse and in another by the swineherds4 ,a ,discovery using signs as a means of assurance is less artistic1 as indeed are all such as imply reflection2 whereas one bringing them in all of a sudden1 as in the ,bath-story1 is of a better order4 ,next after these are 7#b7 ,discoveries made directly by the poet2 which are inartistic for that very reason2 e4g4 ,orestes' ,discovery of himself in ,iphigenia3 whereas his sister reveals who she is by the letter1 ,orestes is made to say himself what the poet rather than the story demands4 ,this1 therefore1 is not far removed from the first-mentioned fault1 since he might have presented certain tokens as well4 ,another instance is the 'shuttle's voice' in the ,tereus of ,sophocles4 7#c7 ,a third species is ,discovery through memory1 from a man's consciousness being awakened by something seen or heard4 ,thus in ,the ,cyprioe of ,dicaeogenes1 the sight of the picture makes the man burst into tears2 and in the ,tale of ,alcinous1 hearing the harper ,ulysses is reminded of the past and weeps2 the ,discovery of them being the result4 7#d7 ,a fourth kind is ,discovery through reasoning2 e4g4 in ,the ,choephoroe3 ',one like me is here2 there is no one like me but ,orestes2 he1 therefore1 must be here4' ,or that which ,polyidus the ,sophist suggested for ,iphigenia2 since it was natural for ,orestes to reflect3 ',my sister was sacrificed1 and ,i am to be sacrificed like her4' ,or that in the ,tydeus of ,theodectes3 ',i came to find a son1 and am to die myself4' ,or that in ,the ,phinidae3 on seeing the place the women inferred their fate1 that they were to die there1 since they had also been exposed there4 7#e7 ,there is1 too1 a composite ,discovery arising from bad reasoning on the side of the other party4 ,an instance of it is in ,ulysses the ,false ,messenger3 he said he should know the bow--which he had not seen2 but to suppose from that that he would know it again 7as though he had once seen it7 was bad reasoning4 7#f7 ,the best of all ,discoveries1 however1 is that arising from the incidents themselves1 when the great surprise comes about through a probable incident1 like that in the ,oedipus of ,sophocles2 and also in ,iphigenia2 for it was not improbable that she should wish to have a letter taken home4 ,these last are the only ,discoveries independent of the artifice of signs and necklaces4 ,next after them come ,discoveries through reasoning4 #ag ,at the time when he is constructing his ,plots1 and engaged on the ,diction in which they are worked out1 the poet should remember 7#a7 to put the actual scenes as far as possible before his eyes4 ,in this way1 seeing everything with the vividness of an eye-witness as it were1 he will devise what is appropriate1 and be least likely to overlook incongruities4 ,this is shown by what was censured in ,carcinus1 the return of ,amphiaraus from the sanctuary2 it would have passed unnoticed1 if it had not been actually seen by the audience2 but on the stage his play failed1 the incongruity of the incident offending the spectators4 7#b7 ,as far as may be1 too1 the poet should even act his story with the very gestures of his personages4 ,given the same natural qualifications1 he who feels the emotions to be described will be the most convincing2 distress and anger1 for instance1 are portrayed most truthfully by one who is feeling them at the moment4 ,hence it is that poetry demands a man with special gift for it1 or else one with a touch of madness in him2 the former can easily assume the required mood1 and the latter may be actually beside himself with emotion4 7#c7 ,his story1 again1 whether already made or of his own making1 he should first simplify and reduce to a universal form1 before proceeding to lengthen it out by the insertion of episodes4 ,the following will show how the universal element in ,iphigenia1 for instance1 may be viewed3 ,a certain maiden having been offered in sacrifice1 and spirited away from her sacrificers into another land1 where the custom was to sacrifice all strangers to the ,goddess1 she was made there the priestess of this rite4 ,long after that the brother of the priestess happened to come2 the fact1 however1 of the oracle having for a certain reason bidden him go thither1 and his object in going1 are outside the ,plot of the play4 ,on his coming he was arrested1 and about to be sacrificed1 when he revealed who he was--either as ,euripides puts it1 or 7as suggested by ,polyidus7 by the not improbable exclamation1 ',so ,i too am doomed to be sacrificed1 as my sister was'2 and the disclosure led to his salvation4 ,this done1 the next thing1 after the proper names have been fixed as a basis for the story1 is to work in episodes or accessory incidents4 ,one must mind1 however1 that the episodes are appropriate1 like the fit of madness in ,orestes1 which led to his arrest1 and the purifying1 which brought about his salvation4 ,in plays1 then1 the episodes are short2 in epic poetry they serve to lengthen out the poem4 ,the argument of the ,odyssey is not a long one4 ,a certain man has been abroad many years2 ,poseidon is ever on the watch for him1 and he is all alone4 ,matters at home too have come to this1 that his substance is being wasted and his son's death plotted by suitors to his wife4 ,then he arrives there himself after his grievous sufferings2 reveals himself1 and falls on his enemies2 and the end is his salvation and their death4 ,this being all that is proper to the ,odyssey1 everything else in it is episode4 #ah 7#d7 ,there is a further point to be borne in mind4 ,every tragedy is in part ,complication and in part ,denouement2 the incidents before the opening scene1 and often certain also of those within the play1 forming the ,complication2 and the rest the ,denouement4 ,by ,complication ,i mean all from the beginning of the story to the point just before the change in the hero's fortunes2 by ,denouement1 all from the beginning of the change to the end4 ,in the ,lynceus of ,theodectes1 for instance1 the ,complication includes1 together with the presupposed incidents1 the seizure of the child and that in turn of the parents2 and the ,denouement all from the indictment for the murder to the end4 ,now it is right1 when one speaks of a tragedy as the same or not the same as another1 to do so on the ground before all else of their ,plot1 i4e4 as having the same or not the same ,complication and ,denouement4 ,yet there are many dramatists who1 after a good ,complication1 fail in the ,denouement4 ,but it is necessary for both points of construction to be always duly mastered4 7#e7 ,there are four distinct species of ,tragedy--that being the number of the constituents also that have been mentioned3 first1 the complex ,tragedy1 which is all ,peripety and ,discovery2 second1 the ,tragedy of suffering1 e4g4 the ,ajaxes and ,ixions2 third1 the ,tragedy of character1 e4g4 ,the ,phthiotides and ,peleus4 ,the fourth constituent is that of ',spectacle'1 exemplified in ,the ,phorcides1 in ,prometheus1 and in all plays with the scene laid in the nether world4 ,the poet's aim1 then1 should be to combine every element of interest1 if possible1 or else the more important and the major part of them4 ,this is now especially necessary owing to the unfair criticism to which the poet is subjected in these days4 ,just because there have been poets before him strong in the several species of tragedy1 the critics now expect the one man to surpass that which was the strong point of each one of his predecessors4 7#f7 ,one should also remember what has been said more than once1 and not write a tragedy on an epic body of incident 7i4e4 one with a plurality of stories in it71 by attempting to dramatize1 for instance1 the entire story of the ,iliad4 ,in the epic owing to its scale every part is treated at proper length2 with a drama1 however1 on the same story the result is very disappointing4 ,this is shown by the fact that all who have dramatized the fall of ,ilium in its entirety1 and not part by part1 like ,euripides1 or the whole of the ,niobe story1 instead of a portion1 like ,aeschylus1 either fail utterly or have but ill success on the stage2 for that and that alone was enough to ruin a play by ,agathon4 ,yet in their ,peripeties1 as also in their simple plots1 the poets ,i mean show wonderful skill in aiming at the kind of effect they desire--a tragic situation that arouses the human feeling in one1 like the clever villain 7e4g4 ,sisyphus7 deceived1 or the brave wrongdoer worsted4 ,this is probable1 however1 only in ,agathon's sense1 when he speaks of the probability of even improbabilities coming to pass4 7#g7 ,the ,chorus too should be regarded as one of the actors2 it should be an integral part of the whole1 and take a share in the action--that which it has in ,sophocles rather than in ,euripides4 ,with the later poets1 however1 the songs in a play of theirs have no more to do with the ,plot of that than of any other tragedy4 ,hence it is that they are now singing intercalary pieces1 a practice first introduced by ,agathon4 ,and yet what real difference is there between singing such intercalary pieces1 and attempting to fit in a speech1 or even a whole act1 from one play into another8 #ai ,the ,plot and ,characters having been discussed1 it remains to consider the ,diction and ,thought4 ,as for the ,thought1 we may assume what is said of it in our ,art of ,rhetoric1 as it belongs more properly to that department of inquiry4 ,the ,thought of the personages is shown in everything to be effected by their language--in every effort to prove or disprove1 to arouse emotion 7pity1 fear1 anger1 and the like71 or to maximize or minimize things4 ,it is clear1 also1 that their mental procedure must be on the same lines in their actions likewise1 whenever they wish them to arouse pity or horror1 or have a look of importance or probability4 ,the only difference is that with the act the impression has to be made without explanation2 whereas with the spoken word it has to be produced by the speaker1 and result from his language4 ,what1 indeed1 would be the good of the speaker1 if things appeared in the required light even apart from anything he says8 ,as regards the ,diction1 one subject for inquiry under this head is the turns given to the language when spoken2 e4g4 the difference between command and prayer1 simple statement and threat1 question and answer1 and so forth4 ,the theory of such matters1 however1 belongs to ,elocution and the professors of that art4 ,whether the poet knows these things or not1 his art as a poet is never seriously criticized on that account4 ,what fault can one see in ,homer's ',sing of the wrath1 ,goddess'8--which ,protagoras has criticized as being a command where a prayer was meant1 since to bid one do or not do1 he tells us1 is a command4 ,let us pass over this1 then1 as appertaining to another art1 and not to that of poetry4 #bj ,the ,diction viewed as a whole is made up of the following parts3 the ,letter 7or ultimate element71 the ,syllable1 the ,conjunction1 the ,article1 the ,noun1 the ,verb1 the ,case1 and the ,speech4 7#a7 ,the ,letter is an indivisible sound of a particular kind1 one that may become a factor in an intelligible sound4 ,indivisible sounds are uttered by the brutes also1 but no one of these is a ,letter in our sense of the term4 ,these elementary sounds are either vowels1 semivowels1 or mutes4 ,a vowel is a ,letter having an audible sound without the addition of another ,letter4 ,a semivowel1 one having an audible sound by the addition of another ,letter2 e4g4 ,s and ,r4 ,a mute1 one having no sound at all by itself1 but becoming audible by an addition1 that of one of the ,letters which have a sound of some sort of their own2 e4g4 ,d and ,g4 ,the ,letters differ in various ways3 as produced by different conformations or in different regions of the mouth2 as aspirated1 not aspirated1 or sometimes one and sometimes the other2 as long1 short1 or of variable quantity2 and further as having an acute grave1 or intermediate accent4 ,the details of these matters we must leave to the metricians4 7#b7 ,a ,syllable is a nonsignificant composite sound1 made up of a mute and a ,letter having a sound 7a vowel or semivowel72 for ,,gr1 without an ,a1 is just as much a ,syllable as ,,gra1 with an ,a4 ,the various forms of the ,syllable also belong to the theory of metre4 7#c7 ,a ,conjunction is 7a7 a non-significant sound which1 when one significant sound is formable out of several1 neither hinders nor aids the union1 and which1 if the ,speech thus formed stands by itself 7apart from other ,speeches7 must not be inserted at the beginning of it2 e4g4 men1 de1 toi1 de4 ,or 7b7 a non-significant sound capable of combining two or more significant sounds into one2 e4g4 amphi1 peri1 etc4 7#d7 ,an ,article is a non-significant sound marking the beginning1 end1 or dividing-point of a ,speech1 its natural place being either at the extremities or in the middle4 7#e7 ,a ,noun or name is a composite significant sound not involving the idea of time1 with parts which have no significance by themselves in it4 ,it is to be remembered that in a compound we do not think of the parts as having a significance also by themselves2 in the name ',theodorus'1 for instance1 the doron means nothing to us4 7#f7 ,a ,verb is a composite significant sound involving the idea of time1 with parts which 7just as in the ,noun7 have no significance by themselves in it4 ,whereas the word 'man' or 'white' does not imply when1 'walks' and 'has walked' involve in addition to the idea of walking that of time present or time past4 7#g7 ,a ,case of a ,noun or ,verb is when the word means 'of or 'to' a thing1 and so forth1 or for one or many 7e4g4 'man' and 'men'72 or it may consist merely in the mode of utterance1 e4g4 in question1 command1 etc4 ',walked8' and ',walk6' are ,cases of the verb 'to walk' of this last kind4 7#h7 ,a ,speech is a composite significant sound1 some of the parts of which have a certain significance by themselves4 ,it may be observed that a ,speech is not always made up of ,noun and ,verb2 it may be without a ,verb1 like the definition of man2 but it will always have some part with a certain significance by itself4 ,in the ,speech ',cleon walks'1 ',cleon' is an instance of such a part4 ,a ,speech is said to be one in two ways1 either as signifying one thing1 or as a union of several ,speeches made into one by conjunction4 ,thus the ,iliad is one ,speech by conjunction of several2 and the definition of man is one through its signifying one thing4 #ba ,nouns are of two kinds1 either 7#a7 simple1 i4e4 made up of non-significant parts1 like the word ge1 or 7#b7 double2 in the latter case the word may be made up either of a significant and a non-significant part 7a distinction which disappears in the compound71 or of two significant parts4 ,it is possible also to have triple1 quadruple or higher compounds1 like most of our amplified names2 e4g4' ,hermocaicoxanthus' and the like4 ,whatever its structure1 a ,noun must always be either 7#a7 the ordinary word for the thing1 or 7#b7 a strange word1 or 7#c7 a metaphor1 or 7#d7 an ornamental word1 or 7#e7 a coined word1 or 7#f7 a word lengthened out1 or 7#g7 curtailed1 or 7#h7 altered in form4 ,by the ordinary word ,i mean that in general use in a country2 and by a strange word1 one in use elsewhere4 ,so that the same word may obviously be at once strange and ordinary1 though not in reference to the same people2 sigunos1 for instance1 is an ordinary word in ,cyprus1 and a strange word with us4 ,metaphor consists in giving the thing a name that belongs to something else2 the transference being either from genus to species1 or from species to genus1 or from species to species1 or on grounds of analogy4 ,that from genus to species is e,xemplified in ',here stands my ship'2 for lying at anchor is the 'standing' of a particular kind of thing4 ,that from species to genus in ',truly ten thousand good deeds has ,ulysses wrought'1 where 'ten thousand'1 which is a particular large number1 is put in place of the generic 'a large number'4 ,that from species to species in ',drawing the life with the bronze'1 and in ',severing with the enduring bronze'2 where the poet uses 'draw' in the sense of 'sever' and 'sever' in that of 'draw'1 both words meaning to 'take away' something4 ,that from analogy is possible whenever there are four terms so related that the second 7,b7 is to the first 7,a71 as the fourth 7,d7 to the third 7,c72 for one may then metaphorically put ,b in lieu of ,d1 and ,d in lieu of ,b4 ,now and then1 too1 they qualify the metaphor by adding on to it that to which the word it supplants is relative4 ,thus a cup 7,b7 is in relation to ,dionysus 7,a7 what a shield 7,d7 is to ,ares 7,c74 ,the cup accordingly will be metaphorically described as the 'shield of ,dionysus' 7,d ,a71 and the shield as the 'cup of ,ares' 7,b ,c74 ,or to take another instance3 ,as old age 7,d7 is to life 7,c71 so is evening 7,b7 to day 7,a74 ,one will accordingly describe evening 7,b7 as the 'old age of the day' 7,d ,a7--or by the ,empedoclean equivalent2 and old age 7,d7 as the 'evening' or 'sunset of life'' 7,b ,c74 ,it may be that some of the terms thus related have no special name of their own1 but for all that they will be metaphorically described in just the same way4 ,thus to cast forth seed-corn is called 'sowing'2 but to cast forth its flame1 as said of the sun1 has no special name4 ,this nameless act 7,b71 however1 stands in just the same relation to its object1 sunlight 7,a71 as sowing 7,d7 to the seed-corn 7,c74 ,hence the expression in the poet1 'sowing around a god-created flame' 7,d ,a74 ,there is also another form of qualified metaphor4 ,having given the thing the alien name1 one may by a negative addition deny of it one of the attributes naturally associated with its new name4 ,an instance of this would be to call the shield not the 'cup of ,ares1' as in the former case1 but a 'cup that holds no wine'4 99 99 99 ,a coined word is a name which1 being quite unknown among a people1 is given by the poet himself2 e4g4 7for there are some words that seem to be of this origin7 hernyges for horns1 and areter for priest4 ,a word is said to be lengthened out1 when it has a short vowel made long1 or an extra syllable inserted2 e4 g4 polleos for poleos1 ,peleiadeo for ,peleidon4 ,it is said to be curtailed1 when it has lost a part2 e4g4 kri1 do1 and ops in mia ginetai amphoteron ops4 ,it is an altered word1 when part is left as it was and part is of the poet's making2 e4g4 dexiteron for dexion1 in dexiteron kata maxon4 ,the ,nouns themselves 7to whatever class they may belong7 are either masculines1 feminines1 or intermediates 7neuter74 ,all ending in ,n1 ,p1 ,s1 or in the two compounds of this last1 ,,ps and ,x1 are masculines4 ,all ending in the invariably long vowels1 ,h and ,o1 and in ,a among the vowels that may be long1 are feminines4 ,so that there is an equal number of masculine and feminine terminations1 as ,,ps and ,x are the same as ,s1 and need not be counted4 ,there is no ,noun1 however1 ending in a mute or in either of the two short vowels1 ,e and ,o4 ,only three 7meli1 kommi1 peperi7 end in ,i1 and five in ,t4 ,the intermediates1 or neuters1 end in the variable vowels or in ,n1 ,p1 ,x4 #bb ,the perfection of ,diction is for it to be at once clear and not mean4 ,the clearest indeed is that made up of the ordinary words for things1 but it is mean1 as is shown by the poetry of ,cleophon and ,sthenelus4 ,on the other hand the ,diction becomes distinguished and non-prosaic by the use of unfamiliar terms1 i4e4 strange words1 metaphors1 lengthened forms1 and everything that deviates from the ordinary modes of speech4--,but a whole statement in such terms will be either a riddle or a barbarism1 a riddle1 if made up of metaphors1 a barbarism1 if made up of strange words4 ,the very nature indeed of a riddle is this1 to describe a fact in an impossible combination of words 7which cannot be done with the real names for things1 but can be with their metaphorical substitutes72 e4g4 ',i saw a man glue brass on another with fire'1 and the like4 ,the corresponding use of strange words results in a barbarism4--,a certain admixture1 accordingly1 of unfamiliar terms is necessary4 ,these1 the strange word1 the metaphor1 the ornamental equivalent1 etc44 will save the language from seeming mean and prosaic1 while the ordinary words in it will secure the requisite clearness4 ,what helps most1 however1 to render the ,diction at once clear and non-prosaic is the use of the lengthened1 curtailed1 and altered forms of words4 ,their deviation from the ordinary words will1 by making the language unlike that in general use give it a non-prosaic appearance2 and their having much in common with the words in general use will give it the quality of clearness4 ,it is not right1 then1 to condemn these modes of speech1 and ridicule the poet for using them1 as some have done2 e4g4 the elder ,euclid1 who said it was easy to make poetry if one were to be allowed to lengthen the words in the statement itself as much as one likes--a procedure he caricatured by reading ',epixarhon eidon ,marathonade ,badi--gonta1 and ouk han g' eramenos ton ekeinou helle boron as verses4 ,a too apparent use of these licences has certainly a ludicrous effect1 but they are not alone in that2 the rule of moderation applies to all the constituents of the poetic vocabulary2 even with metaphors1 strange words1 and the rest1 the effect will be the same1 if one uses them improperly and with a view to provoking laughter4 ,the proper use of them is a very different thing4 ,to realize the difference one should take an epic verse and see how it reads when the normal words are introduced4 ,the same should be done too with the strange word1 the metaphor1 and the rest2 for one has only to put the ordinary words in their place to see the truth of what we are saying4 ,the same iambic1 for instance1 is found in ,aeschylus and ,euripides1 and as it stands in the former it is a poor line2 whereas ,euripides1 by the change of a single word1 the substitution of a strange for what is by usage the ordinary word1 has made it seem a fine one4 ,aeschylus having said in his ,philoctetes3 phagedaina he mon sarkas hesthiei podos ,euripides has merely altered the hesthiei here into thoinatai4 ,or suppose nun de m' heon holigos te kai outidanos kai haeikos to be altered by the substitution of the ordinary words into nun de m' heon mikros te kai hasthenikos kai haeidos ,or the line diphron haeikelion katatheis olingen te trapexan into diphron moxtheron katatheis mikran te trapexan ,or heiones boosin into heiones kraxousin4 ,add to this that ,ariphrades used to ridicule the tragedians for introducing expressions unknown in the language of common life1 doeaton hapo 7for apo domaton71 sethen1 hego de nin1 ,achilleos peri 7for peri ,achilleos71 and the like4 ,the mere fact of their not being in ordinary speech gives the ,diction a non-prosaic character2 but ,ariphrades was unaware of that4 ,it is a great thing1 indeed1 to make a proper use of these poetical forms1 as also of compounds and strange words4 ,but the greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor4 ,it is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others2 and it is also a sign of genius1 since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars4 ,of the kinds of words we have enumerated it may be observed that compounds are most in place in the dithyramb1 strange words in heroic1 and metaphors in iambic poetry4 ,heroic poetry1 indeed1 may avail itself of them all4 ,but in iambic verse1 which models itself as far as possible on the spoken language1 only those kinds of words are in place which are allowable also in an oration1 i4e4 the ordinary word1 the metaphor1 and the ornamental equivalent4 ,let this1 then1 suffice as an account of ,tragedy1 the art imitating by means of action on the stage4 #bc ,as for the poetry which merely narrates1 or imitates by means of versified language 7without action71 it is evident that it has several points in common with ,tragedy4 ,i4 ,the construction of its stories should clearly be like that in a drama2 they should be based on a single action1 one that is a complete whole in itself1 with a beginning1 middle1 and end1 so as to enable the work to produce its own proper pleasure with all the organic unity of a living creature4 ,nor should one suppose that there is anything like them in our usual histories4 ,a history has to deal not with one action1 but with one period and all that happened in that to one or more persons1 however disconnected the several events may have been4 ,just as two events may take place at the same time1 e4g4 the sea-fight off ,salamis and the battle with the ,carthaginians in ,sicily1 without converging to the same end1 so too of two consecutive events one may sometimes come after the other with no one end as their common issue4 ,nevertheless most of our epic poets1 one may say1 ignore the distinction4 ,herein1 then1 to repeat what we have said before1 we have a further proof of ,homer's marvellous superiority to the rest4 ,he did not attempt to deal even with the ,trojan war in its entirety1 though it was a whole with a definite beginning and end--through a feeling apparently that it was too long a story to be taken in in one view1 or if not that1 too complicated from the variety of incident in it4 ,as it is1 he has singled out one section of the whole2 many of the other incidents1 however1 he brings in as episodes1 using the ,catalogue of the ,ships1 for instance1 and other episodes to relieve the uniformity of his narrative4 ,as for the other epic poets1 they treat of one man1 or one period2 or else of an action which1 although one1 has a multiplicity of parts in it4 ,this last is what the authors of the ,cypria and ,little ,iliad have done4 ,and the result is that1 whereas the ,iliad or ,odyssey supplies materials for only one1 or at most two tragedies1 the ,cypria does that for several1 and the ,little ,iliad for more than eight3 for an ,adjudgment of ,arms1 a ,philoctetes1 a ,neoptolemus1 a ,eurypylus1 a ,ulysses as ,beggar1 a ,laconian ,women1 a ,fall of ,ilium1 and a ,departure of the ,fleet2 as also a ,sinon1 and ,women of ,troy4 #bd ,,ii4 ,besides this1 ,epic poetry must divide into the same species as ,tragedy2 it must be either simple or complex1 a story of character or one of suffering4 ,its parts1 too1 with the exception of ,song and ,spectacle1 must be the same1 as it requires ,peripeties1 ,discoveries1 and scenes of suffering just like ,tragedy4 ,lastly1 the ,thought and ,diction in it must be good in their way4 ,all these elements appear in ,homer first2 and he has made due use of them4 ,his two poems are each examples of construction1 the ,iliad simple and a story of suffering1 the ,odyssey complex 7there is ,discovery throughout it7 and a story of character4 ,and they are more than this1 since in ,diction and ,thought too they surpass all other poems4 ,there is1 however1 a difference in the ,epic as compared with ,tragedy1 7#a7 in its length1 and 7#b7 in its metre4 7#a7 ,as to its length1 the limit already suggested will suffice3 it must be possible for the beginning and end of the work to be taken in in one view--a condition which will be fulfilled if the poem be shorter than the old epics1 and about as long as the series of tragedies offered for one hearing4 ,for the extension of its length epic poetry has a special advantage1 of which it makes large use4 ,in a play one cannot represent an action with a number of parts going on simultaneously2 one is limited to the part on the stage and connected with the actors4 ,whereas in epic poetry the narrative form makes it possible for one to describe a number of simultaneous incidents2 and these1 if germane to the subject1 increase the body of the poem4 ,this then is a gain to the ,epic1 tending to give it grandeur1 and also variety of interest and room for episodes of diverse kinds4 ,uniformity of incident by the satiety it soon creates is apt to ruin tragedies on the stage4 7#b7 ,as for its metre1 the heroic has been assigned it from experience2 were any one to attempt a narrative poem in some one1 or in several1 of the other metres1 the incongruity of the thing would be apparent4 ,the heroic2 in fact is the gravest and weightiest of metres--which is what makes it more tolerant than the rest of strange words and metaphors1 that also being a point in which the narrative form of poetry goes beyond all others4 ,the iambic and trochaic1 on the other hand1 are metres of movement1 the one representing that of life and action1 the other that of the dance4 ,still more unnatural would it appear1 it one were to write an epic in a medley of metres1 as ,chaeremon did4 ,hence it is that no one has ever written a long story in any but heroic verse2 nature herself1 as we have said1 teaches us to select the metre appropriate to such a story4 ,homer1 admirable as he is in every other respect1 is especially so in this1 that he alone among epic poets is not unaware of the part to be played by the poet himself in the poem4 ,the poet should say very little in propria persona1 as he is no imitator when doing that4 ,whereas the other poets are perpetually coming forward in person1 and say but little1 and that only here and there1 as imitators1 ,homer after a brief preface brings in forthwith a man1 a woman1 or some other ,character--no one of them characterless1 but each with distinctive characteristics4 ,the marvellous is certainly required in ,tragedy4 ,the ,epic1 however1 affords more opening for the improbable1 the chief factor in the marvellous1 because in it the agents are not visibly before one4 ,the scene of the pursuit of ,hector would be ridiculous on the stage--the ,greeks halting instead of pursuing him1 and ,achilles shaking his head to stop them2 but in the poem the absurdity is overlooked4 ,the marvellous1 however1 is a cause of pleasure1 as is shown by the fact that we all tell a story with additions1 in the belief that we are doing our hearers a pleasure4 ,homer more than any other has taught the rest of us the art of framing lies in the right way4 ,i mean the use of paralogism4 ,whenever1 if ,a is or happens1 a consequent1 ,b1 is or happens1 men's notion is that1 if the ,b is1 the ,a also is--but that is a false conclusion4 ,accordingly1 if ,a is untrue1 but there is something else1 ,b1 that on the assumption of its truth follows as its consequent1 the right thing then is to add on the ,b4 ,just because we know the truth of the consequent1 we are in our own minds led on to the erroneous inference of the truth of the antecedent4 ,here is an instance1 from the ,bath-story in the ,odyssey4 ,a likely impossibility is always preferable to an unconvincing possibility4 ,the story should never be made up of improbable incidents2 there should be nothing of the sort in it4 ,if1 however1 such incidents are unavoidable1 they should be outside the piece1 like the hero's ignorance in ,oedipus of the circumstances of ,lams' death2 not within it1 like the report of the ,pythian games in ,electra1 or the man's having come to ,mysia from ,tegea without uttering a word on the way1 in ,the ,mysians4 ,so that it is ridiculous to say that one's ,plot would have been spoilt without them1 since it is fundamentally wrong to make up such ,plots4 ,if the poet has taken such a ,plot1 however1 and one sees that he might have put it in a more probable form1 he is guilty of absurdity as well as a fault of art4 ,even in the ,odyssey the improbabilities in the setting-ashore of ,ulysses would be clearly intolerable in the hands of an inferior poet4 ,as it is1 the poet conceals them1 his other excellences veiling their absurdity4 ,elaborate ,diction1 however1 is required only in places where there is no action1 and no ,character or ,thought to be revealed4 ,where there is ,character or ,thought1 on the other hand1 an over-ornate ,diction tends to obscure them4 #be ,as regards ,problems and their ,solutions1 one may see the number and nature of the assumptions on which they proceed by viewing the matter in the following way4 7#a7 ,the poet being an imitator just like the painter or other maker of likenesses1 he must necessarily in all instances represent things in one or other of three aspects1 either as they were or are1 or as they are said or thought to be or to have been1 or as they ought to be4 7#b7 ,all this he does in language1 with an admixture1 it may be1 of strange words and metaphors1 as also of the various modified forms of words1 since the use of these is conceded in poetry4 7#c7 ,it is to be remembered1 too1 that there is not the same kind of correctness in poetry as in politics1 or indeed any other art4 ,there is1 however1 within the limits of poetry itself a possibility of two kinds of error1 the one directly1 the other only accidentally connected with the art4 ,if the poet meant to describe the thing correctly1 and failed through lack of power of expression1 his art itself is at fault4 ,but if it was through his having meant to describe it in some incorrect way 7e4g4 to make the horse in movement have both right legs thrown forward7 that the technical error 7one in a matter of1 say1 medicine or some other special science71 or impossibilities of whatever kind they may be1 have got into his description1 his error in that case is not in the essentials of the poetic art4 ,these1 therefore1 must be the premisses of the ,solutions in answer to the criticisms involved in the ,problems4 ,i4 ,as to the criticisms relating to the poet's art itself4 ,any impossibilities there may be in his descriptions of things are faults4 ,but from another point of view they are justifiable1 if they serve the end of poetry itself--if 7to assume what we have said of that end7 they make the effect of some portion of the work more astounding4 ,the ,pursuit of ,hector is an instance in point4 ,if1 however1 the poetic end might have been as well or better attained without sacrifice of technical correctness in such matters1 the impossibility is not to be justified1 since the description should be1 if it can1 entirely free from error4 ,one may ask1 too1 whether the error is in a matter directly or only accidentally connected with the poetic art2 since it is a lesser error in an artist not to know1 for instance1 that the hind has no horns1 than to produce an unrecognizable picture of one4 ,,ii4 ,if the poet's description be criticized as not true to fact1 one may urge perhaps that the object ought to be as described--an answer like that of ,sophocles1 who said that he drew men as they ought to be1 and ,euripides as they were4 ,if the description1 however1 be neither true nor of the thing as it ought to be1 the answer must be then1 that it is in accordance with opinion4 ,the tales about ,gods1 for instance1 may be as wrong as ,xenophanes thinks1 neither true nor the better thing to say2 but they are certainly in accordance with opinion4 ,of other statements in poetry one may perhaps say1 not that they are better than the truth1 but that the fact was so at the time2 e4g4 the description of the arms3 'their spears stood upright1 butt-end upon the ground'2 for that was the usual way of fixing them then1 as it is still with the ,illyrians4 ,as for the question whether something said or done in a poem is morally right or not1 in dealing with that one should consider not only the intrinsic quality of the actual word or deed1 but also the person who says or does it1 the person to whom he says or does it1 the time1 the means1 and the motive of the agent--whether he does it to attain a greater good1 or to avoid a greater evil4 ,,iii4 ,other criticisms one must meet by considering the language of the poet3 7#a7 by the assumption of a strange word in a passage like oureas men proton1 where by oureas ,homer may perhaps mean not mules but sentinels4 ,and in saying of ,dolon1 hos p e toi eidos men heen kakos1 his meaning may perhaps be1 not that ,dolon's body was deformed1 but that his face was ugly1 as eneidos is the ,cretan word for handsome-faced4 ,so1 too1 goroteron de keraie may mean not 'mix the wine stronger'1 as though for topers1 but 'mix it quicker'4 7#b7 ,other expressions in ,homer may be explained as metaphorical2 e4g4 in halloi men ra theoi te kai aneres eudon 7hapantes7 pannux as compared with what he tells us at the same time1 e toi hot hes pedion to ,troikon hathreseien1 aulon suriggon 99te homadon99 the word hapantes 'all'1 is metaphorically put for 'many'1 since 'all' is a species of 'many '4 ,so also his oie d' ammoros is metaphorical1 the best known standing 'alone'4 7#c7 ,a change1 as ,hippias suggested1 in the mode of reading a word will solve the difficulty in didomen de oi1 and to men ou kataputhetai hombro4 7#d7 ,other difficulties may be solved by another punctuation2 e4g4 in ,empedocles1 aipsa de thnet ephyonto1 ta prin mathon athanata xora te prin kekreto4 ,or 7#e7 by the assumption of an equivocal term1 as in parocheken de pleo nux1 where pleo in equivocal4 ,or 7#f7 by an appeal to the custom of language4 ,wine-and-water we call 'wine'2 and it is on the same principle that ,homer speaks of a knemis neoteuktou kassiteroio1 a 'greave of new-wrought tin4' ,a worker in iron we call a 'brazier'2 and it is on the same principle that ,ganymede is described as the 'wine-server' of ,zeus1 though the ,gods do not drink wine4 ,this latter1 however1 may be an instance of metaphor4 ,but whenever also a word seems to imply some contradiction1 it is necessary to reflect how many ways there may be of understanding it in the passage in question2 e4g4 in ,homer's te r' hesxeto xalkeon hegxos one should consider the possible senses of 'was stopped there'--whether by taking it in this sense or in that one will best avoid the fault of which ,glaucon speaks3 ',they start with some improbable presumption2 and having so decreed it themselves1 proceed to draw inferences1 and censure the poet as though he had actually said whatever they happen to believe1 if his statement conflicts with their own notion of things4' ,this is how ,homer's silence about ,icarius has been treated4 ,starting with1 the notion of his having been a ,lacedaemonian1 the critics think it strange for ,telemachus not to have met him when he went to ,lacedaemon4 ,whereas the fact may have been as the ,cephallenians say1 that the wife of ,ulysses was of a ,cephallenian family1 and that her father's name was ,icadius1 not ,icarius4 ,so that it is probably a mistake of the critics that has given rise to the ,problem4 ,speaking generally1 one has to justify 7#a7 the ,impossible by reference to the requirements of poetry1 or to the better1 or to opinion4 ,for the purposes of poetry a convincing impossibility is preferable to an unconvincing possibility2 and if men such as ,zeuxis depicted be impossible1 the answer is that it is better they should be like that1 as the artist ought to improve on his model4 7#b7 ,the ,improbable one has to justify either by showing it to be in accordance with opinion1 or by urging that at times it is not improbable2 for there is a probability of things happening also against probability4 7#c7 ,the contradictions found in the poet's language one should first test as one does an opponent's confutation in a dialectical argument1 so as to see whether he means the same thing1 in the same relation1 and in the same sense1 before admitting that he has contradicted either something he has said himself or what a man of sound sense assumes as true4 ,but there is no possible apology for improbability of ,plot or depravity of character1 when they are not necessary and no use is made of them1 like the improbability in the appearance of ,aegeus in ,medea and the baseness of ,menelaus in ,orestes4 ,the objections1 then1 of critics start with faults of five kinds3 the allegation is always that something in either 7#a7 impossible1 7#b7 improbable1 7#c7 corrupting1 7#d7 contradictory1 or 7#e7 against technical correctness4 ,the answers to these objections must be sought under one or other of the above-mentioned heads1 which are twelve in number4 #bf ,the question may be raised whether the epic or the tragic is the higher form of imitation4 ,it may be argued that1 if the less vulgar is the higher1 and the less vulgar is always that which addresses the better public1 an art addressing any and every one is of a very vulgar order4 ,it is a belief that their public cannot see the meaning1 unless they add something themselves1 that causes the perpetual movements of the performers--bad flute-players1 for instance1 rolling about1 if quoit-throwing is to be represented1 and pulling at the conductor1 if ,scylla is the subject of the piece4 ,tragedy1 then1 is said to be an art of this order--to be in fact just what the later actors were in the eyes of their predecessors2 for ,myrmiscus used to call ,callippides 'the ape'1 because he thought he so overacted his parts2 and a similar view was taken of ,pindarus also4 ,all ,tragedy1 however1 is said to stand to the ,epic as the newer to the older school of actors4 ,the one1 accordingly1 is said to address a cultivated 'audience1 which does not need the accompaniment of gesture2 the other1 an uncultivated one4 ,if1 therefore1 ,tragedy is a vulgar art1 it must clearly be lower than the ,epic4 ,the answer to this is twofold4 ,in the first place1 one may urge 7#a7 that the censure does not touch the art of the dramatic poet1 but only that of his interpreter2 for it is quite possible to overdo the gesturing even in an epic recital1 as did ,sosistratus1 and in a singing contest1 as did ,mnasitheus of ,opus4 7#b7 ,that one should not condemn all movement1 unless one means to condemn even the dance1 but only that of ignoble people--which is the point of the criticism passed on ,callippides and in the present day on others1 that their women are not like gentlewomen4 7#c7 ,that ,tragedy may produce its effect even without movement or action in just the same way as ,epic poetry2 for from the mere reading of a play its quality may be seen4 ,so that1 if it be superior in all other respects1 this element of inferiority is not a necessary part of it4 ,in the second place1 one must remember 7#a7 that ,tragedy has everything that the ,epic has 7even the epic metre being admissible71 together with a not inconsiderable addition in the shape of the ,music 7a very real factor in the pleasure of the drama7 and the ,spectacle4 7#b7 ,that its reality of presentation is felt in the play as read1 as well as in the play as acted4 7#c7 ,that the tragic imitation requires less space for the attainment of its end2 which is a great advantage1 since the more concentrated effect is more pleasurable than one with a large admixture of time to dilute it--consider the ,oedipus of ,sophocles1 for instance1 and the effect of expanding it into the number of lines of the ,iliad4 7#d7 ,that there is less unity in the imitation of the epic poets1 as is proved by the fact that any one work of theirs supplies matter for several tragedies2 the result being that1 if they take what is really a single story1 it seems curt when briefly told1 and thin and waterish when on the scale of length usual with their verse4 ,in saying that there is less unity in an epic1 ,i mean an epic made up of a plurality of actions1 in the same way as the ,iliad and ,odyssey have many such parts1 each one of them in itself of some magnitude2 yet the structure of the two ,homeric poems is as perfect as can be1 and the action in them is as nearly as possible one action4 ,if1 then1 ,tragedy is superior in these respects1 and also besides these1 in its poetic effect 7since the two forms of poetry should give us1 not any or every pleasure1 but the very special kind we have mentioned71 it is clear that1 as attaining the poetic effect better than the ,epic1 it will be the higher form of art4 ,so much for ,tragedy and ,epic poetry--for these two arts in general and their species2 the number and nature of their constituent parts2 the causes of success and failure in them2 the ,objections of the critics1 and the ,solutions in answer to them4