ῥυθμὸν δὲ μὴ ἀκριβῶς· τοῦτο δὲ ἔσται ἐὰν (32) μέχρι του ᾖ.
τῶν δὲ ῥυθμῶν ὁ μὲν ἡρῷος σεμνῆς ἀλλ’ οὐ (33) λεκτικῆς ἁρμονίας δεόμενος,
ὁ δ’ ἴαμβος αὐτή ἐστιν ἡ (34) λέξις ἡ τῶν πολλῶν (διὸ μάλιστα πάντων τῶν μέτρων (35) ἰαμβεῖα φθέγγονται λέγοντες),
δεῖ δὲ σεμνότητα γενέσθαι (36) καὶ ἐκστῆσαι.
ὁ δὲ τροχαῖος κορδακικώτερος· δηλοῖ δὲ (1409a1) τὰ τετράμετρα· ἔστι γὰρ τροχερὸς ῥυθμὸς τὰ τετράμετρα.
(2) λείπεται δὲ παιάν, ᾧ ἐχρῶντο μὲν ἀπὸ Θρασυμάχου ἀρξά(3)μενοι, οὐκ εἶχον δὲ λέγειν τίς ἦν.
ἔστι δὲ τρίτος ὁ παιάν, (4) καὶ ἐχόμενος τῶν εἰρημένων·
τρία γὰρ πρὸς δύ’ ἐστίν, (5) ἐκείνων δὲ ὁ μὲν ἓν πρὸς ἕν,
ὁ δὲ δύο πρὸς ἕν, ἔχεται (6) δὲ τῶν λόγων τούτων ὁ ἡμιόλιος· οὗτος δ’ ἐστὶν ὁ παιάν.
(7) οἱ μὲν οὖν ἄλλοι διά τε τὰ εἰρημένα ἀφετέοι, καὶ διότι (8) μετρικοί·
ὁ δὲ παιὰν ληπτέος· ἀπὸ μόνου γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι (9) μέτρον τῶν ῥηθέντων ῥυθμῶν, ὥστε μάλιστα λανθάνειν.
(10) νῦν μὲν οὖν χρῶνται τῷ ἑνὶ παιᾶνι καὶ ἀρχόμενοι <καὶ (11) τελευτῶντες>, δεῖ δὲ διαφέρειν τὴν τελευτὴν τῆς ἀρχῆς.
(12) ἔστιν δὲ παιᾶνος δύο εἴδη ἀντικείμενα ἀλλήλοις, ὧν τὸ μὲν ἓν (13) ἀρχῇ ἁρμόττει, ὥσπερ καὶ χρῶνται·
οὗτος δ’ ἐστὶν οὗ ἄρχει (14) μὲν ἡ μακρά, τελευτῶσιν δὲ τρεῖς βραχεῖαι, “Δαλογενὲς εἴτε (15) Λυκίαν”, καὶ “Χρυσεοκόμα Ἕκατε παῖ Διός”·
ἕτερος δ’ ἐξ ἐν(16)αντίας, οὗ βραχεῖαι ἄρχουσιν τρεῖς, ἡ δὲ μακρὰ τελευταία· (17) μετὰ δὲ γᾶν ὕδατά τ’ ὠκεανὸν ἠφάνισε νύξ.
(18) οὗτος δὲ τελευτὴν ποιεῖ· ἡ γὰρ βραχεῖα διὰ τὸ ἀτελὴς (19) εἶναι ποιεῖ κολοβόν.
ἀλλὰ δεῖ τῇ μακρᾷ ἀποκόπτεσθαι, καὶ (20) δήλην εἶναι τὴν τελευτὴν μὴ διὰ τὸν γραφέα, μηδὲ διὰ τὴν (21) παραγραφήν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν ῥυθμόν.
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Prose, then, is to be rhythmical, but not metrical, or it will become not prose but verse.
It should not even have too precise a prose rhythm, and therefore should only be rhythmical to a certain extent.
Of the various rhythms, the heroic has dignity, but lacks the tones of the spoken language.
The iambic is the very language of ordinary people, so that in common talk iambic lines occur oftener than any others:
but in a speech we need dignity and the power of taking the hearer out of his ordinary self.
The trochee is too much akin to wild dancing: we can see this in tetrameter verse, which is one of the trochaic rhythms.
There remains the paean, which speakers began to use in the time of Thrasymachus, though they had then no name to give it.
The paean is a third class of rhythm, closely akin to both the two already mentioned;
it has in it the ratio of three to two, whereas the other two kinds have the ratio of one to one, and two to one respectively.
Between the two last ratios comes the ratio of one—and—a—half to one, which is that of the paean.
Now the other two kinds of rhythm must be rejected in writing prose, partly for the reasons given, and partly because they are too metrical;
and the paean must be adopted, since from this alone of the rhythms mentioned no definite metre arises, and therefore it is the least obtrusive of them.
At present the same form of paean is employed at the beginning and at the end of sentences, whereas the end should differ from the beginning.
There are two opposite kinds of paean, one of which is suitable to the beginning of a sentence, where it is indeed actually used;
this is the kind that begins with a long syllable and ends with three short ones, as Dalogenes | eite Luki | an, and Chruseokom | a Ekate | pai Dios.
The other paean begins, conversely, with three short syllables and ends with a long one, as meta de gan | udata t ok | eanon e | phanise nux.
This kind of paean makes a real close: a short syllable can give no effect of finality, and therefore makes the rhythm appear truncated.
