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diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3017459 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitignore @@ -0,0 +1 @@ +*.epub diff --git a/aristotelian_theory_of_comedy_tractatus_coislinianus_edit.rst b/aristotelian_theory_of_comedy_tractatus_coislinianus_edit.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a301003 --- /dev/null +++ b/aristotelian_theory_of_comedy_tractatus_coislinianus_edit.rst @@ -0,0 +1,15394 @@ +An Aristotelian Theory of Comedy with an adaption of the Poetics and a translation of the ‘Tractatus Coislinianus’ +================================================================================================================== + +:author: Lane Cooper +:position: professor of the English language and literature in Cornell University +:place: New York +:publisher: Harcourt, Brace and company +:date: 1922 + + +The expense of publishing this volume was in part borne by a grant +from the Heckscher Foundation for the Advancement of Research, +established by August Heckscher at Cornell University. + +TO + +EDWARD KENNARD RAND + +PROFESSOR OF LATIN IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY + + +PREFACE +------- + + +This book has a primary aim in general, and a secondary aim in part. +First of all, as a companion-volume to my ‘Amplified Version’ of +*Aristotle On the Art of Poetry*, it is intended to be useful to the +general student of literature. As the *Poetics* of Aristotle helps one +to understand Greek tragedy and the epic poem, and, if employed with +care, modern tragedy and the serious novel, so, it is hoped, the +present volume will help college students and others to imderstand +comedies, in particular those dramas that have in them something of +the Aristophanic type; and to help in that understanding, not by an +elaborate investigation of origins, and not with regard to dramatic +structure (so-called) apart from the design of the comic poet to +affect his audience, but directly and with reference to that design. +The work is practical, then, in its aim to serve students of ' +English ' and the like. It is offered to the public by one who +actually believes in utilizing the riches of the ancient classics for +the direct benefit of contemporary life and culture. That the *Poetics* +is useful—^not merely interesting in historical perspective—^needs no +demonstration to those who have employed it with classes in the +ancient and modem drama. I can only hope that my ‘Aristotelian’ +theory of comedy may prove useful in the same way, if not in the same +measure. In essential aspects, the comic drama, and especially +that of Aristophanes, is baffhng to modem students. To judge from my +own experience, there has hitherto been no really serviceable theory +of it at the disposal of teachers of literature. And, whatever the +value attaching to the rest of my book, I have at least made +accessible to classes in the drama and in literary types the +*Tractatus Coislinianus*, which, schematic though it be, is by all odds +the most important technical treatise on comedy that has come down to +us from the ancients. And modern times give us nothing of comparable +worth in its field. + +My practical aim in turning the usually inviolable classics to +account will be an excuse, I hope, for a rather drastic +manipulation of the *Poetics*. But no doubt I should apologize +for this to classical scholars, since my work is also partly +intended for them, and since elsewhere in my work (as here and +there in the Introduction) I have had to reckon at some length +with scholarly opinions that are at variance with my own. The +concession to a scholarly purpose, I am aware, has brought into +the volume an amount of argument and citation that does not +promote the aim of direct utility to less mature students. But +I could not in these days of costly printing publish two books, +one for classical scholars, and the other for a more popular sort +of audience; very reluctantly I omit an appendix of critical +Greek passages (including the text of the *Tractatus +Coislinianus*) which in more auspicious times would have formed +a part of the volume. As matters stand, the teacher who wishes to +do so can easily save his pupils from imdue attention to +historical, textual, or bibliographical minutiae; after directing +them to some of the earlier sections of the Introduction, he may +send them to the material taken or adapted from Plato and +Aristotle, and to the Tractatus Coislinianus. To the technical +scholar I may say that the section called Aristotle and +Aristophanes, in the Introduction, and the remarks on comic +dancing and on the ‘parts of *dianoia*,’ included under the +Tractate, are the chief novel contributions, if there are any in +the volume, to special scholarship. + +I have entitled the volume *An Aristotelian Theory of Comedy* for +reasons suggested in the Introduction, and have indeed included +ever3rthing I could find in Aristotle, in his teacher Plato, or in +his successors, that might aid us in reconstructing his views on +comedy. At times I have been content to gather materials for some one +in the future who may be more successful in abstraction and +S5aithesis than I, or to let them reveal their meaning without +compulsion. As for the *Tractatus Coislinianus*, having throughout +maintained an attitude of caution regarding its provenience, I am yet +warranted by the mere frequency of its discussion by scholars in +treating it as a part of the AristoteHan tradition. + +The notion of bringing such materials together, and of attempting +to construct a theory of comedy from them, came to me some years +ago—before I had examined Bernays’ *Ergdnzung zu Aristoteles' +Poetik*. The execution of the plan demanded a happy interval for +the imaginative effort necessary to comprehend the details in +a single view, and to rearrange them, duly subordinating some, +and emphasizing others in an ideal outline sketch. The +elaboration of the plan demanded abundant leisure. Such effort +and elaboration might result either in the reconstruction of +a theory once existing in the past, or perhaps in a new synthesis +that would harmonize with a great tradition. Instead of +uninterrupted leisure and good spirits for this delicate work, +I have experienced initial delay and constant interruption from +a physical disability that prevented anjrthing like continuous +application at a desk, and latterly I have forced the labor +through, during partial respites, in order to begin other tasks +that have arisen, and must also, if possible, be brought to +a conclusion in this fleeting life. But I must not lament over +a work that has not been wholly devoid of satisfaction, beyond +saying that my original scheme was more ambitious than the +outcome, at least in the way of illustration. I had hoped in +supplying examples to lake more advantage of the fragments of +Greek comedy in the collections by Meineke, Kock, and Kaibel; to +make fuller use of recent scholarly work on Menander and the New +Greek Comedy; and to illustrate the categories of the *Tractatus +Coislinianus* more freely from these sources, from Plant us and +Terence, and, in EngHsh literature, from Chaucer. As it is, +I have limited myself for the most part to examples from +Aristophanes, Shakespeare, and Molière. Perhaps, however, the +curtailment has ended in the advantage of illustrating the +principles of comedy from the greatest of the great comic poets. +From this point, the neglect of Chaucer remains a disadvantage, +and one that is increased because the book has a special function +for students of English literature. + +From the circumstances of its composition there is some overlapping +in the different parts of the volume, as there is some repetition. +Occasionally the overlapping and repetition were unavoidable because +the same topic had to be touched on in different connections. In +revising, I have not scrupled to let repetitions stand where they +appeared to subserve either clearness or emphasis. + +Because of the intermittent nature of my work, it is hard to give a +clear account of my indebtedness to books and persons. Criticisms +have reached me from various quarters, suggestions from friends and +pupils, additional illustrations sometimes I know not how. I may, +however, speak of my debt to Rutherford and Starkie for their +valuable elucidation of the *Tractatus Coislinianus*. From the +brilliant Starkie in particular I have helped myself freely to +illustrative examples; I have tried to indicate this indebtedness at +several points in the body of the work, but the specific references +do not exhaust the account, and hence I now desire to make +acknowledgment in full. At the same time I have tried to proceed +independently of both Rutherford and Starkie, and of others who have +studied the Tractate; here and there, I beheve, the reader will see +that I have continued the process of illustration to advantage, where +the scholars just mentioned desisted. + +My discussion of Plato and comedy, and of Aristotle and Aristophanes, +I wrote before meeting with the monographs of Greene and Brentano +respectively; and since reading those monographs I am not conscious +of any substantial change in my remarks during the process of +revision. The dissertation of Schonermarck came to my attention when +my own book was ready for the printer; but it would not at any time +have been of special help to me. + +Finally, I must express my gratitude to several persons who were +patient enough to read my manuscript in part or as a whole, and +encouraged me to seek a publisher for it. In particular, I wish +to thank my friend and colleague Professor Joseph Q. Adams, and +Professor Carl N. Jackson of Harvard University, both of whom +have given the work the benefit of a critical examination. From +both I have accepted numerous suggestions regarding small +details. But as I have not m all cases been able to side with my +critics, I must take full responsibility for any errors that may +vet remain in the book. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY +------------ + +[Some of the following works, more or less frequently cited in the +Introduction and elsewhere, are there cited by the name of the author +or editor, or by an abbreviation of the title, or by both. As my +study and writing for the volume have been done at intervals over a +period of years, and in various places, absolute consistency of +citation has perhaps not been attained where it was otherwise +possible. Moreover, the usage of editors and translators of Aristotle +varies somewhat in regard to the titles of his works. The explanation +of catch-titles in the Bibliography will, it is hoped, obviate all +difficulty of reference.] + +I. ARISTOTLE +~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +*Aristotelis Opera*, edidit Academia Regia Borussica (the text of +I. Bekker, ed. by C. A. Brandis, V. Rose, and others). 5 vols. +Berlin, 1831 (vols, i, 2, 3), 1836 (vol. 4), 1870 (vol.5, +containing *Aristotelis Fragmenia*, coll. by V. Rose, and *Index +Aristotelicus* by H. Bonitz). + +[Where it has been desirable to refer very specifically to a brief +passage, or to a very few words, or a single word, in the . text of +Aristotle, I have cited the page-, column-, and line-number of this +edition of the Berlin Academy, following the custom of most +subsequent editors and commentators; thus : *Poetics* 6. 1449^21 (= +chapter 6 of the *Poetics*, and page 1449, column b, line 21, in the +said edition.] + +*Aristotelis Fragmenta*, ed. by V. Rose. Leipsic, 1886. + +*Aristotelis Fragmenta*, ed. by Heitz. Paris, 1869. + +Bonitz, H,, *Index Aristotelicus*. Berlin, 1870. See above, +*Aristotelis Opera*, vol. 5. + +*The Works of Aristotle*, translated into English under the +editorship of J. A. Smith and W. D. Ross. Oxford, 1908, etc. [In +course of publication, latterly (after Feb., 1913) under the +editorship of W. D. Ross. In the present volume I have made +frequent, but not invariable, use of the following parts, +referring to the whole as the ‘Oxford translation’ of Aristotle.] + +*Atheniensium Respuhlica*, trans, by F. Kenyon. 1920. + +*De Divinatione per Somnum*, trans, by J. I. Beare. 1908. + +*De Generatione Animalium*, trans, by A. Piatt. 1910. + +*De Partibus Animalium*, trans, by W. Ogle. 1911. + +*De Sensu et Sensibili*, trans by J. I. Beare. 1908. + +*Ethica Eudemia*, trans, by J. Solomon. 1915. + +*Historia Animalium*, trans, by D. W. Thompson. 1910. + +*Metaphysica*, trans, by W. D. Ross. 1908. + +*Politica*, trans, by B. Jowett, revised by W. D. Ross. 1921. + +*Poetics*, ed. by J. Vahlen. Third ed. Leipsic, 1885. [Contains, +pp. 78 — 80, text of *Tractatus Coislinianus*.] + +*Poetics*, ed. and trans, by I. Bywater. Oxford, 1909. [Cited as +' Bywater.'] + +*Poetics*. S. H. Butcher, *Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine +Art, with a Critical Text and Translation of the Poetics*. +London, 1907. [Cited as ' Butcher.'] + +*Poetics*. *Aristotle On the Art of Poetry: an Amplified Version, +with Supplementary Illustrations, for Students of English*, by L. +Cooper. Boston, [1913]; New York, [1921]. [Cited as ' Amplified +Version.'] + +*Poetics*. *Aristoteles iiber die Dichtkunst*, trans, by A. +Gudeman. Leipsic, 1921. + +*Poetics*. See A. Gudeman, *Die Syrisch-Arabische Uebersetzung +der Aristotelischen Poetik*. In *Philologus* 76 (1920). 239 — 65. + +*De Anima*, ed. and trans, by R. D. Hicks. Cambridge, 1907, + +*De Anima*. Aristote, *Traite de l’Âme*, ed. and trans, by G. Rodier. +2 vols. Paris, 1900. + +*Nicomachean Ethics*, trans, by J. E. C. Welldon. London, 1892. + +*Politics*, trans, by B. Jowett, ed. by H. W. C. Davis. Oxford, 1908. + +*Rhetoric*, with a Commentary by E. M. Cope, ed. by J. E. Sandys. +3 vols. Cambridge, 1877. + +*Rhetoric*, trans, by R. C. Jebb, ed. by J. E. Sandys. Cambridge, 1909. + +*Rhetoric*, trans, by J. E. C. Welldon. London, 1886. + +*De Sophisticis Elenchis. Aristotle on Fallacies, or the +Sophistict Elenchi*, trans, by E. Poste. London, 1866. + + +II. THE TRACTATUS COISLINIANUS +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +[This text is hereafter sometimes referred to as the *Tractatus +Coislinianus*, more commonly as the ‘Tractate.’ It has appeared in +the following works (the list is not exhaustive), the first edition +being that of Cramer, and the best either that of Kaibel or that of +Kayser.] + +.. $$$ FIXME page xvii of the PDF + +Cramer, J. A., ed. Anecdota Graeca e Codd. Manuscriptis Bibliothecae +Regiae Parisiensis. Oxford, 1839. (The Tractatus Coislinianus is at +the end of vol. i, pp. 403-6.) [Cited as 'Cramer.'] + +Kaibel, G., ed. Comicorum Graecorum Fragmenta 1.50-3. [See Kaibel, +below under (V) Miscellaneous.] + +Kayser, J. De Veterum Arte Poetica Quaestiones Selectae, pp. 6-8. +[See Kayser, below under (V) Miscellaneous.] + +Vahlen, J., ed. [See his third edition of the Poetics, pp. 78-80, +above under (I) Aristotle.] + +Bernays, J. Zwei Ahhandlungen, pp. 137-9. [See Bernays, below under +(V) Miscellaneous.] + +Rutherford, W. G. A Chapter in the History of Annotation, pp. 436 7. +[See Rutherford, below under (V) Miscellaneous.] + +Scholia Graeca in Aristophanem, compiled and ed. by F. Diibner, pp. +xxvi-xxvii. Paris (Didot), 1855. + +[For comment on the Tractatus Coislinianus, see Cramer, as above ; +Starkie, Acharnians, below under (IV) Aristophanes ; and belo ' under +(V) Miscellaneous, Arndt, Bernays, Kaibel, {Die Prolegomena, etc.), +Kayser, McMahon, Starkie {An Aristotelian Analysis of ' the Comic,' +and Wit and Humour in Shakespeare), and Rutherford.] + +III. PLATO +~~~~~~~~~~ + +Platonis Opera, ed. by J. Burnet. 5 vols. Oxford, [1902-1906]. + +The Dialogues of Plato, trans, by B. Jowett. Third ed. 5 vols. +Oxford, [1892]. [Cited as ' Jowett,' with volume- and page-number.] + +FiNSLER, G. Platon und die Aristotelische Poetik. Leipsic, 1900. + +Greene, W. C. The Spirit of Comedy in Plato. In Harvard Studies in +Classical Philology 31 (1920).63-123. + + +IV. ARISTOPHANES +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +The Comedies of Aristophanes, ed. and trans, by B, B. Rogers. London, +1902-1916. Frogs, 1902 ; Ecclesiazusae, 1902 ; Birds, 1906; Plutus +(with a trans, of Plautus' Menaechmi), 1907; Knights, 1910; +Acharnians, 1910; Lysistrata, 1911 ; Peace, 1913 ; Wasps, 1915 ; +Clouds, 1916. [Cited as ' Rogers, Birds ' ; 'Rogers, Frogs'; etc.] + +Acharnians, ed. and trans, by W. J. M. Starkie. London, 1909. (For +Starkie's use of the Tractatus Coislinianus in relation to +Aristophanes, see his Introduction, pp. xxxviii-lxxiv.) [Cited as ' +Starkie, Acharnians.'] + +Clouds, ed. and trans, by W. J. M. Starkie. London, 1911. [Cited as ' +Starkie, Clouds.'] + +Dunbar, H. A Complete Concordance to the Comedies and Fragments of +Aristophanes. Oxford, 1883. + +Mazon, p. Essai stir la Composition des Comedies d'Aristophane. +Paris, 1904. [Cited as ' Mazon.'] + +[For the relation of the Tractatus Coislinianus to Aristophanes, see +also Rutherford, below under (V) Miscellaneous; and compare Scholia +Graeca in Aristophanem, above under (II) The Tractatus Coislinianus, +and likewise Tzetzes in Kaibel, Comicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, below +under (V) Miscellaneous.] + +V. MISCELLANEOUS +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Arndt, E. De Ridiculi Doctrina Rhetorica. Bonn dissertation, 1904. +(Contains an important discussion of the Tractatus Coislinianus.) +[Cited as ' Arndt.'] + +Bekker, I., ed. Anecdota Graeca. Berlin, 1814, (Vol. i, p. loi, +contains the reference of the Anti-Atticist to Aristotle's Poetics.) + +Bernays, J. Erganzung zu Aristoteles' Poetik. In Zwei Ab-handlungen +iiber aie Aristotelische Theorie des Drama (pp. 133-86). Berlin, +1880. (Contains text and discussion of the Tractatus Coislinianus, +and is an attempt to reconstruct the Aristotelian theory of comedy.) +[Cited as ' Bernays.'] + +Brentano, E. Aristophanes und Aristoteles, oder iiber ein +Angeb-liches Privilegium der Alten Attischen Komodie. Berlin +Pro-gramm, 1873. [Cited as ' Brentano.'] + +Butcher, S. H. Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art. [See +Poetics, Butcher, above under (I) Aristotle.] + +By WATER, I. [See Poetics, By water, above under (I) Aristotle.] + +CiCERONis Scripta Omnia, ed. by C. F. W. Miiller, R. Klotz, A. S. +Wesenberg, and G. Friedrich. 4 Parts in 8 vols. Leipsic, 1890-1896. + +Cicero. De Officiis, ed. and trans, by W. Miller. London, 1913. + +Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta. [See below, Kock.] + +Comicorum Graecorum Fragmenta. [See below, Kaibel; and compare below, +Meineke.] + +CoRNFORD, F. M. The Origin of Attic Comedy. London, 1914. [Cited as ' +Cornford.'] + +Croce, B. Esthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistic, +trans, by D. Ainslie. London, 1909. + +Croiset, a. and M, Hisioire de la Litterature Grecque. 5 vols. Paris, +1896-9. [Cited as ' Croiset.'] + +Croiset, M. Aristophanes and the Political Parties at Athens, trans, +by J. Loeb. London, 1909. + +Demetrius On Style. The Greek Text of Demetrius De Elocutione, ed. +and trans, by W. R. Roberts. Cambridge, 1902. + +Eastman, M. The Sense of Humor. New York, 1921. + +Egger, a. E. Essai sur I'Histoire de la Critique chez les Grecs. +Third ed. Paris, 1887. [Cited as ' Egger.'] + +FiSKE, G. C. The Plain Style in the Scipionic Circle. In Classical +Studies in Honor of Charles Forster Smith (pp. 62-105). Uni' versity +of Wisconsin Studies in Language and Literature, No. 3, 1919. [Cited +as ' Fiske.'] + +Flickinger, R. C. The Greek Theater and its Drama. Chicago, [1918]. + +Forchhammer, p. W. De Aristotelis Arte Poetica ex Platone Illusiranda +Commentatio. Kiel, [1847]. + +Fragmenta Comicorum Graecorum. [See below, Meineke.] + +Freud, S. Wit and its Relation to the Unconscious, trans, by A. A, +Brill. New York, 1916. + +Grant, M. A. The Ancient Rhetorical Theories of the Laughable in +Cicero and Horace. University of Wisconsin doctoral dissertation +(typewritten manuscript), 1917. + +FiNSLER, G. [See above under (III) Plato.] + +Greene, W. C. [See above under (III) Plato.] + +GuDEMAN, A. [See Poetics, Gudeman, two entries, above under (I) +Aristotle.] + +Haigh, a. E. The Attic Theatre. Third ed. by A. W. Pickard-Cambridge. +Oxford, 1907. [Cited as ' Haigh.'] + +HiRZEL, R. Der Dialog, ein Literarhistorischer Versuch. 2 parts. +Leipsic, 1895. + +H6FFDING, H. Humor als Lebensgefiihl {der Grosse Humor), eine +Psychologische Studie, German trans, from Danish by H. Goebel. Berlin +and Leipsic, 1918. + +Horace. Carmina, ed. by F. VoUmer. Editio maior. Leipsic, 1912. + +Kaibel, G., ed. Comicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, vol. i, fasc. prior. +Berlin, 1899. (Contains De Comoedia Graeca Com-mentaria Vetera, +including Tractatus Coislinianus, the Pro-oemia of Tzetzes, etc.) +[Cited as ' Kaibel.'] + +Kaibel, G. Die Prolegomena IIEPI KQ.M^T/1TaX. Abhand-lungen der +Koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen. +Philologisch-historische Klasse. Neue Folge, Band 2, No. 4. Berlin, +1898. + +Kallen, H. M. The Aesthetic Principle in Comedy. In American Journal +of Psychology 22 (1911)- 137-57- + +Kayser, J. De Veterum Arte Poetica Quaestiones Selectae. Dis-sertatio +Inauguralis. Leipsic, 1906. (Contains text and an important +discussion of Tractatus Coislinianus.) [Cited as ' Kayser.'] + +KocK, K. T., ed. Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta. 3 vols. Leipsic, +1880, 1884, 1888. [Cited as ' Kock.'] + +KOrte, a. Die Griechische Komodie. Leipsic, 1914. + +Legrand, p. E. The New Greek Comedy, trans, by J. Loeb. London, 1917. +[Cited as ' Legrand.'] + +Mazon, p. [See above under (IV) Aristophanes.] + +McMahon, a. p. On the Second Book of Aristotle's Poetics and the +Source of Theophrastus' Definition of Tragedy. In Harvard Studies in +Classical Philology 28 (1917). 1-46, (Gives some ditteniionto +th.eTractatus Coislinianus.) [Cited as ' McMahon.'] + +Meineke, a., ed. Fragmenta Comicorum Graecorum, 5 vols, in 4. Berlin, +1839, 1840, 1841, 1857 (vol. 5 containing Comicae Dictionis Index by +H. Jacobi). [Cited as ' Meineke.'] + +Menander. The Principal Fragments, ed. and trans, by F. G. AUinson. +London, 1921. + +Meredith, G. An Essay on Comedy and the Uses of the Comic Spirit, ed. +by L. Cooper. New ^ ork, [1918]. (Contains, pp. 295-307, a +Bibliography of works on comedy.) + +MoLiERE. J. B. P. CEuvres (in Les Grands Ecrivains de la France). 13 +vols. Paris, 1873-1900. [But I have usually followed the text in the +Qiuvres Completes de Moliere, pub. by Didot, Paris, 1874.] + +Prescott, H. W. An Introduction to Studies in Roman Comedy: the +Interpretation of Roman Comedy; the Antecedents of Hellenistic +Comedy. Collected, and reprinted for private circulation, from +Classical Philology ii (1916), 12 (1917), 13 (1918), 14 (1919). + +QuiNTiLiAN. Institutio Oratoria, ed. by L. Radermacher. Leipsic, 1907 +(vol. I, Libri 1-6). + +QuiNTiLiAN. Institutio Oratoria, ed. by E. Bonnell. 2 vols. Leipsic, +1896. + +QUINTILIAN. Institutes of Oratory, trans, by J. S. Watson. 2 vols. +London, 1875, 1876. + +Rabelais, F, Tout Ce Qui Existe de ses QLuvres, ed, by L. Moland. +Paris, [n. d.] + +Reich, H. Der Mirmis, cin Litterar-eniwickelungsgeschichtlicher +Versuch. Berlin, 1903. + +Rogers, B. B. [See above under (IV) Aristophanes.] + +Rutherford, W. G. A Chapter in the History of Annotation; being +Scholia Aristophanica, Vol. III. London, 1905. (Contains, pp. 435-55, +text (in part) and explanation of Traciatus Coislinianus. [Cited as ' +Rutherford.'] + +Schmidt, J. Euripides' Verhaltnis zu Komik und Komodie. Grimma, 1905. + +Schonermarck, K. L. Quos Affectus Comoedia Sollicitari Voluerit +Aristotelis, Quaeritur. [Dissertation.] Leipsic, 1889. + +Shakespeare, W. [Usually cited in the three-volume edition, with text +of W. J. Craig and comments by E. Dowden, pub. b}^ Oxford University +Press.] + +Stark IE, W. J. M. An Aristotelian Analysis of ' the Comic,' +Illustrated from Aristophanes, Rabelais, Shakespeare, and Moliere. In +Hermathena, No. 42 (Dublin, 1920), pp. 26-51. [Cited as ' Hermathena +42.'] + +Starkie, W. J. M. Wit and Humour in Shakespeare. In A Booh of Homage +to Shakespeare, ed b}^ I. Gollancz, pp. 212 226. Oxford, 1916. + +Starkie, W. J. M, [See also his editions of the Acharnians and the +Clouds, above under (IV) Aristophanes.] + +Theophrastus. Characters, ed. and trans, by R. C. Jebb. New ed. by J. +E. Sandys. London, 1909. + +Volkmann, R. Die Rhetorik der Griechen und Romer in systemat-ischer +tjbersicht dargestellt. Second ed. Leipsic, 1885. + +White, J. W. The Verse of Greek Comedy. London, 1912. + +Zielinski, T. Die Gliederu7ig der Altattischen Komoedie. Leipsic, +1885. + + +INTRODUCTION +------------ + +So that as an imitator Sophocles will be on one side akin to Homer, +since both represent higher types of character ; and on another to +Aristophanes, since both represent persons as acting and doing. + +Aristotle, Poetics, chapter 3. + +I + +THE INVESTIGATION OF LITERARY TYPES + +An investigation into the nature of comedy falls within the province +of the study of literary genera or types, a subject in which students +of ancient, mediaeval, and modern literature should alike be +interested. And yet not many such types have been methodically +examined. We have, indeed, the masterly work of Hirzel entitled Der +Dialog ; with which, in point of excellence, we may class Rohde's Der +Griechische Roman, and perhaps The New Greek Comedy of Legrand. More +speculative, not to say fanciful, is the nevertheless valuable work +of Reich, Der Mimus, which is stimulating and not neglectful of +detail, though here and there building too elaborately where the +basis of fact is necessarily slender. To these we may add Das +Literar-ische Portrdt der Griechen by Ivo Bruns ; the Geschichte der +Autobiographie by Misch; and Werner's Lyrik und Lyriker. A few other +volumes might be noted, as that of Greg on Pastoral Drama, and that +of Anna Robeson Burr on The A utobiography. The list could not be +greatly + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-2 + +extended, unless we chose to include works incidentally dealing with +a hterary type in order to explain some individual author or the +like; for example, Bradley's Shakespearean Tragedy. + +In the relatively few cases where we observe no such special +limitation, the investigator is likely to emphasize one of two +interests. First, he will concern himself with what we may term the +anatomy, the physical structure, of the literary type he has in view; +and will do so to the neglect (if we may carry on the figure) of its +physiological function. That is, he will try to show us the +quantitative parts that may be distinguished in a given kind of +literary work, without explaining the proper effect of the whole ; +and by this latter I mean the effect upon a duly qualified judge. Or, +secondly, with a mind still dwelling upon formal structure, rather +than proper function, he will trace the growth of the type from its +known, or, more probably, from its hypothetical, beginnings in the +past, in order to account for its anatomy in a later stage. + +The emphasis upon structure is justified when formal dissection +becomes useful to the study of function. The emphasis upon origin and +growth is not astonishing in the present age, when so many scholars +and men of science are dominated by a philosophy of evolution. In the +time of Aristotle, certainly in Aristotle himself, a juster balance +was struck between the philosophy of change and the philosophy of +absolute values. If^ with our well-marked interest in growth and +structure, we must admit for our day a corresponding lack of interest +in the end and purpose of a given type when it has reached the +highest point of development we are aware of, the lack can not fail +to be a source of regret, as it can not fail to injure our +perspective. Not all the + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-3 + +works I have mentioned are equally open to the implied objection; one +is reluctant to withhold the highest praise from such admirable +studies as those of Hirzel and Rohde. Nevertheless the fact remains +that, whether from the past or the present, we possess, all things +considered, but a single adequate investigation of a literary type +with regard to form and function; and that, too, in spite of the +numerous critical works that have sprung from its loins. This is the +examination of tragedy, in connection with the serious epic, by +Aristotle, in the work which we know as the *Poetics*. Even his +Rhetoric, though a more elaborate production as we have it, though +generally more readable, and though the most searching analysis of +human nature we have received from classical antiquity — even his +Rhetoric, though still the best work of its kind, may be thought, if +not inferior, to be more obviously and directly utilitarian in its +aim. The *Poetics*, fragmentary though it be, or at all events in some +sort an epitome, is scientific in the best sense of the word, while +remaining practical, too. There were critics in the Renaissance (not +in the Middle Ages) who deemed it infallible. Infallible it is not in +all details; yet for method and perspective it never has been equaled +in its field. With justice, therefore, Alfred Croiset, after +contrasting the dogmatism of a Scaliger or a Boileau with the +perspective of that Aristotle whom they regard as a master-critic, +observes: + +\* Of late, certain scholars [as Mahaffy], perhaps through a natural +reaction against the former idolatry long accorded to the *Poetics*, +have seemed to take pleasure in depreciating the work. This new +exaggeration is not more reasonable than the other. The *Poetics* is a +masterpiece, in which the fundamental traits of Greek poetry, +considered in its evolution as + +a 2 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-4 + +well as in its essence, are noted with a precision that gives the +work a value well-nigh eternal.'^ + +However, the work as we have it touches upon lyrical poetry only in +so far as this is involved in a discussion of the dramatic chorus, +and of the musical element in the drama; and it touches upon comedy +either in an incidental way, or, otherwise, by implication only. + +II + +A LOST ARISTOTELIAN DISCUSSION OF COMEDY + +It is generally believed that Aristotle included in his writings or +lectures a systematic treatment of comedy; so far as I have read, the +belief has never been seriously questioned, unless by McMahon.^ Nor +do I intend to do more than raise the question; though so long as no +clearly authentic work nor any distinct part of one, treating of this +genus and attributable by a good tradition to Aristotle, is known to +exist, there is always the possibility that he did not systematically +deal with the subject — save by implication in our *Poetics*. He might, +conceivably, have found that the emotions of laughter defied +analysis. Or, having dealt with comedy in his lectures, he might have +left no record of his discussion even in the shape of notes ; and it +might be that no student of his had made any record of a lecture or +lectures, or that all such records had quickly perished. But evidence +in the *Poetics*, references in his other works, evidence in other +writers + +^ Alfred and Maurice Croiset, Hist. Lit. Grecque 4. 739-40. ^ E. g., +McMahon, p. 28 ; but see ibid., p. 44. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-5 + +who refer to him, and general probabiHty, favor the view that he +discussed the subject in more than passing fashion in a written +record. + +It is generally agreed that the loss of any discussion of comedy by +Aristotle is a very serious one to students of literature. Bywater +holds that the analysis appeared in Book 2 of a work in which the +extant *Poetics* constituted Book i; he says: + +' Although Book 2 is now lost, there are indications in Aristotle +himself which may give us some idea of the ground it must have +covered. It may be taken to have comprised (i) the discussion on +comedy promised in *Poetics* 6. 1449^21, and (2) the catharsis theory +to which reference is made in Politics 8. 7. I34it>32.^ What we are +told in more than one passage in the Rhetoric ^ is enough to show +that ^a ^(zkoia, the appointed subject of comedy, must have been +considered and examined with the same analytical care as in the +treatment of Tcc (popspoc 7.ai zkzsv/d in the surviving theory of +tragedy. And if his theory of comedy was on much the same lines as +that of tragedy, Aristotle must have had something to say on the +[xuOoi of comedy, and also on the -^Goc and lihg of the comic +personages. The strange expression, ... to Bs Twav-rcov +/.yvTo^a-oOv,^ may perhaps have been in its original setting an +illustration of the possibilities in the way of diction in comedy. As +for the catharsis theory, the only place we can imagine for it would +be, as Vahlen {Aristotelische Aufsdtze 3, p. 10) has seen, at the end +of Book 2. In such a position it would come in naturally enough, as a +final word on the whole subject of the drama, justifying the +existence of both tragedy and comedy in reply to the polemic of Plato +in the Republic. The discussion itself can hardly have been a brief +one. The + +^ See below, p. 130. + +^ See below, pp. 123, 138-40. + +^ See below, p. 150. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-6 + +subject was too large and too controversial to be disposed of in some +one or two short chapters.'^ + +With these bold conjectures of an ordinarily cautious + +scholar we may compare the assurance of Rutherford, + +who believes that the Tractatus Coislinianus^ represents + +a lost section of the *Poetics* : + +\* It is not that the laughter of comedy had not been properly +analyzed. Even the scrimp and grudging abstract, now sole relic of +the section in the *Poetics* concerned with comedy, will convince +anybody who keeps it in his head as he listens to Greek comic +TupocjwTua [the personages of Aristophanes] that a Greek had indeed +read for Greeks the most secret heart of " the mother of comedy," +and, probe in hand, had made clear wherefore it beat, and what it was +made of — unconventionality, spite, malice, impudence, devilment, +ribaldry, whimsicality, extravagance, insincerity, non-sensicalness, +inconsequence, equivoque, drivel, pun, parody, incongruity in all +sorts and sizes. But Aristotle thought too much, and was too great an +observer, to be loved by commentator and rhetor.'^ + +Or again, take Starkie: + +' The loss that literature has sustained through the disappearance of +the chapters of the Poetic of Aristotle dealing with comedy can be +estimated from a study of the Tractatus, which Cramer edited, from +the Codex Coisli[ni]anus, more than a half-century ago.'^ + +Of late there has appeared an able destructive argument by McMahon^ +to the effect that there never was a second book of the *Poetics* ; but +the argument does not minimize the loss of an Aristotelian treatment +of comedy, if Aristotle produced one: + +^ Bywater, p. xxiii. ^ See below, pp. 224-6. ^ Rutherford, p. 435. + +^ Starkie, Acharnians, p. xxxviii. Starkie published in 1909, Cramer +in 1839. + +^ See especially McMahon, p. 36. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-7 + +' Since the Renaissance any treatment of Aristotle's *Poetics* has +discussed and lamented the loss of a second book. Because this book +... is supposed to have contained a theory of comedy, its loss, +measured by the value of the Aristotelian theory of tragedy, is +incalculable.'^ + +The objections brought by McMahon against the + +existence of a second book, while they reveal a bias + +toward destructive criticism,^ are on the whole fairly + +convincing, and we may accept his guarded conclusion : + +' While we are, by the conditions of the problem, prevented from +making a categorical denial, we can, I feel sure, assert that +sufficient reason can not be shown to warrant the belief that such a +book ever existed.'^ + +But the question seems to be one of no great importance. The present +division of other works of Aristotle into ' books ' need not be, in +some cases can not be, ascribed to the author himself, and may have +been effected long after his time; witness the Metaphysics and the +Nicomachean and Eudemian Ethics. We see the same sort of thing in the +works of Plato : only a very mechanical editor would end Book 2 of +the Republic in the midst of the discussion of poetry. But the belief +that no editor ever divided the *Poetics* into \* books ' would not +compel us to deny that Aristotle ever wrote on comedy in a more +definite way than we observe in the extant treatise. Nor would the +doubt McMahon, following Shute, has thrown on the authen- + +1 McMahon, p. i. + +•^ See his unduly sceptical attitude (McMahon, p. 35) to the +credibility of the Anti-Atticist. + +^ McMahon, p. 9. His argument is so condensed, and his citations of +the evidence, and of other scholars who have dealt with it, are so +full, that I can not attempt to give an abstract, but must refer the +student to the article itself; see the Bibliography, above, p. xx. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-8 + +ticity of the references from other works of Aristotle to this^ +justify one in holding that the treatise now contains all it ever +contained on the subject. Take, for example, the statement in +Rhetoric i. ii that the forms of the ludicrous have been analyzed in +the *Poetics*,'^ and the still more specific assertion in Rhetoric 3. +18 that they have been enumerated in the *Poetics*? On the law of +chances, there being six references from the Rhetoric to the *Poetics*, +one of these two might have come from the author himself, and the +other from a subsequent editor — though the second is built into the +substance of a connected passage. The most unlikely assumption is +that Aristotle made none of the ' cross-references ' to be found in +works so intimately related in subject as the Rhetoric and the +*Poetics*. But on any assumption short of universal incredulity we must +contend that one person, or more than one, familiar with at least two +of the writings of Aristotle, interested in Rhetoric, and interested +in the ludicrous, was aware of a schematic treatment of the ludicrous +not then or now found in the Rhetoric, and not now found in our +*Poetics*, but then found in a work with some such title as the latter. +There might have been a confusion of the *Poetics* with Aristotle's +dialogue On Poets ; but the most natural explanation is that the +*Poetics* once included an explicit inquiry into the sources of comic +effect — something analogous to, or possibly in essentials identical +with, the analysis of the sources of laughter in the Tractatus +Coislinianus.'^ + +That explanation does not require the hypothesis of a second book of +the *Poetics*. This treatise has certain + +1 McMahon, pp. 17-21. + +^ See below, p, 123. + +^ See below, p. 138, + +\* See below, pp. 224-5, 229-59. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-9 + +characteristics, but not all, of a rounded whole. The outline, which +is excellent, is at times worked out with care, and at times has the +look of notes made in advance by a lecturer, or during the lecture by +one of the audience, or again, of an abstract from a dialogue.^ Or +the general effect may be likened to that of an imeven abstract taken +from the major part of a longer book and belonging to a later period. +The scheme is elastic enough to admit of expansions by the original +author in the substance, even of insertions of new but germane +material. Some such outline could have served Aristotle in his +teaching throughout a number of years. Whatever the history of the +work, what we now have is more likely to be a reduction than an +extension of his oral treatment of the subject. In comparison with +several other works of the same author — with the Constitution of +Athens, or the Nicomachean Ethics, or the Politics, or the first two +parts of the Rhetoric — we can hardly grant that the extant *Poetics* +constitutes a finished essay, duly revised for publication. The +Politics, though the end is missing, is far more like one. Meanwhile, +since the question of books or parts has been raised, we may note +that the cleavage between Books I and 2 of the *Poetics*, supposing +that there were two ' books,' need not have appeared at the close of +the present treatise ; it might com.e before that — for example, +between chapters 22 and 23. In other words, if the work was +originally longer than it is now, if it underwent compression +throughout, but more toward the end than in the earlier sections, and +if something has been lost at the end, still, granting for the moment +that there once were two ' books,' it would not be + +^ See my 'Amplified Version,' pp. v, xxvi-xxviii. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-10 + +necessary to suppose that all of the second had been lost. At all +events, it would not be out of keeping with the scheme of our *Poetics* +if to the four sections into which it now readily divides^ there were +added a fifth, consisting of remarks on comedy, and related in +various ways to what went before. + +But the mechanical division of Aristotle's works is a question of +secondary importance. It is obvious that a theory of comedy, if the +author elaborated one, would be associated in his mind, and in the +minds of his pupils and editors, with his sketch of tragedy and epic +poetry, even though such a theory, whenever produced, had no more +organic connection with the main work than the third book of the +Rhetoric has with the first two. + +Ill + +THE TRACTATUS COISLINIANUS + +We turn now to the strange fragment or condensation of a theory of +comedy known as the Tractatus Coislini-anus, to which I shall not +seldom refer as the \* Tractate ' ; its obvious relation to the +*Poetics* of Aristotle was noticed by Cramer, who first printed it, in +the year 1839," from a manuscript of the tenth century. No. 120 in +the De Coislin collection at Paris. A better transcript of the +manuscript was utilized by Bernays for his Ergdnzung zu Aristoteles\* +Poetik (1853, 1880),^ and the text has been several times reprinted, +as by + +1 Bywater, p. xvii, distinguishes five sections: chaps. 1-5, 6-22, +23-4, 25, 26. I include chaps. 25-6 under one head, that of problems +in criticism and their solutions. + +2 Cramer i. 403-6. + +^ Bernays, Zwei Ahhandlungen, 1880, pp. 133-86. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-11 + +Vahleni and by Rutherford,^ the best editions being that of Kaibel +(1899) in the only part issued of his Comicorum Graecorum Fragmenta^ +and that of Kayser (1906)^ in De Veterum Arte PoeticaQuaestiones +Selectae. Perhaps through a reaction from the effervescent style of +Rutherford,^'but mainly in order to strengthen his case against a +second book of the *Poetics*, McMahon goes far in depreciating the +significance of the fragment.^ On the other hand, Kayser, the results +of whose study of the Tractate McMahon deems ' the most credible of +all,' but whom he does not quote, declares that, ' Of the ancient +commentaries dealing with Greek comedy, as no one will fail to +perceive, the most valuable for an investigation into the history of +the art of poetry is the " Tractatus Coislinianus." '' Condensed, +then, though the fragment is, among the vestiges of a theory of +comedy that have come down to us in the Greek tradition (aside from +the *Poetics* of Aristotle and the Philebus of Plato) it is, not merely +for historical purposes, but in itself, by far the most important. +The antiquity of the original source for various parts of it is +reasonably clear. Perhaps we may grant that the treatise shows ' +several different strata in its development to its present state ' ^; +that it betrays the hand, now of an industrious and faithful student +of Aristotle, now of a less intelligent imitator determined at all + +1 In Vahlen's third ed. (1885) of the *Poetics*, pp. 78-80. + +^ Rutherford, pp. 436-7. + +^ Kaibel, pp. 50-3. + +•\* Kayser, pp. 6-8. + +^ See above, p. 6. + +® McMahon, pp. 27, 29-34. + +' Kayser, p. 5 : ' Commentariorum veterum, qui sunt de comoe-dia +Graeca, plurimum valere ad artis poeticae historiam investi-gandam +tractatum ilium qui vocatur Coislinianus nemo erit quin intellegat.' + +^ McMahon, p. 27. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-12 + +costs to bring his work into line with the doctrine or the terms of +the *Poetics* ; and that the definition of comedy seems to merit the +censm*e passed on it by Bernays and Bywater.^ Nevertheless, from the +very natm^e of the fragment — from the fact that it is a fragment or +abstract, — every one of these three concessions may be questioned. +That tragedy has ' grief ' for its \* mother/ and that comedy has ' +laughter ' for its \* mother' — as the Tractate informs us — seem to +be very un-Aristotelian conceptions. Yet they may be old; and, +besides, we know nothing of the kind of utterances Aristotle put into +the mouths of the speakers other than himself in his dialogues. The +division of comedy into ' Old,' ' New,' and ' Middle,' has been +thought to be manifestly post-Aristotelian. Of the division of poetry +into ' mimetic ' and ' non-mimetic ' we can not with certainty affirm +as much.^ It contradicts one of the central doctrines of the *Poetics*, +that a man is a poet only in so far as he is \* mimetic ' — in so far +as he keeps himself out of his poem and \* imitates ' his object, ' +men in action.' But there are discrepancies just as glaring within +the extant *Poetics* ; ^ indeed, even in that work Aristotle +recognizes, in addition to the properly dramatic genius who keeps his +own sentiments in abeyance, the enthusiastic poet who gives way to +his own welling emotions.^ Of this kind, it may be, in his view, was +Solon, whose \* poems ' and ' poetry ' he repeatedly quotes in the +Constitution of Athens,^ and whom he cites in the Politics and +Rhetoric as one + +^ Bernays, p. 145 ; Bywater, p. xxii. But see below, pp. 69-77 » and +see also Kayser, p. 31. + +^ For all these allusions, see below, pp. 224-8. ^ See my ' Amplified +Version,' pp. xxvi-xxviii. \* *Poetics* 17; see my 'Amplified Version,' +p. 58. " Ed. by Sandys (1912), 5. 14 (p. 20), 12. 2 (p. 43). + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-13 + +who had written poetry (Tuor/jo-oc?, zzoiy]Gz)^ And it will be +recalled that Aristotle's own verse is of the non-mimetic description +;2 in his well-known scolion, for example, he does not \* imitate ' +the thoughts of some fictitious personage, but sounds the praise of +virtue in his own way. Again, the argument against the Tractate — +that it is un-Aristotelian, — on the ground that certain technical +terms are not there used in the same sense as in the Rhetoric, is +hardly valid, since the Rhetoric is not a treatise on comedy. Some +are so used, and some are not. Within the limits of a single work, in +the *Poetics*, for example, Aristotle does not always use a given term +twice in the same way.^ But I make no point of defending the Tractate +on the ground that any large share of it is very original. In it the +hand of an unskilful adapter may have levied upon an earlier, more +ample source, or more than one source; what he had before him may +have been an intermediate compilation lying between him and Aristotle +or Theophrastus or some later critic. + +iParts of it may not ultimately derive from Aristotle ; others may +show an unintelligent use of the *Poetics*, or else a badly-mangled +tradition. But if in others there is a combination of materials from +the *Poetics*, Rhetoric, and Ethics, the adaptation has been made with +skill. When all possible objections have been urged against the +fragment, there remain certain elements in it that, we may contend, +preserve, if not an original Aristotelian, at all events an early +Peripatetic, tradition. If I may speak for myself, a study of the ' +parts of dianoia ' + +1 Politics I. 8. I256b33 ; Rhetoric i. 15. 1375^34. ^ Aristotle, +Fragmenta, ed. by Rose (1886), 671-5 (X. Carmina, pp. 421-3; compare +frg. 676 {ibid., p. 424). ^ See below, pp. 54-5. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-14 + +has greatly increased my respect for the Tractate.^ And, to come back +to the hst of the sources of comic effect: however bald in its +present shape, it betrays the workings of a powerful mind anterior to +the age of the epitomator. Something might be said for the +attribution of this list, and the ' parts of dianoia,' (possibly with +other analyses and observations such as the differentiation of comic +' character ') to Theophrastus, a pupil of Aristotle, and his +successor as head of the Peripatetic school; that is, if the +significant parts of the Tractate do not by some road go back either +to a *Poetics* of Aristotle more complete than ours, or to his dialogue +On Poets.^ It is this very list that, as we saw,^ most fully +satisfies the references from the Rhetoric to an enumeration of the +species of laughter in some work on poetry. And it is this list, the +most valuable part of the fragment, against which the destructive +critics have had least to say. Kayser, who has studied several items +in the list, but pays no attention to the ' parts of dianoia,' +wishes, however, to assign the original source of the Tractate to a +date not earlier than the first century b. c, assuming the existence +of a work on poetry from which not only the epitomator or excerptor +of the fragment, but other authors as well, drew their materials,^ +and arguing from the appearance of technical terms in a sense too +late for the time of Aristotle. It may be seen that some of the terms +describing the parts of comic dianoia may have been used in a +technical sense before the time of Aristotle ;^ so that perhaps the +whole question should be reopened. + +^ See below, pp. 265-81. + +2 McMahon, pp. 27, 43-4. + +^ See above, p. 8. + +^ Kayser, p. 44. + +^ See below, pp. 265-80. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-15 + +But speculation regarding the early history of the *Poetics* (with its +relation to the dialogue On Poets), and of the Tractate, is well-nigh +futile. Of greater significance is the actual correlation of the +Tractate, effected by Bernays, by Rutherford, and above all by +Starkie, with the thought of Aristotle and the phenomena of ancient +comedy. Through constructive effort, the fragment serves to explain +Greek comedy in the same way, if not to the same extent, as the +*Poetics* has served to explain Greek tragedy and the epic. By a +systematic application of the *Poetics* to Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, +and Euripides, the thought of the treatise is seen to be fundamental; +general truth and specific example mutually corroborate and delimit +each other ; and, with care, the application may be extended to +modern literature, even to other types than were known to Aristotle. +Similarly, the Tractate may be applied, as has been done by +Rutherford and Starkie, to Aristophanes, to Shakespearean comedy, and +to Moliere. The work of Starkie, and I believe my own on the 'parts +of dianoia,' will show that in certain essentials the Tractate has +the universal quality we ascribe to the generalizations of the +*Poetics*^ + +IV + +THE NATURE OF THE PRESENT RECONSTRUCTION + +In his Ergdnzung zu Aristoteles' Poetik, Bernays has attempted to +reconstruct the Aristotelian theory of + +^ Starkie, Acharnians, pp. xxxviii-lxxiv; see also his article on +Aristophanes, Rabelais, Shakespeare, and Moliere, in Hevma-thena 42. +26-51, and his article in A Book of Homage to Shakespeare, ed. by +GoUancz, pp. 212-26. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-16 + +comedy from the Tractatus Coislinianus. He takes the Tractate as his +basis. Accepting the fragment as ultimately deriving from Aristotle, +he aims simply to explain and correct this in the light of other +AristoteHan works, including the Rhetoric and Nicomachean Ethics, but +especially, of course, the *Poetics*. He rightly assumes that we must +guard at every point against false additions and mistakes of the +epitomator — or, as may now be said, against a corrupt tradition in +general, if, to quote more fully the statement of McMahon,^ ' this +treatise, manifestly of Peripatetic origin,' gives evidence of ' +several different strata in its development to its present state/ The +ingenuity and learning of Bernays as a pioneer in evaluating the +Tractate are on a level with his merit as an interpreter of the +*Poetics* ; and if a stratum of the fragment be Aristotelian, it might +seem that in a constructive way he left Httle to be done, apart from +the illustrative work of Rutherford and Starkie. Nevertheless at two +cardinal points he falls short. First, notwithstanding the frequency +of reference to the Old Comedy in the Aristotelian Didascaliae,^ and +the indications that the work of the scholiasts on Aristophanes had +its original impulse from Aristotle; notwithstanding the use by the +scholiasts, in commenting on this poet, of categories similar to +those of the Tractate; and notwithstanding the vital character of the +first reference to Aristophanes in the *Poetics*,^ Bernays thinks that +Aristotle underrated the Aristophanic drama in comparison with a +later type verging on the New Comedy. Now it is one of my assumptions +that Aristotle would include + +^ McMahon, p. 27; see above, p. 11. ■^ See below, pp. 156-9. ^ See +below, p. 172. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-17 + +more than one type of comedy in his survey, and that he could not +possibly exclude Aristophanes; to the evidence for this view I shall +later return.^ Secondly, Bernays, making use of the few direct +references to comedy in the *Poetics* as a supplement to the Tractate, +subordinates the *Poetics* to the Tractate. But I subordinate the +Tractate to the *Poetics*. To me, whatever the authenticity of the +Tractate, by far the greater part of an Aristotelian theory of comedy +is to be found in the *Poetics* itself; to some extent, of course, in +the direct references, since their value can hardly be overestimated +; but also implicitly in the main conceptions of the work as a whole, +and, throughout the work, in many details of the discussion of +tragedy. The inference can hardly be challenged, if the two kinds of +drama were as intimately related in the mind of Aristotle as they +were in their actual existence.^ + +And hence I contend that, with a slight shift, which can be m.ade in +the light of the direct references, or in the light of similar +references in the Rhetoric and other works of Aristotle, the *Poetics* +can be metamorphosed into a treatise on comedy; whereupon the +authentic elements (if such there be) of the Tractatus Coislinianus +become an addendum, very significant in any case, but subordinate to +the main Aristotelian theory of comedy, and improperly estimated +unless viewed in a perspective of the whole. In such a perspective, +the + +1 See below, pp. 19-41, + +- Compare Croiset, Hist. Lit. Grecque 3. 424-5: 'L'histoire de la +comedie en Grece est plus intimement liee que nuUe part ailleurs a +celle de la tragedie. Non seulement, comme partout, ces deux genres +ont cohabite sur les memes scenes et ont exerce I'un sur Tautre une +influence constante, mais de plus, issus du meme culte, animes de la +meme inspiration religieuse, ils ont jusqu'^ la fin servi et honore +le meme Dieu. Au meme titre que la tragedie, la comedie grecque est +essentiellement dionysiaque.' + +b + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-18 + +categories of the ludicrous in the Tractate, whether they proceed +from Aristotle himself, or were merely produced under his influence, +fall into line as a part of a rational and helpful method in the +study of the drama. + +Of course I do not wish to imply, either here or elsewhere, that +Aristotle's theory can thus be fully recovered ;^ or indeed that it +could be otherwise truly restored than by the reappearance of a more +complete work in manuscript. For example, if the notion of catharsis +really had for him the interest commonly supposed, we certainly can +not reproduce what he may have said or thought of it in regard to +comedy; his views on the emotional effect of comedy must remain +partly conjectural. Still, many other positive results can be +obtained, and yet more can be fairly inferred. + +ARISTOTLE AND ARISTOPHANES + +Before going further in our reconstruction, we must open a question +regarding the sort of examples Aristotle would use in illustration of +his theory. As in the case of tragedy and epic poetry, his +generalizations would have been abstracted from the works of comic +poets, while doubtless transcending the practice of any one author. + +First, then, we must take issue with Meineke, Ber-nays, and such as +have followed them in contending that Aristotle would underrate +Aristophanes. Thus, + +^ Let this be my general warning, so that the reader may be spared +the constant repetition of qualifying phrases in what follows; there +are enough of them as it is. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-19 + +according to Butcher: ' It is doubtful whether Aristotle had any +perception of the genius and imaginative power of Aristophanes.'^ + +Bywater is more cautious, but tends to a similar conclusion: \* If +his theory of comedy had come down to us, we should probably find it +more applicable to the New Comedy than to that of Aristophanes.'^ And +Bemays thinks it probable ' from all we know of Aristotle that he +regarded the innuendo of the Middle Comedy as the correct method in +general.'^ The opinion mainly rests on a passage in the Nicomachean +Ethics,"^ where the propriety of obscene or abusive wit is discussed +in relation, not to the stage, but to the habitual conduct of the +individual, the subject-matter of Ethics. It rests also to some +extent on a statement in the Politics,^ bearing upon the education of +youth, one of the main considerations in this science. The opinion +can not be supported by any utterance of Aristotle in the *Poetics*, +where, on the contrary, we find it distinctly maintained that the +standard of propriety in the conduct of fictitious characters in +poetry is different from the standard of conduct for the individual +in his private life (according to the ideals of Ethics), or for men +in their communal activities and their relations to the State +(according to the ideals of Politics). He mentions Politics in +particular, but the term really is a general one, embracing both +communal and individual rights and duties. The standard of conduct in +poetry, says Aristotle, is different from the standard of correctness +in Politics or any other field of investi- + +^ Butcher, p. 380. 2 Bywater, p. ix; cf. ibid., p. 190. ^ Bernays, p. +150; see below, pp. 259-60. ^ See below, p. 120. , ^ See below, p. +125. + +b2 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-20 + +gation.^ Thus, whereas in the Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle advises +men to be perfect, in the *Poetics* he lets us see that the comic poet +should represent men as no better, but rather worse, than the +average.^ + +In other words, the propriety of the sentiments and utterances of +dramatic characters, like the propriety of the action as a whole, in +a comedy of Aristophanes or of any other poet, is to be judged, not +first of all by what is fitting in actual life, public or private, +but by a rule of art. With this, the supposed radical objection of +Aristotle to Aristophanes upon ethical grounds, because of the +obscene features in the Old Comedy, instantly disappears.^ Moreover, +the *Poetics* frankly recognizes the origin of comedy in the phallic +procession and dance, without the least indication of censure.'\* To +the mime, in which modern authorities find the other chief source of +the genus, Aristotle alludes in connection with the Dialogues of +Plato ; we may suppose that he thought well of the mime, which was +sometimes more decent than Aristophanes, sometimes far less. + +Aristotle's main objection to Aristophanes, however, is supposed to +have arisen from the fact that the Old Comedy indulged in free +personal abuse of individuals ; whereas poetry tends to represent the +universal—in concrete form, to be sure. As the point is involved in +an imder-standing of the *Poetics* itself (and not of another work like +the Ethics or Politics) , I return to it when we come + +^ *Poetics* 25. i46obi3-i5 ; see below, p. 218. + +2 Ibid. 2. I448ai-i8, 5, i449a32-4 ; see below, pp. 169-70, 176. +Compare also *Poetics* 25. i46ia4-9 ; see below, p. 219. + +2 Compare Brentano, p. 44 :' Die Frage nach dem kiinstlerischen Werth +der alten Komodie hat mit dieser ethischen Verurtheilung +schlechterdings nichts zu schaffen.' My judgment regarding +Aristotle's probable estimate of Aristophanes was reached and +formulated before I knew of the convincing Programm by Brentano, +whose argument in more than one detail coincides with mine. + +\* See below, p. 176. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-21 + +to the passages in their actual setting.^ But here we may note, first +of all, that Aristotle nowhere — neither in the *Poetics* nor elsewhere +in his extant works — objects to Aristophanes for his ludicrous +treatment of Euripides, Aeschylus, Socrates, or any one else. In +fact, throughout the writings of Aristotle there is no censure of +Aristophanes in any way, shape, or form; just as there is none of +Plato for his use of a kind of generalized \* Socrates,' often comic, +in his Dialogues. To suppose that the critic must have condemned the +poet for insufficient generalization of his comic material is pure +inference. Upon what grounds is the inference based ? + +Mainly upon the notion that Aristophanes may be included with the old +\* iambic poets ' (who devoted themselves to personal invective) +mentioned in *Poetics* 9.1451^14.2 But in the first reference to this +class of poets, in *Poetics* 4.1448^33—4, Aristotle is thinking, not of +dramatists, but of more ancient authors, in particular, it may be +supposed, Archilochus,^ and of mordant personal diatribes ; these +authors apparently belong to the age of Homer, according to the +method of reference in the *Poetics*. Aristotle has in mind such things +as the iambic poem of Archilochus in which the jilted bard attacked +the whole family of Lycambes, accusing the father of perjury and his +daughters of abandoned lives. And in this second instance (9.1451b +14) he is thinking of poets, probably dramatists, but possibly not, +anterior to Crates,^ who had become eminent by b c. 450, and died +(?)before b. c. 424. Aris- + +^ See below, pp. 192-3, 259-60. + +See below, p. 192. + +^ See By water, p. 130; cf. Aristotle's Rhetoric 2. 23. + +\* See below, pp. 177-8. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-22 + +tophanes was born in b. c. 445/4, the generally accepted date, or +perhaps ten years earher; according to Kent, he died in b. c. 375 or +later.^ He can not have seemed like a very ancient author to +Aristotle (born b. c. 384), who says in Poetics-4.144^^1—2 that the +archon did not grant a chorus to comedy until late in its history; +and it is held that the archon first granted a chorus to comedy in b. +c. 487 (Capps) or about b. c. 465 (By-water).^ Sixty, or not less +than forty, years after this ' late date ' occurred the first +presentation of a comedy by Aristophanes ; over one hundred years +after b. c. 487 occurred the last we know of in his lifetime^ — +possibly when Aristotle was about ten years old. In b. c. 340/39, +when Aristotle was at the height of his powers, there is an +indication of a revival of interest at Athens in the comedy of a time +preceding ;^ whenever the *Poetics* was written, we can see from the +reference in it to Aristophanes that he was then considered the +outstanding poet of his class. It is hard to think of any one +describing the most fertile and varied metrist of antiquity as a mere +' iambist '; but in any case the later plays of Aristophanes — for +example, the revised Plutus — could not by an^^ stretch of +imagination be included among the works of ' the old iambic poets ' +who vented their spleen in direct abuse of persons. Nor is there +reason to suppose that the earlier PhUus (b. c. 408) + +^ Roland G. Kent, When did Aristophanes Die? in The Classical Review +20 (1906). 153-5; cf. ibid. 19 (1905). 153-5. + +^ Haigh, p. 20, gives the date as fixed by Capps, B. c. 487 ; +Bywater, p. 142, citing Wilamowitz, says 'probably about B. c. 465'; +Cornford, p. 215, accepts B. 0. 487; Flickinger, The Greek Theater +and its Drama, p. 135, gives B. c. 486, + +^ I refer to the presentation of the Cocalus and the Aeolosicon ; see +Kent, as above {Classical Review 20. 154) : 'These two plays . . . +did not appear before 375.' + +^ Haigh, p. 22 ; cf. the inscription in Urkunden Dramatischer +Aitftiihrungen in Athen, ed. by Adolf Wilhelm, pp. 27-9. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-23 + +could be included among them. The last plays, the Cocalus and +Aeolosicon, are regarded as distinct forerunners of the New Comedy. +Platonius recognizes the Aeolosicon as belonging to the type of the +Middle Comedy;^ but according to a Greek biographer, + +' Aristophanes . . . was the first who exhibited the manner of the +New Comedy, in the Cocalus ; from which drama Menander and Philemon +took their origin as playwrights. . . . He wrote the Cocalus, in +which he introduced the seduction, and the recognition of identity, +and all the other artifices that Menander emulated.'^ + +Had the two plays been preserved, we should doubtless see that, from +first to last, Aristophanes ran the gamut of possibilities in Greek +comedy. + +We must now observe that the terms ' old ' (TuaXaidc) and ' new ' +(vsoc), familiar to us in the writings of later critics, are not +applied to comedy in the *Poetics* ; though a distinction between ' old +\* or ' ancient ' (TuaT^atwv) and' recent ' (/.aivwv) comedies is +made in Nicomachean Ethics 4.9 (=14) ;^ while the stages or varieties +of Old, New, and Middle Comedy (;caXata, vsa, [iscty]) are recognized +by the epitomator in the Tractatus Coislini-anus.^ In the *Poetics*, ' +old' {%oCkoLioi, 14.1453^27) and ' new ' (vsoi, 6.i45oa25) — not \* +recent ' (xatvoi) — are loosely used to differentiate an earher class +of tragic poets, including Aeschylus and Sophocles, from a later, +beginning with Euripides ; and there is a similar distinction +(6.i45ob7—8) between ol oLpynxXoi, including Sophocles, and oi vuv. +including Euripides and his followers or imitators.^ Now the lives of +the three + +^ In Kaibel, p. 4. + +^ Vita AHstophanis, in Prolegomena, No. 11, Diibner ; cf. Rogers, +Pluius, pp. xxiii-xxiv. " See below, p. 120. ^ See below, p. 226. ^ +Cf. Bj'^water, p. 167. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-24 + +tragic poets overlapped (Aeschylus, circa b. c. 525—456 ; Sophocles +B. c. 497 or 495 — 405; Euripides, b. 0. 480—406). And the change in +type of the comedies of Aristophanes shows itself as early as b. 0. +393, when the Ecclesiazusae was exhibited. The death of Euripides, +then, antedates the composition of the *Poetics* by perhaps seventy +years, while the Ecclesiazusae antedates it by perhaps fifty-five; +that is, if we agree with Croiset that most of the extant works of +Aristotle probably belong to the period b. c. 335—323,^ assuming, +too, that the *Poetics* was among the earliest of them. If it was one +of the later or latest, the intervals between it and the dates of +Euripides and Aristophanes are longer. If Sophocles was one of the ' +old ' tragic poets, and Euripides one of the ' new,' though their +activities coincided over a period of fifty years, and if +Aristophanes was exhibiting comedies during the last twenty years of +that period, and continued to be productive for twenty years more, +why should not Aristotle find the turning-point between the earlier +(not the archaic) and the later comedy where it is even now most +apparent, in the time, and even in the works, of Aristophanes himself +? + +We see, in the main from Aristophanes, that the transition from the +earlier type of Attic comedy went hand in hand with the circumstances +of the Pelopon-nesian war. The Ecclesiazusae and the Plutus, as is +noted by Rogers, \* are the only extant comedies which were produced +after the downfall of the Athenian empire.'^ From these the +development went on, in the Aeolosicon and the Cocalus, in the +direction of Philemon and Menander; then followed the bulk of what we +now + +^ Croiset 4. 693. + +2 Rogers, Plutus, p. xiii. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-25 + +call the Middle Comedy, which Aristotle doubtless would include with +the later plays of Aristophanes as ' new '; then came the New Comedy +proper, as we term it, the high tide of which Aristotle did not live +to see. Yet apart from the fact that he could study both an earher +and a later type in Aristophanes, his situation is analogous to that +of a critic born in the Jacobean period of English comedy, and hence +familiar with the Elizabethan type, who lived on to the time of the +Restoration and its drama. There is a difference, in that the drama +paused with the closing of the English theatres, whereas Greek comedy +went on without cessation. But we have a political break in England, +with the troublous times of the Commonwealth to match the fall of +Athens ; and the interval between the Elizabethan drama and the drama +of the Restoration just about matches the interval between the death +of Euripides, or the midway point in the career of Aristophanes, and +the age of the *Poetics*. + +There may be yet another parallel. The distinction which Aristotle +draws in the Ethics^ between the 'old ' and the \* recent ' comedies +is possibly much the same as the difference between the broad humor +of the Elizabethans and the innuendo of a Congreve. The innuendo of +the Restoration is more like the language a gentleman would permit +himself to use in private than are the obscenity and personal abuse +of a Falstaff. But we need not on that account imagine that a good +Greek critic, surveying both periods, would on every ground prefer +Congreve, let alone Wycherley, to Shakespeare. The late Middle Comedy +of Greece had its Wycherleys, too. And the Middle Comedy did not + +^ See above, p. 19; below, p. 120. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-26 + +renounce the satire of well-known individuals. Legrand remarks upon +the number of comedies of the Middle period having as title ' the +name of a politician, of a man-about-town, or of a courtesan/^ One +fragment of Epi-crates is a long and dull attack, meant to be funny, +on Plato and his school for their investigations into botany and +zoolog}/.- To Aristotle the mention of Plato, and of Speusippus, +whose hbrary he purchased after its owner's death, might not be +gratif3ring, in view of his relations to them and of his own +scientific interests. We should not jump to the conclusion that he +would find nothing in the comedy of his own age that did not meet his +approval. We should not run to any extreme in our speculations +regarding his likes and dislikes. He mentions a verse in Anaxandrides +as an ' iambic ' line"; but it is probable that he liked it. His own +jokes (if we accept a passage in Demetrius \*) resembled banter, did +not always differ from gibes, and sometimes ran close to buffoonery. +He relished the tragic address of Gorgias to the swallow, ' when she +dropped her leavings on him as she flew over ': ' " For shame, +Philomela \\ " ' \* In a bird, you know,' says the Stagirite, ' it +would not be disgraceful, but in a maiden it would.'^ Indeed, we +should expect from him a theory elastic enough to embrace the +excellences of each type of comedy, both ' the old ' and \* the +recent ' (? our ' Middle '). With his affection for the intermediate +between two extremes, he might be conceived as inventing the terms ' +Old,' ' New,' and ' Middle '; and we + +^ Legrand, p. 299. + +2 Athenaeus 2. 59c; cf. Kock 2. 287-8. Compare also Usener, Vovtrdge +und Aufsdtze, 1907, p. 83. ^ See below, pp. 159-60. " See below, pp. +102-3. ^ Rhetoric 3. 3. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-27 + +might fancy that these obtained their present appH-cation from +critics after the time of Menander. There is a haze surrounding the +terms ; we can but speculate concerning their origin.^ In discussing +tragedy, while Aristotle manifestly thinks of Sophocles' Oedipus the +King as a close approximation to the ideal, it is clear that he has a +high regard for Euripides' Iphigenia among the Taiirians. Certainly +there is one characteristic he would approve if he found it in the +poets of his own generation; a later authority says : + +'The poets of the Middle Comedy did not aim at poetic diction, but, +following the custom of ordinary speech, they have the virtue of good +sense, so that the poetic quality is rare with them. They all pay +attention to plot." + +If we had Aristotle's estimate of several ' recent ' comedies, we +should know more than we do of that Middle Greek Comedy which for us +is intermediate as well in type as in point of time. Perhaps his +ideal in comedy would be a compromise between the best of the earlier +and the best of the later plays. If Aristophanes is both \* old ' and +' new,' the Birds might be thought to combine the largest number of +his excellences on either side — as Sophocles is a kind of golden +mean betwixt the older Aeschylus and the more modem Euripides, or as +The Tempest is the golden mean in Shakespearean comedy. + +Little as we know of Aristotle's preferences in comedy, it is not +idle to speculate about them from such data as we possess. Bywater, +we recall,^ conjectures that the Aristotelian theory would have been +more + +^ See below, p. 285. Plautus comes nearer than Terence to the Middle +Comedy. + +2 Anonymus in Kaibel, pp. 8-9. 2 See above, p. 19. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-28 + +applicable to the New Comedy; this conjecture is in line with the +notion of Bywater that in the extant *Poetics* Aristotle writes with an +eye to the practice of the tragic authors of his own day — that he +writes to be useful. Doubtless he did write with a practical as well +as a theoretical aim, and accommodated his theory to current usage. +Nevertheless the main principles of the work are derived, for tragedy +and epic poetry, from Homer and Sophocles. There is no question that +Aristotle deemed these two authors pre-eminent in their respective +fields. Like all other great critics, he is conservative in his +attitude to the past, while tolerant of the new when it is good, and +benevolent toward the future. His first and only reference to +Aristophanes in the *Poetics*, linking this poet with Homer and +Sophocles, shows Aristotle to be conservative in his estimate of the +comedy preceding his own time. + +Important or unimportant, his references to comic poets, so far as we +can identify them, if they indicate anything, show that he paid more +attention to the authors of what we call the Old Comedy than to those +of the next succeeding stage. The colorless citations in the remnants +we have of the Didascaliae, and in fragments therewith associated, +yield the names of Aristophanes [Clouds, both first and second +version. Peace, two versions, Frogs, Storks, and apparently +Daedalus), Eupolis (Maricas and Flatterer), Ameipsias [Conmis), +Cratinus [Flagon), Leucon [Clansmen), Ar-chippus [Ass's Shadow), and +Strattis.^ In the *Poetics* there is mention of Aristophanes, Crates, +Chionides, Epicharmus, Hegemon, Magnes, and Phormis. The + +^ For all references in Aristotle to comic poets, see below, pp. +140-161. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-29 + +comic poet Plato (unless the reference be to the philosopher) is +cited in the Rhetoric, and Strattis is quoted with approval in De +Sensu et Sensihili. The sole early writer of comedy whom Aristotle +names in a fashion that may imply disapproval is Ecphantides, +mentioned in Politics 8.6, in a discussion of the flute; yet the +objection to the music of the flute is on the score of its +undesirability in the education of children and youths, and does not +touch its recognized use in the realm of poetry. Crates evidently +stands high in the opinion of Aristotle, since Crates attended to the +construction of comic plots '} and Epicharmus seems to be a favorite +with Aristotle as with Plato.^ But for the significant reference to +Aristophanes in the *Poetics*, we might take Epicharmus to be +Aristotle's prime favorite among comic authors, for there are, all +told, perhaps thirteen references to Epicharmus or lines of his +throughout Aristotle's works. The remaining allusions to Aristophanes +by name are two : examples of comic diminutives from the Babylonians +are given in the Rhetoric ; and the imaginary discourse attributed to +the poet by Plato in the Symposium is noted, without bias, in the +Politics. Further, the illustration of paromoiosis in Rhetoric +3.9.1410 a 28—9 seems to come from an unidentified play of +Aristophanes. I lay no stress on the possibility that the +Anti-Atticist's excerpt from the *Poetics*, to Bs TuavTtov xuvTOTairov, +may be an Aristophanic formation.^ + +When Aristophanes has so notable a place near the beginning of the +*Poetics*, why are the references to him elsewhere in Aristotle so few +? One answer is that + +^ See below, pp. 177-8. - See below, pp. 111-2. + +^ See above, p. 5, below, pp. 150, 233 ; cf. Starkie, Acharnians, p. +liii, No. 4. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-30 + +chance often governs in such matters. The name of Virgil, a favorite +author with Wordsworth, appears but once in the poetry of Wordsworth, +and then only in the adjective \* Virgihan/ In like manner, though +Aristotle esteems Sophocles, and doubtless esteems Aeschylus, too, +above Euripides, yet throughout his works he cites Euripides +something hke twice as often as Sophocles, and more than four times +as often as Aeschylus. In the Politics he refers to Sophocles once, +to Aristophanes once, and to the quotable Euripides six times. No +inference to the disadvantage of Aristophanes should be drawn from +the paucity of allusion to him outside of the Didascaliae. If the +valuable categories in the Tractatus Coislinianus come from +Aristotle, he could have deduced and illustrated them all from +Aristophanes, as the work of Rutherford and Starkie abundantly shows. + +We turn to the next generation of comic poets, and first of all to +the citations from Anaxandrides. He is cited once in the Ethics, and +thrice certainly, and a fourth time possibly, in the Rhetoric ; at +best, five times in all (as compared, for example, with thirteen +allusions to Epicharmus). From this (' ex jrequenti Anaxandridis +commemoratione ' !) Meineke^ concluded that Aristotle thought highly +of the poet, and a belief to this effect has since prevailed.^ The +one possible and three certain references to Anaxandrides in the +Rhetoric are close together in the third book;^ all we can infer from +them is that Aristotle (if the third book be his) found Anaxandrides +quotable in illustrating + +^ Meincke i. 369. + +^ But the error can be traced back to the Renaissance. + +^ Within three chapters, and within three pages in Bekker's +numbering: Rhetoric-i. 11. 14121)27 (the doubtful citation) ; 3. 10. +I4iiai8; 3. 11. 1412^16; 3. 12. 1413^25. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-31 + +a few closely related points in rhetorical theory; they tell us +almost nothing of this poet in relation to Aristotle's theory of +comedy. The doubtful quotation, indeed, ■— ' A worthy man should wed +a worthy wife ' — he condemns for its tameness; one of the others +(3.10.1411^18) he calls an \* iambic ' line; and in Nico-machean +Ethics 7.11 he describes the poet as \* scoffing ' or ' jeering.' He +does speak in Rhetoric 3.11 of the ' admired ' line in Anaxandrides: +' Well is it to die ere one has done a thing worthy of death.' Let us +grant that he joined in admiring it. Yet were we to follow Butcher +and others in attributing to Aristotle a dislike of Aristophanes for +jeering and scoffing, for ' iambizing,' the balance of the references +to Anaxandrides should tell against the latter also. If at most we +believed that Aristotle found Anaxandrides generally quotable, yet he +found Euripides more so, citing him six times in the Rhetoric, and +many times elsewhere — for example, seven times in the Nicomachean +Ethics. + +Of the other poets belonging to what we term the ' Middle ' Comedy, +he distinctly mentions none save Phihppus; the sole reference, in De +Anima, may point to a confusion with Eubulus. The absence of +indubitable allusion to Antiphanes,^ the most fertile writer of this +class, is at least worth noting. From the group of poets of the +Middle Comedy, Croiset^ singles out for brief treatment Antiphanes, +Anaxandrides, Eubulus, and Alexis, and in that order. It has quite +gratuitously been supposed by Meineke" that a comedy alluded to in +*Poetics* 13.1453^37\* was the Orestes of Alexis; + +^ See below, pp. 34, 149. + +^ Croiset 3. 60^-9. + +^ See Kock 2. 358. + +\* See below, p. 201. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-32 + +if only one play is meant, we can not be sure that the comedy +belonged to the age of Aristotle, though this seems likely, and much +less can we determine its authorship. As for Eubulus and the +reference in De Anima to a comedy on the tale of Daedalus, by' +Philippus' (the son of Aristophanes), the attribution is at best +obscure } the Daedalus of Aristophanes himself may in some way be +involved. The reference to Xenarchus in the *Poetics*^ is to the author +of mimes, who must not be confused with the comic poet of the same +name. + +These meagre and partly doubtful references to Middle Comedy do not +argue any great concern with it on the part of Aristotle. However, I +desire not so much to belittle his concern with it as to stress his +probably greater interest in Aristophanes; and will even bring +forward a neglected piece of evidence that he may have had Antiphanes +in mind at one point in the *Poetics*. In chapter 9,^ where he speaks +of history as characterized by particular statements, and poetry by +universal statements, he continues : ' In comedy this has already +become clear; for the comic poets first combine plots out of probable +incidents, and then supply such names as chance to fit the types — in +contrast with the old iambic poets, who, in composing, began with the +particular individual.' The illustration does not necessarily point +to his immediate contemporaries, but, if it includes them, there is +an interesting parallel in a fragment of Antiphanes' Poiesis. The +parallel might be striking enough from the title of the comedy but +for the frequency of such titles; Kock lists, in addition, a Poiesis +by Aristophanes, a Poietai and a Poietria by + +^ Meineke i. 340-3; Kock 2. 172-3. ^ See below, p. 168. ^ See below, +p. 192. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-33 + +Alexis, a Poietai and a Poietes by Plato, another Poietes by Biottus, +another by Nicochares, and yet another by Phoenicides.^ It is more +striking from what Aristotle says in the same chapter 9, and in +chapter 13, about the familiar stories to which the practice of the +tragic wTiters in his time had narrowed down. The thought of +Antiphanes is sufficiently trite : + +' Tragedy is in every respect a fortunate type of poetry. First of +all, the stories are familiar to the spectators before any of the +characters begins to speak. The poet has only to revive a memory. If +I merely name Oedipus, the spectators know the rest: his father +Laius, his mother locasta, his daughters, his sons, his sufferings +and all he did. Simply mention Alcmaeon, and the very children will +promptly tell you the whole story — how in a fit of madness he slew +his mother, and straightway, having done the deed,^ he came and went, +back and forth. Again, when they [the tragic poets] have nothing more +to say, and have exhausted their dramatic invention, as easily as +lifting a finger they raise the machine, and the spectators are +content with the solution. + +' We [comic poets] lack these resources. We have to imagine +everything — new names, what went before, what happens now, the +change of fortune, and the opening of the play. If a Chremes or a +Phido makes a slip in one of these points, he is hissed. A Peleus or +a Teucer may safely make one.'^ + +If there is a debt on either side, the dates would favor a borrowing +from Antiphanes [circa B.C. 404—330) by Aristotle, whose *Poetics* may +have been composed near the latter date; though the reverse borrowing +is possible. + +^ Kock 3. 704. + +- Accepting Kock's conjecture of 6k dqaaag for tf ^A^Qctarog. 2 +Antiphanes, frg. 191, Kock 2. 90-1 ; compare Aristophanes, frg. 528, +Kock I. 526. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-34 + +Kock takes the Peparethia mentioned in Rhetoric 2.23 to be the title +of a comedy, and guesses at Antiph-anes as the author.^ + +Besides the maxim (' A worthy man/ etc.) doubtfully assigned to +Anaxandrides, Kock lists some fifteen passages of unknown authorship +which he treats as quotations or reminiscences from the comic poets +in Aristotle. None of the sixteen ^ does he ascribe without question +to the Old Comedy; six he places among fragments from the ' New ' +(which with him includes the ' Middle ') ; six are among the +fragments concerning which he is doubtful whether they come from the +New {' Middle ') or the Old ; one^ in his opinion may or may not have +its source in a comic poet; and the remaining three\* contain mere +chance-associations with the language of Cratinus, Aristophanes, and +Strattis respectively. + +What principle governs this distribution when there is no evidence ? +Apparently no true principle, but the presupposition that Aristotle +necessarily leaned away from the Old Comedy of Aristophanes, and +leaned toward the New. How far this belief has carried scholars may +be seen in the following two cases. First, in Politics 1.7.1255^29—30 +Aristotle quotes as a familiar proverb the saying, \* Slave before +slave, master before master.' And what Aristotle calls ' the proverb' +(ty)v :iapot[j.iav) Bonitz [Index Aristotelicus, s. v. OiXyjijlwv) +regards as a quotation from the Pancratiastes of + +^ Kock 3. 463, frg. 302. + +^ Kock 2. 164, Anaxandrides, frg. 79; (the following all ot unknown +authorship) 3. 448, frg. 207, 208, 209, 210; 3. 463, frg. 302; 3. +493, frg. 446, 447, 448, 449; 3. 524, frg. 650a; 3. 545, frg. 779. +See also 3. 612, frg. 1229; 3. 712, frg. 243; 3. 724, frg. 684; 3. +730. frg. 38. + +•^ Kock 3. 612, frg. 1229. + +\* Kock 3. 712, frg. 243 ; 3. 724, frg. 684 ; 3. 730, frg. 38. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-35 + +Pliilemon, where the proverb certainly was used. Secondly, in De +Sophisticis Elenchis 4.y.i663.;^6—y appears the line, syw c-"\* +sOrjxa BouXov ovt' sXsuOspov, from an original that later was +probably known to Terence (cf. Andria i. i. 10) ; the substance of +the Andria being drawn from Menander, Bonitz {Index, p. 454, s. v. +Menandri) represents Aristotle as quoting from him. How likely is it +that our author quoted from either Philemon or Menander ? Aristotle +taught at Athens from B.C. 335 to 323; he left Athens in 323, and +died in 322. Philemon began to present comedies at Athens about B.C. +330 ; he died, b. c. 262, at the age of ninety-nine years ; in that +interval he is said to have produced cither ninety or ninety-seven +plays, sixty of vrhich are known to us by title or by fragments. To +suppose that Aristotle quoted from him is to suppose that De +Sophisticis Elenchis was written within the last five years of +Aristotle's activity — but we know virtually nothing about the +sequence of his numerous writings; that the Pancratiastes was one of +the first five or six comedies of Philemon; and that the proverb +about slaves and masters was not a popular saw, and was not common +property. As for Menander (? born b. c. 342), his first play was +given in b. c. 322/1,^ the year after Aristotle left Athens — the +year of or after his death. Aristotle could not well have known any +play by Menander ; rather, he knew the sources and models, including +plays of Aristophanes, which Menander followed. Yet Egger, sharing +the prejudice of Bonitz and the rest, adduces the Plutarchian +Comparison of Aristophanes and Menander as evidence of an +Aristotelian tradition in Plutarch, antagonistic to the Old Comedy ! +^ If we make + +^ Clark, Classical Philology 1 (1906). 313-28, argues for b. c. 324; +this date would not spoil 1113- case. 2 Egger, p. 411. + +c 2 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-36 + +the triple distinction between Old, Middle, and New Comedy, the +generation of Menander, chief representative of the New in our sense, +could have had no influence upon Aristotle's theory of poetry.^ + +Doubtless the extant works of Aristotle contain still other, as yet +unidentified, allusions to the comic poets ;2 and doubtless the lost +works contained other allusions. His industry and flexibility as a +student and writer were such that, when he devoted himself to a +special investigation of comedy, he might frequently illustrate from +an author, or from groups of authors, seldom alluded to in his other +works. I have intimated that, if the Tractahis Coislinianus contains +Aristotelian matter, we may suppose that various generalizations in +it were originallj/ provided with examples from Aristophanes, to +judge, not merely from the chance illustrations preserved by +Tzetzes,^ but from the wealth of the examples adduced by Rutherford +and Starkie, and from evidence on the relation between ' opinion ' +and ' proof,' on the one hand, in the Tractate and the Rhetoric, and +the corresponding devices, on the other, in Aristophanes.^ Or again, +take the statement of the Tractate on the language of comedy: \* +Comic diction is customary and popular.' The description would fit +the poet of whom Maurice Croiset says: ' The diction of Aristophanes +represents for us the very perfection of the Attic dialect in its +familiar cast.'^ Quintilian speaks of the poet in similar fashion.^ +As to character + +^ The propriety of the distinction has been discussed by Legrand, pp. +4-12. + +2 See my article, A Pun in the Rhetoric of Aristotle, in The American +Journal of Philology 41. 48-56. + +^ See below, pp. 288-9. + +^ See below, pp. 265-80. + +^ Croiset 3. 580. + +^ Instituiio Oratoria 10. i. 65-6; see below, p. 92. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-37 + +and plot, the following opinions recorded by Platonius + +and Tzetzes may embody something of the original + +Aristotelian theory: + +'In the delineation of human character Aristophanes preserved the +mean ; for he is neither excessively bitter like Cratinus, nor +over-kindly like Eupolis; but he has the vigor of Cratinus toward the +erring, and the tolerant kindness of Eupolis.'^ + +'And the Old Comedy itself is not uniform ; for they who in Attica +first took up the production of comedy (namely Susarion and his +fellows) brought in their personages in no definite order, and all +they aimed at was to raise a laugh. But when Cratinus came, he first +appointed that there should be as many as three personages in comedy, +putting an end to the lack of arrangement; and to the pleasure of +comedy he added profit, attacking evil-doers, and chastising them +with comedy as with a public whip. Yet he, too, was allied to the +older type, and to a slight extent shared in its want of arrangement. +Aristophanes, however, using more art than his contemporaries, +reduced comedy to order, and shone pre-eminent among all.'^ + +Thus far I have tried to show som.e particular grounds for believing +that Aristotle would be interested in Aristophanes ; that he did not +underestimate him in comparison with the so-called Middle Comedy, or +with the New. We now come to the question of general proba-bihty, +keeping in mind, how^ever, the text which links this poet with +Sophocles and Homer. Other things being equal, is it on the whole +likely that Aristotle w^ould fail to recognize the genius of +Aristophanes ? Is it not more likely that, if he recognized it, but +if no record of his opinion were preserved, some one w^ould accuse +him of wanting the necessary insight, and others would repeat the +accusation ? A similar want of insight + +^ Platonius, in Kaibel, p. 6. + +2 Tzetzes, ibid., p. 18; see below, p. 288. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-38 + +regarding Aristophanes has been ascribed to Plato ; it is common to +patronize any great thinker or man of taste for some such alleged +defect of judgment. + +The relation of Plato to comed^^ is reserved for another section ;^ +but the reader will excuse a few anticipatory remarks on this head. +The bias of the philosopher is supposed to be shown in the Republic +and the Apology. In the Republic he makes Socrates include the comic +poets in the Socratic attack upon imitative art; and in the Apology +he makes the same dramatic personage complain of ill usage at the +hands of Aristophanes in the Clouds. But what Plato makes Socrates +affirm in the Dialogues, and what Plato himself thought and did, are +not identical. The attack upon imitative art would exclude the +imitative dialogue containing it from the ideal State of Socrates. +Not only that, but it would exclude virtually all the Platonic +Dialogues; and among them the Symposium, in which Plato gives us a +fictitious Aristophanes, devising for him a highly Aristophanic +speech that must have convulsed the hearers with laughter. In the +Republic, the Guardians are not to laugh immoderately. Could anything +more clearly reveal the inner sympathy of Plato with the great comic +poet than the ludicrous yet imaginative myth in question ? However, +we have the testimony of Olympiodorus that Plato ' greatly dehghted +in the comedies of Aristophanes and the mimes of Sophron; so much so +that, when he died, these works, we are told, were discovered in his +bed.'^ He bears no malice for the good-natured mockery of the +Republic, if such there be, in the Ecclesiazusae, and must have seen +in the Birds a great comic-Utopia not inferior in + +^ See below, pp. 98-132. + +2 Quoted from Rogers, Clouds, p. xxix. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-39 + +its kind to his own; tradition has it that he sent the Clouds to +Dionysius, t3n"ant of Syracuse, as an indication of the spirit of +Athens, and that he composed the epitaph (eleventh Platonic Epigram +in the Greek Anthology) : + +The Graces, desiring an imperishable shrine, chose the soul of +Aristophanes.^ + +Aristotle counts as an even more objective critic than his master. +Arguing from general probability, we may say that, of all the +literary critics the world has seen, he is the one most likely to +have appraised the worth of Aristophanes correctly. His opinion of +Homer and Sophocles has stood the test of time. His analysis of +tragedy has been the foundation of all subsequent inquiries, and has +not been superseded. He is the master of critical analysis. The +chances are a thousand to one that his insight into Greek comedy was +superior to that of modern scholars like Meineke and Butcher. Cicero +and Quintilian, who owe much to him, and have the same standard of +refinement, recognize the value of the Old Comedy and its leading +poet ;2 Sir Thomas Elyot, an Aristotelian in spirit and training, +prefers Aristophanes to Lucian on moral grounds.^ Was Aristotle +inferior as a critic to them ? Or was he less likely than St. John +Chrysostom, or Bishop Christopher Wordsworth,\* or Jeremy Taylor, to +make + +^ Cf. Croiset 3. 532. + +■^ Cicero, De Legibus 2. (15)37, ^^ Officiis 1. {29) (see below, p. +91) ; Quintilian, Insiiiutio Oraioria 10. i. 65-6 (see below, p. 92). + +^ Elyot, The Governour 1. 10. . In speaking of Elyot as an +Aristotelian, I refer to his political theory. + +\*\* See Rogers, Acharnians, pp. li-lvi. Rogers would like to believe +the statement of Aldus Manutius, made, in the ^''ear 1498, 'as though +it were a matter of common notoriety,' that 'Saint Chrysostom is +recorded to have set such store by Aristophanes that twenty-eight of +the poet's comedies were never out of his hands, and formed his +pillow when he slept; and that from this source + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-40 + +allowance for those elements, the origin of which he knew, the +vestiges in Aristophanes of the traditional phallic procession whence +the Old Comedy in part arose ? In our time we have no great +difficulty in allowing for them, or for the broad humor and worse in +Shakespeare; are we more objective than Aristotle ? He must also have +perceived a great literary critic at work in the Frogs, and doubtless +in the lost Potests. He might, indeed, have found fault with various +details in the comedy of Aristophanes, as he does with details of +procedure in Sophocles, and even in Homer. He might, like Rogers, +have regretted ' that the phallus-element should be so conspicuous' +in the Lysistrata, when, as Rogers adds, ' in other respects there +are few-dramas — ancient or modern — which contain more noble +sentiments or more poetic beauty.'^ He might well have offered +discrepant views in accounting for various excellences of different +comic poets or schools of comedy; as he does in making out a case for +the tragic quality in Oedipus the King, and again, contradicting the +former argument, for the handling of the tragic incident in Iphigenia +among the Taurians,^ But could the author of the Rhetoric and *Poetics* +have failed to see the power of the literary critic at work in the +Frogs ? Could the zoologist Aristotle have overlooked the exact and +far-reaching knowledge of ornithology displayed in the Birds ? Would +the economist Aristotle miss the keen understanding of wealth and +poverty beneath the laughter of the Plutus ? The architectonic power +of + +he was thought to have drawn his marvelous eloquence and austerity.' +Manutius' authority for his statement is unknown. Compare Anton +Naegele, Johannes Chvysostomos und sein VerhcUtnis zum Hellenismus, +in Byzantinische Zeitschrift 13 {1904). 73-T13. + +^ Rogers, Lysistrata, p. ix. + +^ See my 'Amplified Version,' pp. xxvi-xxviii. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-41 + +PRINCIPLES OF OUR RECONSTRUCTION 41 + +Aristophanes would net have escaped Aristotle, nor the play of +imagination and inventive genius working freely and surely within the +rigorous traditional scheme of the Old Comedy ;i the skilful +adaptation of means to ends for the arousal of mirth and joy in the +Birds would not have escaped him; or else the judgment of the ages on +Aristotle's eminence as a literary critic, and the judgment of Cicero +and Quintilian regarding his ability as a stylist, are sadly at +fault. The guess of Butcher — 'it is doubtful whether Aristotle had +any perception of the genius and imaginative power of Aristophanes ' +— is, to say the least, highly improbable. The probabilities are +that, in his judgment of Aristophanes, Aristotle was the same +penetrating and incisive critic as in his judgment of Sophocles and +Homier. + +VI + +THE PRINCIPLES OF THE PRESENT RECONSTRUCTION + +We may assume, then, that Aristotle would not neglect Aristophanes +and the contemporaries of that author; and we may assume that he +would not neglect the poets (little as we know concerning them) of +the ' Middle ' Comedy — the direct forerunners of Philemon and +Menander. To adapt what Bywater says of the *Poetics* and tragedy ; ^ +His ideal comedy would probably be a compromise between the comedy of +the great era and that of his own day. + +^ See below, pp. 56-9. ^ Bywater, p. viii. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-42 + +Partly to recapitulate, but also advancing, let me state my main +assumptions as follows. + +(i) Bernays makes the Tractatus Coislmianus central. I make the +*Poetics* as it stands central, and the schematic Tractate subsidiary. + +(2) The scientific method employed by Aristotle in his investigation +of tragedy remains the same in his examination of epic poetry, and +would not be greatly modified in its application to comedy. So far as +we now can discover, his fashion of investigating tragedy must have +been somewhat as follows.^ + +Starting with the Platonic-Socratic contention^ that a literary form +— an oration, for example, or a tragedy — has the nature of a living +organism, Aristotle advanced to the position that each distinct kind +of art must have a definite and characteristic activit}^ or function, +and that this specific function or determinant principle is +equivalent to the effect that the forni produces on a competent +observer; that is, form and function being as it were interchangeable +terms, the organism is what it does to the person capable of judging +what it does or should do. Then further, beginning again with the +general literary estimates, in a measure naive, but in a measure also +technical,^ that had become more or less crystallized in the interval +between the great age of the Attic drama and his own time, and that +helped him to assign tentative values to one play and another, the +master-critic found a way to select out of a large extant literature +a small number of dramas that must + +^ The next paragraph is taken with some modification from my notice +of Anna Robeson Burr, The Autobiography, in the Philosophical Review +19 (1910). 344-8, esp. p. 345. + +^ See Phaednis 264c. + +^ See *Poetics* 15 (end), 17 (referenceto Polyidus) — in my ' Amplified +Version,' pp. 53, 59 ; see also above, pp. 32-3, below, pp. 126-7. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-43 + +PRINCIPLES OF OUR RECONSTRUCTION 43 + +necessarily conform more nearly than the rest to the ideal type. As +in the Politics, which is based upon researches into a large number +of constitutions and municipahties, yet with emphasis upon a few, so +in the *Poetics* his inductions for the drama must repose upon a +collection of instances as complete as he knew how to make it without +injury to his perspective; that is, his observation was inclusive so +that he might not overlook what Bacon termed ' crucial instances.' +Through a scrutin}' of these crucial instances in tragedy, and +doubtless through a study of the actual emotions in audiences at the +theatre, he still more narrowly defined what ought to be the effect +of this kind of art upon the ideal spectator, namely, the catharsis +of pity and fear — the relief of disturbing emotions, and the +pleasure attendant upon that relief. Then, reasoning from function +back to form, and from form again to function, he would test each +select drama, and every part of it, by the way in which the part and +the whole conduced to this emotional relief. In this manner he +arrived at the conception of an ideal structure for traged}^ a +pattern which, though never fully realized in any actual play, must +yet be the standard for all of its kind. He proceeded, if we have +given the steps correctly, as does the sculptor, who after long +observation, com-^ parison, and elimination, by an imaginative +s^mthesis combines the elements he has seen in the finest specimens +of humanity into a form more perfect than nature ever succeeds in +producing; or as does the anatomist, whose representation of the +normal bones and muscles is likewise an act of imagination, ascending +from the actual to an ideal truth, and is never quite realized in any +one individual, though partially realized in what we should call a ' +normal' man. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-44 + +(3) Much of the *Poetics* as it stands is impHcitly apphcable to +comedy; with a httle manipulation it becomes directly applicable, and +not merely to Aristophanes, but, such is its universality, to the +fragments of Menander, and to Plautus and Terence, who restore to us +some part of the lost Greek comedies intervening, and also to the +modern comic poets. + +The essence of my procedure, accordingljs is to make the necessary +shift in the *Poetics* ; to work back and forth from principles in that +work to examples in com-ed}^; and to use the Tractate as important +but subsidiary, adding examples to illustrate it, after the fashion +of Starkie, from Aristophanes, Shakespeare, Moliere, and other +sources. + +Since the foundations of modern science and scholarship w^ere laid +down by Aristotle, this procedure will, as I trust, tend to produce a +more illuminating theory of comedy than any hitherto put forward. If +my own effort should strike the reader as but partly successful, then +I hope that effort yAW stimulate some expert classical scholar to +apply more happily what seems to be a correct method. Rightly +utilized, the method should lead to a more helpful theory than, for +example, that of Cornford in The Origin of Attic Comedy, or that of +Zielinski in Die Gliederung der Altattischen Komoedie. Cornford is +ingenious and suggestive, Zielinski both brilliant and solid; but the +aim of each is different from that of Aristotle. Cornford lays all +the emphasis upon the ritual origins of the type ; as his title +indicates, he is an evolutionist; and he is well aware that ' in the +*Poetics* [Aristotle] was not concerned with ritual origins. . . . How +much more he knew or might have inferred + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-45 + +PRINCIPLES OF OUR RECONSTRUCTION 45 + +about the earliest stages of comedy we can not tell.'^ Zielinski is +occupied with his well-known theory of the agon, or contention, as +the basic element of comedy, and with questions of mechanical +structure — with external form rather than essential function; that +is, with what Aristotle would call the quantitative,^ rather than the +qualitative, parts of comedy, and not with the psychological effect +of the whole. Every student of comedy is much indebted to the Russian +scholar. But, as we may learn from Aristotle,^ in art, just as in +life, the end or aim — the function — is all-important. Aristotle +does not altogether forget the evolutionary process by which Greek +comedy came into existence; still, his historical sketch is +subordinate to the question of the effect produced by the best +comedy. Nor does he overlook the quantitative parts of tragedy, +though thev are for him a minor consideration. + +VII FUNDAMENTAL DEMANDS OF ARISTOTLE + +To judge from the *Poetics*, what would Aristotle demand of a comedy as +conducing to the function of a perfect work of art in this kind ? + +(i) First of all, organic unity. To him, a work of art is like a +living animal in that it is a unified organism. Even though the +scheme of the whole were distorted for comic purposes, still it would +be complete and imi-fied ; we might compare it to the outline of a +ludicrous animal, which does not lack a sort of comic perfection. + +^ Cornford, p. 219; compare Egger, p. 250, ^ See below, p. 198. ^ +*Poetics* 6. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-46 + +Or we might compare it to a comic mask, which, though distorted, is +not disorganized, but is complete and a whole. + +(2) Again, if a given drama is to be classed as a comedy, Aristotle +w^ould demand that it produce the proper effect of comedy — not any +chance effect, but a calculated one, and the right one. And the end +or aim will determine the means. + +(3) The correct means may be various, chiefly consisting in what is +said and done in the play, and secondarily in the emplo^mient of +music and spectacle. But underneath all lies the proper use of the +law of proportion, and the law^ of probability or necessity in the +sequence or order of details. That is, whether he keeps things in +proportion, or throws them out of proportion, the writer of comedy +must understand true perspective. He must understand the law of +proportion as surely as any other artist, as the tragic poet, in +order to deviate from it in the right way, at the right time, and to +the right extent. + +(4) Similarly with the law of probable or necessary sequence, to +which Aristotle attaches so much weight in considering tragedy and +epic poetry. The comic poet must work with this law clearly in mind, +in order to deviate from it, when deviate he may or must, in the +right way, and not in some inartistic fashion. + +(5) According to Aristotle, in every drama there are six constitutive +elements, to each of which the poet must give due attention. These +are : (a) plot; (b) ethos or moral bent (shown in the kind of choices +made by the personages of the drama) ; (c) dianoia or ' intellect ' +(the way in which the personages think and reason, their +generalizations and maxims, their processes in + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-47 + +going from the particular to the general or from the general to the +particular, and their efforts to magnify or to behttle the importance +of things) ; (d) the diction, the medium in which the entire stor^^^ +is worked out by the poet through the utterance of the personages; +(e) melody or the musical element in the drama (including the chants +of the chorus, individual songs, and the instrumental accompaniment); +(f) ' spectacle ' (all that appertains to costume, stage-setting, +scenery, and the like). The composing dramatist obviously does have +to attend to these six elements, and the list, as Aristotle correctly +observes, is exhaustive. It would be the same for a comic as for a +tragic poet. + +(6) As in tragic and epic poetry, so in comedy Aristotle would regard +the plot, or general structure of the whole, as the chief of the +qualitative or constituent parts of the play, since everything else +depends on that. He would deem the plot, or plan, or outline of the +Frogs, let us say, to be fundamental, and might add that a poet +should make a generalized sketch of his comedy before working out the +details; for example, thus: + +The god who presides over the musical and dramatic contests in a +certain city, finding that all the good tragic poets are dead, goes +to another world to bring back one poet — and brings back another. +There is a comic reversal of fortune. All the other incidents depend +upon this main story. + +And similarly he might sketch a somewhat different type of comedy, +like the Plutus, which we have, or the Cocalus, which is lost. + +Under this head some explanation is called for. As opposed to the +episodic structure in many plays of the Old Comedy, the development +of a more closely-knit + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-48 + +comic entanglement and unraveling, on the order of the involved +action in tragedy, began early, and seems to have led from Sicily and +Epicharmus through Crates, through the later plays of Aristophanes, +and through some, but not all, of the plays of the Middle Comedy, to +Philemon, Menander, and Diphilus.^ In spite of what Cornford and +others think, the intricate plot of Menander is not an inheritance +from Euripides ;2 as Prescott rightly argues,^ the debt of Menander +to Euripides has been overestimated. Menander is said to have learnt +much from the practice of Aristophanes.'\* He may owe more to the +*Poetics* than to Euripides, since he was a pupil of Theophrastus, who +studied under Aristotle and was his successor as head of the +Peripatetic school. Further, in the growth of comedy the existence of +an intermediate between it and tragedy — that is, the sat3n:-drama, — +and the gradual approximation of all three from constant mutual +influence, must not be left out of account. We observe, too, that +Aristophanes was a careful student, and an excellent critic, not only +of Euripides, but of Aeschylus and Sophocles as well; that he admired +Sophocles above all is evident in the Frogs.^ + +Accordingly, the preference by Aristotle, in *Poetics* 10 and 13, of +the \* involved' over the \* episodic ' action in tragedy would, as +some believe, make a similar preference not unnatural for him in +comedy; yet it may be thought that at this point his treatment of + +^ See above, pp. 27, 29. + +^ Cornford, p. 198. + +^ Henry W. Prescott, The Interpretation of Roman Comedy, in Classical +Philology 11 (1916). 146. + +^ See above, p. 23. + +^ See my article, Greek Culture, in the Encyclopedia Americana {1919) +13. 384-7; and compare below, pp. 251, 255. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-49 + +comedy might diverge from his treatment of tragedy, and the more so +if he drew much of his theory from the plays of Aristophanes that are +known to us. At the same time I must dissent from a common opinion/ +and surely from exaggerated forms of it, as to the relative +unimportance, as is alleged, of the main action in the works of +Aristophanes taken generally. The fundamental thing in each of his +plays as we know them is a great comic idea or substantial form which +gives rise to all the details of each ; it is, even more than the +wealth of imagination with which he renders it incarnate, the primary +mark of his genius. + +This form may be called either a l^o-^oc, or a pGoc, since Aristotle +uses either word for the plot or fable of a drama, and since plot in +its most general sense means to him the basic idea of a play. +Cornford is mistaken when he asserts that ' the proper term for the +comic plot is not mythos, but logos \* \\^ and Zielinski is correct +in holding that the terms are interchangeable, but hardly so in +thinking that, because Aristophanes repeatedly describes the content +of his plays by logos, this word is therefore specially applicable to +the argument in the Old Comedy.^ Aristotle speaks of the Sicilians +Epicharmus and Phormis as composing plots (|jLtjOou^ TuoisTv),\* and, +in a passage to which we have referred,^ he mentions Crates as the +first Athenian to drop the comedy of invective, and to frame stories +of a general and non-personal sort, that is, to make T^oyou? -/tai +[luGou^. And, again, in Rhetoric 3.14. + +^ Cf. Croiset 3. 513; Zielinski, pp. 30-2; Cornford, pp. 198-9; +Shorey, in Warner's Library of the World's Best Literature (s. v. +Aristophanes) 2. 760. + +^ Cornford, p. 199. + +^ Zielinski, p. 32 and footnote. + +■\* See below, p. 177. + +■'' See above, p. 29, below, pp. 177-8. + +d + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-50 + +I4I5ai2 (sv Bs 'ZOIC, Xoyoic, xai Itzzgi BsTyixoc zg'zi tou \\6you^) +logos stands for plot, tale, fable, argument, in a very elastic +sense, certainly including heroic and mythical stories as handled by +the poets. Further, if Aristophanes used logos for the content of a +comedy, Antiphanes referred to the fables of tragedies as logoi.^ +Popular usage could not have been very strict. ' It ought to be +noticed, however,' says Rutherford, ' that scholiasts, like all the +later Grecians, never speak of the plot of a comedy as pGoi;, but +invariably call it 07:6-Gs(7t?.'^ Perhaps in the time of Aristotle, ' +fables ' (pGoi) could be more suitably applied to legendary material +adapted by the poet, and loyoi to his own inventions, when there is a +sharp distinction between two sorts of comic play. However, in +Aristophanes and others, down to Plautus and Terence, we find +traditional tales of gods and heroes, and the like, intermingled with +the new devices of the author — as in the Birds, Frogs, and Plutus, +and in the Amphitryon. In spite of Cornford, then, the fable of the +Plutus might be indifferently termed a logos or a mythos. And, to +repeat, this mythos or logos would for Aristotle be the very soul of +the comedy. Further, the assumption would agree well enough with +modern theories concerning the agon or ' debate ' as the centre of +the Aristo-phanic drama. Thus, according to Rogers, the debate +between Just Reason and Unjust Reason in the Clouds ' is the very +core of the play. Every preceding scene leads up to it; every +subsequent scene looks back to it. ^ In referring to plot, the +epitomator in the Tractate boldly offers the expression ' comic myth +' (pOoc + +^ Sec below, p. 140. + +^ See above, p. 33. + +^ Rutherford, p. 454. + +\* Rogers, Clouds, p. xvi. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-51 + +%&)[jLt}i6?). ^ In the scholia on Dionysius Thrax, and again in +Tzetzes, the word :;>.aG-[j.a is found as a technical term for the +substructure of comedy, in contrast with the ' story ' (t(7T0pi(x) of +tragedy; the term no doubt is derived from some early, perhaps very +early, source in literary criticism; if not Alexandrian, it may be +Attic. The scholiast says: ' Tragedy differs from comedy in that +tragedy has a story (iG-Topiav) and a report (aT^txYys^tav) of deeds +that are past, but comedy embraces fictions (7:AaG-[j-aTa) of the +affairs of everyday life.'^ Tzetzes echoes the same source, adding a +slight qualification in regard to tragedy, but with no variation in +regard to comedy.^ Aristotle does not use the word tOsIg^^sj, in his +critical writings ; we meet it once in his Physica Aiisctdtatio +8.252^5, and twice in De Caelo 2.289a6, 289^25, in the depreciatory^ +sense of ' fiction.' + +(7) If the constituents of comedy are plot, character, intellect, +diction, music, and spectacle, and if plot were not the most +important of these six, then one of the other five would have to be +more important. It would not be fair to argue that any two, or three, +or four, or all five, of the others were more important; for +Aristotle does not think of balancing one against two or more of the +elements which severally require poetic art. + +It might seem at first glance that ' intellect ' {di-anoia), or the +way in which the comic personages reason, would demand more skill +than the general plan of the comedy. Yet on reflection it is clear +that their comic inferences, maxims, exaggerations, and + +^ See below, p. 226. + +'^ Kaibel, p. 11 ; cf. Tzetzes, 'lauiSol tspnuol neql xw^wwcfrnf, +line 76, in Kaibel, p. 42, and the anonymous writer IIsqI +xQ)(x([)dic(g, line 49 (§ 12), in Kaibel, p. 8. + +^ Kaibel, p. 17 ; see also below, p. 86. + +d2 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-52 + +diminutions — their use of \* opinion ' and ' proof ' — might be +shghted by the poet with less injury than would ensue from negligence +with respect to ethos. It is the ethos or moral bent of the agents +that in Aristotle's view makes a characteristic difference between +comedy and tragedy. And to him ethos would have the same relation to +plot in comedy as in tragedy; it would be second in importance to +plot. + +Or again, it might seem that the musical element, or the spectacular, +would have a greater relative value in comedy; one thinks of the +contribution made to the general effect of the Birds or the Frogs by +the music and the spectacle — now largely impossible to reconstruct +even in imagination. But, after all, the play can and does exist +without them, as it could not without the diction. The Birds could be +read with enjoyment, and now must be read and enjoyed, when deprived +of stage-setting (including costume) and music. Though in one sense +it is direct presentation in a theatre, by actors, and with +stage-accessories, that makes the comedy a play, and to the full +extent a piece of \* mimetic ' art; and though Aristotle for this +reason includes ' spectacle ' with music among the constituent parts; +yet the play does not cease to give the effect of comedy when they +are lost. Without diction it could not have been transmitted to us at +all. + +Even so, in the scale of values diction can not take precedence of \* +intellect ' (any more than \* intellect ' can take precedence of +ethos), however much the comic effect may depend upon word-play, +comic metaphor, verbal diminutives and superlatives of a ludicrous +sort, and the like. + +In analyzing the constituents of the drama, Aristotle proceeds from +what is more inward to what is more + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-53 + +superficial, from what comes first in the mind of the poet to what +comes later, and from what directly concerns the poetic art to what +incidentally concerns it, or partly requires the help of another art +such as that of the costumer. It follows that in ranking the several +elements in comedy he would give them the same relative positions as +in tragedy: first, plot; second, ethos ; third, dianoia ; fourth, +diction ; fifth, the musical element; sixth, the spectacular. + +(8) The synthesis of these six elements will produce the comedy, and +the order of their importance is determined also by the contribution +they severally make to the effect of the whole. The comedy is judged +hy its total effect, ^^^lat, according to Aristotle, should the +effect of the best comedy be ? This difficult question, if soluble at +all, requires extended treatment, which must be postponed to a later +section.^ Meanwhile let us take up the analysis of comedy from +another side. + +VIII + +THE QUANTITATIVE PARTS OF COMEDY + +Aristotle distinguishes between the qualitative elements, which +jointly constitute the essence of a play, and the quantitative parts, +which we should call the mechanical divisions of it. The six +qualitative or constituent elements, which we have just examined, we +may liken to the tissues of a living organism — bone, muscle, nerve, +skin, for example; whereas the quantitative parts are like the head, +trunk, and limbs, v/hich, taken together, by another kind of +S5mthesis, also form + +^ See below, pp. 60-98. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-54 + +the whole. This dual distinction of parts, according to quality and +extent, may be observed in anything that is one and entire, since an +object may be regarded as a unit in that it has one special function +which all its constituents subserve — as a horse is a unit in that +all its tissues subserve the act of running ;^ or it may be regarded +as a unit in that, being distinct from all other objects, it is a +continuous whole, having a beginning, middle, and end. + +In this sense, the beginning, middle, and end are the quantitative +parts in any vv^ork of art. But in a more technical sense Aristotle +gives as the quantitative parts of tragedy the recognized divisions +into which a Greek tragedy falls : prologue, episode, exode, and +choricon, the last-mentioned, the choral portion, being further +divided by him into parode and stasimon. Even in the use of a term +like ' prologue,' however, he is sometimes more, and sometimes less, +exact. The word as it first occurs in the *Poetics*^ may refer to a +statement made before the opening of the drama proper; later in that +work it is defined as ' all that precedes the parode of the chorus.'^ +In the Rhetoric, again, it is used very loosely in the sense of +beginning; if Aristotle had the same text as we of Oedipus the King, +he could speak of a passage half-way along in the tragedj^ (lines 774 +ff.). though still in the complication, as in the ' prologue."^ In +like manner he gives a technical definition of episode for tragedy, +and also loosely employs ' episodes,' and a related verb, to describe +the elaborations, or filling, + +^ Horse (= courser) is etymologically related to Latin currere. I +here elucidate the familiar distinction of Aristotle in a way that +has proved helpful to modern university students. + +^ *Poetics* 5. I449b4. + +^ Ibid. 12. 1452IJ16, 19-20. + +\* See below, p. 141. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-55 + +QUANTITATIVE PARTS OF COMEDY 55 + +with which an outline sketch may be lengthened out into an epic +poem.^ + +In the Tractatus Coislinianus the epitomator gives us the same four +quantitative parts for comedy that we have just noted as the +Aristotelian divisions of tragedy, in this order: prologue, choricon, +episode, and exode.2 In the *Poetics* an \* episode ' is defined as ' +all that comes between two whole choral songs.'^ Now, the relation +between the choral parts and the incidents being different in the +Greek comedies we possess from what it is in the tragedies, suspicion +has been cast on the term ' episode ' in the Tractate, and hence on +the whole scheme of parts given by the epitomator ; it is argued that +the scheme has been crudely transferred from the analysis of tragedy, +in the *Poetics*, to that of comedy.^ But our ignorance of the body of +plays which Aristotle and his followers had under observation should +make us w^ary; his own varying use of terms we have noted. If he +tried to generalize from the practice of authors all the way from +Epicharmus to Anaxandrides, he might have called a portion of a +comedy intervening between two portions more distinctly musical an +episode. + +Under the circumstances, it seems best to note, as we have done, the +divisions given in the Tractate, and then to present a brief account +of the quantitative parts of the Old Comedy as viewed by modern +scholarship. In recent years much attention has been paid to this +kind of anal3^sis with regard to Aristophanes, under the impulse of +Zielinski.^ Here fol- + +^ *Poetics* 17; see below, pp. 206-7. + +- See below, p. 226. + +^ See below, p. 198. + +^ Zielinski, pp. 3-4. + +^ See Bibliography^, above, p. xxi. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-56 + +lows, in substance, the adaptation of Zielinski by Mazoft :^ + +' Some [of these terms] go back to antiquity, but in large part they +are the invention ... of Ziehnski himself, + +\* Comedy has some parts in common with tragedy: prologue, parode, +exode.^ . . . + +' The songs of the chorus (chorica) which in comedy correspond to the +tragic stasima are varied in nature. They may consist of reflections +by the chorus on the preceding action; or they may be interludes pure +and simple, and in that case they most often take the shape of short +satirical songs. [Aristotle, howeyer, objects to choral interludes in +the drama, or to anything in a play that is not organically related +to the idea of the whole, and is not in its right place; see below, +p. 209.] But the point to remember is that the term choricon should +not be applied to all the songs of the chorus; it appertains only to +those that mark a pause in the action, or that form part of a series. +The strophe which opens an agon, for example, can not be called a +choricon. + +' Greek tragedy also admits parts sung by the actors, lyric +monologues ([xovwBiai), and lyric dialogues (zo[j.p.oi^) —whether +between two actors or between an actor and the chorus. These devices +were known to comedy also, where they were frequently employed. But, +to tell the truth, when employed, they seem always to parody tragedy, +or at least to imitate it very closely, and much more often than not +some definite passage in a new tragedy. Accordingly, they are not the +elements of tragedy which the comic drama essentially transformed and +adapted to its own nature. + +\* On the other hand, there are two parts of comedy that are peculiar +to it alone, and these we must therefore subject to a precise +analysis. They are the parabasis and the agon. + +^ See Bibliography, above, p. xviii. + +^ But see below, pp. 198-9. + +^ 'This is the term now generally adopted to designate all dialogue +that is sung. Actually, the ancients restricted the term to duos +composed as lamentations only.' —Note by Mazon. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-57 + +' The parabasis is ordinarily placed at the middle of the comedy. The +actors go back again into the hut ((Ty.'r)VTQ) ; the chorus take off +their mantles, and turn toward the audience. + +' The parabasis comprises six^ parts. + +\* (i) The commation, a brief bit of transition generally containing +an adieu to the actors, who retire from the stage, and an invitation, +addressed to the audience, to hear the parabasis. The commation is +most often a system of anapaestics; but it could be written in +anapaestic tetrameters, sometimes even in glyconics. + +' (2) The parabasis proper, almost always in anapaestic tetrameters — +so often, in fact, that the ancients commonly referred to it as ol +ava7iai(7TOL It is for us the most curious feature of the Old Comedy. +The poet, through the mouth of the leader of the chorus, appealed +directly to the public, made his complaints to it, set forth his +claims, and, above all, sought to present himself as its most +benevolent and enlightened counselor. The parabasis ends with the +macron, an anapaestic system which the actor must recite without +taking a second breath even if he should lose his wind — whence its +other name, pnigos, i. e., '\* suffocation." It is a sort of +brilliant finale, a '\* bit of bravura," which we meet again in the +agon. + +' (3) The ode could be written in the most diverse Ijnric metres. It +is sometimes an invocation to the gods; often a satirical song, now +frank and almost brutal, again disguised as an imitation of the +tragic style. + +' (4) The epirrhema, in trochaic tetrameters. The number of these +tetrameters is always a multiple of four. It is probable that this +law was imposed on the poets by the dance which accompanied the +epirrhema, since the tetrameters are a dancing-measure, and no doubt +some rhythmic order of dancers required this quadruple arrangement. +Having danced out the ode, the chorus took to dancing while the +leader gave the epirrhema in recitative. The subject of the epirrhema + +^ But see below, p. 199. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-58 + +was most often a complaint of the poet; but the tone is less personal +than in the anapaests ; politics are more in evidence, and now the +chorus speaks in its own character. + +\* (5) The ant ode. + +\* (6) The antepirrhema. + +\* The earhest comedies of Aristophanes are the only ones with +complete parabases. In the Peace, epirrhema and antepirrhema are +already missing; in the Frogs, it is the anapaests that are lacking. +Finally, the Ecclesiazusae and the Pluhis contain no parabasis +whatever. + +\* Besides the main parabasis, the earhest comedies of Aristophanes +have a secondary parabasis, which most often is composed of an ode +with antode, and an epirrhema with antepirrhema. In reality it is not +a true parabasis, since it lacks the essential element of one, namely +the anapaests; a mere external similarity has given it the name. Yet +it has this in common with the parabasis that the epirrhema often +deals with the same topics as the epirrhema of the parabasis. But +again, we must note that this epirrhema is not necessarily in +trochaic tetrameters; it is sometimes written in the rhythm of the +paeon. + +[The term agon, and the names given to its parts, were invented by +Zielinski.] + +' Agon is the name given to a combat in the form of a dialogue, +between two personages each of whom supports a thesis opposed to that +of the other. One thesis is often the case of the poet and the +subject of the comedy itself; and hence the importance of the agon, +its place at the centre of the comedy, and its frequently +long-drawn-out developments. + +' The agon is generally composed as follows. It is double, each of +the two interlocutors having to plead his cause in turn; in which +case it is commonly wTitten in two different metres. . . . + +\* The agon begins \\vith a song by the chorus. Then the leader of +the chorus gives the note to the actors in two tetrameters, the +rhythm of which the actors instantly adopt. As these tetrameters +always begin + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-59 + +with the word ocKkd — " Now then !" — they have been called the +cataceleusmos. + +' The scene proper, the epirrhema, is composed with no little freedom +; but it nearly always begins with the words, xai [r/jv — " Well then +! " — and ends in a pnigos. In general, when the agon is double, each +of the epirrhemas belongs to one of the interlocutors, while the +other indulges only in brief interruptions. A third personage plays +the part of buffoon, and enlivens the somewhat rigorous scheme with +casual jokes, commonly announced by expressions such as s/apTjV youv, +or y^g-Gt;/ Y''^^'^- + +' Then there is an ant ode corresponding to the ode, an antepirrhema +corresponding to the epirrhema, an antipnigos corresponding to the +pnigos, and finally the leader of the chorus sometimes briefly +formulates the conclusion of the dispute (sphragis). + +' The agon is not always double. When it is single, and wTitten in +one metre throughout, the verse is generally anapaestic tetrameter.'^ + +I give this analysis mainly in order to fill out the perspective of +our subject. It is by no means certain that Aristotle would concern +himself with all the details of the comic chorus. The *Poetics* casts a +rapid glance at the tragic chorus, but, as a practical treatise for +authors, does not delay over a function that in Aristotle's time was +falhng, or had fallen, into disuse. In his time there may have been +little need for a long treatment of the choral element in comedy. He +stands midway between Aristophanes, with whom this element gradually +diminishes, and Menander, in whose plays, according to Legrand, the +performances of the chorus had nothing to do wdth the action, being ' +interludes, in the strictest sense of the word.'^ Besides, Aristotle +is less interested in the quantitative than in + +\* Mazon, pp. 10-13. - Legrand, pp. 336-8. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-60 + +the qualitative aspects of poetry. For him, the effect is the +paramount consideration. + +IX THE EFFECT OF COMEDY + +What did Aristotle think was the function of comedy ? The problem, as +we have said,^ is at best only partly soluble. Let us begin with what +can be ascertained, before proceeding to what is more or less +h5^othetical. + +(i) For Aristotle each kind of art has its own special quality, +connected with its specific effect. The characteristic of tragedy is +the arousal of pity and fear in such a way as to relieve the +spectator of these emotions. The characteristic of comedy, then, is +not the arousal and relief of pity and fear. + +(2) The specific effect of each kind of mimetic art is some kind of +pleasure — the kind of pleasure appropriate to that art. The proper +effect of comedy, then, is some form of pleasure; not necessarily +some one single form — in Aristotle's view, for aught we know, it +might be single, or it might be compounded of two or more forms. + +(3) Whether simple or compound, the effect of comedy for Aristotle +would be the pleasure aroused by the right means in the right sort of +spectator. His ideal spectator is the mature man of sound reason and +correct sentiment; not necessarily an expert, but at all events a man +of taste and culture. + +(4) The spectator beholds in comedy an imitation of men in action. He +perceives a resemblance between + +^ See above, p. 53. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-61 + +THE EFFECT OF COMEDY — ARISTOTLE 6i + +the comedy and human Hfe. He thinks to himself, ' This is Uke that.' +His inference gives him pleasm^e; for all learning is pleasant, since +it is a satisfaction of the universal desire of mankind to know. + +(5) The pleasure of comedy is associated with the perception of a +defect or ugliness that is neither painful nor injurious. 1 It is +associated with our sense of disproportion. + +(6) It is a pleasure similar to that produced in us by the Odyssey, +save that the outcome of the Odyssey, while a happy one for Odysseus +and his household, is disastrous to the wooers of Penelope. It is the +pleasure aroused by the story of Orestes and Aegisthus when treated +in such fashion that these heroes, legendary foes in the tragic +poets, at the end of the comedy walk off the stage as friends, +without any one slaying or being slain. + +(7) The pleasure of comedy is the actual effect produced upon the +audience. It is something capable of being observed in the theatre, +or in the man who reads the comedy away from the theatre. This effect +may be described as psycho-physiological. An outwear d aspect of it +is laughter. + +(8) Among accessory means to the effect of comedy, the musical +element is very helpful, as is also the spectacular, the latter, one +may imagine, especially in comedies where the scene is laid in +another world ^ — as in the Birds or the Frogs. + +(9) There is a pleasure arising from the marvelous, and the marvelous +is to some extent admissible in- + +^ The word cpO^agTixov is often translated 'destructive,' the usual +meaning in Aristotle \*(see Bonitz, s. v. f^ft^a^jzixU) ; but here +perhaps we should say 'corrupting.' See below, pp. 87-8, 176. + +^ Cf. *Poetics* 18; see below, p. 208. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-62 + +comedy. Wonder gives rise to learning, and learning is pleasant. + +(lo) Discoveries (recognitions, whether of persons or things, or of +deeds, but especially of the identity of persons) afford pleasure in +all stories, and hence in comedy; so also reversals of fortune. In +the most amusing situations, discovery is attended by such reversal. +In comedy the reversal will be from worse fortune to better; or, if +from better to worse, at all events it will not be serious or +painful. + +(ii) As in tragedy there is a kind of incident having the technical +name of pathos or ' suffering ' (such as wounds, violent deaths, and +the like), so in comedy there will be an incident or incidents of a +ludicrous or especially hilarious or joyful sort. + +(12) In Rhetoric i.ii we meet several of the foregoing points, with +additions. At the beginning of the chapter Aristotle defines pleasure +as ' a certain motion of the soul, and a settling, sudden and +perceptible, into one's normal and natural state.' Further on he +says: ' Wonder and learning, too, are generally pleasant ; wonder, +because it involves the desire to learn, and hence the wonderful is +an object of desire ; and learning, because it involves a settling +into one's natural state.' At the end of the chapter he alludes to +the pleasure of the laughable: \* Since amusement and relaxation of +every kind are among pleasant things, and laughter, too, it follows +that the causes of laughter must be pleasant — namely, persons, +utterances, and deeds. 1 But the forms of the ludicrous have had a +separate treatment in the *Poetics*.' + +^ AvS-oMTiovg xal Xoyocg xal soyrc.' Jebb translates Xoyovg by ' +words'; Welldon renders the phrase by ' whether a person or tale or +circumstance.' In *Poetics* 20 we sec that a '/.oyog may + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-63 + +THE EFFECT OF COMEDY — ARISTOTLE 63 + +More of this chapter, and other extracts from Aristotle on pleasure +in general, will be found in a later section.1 + +So much, I believe, may fairly be asserted or inferred regarding the +effect of comedy in the light of the *Poetics*, with the help of one or +two general notions familiar to every student of Aristotle. + +When we approach the crucial question, however^ we are on uncertain +ground. What in an Aristotelian theory of comedy would correspond to +the catharsis of pity and fear which is the proper effect of tragedy +? + +(i) Perhaps nothing definite; we may as well begin sceptically. +Perhaps like Cicero, Aristotle approved laughter merely \* because it +softens or unbends sorrow and severity.'- Possibly, as McMahon +contends, ' the significance of the theory of catharsis was small in +Aristotle's view' ;^ scholars may have too readily assumed the +existence of a comprehensive and searching treatment of the subject, +differentiated for tragedy and comedy. The Politics sends the reader +to the *Poetics* for a fuller account of catharsis,^ but the reference +may be an interpolation, casual and misleading. Or, accepting the +authenticity of the reference, possibly we may argue thus : Aristotle +noted the fact of the catharsis as something ultimate; in medicine +one is less concerned with the process of purgation, so long as it +duly occurs, than with the means of effecting it; + +include anything from a single statement up to the entire Iliad. See +my 'Amplified Version,' p. 69; and compare below^ p. 211. + +1 See below, pp. 132-40. + +2 See below, p. 88. + +^ McMahon, pp. 23-5. '^ See below, p. 130. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-64 + +having noted it as a fact in tragedy, in the *Poetics* he elaborates +upon the means by which it is to be produced, without hammering at a +plain and accepted observation. In this way, much of the work may be +said to deal with the tragic purgation, and, tragedy being for him +the representative type of poetry in general, the reference from the +Politics is justified as matters stand. When he dealt with comedy, he +might, according to this view, have little to say about the fact of a +comic catharsis, and yet dwell sufficiently upon the means by which +laughter is properly aroused. As Bywater believes,^ Aristotle, though +a systematic philosopher, was not systematic, as a modern writer +would be, in attempting to harmonize all his utterances on related +topics as they were taken up in different connections, or even under +different associations of thought in the same work. + +If he actually defined comedy in terms of its effect, it is strange +that no intelligible, clearly-marked vestige of his definition has +come down to us. The definition in the Tractate^ offers no safe +foothold; it seems, though scholars are not unanimous in this +opinion," to be imitated (not by Aristotle) from his definition of +tragedy, at least so far as concerns the catharsis. The remarks of +Cicero^ indicate that, conversant as he was with Peripatetic +writings, he was unacquainted with any good scientific treatment of +the ludicrous as a means of purgation. Nor does the evidence of +Proclus Diadochus help us more.^ There is no aid from antiquity, +early or late. It may be, then, that + +^ Bywater, pp. xiii-xvii. ^ See below, p. 224. ^ Kayser, p. 31, \* +See below, pp. 87-9. ^ See below, p. 84. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-65 + +THE EFFECT OF COMEDY — ARISTOTLE 65 + +Aristotle, like the modern psychologist,^ was baffled, could not +explain the nature of comedy by its effect upon the human organism +(soul and body), and hence could give no definition of comedy +parallel to his definition of tragedy. + +Nevertheless, while realizing that we are treading uncertain ground, +we may consider the problem from various sides. + +(2) The function of tragedy is to arouse, and by arousing to relieve, +two of the common disturbing emotions of daily life. Aristotle, it +would seem, believed that men in general suffer from pity and fear, +and other latent emotions, and may be relieved from the burden of +pity and fear through witnessing the artistic representation of +things piteous and fearful in tragedy. The cure is homeopathic. We +may therefore examine the Nicomachean Ethics, where pity and fear are +discussed at some length with other emotions, in order to see which +of these latter conceivably might take the place of tragic pity and +fear in a definition of comedy. In Book 2, chapter 4, Aristotle says: + +\* By the emotions I mean desire, anger, fear, courage, envy, joy, +love, hatred, regret, emulation, pity — in general, whatever is +attended by pleasure or pain.' + +The list, while ending in an et cetera, can hardly be supposed to +omit any emotion regarded by the author as habitual among men. + +To Aristotle, almost any emotional excess is objectionable, and in +need of restraint or correction. But + +^ Compare L. Dugas, Psychologic du Rire, Paris, 1902, pp. 166-7 : ' +Le rire n'est pas un genre, mais une collection d'especes. II n'est +pas une entite psychologique, mais une particularity qui se rencontre +en des etats diff6rents et contraires. . . . Un accident . . . n'est +point proprement objet de science. . . . C'est done k une conclusion +toute negative que notre 6tude aboutit.' + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-66 + +if we must find in the list two emotions equally common with pity and +fear, and specially capable of relief through comedy, why not take +anger and envy ? Plato associates these two with comedy in the +Philehus.^ And Aristotle, in beginning a similar list in the +Rhetoric, says: + +\* The emotions are those things, being attended by pleasure and +pain, by which men are altered in regard to their judgments — as +anger, pity, fear, and the like, with their opposites.'^ + +Further on he notes that + +\* We are placable when we are in a condition opposed to angry +feeling, for example, at a time of sport or laughter or festivity '; +^ + +and later he takes up the discussion of envy and emulation.^ The +analysis of anger and envy in the Rhetoric has many points of contact +with that in the Philebus ; but we must forego the comparison. Let us +observe instead that both emotions are rather constant in daily life; +nearly every one cherishes at least a latent anger against some one +most of the time ; and the same is true of envy. They are, like pity +and fear, intimately related; both are disturbing emotions; and their +catharsis would amount to a form of pleasure as distinct as is the +catharsis of the tragic emotions. Further, they are the chief +manifestations of what we still term ' ill humor '; the ancient +theory of disquieting bodily and mental humors, an excess of which it +may be desirable to purge away by specifics, thus lives on in popular +linguistic usage. And Aristotle himself was thinking in terms of the +Greek ' humoral ' medicine when he marked the cathartic effect of + +^ See below, pp. 114-6. 2 Rhetoric 2. i. ^ Ibid. 2. 3. + +\* Ibid. 2. lo-ii. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-67 + +THE EFFECT OF COMEDY —ARISTOTLE 67 + +tragedy. Now it is obvious that, if you succeed in making an angry or +envious man laugh with pleasure, he ceases for a time to be angry or +envious. Thus anger and envy might be said to be purged away by +comedy. There can be no doubt that comedy does have an influence of +the sort. And it is the outstanding facts of experience, and of +dramatic art, that are uppermost in the *Poetics* of Aristotle. + +It may be objected, however, that in this view the cure wrought by +comedy is not, like the cure effected by tragedy, homeopathic, but, +on the contrary, is allopathic. The generalized emotions of pity and +fear in a tragic poem are a specific for the pity and fear of the +individual in the audience ; whereas anger and envy in the individual +may be removed by something very unHke them in comedy. The comic poet +may represent irascible and envious men, but will not necessarily do +so ; he may choose other types, as the ironical man, the braggart, +and the buffoon. To this we might answer that, comedy being in many +ways the reverse of tragedy, its effect may well be allopathic rather +than homeopathic. The comic catharsis may be more direct, and more +violent, too, than the tragic. + +(3) But let us go a little deeper. Anger and envy are emotions that +arise from a sense of injury or injustice, or, more generally stated, +from a sense of disproportion. You have so much income, I but half as +much ; the disproportion is painful to me, since I think myself quite +as intelligent as you, and believe I am in various ways the better +man of the two. You also, disregarding me, suffer from a mental +comparison of your fortune and deserts with those of some one else. +These fancied or real disproportions — and they are numberless in +daily life — become oppressive as we meditate + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-68 + +and exaggerate them. Take us both to witness a comic drama — the +Plutus of Aristophanes, where the universal inequahties of wealth and +poverty, the accidents of distribution, are still further exaggerated +on the stage, and become ludicrous to all. As the play advances, we +begin to see the law of proportion in a clearer light. At the end we +are free from the accumulated burden of painful emotion, are relieved +of the sense of disproportion — and by a homeopathic means. Through +the generalized representation the spectator loses what was before +merely individual in his own experience ; the painful element is +gone; and a harmless pleasure has ensued. + +If we admit the reality of a comic catharsis, we must grant that the +effect proceeds from the use, in comedy, of dramatic suspense, and +from the arousal and defeat of our expectations in various ways. The +principle has a wide range of manifestations; it may show itself in +the action, when the sequence of events is other than we anticipated +; or in the characters, when, without belying their nature, they +nevertheless surprise us; or in the course of a speech, when the +argument seems to follow some sort of law, yet issues in something +unexpected ; or in the diction, when we await one combination of +words, and meet another. The function of suspense in the tragic +catharsis has been examined by an ingenious critic, who, rightly, I +believe, maintains that this function is not duly reckoned with in +other explanations of the Aristotelian term.^ The function in comedy +of suspense, with a cheated expectation ending in a release of mental +energy,^ is hinted + +^ W. D. Moriarty, The Function of Suspense in the Catharsis, Ann +Arbor, 1911. + +2 Sec below, pp. 77-9. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-69 + +THE EFFECT OF COMEDY — ARISTOTLE 69 + +at by a number of passages in Aristotle, as, for example, in the +Rhetoric and the Problems.'^ The relation between suspense and +surprise is much the same in comedy and tragedy; the difference grows +out of the seriousness or triviality of the incidents, and out of the +misery or joy of the event. In Problems 35.6 laughter is defined as ' +a sort of surprise and deception.' + +(4) In the foregoing we assume that the end of comedy is pleasure. +But there is another possibility, if the definition in the Tractate +is worth considering — if it has more than a superficial relation to +the works of Aristotle, and particularly to the Ethics. According to +the definition, comedy ' through pleasure and laughter ' effects a +'catharsis of the said emotions.'^ Now to Aristotle the end of life +is not pleasure; it is a serious end.^ The highest activity of man is +found in the life of philosophic contemplation, the speculative life. +Such a life, of course, is not devoid of satisfaction ; it is in +itself the noblest and fullest satisfaction of human nature, human +desire. It does not exclude harmless recreation; recreation, a +sufficient activity of the emotional nature (such as comes with the +artistic arousal of pity and fear in tragedy), and indeed the +exercise of all our lower faculties within reasonable limits — all +these are not merely countenanced b}^ him, but encouraged. Yet in the +last analysis he looks upon recreation, not as an end in itself, but +as a means to an end. This end, once more, is the free play of our +highest faculties in the life of contemplation. In this way he would +think that comedy in providing us with its specific pleasure, and by +arousing laughter, + +^ See below, pp. 146-7, 163-5. 2 See below, p. 228. ^ See below, p. +134. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-70 + +gave occasional vent to certain passing emotional states, and thus +left us free for the serious concerns of life. By comedy, then, we +should be cured of a desire to laugh at the wrong time, and at the +wrong things, through being made to laugh at the proper time by the +right means. + +These considerations, we must allow, are remote from the *Poetics*, +where Aristotle is concerned with poetry in and for itself. In this +work he is not concerned with the end of private life, as he is in +the Ethics, or with the end of public life, as he is in the Politics, +but with the end of poetr}- and the ends of its several species. +True, he honors poetry — comedy as well as traged}' and the epic — +because it is by nature philosophic and universal; it is just as +concrete as history-, and yet more general. But if anything is +certain about his view of comedy, it is that the comic poet must aim +at producing a definite pleasure. And thus the most unlucky guess of +the epitomator in the Tractate would seem to be ^ that comedy, viewed +in relation to its own end, aims at the purgation of pleasure. Yet +his connection of both \* pleasure ' and ' laughter ' with the end of +comedy may be helpful, as we shall see.^ + +(5) It is possible, again, that Aristotle would, under different +circumstances, recognize different effects of comedy ; that in one +connection he would note a catharsis of troublesome emotions like +anger and envy, and in another a catharsis of laughter itself. We +have seen that in studying tragedy, since he is unhampered by our +modern standards of consistency, but always bent on finding out what +happens or should happen in a given instance, he has worked out a +quite flexible theory. + +^ See below, pp. 71-6. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-71 + +Thus — to revert to a familiar example — he is elastic enough to +praise Euripides for his imhappy denouements ; and yet, among the +dramas of this author, to have the highest regard for Iphigenia among +the Taurians, which, by avoiding the deed of horror within the family +circle, produces one kind of tragic effect; and yet finally to award +the palm to Sophocles in Oedipus the King, which produces another. If +the type of comic action known to us through Menander and Terence was +sometimes or often adopted by writers of the Middle Comedy, and may +go back to Crates, or even beyond him to Sicily,^ Aristotle in any +systematic treatment of comedy would hardly fail to reckon with that +type, or to account for its effect; while he certainly would not +neglect the special quality of Aristophanes when this was different. +(6) With the mention of Aristophanes we return to the dual effect +noted by the epitomator, in a Tractate which doubtless has this poet +steadily in view.^ The ' pleasure ' and ' laughter ' sundered in the +definition may through artistic synthesis unite in one single comic +effect. For example, an Aristophanic pun might be expressed in +embellished language, or a ludicrous fowl might join in an enchanting +chorus in the Birds ; the union of the two factors is illustrated +both in the beautiful and the ludicrous costumes, and in the +beautiful and the ludicrous metres and music, of that play. But for +analytical purposes the two elements may also be considered apart.^ + +^ See H. W. Prescott, The Antecedents of Hellenistic Comedy, in +Classical Philology 12 (1917). 405-25, esp. 421-5. + +2 For the relation of pleasure to laughter, see Demetrius De +Elocutione 128-142, esp. 130, 132, 133, and 150, 151, 152, 153, 161, +163, 169. + +^ Compare Sir Philip Sidney, Defense of Poesy, ed. by Cook, pp. 50-1. +It would be interesting to trace the acute (but partly + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-72 + +There is some advantage in separating them, for, if I am not +mistaken, editors of Aristophanes have not given attention enough to +the element of beauty in the Old Comedy, or not enough in comparison +with the trouble they take in explaining the purely laughable +element, so that what strikes them as merely ridiculous receives +disproportionate notice. If this remark is true in the case of the +Birds, where pleasure reigns, it is even more true with reference to +the other plays of the same author. As Rogers says: + +\* It is perhaps natural that commentators should have taken less +trouble about the Lysistrata than about the more widely-read comedies +of Aristophanes. Yet it seems almost incredible that they should as a +rule have overlooked the broad distinction, which pervades the play, +between the old women in the orchestra and the young women on the +stage. Indeed the latest editor. Professor Van Leeuwen, in his search +after novelties, dignifies with the titles Fpatjc A, ['.oaDr B, rpau^ +r [First, Second, and Third Hags) Lysistrata's comrades whose youth +and beauty are the very qualities relied upon for bringing about a +termination of the war. Nor does Lysistrata herself fare much better. +Notwithstanding the encomiums passed upon her personal +attractiveness, notwithstanding the fact that Calonice, herself a +young woman, addresses her as " child," almost all recent editors +depart from the Mss., depart from the Scholiast, depart from common +sense, for the sole purpose of styling her " most mannish of +grandmothers."''^ + +It can not with equal justice be said of various translators that +they miss the element of beauty in Aristophanes, since they are +forced to imitate as well as + +mistaken) remarks of Sidney (esp. p. 51) to Continental, and, +notably, Italian, theories of poetry, and to follow these last back +to classical sources. + +^ Rogers, Lysistrata, pp. xli-xlii. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0003.html#page-73 + +they can the quaHty of his diction and metres. It is not wholly +missing in the versions of the Birds by Frere and Rogers. But of +Rogers as editor the criticism may be made : he does not neglect the +element of ' pleasure/ but he does overemphasize the element of the +ridiculous in comparison with it. + +.. container:: body + +The defect is partly due to the loss, already noticed, of the music, +the nature of which can but faintly be imagined from the words and +metre; and to the loss of almost everything in the way of ' +spectacle.' Only the slightest hints concerning the dress of the +chorus in the Birds and the Clouds, for example, are to be gathered +from decorations on vases, chance remarks of scholiasts, and the +like.^ For an abundance of grace and charm, the outstanding comedy +should be the Birds, with its choral odes and solo to the +Nightingale, its fantastic imagery and ethereal setting, with +particolored Iris, messenger of the gods, and with the splendid +goddess Sovereignty arrayed for her marriage with the hero. Some +notion of the musical accompaniment may be gained from the +instructive letter of Welch to Rogers.^ But there was much of the +element of \* pleasm^e ' in other comedies, as in the Frogs, a comic +imitation — turned toward the worse, but not debased — of the +Dionysiac contests, musical and dramatic, and the Dionysiac +procession, at the Athenian festival. One need not instance the +possibihties of beautiful as well as ludicrous representation in the +processional h5niin of Aiistophanes' underworld, but we may think of +the chorus of Frogs earlier in the play. I believe it is usual to +regard this latter as wholly ludicrous. Yet, to the lover of sounds +in external nature, the cry of the + +1 Haigh, pp. 295-7. + +2 Rogers, Birds, pp. Ixxxv-lxxxix. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-74 + +single batrachian is a very musical note, and the chant of many frogs +together is highly gratifying to the attentive ear. Now the ear of +the Greeks, and certainly of Aristophanes, was appreciative of many +natural sounds to which in modern times few save zoologists and +entomologists listen with satisfaction, at least in our Western +nations. It is said that the Japanese take a special delight in the +cries of insects, discriminating them with a very critical taste. We +do not know what instruments accompanied Aristophanes' batrachian +chorus; the text of Frogs 228—234 ^^^Y i^pH' the use of the lyre and +the flute or syrinx. + +(7) The tragic poet has various means of rendering an otherwise +painful story pleasing. Of these, the most obvious is metre, with the +embellishments of a euphonious, elevated, and ornate diction. The +adjuncts of music, dancing, and costume tend to the same purpose. The +comic poet embellishes, not the painful, but the ugly, and may avail +himself of the same or similar means. He may also introduce pleasing +episodes, such as marriages, feasts, sportive victories, and the +like, which in themselves are joyful; the preoccupation of +Aristophanes with treaties of peace^ is a sign of his dramatic +instinct rather than his political tendencies. But it seems that the +element of \* pleasure ' in which the ' laughter ' of the Old Comedy +was incarnate had the function of embellishing much that would +otherwise be objectionable. Through the loss of the music, and of +other devices contributing to ' pleasure,' the grosser and more +trying aspects of Aristophanes become unduly obvious to the modern +reader. + +(8) Here I do not so much allude to his occasional sharp treatment of +contemporaries, though his ' attacks ' + +^ See below, pp. 271-2. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-75 + +upon individuals must, like his obscenity, be viewed in perspective. +The Socrates of the Clouds, for example, a generalized representation +in which the philosopher is more of a type than an individual, moved +in an atmosphere of beautiful words and choral music. The aerial and +fantastic setting, and the wonderful song of the Clouds, as well as +the instrumental accompaniment, gave a different tone to the +delineation of this character even where it had the marks of a +portrait. More especially I have in mind the allusions to the +reproductive and excretory functions of man. Of course we should make +the usual allowance for the obscene in view of the origins of comedy +in the phallic procession, and should not forget the different +attitude of the pagan world to a realm of thought to which the modem +author does not give free expression; though here the age of +Aristophanes differed less from the age of Shakespeare than the +latter does from ours, and the taste of Athens was not so remote from +that of Paris as the taste of Paris is from that of Boston. But, when +the usual allowance is made, we may, without holding a brief for what +is gross in the Old Comedy, venture to assert that the element of +beauty with which that gross-ness was combined made a difference in +the total effect of the play. If the catharsis involved in laughter +has something to do with the reproductive and excretory fmictions, +with our thoughts about them, or with the subconscious or unconscious +aspects of them, then the element of ' pleasure,' to which beauties +of structure, of persons, of diction and metre, of melody and \* +spectacle,' contribute, plays its part in this catharsis. In this way +we may be able to explain a riddle in the Tractate, where the +epitomator remarks of some previous writer on Aristotle or else of +Aristotle himself: + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-76 + +' [He says] that it [tragedy] aims at having a symmetry +[(Ti>[X[jxTpia, ' due proportion '] of fear '; and, as the Tractate +later puts it: \* As in tragedies there should be a due proportion of +fear, so in comedies there should be a due proportion of laughter.'^ +By ' symmetry ' we may perhaps understand \* reduction to measure ' +from excess. The combination of beauty with the lower forms of the +ludicrous gives rise to a catharsis differing from the effect of the +obscene when unalloyed. Thus art follows nature. Reproduction and +excretion are in nature and life united with beauty; and comedy is an +idealized representation of all the elements in life and nature. + +But for the ends of analysis, as we have said, the purgation involved +in laughter may be considered apart from the embellishments; not, of +course, apart from pleasure in a wide sense, for the release of +energy in laughter may be the chief constituent in the pleasure of +com.edy. + +Herewith we reach the point where a modern discussion of laughter may +possibly aid in reconstructing an Aristotelian theory. The +explanation of the comic by Freud in the.main is a theory of +catharsis; to a large extent the Freudian theory is concerned with +the sexual and excretory functions oi man, with the inhibition of +desire, and with its release in channels sometimes more, sometimes +less, obscure or indirect. Freud tends to reduce all the phenomena of +desire to manifestations of the sexual libido, instead of regarding +desire (after the fashion of Plato, Aristotle, and Dante) as an +inclusive term, and libido as one main species under it; he does not +even recognize that the instinct of self-preservation is primary, and +libido secondary to that. + +1 See below, pp. 224, 226, 228, 262; cf. Kayser, pp. 30-1. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-77 + +THE EFFECT OF COMEDY — FREUD ^^ + +I shall not enter into the details of the Freudian theory ; on the +present topic the reader may consult them in the volume called Wit +and its Relation to the Unconscious ;^ we must here be content with a +few citations from this. Freud himself cites Herbert Spencer on the +psychological situation which discharges itself in laughter, and then +quotes Alexander Bain on ' Laughter a relief from restraint/ and +Dugas^ to the effect that laughter is a \* detente,' \* a +manifestation of release from tension.' + +Freud then explains: + +' We would say that laughter arises when the sum total of psychic +energy, formerly used for the occupation of certain psychic channels, +has become un-utilizable, so that it can experience absolute +discharge.'" + +Further : + +' And since not all laughter (but surely the laughter of wit) is a +sign of pleasure, we shall be inclined to refer this pleasure to the +release of previously existing static energy. ... When we see that +the hearer of the witticism laughs, while the creator of the same can +not, then that must indicate that in the hearer a sum of damming +energy has been released and discharged, whereas during the +wit-formation, either in the release or in the discharge, inhibitions +resulted. One can characterize the psychic process in the hearer, in +the third person of the witticism, hardly more pointedly than by +asserting that he has bought the pleasure of the witticism with very +little expenditure on his part. One might say that it is presented to +him/^ + +And finally: + +' The comical appears primarily as an unintentional discovery in the +social relations of human beings. It is found in persons, that is, in +their movements, shapes, actions, and characteristic traits. In the +beginning it + +1 Translated by A. A. Brill, New York, 1916. - See above, p. 65 f. n. +^ Freud, p. 226. + +^ Ibid., pp. 228-9. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-78 + +is found probably only in their physical^ peculiarities, and later on +in their mental qualities, especially in the expression of these +latter. Even animals and inanimate objects become comical as the +result of a widely-used method of personification.'- + +If we apply Freud's theory to the drama — an application he does not +make,^ — we may obtain some such result as follows. In Aristotelian +terms, comedy provides for the audience a harmless discharge of +emotions which, when pent up within the individual, occasion various +sorts of distress or irregular and imperfect activity. Comedy, like +the Roman Catholic confessional, affords an outlet for disturbing +emotion, and for disquieting remembrances that lie, sometimes +festering, at the bottom of the soul. + +The excerpts from Freud may be supplemented by the effective summary +of Croce, who is sceptical, however, of generaHzations regarding the +comic, and finds repose only in the individual artistic fact: + +' The comic has been defined as the displeasure arising from the +perception of a deformity immediately followed by a greater pleasure +arising from the relaxation of our psychical forces, which were +strained in anticipation of a perception whose importance was +foreseen. While listening to a narrative, which, for example, should +describe the magnificent and heroic purpose of a definite person, we +anticipate in imagination the occurrence of an action both heroic and +magnificent, and we prepare ourselves to receive it, by straining our +psychic forces. If, however, in a moment, instead of the magnificent +and heroic action, which the premises and the tone of the narrative +had led us to expect, by an unexpected change there occur a slight, +mean, + +1 In the German : korperlichen ; the American translation reads ' +psychical' — an obvious misprint. + +^ Freud, p, 302. + +^ Dugas, however, has an interesting section on the aesthetic +function of laughter {Psychologic du Eire, pp. 159-65). + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-79 + +foolish action, unequal to our expectation, we have been deceived, +and the recognition of the deceit brings with it an instant of +displeasure. But\* this instant is as it were overcome by the one +immediately following, in which we are able to discard our strained +attention, to free ourselves from the provision of psychic energy +accumulated and henceforth superfluous, to feel ourselves reasonable +and relieved of a burden. This is the pleasure of the comic, with its +physiological equivalent, laughter. If the unpleasant fact that has +occurred should painfully affect our interests, pleasure would not +arise, laughter would be at once choked, the psychic energy would be +strained and overstrained by other more serious perceptions. If, on +the other hand, such more serious perceptions do not arise, if the +whole loss be limited to a slight deception of our foresight, then +the supervening feeling of our psychic wealth affords ample +compensation for this very slight displeasure. — This, stated in a +few words, is one of the most accurate modern definitions of the +comic. It boasts of containing, justified or corrected, the manifold +attempts to define the comic, from Hellenic antiquity to our own day. +It includes Plato's dictum in the Philebus, and Aristotle's, which is +more explicit. The latter looks upon the comic as an ugliness without +pain. It contains the theory of Hobbes, who placed it in the feeling +of individual superiority ; of Kant, who saw in it a relaxation of +tension ; and those of other thinkers, for whom it was the contrast +between great and small, between the finite and the infinite. But, on +close observation, the analysis and definition above given, although +most elaborate and rigorous in appearance, yet enunciates [sic'] +characteristics which are applicable, not only to the comic, but to +every spiritual process ; such as the succession of painful and +agreeable moments and the satisfaction arising from the consciousness +of force and of its free development. The differentiation here given +is that of quantitative determinations, to which limits cannot be +assigned. They remain vague phrases, attaining to some meaning from +their reference to this or that single comic fact. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-80 + +If such definitions be taken too seriously, there happens to them +what Jean Paul Richter said of all the definitions of the comic: +namely, that their sole merit is to he themselves comic, and to +produce, in reality, the fact which they vainly try to define +logically. And who will ever determine logically the dividing line +between the comic and the non-comic, between smiles and laughter, +between smiling and gravity; who will cut into clearly divided parts +that ever-varying continuity into which life melts ? ' ^ + +One may rejoin : Why distinguish, as Croce has just done, between the +conceptions of Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Kant, and \* other thinkers +' ? Human analysis, like the rest of human art (including comedy), is +imperfect — that is, less successful, and more successful. There are +better theories of comedy, and worse. The analysis set forth by Croce +is wcrth while, if only to the student of Aristotle. + +(q) One other modern theory we may barely refer to, that of George +Meredith. Among modern literary critics this writer has the +distinction of singling out the effect of comedy upon the audience, +and the right sort of audience, as the true criterion of comic +excellence. His emphasis so far is like that of Aristotle. Meredith, +however, describes the effect as if it were, or should be, chiefly +intellectual rather than emotional, thus : ' To touch and kindle the +mind through laughter.'^ And when he demands, as a final' test of +true comedy,' that it shall \* awaken thoughtful laughter,'^ the +restriction is too narrow. Writers from Aristophanes to Shakespeare +and Moliere have employed every sort of means to arouse laughter — +lofty wit, and naughty as well, — tending only to avoid what is +painful or + +^ Croce, Aesthetic, trans, by Ainslie, pp. 148-51, ^ See my edition +of Meredith, An Essay on Comedy and the Uses of the Comic Spirit, New +York, 1918, p. 76. ^ Ibid., p. 141. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-81 + +THE EFFECT OF COMEDY — MOLIERE 8i + +corrupting. But the preference of Meredith reminds one of the +supposed preference of Aristotle for comic ' innuendo.' + +That the effect of comedy includes more than a stirring of the mind +we may gather from the comic poet whom Meredith calls most +successful. Moliere, who reveals his own opinion through some of the +speakers in La Critique de VEcole des Femmes, evidently thinks that +for him ' the great art is that of pleasing.'^ And he clearly regards +the accessories of music and dancing as very import ant. ^ The +attempt to make the honorable public laugh is not altogether an +affair of the mind : ' II y faut plaisanter; et c'est une etrange +eritreprise que celle de faire rire les honnetes gens.'^ Yet, as the +Critique shows, conscious art is a necessary adjunct to natural gift +in the poet. Further, for Moliere, comedy has a sanative effect. So +Uranie judges with regard to L'Ecole des Femmes : ' As for me, I find +that comedy more capable of curing people than of making them ill.'^ +To the same purport Clitandre, as he introduces the element of song, +instrumental music, and dance at the close of L'Amour Medecin : ' +These are persons that I bring with me, whom I constantly employ to +quiet [pacifier] with their harmony and their dances the troubles of +the soul.' Whereupon the personages of ' Comedy,' ' The Ballet,' and +' Music ' sing as follows : + +Sans nous, tons les hommes Deviendraient malsains, Et c'est nous qui +sommes Leurs grands medecins. + +^ Speech of Dorante, scene 7. 2 See the Avertissement to Les Facheux. +^ Another speech of Dorante, as above. ^ La Critique [etc.], scene 3. + +f + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-82 + +Then \* Comedy ' in a solo tells us that, if we wish by gentle means +to reduce the splenic vapors that prey upon us all, we must come to +her and her companions : + +Veut-on qu'on rabatte Par des moyens doux, Les vapeurs de rate Qui +vous minent tous ? Qu'on laisse Hippocrate, Et qu'on vienne k nous.^ + +Perhaps the genius of Moli^re has here, out of experience and +observation, as well as from a considerable knowledge of poetic +theory, actually hit upon the Aristotelian notion of the comic +catharsis, or something very near it. + +(lo) It has been remarked that we have no unmistakable vestiges of a +theory of comic catharsis by Aristotle, or of a definition of comedy +by him implying such catharsis.2 We realize that any views he may +have had on the subject are for us problematical; and any opinion we +may form concerning them is wholly inferential. However, in addition +to the evidence in the Tractate and similar documents on comedy, +there are other indications of an ancient theory of the effect of +comedy, and of a comic catharsis, which may or may not heighten the +probability that Aristotle discussed the question. + +In the work now known as De Mysteriis, doubtfully attributed to +lamblichus (died circa a. d. 330), the author, having alluded to the +phallus as symbolic of ' the generative energy of the world,' +proceeds : + +' Most of these things [phalli, in particular] are consecrated in the +spring, because the whole world then receives from the gods the power +which is productive of all generation; and I take it the obscene +language that is uttered indicates the privation of the beautiful in +the + +^ L'Amour Medecin 3. 7, 8. ^ See above, p. 64. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-83 + +THE EFFECT OF COMEDY — lAMBLICHUS 83 + +world of matter, and the previous deformity of all things that are to +be variously adorned; for, these material things being in need of +adornment, they long for it the more, the more they despise their own +un-comeliness. Again, therefore, they pursue after the causes of +specific forms and of the beautiful, since from the mention of ugly +things they perceive the ugly; and although they avoid the doing of +deeds that are ugly, they manifest their knowledge thereof through +the words, and transfer their longing to the opposite of the ugly. + +\* These things afford still another argument, as follows. The forces +of the human emotions in us, if entirely restrained, bestir +themselves more vehemently ; while if stirred into action but +gradually and within measure, they rejoice moderately and are +satisfied; and, thus purified, they become obedient, and are checked +without violence. It is on this account that, when we witness the +emotions of others, in both comedy and tragedy, we halt our own +emotions, work them off more moderately, and are purged of them. In +the sacred ceremonies also, by certain spectacles and by hearing +things that are ugly, we are released from the harm that would come +from the deeds themselves. + +' Things of this sort, therefore, are introduced for the cure of our +soul, and in order to moderate the evils adhering to the soul through +generation, and also to loose and release it from its bonds. And on +this account Heraclitus very properly terms them ' cures,' meaning +that they will cure dreadful ailments, and render the soul free from +the calamities incident to generation.'^ + +Proclus Diadochus (a. d. 410—85), in his commentary on the Republic +of Plato, seems to have in mind the *Poetics* of Aristotle at first or +second hand, but his allusion to a catharsis of comedy may proceed +from the other \* champions ' of tragedy and comedy; that is, it may +or may not point to a discussion of a comic catharsis in Aristotle : + +^ lamblichus De Mysteriis i. 11, ed. by Parthey, 1857, pp. 38-40. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-84 + +' We must tell, . . . secondly, why, in particular he [Plato] does +not admit [into the ideal State] comedy and tragedy; and that, too, +when they contribute to a purgation of those emotions which it is +neither possible wholly to choke in, nor yet safe to gratify +completely, since they in fact require a movement, as it were, at the +proper time, and this movement, being effected when we hear a recital +of these emotions, renders us undisturbed by them for the rest of the +time. . . . + +' As for the second problem : this was his rejection of tragedy and +comedy — an absurd rejection if it be true that, through these, [the +players] can measurably satisfy the emotions, and in thus satisfying +them render good service to the cause of education by healing what is +painful in those emotions. Be that as it may, although this rejection +has afforded ample grounds of complaint both to Aristotle and to the +champions of these forms of poetry against the arguments of Plato, I +for my part shall, in accordance with my previous utterances, solve +the problem somewhat as follows. Everything that tends to imitate all +sorts of characters is most alien to the induction of youth into +virtue ; since through its imitation it enters into the thoughts of +the hearers, and also through its artful diversity becomes hurtful to +them ; for, whatsoever be the things imitated, such must the one who +is peculiarly sensitive to the imitation become. For virtue is +simple, and very like to God himself, to whom we say the term unity +is especially appropriate. So, then, the person who would become like +to such a one must flee from the life that is opposed to simplicity, +and therefore it will be necessary to purge him of all diversity; +and, if so, it will also be necessary for him when he is a youth, and +when because of his youth he is impressible, to stand utterly aloof +from all pursuits that drag him down into diversity. Clearly, then, +we should beware of both tragedy and comedy, since they imitate all +sorts of characters, and assault the hearers with pleasure ; lest +what is seductive in them drag into accord that in the soul which is +easy to seduce, and thus fill up the life of the children with the +evils which the imitation effects ; and lest, instead of the + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-85 + +THE EFFECT OF COMEDY — PROCLUS 85 + +measurable purgation appertaining to the emotions, these forms of +poetry beget in their souls a bias that is evil and hard to cleanse +away, since that bias causes the traits of unity and simplicity to +disappear, and from the fondness for all sorts of imitations their +souls are stamped with the opposite impressions. Moreover, since +these two kinds of poetry notably reach out toward that in the soul +which is most exposed to the emotions — comedy rousing in us the love +of pleasure and drawing us into absurd bursts of laughter, tragedy +fostering in us the love of grief and dragging us down to ignoble +outbursts of tears, and each of them nourishing the emotional element +in us, and so much the more as each accomplishes its special +function; therefore I, too, say that the statesman should devise +excretions, as it were, of these emotions, yet not in such a way as +to intensify the special passions connected with them, but on the +contrary to curb these passions, and in a suitable way to regulate +their movements. But since, after all, those forms of poetry, in +addition to their diversity, lack measure in their appeals to these +emotions, they are far from being useful for purgation; for +purgations consist, not in excessive movements, but in contracted +actions which have but a slight resemblance to those emotions of +which they purge.'^ + +It is tantalizing to have Proclus just miss divulging whether or not +he actually knew of an Aristotelian comic catharsis. Other hints of a +theory respecting the end of comedy — one that may have originated +with Aristotle or his immediate successors — are found in the +treatises edited by Kaibel. Thus the scholiast (either Melampus, of +the third century a. d., or Dio-medes, of the fourth) on Dionysius +Thrax {circa b. c. 170—90) remarks: + +\* And the aim of tragedy is to move the hearers to tears, while the +aim of comedy is to move them to + +^ Proclus Diadochus In Platonis Rem Publicam 360, 362, ed. by Kroll, +i. 42, 49-50. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-86 + +laughter. Wherefore, they say, tragedy dissolves life, and comedy +consolidates it.'^ + +Again, John Tzetzes {circa a. d. mo— ii8o) has caught up the +following: + +' Comedy is an imitation of an action, . . . purgative of emotions, +constructive of life, moulded by laughter and pleasure. Tragedy +differs from comedy in that tragedy has a story and a report of +things [or ' deeds '] that are past, although it represents them as +taking place in the present, but comedy embraces fictions of the +affairs of everyday life; and in that the aim of tragedy is to move +the hearers to lamentation, while the aim of comedy is to move them +to laughter.'- + +Another passage from the same Tzetzes reads : + +' The peculiar characteristic of comedy is the mixture of laughter +with gibes, while tragedy has sorrow and misfortunes. The +characteristic of the satyr-drama is not a change from grief to joy +(as, for example, in the Orestes and Alcestis of Euripides, and the +Electra of Sophocles in part), as some say, but it has unmixed and +joyous and boisterous laughter.'^ + +And a final one from Tzetzes, who has gathered from various sources: + +' The comic poet, ridiculing in his comedies some plunderer and +evil-doer and pestilent fellow, for the rest settles all into +decorum. Thus tragedy dissolves life, while comedy founds it firmly, +and renders it solid, as does the satyr-drama together with comedy, +being compounded of gloom and joy.'\* + +The inconsistency of Tzetzes need not detain us; he put together his +scraps of information in his own uncritical way. The last passage +begins with a statement which we find also in Horace (b. c. 65—8), +and which probably came to him from an Alexandrian writer.^ + +1 Kaibel, p. 14. ^ Kaibel, pp. 36-7. + +- Ibid., p. 17; see below, p. 287. ^ Horace, Satires i. 4. 1-5. + +^ Kaibel, p. 21. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-87 + +THE EFFECT OF COMEDY — CICERO ^y + +But Horace, in whose criticism we should expect to find something on +the emotional function of comedy, if a definite Greek theory was +known to his time, gives us nothing to build on in this particular; +even his knowledge of x\ristotle on tragedy comes to him at second or +third hand. Cicero (b. c. 106—43) refers to the theorists on laughter +in a slighting manner that he would hardly use if he were acquainted +with a comic catharsis in Aristotle. But he is familiar with certain +doctrines of the *Poetics*, seemingly in a more extended form than we +now possess, and with distinctions which we find in the Tractatus +Coislinianus. Of course he is familiar, too, with the Aristotelian +Rhetoric. Indeed, being preoccupied with rhetorical theory and +practice, he makes a distinction which we must not fail to observe, +between what is suitable to forensic eloquence, and what to comedy +proper: + +' In regard to laughter, there are five points for investigation; +first, what it is; secondly, whence it arises; thirdly, whether it +behoves the orator to provoke laughter; fourthly, to what extent; +fifthly, what are the several species of the ridiculous. As to the +first, what laughter is: by what means it is raised, wherein it +consists, in what manner it bursts out, and is so suddenly discharged +that, though we were willing, we have no power to stifle it, and in +what manner it all at once takes possession of our sides, our mouth, +our veins, our eyes, our countenance — let Democritus explain all +that. They are not to my present purpose, and if they were, I should +not at all be ashamed to say that I did not know them; for even they +who pretend to account for them know nothing of the matter. But the +place and, as it were, the province of the ridiculous (for that is +the next question) lies within the limits of ugliness and a certain +deformity; for those expressions are alone, or especially, ridiculous +which disclose and represent some ugliness in a not unseemly fashion. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-88 + +But, to come to the third point, it is evidently an orator's business +to provoke a laugh . . . above all because it softens or unbends +sorrow and severity. . . . Neither an eminent or flagitious villain +nor a wretch remarkably harassed with misfortunes is the proper +subject of ridicule. . . . (59) Moderation, therefore, is chiefly to +be observed in matters of wit. And the objects that are most easily +played upon are those that deserve neither great detestation nor the +greatest compassion. Hence it happens that the whole subject of the +ridiculous lies in the moral vices of men who are neither beloved nor +miserable, nor deserving to be dragged to punishment for their +crimes. . . . Deformity and bodily defects are likewise happy enough +subjects for ridicule. But let us consider what ought to be the main +object of investigation in other respects — how far we ought to go. +Here we must make it a rule to do nothing insipidly, nor to act like +a buffoon. An orator must avoid both extremes; he must not make his +jests too abusive nor too buffoonish. . . . There are two kinds of +humor; one arising from the thing, the other from the diction. . . . +(61) There is no kind of wit, in which severe and serious things may +not be derived from the subject. And we must take note also that not +everything that is ludicrous is refined wit. What can be more +ludicrous than a buffoon [sannio] ? His mouth, his face, his mimicry, +his voice, in short his whole body, is laughter itself. I might call +him witty, but then his wit is of that kind which I would recommend, +not to an orator, but to a player. (62) When a laugh therefore is +raised by this first kind, which is the greatest source of laughter, +and consists in representing the morose, the superstitious, the +suspicious, the vaunting, the foolish, it is not owing to our wit, +for these qualities are in their own nature ridiculous.'^ + +^ Cicero De Oratore 2. (58) 235 - (62)251 ; I have altered the +translation {1847) in The Classical Library, No. 37. Sec the whole +passage on the laughable, De Oratore 2. (54) 216-(71)289, esp. 235, +238, 239, 248, 251, 264, 266; of. Orator (26) 87-90. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-89 + +Cicero's allusion to Democritus, the ' laughing philosopher/ leads +nowhither; and his earlier reference to ' certain books in Greek' +(apparently several alike entitled On the Laughable), from which +Caesar had no hope of learning anything,^ is scarcely more useful — +though Theophrastus is said to have produced a work of that name.2 +For much of his thought Cicero is indebted to post-classical Greek +scholars such as Panaetius (b. c. 189—109), who came to Rome about B. +c. 146.^ It is impossible to draw a sharp line between what he owes +to Aristotle and what he has absorbed from Panaetius and other late +authorities. His restriction of the ludicrous within the province of +\* ugliness and a certain deformity ' directly or indirectly takes us +to the *Poetics* ;^ but his brief treatment of comic characters is +fuller and more precise than the general statements we now find in +that work. His two sources of the ludicrous — from things, and from +the diction — appear also in the Tractatus Coislinianus.^ His final +list of comic characters reminds one of the sketches in Theophrastus +and the personages of the New Comedy, but probably emanates also from +literary critics. A well-read critic himself, who assimilated all the +learning of his age, and was grounded in the writings of the +Socratics, Cicero in this passage no doubt combines elements from +several or many originals, unless he borrowed from a theorist who had +already combined them. But he has nothing to give us on the effect of +comedy in an Aristotelian sense. In him we are no + +^ De Oratore 2. (54) 217. + +2 Diogenes Laertius 5. (2) 46. + +^ See G. C. Fiske, The Plain Style in the Scipionic Circle, in +Classical Studies in Honor of Charles Forster Smith, Madison, Wis., +1919, PP- 62-105, esp. pp. 71-8. + +\* See below, p. 176, + +^ See below, pp. 224-5. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-90 + +nearer to the main object of our search than in Proclus, perhaps not +so near as in Tzetzes and the Tractate. For other chance hints in +Aristotle himself the reader must turn to the Scattered Passages on +Laughter at the end of the Introduction.^ Here, then, we take leave +of this part of our inquiry, without having reached a very positive +conclusion. + +But as Cicero embraces both Platonic and Aristotelian doctrines, and +mediates between them, I can lead up to the next topic (Aristotle and +Plato on Comedy) by citing from him a few other passages. + +These all concern Aristophanes. The modern scholar who talks of +'Aristotle's condemnation of Old Comedy ' will also inform us that +the same condemnation ' did not prevail generally among later +theorists and critics,'-and will thus account for the unexpectedly +favorable attitude of Cicero to the elder poet. But we have seen that +Aristotle nowhere condemns the comedy of Aristophanes.^ The view of +Cicero, that the Old Comedy is the representative of the liberal and +refined style of wit, is rather an argmnent for a continuous +tradition, beginning with Aristotle, or even with Plato, in favor of +Aristophanes. The reference to the latter in the *Poetics*, if it shows +nothing else, shows that his supremacy in his kind is already a +commonplace in Hterary criticism. The Plutarchian Abstract of a +Comparison between Aristophanes and Menander, giving the preference +to Menander, is necessarily later than Aristotle, and, if it be +earlier than Plutarch, yet comes from a new stream of thought that +arose after critics had begun to work on the New Comedy. The new +stream ob- + +^ See below, pp. 162-5. + +^ See Fiske (who cites Hendrickson), p. 84. + +^ See above, p. 21 ; compare below, pp. 155-7. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-91 + +viously runs counter to an established tradition, which nevertheless +prevails down to Tzetzes and the Tractate, and extends to our own +day. The reason why it has prevailed lies in the transcendent genius +of Aristophanes. All through the scholiasts, commentators, and +critical treatises, the New Comedy takes second place; for the most +part the criticism of it is a kind of appendage to the criticism of +the Old, save in Roman writers mainly deahng with Latin comedy, and +with Terence in particular. + +For Cicero, \* Comedy is an imitation of life, a mirror of custom, an +image of truth ' ^; — as, according to Aristotle, Alcidamas called +the Odyssey ' a fair mirror of human life.'^ And Cicero links comedy +with the dialogues of Plato and others: + +'There are, generally speaking, two sorts of jest: the one, coarse, +rude, vicious, indecent; the other, refined, polite, clever, witty. +With this latter sort not only our own Plautus and the Old Comedy of +Athens, but also the books of Socratic philosophy abound.'^ + +Among the poets of the Old Comedy, Aristophanes is easily first. His +modus is suavis and gravis, and Cicero notes in writing to his +brother Quintus: + +' Your letter, which he had a little before received, he gave to me +to read — a letter in the Aristophanic manner, highly delightful and +highly serious, I declare ! I was tremendously pleased with it.''^ + +No wonder, when Aristophanes was ' the wittiest poet of the Old +Comedy,'^ and distinctly preferable to + +^ Quoted by Donatus De Comoedia, in Kaibel, p. 67. - Aristotle, +Rhetoric 3. 3, thinks this metaphor unsuited to the style of an +oration. + +^ Cicero De Officiis i. (29) 104, trans, by Miller, p. 107. \* Cicero +Ad Quintum Frafrem 3. i. (6) 19. ^ De Legihtts 2. (15) 37. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-92 + +Eupolis.^ Cicero has even got a little of the ^c/^ar maws (659-61) by +heart, though not very accurately.^ His interest in Aristophanes is, +of course, the interest of an orator ; perhaps the best parallel to +it is found in the Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian, who says : + +' The Old Comedy retains, almost alone, the pure grace of Attic +diction, and the charm of a most eloquent freedom of language ; and +though it is chiefly employed in attacking follies, yet it has great +force in other departments ; for it is sublime, elegant, and +graceful; and I know not whether any poetry, next to Homer's (whom it +is always right to except, as he himself excepts Achilles), has +either a greater resemblance to oratory, or is better adapted for +forming orators. The authors of it are numerous; but Aristophanes, +Eupolis, and Cratinus are the principal.'^ + +And here we may add excerpts from another passage in Quintilian that +betray his dependence, direct or indirect, upon Plato and Aristotle, +and upon other Greek writers more nearly of his own time, but +probably dealing with the subject of the laughable in connection with +rhetoric rather than comedy. Of his debts to Latin writers, that to +Cicero is the greatest. Quin-tilian, like Plato, sees a relation +between laughter and the emotions of anger and hate or envy; like +Aristotle, he remarks upon the pleasantries suited and unsuited to +the man of refinement; and he gives us the same distinction as that +found in the Tractatus Coislinianus between laughter arising from the +diction and laughter arising from the things^ He naturally takes much +of his oratorical theory from Cicero : + +^ Ad Atticum 12. 6. 3. ^ Ibid. 8. 8. 2. See also Orator (9) 29. + +^ Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria 10. i. 65-6, trans, by Wat.-on, 2. +260-1. + +'' See below, pp. 224-5. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-93 + +THE EFFECT OF COMEDY — QUINTILIAN 93 + +' Very different from this [the power of arousing compassion] is the +talent which, by exciting laughter in the judge, dispels melancholy +affections, diverting his mind from too intense application to the +subject before it, recruiting at times its powers, and reviving it +after disgust and fatigue. . . . + +' But the chief difficulty in respect to jesting comes from this, +that a saying adapted to excite laughter generally contains a logical +fallacy, is often purposely lowered toward the worse, and never made +nobler ; and men's reaction to it will be varied, because we +appreciate a jest, not by any rational process, but by a mental +impulse that perhaps cannot be defined. At all events, although many +have attempted an explanation, I think it has never been adequately +explained whence laughter arises, which is excited not only by deed +or word, but sometimes even by bodily touch. Furthermore, laughter is +not habitually produced by a single cause ; for not merely witty and +agreeable utterances and actions are laughed at, but stupid, angry, +and timid ones as well, and hence the ludicrous has no fixed origin, +for risus is not remote from derisu. Thus, as Cicero says, the +ridiculous \* has its seat in a certain deformity and ugliness,' and +if these are made to appear in others the result is called raillery, +while if they recoil upon the speakers it is called folly. + +' Though laughter seems like a trifle, and is something that may be +aroused by buffoons, mimics, and often even by fools, yet it has a +power perhaps more despotic than anything else, and one that is +well-nigh irresistible ; for it bursts forth in people not seldom +against their will, and forces expression not merely through voice +and features, but shakes the whole body with its vigor. And, as I +have said, it often changes the tendency of the greatest affairs, as +it very frequently dissipates hatred and anger [odium iramque]. . . . + +' Now as to this talent, whatever it is, I should not, of course, +venture to say that it is wholly independent of art; for it may to +some extent be cultivated by observation, and rules concerning it +have been put together by Greek and Latin writers both. And yet + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-94 + +I distinctly affirm that in the main it depends on nature and +opportunity. . . . Still there would be no harm in collecting +exercises for the purpose; fictitious causes might be pleaded with an +admixture of jests ; or particular theses might be proposed to the +pupil for practice of this sort. Even those pleasantries (jokes as +they are, and are called) which we are accustomed to utter on days of +festal license might, with the addition of a little method, or with +the admixture of some element of the serious, prove of no small +utility to the orator; as it is, they are merely a diversion of youth +or of men at play. . . . + +' But the proper field of the matter we are now discussing is the +laughable, and accordingly the whole subject is entitled by the +Greeks izzpi ysXoio'j. The first way of dividing this subject is the +one that pertains to discourse as a whole, according as the laughable +is found in things and words. But the application certainly is +triple: we try to raise a laugh at others, or at ourselves, or at +affairs that are neutral. What proceeds from others we either blame, +or refute, or make hght of, or rebut, or elude. As to what concerns +ourselves, we remark on the laughable, and, to use a phrase from +Cicero, utter subabsurda ; for the same things which, if they fell +from us inadvertently, would be foolish are, when simulated, deemed +amusing. The third class, as Cicero says, consists in cheated +expectations, when things are said in one way and taken in another, +and the like; since neither person is concerned, I call such matters +\**neutral." Further, we either do or say laughable things. . . . + +' But it makes a difference where we indulge in jests. In social +intercourse and daily talk less dehcacy is allowable to the humbler +class of mankind, amusing discourse to all. ... To an orator, +distorted features and the gestures it is our habit to laugh at in +mimics are wholly unsuited. So with scurrilous jests from the comic +stage; they are absolutely out of character in him. As for obscenity, +he should avoid it not only in word, but in allusion. . . . + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-95 + +THE EFFECT OF COMEDY — QUINTILIAN 95 + +' I may say that laughter is educed either from the corporal +pecuHarities of him against whom we speak, or from his ethos, which +is to be gathered from his acts and utterances, or from external +circumstances relating to him. . . . + +' But as there are innumerable topics from which jokes may be drawn, +I must repeat that they are not all suited to orators. Unsuitable, +first, are jokes arising from ambiguities ; and similarly, obscene +jests such as are usually aimed at in Atellan comedy; and again, such +as are bandied about by individuals of the lowest class, when +ambiguities are promptly turned into personal abuse. . . . Nor do +ambiguous terms always only signify several things ; they may signify +things of the most diverse sorts. . . . + +\* This kind of jest is as poor as is the formation of names by +adding, subtracting, or altering letters — as, for example, . . . +turning the name Placidus into " Aci-dus," because the man had a sour +disposition. . . . + +' Those jokes are more choice and pointed which draw their force from +external circumstances. Here resemblance is of the utmost value, +especially if it can be turned toward the worse and more trivial +object. The ancients were given to this sort of pleasantry, calling +Lentulus " Spinther " and Scipio " Serapion." Such jokes are derived, +however, not only from human beings but from animals as well. . . . +This mode of exciting laughter is now very common. Such comparisons +are sometimes made openly, sometimes insinuated through a parallel. . +. . Still more ingenious is the application of one thing to another +because of a similarity between them, when we attribute to this case +what commonly happens in that. . . . + +' Are not many jokes made through the use of hyperbole ? For example, +Cicero says of a very tall man that " he had struck his head against +the arch of Fabius." ... As for irony, is it not, when employed very +gravely, a species of jesting ? . . . + +' The subject includes all figures of thought ■— (7)^Y)[j.aTa +BiavoCa?, as they are called, — into which some authorities divide +the modes of spoken utterance ; for we ask + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-96 + +questions, and express doubt, and affirm, and threaten, and wish, and +we say some things in the mode of compassion, and others in the mode +of anger. But everything is laughable that is obviously pretended. . +. . + +' To joke upon oneself is hardly fit for any one but a buffoon, and +is by no means allowable in an orator. It may be done in as many ways +as we jest at others, and accordingly, in spite of its frequent +occurrence, I will not discuss it. And whatever is said scurrilously +or in passion, however laughable, is unfit for a refined gentleman. . +. . + +' There remains to be noticed the kind of joke that consists in a +deceived expectation, or when words are meant to be taken in one way, +and we take them in another; and these are the happiest of all. . . . + +' As for subabsurda, they consist in a pretence of folly, and would, +if not pretended, be foolish. . . . + +\* So far as I have learnt from others or discovered for myself, the +foregoing are the most usual sources from which jests may be +derived.'^ + +He has learnt much from the Aristotelian Rhetoric at first or second +hand; and he has much in common with the Tractate ; but his view of +laughter is, first, ethical rather than mimetic, and, secondly and +mainly, forensic. The moral, utilitarian view of Cicero, Quintil-ian, +and the Romans in general, has been ably set forth by Fiske in his +treatment of satire, with its mixture, ' now grave, now gay,' and its +position in \* the larger literary family of the a-xouBaioysXotov,' +the common object of which is \* to convey philosophic truth under +cover of a jest.' The ' Socratic books ' were the best models for the +satire, ' which should be easy and not too aggressive, and should +have the spice of wit.' The tone of the conversation \* should vary +with the subject '; herein \* lies the psychological justi- + +^ Translated from Quintilian, Instiiutio Oratoria, ed. by +Rader-macher, 6. 3. i, 6-9, 11, 15-6, 22-5, 28, 29, 37, 46-7, 50, 53, +57, 38-9, 61, 67. 68, 70, 82-3, 84, 99, loi. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-97 + +fication for the apparently informal, yet subtly artistic, +development of the cxouBaioYsXoiov by the Greek Cynics and Stoics, +and by the Roman satirists, their successors.' But ' a sharp +distinction must be made between the province of humor and that of +invective.' Thus ' the spirit of the Old Comedy, ... in distinction +from the spirit animating the iambic verses of Archilochus, or the +poetry of Hipponax,' may be classed with the spirit of the +o-xoa^atoyslotov in ' the later popular Cynic and Stoic +philosophers,' who constantly traced their descent from the Old +Comedy. But ' perhaps it would be more correct to say that the Old +Comedy was the precursor of the Socratic literature,' to the tone of +which Cynicism owed so much. In Horace, Satire 1.10.10—16, we see +that ' the Old Comedy has a style, now . . . tristis, now suggestive +of the rhetorical and poetical, now acer — all words associated with +the seriousness of the grand style, — but now iocosus, urhanus, and +ridicuhis, that is, smacking of true comic informahty, ease, and +charm.' And the latter qualities are associated with the conception +of the ironical man (6 Eipwv), \* because Socrates best realized in +actual life this type of humor, a type bound up with the conception +of the plain style from the days of Socrates and Plato on.' +Naturally, therefore, Cicero (in the Orator 60) ' distinctly +indicates Plato as the master of this style and its appropriate type +of humor ' (\* et gravitate et sttavitate frinceps '). And in +accordance with the practice of Latin literary criticism — that is, +\* of seeking national parallels to the representative writers of +Greek literary forms ' — Plautus ' is regarded by Cicero as the Latin +representative of the type of liberal humor affected by the Old +Comedy.'^ Language unfit + +1 Fiske, pp. 77, 79, 85-6. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-98 + +for a gentleman is discovered by Cicero, not in Aristophanes, but, as +by Cicero's authority, Panaetius, in \* such coarse and careless +Cynic or Stoic predecessors as Diogenes the Cjmic, Zeno, or +Chrysippus/ Panaetius \* assails the aesthetic and moral coarseness +of Cynic speech which sins equally against linguistic propriety and +social decency/^ + +X + +ARISTOTLE AND PLATO ON COMEDY + +In Cicero we have the chief exponent at Rome of Aristotelian, and +still more of Platonic, doctrines. We may now consider more fully a +topic on one side of which we have touched before in a passing +allusion to Plato and Aristophanes.^ As we have seen in the foregoing +section, any reconstruction of Aristotle's views on the specific end +of comedy is tentative; and hence an estimate of the similarities and +differences between his views and those of his master, Plato, on the +general tendency and value of this form of drama, must hkewise in +many respects be problematical. Yet here, as there, we are not +without some means of forming a judgment, and various important +details are reasonably or quite certain. We should expect +similarities as well as differences; and such there are. But before +investigating either, we may sum up the ancient theories of the +laughable in writers before Plato. I quote from Miss Grant, who has +studied the subject in the pre-Socratic philosophers: + +' To summarize these fragments of the early philosophers, we may say +that in general they illustrate + +1 Fiske, pp. 75, 73. ^ See above, pp. 38-9. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-99 + +ARISTOTLE AND PLATO ON COMEDY 99 + +conventional morality of conduct as regards friendship, self-control +in anger, and avoidance of evil-speaking and slander. A theory of the +laughable is not definitely formulated, but there are suggestions +which later find an important place in the theory, such as the +necessity of relaxation and laughter as a preparation for serious +pursuits, avoidance of excess in laughter, condemnation of laughter +directed at the unfortunate, necessity for the reformer to be free +from serious faults himself. The philosophic attitude of laughter at +the faults of mankind is illustrated in the character of Democritus, +while in several of the fragments the typical reaction of the people +toward the jester, evil-speaker, and reformer is shown.'^ + +And for another preliminary step we may use the + +summary of Miss Grant regarding the conceptions found + +in Plato himself: + +' In these passages of Plato, several important ideas are brought +forward : the kinship of the ridiculous with what is morally or +physically faulty; the justification of laughter as a means of +understanding serious things, and the beginning of the conception of +o-TuouBaioysXoiov ;^ the need of restraint in laughter in everyday +conduct; the distinction of the good-natured and ill-natured je^ts ; +and, finally, the justification of the use of laughter against vice +and folly.'^ + +We should bear in mind, however, that the views thus abstracted are +scattered through the Platonic Dialogues, that they mostly arise +almost by chance in the treatment of other subjects, and that perhaps +in no-Dialogue save the Laws can we completely identify the utter- + +1 Mary A. Grant, The Ancient Rhetorical Theories of the Laughable in +Cicero and Horace, University of Wisconsin doctoral dissertation, +1917 (in manuscript), pp. 6-7. + +^ Compare Horace, Satire i. i. 24-5 : \* Quamquam ridentem dicere +verum quid vetat?' And see Plato, Symposium 197 e, Phaedfus 234d, +Apology 20d. These passages are noted by Miss Grant. + +^ Miss Grant, p. 14. + +g 2 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-100 + +ances of any speaker with the thoughts of the author himself. In the +Philebus alone is there anything hke a consideration of comedy in and +for itself; and even here the treatment by Socrates occupies but a +small fraction of the Dialogue, which as a whole is concerned with +the meaning of the general term pleasure. + +The type of writing which Plato chose for his medium of expression, +the dialogue, is one that enables an author to approach the truth +from various sides, and by gradual stages. In the preliminary stages +the speakers may offer tentative expressions of the truth, or +half-truths, or positive untruths. The argument advances by +elimination of the false and a convergence upon whatever survives the +test of dialectic. The result may or may not be expressly stated in +sober prose. In general we may believe that the ultimate truth is +seldom reached in the discussion proper, but is finally caught +together and embodied in the myth, this last being the most +imaginative part of a whole (namely, the Dialogue) which is itself an +imaginative or poetical creation. The poetical quality of the +Platonic Dialogues has been recognized by many writers, from +Aristotle to Shelley. + +Thus, in the *Poetics*} Aristotle groups ' Socratic Conversations ' +with the mimes of Sophron and Xenar-chus as a type of mimetic +composition which thus far had received no common name. And again, +according to Diogenes Laertius, \* Aristotle says that the type of +his [Plato's] Dialogues is between a poem and ordinary prose. '2 +Cicero thinks the style of Plato more poetic than that of comedy.^ In +modern times, Shelley regards Plato as first of all a poet.^ And +Egger says of the Platonic + +^ See below, p. i68. + +^ Diogenes Laertius 3. 37; Aristotle, frg. 73, Rose {1886), p. 78. + +' Cicero, Orator (20) 67. + +\* Shelley, Defence of Poetry, ed. by Cook, p. 9. + +<^0F «.tOM^ + +OOLLfiMI + +|picture0| + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-101 + +ARISTOTLE AND PLATO ON COMEDY loi + +Dialogue: \* It is the drama of the school; as comedy is the drama of +public life, and of private.'^ + +Again, the works of Plato not only belong to the general family of +the dialogue; most of them also fall under a definite species of this +genus, which Aristotle calls \* Socratic Conversations,' a type of +literature that was produced by other authors as well as by Plato, +and even before him. On this head we have the testimony of Diogenes +Laertius and Athenaeus, both of them citing Aristotle: + +'They say that Zeno of Elea was the first to write dialogues; but +Aristotle in the first part of On Poets says it was Alexamenus of +Styra, or of Teos, as Favorinus records in his Commentaries.'^ + +So Diogenes Laertius; Athenaeus gives more: + +\* He [Plato] elaborately praises Meno, though he condemns the others +one and all, in the Republic banishing Homer and imitative poetry, +although he himself wrote dialogues which themselves were imitative. +Yet he was not the inventor of the type, for before him Alexamenus of +Teos invented this type of argument. ... Aristotle in his work [ ? or +' dialogue '] On Poets writes as follows: " Accordingly, though the +mimes, as they are called, of Sophron can not be included under the +head of metrical compositions, may we not term them dialogues and +imitations, and similarly the Dialogues of Alexamenus of Teos, which +were the first Socratic Dialogues to be -v^nritten ? " In these words +the most learned Aristotle plainly declares that Alexamenus wrote +dialogues before Plato/^ + +In this species ot writing a kind of literary and traditional +Socrates is the chief speaker; and the speeches are devised to fit +this traditional character, a wise man + +^ Egger, p. 228. + +2 Diogenes Laertius 3. 48 ; Aristotle, frg. 72, Rose, pp. 77-8. ^ +Athenaeus 11. 505c; Aristotle, frg. 72, Rose, p. 78. For Alexamenus, +see Hirzel, Der Dialog i. 100-2. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-102 + +in search of truth and beauty, but one who at the same time is \* +ironical.' He is, in fact, the \* ironical man ' of all time. As +such, he is obviously related to one of the types of character proper +to comedy, a fact that seems to be recognized by Aristotle.^ On the +other hand, his manner of speech, plain and natural, is allied to the +style of the mime, a brief humorous or farcical dialogue using the +customary medium of prose ; while the mime, in turn, has its own +affiliation with comedy. Thus there is a triple interrelation between +the Platonic dialogue, the mimes of Sophron, and the mimes and +comedies of Epicharmus. Plato loves Sophron and Epicharmus as well as +Aristophanes.^ + +Accordingly, it is not by chance that Aristotle connects ' Socratic +Conversations' with the mimes of Sophron and Xenarchus. His seemingly +casual reference implies no distaste for the popular farce. Rather, +we might judge from it that he was well-disposed to the farcical side +of Epicharmus and Aristophanes. The Stagirite's own jokes no doubt +met the Aristotelian and Ciceronian standard of what befits a +gentleman,^ departing far enough from pointless obscenity and cruel +invective — as the wit of Aristophanes was in this respect on a level +above that of his predecessor Cratinus, or of the Old Comedy in +general; yet the jokes of Aristotle are classed by Demetrius with +those of Sophron: + +' Elegance of expression includes grace and geniality. Some +pleasantries — those of poets — are loftier and more dignified, while +others [in prose writers] are more + +^ Nicomachean Ethics 4. 13; see below, p. 119. + +2 See above, pp. 29-38, below, pp. 111-2. For Epicharmus' development +of the mime, see Reich, Der Mitnus, p. 246; for Plato's love of +Sophron, ihid., pp. 381-3, For Epicharmus and Sophron in relation to +the Platonic Dialogues, see Hirzel, Der Dialog I. 20-26. + +^ See above, pp. 26, 88, below, pp. 119-20. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-103 + +ARISTOTLE AND PLATO ON COMEDY 103 + +commonplace and jocular, resembling banter, as is the case with those +of Aristotle^ and Sophron and Lysias. Such witticisms as " Whose +teeth could sooner be counted than her fingers " (of an old woman) . +. . differ in no way from gibes, nor are they far removed from +buffoonery [ysT^coiroTuoiia?].'^ + +The Platonic Dialogues, then, are for Aristotle ' mimetic ' — or, as +we should say, dramatic — and poetical in so far as they are ' +mimetic '; ^ and from their relation to the mimes,^ as well as for +other reasons, the}^ may be classed with the comic rather than the +tragic part of literature. With their swift interchange of question +and answer, they resemble both the plays of Epicharmus and the mimes +of Sophron. Coming after the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and +Euripides, and the comedies of Aristophanes, who in his turn had +learned both from the tragic poets and from Epicharmus and the mimes, +the Dialogues of Plato, as the next great literary type struck out by +the Greek genius, are generically comic. The Symposium obviously may +be so classed, and the Ion, if we can surely attribute this to Plato; +the Phaedrus more readily than the Protagoras, and yet the +Protagoras, too. Even in the most serious of the Dialogues, as the +Apology, there are occasional touches betraying the kinship of Plato +with the comic genius. The exceptional tragic quality of the Phaedo^ +by contrast proves the rule. + +^ As Rhys Roberts, following Blass, points out, the reading of the +text must stand, Maslow's proposed substitution of'Aristophanes ' for +' Aristotle' being untenable, since the reference is to prose +writers. + +2 Demetrius De Elocutione 128, ed. and trans, by W. Rhys Roberts, p. +131 ; I have slightly modified the translation. Compare above, p. 26. + +^ Compare below, p. 192. • + +\* Compare below, p. 168. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-104 + +In the Politics 2.1, Aristotle, when referring to statements made in +the Republic of Plato, cites and quotes, not the author, but the ' +Socrates ' of that Dialogue. Observing a hke precision, and citing +the speaker, we may begin with the less favorable allusions to comedy +in the Dialogues, and then pass to these that are more tolerant and +less purely utilitarian. + +In the Apology Plato makes Socrates say of the accusations issuing +from an earlier stage in his career : + +' I do not know, and can not teU, the names of my accusers — unless +in the chance case of a comic poet.'^ + +The hero then recounts the present charge against him : + +\* " Socrates is an evil-doer, and a meddlesome person who searches +into things imder the earth and in heaven, and makes the worse appear +the better reason; and he teaches the aforesaid things to others." ' + +And he adds: + +' It is just what you [persons in the audience] have yourselves seen +in the comedy [the Clouds] of Aristophanes — a man named Socrates +there borne about [i. e., suspended in a basket], saying that he +walks the air, and talking a deal of nonsense concerning matters of +which I do not pretend to know either much or little.'2 + +However tense the situation, the reminiscence provokes a smile. +Moreover, the Socrates of the Apology is here made to employ a +rhetorical device familiar to later theorists, and doubtless alread}^ +familiar to rhetoricians in the time of Plato. So Aristotle +recognizes the legitimate use in an argument of both ' ancient ' + +^ Apology 18; Jowett 2. no. In the succeeding quotations from Plato I +continue to make use of the translation by Jowett, occasionally +revising. + +^ Apology 19; Jowett 2. in. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-105 + +ARISTOTLE AND PLATO ON COMEDY 105 + +and \* contemporary ' (or 'recent') witnesses, and therewith notes +the advantage of quoting from the poets: + +' Thus Eubulus [the orator] . . . employed against Chares the saying +of Plato [the comic poet] against Archibius that " the avowal of +rascality has gained ground at Athens." '^ + +Again, in the Phaedo, when he is about to discuss the immortality of +the soul, Socrates is made to declare: + +\* I reckon that no one who heard me now, not even if he were a comic +poet, would say that I talk idly [aBo-Xs(7/(o], or discuss matters in +wnich I have no concern.' ^ + +He had been respresented as \* garrulous ' by both Aristophanes^ and +Eupolis^ — garrulity [aBoXscr/ta] being comic material in all ages ; +but here the reference to comic poets may be thought to include +Ameipsias as well as Aristophanes, since the Connus of Ameipsias was +exhibited at the same festival as the Clouds, and in it ' Socrates ' +appeared as one of the characters, while the title of the play was +the name of his music-teacher.^ The history of \* Socrates ' as a +personage in imitative literature begins with these two comedies, +twenty-five years before the death of the man himself; it had been +running thirty years, and probably more, when Plato wrote the +Apology.^ In this latter work the line is hard to draw between the +admixture of the comic element and that larger part of the Dialogue +which stirs our pity, hope, and admiration ; yet we are doubtless +justified in connecting the allusions to + +^ Aristotle, Rhetoric i. 15. The 'Plato' of this passage has also +been taken to mean the philosopher; see below, p. 158. 2 Phaedo 70; +Jowett 2, 209-10. + +^ Cf. Rogers, Clouds, pp. xxvii-xxx ; and see Clouds 1480. \* +Eupolis, frg. 352, Kock i. 351. ^ Starkie, Clouds, p. xxix. ^ Croiset +4. 279. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-106 + +Aristophanes and Ameipsias in the Apology and the Phaedo with the +remarks on comedy in the Republic. + +In the Republic the discussion of poetry is incidental to the problem +of education. And this does not mean the education of all classes in +the State, but of one class in particular, namely, the Guardians, the +mihtary class. It means the education of these, mainly during +childhood and youth. Further, this State is not regarded as actually +possible; it is ideal, imaginary, at times fantastic — a magic +mirror, so to speak, by gazing at which we arrive at a new sense of +justice. The sections of the Dialogue that treat of poetry (the end +of Book 2, beginning of Book 3, and beginning of Book 10) chiefly +deal with Homer; tragedy and comedy are subordinate topics. Only one +tragic poet, Aeschylus, is mentioned by name; no comic poet is so +mentioned. The objection brought against poetry is threefold. It +misrepresents the divine nature; for Homer displays the gods as +subject to human fear, pain, and even lust, and to excessive +laughter. It is imitative: the distinction is made between pure +narrative, where the poet tells a straightforward story in his own +words; pure ' imitation,' where a dramatist, saying nothing himself, +presents the entire action through the utterances of his characters ; +and the mixed type, as in Homer, where some part of the story is +given by the poet speaking for himself, and the rest by the +characters. Finally, it represents emotions, such as fear, of which +the warlike Guardians should see and know as little as possible. +Poetry is therefore false to the nature of the divine, untrue also in +so far as it is imitative and unreal, and dangerous to the safety of +the State. + +The triple distinction of i^nitative, narrative, and mixed is by some +scholars found again in the *Poetics* of + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-107 + +ARISTOTLE AND PLATO ON COMEDY 107 + +Aristotle ;^ though some such distinction may have been + +a commonplace in Greek criticism before Plato, who + +certainly did not invent, any more than did Socrates, + +the notion that the drama is an \* imitative ' art.^ One + +may add that the Republic is itself of the mixed type. + +It begins with a narrative of the circumstances under + +which the Dialogue ostensibly took place; and indeed + +the entire narrative is related by one person as a story; + +yet it is on the whole \* imitative,' since, after a brief + +preliminary, the remainder is in the form of speeches + +put into the mouths of various characters by Plato. + +The Dialogue would therefore, as we have seen, be one + +of the books that should be denied admittance to the + +ideal State which it describes! It also contains a + +choice collection of the passages from Homer that + +would not be admitted. The Symposmm would be + +excluded, both because it is imitative, and because of + +the naughty utterances in it by Aristophanes and + +Alcibiades. Nor would the other Platonic Dialogues + +fare better, in so far as the author is an imitative artist. + +We may now look at the five references to comedy + +and laughter in the Republic, taken out of their context. + +The first needs no further preamble: + +' Neither ought our guardians to be given to laughter; for a fit of +laughter which has been indulged to excess almost always produces a +violent reaction. . . . Then personages of worth, even if only mortal +men, must not be represented as overcome by laughter, and still less +must such a representation of the gods be allowed.'^ + +The second propounds the main question: + +\* You mean ... to ask whether tragedy and comedy shall be admitted +into our State ? '\* + +1 But see Alfred Gudeman in Philologus 76 (1920). 245. + +2 Cf, *Poetics* 3. i448a28-9; see below, p. 172. ^ Republic 3. 388; +Jowett 3. 71. + +\* Republic 3. 394 ; Jowett 3. 79. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-108 + +The final answer is that they are not to be admitted until a better +defence is offered for them than is discovered by the speakers in the +Republic. Such a defence was, in effect, undertaken by Aristotle in +the *Poetics*. Some defence may or may not even then have been lying in +Plato's mind; the positions reached by the \* Socrates ' of the +Republic are modified by 'the Athenian ' of the Laws. + +The third statement is diametrically opposed to an + +utterance made by the Socrates of the Symposium. The + +third is: + +' For even when two species of imitation are nearly allied, the same +persons can not succeed in both, as, for example, the writers of +tragedy and comedy.'^ + +At the end of the Symposium, as we shall see, Socrates maintains the +opposite opinion.^ + +The fourth is: + +\* Then the man was perceived to be a fool who directs the shafts of +his ridicule at any other sight but that of folly and vice/^ + +In the fourth there is a loophole for comedy. + +The fifth and last is: + +' And so the feeling of sorrow which has gathered strength at the +sight of the misfortunes of others [in tragedy] is with difficulty +repressed in our own. . . . And does not the same hold also of the +ridiculous ? There are jests which you would be ashamed to make +yourself, and yet when you hear them in comedy, or in prose,\* you +are greatly amused by them, and are not at all disgusted by their +unseemliness. The case of + +^ Fepuhlic 3. 395; Jowett 3. 79. + +^ See below, p. 114. + +^ Republic 5. 452; Jowett 3. 144. + +^ Reich, Der Mimus, p. 383, thinks this a reference to the prose +mimes of Sophron. Jowett translates: 'and yet on the comic stage, or +indeed in private,' etc. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-109 + +ARISTOTLE AND PLATO ON COMEDY 109 + +pity is repeated: there is a principle in human nature which is +disposed to raise a laugh, and this, which you once restrained by +reason, because you were afraid of being thought a buffoon +[(Do^o6[xzyo<; Bo'^av pco'xoXoj^ia^], is now let out again ; and, +having stimulated the risible faculty at the theatre, you are +betrayed unconsciously to yourself into playing the comic poet at +home. . . . And the same may be said of lust and anger and all the +other affections, of desire and pain and pleasure, which are held to +be inseparable from every action. In all of them poetry feeds and +waters the passions instead of drying them up; she lets them rule, +although they ought to be controlled, if mankind are ever to increase +in happiness and virtue.'^ + +Most scholars have held that Aristotle took his departure from this +argument, to combat it; that, having justified the emotional relief +of pity and fear through tragedy, he went on to deal with the +emotional problem of comedy in a similar way; and that for him comedy +would afford the proper catharsis of laughter, so that the audience +by giving vent to the risible faculty at the theatre, would be less +likely to play the comic poet at home.^ + +In the Laws of Plato we have a less imaginative representation of the +State, and one that, while sufficiently ideal, is yet more nearly +adapted than the Republic to men as they are. The Laws being more \* +practical,' in various ways ' the Athenian ' of this Dialogue recedes +from the conclusions of \* Socrates ' in the Republic. His ideas may +come nearer also to the final beliefs of Plato, though they do not +wholly accord with the latter's practice. The passages which here +concern us are two. + +^ Republic 10. 606; Jowett 3. 321-2. ■^ See above, pp. 5-7, 60-5. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-110 + +no INTRODUCTION + +The first: + +' It is necessary also to consider and know uncomely persons and +thoughts, and those which are intended to produce laughter in comedy, +and have a comic character in respect of style, song, and dance, and +of the imitations which these afford; for serious things can not be +understood without laughable things, nor opposites at all without +opposites, if a man is really to have intelligence of either. But he +can not carry out both in action, if he is to have any degree of +virtue. And for this very reason he should learn them both, in order +that he may not in ignorance do or say anything which is ridiculous +and out of place. He should command slaves and hired strangers to +imitate such things, but he should never take any serious interest in +them himself, nor should any freeman or freewoman be discovered +taking pains to learn them. And there should always be some element +of novelty in the imitation. Let these, then, be laid down, both in +law and in our discourse, as the regulations of laughable amusements +which are generally called comedy.'^ + +The second passage is: + +' Do we admit into our State the comic writers who are so fond of +making mankind ridiculous, if they attempt in a good-natured manner +to turn the laugh against our citizens ? or do we . . . allow a man +to make use of ridicule in jest and without anger about any thing or +person ? ... We forbid earnest. . . . But we have stiU to say who are +to be sanctioned or not to be sanctioned by the law in the employment +of innocent humor. A comic poet, or maker of iambic or satirical +lyric verse, shall not be permitted to ridicule any of the citizens, +either by word or likeness, either in anger or without anger. And if +any one is disobedient, the judges shall either at once expel him +from the country, or he shall pay a fine of three minae, which shall +be dedicated to the god who presides over the contests. Those only +who have received permission shall be + +^ Laws 7. 816-7 ' Jowett 5. 199. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-111 + +ARISTOTLE AND PLATO ON COMEDY iii + +allowed to write verses at one another, but they shall be without +anger and in jest; in anger and in serious earnest they shall not be +allowed. The decision of this matter shall be left to the +superintendent of the general education of the young, and whatever he +may license the writer shall be allowed to produce, and whatever he +rejects let not the poet himself exhibit, or ever teach anybody else, +slave or freeman, under the penalty of being dishonored, and held +disobedient to the laws.'^ + +These more tolerant utterances in the Laws remind one of the rule +laid down by Aristotle in the Politics, that a youth shall not attend +the contests in comedy before he has reached the proper stage in his +education ;^ but neither in the Laws nor in the Republic have we a +detached inquiry into the essence of the comic drama. In both +Dialogues, as in the Politics, the treatment of comedy is incidental +to that of a leading topic; the function of the drama being judged by +the standard of utility in the State, and with special reference to +juvenile education. + +Let us turn to allusions of another sort. The Symposium as a whole is +a comedy; and the comic myth which Plato as an imitative artist puts +into the mouth of the Aristophanes of this Dialogue deserves the same +measure of attention from us as the reference to Aristophanes by +Aristotle in the *Poetics*. But apart from the Aristophanic myth the +direct allusions by Plato to comic poets are limited, and his +quotations or adaptations of their language, so far as these can be +identified, are few. Nevertheless they have a value. + +In the Theaetetus Socrates shows high regard for Epicharmus, ranking +him in comedy with Homer in epic poetry, at the summit in their +respective provinces + +^ Laws II. 935-6; Jowett 5, 325. \* See below, p. 125. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-112 + +of art, and citing both for the idea that ' all things are the +offspring of flux and motion.'^ And in the Gorgias he asks : ' Must I +then say with Epicharmus, \*' Two men spoke before, but now one shall +be enough " ? '2 Hirzel makes much of the lively style of +conversation in the plays of Epicharm us, where one speaker catches +up his fellow in the middle of a verse; the poet has raised the wit +of the Sicilian mime to a higher level, introduces speculation, and +hence in more than one way has had an influence on the Dialogues of +Plat0.2 Epicharmus would also recommend himself to both Plato and +Aristotle through the strictly philosophical poetry that has been +attributed to him. Aristotle evinces his respect by citing Epicharmus +twice in the *Poetics*, apparently giving him, together with Phormis, +the credit for the invention of plots in comedy, and making him the +forerunner of the Athenian Crates in that notable matter.'\* A phrase +from Epicharmus seems to reappear at intervals in De Generatione +Ani-malium and the Metaphysics ; and he is otherwise remembered seven +or eight times in the extant works of Aristotle.^ + +In thQ First Alcibiades, if this be genuinely Platonic, Socrates +jocularly quotes an unnamed author: \* When you and I were born, +Alcibiades, as the comic poet says, \*' the neighbors hardly knew of +the important event."'^ On the authority of Olympiodorus the proverb +has been attributed to the comic poet Plato, + +^ Theaetetus 152 ; Jowett 4. 206. + +2 Gorgias 505 ; Jowett 2. 397. + +^ Hirzel, Der Dialog i. 22-3. + +^ See below, pp. 172, 177-8. + +^ See below, pp. 152-5. + +\* First Alcibiades 121 ; Jowett 2. 488. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-113 + +in some unidentified drama/ a writer who does not otherwise emerge, +if here, in the works of the philosopher, and who is possibly once +mentioned by Aristotle.^ A chance-allusion to the comic poets is +likewise to be noted in the Phaedrus, where the youthful orator +humorously accuses Socrates of resorting to a familiar expedient of +the stage : ' Do not let us exchange " Hi quoqiic " as in a farce.'^ + +Among the works of Plato the Symposium, the chief topic of which is +love, comes nearest to being both a discussion and an illustration of +the comic spirit; but it is not a discussion of comedy in the +narrower sense; and even the discourse of Aristophanes (containing +much that the Socrates of the Republic would exclude from his +commonwealth as unsuited to the education of the Guardians) is too +long to quote. Indeed, it needs only to be mentioned. We can notice +two allusions to comedy from other parts of the Dialogue. There are +those who think that Socrates' references to the Clouds in the +Apology and the Phaedo demonstrate the antagonism of Plato to that +drama. What, then, shall we say regarding Plato's use of a line from +the Clouds (362) in the Symposium ? Here he makes Alcibiades adopt +the very words of Aristophanes for a realistic description of +Socrates — \* in our streets, stalking and jetting like a +brent-goose, and casting his eyes about askance.'\* And what shall we +say of the contradiction between the argument in the Republic, that +the same persons can not succeed in writing both + +■^ Plato, the comic poet, frg. 204, Kock i. 657-8. 2 See above, p. +105, below, p. 158. ^ Phaedrus 236; Jowett i. 441. ^ Symposium 221 ; +compare Starkie, Clouds, p. 95. + +h + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-114 + +tragedy and comedy/ and the opinion noted at the close of the +Symposium ? — + +' The chief thing he [Aristodemus] remembered was Socrates compelling +the other two to acknowledge that the genius of comedy was the same +with that of tragedy, and that the true artist in tragedy was an +artist in comedy also.'^ + +The truth is that Plato himself was a master in both the serious and +the comic vein, and that his characters say what is proper at a given +stage in any Dialogue. At length we come to the pregnant remarks on +comedy in the Philebus — pregnant, but still subordinate to the topic +of the Dialogue, namely, pleasure. Socrates is again the speaker, but +here the method is less dramatic, and the usual irony almost wholly +dropped. We may omit the brief intercalary answers of Protarchus, +since the Socratic questions are virtually progressive enunciations +of fact : + +' And you remember how pleasures mingle with pains in lamentation and +bereavement ? . . . And you remember also how at the sight of +tragedies the spectators smile through their tears ? ... And are you +aware that even at a comedy the soul experiences a mixed feeling of +pain and pleasure ? . . . + +' I have just mentioned envy; would you not call that a pain of the +soul ? ... And yet the envious man finds something in the misfortunes +of his neighbors at which he is pleased ? ... And ignorance, and what +is termed clownishness, are surely an evil ? . . . + +\* From these considerations learn to know the nature of the +ridiculous. . . . The ridiculous is, in short, the specific name +which is used to describe the vicious form of a certain habit; and of +vice in general it is that kind which is most at variance with the +inscription at Delphi, ..." Know thyself." . . . And the opposite +would + +^ See above, p. io8. + +\* Symposium 223; Jowett i. 594. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-115 + +THE PHILEBUS OF PLATO 115 + +be, " Know not thyself." . . . Are there not three ways in which +ignorance of self may be shown ? ... In the first place, about money; +the ignorant may fancy himself richer than he is. ... And still more +often he will fancy he is taller or fairer than he is, or that he has +some other advantage of person which he really has not. . . . And yet +surely by far the greatest number err about the goods of the mind; +they imagine themselves to be much better men than they are. . . . + +\* All who are silly enough to entertain this lying conceit of +themselves may, of course, be divided, hke the rest of mankind, into +two classes — one having power and might, and the other the reverse. +. . . Those of them who are weak and unable to revenge themselves, +when they are laughed at, may be truly called ridiculous. . . . +Ignorance in the powerful is hateful and horrible, because hurtful to +others both in reality and in fiction; but powerless ignorance may be +reckoned, and in truth is, ridiculous. . . . + +' Let us examine the nature of envy. ... Is not envy an unrighteous +pleasure, and also an unrighteous pain ? ... There is nothing envious +or wrong in rejoicing at the misfortunes of enemies ? ... But to feel +joy instead of sorrow at the sight of our friends' misfortunes — is +not that wrong ? . . . + +' And the three kinds of vain conceit in our friends, . . . the vain +conceit of beauty, of wisdom, and of wealth, are ridiculous if they +are weak, and detestable when they are powerful. May we not say as . +. . before that our friends who are in this state of mind, when +harmless to others, are simply ridiculous ? ... And do we not +acknowledge this ignorance of theirs to be a misfortune ? . . . Then +the argument shows that when we laugh at the folly of our friends, +pleasure, in mingling with envy, mingles with pain; for envy has been +acknowledged by us to be mental pain, and laughter is pleasant; and +so we envy and laugh at the same instant. . . . And the argument +implies that there are combinations of pleasure and pain in +lamentations, and in tragedy and comedy, not only on the stage, but +on the greater stage of human life; and so in endless other cases. . +. . + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-116 + +\* I mentioned anger, desire, sorrow, fear, love, emulation, envy, +and similar emotions, as examples in which we should find a mixture +of the two elements so often named. . . . We may observe that our +conclusions hitherto have had reference only to sorrow and envy and +anger. . . . Then many other cases remain ? ... And why do you +suppose me to have pointed out to you the admixture which takes place +in comedy? Why but to convince you that there was no difficulty in +showing the mixed nature of fear and love and similar affections ? ' +^ + +These extracts from the Dialogues of his master provide a general +background for the entire thought of Aristotle on comedy. But it +would be hazardous to attempt the establishment of many relations +between the two authors in detail. Having already indicated a few +points of similarity and difference between them, I shall confine +myself to a few additional remarks. + +The main similarity between Aristotle and the chief interlocutors in +the Platonic Dialogues lies in the field of ethics, political +science, and rhetoric. One of the Aristotelian assumptions is that an +orator must be a good man,^ and, as we should say, a gentleman. +Aristotle likewise, no doubt, would subscribe to the notion, +generally held among the ancients,^ that in order to be a good poet a +man must be good himself; and this, in spite of what he says +regarding the origin of poetry, to the effect that the forerunners of +the comic poets were not on the same moral plane as the forerunners +of the tragic.^ But he does not hold that a poem must + +^ Philehus 48-50 ; Jowett 4. 621-4. I i'lnd no better place than at +the end of these extracts from Plato to insert the maxim, attributed +to Socrates by Stobaeus {Anthologium 3. 34. 18) : 'One should use +laughter as one uses salt, sparingl}'^'; see Stobaeus, ed. by +Wachsmuth and Hense, 3. 686. + +2 Aristotle, Rhetoric i. 2. + +^ Cf. Aristophanes, Frogs 1008-12, 1482-1502 ; Strabo i. 2. 5. + +'\* See below, pp. 174-5. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-117 + +satisfy the standards of Ethics and Pohtics, since, however ennobled +the agents in a tragedy may be, the hero must be depicted with a flaw +sufficient to bring about his downfall, and since the agents in +comedy have the faults of the average man, or are worse than the +average. 1 The comic poet may not, indeed, endow his characters with +any and every defect; he is limited to the kinds and degrees of +disproportion and ugliness that are not painful or injurious and +corrupting. Consequently he must be familiar with the variety and +extent of human aberrations from normal conduct. Yet it is not of the +public stage, but of individual ethics and social life, that +Aristotle says: + +' In the matter of truth, ... he who observes the mean may be called +truthful, and the mean state truthfulness. Pretence, if it takes the +form of exaggeration, is boastfulness [av^a^ovsta], and one who is +given to it is a boaster [i. e., ' impostor ' (a7;aJo)v)], but if it +takes the form of depreciation it is irony [sipcovsta], and he who is +given to it is ironical [sipow], + +' As regards pleasantness in amusement, he who observes the mean is +witty [su'rpdcTusXo?], and his disposition wittiness [suTpccT^sXia] ; +the excess is buffoonery [^(x)\i.oloyio(,], and he who is given to it +is a buffoon rj3o)[j.oX6/o?], whereas he who is deficient in wit may +be called a boor [aypoTxoc], and his moral state boorish-ness +[aypoixtoc]. + +\* As to the other kind of pleasantness, namely pleasantness in life, +he who is pleasant in a proper way is friendly [^-piXo?], and his +mean state is friendliness [cptXta] ; but he who goes too far, if he +has no ulterior object in view, is obsequious [oLpzGv.oo], while if +his object is self-interest, he is a flatterer [y.61(x,%], and he who +does not go far enough, and always makes himself unpleasant, is a +quarrelsome and morose sort of person [Budspi^ zic, Y.cd ^UG'AoXoq] +.' ^ + +^ See below, pp. 170-1, 176-7. + +^ Nicomachean Ethics 2. 7; trans, by Welldon, pp. 51-2, revised. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-118 + +The preceding passage, and the following (likewise from the Ethics), +have perhaps a special interest because of their relation to the +Tractatus Coislinianus, where we have a parallel to three of the +characters here described :^ + +' It seems that the boaster [6 aXaJwv] is one who is fond of +pretending to possess the quaUties which the world esteems, although +he does not possess them, or does not possess them to the extent that +he pretends. The ironical person [6 sipwv], on the contrary, +disclaims or disparages what he possesses; while the intermediate +person, who is a sort of " plain-dealer," is truthful both in life +and in speech — he admits the fact of his possessions, he neither +exaggerates nor disparages them. ... A person who pretends to greater +things than he possesses, if he has no ulterior object in doing so, +seems to be a person of low character, as otherwise he would not take +pleasure in a falsehood ; but he looks more like a fool than a knave. +Supposing he has an object, if the object be glory or honor, the +pretentious person, like the boaster, is not highly censurable; but +if it be money, or the means of getting money, his conduct is more +discreditable. It is not a particular faculty, but a habit of choice, +which constitutes the boaster; for it is by virtue of his moral state +and his character that he is a boaster, as a person is a liar, if he +takes pleasure in falsehood for its own sake, or as a means of +winning reputation or gain. Thus it is that boastful people, if their +object is reputation, pretend to such qualities as win praise or +congratulation, but if their object is gain, they pretend to such +qualities as may be beneficial to their neighbors, and can not be +proved not to exist — for example, to skill in prophesying or +medicine. . . . + +\* Ironical people, on the other hand, in depreciating themselves, +show a more refined character, for it seems that their object is not +to make gain but to avoid pomposity. They are particularly fond of +disclaiming the + +^ See below, pp. 226, 262-5. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-119 + +same qualities as the boaster affects, that is, the qualities which +the world esteems — as was the way, for example, of Socrates. People +whose pretensions have to do with such things as are trivial and +obvious are called humbugs [PauxoTuavoupyoi], and are contemptible. +Sometimes irony itself appears to be boast-fulness, as in the dress +of the Lacedaemonians; for exaggerated deficiency is a form of +boastfulness, as well as excess. . . . + +' As relaxation, no less than business, enters into life, and one +element of relaxation is playful diversion, it seems that here, too, +there is a manner of intercourse which is in good taste. ... In this +matter as in others it is possible to go beyond, or to fall short of, +the mean. Now they who exceed the proper limit in respect to the +laughable seem to be buffoons [pw[j,o>.6yoi] and clownish +[cpopTixot], as their heart is set upon raising a laugh at any cost, +and they aim at exciting laughter more than at decorous language and +not giving pain to the one who is ridiculed. On the other hand, they +who will never themselves say anything laughable, and are indignant +with those who do, may be classed as boorish [aypioi] and rude +[cr/Xripoi]. + +' People whose fun is in good taste are called witty [zuzpdzzkoi, ' +lively'], a name which implies their happy turns of speech, as these +happy turns may be described as movements of the character; for +characters, like bodies, are judged by their movements. But as it is +never necessary to look far for the laughable, and as most persons +enjoy fun and ridicule more than is necessary, buffoons are also +termed ' witty,' because they are amusing. But it is clear, from what +has been said, that there is a difference, and indeed a wide +difference, between the two. + +\* The characteristic of the mean [or ' intermediate '] state is +tact. A person of tact is one who will use and Hsten to such language +as is suitable to an honorable gentleman; for there is such language +as an honorable gentleman may use and listen to in the way of fun, +and the fun of a gentleman is different from that of a + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-120 + +slavish person, and, again, the fun of a cultivated from that of an +uncultivated person. The difference may be illustrated from the old +comedies as compared with the recent; in the former it was scurrilous +[' abusive ' or ' obscene '] language [cdGy^^oXoyioc] that provided +laughter, but in the latter it is more the innuendo [uTuovoia]. As +regards decorum, the difference between scurrility [or ' obscenity'] +and innuendo is considerable. + +' Is it, then, to be the definition of a good jester that he uses +such language as befits a gentleman, or that he does not give pain, +or actually gives pleasure, to his listener ? Or is it impossible to +determine this point ? The same things are hateful or agreeable to +different people. But the language to which a person listens will +correspond to his nature ; for it seems that he will make such jests +as he can bear to listen to. There will be some kinds of jest, then, +that he will not make; for mockery is a species of reviling which +legislators prohibit; they ought perhaps to have prohibited certain +kinds of jesting as well. + +\* Accordingly, this will be the moral state of the refined gentleman +; he will be, so to say, a law unto himself. Such, then, is the mean, +or intermediate, character, whether it be called "tactful " or " +witty." But the buffoon is the slave of the ludicrous ; he will spare +neither himself nor others, if he can raise a laugh ; and he will say +such things as no person of refinement would utter, and some that the +latter will not even listen to. + +' The boor is one who is useless for such social purposes ; he +contributes nothing, and takes offense at everything. Yet it seems +that relaxation and fun are indispensable elements in life.'^ + +But the boor is useful to the comic poet, whether + +in the Savages ('Aypioi) of Pherecrates ^ and in the shape + +^ Nicomachean Ethics 4. 13-14; trans, by Welldon, pp. 127-31, +revised. + +\* Cf. Croiset 3. 482-3. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-121 + +COMIC CHARACTERS IN ARISTOTLE 121 + +of the Triballian deity in the Birds of Aristophanes, or as the +Theophrastian Boor of the later comedy. The entire passage is of +great interest, and for several reasons. By its reference to ' +legislators ' it takes us back to the extracts already given from the +Republic and the Laws of Plato.^ Moreover it clearly is full of +parallels to the views of Aristotle regarding comedy, and contains a +little gallery of characters suitable to the comic stage — not only +the boor (6 aypto?), the impostor (6 a>.a'((ov), the buffoon (6 +P(opX6)(o?), and the ironical man (6 sipwv), but the clown (6 +(popTixo^), the humbug (6 pauxo^ravoupY®*^)» ^^^ witty man (6 +suTpaTcsXo?), and possibly others. Of these, only the ' witty' man is +ideal, and the ' ironical man ' tolerable, from the point of view of +Ethics ; but, as we have had occasion to notice, for Aristotle what +is ethically ideal is one thing, and what is suited to comedy is +another. The distinction is sharply brought out in the following +passage from the Eudemian Ethics : + +' As to those who from insensibility are unmoved by these same +pleasures, some call them insensible, while others describe them as +such by other names ; but this state is not very familiar or common, +because all rather err in the opposite direction, and it is +congenital to all to be overcome by and to be sensible to such +pleasures. It is the state chiefly of such as the boors introduced on +the stage by comic ^\Titers, who keep aloof from even moderate and +necessary pleasures.'- + +The buffoon and the boor are alike unethical; and the buffoon, with a +language suited to him, has the same right on the comic stage as the +boor with his insensibility to a joke. Yet the passage in the + +^ See above, pp. 107-11. + +^ Eudemian Ethics 3.2, trans, by J. Solomon (1915) in the Oxford +translation of Aristotle, ed. by W. P. Ross. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-122 + +Nicomachean Ethics on the difference between the ' old ' comedies and +the ' recent \* has been seized upon by scholars (perhaps not too \* +lively,' or quick in turning their minds) who are bound to make +Aristotle prefer the Middle Comedy to the Old, or Anaxandrides to +Aristophanes, or the like — a matter I have disposed of before.^ Must +we reiterate his injunction against taking the standard of propriety +in imitative art to be the same as that in morals ? At present we +need only observe that he here makes use of a distinction between an +earher and a later type of comedy, in order to illustrate a point in +everyday conduct. He is writing of ethics, not of comedy. It serves +his purpose to exemplify in this way, as it serves his purpose to +describe the buffoon, the impostor, and the ironical man, all three +of them alike common to earlier and later stages of comedy as he knew +it. All three are found in Aristophanes,^ in Theophrastus (with +variations), and in the Tractatus Coislinianus? By implication +Aristotle includes the ironical Socrates of literary tradition as a +fit personage for comedy. And he also implies that there are +occasions — the Dionysiac festival, with its comedy, doubtless being +one of them'^ — when an educated and liberal man may listen to the +sort of thing he would not utter in private life or in a public +speech. The Socrates of the Republic grants as much ;^ though he +seems to think the peril greater to the adult audience than does +Aristotle. No doubt the latter as well as Plato would allow a + +^ See above, pp. 18-41. + +2 See Cornford, Index, s. v. 'Buffoon,' 'Impostor,' 'Irony.\* + +^ See below, p. 226. + +\* See below, p. 125. + +\* See above, p. no. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-123 + +ARISTOTLE AND PLATO ON COMEDY 123 + +relined gentleman to read the speech of Alcibiades in the Symposium. +There is nothing worse in Aristophanes. + +In other words, we should attend to the aim and purpose of a work +when we wish to interpret chance-details and momentary illustrations. +The caution applies as well to the following extracts from the +Rhetoric and Politics of Aristotle. They run parallel to utterances +in the Dialogues of Plato where considerations of ethics, moral +eloquence, and statesmanship are uppermost. + +Of the various means of arousing laughter, says Aristotle, some may +be employed by the orator, and some may not. If either of two +references from the Rhetoric to the *Poetics* is genuine, all were +discussed in the *Poetics*. Of those that are denied to the orator, +should not some be granted to a poet when he is writing a speech for +a boaster or a buffoon ? + +' Jokes seem to be of some service in debate ; Gorgias said that we +ought to worst our opponent's earnest with laughter, and his laughter +with earnest — a good saying. The various kinds of laughter have been +analyzed in the *Poetics*. Some of these befit a free man, and others +do not; one must take care, then, to choose the kind of joke that +suits one. Irony is more liberal [or \* refined '] than buffoonery; +the ironical man jests for his own amusement, the buffoon for the +amusement of another.'^ + +I take the passage to be genuine, the authenticity of Rhetoric 3 as a +whole now being fairly established; its character as a sort of +addendum to the first two Books should not weigh too heavily against +the other + +1 Rhetoric 3. 18, trans, by Jebb, p. 197, revised. For the other +reference in the Rhetoric to a treatment of the forms of the +hidicrous in the *Poetics*, see below, p. 138. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-124 + +arguments in its favor. And if Book 3 is genuine, then it is more +nearly related to the *Poetics* than is any other work of Aristotle. +x\ssuming the genuineness of the whole, we see that neither in Book 3 +nor elsewhere is there evidence of an objection on Aristotle's part +to the Old Comedy. But in Book 2, in an extended analysis of shame +and its causes, we find a brief reference to comic poets, with a +possible allusion to the injury which the Socrates of the Apology +says resulted to him from the Clouds of Aristophanes : + +\* We feel shame, too, before those who give their whole minds to +their neighbors' mistakes — as scoffers and comic poets ; for these +are, in a way, evil-speakers and spreaders of reports.'^ + +But we should not be too certain about the allusion ; the tense would +fit the Middle Comedy better than the Old. And, indeed, the remark +appears among the instructions enabling the orator to arouse a sense +of shame in his audience or his adversary; though the orator would be +in a different situation from the comic poet as regards both the +means and the end of his endeavor. + +So would he be, also, as regards the nobility of his cadences or +rhythms ; he could not freely use the metrical devices of comedy. The +forensic orator duly employs rhythm, but not strict metre, in his +periods and clausal cadences. For him, the heroic rhythm, analogous +to the metre of epic poetry, is too dignified and stately; while the +iambic rhythm is that of everyday speech, and not sufficiently +dignified or impressive. Accordingly, the paeon is, for him, the +correct rhythm. + +\* The trochee, again, is too much akin to the comic + +1 Rhetoric 2. 6, trans, by Jebb, p. 86. Compare above, p. 104. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-125 + +ARISTOTLE AND PLATO ON COMEDY 125 + +dance — as appears in the tetrameter, which has a tripping rhythm.'^ + +The point for us is that in Aristotle's view the trochaic metre, +unsuitable for oratory, is proper in the comic dance, including the +cordax, which at its worst was wild, coarse, and bacchanalian,^ and +doubtless was to be excluded from the State described in the Laws of +Plato.^ We need not fancy Aristotle countenancing the worst excesses +of the Old Comedy. But that he was not afraid of their effect upon +the morals of an educated man, and would not exclude broad comedy +from his State, mav be deduced from another reference to ' the +legislator ' : + +' But the legislator should not allow youth to be hearers of +satirical iambic verses, or spectators of comedy, until they are of +an age to sit at the public tables and to drink strong wine ; by that +time education will have armed them against the evil influences of +such representations.''\* + +Aristotle would banish ' pictures or tales which are indecent,' and +insists that ' the light utterance of shameful words is akin to +shameful actions '; yet even for obscenity he makes an exception in +favor of the festivals of the gods at which the law permits +ribaldry.^ While substantially agreeing with the legislators in the +Platonic Dialogues as regards the influence of Dionysiac comedy upon +youth, the proprieties for an educated + +^ Rhetoric 3. 8, trans, by Jebb, p. 162. + +2 Haigh, p. 318. + +^ Laws 7, 816 a, d; see above, p. no. + +^ Politics 7. 17, trans, by Jowett, p. 298. According to Egger (P- +157)' 'Aristophane disait que Tecole etait pour les enfants, le +theatre pour les hommes' — a statement that seems to rest on what +Aristophanes makes Aeschylus say in Frogs 1054-5: 'For to little +children whoever tells them something is their teacher; but to +adults, the poets.' + +^ Politics 7. 17. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-126 + +man in ordinary life, the decorum of an orator, and the usual +activities of a citizen as a member of the State^ he still leaves +room in his scheme of things for the display of Aristophanic art; as +did Plato, who himself functions as a comic poet in writing the +Aristophanic myth, and the speech of the drunken Alcibiades, in the +Symposium. + +1 have given the parallel passages from the two authors in such +fashion that the reader, if he choose, may disregard my tentative +inferences, and draw his own conclusions respecting the debt of +Aristotle to Plato on the subject of comedy. The reader will not +forget, however, the existence of other systematic treatises on +poetry and comedy, some of which Aristotle must have known. Besides +Plato, other disciples of Socrates wrote on topics connected with +literary criticism. According to Diogenes Laertius, Crito, Simmias of +Thebes, and Simon produced works discussing poetry and fine art.^ Of +the members of the Platonic school, according to the same authority, +the fertile Speusippus dealt with rhetoric and art, while Xenoc-rates +wrote on oratorical or literary problems, and the learned Heraclides +of Pontus on music, and on poetry and the poets.^ Among the +predecessors of Aristotle, there was a Democritus who composed a +treatise On Poetry, and another On Rhythms and Harmony. The *Poetics* +of Aristotle refers twelve, or perhaps thirteen, times to technical +authorities, mentioning Protagoras, Hippias of Thasos, Euclides, +Glaucon, and Ariphrades.^ + +1 Diogenes Laertius 2. 12 (Crito), 2.13 (Simon), 2.15 (Simmias) ; cf. +Egger, p. 131. + +2 Diogenes Laertius 4. i (Speusippus), 4. 2 (Xenocrates), 5. 6 +(Heraclides) ; cf. Egger, pp. 165-6. + +^ Gudeman, pp. xxii-xxiii. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-127 + +ARISTOTLE AND PLATO ON COMEDY 127 + +And further, Diogenes Laertius speaks of another Aristotle, a native +of Cyxene, who wrote On the Art of Poetry ; another, who wrote on the +Diad; and yet another, who left a treatise On Pleonasm. There were, +he says, eight Aristotles, beginning with \* the man himself.'^ + +The chief pupil of the Stagirite was Theophrastus, author of +treatises On Style, On the Art of Poetry, On the Laughable, and On +Comedy ; as they were fellow-students under Plato, and but a dozen +years apart in age, Theophrastus may have influenced Aristotle. The +influence of master upon pupil is seen in the relations between the +Rhetoric of Aristotle and the Characters of Theophrastus. + +But, so far as concerns Plato, we must suppose that Aristotle in +dealing with comedy would start out either from the practice of the +Platonic Dialogues, or from the doctrines enunciated in the Republic +and the Laws, or from the discussion in the Philebus, or from two, or +from all, of these three sources. If his thought were mainly +stimulated by the Philebus, he might dwell upon comedy as a +corrective of envy and anger, or such like emotions, and upon the +removal of the painful sense of disproportion connected with them.^ +If he partly accepted the positions reached in the Republic and the +Laws, but, going further in his qualification than the Athenian of +the Laws qualifies the doctrines set forth by the Socrates of the +Republic, he might arrive at a defence of comedy analogous to his +defence of Homer and tragic poetry — of the imitative arts in general +— in the *Poetics*. + +Unfortunately the *Poetics* as we have it leaves us in doubt at the +critical juncture; for the promise of a + +1 Diogenes Laertius 5. i. 35; cf. Egger, p. 185. + +2 See above, p. 66. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-128 + +fuller treatment of catharsis — the promise given in the Politics — +is not redeemed in our *Poetics* to the satisfaction of most scholars.^ +The dissatisfied are rather forced to consult the Politics for such +light, admittedly imperfect, as it may shed upon the term catharsis +in the *Poetics*. In the Politics, Book 8, the last, is entirely +occupied with the education of children and youth. The subject of +musical education is treated at some length, though Aristotle refers +the reader to technical authorities for more complete information. He +concludes that children ' should be taught music in such a way as to +become not only critics but performers '; ^ but he objects to the ' +flute ' (aulo?) — that is, for educational purposes. In deference to +custom, both here and elsewhere I accept the usual translation of +aokoq by ' flute '; but it must be understood that Aristotle refers +to an instrument more like a clarinet or oboe, with a note, not soft +like that of a flute, but very rich (not necessarily loud) or, as he +says, ' exciting.' He does not object to it in the *Poetics*, where +flute-playing is taken as an example of imitative art, to illustrate +the general nature of poetry ]^ and we can see from the reference to +the comic poet Ecphantides, in the same chapter of the Politics, that +Aristotle associates the flute with comedy.\* But in education he +rejects it, partly because the instrument is not of the sort that has +a good moral effect: + +' It is too exciting. The proper time for using it is when the +performance aims, not at instruction + +[{jLaOY](7tv], but at the relief of the passions [/wOcOapatv].'^ + +^ But see above, pp. 63-4. + +^ Politics 8. 6, trans, by Jowett, p. 311. ' + +^ *Poetics* I. 1447a14-16. + +"\* Politics 8. 6; see below, p. 152. + +^ Politics 8. 6; trans, b}'' Jowett, p. 312. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-129 + +There is a similar distinction, between his educational tenets and +his demands upon fine art, in regard to painting. As we note in the +*Poetics*, painters fall into classes by the same criterion that +divides writers of tragedy from writers of comedy, since Polygnotus +depicts men as \* better than we are,' and Pauson as \* worse/i The +tendency of Pauson is accepted, as the comic mask is later accepted +;2 they have their justification in art. But in the Politics +Aristotle says: ' Young men should be taught to look, not at the +works of Pauson, but at those of Polygnotus '; and he makes a similar +provision regarding sculpture.^ + +He has, then, a special objection to the flute; but he votes against +\* any other instrument which requires great skill' — they ' ought +not to be admitted into education.' He rejects not only ' the +professional instruments,' but also ' the professional mode of +education in music' ' The execution of such music is not the part of +a freeman, but of a paid performer ;\* and the result is that the +performers are vulgarized, for the end at which they aim is bad.'^ +The passage mirrors the decline of art since the democratic age of +Pericles. + +Our author next proceeds to rhythms and harmonies, referring us, for +technical details, to ' the more exact student of the subject,' and +himself professing to deal with it \* only after the manner of the +legislator.' He explicitly defers a treatment of it after the manner +of the student of poetry, according to the general principles of the +*Poetics* : + +1 *Poetics* 2 ; see below, p. 169. + +2 Ibid. 5; see below, p. 176. + +^ Politics 8. 5, trans, by jowett, p. 310. ^ Cf. Plato, Laws 7. 816; +see above, p. no. '" Politics 8. 6; trans, by Jowett, pp. 312-4. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-130 + +\* We maintain further that music should be studied, not for the sake +of one, but of many benefits ; that is to say, with a view to (i) +education, (2) purgation (the word " purgation '\* we use at present +without explanation, but when hereafter we speak of poetry, we will +treat the subject with more precision) ; music may also serve (3) for +intellectual enjoyment, for relaxation, and for recreation after +exertion. It is clear, therefore, that all the modes must be employed +by us, but not all of them in the same manner. In education the most +ethical modes are to be preferred, but in listening to the +performances of others we may admit the modes of action and passion +also ; for feelings such as pity and fear, or, again, enthusiasm, +exist very strongly in some souls, and have more or less influence +over all. Some persons fall into a religious frenzy, whom we see as a +result of the sacred melodies ■— when they have used the melodies +that excite the soul to mystic frenzy — restored as though they had +found healing and purgation. Those who are influenced by pity or +fear, and every emotional nature, must have a like experience, and +others in so far as each is susceptible to such emotions, and all are +in a manner purged, and their souls lightened and dehghted. The +purgative melodies hkewise give an innocent pleasure to mankind. Such +are the modes and the melodies in which those who perform music at +the theatre should be invited to compete. But since the spectators +are of two kinds — the one free and educated, and the other a vulgar +crowd composed of mechanics, laborers, and the like — there ought to +be contests and exhibitions instituted for the relaxation of the +second class also. And the music will correspond to their minds ; for +as their minds are perverted from the natural state, so there are +perverted modes and highly strung and unnaturally colored melodies. A +man receives pleasure from what is natural to him, and therefore +professional musicians may be allowed to practise this lower sort of +music before an audience of a lower type. But, for the purposes of +education, as I have already said, those modes and melodies should be +employed which are ethical, such + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-131 + +ARISTOTLE AND PLATO ON COMEDY 131 + +as the Dorian, as we said before; though we may include any others +which are approved by philosophers who have had a musical education. +The Socrates of the Republic is wrong in retaining only the Phrygian +mode along with the Dorian, and the more so because he rejects the +flute ; for the Phrygian is to the modes what the flute is to musical +instruments — both of them are exciting and emotional. Poetry proves +this, for Bacchic frenzy and all similar emotions are most suitably +expressed by the flute, and are better set to the Phrygian than to +any other mode. The dithyramb, for example, is acknowledged to be +Phrygian, a fact of which the connoisseurs of music offer many +proofs, saying, among other things, that Philoxenus, having attempted +to compose his Mysians as a dithyramb in the Dorian mode, found it +impossible, and fell back by the very nature of things into the more +appropriate Phrygian.'^ + +As a legislator, then, Aristotle takes issue with the Platonic +Socrates^ on a matter related to comic poetry. The flute, and the +Phrygian mode also, are too emotional and exciting for the education +of young citizens; but they are both suited to catharsis. That there +is a comic, as well as a tragic, catharsis may probably be inferred, +yet only from the allusion to the dithyramb and from the instance of +Philoxenus. This author, mentioned in *Poetics* 2, in his dithyrambic +tale of the Cyclops leaned to the side of comedy by representing +Potyphemus as worse than the average, while Timo-theus, also writing +dithyrambs, represented him as better.^ The reading of \* Mysians ' +in the Politics is conjectural; the reference may be simply to the ' +tales ' of Philoxenus. The whole passage contains no direct + +^ Politics 8. 7 ; Jowett's translation revised by Ross, in the Oxford +translation of Aristotle. ^ /Republic 3. 399. ^ See Bywater, pp. 6, +7, 117. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-132 + +reference to comedy. The exhibitions suited to the vulgar crowd could +hardly mean the plays of Aristophanes (an author who has given +delight to the finest minds of all times), since Aristotle permits +the higher orders of society to witness comedy as soon as they have +reached a proper age.^ And besides, the legislator has in mind some +kind or kinds of exhibition current in his own day. The lower types +of mime might fit the case, if our author were not thinking of +performances partly musical. Yet, on the evidence of the *Poetics*, in +general he shows no animus against the mime. + +XI + +ARISTOTLE ON PLEASURE + +As we have seen, Aristotle nowhere clearly reveals his conception of +the specific pleasure arising from comedy. He comes disappointingly +near to so doing in the last passage we have quoted. But, all told, +the most definite statement we have on this topic from his +unquestioned works is that the pleasure afforded by the Odyssey, an +epic with a double issue, happy for some of the characters, though +unhappy for others, resembles that of comedy ;2 we remember, too, his +saying that Alcidamas called the Odyssey \* a fair mirror of human +life ' ^ — a remark anticipating part of Cicero's definition of +comedy as recorded by Donatus.^ To this we may perhaps add that the +effect produced by the Homeric Margites — in the shape in which this + +^ See above, p. 125. + +2 See above, p. 61 ; below, p. 201. + +^ Rhetoric 3. 3; see above, p. 91. + +\* See above, p. 91. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-133 + +poem was known to Aristotle — must have been still closer to his +conception.^ But the epic poem, and similarly the mock-epic, lacks +the embellishments of music and spectacle, and is more diffuse than +comedy.^ + +What is his view of pleasure in general ? The answer must have a +bearing upon the more particular question, if we make allowance, when +necessary, for the sources of our quotations, as these come from the +*Poetics* itself, or the Ethics, or the Rhetoric. In chapter 6 of the +*Poetics*, if we accept with By water Vahlen's conjectural reading, v] +Bs suBatpvia, we learn that happiness is a form of activity.^ It +consists in action ; it is not a state of being. This is said with +reference to the personages of the drama, but since the drama is an +imitation of life,^ the statement applies also to the individuals in +the audience. The effect of comedy, then, is a form of activity. + +Both pain and pleasure are forms of activity. The + +contention in the *Poetics* is corroborated in De + +Anima : + +\* Sensation ... is analogous to simple assertion or simple +apprehension by thought, and, when the sensible thing is pleasant or +painful, the pursuit or avoidance of it by the soul is a sort of +affirmation or negation. In fact, to feel pleasure or pain is +precisely to function with the sensitive mean, acting upon good or +evil as such. It is in this that actual avoidance and actual +appetition consist. Nor is the appetitive faculty distinct from the +faculty of avoidance, nor either from the sensitive faculty; though +logically they are different. But to the thinking soul images serve +as present sensations ; and when it affirms or denies good or evil, + +^ Cf. below, p. 175. ^ Cf. below, p. 223. ^ By water, pp. 18, 19. \* +See below, p. 184. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-134 + +it avoids or pursues ; this is why the soul never thinks without an +image.'^ + +But with respect to hfe as a whole we learn in the + +Nicomachean Ethics : + +\* Happiness [suBatpvia] . . . does not consist in amusement [sv +xaiBia]. It would be paradoxical to hold that the end of human life +is amusement, and that we should toil and suffer all our life for the +sake of amusing ourselves; for we may be said to desire all things as +means to something else, except indeed happiness, as happiness is the +end or perfect state. + +\* It appears to be foolish and utterly childish to take serious +trouble and pains for the sake of amusement. But to amuse oneself +with a view to being serious seems to be right, as Anacharsis says ; +for amusement is a kind of relaxation, and it is because we can not +work for ever that we need relaxation. + +' Relaxation, then, is not an end. We enjoy it as a means to +activity; but it seems that the happy life is a life of virtue, and +such a life is serious — it is not one of mere amusement.'^ + +In the Rhetoric, Book i, chapters 5 and 6, happiness (suBaipvia) is +described in terms of the things that produce it, and of its +constituent parts, and the question of the good and the useful is +discussed, since all these matters must be kept in view in a +hortatory or a dissuasive speech. For us, however, much more to the +point is the popular definition and analysis, in chapter 11, of +pleasure (-/]Bov^). The whole chapter should be consulted, both for +comparison with the analysis of mixed pains and pleasures in the +Philebus of Plato,2 and for the Aristotelian doctrine itself. In what +follows we must limit ourselves to extracts more or less directly +related to the *Poetics*. But we may + +1 De Anima 3. 7, ed. and trans, by R. D. Hicks, p. 141. + +2 Nicomachean Ethics 10. 6, trans, by Welldon, pp. 333-4. ^ See +above, pp. 114-6. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-135 + +preface these by two passages from the Rhetoric which account for +human activity in general. The first is: + +\* The emotions (TuaGr^) are those things, being attended by pleasure +or pain, by which men are altered in regard to their judgments — as +anger, pity, fear, and the like, with their opposites.'^ + +The second : + +' So that every act of men must have one of seven causes — chance, +nature, force, habit, reason, passion, lust.' + +\* To put it shortly,' says Aristotle, ' all things which men do of +themselves are good or apparently good, pleasant or apparently +pleasant '; for he counts among pleasures ' riddance from pain or +apparent pain, and the exchange of a greater pain for a less.' ^ And +so he leads up to the chapter in question : + +\* Let us assume, then, that pleasure is a kind of motion [vlvfiGic] +of the soul, and a settling, sudden and sensible, into our proper +nature ; and pain the contrary. If pleasure is this kind of thing, +plainly the pleasant is that which tends to produce the condition +described; while that which tends to destroy it, or to produce the +opposite, is painful. It must be pleasant, then, as a rule, to +conform with nature, particularly when the things done according to +the general law have their special natures satisfied. Habits, too, +must be pleasant ; for an acquired habit comes to be as a natural +instinct — habit having a certain likeness to nature; for " often " +and \*\* always " are neighbors, and nature is concerned with the +invariable, as habit with the frequent. That is pleasant, too, which +is not done perforce ; for force is against nature; wherefore the +compulsory is painful, and it has rightly been said : + +Every compulsory thing is grievous.^ + +^ Rhetoric 2. i, trans, by Jebb, p. 69, revised. + +2 Ihid. I. 10, pp. 44-6. + +^ A saying attributed to Evenus of Paros. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-136 + +Acts of attention, earnest or intense efforts, must be painful, for +they involve compulsion and force, unless one is accustomed to them; +and then the habit becomes a sort of pleasure. Again, the opposites +of these are pleasant; so opportunities of ease; moments of respite +from toil or attention, sports, seasons of repose and sleep, are +among pleasant things; for none of these is compulsory. Everything, +too, is pleasant of which the desire exists in one; for desire is +appetite of the pleasant. . . . All pleasures consist either in +perceiving things present, or in remembering things past, or in +hoping things future. . . . + +\* Generally, all things which, when present, give joy, also supply, +as a rule, pleasures of memory or hope. Hence it is pleasant to be +angry —- as Homer said of passion that it is + +Sweeter far than dripping honey; ^ + +for no one is angry with a person who seems beyond the reach of +vengeance, or who is greatly above himself in power; or, if angry at +all, he is less angry. And so most of the desires are attended by a +certain pleasure. .. . + +' A certain pleasure follows on mourning and lamentation ; for, as +the pain consists in the loss, so there is a pleasure in remembering +the lost, and, in a manner, seeing him as he lived and moved. . . . +Also revenge is pleasant, since what is painful to miss is pleasant +to get; and angry men are pained above measure by the loss, as they +are rejoiced by the hope, of revenge. To conquer is pleasant, not +only to lovers of victory ; ... for it gives rise to an impression of +superiority. . . . And since to conquer is pleasant, it follows that +sportive fights and contests are so, as offering many opportunities +of victory. . . . + +\* To learn and to admire [wonder] are pleasant, as a rule; for +admiring [wonder] implies desiring to learn, . . . and learning +involves a settling into one's proper natural condition. . . . + +' Iliad i8. 109. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-137 + +\* And since the pleasant is that which benefits, it is pleasant to +men to set their neighbors right, and to complete imperfect things. +Again, since learning and admiring are pleasant, it follows that +pleasure is given by acts of imitation, such as painting, sculpture, +poetry, and by every skilful copy, even though the original be +unpleasant; for one's joy is not in the thing itself — rather, there +is a syllogism : " This is like that.'' And so it comes that one +learns something. Sudden reversals and narrow escapes are pleasant, +being all in the nature of marvels. + +' Then, since that which is according to nature is pleasant, and +kindred things are natural to each other, all things akin to one and +like one are pleasant to one, as a rule — as man to man, horse to +horse, youth to youth; whence the proverbs; ''Mate delights mate"; '' +Like to hke " ; " A beast knows his fellow " ; " Jackdaw to jackdaw " +; and so forth. And since everything Mke and kindred to oneself is +pleasant, and a man is like nothing so much as himself, it follows +that everybody is more or less selfish, self being the very standard +of all such resemblances. And, since every one is selfish, it follows +that all find pleasure in their own things — for instance, in their +deeds and words ; whence people are fond, as a rule, of their +flatterers, of their lovers, of honor, of their children (for their +children are their own work). + +\* So, to complete imperfect things is pleasant; for at this point +the work becomes one's own. And since to rule is most pleasant, to +seem wise is also pleasant; for intelligence befits a ruler ; and +wisdom is the knowledge of many admirable things. Further, since +people are, for the most part, ambitious, it follows that it is +pleasant to censure one's neighbors, as well as to rule. It is +pleasant also to spend one's time in the occupation in which one +seems to be at one's best; as the poet says: + +Toward this he spurs, to it giving most of each day — To the work +that shows him at his best.^ + +1 Euripides, frg. 183, Nauck, second, ed. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-138 + +' In like manner, since amusement and relaxation of every kind are +among pleasant things, and laughter, too, it follows that the causes +of laughter must be pleasant — namely, persons, utterances, and +deeds. But the forms of the ludicrous have had separate treatment in +the *Poetics*.''^ + +A commentary might be written on the bearing of this extract upon the +*Poetics* ; but various relations are easily found. On the surface lies +the notion that our pleasure in literary and all other art is the +activity of discovering resemblances, with the human nature of the +observing individual as the standard of comparison. Even if the poet +— a comic poet, let us say — chose for his object of imitation one +that was not only ugly, but painful, still the observer could delight +in the successful representation; he would 'learn something.' The +reversals and escapes alluded to seem to be on the order of those in +comedy rather than tragedy. And the proverbs quoted are such as we +might find in a mime; Demetrius says that ' almost all the proverbs +in existence ' might be collected out of Sophron.^ But the close of +the chapter is of even greater interest. ' Persons ' (avOpo)7roi), ' +utterances ' P^oyoi), and ' deeds ' (spya) have by some been taken to +correspond to the ' characters ' (^Oy]), ' diction ' (>.£'^i?), and ' +things done ' (TupayjxaTa) of the Tractatus Coislinianus ,^ while the +correspondence is not exact,^ it is not negligible. + +And the Tractate, in turn, sends us back to two other passages in +Aristotle which we have already noticed ; for the ' characters ' of +the \* buffoon ' (ira pcojj.o>.6)(a), + +^ Rhetoric i. ii, trans, by Jebb, pp. 46-51, revised. Cf. above, pp. +62, 123. + +^ Demetrius De Elociitione 156. ^ See below, pp. 225-6. ^ Cf. Arndt, +p. 13. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-139 + +the ' ironical man ' {-zk sipwvt/wdc), and the \* impostors ' {'zk +Twv aXa^ovwv) in the Tractate correspond to three of the characters +described in the Nicomachean Ethics 2.7 and 4.14.^ + +The simplest explanation of these correspondences, and of the +references from other works of Aristotle to the *Poetics*, is doubtless +the best. However much tampering with his text there may have been by +Athenian and Alexandrian (or later) students, editors, and copyists, +it is not to be supposed that the author himself made no such ' +cross-references/ In chapter 6 of the *Poetics* he says that he +reserves comedy and epic poetry for consideration thereafter; the +promise is fulfilled for epic poetry in subsequent chapters, as it is +not for comedy. In his extant works Aristotle does not discuss the +satyr-drama; the type is barely mentioned in *Poetics* 4.i449a2o; +perhaps several specimens are cited in the course of the work — for +example, the Phorcides of Aeschylus; we should expect to find more +attention given to this type in a treatment of comedy. In chapter 19 +Aristotle omits the analysis of \* thought ' (^lavoioc), and all that +appertains to the construction of speeches in poetry, contenting +himself with cursory remarks on the subject, as: + +' The thought of the personages is shown in everything to be effected +by their language — in every effort to prove or disprove, to arouse +emotion (pity, fear, anger, and the like), and to magnify or minify +things/^ + +For a detailed treatment he refers us to the Rhetoric, and there we +are, in fact, fully instructed on such matters. In the Rhetoric there +are six references to the *Poetics*, two of them to the treatment of +the + +^ See above, pp. 117-21. - Cf. Bywater, p. 55. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-140 + +laughable. The other four are satisfied, three of them completely, +one almost so, in our *Poetics*. The two references to this work for a +discussion of the ludicrous by species are not thus satisfied. It is +worth notice that both are measurably satisfied when we consult the +Tractate in the belief that it contains some of the lost substance +from Aristotle's writings on poetry. + +Herewith I close my general introductory remarks, the next three +sections being in the nature of an addendum, though containing +materials which it is desirable to place before my adaptation of the +*Poetics*. + +XII + +SCATTERED PASSAGES IN ARISTOTLE WITH A BEARING ON COMEDY + +In this and the following sections are collected various + +passages (most of them not utilized in the foregoing + +pages, and all taken from works other than the *Poetics*) + +that directly or indirectly touch upon comedy, comic + +poets, the comic chorus, and the subject of laughter. + +It has not always been possible to reduce them to + +order ; but it seems best to give all of them for the sake + +of completeness. + +(i) \* The proem is the beginning of a speech, and corresponds to a +prologue in poetry and a prelude in flute-playing. All these are +beginnings, and prepare the way, as it were, for what follows. ... As +for the proems of forensic speeches, it must be understood that they +are equivalent to the prologues in dramas and to the introductions of +epic poetry. ... In tales and epic poems we have an indication of the +subject,, so that the hearers may know what the story is about, and +the mind not be kept in suspense. ... Accordingly, + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-141 + +SCATTERED PASSAGES IN ARISTOTLE 141 + +he who puts the opening, as it were, into the hand of the hstener +gives the latter a thread with which to follow the story. Wherefore: + +Sing, Goddess, the wrath ;i + +Tell me. Muse, of the man •,^ + +Lead me forth on another tale, how from Asia's soil There came a +great war into Europe.^ + +In the same way the tragic poets explain the action, if not at the +very opening, like Euripides, at all events somewhere in the +prologue. Thus Sophocles : + +My sire was Polybus.^ + +And the same is true of comedy.'^ + +Leaving the Rhetoric for a moment, we may go to + +Aristotle's De Interpretatione : + +(2) ' By a statement [Xoyo?] is meant a significant synthetic +utterance, of which the several parts have each a meaning, but do not +severally affirm or deny. Thus the word \*' man " has a meaning, but +does not express affirmation or denial; in order to have a statement +some word must be added to " man." . . . Not every statement is a +proposition, but only such as imply affirmation or denial. This does +not occur in all cases ; for example, a wish is a statement, but +neither false nor true. Such forms we may set aside; an examination +of them belongs rather to rhetoric and the art of poetry. Our present +concern is with the categorical statement.'^ + +1 Iliad I. I. + +^ Odyssey i. i. + +3 From an epic poem by Choerilus. + +^ Actually, Oedipus the King 'j'j/\. ! Here Aristotle uses the term +'prologue' very loosely. + +^ Rhetoric 3. 14. To illustrate the use of introductory explanations +in Aristophanes, Cope {Rhetoric of Aristotle, ed. by Cope-Sandys, 3. +169) refers to the speech of Strepsiades in the Clouds (at the +opening), to that of Demosthenes in the Knights {40ff.), and to that +of Dionysus in th.Q Frogs (64 ff.). Cope follows Victorius, +correcting him. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-142 + +(3) ' Men are false in their statements, and their counsels, from all +or one of the following causes. Either, through folly, they have not +right opinions ; or, having right opinions, they say through knavery +what they do not think; or they are sensible and honest, but not +well-disposed — whence they may happen not to advise the best course, +although they see it. Besides these cases there is no other.'^ + +(4) ' It remains for us to discuss the general appliances. All men +are compelled in speaking to apply the topic of possible and +impossible ; and to try to show, either that a thing will be, or that +it has been. Further, the topic of size is common to all speeches ; +all men use depreciation and amplification in debate, in praising or +blaming, in accusing or defending.'^ + +(5) ' Another topic is taken from things said [by the adversary], +applied to our own case as compared with his. The ways of doing this +are various — as in the Teucer [of Sophocles]. Iphicrates used this +against Aristophon — asking whether Aristophon would betray the ships +for money, and, when he said " No," rejoining : "So you, being +Aristophon, would not betray them; would I, being Iphicrates ? " It +is necessary that the adversary should be more liable to the +suspicion of crime ; else, the effect will be ludicrous — as if one +were to say this in answer to the accusations of Aristides. The +argument is meant to create distrust of the accusers ; for, as a +rule, the accuser is by way of being better than the defendant. This +assumption, then, should always be confuted. Generally speaking, a +man is absurd when he upbraids others with what he himself does, or +would do ; or when he exhorts others to do what he himself does not, +or is incapable of doing.' \* + +The topic of possible and impossible, the practice of magnifying what +is small and minifying what is great, and the ludicrous employment of +things said by the + +^ Rhetoric 2. i, trans, by Jebb, p. 69. ^ Ibid. 2. 18, p. 107. ^ +Ibid. 2. 23, pp. 122-3. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-143 + +SCATTERED PASSAGES IN ARISTOTLE 143 + +adversary, can all be illustrated from the Frogs of Aristophanes. In +general, the principles of forensic eloquence are travestied in the +comic agon or ' debate,' which is a typical element in the Old +Comedy. The use of depreciatory resemblances, common to all forms of +the ludicrous, is noticed in the following passage from Aristotle's +Topica : + +(6) ' Another topic : what is nearer to the good is better and +preferable. And what is more like the good; as justice is more like +the good than the just. And what is more like the better than the +thing itself; as some say Ajax is better than Odysseus because he is +more like Achilles. The objection to this is that it is not true ; +for there is nothing to hinder Ajax being more like Achilles, not in +the point in which Achilles is best, while the other is good but not +like. We must consider whether the likeness subsists in those things +which are more ludicrous; just as the ape is more like the man, while +the horse is not like him; for the ape is not more beautiful, but +more like the man.'^ + +The demands of proportion in style, from the Rhet- + +oric: + +(7) \* Style will have propriety, if it express emotion and character +and be proportionate to the subject. This proportion means that +important subjects shall not be treated in a random way, nor trivial +subjects in a grand way, and that ornament shall not be attached to a +commonplace notion. Otherwise the effect is comic, as in the poetry +of Cleophon ; for some of his phrases were as if one should say, " +Venerable fig." '^ + +(8) ' If any one should say he had washed himself in vain because the +sun was not eclipsed, he would be laughed at, since, there is no +causal connection between this and that.'^ + +^ Topica 3. 2. + +^ Rhetoric 3. 7, trans, by Jebb, p. 159, revised. For Cleophon, the +epic poet, see Bywater, pp. 115, 293. ^ Physica Auscultatio 2. 6. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-144 + +(9) \* Equivocal terms are the class of words most useful to the +sophist, for it is with the help of these that he juggles ; synonyms +are most useful to the poet. By synonyms in ordinary use I mean, for +instance, " to go " and " to walk " ; these are at once accepted and +synon3nnous terms.'^ + +(10) ' Faults of taste [or \* frigidities'] occur in four points of +style. First, in the use of compound words, such as Lycophron's " +many-visaged heaven [above] the vast-crested earth,'' and his " +narrow-passaged strand," or Gorgias' expressions, " a beggar-poet +flatterer " [xolccQ, or " forsworn and for-ever-sworn." ... A second +cause ... is the use of rare words, as when Lycophron called Xerxes " +a vasty man." ... A third fault lies in the misuse of epithets, that +is, in making them either long or unseasonable or very numerous. , . +. The consequence is that this poetical diction by its impropriety +becomes ludicrous and frigid, and obscure through its wordiness +[aBo7;S(7/ia]. . . . The fourth and last source of frigidity is +metaphor; for metaphors, too, may be inappropriate, either from their +absurdity (comic poets have their metaphors), or from an excess of +tragic grandeur.'^ + +(11) ' Our metaphors, like our epithets, should be suitable. This +will result from a certain proportion; if this is lost, the effect +will be unbecoming, since the contrast between opposites is strongest +when they are put side by side. As a crimson cloak suits a young man, +what, we must inquire, suits an old man ? The same dress will not +suit him. If we wish to adorn, we must take our metaphor from +something better in the same class of things; if to depreciate, from +something worse. Thus, opposites being in the same class, it would be +an example of this to say that the beggar \*' prays," or that the man +who prays " begs "; as both are forms of asking.'^ + +1 Rhetoric 3. 2, trans, by Jebb, p. 149. + +^ Ibid. 3. 3, adapted from Jebb's translation, pp. 152-4, and +Welldon's, pp. 236-8. + +^ Rhetoric 3. 2, trans, by Jebb, p. 149. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-145 + +SCATTERED PASSAGES IN ARISTOTLE 145 + +(12) \* And so the comic poets make a good metaphor in jest when they +call gray hairs " mould of old age " and " hoar-frost." ' 1 + +(13) 'As there can be both a real and a sham syllogism, it follows +that there can be both a real and a sham enthymeme — the enthymeme +being a sort of syllogism. + +' Among the topics of apparent enthymemes is the topic from diction. +One department of this topic, as in dialectic, consists in making a +final statement, as if it were a logical conclusion, when no +reasoning process has been performed : " So it is not thus or thus " +; \*' So it must be thus or thus." And, in rhetoric, a compact and +antithetical expression has itself the air of an enthymeme ; such a +style is the province of the enth3mieme. The figure of the diction +[to (7/^[J-a tyj? XzizM^f seems to be the source of this fallacy. It +is a help towards a syllogistic style of diction to state the sum of +many syllogisms : " He saved some — he avenged others — he freed +Greece." Each of these points has been proved from other things; and +when they are put together, we have the effect of a fresh result. + +' Another department of the topic consists in equivocation — as to +say that the mouse is a noble animal, since the most august of all +rites, that of the ilf ysteries, is derived from it. Or suppose that +the encomiast of a dog were to avail himself of the constellation so +called, or of Pindar's saying about Pan : + +Blest one, whom the Olympians call the Great Mother's faithful hound, +taking all forms by turn. + +Or one might argue : " As it is a great disgrace that there should be +no dog in a house, so it is plain that the dog is honorable." Or : " +Hermes is the most liberal of the gods ; for he is the only one about +whom there is such a proverb as ' Shares in the luck of Hermes! ' " +'s + +^ De Generatione Animalium 5. 4, trans, by Piatt in the Oxford +translation of Aristotle, ed. by Smith-Ross. The poets can not be +identified; see Meineke 4. 604. + +^ Cf. Rhetoric 3. 10. 14101328-9 : xata 6e Tr)v ketiy z0 fj.iv +ffj(TJf^aTi. + +^ Rhetoric 2. 24, trans, by Jebb, pp. 132-3, revised. + +k + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-146 + +Possibly we ought to consider a great many other passages on +fallacious reasoning; but we must not quote too much ol the Rhetoric, +nor all oiDe Sophisticis Elenchis ! For an examination of fallacies +Aristotle, in a discussion of comedy, would doubtless refer us to the +appropriate special treatises. + +(14) ' Clever turns for the most part depend upon metaphor with the +addition of a deceptive element. That the hearer has learned +something is more obvious from its contrast with what he expected; +the mind seems to say, " How true ! And I did not see it." . . . Good +riddles are enjoyed for the same reason, for there is an act of +learning, and a metaphor is uttered. Similarly in the case of what +Theodorus [the rhetorician] terms " novelties of expression," since +these arise when there is an element of surprise, and, as he says, +the thing turns out contrary to what we were expecting, like the +jokes found in comic writers, produced by deceptive alterations in +words, and by unexpected words in verse, where the listener +anticipates one thing, and hears another. Thus : + +Statelily stept he along, and under his feet were his — +chilblains.■•- + +The anticipated word was " sandals." In this kind of joke, however, +the point must be caught instantly. Jokes arising from changes within +the word depend upon a twist of pronunciation which gives us +something different from the meaning we should naturally attach. An +example given by Theodorus is the joke on Nicon the harper: GpdcTTst +cs; for the speaker makes as if he would say GpocTTsi cs [? GpdcTTsi? += \* You thrash the harp '] — and deceives the hearer, for he says +something else [? i. e., ©paTi:' sT = ' You are a Thracian scullion +']. When the point is caught, the joke is amusing ; if the hearer did +not know the man to be a Thracian, he would, of course, see no point +in the + +^ Author unknown ; possibly an example taken from Theodorus, and +quoted by him from an earlier rather than a later comic poet. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-147 + +SCATTERED PASSAGES IN ARISTOTLE 147 + +joke.^ Another example [? from Theodorus] is : pouXst auTov +T.ipGOLi.^ Both kinds of pleasantry [changes of pronunciation in +individual words, and substitutions of one word for another] must be +used as is fitting [in oratory]. ... In all such cases, however, the +excellence of the pun, or of the metaphor, depends upon its being +apposite. For example : " Bearable [a man's name] is not bearable." +Here we have a pun formed by the use of a negative. But it is fitting +only if the man is disagreeable. Again: + +Do not be more strange. Strange [Sipog], than you must.^ + +In other words, do not be more of the very thing [word, name, thing] +you are than you can help. And again : " Our stranger must not always +be a stranger " ; for here the word ?£vo? means alien, too. Of the +same sort is the line that has been admired in Anaxandrides: + +Well is it to die ere one has done a thing worthy of death;\* + +for this is equivalent to saying, "It is a worthy thing to die +without being worthy to die," or "It is worthy to die when one is not +worthy to die," or " doing nothing worthy of death." + +\* In all these cases the species of diction is the same; but the +more concise and antithetical the saying, the more popular it is, for +the reason that our new perception is made sharper by the contrast, +and quicker by the brevity. Further, there should always be some +special application, or some particular merit of expression, if we +are to have truth as well as point; for these + +\* On the joke in this doubtful passage, see my article, A Pun in the +Rhetoric of Aristotle, in The American Journal of Philology 41. +48-56; but compare also Rutherford, p. 444, f, n. + +2 Jebb, translation of the Rhetoric, p. 174, illustrates the point by +rendering : ' You want him to find his Mede' (= ' meed'). But the +joke has never been satisfactorily explained. The change within +single words seems to be one affecting the last letter or so of the +word ; in like manner the substitution of one whole word for another +in the verse cited by Aristotle affects the end of the metrical line. + +^ Listed as from an unidentified comedy in Kock 3. 448, frg. 209. + +\* Anaxandrides, frg. 64, Kock 2. 161. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0004.html#page-148 + +qualities are not always combined. Thus " A man should die void of +offence " is true but trite, and so is "A worthy man should wed a +worthy wife."^ But a clever saying appears if you have truth and +point conjoined: " He dies a worthy death who is unworthy of dying." +And the more excellences you combine, the more vivacious the +expression ; for example, when the words are metaphorical, and the +metaphor is of such a kind, and there is antithesis with parallel +structure, and vividness as well. + +' Effective similes . . . are in a sense metaphors, for, like the +proportional metaphor, they always consist of two terms. . . . There +are similes of the simple kind, such as the comparison of a +flute-player to an ape, or of a short-sighted man to a sputtering +lamp (for both wink). But in a first-rate simile there is a +proportional metaphor. ... It is here that poets are most loudly +condemned for failure, and applauded for success — as when they get +the two members of the simile to correspond : + +Like stalks of curled parsley he carries his legs ; + +Just like Philammon struggling with the sand-bag.^ . . . + +\* It may be added that popular hyperboles are metaphors, as, for +example, the one about the man with the black eye: " You might have +taken him for a basket of mulberries "2 — the bruise being as purple +as a mulberry, while the quantity makes the exaggeration. And another +kind of phrase like the two we have given is a hyperbole with a +difference of expression. Thus, "Just like Philammon struggling with +the sand-bag " may be converted into, " You would have thought him + +.. container:: body + +^ Listed among the fragments of Anaxandrides, frg. 79, Kock 2. 164. +It can not be taken as an evidence of the alleged fondness of +Aristotle for this poet (see above, p. 30), since he calls the maxim +trite. It looks like a common proverb, the property of no one in +particular. + +^ Iambic lines ; the author, or authors, can not be identified ; see +Kock 3. 448, frg. 207, 208. Aristotle seems to like 'iambic' lines +from comedy as illustrations of points in rhetoric. + +^ Of unknown authorship ; perhaps from the Old Comedy. See Kock 3. +545, frg. 779. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-149 + +SCATTERED PASSAGES IN ARISTOTLE 149 + +to be Philammon struggling with the sand-bag " ; and " Like stalks of +curled parsley he carries his legs " into, " You would have thought +he had, not legs, but stalks of parsley, so curly were they." ' ^ + +I add six passages noted by Kock as containing probable or possible +reminiscences by Aristotle from comedies. + +(15) ' Another topic of inference is by induction ; for example, in +the Peparethia : \*\* The women always distinguish the truth about +[the parentage of] the children." '^ + +(16) \* They . . . are liable to injury against whom others have any +available pretext [from alleged past injuries to ancestors or +friends] ; for, as the proverb has it, " Villainy only wants a +pretext." ' ^ + +(17) ' Whence the poet is impelled jestingly to say: " He has the end +\\_= the fate, the termination] on account of which he came to +exist." ' \* + +(18) \* For in their case [that of dreamers who have visions that +come true] the saying holds : '\* If you make many throws, your luck +must change." ' ^ + +(19) From Demetrius: ' Who, now, in conversing with a friend, would +express himself like Aristotle in writing to Antipater on the subject +of the aged exile ? — + +^ Rhetoric 3. 11. With the close of the extract compare Demetrius De +Elocutione 161 : + +' The pleasantries of comedy arise especially from hyperbole, every +hyperbole being of an impossible character, as when Aristophanes +[Acharnians 86J says of the voracity of the Persians that + +For loaves they roasted oxen whole in pipkins.\* + +See Demetrius On Style, ed. and trans, by W. Rhys Roberts, p. 147. + +2 Rhetoric 2. 23. Kock 3. 463, frg. 302, takes 'Peparethia' to be the +name of a comedy {WkeAndria, Perinthia, etc.), and suggests +Antiphanes as a possible author. + +^ Rhetoric i. 12. Kock 3. 493, frg. 446; Kock is in doubt whether to +assign the proverb to the Old Comedy or to the New {= 'Middle'). + +\* Physica Auscultatio 2.2. Kock 3. 493, frg. 447 ; here again Kock +is similarly in doubt. + +^ De Divinatione per Somnum 2. Kock 3. 493, frg. 448; Kock in doubt +as before. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-150 + +" If he be doomed to wander to the ends of the earth, a fugitive +hopeless of returning, it is clear that \* One can not blame such men +if they wish to descend to Hades' hall.' " ' i + +(20) From Aristotle again : 'But the north-east wind is not a +clearing one, since it whirls around ; whence the saw: " Drawing +[evils] upon himself as the north-east wind draws a cloud." '^ + +We may close the section with the interesting gloss, not found in our +*Poetics*, of the Anti-Atticist: xuvTOTa^ov. + +'ApiG"u"0T£XY]5 TCSpl 7U0tY]Tiyu%' TO Bs ::aVTC()V ZUVTOTaTOV. + +It is supposed to be a reference to some comedy; I translate : + +(21) 'Most dog-like [= \* shameless ']. Aristotle On the Art of +Poetry : " the most shameless of all." ' ^ + +XIII + +REFERENCES TO SPECIFIC COMIC POETS IN WORKS OTHER THAN THE POETICS + +In the *Poetics* Aristotle refers to the following comic poets: +Aristophanes, Crates, Chionides, Epicharmus, Magnes, and Phormis.^ He +alludes to a comedy (or perhaps to more than one) based on the tale +of Orestes and Aegisthus ;5 Meineke wished to identify this play with +the Orestes of Alexis, but the chances are against an}^ +identification.^ And in the same work Aristotle mentions as comic +writers Hegemon, Homer, Nicochares, + +^ Demetrius De Elocutione 225. Kock 3. 493, frg. 449 ; Kock in doubt +as before. + +^ Aristotle, Meteorologica 1. Kock 3. 612, frg. 1229 ; Kock in doubt +as before. + +^ Anti-Atticistain Bekker, AnecdotaGraeca i. loi. 32 ; Aristotle frg. +77, Rose, p. 81. + +^ See below, pp. 172, 177-8. + +° See below, p. 201. + +® See Kock 2. 358, frg. 166. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-151 + +REFERENCES TO COMIC POETS 151 + +Philoxenus, Sophron, and Xenarchus.^ Were we to single out any one as +the favorite comic poet or comic writer of Aristotle on a basis of +the distribution and relative frequency of his allusions to that +author outside of the *Poetics*, the Didascaliae, and the Tractatus +Cois-linianus (if the last is in some sense Aristotelian), we +doubtless should hit upon Epicharmus (and not, for example, +Anaxandrides). The references, however, seem to betray as much +interest in the metaphysical poetry attributed to Epicharmus as in +his comedies; and yet we recall the laudatory reference to his +comedies in the Theaetetus of Plato, where Socrates, giving +Epicharmus the highest station among comic poets, cites him on a +point in metaphysics \\^ for various reasons we need not distinguish +too sharply between the comedies and the Carmen Physicum.^ As we have +seen, however, the frequency of allusion to an author by Aristotle +may tell us little about the latter's critical estimates ; ^ the +nature of the allusion, and of the work in which it is found, is more +significant. From the *Poetics*, the Didascaliae, and the applications +of the Tractate, we should infer a paramount interest in +Aristophanes. All told, in the *Poetics* as well as elsewhere, and +doubtful as well as certain, there are references to seventeen comic +poets whom we can name: (?) Alexis, Ameipsias, Anaxandrides, (?) +Antiphanes, Archippus, Aristophanes, Chionides, Crates, Cratinus, +Ecphantides, Epicharmus, (?) Eubulus, Eupolis, Leucon, Philippus, +Plato, Strattis. But we have only chance fragments of the +Didascaliae, which must have been a + +^ See below, pp. 168, 170, 174-5. + +^ See above, pp. 111-2. + +^ See Kaibel, pp. 133-8. + +\* See above, pp. 29-30. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-152 + +mine of information regarding everything connected with the Athenian +dramatic contests, and hence regarding the comedies and their poets, +but especially, it would seem, the Old Comedy and Aristophanes. +Besides, there may be, and probably are, many unidentified allusions +to comic poets in the extant works of Aristotle, as, for example, in +the Rhetoric. The references that follow are therefore at best +symptomatic of his interest. + +Ecphantides + +(i) ' The popularity [of the flute at Athens] is shown by the tablet +which Thrasippus dedicated when he furnished the chorus to +Ecphantides.'^ + +Epicharmus + +(i) \* There are likewise false antitheses such as Epicharmus +produced: + +Now on a time within their halls I was; But on a time beneath their +roof was I.'^ + +(2) ' In maxims that do not state something unexpected, no reason is +subjoined. Of these, some need no added reason, because they are +familiar beforehand ; for example: + +To my mind, 't is best for a man to be healthy.*^ + +No reason is needed — this is the usual opinion.'^ + +(3) \* They [the most popular maxims, having the nature, but not the +form, of enthymemes] are the ones + +^ Politics 8. 6. For Ecphantides, an early poet of the Old Comedy, +preceding Cratinus, cf. Meineke i. 35-8. + +2 Rhetoric 3. 9. Cf. Cope-Sandys 3. 106; Epicharmus, frg. 147 (49, +Lorenz) in Kaibel, p. 118. It is thought that the poet ridiculed and +parodied the antitheses and other rhetorical tricks of Gorgias and +his school of oratory. + +^ The scholiast on Plato, Gorgias 451 e, ascribes the line either to +Simonides or to Epicharmus. Meineke and Kaibel doubtfully attribute +it to Epicharmus: Kaibel, p. 140, frg. \*262. + +\* Rhetoric 2. 21. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-153 + +in which the reason for the statement is imphed, as in + +Nurse not immortal anger, being mortal. + +To say that it is wrong to nurse one's anger for ever is a maxim; the +added words, '\* being mortal/' give the reason. Similarly: + +A mortal should think mortal thoughts, not thoughts immortal.'^ + +(4) ' Accumulation, too, and climax — as used by Epicharmus — [serve +to magnify a subject]; partly for the same reason as the distributive +process, since the accumulation of details makes any pre-eminence +striking ; and partly for the reason that what you are magnifying +appears to be the origin and cause of many things.'^ + +(5) \* Now we speak of one thing coming from another in many senses. +. . . Thus we say that night comes from day, . . . meaning that A +follows B. Or, secondly, that a statue is made from bronze, . . . +meaning that the whole arises from something that exists and is +shaped. Or, thirdly, that a man becomes unmusical from being musical, +. . . and generally in the sense of opposites arising from opposites. +And, lastly, as in the climax, the poetical device of Epicharmus, " +from slander arises railing, and from this, fighting " ; and all +these from something which is the beginning of the motion [the +efficient cause]. In such cases the efficient cause may be in the +things themselves, as in the instance just mentioned (for the slander +is a part of the whole trouble), or it may be external to them, as +the art is external to the works of art or the torch to the burning +house.'2 + +(6) 'A " beginning " is that part of a thing from which one would +first proceed; ... or that from which + +^ Rhetoric 2. 21. Aristotle's first quotation is regarded as a line +from some tragedy (see Jebb's translation, p. 114, f. n.); the second +was ascribed by Bentley to Epicharmus (Kaibel, p. 140, frg. \*263). + +^ Rhetoric 1. 7; see Epicharmus, frg. 148, Kaibel, p. 118. + +^ De Generatione Animalium 1. 18. Aristotle quotes, perhaps loosely, +from Epicharmus. Cf. Epicharmus, frg. 148, Kaibel, p. 118. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-154 + +a particular thing would best originate ; ... or that part from +which, when the part exists, a thing first arises; ... or that, not a +part of the thing, from which a thing first arises, and from which +the movement, the change, naturally first proceeds, ... as from +railing comes fighting.'^ + +(7) \* To come from something means, first, to arise from something +as from matter. . . . Secondly, as from the first moving principle ; +for example, from what does fighting come ? It comes from railing, in +that raihng is the origin of fighting.'^ + +(8) \* It seems that benefactors like those who receive their favors +more than the recipients like the benefactors. . . . The usual +explanation is that benefactors are creditors and the recipients +debtors. That is, as in the case of loans the debtors would be +pleased if their creditors ceased to exist, and the creditors are +anxious for the safety of their debtors, so the benefactors desire +the existence of the recipients with a view to subsequent favors from +the recipients in return, while the latter are not anxious to repay +the debt. Epicharmus doubtless would describe the persons who gave +this explanation as " looking on the bad side " ; but it appears to +be true to human psychology. ... Still, the true reason seems to lie +deeper down in the nature of things. . . . People who have conferred +benefactions upon others feel love and affection for the recipients +even if the recipients neither are nor can be of service to them; . . +. for every craftsman loves his own works more than these works, if +they were endowed with hfe, would love him. This doubtless is true, +above all, of poets; they have an extraordinary affection for their +own poems — an affection like the love of a parent for his +children.'2 + +(9) ' Wherefore, while they speak plausibly, they do not speak truly; +for it is more fitting to state the matter + +^ Metaphysics 5 (^). i. 2 Ihid. 5 {/}). 24. + +^ Nicomachean Ethics 9. 7. This passage is our source for Epicharmus, +frg. 146, Kaibel, pp. 117-8. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-155 + +thus than as Epicharmus put the case against Xenoph-anes. Further, +they held their view because they saw all this world of nature in +motion, and saw the impossibility of making a true statement about +that which is changing ; at least, concerning that which everywhere +in every respect is changing nothing could truly be affirmed/^ + +(10) 'The reason is that their hypotheses and their principles are +false. + +When the grounds are not fine, it is hard to speak finely, according +to Epicharmus: + +No sooner 't is uttered than \*t is seen to be wrong.' ^ + +(11) \* And since we do all things more by day than by night, the +intellect is concerned with the activities of the body. But when +sensation is separated from intellect, it has, as it were, a +non-sensational action; whence the sajdng: + +Mind sees, and mind hears.'^ + +These references, with the two allusions to Epicharmus in the +*Poetics*,"^ make a fair showing for that poet in the works of +Aristotle. + +Aristophanes + +(i) \* In using epithets, too, we may characterize an object either +from its mean or ugly aspect — as " [Orestes] the matricide," — or +from its better aspect — as, " the avenger of his sire." Thus +Simonides, when the victor in the mule-race offered him a small fee, +declined to write an ode, affecting reluctance to write poetry on " +half-asses " ; but, when the fee was made large enough, he wrote : + +Hail, daughters of storm-footed mares! + +^ Metaphysics 4. (P). 5. Epicharmus, frg. 252, Kaibel, p. 138. +Compare the allusion to Epicharmus in the Theaetetus of Plato, above, +p. 111-2. + +2 Metaphysics 13 {M). 9. Epicharmus, frg. 251, Kaibel, p. 138. + +^ Problems ii. 33. Epicharmus, frg. 249, Kaibel, p. 137. + +^ See below, pp. 172, 177. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-156 + +(But they were equally daughters of the asses, too.) Again, without +abandoning a given epithet, one may turn it into a diminutive. By a +diminutive I mean a form that lessens either the good or the bad in +the description; for example, the banter of Aristophanes in the +Babylonians, where he uses " coinlet " for coin, " cloaklet " for +cloak, " gibelet " for gihe, and " plague-let."'^ + +(2) ' Such, then, is the nature of antithesis. Pari-sosis is when the +members are equal; paromoiosis when each member has the extremes +alike. This must be either at the beginning or the end. At the +beginning, the likeness must always be between whole words ; and at +the end, it may be in the final syllables of words, or inflections of +the same word, or in the repetition of a word. Thus, at the +beginning: + +aypov yap D^apsv apyov Tuap' auToU.' ^ + +(3) From the schoUast on Aristophanes' Clouds 552 : \* It is clear +that the first version of the Maricas [of Eupolis] was brought out +before the second version of the Clouds. Callimachus, says +Eratosthenes, censures the Didascaliae, because it is held that the +Maricas was brought out in the third year after the Clouds, while the +Didascaliae specifically state that it appeared before the Clouds. " +He fails to note," says he, " that, in the Clouds as exhibited, no +such thing as the following was uttered; but if the utterance is made +in the later revision, that occasions no difficulty. The Didascaliae +clearly refer to the play as exhibited." '^ + +(4) From Argument 5 (Dindorf) to the Clouds : ' The first version of +the Clouds was exhibited in the archon- + +^ Rhetoric 3. 2, trans, by Jebb, pp. 151-2, revised. Aristophanes, +frg. 90, Kock I. 414. + +2 Rhetoric 3. 9, trans, by Jebb, p. 166, revised. Aristophanes, frg. +649, Kock I. 553. Perhaps one may translate thus: 'Tilth he took, / +Tilled not, from him.' + +^ Aristotle, frg. 621, Rose, p. 389. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-157 + +ship of Isarchus, when Cratinus won over it with the Flagon, and +Ameipsias with the Connus.'^ + +(5) From Argument 3 (Dindorf) to the Peace : \* It is said in the +Didascaliae that Aristophanes exhibited a play bearing the same name +as the Peace. And hence it is not clear, says Eratosthenes, whether +he exhibited the same play [revised] or brought out another that has +not been preserved. Crates,^ however, knew two plays, writing thus : +" Well then, in the Acharnians or the Babylonians, or in the other +Peace." '^ + +(6) From Argument i (Dindorf) to the Peace: ' The poet won with the +drama when Alcaeus was archon in the city. First, Eupolis with the +Flatterer ; second, Aristophanes with the Peace-, third, Leucon with +the Clansmen.'^ + +(7) From the scholiast on Plato's Apology, p. 330 (Bekker) : ' +Meletus was an inferior tragic poet of Thracian stock, according to +Aristophanes in the Frogs and the Storks, who calls him " son of +Laius," since in the year when the Storks was exhibited Meletus +produced an Oedipodia, according to Aristotle in the Didascaliae.' ^ + +(8) From the scholiast on Birds 1379 : \* He [Cinesias] is mentioned +in the Frogs. In the Didascaliae Aristotle says there were two of the +same name.'^ + +1 Ibid. Regarding Cratinus, I will here record the parallel (to me, a +seemingly chance one) noted by Kock, between the reference to +Terpander and the Lesbian Ode in Aristotle, frg. 502. i56oai-3 (frg. +545, Rose), and the similar reference in Cratinus' Chirones, frg. +243, Kock i. 87. Cf. also the reference to this comedy in Zenobius, +Proverbs 2. 66 = Aristotle, frg. 616, Rose, p. 388. + +^ Not the comic poet, but the later critic, of the second century B. +C. + +^ Aristotle, frg. 622, Rose, p. 390, + +•\* Ibid. + +^ Aristotle, frg. 628, Rose, p. 392. + +^ Aristotle, frg. 629, Rose, p. 392. + +For a possible reference to the Daedalus of Aristophanes, see below, +p. 159, under Archippus. To the foregoing items I will add the fact, +noted by Kock, that Aristotle speaks of the Delphian knife in +Politics i. 2, and Aristophanes speaks of it in frg. 684, which +fragment Bergk assigns to the Aeolosicon (Kock i. 560, cf. 3. 724.) +For Aristotle's most significant reference to Aristophanes, see +above, pp. i, 29-30, below, p. 172. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-158 + +Strattis + +(i) ' For the verse of Strattis ridiculing Euripides — + +Use no perfumery to flavor soup — + +contains a truth. Those who nowadays introduce such flavors into +beverages deforce our sense of pleasure by habituating us to them, +until, from two distinct kinds of sensation combined, pleasure arises +as it might from one simple kind.'^ + +(2) From the scholiast on Aristophanes' Frogs 404: ' In the +archonship of the said Callias, according to Aristotle, it was +decreed that two choregi jointly should defray the costs of the +chorus at the Dionysia for the tragedies and the comedies; so that +perhaps there was some reduction of expense for the contest at the +Lenaea. Not long after, Cinesias finally abolished the provision for +choruses; and hence in the drama aimed at him Strattis said: " The +stage of the chorus-killing Cinesias." '^ + +Plato [the comic poet) + +(i) ' By ancient witnesses I mean the poets and other celebrities +whose judgments stand on record. . . . Recent witnesses are any +well-known persons who have decided a point, as their discussions are +useful to those who are contending about the same questions. Thus +Eubulus [the orator] employed against Chares the saying of Plato [? +the comic poet] against Archibius that " the avowal of rascality has +gained ground at Athens."'3 + +^ Aristotle, De Sensu 5, trans, by Beare, revised. The line is from +the Phoenissae of Strattis, frg. 45, Kock i. 724-5. + +^ Aristotle, frg. 630, Rose, p. 392 (frg. 619, Heitz) ; cf. Haigh, p. +54. + +The common proverb, \* Joining flax to flax,' occurs in Aristotle, + +Physica Auscultatio 3. 6, and also in Strattis, Potamii, frg. 38, + +Kock I. 722 (cf. Kock 3. 730) ; but, if Aristotle had to take it from + +a literary source, he could find it in Plato, Euthydemus 298 c. + +^ Rhetoric i. 15, trans, by Jebb, pp. 62, 63, revised. Meineke (2. +692, frg. 41) identifies the ' Plato' here mentioned with the comic +poet of that name, while Spengel takes the reference to be to the +philosopher; see Kock i. 660-1, frg. 219. And compare above, p. 105. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-159 + +Archippus + +(i) From Photius, Lexicon, s. v. ovou (r/.ia: ' Aristotle in the +Didascaliae mentions the title of a drama, the Ass's Shadow.''^ + +Compare Zenobius, Proverbs 6. 28, 67U£p ovou gy.w.c, : ' And there +was a comedy by Archippus, the Ass's Shadow.' ^ + +To judge from Photius, the Didascaliae may have mentioned the +Daedalus of Aristophanes in the same connection. ^ + +Philifpus or Eubulus + +(i) ' Some say that the soul in fact moves the body in which it is, +in the same way as it moves itself; so, for instance, Democritus. And +herein he resembled Philippus the comic poet; for the latter says +that Daedalus endowed the wooden Aphrodite with motion by pouring in +quicksilver/^ + +Ana xandr ides + +It will be remembered that the third of the following references has +been connected with this poet by mere conjecture. + +(i) \* Metaphors are of four kinds; of these the most popular are the +" proportional." Of this kind was the saying of Pericles that the +youth who had perished in the war had vanished from the city in such +sort as if the spring were taken out of the year. ... Or take the +iambic line in Anaxandrides about the daughters who had long gone +unmarried. [A speaker in the comedy says]: + +^ Aristotle, frg. 625, Rose, p. 391. + +2 Ibid. + +^ See Aristotelis Fragmenta, ed. by Heitz, Paris, 1869, p. 304 (frg. +616). + +\* De Anima i. 3. Aristotle refers to the comedy entitled Daedalus, +ascribed to Philippus, son of Aristophanes, or (preferably) to +Eubulus ; there may be some confusion of two plays with the same +name. See Meineke i. 340-3; Kock 2. 172-3. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-160 + +The marriage-bonds of the maidens [= spinsters], I believe, are +overdue.' ^ + +(2) \* Of the same sort [clever sayings] is the hne that has been +admired in Anaxandrides: + +Well is it to die ere one has done a thing worthy of death ; + +for this is equivalent to saying, " It is a worthy thing to die +without being worthy to die." '^ + +(? 3) \* " A worthy man should wed a worthy wife." But this is not +clever.' [That is, it is platitudinous.]^ + +(4) ' But when we employ reiteration, we must also vary. . . . +Philemon the actor did this in delivering the passage about " +Rhadamanthus and Palamedes " in the Gerontomania of Anaxandrides, and +similarly in varying the pronunciation of " I " in the Prologue to +The Good Men.'^ + +(5) \* The incontinent person, then, may be compared to a State which +passes all such bills as it ought to pass, and has excellent laws, +but does not carry them out — as Anaxandrides taunted: + +'Twas the State's will; the State recks not of law.'" + +For Alexis, see above, p. 150, below, p. 201. For Antiph-anes, see +above, pp. 34, 149. For Ameipsias, see above, p. 157, under +Aristophanes (4). For Chionides, see below, p. 172. For Crates, see +below, p. 177. For Cratinus, see above, p. 157 and footnote, under +Aristoph- + +^ Rhetoric 3. 10. Aristotle quotes from an unidentified play of +Anaxandrides : frg. 68, Kock 2. 162. The conditions would be met by a +comedy on the tale of the Suppliant Maidens. In the American Journal +of Philology 41. 50 I suggest the Herald of King Aegyptus as a +possibility for the speaker. + +^ Rhetoric 3. ii ; Anaxandrides, frg. 64, Kock 2. 161. + +^ Rhetoric 3. 11. The line is attributed to Anaxandrides: frg. 79, +Kock 2. 164. Cf. Rhetoric, ed. by Cope-Sandys, 3. 137, bottom ; +Spengel, Artium Scriptores, p. 20; Meineke 3. 201. Kock (as before) +includes the line under the disputed fragments of the poet. + +\* Rhetoric 3. 12. For the Gerontomania see Kock 2. 138-9, frg. 9 and +(especially) 10. Kock (2. 140) ascribes The Good Men {Evae^elg) to +Anaxandrides on the sole authority of this passage in Aristotle. + +^ Nicomachean Ethics 7. 11, trans, by Welldon, p. 233, revised. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-161 + +REFERENCES TO THE COMIC CHORUS i6i + +anes (4). For Eupolis, see above, pp. 156—7, under Aristophanes (3) +and (6). For Magnes, see below, p. 172. For Phormis, see below, p. +177. + +Hegemon of Thasos, mentioned by Aristotle as a parodist (see below, +p. 170), was also a comic poet, and the Nicochares mentioned with him +may have been the comic poet of that name. + +XIV + +REFERENCES TO THE COMIC CHORUS IN WORKS OTHER THAN THE POETICS + +(i) From Harpocration, Lexicon, s. v. BtBa(7)talo?: ' They give the +name " teachers " [BiBa(7xaXoi—i. e., of the chorus] to the poets who +are authors of dithyrambs, or of comedies, or of tragedies. Antiphon +in his work On the Choral Dancer says that Pantacles was an inferior +BiBciccrxa>.o?. And that Pantacles was a poet Aristotle has made +clear in the Didascaliae/^ + +(2) From the scholiast on Aristophanes' Frogs 404: \* In the +archonship of the said Callias, according to Aristotle, it was +decreed that two choregi jointly should defray the costs of the +chorus at the Dionysia for the tragedies and the comedies.' ^ + +(3) ' Next he [the archon] assigns choregi to the tragic poets, +choosing three of the richest persons out of the whole body of +Athenians. Formerly he used also to assign five choregi to the comic +poets, but now the tribes provide the choregi for them. Then he +receives the choregi who have been appointed by the tribes for the +men's and boys' choruses and the comic poets at the Dionysia.'^ + +^ Aristotle, frg. 624, Rose, p. 391. 2 Aristotle, frg. 630, Rose, p. +392. Cf. above, p. 158. ^ Aristotle, Constitution of Athens 56, +trans, by Kenyon, in the Oxford translation of Aristotle, ed. by +Ross, 1920. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-162 + +(4) ' Since the State is a partnership, and is a partnership of +citizens in a constitution, when the form of the government changes +and becomes different, then it may be supposed that the State is no +longer the same ; just as a tragic differs from a comic chorus, +although the members of both may be identical. And in this manner we +speak of every union or composition of elements as different when the +form of their composition alters; for example, a scale containing the +same sounds is said to be different, accordingly as the Dorian or the +Phrygian mode is employed.'^ + +(5) ' At Lacedaemon there was a choregus who led the chorus with a +flute, and at Athens the instrument became so popular that most +freemen could play upon it. The popularity is shown by the tablet +which Thrasippus dedicated when he furnished the chorus to +Ecphantides/2 + +(6) ' The vulgar man . . . spends large sums upon trifles, and makes +a display which is offensive to good taste, ... for example, ... if +he provides a comic chorus, by bringing the members of it on to the +stage in purple dresses, after the manner of the Megarians.' ^ + +XV + +SCATTERED PASSAGES ON LAUGHTER + +The Greek verb for ' smile ' does not occur in the writings of +Aristotle ; but we find a number of passages showing an interest, +more or less scientific, in the act of laughing, in the laughter of +infants, and in tickhng-matches. + +(i) ' And when they are awake infants do not laugh, but asleep they +both weep and laugh.'\* + +^ Politics 3. 3 ; Jowett's translation revised by Ross, in the Oxford +translation of Aristotle. ^ Ibid. 8. 6 ; same translation, + +3 Nicomachean Ethics 4. 6, trans, by Welldon, p. iii. ■' De +Generatione Animalium 5. i. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-163 + +SCATTERED PASSAGES ON LAUGHTER 163 + +(2) ' Until the child is forty days old it neither laughs nor weeps +during waking hours, but at night it sometimes does both; nor for the +most part does it notice when it is tickled. In the main it spends +its time in sleep.'^ + +(3) ' That heating of it [the midriff] affects sensation rapidly and +in a notable manner is shown by the phenomena of laughter; for when +men are tickled they are quickly set a-laughing, because the motion +quickly reaches this part, and, heating it though but slightly, yet +manifestly so disturbs the mental action as to occasion movements +that are independent of the will. That man alone is affected by +tickling is due first to the delicacy of his skin, and secondly to +his being the only animal that laughs; for to be tickled is to be set +in laughter, the laughter being produced by such a motion as +mentioned of the region of the armpit. . . . + +' Moreover, among the Barbarians, where heads are chopped off with +great rapidity, nothing of the kind [a dissevered head speaking] has +ever yet occurred. Why, again, does not the like occur in the case of +other animals than man ? For that none of them should laugh, when +their midriff is wounded, is but what one would expect; for no animal +but man ever laughs.'^ + +(4) ' Why is it that no one tickles himself ? + +\* Is it not because one is tickled less even by another when the act +is expected, and more when one does not see the other person, so that +the effect is minimized when one is aware of the experience ? +Laughter is a sort of surprise and deception — and that is why people +laugh when they are struck in the midriff; for it is not by being +struck in any chance spot that we are made to laugh. What escapes +notice deceives us ; and that is why the same thing sometimes is, and +sometimes is not, a cause of laughter.'^ + +\* Historia Animalium 7. 10. + +\* De Partibus Animalium 3. 10, trans, by Ogle in the Oxford +translation of Aristotle, ed. by Smith and Ross, 1911, revised. + +\* Problems 35. 6. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-164 + +(5) \* Why is it that we laugh when we are tickled about the armpit, +and do not when tickled elsewhere ?' ^ + +The answer is given that, when too much breath accumulates, we expel +it. + +(6) ' Why is it that in weeping the voice is higher, while in +laughing it is lower ? + +' Is it not because, in the one case, we set the breath in motion +only a little, through weakness, and, in the other, much, with the +result that the breath is carried rapidly ? But the rapid air makes +the high tone; for that which is expelled from a tense body is put in +rapid motion. On the contrary, when we laugh we are relaxed. And when +men are sick the voice is high, for they set little air in motion ; +whereas the others move it above. Further, in laughing, the air we +throw off is hot. In weeping, on the other hand, the effect of grief +is, as it were, a cooling of the region of the chest, and the breath +that is expelled is cooler. Now the heat sets much air in motion, so +that it is carried far, but the cold sets Httle. The same thing is +observed in the case of flutes; for when the players are warm, and +blow warm air in, the sound they produce is much lower.' 2 + +(7) ' Why is it that in weeping the voice is higher, while in +laughing it is lower ? + +' Is it not because in weeping one tightens and draws together the +mouth as one utters sounds ? By the tightening, then, the air within +is set in rapid motion, and is carried through the narrow opening of +the mouth, borne more rapidly. Through both causes it is that the +voice becomes sharper. On the contrary, in laughing the tension is +relaxed, and the mouth is opened wide. And when the air goes out in a +wide and broad stream, the sound is naturally low.'^ + +(8) \* It is no wonder [in respect to continence and incontinence], +if a person is mastered by strong and + +^ Problems 35. 8. + +2 Ibid. II, 13; cf. II. 50. + +3 Ibid. II. 15 ; cf. II. 50. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-165 + +SCATTERED PASSAGES ON LAUGHTER 165 + +overwhelming pleasures or pains; nay, it is pardonable, if he +struggles against them like Philoctetes when bitten by the snake in +the play of Theodectes, or like Cercyon in the Alope of Carcinus, or +like people who in trying to suppress their laughter burst out in a +loud guffaw, as happened to Xenophantus.'" + +(9) ' For as people can not be tickled if they are themselves the +beginners in a tickling-match, so some people if they anticipate or +foresee what is comings and have roused themselves and their reason +to resist it before it comes, are not overcome by their emotion, +whether it be pleasant or painful.' ^ + +(10) \* Why do we restrain our laughter less in the presence of +familiar friends ? + +'Is it not the case that when the suspense is great, the release is +easily effected ? Now good will tends rather to the utterance of the +laughable, and hence effects the release/^ + +^ Nicomachean Ethics 7. 8, trans, by Welldon, p. 226. Nothing further +is known regarding the story of Xenophantus. 2 Ibid., trans, by +Welldon, p. 227. ^ Problems 28. 8. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-166 + +THE POETICS OF ARISTOTLE APPLIED TO COMEDY + +[A theory of comedy derived from what Aristotle says of this form of +art, or inferred from what he says of other forms, in his *Poetics* ; +with additional comments, and illustrations from various sources. The +treatment in the main, and the wording to a considerable extent, +follow my ' Amplified Version.' Longer additions, and most of the +illustrations, are enclosed in square brackets; but it should not be +inferred that passages not so enclosed adhere to the letter, rather +than the spirit, of the original. The direct references to comedy in +the *Poetics* are printed in bold-face types.] + +Chapter i In the '*Poetics* Aristotle offers to discuss the nature of +the poetic art in general, and to treat of the several species of +poetry, one of which is comedy; above all ''°eS' re ^ with regard to +the essential quality or ' power ' (= func-s?pucture and "^ tion) of +each species. Accordingly, he would (in all function probability) lay +stress upon the function of comedy + +— that is, upon the characteristic effect produced by the work of the +comic poet on the trained sensibilities of the judicious spectator or +reader. And he would therefore examine that organic structure of the +comic play as a whole which is indispensable to the composition of an +ideally effective poem, including in his survey the number and nature +of the formative elements, and such other points as fall within the +same inquiry respecting form and function. + +Following the natural order, we begin with what is fundamental to +poetry as a genus, namely the principle of \* imitation ' — that is, +of artistic representation. Comedy, like epic poetry, tragedy, +dithyrambic poetry, and most flute-playing and lyre-playing [as also +painting and sculpture], is in its general nature a + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-167 + +form of imitation; [that is, the comic poet in his work +fh^o'thi/im-\* imitates ' or re-presents somethiner — his idea or +con- uative arts, re- + +,^ K r r J. • 1, 1^ presents some + +ception — through an arrangement 01 certain sj^qdois object in a such +as words or notes. Nowadays we should call the "^f^^l^^T formation of +his idea, and his \* imitation ' of the idea, an artistic creation.] +But, having this in common with other kinds of art that it is a form +of imitation, comedy differs from one or another of them in three +respects; for among the imitative arts there are differences in — + +(i) The means by which they imitate — the \* medium.' [Thus comedy +employs language for its medium, while sculpture employs stone, and +painting employs pigments.] + +(2) The objects as these are represented. [One art may represent the +same object as worse, and another may represent it as better, than +the object ordinarily is. Comedy and mock-heroic poetry, for example, +represent men and their actions as worse than they commonly are; +tragedy and epic poetry, as better.] + +(3) The manner in which these objects are imitated. [Comedy, for +example, hke tragedy, directly presents the actions of men, whereas +epic poetry relates such actions.] + +We may further explain the term means, or \* medium.' '• ^^^ ""^^"^ +As painters (some by art [i. e., by theory], others by Examples + +, ,., - from other + +constant practice) represent the likenesses 01 many arts, as +paint-things through the medium of colors and lines, so there +instrumental + +- -T c 1 • T ^ l^ • music, and + +are those who for their medium employ the voice, as dancing in +singing. And so in the group of arts to which comedy belongs, the +imitation of the objects is produced in the medium of rhythm, +language, and harmony, these three media being used either singly or +in combination. For example, in flute-playing and Ijnre-playing the +media are harmony and rhythm combined; as in any other arts having a +similar effect — for + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-168 + +instance, imitation on the Pan-pipes. [Thus a comic action might be +produced in unadorned prose (' language ' pure and simple), or in +metre (' language ' plus definitely recurrent ' rhythm '), or in +metrical language intended to be sung (' language ' plus ' rhythm ' +plus sung ' harmony'). For the first case, see Shakespeare, Tempest, +scene one; for the second. Tempest, scene two ; for the third. +Tempest 1.2. 375—385.] In the art + +of dancing, the medium is rhythm alone, without harmony; for in this +art the performers also represent human character, and what men feel +and do, and the medium of this imitation is rhythm in bodily +movement. [The remark has an additional value for comedy, as for +tragedy, since each may employ this art, as in the motions of the +chorus. Both kinds of drama likewise employ the singing voice as well +as the music of the flute and the lyre.] + +An art with Then there is a form of art in which the medium of + +the medium of + +lanouaoe alone, imitation is language alone, without harmony, and +that, + +whether met o o \* j' + +ricai or not too, whether the language be metrical or not; if it be +metrical language, there may be one single sort of metre, or several +sorts in conjunction. This form of imitation thus far lacks a name; +since we have no term that might be applied in common to the mimes + +mime*"an^d the ^^ ^ Sophron or Xenarchus and the Socratic dialogues; + +dialogue ^^^ should we have a term even if the imitation in these + +cases employed the medium of iambic, elegiac, or any other such +metre. People have a way, it is true, of connecting the word ' poet ' +(that is, maker) with the name of one or another kind of verse, so +that they talk of \* elegiac poets,' and ' epic ' (that is, +hexameter) \* poets,' as if it were not the principle of imitation +that characterized the artist — as if one might term them all poets +indiscriminately because of the metre. [But the question of +terminology growing out of metrical considerations is negligible for +comedy. As versified + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-169 + +natural science is not poetry; as it is the principle of imitation, +not the metre, that differentiates poetry in general, and comedy as a +branch of it, from what is not poetry; so the comic prose mimes of +Sophron, and the Symposium of Plato (or \* Socratic Conversations' +generally — with their close relation to the mime), are in essence +allied to comedy. The word mime has the same root as mimesis (that +is, ' imitation '). No one word in Greek criticism answers to our \* +literature.'] + +But comedy is one of the arts which combine all the comedy em-media +enumerated, namely, rhythm, melody, and met- media:rhythm, + +,, 1 1 ITT 1- 1 • melody, and + +rical language ; as do tragedy and dithyrambic and nomic metre +poetry. Yet here again there is a difference; for in dithyrambic and +nomic poetry all three media are employed together, whereas in comedy +and tragedy ^ominuousiy they are brought in separately. [If +Aristotle's \* rhythm' here refers to the motions of the chorus, a +discrepancy in part disappears (see below, pp. 174,179); if not, we +must say, more strictly, that in Aristophanic comedy ' it is only the +music that comes in intermittently, in the choral parts ' (to adopt +the language of Bywater).] + +We turn now to the objects which the poet or other Chapter 2 artist +represents: these are human beings in action— 2. The object: men and +women doing or undergoing something. And ^^^ '" ^°*'°" the agents +must be either of a lower or a higher type; for in virtually every +case the differences in the characters represented proceed from this +primary distinction, since it is the line between virtue and vice +that divides us all in real life. It follows that in the imitation +the agents must be represented as worse than i^^e agents + +" -^ must be either + +we ourselves, or some such men as we, or better than beiow the +average, or average we. Thus, to take our instance from the painters, +"len, or above + +•^ the average + +Pauson depicted men worse than the average, Dionys- + +ius men like ourselves, and Polygnotus men better than + +the average. [Or a modern parallel: the subjects of Hogarth are of a +lower type, and those of the Dutch + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-170 + +170 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +and Flemish portrait-painters are near to the average level of +humanity, while those of Raphael are of a higher type. Aristotle has +in mind the tendency of one painter to lower, and of another to +ennoble, a given subject from the level of ordinary life; so a +caricaturist accentuates ugliness in men of his time.] + +It is clear that each of the modes of imitation we + +have noted will admit of these differences of elevation + +in the object as imitated, and will be a separate art in + +so far as there is this difference in representing the + +Dancing and ^^^^j^^t as lower, or higher, or midway between the two + +l^f.l'il!1I,l"J!L«u, extremes. Such diversities are possible even in +danc- + +music may snow xr + +?he"averaoe^ iug and flute-playing and lyre-playing; and similarly + +in the above-mentioned nameless art (including prose + +The diaieoue dialogues and prose mimes) without music, and in + +and the mime , • i • • • ^ . ^. , + +iii<ewise metrical compositions without music. Thus the agents + +represented by Homer are better than we; the agents in the epic of +the commonplace by Cleophon are on our level; and those in the +mock-heroic travesty of Jn^'^Heg^emon*^ Homer by HegemoH of Thasos — +the first author to an^d in'^Sfc?- take up parodj as a special form +of poetry — are below moTk-epic*'^ \*^'^ the average, as are the +personages in the mock-heroic Diliad of Meochares. [Diliad (with a +word-play on Iliad) —as it were, 'The Poltroniad.' Another +illustration would be this: the knights in Spenser's Faerie Queene, +or in Tennyson's Idylls of the King, are elevated and idealized; the +monks in Frere's King Arthur and his Round Table are of a lower type; +and the agents in the modern realistic novel are mostly persons like + +ourselves.! The same distinction holds good in dith- + +So also the . . + +nome yrambs and in nomes; for example, in the lower types + +in the nomes of Argas and the higher in those of . . ., + +mmr-Vlin'!" ^^^ ^^ ^^^ dithyrambic tale by Philoxenus, who ren- + +the"cydops"^ dcrcd the Cyclops ignoble, and that of Timotheus, who + +elevated the type. [There is a gap in the text, and the + +interpretation is doubtful. \* Argas ' is a conjecture, + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-171 + +171 + +and what is said of Philoxenus is a plausible supposition. — +Polyphemus, already a half-comic personage in the Odyssey, became a +stock figure in various kinds of poetry. For the comic tradition, +compare the Cyclops of Euripides with the Cyclops in Theocritus, + +Idyls 6 and 11.] Now in respect to the objects of imitation, this +difference sets comedy apart from tragedy. Comedy tends to represent +the agents as worse, and tragedy as better, than the men of our day. +[That is, the personages of comedy are more often below the average +than average — though the average is poor. Thus in Moliere the hero +of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme is a kind of average citizen, made +ridiculous — that is, depressed below the average; while Harpagon in +UAvare and Tartuffe are types already below the average.] + +There is yet a third among these differences, namely, a difference +touching the manner in which a given object [for example, a boor in a +contest with a buffoon] may be imitated. Let us suppose that the +object of the imitation remains the same [say, ludicrous men in a +contest], and likewise the medium [say, metrical language]. Under +these conditions, (i) the poet may produce his work in narrative, +either (a) as Homer does, in an assumed role, or (b) in his own +words, without changing his personality ; or, on the other hand, (2) +all the imitated personages may be presented as living and moving +before us. [Homer, in fact, sometimes speaks + +in his own person, but for the most part makes fictitious personages +speak; see, for example, the Homeric description of Thersites, +followed by the speech put into the mouth of Thersites by the poet +(Iliad 2. 211—224, 225—242). The method of direct presentation is +illustrated by any-comedy of Aristophanes (as the Plutus) or of any +other comic poet (say, Moliere's L'Avare).] + +These three differences there are, then, as was said at first, in the +nature of the imitation: a difference in + +Comedy differs from tragedy in that its agents are worse rather than +better + +Chapter 3 3. The manner + +A comic story may be given as narrative, either in fictitious +speeches, or by the poet narrating throughout + +Or it may be directly presented as drama + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-172 + +172 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Aristophanes, like Sophocles, directly presents men In action + +Digression on the etymology of comedy and drama + +Claims of Megara, Sicily, and Athens to the invention of comedy + +Epicharmus a Sicilian, eariier than Chionides and r^agnes of Attica, +according to the Dorians + +the medium, a difference in the objects, and a difference in the +manner. The distinction enables us to indicate points of similarity +in certain kinds of art. Thus as an imitator Sophocles would be on +one side akin to Homer, since both represent agents of a higher type; +and on another to Aristophanes, since both represent personages as +experiencing and doing. [In this striking passage the emphasis has +been left where Aristotle puts it. He could hardly recommend +Aristophanes more signally as the leading comic poet than by thus +linking him with Homer, the fountain-head of Greek poetry, and with +Sophocles^ whose Oedipus the King counts in the *Poetics* as the nearly +perfect tragedy. But the shift of emphasis for comedy is easily made: +In respect to the objects imitated, the dramatist Aristophanes is +akin to the narrative poet Homer (in the Margites ; see below, p. +175), since both represent personages of a lower type; and in respect +to the manner of imitation, the comedies of Aristophanes are akin to +the tragedies of Sophocles, since both poets represent personages +directly as experiencing and doing.] Indeed, according to some, +herein lies the reason why comedies and tragedies are called ' +dramas,' namely, because they represent men as ' doing' [BpwvTs?, +from the verb Bpav]. Hence also the Dorians lay claim to the +invention of tragedy as well as comedy ; for comedy is claimed by the +Megarians [= Dorians] — by those of Greece, who contend that it arose +among them at the time when Megara became a democracy, and on the +other hand by the Megarians of Sicily, on the ground that the first +true comic poet, Epicharmus, came from there, and was much earlier +than the Attic comic poets Chionides and Magnes; even tragedy is +claimed by certain Dorians of the Peloponnese [i. e., the +Sicyonians]. Now these claims are put forward as resting upon the +etjonology of the words ' comedy ' + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-173 + +and \* drama/ They [the Dorians] say that their term for rural +hamlets is not demes, as with the Athenians, but comae ; and they +assume that ' comedians' acquired their name, not from xwjj.ajsiv [' +to revel'], but from their habit of strolling about from village to +village [zccTa YMimg], when a lack of appreciation forced them out of +the city. [' Comedy ' does, however, seem to be connected by +derivation with the verb yM[xdZ,ziv,' to revel,' and with the comus, +or wandering dance of the phallic worshipers.] As for the etymology +of ' drama,' they allege that the Dorian word for \* doing ' is not +TrpocT^siv, as with the Athenians, but Bpav, [Aristotle, however, + +employs Bpccv (and also xpdcT^sLv) as a word in good usage at +Athens.] + +As for its natural origin, comedy owes its being to Chapter 4 + +the two causes which have eiven rise to poetry in Poetry [and + +^ r ^ hence corn- + +general. Of these causes, each of them inherent in the edy] has its + +^ origin in two + +nature of man, the first is the habit of imitation : for natural +instincts + +to imitate is instinctive with mankind from childhood; 1. The im-and, +among living creatures, man differs from the rest imitate in that he +is the most imitative, and learns at first through imitation. +Secondly, all men take a natural 5ei^*[,®t m^th?' pleasure in the +results of imitation — a pleasure to ""^suits which the facts of +experience bear witness; for even where the original objects are +repulsive, as the most fh7"pj'fna? objectionable of the lower +animals, or dead bodies, Jn^^ieasa^^t^ we still delight to +contemplate their forms in the most accurate representations. [For +comedy, compare the + +huge beetle represented in the Peace of Aristophanes; the titles +(indicating the choruses) of his Wasps and Frogs; and the Corpse in +Frogs 169—177. Though Aristotle is not at this point thinking of +comedy, his remark has a wide range of application in that field, +when allowance is made for the comic modifications + +of truth, once this is exactly observed.] The explanation + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-174 + +174 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +The pleasure in the process of recognition + +Imitation, music, and rhythm are innate in man + +The first stages of poetry + +improvisations + +Two main divisions of poetry + +IHymns Lampoons + +The Homeric Margites + +Origin and meaning of ' iambic' + +of this delight lies in a further characteristic of our species, the +appetite for learning; for among human pleasures that of learning is +the keenest — not only to the scholarly, but to the rest of mankind +as well, however briefly the rest enjoy it. Accordingly, the reason +why men delight in pictures is that in the act of contemplating one +they are acquiring knowledge, and draw an inference to the effect +that ' This is So-and-so.' Consequently, if we happen not to have +seen the original, any pleasure arising from the picture will be due, +not to the imitation as such, but to the execution, or the coloring, +or some similar cause. + +To imitate, then, is natural to us as men ; just as our sense of +musical harmony, and our sense of rhythm, are natural — and it is to +be noted that metre plainly falls under the general head of rhythm. +Accordingly, being from the outset possessed of these natural +endowments, and developing them by gradual and, in the main, slight +advances, men brought poetry into existence out of their +improvisations. + +Poetry now split up into two varieties, corresponding to a difference +in the moral bent of the poets; for while the graver spirits +represented noble actions and the deeds of superior men, the lighter +represented the doings of the baser sort. And whereas others composed +hymns and panegyrics, these latter at first composed lampoons. We are +unable, it is true, to mention a poem in the lampooning vein by any +of the poets before Homer, though there probably were many such +authors among them. But beginning with Homer we have specimens, such +as the Margites and other poems of similar sort. In these, its +inherent suitability brought into use an iambic metre; and the reason +why we now employ the term ' iambic ' for satirical is that those +poets formerly + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-175 + +175 + +lampooned, or \* iambized,' one another in this metre. Of the early +poets, accordingly, some became authors of iambic verse, and others +of heroic. + +But Homer, who shared in both tendencies, was superior to the other +poets of either class. In the serious style he stands alone, not only +through the general excellence of his imitations, but through their +dramatic quality as well. So also was he superior in the comic vein, +since he first marked out the general lines of comedy, by rendering +the ludicrous dramatic — not composing personal invective ; for the +Margites bears the same relation to comedy as the Iliad and Odyssey +bear to tragedy. [The Margites, of post-Homeric origin, is known to +us only in a few scant fragments; Aristotle's estimate doubtless +rested upon his conception of the whole, and especially of the plot +in relation to the hero. In the Iliad and the Odyssey there are +incidents that betray the spirit of comedy; for example, the story of +Thersites (Iliad 2. 211 ff.), the exchange of gifts between Diomede +and Glaucus (6. 232—236), the deception of Polyphemus by Odysseus +(Odyssey 9. 353—374, 403—460), the grotesque episode of Aeolus and +the wind-bag (10. 17—76), and the fight between Irus and Odysseus +(18. i—107). Indeed, mainly because of the happy issue for Odysseus, +Aristotle says (see below, p. 201) that the pleasure arising from the +Odyssey is rather the one that belongs to comedy.] + +When tragedy and comedy appeared, however, those poets with a natural +bent in one direction became authors of comedies, instead of iambs ; +and those with a natural bent in the other became producers of +tragedy, instead of epics; for these newer forms were greater and +were in higher esteem than the former. + +Comedy originated in improvisations, as did tragedy also ; for +tragedy took its beginning from the improvising poet-leaders in the +dithyrambic chorus of sat^/rs ; + +The Homeric Margites prefigures true comedy + +In time, comedy, a more notable type, attracted poets with the +natural bent + +Comedy began in the improvisations of the leaders in the phallic +procession + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-176 + +176 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Chapter 5 + +The agents in comedy, and the nature of the ludicrous + +The comic mask is an example + +and comedy from the leaders of the phallic processional song and +dance, the performance of which continues as an institution in many +of the Greek cities. + +[In addition to other gradual changes in tragedy,] there was a change +in the magnitude of the action represented, from the little plots of +the primitive form ; and, with its development out of the satyr-play, +tragedy also grew away from a ludicrous diction. Thus, at a late +period, however, it assumed its characteristic elevation of tone, and +the iambic metre repla.ced the trochaic tetrameter. Indeed, the +reason for the early use of the tetrameter was that tragedy had the +quality of the satyr-play, and was more on the order of dancing. But +as soon as the element of spoken discourse entered in, nature itself +found the appropriate metre — the iambic; for this is the readiest +metre in speaking. + +Comedy, as has been said, is an artistic imitation of persons of an +inferior moral bent; faulty, however, not in any and every way, but +only in so far as their shortcomings are ludicrous; for the ludicrous +is a part or species, not all, of the genus ugly. It may be defined +as that kind of shortcoming and deformity [or disproportion] which +does not strike us as painful, and is not harmful [or ' corrupting +']; a ready example is afforded by the comic mask, which is +ludicrous, being ugly and distorted, without any suggestion of pain. + +[The faults which it would appear were suitable for comic characters +might therefore be almost, if not quite, all the vices listed in +Nicomachean Ethics 2. 7, so long as these vices produced neither pain +nor harm; but, particularly, certain of the vices that were nearer to +the mean state, or state of virtue (rather than those less resembling +this), such as foolhardiness, prodigality, vulgarity, vanity, +impassivity, self-depreciation (= ' irony'), buffoonery, +obsequiousness or flattery, and bash- + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-177 + +fulness. Yet the opposite and more extreme vices might be so +represented as not to be painful or injurious — as cowardice, +illiberality or avarice, boastfulness, boorishness; perhaps also +quarrelsomeness, licentiousness, and envy; possibly shamelessness and +malice. It has been thought by some that Aristotle deemed the buffoon +or low, jesting parasite, the ironical man or type of dissembled +ignorance, and the boastful man or type of impostors and braggarts, +as par excellence the characters {or ethe) of comedy; see above, +pp.118—9, and the Tractatus Coislinianus, below, pp. 226, 262—5. ^^ +i^ often possible to reduce to one of these last three types a +character whose comic flaw at first might seem to be one of the other +vices ; so the incontinent Tartuffe of Moliere — as indeed the poet +suggests by appending the name, ' The Impostor.' In other cases, as +Har-pagon in Moliere's L'Avare, the flaw in character which gives +rise to the comic effect is clearly not one of these three, but, as +in L'Avare, avarice, or, as in Le Malade Imaginaire, cowardice or +some other vice.] + +While the successive changes which tragedy under- tJJJlJn'^bout went, +and the authors of those changes, have not stagw'o'r escaped notice, +there is no record, says Aristotle, of '^•""^dy the early development +of comedy, for the reason that at first this form of drama was not +treated as a matter of much concern. Not until late in the progress +of comedy was the comic poet provided by the magistrate with a +chorus; until then the performers were simply unpaid volunteers. And +comedy had already taken definite shape by the time we begin to have +a record of those who are termed poets in this kind. Who was +responsible for introducing personages, or prologues, or additional + +A • xi J Ti J X M . Sicilian origin + +actors — concernmg these and like details we are m of comic plots: + +ignorance. But the construction of plots came from and'^pUormis + +Sicily, for Epicharmus and Phormis came from there; jhe Athenian + +and, of Athenian comic poets. Crates was the first to ihTgenerai- + +discard personal invective and to construct generaUzed fable'"*'\* ^^ + +m + +|picture1| + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-178 + +178 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Narrative [com ic] poetry com-pared with [comic] drama + +A difference in the medium + +A difference in the manner + +A difference in length + +Formative elements common to both species + +plots and fables. [The active career of Crates just preceded that of +Aristophanes, the second of whose extant comedies, the Knights, +contains a reference to the elder poet, who probably was then dead.] + +As may be seen [compare above, p. 172], mock-heroic poetry has thus +much in common with comedy: it is an imitation, in verse, of +ludicrous events. Still there is a difference (on the metrical side) +in the medium of imitation, as well as a difference in the manner ; +for the mock-epic employs one and the same metre throughout, whereas +comedy employs more than one metre; and the mock-epic is in the form +of a tale that is told, and not, like comedy, of an action directly +presented. And there is further a difference in length, since the +narrative poem is not restricted to any fixed limit of time, whereas +a comedy is restricted by the conventions of the stage. + +[In Aristotle's view, the number of lines is related to the length of +time represented by the action. The narrative poem may represent a +long time, and hence may itself be long; whereas the drama commonly +represents a briefer time, and hence will be shorter. In speaking of +the epic poem and tragedy, he says that at first this difference did +not exist, neither being limited in point of time, but that later, in +his own day, writers of tragedy aimed to confine the action within +the limits of one revolution of the sun, or at all events not to +exceed this interval by very much. This is the only reference to what +long afterwards (never by him) was called the ' unity of time '; it +is not an injunction, but an observation subordinate to his +discussion of the length of a poem. He nowhere refers to anything +like a ' unity of place.' In fact, he mentions but two ' unities ' — +unity of action, and \* oneness ' of hero, which latter, he says, +does not constitute oneness of plot. It may be noted, however, that +the comedies of Aristophanes in general may be regarded as severally +occurring within the limits of one revolution of the sun.] Finally, +the comic narrative and comedy differ in respect to their + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-179 + +179 + +formative elements; for four of these elements [plot, ethos, dianoia, +and diction] are common to both kinds of poetry, and two [music and +spectacle] are peculiar to comedy. [See below, pp. 215—6.] All the +formative elements of a comic narrative poem are to be found in +comedy; but not all the formative elements of comedy are included in +a comic narrative poem. It follows that a person who can tell what is +good or bad in the composition of a comedy can do the same for a +comic narrative, too. + +... To define: a comedy is the artistic imitation of an action which +is ludicrous (or mirthful), organically complete, and of a proper +length; so much for the object imitated. As for the medium, the +imitation is produced in language with accessories that give +pleasure, one kind of accessory being introduced in one part, and +another in another part, of the whole. As for the manner, the +imitation is itself in the form of an action carried on by persons — +it is not narrated. [(?) And + +as for the end or function resulting from the imitation of such an +object in such a mediiun and in such a manner, it is to arouse, and +by arousing to relieve, the emotions proper to comedy. (See above, +pp. 60—98, below, pp. 224,228.) At all events, the end of comedy is +to arouse laughter by the right means, and to give pleasure to + +the judicious.] By language with accessories that give pleasure is +meant language which is simply rhythmical or metrical, language which +is delivered in recitative, and language which is uttered in song +(with music). And by the separate introduction of one kind of +accessory in one part, and of another in another part, is meant that +some parts of the comedy are worked out in verse alone, without being +sung or chanted, and others again in the form of singing or chanting. + +[Gudeman, p. 11, f. n., thinks that the more exact + +A good judge of [comic] drama is a good judge of [comic] narrative + +Chapter 6 + +[Aristotie's definition of tragedy adapted to comedy] + +m 2 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-180 + +i8o THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +explanation of catharsis referred to in Politics 8. 7 has been lost +from the *Poetics* at this point, immediately following the definition +of tragedy. The application to comedy might be expected at a later +point in the work. As we have noted in the Introduction, it has been +generally assumed that, as Aristotle thought the arousal and relief, +or \* catharsis,' of pity and fear, and the resultant pleasure, to be +the proper effect of tragedy, so he would recognize some sort of +catharsis, and the resultant pleasure, to be the proper end of +comedy, basing his opinion upon the observable effect of the best +comedies on the spectator or reader. And this effect would be, so to +speak, both psychological and physiological — as in tragedy we have +the bodily shiver accompanying fear, and the flow of tears +accompanying pity. The inward feeling displays itself outwardly, +emotion and bodily reaction being in fact so closely allied as to be +virtually one and the same thing. The observable effects of comedy +are on the one hand a heightened sense of well-being, accompanied by +a thrill of joy, and even cries of joy, such as cheering, and on the +other hand the phenomena of laughter. According to Aristotle, the +pleasure derived from tragedy is partly direct, partly indirect. +There is the direct pleasure we derive from beholding a good +representation ; this, the satisfaction of the universal desire for +learning, arises from the play, or ' imitation,' as a whole, but also +from particular elements in the play such as \* recognitions,' or +discoveries of identity. And there are additional direct pleasures +arising from rhythmical or metrical composition, from the musical +element (which contributes much to the effect of the whole), and from +the element of ' spectacle ' (costume, painted scenery, and the +like). This last, though adventitious, and not properly the concern +of the art of poetry, still is not negligible. Then there is the +indirect satisfaction, peculiar to tragedy, arising from the relief +or \* purgation ' of pity and fear. In comedy, therefore, we might +expect him to appreciate both positive and negative sources of +pleasure. The pleasures connected with imitation, with discoveries or +recognitions, with + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-181 + +rhythm, music, and spectacle, would be positive. And there is also +the positive satisfaction arising from the happy issue of the story. +On the negative side, and doubtless more especially, there would be +the relief of one or more emotions, associated with the outward act +of laughter. The question is, what will be the emotional state or +inward tension which is relieved by the laughter of comedy, as the +overplus of pity and fear common to everyday life is relieved by the +suspense and tears of tragedy ? The matter has been discussed at some +length in the Introduction (pp. 63— 76). Here we shall assume that, +as men in daily life are accustomed to suffer from a sense of +disproportion, it is this that is relieved or purged away by the +laughter of comedy; for comedy (witness the comic mask) distorts +proportions; its essence is the imitation of things seen out of +proportion. By contemplating the disproportions of comedy, we are +freed from the sense of disproportion in life, and regain our +perspective, settling as it were into our proper selves. To +Aristotle, the process of settling into om\* true selves is pleasure; +that is his definition of pleasure. + +We must again note the relation of suspense to catharsis. The use of +suspense is common to tragedy and comedy. The tragic poet keys his +audience up to a high state of tension by half-revealing, +half-concealing, the final discovery and outcome of the story ; when +we are duly prepared, and yet not quite expecting the piteous +revelation, all is suddenly made manifest, and we dissolve in tears. +Such is the catharsis that takes place in the theatre — an effect +that probably must be differentiated from the emotional state of the +audience when it has left the theatre and is dispersed. So also in +comedy there may be a critical point toward which the poet conducts +his audience by artistic steps ; there will be a main disclosure that +is most directly concerned with the relief of comic suspense — with +the comic catharsis. But whereas in pure tragedy the spectator (who +indeed fears from the beginning) does not weep throughout the play, +but only after the revelation, in pure comedy he laughs from the +outset. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-182 + +i82 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +The six constituent elements [of comedy] wtiich demand attention from +the poet + +I. Spectacle + +2. Music + +3. Diction: composition in metre + +The catharsis is effected by a series of explosions, doubtless +culminating in one final laugh when the situation is cleared; that +is, if the plot is ' involved.' As for the after-effect of comedy, it +may not be wholly different from that of tragedy: an elevated calm, +or tranquillity of soul, with clear mental perspective and freedom +from disturbing emotion. Probably the arousal and relief of emotion +of any one sort would tend to free the soul from harmful emotion in +general. + +If Aristotle regarded the latent tendency in man either to dangerous +inhibitions and repressions, or to an undue laxity of expression, as +harmful, certain licenses of comedy — for example, in Aristophanes — +might readily accord with his homeopathic view as to the curative +value of artistic representation or externalization. Thus the +elements in comedy that derive from the phallic procession might be +defended upon the ground that they furnished a catharsis of the +mental disturbances associated with such stimuli in life.] + +From the definition of comedy we proceed to analyze the elements in a +comedy that demand the attention of the poet. Since there are +dramatis personae who. produce the author's imitation of an action, +it necessarily follows that (i) everything pertaining to the +appearance of actors on the stage — including costume, scenery, and +the like — will constitute an element in the technique of comedy; and +that (2) the composition of the music, and (3) the composition in +words, will constitute two further elements, since the music and +diction comprise the medium in which the action is imitated. By +diction is meant the fitting together of the words in metre; as for +the musical element, the meaning is too obvious to call for +explanation. + +But, furthermore, the original object of the imitation is an action +of men. In the comedy, then, the imitation, which is also an action, +must be carried on by agents, the dramatis personae. And these agents + +J + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-183 + +183 + +must necessarily be endowed by the poet with certain distinctive +characteristics both of (4) moral bent {ethos) ^' ^^^°^ and (5) +intellect (dianoia); since it is from a man's 5. oianoia moral bent, +and from the way in which he reasons, that we are led to ascribe +goodness or badness, success or failure, to his acts. Thus, as there +are two natural causes, moral bent and thought, of the particular +deeds of men, so there are the same two natural causes of their +success or failure in life. And the comic poet must take cognizance +of this. + +Finally, the action which the poet imitates is represented in the +comedy by (6) the plot or fable. And, 6. Plot according to our +present distinction, plot means that synthesis of the particular +incidents which gives form or being to the comedy as a whole ; +whereas moral bent [ethos) is that which leads us to characterize the +agents as worse or better; and intellect (thought, or dianoia) is +that which is shown in all their utterances — in arguing special +points, or in avouching some general truth. + +In every comedy, therefore, there are six consti- summary of + +•^ \*^ the six ele- + +tutive (or formative) elements, according to the quality ments of +which we judge the excellence of the work as a whole : plot, moral +bent, intellect, diction, the musical element, and spectacle. Two of +them, the musical element and diction, concern the medium of +imitation; one, spectacle, the manner; and three, plot, moral bent, +and intellect, the objects. There can be no other elements. Of these +constitutive elements, accordingly, the judicious comic poet will +make due use; for every drama must contain certain things that are +meant for the eye, as well as the elements of plot, moral bent, +intellect, diction, and music. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-184 + +i84 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +The most important element [in comedy] is the structure of the whole + +The moral bent of the agents is subsidiary to what is done + +Form is soul + +The most important of the constitutive elements is the plot, that is, +the organization of the incidents of the story; for comedy in its +essence is an imitation, not of men as such, but of action and of +life. Consequently in a play the agents do not do thus and so for the +sake of revealing their moral dispositions; rather, the display of +character is included as subsidiary to the things that are done. So +that the incidents of the action, and the structural ordering of +these incidents, constitute the end and aim of the comedy. [That is, + +the structure of the comedy as a whole, the ' form ' of it, is +equivalent to the main effect upon the audience.] + +Here, as in everything else that we know of, the final purpose is the +main thing. We may see the importance of this element from the fact +that, whereas without action a comedy could not exist, it is possible +to construct a comedy in which the agents have no distinctive moral +bent. + +Again, one may string together a series of speeches in which the +moral bent of the agents is delineated in excellent verse and +diction, and yet fail to produce the effect of comedy. One is more +likely to produce the effect with a comedy, however deficient in +these respects, if it has a plot — that is, an artistic ordering of +the incidents. In addition to all this, the most vital features of +comedy, by which the interest and emotions of the audience are most +effectively stirred — that is, discoveries, and reversals of fortune +— are parts of the plot or action. It is significant, too, that +beginners in the art become proficient in versification, and in the +delineation of personal traits, before they are able to combine the +incidents of the action into an effective whole. + +(i) The plot, then, is the first principle, and as it were the very +soul, of comedy. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-185 + +(2) And the characters of the agents come next in Elements in + +^ ' . . . the order of + +order of importance. — There is a parallel in the art of importance + +painting : the most striking colors laid on with no order + +will not be so effective as the simplest caricature done + +in outline. — Comedy is the imitation of an action: , p^^^ + +mainly on this account does it become, in the second 2. ^fhos + +place, an imitation of personal agents. + +(3) Third in importance comes the element of intel- 3, oianoia led, +the faculty in the agent of saying what can be + +said, or what is fitting to be said, for the ends of comedy, + +in a given situation. It is that element in a comedy + +which is supplied by the study of politics, rhetoric, + +[and sophistical arguments]. This intellectual element ^f/jos and + +must be clearly distinguished from the ethical element ferent/Sed^by + +(moral bent) in the drama, for the latter includes only +malJifJslations + +such things as reveal the moral bias of the agents — + +their tendency to choose or to avoid a certain line of + +action, in cases where the motive is not obvious. The + +intellectual element, on the other hand, is manifest + +in everything the poet makes the agents say to prove + +or disprove a special point, and in every utterance + +by way of generaJization. + +[The way in which the moral and intellectual elements unite in the +speech and action of the agent is often imperfectly grasped by +readers of Aristotle. Together, the two elements form the personality +of the agent. In a sense, every utterance of a speaker in a comedy +illustrates his moral bent, and likewise shows the workings of his +intellect; so that, like the other constitutive elements (save that +music is intermittent), these two enter into every part of a play. +The constitutive elements might, in fact, be compared to the various +kinds ol tissue in a living organism, all being found in any part. +Thus in the Frogs of Aristophanes the decision of Dionysus to visit +the underworld in search of Euripides is shown in a succession of +speeches + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-186 + +i86 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +in which he argues the necessity of his quest, uttering a mixture of +general statements and particular inferences ; his bent and his +thinking are displayed together; and the plot begins with his +decision. Commonly, of course, the decision to choose or avoid a line +of action is first emphasized, and then the arguing proceeds ; but, +as in life, both elements run continuously throughout the play — just +as the plot runs through the play, being in the narrower sense like +the bony framework of a living animal, but in a more inclusive sense +the governing idea of the whole, which comprehends every detail. So, +obviously, the element of diction runs throughout the play; plot, +moral bent, and intellect being imitated in this mediimi.] + +4. Diction (4) Next in importance among the constituents comes + +the diction. This, as has been explained, means the interpretation of +the sentiments of the agents in the form of language; it is +essentially the same whether the language is metrical or not. + +(5) Of the two elements remaining, the musical is the more important, +since it furnishes the chief of the accessory pleasures in comedy. + +(6) The element of spectacle, though stimulating, is last in +importance, since it demands the lowest order of skill, and has least +connection with the art of poetry as such. A comedy can produce its +effect independently of a stage-performance and actors — that is, +when it is read ; and besides, the preparation of the stage and the +actors is the affair of the stage-manager rather than the poet. + +Chapter 7 Having thus distinguished the six constitutive elements, we +are now to discuss, as the first and most important consideration in +the art of comed}^, the proper organization of the incidents into a +plot that shall have the ideal comic effect. According to the + +5. Musical composition + +6. Spectacle + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-187 + +187 + +definition (p. 179), a comedy is an imitation of an action +g'^c^omedy? ^°\* + +that is complete in itself, forming a whole of a sufficient ^ompiefe +^ + +magnitude or extent; for a thing may be a whole, and ajfe°Quate\* + +yet wanting in magnitude. [By magnitude Aristotle ®'^*®"\* + +primarily means extent, which for a comedy could be measured by the +number of lines in it; thus the Birds of Aristophanes, consisting of +1765 lines, is of somewhat greater extent than Oedipus the King of +Sophocles, which contains 1530 lines. But if there is also involved +in ' magnitude ' the idea of the seriousness and importance of the +action, of the greatness and significance of a heroic tale, then in +this sense the conception needs to be specially interpreted for +comedy. The plot of the Birds, being ludicrous, can not precisely be +great in itself, but is a travesty of a great theme, namely, the +founding of a State. Such a theme when more seriously treated has +greatness, as in the Republic of Plato or the Aeneid of Virgil. Thus +considered, the plot in each of the comedies of Aristophanes is a +comic imitation of a great idea. + +Similarly, what comes next in Aristotle, on the law of necessary or +probable sequence in the incidents of the drama, may need special +interpretation when we shift from tragedy to comedy. It holds for the +New Greek Comedy, as we see in the Latin adaptations by Plautus and +Terence. And there is an underlying rationality of procedure in +Aristophanes; but it is clear that the sequence of incidents in +comedy must often run counter to'! the law of necessity and +probability. Yet it is equally clear that the comic poet must keep in +mind the law of a necessary or probable sequence, and must suggest +it, in order to depart from it in the right way for the ends of +comedy, showing that he observes the law by his method of violating +it.] + +A whole is that which has (i) a beginning, (2) a middle. Definitions: +a and (3) an end. + +(i) A beginning (= x) is that which does not itself a beginning come +after anything else in a necessary sequence, but + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-188 + +i88 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +after which some other thing (= y) does naturally exist or come to +pass. + +^^ «"«\* (3) An end (= z), on the contrary, is that which nat- + +urally comes after something else (= y) in either a necessary or a +usual sequence, but has nothing else following it. + +A middle (2) A middle (== y) is that which naturally comes + +after something else (= x), and is followed by a third thing (=z). + +A well-constructed comic plot, therefore, can neither begin nor end +where and when the poet happens to like. It must conform to the +principles just enunciated. + +Plot [in com- And, further, as to magnitude : in order to be beauti- + +edy] IS like ° + +the structure ful, a living organism, or any other individual thing + +of a living ' o o ' j o + +oroanism made up of parts, must possess not only an orderly + +arrangement of those parts, but also a proper magnitude ; for beauty +depends upon size and order. Beauty is impossible in an extremely +minute creature, since we see the whole in an almost infinitesimal +moment of time, and lose the pleasure arising from a distinct +per-muMt'^must ception of order in the parts. Nor could a creature +anrolrder!'y^el^ of vast dimensions be beautiful to us — an animal, +large*^ ^^^ ^^Y> 1.000 miles in length ; for in that case the eye +could not take in the entire object at once — we should see the +parts, but not the unity of the whole. In the same way, then, as an +inanimate object made up of parts, or a living creature, must be of +such a size that the The natural parts and the whole may be easily +taken in by the eye, just so must the plot of a comedy have a proper +length, so that the parts and the whole may be easily embraced +Artificial by the memory. The artificial limits, of course, aS + +these are determined by the conditions of presentation on the stage, +and by the power of attention in an audience, do not concern the art +of poetry as such. The + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-189 + +artistic limit, set by the nature of the thing itself, is The +artistic + +this : So long as the plot is perspicuous throughout, the + +greater the length of the story, the more beautiful + +will it be on account of its magnitude. But to define + +the matter in a general way, an adequate limit for the A^.a^'efluate + +magnitude of the plot is this: Let the length be such + +as to allow a transition from better to worse fortune, + +or from worse to better, through a series of incidents + +linked together in a sequence based upon the law of + +probability or necessity. + +The unity of a plot does not consist, as some suppose, Chapter s in +having one person as subject; for the number of umty of hero things +that befall the individual is endless, and some unity of plot of them +can not be reduced to unity. So, too, any one man performs many acts +from which it is quite impossible to construct one unified action. + +[Aristotle goes on to speak of the faulty choice of fhe*5n?|f|kB\* +subject made by poets who have written a Heracleid, a Theseid, and +the like, and who suppose that, since Heracles or Theseus was a +single person, the story of Heracles or Theseus must have unity. But +here again we may say that while a comedy should be an organic whole, +and while the comic poet must work with the law of unity of action +before him, his special purpose might justify a mere pretence that +the things his hero does or undergoes are strictly unified. That it +is possible for the comic poet intentionally to violate the law may +be seen in Byron's Don Juan, where, however, there is also much +careless neglect of it. What Dionysus, masquerading as Heracles, +suffers and does in the Frogs of Aristophanes constitutes a fairly +unified action — a single descent of the hero into Hades for a +definite purpose, with incidents thereto appertaining. That the law +may hold as strictly in comedy as in tragedy may be seen in the +Plutus of Aristophanes, and in Plautus, Terence, and Moliere +generally. Aristotle, indeed, illustrates the law by the Odyssey, +which in his + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-190 + +igo THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +opinion (see below, p. 201, and compare above, p. 175) has to some +extent the nature of comedy. + +That oneness of hero is not the same thing as imity of plot, either +in comedy or tragedy, needs perhaps still further comment. The plot +may be unified when there is no central figure in the play; see, for +example, the Trinummus and the Menaechmi of Plautus, the Comedy of +Errors of Shakespeare, and plays in which the chorus has a leading +part. It has already been noted that the two ' unities ' mentioned in +the *Poetics* are the unity of action, upon which Aristotle insists, +and the unity of hero, to which he attaches at most but a secondary +importance. As we have seen, there is no allusion to any ' unity of +place.' This, and the so-called ' imity of time,' are not +Aristotelian. The discussion of them first appears in Italy during +the Renaissance ; and it was from Italian commentators on the +*Poetics*, not from Aristotle, that French theorists and playwrights +derived them.] + +Homer did Homer, whether through conscious art or native in- + +not make it • -, , • -, ^ -, -, -, 11^^ + +Sight, evidently understood the correct method. Thus + +in composing a story of Odysseus, he did not make his plot include +all that ever happened to Odysseus. For example, it befell this hero +to receive a gash from a boar on Mount Parnassus; and it befell him +also to feign madness at the time of the mustering against Ilium. But +what he suffered in the former case, and what he did in the latter, +are incidents between which there was no necessary or probable +sequence. Instead of joining disconnected incidents like these, Homer +took for the subject of the Odyssey an action with the kind of unity +here described. Accordingly, as in the other imitative arts, so in +poetry, the object of the imitation in each case is a unit; therefore +in a comedy the plot, which is an imitation of an action, must +rep-that*^of"a^ resent an action which is organically unified, the +order living body ^f ^^^ incidents being such that transposing or +removing + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-191 + +191 + +any one of them will dislocate and disorganize the whole. + +Every part must be necessary and in its place, for a + +thing whose presence or absence makes no perceptible + +difference is not an organic part of the whole. + +[The counsel of perfection just enunciated is warranted by the +success of Sophocles in Oedipus the King, by that of Moliere in +Tartuffe, and, in the main, by that of Homer and Aristophanes. Yet +almost any one of the minor contests between a Greek and a Trojan in +the Iliad might be removed without disorganizing the whole story; and +the same is true of minor incidents in the wanderings of Odysseus. So +also in the Birds of Aristophanes, the best that may be said +regarding the sequence of one or another incident of a minor sort, +after the founding of the aerial city, is that the incident naturally +arises from the general situation, and does not conflict with those +that are in juxtaposition with it. See what is said of the episodic +plot, below, p. 194.] + +From what has been said, it is clear that the office Chapter 9 of the +poet consists in displaying, not what actually has happened, but what +in a given situation might happen — a sequence of events that is +possible in the sense of being either credible or inevitable. [For +Aristophanic comedy, the stress clearly must be, not upon the +probability of the story as a whole, but upon the \* probability ' +found in the relation of one incident to another. Given the initial +assumption in the Birds, the sequence of events becomes ' probable ' +in the sense Aristotle chiefly has in mind; for he thinks of \* +probability ' less (as we commonly and vaguely do) with reference to +things in general, and more with reference to specific antecedent and +consequent within the limits of a particular play or tale.] In other +words, the poet is not a historian; for the two differ, not in that +one writes in metrical, and the other in non-metrical, language. For +example, you might turn the amusing parts of Herodotus into verse, +and you would still have a + +The [comic] poet represents ideal truth + +He is not a historian + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-192 + +192 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Metre not the + +essential + +distinction + +Poetry [including comedy] more philosophic than history: it is +universal. History deals with the particular + +Comedy has become universal, representing the general rather than the +particular + +species of history, with metre no less than without it. The essential +distinction lies in this, that the historian relates what has +happened, and the poet what might happen — what is typical. Poetry is +therefore something more philosophic and of greater significance than +history; for poetry tends rather to express what is imiversal, +whereas history relates particular events as such. By an exhibition +of what is universal is meant the representation of what a certain +type of person is likely or is bound to say or do in a given +situation. This is the aim of the poet, who nevertheless attaches the +names of specific persons to the types. As distinguished from the +universal, the particular, which is the subject-matter of history, +consists of what an actual person, Alcibiades or the like, actually +did or underwent. This [that poetry represents general truth rather +than particular fact] has already become manifest in comedy; for the +comic poets, having first combined the plot out of probable incidents +[incidents in a natural sequence], supply the names that chance to +fit the case, and do not, like the iambic [lampooning] poets, take as +their subject the [actual deeds and experiences of the] + +indiyidual person. [It is assumed by certain scholars, among them +Bywater, that Aristotle here draws a distinction between the Old +Comedy, as represented by Aristophanes, and the New, as represented +by Menander. But the assumption needs to be tested. Aristophanes was +but recently dead when Aristotle was in the earlier stages of his +education, and Menander was but twenty years old when Aristotle died +— possibly ten years old when the *Poetics* took shape. If there be a +sole direct reference in the work to any comedy of this time, it is ' +probably to the Orestes of Alexis or some other comedy on the same +subject ' (B5^water, note on 1453^36; cf. below, p. 201). It would +seem, then, that the present reference might be to an inter- + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-193 + +193 + +mediate stage of comedy preceding Menander ; it would seem also that +the allusion to the \* iambic poets' might take us to a stage earlier +than that of Aristophanes — certainly earlier than that of his +Plutus. It is true that Aristophanes does make use of the names of +Socrates, Euripides, Aeschylus, and other historical personages, +though often, as in the case of Socrates, as representatives of a +class. At all events he does not subject them to harsh invective, nor +deal largely with the actual events of their lives, after the fashion +of Archilochus ( ? for Aristotle the old \* iambic poet ') ; and he +does not begin with them, and then form a plot. He begins with a plot +of a general nature; nor is it easy to see how, as the master of +varied metrical and other effects in comedy, he could be labeled an ' +iambic poet,' and included among primitives. The employment of agents +bearing historical names as the chief personages in comedy is rare +with Aristophanes, his reference to actual persons, frequent as it is +in some of his plays, being mainly incidental to momentary comic +purposes. For the most part, his chief agents are fictitious +personages, whose names — as Peisthe-taerus, Euelpides, Dicaeopolis +(\* Talkover,' ' Hopeful,' ' Mr. Civic-Justice ') — might be said in +Aristotelian parlance to have been devised after the plot and for the +sake of it, and not the plot for them; the Plutus of Aristophanes +would illustrate the point of Aristotle quite as well as any play +from the New Comedy of Greece or from Plautus and Terence.] + +From all this it is evident that the comic poet (poet The [comic] = ' +maker ') is a maker of plots more than a maker of verses, inasmuch as +he is a poet by virtue of imitating some object, and the object he +imitates is an action. And even if he happens to take a subject from +what actually has happened, he is none the less a poet for that; +since there is nothing to hinder certain actual events from +possessing a comic sequence governed by the law of probability or +necessity; and it is by virtue of representing the quality in such +events that he is + +poet is a \* maker' of plots + +Universality sometimes found in actual events + +n + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-194 + +194 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Purely episodic [comic] plots are the worst + +The emotions 'M comedy] are aroused liy an unexpected outcome in a +csusal sequence + +their poet. [Thus, for the series of contests in the Frogs, ending in +the dramatic contest between Euripides and Aeschylus, Aristophanes +takes the sequence of events at the City Dionysia, generahzing it for +comic purposes.] + +Of imperfect plots and actions the episodic are the worst, a plot +being called ' episodic ' when there is no observance of probability +or necessity in the sequence of incident. Inferior poets construct +this kind of plot through their own fault; good poets, in order to +meet the requirements of the actors. Since his work must be presented +on the stage, and occupy a certain length of time, a good poet will +often stretch out the plot beyond its natural capacity, and by the +insertion of unnecessary matter will be forced to distort the +sequence of incident. [The comic poet might reckon + +with the principle by not introducing the irrelevant without an air +of relevancy. Otherwise we have the fault illustrated by the +insertion of Polichinelle and his adventures in Le Malade Imaginaire +of Mo-liere.] + +But to proceed with the parts of the definition of comedy. Comedy is +an imitation, not only of a complete action, but of incidents that +arouse pleasure and laughter; and such incidents affect us most when +we are not expecting them, if at same time they are caused, or have +an air of being caused, by one another ; for we are struck with more +amusement if we find a causal relation in unexpected comic +occurrences than if they come about of themselves and in no special +sequence; since even pure coincidences seem most amusing if there is +something that looks like design in them. Plots therefore that +illustrate the principle of necessity or probability in the sequence +of incident are better than others. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-195 + +195 + +But comic plots are either uninvolved or involved, since the actions +which are imitated in the plots may readily be divided into the same +two classes. Now we may call an action uninvolved when the incidents +follow one another in a single continuous movement; that is, when the +change of fortune comes about without a reversal of situation and +without a discovery. [Such + +a plot is represented in the main action of the Birds of Aristophanes +— though there are incidental recognitions or discoveries, and +temporary dangers threatening a reversal in the fortunes of the +hero.] An involved action is one in which the change of fortune is +attended by a discovery or a reversal, or by both together. And each +of these two incidents should arise from the structure of the plot +itself; that is, each should be [or there should be a comic pretence +that it is] the necessary or probable result of the incidents that +have gone before, and should not merely follow them in point of time +— for in the sequence of events there is a vast difference between +post hoc and propter hoc. + +A reversal of situation is a change in some part of the action from +one state of affairs to its precise opposite — as has been said, from +better fortune to worse, or from worse to better; and a change that +takes place in the manner just described, namely, with reference to +the law of probable or necessary sequence. [To illustrate: in the +Frogs of Aristophanes the god Dionysus visits Hades for the purpose +of bringing back the tragic poet Euripides to Athens, but after +discovering the greater weight of the verse of Aeschylus, and his +superior political sentiments, brings back the latter poet instead. A +reversal may constitute the main turning-point in a comedy, as in the +instance just noted, or as in Moliere's Tartuffe, where the discovery +of the impostor (4. 7) is attended by a reversal of his fortunes + +Chapter 10 + +Uninvolved and involved [comic] plots + +Uninvolved action + +Involved action + +Chapter ii + +Reversal of fortune + +From better to worse + +n2 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-196 + +196 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Or from worse to better + +Discovery or recognition + +Discovery of things + +Discovery of deeds + +(5. 7) ; or it may be subsidiary, as earlier in the Frogs, where we +have an extended episode of discovery concerning the identity of +Dionysus, involving him in temporary comic misfortune.] + +There is also the opposite change, from worse fortune to better. [So +the discovery of the regal nature of the Hoopoe by Peisthetaerus, and +of the anti-dicast Peisthetaerus by the Hoopoe, in the Birds of +Aristophanes, is attended by a change to better fortune for both. +With the discovery at the end of the Frogs comes worse fortune for +Euripides, and better for Aeschylus. — But the worse fortune of +comedy is not painful.] + +A discovery, as the word itself indicates, is a transition from +ignorance to knowledge, resulting either in friendship or in enmity +on the part of those agents who are designed for better or worse +fortune. The most artistic form of discovery is one attended by a +reversal of fortune — [such a reversal as attends the mutual +recognition of Peisthetaerus and the Hoopoe in the Birds]. There are, +of course, other kinds of discovery besides that of the identity of +persons ; a transition from ignorance to knowledge may come about +with reference to inanimate, even casual, things. [The discovery of +an inanimate thing may be illustrated in the finding of Euclio's pot +of money by Strobilus in the Aulularia of Plautus, or the finding of +Harpagon's cash-box by La Fleche in Moliere's L'Avare ; and the +discovery of something casual is seen in the recognition by various +persons in Hades of the lion-skin and club of Heracles borne by +Dionysus in the Frogs of Aristophanes.] It is also possible to +discover whether some person has done, or not done, a particular +deed. [For + +example, in the Frogs, whether it was the god, or his slave Xanthias, +who had, as Heracles, harried the underworld; the disclosure that +Asclepius and his servants had restored the sight of Plutus, god of +wealth, in the Plutus of Aristophanes, is another instance.] + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-197 + +197 + +But the discovery bringing friendship or enmity, and + +the reversal bringing success or failure, will most + +effectively occasion the pleasure and laughter which + +it is the function of comedy to arouse. Furthermore, + +this kind of discovery will be instrumental in bringing + +about the happy ending of the action as a whole. Now + +since, in this case, the discovery means a recognition + +of persons, rather than of objects or deeds, there are + +two possibilities : (i) X may learn the identity of Y, + +when Y already knows the identity of X; or (2) X and + +Y may each have to learn the identity of the other. + +[Thus, at the opening of Aristophanes' Plutus, Chrem-ylus must learn +the identity of the blind god, while in Shakespeare's Comedy of +Errors Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of Syracuse must each +learn the identity of the other.] + +Two parts of the plot, then, reversal and discovery, represent these +things in the action, and have been sufficiently explained. A third +part would be the comic incident. This might be defined as an +occurrence of a specially ludicrous or joyful sort. [Such + +would be harmless beatings or losses, gains and successful devices, +victories in contests, marriages, feasts, and the like. The comic +incident would be the parallel to Aristotle's third part, ' suffering +' {pathos), in the tragic plot. — We naturally think of the main +reversal, or discovery, or comic incident, as the reversal, or +discovery, or comic incident in the play; but in so doing we may fail +to grasp the analytical method of Aristotle. The fact is, wherever we +find one of these, whether of major or minor significance, there we +have one of the three elements of plot. Aristotle notes, for example, +that the Odyssey is full of discoveries. Compare what is said above +(pp. 185-6) of moral bent and intellect and their occurrence +throughout a play. The comic incident may be illustrated by the +alternate beatings given by Aeacus to Xanthias and Dionysus in the +Frogs, the + +The best kind of discovery + +Two possibilities in the discovery of persons + +Parts of the plot + +I. Reversal + +2. Discovery + +3. [The comic incident] + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-198 + +198 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Formative elements [of comedy] + +Quantitative parts [of comedy] + +restoration of sight to the god of wealth in the Plufus, the +regaining of his youth by Demus in the Knights, the feast at the end +of the Frogs, loss and gain of treasure in Plautus (in the Trinummus +and Aulularia) and Moliere (in UAvare), and the marriages with which +most of the comedies of Aristophanes, and indeed comedies in general, +end. The chief comic incident of an Aristophanic play may be the +contest or agon ; for example, perhaps, the dramatic contest between +Aeschylus and Euripides in the Frogs.'] + +Chapter 12 Mention having been made of the six formative [\* +constitutive ' or \* qualitative '] elements of comedy, we now come +to the division of comedy into its quantitative elements — the +separate sections into which a play is divided. [In a modern comedy +the quantitative parts are simply the acts, or acts and scenes, the +division into five acts being earlier than the Renaissance, certainly +as early as Varro, probably discoverable in Plautus, and doubtless as +old as Menander. As comedy (or tragedy) may be resolved by analysis +into constituent elements comparable to the formative tissues of an +organism, so it may be divided quantitatively, as we may divide an +organism at the junction of the visible parts — as one might divide a +creature of five segments into five. As for the quantitative parts in +Aristophanes (compare above, pp. 56—9), his comedy has the following +divisions: prologue, parode, agon, parabasis, episode, choricon, and +exode. Five of these are found also in Greek tragedy: prologue, +parode, episode, choricon, and exode. The prologue is that entire +part of the comedy from the beginning to the parode of the chorus; +the parode is the first whole statement of the chorus; the choricon, +sung by the chorus, corresponds to the stasimon of tragedy; in +Aristophanes, the exode, with which the comedy ends, can not be +precisely equated with the exode of tragedy. In addition, there are +two parts of comedy which are not found in tragedy : parabasis and +agon. The parabasis is ordinarily placed in the middle of the comedy; + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-199 + +199 + +if complete, and if we regard the pnigos as a separate subdivision +(see above, p. 57), the parabasis comprises seven subdivisions: the +commation, the parabasis proper, the pnigos, the ode, the epirrhema, +the antode, the antepirrhema. The agon or debate is an argument in +which two persons contend for the mastery; one of the contestants may +be the chorus, as in the Birds of Aristophanes. When complete, the +agon consists of nine parts, the second four of these being paired +with the first four: ode, cataceleusmos, epirrhema, pnigos, antode, +anticataceleusmos, antepirrhema, anti-pnigos, sphragis. One may add +the following from J. W. White, p. 21: ' Another division which, like +the parabasis and the debate, is wholly peculiar to comedy is the +syzygy, thus named because it consists regularly of four balanced +parts, a song and a spoken part united with a second song and a +second spoken part. A syzygy may occur in either half of the play. +The action of the play is at a standstill during the debate and the +parabasis, and a division, called scene, was gradually developed, the +purpose of which was chiefly to adjust these larger divisions to the +action. It is normally a spoken part, and generally occurs ... in the +first half of the play. The action of the second half of the play is +carried forward mainly in a division consisting of episode and +stasimon, which in their form and function resemble the corresponding +parts of tragedy.'] + +Such, then, are the parts into which comedy is divided +quantitatively, or according to its sections. The parts which are to +be employed as formative elements have already been mentioned. + +After what has been said above (esp. pp. 195—8), we Chapter 13 must +next discuss the following points : (i) What is the The ideal + +° ^ ^ ' structure [for + +comic poet to aim at, and what is he to avoid, in the the function + +^ . of comedy] + +construction of his plots ? In other words, (2) what are the specific +sources of comic effect ? + +In the perfect comedy, as we have seen, the synthesis of the +incidents must be, not uninvolved, but involved. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-200 + +200 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Forms of plot to be avoided + +The preferable situation + +Ttte single liappy issue is best + +and this synthesis must be imitative of occurrences that arouse +pleasure and laughter — for therein lies the distinctive function of +this kind of imitation. Good and just men are not to be represented +as ultimately unfortunate, for this is not ludicrous, but painful. +Nor must evil men be represented as ultimately successful ; nor, +again, may an excessively wicked man be represented as falling from +prosperity into misfortune. These situations are neither ludicrous +nor pleasing, for laughter is aroused by a defect or disproportion +which is not painful, and we are pleased at observing the success of +one like ourselves. But an excessively wicked man deserves misery in +proportion, and since his wickedness exceeds the average, he is not +like one of ourselves. There remains, then, the case of the man +intermediate between these extremes: a man not excessively bad and +unjust, nor yet one whose career is marked by virtue and prudence, +but one whose actions become ridiculous through some ordinary +shortcoming or foible — one from the number of everyday citizens, +such as Peisthetaerus, Chremylus, Dicaeopolis, and men of that sort. +To be perfectly comic, accordingly, the plot must not have a double +issue, fortunate for the better, unfortunate for the worse. And the +change of fortune must be, not a fall from happiness to misfortune, +but a transition from ill success to good. And the action must come +about, not through great excellence or depravity of character, but +through some ludicrous defect or shortcoming in conduct, in a person +either no better than the average of mankind, or rather worse than +that. [To the foregoing one should perhaps add, as possibly +Aristotelian, the analysis of Cicero (see above, p. 88) : ' Neither +an eminent or flagitious villain nor a wretch remarkably harassed +with misfortunes is the proper subject of ridicule. . . . And + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-201 + +the objects that are most easily played upon are those that deserve +neither great detestation nor the greatest compassion. Hence it +happens that the whole subject of the ridiculous lies in the moral +vices of men who are neither beloved nor miserable, nor deserving to +be dragged to punishment for their crimes/] + +Second in excellence comes the form of construction + +where the thread is double, and there is a happy and an + +unhappy ending for the better and the worse agents + +respectively. Such is the outcome in the Odyssey. + +The pleasure arising from this double structure is not + +the distinctive pleasure of tragedy; it is rather one + +that belongs to comedy, where the deadliest of legendary edVdeanng" + +with Orfifitfis + +foes, like Orestes and Aegisthus, become friends, and and Aegisthus +quit the stage without any one slaying or being slain. + +The effect of comedy may be produced by means Chapter 14 + +that appertain simply to presentation on the stae:e [Comic] effect + +, r , , . r , 1 , ,. through spec- + +[as by the costumes, partly beautiful, partly ludicrous, tacuiar +means in the Birds of Aristophanes]. But it may also arise tistic +from the structure and incidents of the comedy, which is the +preferable way, and is the mark of a better poet [— and such really +is the case with the Birds] ; for the plot should be so constructed +that, even without help Jh^®uid"|rise from the eye, one who simply +hears the story must {r°^ \*[J5 ?^" thrill with pleasure, and be +moved to laughter, at what psycho-phys- + +ir ' o ' lological + +occurs. In fact, these are just the emotions one would feel in +listening to the story of the Birds off the stage. To bring about the +comic effect by spectacular means is less a matter of the poetic art, +and depends upon adventitious aid. But those who employ the means of +the stage to produce what is grotesque, without being ludicrous, are +absolute strangers to the art of comedy; for not every kind of +pleasure is to be sought from a comedy, but only that specific +pleasure which is characteristic of this art. • + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-202 + +202 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Chapter 15 + +The ei/ios of the agents + +It must be [inferior] + +[The comic poet must Iceep In mind] the principle of truth to type + +The principle of truth to life + +Since the pleasure which is characteristic of comedy comes from the +arousal of laughter, and since the poet must produce this pleasure +through an imitation of some action, it is clear that the comic +quality must be impressed upon the incidents that make up the story. +Let us consider, then, what kinds of occurrence strike us as +ludicrous. [For this topic, see perhaps the Tractatus Coislinianus, +below, pp. 225, 229—59 ; according to that, however, comic effect +would seem to arise in possibly equal measure from the occurrences +represented, and from the diction.] + +We turn to the moral dispositions of the agents. In respect to these, +there are four things for the poet to aim at. First of all, (i) the +agents must not be good. The ethical element will be present if, as +already mentioned (pp. 183,185), by speech or act the agents manifest +a certain moral bent in what they choose to do or avoid ; and the +ethos will be inferior if the habit of choice is so. [' Good' means +good in its kind, performing its function, good for something; and +inferiority will mean falling short of this.] Such inferiority is +possible in all types of humanity, not merely in a woman or a slave — +woman being perhaps an inferior type, and the slave quite worthless — +[but also in a citizen or a traditional hero.] Secondly, (2) the +comic poet in representing the agents must keep in mind the law of +truth to type. There is, for example, a type of manly valor and +eloquence; [and the poet would have this type in mind when +representing such a personage as Dionysus in the Frogs of +Aristophanes ; nor for comedy would it be inappropriate to represent +a woman as valorous in this way, or as masterly in argument — as + +in the Lysistrata.] Thirdly, (3) there is the principle of truth to +life, which is different from the principle of common inferiority, or +from that of truth to type. Fourthly, (4) the comic poet must keep in +mind the + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-203 + +203 + +principle of consistency in the ethos. [If the characters + +are not true to their nature as first presented, their inconsistency +must not be accidental. Departures from the norm must not be made +without suggesting the norm. The chorus in the Acharnians is +ludicrously inconsistent.] + +As in combining the incidents of the plot, so also + +in representing the agents, the comic poet must bear + +in mind the principle of a necessary or probable relation + +between one thing and another. That is, a certain + +kind of person must speak or act in a certain fashion + +as the necessary or probable outcome of his inward + +nature ; [or, if not, still the deviations must be made + +with an eye to the principle.] Even in comedy it is + +desirable that the solution of dramatic situations should + +come to pass through the progress of the story itself; + +[though the use of a mechanical device like the deus ex machina is +permissible if the effect of the device in itself is comic]. + +Since comedy is an imitation of men worse than the average, it is +necessary for the comic poet to observe the method of successful +caricaturists ; for they reproduce the distinctive features of the +original, and yet, while preserving the likeness of a man, render him +ludicrous and distorted — though not painfully so — in the picture. +So, too, the comic poet, in imitating men of the common sort, must +represent them as such, and yet as ambitious, irascible, or faulty in +some other way; [but not painfully so — men like Peisthetaerus and +Dicaeopolis in the Birds and the Acharnians of Aristophanes]. + +These principles the comic poet must constantly bear in mind, and, in +addition, such principles of stage-effect as necessarily concern the +art oi poetry [as distinct from the technique of the costumer, or the +like]; since + +The principle of consistency + +The inner man and the succession of his words and acts + +Natural sequence rather than mechanical artifice + +The [comic] poet must depict flaws of character, and yet preserve +average morality + +The [comic] poet must give due attention to stage-effect + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-204 + +204 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Chapter i6 + +Discovery: six species + +I. By marl<s or tol<ens + +2. Arbitrary discoveries other than by tolcens + +3. Discovery + +through + +memories + +here also mistakes can often be made. But on this head enough has +already been said in a work already published. [The reference may be +to a lost dialogue of Aristotle On Poets.] + +The general nature of discovery has been explained above (pp. 196—7). +We may now examine the several species. The first, and [for tragedy] +the least artistic, kind of discovery is recognition by marks or +tokens, which may be either congenital or acquired after birth — +whether bodily marks, as scars, or external tokens. + +[Such would be the club and lion-skin of Heracles borne by Dionysus +in the Frogs. The objection to such means of discovery on the ground +that they are arbitrary and mechanical (not logical and directed at +the faculty of reason), which holds for tragedy, does not hold in the +same way for comedy, since here the arbitrary or mechanical device +may be employed, as such, for a comic purpose. However, they may be +used in a better or a worse fashion, since it is better that they +should appear in the natural course of events, as in the case +mentioned in the Frogs.] + +The second kind are discoveries arbitrarily introduced by the poet +[that is, again not growing out of the sequence of events], and for +that reason less artistic. [An example is the arbitrary disclosure +respecting Aeschylus and Euripides in the Frogs 758 ; another, the +arbitrary recognition of Iris in the Birds 1204 (but here a joke is +involved in the method).] + +The third kind is discovery through memory, when + +the inward man, stirred by hearing or seeing something + +familiar, is led to display his feelings. [And so his + +identity is revealed. One of the two examples given in the *Poetics* is +that of Odysseus at the Court of Alcin-ous. When Odysseus hears the +minstrel chant the adventure of the Wooden Horse, he is reminded of +the past, and his weeping leads to the disclosure of his identity. In +the Biblical story of Joseph, the hero + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-205 + +205 + +weeps at the sight of his brother Benjamin, but retires to hide his +emotion, so that the discovery at this point is merely suggested, to +be effected later in another way. In pure comedy, the laughter of X +at the recital of an episode in which he had taken a leading part +could be used to effect his recognition by Y.] + +The fourth kind is discovery by a process of reasoning. [Thus the +identity of the twins Antipholus of Ephesus and Antipholus of +Syracuse, and of their twin slaves, is made clear to the Duke, in +Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, Act 5, by a process of reasoning.] + +Allied to this is (fifth) discovery by false inference, where the +poet causes X to be recognized by Y through the false inference of Y +[whether through an unintentional fallacy on either side, or through +a logical deception practised upon one by the other. (See Appendix, +below, pp. 290—305.)] + +But of all discoveries, the best is the kind that grows out of the +very nature of the incidents, when an amusing revelation comes about +from suitable antecedents [as in the recognition of the God of Wealth +by Chrem-ylus in the Plutus of Aristophanes. — So also the discovery +of Tartuffe as an impostor, by Orgon, in + +Moliere]. The next best are those that come about through a process +of reasoning, [or through false inference, well handled by the comic +poet]. + +When actually composing his comedies, and working out the plots in +the diction, the poet should endeavor to the utmost to visualize what +he is representing. In this way, seeing everything with all possible +vividness as if he were a spectator of the incidents he is +portraying, he will devise what is fitting for comedy, and run the +least danger of overlooking unintended inconsistencies. [See below, +pp. 244—9, 257—9.] + +As far as possible, the comic poet should also assume the very +attitudes and gestures appropriate to the + +4. Discovery by inference + +5. Fancied + +discovery + +through + +sophistical + +deception + +6. The best form of discovery grows out of the action itself + +Chapter 17 + +Practical hints for the work of composing [comedies] + +How to avoid [unintentional] incongruities in the action + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-206 + +206 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +How to succeed in delineating [comic] characters and tlieir feelings + +Two kinds of [comic] poets + +First, one must make an outline sketcli of the whole [comedy] + +Then fill in the episodes + +agents; for, of authors with the same natural abihty, they will be +most effective who themselves experience the feelings they represent. +The poet who himself feels the impulses to irony or garrulity will +represent irony or garrulity in the most lifelike fashion. Hence the +art of comedy requires either a certain natural plasticity in the +poet, or a personal tendency to be ironical or the like. Poets of the +first sort readily assume one comic personahty after another; those +of the second naturally pass into intensified modes of their own +habitual reactions. [One might instance Aristophanes, Shakespeare, +and Moliere as comic poets of the plastic sort, Plautus and Swift as +possessed of a comic bias.] + +As for the plot, whether it be his own invention or a traditional +story, the comic poet should first make a reduced sketch of the +whole, generahzing it, and then fill in and expand this by developing +the episodes. How one may take a generalized view of the plot may be +illustrated from [the Frogs of Aristophanes,] the plan of which is +this : [A certain god who presides over comedy as well as tragedy, +perceiving that a city is by their death bereft of all its superior +tragic poets, decides to visit the underworld to bring one back to +life. With a servant he consults a hero, victor in many contests, +and, disguised as this hero, after various struggles, arrives at his +destination, to find that a contest has been instituted between the +poet he seeks and a rival tragic poet. As judge of the contest the +god decides in favor of the rival poet, and with a reversal of +intention brings him back to earth.] + +When the general outline has been determined, and fitting names have +been supplied for the agents, the next thing is to elaborate the +episodes. Now care must be taken that the episodes are suited to the +comic action and the comic agents. [In the Frogs, for example, the +contest between Dionysus and the ' frog- + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-207 + +207 + +swans ' is an appropriate episode, since it comes in the natural +order of events, since it is a prelude to the contest between the +tragic poets, and since the whole play is an imitation of a Dionysiac +competition in music and drama; and the encounter of Dionysus and +Xan-thias with Aeacus is likewise appropriate, since it is in keeping +with the tradition of Heracles, and leads to the discovery of the +contest between Euripides and Aeschylus. And this contest is likewise +an appropriate episode.] The episodes must also be of an appropriate +length. In comic dramas they are short; in a comic narrative it is +they that serve to extend the work. [The main plan of Fielding's Tom +Jones, for example, is not long : A certain foundling is through +guile estranged from his benefactor, and driven from his home and his +love, and is secretly dogged by his rival. After many adventures he +is imprisoned, a conspiracy having meanwhile been formed to marry his +love to his rival. At length he is released, and his real identity +disclosed, the outcome being that he is restored to his home and +united to his love, and his rival banished. This is the essential +argument of the story; all the rest is in the nature of episode.] + +Every comedy consists of (i) a complication, and (2) Chapter 18 an +unraveling. The incidents lying outside the action complication + +and denoue- + +proper, and often certain of the incidents within it, ment form the +complication ; the rest of the play constitutes the unraveling. More +specifically, by complication is meant everything from the beginning +up to that incident, the last in a series, out of which comes the +change of fortune ; by miraveling or denouement, everything from the +change of fortune to the end of the play. [In the Frogs, the +complication embraces everything up to the weighing of the lines of +the two poets, and the denouement everything from that point to the +end. In the Pluttcs, the ccmpHcation includes everything up to the +restoration oi sight in the God of Wealth, and the denouement +consists of the remainder of the play.] + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-208 + +2o8 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Four species [of comedy] according ta sources of [comic] effect + +[Comedy] of plot + +[Of ludicrous incident] + +Of character + +Of spectacle + +Unfair demands of criticism + +Tlie fair basis of comparison is mastery of plot + +The [comic] poet must not fail in the unraveling + +A multiple story is to be avoided [in comedy] + +Four different parts of the play have been discussed as factors in +comic effect, namely: reversal and discovery ; [the comic incident]; +moral bent, or character, in the agents; and spectacular means. +Corresponding to the relative prominence of one or another of these +factors in a play, there are four species of comedy : (i) The +involved, where the whole play is a recognition with change of +fortune. [This is substantially the case in the Plutus of +Aristophanes, the Tartuffe of Moliere, and Shakespeare's Comedy of +Errors.'] (2) The comedy of ludicrous incident; [for example, the +Frogs of Aristophanes.] (3) The comedy in which the nature of the +agents is paramount; [for example, the Misanthrope of Moliere]. Then +(4) there is a fourth kind in which the spectacular element is very +important, [as in the Birds of Aristophanes, and Rostand's +Chantecler]. But the poet should do his best to combine every element +of comic effect, or, failing that, the more important ones, and the +major part of them. The effort is very necessary in a time of unfair +criticism. Since in previous times there have been authors who were +successful, one in the use of one source of effect, another in the +use of another, critics expect a new poet to surpass them all in +their several lines of excellence. But in comparing one comedy with +another, the fairest wa}^ is to begin with the plots as a basis of +criticism; and this amounts to a comparison of complication with +complication, and of denouement with denouement. Many authors succeed +in the complication, and then fail in the unraveling. But the comic +poet must show mastery of construction in both. + +The poet must likewise remember not to employ a multiple story, like +that of a mock-epic, for the subject of a comedy. In the mock-epic, +owing to its scale. + +1^^ OF^ W£OM^ + +s^ + +JuUt.Q£ + +|picture2| + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-209 + +209 + +every part assumes its proper length; but when the + +entire scheme is reduced to the scale of a drama, the + +result is unsatisfactory. [Thus Moliere properly takes + +but a part of the legend of Don Juan for the subject of his comedy; +and again, following Plautus, in Amphitryon he dramatizes but a part +of the story of Heracles.] + +The comic chorus should be regarded as belone^ine: The [comic] to the +dramatis personae ; it should be an integral part treat the of the +whole, and take its share in the action. [The among the model is the +practice of Aristophanes ; for example, his use of the chorus in the +Birds^ the Acharnians, and Lysistrata.] In certain later comedies the +songs have no more connection with the plot than with that of any +other play ; the chorus sing mere interludes. [This seems to have +been true of plays by Menander. A modern instance is the intercalated +choral matter of the Second Intermede in Le Malade Imaginaire. The +Troisieme Intermede is more directly related to the substance of the +play. In the Avertissement to Les Facheux Moliere apologizes for +certain places where the ballet functions less naturally.] And yet, +what real + +difference is there between introducing a song that is foreign to the +action and attempting to fit a speech, (or a whole episode,^) from +one drama into another ? + +The other formative elements of comedy having now chapter 19 been +discussed, it remains to speak of diction and intellect. As for the +intellectual element, we may assume what has been said in the +Aristotelian treatise on Rhetoric, to which inquiry the topic more +properly + +belongs. [For comedy the poet needs an understanding of rhetorical +principles and practice, since he must sometimes positively observe +them, and sometimes (as in representing garruhty or nonsense) +knowingly depart from them.] The intellectual element includes every- + +1 The expression in parentheses is probably an interpolation in the +text of the *Poetics* ; see Gudeman, Philologus 76. 258-9. + +On dianoia consult Arls-toWsRhe/oric + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-210 + +210 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Proof and refutation + +The arousal of emotion + +IVIagnlfying and minify' ing [in comedy] + +Ttie [comic] poet's use of dianoia in wliat the agent says or does + +Diction + +Remote considerations + +thing that is to be effected by the language of the agents — in their +efforts to prove and to refute, to arouse one another's emotions, +such as love, or cupidity, or anger, or the like, and to exaggerate +or diminish the importance of things. [See, for example, the speeches +of + +proof and refutation employed by Chremylus and Poverty in discussing +the advantages and disadvantages of a redistribution of wealth, in +the Plutus of Aristophanes ; the efforts of the chorus to augment the +emulation of Euripides and Aeschylus in the Frogs ; and the processes +of magnifying and minifying, in the same play, which the two poets +make use of in estimating, each of them, his own tragedies and those +of his rival.] It is evident, too, that the same underlying forms of +thought must be in operation whenever the comic poet makes the agents +try by their acts to arouse emotion in one another, or to give these +acts an air of importance or naturalness. [An example would be the +alternate blows inflicted by Aeacus upon Dionysus and Xanthias, in +the Frogs, with a view to eliciting a cry of pain from the one who is +not a god, and the efforts of the victims to make their reactions +seem natural + +or unimportant.] The only difference is that with the act the +impression has to be made without explanation ; whereas with the +spoken word it has to be made by the speaker, and result from his +language; for what would be the function of the speaker if things +appeared in the desired light quite apart from anything that might be +said ? [In the example just given, the explanations of Xanthias and +Dionysus supplement their actions.] + +Under the head of diction, one subject for inquiry is the modes of +spoken utterance — the difference between command and entreaty, +declaration and threat, question and answer, and the like. Such +distinctions, however, concern, not the poet, but the interpreter. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-211 + +211 + +and the student of elocution. Whether the poet knows these things or +not, they do not directly concern his art, nor do they offer a basis +for criticizing him. The diction proper, taken as a whole, is made up +of the following parts. [The list begins with the smallest elements, +and proceeds synthetically to the largest composite factors of +discourse — running from the indivisible sound and the syllable to +the entire poem regarded as a continuous and unified utterance.] + +(i) The ultimate element (virtually letter); (2) the primary +combination of ultimate elements (not quite a \* syllable '); (3) the +connective particle; (4) the separative particle; (5) the noun (or +name-word, including adjectives as well as nouns); (6) the verb; (7) +the inflection ; (8) the speech (or unified utterance, from a phrase +to a poem). [? See below, pp. 225, 229—39. + +What is said in the *Poetics* regarding the parts of diction is so +general in its bearing on the art of composition that there is no +need of repeating all of it here. Only a few passages are utilized in +the following.] A + +speech (logos, or unified utterance) is a composite + +significant sound, which may be a unit in either of + +two ways. It may signify one thing, as the definition + +of man : ' A biped land-animal.' Or the unity may be + +brought about through the conjunction of more than + +one utterance. [Thus the Odyssey, or the serenade + +of the Hoopoe in the Birds of Aristophanes, is one utterance through +the binding together of a number.] + +Nouns (or name-words) are of two kinds, simple and compound. By +simple are meant those that are formed of non-significant elements, +as the word yri (earth). A compound noun may be made up of a +significant and a non-significant part [as ocBixo? (unjust)], though +the distinction is lost when the parts are united; or it may be made +up of two parts, both of which, taken by + +Chapter + +20 + +Diction proper as related to tlie art of [comedy] + +The parts of diction + +Chapter 21 + +Nouns [or names] are simple or compound + +02 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-212 + +212 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Multiple [as in comedy] + +1. Current terms + +2. Strange words + +3. Metaphor: four kinds + +4. Ornamental words + +themselves, are significant, [as dcepopaxw {air-tread = \* I tread +the air ')]. A compound noun may also be triple or quadruple or +multiple in form. [Compare (7aX7utYYo-XoY)(-u7UY]va-bai (' +long-beard-lance-and-trimipet-men') in Frogs 966; +(Tap)ta<7(j.o-TCn:uo-xa[j,7UTat (' flesh-tearers-with-the-pine'), +ibid.; (TcppaYiB-ovu/-apYO->top-Y)'ra? (' lazy long-haired fops with +rings and natty nails '), Clouds 332; and also Poly-machaero-plagides +(Pseudo-lus 988) and Thesauro-chrysonico-chrysides {Captives 286), +facetious proper names taken over by Plautus from the Middle or the +New Greek Comedy.] + +Whatever the formation, a noun (or name) is either (i) the current +term for a thing; or (2) a strange (or rare) word; or (3) a metaphor; +or (4) an ornamental word; or (5) a newly-coined word; or a word that +is (6) lengthened, or (7) curtailed, or (8) altered. + +By a current term is meant the word used by people + +about us; by a strange (or rare) word, one that is used + +in another region. Obviously the same word may be + +both strange or current, though not with reference to + +the same region. [Thus -/oCicc {Ly si strata 91) would be + +current in Sparta, but rare at Athens, where the word for ' good ' +would be 6iiy(x,%<;.] + +Metaphor (including figures of speech generally) consists in the +application to one thing of the name that belongs to another, (i) The +name of the genus may be applied to a subordinate species. (2) The +name of a species may be applied to the inclusive genus. (3) Under +the same genus, the name of one species may be applied to another. Or +(4) there may be a transference of names on grounds of analogy (or +proportion). + +[The ornamental word is listed, but not defined, in the *Poetics*. It +may mean the superior or more beautiful word, when there is a choice +of synonyms; see, for example, the use of 7u>.a(7TiY? (' scale ') +instead of a-TaG{x6? in the Frogs 1378.] + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-213 + +POETICS 21, 22 + +213 + +A newly-coined word is one that is wholly unknown to any region, and +is applied to something by an individual poet, for there seem to be +words of this origin [—as koax, representing the call of the frogs, +in Aristophanes]. + +A lengthened word is one in which a customary short vowel is made +long, or in which an extra syllable is inserted [—as Nugtqiov {Frogs +215) for Ntjatov]. + +A curtailed word is one from which some part has been removed; [for +example, (fzo (Peace 1164) for (piTU[j;.a]. + +An altered word is one which the poet, having left some part +unchanged, remodels the rest; [for example, xtffTTt^ [Acharnians +1137) from xiaTY]]. + +In respect to diction, the ideal for the poet is to be clear without +being mean. The clearest diction is that which is wholly made up of +current terms (the ordinary words for things). But a style so +composed is mean. But the language attains a distinction [suitable to +comedy] when the poet makes use of terms that are less familiar, such +as rare words, metaphors, lengthened forms — everything that deviates +from the ordinary usage. Yet if one compose in a diction of such +terms alone, the result will be either a riddle or a jargon — a +riddle if the language be nothing but metaphors, and a jargon if it +be nothing but strange words (dialectal forms and the like). [Compare +the metaphorical utterance of the oracle as given by Demosthenes to +the Sausage-seller in the Knights of Aristophanes [Knights 197-201); +and the jargon uttered by Pseudartabas in the Acharnians 100, 104.] +The comic poet should employ a certain admixture of these expressions +that deviate from the ordinary; for distinction and elevation of +style will result from the use + +5. Coined words + +6. Lengthened words + +7. Curtailed words + +8. Altered words + +Chapter 22 + +Choice of words + +The idea! is clearness and distinction + +Riddles + +Jargon + +How to secure distinction + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-214 + +214 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +How clearness + +Lengthened words for comic effect + +Metaphors, strange words, etc., for comic effect + +A command of metaphor Is the mark of genius + +Varieties of diction for different kinds of poetry + +of such means as the strange word, the metaphor, the ornamental word, +and the rest; and clearness will arise from such part of the language +as is in common use. Very important in helping to make the style +clear without loss of distinction are the lengthened, curtailed, and +altered forms of words. Their deviation from the customary forms will +lend the quality of distinction; and the element they have in common +with ordinary usage will give clearness. An obtrusive employment of +the device of lengthening words will, of course, become ludicrous, +[and hence will serve the ends of comedy]; and the same thing is true +of any similar stylistic procedure. With metaphors also, and strange +words, and the rest, a like effect will ensue if they are used +improperly, and with the aim of causing laughter. [The language of +Aristophanes is in the main pure Attic and clear, attaining +distinction, without affectation, and without coarseness, where the +comic purpose allows.] + +It is, indeed, important to make the right use of each of the +elements mentioned — lengthened, curtailed, and altered words — as +well as of compound and strange words. But most important by far is +it to have a command of metaphor, this being the one thing the poet +can not learn from others. It is the mark of genius, for to produce +apt metaphors requires an intuitive perception of resemblances. + +Of the several kinds we have noted, [current words are best adapted +to comedy,] compound words to the dithyramb, strange words to heroic +metre [that is, to epic poetry], and metaphors to iambic metre [that +is, to the tragic dialogue]. In heroic poetry, it is true, [and in +comedy,] all special forms may be used. But iambic verse in comedy +represents the spoken language, + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-215 + +POETICS 22, 23, 24 + +215 + +and tends to employ the current term, the metaphor, and the +ornamental word [or its opposite]. + +Herewith we close the discussion of comedy as an art of imitation in +the form of action. + +And now for the comic narrative. In this, as in + +comedy proper, the story should be constructed on + +dramatic principles: everything should turn about a + +single action, one that is a whole, and is organically + +perfect — having a beginning, and a middle, and an + +end. In this way, just as a living animal, individual + +and perfect, has its own excellence, so the narrative + +will arouse its own characteristic pleasure. In other + +words, the plot of a comic narrative must be unlike + +what we ordinarily find in histories, which of necessity + +represent, not a single action, but some one period, + +with all that happened therein to one or more persons, + +however unrelated the several incidents may have + +been. Thus two ludicrous incidents might occur on + +the same day without converging to the same end; + +and similarly one such incident may directly follow + +another in point of time, and yet there may be no + +sequence leading to one issue. Nevertheless, one may + +say that most writers of comic narratives commit + +this very fault of making their plots like chronicles. + +[Compare Byron's Don Juan, which illustrates the fault, with +Fielding's Tom Jones, which avoids it.] + +Further, the varieties of comic narrative must be + +similar to those of comedy proper. That is, the story + +must be (i) uninvolved or (2) involved, or else must be + +(3) one of [comic incident], or (4) of [comic] character. + +[Aristotle's division of narrative poetry corresponds in the last +three points with the similar division under drama (p. 208), but not +in the first. The narrative with an uninvolved plot might rank with +the kind of + +Chapter 23 + +What the [comic] narrative has in common with [comedy proper] + +ft is not a chronicle; it must have organic unity + +Chapter 24 + +Four varieties [of comic narrative] + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-216 + +2i6 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +drama in which the effect is mainly dependent upon + +\* spectacle,' the story being, perhaps, \* episodic,' with + +much description ; otherwise there is a more troublesome + +Constituents discrepancy.] The constituent parts also must be the + +common to a . , -,■,■, + +[comic] narra- same as m comedy proper — save that the author + +tlve and , , i , r • ^ + +[comedy] does not employ the elements of music and spectacle; + +for there are reversals and discoveries [and comic incidents] in this +form of composition as in that. And the intellectual processes and +the diction must be artistically worked out. [Thus Don Quixote is a +story with an uninvolved plot, and one of comic incident; and Tom +Jones is, hke the Odyssey, an example of an involved plot — since +there are discoveries throughout, — and is a story of character]. + +narrat'iv?'*'^ As for the length, an adequate limit has already been + +fcomedyrin Suggested: it must be possible for us to embrace the +length beginning and the end of the story in one view. But, + +through its capacity for extension, the narrative form oMength "*^^^ +has a great and peculiar advantage ; for in a comedy it is not +possible to represent a number of incidents in the action as carried +on simultaneously — the author is limited to the one thing done on +the stage by the actors who are there. But the narrative form enables +him to represent a number of incidents as simultaneously occurring; +and these, if they are suitable, materially add to the production. +The increase in bulk tends to increase the variety of interest +through diversity of incident in the episodes. Uniformity of incident +quickly satiates the audience, and makes comedies fail on the stage. + +not%o"obtfuife The master of comic narrative will not be unaware + +hirtcom'ic] ^^ ^^^ P^^t to be taken by the author himself in his + +narrative work. The author should, in fact, say as little as may + +be in his own person [save possibly for the comic effect + +arising from intentional and obvious disregard of the + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-217 + +217 + +principle], since in his personal utterances he is not an imitative +artist. In mediocre comic narratives the authors continually express +their own sentiments, and their snatches of artistic imitation are +few and far between. But a masterly author [as Chaucer], after a +brief prehminary, will straightway bring on a man, or a woman, or +some other type, no one of them characterless, but each sharply +differentiated. + +An element of the marvelous unquestionably has a place in comedy; +[and the irrational (or illogical), which is the chief factor in the +marvelous, and which must as far as possible be excluded from +tragedy, is more freely admitted in comedy as well as in comic + +narrative.] That the marvelous is a source of pleasure may be seen +from the way in which people add to the story; for they always +embellish the facts with striking details, in the belief that it will +gratify the listeners. Yet it is Homer above all who has shown the +rest how a lie should be told ; for example, in the Bath Scene in the +Odyssey (see below, pp. 295—303). The essence of the method is the +use of a logical fallacy. Suppose that, whenever A exists or comes to +pass, B must exist or occur; men think, if the consequent B exists, +the antecedent A must also — but the inference is illegitimate. For +the poet, accordingly, the right method is this : if the antecedent A +is untrue, and if there is something else, B, which would exist or +occur if A were true, one must elaborate on the B; for, recognizing +the truth of the added details, we accept by fallacious inference the +truth of A. [The method has an extensive application in + +Aristophanic comedy. Thus, by elaborating the details of the aerial +city, the poet, in the Birds, leads us to accept the figment that +such a polity has come into existence.] + +A sequence of events which, though actually impossible, seems +plausible should be preferred by the poet + +The place of the marvelous and even the Irrational + +Why people tell lies + +How to represent a lie artistically + +The principle of \* probability ' + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-218 + +2i8 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Chapter 25 + +Problems and their solutions + +I. Principle of the object of imitation + +2. Principle of the medium + +3 Principle of artistic correctness: poetry [including comedy] has a +standard of its own + +Two l<inds of errors in [comedy] + +to what, though really possible, seems incredible. + +[Even the incredible incidents in comedy should receive an air of +probability from the elaboration of \* true ' details, and from a +skilfully devised relation to one another.] + +We come to problems and their solutions. [Aristotle's problems in +criticism, and the principles of their solution, mainly concern the +poetry of Homer, though they are stated in a general way; but at +certain points what he says may take on a bearing upon comedy.] + +(i) The poet is an imitator, like a painter or any other maker of +likenesses. Accordingly, he must in all cases represent one of three +objects: (a) Things as they once were, or are now; (b) things as they +are said or thought to be ; (c) things as they ought to be for the +ends of art. (2) His medium of expression is the diction, unadorned, +or with an admixture of strange words and metaphors, or otherwise +modified. (3) Further, the standard of correctness is not the same in +Poetry as in Politics; it is different in Poetry [and imitative art +generally] from that in any other field of study. + +[A citizen who fulfilled his duty to the State and in private life +would satisfy the standards of Politics and Ethics; but in order to +satisfy the conditions of comedy, a personage must be made to display +some + +ludicrous shortcoming.] Within the limits of comedy there can be two +kinds of error, the one (a) directly involving the art, the other (b) +adventitious. If the comic poet has chosen something for the object +of his imitation, and fails properly to represent what he has in +mind, this is (a) a fault in his art itself. But if he has made an +incorrect choice in the object he wishes to represent, so long as he +succeeds in properly imitating [for the ends of comedy] the object he +has in mind, his mistake is not one that concerns his art; it is (b) +adventitious. Such are the considerations from which + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0005.html#page-219 + +one must proceed in dealing with the strictures of critics. + +First, then, the strictures relating to the art itself. +j't1i?°may''be If impossibilities have been unwittingly represented, +{,8^*'®"'" the poet is open to criticism. Yet impossibilities may be +justified, if their representation subserves the purpose of the art — +for we must remember what has been said of the end of comedy; that +is, they are justified if they give the passage they are in, or some +other passage, a more ludicrous or surprising effect. Yet +j^^fno*itii^*^!"^" if the ends of comedy could have been as well or +better Jo"°makrno subserved by scientific accuracy, the error is not +justi- mistakes fied; for the poet ought if possible to make no +mistakes whatever. + +.. container:: body + +Again, when an error is found, one must always ask : jstjie; fault + +^ ' \* J intrinsic or + +Is the mistake adventitious, arising from ignorance in adventitious +some special field of knowledge, or does it concern the art of +imitation as such ? If a caricaturist thinks that a female deer has +horns, for example, that is less of an error than to fail in +representing the object as he conceives it. + +Again, it may be objected that the representation of Pfe*'c . the +poet is not true [to things as they are, or as they tfuth have been]. +The answer may be that they are represented as they ought to be. +[That is, as they ought to be + +represented for the ends of comedy. Thus Aristophanes represents +Aeschylus and Euripides as worse + +dramatists than they were.] But if the representation be true neither +to fact nor to the comic ideal, the answer may be that it accords +with current legends and popular belief: ' People say so.' The +unedifying comic tales about the gods, for instance, are, very +possibly, neither true nor the preferable thing to relate; in fact, +they may be as false and immoral as Xenophanes + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-220 + +220 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +Artistic [comic] propriety + +An appeal to tiie nature of the medium + +declares. But they certainly are in keeping with popular belief. Of +still other things which are objected to in comedy, one may possibly +say, not that they are worse than the fact here and now, but that the +fact was so at the time. + +As for the question whether something said or done by some one in a +comedy is proper or not; to answer this we must not merely consider +the intrinsic quality of the act or utterance, in order to see +whether it is noble or base in itself; we must also consider (a) the +person who does or says the thing, (b) the person to whom it is done +or said, or (c) when, or (d) in whose interest, or (e) with what +motive, it is done or said. Thus we must examine any questionable +word or act, to see whether the motive of the agent is to increase +his advantage or to decrease his disadvantage. [Thus, + +in the Frogs, the political wisdom uttered by Euripides or Aeschylus +is not to be judged at its face value. For example, the speech of +Euripides in Frogs 1427—9, taken out of its surroundings, is almost +sound advice; but in its place it is the school-boy rhetoric of a +ludicrous personage striving to win a ridiculous advantage over +another personage of a similar sort, Aeschylus, from a god who plays +the part of a buffoon. See also the seventh speech of the Impostor in +Tartuffe 4.5, and Moliere's note: \* C'est un scelerat qui parte.'] + +The justice or injustice of other criticisms must be decided by the +principles of poetic diction. For example, a mistaken objection may +be raised to a passage because the critic fails to see that the comic +poet is using a strange word, or a metaphor, or fails to discover the +correct pronunciation, or the correct punctuation, or to observe that +a grammatical ambiguity is possible, or that the custom of the +language has changed, or that there is more than one possibility of +meaning in the same word. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-221 + +That is, the right procedure [in deahng with a great Riflht and comic +poet] is just the opposite of the method con- cedure in demned by +Glaucon, who says of certain critics : ' They begin with some +unwarranted assumption, and, having pronounced judgment in a matter, +they go on to argue from this; and if what the poet says does not +agree with what they happen to think, they censure his imaginary +mistake. [Thus it is often asserted that the + +singing-contest between Dionysus and the Chorus of Frogs has nothing +to do with the rest of the play called the Frogs ; there being a +false assumption that the basis of the the play is an attack upon +Euripides. But the object of imitation for Aristophanes is the +Dionysiac musical and dramatic competition, transferred from Athens +to the underworld, and otherwise distorted with comic intent — for +example, by assimilation to one of the labors or contests (the +suitable one) of Heracles. Throughout there is the notion of musical +and literary emulation, exaggerated or attenuated. Accordingly, the +singing-contest near the beginning is a suitable pre-Uminary to the +main episode of the comedy, the froglike contest ol the tragic poets +at the end.] + +In general, questions as to the poet's use of im- Jiiegedlm-"^ +possibiUties must be decided by an appeal either (a) to possibilities +the end of comedy, or (b) to the comic ideal, or (c) to what is +commonly beheved. For the ends of comedy, (a) a thing really +impossible, but made plausible, is preferable to one that, though +possible, does not win belief. And if such men as Pauson painted be +called too ugly, the pictures may be defended as (b) true to the +comic ideal; for the comic type is necessarily inferior to the +average and the actual. + +What the critics term improbable one must judge by JJJJpJbJJfif. an +appeal to the end of comedy, or by (c) an appeal to \*"»s popular +behef, and by an attempt to show that on occasion the thing may not +be improbable; for [as + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-222 + +222 THE POETICS APPLIED TO COMEDY + +For alleged contradictions in language + +Where the critic had best look for errors [In comedy] + +Chapter 26 + +A general problem: [which Is superior, comic narrative or comedy +proper] + +[Comedy] can produce its effect when merely read + +Agathon suggested] it is likely that something improbable will now +and then occur. + +As for alleged [unintentional] contradictions in the comic poet's +language, these we must scrutinize as one deals with sophistical +refutations in argumentation. Then we can see whether the poet in his +several statements refers to the same thing, in the same relation, +and in the same sense, and can judge whether or not he has +contradicted what he himself says, or what a person of intelligence +normally assumes as true. + +The censure of the critic is justified, however, when it is directed +against faulty sequence in the plot, and against nobility or +depravity in the comic agents; that is, when there is no inherent +necessity for excellence or baseness in the agents, and when the +irrational sequence serves no comic purpose. + +The question finally suggests itself: Which is the superior form of +art, comic narrative or comedy proper ? Those who favor the long +narrative may argue thus: The less vulgar form is superior; and that +which is addressed to the better audience is the less vulgar. If this +is so, it is obvious that a pantomimic art such as comedy (on the +stage) is exceedingly vulgar. So we are told that the comic narrative +is addressed to a cultivated audience, which does not need gestures +and postures, and comedy to an audience that is inferior and does +need them. Accordingly, if comedy is a vulgar art, it evidently is +the lower form. + +But in reply we may say that it is quite possible for comedy to +produce its characteristic effect without the appeals connected with +presentation on the stage, in just the same way as a comic narrative +; for if a comedy be merely read, its quality becomes evident. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-223 + +Ae:ain, one must arefue in favor of comedy proper that [Comedy] is + +° \*-\* . more Inclusive, + +it contains every element found in the comic narrative, compact, and + +• •111 ^'^"' + +and that in addition it has elements, not inconsiderable, + +of its own in spectacle and music — and through the music the +characteristic pleasure is distinctly heightened. + +Further, the greater vividness of comedy is felt when the play is +read as well as when it is acted. + +Still further, in comedy the imitation attains its end + +in less space. And this may be deemed an advantage, + +since the concentrated effect is more delightful than one + +which is long-drawn-out, and so diluted. [Consider the + +result, for example, if one were to lengthen out the Clouds of +Aristophanes (1510 lines) into the number of lines in the Odyssey +(12,110 lines).] + +And ae^ain, the unity of action is less strict in the The action + +° -^ . [In comedy] + +comic narrative : for if a narrative writer takes a strict- '«Jess + +diffuse + +ly unified story, either he will tell it briefly, and it will seem +abrupt, or he will make it conform to the usual scale of a long +narrative, and then it will seem thin and unsubstantial. + +If, then, comedy proper is superior to comic narrative [Comedy is in +all these respects, and particularly in fulfilling its comic +narra-special function as a form of poetry; and if we recall, as we +must, that the two kinds of literature are to give us, not any chance +pleasure, but the definite pleasure we have mentioned; it is clear +that comedy proper, since it attains its poetic end more effectively +than comic narrative, is the superior form of the two. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-224 + +THE TRACTATUS COISLINIANUS TRANSLATED + +[See above, pp. 10-15. The translation is mainly based upon the text +of Kaibel, with use of the text and apparatus of Kayser. But I have +discarded the schematic arrangement of the original, supplying such +words as 'is divided into' in place of the oblique lines and +horizontal braces which there indicate divisions and subdivisions +under the various heads, and likewise adding appropriate numerals and +letters in parentheses.] + +Poetry is either (I) non-mimetic or (II) mimetic. + +(I) Non-mimetic poetry is divided into (A) historical, (B) +instructive. (B) Instructive poetry is divided into (i) didactic, (2) +theoretical. + +(II) Mimetic poetry is divided into (A) narrative, (B) dramatic and +[directly] presenting action. (B) Dramatic poetry, or that [directly] +presenting action, is divided into (i) comedy, (2) tragedy, (3) +mimes, (4) satyr-dramas. + +Tragedy removes the fearful emotions of the soul through compassion +and terror. And [he says] that it aims at having a due proportion of +fear. It has grief for its mother. + +Comedy is an imitation of an action that is ludicrous and imperfect, +of sufficient length, [in embellished language,] the several kinds +[of embellishment being] separately [found] in the [several] parts +[of the play]; [directly presented] by persons acting, and not +[given] through narrative; through pleasure and laughter effecting +the purgation of the like emotions. It has laughter for its mother. + +Laughter arises (I) from the diction [= expression] (II) from the +things [= content]. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-225 + +THE TRACTATE TRANSLATED 225 + +(I) From the diction, through the use of — + +(A) Homonyms + +(B) Synon5mis + +(C) GarruHty + +(D) Paronyms, formed by (?i) addition and + +(? 2) dipping + +(E) Diminutives + +(F) Perversion + +(i) by the voice + +(2) by other means of the same sort + +(G) Grammar and syntax + +(II) Laughter is caused by the things — + +(A) From assimilation, employed + +(i) toward the worse (2) toward the better + +(B) From deception + +(C) From the impossible + +(D) From the possible and inconsequent + +(E) From the unexpected + +(F) From debasing the personages + +(G) From the use of clownish (pantomimic) + +dancing + +(H) When one of those having power, neglecting the greatest things, +takes the most worthless + +(I) When the story is disjointed, and has no sequence + +Comedy differs from abuse, since abuse openly censures the bad +quahties attaching [to men], whereas comedy requires the so-called +emphasis [? or 'innuendo ']. + +The joker will make game of faults in the soul and in the body. + +P + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-226 + +226 THE TRACTATE TRANSLATED + +As in tragedies there should be a due proportion of fear, so in +comedies there should be a due proportion of laughter. + +The substance of comedy consists of (i) plot, (2) ethos, (3) dianoia, +(4) diction, (5) melody, (6) spectacle. + +The comic plot is the structure binding together the ludicrous +incidents. + +The characters [ethe] of comedy are (i) the buffoon-ish, (2) the +ironical, and (3) those of the impostors. + +The parts of dianoia are two : (A) opinion and (B) proof. [Proofs (or +\* persuasions ') are of] five [sorts]: (i) oaths, (2) compacts, (3) +testimonies, (4) tortures [' tests ' or ' ordeals '], (5) laws. + +The diction of comedy is the common, popular language. The comic poet +must endow his personages with his own native idiom, but must endow +an alien with the alien idiom. + +Melody is the province of the art of music, and hence one must take +its fundamental rules from that art. + +Spectacle is of great advantage to dramas in supplying what is in +concord with them. + +Plot, diction, and melody are foimd in all comedies, dianoia, ethos, +and spectacle in few. + +The [quantitative] parts of comedy are fom*: (i) prologue, (2) the +choral part, (3) episode, (4) exode. The prologue is that portion of +a comedy extending as far as the entrance of the chorus. The choral +part [chori-con] is a song by the chorus when it [the song] is of +adequate length. An episode is what lies between two choral songs. +The exode is the utterance of the chorus at the end. + +The kinds of comedy are : (i) Old, with a superabundance of the +laughable; (2) New, which disregards laughter, and tends toward the +serious; (3) Middle, which is a mixture of the two. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-227 + +THE TRACTATUS COISLINIANUS AMPLIFIED AND ILLUSTRATED + +[For the sake of clearness it has seemed better first (above, pp. +224-6) to give a rendering of the succinct Tractate by itself, and +then to repeat that rendering, as follows, with interlarded comment +and illustration.] + +Poetry is either (I) non-mimetic or (II) mimetic. Kinds of [In the +*Poetics* such a thing as \* non-mimetic ' poetry is not recognized; +there poetry is regarded as in its nature mimetic, and versified +history, or medicine, or the hke, is excluded from the realm of +poetry; yet see above, p. 12.] + +(I) Non-mimetic poetry is divided into (A) histor- Non-mimetic + +ical, (B) instructive. [(A) Historical poetry finds illustration in +the poem of Choerilus on the Persian war (see Aristotle, Rhetoric +3.14, and compare above, p. 141) ; in the Pharsalia of Lucan ; and in +Samuel Daniel's The Civil Wars between the two Houses of Lancaster +and York.'] + +(B) Instructive [TuaiBsuTrwi^] poetry is divided into (i) didactic +[OcpYJYviTixY)], (2) theoretical. [In a comprehensive scheme of Greek +poetry room would be found for Hesiod ; the Theogony is perhaps \* +theoretical,' and the Works and Days ' didactic' Other examples of +didactic poetry would be the lines from Scion quoted in Aristotle's +Constitution of Athens and Aristotle's own scolion on virtue (compare +above, pp. 12—13), and Wordsworth's Ode to Duty. Other examples of +theoretical poetry would be Parmenides' On Nature, and similar +cosmological poems of the pre-Socratic philosophers ; also the poem +of Lucretius, and Erasmus Darwin's The Botanic Garden. In *Poetics* i. +1447^ 16—20 Empedocles is said to be a ' physicist rather than a poet +'; in 21. 1457^24, and elsewhere, he is cited in illustration of +details in the theory of poetry!] + +p2 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-228 + +THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +Mimetic + +Tragedy + +Comedy. A definition + +(II) Mimetic poetry is divided into (A) narrative [as the Odyssey], +(B) dramatic and [directly] presenting action. (B) Dramatic poetry, +or that [directly] presenting action, is divided into (i) comedy [as +the Birds of Aristophanes], (2) tragedy [as Sophocles' Oedipus the +King], (3) mimes [as the mimes of Sophron and Xenarchus (see above, +pp. 168—70)], (4) satyr-dramas [as the lost Phorcides of Aeschylus +(see *Poetics* 18), the partly-preserved Ichneutae (Trackers) of +Sophocles, and the Cyclops of Euripides (translated by Shelley)]. + +Tragedy removes the fearful emotions [(poj3epa xaGY)[j.aira] of the +soul through compassion and terror [Bl oi>tTou xai Bsou^]. And [some +one (? Aristotle) says] that it [tragedy] aims at having a due +proportion of fear [cp6pou]. It has grief [luizri] for its mother. + +[Does the \* proportion' ((7U|X[j.£Tpia) mean a due measure of fear, +not an excess of it, as compared with pity ? Or are we to understand +that the latent fear of the spectators is to be aroused by tragedy, +and so reduced to moderation ?] + +Comedy is an imitation of an action that is ludicrous and imperfect,1 +of sufficient [or ' perfect'] length, [in embellished language,] the +several kinds of embellishment being separately found in the several +parts of the play ;2 directly presented by persons acting, and not in +the form of narrative ;^ through pleasure and laughter effecting the +purgation of the like [or ' of the said '] emotions [ty]v twv +toioutcov 7uaOY][xaTcav xaOapaiv]. It has laughter for its mother. +[For a discussion of comic purgation, see above, pp. 60—98. On +laughter as the ' mother' of comedy, see above, p. 12.] + +^ Reading yeXoias, as Kayser conjectures, for yeXoiov, and taking +d/uoifjov as of feminine gender. + +\* Following Vahlen. Compare also above, p. 179. + +^ Literally : ' an action ... of persons doing, and not through +narrative' (or 'through report'). + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-229 + +DICTION: HOMONYMS + +229 + +Laughter from + +(I) diction + +(II) thinos + +(A) liomonyms + +Laughter arises (I) from the diction, (11) from the things done. [\* +Things ' or \* things done ' would include mental acts as well as +physical. There is necessarily some overlapping between the two main +categories of words (= expression) and things (= content), as there +is overlapping between the sub-heads under each. For a tripartite +division by Aristotle of the sources of laughter, see above, pp. 62, +138.] + +(I) Laughter arises from the diction [Xe^i?] through Pi^^*'°^"^ the +use of — + +(A) Homonyms. [That is, equivoca, or ambiguities. + +Things having the same name, but in themselves distinct, are +homonymous. Thus, in the comedy of Aristophanes the changes are rung +upon IIXouto?, the god, and tuXouto?, wealth. So ' Iris' (\* iris') +may refer to (i) the messenger of the gods, (2) the rainbow, (3) a +halo (round the moon or round a candle), (4) the flower. \* Spring ' +has more than one meaning in English, as in the remark of the tramp +to the tourist: + +\* Speaking of bathing in famous springs, I bathed in the spring of +'86.' Compare the following: ' Old Gaunt indeed, and gaunt in being +old ' {Richard II 2. i. 74). + +\* I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream ; it shall +be called Bottom's Dream, because it hath no bottom ' {MND. 4. i. +215-7). Falstaff: ' Their points being broken — ' Poins : ' Down fell +their hose ' (j Henry IV 2. 4. 216—7). — ' Points ' here has the two +meanings of sword-points and the tagged lace for attaching the hose +to the doublet. The use of equivoca is, of course, very frequent in +the comedy of every age. Thus the envoys from Persia, in Acharnians +91—2, ' come, bringing Pseudartabas, \*' the King's Eye " '; and +Dicaeopolis on hearing the title rejoins: + +\* Would that a crow might peck it out, and yours, too, the +ambassador's' (92—3). See also the various turns on the word %61oc, +in Birds 179—84, and again on opvi? in Birds 719—21 (Rogers' +translation) : + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-230 + +230 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +And whene'er you of omen or augury speak, 't is a bird you + +are always repeating; A rumor's a bird, and a sneeze is a bird, and +so is a word + +or a meeting, A servant 's a bird, and an ass is a bird. + +The number of meanings a given word (e. g., how) may have is, +therefore, not necessarily restricted to two, especially if, as in +Enghsh, we include all the meanings indicated by the same sound {how, +hough). ' Equivocal terms,' says Aristotle, in Rhetoric 3. 2 (see +above, p. 144), \* are the class of words most useful to the sophist, +for it is with the help of these that he juggles/ The comic poet also +juggles with them.] PJction: (B) Synonvms. [The interpretation is +obvious. In + +(B) synonyms \\ / j ^ u r + +the passage last quoted Aristotle continues: ' Synonyms are most +useful to the poet. By synonyms in ordinary use I mean, for instance, +"to go " and " to walk " ; these are at once accepted and synonymous +terms.' Different terms applied to the same thing, then, are +synonymous — as go, fare, proceed. So one may call the same act \* +stealing' or \* conve3dng.' ' " Convey " the wise it call. " Steal " +! foh ! a fico for the phrase!' {Merry Wives i. 3. 30). The comic +poet has the option of calling the worse thing by the better name, or +the better thing by the worse name. By the use of metaphor, the +number of names applied to the same thing may be indefinitely +extended. As Aristotle points out {Rhetoric 3. 2), Dionysius ' the +Brazen ' in his elegies called poetry ' Calliope's screech ' — poetry +and screeching being both of them \* voices '; and Simonides {ihid.; +see above, p. 155), when asked to compose an ode in honor of a +victory in the mule-race, at first refused to write about \* +half-asses,' and then, when a larger fee was offered, wrote: + +Hail, daughters of storm-footed mares — + +' yet they were equally daughters of the asses.' Similarly, hands may +be called ' pickers and stealers' {Hamlet 3. 2. 340). Or take the +following expressions for late and early : ' One that converses more +with the buttock of the night than with the forehead of the morning ' +{Coriolanus 2.1. 53-5). Or take the case when Euelpides + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-231 + +wishes to kiss the Nightingale, and Peisthetaerus warns him (Birds +672): \* O wretched fool, her beak has two little spits' (mandibles). +Starkie (Hermathena 42. 30—1) gives examples from Shakespeare and +Moliere, and notes the fertility of Rabelais in strings of +depreciatory synonyms — for example, the epithets addressed to monks +in the inscription over the entrance to the convent of Thelema.] + +(C) Garrulity. [This is d:Zo'kz(j'/i<x, a staple device Diction: of +comic writers, to which Socrates makes allusion in the A pology and +Phaedo (see above, pp. 104-5) • Aristotle refers to 6!^okzGyioL, but +not in connection with comedy (see above, p. 144; and compare +Rhetoric 2. 13. 1390^9, 2. 22. 1395^26, Nicomachean Ethics 3. 13. +iii7t>35, De Sophisticis Elenchis 3. 165bi5, Problems 18. 8.917^4, +Historia Animalium 11. 492^2). The simplest case is the repetition of +the same word over and over again (see Tzetzes, below, p. 288), but +the term embraces verbosity of every sort — bombast, triviality, +learned nonsense (in the philosophical discussions of the Clouds, in +Swift's Voyage to Laputa, in Les Femmes Savantes of Moliere), the +garrulity of age, of children and the childish, of the idle, of +clowns, domestics, and the like. Dogberry is ' garrulous ' in the +pompous style. The pettifoggers and quacks of Moliere are \* +garrulous '; in Le Malade Imaginaire the first speech of the +Hypochondriac is an instance, the harangue of Monsieur Diafoirus in +2. 6 is another, and the address of his son Thomas to Angelique +(quoted below, pp. 242-3, under ' assimilation ') yet another. Thomas +is twice foiled [ibid. 2. 6,7) in a long-winded memorized address +intended for her step-mother. The choruses in the Acharnians and the +Wasps indulge in garrulity; for example [Wasps 233—9) \* ' O +Strymodore of Conthyle, best of our crew of dicasts, has Euergides +appeared, or Chabes of Phlya ? Ah, here you are, alas and alack! all +that yet remains of that youth so flourishing then when we kept the +watch together, you and I, in Byzantium. Remember how, as we paced +our round by night, we found and filched the baker's tray, and +chopped it up + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-232 + +232 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +to cook our pimpernel withaL' It would be easy to multiply examples, +as from Shakespeare {Measure for Measure 2. i. 89—105): Pompey: ' +Sir, she came in, great with child, and longing — saving your honor's +reverence — for stewed prunes. Sir, we had but two in the house, +which at that very distant time stood, as it were, in a fruit-dish, a +dish of some three-pence ; your honors have seen such dishes; they +are not China dishes, but very good dishes.' Escalus: \* Go to, go +to; no matter for the dish, sir.' Pompey : \* No indeed, sir, not of +a pin. You are therein in the right. But to the point: as I say, this +Mistress Elbow, being, as I say, with child, and being great-belhed, +and longing, as I said, for prunes, and having but two in the dish, +as I said, Master Froth here, this very man, having eaten the rest, +as I said, and, as I say, paying for them very honestly; for, as you +know, Master Froth, I could not give you three-pence again.' Another +good case is that of Launce in Two Gentlemen of Verona 2. 3. 21—33. +The chorus in Aristophanes' Birds is likewise talkative; see their' +anapaests ' (684 ff.) — above all, their account of the creation and +of their own importance in the affairs of men [Birds 693—722). +Parodies and travesties are likely to be of the same windy nature; +thus, the monody uttered by Aeschylus in the Frogs in imitation of +Euripides (Frogs 1331—63), beginning (Rogers' translation) : + +O darkly-light mysterious Night, + +What may this Vision mean, + +Sent from the world unseen + +With baleful omens rife; + +A thing of lifeless life, + +A child of sable night, + +A ghastly curdling sight. + +In black funereal veils. + +With murder, murder in its eyes, + +And great enormous nails ? + +Many passages of garrulity, as the last-quoted, betray a lack of +sequence, which in itself may be a source of laughter, and is so +listed in the Tractate (see below, p. 257). But long-winded speeches +afford opportunity^ for various sorts of comic effect, and hence +contain + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-233 + +illustrations of other categories. The long anapaestic chorus of the +Birds has already been cited for an example of homonyms : ' A rumor's +a bird, and a sneeze is a bird, and so is a word or a meeting ' +(Birds 720).] + +(D) Paronyms. They are formed (i) by adding to Diction: a word, and +(2) by taking something away from it. [Or the sense may be that they +are formed by first dropping some part of a word and then adding +something to what remains. A paronjmi is, so to speak, a name lying +at the side of another. In each case, two words are concerned, one of +them being derived from the other, generally by a change of +termination. The relation may be a true one according to scientific +principles. Or it may be a fancied one according to popular notions +of etymology — as in the time of Aristophanes, before the advent of +strict linguistic science. Or it may be a pretended one based upon an +assumed principle. Thus Hermippus (frg. 4, Kock i. 225—6) derives the +rolling ' year' (sviauiro?), which contains all within itself, from +sv a6Ta). Similar derivatives are common in everyday speech while a +language is in the making. In comedy they are extempore formations, +or else formations otherwise rare in the language. In a given +instance it may be difficult to say whether the word is a coinage of +the poet, or a term, not previously recorded, from common usage. If +the reading ' great oneyers ' is authentic, a paronym formed by +addition is found in Gadshill's \*I am joined with no +foot-land-rakers, no long-staff sixpenny strikers, none of these mad +musta-chio-purple-hued malt-worms, but with nobility and +tranquillity, burgomasters and great oneyers ' (j Henry IV 2. I. +76—9). So also (from auiro?, by dropping <; and adding -xaTo?) +vMo^oitqc, in Plutus 83 : \* Are you really he} ' \* I am.' ' Himself +? ' \* His own self's self.' Here too, perhaps, belongs xuvToxaTo? — +' the most shameless (most doglike) of all' (see above, pp. 29, 150). +In a comic compound epithet, if we take the first element as a base, +the whole may be regarded as a paronym derived from it. Those of +Gadshill (as \* long-staff sixpenny strikers ' and ' mad mustachio- + +paronyms + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-234 + +234 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +purple-hued malt-worms '), formed by addition, may be compared with +Aristophanes' (7C(,\Kiyyoloyyjj'Kr\\f6Lba,i^ +(7apxa(7[jL07utTL>oxa{i7UTat {Frogs 966) : \* Great +long-beard-lance-and-trum pet-men, flesh-tearers with the pine' (cf. +Starkie, Hermathena 42.33; and compare above, p. 212). Starkie +(Acharnians, pp. xhx—hv) gives nine subdivisions under the head of +Paronymy : (i) compounds ; (2) coinages to suit special occasions; +(3) jocular feminine forms; (4) comic comparatives and superlatives +(as aozozoczoq) ; (5) character-names with diverse terminations (as +xdcvGwv in Peace 82) ; (6) verbal formations (as >.uBi^eiv in Knights +523) ; (7) comic adverbs (as [xaystpixw^ in Acharnians 1015) ; (8) +imitative words and phrases (as the mimic notes of birds, frogs, and +musical instruments) ; (9) certain comic exclamations, mostly +imitative. But the device, strictly considered, seems to involve a +stem of some word in regular usage; the customary termination of the +word may be dropped, and then something may be added. Or again, it +would seem, something may be clipped from the end (? or beginning, or +middle) of a word, so that the resultant coinage is shorter than the +ordinary word. This last case apparently is hard to find in comedy, +save as comedy makes use of ordinary colloquial contractions ; +compare also Gib (for Gilbert) and Daw (for David) in the Towneley +Secunda Pastorum. It would simplify matters could we reverse the +order of the Tractate under this category, and say, ' paronymy by +subtraction and addition,' since commonly the familiar ending of a +word is dropped, and an unusual ending then supplied — as in the +proverbial jocular derivation oi Middleton from Moses : you take away +the termination -OSes, and add the termination -iddleton. So the +Hostess in Henry V 2. 3. 10 shortens Abraham to Arthur, saying of the +dead Falstaff: ' Na}^ sure, he 's not in hell; he 's in Arthur's +bosom, if ever any man went to Arthur's bosom.' Middleton from Moses, +and Arthur from Abraham, recall the example of paronymy preserved by +Tzetzes (see below, p. 288), ' I Momax am called Midas ' (which has +disturbed textual critics) ; they will perhaps illustrate the case of +proper names derived + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-235 + +one from another by clipping or addition or both, though they trench +upon the field of comic perversions (see below, under F). The +categories of paronyms and perversion overlap, since a perversion +often contains some considerable part of the word it travesties.] + +(E) Diminutives. [These, of course, are usually deriv- Diction: +atives. Aristotle has defined and illustrated them in minutives +Rhetoric 3. 2 (see above, pp. 29, 156): ' Again, without abandoning a +given epithet, one may turn it mto a diminutive. By a diminutive I +mean a form that lessens either the good or the bad in a description; +for example, the banter of Aristophanes in the Babylonians, where he +uses " coinlet " for coin, " cloaklet " for cloak, " gibelet " for +gihe, and " plaguelet." ' Greek is rich in diminutives, as is also +Italian — much more so than English, which in this point lags behind +German ; Starkie (Acharnians, pp. Iv—Ivi) lists thirteen such endings +in Aristophanes, with many examples (mostly under -tov, -iB-tov, +-aptov, and -ictxo?, -ictxy]). Diminutives may be endearing, +caressing, ludicrous, or contemptuous, two or more of these qualities +often being strangely mingled in the same epithet. Examples are : +EuptmBiov {Acharnians 404 — ' Euripides, Euripi-darling ! hearken +!'); the same form [Acharnians 475 — + +\* Euripidarling, my best and sweetest! ') ; ScoxpaxiBiov [Clouds 223 +— ' Dear little Socrates ! '); the same form [ibid. 237 — \* Come +down, dear little Socrates ! '); again [ibid. 746 — ' O dearest +little Socrates! '); opviGtov [Birds 223 — Euelpides exclaims, at the +sound of the flute imitating the Nightingale : \* OZeus the king, +hark to the little birdie's voice! '). Similar effects are attained +in English, partly by the use of such diminutives as we possess (as +-ie in birdie), partly by means of additional words, as adjectives; +thus: ' Come, sweet Audry, We must be married, or we must live in +bawdry ' [AYL. 3. 3. 93—4); ' What sayst thou, bully Bottom? ' [MND. +3. I. 8.) Other examples are: ' Most brisky Juvenal, and eke most +lovely Jew ' [MND. 3. i. 92) ; + +\* I '11 meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb ' [ibid. 3. I. 94); ' +Why, that's my dainty Ariel! ' [Tempest + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-236 + +236 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +5. I. 95). The same effect is gained by the use of the rhymes in the +song by Titania (herself a diminutive!) in MND. 3. I. 162—71: eyes, +dewberries, mulberries, humble-bees, thighs, eyes, arise, +butterflies, eyes, courtesies; consider, too, the names of the +attendant elves, particularly Mustard-seed. Flute's perversion, \* +Ninny's tomb ' (' " Ninus' tomb," man! ' interrupts Quince) belongs +equally well under the next head.] Diction: (F) Perversion (i) by the +voice, (2) by other means + +(F) perversion \\ / J > \\ / J + +of the same sort. [\* This ' — l^oCkXaxh, — says Rutherford (p. 444), +' is not identical with the zioCKkoLjf]' of the *Poetics*, \* and +wholly different from the i\oChXoL'^r\\ ' of the Rhetoric. \* It is +further so particularized that there can be no doubt that it is any +ludicrous perversion of a word's intention by means of +mispronunciation or of intonation ' (that is, by the voice), \* or by +gesture, grimace, wink, twinkle in the eye ' (that is, by other means +in the same class with the voice), ' or, of course, by both +combined.' An ancient example (see below, p. 288) is that of w Zsu +BscTTcoira (' O Lord Zeus! ') twisted by pronunciation into w jBBsQ +(Lat. peditum) BsCTuoTa. Bent ley would identify the passage with the +end of line 940 in the Lysistrata ; but the joke would be more pat in +one or another of the passages containing w Zsu ^olgiKzu — as Clouds +2, or Birds 223 — and we need not stickle for the accuracy of the +tradition that gives the relatively unimportant word Bs^TuoTa. We +find a rather good English parallel in Henry V 4. 4. 4—8, where +Pistol captures the French soldier. Pistol: \* Art thou a gentleman ? +What is thy name? Discuss.' French Soldier: 'O Seigneur Dieu! ' +Pistol: \* O Signieur Dew should be a gentleman. Perpend my words, O +Signieur Dew, and mark.' The laughable through perversion by the +voice and similar means would therefore include many puns — though +not those arising from the confusion of things having names exactly +alike. Thus Falstaff in I Henry IV 2. 4. 241—2 : ' If reasons (\* +raisins ') were as plenty as blackberries, I would give no man a +reason upon compulsion, I.' Or take the unconscious pun + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-237 + +DICTION: PERVERSION, GRAMMAR 237 + +uttered by the illiterate maid-servant Martine to the purist Belise +in Les Femmes Savantes 2. 6. 64—5. Belise : ' Veux-tu toute ta vie +offenser la grammaire ? ' Mar-tine : \* Qui parle d'offenser +grand'mere ni grand-pere ? ' But the category embraces all sorts of +perversions in diction, from Fluellen's Welsh pronunciation of \* +Alexander the Pig ' (Henry V 4. 7. 12—18 — \* The pig, or the great, +or the mighty, or the huge, or the magnanimous, are all one +reckonings, save the phrase is a little variations') to Alcibiades' +lisp (TFas/)s 42—6, esp. 45 — \* Theolus ' for Theorus). Add the +Hostess' \* variation ' on the death of Falstaff: \* A' made a finer +end and went away an it had been any christom child ' (Henry F 2. 3. +11—12 — a perversion of Christian and chrism together). There is a +succession of instances during the preparations for their pla^/ by +the artisans in A Midsummer-Night's Dream : ' Phibbus' ' for Phoebus' +(MND. 1. 2. 3); ' Thisne ' for Thisby (i. 2. 51—3 — but the case is +also one of diminutives: ' I'll speak in a monstrous little voice, +\*\* Thisne, Thisne! " '); ' Saying thus, or to the same defect ' (3. +I. 38 — \* defect ' = effect) ; \* He comes to disfigure, or to +present, the person of Moonshine ' (3. i. 57—8); + +\* I will aggravate my voice so that I will roar you as gently as any +sucking dove' (2.1.80—1). Again, Bottom : + +\* Thisby, the flowers have odious savors sweet' — Quince: ' Odorous, +odorous.' Bottom: — ' odors savors sweet' (3. i. 79—81). Finally, +Quince: \* And he is a very paramour for a sweet voice.' Flute: + +\* You must say " paragon "; a paramour is, God bless us! a thing of +naught ' (4. 2. 11—14).] + +(G) Grammar and syntax. [So I paraphrase (TX^[xa Diction: ^.s^scoc, +which covers not only the grammatical and syn- and syntax tactical +relations of discourse, but also the rhythm and cadence of a sentence +— the arrangement of the diction in a general sense. Laughter arises +from inflections and syntax formed on a spurious analogy with correct +usage. In ordinary speech such forms are barbarisms ; and taken from +the usage of illiterates they may serve a comic purpose. The luckless +Martine has offended + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-238 + +238 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +Belise by the \* solecisme horrible ' : ' Mon Dieu! je n'avons pas +^tugue (= ' etudie') comme vous, Et je parlons tout droit comme on +parle cheux (= ' chez ') nous.' Belise: ' Ton esprit, je I'avoue, est +bien materiel : Je n'est qu'un singulier, avons est pluriel. Veux-tu +toute ta vie offenser la grammaire? ' (Femmes Savantes 2. 6. 58—9, +62—4). Similarly Lucas uses the ilhterate form j'avons in Le Medecin +Malgre Lui i. 6. However, the comic poet outdoes ordinary ilhterate +usage (though often through the speech of rustics, servants, and the +like) in producing spurious grammatical forms and false congruities. +Compare Toinette (disguised as a physician) in Le Malade Imaginaire +3. 14: \* Ignoranius, ignoranta, ignorantum/ Or compare the Latin in +Calverley's The Cock and the Bull (below, p. 258) with that of +Sganarelle in Le Medecin Malgre Lui 26:\* Quia substantivo, et +adjectivum, concordat in generi, numerum, et casus.' Calverley's +skit, in burlesque imitation of The Ring and the Book, makes use of +Browning's d/^jj-a T^s^ew^ (even in the cadence of the title) for +comic effect. In Two Gentlemen of Verona 2. 5. 25—33 Shakespeare +gives the following. Speed: ' What an ass art thou! I understand thee +not.' Launce: ' What a block art thou, that thou canst not. My staff +understands me.' Speed :' What thou sayest ?' Launce: \* Ay, and what +I do, too. Look thee, I '11 but lean, and my staff understands me.' +Speed : \* It stands under thee, indeed.' Launce: \* Why, stand-under +and under-stand is all one.' Of this order is the youthful Person's +answer to the question, whether Brutus did right in assassinating +Caesar: ' Non bene fecit, nee male fecit; sed inter-fecit.' It is +often difficult, sometimes impossible, to translate pleasantries of +this type ; perhaps one may partly succeed with the dialogue between +Euripides and his stupid kinsman in Thesmophoriazusae 26—8. +Euripides: ' See this wicket ? ' Mnesilochus: ' By Heck! should think +I did.' Euripides : ' Now silence, you ! ' Mnesilochus : ' I silence +the wicket ? ' Euripides : ' Hark ! ' Mnesilochus : ' I +hark-and-silence the wicket ? ' In the Clouds, as Starkie notes, the +old peasant learns from + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-239 + +things: assimilation + +239 + +Socrates not to confuse dc>^sxTrpuwv (' rooster') and a>.£xi:p(5atva +{' roostress '), and discovers that the correct form ^ xapBoTco? is +not correct at all — it should be •?) xapBoTUY) (Clouds 850—2, +669—75, 1251 — compare Starkie's rendering, ' kneading-jack ' and ' +kneading-jill '). The category of false grammar overlaps with that of +perversion; see \* paramour ' and \* paragon ' at the end of the +preceding paragraph, and perhaps Mistress Quickly's \* thou bastardly +rogue ' (2 Henry IV 2. I. 51, — ?' bastardly ' = dastardly). In +parodies (see below, pp. 258—9), the individual style of the author +parodied — his pet forms and constructions — will become the standard +which the comic writer travesties; so it is in The Cock and the Bull, +and in the samples offered by Euripides and Aeschylus of their own +and each other's wares in the Frogs. For the expression (7)^Y)[xa +>.s^£(o^ in Aristotle's Rhetoric see above, + +p. 145.] + +(II) Laughter arises from the things. F\* Things' Lauohter + +(TupayfiLaTa) mcJude acts and objects m themselves (as distinct from +their names, which belong under \* diction ' = Xe'^t?), and persons +in themselves (again as distinct from their names), regarded +objectively. \* Things' are, above all, things done, that is, deeds +and activities, including the acts and experiences of the mind. But +it is hard to dissociate a thing from its name, and hence, as we have +observed, a particular example of the ludicrous may sometimes be +classified under more than one head and sub-head. If a garrulous +person, for instance, uses the same word over and over, he will keep +talking about the same object — as prunes. In general, however, we +have this distinction : if the humor disappears when the joke is +translated (as in Porson's joke on Brutus and Caesar), we have to do +with ' laughter from the diction '; if not, then with \* laughter +from the things.' Yet a shrewd translator will often be surprisingly +close to the foreign language in his rendering of ' laughter from the +diction.'] + +(A) From assimilation. The assimilation may be ^limiiation^ + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-240 + +(i) of what is better (superior) to what is worse (inferior), or (2) +vice versa.-Assimilation (i) Assimilation or equation of what is +better to + +tc the worse ^ ' ^ + +what is worse. [Tzetzes (below, p. 289) gives as an instance of (i) +the transformation of the master Dionysus into the slave Xanthias +(Frogs 494—502); and we may add the assimilation of Xanthias himself +to a beast of burden (ibid. 9—20, 32). Since comedy in general tends +to represent things as worse than they commonly are, the principle of +assimilation can be freely illustrated from the basic ideas of many +plays. Thus men (superior) are assimilated to birds (inferior), to +frogs, and to wasps, in the respective comedies of Aristophanes, and +to the denizens of the farmyard in Rostand's Chantecler. In like +manner Swift assimilates men to pygmies, to heavy giants, to horses, +to apes. The method also reaches to detail; so that, as Starkie +remarks (Acharnians, p. Ixii), so long as they represent :upaY^aTa, +and not merely 'kziic,, comparisons, metaphors, and even epithets, +come under' this head or that of (2) assimilation to the better. The +Platonic Socrates' comparison of the State to a sluggish horse, and +of himself to a gadfly sent to arouse it (Apology 30, 31), is a case +in point; of the same order are Alcibiades' comparisons of Socrates +to the busts of Silenus, to Marsyas the satyr, and to a brent-goose +(the last taken from Aristophanes — see above, p. 113), in Symposium +215, 216, 221. So the following from Shakespeare. Boy (speaking of +Falstaff) : ' He is very sick, and would to bed. Good Bardolph, put +thy face between his sheets, and do the office of a warming-pan ' +(Henry F 2. i. 83—5). Prince: ' How now, wool-sack! What mutter you ? +' Falstaff : \* A king's son. If I do not beat thee out of thy +kingdom with a dagger of lath, and drive all thy subjects afore thee +like a flock of wild geese. I '11 never wear hair on my face m.ore ' +(i Hen/y IV 2. 4. 136—40). Falstaff: \* 'Sblood, you starveling, you +elf-skin, you dried neat's-tongue, you bull's pizzle, you stock-fish! +O! for breath to utter what is like thee; you tailor's yard, you +sheath, you bow case, you vile standing tuck ' + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-241 + +(ibid. 2. 4. 246—50). Other examples from Aristophanes are the +following. In the ' thinking-house ' of Socrates dwell the men who ' +teach and persuade us that heaven is a muffle enveloping us, and that +we are the charcoal within ' {Clouds 94—7 — comparison with an oven); +Brasidas and Cleon are the ' pestle ' and \* mortar ' of Sparta and +Athens (Peace 259 ff.); Euelpides looks like a gander done by a +penny-artist (Birds 803-6). Euelpides: \* What are you laughing at ? +' Peisthe-taerus: ' At your long wing-feathers. Do you know what you +are like, your wings and you ? Just like a gander in a cheap sketch.' +Euelpides: ' And you hke a bald-headed blackbird.' Here, too, may be +noticed the \* Dionysus, son of — Wine-jar,' in Frogs 22, where the +epithet we anticipate is son of Zeus or the like; the assimilation to +\* wine-jar ' may therefore be classified also under ' the unexpected +' (see below, p. 250). The hint from Tzetzes (above) suggests that +many comic transformations and disguises fall under the present head +of assimilation to the better or the worse. The \* translated ' +Bottom, ' with an ass's head ' (MND. 3. i), belongs in this category +as well as in that of ' the impossible ' (below, p. 244). The +interchange of master and servant, the disguise of lovers as menials +so as to obtain entrance into the house of the beloved, and similar +devices of the New Greek Comedy and its successors, hardly need to be +mentioned; we immediately think of Valere finding employment in the +household of Harpagon in L'Avare, Leandre as an apothecary assisting +Sganarelle in Le Medecin Malgre Lui, etc.] + +(2) Assimilation or equation of what is worse to what Assimilation + +to the better + +is better. [Tzetzes (below, p. 289) gives as the other side + +of his instance the transformation of the slave Xan-thias into his +master Dionysus (Frogs 494 ff.). This amounts to an assimilation of +Xanthias to Heracles (see ihid. 499), and brings to mind the similar +equation of the unheroic Dionysus to Heracles earlier in the play +(ihid. 40 ff., 108 ff.). The principle involved has a general value +for comedy. It may serve to bring out a ludicrous contrast in which ' +the worse ' gains nothing + +q + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-242 + +242 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +from its ostensible approximation to \* the better '; so in the +examples just given, and in the case of Bottom, who, after his +metamorphosis, is called ' angel' and \* gentleman ' by Titania (MND. +3. i. 126, 161). Or it may serve to elevate or soften what is too low +or painful for comedy, to the right comic degree of inferiority that +gives no pain. In the Birds, some of the qualities taken on by men +are those in which winged creatures excel all human beings, as Ariel, +in The Tempest, excels them; the approximation in plumage, color, +song, and flight, helps in the embellishment of the play. And +particular comparisons may be, not odious, but complimentary. Yet in +the main the equation of the worse to the better in comedy is +ludicrous, and the compliments are ironical. ' Thou art as wise as +thou art beautiful,' says the enchanted Titania to the transformed +Bottom with his decoration (MND. 3. i. 145). The assimilation of +Sganarelle to a great physician in Le Medecin Malgre Lui lends but a +mock-dignity to that jocular rustic. The elevation of Sly in The +Taming of the Shrew does not ennoble him. And servants disguised as +masters become only the more ridiculous. In the way of detail, +Starkie [Acharnians, p. Ixii) adds the following examples. +Strepsiades compares the loss of his shoes with the squandering of +State funds by Pericles — on \* the service ' [Clouds 858—9); the +huge dung-beetle on which Trygaeus will fly up to Zeus is identified +with the winged Pegasus of Beller-ophon (Peace 73—89); the wall built +by the birds for Cloudcuckootown is twice as high as the famous wall +of Babylon, and on its top chariots could drive and pass with horses +as big as the Wooden Horse that caused the fall of Troy (Birds 552, +1124—9). Compare also the garrulous Euphuistic elaborations of the +Pbysiologus noted by Starkie (Hermathena 42. 36—7) in Shakespeare and +Moliere. Falstaff: ' For, though the camomile, the more it is trodden +on, the faster it grows, yet youth, the more it is wasted, the sooner +it wears' (i Henry IV 2. 4. 408—10). Thomas Diafoirus (to Angelique) +: ' Mademoiselle, ne plus ne moins que le statue de Memnon rendait un +son harmonieux lorsqu'elle venait a ^tre + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-243 + +eclairee des rayons du soleil, tout de mtoe me sens-je anime d'un +doux transport a Tapparition du soleil de vos beautes; et, comme les +naturalistes remarquent que la fleur nommee heliotrope tourne sans +cesse vers cet astre du jour, aussi mon coeur dores-en-avant +toumera-t-il toujours vers les astres resplendissants de vos yeux +adorables, ainsi que vers son pole unique \* (Malade Imaginaire 2. +6).] + +(B) From deception. [This category overlaps with Things: + +that of (E) \* the unexpected,' since every ludicrous accident to +which an author carefully leads up with a view to surprising us into +laughter has the nature of a deception ; and similarly the outcome of +deception is unexpected. Deception may be said to govern the plot of +the Birds, which is an elaborate lie (Men are birds); the poet cheats +us into accepting the falsehood through a gradual, yet swift, +transition from what is mere credible to what is less, and through an +accumulation of circumstances that would result if the primary +assumption were true. Similarly in the Frogs the poet cheats us into +expecting that Dionysus will bring back Euripides, and by a sudden +turn at the end makes him bring back Aeschylus instead. Still, we +must differentiate between surprise and deception, as also between +laughter arising from deception in regard to things and the deception +illustrated by jests on words. Aristotle speaks of the deceptive +element in verbal jests such as are produced by an unexpected change +of a letter (see above, p. 146); but this appertains to Xihq. In the +same connection, however, he gives an example of a jocular deception +involving TrpayixaTa: ' " Statelily stept he along, and under his +feet were his — chilblains."—The anticipated word was \*\* sandals." +' But the category of laughter arising from deceit may preferably +include things of greater moment — deeds, schemes, disguises. It was +Homer who taught those who came after how a lie should be represented +(see above, p. 217); the crafty Odysseus, with his many wiles, became +very useful to the comic poets. And impostors, pretenders, quacks, +disguised lovers — any sort of person in + +qz + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-244 + +disguise, any one affecting to be other than himself — are similarly +useful; hkewise the scheming slaves and servants of Menander, +Plautus, Terence, and all modern comedy. Instances are the following: +Falstaff disguised as Mother Prat {Merry Wives 4. 2); Sir Hugh Evans, +disguised, and others disguised as Fairies, and Falstaff disguised as +Heme, with a buck's head on (ibid. 5. 5); Feste disguised as Sir +Topas the curate (Twelfth Night 4. 2); Toinette disguised as +physician (Malade Imaginaire 3. 14); Covielle disguised as +interpreter, and Cleonte ' en Turc ' (Bourgeois Gentilhomme 4. 6). +The entire plot of Monsieur de Pourceaugnac illustrates laughter +through deceit, with Sbrigani as main agent and the Limousin as chief +victim. Starkie (Acharnians, pp. Ixiii-lxiv) notes the following in +Aristophanes : Pseudartabas (' Shamartabas ') and his companions +{Acharnians 65 ff.); the Megarian bringing his two little girls to +market as pigs, and for sale (ihid. 764 ff.); the ' baby girl ' tiiat +turns out to be a leathern bottle (Thesmophoriazusae y;^^ ff.). To +this last Starkie finds a parallel in i Henry IV 5.3. 48—55. Prince: +' I prithee, lend me thy sword.' Falstaff : ' Nay, before God, Hal, +if Percy be alive, thou gett'st not my sword ; but take my pistol, if +thou wilt.' Prince : \* Give it me. What! is it in the case ? ' +Falstaff: ' Ay, Hal; 't is hot, 'tis hot: there's that will sack a +city.' (The prince draws out a bottle of sack.) Prince: ' What [ is +'t a time to jest and dally now ? ' (Throws it at him, and exit.) The +example of laughter through deceit preserved by Tzetzes (below, p. +289) is the case of Strep-siades, who was taken in by the account of +the disciple regarding Socrates' method of estimating the leap of the +flea; the method itself, as described, is an instance under another +head (see below, pp. 247-8).] + +Thinos: (C) From the impossible. [The impossible (irra- + +possibie tional, unintelhgible, violating the laws of natural se- + +quence, especially that of cause and effect) may be used for comic +purposes, and it is then to be distinguished from the unintentional +lapses to which any author, comic or not, is exposed. There is, for +example, a real + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-245 + +inconsistency in the Clouds as we have the play; for in line 142 +Socrates is represented as within, measuring the distance skipped by +a flea, while in lines 217 ff. he is seen to have been outside, and +above, engaged in \* treading the air and contemplating the sun.' It +has been suggested (cf. Starkie, Clouds, p. 45, note on line 152) +that the inconsistency may be due, not to carelessness on the part of +Aristophanes, but to later imperfect ' contamination ' of the two +editions of the play. On the other hand, Socrates'' I tread the air, +and look down on the sun ' (Starkie's rendering) is a case of true +comic impossibility. So also the building of Cloudcuckoo-town with +its massive walls, midway between heaven and earth [Birds 1124 ff.); +and the resulting blockade of the gods, what they suffer from it, and +the embassy they send to Peisthetaerus in order to make terms [ihid. +1565 ff.), are equally irrational (= ' impossible '). ' Impossible,' +too, are the encounter of Dionysus and Xan-thias with the dead man, +and their attempt to strike a bargain with him as carrier [Frogs +170—8); the ascent of Trygaeus to heaven on his Pegasus, the beetle +[Peace 154—81). Lucian's True History abounds in comic +impossibilities, giving rise to many imitations in subsequent writers +— as in Swift's Voyage to Laputa. With the category in the Tractate +compare also the following. ' It is easier for a camel to go through +the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of +God' (Matt. 19. 24). ' Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, . . . +blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel' [ihid. 23. +23—4). In Moliere, when the Constable asks Harpagon, \* Whom do you +suspect of this robbery ? ' the Miser replies: ' Every one; and I +wish you to arrest the city and the suburbs ' [L'Avare 5. i). +Unreason and unintelligi-bility for the sake of laughter are often +employed by Shakespeare. Second Servingman: ' Nay, I knew by his face +that there was something in him; he had, sir, a kind of face, +methought — I cannot tell how to term it.' First Servingman: \* He +had so, looking as it were — would I were hanged but I thought there +was more in him than I could think ' [Coriolanus 4. 5. 161—6). + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-246 + +246 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +With this compare the reply of Sganarelle to the imposing argument of +the hero in Mohere's Don Jtcan 1. 2. : ' Ma foi, j 'ai a dire — Je ne +sais que dire. . . . Laissez faire; une autre fois je mettrai mes +raisonnements par ecrit, pour disputer avec vous.' Again, Dogberry: ' +To be a we]l-favored man is the gift of fortune; but to \\vrite and +read comes by nature ' {Much Ado 3. 3. 14—6). ' For your writing and +reading, let that appear when there is no need of such vanity. You +are thought here to be the most senseless and fit man for the +constable of the watch ' {ibid. 3.3. 20—3). Dogberry : \* You are to +bid any man stand, in the prmce's name.' ' How if a ' will not stand +? ' Dogberry: \* Why then, take no note of him, but let him go; and +presently call the rest of the watch together, and thank God you are +rid of a knave ' {ibid. 3. 3. 25—30). ' Garrulity,' of course, may +evince \* impossibility ' (unreason). Bottom (after returning to his +normal shape, and awaking) : \* I have had a most rare vision. I have +had a dream past the wit of man to say what dream it was; man is but +an ass, if he go about to expound this dream. Methought I was — there +is no man can tell what. Methought I was — and methought I had — but +man is but a patched fool, if he will offer to say what methought I +had. The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, +man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his +heart to report, what my dream was. I will get Peter Quince to write +a ballad of this dream ; it shall be called Bottom's Dream, because +it hath no bottom ' {MND. 4. i. 206-17). The speeches of the +Servingmen, Dogberry, and Bottom illustrate also the category of \* +disjointed utterance,' when the story \* has no sequence ' (see +below, p. 257). Among the cases of ' impossibility ' (unreason) noted +by Starkie {Acharnians, p. Ixv) are the following. Socrates: \* I +should never have solved the riddle if I gazed upon the sky from the +nether earth ; for, soothly, perforce the earth draws the moist +element in thought. — Such, too, is the law with water-cresses.' +Strepsiades : \* What! does " thought " " draw " " the moist element +" into " the water-cresses " ? ' {Clouds 231—6.) In the Birds + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-247 + +THINGS :THE POSSIBLE AND INCONSEQUENT 247 + +999—1005, Meton the geometer shows his rods for air-surveying, and +explains how to square the circle. Later, Iris is threatened with +death, although she is immortal {ibid. 1221—4). Aristotle furnishes +an example of this type of humor in Physica Auscultatio 2. 6 (see +above, p. 143) :' If any one should say he had washed himself in vain +because the sun was not eclipsed, he would be laughed at, since there +is no causal connection between this and that.'] + +(D) From the possible and inconsequent. [The pos- Things: + +sible, but not' probable ' or relevant (see above, p. 191), sibie and +used for comic effect. The category may be termed that "'^°"^®''"®"\* +of ' the irrelevant.' A good case is Dionysus' attempt to measure the +literary value of lines from Aeschylus and Euripides by weighing them +in scales {Frogs 1365— 1410); compare the similar device employed by +Irving in his Knickerbocker's History of New York, Book 3, chap. I, +where Governor Van Twiller pronounced that, ' having carefully +counted over the leaves and weighed the books, it was found that one +was just as thick and as heavy as the other ; therefore it was the +final opinion of the court that the accounts were equally balanced; +therefore Wandle should give Barent a receipt, and Barent should give +Wandle a receipt — and the constable should pay the costs.' So +Rabelais (3. 39, 43) represents Bridoye, that excellent judge, as +deciding cases (after hearing the arguments on both sides) by means +of dice ; for forty years and more Bridoye judged successfully, and +then, his eyesight failing, he mistook a throw of four for a five. It +is \* possible ' to measure and judge by such standards, but the +process is irrelevant (\* inconsequent '). Futile measurements are +the staple in the illustration given by Tzetzes of laughter through ' +deceit' (see above, p. 244, below, p. 289). As Tzetzes mentions but +two of the nine heads under Tipay^xaTa listed in the Tractate, his +second illustration may be one that had become misplaced in the +tradition. Strepsiades is deceived; but the story that deceives him +belongs here. Disciple: ' A while ago Socrates asked Chaeremon how +many of its own feet a flea had + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-248 + +jumped; for after biting Chaeremon's eyebrow it bounded off to +Socrates' head.' Strepsiades: 'How, then, did he measure the leap ? ' +Disciple : \* With the utmost dexterity. He melted some wax, caught +the flea, and dipped its feet in the melted wax; when this was cold, +the feet were encased in Persian slippers! These he took off, and so +he found the distance ' (Clouds 144—52). The deception lies in +Strepsiades' belief that a system of measurement has been described, +when the disciple's account is irrelevant. Irrelevance, whether in +garrulity or in brief answers, is frequent in comic dialogue. Second +Watch: ' If we know him to be a thief, shall we not lay hands on him? +' Dogberry: ' Truly, by your office you may; but I think that they +that touch pitch will be defiled ' (Much Ado 3. 3. 53—6). Verges: 'If +you hear a child cry in the night, you must call to the nurse and bid +her still it.' Second Watch : ' How if the nurse be asleep and will +not hear us ? ' Dogberry : \* Why, then, depart in peace, and let the +child wake her with crying ; for the ewe that will not hear her lamb +when it baes will never answer a calf when he bleats ' (ibid. 3. 3. +64—71). Touchstone: ' As the ox hath his bow, sir, the horse his +curb, and the falcon her bells, so man hath his desires' (AYL. 3. 3. +77—9). Polonius : ' This above all: to thine own self be true. And it +must follow as the night the day. Thou canst not then be false to any +man ' (Hamlet i. 3. 77—80). The day does not produce the night; the +sequence of cause and effect is really lacking. In the Clouds, when +Amynias justly demands payment of a debt, the now sophisticated +Strepsiades thus puts him off: ' Tell me, do you think that Zeus +sends fresh rain each time, or that the sun draws up the same water +again from below ? ' (Clouds 1277—81.) The inconsequent reply is a +favorite ruse of shifty debtors. Irrelevance, however, is perhaps +most frequently to be looked for in extended comic debate, as in the +agon of the Aristophanic play. So Aeschylus argues that the terms of +the proposed contest are unfair ; his own poetry, having survived its +author, can not be brought forward in Hades, while that of Euripides + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-249 + +died with him — ' he's got it here to recite \* (Frogs 866—9). During +the argument between the two poets Dionysus interjects irrelevant +remarks (ibid. 1036—8, 1067—8, 1074—5, 1158—9). EarUer in the play, +the explanations of Xanthias and Dionysus, in accounting for their +cries under the lash of Aeacus, are irrelevant. Dionysus (receiving a +blow): ' Oh, Oh! ' Aeacus: ' What is it ? ' Dionysus : \* I see +horsemen.' Aeacus : ' Why do you cry ? ' Dionysus: \* I smell onions +' (Frogs 653—4, cf. 644—52). As a last example, take the following. +Falstaff: \* By the Lord, thou say est true, lad. And is not my +hostess of the tavern a most sweet wench ? ' Prince: ' As the honey +of Hybla, my old lad of the castle. And is not a buff jerkin a most +sweet robe of durance ? ' Falstaff: ' How now, how now, mad wag! +What, in thy quips and thy quiddities ? what a plague have I to do +with a buff jerkin ? ' Prince: \* Why, what a pox have I to do with +my hostess of the tavern?' (j Henry IV i. 2. + +40-9.)] + +(E) From the unexpected. [Deception and surprise Things: are, +strictly considered, the sources of laughter par expected excellence, +and underlie all others. Thus the irrelevant is unexpected, and +similarly the impossible, since things normally follow one another in +a ' probable ' or ' necessary ' sequence. Still, we may have a +category of the unexpected proper, including simpler forms, and also +the strange, the marvelous, the astounding. The marvelous clearly is +a distinctive feature of the Birds, the Frogs, A Midsummer-Night's +Dream, The Tempest, and other comedies having the scene laid outside +the world of our everyday experience. But to illustrate in detail, +laughter is caused at the end of the Frogs by the unexpected choice +of Dionysus in taking Aeschylus instead of Euripides ; by the +appearance of Lucas between Sganarelle and Jacqueline as Sganarelle +is about to embrace her (Medecin Malgre Lui 3. 3) ; by that of Bottom +(just transformed) and Puck amongst the artisans rehearsing (MND. 3. +i.); by the speech and song of Ariel, unseen, in The Tempest. +Aristotle's + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-250 + +250 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +quotation (see above, pp. 146, 243), ' Statelily stept he along, and +under his feet were his — chilblains' (where we anticipated sandals), +illustrates either \* deception ' or 'the unexpected.' Other examples +of the latter are: ' I, Dionysus, son of—Wine-jar ' (Frogs 22);' By +Apollo! there is plenty of spirit in women, if — the wine-shop is +handy ' [Lysistrata 465—6) ; ' Many bold allies will join, good +honest men without — barley' (Plutus 218—9 — the expected word was +fear). Starkie (Achar-nians, p. Ixviii) says that \* the most +successful surprise in Aristophanes ' is the refusal of the dead man +to act as carrier for less than two drachmas (in Frogs 177): ' Strike +me alive if I do! '] + +Things: (F) From debasing the personages. [That is, more + +(F) debssino + +the personages literally, \* fashionmg the personages in the +direction of the worthless.' There is a difference, says Aristotle in +*Poetics* 3 (above, p. 171), between tragedy and comedy, in that \* +tragedy tends to represent men as better, and comedy tends to +represent them as worse, than the men of the present day.' So +Aristophanes makes the Socrates of the Clouds worse than the Socrates +of reality, and doubtless Ameipsias did likewise with the same +character in the Connus ; but (anticipating the dictum of *Poetics* 5) +not worse in any and every way — only ridiculous. The character is +distorted, and to some extent lowered, from the truth, yet not +painfully so. The present category obviously overlaps with that (A I, +above, p. 240) of \* assimilation to the worse'; but it is more +general, since there are other means of lowering a character besides +assimilation, and' is at the same time more specific, since it is +confined to persons. To call Dionysus \* son of Wine-jar ' (when we +expected son of Zeus) is to make him worse than reality. Aristophanes +makes the gods he employs as personages worse than they were in +tradition; compare his treatment of Heracles, Prometheus, and Iris, +in the Birds. And he proceeds similarly with men. So Demus, standing +for the Athenian people, in the Knights (1340 ff.), is old, deaf, and +witless; his ears open and close like a sunshade at flattering and +unflattering reference to him + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-251 + +THINGS: DEBASING THE PERSONAGES 251 + +by speakers in the Assembly. So not only Socrates and the +philosophers and Sophists generally, but statesmen, even Pericles, +and Cleon of course, are made ridiculous; and similarly the generals, +other comic poets such as Cratinus and Eupolis; likewise tragic +poets, Euripides in particular, but also Aeschylus — on occasion even +Sophocles, who has been metamorphosed into a sordid old Simonides, +and would put to sea on a hurdle if the voyage promised gain (Peace +695—9). In the main, however, Aristophanes does not lower what is +really exalted, or distort what is in good proportion. In the Birds, +not Zeus, but minor deities or demigods, as Prometheus, chiefly evoke +laughter; the most ridiculous of the deities there presented is the +outlandish Triballian. Poseidon appears in the Birds, and there and +elsewhere we find passing, yet only passing, allusion to Zeus in +uncomplimentary terms. Poseidon is not a main figure in the embassy. +Nor does Sophocles come forward as a main character in the Frogs; +Aristophanes significantly lets him alone as unsuited to the comic +purpose. The old and traditionally best is unsuited to his ends. In +the Acharnians, Pericles, still near in point of time, is casually +debased, and his statesmanship ridiculed; later, the age of Pericles +has become ideal, and it is the next generation of leaders that is +mocked. The \* conservatism ' of Aristophanes is not that of a +detached thinker, but that of a comic poet engaged in a dramatic +competition, for whom the present is out of joint, distorted, and +hence capable of exaggerated distortion. The ideal past is less +useful to him — though not useless directly, and indirectly +serviceable by providing him with a standard of comparison with the +present which he ridicules. In the New Comedy, nearly all the +personages are made somewhat worse than the average. Old men have the +vices of age, avarice, apprehension, and garrulity, in excess; as the +young men are prodigal, lustful, and so on, and the courtesans are +worse than the average of their class. But now and then the +courtesans, since the class is already below the average, are endowed +with certain virtues so that they may be less odious, + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-252 + +THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +Things: (G) the "use of clownish dancing + +and that the comedy may not fail to give pleasure ; just as the +intriguing slave, chief agent in the plot, has intelligence, good +humor, a measure of fidelity to his master, and the like. The +principle of making the agents worse is easily illustrated from comic +poets ancient and modern. Moliere's treatment of the medical +fraternity will supply numerous examples, and so will Shakespeare's +clowns and petty officers. Dogberry and Verges are more worthless +than are constables and head-boroughs as a rule. Falstaff, descended +on one side from the braggart soldier of classical tradition, is +worse than the average blusterer; and, so far as he had an original +in history, he has been distorted. The dramatist has lowered him, yet +not too far; Falstaff remains comic. The principle being of wide +application, the reader can furnish other illustrations.] + +(G) From the use of clownish (pantomimic) dancing. \* Vulgar ' — +perhaps even ' clownish ' — more than translates cpopTLXY], which is +opposed to the dignified motions of the chorus in tragedy, and hence +is about equivalent to ' comic' Some of the dancing in comedy is +beautiful, some ludicrous; there is much of both sorts (cf. above, +pp. 71—4). The present category must include not only the traditional +dance of the Old Comedy, the cordax, or any dance introduced by the +poet for comic effect, but ridiculous dumb-show of every kind, +especially that of a rhythmical sort. The Tractate does not specify +the indecent cordax, coarse and lascivious, that was suggestive of +the phallic song and dance from which comedy took its origin. The +Athenian would not allow the cordax in the Platonic commonwealth (see +above, p. 125). Aristophanes prides himself on its absence from the +Clouds (cf. line 540), but elsewhere employs it, probably in a less +offensive way than did his contemporaries; Dicaeopolis seems to have +danced it in his phallic monody [Acharnians 263 ff.; cf. 261—2, and +Starkie, p. Ixxi). The poet makes use of other dances also, such as +the travesty of the Persian military dance in Thesmophoriazusae 1175 +ff., where the dancing-girl skips (according to the Scythian) + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-253 + +' like a flea on a blanket ' {ibid. 1180). Again, as Haigh (p. 318) +notes, \* the chorus, at the end of the Wasfs, when encouraging the +sons of Carcinus to fresh exertions, bid them " whirl round like +tops, and fling their legs up into the sky." ' Rogers thus translates +the passage {Wasps 1516-37) : + +Come draw we aside, and leave them wide, a roomy and peaceable +exercise-ground, + +That before us therein like tops they may spin, revolving and +whirling and twirling around. O lofty-titled sons of the ocean-roving +sire. Ye brethern of the shrimps, come and leap + +On the sand and on the strand of the salt and barren deep. + +Whisk nimble feet around you ; kick out, till all admire, The +Phrynichean kick to the sky; + +That the audience may applaud, as they view your leg on high. + +On, on in mazy circles; hit your stomach with your heel; + +Fling legs aloft to heaven, as like spinning-tops you wheel. + +Your Sire is creeping onward, the Ruler of the Sea ; + +He gazes with delight at his hobby-dancers three. + +Come, dancing as you are, if you like it, lead away. + +For never yet, I warrant, has an actor till to-day + +Led out a chorus, dancing, at the ending of the Play. + +See also Rogers' admirable rendering of the Plutus for the vehement +dancing of the chorus in the orchestra, while Cario dances on the +stage — a fine instance of 'pleasure' and 'laughter' combined (Plutus +288-321), In pantomimic dancing and rhythmical dumb-show, the +mechanical regularity imposed upon what is by nature irregular — as +the motions of the drunken, or of men engaged in fisticuffs, or the +like — is incongruous, and is a source of laughter. The punishment +(fillips in cadence) meted out to Polichinelle in Le Malade +Imaginaire, Premier Intermede, sc. 8, is an instance: ' Les archers +danseurs lui donnent des croquignoles en cadence.' And again (ibid.): +'Les archers danseurs lui donnent des coups de baton en cadence.' +Compare Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme 4. 13 (Troisieme Entree de Ballet) : +' Les Turcs dansants mettent le turban sur le tete de M. Jourdain au +son des instruments'; (Quat-rieme Entree de Ballet) : \* Les Turcs +dansants donnent en cadence plusieurs coups de sabre a M. Jourdain '; +(Cinquieme Entree de Ballet) : \* Les Turcs dansants + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-254 + +donnent aM. Jourdain des coups de baton en cadence.' The scene ends +with the stage-direction (I translate) : \* The Mufti begins a third +invocation. The Dervishes respectfully hold him up beneath the arms; +after which the Turks, singing and dancing, leap about the Mufti, +withdraw with him, and lead away M. Jourdain/ But in modern comedy +perhaps the most striking instance of pantomimic song and dance is +the close (Troisieme Intermede) of Le Malade Imaginaire, introduced +by these stage-directions: \* C'est une cere-monie burlesque d'un +homme qu'on fait medecin en recit, chante, et danse. Plusieurs +tapissiers viennent preparer la salle et placer les bancs en cadence. +Ensuite de quoi toute Tassemblee, composee de huit porte-seringues, +six apothicaires, vingt-deux docteurs, et celui qui se fait recevoir +medecin, huit chirurgiens dan-sants, et deux chantants, entrent, et +prennent place, chacun selon son rang.' The dancing of Shakespearean +comedy is often for \* pleasure ' more than for \* laughter '; the +statement doubtless holds for romantic comedy in general. So Ariel's +Song {Tempest 1.2. 375—85):' Come unto these yellow sands. And then +take hands. . . . Foot it featly here and there,' etc.; yet the song +closes in the other vein: + +Hark, hark ! + +{Burden : Bow, wow, dispersedly. The watch-dogs bark : + +{Burden : Bow, wow, dispersedly. Hark, hark ! I hear The strain of +strutting Chanticleer + +{Cry : Cock-a-diddle-dow. + +A more typical case for the Tractate would be the dance of the \* +fairies,' when Falstaff is trapped in Windsor Park {Merry Wives 5. 5. +93 ff.), and the dancers are incited to their work by Anne Page as +the Fairy Queen : + +Corrupt, corrupt, and tainted in desire ! + +About him, fairies, sing a scornful rime; + +And, as you trip, still pinch him to your time. + +As commentators on the Tractate at this point have hitherto limited +themselves to discussions of the + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-255 + +THINGS: TAKING THE WORTHLESS 255 + +cordax, one may now add that all modern light opera illustrates +Category G; so the \* very loud ' chorus of the Pirates in Gilbert +and Sullivan (Pirates of Penzance, Act 2): \* With cat-like tread +Upon our prey we steal; In silence dread Our cautious way we feel/ +There is \* vulgar dancing' in the Walpurgisnacht scene of Goethe's +Faust — ' Faust mit der Jungen tanzend . . . Mephistopheles mit der +Alt en.' The accompanying words of Mephistopheles are unfit for +quotation. The grotesque episode in Ibsen's Peer Gynt, Act 2, at the +Court of the Dovregubbe in the mountains, where we have dancing, and +a hunt of the hero by the Trolls, is familiar through the music of +Grieg, First Peer Gynt Suite, No. 4, In the Hall of the Mountain +King. Burns shows his mastery of this type of comic effect in Tarn +O'Shanter ; I ask the reader to turn to that poem. ' The unlimited +capacities of Greek dancing ' are well estimated by Haigh (p. 313) : +' The purpose . . . was to represent various objects and events by +means of gestures, postures, and attitudes. In this kind of mimicry +the nations of southern Europe are particularly skilful, as may be +seen at the present day. The art was carried by the Greeks to the +highest perfection, and a good dancer was able to accompany a song +with such expressive pantomime as to create a visible picture of the +things described. Aristotle defines dancing as an imitation of " +actions, characters, and passions by means of postures and rhythmical +movements {*Poetics* I — see above, p. 168).] + +(H) When one of those having power, neglecting the Things: greatest +things, takes the most worthless. [The point the choice + +... and taking + +IS illustrated by Dionysus' intention to bring back the worthless +Euripides, when he might, as Heracles reminds him (Frogs 76—7), have +Sophocles if he chose. Thieves become ludicrous when they pass by +things of value, and fasten upon what is trivial. In the Wasps 233—9 +^^^ aged dicasts lament their prime, \* when we kept the watch +together, and stole . . . the baker's tray, and chopped it up to cook +our pimpernel withal.' Again (ibid. 354—5) : \* Don't you remember +when, in the cam- + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-256 + +256 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +paign, you stole the spits, and slid down by the wall, when we +captured Naxos ? ' Cherished memories of trifling adventures, then, +come under this head. Justice Shallow: ' The same Sir John, the very +same. I saw him break Skogan's head at the court-gate, when a' was a +crack not thus high; and the very same day did I fight with one +Sampson Stockfish, a fruiterer, behind Gray's Inn. Jesu! Jesu! the +mad days that I have spent ' [2 Henry IV 3. 2. 31—6). The Boy in +Henry V 3. 2. 42—5 says of Falstaff's friends : ' They will steal +anything and call it purchase. Bardolph stole a lute-case, bore it +twelve leagues, and sold it for three halfpence. Nym and Bardolph are +sworn brothers in filching, and in Calais they stole a fire-shovel.' +In The Taming of the Shrew, Induction 2. 5—9, Sly, as \* your +lordship ' and ' your honor,' may have a cup of sack, conserves, rich +raiment. He replies : ' I am Christophero Sly; call not me honor, nor +lordship. I ne'er drank sack in my life ; and if you give me any +conserves, give me conserves of beef. Ne'er ask me what\* raiment +I'll wear, for I have no more doublets than backs, no more stockings +than legs.' Titania gives orders to feed Bottom ' with apricocks and +dewberries, with purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries,' and asks +if he will hear fairy music. Bottom : ' I have a reasonable good ear +in music : let us have the tongs and the bones.' And what will he eat +? ' Truly, a peck of provender ; I could munch your good dry oats. +Methinks I have a great desire to a bottle of hay: good hay, sweet +hay, hath no fellow ' [MND. 3. i. 161 ff.; 4. i. i ff.). In Moliere, +Philaminte prefers the vapid Trissotin for son-in-law rather than the +worthy Clitandre {Femmes Savantes) ; M. Jourdain desires \* le fils +du Grand Turc ' in the same relation rather than Cleonte (Bourgeois +Gentilhomme) ; and Argan chooses Thomas Diafoirus rather than Cleante +for his daughter Angelique [Malade Imaginaire). ' Under this head,' +says Starkie (Acharnians, p. Ixxii), \* comes bathos, even when +confined to a single thought. As the sudden drop causes surprise, +many of these instances may be classified under ::apa 7:po(7Boxtav ' +(' the unexpected'). Among his examples are the + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-257 + +following. As a disciple of Socrates, Strepsiades would not even \* +talk to the other gods ' — those of Olympus, — in comparison with the +new divinities of Chaos, Clouds, Tongue (Clouds 424—5). When his son +was a child, Strepsiades yielded to his lisping prayer, and \* spent +the very first obol I earned for court-service on a go-cart for you +at the fair ' (ibid. 861—4). In the Knights 642—5, the finest piece +of news the Sausage-seller can give to the Council is: \* Never since +the war broke out have I seen sprats cheaper than now.' In the Birds +1683 ff., Heracles gives up his right to the Lady Sovereignty for a +dish of thrushes.] + +(I) When the story [or ' discourse'] is disjointed, and Things: has +no sequence. [I have translated Xoyo? by \* story' or storfOT*""***\* +' discourse '; one can not be certain what the term here means (see a +discussion of it, above, pp. 49-51,62n., 211). It means, at least, a +single speech in a play. If it covers also the plot of a comedy, +there must be limits to the want of sequence in that, since the whole +must not be utterly devoid of organic structure. If the law of +causality, or of probability, may be violated, while yet suggested, +for comic effect, still the poet should rather aim at a seeming than +at a real lack of plan. Even that is dangerous in a work of any +length. Yet the Frogs has struck more than one critic of Aristophanes +as not well-jointed, though not less amusing on that account; on its +essential unity and coherence, see above pp. 47, 206—7. Rabelais +through his actual formlessness gains some advantage perhaps, to +offset a part of what he thereby loses. The comic effect of a +disjointed story is safer to aim at in shorter pieces like Chaucer's +Tale of Sir Thopas and Calverley's The Cock and the Bull, above all +when the author pretends that his work is a fragment. A lack of +sequence may be tolerable, and ludicrous, in a farce. When the word +"Xoyo? refers, not to a whole comedy regarded as one continuous' +utterance, but to some part of the work, as a single speech or song +of the chorus, or of a character, it is easy to illustrate the point +of disjointed discourse. Don Pedro : \* Officers, what offence have +these men + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-258 + +258 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +done ? ' Dogberry: \* Marry, sir, they have committed false report; +moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; +sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have +verified unjust things; and to conclude, they are lying knaves/ Don +Pedro : \* First, I ask thee what they have done ; thirdly, I ask +thee what's their offence; sixth and lastly, why they are committed; +and, to conclude, what you lay to their charge ? ' (Much Ado 5. i. +212—222.) Many examples of garrulity would fall under this head, as +well as parodies; and the present category overlaps with those of \* +the impossible ' and ' the possible and inconsequent.' Bottom's +account of his \* vision' (MND. 4. i) is disjointed, as is the talk +of the Serving-men in Coriolanus 4. 5 ; Calverley's The Cock and the +Bull partly so, especially near the close: + +Off in three flea skips. Hactenus, so far, + +So good, tarn bene. Bene, satis, male — + +Where was I with my trope 'bout one in a quag ? + +I did once hitch the syntax into verse : + +Verbum personale, a verb personal, + +Concordat — Ay, 'agrees,' old Fatchaps — cum + +Nominativo, with its nominative, + +Geneve, V point o' gender, numero, + +O\* number, et persona, and person. Ut, + +Instance : Sol ruit, down flops sun; et, and + +Monies umbrantur, out flounce mountains. Pah ! + +Excuse me, sir, I think I'm going mad. + +You see the trick on 't though, and can yourself + +Continue the discourse ad libitum. + +Compare the following. Sganarelle [se levant brus-quement) : ' Vous +n'entendez point le latin ? ' Geronte : ' Non.' Sganarelle [avec +enthousiasme) : \* Cahricias, arci thuram, catalamus, singulariter, +nominativo, haec musa, la muse, bonus, bona, bonum. Deus sanctus, +esi-ne oratio latinas? Etiam, oui. Quare ? pourquoi ? Quia +substantivo, et adjectivum, concordat in generi, numerum, et casus ' +(Midecin Malgre Lui 2. 6). The first four words are forged jargon; +thereafter Moliere travesties the Grammar (' rudiment ') of +Despautere. (See also 'grammar and syntax,' above, pp. 237-9.) + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-259 + +Parodies of the tragic and lyric poets are common in Aristophanes, as +the lyrical imitation, without se-. quence, in the Birds 948—53 +(Rogers' translation). Poet: \* Yes I '11 depart, and make to the +city pretty songs like this: + +0 thou of the golden throne, Sing Her, the quivering, shivering; + +1 came to the plains many-sown, I came to the snowy, the blowy. + +Alalae !' + +Disjointed composition may be seen in the verses proffered to the +ladies by Trissotin in Les Femmes Savantes 3. 2.] + +Comedy differs from abuse [>.oi^opia], since abuse comedy dif- + +. fers from + +openly censures the bad qualities attachmg to men, scurrility whereas +comedy employs what is called ' emphasis ' [? 'innuendo']. [This +'emphasis' (£[j.(pa(7L?) is commonly taken to mean the same thing as +Aristotle's ' innuendo ' (67u6voicc) in the Nicomachean Ethics (see +Kaibel, p. 52, and compare above, pp. 19, 25,120). The term ' +emphasis ' is found also in late Greek, and hence in Latin, theories +of rhetoric (see Volkmann, Rhetorik der Griechen und Romer, 1885, pp. +445—6); the orator employs ' emphasis ' when he has a deeper meaning +than his words, taken literally, suggest. But the term may not have +just the same sense for comedy. According to the usual +interpretation, ' abuse ' would refer to a characteristic of the Old +Comedy, and ' emphasis ' to a characteristic of the New. But the +epitomator has just given an analysis of laughter with a special +application to Aristophanes (see the examples in Tzetzes, below, pp. +288—9). Perhaps it would be safer to connect ' abuse ' with the +earlier stages of the Old Comedy (but still more with the iambic +invective of Archilochus and Hipponax), and ' emphasis ' with the +later plays of Aristophanes, and with those of his successors who +leaned toward the New Comedy. In Aristophanes a good deal of what now +counts for ' abuse ' — at least + +r 2 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-260 + +. . 26o THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +with many critics — was not so regarded by the poet and his audience. +According to tradition, Socrates left his seat during the performance +of the Clouds, and stood near enough to the \* Socrates ' of the play +to let the spectators judge the success of the imitation. +Aristophanes does not directly abuse Socrates, or the gods, or +Aeschylus and Euripides. In his hands the peculiarities of Socrates +are heightened so as to produce laughter; the traditional Heracles +becomes a buffoon through a process of selection and accentuation of +the comic possibilities in the myth; and a similar method of +selection and over-stress is employed in order to arouse laughter +with Aeschylus and Euripides. Might not the result be a form of \* +emphasis ' ? It is not certain that the sjicpaci^ of the Tractate and +the uTuovoia of the Nicomachean Ethics are identical. On the other +hand, that the indirect method is not foreign to Aristophanes may be +seen in the Knights, where Demus and Paphlagon respectively stand for +the people of Athens and the demagogues ; not until line 976, and +only there, is Cleon mentioned by name. That the same method was +employed by Cratinus may be inferred from the usual interpretation of +the fragments of his Nemesis, in which Zeus and Nemesis are thought +to have represented Pericles and Aspasia (cf. Kock i. 47). The titles +of many plays of the Old Comedy.betray the same tendency to avoid +open abuse, and to render ludicrous by indirection — as the Wasps, +Frogs, and Clouds of Aristophanes. In the Birds, the poet does not +openly censure the bad habit of speculation attaching to the +Athenians; he employs an indirect form of good-humored ridicule.] + +The ludicrous The joker [6 (jy.wTUTwvl will make game of faults in + +In mental and ■; -, • , , , ^'^^ ■, + +bodily defects the soul and m the body. [The word Gy^oiTZTO))/ may be + +applied to a comic poet; Aristotle uses the verb with reference to +Aristophanes, Strattis, and Anaxandrides (see above, pp. 156,158,31). +For Cicero's statement that both bodily and mental qualities lie +within the province of the truly ludicrous, see above, p. 88. The +sentiment is doubtless ancient, possibly belonging to early Greek + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-261 + +rhetorical theory as well as to the theory of comedy. With regard to +comedy it is a mere truism in view of the actual practice of writers +great and small. Aristophanes makes use of the bodily features and +also the philosophy and method of teaching of \* Socrates ' for +laughter in the Clouds. In the Birds the ridiculous bulk of Heracles +as well as his simplicity and gross appetite is represented. +Shakespeare makes game of the unwieldy frame not less than the +buffoonery of Falstaff. Bottom with an ass's head is as wise as he is +beautiful. One might go on to mention Bardolph, MalvoHo, and others, +if there were any point in extending the list. In Monsieur de +Pourceaugnac Moliere prepares the audience in advance for the +ridiculous face and bearing of the hero, and for his qualities as a +bombastic dupe, and utilizes both aspects of the character for +laughter throughout the play. Similarly the outward form and the +dress of Argan, as well as his hypochondria, are employed in Le +Malade Imaginaire, and the appearance and ethos of the miserly +Harpagon in L'Avare. Perhaps the propriety of laughter at bodily +defects was questioned in Greek treatises on poetry, as it has been +since. Certain blemishes, however, such as baldness, knock-knees, +bandy-legs, lack of an eye, strabismus, do not strike humanity at +large as painful; they are like the comic mask, mentioned in the +*Poetics* (see above, p. 176) as an example of something ugly, +distorted, and ludicrous, without suggesting pain. No doubt there is +a limit beyond which the comic poet may not go in representing bodily +defects, as there are forms of vice that are excluded from comedy. +The obvious results of severe illness would not be suitable for comic +treatment, nor would mortal emaciation or frightful scars. But it is +hard to draw the line. Extreme emaciation coupled with activity, like +extreme corpulence, or any unusual departure from the norm, may be +rendered ludicrous. Hunchbacks have often served their turn in comic +writers ; yet Dickens' Quilp and Hugo's Quasimodo are not strictly +comic, but saturnine, with a hint of pain. So long as the suggestion +of pain is absent, even the dead man of tlieFrogs may create +amusement.] + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-262 + +THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +Proportionate laughter + +Constituent parts of comedy + +Plot + +Ethos In comedy: three types + +(I) the buf-foonish + +As in tragedies there should be a due proportion of fear, so in +comedies there should be a due proportion of laughter. [Kayser (pp. +30—1) thinks the statement to be Aristotelian. Bernays (p. 151) +interprets thus: As in tragedy a due proportion of fear to pity is +demanded, so in comedy a due proportion of laughter to pleasure; in +other words, the laughter must be neither that of scurrility nor that +of bitter invective. But if we are to extract anything from the +passage, perhaps the meaning is that the element of laughter must not +be in excess — there must be a sufficient admixture of the pleasing +accessories of comedy, such as beautiful language, music, etc. (See +above, pp. 71—6.) \* Due proportion ' represents the (7U[j.[j.£Tpia +of the original.] + +The substance \\pkr\\\ of comedy consists of (i) plot, (2) ethos, (3) +dianoia, (4) diction, (5) melody, (6) spectacle. [See above, pp. +47—53, 182—6.] + +The comic plot [p8o?] is the structure binding together the ludicrous +incidents. [Literally, \* is that having the ada^oLGK concerning +laughable acts.' For pGo^ see above, pp. 49—51.] + +The characters [y]Oy)] of comedy are (i) the buffoonish, (2) the +ironical, and (3) those of the impostors. [The three are +distinguished by Aristotle in Nicomachean Ethics 4. 13—4, but other +types that might serve for comedy are likewise there described. +Examples of the ' buffoon ' in Aristophanes are Dionysus in the +Frogs, Euelpides in the Birds, Strepsiades in the Clouds, Philocleon +in the Wasps, Demus in the Knights. In Shakespeare, Polonius, +Dogberry, and Bottom are \* buffoons ' of several sorts; in Moliere, +Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, Sganarelle in Le Festin de Pierre, and +doubtless Sganarelle in Le Midecin Malgre Lui — though the last-named +is forced into the role of \* impostor '; Monsieur Jourdain in Le +Bourgeois Gentil-homme is fundamentally a \* buffoon,' with leanings +toward the type of \* impostor.' Falstaff is an \* impostor ' with +frequent indulgence in the language of + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-263 + +BUFFOON, EIRON, AND IMPOSTORS 263 + +the ' buffoon/ The latter term, like the other two, is used in a +technical sense (see above, pp. 117—9); it must not mislead a +defender of Falstaff or the Sganarelle of Le Midecin Malgre Lui +because of their shrewd wit. Sancho Panza in Don Quixote is +technically a \* buffoon.' The great example of the \* ironical man ' +is the Socrates of Plato, with his customary affectation of +ignorance. No modern language has an exact equivalent of the Greek +sipwvsta, though the character is found in modern society; Bishop +Stubbs, the historian, was an example; cf. the description in Hutton, +Letters of William Stubbs, p. 407 : ' I think that sometimes he came +near displaying what was not real for fear of being tempted into +displaying what was.' Comic \* irony ' resembles one of the traits of +old age ; according to Aristotle (Rhetoric 2. 13), the old ' are +never positive about anything, and always err on the side of too +little excess ; they " suppose," but never " know " anything ; and in +discussion they always add " perhaps" or " possibly," expressing +themselves invariably in this guarded manner, and never positively.' +Says Cornford (pp. 137—8): ' The Buffoon and the Eiron are more +closely allied in Aristotle's view than a modem reader might expect. +... It will be remembered that in the Ethics the Ironical Man and the +Impostor or swaggerer (2) The confront one another in the two vicious +extremes which '""'"' flank the virtuous mean of Truthfulness. While +the Impostor claims to possess higher qualities than he has, the +Ironical Man is given to making himself out worse than he is. This is +a generalized description, meant to cover all types of +self-depreciation, many forms of which are not comic. In comedy the +special kind of irony practised by the Impostor's opponent is feigned +stupidity. . . . The Eiron who victimizes the Impostors masks his +cleverness under a show of clownish dullness.... His attitude is +precisely expressed by Demus in a passage of cynical and even +sinister self-revelation to the Knights, at a moment when the stage +is clear of the two impostors who are competing for his favor. In the +previous scene Demus has feigned sim-pHcity almost to the point of +idiocy, and when the two + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-264 + +impostors + +264 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +rogues are gone, the chorus reproach him for being so easily deceived +by flattery.... Demus replies that his wits are safer than those +sheltered by the young Knights' curled locks. He is letting the +rascals feed fat before he gobbles them up: "I play the simpleton +like this on purpose." Thus in the concrete character-type as it +exists in the Old Comedy, " buffoonery " ([3o)[xo-lox^a) is only the +outer wear of " irony " ; and the Ironical Buffoon is in exact +antithesis to the Impostor, who covers inward cowardice and folly +under a vain pretence of bravery and wisdom.' The ironical jester, +says Aristotle (above, p. 123), makes fun for his own amusement, the +buffoon for the amusement of others. (3) The_^ The unmixed Ironical +type is not so common as the Buffoons and Impostors, the last being +numerous and important in the comedy of all times. In the Birds +Aristophanes has a motley crew of them. As Cornford notes (p. 135), ' +The sacrifice, immediately after the parabasis, attracts a Priest, +who is no sooner got rid of than a Poet comes with an ode prepared " +long since " for the city that has only just been founded. . . . The +next comer, the inevitable Oracle-monger, is discomfited by an +oracle, extemporized by Peisthetaerus, which declares in Pythian +hexameters that, if an " impostor " comes unbidden, he is to be +beaten. This divine command is religiously carried out. The +mathematician Meton next appears, armed with an enormous pair of +compasses and the scheme of rational town-planning. . . . But he is +before his time, and yields to a forcible request to measure himself +into the middle of next week. An Inspector, who announces himself as +duly appointed by lot to an office in Cloudcuckootown, is beaten ; +and so is a Hawker of Acts of Parliament, who enters reading aloud +extracts from a brand-new constitution for the city.' Then come a +young man (Sire-striker), ' attracted by the morahty of bird-life, +which, as he understands, allows the young to peck and strangle their +parents '; Cinesias, the dithyrambic poet, applying ' for +nightingale's wings on which to soar in pursuit of inspiration '; and +an Informer, who ' seeks wings to carry him on his less creditable +mission among the + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-265 + +islands of the Athenian empire.' In a later age, the braggart +soldier, the deceitful slave, the scheming or pretentious rogue of +every description (in the New Greek Comedy, and hence in Plautus and +Terence), all belong to this type. As we have seen, Falstaff, the +many-sided, is likewise related to it. Moliere's Tartuffe, + +\* or the Impostor ' (one should put \* the ' in italics) is our +chief modern example. But Moliere's cohort of medical quacks will go +into the same class. Aristotle picks out skill in prophesying or +medicine as the kind of excellence to which ' boasters ' are likely +to pretend (see above, p. 118). Nor may we here forget the chanting +Avocats in Monsieur de Pourceaugnac 2. 13 ; or Toinette as a +nonagenarian doctor in Le Malade Imaginaire 3. 14—16 ; or Sganarelle +in LeMedecin Malgre Lui, after he is clubbed into the art of healing; +or the \* Turks ' in Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.] + +The parts of dianoia are two : (A) opinion and (B) Diamia in proof. +Proofs [or ' persuasions '] are of five sorts : (A) opmi^on, (i) +oaths, (2) compacts, (3) testimonies, (4) tortures [' tests ' or ' +ordeals '], (5) laws. [The division into + +\* opinion ' (yvw[j//] = Lat. sententia = maxim) and + +\* proof ' {iziG^ic, = means of persuasion) corresponds to the dual +division of dianoia in the *Poetics* (see above, pp. 185, 210) ; there +the intellectual element of tragedy is seen to be composed of general +statements (such as maxims) and particular efforts to prove, +disprove, magnify, minify, and the like. The word Y^wfJ-''] in the +sense of general statement is common to the *Poetics* and Rhetoric. +Again, in *Poetics* 16. 1454^ 28—9 ' a discovery using signs as a means +of assurance' (mo-Ti?) is said to be \* less artistic '; so that +mcTt? also may be reckoned common to both works in connection with +dianoia. But in the subdivisions of the Tractate under 7ii(7Ttc the +language is like that of Rhetoric 1. 2. 1355^ 35—7 and I. 15. 1375 a- +24—5. In the first of these two passages we have the distinction +between ' artistic ' (svTspoi) means of persuasion (maxst?) and \* +un-artistic ' (aT£)(voi) — that is (the latter), not due to inventive +skill in the orator, but supplied to him from + +(B) proof + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-266 + +266 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +without, being already in existence, ' such as witnesses, evidence +from tortures, contracts ' ([xapTups?, pdco-avot, (TUYYpacpai), ' and +the hke.' They may be used by a speaker in support of argument and +assertion. The second passage in the Rhetoric contains the five +subdivisions of the Tractate, but in a different order: sicrt Bs +TusvTs Tov apiOjjLOV v6[xot, [j,apTup£?, cruvOrjxai, pdccavoi, opxo?. +The Tractate puts ' oaths ' (opxoi) first, and \* laws ' (vopi) last; +it offers perhaps a textual correction of the Rhetoric in its use of +the plural opxoi; it holds to the (TuvG^/vai (' compacts ') of the +second passage, rather than the o-uyypacpat (\* contracts') of the +first; and in place of the (xdcpTups? (\* witnesses ') of both +passages in the Rhetoric it gives us [xapT'jptai (' witnessings ') — +a difference that merits attention. Such variations have been taken +as the marks of a clumsy adapter trying to cover up his tracks. +Bernays (p. 156) censures the Tractate for what he deems its inept +draft upon the Rhetoric ; perhaps he thought that a treatise on +comedy should contain hints on the \* artistic ' (svTs/vo?) side of +dianoia. The general animus against the epitomator has been such that +no one, hitherto, has tested this part of his scheme by applying it +to Aristophanes. Yet there is something to be said for the +epitomator, or for his source. Instead of the weighty maxims +(Yvco[j.ai) of tragedy, we find in comedy a more trivial kind of +generalization that still must be termed yvoip^; my equivalent here +is \* opinion ' — Touchstone's \* instance.' May we not, then, expect +to find Aristophanes using the more superficial and adventitious +kinds of support for argument, the more mechanical means of +persuasion and discovery, rather than the well-planned invention +characteristic of true eloquence ? The word yv(o[j-"/] , certainly +not a rare one in the poet, is at times employed by him as if in a +specific sense for comedy. And of the five kinds of 7ut(7Ti? (I refer +to the words), only c-uvGYJxat are rare in his extant plays. But the +thing, the compact, is frequent enough in him (see below, pp. +271—2).] Dianoia: (A) Opinion. [All thought consists of more general, + +and less general, operations of the mind; the mind is + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-267 + +constantly passing from one kind of thought to the other in either +direction; but, logically, we advance in a play from particulars to +conclusions. One might therefore begin a study of comic dianoia by +examining the first few hues of the Birds, where Euelpides and +Peisthetaerus consult a crow and a jackdaw (' witnesses/ perhaps) as +guides in their quest; here is an example of tuio-ti^. But let us +follow the order of the Tractate, and begin with general statements. +In the Frogs 1420 ff. (esp. 1423, 1424, 1430, 1435), Dionysus, +seeking for the poet who can best advise the city, asks Euripides and +Aeschylus each for an \* opinion ' (yvwjjLY)) of Alcibiades ; and +each replies with a kind of maxim. Euripides: ' I hate a citizen who +by nature is slow to help, and swift to hurt, his fatherland.\* +Aeschylus: \* Tis best to rear no lion's whelp in the city.' The +passage continues as far as line 1465 with a string of oracular +utterances elicited from the poets by the god. So in the Clouds 156 +ff., Chaeremon is reported to have asked Socrates which \* opinion ' +(yvwiiY)) he held regarding gnats — do they sing through the mouth or +through the tail ? The ' opinion ' of Socrates is distinctly set +forth by the Disciple. The answers of the Bachelierus to the +questions propounded by the faculty in Le Malade Imaginaire, +Troisieme Intermide, are examples of the comic y^^jxy] ; thus: + +Mihi a docto doctore Domandatur causam et rationem quare Opium facit +dormire. A quoi respondeo: Quia est in eo Virtus dormitiva, Cujus est +natura Sensus assoupire. + +This is the first of a series of five. Isolated maxims may occur in +comedy as in tragedy; so that of Sgana-relle at the opening of +Moli^re's Don Juan : \* Quoi que puisse dire Aristote et toute la +philosophic, 11 n 'est rien d'egal au tabac' Or that of Arnolphe in +L'Ecole des Femmes 2. 4: + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-268 + +268 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +Un certain Grec disait a 1' empereur Auguste, Comme une instruction +utile autant que juste. Que, lorsqu' une aventure en colere nous met. +Nous devons, avant tout, dire notre alphabet, Afin que dans ce temps +la bile se tempere. + +So also the famous line "]"] in the Self-Tormentor of Terence. When +Menedemus asks his neighbor Chrernes why the latter meddles with +concerns that are not his own, Chremes replies: ' Homo sum; humani +nil a me alienum puto.' \* I am a man, and naught that is human deem +I foreign to me,' would be a sentiment grave enough for tragedy, if +we forgot the comic busybody who utters it, and his foolish actions +elsewhere in the play; still, the maxims in Menander and Terence tend +to be more serious than those of the Old Comedy. In comedy as a +whole, however, if isolated ' opinions ' are not more frequent than +are maxims in tragedy, the characteristic series of ' opinions,' such +as we have noted in the Frogs and Le Malade Imaginaire, demand +special attention. Another good case is that of ' Les Maximes du +Marriage,' which Arnolphe puts into the hands of Agnes in L'Ecole des +Femmes 3. 2 to be read aloud ; she reads ten, and begins the +eleventh, when Arnolphe tells her to finish the rest by herself. +Other instances of isolated or accumulated ' opinions ' may be +gleaned from Falstaff, and from the wisdom of Touchstone, Feste, and +the clowns and fools of Shakespeare generally. So Feste's quotation +from the Hermit of Prague: ' That that is, is ' {Twelfth Night 4. 2. +15). And so Dogberry: \* For the ewe that will not hear her lamb when +it baes will never answer a calf when he bleats ' [Much Ado +3.3.69—71). And the following. Corin: ' And how like you this +shepherd's life. Master Touchstone ? ' Touchstone: \* Truly, +shepherd, in respect of itself, it is a good life; but in respect +that it is a shepherd's life, it is naught. In respect that it is +solitary, I like it very well; but in respect that it is private, it +is a very vile life. Now, in respect it is in the fields, it pleaseth +me well; but in respect it is not in the Court, it is tedious. As it +is a spare life, look you, it fits my humor well; but as there is no +more plenty in it, it + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-269 + +COMIC 'PERSUASIONS': OATHS + +269 + +^oes much against my stomach. Hast any philosophy in thee, shepherd ? +' Again, Corin: ' The courtier's hands are perfumed with civet.' +Touchstone:' . . . Civet is of a baser birth than tar, the very +uncleanly flux of a cat. Mend the instance, shepherd ' [AYL. 3. 2. +11—22, 62—7). The entire episode between Corin and Touchstone is an +exchange of ' opinions.' Clown (Feste): ' What is the opinion of +P5^hagoras concerning wild-fowl ?' Malvolio : ' That the soul of our +grandam might haply inhabit a bird ' [Twelfth Night 4. 2. 52 55). +Falstaff: 'There is a thing, Harry, which thou hast often heard of, +and it is known to many in our land by the name of pitch; this pitch, +as ancient writers do report, doth defile ; so doth the company thou +keepest ' (j Henry IV 2. 4. 419—23). Aristotle would term the appeal +to the Hermit of Prague, to Pythagoras, and to ' ancient writers,' a +citation of ' ancient witnesses,' while the ' many in our land ' +would in his view be \* recent witnesses ' (see above, p. 158). In +the speech of Falstaff we have a combination of ' witnesses ' with an +'opinion,' as well as the particular inference the Prince is to draw; +it is a capital illustration of dianoia, considered in its elements +and as a whole.] + +(B) Proofs [or ' persuasions ']. (i) Oaths. [Proof or Dianoia: + +persuasion has a double aspect, and may be considered in relation to +the one who persuades or the one who is persuaded. It may be effected +by word or by deed, mental operations being expressed in both ways. +Thus one person may try to convince another by an oath, or to learn +his identity by an ordeal. ' Oaths ' (p^Y.oi) are chiefly verbal — +yet one may swear by motion of the hand or body. Oaths in a general +sense (swearing by deities, etc.) are often combined with those of a +formal sort. The following examples are varied. Xan-thias : ' Cheer +up ! ... Spectre's vanished.' Dionysus : ' Swear it (xaTopcov) ! ' +Xanthias : ' Yes, by Zeus.' Dionysus: 'Swear it again.' Xanthias: 'By +Zeus.' Dionysus: 'Swear' {^6]^qgo'j). Xanthias: 'By Zeus' [Frogs +302—6). Further on, Dionysus persuades the reluctant Xanthias to +reassume the lion-skin : ' But if I + +\* persuasions five sorts + +' Persuasions': (I) oaths + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-270 + +take it from you again, perdition seize me, my wife, my children, +and, worst of all, blear-eyed Archidemus.' Xanthias: 'I accept the +oath (opxov), and on those terms I take it ' (ibid. 586—9). Compare +the ' oath ' with which the birds ratify their \* compact' +(BiaGrj/wY)) with Peisthetaerus (Birds 439, 444—7). Chorus: 'I make +the compact ' (BiairtO£p.ai). Peisthetaerus: ' Now swear these things +to me.' Chorus: ' I swear (opujj.') on these terms: so may I win the +prize by the vote of all the judges and all the spectators.' +Peisthetaerus: 'So be it! ' Chorus: \* And if I break the compact, so +may I win by but a single vote.' It is readily seen that several +forms of proof or persuasion may be used conjointly. In Lysistrata +183 ff., the women make a compact to abstain from all relations with +the men imtil the men effect a peace betwen Athens and Sparta, and +they take an oath to carry out this plan of the heroine ; the +question comes up again in the attempt of Cinesias to woo his wife +Myrrhina, which is in the nature of a + +\* test ' or \* ordeal'; in repulsing her husband the wife cites the +\* oath ' (ibid. 914) — and her argument is successful. The preceding +are formal oaths. As to the more general sense (swearing by Apollo, +Zeus, Heracles, Poseidon, and the like), it is clear that the mental +processes of speakers in Aristophanic comedy are often displayed in +such forms of expression. Since comedy employs a popular diction, it +contains more of them than does the elevated language of tragedy. It +also contains strange and unexpected oaths; compare Jonson's Bobadil +(Every Man in his Humor 2. 2. 2—3): ' Speak to him ? Away! By the +foot of Pharaoh, you shall not; you shall not do him that grace! ' Or +take the case of Falstaff enforcing his assertion regarding the men +who deprived him of his booty. Falstaff: \* These four came all +a-front, and mainly thrust at me. I made me no more ado but took all +their seven points in my target, thus.' Prince: \* Seven ? Why, there +were but four even now.' Falstaff: ' In buckram.' Poins: + +\* Ay, four, in buckram suits.' Falstaff: 'Seven, by these hilts, or +I am a villain else ' (i Henry IV 2. 4. 202—8). Compare also the +oaths of Bob Acres in Sheri- + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-271 + +COMIC 'PERSUASIONS': COMPACTS 271 + +dan (Rivals 2. i. 172—3, 190—i, 213—4): ' Odd's whips and wheels ! I +Ve traveled like a comet ' ; ' Odd's blushes and blooms ! She has +been as healthy as the German Spa '; ' Merry! Odd's crickets! She has +been the belle and spirit of the company wherever she has been.' In +the closing ceremony of Le Malade Imaginaire the Bachelierus +undergoes a \* test ' or \* ordeal' which he successfully passes by +giving satisfactory ' opinions '; finally he is called upon to swear, +formally, and thrice, that he will maintain the established +traditions of medicine, no matter what the outcome for the patient. +Grimarest avers that Mo-liere, who acted the part of the Bachelierus, +had the fatal seizure leading to his death, at the very moment of +pronouncing the word 'Juro.' This ' oath' is followed by a \* compact +' ratified by the Praeses.] + +(2) Compacts. [The term o-uvOtqxy] (' compact,' ' trea- 'Persuasions' + +ty ') occurs but twice in the extant plays of Aristophanes (both +times in the plural), namely, in Lysis-trata 1268 and Peace 1065, in +each case referring to the conclusion of peace between Athens and +Sparta which is the desideratum in these comedies. The word is not +used to indicate those compacts which often exercise the intellect +[dianoia) of some chief personage in a comedy, about which not a +little of the discussion revolves, and to which the Tractate +doubtless alludes. Once (out of three occurrences), BiaOYJxY) is used +in this sense — as we have seen, in Birds 439, where the treaty with +Peisthetaerus is on the point of being ratified by the chorus. The +poet's liking for the notion, however, is shown by his frequent use +of o^ovBy] (' libation ') and (jTzovhcd (\* treaty '). No reader of +the Acharnians, Lysistrata, and Peace needs a reminder of +Aristophanes' preoccupation with treaties of peace. As for the +Tractate, we may suppose that ' compact,' like other technical terms, +has both a more general, and a more special, application. The general +sense is exemplified by the three plays just mentioned. And, to judge +from the illustrations, both general and special, dianoia is shown by +persons of the drama in arguing for, as well + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-272 + +272 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +as from, ' compacts ' ; we are here dealing, not with Rhetoric and an +oration or legal argument, but with the tissue of life as represented +on the comic stage — not merely with the citation of oaths, compacts, +witnesses, ordeals, and laws from the past, but with the genesis and +growth of such things before our eyes. Peisthe-taerus argues for the +compact with the birds until it is ratified; it is then carried into +action, and thereafter he argues from it. The agreement to found +Cloudcuckootown, accordingly, is an instance of the technical sort. +Such, too, are the compact between the hero and the envoys from the +gods at the climax of the play; the compact between Praxagora and the +other women in the Ecclesiazusae to assume the political activities +of the men; the compact between Lysistrata and her fellows to +withhold themselves from relations with their husbands; the compact +between Chremylus and Wealth in the Plutus; and (not to exhaust the +examples from Aristophanes) the compact of Euripides in the +Thesmophoriazusae never again to abuse women in his plays. Euripides +(in the style of an enemy herald): \* Ladies, if you will make a +truce ((ttuovBoc^) with me, now and for evermore, I promise that +henceforward you shall never hear one evil word from me. Such are my +terms.' Chorus: \* What is the object in proposing this ? ' +Euripides: \* This poor old relative of mine, now fastened to the +plank — if you will let me take him safe away, then nevermore will I +traduce you. But if you will not yield to my persuasion, then what +you do at home in secret will be my story to your husbands when they +return from the campaign.' Chorus: \* As touching us, be it known to +you that we are by you persuaded. As for this Scythian, do you +yourself persuade him ' [Thesmophoriazusae 1160—71). From +Aristophanes and the Middle Comedy, the \* compact ' passed into +Menander and the New, later reappearing—for example, in +t]\e.Self-TormentoroiTexence — in agreements between a young man and +a household slave to persuade or deceive a father, or the like; it is +related to the \* stratagems ' that are so frequently employed by the +personages of Moli^re — see, for + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-273 + +COMIC 'PERSUASIONS': TESTIMONIES 273 + +example, those of Mascarille in L'Etourdi 1. 2, etc., repeatedly +devised for his master, and as often foiled by the latter's stupidity +and ill luck. Modern examples of the \* compact ' are seen in the +scheme for drawing Beatrice and Benedick from enmity into love {Much +Ado 2. 1 ii.); and in the agreement between the Prince and Falstaff, +Poins, Gadshill, and the others, to rob the travelers, and between +the Prince and Poins to frighten Falstaff and the others from the +booty (j Henry IV 1. 2). The language at one point {ibid. 1.2. +149—54) clearly evinces dianoia. Poins: \* Sir John, I prithee, leave +the prince and me alone ; I will lay him down such reasons for this +adventure that he shall go.' Falstaff : ' Well, God give thee the +spirit of persuasion and him the ears of profiting, that what thou +speakest may move, and what he hears may be believed.' See also the +compact between Sganarelle as doctor and Leandre as apothecary, in Le +Medecin Malgre Lui 2. 9; that between Beralde, Ange-lique, Cleante, +and Toinette, in Le Malade Imaginaire 3^. 23; and the elaborate +scheme entered into by Julie, Eraste, Nerine, and Sbrigani, for the +undoing of the hero, in Monsieur de Pourceaugnac i. 3, 4. I will end +this list of examples with a reference to Dekker's Satiro-mastix 5. +2. 297—393, in which Horace (= Ben Jonson) is forced to make a +compact with his enemies something like the one Euripides makes with +the women in the Thesmophoriazusae. It begins with a speech of +Cris-pinus: \* Sir Vaughan, will you minister their oath ? ' Next we +have the terms of the agreement. Sir Vaughan : ' You shall sweare not +to bumbast out a new play with the olde Ijmings of jestes, stolne +from the Temples Revels,' etc. \* Sweare all this, by Apollo and the +eight or nine Muses.' Horace: \* By Apollo, Helicon, the Muses (who +march three and three in a rancke), and by all that belongs to +Pernassus, I swear all this.' Tucca : ' Beare witnes.' Under the +present head we regard these schemes and compacts, not in relation to +\* plot,' but in the light of dianoia — as exercising the reason of +the agents, and as displayed in their uttered arguments.] + +(3) Testimonies. [In both lists of \*unartistic proofs' +•persuasions': as given by Aristotle in the Rhetoric (see above, p. +265-6) + +(3) testimonies + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-274 + +274 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +we have the word [xapTupe^ ('witnesses'). In the Tractate we have the +abstract word [xapTupiat (' testimonies ' or ' witnessings '), which +would include not only ' ancient ' and \* recent ' witnesses cited in +an argument, but also the spontaneous offer of testimony by a +character in a play as a means of persuasion, or even the clamor for +it. Conrade : ' Away! you are an ass; you are an ass.' Dogberry: ' +Dost thou not suspect my place ? Dost thou not suspect my years ? + +0 that he (Sexton) were here to write me down an ass ! But, masters, +remember that I am an ass. . .. No, thou villain, thou art full of +piety, as shall be proved upon thee by good witness. . . . Bring him +away. O that + +1 had been writ down an ass! ' {Much Ado 4. 2. 74—88.) The personages +of Aristophanes are much given to ' witnessing ' and \* calling to +witness.' When Peisthetaerus maltreats the Inspector, the latter +cries : ' I call to witness that I, an Inspector, am struck ! ' +(Birds 1029—31.) In like manner, when Dionysus strips Xanthias of the +lion-skin, the slave bawls out: \* I call to witness, and appeal to +the gods! ' {Frogs 526—9) ; but the ' persuasion ' is unavailing. Of +the formal summons there is a good comic instance in Wasps 935 ff. +(esp. 936—7), where Bdelycleon for the defence calls the +kitchen-utensils that were present on the occasion of the alleged +theft by Labes of the cheese. Bdelycleon: ' I summon the witnesses. +Witnesses for Labes stand forth ! Bowl, Pestle, Cheese-grater, +Brazier, Pipkin, and the other well-scorched vessels ! ' In Clouds +1221—5, Pasias, desiring a repayment justly due him, summons +Strepsiades, who, vAth a quibble, exclaims : ' I call to witness that +he named two days ! ' The use of evidence by witness for purposes of +discovery, persuasion, and the like, is illustrated in Moliere as +follows. In Tartuffe 4. 4, 5, Orgon is placed in hiding so that he +may observe the attempt of the dissembler upon Orgon's wife Elmire. +In Le Malade Imaginaire 2.11, Argan forces his little daughter +Louison to bear witness as to the endearments that have passed +between her sister and Cleante, the evidence being given after ' +torture '; and Toinette, having induced Argan + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-275 + +to counterfeit death, makes him a witness of the heart-lessness of +his wife and the fidehty of his daughter Angehque {ibid. 3. 16—21). +In Le Medecin Malgre Lui 3. 3, Lucas is a witness of the knavery of +Sganarelle. In Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (2. 2.) the doctor testifies +to the ill health of the hero, convincing Oronte; (2. 3) Sbrigani, +disguised as a Flemish merchant, testifies to the hero's debts and +his design to rehabilitate himself by a rich marriage; and (2. 8—10) +Nerine and Lu-cette in disguise, with the children, give evidence of +his alleged bigamy. The speeches exemplify this division of dianoia. +In Twelfth Night 4. 2, Shakespeare makes the Clown, in the guise of +Sir Topas, a witness of Malvolio's alleged insanity. The song of +Ariel (\* Full fathom five ') in The Tempest i. 2. 394—400 bears +witness to Ferdinand concerning the supposed death of his father. The +Prince and Poins are witnesses to the flight of Falstaff from the +booty he has taken (j Henry IV 2.4.255—67). Prince: 'We two saw you +four set on four, and you bound them, and were masters of their +wealth. Mark, now, how a plain tale shall put you down. Then did we +two set on you fom:, and, with a word, out-faced you from your prize, +and have it; yea, and can show it you here in the house. And, +Falstaff, you carried your guts away as nimbly, with as quick +dexterity, and roared for mercy, and still ran and roared, as ever I +heard bull-calf. What a slave art thou, to hack thy sword as thou +hast done, and then say it was in fight! What trick, what device, +what starting-hole, canst thou now find out to hide thee from this +open and apparent shame ? ' He asks Falstaff for an exhibition of +dianoia ; Falstaff gives it with an ' oath,' adding an ' opinion ' +{ihid. 2. 4. 270—5) : ' By the Lord, I knew ye as well as he that +made ye. . . . The lion will not touch the true prince.'] + +(4) Tests. [The usual translation of Sdccavoi is 'Persuasions': + +' (4) tests OP + +\* tortures '; but for comedy the term embraces ordeals ordeals +(mental as well as physical), forcible inquisitions, systematic tests +of every sort, yet particularly those of a mechanical nature, as may +be inferred from the + +S 2 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-276 + +276 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +primary meaning of pdcaavo?, that is, touchstone. A satisfactory +rendering of the word (3a(7avot in the Tractate would combine the +notions of ' torture ' (such as mock-floggings), decisions by +mock-combat, tests (as of poetry by weight and measure), and, on the +mental side, persistent inquiries and mock-examinations (as that of +the Bachelierus in Le Malade Imaginaire). Sharp mental inquisitions +naturally form a part of the literary technique in the Platonic +dialogue; Plato systematically introduces them for comic effect, as +in the Protagoras and the Phaedrus, and even in the Apology. +Excellent examples are found in Book i of the Republic and in the +Ion. But in general, perhaps, the \* ordeal' tends rather to be of a +physical sort, or at least to involve the use of material objects and +instruments, such as the scales of Wouter Van Twiller and the dice of +Bridoye (see above, p. 247), or the cart-wheel described at the end +of the Summoner's Tale in Chaucer. The noun pacravoi in the Tractate +corresponds to the frequently occurring verb j3a(7ccvi^£iv in +Aristophanes, who uses the noun but twice (Thesmophoriazusae 800, +801). The nine occurrences of the verb in the Frogs (616, 618, 625, +629, 642, 802, 1121, 1123, 1367 — cf. also pao-avLG-Tpia, 826) tend +to show the range of meaning. Take the first five. Xanthias (in the +disguise of Dionysus = ' Heracles,' beginning with an ' oath,' and +offering a ' compact '): \* By Zeus, now! If ever I was here before, +or stole a hair's worth of your goods, let me perish. And I '11 make +you a right noble offer. Take this lad of mine, and torture +(pao-avi^e) him; and if you find me guilty, then lead him off to +death.' Aeacus : ' And how shall I torture (j3a(7avi<7a)) him ? ' +Xanthias: \* In every way. Bind him to the rack; hang, flog, and flay +him; and then pour vinegar in his nostrils and pile bricks on his +chest. And do all else this side of whipping the wretch with an onion +or a tender leek.' Aeacus: ' A fair proposal. And if I maim the lad +in striking him, I'll pay you what he's worth.' Xanthias : ' I don't +ask that; just take him off and torture (pacravt^') him.' Aeacus : \* +I '11 do it here, that you may be eye-witness to his confession.' + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-277 + +To Dionysus in the garb of Xanthias: \* Now then, my boy, put down +the traps, and mind you tell no falsehood ! ' Dionysus: \* I charge +you not to torture (pacravi^siv) me, a god immortal!' All this, and +more, is introductory to the \* ordeal ' proper, in which Aeacus with +alternate blows seeks to draw an unambiguous cry from the one who is +not divine {Frogs 641—66), and which begins with Aeacus ' command, \* +Now strip! ' and Xanthias' question, ' How can you test (Pcca-avtsT?) +us fairly ? ' The ' ordeal' ends with the inquisitor's confession of +failure: 'No, by Demeter! I can't find out which one of you is god.' +The other four occurrences of the verb have to do with the contest +between the tragic poets, of which we begin to learn in the middle of +the play. Aeacus has heard that poetry will be measured in a balance. +Xanthias: \* What! Will they weigh out tragedy like mutton ? ' Aeacus +: ' They are going to bring levels, and foot-rules for words, and +oblong forms ' — Xanthias : \* To make bricks ? ' Aeacus : \* — and +compasses and wedges; for Euripides declares he'll test (pacavisTv) +the tragedies word by word ' {ibid. 797—802). At length we come to +the great examination. Euripides (addressing Aeschylus) : ' Now then, +I '11 turn to your very prologues, so that first of all I may test +(Pafjaviw) the opening part of the worthy poet's tragic play; for he +is obscure in his statement of the facts.' Dionysus: ' And which of +his plays will you test (pao-avisTc) ? ' Euripides : \* Full many. +But first of all read me the prologue from the Oresteia.' Dionysus: +\* Come, let every one keep silence. Read, Aeschylus ! ' Aeschylus : +' " O Hermes of the nether world," ' etc. {ibid. 1119—26). Lastly +{ibid. 1364—1419), we have the actual weighing in the scales. +Dionysus : ' That's enough for the odes.' Aeschylus : ' Content; for +now I wish to bring him to the scales, and that alone will show the +choice between us two in the poetic art. 'Twill test (j3a(7avi£T) the +weight respectively of our words.' Dionysus: ' Come hither both, +since I must needs weigh out like cheese the art of doughty poets ' +{ibid. 1364—9). There is a test or inquisition, with a threat of +torture, in Acharnians no ff., when Dicae- + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-278 + +278 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +opolis cross-questions Pseudartabas. ' You get away ! ' he tells the +Ambassador; \* I '11 test (paaaviw) this man alone.' Another case is +found in the speech of Philo-cleon and the notes which Bdelycleon +makes upon it m writing (Wasps 521 ff., esp. 547), with the chorus as +umpires in the dispute. Yet another is the test proposed by the +Sausage-seller in the Knights 1209 ff. in order to let the audience +think that Demus has discrimination : Demus must pry into the +Sausage-seller's hamper (which turns out to be empty), and then into +Paphlagon's (which is discovered to be full of dainties) ; see +especially line 1212. We have a mental ordeal or inquisition in +Lysistrata 476 ff., when the men examine the women as to the reason +why the latter have seized the Acropolis; and a physical ordeal +[ihid. 872 ff.), in which Myrrhina tantalizes Cinesias. In the +Thes-mophoriazusae there is sharp and prolonged cross-questioning as +to the presence and sex of Mnesilochus, culminating in the discovery +of his manhood ; see particularly lines 626 ff., beginning with the +speech of the First Woman: ' Stand aside, for I will test (paaaviw) +her from the rites of last year. . . . Now tell me what was the first +thing done in the rites. ' Mnesilochus : ' Well then, what came first +? We drank.' Woman : \* And after that, what next ? ' Mnesilochus: \* +We drank again.' Woman: ' You heard that from some one. What was the +third ? ' Mnesilochus betrays ignorance, and is trapped. Any +important ' test ' is well-suited to the comic agon ; less notable +ones may occur almost anywhere in a play. The presence of the verb +pac-avi^siv is not indispensable; there is no occurrence of it in the +Clouds or the Plutus. Yet as an example of a minor \* test' we have +the means accredited to Socrates for estimating the powers of jumping +in a flea (see above, pp. 247—8) ; while the healing of the bhnd god +in the Plutus is the central incident of the play, brought about by +much persuasion. Turning to modern comedy, we may again note the +examination of the Bachelierus in Le Malade Imaginaire. In the same +play we have the ordeal by which Argan extracts information ifrom +Louison, and the test devised by + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-279 + +Toinette when she prevails on Argan to feign death in order to find +out how much his wife and daughter love him; these examples were +discussed under the head of ' witnesses ' (see above, pp. 274-5), +but, as we have seen, the categories of the Tractate, like those of +the *Poetics*, are not always mutually exclusive — or the devices are +constantly uniting to form a whole. The feigned death of Louison in +the midst of her ordeal is itself a trial of her father, and a means +of persuading him. The flips and strokes administered \* en cadence ' +by the guard in Le Malade Imaginaire, Premier Intermede, constitute +an ordeal for Polichinelle, as a result of which he is induced to +give the Archers six pistoles — a \* persuasion ' with a vengeance! +As the entire farce of Monsieur de Pourceaugnac is in one way a \* +deception ' of the hero, so in another way it may be regarded as an +\* ordeal' for him, and a ' persuasion ' to drive him from the city; +yet, in order to be specific, we may instance his pursuit (i. 16) by +the medical attendants armed with syringes, while the apothecary +confronts him with another. The patient, however, is not induced to +take the purge! The literary contest in Les Femmes Savantes 3. 2—5, +and the transformation of M. Jourdain into a Turk (see especially Le +Bourgeois Gentilhomme 4. 13), are likewise \* tests ' and \* +ordeals.' It is by means of an ' ordeal' that Valere and Lucas +(Medecin Malgre Lui i. 6) compel Sganarelle to admit that he is a +doctor: \* lis prennent chacun un baton, et le frappent.' Sganarelle +: ' Ah ! Ah ! Ah ! messieurs, je suis tout ce qu'il vous plaira.' In +i Henry IV 2. 2 the Prince and Poins subject Falstaff and his +companions to the test: ' As they are sharing, the Prince and Poins +set upon them. They all run away ; and Falstaff, after a blow or two, +runs away too, leaving the booty behind.' As Aristotle says of +dianoia in *Poetics* 19, ' the act must produce its effect without +verbal explanation.'] + +(5) Laws. [Laws are either human or divine. Di- 'Persuasions' T • 1 1 +1 r 1 (5) laws + +vine laws include the utterances of oracles; — yet + +oracles at times may serve as witnesses. There are + +also laws of birds. Human laws include legal codes. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-280 + +28o THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +medical dicta, and so on. Almost any general statement proceeding +from a notable authority may fall under this head if it has greater +cogency than a maxim (y^^wjxy]). When the young scapegrace appears in +the Birds 1342—57, having heard that in the aerial city the young may +maltreat the old, and hungering for its \* laws,' Peisthetaerus +begins the task of persuading him to withdraw by citing the \* law ' +that when the old stork has reared his young, and they are ready for +flight, the young must maintain their father. Later (ibid. 1660 —6) +he cites ' the law of Solon ' prohibiting bastards from the right of +inheritance; therewith he persuades Heracles, the ' bastard ' son of +Zeus, to renounce all claim to possession of the Lady Sovereignty. +The law of filial obedience is often appealed to by characters in +Aristophanes in their efforts to prove or disprove, to urge or +dissuade; see, for example, the long argument in Clouds 1399—1447, +ending in the query of Pheidip-pides : ' But what if by the Worser +Reason I prove that it is right to beat my mother ? ' There are over +fifty references to 'laws ' (singular and plural) in Dunbar's +Concordance of Aristophanes; consult this work for Yva)|XY) also, and +for opxo?, (jTuovBai, [iapTUpo[j.at, jBacavi^stv, v6[jL0$, and their +cognates.^ The process will throw light on the poet, and will add to +one's confidence in the Tractate. In Moliere the law regarding +polygamy is invoked against Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (2. 13) by the +second Avocat, \* chantant fort vite en hredouillant ' (\* sputtering +') : + +Si vous consultez nos auteurs, Legislateurs et glossateurs, + +^ Some of these words are common in Greek tragedy, and some are not. +Thus vo^og {-ol) occurs 25, 37, and 65 times in Aeschylus, Sophocles, +and Euripides respectively; o^jxog 11, 13, and 36 times; ofiyvfii 2, +6, and 14 times; ovu&fjxai, or avvO-axog (Sophocles), 1,1, and 6 +times; anot^drj (-at) 3, 2, and 17; fiaQZVQslv 11, 6, and 5; +^uQTVQSad-aL I, I, and 6; /uaQivg or ^dqiVQ (Euripides) 2, 3, and II. +The frequent occurrence of'laws' and 'oaths' in Euripides is not so +impressive when we reflect that we have eighteen of his plays, and +but eleven of Aristophanes'. It is noteworthy that, while ^daayoi and +cognate words occur but thrice in Sophocles, we have no instances at +all in either Aeschylus or Euripides. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-281 + +Justinian, Papinian, Ulpian et Tribonian, Fernand, Rebuffe, Jean +Imole, Paul Castre, Julian, Barthole, Josan, Alciat, et Cujas, + +Ce grand homme si capable; La polygamic est un cas. + +Est un cas pendable. + +Tartuffe appeals to State law in the last scene but one of the comedy +named for him, and apparently with success, only to yield to an order +from the Prince a moment later, and to be led away in disgrace. +Phila-minte discharges Martine (Femmes Savantes 2. 6) because the +unlucky maid-servant has broken the laws of grammar laid down by +Vaugelas, and argues on the strength of those laws against Chrysale, +who would protect the girl [ihid. 2. 7) for her ability as cook. +Chrysale demands : + +Qu' importe qu'elle manque aux lois de Vaugelas, Pourvu qu'a la +cuisine elle ne manque pas ? + +But his argument is overborne by his wife and grammatical vopi. The +Comedy of Errors turns upon the law that any Syracusan found at +Ephesus must die; the Duke cites it, and Aegeon, admitting its +cogency, is ready to accept his fate. So much for \* proofs ' or \* +persuasions ' as illustrated in comedy. It will be readily understood +that there can be an admixture of a serious kind of dianoia — that +is, of ' artistic ' proofs — in a comic play, and the more so as the +play verges toward a more serious type of comedy; but this is only +saying in another way that the Tractate is right in singling out the +\* unartistic ' proofs as characteristic of speeches in the comic +drama.] + +The diction of comedy is the common, popular Ian- PJ^^o']','" guage. +The comic poet must endow his personages with his own native idiom, +but must endow an alien with the alien idiom. [So the language of +Aristophanes is in general pure, limpid, Attic Greek (see above, pp. +36, 92), the language of Terence, however refined, + +comedy + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-282 + +282 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +is natural Latin, and the language of Moliere is straightforward, +perspicuous, idiomatic French. (Some allowance must be made for the +modifications of diction that are introduced for comic purposes — as +in wordplay.) Aristophanes endows Lysistrata with his own tongue, and +her Spartan ally, Lampito, with forms from the dialect of Sparta. The +differences in language mentioned by the Tractate are, for Greek +comedy, differences in the Greek dialects. In the Acharnians, says +Rogers (p. xlvi), \* the speeches of both the Megarian and the +Boeotian are seasoned with the dialects in vogue in their respective +countries; but Aristophanes was far too great an artist and too +shrewd a dramatist to overload their language with the strictest +Doric and Aeolic forms, which would be unfamiliar and might be +unintelligible to his audience, and would spoil the rhythmical +cadence of his verses.' Moliere and Shakespeare observe the same +economy in their use of dialect. In Le Medecin Malgre Lui the nurse +Jacqueline and her husband employ dialectal forms in harmony with +their station in life. In Monsieur de Pourceaugnac 2. 8, 9, Lucette, +pretending to be a Languedocian wife of the hero, and Nerine, +pretending to be a wife of his from Picardy, use dialects which the +situation makes intelligible enough. In Le Malade Imaginaire, +Troisieme Intermede, the bombastic yet simple Latin of the examiners +and the Bachelierus is intermixed with French forms that add both to +the incongruity and to the intelligibility of the initiation into +medicine; moreover, the Intermede is a ballet, with music and +dancing. The amount of Lingua Franca and ' Turkish ' in Le Bourgeois +Gentilhomme might be thought excessive, were the speeches +unaccompanied by expressive dumb-show, and were the ' Turks ' not ' +chantants et dansants/ The Lingua Franca is, however, not +unintelligible to a cosmopolitan audience speaking one of the Romance +languages. And various dialects of Greece were heard on the streets +of Athens in the time of Aristophanes, above all, during the +celebration of the City Dionysia, when, according to Aeschines +(Haigh, p. 7), the audience in the theatre consisted of the \* whole +Greek nation.' + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-283 + +DICTION, MELODY, AND SPECTACLE 283 + +Shakespeare indulges less in dialect, possibly because of the +relative isolation of the English audience from Continental tongues, +and because different languages (as well as different dialects of +English) were spoken in different parts of Great Britain. Caliban +speaks good English, while the Triballian of the Birds and the +Scythian of the Thesmophoriazusae utter a jargon (the Scythian more +intelligible than the Triballian). Flu-ellen {Henry V 4. 7) betrays +his origin, not by speaking Welsh, but by the broken English of a +Welshman. The principle noted in the Tractate may thus by extension +include the comic gibberish of the Triballian, of the Scythian, and +of Pseudartabas in the Acharnians. Compare Rogers' translation [Birds +1627—81). Peisthe-taerus: ' All rests with this Triballian. What say +you ? ' Triballian : ' Me gulna charmi grati Sovranau birdito stori.' +Heracles : \* There! he said " Restore her." ' Or take Acharnians +98—104. Ambassador: + +\* Now tell the Athenians, Pseudo-Art abas, what the Great King +commissioned you to say.' Pseudo-Artabas : ' Ijisti boutti furbiss +upde rotti.' Ambassador : + +\* Do you understand ? ' Dicaeopolis : ' By Apollo, no not I.' +Ambassador: \* He says the King is going to send you gold.' To +Pseudo-Artabas: \* Be more distinct and clear about the gold.' +Pseudo-Artabas: + +\* No getti goldi nincompoop lawny.'] + +Melody is the province of the art of music; hence it is necessary to +take its fundamental rules from that art. [So Aristotle in the +*Poetics* (see above, p. 209) sends us to the Rhetoric for the +technique of dramatic speeches. The technique of music was of great +importance to the dramatic poet, who in the flourishing days of the +Greek stage was likewise a composer ; in our sense, Sophocles and +Aristophanes were as much \* musicians ' as ' poets '; yet the +*Poetics* virtually neglects the subject of music, and is perfunctory +in its treatment of the chorus. In the Politics (see above, p. 128) +the author disclaims a knowledge of music such as one could find in +technical treatises, to which he refers.] + +Spectacle is of great advantage to dramas in supply- comedy'^'" + +Music in comedy + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-284 + +THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +Presence or absence of constituent elements + +ing what is in concord with them. [The remark would apply to the +Frogs and the Birds (see above, pp. 73—4).] Plot, diction, and +melody, are found in all comedies; dianoia, ethos, and spectacle in +few. [This dubious statement has some relation to a difficult passage +in the *Poetics* (6. 1450^12—5), which is thus rendered in my \* +Amphfied Version ' (p. 23) : \* These constitutive elements, +accordingly, not a few of the tragic poets, so to speak, have duly +employed; for, indeed, every drama must contain certain things that +are meant for the eye, as well as the elements of moral disposition, +plot, diction, melody, and intellect.' Here the \* so to speak ' +possibly should be read with the reference to ' spectacle.' In the +same chapter [*Poetics* 6. 1450^23—6) we learn that a tragedy cannot +exist without \* plot,' but can without ' ethos '; that ' ethos' is +rare in the tragic poets after Euripides; and that the defect is not +confined to tragic poets. That is, we may suppose, ideally conceived +personages, fulfilling all artistic demands — personages out of whose +motives the action constantly arises — are rare. Such an opinion +would hold true for comedies. The statement of the Tractate regarding +dianoia and spectacle is hard to understand, and, if ever +intelligible, hard to illustrate in view of our limited acquaintance +with complete Greek comedies outside of Aristophanes. In the Plutus, +spectacle doubtless is not so important as in the Birds. Perhaps +there is less extensive use of ordeals, testimonies, and the like, in +the later comedies; yet surely the Plutus is rich in ' opinions' on +the relative advantages of poverty and wealth. Diction, and some sort +of plot, there must be in all comedies as in all tragedies. But what +of the melody ? According to modern conceptions, this is the one +formative element out of the six that can be totally absent from a +play. For the Greek drama, the question of the presence or absence of +any of the elements would seem to be a matter of more or less, not of +absolute exclusion. After the impoverishment of Athens through her +reverses in war, the entire choral element became less significant on +the stage, and for + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-285 + +reasons of economy the cost of stage-setting dwindled. Why should not +' melody ' tend to disappear with \* spectacle ' ? Still, in Menander +we have evidence that music, having shght connection or none with the +comedy, continued to be given. The statement of the Tractate is at +best difficult to interpret; perhaps one is wiser not to throw out +too many suggestions concerning it.] + +The [quantitative] parts of comedy are four: Quantitative + +'-^ -J JT J parts of com- + +(i) prologue, (2) the choral part, (3) episode, (4) exode. ^dy The +prologue is that portion of a comedy extending as far as the entrance +of the chorus. The choral part [choricon] is a song by the chorus +when it [the song] is of adequate length. An episode is what lies +between two choral songs. The exode is the utterance of the chorus at +the end. [This passage has been discussed at length above, pp. 53—9, +198—9.] + +The kinds of comedy are (i) Old, with a superabun- ^ ^j^:'^iSdr dance +of the laughable; (2) New, which disregards comedy laughter, and +tends toward the serious; (3) Middle, which is a mixture of the two. +[The allusion to the ' New ' comedy may place the source of this part +of the Tractate after Aristotle (see above, pp. 12,26) ; and yet we +know that Aristophanes produced comedies which anticipated the +devices of Menander (see above, p. 23). Is it possible that Aristotle +invented all three terms, or at all events that they were current in +his time ? But this is mere conjecture. The three kinds represent not +only periods of time — in a rough and general way, — but also +tendencies that were present from an early date in Greek comedy: the +Tractate does not say that the \* Middle' is intermediate in point of +time, but that it is ' a mixture ' of the other two. The Frogs, +perhaps, has \* a superabundance of laughter,' and is of the older +type. The tendency of the \* New ' toward a more serious vein may be +observed in the Self-Tormentor of Terence, adapted from Menander. The +Plutus possibly belongs to the type of ' Middle,' as the Aeolosi-con +is said to have done, and the Cocalus foreshadowed + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-286 + +286 THE TRACTATE ILLUSTRATED + +Menander. The two divergent tendencies, and the mean in which they +approximate each other, are not pecuhar to Greek hterature, but are +universal. In Shakespeare, Falstaff belongs to the ' old ' comedy, +the Comedy of Errors to the ' new,' and The Tempest to a region +intermediate. All three types are found in Moliere; for example, the +ceremony at the end of Le Malade Imaginaire (' old '), Amphitryon (\* +middle '), and Tartuffe or Le Misanthrope (' new '). That the ' new,' +while tending toward the serious, nevertheless is amusing, and thus +duly belongs to the realm of comedy, may be learned from a study of +Tartuffe — that is, if not on a first, yet on repeated perusal. For a +discussion of the terms \* old ' and ' new ' as used by Aristotle, +see above, pp. 19—25.] + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0006.html#page-287 + +JOHN TZETZES ON COMEDY + +[Translated from the First Proem to Aristophanes (Kaibel, pp. 17-9); +I have omitted the first chapter.] + +Comedy is an imitation of an action [that is ridiculous], . . . +purgative of emotions, constructive of life, moulded by laughter and +pleasure. Tragedy differs from comedy in that tragedy has a story, +and a report of things [or \* deeds '] that are past, although it +represents them as taking place in the present, but comedy embraces +fictions of the affairs of everyday life; and in that the aim of +tragedy is to move the hearers to lamentation, while the aim of +comedy is to move them to laughter. + +And again, according to another differentiation of comedy we have on +the one hand the Archaic, on the other the New [, and the Middle^]. +The Old Comedy, then, differs from the New in time, dialect, matter, +metre, and equipment. There is a difference in time in that the New +was in the days of Alexander, while the Old had its zenith in the +days of the Peloponnesian war. There is a difference in dialect in +that the New had greater clearness, making use of the new Attic, +while the Old had vigor and loftiness of utterance; and sometimes +they [the poets of the Old Comedy] invented certain expressions. +There is a difference in the matter in that the New . . ., while the +Old . . .2 There is a difference in metre in that the New for the +most part + +.. container:: body + +1 Meineke deletes, and Kaibel brackets, the phrase. + +2 Something has been lost from the text; see Kaibel, p. 18, and +perhaps pp. 63-4, 68. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-288 + +employs the iambic measure, and other measures but seldom, while in +the Old a multiplicity of metres was the great desideratum. There is +a difference in equipment in that in the New there is no necessity of +choruses, but in the other they were highly important. + +And the Old Comedy itself is not uniform; for they who in Attica +first took up the production of comedy (namely Susarion and his +fellows) brought in their personages in no definite order, and all +they aimed at was to raise a laugh. But when Cratinus came, he first +appointed that there should be as many as three personages [? actors] +in comedy, putting an end to the lack of arrangement; and to the +pleasure of comedy he added profit, attacking evil-doers, and +chastising them with comedy as with a public whip. Yet he, too, was +allied to the older type, and to a slight degree shared in its want +of arrangement. Aristophanes, however, using more art than his +contemporaries, reduced comedy to order, and shone pre-eminent among +all. + +The laughter of comedy arises from diction and things. It arises from +diction in seven ways. First, from homonyms, as, for example, +Bta(popoL»|jL£voi$; for this signifies both to he at variance and +gain. Secondly, from synonyms, as tjxco and v.oL^i^yo^oix [' I come ' +and ' I arrive ' (see Frogs 1156—7)]; for they are the same thing. +Thirdly, from garrulity, as when any one uses the same word over and +over. Fourthly, from paronyms, as when any one using the proper term +[for a person or thing] applies it where it does not belong, as, for +example, \* I Momax am called Midas.' Fifthly, from diminutives, as ' +Dear little Socrates,' ' Dear little Euripides.' Sixthly, from +interchange [hoCk\oi'^'i]\i], as \* O Lord BBsQ! ' [Lat. peditum] +instead of \* O Lord Zstj! ' [Zeus]. Seventhly, from + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-289 + +grammar and syntax [—literally, as in the Tractate, above, p. 237, \* +from the arrangement of language ']. This occurs through the use of +the voice or through similar means. [The foregoing statement properly +belongs under the treatment of ' interchange ' (=' perversion ') ; +see above, p. 236.] From things done, laughter arises in two ways. +First, from deception, as when Strepsiades is persuaded that the +story about the flea is true [see above," p. 244]. Secondly, from +assimilation; but assimilation is divided in two, either toward the +better, as when Xanthias is assimilated to Heracles, or toward the +worse, as when Dionysus is assimilated to Xanthias [see above, pp. +240—2]. + +[Where the Tractate has nine sub-heads under ' things,' Tzetzes has +but two. The seeming defect may be due to laziness in an excerptor +before Tzetzes. Or the case may be that Tzetzes, or some one from +whom he copied, at this point used a source lying in the field of +rhetorical theory — that is, not in the direct line of tradition for +the theory of comedy. Arndt (pp. 13—4) somewhat doubtfully equates +Tzetzes' two sub-heads under \* things ' with Cicero's \* fabella vel +narratio ficta ' (= \* deception ') and ' imitatio de-pravata ' (= \* +assimilation to the worse ') in De Orator e 2. 240—3. ' Laughter from +clownish dancing ' would not find a place in rhetorical theory; and +so with the other omitted items. If we do not like the explanation, +we may, as Arndt advises, take refuge in the notion of a lazy +excerptor.] + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-290 + +APPENDIX + +THE FIFTH FORM OF 'DISCOVERY' IN THE + +POETICS + +[Reprinted, and adapted, from Classical Philology 13. 251-61 (July, +1918) with the kind permission of the Managing-Editor.] + +The universal longing for knowledge is the key-note in the philosophy +of Aristotle; doubtless the most familiar sentence in his works is +the opening maxim of the Metaphysics : ' All men by nature desire to +know/ The satisfaction of this desire is to him the basic pleasure, +not only in the pursuit of science and philosophy, but also in the +realm of art, and hence of poetry. When we see a face drawn to the +life, the difference between the medium of the artist and the flesh +and blood of the living original occasions a moment of suspense — +there is a sudden inference as we catch the resemblance, and we +exclaim in recognition: \* Why, that is he! ' — that is the man we +know so well. So, one may add, the hasty reader, snatching at +delight, foregoes the cmnulative satisfaction to be had from the +successive disclosures of a long story, and skips to the end of the +book in order to learn at once the main outcome of the whole. Or +again, to return to Aristotle, the essential mark of genius in a poet +is the ability to discover underlying resemblances in things that are +superficially unlike, a power that is shown in his command of +figurative language — in similes and the like. And, again, the style +that gives the greatest pleasure is the one in which the current +diction,. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-291 + +THE FIFTH FORM OF ' DISCOVERY \* 291 + +instantly intelligible, is diversified with just the right admixture +of strange or rare terms — archaic words and so on. Thus Lincoln +said, not ' eighty-seven ' years ago, but \* Four score and seven.' +The perfection of style is to be clear without being ordinary; an +infusion of the less familiar, so long as we do not convert our +language into an enigma or a jargon, gives opportunity for a +succession of delights arising from the recognition of meanings. +Aristotle does not precisely say all this, but I trust no injury has +been done to his remarks on diction if we detect in them a latent +resemblance to other parts of his theory. + +There can at all events be no question as to the importance he +attaches to that element in the plot of a drama or an epic poem which +he calls \* discovery ' (avayvcopKri?) or, as we sometimes render it, +' recognition.' Like other terms found in the *Poetics*, this may be +taken first in a more general sense, and then in a more special or +technical sense. Discovery in general is simply a transition from +ignorance to knowledge. You may discover the identity of a person, or +of yotir dog Argus, or of inanimate, even casual, things. You may +discover the solution of a riddle propounded by the Sphinx. You may +discover that such and such a thing has or has not occurred, or that +you yourself have or have not done a particular deed. Thus Oedipus +discovers, or thinks he discovers, all sorts of things true or imtrue +— that Creon is plotting against him; that Tiresias is basely +involved in the plot; that he, the hero, could not have slain his +father and married his mother, fulfilling the oracle, since he +discovers that Polybus and Merope have died a natural death; that the +dead Polybus and Merope after all were not his parents; that the man +he slew at the cross-roads was + +t2 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-292 + +his father, and the queen he subsequently married, his mother; that, +as Tiresias had said, he himself, Oedipus, is the accursed defiler of +the land whom he has been seeking. \* Oedipus ' is the real answer to +the riddle of the Sphinx: more than other infants, he with the +pierced feet went on all fours in the morning of life; he above all +went proudly erect at noon; and he it was who in his blindness went +with a staff in the night of age. All the while the unfamiliar, as it +is added on, is converted into the familiar; the unexpected turns out +to be the very thing we were awaiting. The unknown stranger is +revealed as the first-born of the house — who must again become a +stranger, and yet again seek a familiar home and final resting-place, +no longer at outlandish Thebes, but here in the neighborhood of our +own Athens, at the grove beloved of his and our poet. And all the +while we, with Oedipus, desire further knowledge, and our desire, +momentarily baffled, is as constantly satisfied — until the entire +plan of Sophocles is unfolded, and we know all. Even when the +knowledge is painful, the satisfaction is a satisfaction. And for us, +the spectators, the pain is tempered, since we behold it, not in real +life, but in an imitation, with a close resemblance to reality (yet +with a difference) that keeps us inferring, and saying: \* Ah, so it +is — just like human fortune and misfortune as we see them every day! +' The story itself, being traditional, is familiar yet old and far +away; and it now has an admixture of the strange and rare which only +Sophocles could give it. How delightful to learn — to discover +fundamental similarity under superficial difference! + +So much for ' discovery ' in general. More specifically, in the +technical sense, a \* discovery ' is the + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-293 + +THE FIFTH FORM OF ' DISCOVERY ' 293 + +recognition, in the drama or in a tale, of the identity of one or +more persons by one or more others. X may know Y, and then Y must +learn the identity of X, or the mutual ignorance of both may pass +into mutual recognition, causing love or hate, and hence pleasure or +pain, to one or both ; but, if the poet or novelist does his work +aright, always with pleasure to the man who sees the play or hears +the story — the pleasure of inferring and learning. In particular, +the poet must let the audience do its own observing and draw its own +inferences without too much obvious assistance. In tragedy at least, +we do not wish formal proofs of identity, the display of birthmarks, +scars, or tokens — necklaces and so on. Nor do we wish a purely +artificial declaration from the unknown individual, with no preceding +incident to make it necessary. In tragedy, tokens and declarations +are the last resort of a feeble or nodding poet, who has forgotten +that all men desire to learn by inference, and must not be cheated of +the universal satisfaction. They like to fancy themselves wholly +responsible for their mental operations ; they do not wish to have +their wits insulted. The various kinds of \* discovery,' in the more +technical sense, are, according to Aristotle, six in number. Of +these, the first is that brought about by signs or tokens; the second +is the formal declaration; the third is the one effected by memory, +when the occasion stirs a man's emotions, and his display of feeling +because of some remembrance reveals who he must be; and the fourth is +that resulting from inference, when one agent in a drama identifies +another by a process of reasoning. It is easy to see that these four +divisions, and indeed all six, are not mutually exclusive, since, for +example, a scar might be subsidiary to a declaration, or serve to + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-294 + +stir a memory; or a necklace, or a bow, or a garment, might prompt an +inference. The fifth kind is the 'synthetic' (or 'composite,' or +fictitious — otherwise fallacious or false, or perhaps ' concocted ') +' discovery,' and is the form I wish specially to examine. The sixth +is the best form. In it the identity of the hero is revealed, not by +a scar, or by his own declaration, artificially dragged in by the +poet, or by his weeping when he hears the tale of his wanderings +rehearsed by another, or by an inference made by his long-lost +sister; but through the inevitable sequence of incident after +incident in the plot itself. Here the action of the reader's mind +follows the very action of the play, and the pleasure of learning the +particular identity is but one item in an orderly series, in that +passage from ignorance to knowledge which is effected by the work as +a whole. + +And pleasure, we must recollect, is not a state of being, but a form +of action. The right functioning of the mind is pleasure. Pleasure +and free activity are convertible terms. Thus the emphasis of the +*Poetics* is always laid upon what is rational and orderly. An overplus +of delight is experienced when a regular advance from antecedent to +consequent finally brings a sudden addition to our knowledge'; when +by a rapid, unlabored, logical inference the desire to know the truth +is satisfied. All learning is essentially rapid; the recognition +dawns, then comes as a flash of pleasure. + +Yet the poet has a use for what is not strictly true and logical. +Even the irrational may escape censure if it be made plausible, or +comic when comedy is intended. And the marvelous is sweet. It is +legitimate also to represent a dramatic character as deceiving +himself or another, the poet being aware that it is hard for a man +swayed by anger, or fear, or any other powerful emotion. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-295 + +to see and tell the exact truth. People are always magnifying the +things that comfort their self-love, and minifying whatever may +ruffle or hurt it. Then there are characters who like to mystify +their fellows, as well as those who deceive for some obvious +advantage. The poet may on occasion set before us a crafty Odysseus +who delights in all manner of wiles. It requires art also to portray +the slippery Clytaemnestra, not to mention the lying Lady Macbeth. +Superior mental activity as such is ever interesting, and the false +inferences of the deceived are not unpleasing, but the reverse, +unless they exceed the bounds of the credible. Furthermore, as we +have seen, a slight admixture of the strange or rare gives a spice to +the known and obvious. In fact, we all like to add a little something +in the telling of a tale, with a view to pleasing the neighbor who +hears it. + +Accordingly, in his remarks on epic poetry Aristotle says (*Poetics* +24. 1460a 17—26) : + +' That the marvelous is a source of pleasure may be seen by the way +in which people add to a story [xpod-TtQ'svTE?] ; for they always +embellish the facts in the belief that it will gratify the listeners. +Yet it is Homer above all who has shown the rest how a lie should be +told; [in effect: who has shown how a poet ought to represent +Odysseus or the like deceiving some other personage.] The essence of +the method is the use of a paralogism, as follows. Suppose that +whenever A exists or comes to pass, B must exist or occur. Men think, +if the consequent B exists, the antecedent A must also ; but the +inference is illegitimate. For the poet, then, the right method is +this : if the antecedent A is untrue, and if there is something else, +B, which would necessarily exist or occur if A were true, one must +add [xpoc-Gstvaij the B ; for, knowing the added detail to be true, +we ourselves mentally proceed to the fallacious inference + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-296 + +that the antecedent A is Hkewise true. We may take an instance from +the Bath Scene in the Odyssey.'^ + +That is, one must say the least possible about the A, and keep +harping on the B. Turning to the Bath Scene in Odyssey 19, we see the +force of Aristotle's illustration. Here Odysseus, disguised in rags, +wishes to convince Penelope that he, the Beggar, has seen the real +Odysseus alive = A, a falsehood. Accordingly, he adds an elaborate +and accurate description of the hero's clothing = B. Penelope knows B +to be true, since the garments came from her. If A were true, that +is, if the Beggar had seen Odysseus, the natural consequence, B, +would be a true description of the clothing. From the truth of B, +Penelope mistakenly infers the occurrence of A, and believes the +Beggar.2 + +It is interesting to note in detail how Homer makes Odysseus ' add +the B '; I give the passage (Odyssey 19. 218 ff.) in the translation +of Butcher and Lang : + +' " Tell me what manner of raiment he was clothed in about his body, +and what manner of man he was himself, and tell me of his fellows +that went with him." Then Odysseus of many counsels answered her +saying: " Lady, it is hard for one so long parted from him to tell +thee all this, for it is now the twentieth year since he went thither +and left my country. Yet even so I will tell thee as I see him in +spirit. Goodly Odysseus wore a thick, purple mantle, twofold, which +had a brooch fashioned in gold, with a double covering for the pins, +and on the face of it was a curious device: a hound in his fore-paws +held a dappled fawn, and gazed on it as it writhed. And all men +marveled at the workmanship, how, wrought as they were in gold, the +hound was gazing on the fawn and strangling it, and the fawn was +writhing with his feet and striving to flee. Moreover, + +^ Here and subsequently I follow, with little deviation, my +'Amplified Version' (p. 82). 2 Ibid., pp. 82-3. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-297 + +THE FIFTH FORM OF ' DISCOVERY ' 297 + +I marked the shining doublet about his body, as it were the skin of a +dried onion, so smooth it was, and ghster-ing as the sun; truly many +women looked thereon and wondered. Yet another thing will I tell +thee, and do thou ponder it in thy heart. I know not if Odysseus was +thus clothed upon at home, or if one of his fellows gave him the +raiment as he went on board the swift ship, or even it may be some +stranger." ... So he spake, and in her heart he stirred yet more the +desire of weeping, as she knew the certain tokens that Odysseus +showed her. So when she had taken her fill of tearful lament, then +she answered him, and spake saying: \*\* Now verily, stranger, thou +that even before wert held in pity, shalt be dear and honorable in my +halls, for it was I who gave him these garments, even such as thou +namest, and folded them myself, and brought them from the chamber, +and added besides the shining brooch to be his jewel." ' + +At this point it is well to remember several things. First of all, +there are the words Tcpoo-TiQsvTs^ and xpodGsTvai, used in the sense +of ' adding to,' as if putting together truth and falsehood were +characteristic of deception. Then, there is the logical term +paralogism (iztxpcdo^Kjixo^) employed by Aristotle in the same +connection. Again, the stock example of a liar could hardly be any +other than Odysseus. Finally, we are to recall that Aristotle remarks +in the *Poetics* (24. 1459^14—5) upon the number of ' discoveries ' in +the Odyssey; the poem is, he says, an example of an involved plot, +since there is ' discovery ' throughout, and it is a story of +character. The incident of the false tidings, just quoted, has in +fact the nature of an erroneous recognition effected in the heroine +by the disguised hero, and might suggest the title 'OBuacsug +^zuhd'^^zloc, referred to by Aristotle in another passage which we +are about to examine — save that there it does not fit the case +without a textual change in the *Poetics*. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-298 + +And now we have reached our special topic. The fifth form of ' +discovery ' described in the *Poetics* has evidently puzzled the +commentators. The meaning of the name applied to it, (tuvGstyj, has +not been made clear. To translate this by \* composite ' does not +help very much unless we know the nature of the thing described — a +better plan would be to transliterate and say ' synthetic \*; and the +example supplied by Aristotle from some poem or lay called Odysseus +the False Messenger, or Odysseus with the False Tidings, leaves us +very uncertain of our facts. The text is doubtful at two points. Were +it not, any translation would still be conjectural, since the +reference is too brief, and of the two parties to the ' discovery \* +we can not be sure who recognizes and who is recognized. + +Even so, more light can be thrown on the passage. Bywater, for +example, has not done so well with this difficulty as with others in +the *Poetics*. But since his masterly edition may fairly be thought to +sum up our present knowledge of that work,^ it may be well to begin +with his text and translation of the passage, and to append his note +on the meaning of it. Thereupon I shall give, with a few minor +changes, the rendering and explanation I reached in my ' Amplified +Version'; and I shall then subjoin a few reflections that have +subsequently occurred to me. + +Bywater reads thus (16. I455ai2—6): + +£(7Ttv Bs Tt? xat (jDvGsTYj sx TuapaXoyio-jJiotj toO OaTspou, oTov £V +T(o 'OBucTcrsT ttw dtsuBayysXw\* to [jlsv yap [to] to^ov scpY] +yv(o(7saGat 6 ou)( scopaxst, to Bs (b? By] sxsivod ava-yvwpioQvTo? +Bia toutou TwOivjo-ai 7:apa>.oyt(7[j.6c. + +^ True in July, 1918 ; I have since (1921) had opportunity to consult +Gudeman's article and translation (the Preface to the latter b6ing +dated July, 1920), and shall later refer to the translation; his +article and translation are noted in the Bibliography. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-299 + +THE FIFTH FORM OF ' DISCOVERY ' 299 + +For the last word of the passage, following Vahlen he accepts the +reading of ms. Riccardianus 46, confirmed, he says, by the Arabic +version of the *Poetics*, rejecting the better authority of ms. +Parisinus 1741, which gives TuapaXoYi^rpv; and he translates : + +\* There is, too, a composite Discovery arising from bad reasoning on +the side of the other party. An instance of it is in Ulysses the +False Messenger : he said he should know the bow — which he had not +seen; but to suppose from that that he would know it again (as though +he had once seen it) was bad reasoning.' + +Bywater's note on the passage is this : ' sx 7uapa>.oYi(7[xoL>: comp. +^^ It, GuXkoyiG\kou. Vahlen, who connects this directly with +(tuvOsty], supposes the two factors in the Discovery to be a +<juXkoyiG\k6(; on the side of the one, and a 'Kccp(xkoyiG[x6c, on the +side of the other, of the two parties : \*\* quae [scil. +avayvcopKri?] ut ex simplici unius ratiocinatione prodire, ita +composita esse potest alterius ex syllogismo, paralogismo alterius " +(comp. also the discussion in his Zur Kritik Aristotel-ischer +Schriften, p. 16). The illustration, however, from the "OBuo-o-eu^ +^zoZay^zkoc, does not seem to imply anything more than an erroneous +inference by one party (TzoLpcckoyiGikbc, 6 GocTspou) from some +statement made by the other. The reasoning in this instance Aristotle +appears to regard as the illogical parallel to that in the Choephoroe +: just as the recognition of Orestes by Electra came about through a +(juHoyi(j[x6c, on her part, so that of A by B, the two personages in +the ""Oti'jfjGziji; cjjsuBayysXo^, is supposed to come about through +a izcc^yJXoyiGiko^ on the part of the latter. The fallacy to be found +there may have arisen from the ambiguity of the word " know." A +having said, " I shall know the bow," B may have taken this to mean +that he would " know it again " (avayvcopioUvTo^) — which was not +true (comp. 0 00/^ scopa/vei). In our ignorance of the play and its +plot it is idle to speculate further as to the way in which the +actual Discovery may have been worked out in it. The present is one +of many passages showing Aristotle's affection for the + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-300 + +forms of logic even when dealing with matters of poetry (see on i6. +1454^28).'^ + +Bywater's interpretation here suffers from his neglect + +to observe that, as chapter 16 of the *Poetics* deals with + +' discovery ' in the technical sense, and as the examples + +of the other forms involve the recognition of persons, + +with or without the use of tokens, so in the illustration + +of the fifth form what is said of the bow must almost + +certainly be subsidiary to the recognition of a person. + +He seems to have been misled, too, by a probably + +accidental word-echo : yvwasfrOat — avaYvwpiouvTO?. But + +here yvcocrsdOai is an indirect quotation of something + +uttered by a character in some lay or poem, while + +avayvopiotivTO? is a part of the technical language + +(cf. avayvcopto-i?) of the *Poetics*. Furthermore, the + +whole theory of the treatise, and Aristotle's use in it + +of the verb tuoisTv, irresistibly lead one to think of + +TzovfiGOLi as here referring to the activity of the poet. + +My own rendering of the passage in question is, I hope, + +clearer, at least to the sort of student I originally had + +in mind. I preface it only by saying that it assumes + +the accusative TuapaT^oyKipv to be correct, and with + +the remark that I translate (tuvGstt^, not by ' composite,' + +but by ' synthetic' or ' fictitious,' though perhaps + +' concocted ' would convey the idea: + +' Related to discovery by inference is a kind of sjm-thetic [or \* +fictitious '] discovery where the poet causes X to be recognized +through the false inference of Y [or ' through a logical deception +practised by X upon Y ']. There is an example of this in Odysseus +with the False Tidings. Here X says : ' I shall know the bow ' (which +he had not seen) ; but that Y should recognize X through this is to +represent a false inference [i. e., 'to poetize a paralogism ']. + +1 By water, pp. 237-8. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-301 + +THE FIFTH FORM OF ' DISCOVERY ' 301 + +I now wish to add these reflections. The word <7uvG£T^ is here +associated with a ' discovery ' that is deceptive or false, and with +Odysseus, the stock ex-, ample of success in deceit. The mention of a +paralogism, too, instantly reminds us of what Aristotle says +concerning Homer and his correct method in the telling of a lie, in a +passage where, as we have seen, the example is likewise that of +Odysseus effecting a false discovery, and where the notion of lying +is that of adding something true to something false (cf. +Tupoa-TiGsvTSi;, TupoaOsTvai). ' Composite,' then, may be misleading +as a translation of (juvOeT"^, which rather expresses the result when +the false A and the added B are put together. The Greek adjective, it +is true, can hardly have the same force here as in Aeschylus, +Prometheus Bound 686 (o-uvGstou^ loyoui; = ' lying speeches ') ; we +need some term like \* fictitious ' — one with no necessary +connotation of what is morally wrongful. + +[Gudeman's German translation of the *Poetics* (1921) is based upon a +fresh study of the Arabic version. Where we have heretofore read ' +know the bow,' he, like Margohouth (1911), gives, \* string the bow +'; I have often tried to identify Aristotle's Odysseus with the False +Tidings as one of the \* lays ' in the Odyssey (see my \* Amplified +Version,' p. 56). The Arabic version, then, leads us to connect the +example with Odyssey 21 or some adaptation of it. Gudeman (p. 33) +translates : + +' Es gibt aber auch eine zusammengesetzte Art der Erkennung, aus dem +Fehlschluss des einen (der ange-redeten Person), wie zum Beispiel im +Odysseus der Trugbote. Da behauptete der eine (Odysseus), er allein +konne den Bogen spannen und kein anderer. Dies lasst ihn der Dichter +nach der Uberlieferung sagen; wenn er nun hinzufiigt, er werde den +Bogen wieder- + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-302 + +erkennen, den er doch niemals gesehen, so war die An-nahme, er werde +diesen (wirklich) wiedererkennen, ein Fehlschluss/ + +The Arabic version evidently warrants an interpretation different +from that of Bywater; at this point there must have been a notable +difference between the Greek text that lay behind that and the Syriac +version, on the one hand, and ms. Parisinus 1741, on the other. To +me, there are great difficulties in Gudeman's rendering of the +passage, but I have no means of removing them. Very likely they will +be explained when Gude-man publishes his critical edition of the +*Poetics*. If not, then I should like to suggest the possibiUty of an +early textual corruption. May it be that Aristotle really spoke, not +of the bow (t6|ov) of Odyssey 21. 11, etc., but of the nuptial bed +(kiypi) of Odyssey 23. 177ff., a description of which enters into +Odysseus' revelation of himself to Penelope ? The hero is still in +the garb of a beggar. He finally identifies himself to her by a +circumstantial account of the bed — which as Beggar he had not seen. +' A great token,' he says, \* is worked into the elaborate bed ; it +was I that laboriously wrought this, and no other ' (to B' h(^ xajxov +o5B£ ti? SXXoc). His minute description, which he could give if he +were her husband, leads her, not to the legitimate inference that he +might be so, but that he must be. He adds the B, and she infers the +A. The \* discovery ' is of the fifth or \* synthetic ' sort. The +author of the lay, which could still be called Odysseus with the +False Tidings, has here ' poetized a paralogism.'] + +There is nothing morally objectionable in emplojang this kind of ' +discovery.' It is not the best kind, for that grows out of the +incidents of the plot; but if the poet wishes to represent a +character producing a false + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-303 + +THE FIFTH FORM OF ' DISCOVERY ' 303 + +recognition, let the device be used in the proper way — &C, BsT. You +must mention the false A, but not dwell upon it. You must put in the +B, and, as Homer makes the Beggar do in describing the garments to +Penelope, you must keep on adding to the description. In spite of By +water's warning that \* it is idle to speculate further as to the way +in which the actual Discovery may have been worked out ' in Odysseus +with the False Tidings, it is tempting to think of this poem or lay +in connection with Book 19 or Book 23 of the Odyssey. If, however, +the story is not Homeric, one could imagine the hero appearing in +disguise, and then proving his identity by a detailed description of +his ancient bow, or perhaps offering to pick out this weapon from a +number of others, and thus imposing on the guileless. + +Some of these thoughts were evidently in my mind when my ' Amplified +Version ' was published. But since then the whole question of the \* +synthetic ' or ' concocted discovery' has become more intelligible to +me through the observation of actual instances of the device in +literature. Aristotle was simply dealing with observed facts, so that +when a point in his conception of the drama or of epic poetry is +obscure, the best way of illuminating it is, not to theorize +immoderately on his text, but to compare what he says with the +practice of poets. Every one of his kinds of \* discovery ' can be +illustrated from Homer. How could it be otherwise in view of the +allusion in the *Poetics* to (S^vayvwpKxt^ in the Odyssey ? But I have +hit upon two very apt examples from the Biblical account of Joseph +and his brethren, a tale that might be described in Aristotle's words +as ' a complex story — there is "discovery" throughout, — and one of +character.' + +Thus (Gen. 37. 31-3): + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-304 + +' And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and +dipped the coat in the blood; and they sent the coat of many colors, +and they brought it to their father, and said : " This have we found +; know now whether it be thy son's coat or no." And he knew it, and +said : " It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph +is without doubt rent in pieces." ' + +In other words, the sons supply the B, their father infers the A, and +the \* concocted discovery ' is effected by a paralogism. The writer +of the story understood a point in his art — TuoiYJo-at +7uapaXoytG-|jL6v, — and knew how to represent a lie — ^su^yj Xsyeiv +65 BsT. In fact, he is specially given to using this form of +recognition. Potiphar's wife (Gen. 39. 7—20) caused Poti-phar to make +a false \* discovery ' by means of Joseph's garment, which she laid +up by her \* until his lord came home ': + +' And she spake unto him according to these words, saying : " The +Hebrew servant which thou hast brought unto us came in unto me to +mock me. And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that +he left his garment with me, and fled out." And it came to pass, when +his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, +saying, " After this manner did thy servant to me," that his wrath +was kindled. And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the +prison.' + +Joseph himself practised upon his brethren in somewhat similar +fashion. After securing grain from him in Egypt, twice they found +every man's money in his sack's mouth, and on the second occasion the +silver cup of the great Egyptian diviner in Benjamin's sack. + +If it be objected that the story in Genesis is historical, and that +we should not attribute too much to the originality of the writer, +there is an excellent reply in the *Poetics* itself (9. I45ib29—32) : + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-305 + +THE FIFTH FORM OF ' DISCOVERY ' 305 + +\* And even if he happens to take a subject from history, he is not +the less a poet for that; for there is nothing to hinder certain +actual events from possessing the ideal quality of a probable or +necessary sequence; and it is by virtue of representing this quality +in such events that he is their poet.' + +It is obvious that false \* discoveries ' are not restricted to a +single type. Odysseus describing the garments Penelope had given him +is a deceiver. Odysseus describing the nuptial couch to Penelope, who +has just tried to deceive him, is in earnest. A mistaken recognition +might occur when no deceit was intended by either party. Nevertheless +the poet would need to know how to bring it about, and the principle +would always be the same — a mistaken inference from the known B to +the seemingly necessary antecedent A. The New Comedy of Greece must +have been full of incidents turning upon both innocent mistakes and +guileful deceptions with regard to identity. It is easy enough to +find examples in Plautus and Terence; Chremes' delusion that the +courtesan Bacchis is the true love of young Clinia, in the +Self-Tormentor, will serve as an instance. As for the modern drama, +need one mention Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors ? I take it that +Aristotle's fifth form of discovery is peculiarly well-suited to +comedy. + +All men by nature desire to know; all like to see good +representations of the human mind in action; and nearly all delight +to see false inferences well portrayed — if the mystery is finally +cleared, and every mistake resolved. + +u + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-306 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-307 + +[Names and titles included in the Bibliography (above pp. xiv -xxi) +are here omitted; for two other cases of omission, see below under ' +Aristotle' and ' *Poetics*.'] + +Abraham 234 + +A bstract of a Comparison between + +Aristophanes and Menander, + +Plutarchian 35, 90 Acharnians, Aristophanes' 92, + +149 n., 157, 203, 209, 213, + +229, 231, 234, 244, 251, 252, + +271, 277, 282, 283. Acharnians, Rogers' edition + +39 n., 282, 283 Acharnians, Starkie's edition + +6n., 15 n.. 29 n., 234, 235, + +240, 242, 244, 246, 250, 252, + +256 Achilles 92, 143 ' Acidus ' 95 Acres, Bob 270 Acropolis 278 Ad +Atticum, Cicero's 92 n. Ad Quintum Fratrem, Cicero's + +91 n. Adrastus 33 n. Aeacus 197, 207, 210, 249, 276, + +277 Aegeon 281 + +Aegisthus 61, 150, 201 Aegyptus 160 n. Aeneid, Virgil's 187 +Aeolosicon, Aristophanes' 22 n., + +23, 24, i57n., 285 Aeolus 175 Aeschines 282 Aeschylus 15, 21, 23, 24, +27, 30, + +48, 103, 106, i25n., 139, + +193-196, 198, 204, 207, 210, + +219, 220, 228, 232, 239, 243, + +247, 248, 251, 260, 267, 277, + +28on., 301 Aesthetic, Croce's 78-80, 80n. + +Agathon 222 + +Agnes 268 + +Ainslie 80 n. + +Ajax 143 + +Alcaeus 157 + +Alcestis, Euripides' 86 + +Alciat 281 + +Alcibiades 107, 112, 113, 123, 126, 192, 237, 240, 267 + +Alcidamas 91, 132 + +Alcinous 204 + +Alcmaeon 33 + +Aldus Manutius 39 n., 40 + +Alexamenus loi + +Alexander 237, 287 + +Alexandria 51, 139 + +Alexis 31, 150, 151, 160, 192 + +A lope, Carcinus' 165 + +Ambassador 278, 283 + +Ameipsias 28, 105, 106, 151, 157, 160, 250 + +American Journal of Philology 36n., i47n., i6on. + +Amour Mededn, L', Moliere's 81, 82n. + +Amphitryon, Moliere's 209, 286 + +Amphitryon, Plautus' 50, 209 + +'Amplified Version' of the *Poetics*, Cooper's 9n., i2n., 4on., 42n., +63n., 166, 284, 296n., 298, 301-303 + +Amynias 248 + +Anacharsis 134 + +Anaxandrides 26, 30, 31, 34, 34n., 55, 147, I47n., I48n., 151, 159, +160, i6on., 260 + +Ancient Rhetorical Theories of the Laughable, Grant's 98, 99, 99 n. + +u 2 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-308 + +INDEX + +Andria 149 Andria, Terence's 35 AnecdotaGraeca, Bekker's 15011, +Ang61ique 231, 242, 256, 273. + +275 Anima, De, Aristotle's 31, 32, + +I33> 134. 13411.. 159, I59n. + +Anne Page 254 + +Anonymus 27 n., 51 n. + +Antecedents of Hellenistic Comedy, The, Frescott's 71 n. + +A nthologium, Stobaeus' 116 n. + +Anthology, Greek 39 + +Anti-Atticist 5, 7n., 29, 150, i5on., 233 + +Antipater 149 + +Antiphanes 31*33. 33 n., 34. 50, I49n., 151. 160 + +Antipholus of Ephesus 197, 205 + +Antipholus of Syracuse 197, 205 + +Antiphon 161 + +Aphrodite 159 + +Apollo 250, 270, 273 + +Apology, Plato's 38, 99n., 103, 104, i04n., 105, 106, 113, 124, 157, +231, 240, 276 + +Arabic version of the *Poetics* 299, 301 + +Archers 253, 279 + +Archibius 105, 158 + +Archidemus 270 + +Archilochus 21, 97, 193, 259 + +Archippus 28, 151, I57n., 159 + +Argan 256, 274, 278, 279 + +Argas 170 + +Argus 291 + +Ariel 235, 242. 249. 254, 275 + +Ariphrades 126 + +Aristides 142 + +Aristodemus 114 + +Aristophanes (see also Acharni-ans, Aeolosicon, Babylonians, Birds, +Clouds, Cocalus, Daedalus, Ecclesiazusae, Frogs, Knights, Lysistrata, +Peace, Plutus, Poiesis, Storks, Thes-mophoriazusae, Wasps) i, 6, +15-20, 2on., 21-25, 27-32, + +33n., 34-39. 39n., 40. 41. 44. 48, 49, 49n., 50, 58, 59, 68, 71-75, +80, 90-92, 98, 102, 103, + +I03n., 104-107, III, 113, + +ii6n., 121-124, i25n., 126, + +132, I4in., 143, I49n., 150- + +152, 155, 156, I56n., 157, + +I57n., 158. 159, i59n., 160, + +161, 169, 171-173, 178, 182, + +185, 187, 189, 191-199, 201- + +203, 205-211, 213, 214, 217, + +219, 221, 223, 228, 229, 232- + +235. 240, 241, 243-245, 248, + +250-252, 257, 259-262, 264, + +266, 270-272, 274, 276, 280, 28on., 281-285. 287, 288 + +Aristophon 142 + +Aristotelische Aufsatze, Vahlen's + +5 + +Aristotle. References to the philosopher, as also to his *Poetics*, are +omitted ; but see Carmina, Constitution of Athens, De Anima, De +Caelo, De Divinatione, De Genera-tione Animalium, De +Inter-pretatione, De Partibus Animalium, De Sensu, De Soph-isticis +Elenchis, Didascaliae, Eudemian Ethics, Fragmenta, Historia +Animalium, Metaphysics, Meteorologica, Nico-machean Ethics, On Poets, +Problems, Politics, Physica AuscuUatio, Rhetoric, Scolion, Topica, +Tractate. + +Aristotle, not the Stagirite, a writer on the Iliad 127 + +Aristotle, not the Stagirite, a writer On Pleonasm 127 + +Aristotle of Cyrene 127 + +Aristotles, eight 127 + +Arndt 138 n., 289 + +Arnolphe 267, 268 + +Art of Poetry, On the, Aristotle's, not the Stagirite 127 + +Art of Poetry, Theophrastus' 127 + +Arthur 234 + +Artium Scriptores, Spengel's i6on. + +Asclepius 196 + +Aspasia 260 + +Ass's Shadow, Archippus' 28, 159 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-309 + +309 + +As You Like It, Shakespeare's + +235, 248, 269 Atellan Comedy 95 Athenaeus 2611., loi, loin. Athenian, +The, in the Laws 108, + +109, 127, 252 Athenians 250 Athens 25, 35, 39, 75. 9i. 105. + +152, 158, 162, 172. 173, 177, + +195, 212, 221, 241, 260, 265, 270, 271, 282, 284, 292 + +Attica 37, 172, 288 Audry 235 Augustus Caesar 268 Aulularia, Plautus' +196, 198 Autobiographie, Geschichte der, + +Misch's I Autobiography, The, Burr's i, + +42 n. Avare, L', Moliere's 171, 177, + +196, 198, 241, 245, 261 Avocat, Second 280 Avocats 265 + +Babylon 242 + +Babylonians, Aristophanes' 29, + +156, 157, 235 Bacchis 305 Bachelierus 267, 271, 276, 278, + +282 Bacon 43 Bain 77 'Ballet,' in L'Amour Medecin + +81 Bardolph 240, 256, 261 Barent 237 Bar thole 281 Bath Scene 217, +296 Bdelycleon 274, 278 Beare i58n. Beatrice 273 Beggar, in the +Odyssey 296, + +302, 303 Bekker 3on., i5on. B61ise 237, 238 Bellerophon 242 Benedick +273 Benjamin 205, 304 Bentley 153 n., 236 B6ralde 273 Bergk I57n + +Bernays 10, ion., 12, 12 n., 15-19, 42, 262, 266 + +Bible 204, 303 + +Biottus 33 + +Birds, Aristophanes' 27, 38, 40, 41, 50, 52, 61, 71-73, 121, 157, +187. 191, 195, 196, 199, 201, 203, 204, 208, 209, 211, 217, 228, 229, +231-233, 235, 236, 240-243, 245-247, 249, 251, 257, 259-262, 264, +267, 270, 271, 274, 280, 283, 284 + +Birds, chorus of 73, 199, 232, 233. 270 + +Birds, Rogers' edition 73 n., 229, 259. 283 + +Blass 103 n. + +Bob Acres 270 + +Bobadil 270 + +Boeotia 282 + +Boileau 3 + +Bonitz 34, 35, 61 n. + +Book of Homage to Shakespeare, Gollancz's 15 n. + +Boor, Theophrastian 121 + +Boston 75 + +Botanic Garden, Darwin's 227 + +Bottom 229, 235, 237, 241, 242, 246, 249, 256, 258, 261, 262 + +Bottom's Dream 246 + +Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Le, Moliere's 171, 244, 253, 256, 262, 265, +279, 282 + +Boy, in Henry V 240, 256 + +Bradley 2 + +Brasidas 241 + +Brentano 20 n. + +Bridoye 247, 276 + +Brill 77 n. + +Bruns i + +Brutus 238, 239 + +Burns 255 + +Burr I, 42n. + +Butcher 19, I9n., 31,39,41,296 + +Byron 189, 215 + +Bywater 5, 6n., ion., 12, 12n., 19, i9n., 2in., 22, 22n.,. 23n., 27, +28, 41, 4in., 64,^ 64n., I3in., 133, I33n.,. I39n., I43n., +169,192,298-300^ 30on., 302, 303 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-310 + +10 + +INDEX + +Byzantinische Zeitschrift 4011. Byzantium 231 + +Caelo, De, Aristotle's 51 + +Caesar, Augustus 268 + +Caesar, Julius 89, 238, 239 + +Calais 256 + +Caliban 283 + +Callias 158, 161 + +Callimachus 156 + +Calliope 230 + +Calonice 72 + +Calverley 238, 257, 258 + +Capps 22, 22 n. + +Captives, Plautus' 212 + +Carlo 253 + +Carmen Physicum, Epicharmus' + +151 Carmina, Aristotle's 13, 13 n., + +227 Castre, Paul 281 Cercyon 165 Chabes 231 + +Chaeremon 247, 248, 267 Chantecler. Rostand's 208, 240 Chaos 257 +Characters, Theophrastus' 121, + +127 Chares 105, 158 Chaucer 217, 257, 276 Chionides 28, 150, 151, +160, 172 Chirones, Cratinus' 157n. Choephoroe, Aeschylus' 299 +Choerilus 141 n., 227 Choral Dancer,On the, Antiphon's + +161 Chorus in Thesmophoriazusae + +272 Chremes 33, 268, 305 Chremylus 197, 200, 205, 210, + +272 Chrysale 281 Chrysippus 98 Chrysostom 39, 39 n., 40 Chrysostomos +. . . sein Verhdltnis + +zum Hellenismus, Naegele's + +4on. Cicero, M. T. 39, 39n., 41, 63, + +64, 87, 88n., 89-91, 91 n., + +92, 92n., 93-98, 100, loon., + +102, 132, 200, 260, 289 + +Cicero, Q. T. 91, 91 n. + +Cinesias 157, 158 + +Cinesias, in Lysistrafa 270, 278 + +Cinesias, the poet 264 + +City Dionysia 194, 282 + +Civic Justice (see also Dicae- + +opolis) 193 Civil Wars, Daniel's 227 Clansmen, Leucon's 28, 157 Clark +35 n. + +Classical Library 88 n. Classical Philology 35 n,, 48 n., + +71 n., 290 Classical Review 22 n. Classical Studies in Honor of + +C. F. Smith 89 n. Cleante 256, 273, 274 Cleon 241, 251, 260 Cleonte +244, 256 Cleophon 143, 143 n., 170 Clinia 305 Clitandre 256 +Cloudcuckootown 242, 245, 264, + +272 Clouds, Aristophanes' 28, 38, + +39. 50> 73. 75. 104. io5. 105n., + +113, ii3n., 124, I4in., 156, + +212, 223, 231, 235, 236, 238, + +239, 241. 242, 245, 246, 248, + +250, 252, 257, 260-262, 267, + +274, 278, 280 Clouds, chorus of 73, 75 Clouds, new divinities 257 +Clouds, Rogers' edition 38 n., + +5on., i05n., Clouds, Starkie's edition 105 n., + +ii3n., 238, 239, 245 Clytaemnestra 295 Cocalus, Aristophanes' 22 n., + +23, 24, 47, 285 Cock and the Bull, The, Calver- + +ley's 238, 239. 257, 258 Coislin, De 10 Coislinianus, Tractatus, see +Trac + +tate. ' Comedy,' in L'Amour Mide- + +cin 81, 82 Comedy, On, Theophrastus' 127 Comedy of Errors, +Shakespeare' + +190,197, 205,208, 281, 286, 305 Comicorum Graecorum Frag- + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-311 + +311 + +menta, Kaibel's (see also + +Kaibel) 11, iin. Commentaries, Favorinus' loi Commonwealth, English +25 Comoedia, De, Donatus' 91 n.,132 Comparison of Aristophanes and + +Menander, Plutarchian 35, 90 Concordance of Aristophanes, + +Dunbar's 280 Congreve 25 Connus, Ameipsias' 28, 105, 157, + +350 Conrade 274 + +Constable, in L'Avare 245 Constitution of Athens, Aristotle's + +9, 12, i2n., 161, i6in., 227 Conthyle 231 Cook 71 n., loon. Cope 141 +n., I52n., i6on. Corin 268, 269 Coriolanus, Shakespeare's 230, + +245. 258 Cornford 22 n,, 44, 45 n., 48, + +48n., 49, 49n., I22n., 263- + +265 Corpse, in the Frogs 173, 245, + +250, 261 Covielle 244 Cramer 6n., 10, ion. Crates, comic poet 21, 28, +29, + +48, 49, 71, 112, 150, 151, 160, + +177' 178, Crates, critic 157, I57n. Cratinus 28, 34, 37, 92, 102, +151, + +I52n., 157, i57n., 160, 251, + +260, 288 Creon 291 Crispinus 273 Critique de VEcole des Femmes, + +La, Moliere's 81, 81 n. Crito 126, I26n. Croce 78-80, 8on. Croiset, +A. 3, 4n., 24, 24n., + +i05n. Croiset, M. 4n., i7n., 31, 31 n., + +36, 36n., 39n., 4911., i2on., Cujas 281 + +Cyclops 131, 170, 171 Cyclops, Euripides' 171, 228 Cynics 97, 98 +Daedalus 32, 159 + +Daedalus, Aristophanes' 28, 32, + +I57n., 159 Daedalus, Eubulus' I59n. Daedalus, Philippus' I59n. Daniel +227 Dante 76 Darwin 227 Daw 234 De Anima, Aristotle's 31, 32, + +133, I34n., 159, I59n. De Caelo, Aristotle's 51 De Coislin 10 + +De Comoedia, Donatus' 91 n. De Divinatione, Aristotle's 149, + +i49n. De Elocutione, Demetrius' 71 n., + +102, 103. io3n., 138, 149, + +I49n., 150, i5on. Defence of Poetry, Shelley's + +loon. Defense of Poesy, Sidney's 71 n., + +72 n. De Generatione Animalium, + +Aristotle's 112, 145, 145 n., + +153. I53I1-. 162, i62n. De Interpretatione, Aristotle's + +141, i4in. De Legibus, Cicero's 3911., 9111., De Mysteriis, (?) +lamblichus' + +82, 83n. De Officiis, Cicero's 39 n., 91 n. De Oratore, Cicero's 88 +n., 89n., + +289 De Partibus Animalium, Aristotle's 163, 163 n. De Sensu, +Aristotle's 29, 158, + +i58n. De Sophisticis Elenchis, Aristotle's 35, 146, 231 Dead man, in +the Frogs 173, 245, + +250, 261 Dekker 273 Delphi 114 Demeter 277 Demetrius 26, 71, 102, +103, + +I03n., 138, I38n., 149, 14911., + +150, i5on. Democritus, predecessor of + +Aristotle 126 Democritus, philosopher 87, 89, + +99, 159 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-312 + +INDEX + +Demosthenes 141 n., 213 Demus 198, 250, 260, 262-264, + +278 Dervishes 254 Despautere 258 Dew, Signieur 236 Diafoirus, +Monsieur 231 Diafoirus, Thomas 231, 242, + +256 Dialog, Der, Hirzel's i, loi n., + +i02n., io3n., ii2n. Dialogues, Alexamenus' loi Dialogues, Plato's 20, +21, 38, + +99-102, 102 n., 103, 104, 107, + +112, 116, 123, 125, 127, 276 Dicaeopolis 193, 200, 203, 229, + +252, 277, 278, 283 Dickens 261 Didascaliae, Aristotle's 16, 28, + +30, 151, 156, 157, 159, 161 Diliad, Nicochares' 170 Dindorf 156, 157 +Diogenes, the Cynic 98 Diogenes Laertius 89n., 100, + +loon., loi, loin., 126, I26n., + +127, i27n. Diomede 175 Diomedes 51, 85 Dionysius ' the Brazen ' 230 +Dionysius, painter 169 Dionysius, tyrant 39 Dionysius Thrax 51, 85 +Dionysus I7n., 141 n., 185, 189, + +195-197, 202, 204, 206, 207, + +210, 221, 240, 241, 243, 245, + +247, 249, 250, 255, 262, 267, 269, 274, 276, 277, 289 + +Diphilus 48 + +Disciple, in the Clouds 244, 247, + +248, 267 + +Divinatione, De, Aristotle's 149, + +14911. Dogberry 231, 246, 248, 252, + +258, 262, 268, 274 Donatus 91 n., 132 Don Juan, Byron's 189, 215 Don +Juan, Moliere's 209, 246, + +262, 267 Don Quixote, Cervantes' 216, + +263 Dorante 81 n. + +Dorians 172, 173 + +Dovregubbe 255 + +Diibner 23 n. + +Dugas 65 n., 77, 78 n. + +Duke, Solinus 205, 281 + +Dunbar 280 + +Dutch painters 169 + +Duty, Ode to, Wordsworth's 227 + +Ecclesiazusae, Aristophanes' 24, + +,38, 58, 272 Ecole des Femmes, L', Moliere's + +81, 267. 268 Ecphantides 29, 128, 151, 152, + +I52n., 162 Egger35, 35n., 45n., 100. loin., + +i25n., i26n., i27n. Egypt 304 Elbow 232 Electra 299 Electra, +Sophocles' 86 Elizabethan comedy 25 Elmire 274 Elocutione, De, +Demetrius' 26, + +71, 7in., 102., 103, io3n., + +138, i38n., 149, i49n., 150, + +i5on. Elyot 39, 39 n. Empedocles 227 Encyclopedia Americana 48n. +England 25 English 283 Ephesus 281 Epicharmus 28-30, 48, 49, 55, + +102, i02n., 103, III, 112, + +150-152, I52n., 153, I53n., + +154, i54n., 155, i55n., 172, + +177 Epicrates 26 Eraste 273 + +Eratosthenes 156, 157 Ergdnzung zu Aristoteles' Poetik, + +Bernays' 10, 15 Escalus 232 Essay on Comedy, Meredith's + +8on. Ethics, Aristotle's, see Eudemian + +Ethics, Nicomachean Ethics. Etottvdi, L', Moliere's 273 Eubulus, +comic poet 31, 32, + +151, 159, 15911. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-313 + +313 + +Eubulus, orator 105, 158 + +Euclides 126 + +Euclio 196 + +Eudemian Ethics, Aristotle's 7, 121, i2in. + +Euelpides 193, 230, 235, 241, 262, 267 + +Euergides 231 + +Euphues 242 + +Eupolis 28, 37, 92, 105, 10511., 151, 156, 157, 161, 251 + +Euripides 15, 21, 23-25, 27, 30, 31, 40, 48, 71, 86, 103, i37n., 141, +158, 171, 185, 193-196, 198, 204, 207, 210, 219-221, 228, 232, 235, +238, + +239, 243, 247-249, 251, 255. 260, 267, 272, 273, 277, 280 n., 284, +288 + +Europe, southern 255 Euthydemus, Plato's i58n. Evans, Sir Hugh 244 +Evenus I35n. + +Every Man in his Humor, Jon-son's 270 + +Facheux, Les, Moliere's 81 n., 209 Faerie Queene, Spenser's 170 +Falstaff 25, 229, 234, 236, 237, + +240, 242, 244, 249, 252, 254, 256, 261-263, 268-270, 273, 275. 279, +286 + +Faust 255 + +Faust, Goethe's 255 + +Favorinus loi + +Femmes Savantes, Les, Moliere's + +231, 237, 238, 256, 259, 279, + +281 Ferdinand 275 Fernand 281 Feste 244, 268, 269, 275 Festin de +Pierre, Le, see Don + +Juan, Moliere's. Fielding 207, 215 First Alcibiades, Plato's 112, + +ii2n. First Proem, Tzetzes' 287-289 Fiske 89n., 9on., 96-97, 97n., + +98, 98n. Flagon, Cratinus' 28, 157 Flatterer, Eupolis' 28, 157 + +Flemish painters 170 Flickinger 22 n. Fluellen 237, 283 Flute 236, +237 Fragmenta, Aristotle's 13 n., loon., loi, loin., 150, i5on., + +156, I56n., 157, 15711., 158, I58n., 159, 15911., 161, i6in. + +French 282 + +French Soldier 236 + +French theorists 190 + +Frere 73, 170 + +Freud 76, 77, 77 n., 78, 78 n. + +Frogs, Aristophanes' 28, 40, 47. 48, 50. 52, 58, 61, 73, 74, ii6n., +I25n., I4in., 143. + +157, 158, 161, 173 185, 189 194-198, 202, 204, 206, 207, 210, 212, +213, 220, 221, 232, 234. 239-241, 243. 245, 247, 249-251, 255, 257, +260-262, 267-270, 274, 276, 277, 284, 285, 288 + +Frogs, chorus of 73, 74, 207, + +221 Frogs, Rogers' edition 232 Froth 232 Function of Suspense, Mori- + +arty's 68 n. + +Gadshill 233, 273 + +Gaunt 229 + +Generatione Animalium, De, + +Aristotle's 112, 145, I45n., + +153. i53n., 162, i62n. Genesis, Book of 303, 304 G^ronte 258 +Gerontomania, Anaxandrides' + +160, i6on. Geschichte der Autobiographic, + +Misch's I Gib (Gilbert) 234 Gilbert, W. S. 255 Glaucon 126, 221 +Glaucus 175 Gliederung der Altattischen Ko- + +moedie, Zielinski's 44 Grammar, Despautere's 258 Grant 98, 99, 99n. +Gray's Inn 256 Goethe 255 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-314 + +INDEX + +Gollancz 1511. + +Good Men, The, (?) Anaxandri- + +des' 160, 160 n. Gorgias 26, 123, 144, 15211. Gorgias, Plato's 112, +11211., + +15211. Governour, The, Elyot's 3911. Greece 1711. Greek Anthology 39 +Greek Culture, Cooper's 4811. Greek Theatre, Flickinger's 22 n. +Greeks, the 255 Greg I + +Griechische Roman, £)ey,Rohde*s i Grieg 255 Grimarest 271 Guard, in +Le Malade Imaginaire + +279 Gudeman 10711., 12611., 179, + +20911., 29811., 301, 302 + +Hades 189, 195, 196, 248 + +Haigh 22n., 7311., 12511., 15811., 253. 255, 282 + +Hal, see Prince Hal + +Hall of the Mountain King, In the, Grieg's 255 + +Hamlet, Shakespeare's 230, 248 + +Harpagon 171, 177, 196, 241, 245, 261 + +Harpocration i6i + +Hawker 264 + +Hegemon 28, 150, 161, 170 + +Heitz I58n., I59n. + +Helicon 273 + +Hellenistic Comedy, The Antecedents of, Prescott's 71 n. + +Hendrickson 90 n. + +1 Henry IV, Shakespeare's 229, + +233. 236, 240-242, 244, 249, 269, 270, 275, 279 + +2 Henry IV, Shakespeare's 239, + +256 Henry V, Shakespeare's 234, + +236, 237, 240, 256, 283 Hense ii6n. Heracleid 189 Heracles 189, 196, +204, 207, + +209, 221, 241, 250, 255. 257, + +260, 261, 270, 276, 280, 283, + +289 + +Heraclides 126, i26n. + +Heraclitus 83 + +Herald of King Aegyptus 160 n. + +Hermathena I5n., 231, 234, 242 + +Hermes 145, 277 + +Hermippus 233 + +Hermit of Prague 268, 269 + +Heme 244 + +Herodotus 191 + +Hesiod 227 + +Hicks I34n. + +Hippias 126 + +Hippocrates 82 + +Hipponax 97, 259 + +Hirzel i, 3, loin., 102 n., 103 n., 112, ii2n. + +Histoire de la Litteraiure Grecque (see also Croiset) 4n., i7n., 24n. + +Historia Animalium, Aristotle's 163, i63n., 231 + +History of New York, Knickerbocker's (Irving's) 247 + +Hobbes 79, 80 + +Hogarth 169 + +Homer (see also Iliad, Margites, and Odyssey) i, 15, 21, 28, 37, +39-4i> 92, loi, 106, 107, III, 127, 132, 136, 150, 170-172, 174, 175, +190, 191, 217, 218, 243, 295. 296, 301, 303 + +Hoopoe 196, 211 + +Hopeful (see also Euelpides) 193 + +Horace 86, 86n., 87, 97, 99n. + +' Horace ' (Ben Jonson) 273 + +Hostess, see Quickly + +Hugo 261 + +Hutton 263 + +Hybla 249 + +lamblichus 82, 83, 83 n. 'lau^ol tej^vLXoi, Tzetzes' 51Q. Ibsen 255 + +Ichneutae, Sophocles' 288 Idylls of the King, Tennyson's + +170 Idyls, Theocritus' 171 Iliad I36n.. i4in., 171, 175\* + +191 Ilium 190 Imole, Jean 281 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-315 + +;i5 + +Index Arisfotelicus, Bonitz's 34, + +35. 6in. Informer 264 Inspector 264, 274 l7istitntio Oratoria, +Quintilian's + +36n., 39n., 92, 92n., gGn. Interpretatione, De, Aristotle's + +141, I4in. locasta 33 + +Ion, Plato's 103, 276 Iphicrates 142 Iphigenia 294 Iphigenia among +the Tauvians, + +Euripides' 27, 40, 71 Iris 73, 204, 229, 247, 250 Irus 175 Irving +247, 276 Isarchus 157 Italy 190 + +Jacobean comedy 25 + +Jacqueline 249, 282 + +Japanese, the 74 + +Jean Imole 281 + +Jean Paul 80 + +Jebb 62n., i23n., i24n., i25n., + +i35n., i38n., i42n., 143 n., + +i44n., i45n., I47n., I53n., + +I56n., I58n. Jonson 270, 273 Josan 281 + +Joseph 204, 303, 304 Jourdain 253, 254, 256, 262, 279 Jowett 104, +i04n., io5n., I07n., • io8n., io9n., iion., iiin., + +ii2n., ii3n., ii4n., ii6n., + +i25n., i28n., I29n., i3in., + +i62n. Juan, Don, Byron's 189, 215 Juan, Don iLe Festin de Pierre), + +Moliere's 209, 246, 262, 267 Julian 281 Julie 273 + +Just Reason, in the Clouds 50 Justinian 281 + +Kaibel 11, iin., 23n., 27n., 37n., 5in., 85, 86n., gin., I5in., +I52n., I53n., I55n., 224, 259, 287, 287n. + +Kant 79, 80 + +Kayser 11, iin., 14, I4n., 64n., + +76n., 224, 22811., 262 Kent 22, 22 n. Kenyon 161n. King Arthur, +Frere's 170 King, the Great 229, 283 King's Eye 229 Knickerbocker +247, 276 Knights 263, 264 Knights, Aristophanes' 14111., + +178, 198, 213, 234, 250, 257, + +260, 262, 278 Kock 26n., 3in., 32, 32n., + +33n., 34, 34n., io5n., ii3n.. + +i47n., i48n., I49n., i5on., + +I56n., I57n., I58n., I59n., + +i6on., 233, 260 Kritik Aristotelischer Schriften, + +Zur, Vahlen's 299 KroU 85 n. + +Labes 274 + +Lacedaemon 162 + +Lacedaemonians 119 + +Lady Macbeth 295 + +Lady Sovereignty 73, 257, 280, + +283 Laertius, Diogenes 89n., 100, + +lOon., loi, loin., 126, I26n., + +127, i27n. La Fleche 196 Laius 33, 157 Lampito 282 Lang 296 Languedoc +282 Laputa, Voyage to, Swift's 231, + +245 Laughable, On the, Greek and + +Latin books 89, 93, 94 Laughable, On the, Theophras- + +tus\* 127 Launce 232, 238 Laws, Plato's 99, 108, 109, no, + +lion., Ill, inn., 121, 125, + +i25n., 127, I29n. Leandre 241, 273 Leeuwen, Van 72 Legibus, De, +Cicero's 39 n., + +91 n. Legrand i, 26, 26n,, 36n., 59, + +59 n. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-316 + +INDEX + +Lentulus 95 + +Letters of William Stubbs, Hut-ton's 263 + +Leucon 28, 151, 157 + +Lexicon, Harpocration's 161 + +Lexicon, Photius' 159 + +Library of the World's Best Literature, Warner's 49 n. + +Lincoln 291 + +Lingua Franca 282 + +Literarische Portrdt der Griechen, Das, Bruns' i + +Lorenz 152 n. + +Louison 274, 278, 279 + +Lucan 227 + +Lucas 238, 249, 275, 279, 282 + +Lucette 275, 282 + +Lucian 39, 245 + +Lucretius 227 + +Lycambes 21 + +Lycophron 144 + +Lyrik und Lyriker, Werner's i + +Lysias 103 + +Lysistrata 72, 270, 272, 282 + +Lysistrata, Aristophanes' 40, 4on., 72, 202, 209, 212, 230, 250, 270, +271, 278 + +Lysistrata, Rogers' edition 40 n., 72 n. + +Macbeth, Lady 295 + +McMahon 4, 4n., 6, 6n., 7, 7n., 8n., II, iin., I4n., 16, i6n., 63, 63 +n. + +Magnes 28, 150, 161, 172 + +Mahaffy 3 + +Malade Imaginaire, Le, Mo-li^re's 177, 194, 209, 231, 238, 243, 244, +253, 254, 256, 261, 265, 267, 268, 271, 273, 274. 276, 278, 279, 282, +286 + +Malvolio 261, 269, 275 + +Manutius, Aldus 39n., 40 + +Margites, Homeric 132, 172, + +i74» 175 Margoliouth 301 Maricas, Eupolis' 28, 156 Marsyas 240 +Martine 237, 281 Mascarille 273 Maslow 103 n. + +Matthew, Book of 245 Maximes du Marriage, Les 268 Mazon 56, 56n., +57-59. 59n. Measure for Measure, Shakespeare's 232 Midecin MalgrS +Lui, Le, Mo- + +lifere's 238, 241, 242, 249, 258,. + +262, 263, 265, 273, 275, 279, + +282 Megara 162, 172, 282 Megarian, the 244 Meineke 18, 30, 3on., 31, +32n., + +39, I45n., 150, I52n.. i58n., + +I59n., i6on., 287n. Melampus 51, 85 Meletus 157 Memnon 242 Menaechmi, +Plautus' 190 Menander 23, 24, 27, 35, 36, + +41, 44, 48, 59, 71. 90, 192, + +193. 198, 209, 244, 268, 272 + +285, 286 Menander, Comparison between + +Aristophanes and, Plutarchian + +35. 90 Menedemus 268 Meno 101 + +Mephistopheles 255 Meredith 80, 80n., 81 Merope 291 Merry Wives of +Windsor, The, + +Shakespeare's 230, 244, 254 Metaphysics, Aristotle's 7, 112, + +153.154. I54n., 155. i55n., 290-Meteor ologica, Aristotle's 150, , + +i5on. Meton 247, 264 Midas 234, 288 Middle Ages 3 Middle Comedy 12, +19, 23, 25- + +27, 27n., 31, 32, 34, 36, 37, •41, 48, 71, 122, 124, 14911., + +193, 212, 272, 285-287 Middleton 234 Midsummer-Night's Dream, A, + +Shakespeare's 229, 235-237, + +241, 242, 246, 249, 256, 258 Miller 91 n. Mimes 20, 38, 101-102, 102 +n., + +103, io8n., 112, 132, 168, + +169, 228 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-317 + +317 + +Mimus, Der, Reich's i, 10211., io8n. + +Misanthrope, Le, Moliere's 286 + +Misch I + +Mnesilochus 238, 272, 278 + +Moliere (see also Amour M6de-cin, Amphitryon, Avare, Bourgeois +Gentilhomme, Critique de I'Ecole des Femmes, Don Juan, licole des +Femmes, J^tourdi, Facheux, Femmes Savantes, Malade Imaginaire, +Medecin Malgre Lui, Misanthrope, Monsieur de Pour-ceaugnac, Tartuffe) +15, 1511., 44, 80-82, 171, 177, 189, 191, 195, 196, 198, 205, 206, +208, 209, 220, 231, 242, 245, 246, 252, 256, 258, 261, 262, 265, 267, +271, 274, 280, 282, 286 + +Momax 234, 288 + +Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, Moliere's 244, 261, 262, 265, 273, 275. +279, 280, 282 + +Moonshine 237 + +Moriarty 68 + +Moses 234 + +Much Ado about Nothing, Shakespeare's 246, 248, 258, 268, + +273' 274 Mufti, the 254 Muses, the 273 \* Music,' in L'Amour Medecin + +81 Mustard-seed 236 Myrrhina 270, 278 Mysians, Philoxenus' 131 +Mysteriis, De, (?) lamblichus' + +82, 83n. + +Naegele 40 n. + +Nature, On, Parmenides' 227 + +Nauck i37n. + +Naxos 256 + +Nemesis 260 + +Nemesis, Cratinus' 260 + +Nerine 273, 275, 282 + +New Comedy 12, 16, 19, 23, 26-28, 34, 36, 37. 89-91, 187, 192, 193, +212, 226, 241, 251, 259, 265, 272, 285-288, 305 + +New Greek Comedy, The (see also Legrand) i + +Nicochares 33, 150, 161, 170 + +Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle's 7, 9, 13, 16, 19, 20, 23, 25, 30. 31. +65, 69. 70, io2n., 117, ii7n., 118-120, i2on., 122, 133, 134, I34n., +139, 154. i54n., 160, i6on., 162, i62n., 165, i65n., 176. 231, 259, +260, 262, 263 + +Nicon 146 + +Nightingale 73, 231, 235 + +' Ninny ' 235, 236 + +Ninus 236 + +Nym 256 + +Odysseus 143, 175, 190, 191, + +204, 243, 294-297, 301-303. + +305 Odysseus with the False Tidings + +297-303 Odyssey 61, 91, 132, I4in., 171, 175, 189-191, 197, 201, 211, +216, 217, 223, 228, 296, 302, + +303 Oedipodia, Meletus' 157 Oedipus 33, 291, 292 Oedipus the King, +Sophocles' 27, + +40, 54, 71, i4in., 172, 187, + +191, 228 + +Officiis, De, Cicero's 39n., gin.. + +Ogle 163 n. + +Old Comedy 12, 16, 2on., 21, 23, 24, 26-28, 34, 35-37. 39-41. 47. 49. +55. 72. 74. 75. 90-92, 97, 102, 122, 124, 125, 143, i48n., i49n., +152, i52n., + +192, 226, 252, 259, 260, 264, 268, 285-288 + +Olympiodorus 38, 112 Olympus 257 + +On Comedy, Theophrastus' 127 On Nature, Parmenides' 267 On Pleonasm, +Aristotle's, not + +the Stagirite 127 On Poetry, Democritus' 126 On Poets, Aristotle's +dialogue 8, + +14, 15, loi, 204 On Rhythms and Harmony, Democritus' 126 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-318 + +INDEX + +On Style, Demetrius,' see De + +Elocutione. On Style, Theophrastus' 127 On the A rt of Poetry, +Aristotle's, + +not the Stagirite 127 On the Art of Poetry, Theophrastus' 127 On the +Choral Dancer, Antiphon's + +161 On the Laughable, Greek and + +Latin books 89, 93, 94 On the Laughable, Theophrastus' + +127 Oracle-monger 264 Orator, Cicero's 88 n., 92 n., + +loon. Oraiore, De, Cicero's 88 n., 89 n., + +289 Oresteia, Aeschylus' 277 Orestes 61, 150, 201, 294, 299 Orestes, +Alexis\* 31, 150, 192 Orestes, Euripides' 86 Orgon 205, 274 Origin of +Attic Comedy, The, + +Cornford's 44 Oronte 275 Oxford translation of Aristotle + +I2in., i3in., I45n., i6in., + +162 n. + +Page, Anne 254 Palamedes 160 Pan 145 + +Panaetius 89, 98 Pancratiastes, Philemon's 34, + +35 + +Pantacles 161 + +Panza, Sancho 263 + +Paphlagon 260, 278 + +Papinian 281 + +Paris 75 + +Parmenides 227 + +Parnassus 190, 273 + +Parthey 83 n. + +Partibus Animalium, De, Aristotle's 163, 163 n. + +Pasias 274 + +Pastoral Drama, Greg's i + +Paul Castre 281 + +Pauson 129, 169, 221 + +Peace, Aristophanes' 28, 58, + +157. 173. 213, 234, 241. 242, + +245. 251, 271 Pedro, Don 257, 258 Peer Gynt, Ibsen's 255 Peer Gynt +Suite, Grieg's 255 Pegasus 242, 245 Peisthetaerus 193, 196, 200, + +203, 231, 241, 245, 264, 267, + +270-272, 274, 280, 283 Peleus 33 Peloponnese 172 Peloponnesian war +24, 287 Penelope 61, 296, 297, 302, 303, + +305 Peparethia, (?) Antiphanes' 34, + +149, i49n. Percy 244 + +Pericles 129, 159, 242, 251, 260 Perinthia 149 n. + +Peripatetics 13, 14, 16, 48, 64 Persia 229 Persian war 227 Phaedo, +Plato's 103, 105, 105 n., + +106, 113, 231 Phaedrus, Plato's 42 n., 99 n., + +103, 113, ii3n., 276 Pharaoh 270 Pharsalia, Lucan's 227 Pheidippides +280 Pherecrates 120 ' Phibbus ' 237 Phido 33 + +Philaminte 256, 281 Philammon 148, 149 Philebus, Plato's 11, 66, 79, + +100, 114-116, ii6n., 127, 134 Philemon, actor 160 Philemon, comic +poet 23, 24, 34, + +35. 41. 48 Philippus 31, 32, 151, 159, + +I59n. Philocleon 262, 278 Philoctetes 165 Philologus lojn., 209n. +Philomela 26 Philosophical Review 42 n. Philoxenus 131, 151, 170, 171 +Phlya 231 Phoebus 237 Phoenicides 33 Phoenissae, Strattis' 158 n. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-319 + +319 + +Phormis 28, 49, 112, 150, 161, 177 + +Phorcides, Aeschylus' 139, 228 + +Photius 159 + +Phrynichus 253 + +Physica Auscultatio, Aristotle's 51, 143, 14311., 149, i49n., 15811., +247 + +Physiologus 242 + +Picardy 282 + +Pindar 145 + +Pirates, chorus of 255 + +Pirates of Penzance, Gilbert and Sullivan's 255 + +Pistol 236 + +Placidus 95 + +Plain Style in the Scipionic Circle, Fiske's 89 n. + +Plato, comic poet 29, 33, 105, 112, ii3n., 151, 158, i58n. + +Plato, philosopher (see also Dialogues, and Apology, First +Alcibiades, Euthydemus, Gorgias, Ion, Laws, Phaedo, Phaedrus, +Philebus, Protagoras, Republic, Symposium, Theaetetus) 5, 7, 11, 20, +21, 26, 29, 38, 39, 42, 66, 76, 79, 80, 83, 84, 90-92, 97-99, 99n., +100-102, io2n., 104, I04n., 105. io5n., 107-109, 111-114, ii6n., +121-123, 125-127, i29n., 131, 134, 151, I52n., I55n-, 157. i58n., +169, 187, 240, 263, 276 + +Platonis Rem Publicam, In, Proclus Diadochus' 85 n. + +Platonius 23, 37, 37 n. + +Piatt 145 n. + +Plautus 27 n., 44, 50, 91, 97, 187, 189, 193, 196, 198, 206, + +209, 212, 244, 265, 305 Pleonasm, On, Aristotle's, not + +the Stagirite 127 + +Plutarch 35, 90 + +Plutus 196, 205, 207, 229, 272 + +Plutus, Aristophanes' 22, 24, + +40, 47, 50, 58, 68, 171, 189, + +193, 196-198, 205, 207, 208, + +210, 229, 233, 250, 253, 272, 278, 284, 285 + +Plutus, Rogers' edition 23 n., + +24n., 253 Poet, in the Birds 259, 264 *Poetics*, Aristotle's. +References to the work are omitted ; but see ' Amplified Version,' +An-ti-Atticist, Arabic version. Butcher, Bywater, Gudeman, +lamblichus, McMahon, Mar-goliouth, Proclus, Rutherford, Starkie, +Vahlen. Poetry, On, Democritus' 126 Poets, On, Aristotle's dialogue + +8, 14, 15, loi, 204 Poiesis, Antiphanes' 32 Poiesis, Aristophanes' +32, 40 Poietai, Alexis' 32 Poietai, Plato's, the comic poet + +33 + +Poietes, Biottus' 33 + +Poietes, Nicochares' 33 + +Poietes, Phoenicides' 33 + +Poi^^^s,Plato's, the comic poet 33 + +Poietria, Alexis' 32 + +Poins 229, 270, 273, 275, 279 + +Polichinelle 194, 253, 279 + +Politics, Aristotle's 5, 9, 12, I3n., 19, 20, 29, 30, 34, 43, 63, 64, +70, 104, III, 123, 125, i25n., 128, I28n., 129, i29n., 130, 131, +I3in., 152, i52n., I57n., 162, i62n., 180, 283 + +Polonius 248, 262 + +Polybus 141, 291 + +Polygnotus 129, 169 + +Polyidus 42 n. + +PoljT'machaeroplagides 212 + +Polyphemus 131, 171, 175 + +Pompey 232 + +Porson 238, 239 + +Poseidon 251, 270 + +Potamii, Strattis' I58n. + +Potiphar 304 + +Potiphar's wife 304 + +Pourceaugnac, Monsieur de, Moliere's, see Monsieur de Pourceaugnac. + +Pourceaugnac, Monsieur de (the hero) 244, 261, 262, 273, 275, 279, +280, 282 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-320 + +INDEX + +Poverty 210 Praeses 271 Prat, Mother 244 Praxagora 272 Prescott 48, +4811., 71 n. Pre-Socratics 98, 277 Priest, in the Birds 264 Prince +Hal 240, 244, 249, 269, + +270, 273, 275, 279, 281 Problems, Aristotle's 69, 155, + +I55n., 163, i63n., 164, i64n., + +165, i65n., 231 Proclus Diadochus 64, 83-85, + +8511., 90 Prometheus 250, 251 Prometheus Bound, Aeschylus' + +301 Protagoras 126 Protagoras, Plato's 103, 276 Protarchus 114 + +Proverbs, Zenobius\* 157 n., 159 Pseudartabas 213, 229, 244, + +278, 283 Pseudolus, Plautus' 212 Psychologic du Rire, Dugas' + +65n., 78n. Puck 249 Pun in the Rhetoric of Aristotle, + +A, Cooper's 36n., 147n. Pyramus 235 Pythagoras 269 + +Quasimodo 261 + +Quickly (Hostess) 234, 237,239, + +249 Quilp 261 + +Quince 229, 236, 237, 246 Quintilian 36, 36n., 39, 39 n., + +41, 92, 92n., 93-96. 96n. Quixote, Don 216, 263 + +Rabelais 15 n., 231, 247, 257 + +Radermacher 96 n. + +Raphael 170 + +Rebuffe 281 + +Reich I, io2n., io8n. + +Renaissance 3, 7, 30n., 190, 198 + +Republic, Plato's 5. 7, 38, 83-85. 85n., loi, 104,106, 107, i07n., +108, io8n., 109, io9n.. iii, 113, 121, 122, 127, 131, i3in., 187, 276 + +Restoration comedy 25 + +Rhadamanthus 160 + +Rhetoric, Aristotle's 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, i3n., 14, 16, 17, 21 +n., 26n., 29, 30, 3on., 34, 36, 40, 49, 54, 62, 66, 66n., 69, 87, 91 +n., 96, 105, io5n., ii6n., 123, I23n., 124, 12411., 125, i25n., 127, +I32n., 133-135. I35n., 136-138, i38n., 139, 140, 141, 141 n., 142, +I42n., 143, I43n., 144, I44n., 145, I45n., 146, 147, i47n., 148, 149, +I49n., 152, I52n., 153, i53n., 155, 156. i56n., 158, I58n., 160, +i6on., 209, 227, 230, 231, 235. 236, 239, 263, 265, 266, 273, 283 + +Rhetorik derGriechen und Romer, Volkmann's 259 + +Rhythms and Harmony, On, Democritus' 126 + +Richard II, Shakespeare's 229 + +Richter 80 + +Ring and the Book, The, Browning's 238 + +Rivals, The, Sheridan's 271 + +Roberts 103, 103 n., 149 n. + +Rogers 23n., 24, 24n., 28n., 39n., 40, 4on., 50, 5on., 72, 72n., 73, +73n., 229, 232, 253, 259, 282, 283 + +Rohde I, 3 + +Roman Comedy, The Interpretation of, Prescott's 48 n. + +Roman satirists 97 + +Romans, the 96 + +Rome 89 + +Rose I3n., icon., loin., i5on., i56n., i57n., I58n., I59n., 161 n. + +Ross I2in., I3in., i6in., 162n., 163 n. + +Rostand 208, 240 + +Rutherford 6, 6n., 11, iin., 15. 16, 30, 36. 50, 5on., 147n., 236 + +Sampson Stockfish 256 + +Sancho Panza 263 + +Sandys I2n., 141 n., 152n., i6on. + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-321 + +321 + +Satiromastix, Dekker's 273 + +Satires, Horace's 86 n., 97, 9911. + +Sausage-seller 213, 257, 278 + +Savages (AyoLoi), Pherecrates' 120 + +Sbrigani 244, 273, 275 + +Scaliger 3 + +Scipio 95 + +Scolion, Aristotle's 13, 227 + +Scythian 252, 253, 272, 283 + +Secunda Pastorum 234 + +Self-Tormentor, Terence's 268, 272, 285, 305 + +Sensu, De, Aristotle's 29, 158, I58n. + +' Serapion ' 95 + +Servingman, First 245, 246, 258 + +Servingman, Second 245, 246, 258 + +Sexton 274 + +Sganarelle, in Moliere's Don Juan 246, 262, 267 + +Sganarelle, in Le Midecin Mal-gr6 Lui 238, 241, 242, 249, +258,262,263,265,273,275,279 + +Shakespeare (see also As You Like It, Comedy of Errors, Coriolanus, +Hamlet, i Henry IV, 2 Henry IV, Henry V, Measure for Measure, Merry +Wives of Windsor, Midsummer-Night's Dream, Much Ado about Nothing, +Richard II, Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth-Night, Two Gentlemen of +Verona, Tempest) 15, 15 n., 25, 40, 44, 75, 80, 168, 190, 197, 205, +206, 208, 231, 232, 238, 240, 242, 245, 252, 254, 261, 262, 268, 275, +282, 283, 286, + +305 + +Shakespearean Tragedy, Bradley's 2 + +Shallow 256 + +Shamartabas (see also Pseud-artabas) 244 + +Shelley 100, loon., 228 + +Sheridan 270, 271 + +Shorey 49 n. + +Shute 7 + +Sicily 48, 49, 71, 112, 172, 177 + +Sicyonians 172 + +Signieur Dew 236 + +Sidney 71 n., 72 n. + +Silenus 240 + +Simmias 126, i26n. + +Simon 126, I26n. + +Simonides 152 n., 155, 230, 251 + +Sir Thopas, Chaucer's Tale of + +257 + +Sir Topas 244, 275 ' + +Sir Vaughan 273 + +Sire-striker 264, 280 + +Skogan 256 + +Sly 242, 256 + +Smith, J. A. I45n., i63n. + +Socrates 21, 38, 42, 75,91, 96, 97, 100-102, 104, 105, 107-109, +111-114, ii6n., 119, 122, 124, 126, 127, 131, 151, 193, 231, 235. +239, 240, 241, 244-248, 250, 251, 257, 260, 261, 263, 267, 278, 288 + +' Socratic conversations ' 100, loi, 102, 168, 169 + +Socratics, the 89 + +Solinus, Duke 205, 281 + +Solomon, J, 121 n. + +Solon 12, 227, 280 + +Sophisticis Elenchis, De, Aristotle's 35, 46, 231 + +Sophists 251 + +Sophocles I, 15, 23, 24, 27, 28, + +30. 37. 39-41. 48, 71. 86, 103, 141, 142, 172, 187, 191, 228, 251, +255, 28on., 283, 292 + +Sophron38,100, loi, 102, io2n., 103, io8n., 138, 151, 168, 228 + +Sovereignty, Lady 73, 257, 280, 283 + +Sparta 212, 241, 270, 271, 282 + +Speed 238 + +Spencer 77 + +Spengel 158n., i6on. + +Spenser 170 + +Speusippus 26, 126, i26n. + +Sphinx 291, 292 + +' Spinther ' 95 + +Starkie 6, 6n., 15, I5n., 16 29n., 30, 36, 44, io5n., ii3n. 231, 234, +235, 238-240, 242 244-246, 250, 252, 256 • - + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-322 + +INDEX + +Stobaeus ii6n. + +Stockfish 256 + +Stoics 97, 98 + +Storks, Aristophanes' 28, 157 + +Strabo ii6n. + +Strattis 28, 29, 34, 151, 158, + +15811., 260 Strepsiades 14111., 242, 244, + +246-248, 257, 262, 274, 289 Strobilus 196 Strymodore 231 Stubbs 263 +Style, On, Demetrius,' see De + +Elocutione. Style, On, Theophrastus' 127 Sullivan 255 + +Summoner's Tale, Chaucer's 276 Suppliant Maidens i6on. Susarion 37, +288 Swift 206, 231, 240, 245 Symposium, Plato's 29, 38, + +99n., 103, 107, 108, III, 113, + +ii3n., 114, ii4n., 123, 126, + +169, 240 Syracuse 39, 281 Syriac version of the *Poetics* 302 + +Talkover (see also Peisthetaerus) + +193 Taming of the Shrew, The, + +Shakespeare's 242, 256 Tarn O' Shanter, Burns' 255 Tartuffe 171, 177, +205, 220, + +265, 281 Tartuffe, Moli^re's 191, 195, + +208, 220, 274, 281, 286 Taylor, Jeremy 39 Tempest, The, Shakespeare's +27, + +168, 235, 236, 242, 249, 254, + +275, 286 Temples Revels 273 Tennyson 170 Terence 27n., 35, 44, 50, +71. + +91. 187, 189, 193. 244, 265, + +268, 281, 285, 305 Terpander 157 n. Teucer 33 + +Teucer, Sophocles' 142 Theaetetus, Plato's iii, ii2n., + +151. i55n. Thebes 292 + +Thelema 231 + +Theocritus 171 + +Theodectes 165 + +Theodorus 146, i46n., 147 + +Theogony, Hesiod's 227 + +' Theolus ' 237 + +Theophrastus 13, 14, 48, 89, 121, 122, 127 + +Theorus 237 + +Thersites 171 + +Thesaurochrysonicochrysides 212 + +Theseid 189 + +Theseus 189 + +Thesmophoriazusae, Aristophanes' 238, 244, 252, 272, 273, 276, 278, +283 + +Thisby 237 + +' Thisne ' 237 + +Thopas, Sir, Chaucer's Tale of + +257 + +Thrasippus 152, 162 + +Timotheus 131, 170 + +Tiresias 291, 292 + +Titania 236, 242, 256 + +Toinette 238. 244, 265, 273, 274, 279 + +Tom Jones, Fielding's 207, 215, 216 + +Tongue 257 + +Topas, Sir 244, 275 + +Topica, Aristotle's 143, 143 n. + +Touchstone 248, 266, 268, 269 + +Towneley Secunda Pastorum 234 + +Trackers, Sophocles' 228 + +Tractate ( Tractatus Coislini-anus) 6, 8, 10-18, 23, 30, 36, 42, 44, +50, 55, 64, 69-71, 75, 82, 87, 89, 91, 92 96, 118, 122, 138-140, 151, +177, 202, 211, 224-286, 289 + +Triballian 121, 251, 281, 283 + +Trinummus, Plautus' 190, 198 + +Trissotin 256, 259 + +Trolls 255 + +Troy 242 + +True History, Lucian's 245 + +Trygaeus 242, 245 + +Tucca 273 + +Turc, le Grand 256 + +Turkish 282 + +.. container:: newpage +:name: part0007.html#page-323 + +323 + +Turks 253, 254, 265, 282 + +Twelfth Night, Shakespeare's 244, 268, 269, 275 + +Twiller, Van 247, 276 + +Two Gentlemen of Verona, Shakespeare's 232, 238 + +Tzetzes 36, 37, 3711.. 51, 5111., 86, 90. 91, 231, 234, 240, 241, +244. 247, 259, 287-289 + +Ulpian 281 + +Ulysses the False Messenger, see Odysseus with the False Tidings. + +Unjust Reason (Worser Reason) 50, 280 + +Uranie 81 + +Urkunden Dramatischer Auf-fiihrungen, Wilhelm's 22 n. + +Usener 26 n. + +Vahlen 5, 11, 11 n., 133, 228n., + +299 Val^re, in L'Avare 241 Val6re, in Le MMecin Malgri + +Lui 279 Van Leeuwen 72 Van Twiller 247, 276 Varro 198 Vaugelas 281 +Vaughan, Sir 273 Verges 248, 252 Veterum Arte Poetica Quaesti- + +ones Selectae, De, Kayser's + +II, iin. Victorius 141 n. Virgil 30, 187 Vita Aristophanis 23n. +Volkmann 259 Vortrage und Aufsatze, Usener's + +27 Voyage to Laputa, Swift's 231, + +245 + +Wachsmuth ii6n. + +Walpurgisnacht 255 + +Wandle 247 + +Warner 49 n. + +Wasps, Aristophanes' 173, 231, + +237, 240. 253, 255, 260, 262, + +274, 278 Wasps, Roger's edition 253 Wasps, chorus of 253 Watch, +Second, in Much Ado + +248 Watson 92 n. Welldon 62n., ii7n., i2on., + +i34n., i44n., i6on., i62n., + +i65n. Welch 73 Welsh 283 Werner i When did Aristophanes Die? + +Kent's 22 n. White 199 Wilamowitz 22 n. Wilhelm 22 n. Windsor Paik +254 Wine-jar 241, 250 Wit and its Relation to the Unconscious, +Freud's 77, 77n. Woman, First, in Thesmophoria- + +zusae 278 Wooden Horse 204, 242 Wordsworth, C. 39 Wordsworth, W. 30, +227 Works and Days, Hesiod's 227 Wycherley 25 + +Xanthias 196, 197, 207, 210, 240, 241, 245, 249, 269, 270, 274, 276, +277, 289 + +Xenarchus 32, 100, 102, 151, 168, 228 + +Xenocrates 126, 12611. + +Xenophanes 155, 219 + +Xenophantus 165, i65n. + +Xerxes 144 + +Zeno, of Elea loi Zeno, the Stoic 98 Zenobius i57n., 159 Zeus 235, +236, 241, 242, 250, 251, 260, 269, 270, 280, 288 Zielinski 44, 45, +49, 49 n., 55, + +Zwei Abhandlungen, Bernays' ion. + +V 2 + +|picture3| + +.s^ig.-^-^ + +|picture4| + +lii£ wrrrruTE' or mm^ki siucmes + +10 FLMSLEV PLACE TORONTO 6. CA^ ^ diff --git a/aristoteliantheo00coop.pdf b/aristoteliantheo00coop.pdf Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2949f17 --- /dev/null +++ b/aristoteliantheo00coop.pdf |