The standard edition of Dionysii Thracis Ars Grammatica is that by Uhlig (Leipzig, 1883). The whole question of ancient views on grammar can be studied in Steinthal’s Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft bei den Griechen und Römern, mit besonderer Rücksicht auf die Logik (2nd ed., Berlin, 1890-91).
E. Sources of the de Compositione
It must strike every reader of the treatise, that Dionysius combines some assertion of originality with many acknowledgments of indebtedness to predecessors. In this there is, of course, no necessary inconsistency. The work covers a wide field, and implies an acquaintance with many special studies. While referring with gratitude and respect to the admitted authorities in these various branches of learning or science, Dionysius claims for himself a certain originality of idea and of treatment. He is among the first to have written a separate treatise on this particular subject, and he is the first to have attempted an adequate treatment of it.
In making these acknowledgments, Dionysius does not specify any Latin writers, nor indeed any recent writers whatsoever. When Quintilian, in the fourth chapter of his Ninth Book, is himself writing a short de Compositione, he mentions “Halicarnasseus Dionysius” and (with special respect) “M. Tullius.” But Dionysius says not a word about Cicero or Horace, although the former was partly and the latter fully contemporary with himself, and although they, like himself, were students of literary composition. As his work on early Roman history shows, Dionysius was not ignorant of Latin; and it is unfortunate that he did not think of comparing Greek writers with Latin. But the comparative method of literary criticism hardly existed in Greek antiquity, notwithstanding the reference to Cicero and Demosthenes in the de Sublimitate, whose author (it may be added here) not only treats of σύνθεσις in two of his chapters, but also tells us that he had already dealt with the subject in two separate treatises.
To his Greek predecessors Dionysius often refers in general terms. For example, they are called οἱ πρὸ ἡμῶν in 140 7, οἱ πρότερον in 96 7, and οἱ ἀρχαῖοι in 68 9. The last term best suggests Dionysius’ habitual attitude, which was that of looking to the past for the finest work in criticism as well as in literature. And so it will be found that, though the de Compositione Verborum contains incidental references to the Stoics and to other leaders of thought, its highest respect seems to be reserved for Aristotle and his disciples Theophrastus and Aristoxenus. But the question of Dionysius’ obligations to his predecessors (and to the Peripatetics particularly) is so large and far-reaching that it must be treated separately elsewhere. Meanwhile, let it be noted how considerably his various writings illustrate, and are illustrated by, the Rhetoric of Aristotle.
As to its originality, the book may well be left to answer for itself. It does not read like a dull compilation. The learning is there, but it is lightly borne, and none can doubt that the writer has long thought over his subject and can give to others the fruits of his reflexions with verve and a contagious enthusiasm. The work has an easy flow of its own, as though it had been rapidly (but not carelessly) written, out of a well-stored mind, while its author was busy with his teaching and with the many literary enterprises to which he so often refers. It must be conceded that a literary critic who deals with so difficult, many-sided, and elusive a subject as that of composition can hardly avoid some errors of detail, since he cannot hope to be a master in all the accessory sciences upon which he has to lean. But we may well be content if he preserves for later ages much invaluable literature and teaching which would otherwise have been lost, — if he himself maintains (amid corrupting influences) high standards in his literary preferences and in his own writing, — and if he sheds a ray of light upon many a hidden beauty of Greek style which would but for him be shrouded in darkness.
Reference may be made to G. Ammon de Dionysii Halicarnassensis Librorum Rhetoricorum Fontibus and to G. Mestwerdt de Dionysii Halicarnassensis in libro de Compositione Verborum Studiis. One section of the subject is also treated in G. L. Hendrickson’s valuable papers on the ‘Peripatetic Mean of Style and the Three Stylistic Characters’ and on the ‘Origin and Meaning of the Ancient Characters of Style’ in the American Journal of Philology vols. xxv. and xxvi.; and in H. P. Breitenbach’s dissertation on The ‘De Compositione’ of Dionysius of Halicarnassus considered with reference to the ‘Rhetoric’ of Aristotle.
F. Quotations and Literary References in the de Compositione
The greatest of all the lyrical passages quoted in the treatise is Sappho’s Hymn to Aphrodite. But great as this is, it does not stand alone. It has companions, if not equals, in the Danaë of Simonides and in the opening of a Pindaric dithyramb. The very preservation of these splendid relics, as of some slighter ones, we owe to Dionysius alone. The total extent of the quotations made in the course of the treatise may be judged from the references given at the foot of the translation: these illustrative extracts form a substantial part of the work they illustrate. The width of Dionysius’ literary outlook may also be inferred from the following roughly-drawn Chronological Table, which (for the sake of completeness) includes some authors who are mentioned but not actually quoted: —
Chronological Table of Authors quoted or mentioned in the De Compositione
B.C.
Epic
Poetry.
Elegiac
and
Iambic.
Lyric.
Tragedy.
Comedy and
Satire.
Before 700
Homer
Hesiod
...
...
...
...
700-600
...
Archi-
lochus
Alcaeus
Sappho
Stesichorus
...
...
600-500
...
...
Anacreon
...
...
500-400
...
...
Simonides
Pindar
Bacchylides
Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Aristophanes
400-300
Antimachus
of
Colophon
...
Philoxenus
Timotheus
Telestes
...
...
300-200
...
[Calli-
machus]
...
...
Euphorio
Chersonesita
Sotades
200-100
...
...
...
...
...
B.C.
History.
Oratory and
Rhetoric.
Philosophy.
Grammar;
Musical and
Metrical
Science, etc.
Before 700
...
...
...
...
700-600
...
...
...
...
600-500
...
...
...
...
500-400
Herodotus
Thucydides
Gorgias
Antiphon
Empedocles
(verse)
Democritus
...
400-300
Ctesias
Xenophon
Theopompus
Ephorus
Isocrates
Aeschines
Demosthenes
Theodectes
Plato
Aristotle
Theophrastus
Aristoxenus
300-200
...
Hegesias
Epicurus
an
d the
Epicureans
Aristophanes
of
Byzantium
Chrysippus
and the
Stoics
200-100
Polybius
...
...
...
To this list might be added the minor historians, of the third and second centuries B.C., who are mentioned together with Polybius in c. 4, and of whom some account will be found in the notes on that chapter: Phylarchus, Duris, Psaon, Demetrius of Callatis, Hieronymus, Antigonus, Heracleides, and Hegesianax. And it will be noticed, further, that the treatise contains a large number of unassigned verse-fragments, which can only be referred, vaguely, to some lyric poet or to the lyric portions of some tragic poet. By such anonymous fragments, as well as by the poems quoted under the names of Sappho and Simonides, we are reminded of the many lost works of Greek literature and of the happy surprises which Egypt or Herculaneum or the Sultan’s Library may still have in store for us. If the quotations as a whole — identified and unidentified, previously known and previously unknown — are passed in review, it will be found that Dionysius has given us a small Anthology of Greek prose and verse. While strictly relevant to the main theme, his illustrations are chosen with so much taste, and from so wide a field of study, that (to adapt his own words) οὐκ ἀηδὴς ὁ λόγος ἐγένετο πολλοῖς ὥσπερ ἄνθεσι διαποικιλλόμενος τοῖς ἐαρινοῖς.
Two prose-writers mentioned by Dionysius seem to invite special comment: Polybius and Hegesias. It is not without a kind of shock that we find the great historian Polybius classed, along with Phylarchus and the rest, among writers whose works no man can bring himself to read from cover to cover. But we have to remember that the judgment is passed solely from the standpoint of style; and from this restricted standpoint, it can hardly be said that subsequent critics have ventured to reverse it and to maintain that Polybius is (to use the modern expression) an eminently “readable” author. Let one modern estimate be quoted, and that from a writer who appreciates fully the greatness of Polybius’ theory of history, and who, on the other hand, is not concerned to vindicate the soundness of Dionysius’ judgment: “Unfortunately, his [Polybius’] style is a serious deterrent to the reader. We long for the ease, the finished grace, the flowing simplicity of Herodotus; or again, for the terse and rapid phrase of Thucydides, the energy, the precision of each single word, the sentence packed with thought. Polybius has lost the Greek artistic feeling for writing, the delicate sense of proportion, the faculty of reserve. The freshness and distinction of the Attic idiom are gone. He writes with an insipid and colourless monotony. In arranging his materials he is equally inartistic. He is always anticipating objections and digressing; he wearies you with dilating on the excellence of his own method; he even assures you that the size and price of his book ought not to keep people from buying it. Admirable as is the substance of his writing, he pays the penalty attaching to neglect of form — he is read by the few.”
Hegesias is not only mentioned, but quoted, in the treatise. A few detached sentences are given from his writings, and one longer passage. In c. 4 Dionysius rewrites a brief extract from Herodotus in utter defiance of the customary rules (or practices) of Greek word-order, and then exclaims, “This form of composition resembles that of Hegesias: it is affected, degenerate, enervated.” He proceeds: “In such trumpery arts the man is a hierophant. He writes, for instance, ‘After a goodly festival another goodly one keep we.’ ‘Of Magnesia am I, the mighty land, a man of Sipylus I.’ ‘No little drop into the Theban waters spewed Dionysus: O yea, sweet is the stream, but madness it engendereth.’”
In c. 18 Dionysius illustrates the beauty of prose-rhythm from Thucydides, Plato, and Demosthenes. He then assigns to Hegesias a bad pre-eminence among writers who have neglected this essential of their art. Quoting a passage of some length from his History, he asks how it compares with Homer’s description of a similar scene; and he holds the vast superiority of the latter to be due ‘chiefly, if not entirely, to the difference in the rhythms.’ In the words just cited there is obviously much exaggeration. But we must allow for Dionysius’ preoccupation in this treatise (cp. τοῦτ’ ἦν σχεδὸν ᾧ μάλιστα διαλλάττει ποιητής τε ποιητοῦ καὶ ῥήτωρ ῥήτορος, τὸ συντιθέναι δεξιῶς τὰ ὀνόματα, 92 18-20), and must, at any rate, try to discover wherein the main defect of Hegesias’ rhythms is supposed to lie. It is probable that no single thing in the passage offends the ear of Dionysius so much as the double trochees (or their metrical equivalent) which are found at the end of so many of the clauses. This double trochee, or dichoree, is found in its normal form (– ᴗ – ⏒) at the end of such cola as those which terminate in: τοῖς ἀρίστοις, καὶ τὸ πλῆθος, εἰς τὸ τολμᾶν, τῇ μαχαίρᾳ, καὶ Φιλωτᾶς, καὶ τὸ χρῶμα, σκαιὸν ἐχθρόν. The metrical equivalent ᴗ ᴗ ᴗ – ⏒ occurs in such instances as: πρότερον οὕτως, ἕνεκα πρᾶξαι, κατακοπῆναι, καθικετεύων. It is interesting to observe that this final dichoree is regarded both by Cicero and by Quintilian as characteristic of the Asiatic orators. Let it be added that, in the extract from Hegesias, the dichorees are not confined to the close of clauses but occur freely in other positions, while many of the sentences are short and the reverse of periodic; and it will be granted that Cicero has good ground for calling attention to the jerky, or staccato, character of the style in question. In the Orator (67. 226) the effect of Hegesias’ writing is thus described: “quam (sc. numerosam comprehensionem) perverse fugiens Hegesias, dum ille quoque imitari Lysiam volt, alterum paene Demosthenem, saltat incidens particulas.” And his manner is amusingly parodied in one of the letters to Atticus (ad Att. xii. 6): “de Caelio vide, quaeso, ne quae lacuna sit in auro: | ego ista non novi; | sed certe in collubo est detrimenti satis. | huc aurum si accedit | — sed quid loquor? | tu videbis. | habes Hegesiae genus! quod Varro laudat.” Two further specimens (not given by Dionysius) of Hegesias’ style will add point to Cicero’s parody. The first is preserved by Strabo (Geogr. 396): ὁρῶ τὴν ἀκρόπολιν | καὶ τὸ περιττῆς τριαίνης | ἐκεῖθι σημεῖον· | ὁρῶ τὴν Ἐλευσῖνα, | καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν γέγονα μύστης· | ἐκεῖνο Λεωκόριον· | τοῦτο Θησεῖον· | οὐ δύναμαι δηλῶσαι | καθ’ ἓν ἕκαστον. The other specimen is quoted by Photius (Bibl. cod. 250) from Agatharchides, the geographer of Cnidus: ὅμοιον πεποίηκας, Ἀλέξανδρε, Θήβας κατασκάψας, ὡς ἂν εἰ ὁ Ζεὺς ἐκ τῆς κατ’ οὐρανὸν μερίδος ἐκβάλλοι τὴν σελήνην. ὑπολείπομαι γὰρ τὸν ἥλιον ταῖς Ἀθήναις. δύο γὰρ αὗται πόλεις τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἦσαν ὄψεις. διὸ καὶ περὶ τῆς ἑτέρας ἀγωνιῶ νῦν. ὁ μὲν γὰρ εἷς αὐτῶν ὀφθαλμὸς ἡ Θηβαίων ἐκκέκοπται πόλις.
It is quite clear, from his express statements, that Dionysius, in his criticisms, has in view, mainly if not entirely, the bad rhythms of Hegesias. But the passages which he quotes seem open to criticism on other grounds as well. The long extract in c. 18 contains metaphors which might well seem violent to the Greeks, who allowed themselves less licence than the moderns do in this direction (e.g. ἡ μὲν οὖν ἐλπὶς αὕτη συνέδραμεν εἰς τὸ τολμᾶν, and τοὺς δ’ ἄλλους ὀργὴ πρόσφατος ἐπίμπρα); and it is high-flown expressions of this kind which the author of the de Sublimitate has in view when he writes: τά γε μὴν Ἀμφικράτους τοιαῦτα καὶ Ἡγησίου καὶ Ματρίδος· πολλαχοῦ γὰρ ἐνθουσιᾶν ἑαυτοῖς δοκοῦντες οὐ βακχεύουσιν �
��λλὰ παίζουσιν (iii. 2). False emphasis, too, and a general desire to purchase notoriety by the cheap method of eccentric word-order, would appear to be implied in Dionysius’ own parody in c. 4 (90 15-19). For example, Ἀλυάττου and ἐθνῶν, though not in themselves important, are assigned prominent positions at the beginning and the end of the sentence. But the greatest of all the defects of Hegesias — especially when compared with Homer — is a certain vulgarity of tone.
The contrast drawn between Hegesias and Homer may seem overstrained, but it is eminently characteristic of Dionysius. Homer was to him the great pure fount of Greek, and his own constant desire was “antiquos accedere fontes.” Hegesias, on the other hand, typifies to him the decline in Greek literature which followed the death of Alexander, whose exploits he records with so feeble a magniloquence. And yet the curious thing is that Hegesias, who lived probably in the earlier part of the third century, aspires (as Cicero tells us) to copy Lysias. But while endeavouring thus to imitate one of the most Attic of the Attic writers, he came, by the irony of fate, to be regarded as the founder of the degenerate Asiatic school: Ἡγησίας ὁ ῥήτωρ, ὃς ἦρξε μάλιστα τοῦ Ἀσιανοῦ λεγομένου ζήλου, παραφθείρας τὸ καθεστηκὸς ἔθος τὸ Ἀττικόν (Strabo Geogr. xiv. 1. 41). In the terms “Attic” and “Asiatic” there often lurks some confusion of thought, as well as no little prejudice and rhetorical animosity. But of Dionysius, as compared with Hegesias, it is clearly within the mark to say that, though he lived two centuries later, he has vastly more of the true Attic feeling for purity of style; and that, though he may himself have cherished wild dreams of turning back the tide of language, yet in league with some leading Romans of his day he did good service by showing how the best Attic models may hold out to future ages shining examples of the skill and beauty which all men should strive after in handling the language of their birth.
Delphi Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 79) Page 123