CHAPTER IX

LENGTHENING AND SHORTENING OF CLAUSES AND PERIODS

I think I can in a very few words show that some clauses admit changes which take the form now of additions not necessary to the sense, now of curtailments rendering the sense incomplete; and that these changes are introduced by poets and prose-writers simply in order to add charm and beauty to the rhythm. Thus the following expression used by Demosthenes indisputably contains a pleonastic addition made for the sake of the rhythm: “He who contrives and prepares means whereby I may be captured is at war with me, though not yet shooting javelins or arrows.”[124] Here the reference to “arrows” is added not out of necessity, but in order that the last clause “though not yet shooting javelins,” being rougher than it ought to be and not pleasant to

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τῇ προσθήκῃ ταύτῃ γένηται χαριέστερον. καὶ ἔτι τὴν Πλατωνικὴν ἐκείνην περίοδον, ἣν ἐν τῷ ἐπιταφίῳ ὁ ἀνὴρ γράφει, τίς οὐκ ἂν φαίη παραπληρώματι λέξεως οὐκ ἀναγκαίῳ προσηρανίσθαι; “ἔργων γὰρ εὖ πραχθέντων λόγῳ καλῶς ῥηθέντι μνήμη καὶ κόσμος γίνεται τοῖς πράξασι παρὰ τῶν 5 ἀκουσάντων.” ἐνταυθοῖ γὰρ τὸ “παρὰ τῶν ἀκουσάντων” πρὸς οὐδὲν ἀναγκαῖον λέγεται, ἀλλ’ ἵνα τὸ τελευταῖον κῶλον τὸ “τοῖς πράξασι” πάρισόν τε καὶ ἐφάμιλλον τοῖς πρὸ αὐτοῦ γένηται. τί δὲ δὴ τὸ παρ’ Αἰσχίνῃ λεγόμενον τουτί “ἐπὶ σαυτὸν καλεῖς, ἐπὶ τοὺς νόμους καλεῖς, ἐπὶ τὴν δημοκρατίαν 10 καλεῖς,” τρίκωλον ἐν τοῖς πάνυ ἐπαινούμενον, οὐχὶ τῆς αὐτῆς ἰδέας ἔχεται; ὃ γὰρ οἷόν τε ἦν ἑνὶ κώλῳ περιληφθῆναι τόνδε τὸν τρόπον “ἐπὶ σεαυτὸν καὶ τοὺς νόμους καὶ τὴν δημοκρατίαν καλεῖς,” τοῦτο εἰς τρία διῄρηται, τῆς αὐτῆς λέξεως οὐ τοῦ ἀναγκαίου ἕνεκα, τοῦ δὲ ἡδίω ποιῆσαι τὴν ἁρμονίαν πολλάκις 15 τεθείσης [καὶ προσέτι πάθος τῷ λόγῳ]. τῆς μὲν δὴ προσθέσεως ἣ γίνεται τοῖς κώλοις οὗτος ὁ τρόπος· τῆς ἀφαιρέσεως δὲ τίς; ὅταν τῶν ἀναγκαίων τι λέγεσθαι λυπεῖν μέλλῃ καὶ διοχλεῖν τὴν ἀκρόασιν, ἀφαιρεθὲν δὲ χαριεστέραν ποιῇ τὴν ἁρμονίαν· οἷά ἐστιν ἐν μὲν τοῖς μέτροις τὰ Σοφόκλεια ταυτί· 20

μύω τε καὶ δέδορκα κἀξανίσταμαι πλέον φυλάσσων αὐτὸς ἢ φυλάσσομαι·

ἐνταυθοῖ γὰρ ὁ δεύτερος στίχος ἐκ δυεῖν σύγκειται κώλων οὐχ ὅλων· τελεία γὰρ ἂν ἡ λέξις ἦν οὕτως ἐξενεχθεῖσα “πλεῖον

1 γεγένηται PMV || χαριέστερα F 6 ἐνταυθοῖ ... ἀκουσάντων F, E: om. PMV 7 τὸ ante τοῖς om. EF 11 ἐπαινουμένοις F 15 ἡδείαν F, M 16 καὶ ... λόγῳ secl. Us.: προσἔτι F, M: πρόσεστι PV 19 ποιῆι P, M: ποιεῖ EFV: ποιεῖν coni. Reiskius 20 ἁρμονίαν F: ἐρμηνείαν P, MV || οἵα F: οἷάπέρ PMV || μὲν F: om. PMV 21 καὶ ξυνίσταμαι P 22 πλέον ... (24) ἐξενεχθεῖσα om. P

2. =ὁ ἀνήρ= is used by Dionysius with various shades of meaning,—‘the author,’ ‘the Master,’ ‘the worthy,’ etc. Cp. =96= 8, =182= 2, =184= 12, =186= 2, =198= 4, =228= 15, =264= 25.

5. In the actual text of _Menex._ 236 E there is a slight difference of order, viz. τοῖς πράξασι γίγνεται instead of γίνεται τοῖς πράξασι (as Dionysius gives it).

6. The Epitome makes the meaning quite plain by inserting παραπλήρωμα τῆς λέξεως between ἀκουσάντων and πρὸς οὐδέν.

9. Here all MSS. agree in giving the form =τουτί=. The same agreement will be found in =86= 9, =110= 17, =116= 20, =120= 24, =156= 15, =158= 5, etc.

10. Demetrius, _de Eloc._ § 268, regards this sentence as an example of three ‘figures,’—anaphora, asyndeton, and homoeoteleuton. He adds, “Were we to write ‘you summon him against yourself and the laws and the democracy,’ the force would vanish together with the figures.”—Similarly, “Appius eos [servos] postulavit et produxit” would be less telling than “Quis eos postulavit? Appius. Quis produxit? Appius. Unde? ab Appio” (Cic. _pro Milone_ 22. 59).

11. =τῆς αὐτῆς ἰδέας=, ‘the same form of expression,’ i.e. the effectively pleonastic.

16. If the words =καὶ προσέτι πάθος τῷ λόγῳ= are retained, ποιῆσαι (in a slightly different sense) must be repeated in order to govern πάθος: unless some such word as γίγνεται can be supplied.

21. The context of these lines of Sophocles is not known, but the idea may well be that of ‘uneasy lies the head’ or οὐ χρὴ παννύχιον εὕδειν βουληφόρον ἄνδρα (_Il._ ii. 24). The ‘elliptical’ effect (an ellipse being implied by ἀφαίρεσις, cp. =116= 17) is produced by the presence of αὐτός, which suggests that ἑτέρους and ὑφ’ ἑτέρων are to be mentally supplied.—Cp. Cic. _in Q. Caec. Divin._ 18. 58 “hic tu, si laesum te a Verre esse dices, patiar et concedam: si iniuriam tibi factam quereris, _defendam et negabo_”; and Racine _Andromaque_ iv. 5 “Je t’aimais inconstant; _qu’aurais-je fait fidèle_?”

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the ear, may be made more attractive by this addition. Again, the famous period of Plato which that author inserts in the Funeral Speech has beyond dispute been extended by a supplement not necessary to the sense: “When deeds have been nobly done, then through speech finely uttered there come honour and remembrance to the doers from the hearers.”[125] Here the words “from the hearers” are not at all necessary to the sense; they are added in order that the last clause, “to the doers,” may correspond with and balance what has preceded it. Again, take these words found in Aeschines, “you summon him against yourself; you summon him against the laws; you summon him against the democracy,”[126] a sentence of great celebrity, formed of three clauses: does it not belong to the class we are considering? What could have been embraced in one clause as follows, “you summon him against yourself and the laws and the democracy,” has been divided into three, the same expression being repeated not from any necessity but in order to make the rhythm more agreeable.

In such ways, then, may clauses be expanded: how can they be abridged? This comes about when something necessary to the sense is likely to offend and jar on the ear, and when, consequently, its removal adds to the charm of the rhythm. An example, in verse, is afforded by the following lines of Sophocles:—

I close mine eyes, I open them, I rise— Myself the warder rather than the warded.[127]

Here the second line is composed of two imperfect clauses. The expression would have been complete if it had run thus,

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φυλάσσων αὐτὸς ἑτέρους ἢ φυλασσόμενος ὑφ’ ἑτέρων,” τὸ δὲ μέτρον ἠδίκητο καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἔσχεν ἣν νυνὶ χάριν ἔχει. ἐν δὲ τοῖς πεζοῖς λόγοις τὰ τοιαῦτα· “ἐγὼ δ’ ὅτι μὲν τινῶν κατηγοροῦντα πάντας ἀφαιρεῖσθαι τὴν ἀτέλειαν τῶν ἀδίκων ἐστίν, ἐάσω.” μεμείωται γὰρ κἀνταῦθα τῶν πρώτων δυεῖν κώλων 5 ἑκάτερον· αὐτοτελῆ δ’ ἂν ἦν, εἴ τις αὐτὰ οὕτως ἐξήνεγκεν· “ἐγὼ δ’ ὅτι μὲν τινῶν κατηγοροῦντα ὡς οὐκ ἐπιτηδείων ἔχειν τὴν ἀτέλειαν πάντας ἀφαιρεῖσθαι καὶ τοὺς δικαίως αὐτῆς τυχόντας τῶν ἀδίκων ἐστίν, ἐάσω.” ἀλλ’ οὐκ ἐδόκει τῷ Δημοσθένει πλείονα ποιεῖσθαι πρόνοιαν τῆς ἀκριβείας τῶν 10 κώλων ἢ τῆς εὐρυθμίας.

τὰ δ’ αὐτὰ εἰρήσθω μοι καὶ περὶ τῶν καλουμένων περιόδων· καὶ γὰρ ταύτας χρὴ τάς τε προηγουμένας καὶ τὰς ἑπομένας οἰκείως συναρμόττειν, ὅταν ἐν περιόδοις προσήκῃ τὸν λόγον ἐκφέρειν· οὐ γὰρ δὴ πανταχῇ γε τὸ ἐμπερίοδον χρήσιμον. 15 καὶ αὐτὸ δὲ τοῦτο τὸ θεώρημα τῆς συνθετικῆς ἐπιστήμης ἴδιον, πότε δεῖ χρῆσθαι περιόδοις καὶ μέχρι πόσου καὶ πότε μή.

X

διωρισμένων δή μοι τούτων ἀκόλουθον ἂν εἴη τὸ λέγειν, τίνα ἐστὶν ὧν δεῖ στοχάζεσθαι τὸν βουλόμενον συντιθέναι τὴν λέξιν εὖ καὶ διὰ τίνων θεωρημάτων τυγχάνοι τις ἂν ὧν 20 βούλεται. δοκεῖ δέ μοι δύο ταῦτ’ εἶναι <τὰ> γενικώτατα, ὧν ἐφίεσθαι δεῖ τοὺς συντιθέντας μέτρα τε καὶ λόγους, ἥ τε ἡδονὴ καὶ τὸ καλόν· ἀμφότερα γὰρ ἐπιζητεῖ ταῦτα ἡ ἀκοή, ὅμοιόν τι πάσχουσα τῇ ὁράσει· καὶ γὰρ ἐκείνη πλάσματα καὶ γραφὰς

2 νυνὶ χάριν ἔχει EPMV: νῦν ἔχει χάριν F 4 ἀτέλειαν] δωρειὰν Demosth. 6 ἀτελῆ δὲ F 12 τὰ δ’ αὐτὰ F: ταῦτα δὲ MV: ταῦ(τα) δι’ P 13 ταύτας E: ταῦτα F: ταύταις PMV || ταῖς τε προηγουμέναις καὶ ταῖς ταύταις (ταύταις om. E) ἑπομέναις EPMV 14 ἐν FE: ἐν ταῖς PMV 17 περιόδωι P 18 ὡρισμένων P || τὸ λέγειν PMV: λέγειν F 21 τὰ add. Sauppius || γενικώτατα F, M: τελικ(ω)τατα P, M^{1}V 22 μέτρα FP: εὖ μέτρα MV

4. Dionysius does not appear to feel that =τῶν ἀδίκων= is in any way ambiguous,—that it might, at first sight, seem to depend on τὴν ἀτέλειαν. In Greek a dependent genitive usually (at any rate in Thucydides; see p. 337 _infra_) precedes the noun on which it depends; and, in any case, the speaker would here pause slightly between τὴν ἀτέλειαν and τῶν ἀδίκων.

15. =οὐ γὰρ δὴ πανταχῇ γε τὸ ἐμπερίοδον χρήσιμον.= For an instance of the ‘running’ style, interspersed with the periodic, see Thucyd. i. 9. 2, where Shilleto remarks: “This paragraph seems to me to convey far more than any other which I have read an exemplification of the εἰρομένη λέξις of Aristot. _Rhet._ iii. 9. 2 (λέγω δὲ εἰρομένην, ἣ οὐδὲν ἔχει τέλος καθ’ αὑτήν, ἂν μὴ τὸ πρᾶγμα λεγόμενον τελειωθῇ). How Thukydides, so great a master of the κατεστραμμένη, ἐν περιόδοις, λέξις, should have written it, is to me a marvel.”

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“myself warding others rather than being warded by others.” But violence would have been done to the metre, and the line would not have acquired the charm which it actually has. In prose there are such instances as: “I will pass by the fact that it is a piece of injustice, simply because a man brings charges against some individuals, to attempt to withhold exemption from every one.”[128] Here, too, each of the two first clauses is abbreviated. They would have been each complete in itself if worded thus: “I will pass by the fact that it is a piece of injustice, simply because a man brings charges against some individuals and declares them unfit for exemption, to attempt to withhold that privilege from every one—even those who are justly entitled to it.” But Demosthenes did not approve of paying more heed to the exactitude of the clauses than to the beauty of the rhythm.

I wish what I have just said to be understood as applying also to what are called “periods.” For, when it is fitting to express one’s meaning in periods, these too must be arranged so as to precede or follow each other appropriately. It must, of course, be understood that the periodic style is not suitable everywhere: and the question when periods should be used and to what extent, and when not, is precisely one of those with which the science of composition deals.