CHAPTER XXVI HOW VERSE CAN RESEMBLE PROSE

Concerning melodious metrical composition which bears a close affinity to prose, my views are of the following kind. The prime factor here too, just as in the case of poetical prose, is the collocation of the words themselves; next, the composition of the clauses; third, the arrangement of the periods. He who wishes to succeed in this department must change the words about and connect them with each other in manifold ways, and make the clauses begin and end at various places within the lines, not allowing their sense to be self-contained in separate verses, but breaking up the measure. He must make the clauses vary in length and form, and will often also reduce them to phrases which are shorter than clauses, and will make the periods—those at any rate which adjoin one another—neither equal in size nor alike in construction; for an elastic treatment of rhythms and metres seems to bring verse quite near to prose. Now those authors who compose in epic or iambic verse, or use the other regular metres, cannot diversify their poetical works with many metres or rhythms, but must always adhere to the same metrical form. But the lyric poets can include many metres and rhythms in a single period. So that when the writers of monometers break up

1 ἀτριβεῖς Reiskius: ἀτριβέσιν libri   2 κεκρατημένως PM: κεκροτημένως V   5 συνθήκης M   10 συμμετρία M: ἐμμετρία EPV   17 ἀλλήλαις EM: ἀλλήλοις PV

2. κεκρατημένως, ‘vigorously’: cp. Sext. Empir. p. 554 (Bekker) οὐ κεκρατημένως ὑπέγραψαν οἱ δογματικοὶ τὴν ἐπίνοιαν τοῦ τε ἀγαθοῦ καὶ κακοῦ. The other reading κεκροτημένως would mean ‘with tumult of applause’; or perhaps ‘in a welded, well-wrought way.’

5. For the relation of Verse to Prose see Introduction, pp. 33-9.

8. Other references to poetical prose occur in 208 5, 250 10, 16 supra.

13. μὴ συναπαρτίζοντα τοῖς στίχοις, ‘not allowing the sense of the clauses to be self-contained in separate lines,’ lit. ‘not completing the clauses together with the lines.’ Dionysius means that verse-writers must (for the sake of variety) practise enjambement, i.e. the completion of the sense in another line. It is the neglect of this principle that makes the language of French classical tragedy [with exceptions, of course; e.g. Racine Athalie i. 1 “Celui qui met un frein,” etc.] so monotonous when compared with that of the Greek or Shakespearian tragedy. Besides the examples adduced by Dionysius, compare that quoted from Callimachus in the note on 272 4 infra and, in English, Tennyson’s Dora and Wordsworth’s Michael. Such English poems without rhyme might be written out as continuous prose, and their true character would pass unsuspected by many readers, pauses at the ends of lines being often studiously avoided; e.g. the opening of Tennyson’s Dora: “With farmer Allen at the farm abode William and Dora. William was his son, and she his niece. He often look’d at them, and often thought, ‘I’ll make them man and wife.’ Now Dora felt her uncle’s will in all, and yearn’d toward William; but the youth, because he had been always with her in the house, thought not of Dora.” Similarly Homer’s “ἀλλά μ’ ἀνήρπαξαν Τάφιοι ληίστορες ἄνδρες ἀγρόθεν ἐρχομένην, περάσαν δέ με δεῦρ’ ἀγαγόντες τοῦδ’ ἀνδρὸς πρὸς δώμαθ’· ὁ δ’ ἄξιον ὦνον ἔδωκε” (Odyss. xv. 427-9) might almost be an extract from a speech of Lysias. Some remarkable examples of enjambement (or ‘overflow’) might also be quoted from Swinburne’s recent poem, The Duke of Gandia.

17. Cp. Cic. de Orat. i. 16. 70 “est enim finitimus oratori poëta, numeris astrictor paulo, verborum autem licentia liberior, multis vero ornandi generibus socius, ac paene par.”

συντιθέντες ὅταν διαλύσωσι τοὺς στίχους τοῖς κώλοις
διαλαμβάνοντες ἄλλοτε ἄλλως, διαχέουσι καὶ ἀφανίζουσι τὴν
ἀκρίβειαν τοῦ μέτρου, καὶ ὅταν τὰς περιόδους μεγέθει τε καὶ
σχήματι ποικίλας ποιῶσιν, εἰς λήθην ἐμβάλλουσιν ἡμᾶς τοῦ
μέτρου· οἱ δὲ μελοποιοὶ πολυμέτρους τὰς στροφὰς ἐργαζόμενοι      5
καὶ τῶν κώλων ἑκάστοτε πάλιν ἀνίσων τε ὄντων καὶ ἀνομοίων
ἀλλήλοις ἀνομοίους τε καὶ ἀνίσους ποιούμενοι τὰς διαιρέσεις,
δι’ ἄμφω δὲ ταῦτα οὐκ ἐῶντες, ἡμᾶς ὁμοειδοῦς ἀντίληψιν
λαβεῖν ῥυθμοῦ πολλὴν τὴν πρὸς τοὺς λόγους ὁμοιότητα κατασκευάζουσιν
ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν, ἔνεστί τε καὶ τροπικῶν καὶ      10
ξένων καὶ γλωττηματικῶν καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ποιητικῶν ὀνομάτων
μενόντων ἐν τοῖς ποιήμασιν μηδὲν ἧττον αὐτὰ φαίνεσθαι
λόγῳ παραπλήσια.

μηδεὶς δὲ ὑπολαμβανέτω με ἀγνοεῖν ὅτι κακία ποιήματος
ἡ καλουμένη λογοείδεια δοκεῖ τις εἶναι, μηδὲ καταγινωσκέτω      15
μου ταύτην τὴν ἀμαθίαν, ὡς ἄρα ἐγὼ κακίαν τινὰ ἐν ἀρεταῖς
τάττω ποιημάτων ἢ λόγων· ὡς δὲ ἀξιῶ διαιρεῖν κἀν τούτοις
τὰ σπουδαῖα ἀπὸ τῶν μηδενὸς ἀξίων, ἀκούσας μαθέτω. ἐγὼ
τοὺς λόγους τὸν μὲν ἰδιώτην ἐπιστάμενος ὄντα, τὸν ἀδολέσχην
τοῦτον λέγω καὶ φλύαρον, τὸν δὲ πολιτικόν, ἐν ᾧ τὸ πολὺ      20
κατεσκευασμένον ἐστὶ καὶ ἔντεχνον, ὅ τι μὲν ἂν τῶν ποιημάτων
ὅμοιον εὑρίσκω τῷ φλυάρῳ καὶ ἀδολέσχῃ, γέλωτος ἄξιον
τίθεμαι, ὅ τι δ’ ἂν τῷ κατεσκευασμένῳ καὶ ἐντέχνῳ, ζήλου
καὶ σπουδῆς ἐπιτήδειον τυχάνειν οἴομαι. εἰ μὲν οὖν
διαφόρου προσηγορίας τῶν λόγων ἑκάτερος ἐτύγχανεν, ἀκόλουθον      25
ἦν ἂν καὶ τῶν ποιημάτων ἃ τούτοις ἔοικεν διαφόροις
ὀνόμασι καλεῖν ἑκάτερον· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὅ τε σπουδαῖος καὶ ὁ
τοῦ μηδενὸς ἄξιος ὁμοίως καλεῖται λόγος, οὐκ ἂν ἁμαρτάνοι
τις τὰ μὲν ἐοικότα τῷ καλῷ λόγῳ ποιήματα καλὰ ἡγούμενος,

[273]

the lines by distributing them into clauses now one way now another, they dissolve and efface the regularity of the metre; and when they diversify the periods in size and form, they make us forget the metre. On the other hand, the lyric poets compose their strophes in many metres; and again, from the fact that the clauses vary from time to time in length and form, they make the divisions unlike in form and size. From both these causes they hinder our apprehension of any uniform rhythm, and so they produce, as by design, in lyric poems a great likeness to prose. It is quite possible, moreover, for the poems to retain many figurative, unfamiliar, exceptional, and otherwise poetical words, and none the less to show a close resemblance to prose.

And let no one think me ignorant of the fact that the so-called “pedestrian character” is commonly regarded as a vice in poetry, or impute to me, of all persons, the folly of ranking any bad quality among the virtues of poetry or prose. Let my critic rather pay attention and learn how here once more I claim to distinguish what merits serious consideration from what is worthless. I observe that, among prose styles, there is on the one side the uncultivated style, by which I mean the prevailing frivolous gabble, and on the other side the language of public life which is, in the main, studied and artistic; and so, whenever I find any poetry which resembles the frivolous gabble I have referred to, I regard it as beneath criticism. I think that alone to be fit for serious imitation which resembles the studied and artistic kind. Now, if each sort of prose had a different appellation, it would have been only consistent to call the corresponding sorts of poetry also by different names. But since both the good and the worthless are called “prose,” it may not be wrong to regard as noble and bad “poetry” that which

1 διαλύσωσι P: διαλείπωσι M: διαλίπωσι V   3 μεγέθη P   5 τὰσ τροφὰς P   6 ἑκάστοτε Us.: ἑκάστου libri || τε ὄντων M: ὄντων PV   8 ἄμφω δὲ M: ἄμφω PV   11 τῶν ἄλλων Us.: τῶν ἄλλων τῶν libri   15 καλουμένη om. M || τις] τησ P || καταγινωσκέτω MV: καταγιγνωσκέτω P (sed cf. 278 7 et alibi)   17 κ’ ἂν P   19 τοὺς λόγους Schaeferus: τοῦ λόγου libri || ἁδολέσχην P   20 τὸ πολὺ PM: πολὺ τὸ V   21 ποιημάτων PM: ποιητῶν V   22 ἁδολέσχηι P || ἄξιον P: ἄξιον αὐτὸ MV   28 ὁμοίως compendio P: om. MV

4. εἰς λήθην ἐμβάλλουσιν: the following Epigram of Callimachus will illustrate Dionysius’ meaning:—

ἠῷοι Μελάνιππον ἐθάπτομεν, ἠελίου δέ
δυομένου Βασιλὼ κάτθανε παρθενική
αὐτοχερί· ζώειν γὰρ ἀδελφεὸν ἐν πυρὶ θεῖσα
οὐκ ἔτλη. δίδυμον δ’ οἶκος ἐσεῖδε κακόν
πατρὸς Ἀριστίπποιο, κατήφησεν δὲ Κυρήνη
πᾶσα τὸν εὔτεκνον χῆρον ἰδοῦσα δόμον.

(The text is that of Wilamowitz-Moellendorff Callimachi Hymni et Epigrammata p. 59. Upton, who quotes the epigram, adds: “En tibi ea omnia, quae tradit Dionysius, accurate praestita: sententiae inaequales, disparia membra: ipsi adeo versus dissecti, nec sensu, nec verborum structura, nisi in sequentem usque progrediatur, absoluta. quibus factum est, ut prosaicae orationi, salva tamen dignitate, quam proxime accedatur.” Compare also the first eight lines of Mimnermus Eleg. ii.)

6. ἑκάστοτε: Upton here conjectures ἑκάστης, Schaefer ἑκάστων.

15. τις to be connected with κακία. In the next line κακίαν τινά come close together.

19. μαθέτω: supply πᾶς τις, or the like, from μηδείς in l. 14. Cp. Hor. Serm. i. 1. 1 “qui fit, Maecenas, ut nemo, quam sibi sortem | seu ratio dederit seu fors obiecerit, illa | contentus vivat, laudet diversa sequentes?”

τὰ δὲ τῷ μοχθηρῷ πονηρά, οὐδὲν ὑπὸ τῆς τοῦ λόγου ὁμοειδείας
ταραττόμενος. κωλύσει γὰρ οὐδὲν ἡ τῆς ὀνομασίας ὁμοιότης
κατὰ διαφόρων ταττομένης πραγμάτων τὴν ἑκατέρου φύσιν
ὁρᾶν.

εἰρηκὼς δὴ καὶ περὶ τούτων, παραδείγματά σοι τῶν      5
εἰρημένων ὀλίγα θεὶς αὐτοῦ κατακλείσω τὸν λόγον. ἐκ μὲν
οὖν τῆς ἐπικῆς ποιήσεως ταῦτα ἀπόχρη·

αὐτὰρ ὅ γ’ ἐκ λιμένος προσέβη τρηχεῖαν ἀταρπόν·

ἓν μὲν δὴ τοῦτο κῶλον. ἕτερον δὲ

χῶρον ἀν’ ὑλήεντα      10

ἔλαττόν τε τοῦ προτέρου καὶ δίχα τέμνον τὸν στίχον. τρίτον
δὲ τουτί

δι’ ἄκριας

ἔλαττον κώλου κομμάτιον. τέταρτον δὲ

ᾗ οἱ Ἀθήνη      15
πέφραδε δῖον ὑφορβόν

ἐξ ἡμιστιχίων δύο συγκείμενον καὶ τοῖς προτέροις οὐδὲν
ἐοικός. ἔπειτα τὸ τελευταῖον

ὅ οἱ βιότοιο μάλιστα
κήδετο οἰκήων οὓς κτήσατο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς      20

ἀτελῆ μὲν τὸν τρίτον ποιοῦν στίχον, τοῦ δὲ τετάρτου τῇ
προσθήκῃ τὴν ἀκρίβειαν ἀφῃρημένον. ἔπειτ’ αὖθις

τὸν δ’ ἄρ’ ἐνὶ προδόμῳ εὗρ’ ἥμενον

οὐ συνεκτρέχον οὐδὲ τοῦτο τῷ στίχῳ.

ἔνθα οἱ αὐλὴ      25
ὑψηλὴ δέδμητο

[275]

resembles noble and contemptible prose respectively, and not to be in any way disturbed by mere identity of terms. The application of similar names to different things will not prevent us from discerning the true nature of the things in either case.

As I have gone so far as to deal with this subject, I will end by subjoining a few examples of the features in question. From epic poetry it will be enough to quote the following lines:—

But he from the haven went where the rugged pathway led.[194]

Here we have one clause. Observe the next—

Up the wooded land.

It is shorter than the other, and cuts the line in two. The third is—

through the hills:

a segment still shorter than a clause. The fourth—

unto where Athene had said
That he should light on the goodly swineherd—

consists of two half-lines and is in no way like the former. Then the conclusion—

the man who best
Gave heed to the goods of his lord, of the thralls that Odysseus
possessed,

which leaves the third line unfinished, while by the addition of the fourth it loses all undue uniformity. Then again—

By the house-front sitting he found him,

where once more the words do not run out the full course of the line.

there where the courtyard wall
Was builded tall.

1 οὐδὲν ... ταραττόμενος MV: om. P   3 ταττομένης Sauppius: ταττομένη libri   5 εἰρηκὼς ... θεὶς Us.: καὶ περὶ τούτων [μὲν add. MV] ἅλις. ὧν δὲ προυθέμην τὰ παραδείγματα θεὶς PMV   8 ὅ γ’] ὁ Hom.   11 τέμνον EV: τέμνοντος PM   14 τέταρτον δὲ E: om. PMV   15 ᾗ Hom.: ἧ V: οἷ [fort. οἷ] PM, E   22 ἔπειτ’ ... ἥμενον om. P   25 ἔνθά οἱ PM

3. κατὰ ... ταττομένης: cp. Ven. A Schol. on Il. xv. 347 ὅτι Ζηνόδοτος γράφει ἐπισσεύεσθον. συγχεῖται δὲ τὸ δυϊκὸν κατὰ πλειόνων τασσόμενον.

6. αὐτοῦ, ‘here,’ ‘on the spot.’ Cp. Diod. Sic. ii. 60 ἡμεῖς δὲ τὴν ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς βίβλου γεγενημένην ἐπαγγελίαν τετελεκότες αὐτοῦ περιγράψομεν τήνδε τὴν βίβλον.—With κατακλείσω cp. Antiq. Rom. vii. 14 τελευτῶν δ’ ὁ Βροῦτος, εἰς ἀπειλήν τινα τοιάνδε κατέκλεισε τὸν λόγον, ὡς κτλ.

7. In Latin, Bircovius well compares Virg. Aen. i. 180-91.

8. Dionysius’ point will be better appreciated if the passage of the Odyssey (xiv. 1-7) be given not bit by bit but as a whole:—

αὐτὰρ ὅ γ’ ἐκ λιμένος προσέβη τρηχεῖαν ἀταρπὸν
χῶρον ἀν’ ὑλήεντα δι’ ἄκριας, ᾗ οἱ Ἀθήνη
πέφραδε δῖον ὑφορβόν, ὅ οἱ βιότοιο μάλιστα
κήδετο οἰκήων, οὓς κτήσατο δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς.
τὸν δ’ ἄρ’ ἐνὶ προδόμῳ εὗρ’ ἥμενον, ἔνθα οἱ αὐλὴ
ὑψηλὴ δέδμητο, περισκέπτῳ ἐνὶ χώρῳ,
καλή τε μεγάλῃ τε, περίδρομος.

15. Compare (in Latin) the opening of Terence’s Phormio, if written continuously: “Amicus summus meus et popularis Geta heri ad me venit. erat ei de ratiuncula iam pridem apud me relicuom pauxillulum nummorum: id ut conficerem. confeci: adfero. nam erilem filium eius duxisse audio uxorem: ei credo munus hoc corraditur. quam inique comparatumst. ei qui minus habent ut semper aliquid addant ditioribus!”

ἄνισον καὶ τοῦτο τῷ πρότερῳ. κἄπειτα ὁ ἑξῆς νοῦς ἀπερίοδος
ἐν κώλοις τε καὶ κόμμασι λεγόμενος· ἐπιθεὶς γὰρ

περισκέπτῳ ἐνὶ χώρῳ,

πάλιν ἐποίσει

καλή τε μεγάλη τε      5

βραχύτερον κώλου κομμάτιον, εἶτα

περίδρομος

ὄνομα καθ’ ἑαυτὸ νοῦν τινα ἔχον. εἶθ’ ἑξῆς τὰ ἄλλα τὸν
αὐτὸν κατασκευάσει τρόπον· τί γὰρ δεῖ μηκύνειν;

ἐκ δὲ τῆς ποιήσεως τῆς ἰαμβικῆς τὰ παρ’ Εὐριπίδου      10
ταυτί

Ὦ γαῖα πατρὶς ἣν Πέλοψ ὁρίζεται,
χαῖρ’,

τὸ πρῶτον ἄχρι τούτου κῶλον.

ὅς τε πέτραν Ἀρκάδων δυσχείμερον      15
‹Πὰν› ἐμβατεύεις

τὸ δεύτερον μέχρι τοῦδε.

ἔνθεν εὔχομαι γένος.

τοῦτο τρίτον. τὰ μὲν πρότερα μείζονα στίχου, τοῦτο δὲ
ἔλαττον.      20

Αὔγη γὰρ Ἀλέου παῖς με τῷ Τιρυνθίῳ
τίκτει λαθραίως Ἡρακλεῖ·

μετὰ τοῦτο

ξύνοιδ’ ὄρος
Παρθένιον,      25

οὐθέτερον αὐτῶν στίχῳ συμμετρούμενον. εἶτ’ αὖθις ἕτερον
στίχου τε ἔλαττον καὶ στίχου μεῖζον

[277]

This, too, does not balance the former. Further, the order of ideas in the continuation of the passage is unperiodic, though the words are cast into the form of clauses and sections. For, after adding

In a place with a clear view round about,

we shall find him subjoining:

Massy and fair to behold,

which is a segment shorter than a clause. Next we find

Free on every side,

where the one Greek word (περίδρομος) by itself carries a certain meaning. And so on: we shall find him elaborating everything that follows in the same way. Why go into unnecessary detail?

From iambic poetry may be taken these lines of Euripides:—

Fatherland, ta’en by Pelops in possession,
Hail![195]

Thus far the first clause extends.

And thou, Pan, who haunt’st the stormy steeps
Of Arcady.[195]

So far the second extends.

Whereof I boast my birth.[195]

That is the third. The former are longer than a line; the last is shorter.

Me Auge, Aleus’ daughter, not of wedlock
Bare to Tirynthian Heracles.[195]

And afterwards—

This knows
Yon hill Parthenian.[195]

Not one of these corresponds exactly to a line. Then once more we find another clause which is from one point of view less than a line and from the other longer—

1 καὶ V: κατὰ PM   4 ἐποίει P   5 καλήν τε μεγάλην τε PM   9 μηκύνειν P: μηκύνειν τὸν λόγον MV   10 παρ’ εὐριπδι sic P: εὐριπίδου MV   15 ὅς τε s: ὥστε PMV || δυσχείμερον ἀρκάδων PMV: transposuit Sylburgius   16 Πὰν inseruit Musgravius   19 μείζονα om. P || στίχου MV: στχι P: στίχον s   21 αὐγὴ M: αὐτὴ PV   24 ξύνοιδ’ s: ξύνοιδε P: ξυνοὶδὲ MV   26 οὔθ’ ἕτερον PM: οὐδέτερον V

12. ὁρίζεται: sibi vindicat, ‘annexes.’—The fragment of Euripides, taken as a whole, runs thus in Nauck’s collection:—

ὦ γαῖα πατρίς, ἣν Πέλοψ ὁρίζεται,
χαῖρ’, ὅς τε πέτρον Ἀρκάδων δυσχείμερον
‹Πὰν› ἐμβατεύεις, ἔνθεν εὔχομαι γένος.
Αὔγη γὰρ Ἀλέου παῖς με τῷ Τιρυνθίῳ
τίκτει λαθραίως Ἡρακλεῖ· ξύνοιδ’ ὄρος
Παρθένιον, ἔνθα μητέρ’ ὠδίνων ἐμὴν
ἔλυσεν Εἰλείθυια.

25. Παρθένιον: cp. Callim. Hymn. in Delum 70 φεῦγε μὲν Ἀρκαδίη, φεῦγεν δ’ ὄρος ἱερὸν Αὔγης | Παρθένιον, together with the scholium ὄρος Ἀρκαδίας τὸ Παρθένιον, ἔνθα τὴν Αὔγην τὴν Ἀλεοῦ θυγατέρα, ἱέρειαν τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς, ἔφθειρεν Ἡρακλῆς.

ἔνθα μητέρ’ ὠδίνων ἐμὴν
ἔλυσεν Εἰλείθυια

καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς τούτοις παραπλήσια.

ἐκ δὲ τῆς μελικῆς τὰ Σιμωνίδεια ταῦτα· γέγραπται δὲ
κατὰ διαστολὰς οὐχ ὧν Ἀριστοφάνης ἢ ἄλλος τις κατεσκεύασε      5
κώλων ἀλλ’ ὧν ὁ πεζὸς λόγος ἀπαιτεῖ. πρόσεχε δὴ τῷ μέλει
καὶ ἀναγίνωσκε κατὰ διαστολάς, καὶ εὖ ἴσθ’ ὅτι λήσεταί σε ὁ
ῥυθμὸς τῆς ᾠδῆς καὶ οὐχ ἕξεις συμβαλεῖν οὔτε στροφὴν οὔτε
ἀντίστροφον οὔτ’ ἐπῳδόν, ἀλλὰ φανήσεταί σοι λόγος εἷς
εἰρόμενος. ἔστι δὲ ἡ διὰ πελάγους φερομένη Δανάη τὰς      10
ἑαυτῆς ἀποδυρομένη τύχας·

ὅτε λάρνακι ἐν δαιδαλέᾳ
ἄνεμός τε μιν πνέων ‹ἐφόρει›
κινηθεῖσά τε λίμνα,
δείματι ἤριπεν οὐκ ἀδιάντοισι παρειαῖς      15
ἀμφί τε Περσέϊ βάλλε φίλαν χέρα

[279]

where the Travail-queen
From birth-pangs set my mother free.[196]

And similarly with the lines which follow these.

From lyric poetry the subjoined lines of Simonides may be taken. They are written according to divisions: not into those clauses for which Aristophanes or some other metrist laid down his canons, but into those which are required by prose. Please read the piece carefully by divisions: you may rest assured that the rhythmical arrangement of the ode will escape you, and you will be unable to guess which is the strophe or which the antistrophe or which the epode, but you will think it all one continuous piece of prose. The subject is Danaë, borne across the sea lamenting her fate:—

And when, in the carved ark lying,
She felt it through darkness drifting
Before the drear wind’s sighing
And the great sea-ridges lifting,
She shuddered with terror, she brake into weeping,
And she folded her arms round Perseus sleeping;

5 ἄλλός τις P || κατεστεύασε P   6 ἀπετεῖ P || δὴ PM: δὲ V   7 κατὰ P: ταῦτα κατὰ MV   9 ἀντίστροφον PM: ἀντιστροφὴν V || λόγος εἰσειρόμενος P: λόγος οὑτωσὶ διειρόμενος MV   10 Δανάη] δ’ ἀν ἡ P   13 τέ μιν Schneidewinus: τε μὴν PM: τ’ ἐμῇ V || ἐφόρει ante μιν Bergkius inseruit, post πνέων Usenerus   14 τε Brunckius: δὲ PMV   15 ἤριπεν Brunckius: ἔριπεν P: ἔρειπεν MV || οὐκ Thierschius: οὐτ’ P: οὔτ’ MV

4. Bircovius points out that Hor. Carm. iii. 27. 33 ff. might be printed as continuous prose, thus: “quae simul centum tetigit potentem oppidis Creten: ‘Pater, o relictae filiae nomen, pietasque’ dixit ‘victa furore! unde quo veni? levis una mors est virginum culpae. vigilansne ploro turpe commissum, an vitiis carentem ludit imago vana, quae porta fugiens eburna somnium ducit?’” etc. The short rhymeless lines of Matthew Arnold’s Rugby Chapel might be run together in the same way, e.g. “There thou dost lie, in the gloom of the autumn evening. But ah! that word, gloom, to my mind brings thee back, in the light of thy radiant vigour, again; in the gloom of November we pass’d days not dark at thy side; seasons impair’d not the ray of thy buoyant cheerfulness clear. Such thou wast! and I stand in the autumn evening, and think of by-gone evenings with thee.” The word-arrangement from line to line is such that this passage might almost be read as prose, except for a certain rhythm and for an occasional departure from the word-order of ordinary prose.

5. Aristophanes: cp. note on 218 19 supra.

8. Compare, for example, the last two stanzas, printed continuously, of Tennyson’s In Memoriam cxv.: “Where now the seamew pipes, or dives in yonder greening gleam, and fly the happy birds, that change their sky to build and brood, that live their lives from land to land; and in my breast spring wakens too; and my regret becomes an April violet, and buds and blossoms like the rest.”

11. ἀποδυρομένη: probably the Danaë was a θρῆνος, and in any case it illustrates, to the full, the “maestius lacrimis Simonideis” of Catullus (Carm. xxxviii. 8), or Wordsworth’s “one precious, tender-hearted scroll | Of pure Simonides.” Cp. also de Imitat. ii. 6. 2 καθ’ ὃ βελτίων εὑρίσκεται καὶ Πινδάρου, τὸ οἰκτίζεσθαι μὴ μεγαλοπρεπῶς ἀλλὰ παθητικῶς: and Quintil. x. 1. 64 “Simonides, tenuis alioqui, sermone proprio et iucunditate quadam commendari potest; praecipua tamen eius in commovenda miseratione virtus, ut quidam in hac eum parte omnibus eius operis auctoribus praeferant.”

12. Verse-translations of the Danaë will be found also in J. A. Symonds’ Studies of the Greek Poets i. 160, and in Walter Headlam’s Book of Greek Verse pp. 49-51. Headlam observes that the Danaë is a passage extracted from a longer poem, and that the best commentary on it is Lucian’s Dialogues of the Sea 12. Weir Smyth (Greek Lyric Poetry p. 321) remarks: “It must be confessed that, if we have all that Dionysius transcribed, he has proved his point [viz. that by an arrangement into διαστολαί the poetical rhythm can be so obscured that the reader will be unable to recognize strophe, antistrophe, or epode] so successfully that no one has been able to demonstrate the existence of all three parts of the triad. Wilamowitz (Isyllos 144) claims to have restored strophe (ἄνεμος ... δούρατι), epode (χαλκεογόμφῳ ... δεινὸν ἦν), and antistrophe (καὶ ἐμῶν ...); ὅτε ... δαιδαλέᾳ belonging to another triad. To accept this adjustment one must have faith in the extremely elastic ionics of the German scholar. Nietzsche, R. M. 23. 481, thought that 1-3 formed the end of the strophe, 4-12 the antistrophe (1-3 = 10-12). In v. 1 he omitted ἐν and read τ’ ἐμάνη πνείων with ἀλεγίζεις in 10, but even then the dactyls vary with spondees over frequently. By a series of reckless conjectures Hartung extricated strophe and antistrophe out of the lines, while Blass’ (Philol. 32. 140) similar conclusion is reached by conjectures only less hazardous than those of Hartung. Schneidewin and Bergk, adopting the easier course, which refuses all credence to Dionysius, found only antistrophe and epode; and so, doubtfully, Michelangeli; while Ahrens (Jahresber. des Lyceums zu Hannover, 1853), in despair, classed the fragment among the ἀπολελυμένα. Since verses 2-3 may = 11-12, I have followed Nietzsche, though with much hesitation. The last seven verses suit the character of a concluding epode.”

15. ἤριπεν = ἐξεπλάγη (same sense as Usener’s conjecture φρίττεν).

εἶπέν τ’· ὦ τέκος,
οἷον ἔχω πόνον, σὺ δ’ ἀωτεῖς·
γαλαθηνῷ δ’ ἤθεϊ κνοώσσεις
ἐν ἀτερπέι δούρατι χαλκεογόμφῳ δίχα νυκτὸς ἀλαμπεῖ
κυανέῳ τε δνόφῳ σταλείς.      5
ἅλμαν δ’ ὕπερθεν τεᾶν κομᾶν βαθεῖαν
παριόντος κύματος οὐκ ἀλέγεις
οὐδ’ ἀνέμου φθόγγον, πορφυρέᾳ
κείμενος ἐν χλανίδι πρὸς κόλπῳ καλὸν πρόσωπον.
εἰ δέ τοι δεινὸν τό γε δεινὸν ἦν,      10
καί κεν ἐμῶν ῥημάτων λεπτὸν ὑπεῖχες οὖας·
κέλομαι, εὗδε βρέφος,
εὑδέτω δὲ πόντος, εὑδέτω ἄμετρον κακόν.
μεταβουλία δέ τις φανείη,
Ζεῦ πάτερ, ἐκ σέο·      15
ὅ τι δὴ θαρσαλέον ἔπος εὔχομαι
νόσφι δίκας, σύγγνωθί μοι.

τοιαῦτά ἐστι τὰ ὅμοια τοῖς καλοῖς λόγοις μέτρα καὶ μέλη,
διὰ ταύτας γινόμενα τὰς αἰτίας ἃς προεῖπόν σοι.

τοῦθ’ ἕξεις δῶρον ἡμέτερον, ὦ Ῥοῦφε, “πολλῶν ἀντάξιον      20
ἄλλων,” εἰ βουληθείης ἐν ταῖς χερσί τε αὐτὸ συνεχῶς ὥσπερ

[281]

And “Oh my baby,” she moaned, “for my lot
Of anguish!—but thou, thou carest not:
Adown sleep’s flood is thy child-soul sweeping,
Though beams brass-welded on every side
Make a darkness, even had the day not died
When they launched thee forth at gloaming-tide.
And the surf-crests fly o’er thy sunny hair
As the waves roll past—thou dost not care:
Neither carest thou for the wind’s shrill cry,
As lapped in my crimson cloak thou dost lie
On my breast, little face so fair—so fair!
Ah, were these sights, these sounds of fear
Fearsome to thee, that dainty ear
Would hearken my words—nay, nay, my dear,
Hear them not thou! Sleep, little one, sleep;
And slumber thou, O unrestful deep!
Sleep, measureless wrongs; let the past suffice:
And oh, may a new day’s dawn arise
On thy counsels, Zeus! O change them now!
But if aught be presumptuous in this my prayer,
If aught, O Father, of sin be there,
Forgive it thou.”[197]

Such are the verses and lyrics which resemble beautiful prose; and they owe this resemblance to the causes which I have already set forth to you.

Here, then, Rufus, is my gift to you, which you will find “outweigh a multitude of others,”[198] if only you will keep it in

1 τέκος Athen. ix. 396 E: τέκνον PMV   2 σὺ δ’ ἀωτεῖς Casaubonus: οὐδ’ αυταις P: σὺ δ’ αὖτε εἷς Athen. (l.c.)   3 ἐγαλαθηνωδει θει P, V: γαλαθηνῷ δ’ ἤτορι Athen.: corr. Bergkius || κνοώσσεισ P, V: κνώσσεις Athen.   4 δούρατι Guelf.: δούνατι PM: δούναντι V || δίχα νυκτὸς ἀλαμπεῖ Us.: δενυκτι λαμπεῖ P, MV   5 σταλείς Bergkius: ταδ’ εἰσ P, MV   6 ἅλμαν δ’ Bergkius: αὐλεαν δ’ P, V: αὐλαίαν δ’ M   9 πρὸς κόλπῳ κ. πρ. Us.: πρόσωπον καλον πρόσωπον P: πρόσωπον καλὸν MV   10 ἦν Sylburgius: ἦι P: ἦ M: ἢ V   11 καί M: κἀί V: κε cum litura P || λεπτὸν s: λεπτῶν PMV   14 μαιτ(α)βουλία (i.e. μεταβουλία: cp. 90 4 supra) P: μαιτ(α)βουλίου M: ματαιοβουλία V   17 νόσφι δίκας Victorius: ηνοφι δικασ P: ἣν ὀφειδίασ MV   19 προεῖπά PMV (cf. εἴπειεν P, Aristot. Rhet. 1408 a 32)   21 αὐτὸ Sylburgius: αὐτὰ PMV

4. δίχα νυκτός: cp. δίχα μελέτης τε καὶ γυμνασίας ( 282 4), which may be an unconscious echo of this passage. “To me the expression seems to indicate that Simonides took a view of the story different from the ordinary one, and imagined that the chest was not open or boat-like but closed over,—a ‘Noah’s ark.’ This would not have suited the vase-painters, but there is nothing inconsistent with it in the poem. Danaë does not speak of seeing the waves, nor of the wind ruffling the child’s hair, but only of ἀνέμου φθόγγον—she heard it. Hence I think the words imply—‘which, even apart from its being night, would be gloomy, and thou wert so launched forth in the darksome gloaming.’ She makes no reference to seeing the stars” (A. S. Way).

5. Schneidewin reads ταθείς.

7. ἀλέγεις: rarely constructed with the accusative case.

11. ἐμῶν ῥημάτων: constructio ad sensum with ὑπεῖχες οὖας (= ὑπήκουες).

12. εὗδε βρέφος: the βαυκάλημα (‘cradle-song, lullaby’) was familiar to the Greeks, and the mother does not forget it amid the perils of the sea. Cp. Theocr. xxiv. 7-9—

εὕδετ’ ἐμὰ βρέφεα γλυκερὸν καὶ ἐγέρσιμον ὕπνον·
εὕδετ’ ἐμὰ ψυχά, δύ’ ἀδελφεώ, εὔσοα τέκνα·
ὄλβιοι εὐνάζοισθε καὶ ὄλβιοι ἀῶ ἵκοισθε.

20. From Hom. Il. xi. 514, 515—

ἰητρὸς γὰρ ἀνὴρ πολλῶν ἀντάξιος ἄλλων
ἰούς τ’ ἐκτάμνειν ἐπί τ’ ἤπια φάρμακα πάσσειν.

‘For more than a multitude availeth the leech for our need,
When the shaft sticketh deep in the flesh, when the healing salve must be spread.’

τι καὶ ἄλλο τῶν πάνυ χρησίμων ἔχειν καὶ συνασκεῖν αὑτὸν
ταῖς καθ’ ἡμέραν γυμνασίαις. οὐ γὰρ αὐτάρκη τὰ παραγγέλματα
τῶν τεχνῶν ἐστι δεινοὺς ἀγωνιστὰς ποιῆσαι τοὺς βουλομένους
γε δίχα μελέτης τε καὶ γυμνασίας· ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ τοῖς
πονεῖν καὶ κακοπαθεῖν βουλομένοις κεῖται σπουδαῖα εἶναι τὰ      5
παραγγέλματα καὶ λόγου ἄξια ἢ φαῦλα καὶ ἄχρηστα.

[283]

your hands constantly like any other really useful thing, and exercise yourself in its lessons daily. No rules contained in rhetorical manuals can suffice to make experts of those who are determined to dispense with study and practice. They who are ready to undergo toil and hardship can alone decide whether such rules are trivial and useless, or worthy of serious consideration.

1 αὑτὸν ταῖς Us.: αὐτὸν ταῖσ P: αὐτὸ ταῖς M: αὐταῖς V   3 ἀγωνιστὰς Sylburgius: δεινοῦσ αν ταγωνιστασ sic P: ἀνταγωνιστὰς etiam MV   4 γε Us.: τε P: om. MV   5 βουλομένοις PM: om. V || σπουδαῖαν εἶναι (sic) P: ἢ σπουδαῖα εἶναι MV   6 Διονυσίου αλικαρνα(σεως) πε(ρὶ) συνθέσεως ὀνομάτων: ~ litteris maiusculis subscripsit P

2. The training meant would consist chiefly in that general reading of Greek authors which is indicated in this treatise or in the de Imitatione, and in Quintilian’s Tenth Book: it would carry out the precept “vos exemplaria Graeca | nocturna versate manu, versate diurna.” Afterwards would follow the technical and systematic study of style or eloquence, regarded as a preparation for public life.

3. ἀγωνιστάς: cp. note on 268 29 supra and Plato Phaedr. 269 D τὸ μὲν δύνασθαι, ὦ Φαῖδρε, ὥστε ἀγωνιστὴν τέλεον γενέσθαι, εἰκός—ἴσως δὲ καὶ ἀναγκαῖον—ἔχειν ὥσπερ τἆλλα· εἰ μέν σοι ὑπάρχει φύσει ῥητορικῷ εἶναι, ἔσῃ ῥήτωρ ἐλλόγιμος, προσλαβὼν ἐπιστήμην τε καὶ μελέτην, ὅτου δ’ ἂν ἐλλείπῃς τούτων, ταύτῃ ἀτελὴς ἔσῃ.

4. The best Greeks and Romans at all times believed in work, and in genius as including the capacity for taking pains. Compare (in addition to the passage of the Phaedrus) Soph. El. 945 ὅρα· πόνου τοι χωρὶς οὐδὲν εὐτυχεῖ: Eurip. Fragm. 432 τῷ γὰρ πονοῦντι χὠ θεὸς συλλαμβάνει: Aristoph. Ran. 1370 ἐπίπονοί γ’ οἱ δεξιοί: Cic. de Offic. i. 18. 60 “nec medici, nec imperatores, nec oratores, quamvis artis praecepta perceperint, quidquam magna laude dignum sine usu et exercitatione consequi possunt”: Quintil. Inst. Or. Prooem. § 27 “sicut et haec ipsa (bona ingenii) sine doctore perito, studio pertinaci, scribendi, legendi, dicendi multa et continua exercitatione per se nihil prosunt.” See also note on page 264 supra.