Aristotle · Complete work
Chapter 26
Chapter 26 of 26. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
Open the complete readerOriginal Ancient Greek
πότερον δὲ βελτίων ἡ ἐποποιικὴ μίμησις ἢ ἡ τραγική, διαπορήσειεν ἄν τις.εἰ γὰρ ἡ ἧττον φορτικὴ βελτίων, τοιαύτη δ’ ἡ πρὸς βελτίους θεατάς ἐστιν ἀεί, λίαν δῆλον ὅτι ἡ ἅπαντα μιμουμένη φορτική·ὡς γὰρ οὐκ αἰσθανομένων ἂν[Bekker 1461b line 30]μὴ αὐτὸς προσθῇ, πολλὴν κίνησιν κινοῦνται, οἷον οἱ φαῦλοι αὐληταὶ κυλιόμενοι ἂν δίσκον δέῃ μιμεῖσθαι, καὶ ἕλκοντες τὸν κορυφαῖον ἂν Σκύλλαν αὐλῶσιν.ἡ μὲν οὖν τραγῳδία τοιαύτη ἐστίν, ὡς καὶ οἱ πρότερον τοὺς ὑστέρους αὐτῶν ᾤοντο ὑποκριτάς· ὡς λίαν γὰρ ὑπερβάλλοντα πίθηκον ὁ Μυννίσκος[Bekker 1461b line 35]τὸν Καλλιππίδην ἐκάλει, τοιαύτη δὲ δόξα καὶ περὶ[Bekker 1462a][Bekker 1462a line 1]Πινδάρου ἦν· ὡς δ’ οὗτοι ἔχουσι πρὸς αὐτούς, ἡ ὅλη τέχνη πρὸς τὴν ἐποποιίαν ἔχει.τὴν μὲν οὖν πρὸς θεατὰς ἐπιεικεῖς φασιν εἶναι οἳ οὐδὲν δέονται τῶν σχημάτων, τὴν δὲ τραγικὴν πρὸς φαύλους· εἰ οὖν φορτική, χείρων δῆλον ὅτι ἂν εἴη.πρῶτον μὲν[Bekker 1462a line 5]οὐ τῆς ποιητικῆς ἡ κατηγορία ἀλλὰ τῆς ὑποκριτικῆς, ἐπεὶ ἔστι περιεργάζεσθαι τοῖς σημείοις καὶ ῥαψῳδοῦντα, ὅπερ Σωσίστρατος, καὶ διᾴδοντα, ὅπερ ἐποίει Μνασίθεος ὁ Ὀπούντιος.εἶτα οὐδὲ κίνησις ἅπασα ἀποδοκιμαστέα, εἴπερ μηδ’ ὄρχησις, ἀλλ’ ἡ φαύλων, ὅπερ καὶ Καλλιππίδῃ ἐπετιμᾶτο καὶ νῦν[Bekker 1462a line 10]ἄλλοις ὡς οὐκ ἐλευθέρας γυναῖκας μιμουμένων.ἔτι ἡ τραγῳδία καὶ ἄνευ κινήσεως ποιεῖ τὸ αὑτῆς, ὥσπερ ἡ ἐποποιία· διὰ γὰρ τοῦ ἀναγινώσκειν φανερὰ ὁποία τίς ἐστιν· εἰ οὖν ἐστι τά γ’ ἄλλα κρείττων, τοῦτό γε οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον αὐτῇ ὑπάρχειν.ἔπειτα διότι πάντ’ ἔχει ὅσαπερ ἡ ἐποποιία(καὶ γὰρ τῷ[Bekker 1462a line 15]μέτρῳ ἔξεστι χρῆσθαι), καὶ ἔτι οὐ μικρὸν μέρος τὴν μουσικήν, δι’ ἧς αἱ ἡδοναὶ συνίστανται ἐναργέστατα·εἶτα καὶ τὸ ἐναργὲς ἔχει καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀναγνώσει καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἔργων·ἔτι τῷ ἐν ἐλάττονι μήκει τὸ τέλος τῆς μιμήσεως[Bekker 1462b][Bekker 1462b line 1]εἶναι (τὸ γὰρ ἀθροώτερον ἥδιον ἢ πολλῷ κεκραμένον τῷ χρόνῳ, λέγω δ’ οἷον εἴ τις τὸν Οἰδίπουν θείη τὸν Σοφοκλέους ἐν ἔπεσιν ὅσοις ἡ Ἰλιάς)·ἔτι ἧττον μία ἡ μίμησις ἡ τῶν ἐποποιῶν (σημεῖον δέ, ἐκ γὰρ ὁποιασοῦν μιμήσεως πλείους[Bekker 1462b line 5]τραγῳδίαι γίνονται), ὥστε ἐὰν μὲν ἕνα μῦθον ποιῶσιν, ἢ βραχέως δεικνύμενον μύουρον φαίνεσθαι, ἢ ἀκολουθοῦντα τῷ τοῦ μέτρου μήκει ὑδαρῆ· λέγω δὲ οἷον ἐὰν ἐκ πλειόνων πράξεων ᾖ συγκειμένη,ὥσπερ ἡ Ἰλιὰς ἔχει πολλὰ τοιαῦτα μέρη καὶ ἡ Ὀδύσσεια ἃ καὶ καθ’[Bekker 1462b line 10]ἑαυτὰ ἔχει μέγεθος· καίτοι ταῦτα τὰ ποιήματα συνέστηκεν ὡς ἐνδέχεται ἄριστα καὶ ὅτι μάλιστα μιᾶς πράξεως μίμησις.εἰ οὖν τούτοις τε διαφέρει πᾶσιν καὶ ἔτι τῷ τῆς τέχνης ἔργῳ (δεῖ γὰρ οὐ τὴν τυχοῦσαν ἡδονὴν ποιεῖν αὐτὰς ἀλλὰ τὴν εἰρημένην), φανερὸν ὅτι κρείττων ἂν εἴη μᾶλλον τοῦ[Bekker 1462b line 15]τέλους τυγχάνουσα τῆς ἐποποιίας.περὶ μὲν οὖν τραγῳδίας καὶ ἐποποιίας, καὶ αὐτῶν καὶ τῶν εἰδῶν καὶ τῶν μερῶν, καὶ πόσα καὶ τί διαφέρει, καὶ τοῦ εὖ ἢ μὴ τίνες αἰτίαι, καὶ περὶ ἐπιτιμήσεων καὶ λύσεων, εἰρήσθω τοσαῦτα....
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete machine-assisted Musean translation, made directly from all 26 Ancient Greek chapters with all 279 Bekker markers preserved for fidelity, technical precision, clarity, and structure.
One might raise the question whether epic or tragic imitation is superior.For if the less vulgar art is superior, and such an art is always the one addressed to the better class of spectators, it is perfectly clear that the art which imitates everything is vulgar;for performers assume that the audience will not understand unless[Bekker 1461b line 30]they themselves add something, and so they indulge in excessive movement, like bad flute players, who roll about when they must imitate the throwing of a discus and drag the chorus leader around when they play Scylla.Tragedy, then, is said to have this character, just as the older actors judged their successors. Mynniscus, for example,[Bekker 1461b line 35]called Callippides an ape because he overacted so excessively, and a similar opinion was held of[Bekker 1462a][Bekker 1462a line 1]Pindarus. As these later actors stand in relation to their predecessors, so the whole art of tragedy is said to stand in relation to epic.Epic, then, is said to address cultivated spectators, who have no need of gestures, whereas tragedy addresses an inferior audience; if, therefore, tragedy is vulgar, it would clearly be the worse art.First,[Bekker 1462a line 5]the charge is directed not against the poetic art but against the art of acting, since it is possible to overelaborate gestures even when reciting epic, as Sosistratus did, and when singing lyric poetry, as Mnasitheus of Opus used to do.Second, not every kind of movement is to be condemned, unless dancing too is to be condemned, but only the movement of inferior performers—the fault for which Callippides was criticized and for which others are criticized[Bekker 1462a line 10]today, on the ground that they imitate women who are not freeborn.Moreover, tragedy accomplishes its proper effect even without movement, just as epic does; for its quality is evident from the reading. If, then, tragedy is superior in other respects, it need not possess this defect.Further, tragedy has everything that epic has(for it can even employ epic[Bekker 1462a line 15]meter), and in addition it has no small element in music, through which its pleasures are rendered most vividly;it also possesses vividness both in reading and in performance;moreover, the end of its imitation is attained within a shorter compass[Bekker 1462b][Bekker 1462b line 1]—for what is more concentrated is more pleasurable than what is diluted over a long span of time. I mean, for example, what the effect would be if one were to put Sophocles’ Oedipus into as many lines as the Iliad.Furthermore, the imitation of the epic poets has less unity—a sign of this is that several[Bekker 1462b line 5]tragedies can be made from any one of their imitations. Thus, if they construct a single plot, it will either appear curtailed if presented briefly, or, if extended to match the length proper to the meter, it will appear diluted. I mean the case in which the poem is composed of several actions,as the Iliad and the Odyssey contain many such parts, each of which[Bekker 1462b line 10]has magnitude in itself. And yet these poems are constructed as well as possible and are, to the greatest possible extent, imitations of a single action.If, then, tragedy surpasses epic in all these respects, and also in fulfilling the function of the art—for the two arts must produce not just any pleasure, but the pleasure already specified—it is evident that tragedy would be superior, since it attains its[Bekker 1462b line 15]end more fully than epic.Concerning tragedy and epic, then—their natures, their forms and parts, how many these are and how they differ, the causes of artistic success or failure, and objections and their solutions—let this much suffice....
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 26 Ancient Greek chapters with all 279 Bekker markers preserved.
Someone might raise the question whether epic representation or tragic representation is superior.For if the less vulgar art is superior, and such an art is always addressed to a superior audience, it is perfectly clear that the art that represents everything through gesture is vulgar;for the performers act as though the audience would not understand unless they themselves added something, and so they make exaggerated movements,[Bekker 1461b line 30]like bad flute players who roll around when they have to represent a discus, and drag the chorus leader when they play Scylla.Tragedy, then, is said to be like this, just as earlier actors regarded their successors. Mynniscus called Callippides an ape because he grossly overacted,[Bekker 1461b line 35]and there was a similar opinion of[Bekker 1462a][Bekker 1462a line 1]Pindarus. As these later actors stand in relation to the earlier ones, so the entire art of tragedy stands in relation to epic.Epic, then, is said to be addressed to refined spectators, who have no need of gestures, while tragedy is addressed to inferior spectators. If tragedy is vulgar, it would obviously be worse.First,[Bekker 1462a line 5]this criticism applies not to the poetic art but to the art of acting, since it is possible to overdo gestures even while reciting epic poetry, as Sosistratus did, and while singing, as Mnasitheus of Opus did.Second, not every kind of movement should be rejected, unless dancing is also to be rejected, but only the movement of inferior performers. This was the criticism made of Callippides, and is now[Bekker 1462a line 10]made of others, on the ground that they imitate women who are not freeborn.Furthermore, tragedy achieves its proper effect even without movement, just as epic does; for its quality is evident through reading. Therefore, if it is superior in other respects, movement need not be an essential part of it.Next, tragedy has everything that epic has(for it can even use epic[Bekker 1462a line 15]meter), and in addition it has music, which is no small part of it and through which its pleasures are produced most vividly.Next, it possesses vividness both in reading and in performance.Furthermore, the end of the representation is[Bekker 1462b][Bekker 1462b line 1]achieved in a shorter length—for what is more concentrated is more pleasant than what is diluted over a long period of time. I mean, for example, what would happen if someone expanded Sophocles’ Oedipus into as many verses as the Iliad.Furthermore, the representation made by epic poets has less unity. The evidence is that multiple[Bekker 1462b line 5]tragedies can be made from any one epic representation. Consequently, if epic poets construct a single plot, it will either appear truncated when presented briefly or diluted when extended to the normal length of the meter. I mean, for example, if it is composed of several actions,as the Iliad has many such parts, and so does the Odyssey—parts that also possess[Bekker 1462b line 10]magnitude in themselves. And yet these poems are constructed as well as possible and are, to the greatest possible extent, representations of a single action.If, then, tragedy surpasses epic in all these respects, and also in fulfilling the function of the art—for they must produce not just any pleasure but the pleasure already specified—it is clear that tragedy would be superior because it achieves the[Bekker 1462b line 15]end more fully than epic.So much, then, may be said about tragedy and epic, about the arts themselves and their kinds and parts, how many there are and how they differ, what causes success or failure, and about criticisms and their solutions....