τρίτον δ’ ἐν τοῖς ἐπιθέτοις (11) τὸ ἢ μακροῖς ἢ ἀκαίροις ἢ πυκνοῖς χρῆσθαι·
ἐν μὲν γὰρ (12) ποιήσει πρέπει “γάλα λευκὸν” εἰπεῖν, ἐν δὲ λόγῳ τὰ μὲν (13) ἀπρεπέστερα· τὰ δέ, ἂν ᾖ κατακορῆ, ἐξελέγχει καὶ ποιεῖ (14) φανερὸν ὅτι ποίησις ἐστίν,
ἐπεὶ δεῖ γε χρῆσθαι αὐτοῖς (ἐξ(15)αλλάττει γὰρ τὸ εἰωθὸς καὶ ξενικὴν ποιεῖ τὴν λέξιν),
ἀλλὰ (16) δεῖ στοχάζεσθαι τοῦ μετρίου, ἐπεὶ μεῖζον ποιεῖ κακὸν τοῦ (17) εἰκῇ λέγειν·
ἡ μὲν γὰρ οὐκ ἔχει τὸ εὖ, ἡ δὲ τὸ κακῶς.
(18) διὸ τὰ Ἀλκιδάμαντος ψυχρὰ φαίνεται· οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἡδύσματι (19) χρῆται ἀλλ’ ὡς ἐδέσματι τοῖς ἐπιθέτοις <τοῖς> οὕτω πυκνοῖς (20) καὶ μείζοσι καὶ ἐπιδήλοις,
οἷον οὐχ ἱδρῶτα ἀλλὰ τὸν ὑγρὸν (21) ἱδρῶτα, καὶ οὐκ εἰς Ἴσθμια ἀλλ’ εἰς τὴν τῶν Ἰσθμίων (22) πανήγυριν, καὶ οὐχὶ νόμους ἀλλὰ τοὺς τῶν πόλεων βασι(23)λεῖς νόμους, καὶ οὐ δρόμῳ ἀλλὰ δρομαίᾳ τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς (24) ὁρμῇ, καὶ οὐχὶ μουσεῖον ἀλλὰ τὸ τῆς φύσεως παραλαβὼν (25) μουσεῖον, καὶ σκυθρωπὸν τὴν φροντίδα τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ (26) οὐ χάριτος ἀλλὰ πανδήμου χάριτος δημιουργός, καὶ οἰκονό(27)μος τῆς τῶν ἀκουόντων ἡδονῆς, καὶ οὐ κλάδοις ἀλλὰ τοῖς (28) τῆς ὕλης κλάδοις ἀπέκρυψεν, καὶ οὐ τὸ σῶμα παρήμπισχεν (29) ἀλλὰ τὴν τοῦ σώματος αἰσχύνην, καὶ ἀντίμιμον τὴν τῆς (30) ψυχῆς ἐπιθυμίαν (τοῦτο δ’ ἅμα καὶ διπλοῦν καὶ ἐπίθετον, (31) ὥστε ποίημα γίνεται), καὶ οὕτως ἔξεδρον τὴν τῆς μοχθηρίας (32) ὑπερβολήν.
διὸ ποιητικῶς λέγοντες τῇ ἀπρεπείᾳ τὸ γελοῖον (33) καὶ τὸ ψυχρὸν ἐμποιοῦσι, καὶ τὸ ἀσαφὲς διὰ τὴν ἀδολε(34)σχίαν·
ὅταν γὰρ γιγνώσκοντι ἐπεμβάλλῃ, διαλύει τὸ σαφὲς (35) τῷ ἐπισκοτεῖν.
οἱ δ’ ἄνθρωποι τοῖς διπλοῖς χρῶνται ὅταν (36) ἀνώνυμον ᾖ καὶ ὁ λόγος εὐσύνθετος, οἷον τὸ χρονοτριβεῖν· (1406b1) ἀλλ’ ἂν πολύ, πάντως ποιητικόν·
διὸ χρησιμωτάτη ἡ διπλῆ (2) λέξις τοῖς διθυραμβοποιοῖς (οὗτοι γὰρ ψοφώδεις),
αἱ δὲ (3) γλῶτται τοῖς ἐποποιοῖς (σεμνὸν γὰρ καὶ αὔθαδες),
ἡ δὲ μετα(4)φορὰ τοῖς ἰαμβείοις (τούτοις γὰρ νῦν χρῶνται, ὥσπερ (5) εἴρηται).
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Alcidamas of ‘a toy for poetry’ and ‘the witlessness of nature’, and says ‘whetted with the unmitigated temper of his spirit’.
(3) A third form is the use of long, unseasonable, or frequent epithets.
It is appropriate enough for a poet to talk of ‘white milk’, in prose such epithets are sometimes lacking in appropriateness or, when spread too thickly, plainly reveal the author turning his prose into poetry.
Of course we must use some epithets, since they lift our style above the usual level and give it an air of distinction.
But we must aim at the due mean, or the result will be worse than if we took no trouble at all;
we shall get something actually bad instead of something merely not good.
That is why the epithets of Alcidamas seem so tasteless; he does not use them as the seasoning of the meat, but as the meat itself, so numerous and swollen and aggressive are they.
For instance, he does not say ‘sweat’, but ‘the moist sweat’; not ‘to the Isthmian games’, but ‘to the world—concourse of the Isthmian games’; not ‘laws’, but ‘the laws that are monarchs of states’; not ‘at a run’, but ‘his heart impelling him to speed of foot’; not ‘a school of the Muses’, but ‘Nature’s school of the Muses had he inherited’; and so ‘frowning care of heart’, and ‘achiever’ not of ‘popularity’ but of ‘universal popularity’, and ‘dispenser of pleasure to his audience’, and ‘he concealed it’ not ‘with boughs’ but ‘with boughs of the forest trees’, and ‘he clothed’ not ‘his body’ but ‘his body’s nakedness’, and ‘his soul’s desire was counter imitative’ (this’s at one and the same time a compound and an epithet, so that it seems a poet’s effort), and ‘so extravagant the excess of his wickedness’.
We thus see how the inappropriateness of such poetical language imports absurdity and tastelessness into speeches, as well as the obscurity that comes from all this verbosity
—for when the sense is plain, you only obscure and spoil its clearness by piling up words.
The ordinary use of compound words is where there is no term for a thing and some compound can be easily formed, like ‘pastime’ (chronotribein); but if this is much done, the prose character disappears entirely.
We now see why the language of compounds is just the thing for writers of dithyrambs, who love sonorous noises;
strange words for writers of epic poetry, which is a proud and stately affair;
