has reference to opinion, we should pay attention to it, not as to a subject of absolute propriety, but as one of necessity; for as to mere matter of justice, we ought not to inquire further on the subject of speeches than so as to avoid giving pain, at the same time that we do not delight; for the rule of right is, that the contest be carried on by means of the facts themselves; so that, except the proof, all the rest is superfluous; but it is notwithstanding, as has been Its influstated, a point of great moment, in consequence of ence is the weak judgment of the auditor. The subject of 6. style, however, has some necessary though trifling claim on our attention in every system; for the expressing one's self in this or that way makes some difference with a view to exhibiting the subject clearly, not however to so great a degree [as is generally supposed]: all these points are however mere idea, and have a reference to the auditor; wherefore it is that no one teaches geometry in such a style. great. This art then, be it introduced when it may7, will produce the same effect as that of acting. And some 7. to a small extent have already made an effort to treat of it; Thrasymachus, for instance, on the excitement of compassion. Again, the being qualified for de- Delivery livery is a gift of nature, and rather without the is a gift of province of art; the subject of style, however, is clearly reducible to an art. Wherefore rewards are bestowed in turn on those who are proficients in this, just as there are on those rhetoricians [who claim] persons, it means troublesome, tiresome, etc., or insolent, overbearing, etc., synonymously with avɛλɛú0ɛpos, ẞávavoos, popular, low, vulgar, illiberal, etc. Athenæus, in speaking of the rejection of Hippoclides, one of the suitors of Agarista, daughter of Clisthenes, king of Sicyon, attributes it to the disgust conceived by her father at him, ΦΟΡΤΙΚΩΣ ὀρχησάμενον (see Herodot. vi. 129). Aristotle himself classes the popтikol with the βωμολόχοι, (Eth. Nich. iv. 8,) and with the οἱ πολλοὶ (ibid. i. 5). It is in fact, (to adopt an expression of Pope's,) any thing levelled to please the populace. B. i. c. 1. § 10. οὐδὲν ἄλλο δει, πλὴν ἀποδεῖξαι ὅτι οὕτως ἔχει. 7 Ὑπόκρισις : for he clearly foresees that from its obvious importance it must eventually become an adjunct of rhetoric, as it has already become of dramatic exhibitions. nature. 8. Poets first used recitation success. toricians adopted the florid poetical style. on the ground of delivery; for written orations influence more by means of their style than through the sentiment. Now the poets, as was natural, began to make a stir upon the subject at first; for words are imitaand deli- tions, and the voice, of all our parts, is the most very with imitative; on which account also these arts were constructed, both that of recitation, and of acting, 9. Hence and of others too. But as the poets, though what early rhe- they said was very frivolous, appeared to acquire their reputation by means of their style; on this account the first style [of rhetoric] was formed on that of poetry, witness the style of Gorgias; and even at the present time the majority of ignorant people fancy that such orators speak most delightfully this however is not the case, but the style of poetry and that of prose is distinct, and the result shows it; for not even the writers of tragedy themselves any longer employ the same turn of diction, But have but just as they have passed from trochaic to iambic gradually metre, because the latter is most like prose of all the other metres; so have they also relinquished all those terms which are foreign to the style of conversation, with which however the early writers used to embellish [their works], and which even at the present day are employed by those who write in heroic metre; wherefore it is ridiculous to imitate the tragedians, who in their own case no longer employ. that turn of diction. relin- 10. So that it is evident that we need not discuss with minuteness all points soever which it is possible to treat of under the head of style, but so many only as belong to such an art as we are speaking of: the other part of the subject has been spoken of in my treatise on Poetry. So that of course the poet, whose business was imitation, would immediately put in requisition these two most obvious sources of it. The trochaic metre occurs frequently in the plays of Eschylus, the most ancient of the tragedians extant, particularly in the Persæ; as also in those of Euripides, especially in the Phœnissæ and Orestes; but in those of Sophocles, rarely, if ever. CHAP. II. On Excellence of Style as made up of single Words. lence of LET this then have been discussed: and let excel- 1. Excellence of style be defined to consist in its being clear; style de(a sign of this is this, that the diction, unless it make fined to be the sentiment clear, will not effect its purpose 1;) and the To neither low, nor above the dignity of the subject, but σapés. in good taste; for the style of poetry indeed is not low, yet it is not becoming in prose. Of nouns and verbs 2 those which are in general use 2. Words produce the effect of clearness: to prevent its being that are κύρια prolow, and to give it ornament, there are other nouns duce perwhich have been mentioned in the Poetics, for a de- spicuity. parture [from ordinary acceptations] causes it to appear more dignified; for men are affected in respect of style in the very same way as they are towards foreigners and citizens. On which account you 3. To eleshould give your phrase a foreign3 air; for men are admirers of things out of the way, and what is an ob "Perspicuity consists in the using of proper terms for the ideas or thoughts which he would have pass from his own mind into that of another man. It is this that gives them an easy entrance; and it is with delight that men hearken to those whom they easily understand; whereas what is obscurely said, dying as it is spoken, is usually not only lost, but creates a prejudice in the hearer, as if he that spoke knew not what he said, or was afraid to have it understood." Locke, Some Thoughts concerning Reading and Study, vol. iv. p. 601. 2 As Aristotle proceeds henceforth to a complete analysis of the subject of style, he first considers it in reference to the single words of which it is made up (v ovvéotηke, § 5), which occupies him to the end of the fourth chapter. He then considers it as made up of whole sentences; the means of investing these with dignity, of adapting them to the subject, of constructing them to please the ear, and as addressed to the intellect; and concludes with enumerating their several elegancies. First, then, he considers the beauties of style as depending on single words. 3 Should the epithet foreign, as applied to a quality of style, not be immediately apprehended, it may be well to recollect that it means the excellence opposed to the fault which we designate homeliness. vate style we must use ξένα, etc. 4. We ceal our art. ject of admiration is pleasant. Now in the case of metrical compositions, there are many things which produce this effect, and there are very becoming, because both the subject and the person stand more apart [from ordinary life]; in prose, however, these helps are much fewer, for the subject is less exalted: since even in that art were a slave, or a mere youth, or [any one, in fact, in speaking] of mere trifles to express himself in terms of studied ornament, it would be rather unbecoming; but here too [as in poetry] the rule of good taste is, that your style be lowered or raised according to the subject. On must con- which account we must escape observation in doing this, and not appear to speak in a studied manner, but naturally, for the one is of a tendency to persuade, the other is the very reverse; because people put themselves on their guard, as though against one who has a design upon them, just as they would against adulterated wine. [Let your style then be such] as was the case with the voice of Theodorus as compared with that of the other actors; for it appeared to be that of the character which was speaking, theirs 5. however were foreign from the character. And the deceit is neatly passed off if one frame his nomenclature upon a selection from ordinary conversation; the thing which Euripides' does, and first gave the hint of. Words to be but As however nouns and verbs are [the materials] of which the speech is made up, and as nouns admit 5 This was asserted book i. chap. 11, § 23, 24. Ubicunque ars ostentatur, veritas abesse videtur. Quintil. Instit. x. 3. Artis est celare artem. Harris seems to have had this passage in view when he wrote the following: ""Tis in writing as in acting; the best writers are like our late admired Garrick. And how did that able genius employ his art? Not by a vain ostentation of any one of his powers, but by a latent use of them all in such an exhibition of nature, that, while we were present in a theatre, and only beholding an actor, we could not help thinking ourselves in Denmark with Hamlet, or in Bosworth Field with Richard." Philolog. Inq. P. ii. c. 4. In this practice, Euripides stands remarkably opposed to his predecessor Eschylus. κεία, με so many species as have been examined in the Poetics, sparingly out of the number of these we must employ but spared. employingly, and in very few places, exotic and compound words, and those newly coined; where they may be employed I will state hereafter 9: the reason [of the restriction] has been mentioned, viz. because they remove your style [from that of common life] more than is consistent with good taste. Words however 6. Words of ordinary use, and in their original acceptations 10, kúpiα, oiand metaphors, are alone available in the style of ταφοραί, prose: a proof [that this is the fact, is] that these are proper for the only words which all persons employ ; for every body carries on conversation by means of metaphors, and words in their primary sense, and those of ordinary use. Thus it is plain that, if one should have constructed his style well, it will be both of a foreign character, and that [the art of the orator] may still elude observation, and [the style itself] will have the 8 Γλώττα: « 'any word that belongs either to another language, or another dialect of the same language, and that is not naturalized by common and popular use.' Twining. 9 In the seventh chapter he says, that they may be used with effect when you would assume the language of high excitement: see § 11. 10 Κύρια are words in general use, opposed to γλῶτται, outlandish expressions. Oikɛía, words in their primary and literal acceptations, opposed to μɛтapopai, words transferred from their primary meaning to some analogous meaning. Many words are κúpia which yet are not oikɛía. In fact, of the three divisions the oikɛía are necessarily the fewest; since the proper and original designations of individual objects cannot extend to a number sufficiently great to answer all the purposes of language; the resources of which must therefore be augmented by metaphorical transfer. Even these words in time become so naturalized by common use as no longer to have any thing "of the effect of metaphor upon the hearer. On the contrary, like proper terms (οἰκεία), they suggest directly to his mind, without the intervention of any image, the ideas which the speaker proposed to convey by them." Philos. of Rhet. vol. i. p. 185, 186. From those sounds which we hear on small or on coarse occasions, we do not easily receive strong impressions, or delightful images; and words to which we are nearly strangers [terms of art, etc.], whenever they occur, draw that attention on themselves which they should transmit to things. Johnson's Life of Dryden, vol. vi. p. 395, edit. 1823. Vid. the whole passage. prose. |