CHAPTER XIX ON VARIETY
The third cause of beautiful arrangement that was to be examined is variety. I do not mean the change from the better to the worse (that would be too foolish), nor yet that from the worse to the better, but variety among things that are similar. For satiety can be caused by all beautiful things, just as by things sweet to the taste, when there is an unvarying sameness about them; but if diversified by changes, they always remain new. Now writers in metre and in lyric measures cannot introduce
2 ἂρ FP: ἄρ’ MV 4 εὐγενὲς σῶμα F: εὐγενῶς ἅμα PMV || δεινὰ FPM: δεινῶς V 6 ὑπὸ F: ὡς ὑπὸ PMV 8 ἦν F: om. PMV 10 πάντων FM: om. PV || καὶ εἰ FPM: εἰ καὶ V || ἐν om. P 11 οὐδὲ εἷς P, MV: οὐδεὶς F || οὐδὲ (οὐδ’ V) ἀδόκιμος MV: ἢ ἀδόκιμος F: om. P 12 ἥτις οὐ λυπήσει om. F 13 δὴ F: δὲ PMV 15 δέ] δή F 19 μένοντα PMV: ὄντα EF 20 δὲ EF: δ’ ἐν PMV || ἀεὶ EF: ὡς ἀεὶ MV: om. P 21 τοῖς EF: ἐν τοῖς PV: ἐν οἷς M
5. φρόνημα, ‘pride,’ ‘spirit,’ ‘mettle,’ ‘feeling,’ ‘self-respect’: cp. 186 5.
6. κατεαγότων, ‘enervated,’ ‘effeminate’ (Lat. fractus): cp. Philo Jud. i. 262 (Mangey) ἄνανδροι καὶ κατεαγότες καὶ θηλυδρίαι τὰ φρονήματα, i. 273 πάθεσι τοῖς κατεαγόσι καὶ τεθηλυμμένοις.
8, 9. ἐκείνων refers to the passage last quoted, τούτων to that quoted first. The remoteness implied in ἐκείνων is here that of greatness and antiquity; the nearness in τούτων, that of the commonplace and recent.
10. The reading εἰ καὶ (‘although’) would perhaps be preferable in sense, if only it had better manuscript attestation. [In 198 15 there is a similar fluctuation between καὶ εἰ and εἰ καί.]
13. For various points of rhythm and metre raised in cc. 18, 19, and elsewhere, reference may be made to the Introduction, pp. 33-9.
16. For the importance of variety (especially in relation to rhythm) cp. a well-known fragment of Isocrates’ Art of Rhetoric: ὅλως δὲ ὁ λόγος μὴ λόγος ἔστω, ξηρὸν γάρ· μηδὲ ἔμμετρος, καταφανὲς γάρ. ἀλλὰ μεμίχθω παντὶ ῥυθμῷ, μάλιστα ἰαμβικῷ ἢ τροχαϊκῷ (“prose must not be merely prose, or it will be dry; nor metrical, or its art will be undisguised; but it should be compounded with every sort of rhythm, particularly iambic or trochaic”). The views of Theophrastus on the point are reported in Cic. de Orat. iii. 48. 184 ff. “namque ego illud adsentior Theophrasto, qui putat orationem, quae quidem sit polita atque facta quodam modo, non astricte, sed remissius numerosam esse oportere,” etc.
18. κόρον: cp. Ep. ad Cn. Pomp. c. 3 κόρον δ’ ἔχει, φησὶν ὁ Πίνδαρος [Nem. vii. 52], καὶ μέλι καὶ τὰ τέρπν’ ἄνθε’ ἀφροδίσια, and Hom. Il. xiii. 636 πάντων μὲν κόρος ἐστί, κτλ.
19. μένοντα avoids the awkward hiatus ἡδέα ὄντα. The fact that μένει follows shortly is not a conclusive objection, since Dionysius, and Greek authors generally, were free from the bad taste which avoids, at all costs, repetitions of this kind: cp. λαμβανόμενα ... λήψεται ( 106 18).
ἔξεστι μεταβάλλειν ἢ οὐχ ἅπασιν οὐδ’ ἐφ’ ὅσον βούλονται.
αὐτίκα τοῖς μὲν ἐποποιοῖς μέτρον οὐκ ἔξεστι μεταβάλλειν,
ἀλλ’ ἀνάγκη πάντας εἶναι τοὺς στίχους ἑξαμέτρους· οὐδέ
γε ῥυθμόν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀπὸ μακρᾶς ἀρχομένοις συλλαβῆς
χρήσονται καὶ οὐδὲ τούτοις ἅπασι. τοῖς δὲ τὰ μέλη γράφουσιν 5
τὸ μὲν τῶν στροφῶν τε καὶ ἀντιστρόφων οὐχ οἷόν τε
ἀλλάξαι μέλος, ἀλλ’ ἐάν τ’ ἐναρμονίους ἐάν τε χρωματικὰς
ἐάν τε διατόνους ὑποθῶνται μελῳδίας, ἐν πάσαις δεῖ ταῖς
στροφαῖς τε καὶ ἀντιστρόφοις τὰς αὐτὰς ἀγωγὰς φυλάττειν·
οὐδέ γε τοὺς περιέχοντας ὅλας τὰς στροφὰς ῥυθμοὺς καὶ 10
τὰς ἀντιστρόφους, ἀλλὰ δεῖ καὶ τούτους τοὺς αὐτοὺς διαμένειν·
περὶ δὲ τὰς καλουμένας ἐπῳδοὺς ἀμφότερα κινεῖν ταῦτα
ἔξεστι τό τε μέλος καὶ τὸν ῥυθμόν. τά τε κῶλα ἐξ ὧν
ἑκάστη συνέστηκε περίοδος ἐπὶ πολλῆς ἐξουσίας δέδοται
αὐτοῖς ποικίλως διαιρεῖν ἄλλοτε ἄλλα μεγέθη καὶ σχήματα 15
αὐταῖς περιτιθέντας, ἕως ἂν ἀπαρτίσωσι τὴν στροφήν· ἔπειτα
πάλιν δεῖ τὰ αὐτὰ μέτρα καὶ κῶλα ποιεῖν. οἱ μὲν οὖν
ἀρχαῖοι μελοποιοί, λέγω δὲ Ἀλκαῖόν τε καὶ Σαπφώ, μικρὰς
ἐποιοῦντο στροφάς, ὥστ’ ἐν ὀλίγοις τοῖς κώλοις οὐ πολλὰς
εἰσῆγον τὰς μεταβολάς, ἐπῳδοῖς τε πάνυ ἐχρῶντο ὀλίγοις· οἱ 20
δὲ περὶ Στησίχορόν τε καὶ Πίνδαρον μείζους ἐργασάμενοι τὰς
περιόδους εἰς πολλὰ μέτρα καὶ κῶλα διένειμαν αὐτὰς οὐκ
ἄλλου τινὸς ἢ τῆς μεταβολῆς ἔρωτι. οἱ δέ γε διθυραμβοποιοὶ
[195]
change everywhere; or rather, I should say, cannot all introduce change, and none as much as they wish. For instance, epic writers cannot vary their metre, for all the lines must necessarily be hexameters; nor yet the rhythm, for they must use those feet that begin with a long syllable, and not all even of these. The writers of lyric verse cannot vary the melodies of strophe and antistrophe, but whether they adopt enharmonic melodies, or chromatic, or diatonic, in all the strophes and antistrophes the same sequences must be observed. Nor, again, must the rhythms be changed in which the entire strophes and antistrophes are written, but these too must remain unaltered. But in the so-called epodes both the tune and the rhythm may be changed. Great freedom, too, is allowed to an author in varying and elaborating the clauses of which each period is composed by giving them different lengths and forms in different instances, until they complete a strophe; but after that, similar metres and clauses must be composed for the antistrophe. Now the ancient writers of lyric poetry—I refer to Alcaeus and Sappho—made their strophes short, so that they did not introduce many variations in the clauses, which were few in number, while the use they made of the epode was very slight. Stesichorus and Pindar and their schools framed their periods on a larger scale, and divided them into many measures and clauses, simply from the love of variety. The dithyrambic poets used to change the modes also,
8 ὑποθῶνται FE: ὑπόθωνται PMV 9 τε καὶ PMV (cf. l. 6 supra): καὶ EF 11 τὰς ἀντιστροφὰς PM: τοὺς ἀντιστρόφους F: ἀντιστροφὰς V 12 ἐπῳδὰς V || ταῦτά ἐστιν F 14 ἑκάστη συνέστηκεν περίοδος PMV: συνέστηκε περίοδος ἑκάστη E: συνέστηκε περίοδος F 15 αὐτοῖς secl. Usener 16 αὐταῖς PMV: αὐτοῖς EF || ἂν om. F 18 δὲ om. EF 20 εἰσῆγον τὰς PMV: εἰσῆγον EF
5. οὐδὲ τούτοις ἅπασι: e.g. not the cretic, and (strictly) not the trochee.
7. ἐναρμονίους ... χρωματικὰς ... διατόνους: the distinction between these scales is indicated in Macran’s Harmonics of Aristoxenus p. 6: “Was it then possible to determine for practical purposes the smallest musical interval? To this question the Greek theorists gave the unanimous reply, supporting it by a direct appeal to facts, that the voice can sing, and the ear perceive, a quarter-tone; but that any smaller interval lies beyond the power of ear and voice alike. Disregarding then the order of the intervals, and considering only their magnitudes, we can see that one possible division of the tetrachord was into two quarter-tones and a ditone, or space of two tones; the employment of these intervals characterized a scale as of the Enharmonic genus. Or again, employing larger intervals one might divide the tetrachord into, say, two-thirds of a tone, and the space of a tone and five-sixths: or into two semitones, and the space of a tone and a half. The employment of these divisions or any lying between them marked a scale as Chromatic. Or finally, by the employment of two tones one might proceed to the familiar Diatonic genus, which divided the tetrachord into two tones and a semitone. Much wonder and admiration has been wasted on the Enharmonic scale by persons who have missed the true reason for the disappearance of the quarter-tone from our modern musical system. Its disappearance is due not to the dulness or coarseness of modern ear or voice, but to the fact that the more highly developed unity of our system demands the accurate determination of all sound-relations by direct or indirect resolution into concords; and such a determination of quarter-tones is manifestly impossible.”
18. ἀρχαῖοι: as compared, say, with Pindar.
20. οἱ δὲ περὶ Στησίχορόν τε καὶ Πίνδαρον: the two possible senses of this and similar phrases may be illustrated from Plutarch, viz. (1) the man and his followers, e.g. οἱ περὶ Δημοσθένην (Plutarch Vit. Demosth. 28. 2); (2) the man himself, e.g. τοὺς περὶ Αἰσχίνην καὶ Φιλοκράτην (ibid. 16. 2: cp. 30. 2) = ‘Aeschines and Philocrates.’ So with οἱ ἀμφί and οἱ κατά. But sense (2) needs careful scrutiny wherever it seems to occur; the meaning may simply be ‘men like Aeschines,’ etc.—For the ‘graves Camenae’ of Stesichorus cp. Hor. Carm. iv. 9. 8, and Quintil. x. 1. 62 “Stesichorus quam sit ingenio validus, materiae quoque ostendunt, maxima bella et clarissimos canentem duces et epici carminis onera lyra sustinentem.”
21. Such long periods are particularly effective (cp. 196 13) when they include clauses of various lengths and end with an impressive one: e.g. Cic. Catil. ii. 1. 1 “Tandem aliquando, Quirites, L. Catilinam, | furentem audacia, | scelus anhelantem, | pestem patriae nefarie molientem, | vobis atque huic urbi ferro flammaque minitantem, | ex urbe vel eiecimus, | vel emisimus, | vel ipsum egredientem verbis prosecuti sumus”; and similarly Bossuet Oraison funèbre de Henriette-Marie de France: “Celui qui règne dans les cieux | et de qui relèvent tous les empires, | à qui seul appartient la gloire, la majesté et l’indépendance | est aussi le seul qui se glorifie de faire la loi aux rois, | et de leur donner, quand il lui plaît, de grandes et de terribles leçons.”
καὶ τοὺς τρόπους μετέβαλλον, Δωρίους τε καὶ Φρυγίους καὶ
Λυδίους ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ᾄσματι ποιοῦντες, καὶ τὰς μελῳδίας
ἐξήλλαττον, τοτὲ μὲν ἐναρμονίους ποιοῦντες, τοτὲ δὲ χρωματικάς,
τοτὲ δὲ διατόνους, καὶ τοῖς ῥυθμοῖς κατὰ πολλὴν
ἄδειαν ἐνεξουσιάζοντες διετέλουν, οἵ γε δὴ κατὰ Φιλόξενον καὶ 5
Τιμόθεον καὶ Τελεστήν, ἐπεὶ παρά γε τοῖς ἀρχαίοις τεταγμένος
ἦν καὶ ὁ διθύραμβος.
ἡ δὲ πεζὴ λέξις ἅπασαν ἐλευθερίαν ἔχει καὶ ἄδειαν
ποικίλλειν ταῖς μεταβολαῖς τὴν σύνθεσιν, ὅπως βούλεται.
καὶ ἔστι λέξις κρατίστη πασῶν, ἥτις ἂν ἔχῃ πλείστας 10
ἀναπαύλας τε καὶ μεταβολὰς ἐναρμονίους, ὅταν τουτὶ μὲν ἐν
περιόδῳ λέγηται, τουτὶ δ’ ἔξω περιόδου, καὶ ἥδε μὲν ἡ
περίοδος ἐκ πλειόνων πλέκηται κώλων, ἥδε δ’ ἐξ ἐλαττόνων,
αὐτῶν δὲ τῶν κώλων τὸ μὲν βραχύτερον ᾖ, τὸ δὲ μακρότερον,
καὶ τὸ μὲν αὐτουργότερον, τὸ δὲ ἀκριβέστερον, ῥυθμοί τε 15
ἄλλοτε ἄλλοι καὶ σχήματα παντοῖα καὶ τάσεις φωνῆς αἱ
καλούμεναι προσῳδίαι διάφοροι κλέπτουσαι τῇ ποικιλίᾳ τὸν
κόρον. ἔχει δέ τινα χάριν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις καὶ τὸ οὕτω
συγκείμενον ὥστε μὴ συγκεῖσθαι δοκεῖν. καὶ οὐ πολλῶν δεῖν
οἶμαι λόγων εἰς τοῦτο τὸ μέρος· ὅτι γὰρ ἥδιστόν τε καὶ 20
κάλλιστον ἐν λόγοις μεταβολή, πάντας εἰδέναι πείθομαι.
παράδειγμα δὲ αὐτῆς ποιοῦμαι πᾶσαν μὲν τὴν Ἡροδότου
λέξιν, πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν Πλάτωνος, πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν Δημοσθένους·
ἀμήχανον γὰρ εὑρεῖν τούτων ἑτέρους ἐπεισοδίοις τε πλείοσι
καὶ ποικιλίαις εὐκαιροτέραις καὶ σχήμασι πολυειδεστέροις 25
χρησαμένους· λέγω δὲ τὸν μὲν ὡς ἐν ἱστορίας σχήματι, τὸν
[197]
introducing Dorian and Phrygian and Lydian modes in the same song; and they varied the melodies, making them now enharmonic, now chromatic, now diatonic; and in the rhythms they continually showed the boldest independence,—I mean Philoxenus, Timotheus, Telestes, and men of their stamp,—since among the ancients even the dithyramb had been subject to strict metrical laws.
Prose-writing has full liberty and permission to diversify composition by whatever changes it pleases. A style is finest of all when it has the most frequent rests and changes of harmony; when one thing is said within a period, another without it; when one period is formed by the interweaving of a larger number of clauses, another by that of a smaller; when among the clauses themselves one is short, another longer, one roughly wrought, another more finished; when the rhythms take now one form, now another, and the figures are of all kinds, and the voice-pitches—the so-called “accents”—are various, and skilfully avoid satiety by their diversity. There is considerable charm, among efforts of this kind, in what is so composed that it does not seem to be artificially composed at all. I do not think that many words are needed on this point. Everybody, I believe, is aware that, in prose, variety is full of charm and beauty. And as examples of it I reckon all the writings of Herodotus, all those of Plato, and all those of Demosthenes. It is impossible to find other writers who have introduced more episodes than these, or better-timed variations, or more multiform figures: the first in the narrative form, the second in graceful dialogue,
7 καὶ F: om. PMV 8 ἔχει καὶ ἄδειαν PMV: καὶ ἄδειαν ἔχει F: ἔχει E 10 ἔχη F: ἔχει P: ἔχοι EMV 11 ἐναρμονίους EF: ἁρμονίας PMV 14 ᾖ] τι F 15 αὐτουργότερον F: αὐτῶν (om. E) γοργότερον τὸ δὲ βραδύτερον EPMV || τὸ δὲ ἀκριβέστερον om. EF 18 ἐν P2MV: ἐτι P1: om. F 19 καὶ F: om. PMV || δεῖν οἶμαι F: δὲ οἴομαι δεῖν PMV 20 τοῦτο PMV: τουτὶ F 21 μεταβολή FP: ἡ μεταβολή MV 24 ἀμήχανον PMV: ἀδύνατον EF 25 ποικίλαις F || εὐκαιροτέροις EF: εὐροωτέραις PMV 26 μὲν ὡς] μὲν P || ἱστορίαις PMV || σχήματι EF: σχηματισμὸν PM: σχηματισμῷ V
1. For the characteristics of the various modes cp. (besides the Republic and the Politics) Lucian Harmonides i. 1 καὶ τῆς ἁρμονίας ἑκάστης διαφυλάττειν τὸ ἴδιον, τῆς Φρυγίου τὸ ἔνθεον, τῆς Λυδίου τὸ Βακχικόν, τῆς Δωρίου τὸ σεμνόν, τῆς Ἰωνικῆς τὸ γλαφυρόν.
3. τοτὲ μὲν ... τοτὲ δέ: cp. 132 19, where (as here) F and P have τότε.
5. ἐνεξουσιάζοντες, ‘using full liberty,’ ‘showing their independence.’ Cp. de Thucyd. c. 8 ... οὔτε προστιθεὶς τοῖς πράγμασιν οὐδὲν ὃ μὴ δίκαιον οὔτε ἀφαιρῶν, οὐδὲ ἐνεξουσιάζων τῇ γραφῇ, ἀνέγκλητον δὲ καὶ καθαρὰν τὴν προαίρεσιν ἀπὸ παντὸς φθόνου καὶ πάσης κολακείας φυλάττων, and c. 24 ibid. ἐν δὲ τοῖς συνθετικοῖς καὶ τοῖς προθετικοῖς μορίοις καὶ ἔτι μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς διαρθροῦσι τὰς τῶν ὀνομάτων δυνάμεις ποιητοῦ τρόπον ἐνεξουσιάζων (translated in D.H. p. 135). So Hor. Carm. iv. 2. 10 “seu per audaces nova dithyrambos | verba devolvit numerisque fertur | lege solutis.”
οἱ κατά may refer simply to the individuals mentioned, or to them and their contemporaries: cp. note on 194 20.
For Philoxenus, Timotheus (including the newly discovered Persae), and Telestes see Jebb’s Bacchylides pp. 47-55; Weir Smyth’s Greek Melic Poets pp. 460-7; W. von Christ Gesch. der Griech. Litt. 3 pp. 188, 189.
8. ἐλευθερίαν ἔχει καὶ ἄδειαν: it is a mistake to cut out καὶ ἄδειαν on the authority of E alone. An Epitomizer would naturally omit the words, while Dionysius’ liking for amplitude and rhythm would as naturally lead him to use them. Cp. Demosth. Timocr. § 205 εἰ δέ τις εἰσφέρει νόμον ἐξ οὗ τοῖς ὑμᾶς βουλομένοις ἀδικεῖν ἡ πᾶσ’ ἐξουσία καὶ ἄδεια γενήσεται, οὗτος ὅλην ἀδικεῖ τὴν πόλιν καὶ καταισχύνει πάντας. The word ἄδεια is found also in l. 5 supra and 176 20. The repetition within a few sentences is not inconsistent with Dionysius’ practice in such matters: cp. note on 192 19 supra.
δ’ ὡς ἐν διαλόγων χάριτι, τὸν δ’ ὡς ἐν λόγων ἐναγωνίων
χρείᾳ. ἀλλ’ οὐχ ἥ γε Ἰσοκράτους καὶ τῶν ἐκείνου γνωρίμων
αἵρεσις ὁμοία ταύταις ἦν, ἀλλὰ καίπερ ἡδέως καὶ μεγαλοπρεπῶς
πολλὰ συνθέντες οἱ ἄνδρες οὗτοι περὶ τὰς μεταβολὰς καὶ τὴν
ποικιλίαν οὐ πάνυ εὐτυχοῦσιν· ἀλλ’ ἔστι παρ’ αὐτοῖς εἷς 5
περίοδου κύκλος, ὁμοειδὴς σχημάτων τάξις, φυλακὴ συμπλοκῆς
φωνηέντων ἡ αὐτή, ἄλλα πολλὰ τοιαῦτα κόπτοντα τὴν
ἀκρόασιν. οὐ δὴ ἀποδέχομαι τὴν αἵρεσιν ἐκείνην κατὰ τοῦτο
τὸ μέρος. καὶ αὐτῷ μὲν ἴσως τῷ Ἰσοκράτει πολλαὶ χάριτες
ἐπήνθουν ἄλλαι ταύτην ἐπικρύπτουσαι τὴν ἀμορφίαν, παρὰ 10
δὲ τοῖς μετ’ ἐκεῖνον ἀπ’ ἐλαττόνων τῶν ἄλλων κατορθωμάτων
περιφανέστερον γίνεται τοῦτο τὸ ἁμάρτημα.
