(11) ἐν δὲ προλόγοις καὶ ἔπεσι δεῖγμά ἐστιν τοῦ λόγου, (12) ἵνα (13) προειδῶσι περὶ οὗ [ᾖ] ὁ λόγος καὶ μὴ κρέμηται ἡ διάνοια·
(14) τὸ γὰρ ἀόριστον πλανᾷ· ὁ δοὺς οὖν ὥσπερ εἰς τὴν χεῖρα (15) τὴν ἀρχὴν ποιεῖ ἐχόμενον ἀκολουθεῖν τῷ λόγῳ.
διὰ τοῦτο (16)
“μῆνιν ἄειδε, θεά”.
“ἄνδρα μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα.” (17)
“ἥγεό μοι λόγον ἄλλον, ὅπως Ἀσίας ἀπὸ γαίης (18)
ἦλθεν ἐς Εὐρώπην πόλεμος μέγας.”
(19) καὶ οἱ τραγικοὶ δηλοῦσι περὶ <οὗ> τὸ δρᾶμα, κἂν μὴ εὐθὺς (20) ὥσπερ Εὐριπίδης ἐν τῷ προλόγῳ, ἀλλά πού γε, ὥσπερ [καὶ] (21) Σοφοκλῆς
(20) “ἐμοὶ πατὴρ ἦν Πόλυβος”.
(22) καὶ ἡ κωμῳδία ὡσαύτως.
τὸ μὲν οὖν ἀναγκαιότατον ἔργον (23) τοῦ προοιμίου καὶ ἴδιον τοῦτο, δηλῶσαι τί ἐστιν τὸ τέλος (24) οὗ ἕνεκα ὁ λόγος
(διόπερ ἂν δῆλον ᾖ καὶ μικρὸν τὸ πρᾶγμα, (25) οὐ χρηστέον προοιμίῳ)·
τὰ δὲ ἄλλα εἴδη οἷς χρῶνται, ἰα(26)τρεύματα καὶ κοινά.
the dithyrambic prelude resembling the introduction to a speech of display, as
For thee, and thy gilts, and thy battle—spoils....
In prologues, and in epic poetry, a foretaste of the theme is given, intended to inform the hearers of it in advance instead of keeping their minds in suspense.
Anything vague puzzles them: so give them a grasp of the beginning, and they can hold fast to it and follow the argument.
So we find—
Sing, O goddess of song, of the Wrath...
Tell me, O Muse, of the hero...
Lead me to tell a new tale, how there came great warfare to Europe
Out of the Asian land...
The tragic poets, too, let us know the pivot of their play; if not at the outset like Euripides, at least somewhere in the preface to a speech like Sophocles—
Polybus was my father...; and so in Comedy.
This, then, is the most essential function and distinctive property of the introduction, to show what the aim of the speech is;
and therefore no introduction ought to be employed where the subject is not long or intricate.