CHAPTER X AIMS AND METHODS OF GOOD COMPOSITION

Now that I have laid down these broad outlines, the next step will be to state what should be the aims kept in view by the man who wishes to compose well, and by what methods his object can be attained. It seems to me that the two essentials to be aimed at by those who compose in verse and prose are charm and beauty. The ear craves for both of these. It is affected in somewhat the same way as the sense of sight which,

2 νυνὶ χάριν ἔχει EPMV: νῦν ἔχει χάριν F   4 ἀτέλειαν] δωρειὰν Demosth.   6 ἀτελῆ δὲ F   12 τὰ δ’ αὐτὰ F: ταῦτα δὲ MV: ταῦ(τα) δι’ P   13 ταύτας E: ταῦτα F: ταύταις PMV || ταῖς τε προηγουμέναις καὶ ταῖς ταύταις (ταύταις om. E) ἑπομέναις EPMV   14 ἐν FE: ἐν ταῖς PMV   17 περιόδωι P   18 ὡρισμένων P || τὸ λέγειν PMV: λέγειν F   21 τὰ add. Sauppius || γενικώτατα F, M: τελικ(ω)τατα P, M1V   22 μέτρα FP: εὖ μέτρα MV

4. Dionysius does not appear to feel that τῶν ἀδίκων is in any way ambiguous,—that it might, at first sight, seem to depend on τὴν ἀτέλειαν. In Greek a dependent genitive usually (at any rate in Thucydides; see p. 337 infra) precedes the noun on which it depends; and, in any case, the speaker would here pause slightly between τὴν ἀτέλειαν and τῶν ἀδίκων.

15. οὐ γὰρ δὴ πανταχῇ γε τὸ ἐμπερίοδον χρήσιμον. For an instance of the ‘running’ style, interspersed with the periodic, see Thucyd. i. 9. 2, where Shilleto remarks: “This paragraph seems to me to convey far more than any other which I have read an exemplification of the εἰρομένη λέξις of Aristot. Rhet. iii. 9. 2 (λέγω δὲ εἰρομένην, ἣ οὐδὲν ἔχει τέλος καθ’ αὑτήν, ἂν μὴ τὸ πρᾶγμα λεγόμενον τελειωθῇ). How Thukydides, so great a master of the κατεστραμμένη, ἐν περιόδοις, λέξις, should have written it, is to me a marvel.”

καὶ γλυφὰς καὶ ὅσα δημιουργήματα χειρῶν ἐστιν ἀνθρωπίνων
ὁρῶσα ὅταν εὑρίσκῃ τό τε ἡδὺ ἐνὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ τὸ καλόν,
ἀρκεῖται καὶ οὐδὲν ἔτι ποθεῖ. καὶ μὴ παράδοξον ἡγήσηταί
τις, εἰ δύο ποιῶ τέλη καὶ χωρίζω τὸ καλὸν ἀπὸ τῆς ἡδονῆς,
μηδ’ ἄτοπον εἶναι νομίσῃ, εἴ τινα ἡγοῦμαι λέξιν ἡδέως μὲν      5
συγκεῖσθαι, μὴ καλῶς δέ, ἢ καλῶς μέν, οὐ μὴν καὶ ἡδέως·
φέρει γὰρ ἡ ἀλήθεια τὸ τοιοῦτον καὶ οὐδὲν ἀξιῶ καινόν· ἥ
γε τοι Θουκυδίδου λέξις καὶ ἡ Ἀντιφῶντος τοῦ Ῥαμνουσίου
καλῶς μὲν σύγκειται νὴ Δία, εἴπερ τινὲς καὶ ἄλλαι, καὶ
οὐκ ἄν τις αὐτὰς ἔχοι μέμψασθαι κατὰ τοῦτο, οὐ μὴν ἡδέως      10
γε πάνυ· ἡ δέ γε τοῦ Κνιδίου συγγραφέως Κτησίου καὶ ἡ
τοῦ Σωκρατικοῦ Ξενοφῶντος ἡδέως μὲν ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα, οὐ
μὴν καλῶς γ’ ἐφ’ ὅσον ἔδει· λέγω δὲ κοινότερον, ἀλλ’ οὐχὶ
καθάπαξ, ἐπεὶ καὶ παρ’ ἐκείνοις ἥρμοσταί τινα ἡδέως καὶ
παρὰ τούτοις καλῶς. ἡ δὲ Ἡροδότου σύνθεσις ἀμφότερα      15
ταῦτα ἔχει, καὶ γὰρ ἡδεῖά ἐστι καὶ καλή.