Delphi Complete Works of Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 79)

by Dionysius of Halicarnassus

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

  But he from the haven went where the rugged pathway led.

  Here we have one clause. Observe the next —

  Up the wooded land.

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

  through the hills:

  a segment still shorter than a clause. The fourth —

  unto where Athene had said

  That he should light on the goodly swineherd —

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

  the man who best

  Gave heed to the goods of his lord, of the thralls that Odysseus

  possessed,

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

  By the house-front sitting he found him,

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

  there where the courtyard wall

  Was builded tall.

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

  In a place with a clear view round about,

  we shall find him subjoining:

  Massy and fair to behold,

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

  Free on every side,

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

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

  Fatherland, ta’en by Pelops in possession,

  Hail!

  Thus far the first clause extends.

  And thou, Pan, who haunt’st the stormy steeps

  Of Arcady.

  So far the second extends.

  Whereof I boast my birth.

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

  Me Auge, Aleus’ daughter, not of wedlock

  Bare to Tirynthian Heracles.

  And afterwards —

  This knows

  Yon hill Parthenian.

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

  where the Travail-queen

  From birth-pangs set my mother free.

  And similarly with the lines which follow these.

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

  And when, in the carved ark lying,

  She felt it through darkness drifting

  Before the drear wind’s sighing

  And the great sea-ridges lifting,

  She shuddered with terror, she brake into weeping,

  And she folded her arms round Perseus sleeping;

  And “Oh my baby,” she moaned, “for my lot

  Of anguish! — but thou, thou carest not:

  Adown sleep’s flood is thy child-soul sweeping,

  Though beams brass-welded on every side

  Make a darkness, even had the day not died

  When they launched thee forth at gloaming-tide.

  And the surf-crests fly o’er thy sunny hair

  As the waves roll past — thou dost not care:

  Neither carest thou for the wind’s shrill cry,

  As lapped in my crimson cloak thou dost lie

  On my breast, little face so fair — so fair!

  Ah, were these sights, these sounds of fear

  Fearsome to thee, that dainty ear

  Would hearken my words — nay, nay, my dear,

  Hear them not thou! Sleep, little one, sleep;

  And slumber thou, O unrestful deep!

  Sleep, measureless wrongs; let the past suffice:

  And oh, may a new day’s dawn arise

  On thy counsels, Zeus! O change them now!

  But if aught be presumptuous in this my prayer,

  If aught, O Father, of sin be there,

  Forgive it thou.”

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

  Here, then, Rufus, is my gift to you, which you will find “outweigh a multitude of others,” if only you will keep it in your hands constantly like any other really useful thing, and exercise yourself in its lessons daily. No rules contained in rhetorical manuals can suffice to make experts of those who are determined to dispense with study and practice. They who are ready to undergo toil and hardship can alone decide whether such rules are trivial and useless, or worthy of serious consideration.

  GLOSSARY

  (Including Terms of Rhetoric, Grammar, Prosody, Music, Phonetics, and Literary Criticism)

  In the Glossary, as in the Notes, the following abbreviations are used: —

  Long. = ‘Longinus on the Sublime.’

  D.H. = ‘Dionysius of Halicarnassus: the Three Literary Letters.’

  Demetr. = ‘Demetrius on Style.’

  ἀγεννής. 90 20, 170 9, etc. Ignoble, mean: in reference to style. Lat. ignobilis, degener.

  ἀγοραῖος. 262 20. Vulgar, colloquial, mechanical. Lat. circumforaneus, circulatorius. Cp. Lucian de conscrib. hist. § 44 μήτε ἀπορρήτοις καὶ ἔξω πάτου ὀνόμασι μήτε τοῖς ἀγοραίοις τούτοις καὶ καπηλικοῖς.

  ἀγχίστροφος. 212 20. Quick-changing, flexible. Lat. mutabilis. Instances of its rhetorical use are cited in Long. . The word has more warrant as a term of rhetoric than ἀντίρροπος, which is given by F.

  ἀγωγή. 68 1, training. 194 9, sequence, movement. 244 24, cast, or tendency. Cp. some uses of Lat. ductus. Other examples in D.H. : to which may be added de Isocr. c. 12 and de Thucyd. c. 27; Macran’s Harmonics of Aristoxenus p, 143; Strabo xiv. 1. 41 παραφθείρας τὴν τῶν προτέρων μελοποιῶν ἀγωγήν, and (later) ἀπεμιμήσατο τὴν ἀγωγὴν τῶν παρὰ τοῖς κιναίδοις διαλέκτων καὶ τῆς ἠθοποιΐας. — In 124 10 the adjective ἀγωγός is used (as in Eurip. Hec. 536, Troad. 1131) with the genitive in the sense provocative of, conducive to: cp. de Demosth. c. 55 ἃ δὴ τῶν τοιούτων ἔσται παθῶν ἀγωγά. [In Troad. 1131 Dindorf, ed. v., gives ἀρωγός without comment, against the MSS.]

  ἀγών. 252 2, 262 23. Contest, pleading, trial. Lat. certamen, actio. Cp. Long. , D.H. , Demetr. .

  ἀδολέσχης. 272 19, 22. Garrulous. Lat. loquax. Cp. Demetr. .

  ἀηδής. 100 7, 124 19, etc. Unpleasant, disagreeable. Lat. iniucundus, molestus. Similarly ἀηδία, 132 21, 134 14.

  ἀθρόος. 222 2. Compressed, concentrated. Lat. consertus, stipatus. In the passage specified it would seem that Dionysius compares the issue of the breath to the exit of people through a narrow door, whereby they are crowded together. The sound of p, which is under discussion, approaches whistling; and that is the maximum of breath-compression.

  αἵρεσις. 70 15, 198 3, 8, 246 17. School, following. Lat. secta.

  αἴσθησις. 130 17, 134 11
, 152 15, 218 1. Sense, perception. Lat. sensus. So αἰσθητός, perceptible, 152 22, 206 6, etc.; and αἰσθητῶς, perceptibly, 126 20, 202 18.

  ἀκατάστροφος. 232 1. Without rounding or conclusion. Lat. idonei exitus expers. Used of a period which does not turn back upon itself — which is, in fact, not a περίοδος. Cp. the use of εὐκαταστρόφως in Demetr. de Eloc. § 10.

  ἀκατονόμαστος. 208 25. Unnamed, nameless. Lat. appellationis expers.

  ἀκέραστος. 230 18. Unmixed, or incapable of mixture. Lat. non permixtus, s. qui permisceri non potest.

  ἀκοή. 70 3, 118 23, 146 8, etc. The sense of hearing: ‘the ear.’ Lat. auditus. So ἀκρόασις, 116 19, 198 8, etc.

  ἀκόλλητος. 218 13. Uncompacted, or incapable of being compacted. Lat. non compactus, s. qui compingi non potest.

  ἀκολουθία. 212 22, 232 20, 254 17. Sequence, the orderly progression of words. Lat. consecutio, ordo, series. ἐν πολλοῖς ὑπεροπτικὴ τῆς ἀκολουθίας, 212 22 = prone to anacolouthon. Cp. Long. , D.H. , Demetr. . Similarly ἀκόλουθος is used of what follows naturally, 130 9, 228 17, etc.

  ἀκόμψευτος. 212 23, 232 21. Unadorned. Lat. incomptus. Used of a style which is sans recherche, sans parure. Cp. Cic. Orat. 24. 78 “nam ut mulieres esse dicuntur non nullae inornatae, quas id ipsum deceat, sic haec subtilis oratio etiam incompta delectat.”

  ἀκόρυφος. 230 31. Without a capital or beginning. Lat. sine fastigio, sine initio. Used of a period without a proper beginning and therefore imperfectly rounded: whereas true periods are εὐκόρυφοι καὶ στρογγύλαι ὥσπερ ἀπὸ τόρνου (de Demosth. c. 43).

  ἀκρίβεια. 118 10, 206 8, 266 11, etc. Exactitude, precision, finish. Lat. perfectio, absolutio, subtilitas. Used of an ars exquisita, a style soigné. So ἀκριβής 196 15, and ἀκριβοῦν 94 14 and 242 9. Cp. D.H. , and Demetr. (where the slightly depreciatory sense of ‘correctness,’ ‘nicety,’ is also illustrated: cp. C.V. 274 22).

  ἀκροστόμιον. 142 17. The edge of the mouth or lips. Lat. summum os, labrorum margo. C 22 τῆς γλώττης ἄκρῳ τῷ στόματι προσερειδομένης κατὰ τοὺς μετεώρους ὀδόντας.

  ἀκώλιστος. 234 23. Without members or clauses. Lat. sine membris. Used of a period not divided, or jointed, into clauses.

  ἀλήθεια. 198 26. Human experience. Lat. veritas vitae, usus rerum, vita, usus. The actual facts of life are meant, as opposed to the theories of the schools. Cp. de Isaeo c. 18 ὅτι μοι δοκεῖ Λυσίας μὲν τὴν ἀλήθειαν (‘the truth of nature,’ ‘a natural simplicity’) διώκειν μᾶλλον, Ἰσαῖος δὲ τὴν τέχνην.

  ἄλογος. 66 18, 146 14, 152 15, 174 2, 3, 206 13, 244 22. Irrational; unguided by reason; subconscious; incalculable; instinctive; spontaneous. Lat. rationis expers. With the use in 146 14 (where the Epitome has ἀλάλου) may be compared the process by which ἄλογον in Modern Greek has come to mean ‘horse.’ With ἄλογος αἴσθησις in 152 15 and 244 22 cp. the use of “tacitus sensus” in Cic. de Orat. iii. 195 “omnes enim tacito quodam sensu sine ulla arte aut ratione quae sint in artibus ac rationibus recta ac prava diiudicant” and Orat. 60. 203 “aures ipsae tacito eum (modum) sensu sine arte definiunt”: see also de Lysia c. 11, de Demosth. c. 24, de Thucyd. c. 27. For the doctrine of ἀλογία in relation to metre see supra and Goodell Greek Metric p ff. (with references to Aristoxenus, Westphal, etc., p ff.). The notion of incommensurability is, of course, present in the term: cp. Aristox. ὥρισται δὲ τῶν ποδῶν ἕκαστος ἤτοι λόγῳ τινὶ ἢ ἀλογίᾳ τοιαύτῃ, ἥτις δύο λόγων γνωρίμων τῇ αἰσθήσει ἀνὰ μέσον ἔσται, which Goodell () translates, “each of the feet is determined and defined either by a precise ratio or by an incommensurable ratio such that it will be between two ratios recognizable by the sense.”

  ἀμεγέθης. 176 11. Wanting in size or dignity. Lat. exilis. Cp. Long. de Sublim. xl. 2 οὐκ ὄντες ὑψηλοὶ φύσει, μήποτε δὲ καὶ ἀμεγέθεις.

  ἄμετρος. 74 4, 176 1, 21, etc. Unmetred, unmetrical. Lat. (oratio) soluta. It is interesting to note the variety of Dionysius’ expressions for ‘prose’ or ‘in prose’ — λέξις ἄμετρος, λέξις πεζή, λέξις ψιλή, λόγος ἀποίητος, λόγοι ἄμετροι, λόγοι or λόγος simply (272 9, 13), δίχα μέτρου (252 20), λεκτικῶς (258 3), etc. Cp. Plato Re E, 390 A, etc.

  ἀμορφία. 184 18, 198 10. Unsightliness. Lat. deformitas. So ἄμορφος 92 16.

  ἄμουσος. 74 11, 122 19. Rude, uncultured. Lat. insulsus, illiteratus, infacetus.

  ἀμυδρός. 206 22. Faint, obscure. Lat. subobscurus.

  ἀμφίβολος. 96 17. Ambiguous. Lat. dubius, ambiguus, qui in duos pluresve sensus verti potest.

  ἀμφίβραχυς. 172 6, 184 11. Amphibrachys. The metrical foot ᴗ – ᴗ.

  ἀναβολή. 164 5, 220 13. Retardation. Lat. mora, intervallum. So ἀναβάλλειν 180 15, 216 18: cp. de Demosth. c. 54 (ταῦτ’ ἐσπευσμένως εἰπέ, ταῦτ’ ἀναβεβλημένως), and c. 43.

  ἀναισθησία. 184 21. Insensibility, stupidity. Lat. stupor. Compare ἀναίσθητος 190 8, and see the editor’s Ancient Boeotians p-8.

  ἀνακοπή. 164 5, 230 28, 232 16. Stoppage, clashing. Lat. impedimentum, offensio. Fr. refoulement. Cp. de Demosth. c. 38, and also the verb ἀνακόπτειν 222 9.

  ἀνάπαιστος. 172 10, etc. Anapaest. The metrical foot ᴗ ᴗ –.

  ἀνάπαυλα. 196 11. Rest, pause. Lat. mora, intermissio. The ‘reliefs’ afforded by variety of structure, etc., are meant.

  ἀναπλέκειν. 264 23. To bind up the hair. Lat. caesariem reticulo colligere.

  ἄναρθρος. 212 21. Without joints or articles. Lat. sine articulis.

  ἀνδρώδης. 174 17. Manly, virile. Lat. virilis. Cp. de Demosth. cc. 39, 43, and Quintil. v. 12. 18.

  ἀνέδραστος. 232 4. Unsteady. Lat. instabilis. Used of a period which has no proper base or termination. The opposite of ἑδραῖος (Demetr. ).

  ἀνεπιτήδευτος. 84 3, 212 13, 260 14. Unsought, unstudied. Lat. nullo studio delectus, non exquisitus. So ἀνέκλεκτος 84 3: not picked with care.

  ἄνεσις. 210 5. Loosening. Lat. remissio. Cp. Plato Rep. i. 349 E ἐν τῇ ἐπιτάσει καὶ ἀνέσει τῶν χορδῶν πλεονεκτεῖν, and ἀνίεται 126 5.

  ἀνθηρός. 212 22 (c 26, 232 25). Florid. Lat. floridus. Fr. fleuri. Cp. Quintil. xii. 10. 58 “namque unum [dicendi genus] subtile, quod ἰσχνόν vocant, alterum grande atque robustum, quod ἁδρόν dicunt, constituunt; tertium alii medium ex duobus, alii floridum (namque id ἀνθηρόν appellant) addiderunt.” ‘Florid’ (like ‘flowery’) has acquired rather a bad sense, whereas the Greek word suggests ‘flower-like,’ ‘full of colour,’ ‘with delicate touches and associations.’

  ἀντίθετος. 246 6. Antithetic (σχηματισμοὶ ... ἀντίθετοι). Cp. Demetr. p, 267, s.v. ἀντίθεσις.

  ἀντιστηριγμός. 164 6. Resistance, stumbling-block. Lat. impedimentum, obstaculum. Cp. de Demosth. c. 38 ἀνακοπὰς καὶ ἀντιστηριγμοὺς λαμβάνειν καὶ τραχύτητας ἐν ταῖς συμπλοκαῖς τῶν ὀνομάτων ἐπιστυφούσας τὴν ἀκοὴν ἡσυχῇ [ἡ αὐστῆρα ἁρμονία] βούλεται.

  ἀντίστροφος. 174 2, 194 6, 9, 11, 278 9. Corresponding, counterpart. Lat. respondens. Frequently used by Dionysius of the second stanza (ἀντιστροφή, 254 18), sung by the Chorus in its counter-movement. Cp. schol. ad Arist
oph. Plut. 253 μεταξὺ τῆς τε στροφῆς καὶ τῆς ἀντιστρόφου: and de Demosth. c. 50 κἄπειτα πάλιν τοῖς αὐτοῖς ῥυθμοῖς καὶ μέτροις ἐπὶ τῶν αὐτῶν στίχων ἢ περίοδων, ἃς ἀντιστρόφους ὀνομάζουσι, χρωμένη.

  ἀντιτυπία. 202 25, 222 17, 224 15, 230 6, 232 6, 244 25. Repulsion, clashing, dissonance. Lat. conflictio, asperitas. So the adjective ἀντίτυπος in 162 23, 210 20, etc. Hesychius, ἀντιτύποις· σκληροῖς.

  ἀντονομασία. 70 19, 102 18. Pronoun. Lat. pronomen. In 108 14 ἀντωνυμία is found; and this (the more usual) form should perhaps be read throughout.

  ἀνωμαλία. 232 19. Unevenness. Lat. inaequalitas. Fr. inégalité.

  ἀξίωμα. 84 1, 120 23, 170 2, 174 19. Dignity. Lat. dignitas. Fr. dignité. In 96 16 the sense is a proposition (pronuntiatum, Cic. Tusc. i. 7. 14; enuntiatio, Cic. de Fato 10. 20). — The adjective ἀξιωματικός (‘dignified’) occurs in 136 11, 168 6, etc., and the adverb ἀξιωματικῶς in 176 24. — In 88 13, 186 7, ἀξίωσις = reputation, excellence.

  ἀπαγγελία. 204 18. Narration. Lat. narratio. Sometimes the word is used, like ἑρμηνεία, of style (elocutio) in general: cp. de Demosth. c. 25, and Chrysostom (in a passage which, as revealing the pupil of Libanius and as illustrating many things in the C.V., may be quoted at some length): ἐγὼ δὲ εἰ μὲν τὴν λειότητα Ἰσοκράτους ἀπῄτουν, καὶ τὸν Δημοσθένους ὄγκον, καὶ τὴν Θουκυδίδου σεμνότητα, καὶ τὸ Πλάτωνος ὕψος, ἔδει φέρειν εἰς μέσον ταύτην τοῦ Παύλου τὴν μαρτυρίαν. νῦν δὲ ἐκεῖνα μὲν πάντα ἀφίημι, καὶ τὸν περίεργον τῶν ἔξωθεν καλλωπισμόν, καὶ οὐδέν μοι φράσεως, οὐδὲ ἀπαγγελίας μέλει· ἀλλ’ ἐξέστω καὶ τῆ λέξει πτωχεύειν, καὶ τὴν συνθήκην τῶν ὀνομάτων ἁπλῆν τινα εἶναι καὶ ἀσφαλῆ, μόνον μὴ τῇ γνώσει τις καὶ τῇ τῶν δογμάτων ἀκριβείᾳ ἰδιώτης ἔστω (de Sacerdotio iv. 6). — The verb ἀπαγγέλλειν occurs in 200 9, 11.