suit the advantage of clearness; this however was laid down 7.Equivo- to be the perfection of rhetorical language. But of cal words all nouns, those which are equivocal suit the purposes sophist, of the sophist, for by their help he effects his fallasynonyms cies, while synonyms are of use to the poet; I mean the poet. these which are both synonyms and of common usage, 8. Metaphors. Rules for. 9. i. Must be κατ' ἀναλογίαν. as πορεύησθαι and βαδίζειν, for these two are both of common usage and synonymous to each other. The nature then of each of these varieties, and how many species of metaphor there are, and also that this ornament is of the greatest effect, as well in poetry as prose, has been explained, (as I have observed above,) in the Poetics. In prosell however we should bestow the greater attention on them, in proportion as an oration has to be made up of fewer adjuments than a metrical composition. Moreover the metaphor possesses in an especial manner [the beauties of] clearness and sweetness, with an air of being foreign 12; and it is not possible to derive it from any other person 13. You must however apply, in the case both of epithets and metaphors, such as are appropriate; and this will depend on their being constructed on principles of analogy, otherwise they will be sure to appear in bad taste; because contraries show themselves to be such, particularly when set by each other. But you must consider, as a purple garment becomes a 11 Πρῶτα μὲν οὖν μεταφοραῖς χρηστέον· αὗται γὰρ μάλιστα καὶ ἡδονὴν συμβάλλονται τοῖς λόγοις, καὶ μέγεθος,μὴ μεντοι TUкVαis. Demetr. 12 "As to metaphorical expression, that is a great excellence in style, when it is used with propriety, for it gives you two ideas for one;-conveys the meaning more luminously, and generally with a perception of delight." Boswell's Johnson, Et. 68. 13 Aristotle seems to subjoin this as the crowning praise of metaphor ; for he has already told us that, that is a good the principle of which centres in ourselves; so also, in the Topica, he lays down that ὅ μή ἐστι παρ' ἄλλου πορίσασθαι as a greater good ἤ ὃ ἐστί παρ' ἄλλου. In the third book of the Nicomachæan Ethics he employs a similar topic of praise: ὅ παρ' ἐτέρου μὴ οἷόν τε λαβεῖν, μηδὲ μαθεῖν. See also book i. c. 7, § 33, of the present treatise. youth, what is equally so to an old man; since the same garment does not become [both]. ii. From lish: from a lower if And if you wish to embellish your subject, see 10. you deduce your metaphor from such things coming a better under the same class as are better; and if to cry it class if to down, from such as are worse: I mean, as the cases embelare opposed and come under the same genus, that the saying, for example, of a beggar, that "he prays," to debase. and of one who is praying, that "he begs," (both being species of asking,) is to do the thing which has been mentioned; just as Iphicrates called Callias " a mere collector to the goddess, and not a bearer of the torch." He however replied, "that he must needs be uninitiated himself, or he would not call him a collector, but a bearer of the torch." For these are both services connected with the goddess; the one however is respectable, while the other is held in no repute. And some one [speaks of the courtiers of Dionysius as] Dionysian parasites; they however call themselves artificers 14. And these expressions are both metaphors; the one of persons who would depreciate, the other the contrary. Even robbers, now-a-day, call themselves purveyors 15. On which principle we may say of a man who "has acted unjustly," that he "is in error;" and of one who "is in error," that he "has acted unjustly." Again, of one who has stolen, both that has taken, [in way of diminution,] and that has ravaged [in exaggera 14 ALOVVσOKÓλakas. This term, by which the tribe of flatterers seem to have been exposed to ridicule on the stage (κόλακες τοῦ Διονυσίου), was ingeniously enough borrowed from the name of the patron of the theatre, Alóvvoos; they however thought proper to exchange one theatrical appellation for another more respectable, and dignified themselves by the name TɛXVÍTαι. This, as well as the corresponding Latin term, artifices, seems to have been more commonly applied to actors, musicians, etc. See Keuchen, note on Corn. Nep. vita Cha briæ, c. i. By the way, this sort of metaphorical embellishment appears not to be unusual in the present day, if it be true (as we are told) that the important personage who directs the culinary operations in great families be entitled the artist. 15 Compare Thucyd. b. i. sub init. iii. The tion 16]. But the saying, as the Telephus of Euripides does, "that he lords it o'er the oars, and landing in Mysia," etc., is out of taste; for the expression, "lording it over," is above the dignity of the subject; [the rhetorical artifice] then, is not palmed 11. off 17. There will also be a fault in the syllables, unless they are significant of a grateful sound; for euphony must be instance, Dionysius, surnamed Chalcous 18, in his attended elegies, calls poetry, "the clangor of Calliope," because both are vocal sounds; the metaphor, however, is a paltry one, and couched in uncouth expressions 19. Again, our metaphors should not be far-fetched; iv. Must but we should make the transfer, on the principle of fetched. assigning names out of the number of kindred objects, and such as are the same in species, tó objects which are unnamed, of which however it is clear, simultaneously with their being uttered, that they are akin, as in that approved enigma, to. 12. not be far "A man I once beheld, [and wondering view'd,] TWINING. for the operation is undesignated by any name 21, and both are species of attaching; wherefore the writer called the application of the cupping instrument, a gluing. And, generally speaking, it is possible out of neatly constructed enigmas to extract excellent metaphors: because it is on the principles of metaphor 16 See book i. chap. 13, § 9, 10. 17 Is too glaring, is seen through. 18' Were it not that Plutarch attributes this surname of Dionysius ("the Brazen") to a suggestion of his for employing brass currency at Athens, the specimen here quoted might lead us to suppose that he derived the appellation from some characteristic harshness of style. est. 19 "Ασημος φωνή, vox quæ vel forma vel significatione turpis Ern. Lex. Tec. 20 This enigma is ingenious, and means the operation of cupping, performed in ancient days by a machine of brass. Philolog. Inq. P. ii. c. 10. 21 Metaphor took its rise from the poverty of language. Men, not finding upon every occasion words ready made for their ideas, were compelled to have recourse to words analogous, and transfer them from their original meaning, to the meaning then required." Philolog. Inq. P. ii. c. 10. that men construct enigmas; so that it is evident, that [if the enigma be a good one] the metaphor has been properly borrowed. must be beautiful consists The idea. The transfer also should be made from objects 13. which are beautiful; beauty however of words con- v. They sists, as Licymnius observes, in the sound or in the borrowed idea conveyed; as does also their inelegance. And from there is moreover a third 22, which does away the soobjects. phistical doctrine; since it is not the fact, as Bryso Beauty of argues, "that no one speaks inelegantly, if indeed words the using one expression instead of another, carries in the with it the same meaning:" for this is a fallacy; sound. because some words are nearer in their ordinary acceptations, more assimilated, and have more pecu- plication. liar force of setting the object before the eyes than others. And what is more, one word represents the object under different circumstances from another; so that we may even on this principle lay it down, that one word has more or less of beauty and inelegance than another: for although both words, [at the same time,] express [properties which are] beautiful, as well as such as are inelegant; yet they either express them not qua they are beautiful, or not qua they are inelegant; or granting they do, yet they express them, the one in a greater, the other in a less degree. But we are to deduce our metaphors from these sources;-from such as are beautiful either in sound, in meaning, or [in the image they present] to the sight, or any other sense. And there is a difference, in the saying, for instance, “the rosy-fingered Aurora;" rather than "the purple-fingered;" or, what is still worse, "the crimson-fingered." Also in the case of epithets, it is very possible to 14. Epiderive one's epithets from a degrading or disgraceful used in thets to be view of the case; for instance, "the murderer of his the same mother 23." and we may derive them from a view on way. "We may perhaps term this third beauty of words, delicacy in their application. 23 Nominibus mollire licet mala; fusca vocetur Nigrior Illyrica cui pice sanguis erit, etc. Ovid. Ar. Am 1. ii the better side; as, the avenger of his father." And Simonides 24, when the victor in a race by mules offered him a trifling present, was not disposed to write, as though feeling hurt at writing on demiasses; when, however, he offered a sufficient present, he composed the poem Hail! Daughters of the generous Horse, That skims, like wind, along the course, etc. HARRIS. 15. To- and yet they were daughters of asses as well. Again, Koploμós. it is possible to express the self-same thing diminutively. And it is the employment of diminutives which renders both good and evil less; just as Aristophanes jests in "The Babylonians;" using, instead of gold, a tiny piece of gold;" instead of "a garment," "a little garment;" instead of "reproach," "puny reproach ;" and instead of "sickness," "slight indisposition." We ought, however, to be careful, and always keep to the mean in both cases. 66 a frigid CHAP. III. On Frigidity of Style. 1. Four FRIGIDITY', as dependent on the style, consists in causes of four points. In the use of compound words; like Lycophron, where he says, "the many-faced heaven," and "the mighty-topped earth," and "the narrow-pathed shore." And as Gorgias used the expression, "a beggarly-mused flatterer," and "the strictly-bound-by-oath and fully-sworn men.' Or like Alcidamas, [who talks of] "the soul replete with anger, and the visage waxing fire-coloured." Again, 24 See Bentley on Phalaris, p. 156. Zancleans and Messenians. 1 Having in the last chapter discussed the beauties of style as dependent on single words, he now proceeds to consider its defects, as they arise from the single words employed: see note on chap. ii. § 2. 2 This Lycophron was a sophist, and is not to be confounded with the poet who flourished under Ptolemy Philadelphus. |