Page:The grammar of Dionysios Thrax.djvu/8

4 : 6°. Criticism of poetical productions, which is the noblest part of grammatic art.

(ἀνάγνωσις).

Reading is the rendering of poetic or prose productions without stumbling or hesitancy. It must be done with due regard to expression, prosody, and pauses. Through the expression we learn the merit (ἀρετή) of the piece; from the prosody, the art of the reader; and from the pauses, the meaning intended to be conveyed. In this way we read tragedy heroically, comedy conversationally, elegiacs thrillingly, epics sustainedly, lyric poetry musically, and dirges softly and plaintively. Any reading done without due observance of these rules degrades the merits of the poets and makes the habits of readers ridiculous.

(τόνος).

Tone is the resonance of a voice endowed with harmony. It is heightened in the acute, balanced in the grave, and broken in the circumflex.

(στιγμή).

There are three punctuation marks: the full stop, the semicolon, and the comma. The full stop denotes that the sense is complete; the semicolon is a sign of where to take breath; the comma shows that the sense is not yet complete, but that something further must be added.

In time. At the full stop the pause is long, at the comma, very short.