CHAPTER XV

SYLLABLES AND THEIR QUALITIES

Such is the number of the letters, and such are their properties. From them are formed the so-called _syllables_. Of these syllables, those are long which contain long vowels or variable vowels when pronounced long, and those which end in a long letter or a letter pronounced long, or in one of the semi-vowels and one of the mutes. Those are short which contain a short vowel or one taken as short, and those which end in such vowels. There is

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συλλαβῶν οὐ μία φύσις, ἀλλὰ καὶ μακρότεραί τινές εἰσι τῶν μακρῶν καὶ βραχύτεραι τῶν βραχειῶν. ἔσται δὲ τοῦτο φανερὸν ἐπὶ τῶν παραδειγμάτων.

ὁμολογεῖται δὴ βραχεῖα εἶναι συλλαβή, ἣν ποιεῖ φωνῆεν γράμμα βραχὺ τὸ ο̄, ὡς λέγεται #ὁδός#. ταύτῃ προστεθήτω 5 γράμμα ἓν τῶν ἡμιφώνων τὸ ρ̄ καὶ γενέσθω #Ῥόδος#· μένει μὲν ἔτι βραχεῖα ἡ συλλαβή, πλὴν οὐχ ὁμοίως, ἀλλ’ ἕξει τινὰ παραλλαγὴν ἀκαρῆ παρὰ τὴν προτέραν. ἔτι προστεθήτω ταύτῃ τῶν ἀφώνων γραμμάτων ἓν τὸ τ̄ καὶ γενέσθω #τρόπος#· μείζων αὕτη τῶν προτέρων ἔσται συλλαβῶν καὶ ἔτι βραχεῖα 10 μένει. τρίτον ἔτι γράμμα τῇ αὐτῇ συλλαβῇ προστεθήτω τὸ σ̄ καὶ γενέσθω #στρόφος#· τρισὶν αὕτη προσθήκαις ἀκουσταῖς μακροτέρα γενήσεται τῆς βραχυτάτης μένουσα ἔτι βραχεῖα. οὐκοῦν τέτταρες αὗται βραχείας συλλαβῆς διαφοραὶ τὴν ἄλογον αἴσθησιν ἔχουσαι τῆς παραλλαγῆς μέτρον. ὁ δ’ αὐτὸς 15 λόγος καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς μακρᾶς. ἡ γὰρ ἐκ τοῦ η̄ γινομένη συλλαβὴ μακρὰ τὴν φύσιν οὖσα τεττάρων γραμμάτων προσθήκαις παραυξηθεῖσα τριῶν μὲν προταττομένων, ἑνὸς δὲ ὑποταττομένου, καθ’ ἣν λέγεται #σπλήν#, μείζων ἂν δήπου λέγοιτο εἶναι τῆς προτέρας ἐκείνης τῆς μονογραμμάτου· μειουμένη γοῦν 20 αὖθις καθ’ ἓν ἕκαστον τῶν προστεθέντων γραμμάτων τὰς ἐπὶ τοὔλαττον παραλλαγὰς αἰσθητὰς ἂν ἔχοι. αἰτία δὲ τίς ἐστι τοῦ μήτε τὰς μακρὰς ἐκβαίνειν τὴν αὑτῶν φύσιν μέχρι γραμμάτων πέντε μηκυνομένας μήτε τὰς βραχείας εἰς ἓν ἀπὸ πολλῶν γραμμάτων συστελλομένας ἐκπίπτειν τῆς βραχύτητος, 25 ἀλλὰ κἀκείνας ἐν διπλασίῳ λόγῳ θεωρεῖσθαι τῶν βραχειῶν καὶ ταύτας ἐν ἡμίσει τῶν μακρῶν, οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον ἐν τῷ παρόντι σκοπεῖν. ἀρκεῖ γὰρ ὅσον εἰς τὴν παροῦσαν ὑπόθεσιν ἥρμοττεν εἰρῆσθαι, ὅτι διαλλάττει καὶ βραχεῖα συλλαβὴ

4 δὴ] δεῖ P || βραχεῖα EM: βραχέα F: βραχεῖαν PV || συλλαβὴν PV 5 γράμμα βραχὺ EF: βραχὺ γράμμα V: γράμμα P || προστεθήτω EPV: προστιθέτω M: τίς προσθέτω F 8 ἀκαρὴ P: ἀκαρεὶ MV: om. EF || προστεθήτω EPMV: προσθέτω F 9 ἓν EF: om. PMV 15 ἄλογον EFV: ἀνάλογον PM 19 μείζονα ἂν F 20 μειουμένη] μειουμένης P: μειουμένων M || γ’ οὖν αὖθις P, M: τε οὖν αὖθις F: τε αὖ πάλιν E: δ’ αὖ πάλιν V 21 ἓν PMV: om. EF 22 τοὔλαττον] τὸ λεῖπον PM || τίς ex τί corr. F: ἣ τίς PM, V 23 αὐτῶν F: ἑαυτῶν PMV 24 ε̄ μηκυνομένας ... (25) γραμμάτων om. F || πέντε Uptonus, ε̄ Us.: ἑπτὰ PM: δ̄ V

2. Cp. Quintil. ix. 4. 84 “sit in hoc quoque aliquid fortasse momenti, quod et longis longiores et brevibus sunt breviores syllabae; ut, quamvis neque plus duobus temporibus neque uno minus habere videantur, ideoque in metris omnes breves longaeque inter sese sint pares, lateat tamen nescio quid, quod supersit aut desit. nam versuum propria condicio est, ideoque in his quaedam etiam communes.”

8. =ἀκαρῆ=: cp. _de Isocr._ c. 20 ἀκαρῆ δέ τινα ... ἐνθυμήματα.

12. =τρισὶν ... προσθήκαις=: the meaning apparently is that the first prefix increases the length by one augmentation; the second, by two; the third, by three. αὕτη = ἡ συλλαβή =στρόφ-=.

22. =ἐπὶ τοὔλαττον=: cp. Aristot. _Eth. Nic._ ii. 7. 12 ἡ δὲ προσποίησις ἡ μὲν ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον ἀλαζονεία καὶ ὁ ἔχων αὐτὴν ἀλαζών, ἡ δ’ ἐπὶ τὸ ἔλαττον εἰρωνεία καὶ εἴρων [ὁ ἔχων], iv. 7. 14 οἱ δ’ εἴρωνες ἐπὶ τὸ ἔλαττον λέγοντες χαριέστεροι μὲν τὰ ἤθη φαίνονται; and Long. _de Sublim._ c. 38 αἱ δ’ ὑπερβολαὶ καθάπερ ἐπὶ τὸ μεῖζον, οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τοὔλαττον.

26. =θεωρεῖσθαι= here (and in =204= 3, =210= 9) may perhaps supply a parallel (though not a complete one) of the kind desired in _Classical Quarterly_ i. 41 n. 1.

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more than one kind of length and shortness of syllables: some are longer than the long and some shorter than the short. And this will be made clear by consideration of the examples which I am about to adduce.

It will be admitted that a syllable is short which is formed by the short vowel ο, as, for example, in the word ὁδός. To this let the semi-vowel ρ be prefixed and Ῥόδος be formed. The syllable still remains short; but not equally so, for it will show some slight difference when compared with the former. Further, let one of the mutes, τ, be prefixed and τρόπος be formed. This again will be longer than the former syllables; yet it still remains short. Let still a third letter, σ, be prefixed to the same syllable and στρόφος be formed. This will have become longer than the shortest syllable by three audible prefixes; and yet it still remains short. So, then, here are four grades of short syllables, with only our instinctive feeling for quantity as a measure of the difference. The same principle applies to the long syllable. The syllable formed from η, though long by nature, yet when augmented by the addition of four letters, three prefixed and one suffixed, as in the word σπλήν, would surely be said to be ampler than that syllable, in its original form, that consisted of a single letter. At all events, if it were in turn deprived, one by one, of the added letters, it would show perceptible changes in the way of diminution. As to the reason why long syllables do not transcend their natural quality when lengthened to five letters, nor short syllables drop from their shortness when reduced from many letters to one, the former being still regarded as double the shorts, and the latter as half the longs,—this does not at present demand examination. It is sufficient to say what is really germane to the present subject, namely, that one short syllable

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βραχείας καὶ μακρὰ μακρᾶς καὶ οὐ τὴν αὐτὴν ἔχει δύναμιν οὔτ’ ἐν λόγοις ψιλοῖς οὔτ’ ἐν ποιήμασιν ἢ μέλεσιν διὰ μέτρων ἢ ῥυθμῶν κατασκευαζομένοις πᾶσα βραχεῖα καὶ πᾶσα μακρά.

πρῶτον μὲν δὴ θεώρημα τοῦτο τῶν ἐν ταῖς συλλαβαῖς παθῶν· ἕτερον δὲ τοιόνδε· τῶν γραμμάτων πολλὰς ἐχόντων 5 διαφορὰς οὐ μόνον περὶ τὰ μήκη καὶ τὰς βραχύτητας ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τοὺς ἤχους, ὑπὲρ ὧν ὀλίγῳ πρότερον εἴρηκα, πᾶσα ἀνάγκη καὶ τὰς ἐκ τούτων συνισταμένας συλλαβὰς ἢ διὰ τούτων πλεκομένας ἅμα τήν τε ἰδίαν ἑκάστου σῴζειν δύναμιν καὶ τὴν κοινὴν ἁπάντων, ἣ γίνεται διὰ τῆς κράσεώς τε καὶ 10 παραθέσεως αὐτῶν· ἐξ ὧν μαλακαί τε φωναὶ γίνονται καὶ σκληραὶ καὶ λεῖαι καὶ τραχεῖαι, γλυκαίνουσαί τε τὴν ἀκοὴν καὶ πικραίνουσαι, καὶ στύφουσαι καὶ διαχέουσαι, καὶ πᾶσαν ἄλλην κατασκευάζουσαι διάθεσιν φυσικήν· αὗται δ’ εἰσὶ μυρίαι τὸ πλῆθος ὅσαι. 15

ταῦτα δὴ καταμαθόντες οἱ χαριέστατοι ποιητῶν τε καὶ συγγραφέων τὰ μὲν αὐτοὶ κατασκευάζουσιν ὀνόματα συμπλέκοντες ἐπιτηδείως ἀλλήλοις, τὰ δὲ γράμματα καὶ τὰς συλλαβὰς οἰκείας οἷς ἂν βούλωνται παραστῆσαι πάθεσιν ποικίλως φιλοτεχνοῦσιν, ὡς ποιεῖ πολλάκις Ὅμηρος, ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν 20 προσηνέμων αἰγιαλῶν τῇ παρεκτάσει τῶν συλλαβῶν τὸν ἄπαυστον ἐκφαίνειν βουλόμενος ἦχον

ἠϊόνες βοόωσιν ἐρευγομένης ἁλὸς ἔξω·

1 οὐ F: οὔτε PMV 2 μέτρων ἢ ῥυθμῶν F: ῥυθμῶν ἢ μέτρων PMV 8 καὶ EF: om. PMV 10 καὶ (posterius) EF: καὶ τῆς PMV 13 πᾶσαν EFM: πᾶσαν τὴν PV 16 δὴ PMV: ἤδη EF 17 αὐτοὶ EF: αὐτοί τε PMV 18 τὰ δὲ FM: τὰ EPV 19 οἰκείας F: δὲ οἰκείας E: οἰκείως PM: δὲ οἰκείως V 20 τῶν EF: om. PMV 21 τὸν om. P 22 ἐκφαίνειν EF: ἐμφαίνειν PMV

1. H. Richards (_Classical Review_ xix. 252) suggests οὔτι, in place of the οὔτε of PMV and the οὐ of F.

3. If this passage (from =152= 4 up to this point) be taken in connexion with one from the scholia to Hephaestion and another from Marius Victorinus (see Goodell’s _Greek Metric_ pp. 6, 7), we find the following difference indicated as between the school of the _metrici_ and that of the _rhythmici_: “The metrici considered the long syllable as always twice the length of the short; whatever variation from this ratio the varying constitution of syllables produced was treated as too slight to affect the general flow of verse. The rhythmici, on the other hand, held that long syllables differed greatly from each other in quantity, and that short syllables differed from each other in some degree, apart from variations in tempo. The doctrine of ἀλογία or irrationality, whereby some syllables were longer or shorter by a small undefined amount than the complete long, was associated by some with this theory, as in a passage of Dionysius Halic. (_C. V._ c. 17 οἱ δ’ ἀπὸ τῆς μακρᾶς ... τῶν πάνυ καλῶν οἱ ῥυθμοί: cp. c. 20 _ibid._). Some, at least, affirmed also that a single consonant required half the time of a short vowel, and that two consonants or a double consonant required the same time as a short vowel; those writers accordingly set up a scale of measurement for syllables, simply counting the number of time-units required, on this theory, by the constituent vowels and consonants,” Goodell _Greek Metric_ pp. 8, 9.

20. Cp. the use of the long _o_ in such passages as Virg. _Aen._ iii. 670 ff. “verum ubi nulla datur dextra adfectare potestas | nec potis Ionios fluctus aequare sequendo, | clamorem immensum tollit, quo pontus et omnes | contremuere undae”; v. 244 ff. “tum satus Anchisa cunctis ex more vocatis | victorem magna praeconis voce Cloanthum | declarat viridique advelat tempora lauro, | muneraque in navis ternos optare iuvencos | vinaque et argenti magnum dat ferre talentum.” See also Demetr. p. 42 for A. C. Bradley’s comments on Virgil’s line “tendebantque manus ripae ulterioris amore.”

23. Aristotle (_Poetics_ c. 22) points out that it would be disastrous to substitute the trivial κράζουσιν for =βοόωσιν= in this passage.—With regard to the sound of the line cp. schol. on _Il._ xvii. 265 καὶ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν κῦμα μέγα θαλάσσης ἐπιφερόμενον ποταμοῦ ῥεύματι καὶ τῷ ἀνακόπτεσθαι βρυχώμενον, καὶ τὰς ἑκατέρωθεν τοῦ ποταμοῦ θαλασσίας ἠϊόνας ἠχούσας, ὃ ἐμιμήσατο διὰ τῆς ἐπεκτάσεως τοῦ #βοόωσιν#. αὕτη ἡ εἰκὼν Πλάτωνος ἔκαυσε τὰ ποιήματα· οὕτως ἐναργέστερον τοῦ ὁρωμένου τὸ ἀκουόμενον παρέστησεν ... τῆς γὰρ ἐπαλλήλου τῶν ὑδάτων ἐκβολῆς ἡ τοῦ “βοόωσιν” ἀναδίπλωσις ὁμοίαν ἀπετέλεσε συνῳδίαν.

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may differ from another short, and one long from another long, and that every short and every long syllable has not the same quality either in prose, or in poems, or in songs, whether these be metrically or rhythmically constructed.

The foregoing is the first aspect under which we view the different qualities of syllables. The next is as follows. As letters have many points of difference, not only in length and shortness, but also in sound—points of which I have spoken a little while ago—it must necessarily follow that the syllables, which are combinations or interweavings of letters, preserve at once both the individual properties of each component, and the joint properties of all, which spring from their fusion and juxtaposition. The sounds thus formed are soft or hard, smooth or rough, sweet to the ear or harsh to it; they make us pull a wry face, or cause our mouths to water, or bring about any of the countless other physical conditions that are possible.

These facts the greatest poets and prose-writers have carefully noted, and not only do they deliberately arrange their words and weave them into appropriate patterns, but often, with curious and loving skill, they adapt the very syllables and letters to the emotions which they wish to represent. This is Homer’s way when he is describing a wind-swept beach and wishes to express the ceaseless reverberation by the prolongation of syllables:—

Echo the cliffs, as bursteth the sea-surge down on the strand.[131]

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ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ τετυφλωμένου Κύκλωπος τό τε τῆς ἀλγηδόνος μέγεθος καὶ τὴν διὰ τῶν χειρῶν βραδεῖαν ἔρευναν τῆς τοῦ σπηλαίου θύρας

Κύκλωψ δὲ στενάχων τε καὶ ὠδίνων ὀδύνῃσιν, χερσὶ ψηλαφόων· 5

καὶ ἄλλοθί που δέησιν ἐνδείξασθαι βουλόμενος πολλὴν καὶ κατεσπουδασμένην

οὐδ’ εἴ κεν μάλα πολλὰ πάθῃ ἑκάεργος Ἀπόλλων, προπροκυλινδόμενος πατρὸς Διὸς αἰγιόχοιο.

μυρία ἔστιν εὑρεῖν παρ’ αὐτῷ τοιαῦτα, χρόνου μῆκος ἢ 10 σώματος μέγεθος ἢ πάθους ὑπερβολὴν ἢ στάσεως ἠρεμίαν ἢ τῶν παραπλησίων τι δηλοῦντα παρ’ οὐδὲν οὕτως ἕτερον ἢ τὰς τῶν συλλαβῶν κατασκευάς· καὶ ἄλλα τούτοις ἐναντίως εἰργασμένα εἰς βραχύτητα καὶ τάχος καὶ σπουδὴν καὶ τὰ τούτοις ὁμοιογενῆ, ὡς ἔχει ταυτί 15

ἀμβλήδην γοόωσα μετὰ δμωῇσιν ἔειπεν

καὶ

ἡνίοχοι δ’ ἔκπληγεν, ἐπεὶ ἴδον ἀκάματον πῦρ.

ἐφ’ ἧς μὲν γὰρ ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος δηλοῦται συγκοπὴ καὶ τὸ τῆς φωνῆς ἄτακτον, ἐφ’ ὧν δ’ ἡ τῆς διανοίας ἔκστασις καὶ τὸ 20 τοῦ δείματος ἀπροσδόκητον· ποιεῖ δὲ τούτων ἑκάτερον ἡ τῶν συλλαβῶν τε καὶ γραμμάτων ἐλάττωσις.

1 τετυφλωμένου E: τετυφωμένου F: τυφλουμένου PMV 2 τὴν διὰ EMV: διὰ τὴν FP 8 πάθῃ EF: πάθοι PMV Hom. 10 εὑρεῖν om. F 11 ἠρεμίαν] ὁμιλίαν FM 15 ὁμοιογενῆ F: ὁμο*γενῆ P: ὁμογενῆ MV 16 δμωιῆισιν P: Τρῴῃσιν Hom. 18 ἔκπληγον PMV 19 ἧς F: ὧν PMV 20 ἔκστασις FM: ἔκτασις PV 21 δείγματος PV

1. =ἀλγηδών=: a somewhat poetical word, though used by Herodotus and Plato. Its use in a highly figurative passage of Herodotus (v. 18) is censured in the _de Sublim._ iv. 7 καὶ τὸ Ἡροδότειον οὐ πόρρω, τὸ φάναι τὰς καλὰς γυναῖκας “ἀλγηδόνας ὀφθαλμῶν.”

4. In these lines, and in =154= 23, the reiteration of the long ω, and of the long η, is particularly to be noted.

9. =προπροκυλινδόμενος=: imitated by Ap. Rhod. _Argon._ i. 386 προπροβιαζόμενοι, and ii. 595 προπροκαταΐγδην. Cp. _Odyss._ xvii. 524 ἔνθεν δὴ νῦν δεῦρο τόδ’ ἵκετο πήματα πάσχων, | προπροκυλινδόμενος.

10. =χρόνου μῆκος=: cp. Virg. _Aen._ i. 272 “hic iam ter centum totos regnabitur annos,” and iii. 284 “interea magnum sol circumvolvitur annum.”

11. =σώματος μέγεθος=: cp. Virg. _Aen._ vii. 783 “ipse inter primos praestanti corpore Turnus.”—=πάθους ὑπερβολήν=: cp. Virg. _Aen._ ix. 475 “at subitus miserae calor ossa reliquit, | excussi manibus radii revolutaque pensa.”

12. A blending of (1) παρ’ οὐδὲν οὕτως ὡς, (2) παρ’ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἤ.

16. Cp. Virg. _Aen._ ix. 477 “evolat infelix et femineo ululatu | scissa comam muros amens atque agmina cursu | prima petit,” etc.

18. Batteux (_Réflexions_ pp. 219-21) quotes and analyzes the well-known passage of Racine’s _Phèdre_ (v. 6) which begins: “Un effroyable cri, sorti du fond des flots, | Des airs en ce moment a troublé le repos.” He says: “Dans le dernier morceau de Racine qui peint l’objet terrible, il n’y a pas un vers qui n’ait le caractère de la chose exprimée. Ce sont des sons aigus et perçans, des syllabes chargée de consonnes, et de consonnes épaisses: _sorti du fond des flots; notre sang s’est glacé; L’onde approche, se brise; Son front large est armé_. Des mots qui se heurtent: _effroyable cri; cri redoutable; le crin s’est hérissé_. D’autres mots larges et spacieux: _Cependant, sur le dos de la plaine liquide, S’élève à gros bouillons_ (_S’élève_ rejeté à l’autre vers comme celui-ci de Despréaux, _S’élève un lit de plume_) _une montaigne humide; cornes menaçantes; écailles jaunissantes; Indomptable taureau, dragon impétueux_. Des syllabes qui se renversent les unes sur le autres: _Sa croupe se recourbe en replis tortueux_. Ce vers, dans un poëme ancient, eût été célébré de siècle en siècle.”

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Or again when, after the Cyclops has been blinded, Homer desires to express the greatness of his anguish, and his hands’ slow search for the door of the cavern:—

The Cyclops, with groan on groan and throes of anguish sore, With hands slow-groping.[132]

And when in another place he wishes to indicate a long impassioned prayer:—

Not though in an agony Phoebus the Smiter from Far should entreat Low-grovelling at Father Zeus the Aegis-bearer’s feet.[133]

Such lines are to be found without number in Homer, representing length of time, hugeness of body, stress of emotion, immobility of position, or similar effects, simply by the manipulation of the syllables. Conversely, others are framed to give the impression of abruptness, speed, hurry, and the like. For instance,

Wailing with broken sobs amidst of her handmaids she cried,[134]

and

And scared were the charioteers, that tireless flame to behold.[135]

In the first passage the stoppage of Andromache’s breath is indicated, and the tremor of her voice; in the second, the startled dismay of the charioteers, and the unexpectedness of the terror. The effect in both cases is due to the docking of syllables and letters.

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XVI

καὶ αὐτοὶ μὲν δὴ κατασκευάζουσιν οἱ ποιηταὶ καὶ λογογράφοι πρὸς χρῆμα ὁρῶντες οἰκεῖα καὶ δηλωτικὰ τῶν ὑποκειμένων τὰ ὀνόματα, ὥσπερ ἔφην· πολλὰ δὲ καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν λαμβάνουσιν ὡς ἐκεῖνοι κατεσκεύασαν, ὅσα μιμητικὰ τῶν πραγμάτων ἐστίν· ὡς ἔχει ταυτί 5

ῥόχθει γὰρ μέγα κῦμα ποτὶ ξερὸν ἠπείροιο.

αὐτὸς δὲ κλάγξας πέτετο πνοιῇς ἀνέμοιο.

αἰγιαλῷ μεγάλῳ βρέμεται, σμαραγεῖ δέ τε πόντος.

σκέπτετ’ ὀιστῶν τε ῥοῖζον καὶ δοῦπον ἀκόντων.

μεγάλη δὲ τούτων ἀρχὴ καὶ διδάσκαλος ἡ φύσις ἡ ποιοῦσα 10 μιμητικοὺς καὶ θετικοὺς ἡμᾶς τῶν ὀνομάτων, οἷς δηλοῦται τὰ πράγματα κατά τινας εὐλόγους καὶ κινητικὰς τῆς διανοίας ὁμοιότητας· ὑφ’ ἧς ἐδιδάχθημεν ταύρων τε μυκήματα λέγειν καὶ χρεμετισμοὺς ἵππων καὶ φριμαγμοὺς τράγων πυρός τε

1 μὲν F: τε PMV 2 πρὸς χρῆμα PV: πρόσχημα PM 4 μιμητικὰ EF: μιμητικώτατα PMV 5 πραγμάτων] γραμμάτων PM 6 ῥόγχθει F: ῥοχθεῖ PMV 8 μεγάλωι P, EM Hom.: μεγάλα F 11 καὶ θετικοὺς ἡμᾶς EF: ἡμᾶς καὶ θετικοὺς V: καὶ θετικοὺς M: ἡμᾶς P 12 τῆς EF: om. PMV 13 ἧς P: ὧν EFMV 14 φριμαγμοὺς EF: φριγμοὺς P: φρυαγμοὺς V: φρυμαγμοὺς M || τράγων] ταύρων F

2. =πρὸς χρῆμα ὁρῶντες=: for χρῆμα cp. =160= 4. The writer must, in Matthew Arnold’s phrase, have his “eye on the object.” Cp. Aristot. _Poet._ c. xvii. δεῖ δὲ τοὺς μύθους συνιστάναι καὶ τῇ λέξει συναπεργάζεσθαι ὅτι μάλιστα πρὸ ὀμμάτων τιθέμενον· οὕτω γὰρ ἂν ἐναργέστατα ὁρῶν ὥσπερ παρ’ αὐτοῖς γιγνόμενος τοῖς πραττομένοις εὑρίσκοι τὸ πρέπον καὶ ἥκιστα ἂν λανθάνοι τὰ ὑπεναντία: and Long. _de Sublim._ c. xv. ἆρ’ οὐκ ἂν εἴποις, ὅτι ἡ ψυχὴ τοῦ γράφοντος συνεπιβαίνει τοῦ ἅρματος, καὶ συγκινδυνεύουσα τοῖς ἵπποις συνεπτέρωται; οὐ γὰρ ἄν, εἰ μὴ τοῖς οὐρανίοις ἐκείνοις ἔργοις ἰσοδρομοῦσα ἐφέρετο, τοιαῦτ’ ἄν ποτε ἐφαντάσθη.

4. =μιμητικά=: cp. Aristot. _Poet._ c. iv. τό τε γὰρ μιμεῖσθαι σύμφυτον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐκ παίδων ἐστί (καὶ τούτῳ διαφέρουσι τῶν ἄλλων ζῴων ὅτι μιμητικώτατόν ἐστι καὶ τὰς μαθήσεις ποιεῖται διὰ μιμήσεως τὰς πρώτας), καὶ τὸ χαίρειν τοῖς μιμήμασι πάντας.

6. For the repeated _r_ sound cp. the passage of the _Aeneid_ (i. 108) which begins “talia iactanti stridens Aquilone procella,” and schol. on _Odyss._ v. 402 τῶν δὲ πεποιημένων ἡ λέξις (sc. ῥόχθει)· τραχὺ γὰρ τὸ ρ, τὸ θ, τὸ χ.

8. Cp. schol. ad _Il._ ii. 210 συμφυῶς τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ τετράχυνται τὸ ἔπος ταῖς ὀνοματοποιΐαις.—In this line F’s reading μεγάλα accords with a conjecture of Bentley’s.

9. Cp. Virg. _Aen._ v. 437 “stat gravis Entellus nisuque immotus eodem | corpore tela modo atque oculis vigilantibus exit.”

11. Not all languages, however, have the same powers in this direction: cp. Quintil. i. 5. 72 “sed minime nobis concessa est ὀνοματοποιΐα; quis enim ferat, si quid simile illis merito laudatis λίγξε βιός et σίζε ὀφθαλμός fingere audeamus? Iam ne _balare_ quidem aut _hinnire_ fortiter diceremus, nisi iudicio vetustatis niterentur” (Quintilian has just before, §§ 67 and 70, referred to Pacuvius’ _repandirostrum_ and _incurvicervicum_: which may be compared with Ἑρμοκαϊκόξανθος, Aristot. _Poet._ c. 21); and viii. 6. 31 “ὀνοματοποιΐα quidem, id est fictio nominis, Graecis inter maxima habita virtutes, nobis vix permittitur ... vix illa, quae πεποιημένα vocant, quae ex vocibus in usum receptis quocunque modo declinantur, nobis permittimus, qualia sunt _Sullaturit_ et _proscripturit_.” Greek, English and German admit onomatopoeia more readily than Latin and French. Any undue restriction (such as that indicated by Quintilian when defining πεποιημένα) hampers the life of a language. Words should serve their apprenticeship, no doubt; but there should be no lack of probationers. We feel that the language itself is growing when Cicero uses ‘dulcescit’ of the growing and ripening grape, or when Erasmus uses the same word to indicate that England ‘grew’ upon him the more he knew it.—For the general question of the right of coining new words or reviving disused words see Demetr. pp. 255, 297, 298 (and cp. §§ 94, 220 _ibid._). Many of Dionysius’ remarks, here and elsewhere, seem to concern the choice or the manufacture of words rather than their arrangement; but, from the nature of the case, he clearly finds it hard to draw a strict dividing-line either in this direction or in regard to the entire λεκτικὸς τόπος as distinguished from the πραγματικὸς τόπος.

13. In giving the singular, P seems clearly right here, and as clearly wrong when giving the plural in =156= 19.

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