Aristotle · Complete work
Chapter 7
Chapter 7 of 26. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
Open the complete readerOriginal Ancient Greek
διωρισμένων δὲ τούτων, λέγωμεν μετὰ ταῦτα ποίαν τινὰ δεῖ τὴν σύστασιν εἶναι τῶν πραγμάτων, ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο καὶ πρῶτον καὶ μέγιστον τῆς τραγῳδίας ἐστίν.κεῖται δὴ ἡμῖν τὴν τραγῳδίαν τελείας καὶ ὅλης πράξεως εἶναι[Bekker 1450b line 25]μίμησιν ἐχούσης τι μέγεθος· ἔστιν γὰρ ὅλον καὶ μηδὲν ἔχον μέγεθος.ὅλον δέ ἐστιν τὸ ἔχον ἀρχὴν καὶ μέσον καὶ τελευτήν.ἀρχὴ δέ ἐστιν ὃ αὐτὸ μὲν μὴ ἐξ ἀνάγκης μετ’ ἄλλο ἐστίν, μετ’ ἐκεῖνο δ’ ἕτερον πέφυκεν εἶναι ἢ γίνεσθαι·τελευτὴ δὲ τοὐναντίον ὃ αὐτὸ μὲν μετ’ ἄλλο πέφυκεν εἶναι ἢ[Bekker 1450b line 30]ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἢ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο ἄλλο οὐδέν·μέσον δὲ ὃ καὶ αὐτὸ μετ’ ἄλλο καὶ μετ’ ἐκεῖνο ἕτερον.δεῖ ἄρα τοὺς συνεστῶτας εὖ μύθους μήθ’ ὁπόθεν ἔτυχεν ἄρχεσθαι μήθ’ ὅπου ἔτυχε τελευτᾶν, ἀλλὰ κεχρῆσθαι ταῖς εἰρημέναις ἰδέαις.ἔτι δ’ ἐπεὶ τὸ καλὸν καὶ ζῷον καὶ ἅπαν[Bekker 1450b line 35]πρᾶγμα ὃ συνέστηκεν ἐκ τινῶν οὐ μόνον ταῦτα τεταγμένα δεῖ ἔχειν ἀλλὰ καὶ μέγεθος ὑπάρχειν μὴ τὸ τυχόν· τὸ γὰρ καλὸν ἐν μεγέθει καὶ τάξει ἐστίν,διὸ οὔτε πάμμικρον ἄν τι γένοιτο καλὸν ζῷον (συγχεῖται γὰρ ἡ θεωρία ἐγγὺς τοῦ ἀναισθήτου χρόνου γινομένη) οὔτε παμμέγεθες (οὐ γὰρ[Bekker 1451a][Bekker 1451a line 1]ἅμα ἡ θεωρία γίνεται ἀλλ’ οἴχεται τοῖς θεωροῦσι τὸ ἓν καὶ τὸ ὅλον ἐκ τῆς θεωρίας) οἷον εἰ μυρίων σταδίων εἴη ζῷον·ὥστε δεῖ καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῶν σωμάτων καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ζῴων ἔχειν μὲν μέγεθος, τοῦτο δὲ εὐσύνοπτον εἶναι, οὕτω[Bekker 1451a line 5]καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν μύθων ἔχειν μὲν μῆκος, τοῦτο δὲ εὐμνημόνευτον εἶναι.τοῦ δὲ μήκους ὅρος ὁ μὲν πρὸς τοὺς ἀγῶνας καὶ τὴν αἴσθησιν οὐ τῆς τέχνης ἐστίν· εἰ γὰρ ἔδει ἑκατὸν τραγῳδίας ἀγωνίζεσθαι, πρὸς κλεψύδρας ἂν ἠγωνίζοντο, † ὥσπερ ποτὲ καὶ ἄλλοτέ φασιν †.ὁ δὲ κατ’ αὐτὴν τὴν φύσιν[Bekker 1451a line 10]τοῦ πράγματος ὅρος, ἀεὶ μὲν ὁ μείζων μέχρι τοῦ σύνδηλος εἶναι καλλίων ἐστὶ κατὰ τὸ μέγεθος· ὡς δὲ ἁπλῶς διορίσαντας εἰπεῖν, ἐν ὅσῳ μεγέθει κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς ἢ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον ἐφεξῆς γιγνομένων συμβαίνει εἰς εὐτυχίαν ἐκ δυστυχίας ἢ ἐξ εὐτυχίας εἰς δυστυχίαν μεταβάλλειν, ἱκανὸς[Bekker 1451a line 15]ὅρος ἐστὶν τοῦ μεγέθους.
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.
Now that these matters have been defined, let us next discuss what sort of arrangement the incidents ought to have, since this is both the first and the greatest element of tragedy.We have established that tragedy is an imitation of an action that is complete and whole[Bekker 1450b line 25]and possesses a certain magnitude; for something may be whole and yet possess no magnitude.A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end.A beginning is that which does not itself necessarily follow something else, but after which something else naturally comes to be or occurs.An end, on the contrary, is that which itself naturally follows something else,[Bekker 1450b line 30]either necessarily or for the most part, but after which there is nothing else.A middle is that which itself follows something else and has something else following it.Well-constructed plots, therefore, must neither begin at some chance point nor end at some chance point, but must employ the forms just described.Furthermore, since a beautiful thing—whether a living creature or any[Bekker 1450b line 35]whole composed of parts—must not only have those parts arranged in order but must also possess a magnitude that is not arbitrary, for beauty consists in magnitude and order,neither could a very tiny creature be beautiful, since our perception of it becomes confused when it occurs in a span of time nearly imperceptible, nor could an enormously large one be beautiful, since[Bekker 1451a][Bekker 1451a line 1]we could not perceive it all at once, and its unity and wholeness would escape the spectators’ view—as, for example, if there were a creature ten thousand stadia long.Thus, just as bodies and living creatures must possess magnitude, but a magnitude that can readily be taken in at a glance, so[Bekker 1451a line 5]plots must possess length, but a length that can readily be held in memory.The limit of length in relation to dramatic competitions and the spectators’ perception does not belong to the poetic art; for if a hundred tragedies had to compete, they would compete by the water clock, †as they say was sometimes done on other occasions†.But the limit determined by the very nature[Bekker 1451a line 10]of the action is this: provided that the sequence remains clear, the greater the length, the more beautiful the work will be in respect of magnitude. To give a simple definition, a magnitude is sufficient if, in the course of events occurring successively according to probability or necessity, a change comes about from misfortune to good fortune or from good fortune to misfortune.[Bekker 1451a line 15]That is a sufficient limit of magnitude.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 26 Ancient Greek chapters with all 279 Bekker markers preserved.
Now that these matters have been defined, let us next discuss what sort of organization the events should have, since this is both the first and the greatest part of tragedy.We have established that tragedy is an imitation of a complete and whole action[Bekker 1450b line 25]possessing a certain magnitude, since something can be whole without possessing any magnitude.A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle, and an end.A beginning is that which does not itself necessarily come after something else, but after which something else naturally is or comes to be.An end, by contrast, is that which itself naturally comes after something else,[Bekker 1450b line 30]either necessarily or for the most part, but after which there is nothing else.A middle is that which itself comes after something else and has something else after it.Well-organized plots, therefore, must neither begin at a random point nor end at a random point, but must use the forms just described.Moreover, since a beautiful thing—whether an animal or any[Bekker 1450b line 35]object composed of parts—must not only have those parts arranged in order but must also possess a magnitude that is not arbitrary, for beauty consists in magnitude and order,neither could an extremely small animal be beautiful, since our perception of it becomes confused because it occurs in an interval of time that is nearly imperceptible, nor could an extremely large one be beautiful, since[Bekker 1451a][Bekker 1451a line 1]our perception of it does not occur all at once, and its unity and wholeness escape the observers’ view—as, for example, if there were an animal ten thousand stades long.Thus, just as bodies and animals must possess magnitude, but a magnitude that can easily be taken in as a whole, so[Bekker 1451a line 5]plots too must possess length, but a length that can easily be remembered.The limit of length in relation to dramatic competitions and the audience’s perception does not belong to the art itself; for if a hundred tragedies had to compete, they would compete against water clocks, † as they say happened once on another occasion †.But the limit determined by the very nature[Bekker 1451a line 10]of the action is this: a greater length is always more beautiful in respect to magnitude, so long as the whole remains clear. To give a simple definition, a sufficient limit of magnitude is the length within which, as events follow one another according to probability or necessity, a change can occur from misfortune to good fortune or from good fortune to misfortune.[Bekker 1451a line 15]