Page:The Theatre of the Greeks, a Treatise on the History and Exhibition of the Greek Drama, with Various Supplements.djvu/371

 Aristotle's treatise on poetry. 345 are not strictly appropriate words. Yet, if a poet composes his diction entirely of such words, the result will be either an enigma, or a barba- rous jargon : an enigma, if composed of metaphors; a barbarous jargon, if composed of foreign words. For the essence of an enigma consists in putting together things apparently inconsistent and impossible, and at tJie same time saying nothing hut what is true. Now this cannot be effected by the mere arrangement of the words ; by the metaphorical use of them it may, as in this enigma — A man I once beheld (and wondering view'd), Who, on another, brass with fire had glevod. With respect to barbarism, it arises from the use of foreign words. A judicious intermixture is therefore requisite. Thus the foreign word, the metaphorical, and the ornamental, and the other species before mentioned, will raise the language above the T.ilgar idiom, and appropriate words will give it perspicuity. But nothing contributes more considerably to produce clearness, without vul- garity of diction, than extensions, contractions, and alterations of words ; for here the variation from the proper form, being unusual, will give elevation to the expression; and at the same time, what is retained of usual speech will give it clearness. It is without reason, therefore, that some critics have censured these modes of speech, and ridiculed the poet for the use of them ; as old Euclid did, objecting, that " versification would be an easy business, if it were permitted to lengthen words at pleasure : " and he used to make lines out of mere prose, as ^'Ei'tnx^P'r]v I eWov 'KapadCovdhe ^aU^ovTa and OvK h> I yevoifirjv rovKelvov eej/36/)oi;lli Undoubtedly, when these licenses appear to be thus purposely used, the thing becomes ridiculous; in the employment of all the species of unusual words, moderation is necessary: for metaphors, foreign words, or any of the others, improperly used, and with a design to be ridiculous, would produce the same effect. But how great a difference is made by a proper and temperate use of such words, may be seen in heroic verse. Let any one only substitute strictly appropriate words in the place of the metaphorical, the foreign, and others of the same kind, and he will be convinced of the truth of what I say. For example : the same iam- bic verse occurs in ^schylus and in Euripides; but by means of a single 1 As it is clear that Euclid wished to give examples of lines, scanned by making short syllables long, and as it is certain from Rhet. ill. 17, § 16, that laix^oiroLeu} may refer to a Trochaic as well as to an Iambic line, I have merely introduced such slight alterations into the false Trochaic and Iambic lines in the text, as were required to make sense of them J. W. D.