[89] Aristotle, _Rhetoric_, III, 12, 2: βαστάζονται δὲ οἱ ἀναγνωστικοί, οἷον Χαιρήμων· ἀκριβὴς γὰρ ὥσπερ λογογράφος. [90] “You know how to feel contempt before you have learnt wisdom,” or, to reproduce (however badly) the play upon words, “You practise contempt before using contemplation”. [91] Athenæus, fr. 10: δρᾶμα πολύμετρον. [92] _Poetic_, 1447_b_. [93] vv. 677-774. [94] Symonds, _Studies in the Greek Poets_, II, p. 26. [95] _Adversus Indoctos_, 15. [96] Athenæus III, 98 D, reports, for example, that he called a javelin βαλλάντιον (properly “purse”), because “it is thrown in the face of the foe” (ἐναντίον βάλλεται). [97] _Poetic_, 1454_b_. [98] 1455_a_. [99] _Rhetoric_, II, 1400_b_. [100] _Ibid._ 1417_b_, but the passage is obscure. [101] _Eth. Nic._ 1150_b_, 10. [102] Ælian, V.H. XIV, 40. [103] _Orator_, 51. [104] _Poetic_, 1452_a_. [105] _Ibid._ 1455_b_. [106] “First there came a circle with a dot in the middle,” etc. [107] θέλω τύχης σταλαγμὸν ἢ φρενῶν πίθον. [108] That he belongs to the fourth century is not certain, though extremely probable. [109] We have only one title (_Telephus_) which implies a legendary theme. [110] Meineke suggests that the subject is an incident related by Xenophon, _Hellenica_, VI, iv. 33, 34. [111] He might at least have written τοῖς ἀμείνοσιν. [112] The meaning of this name is unknown. [113] Athenæus XIII, 595 F. [114] He uses the diminutive δραμάτιον. [115] κατὰ ἰατρῶν (Stobæus, 102, 3). He was thus a precursor of Molière and Mr. Bernard Shaw. [116] Diogenes Laertius, VII, 173. [117] This point is made by Bernhardy, _Grundriss der Gr. Litteratur_ II, ii. p. 72. [118] His date is not, however, certain, and there is some reason to assign his _floruit_ to the time of Alexander the Great. [119] The most amazing example is that of the “Three Unities”—those of Action, Time, and Place—of which such a vast amount has been heard and which ruled tyrannically over French “classical” tragedy. It is difficult to believe that Aristotle never mentions the “Three Unities”. On the Unity of Action he has, of course, much to say; the Unity of Time is dismissed in one casual sentence. As to the Unity of Place there is not a word. (It is signally violated in the _Eumenides_ and the _Ajax_.) [120] _Poetic_, 1454_a_. [121] _Ibid._ [122] See Wilamowitz-Moellendorff’s magnificent _Einleitung in die griechische Tragödie_, pp. 48-51 (_e.g._ “nicht mehr Aristoteles der aesthetiker sondern Aristoteles der historiker ist der ausgangspunkt unserer betrachtung” and “unser fundament ist und bleibt was in der poetik steht”). [123] _Poetic_, 1449_b_: ἔστιν οὖν τραγῳδία μίμησις πράξεως σπουδαίας καὶ τελείας μέγεθος ἐχούσης, ἡδυσμένῳ λόγῳ χωρὶς ἑκάστῳ τῶν εἰδῶν ἐν τοῖς μορίοις, δρώντων καὶ οὐ δι’ ἀπαγγελίας, δι’ ἐλέου καὶ φόβου περαίνουσα τὴν τῶν τοιούτων παθημάτων κάθαρσιν. [124] 1448_a_. [125] 1451_a_, _b_. [126] 1462_a_.