Aristotle · Complete work
Chapter 5
Chapter 5 of 26. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
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ἡ δὲ κωμῳδία ἐστὶν ὥσπερ εἴπομεν μίμησις φαυλοτέρων μέν, οὐ μέντοι κατὰ πᾶσαν κακίαν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ αἰσχροῦ ἐστι τὸ γελοῖον μόριον.τὸ γὰρ γελοῖόν ἐστιν[Bekker 1449a line 35]ἁμάρτημά τι καὶ αἶσχος ἀνώδυνον καὶ οὐ φθαρτικόν, οἷον εὐθὺς τὸ γελοῖον πρόσωπον αἰσχρόν τι καὶ διεστραμμένον ἄνευ ὀδύνης.αἱ μὲν οὖν τῆς τραγῳδίας μεταβάσεις καὶ δι’ ὧν ἐγένοντο οὐ λελήθασιν, ἡ δὲ κωμῳδία διὰ τὸ μὴ[Bekker 1449b][Bekker 1449b line 1]σπουδάζεσθαι ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔλαθεν· καὶ γὰρ χορὸν κωμῳδῶν ὀψέ ποτε ὁ ἄρχων ἔδωκεν, ἀλλ’ ἐθελονταὶ ἦσαν.ἤδη δὲ σχήματά τινα αὐτῆς ἐχούσης οἱ λεγόμενοι αὐτῆς ποιηταὶ μνημονεύονται. τίς δὲ πρόσωπα ἀπέδωκεν ἢ προλόγους ἢ[Bekker 1449b line 5]πλήθη ὑποκριτῶν καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα, ἠγνόηται.τὸ δὲ μύθους ποιεῖν τὸ μὲν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐκ Σικελίας ἦλθε,τῶν δὲ Ἀθήνησιν Κράτης πρῶτος ἦρξεν ἀφέμενος τῆς ἰαμβικῆς ἰδέας καθόλου ποιεῖν λόγους καὶ μύθους.ἡ μὲν οὖν ἐποποιία τῇ τραγῳδίᾳ μέχρι μὲν τοῦ μετὰ[Bekker 1449b line 10]μέτρου λόγῳ μίμησις εἶναι σπουδαίων ἠκολούθησεν· τῷ δὲ τὸ μέτρον ἁπλοῦν ἔχειν καὶ ἀπαγγελίαν εἶναι, ταύτῃ διαφέρουσιν·ἔτι δὲ τῷ μήκει· ἡ μὲν ὅτι μάλιστα πειρᾶται ὑπὸ μίαν περίοδον ἡλίου εἶναι ἢ μικρὸν ἐξαλλάττειν, ἡ δὲ ἐποποιία ἀόριστος τῷ χρόνῳ καὶ τούτῳ διαφέρει,καίτοι[Bekker 1449b line 15]τὸ πρῶτον ὁμοίως ἐν ταῖς τραγῳδίαις τοῦτο ἐποίουν καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔπεσιν.μέρη δ’ ἐστὶ τὰ μὲν ταὐτά, τὰ δὲ ἴδια τῆς τραγῳδίας·διόπερ ὅστις περὶ τραγῳδίας οἶδε σπουδαίας καὶ φαύλης, οἶδε καὶ περὶ ἐπῶν· ἃ μὲν γὰρ ἐποποιία ἔχει, ὑπάρχει τῇ τραγῳδίᾳ, ἃ δὲ αὐτῇ, οὐ πάντα ἐν τῇ[Bekker 1449b line 20]ἐποποιίᾳ.
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.
Comedy, as we have said, is an imitation of people who are inferior, though not in respect of every kind of vice; rather, the ridiculous is one part of the ugly.For the ridiculous is[Bekker 1449a line 35]a kind of error and ugliness that is painless and not destructive; for example, the comic mask is something ugly and distorted, but without pain.Now the transformations of tragedy, and those through whom they came about, have not escaped notice; but comedy, because it was not[Bekker 1449b][Bekker 1449b line 1]taken seriously from the beginning, passed unnoticed. For it was only late that the archon granted a chorus to comic poets; before that, the performers were volunteers.Once comedy had already acquired certain forms of its own, those who are called its poets are remembered. But who introduced masks, or prologues, or[Bekker 1449b line 5]a plurality of actors, and other such things, is unknown.The making of plots originally came from Sicily;but among the Athenians, Crates was the first to abandon the iambic form and begin composing stories and plots of a general nature.Epic poetry, then, followed tragedy insofar as it is an imitation of serious subjects[Bekker 1449b line 10]in metrical language; but they differ in that epic employs a single meter and is narrative.They differ also in length: tragedy endeavors, as far as possible, to confine itself within a single circuit of the sun, or to exceed it only slightly, whereas epic poetry is unlimited in time and differs in this respect,although[Bekker 1449b line 15]at first poets did the same in tragedies as in epics.Some of their parts are the same, while others are peculiar to tragedy.Therefore, whoever knows what makes a tragedy good or bad also knows about epic poetry; for everything epic poetry possesses belongs to tragedy, but not everything belonging to tragedy is found in[Bekker 1449b line 20]epic poetry.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 26 Ancient Greek chapters with all 279 Bekker markers preserved.
Comedy is, as we have said, an imitation of people who are inferior, though not in every kind of vice; rather, the ridiculous is one part of the ugly.For the ridiculous is[Bekker 1449a line 35]a kind of error and ugliness that is painless and not destructive, as, for example, a comic mask is something ugly and distorted without causing pain.The developments of tragedy, then, and those through whom they came about have not been forgotten, but comedy, because it was not[Bekker 1449b][Bekker 1449b line 1]taken seriously from the beginning, went unnoticed; for it was only at a late date that the archon granted a chorus to comic poets, and before that the performers were volunteers.Once comedy had already acquired certain forms of its own, those called its poets are remembered. But who introduced masks, prologues, or[Bekker 1449b line 5]a plurality of actors, and other such things, is unknown.The making of plots originally came from Sicily,while among the Athenians Crates was the first to abandon the iambic form and begin composing speeches and plots of a general kind.Epic poetry, then, followed tragedy insofar as it is an imitation of serious subjects[Bekker 1449b line 10]in metrical language; but they differ in that epic uses a single meter and is narrative.They also differ in length: tragedy tries as far as possible to fit within a single circuit of the sun, or to exceed it only slightly, whereas epic poetry is unlimited in time, and differs in this respect,although[Bekker 1449b line 15]at first poets did this in the same way in tragedies as in epics.Some of their parts are the same, while others are peculiar to tragedy.Therefore, anyone who knows what makes a good or bad tragedy also knows about epics; for everything epic poetry has belongs to tragedy, but not everything belonging to tragedy is found in[Bekker 1449b line 20]epic poetry.