Bibliotheca Polyglotta

5. (19) Ὁ μὲν οὖν λόγος συντίθεται ἐκ τούτων, ἔστι δ’ ἀρχὴ (20) τῆς λέξεως τὸ ἑλληνίζειν· τοῦτο δ’ ἐστὶν ἐν πέντε,

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For instance, if a drinking—bowl is the shield of Dionysus, a shield may fittingly be called the drinking—bowl of Ares. Part 5. Such, then, are the ingredients of which speech is composed.

πρῶτον (21) μὲν ἐν τοῖς συνδέσμοις, ἂν ἀποδιδῷ τις ὡς πεφύκασι πρό(22)τεροι καὶ ὕστεροι γίγνεσθαι ἀλλήλων, οἷον ἔνιοι ἀπαιτοῦσιν, (23) ὥσπερ ὁ μέν καὶ ὁ ἐγὼ μέν ἀπαιτεῖ τὸν δέ καὶ τὸν ὁ δέ. (24) δεῖ δὲ ἕως μέμνηται ἀνταποδιδόναι ἀλλήλοις, καὶ μήτε μα(25)κρὰν ἀπαρτᾶν μήτε σύνδεσμον πρὸ συνδέσμου ἀποδιδόναι (26) τοῦ ἀναγκαίου· ὀλιγαχοῦ γὰρ ἁρμόττει. “ἐγὼ μέν, ἐπεί μοι (27) εἶπεν (ἦλθε γὰρ Κλέων δεόμενός τε καὶ ἀξιῶν), ἐπορευόμην (28) παραλαβὼν αὐτούς”. ἐν τούτοις γὰρ πολλοὶ πρὸ τοῦ ἀποδοθη(29)σομένου συνδέσμου προεμβέβληνται σύνδεσμοι· ἐὰν δὲ πολὺ (30) τὸ μεταξὺ γένηται τοῦ ἐπορευόμην, ἀσαφές. ἓν μὲν δὴ τὸ (31) εὖ ἐν τοῖς συνδέσμοις,

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The foundation of good style is correctness of language, which falls under five heads. (1) First, the proper use of connecting words, and the arrangement of them in the natural sequence which some of them require. For instance, the connective ‘men’ (e.g. ego men) requires the correlative de (e.g. o de). The answering word must be brought in before the first has been forgotten, and not be widely separated from it; nor, except in the few cases where this is appropriate, is another connective to be introduced before the one required. Consider the sentence, ‘But as soon as he told me (for Cleon had come begging and praying), took them along and set out.’ In this sentence many connecting words are inserted in front of the one required to complete the sense; and if there is a long interval before ‘set out’, the result is obscurity.

δεύτερον δὲ τὸ τοῖς ἰδίοις ὀνόμασι (32) λέγειν καὶ μὴ τοῖς περιέχουσιν.

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One merit, then, of good style lies in the right use of connecting words.

τρίτον μὴ ἀμφιβόλοις. τοῦτο (33) δ’ ἂν μὴ τἀναντία προαιρῆται, ὅπερ ποιοῦσιν ὅταν μηδὲν (34) μὲν ἔχωσι λέγειν, προσποιῶνται δέ τι λέγειν· οἱ γὰρ τοι(35)οῦτοι ἐν ποιήσει λέγουσιν ταῦτα, οἷον Ἐμπεδοκλῆς· φενα(36)κίζει γὰρ τὸ κύκλῳ πολὺ ὄν, καὶ πάσχουσιν οἱ ἀκροαταὶ ὅ(37)περ οἱ πολλοὶ παρὰ τοῖς μάντεσιν· ὅταν γὰρ λέγωσιν ἀμφί(38)βολα, συμπαρανεύουσιν— Κροῖσος Ἅλυν διαβὰς μεγάλην ἀρχὴν καταλύσει (1407b1) —καὶ διὰ τὸ ὅλως ἔλαττον εἶναι ἁμάρτημα διὰ τῶν γενῶν (2) τοῦ πράγματος λέγουσιν οἱ μάντεις· τύχοι γὰρ ἄν τις μᾶλ(3)λον ἐν τοῖς ἀρτιασμοῖς ἄρτια ἢ περισσὰ εἰπὼν μᾶλλον ἢ (4) πόσα ἔχει, καὶ τὸ ὅτι ἔσται ἢ τὸ πότε, διὸ οἱ χρησμολόγοι (5) οὐ προσορίζονται τὸ πότε. ἅπαντα δὴ ταῦτα ὅμοια, ὥστ’ (6) ἂν μὴ τοιούτου τινὸς ἕνεκα, φευκτέον.

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(2) The second lies in calling things by their own special names and not by vague general ones. (3) The third is to avoid ambiguities; unless, indeed, you definitely desire to be ambiguous, as those do who have nothing to say but are pretending to mean something. Such people are apt to put that sort of thing into verse. Empedocles, for instance, by his long circumlocutions imposes on his hearers; these are affected in the same way as most people are when they listen to diviners, whose ambiguous utterances are received with nods of acquiescence— Croesus by crossing the Halys will ruin a mighty realm. Diviners use these vague generalities about the matter in hand because their predictions are thus, as a rule, less likely to be falsified. We are more likely to be right, in the game of ‘odd and even’, if we simply guess ‘even’ or ‘odd’ than if we guess at the actual number; and the oracle—monger is more likely to be right if he simply says that a thing will happen than if he says when it will happen, and therefore he refuses to add a definite date.

τέταρτον, ὡς Πρω(7)ταγόρας τὰ γένη τῶν ὀνομάτων διῄρει, ἄρρενα καὶ θήλεα καὶ (8) σκεύη· δεῖ γὰρ ἀποδιδόναι καὶ ταῦτα ὀρθῶς· “ἡ δ’ ἐλθοῦσα (9) καὶ διαλεχθεῖσα ᾤχετο”.

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All these ambiguities have the same sort of effect, and are to be avoided unless we have some such object as that mentioned. (4) A fourth rule is to observe Protagoras’ classification of nouns into male, female, and inanimate; for these distinctions also must be correctly given.

πέμπτον ἐν τῷ τὰ πολλὰ καὶ ὀλίγα (10) καὶ ἓν ὀρθῶς ὀνομάζειν· “οἱ δ’ ἐλθόντες ἔτυπτόν με”.

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’Upon her arrival she said her say and departed (e d elthousa kai dialechtheisa ocheto).’ (5) A fifth rule is to express plurality, fewness, and unity by the correct wording, e.g.

(11) ὅλως δὲ δεῖ εὐανάγνωστον εἶναι τὸ γεγραμμένον καὶ (12) εὔφραστον· ἔστιν δὲ τὸ αὐτό· ὅπερ οἱ πολλοὶ σύνδεσμοι (13) οὐκ ἔχουσιν, οὐδ’ ἃ μὴ ῥᾴδιον διαστίξαι, ὥσπερ τὰ Ἡρα(14)κλείτου. τὰ γὰρ Ἡρακλείτου διαστίξαι ἔργον διὰ τὸ ἄδηλον (15) εἶναι ποτέρῳ πρόσκειται, τῷ ὕστερον ἢ τῷ πρότερον, οἷον (16) ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ αὐτῇ τοῦ συγγράμματος· φησὶ γὰρ “τοῦ λόγου (17) τοῦδ’ ἐόντος ἀεὶ ἀξύνετοι ἄνθρωποι γίγνονται”· ἄδηλον γὰρ τὸ (18) ἀεί, πρὸς ποτέρῳ <δεῖ> διαστίξαι. ἔτι τόδε ποιεῖ σολοικίζειν, (19) τὸ μὴ ἀποδιδόναι, ἐὰν μὴ ἐπιζευγνύῃς ὃ ἀμφοῖν ἁρμόττει, (20) οἷον [ἢ] ψόφῳ καὶ χρώματι τὸ μὲν ἰδὼν οὐ κοινόν, τὸ δ’ (21) αἰσθόμενος κοινόν· ἀσαφῆ δὲ ἂν μὴ προθεὶς εἴπῃς, μέλ(22)λων πολλὰ μεταξὺ ἐμβάλλειν, οἷον “ἔμελλον γὰρ διαλεχθεὶς (23) ἐκείνῳ τάδε καὶ τάδε καὶ ὧδε πορεύεσθαι”, ἀλλὰ μὴ “ἔμελλον (24) γὰρ διαλεχθεὶς πορεύεσθαι, εἶτα τάδε καὶ τάδε καὶ ὧδε (25) ἐγένετο”.

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’Having come, they struck me (oi d elthontes etupton me).’ It is a general rule that a written composition should be easy to read and therefore easy to deliver. This cannot be so where there are many connecting words or clauses, or where punctuation is hard, as in the writings of Heracleitus. To punctuate Heracleitus is no easy task, because we often cannot tell whether a particular word belongs to what precedes or what follows it. Thus, at the outset of his treatise he says, ‘Though this truth is always men understand it not’, where it is not clear with which of the two clauses the word ‘always’ should be joined by the punctuation. Further, the following fact leads to solecism, viz. that the sentence does not work out properly if you annex to two terms a third which does not suit them both. Thus either ‘sound’ or ‘colour’ will fail to work out properly with some verbs: ‘perceive’ will apply to both, ‘see’ will not. Obscurity is also caused if, when you intend to insert a number of details, you do not first make your meaning clear;

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