Aristotle · Complete work
Chapter 8
Chapter 8 of 26. Read it here for reference, or continue through the entire work without leaving the reader.
Open the complete readerOriginal Ancient Greek
μῦθος δ’ ἐστὶν εἷς οὐχ ὥσπερ τινὲς οἴονται ἐὰν περὶ ἕνα ᾖ· πολλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἄπειρα τῷ ἑνὶ συμβαίνει, ἐξ ὧν ἐνίων οὐδέν ἐστιν ἕν· οὕτως δὲ καὶ πράξεις ἑνὸς πολλαί εἰσιν, ἐξ ὧν μία οὐδεμία γίνεται πρᾶξις.διὸ πάντες ἐοίκασιν[Bekker 1451a line 20]ἁμαρτάνειν ὅσοι τῶν ποιητῶν Ἡρακληίδα Θησηίδα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ποιήματα πεποιήκασιν· οἴονται γάρ, ἐπεὶ εἷς ἦν ὁ Ἡρακλῆς, ἕνα καὶ τὸν μῦθον εἶναι προσήκειν.ὁ δ’ Ὅμηρος ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα διαφέρει καὶ τοῦτ’ ἔοικεν καλῶς ἰδεῖν, ἤτοι διὰ τέχνην ἢ διὰ φύσιν· Ὀδύσσειαν[Bekker 1451a line 25]γὰρ ποιῶν οὐκ ἐποίησεν ἅπαντα ὅσα αὐτῷ συνέβη, οἷον πληγῆναι μὲν ἐν τῷ Παρνασσῷ, μανῆναι δὲ προσποιήσασθαι ἐν τῷ ἀγερμῷ, ὧν οὐδὲν θατέρου γενομένου ἀναγκαῖον ἦν ἢ εἰκὸς θάτερον γενέσθαι, ἀλλὰ περὶ μίαν πρᾶξιν οἵαν λέγομεν τὴν Ὀδύσσειαν συνέστησεν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἰλιάδα.[Bekker 1451a line 30]χρὴ οὖν, καθάπερ καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἄλλαις μιμητικαῖς ἡ μία μίμησις ἑνός ἐστιν, οὕτω καὶ τὸν μῦθον, ἐπεὶ πράξεως μίμησίς ἐστι, μιᾶς τε εἶναι καὶ ταύτης ὅλης, καὶ τὰ μέρη συνεστάναι τῶν πραγμάτων οὕτως ὥστε μετατιθεμένου τινὸς μέρους ἢ ἀφαιρουμένου διαφέρεσθαι καὶ κινεῖσθαι τὸ ὅλον· ὃ γὰρ προσὸν[Bekker 1451a line 35]ἢ μὴ προσὸν μηδὲν ποιεῖ ἐπίδηλον, οὐδὲν μόριον τοῦ ὅλου ἐστίν.
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.
A plot is not unified, as some suppose, merely because it concerns a single person. For many—indeed, infinitely many—things happen to one person, and some of these possess no unity; likewise, one person performs many actions from which no single action results.Therefore all those poets seem[Bekker 1451a line 20]to have erred who composed a Heracleid, a Theseid, and other poems of that kind. They suppose that, because Heracles was one man, the plot concerning him must also be one.But Homer, who excels in other respects as well, seems to have perceived this point correctly, whether through art or through natural talent. In composing the Odyssey,[Bekker 1451a line 25]he did not include everything that happened to Odysseus—for example, his being wounded on Parnassus and his pretending to be mad at the mustering of the army—since, when either one of these events occurred, it was neither necessary nor probable that the other should occur. Instead, he constructed the Odyssey around a single action of the kind we have described, and likewise the Iliad.[Bekker 1451a line 30]Therefore, just as in the other imitative arts a single imitation is the imitation of a single object, so too the plot, since it is the imitation of an action, must imitate one action, and that a whole. Its incidents must be so arranged that if any one part is moved or removed, the whole is disturbed and displaced; for anything whose presence[Bekker 1451a line 35]or absence makes no perceptible difference is no part of the whole.
Mouseia
Mouseia’s complete Plain English edition, made independently and directly from all 26 Ancient Greek chapters with all 279 Bekker markers preserved.
A plot is not unified, as some people think, merely because it concerns one person. Many indeed infinitely many things happen to one person, and some of them do not constitute any unity. In the same way, one person performs many actions from which no single action results.Therefore, all those poets seem[Bekker 1451a line 20]to have gone wrong who have composed a Heracleid, a Theseid, and similar poems. They suppose that, because Heracles was one person, the plot too should appropriately be one.But Homer, just as he excels in other respects, also seems to have understood this point correctly, whether through art or natural talent. For in composing the Odyssey,[Bekker 1451a line 25]he did not include everything that happened to Odysseus—for example, his being wounded on Parnassus and his pretending to be insane at the muster—since, when either one happened, it was neither necessary nor probable that the other should happen. Instead, he organized the Odyssey around one action of the kind we are describing, and likewise the Iliad.[Bekker 1451a line 30]Therefore, just as in the other imitative arts a single imitation is an imitation of one thing, so too the plot, since it is an imitation of an action, must be the imitation of one action, and that a whole one. Its component events must be organized in such a way that, if any part is moved or removed, the whole is disrupted and disturbed; for something whose presence[Bekker 1451a line 35]or absence makes no perceptible difference is no part of the whole.