Chapter VIII · SHAPING OF CLAUSES

The principles governing the arrangement of clauses have now been stated. What principles govern their shaping?

The complete utterance of our thoughts takes more than one form. We throw them at one time into the shape of an assertion, at another into that of an inquiry, or a prayer, or a command, or a doubt, or a supposition, or some other shape of the kind; and into conformity with these we try to mould the diction itself. There are, in fact, many figures of diction, just as there are of thought. It is not possible to classify them exhaustively; indeed, they are perhaps innumerable. Their treatment would require a long disquisition and profound investigation. But that the same clause is not equally telling in all its various modes of presentation,

1 ἡ μόνη ἐλπίς add. in marg. F || ἡ μόνη] ἡμῶν ἡ EF¹M¹ || φέρε ... (4) ἦτε add. in marg. F 6 δ’ F: δὲ M: δαὶ PV 8 παρανόμον P: παράνομον F || γράφηι· F: γράφηι· εἰ P, MV | τοῦτον PMV 10 παράνομον FP: παρανόμῳ V || ἀποδιδόναι P 14 ποταπή PMV 15 τῆς om. P || ἁπάντων EF: om. PMV: τῶν om. F || ὀνομάτων PMV

2. It is impossible to give real English equivalents in cases like this,—partly because of the fundamental differences between the two languages, and partly because we do not know Dionysius’ own estimate of the exact effect which the changes he introduces have upon the rhythm, emphasis, and clearness of the sentence. The same considerations apply in lines 6-10, where the English principle of emphasis makes it necessary to depart widely from the Greek order in both the original and the re-written form. See Introduction, pp. 17 ff. supra (under Emphasis). A striking instance of effective emphasis in English is Macduff’s passionate out-burst:—

Not in the legions Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn’d In ills to top Macbeth.

“If you dispose the words in the usual manner, and say, ‘A more damned devil in the legions of horrid hell cannot come to top Macbeth in ills,’ we shall scarcely be persuaded that the thought is the same,” Campbell Philosophy of Rhetoric p. 496. Biblical instances are: (1) “Nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin” (Nehem. xiii. 26); (2) “Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?” (Zech. i. 5).

8. Sometimes the manuscript testimony is quite clear as between such forms as τουτονί and τοῦτον: cp. 116 9 n. In doubtful cases the -ί form might be adopted—in 64 6 and 84 17 as well as in 112 8 and 178 10.

14. Cp. Quintil. vi. 3. 70 “figuras quoque montis, quae σχήματα διανοίας dicuntur, res eadem recipit omnes, in quas nonnulli diviserunt species dictorum. nam et interrogamus et dubitamus et affirmamus et minamur et optamus, quaedam ut miserantes, quaedam ut irascentes dicimus,” and Hor. Ars. P. 108 “format enim natura prius nos intus ad omnem | fortunarum habitum; iuvat aut impellit ad iram | aut ad humum maerore gravi deducit et angit; | post effert animi motus interprete lingua.”

ἢ οὕτως. ἐρῶ δὲ ἐπὶ παραδείγματος· εἰ τοῦτον ἐξήνεγκε τὸν τρόπον ὁ Δημοσθένης τὴν λέξιν ταύτην “ταῦτ’ εἰπὼν ἔγραψα, γράψας δ’ ἐπρέσβευσα, πρεσβεύσας δ’ ἔπεισα Θηβαίους,” ἆρ’ οὕτως ἂν συνέκειτο χαριέντως, ὡς νῦν σύγκειται; “οὐκ εἶπον μὲν ταῦτα, οὐκ ἔγραψα δέ· οὐδ’ ἔγραψα μέν, οὐκ 5 ἐπρέσβευσα δέ· οὐδ’ ἐπρέσβευσα μέν, οὐκ ἔπεισα δὲ Θηβαίους.” πολὺς δ’ ἂν εἴη μοι λόγος, εἰ περὶ πάντων βουλοίμην λέγειν τῶν σχηματισμῶν ὅσους τὰ κῶλα ἐπιδέχεται. ἀπόχρη δὲ εἰσαγωγῆς ἕνεκα τοσαῦτα εἰρῆσθαι.

IX

ἀλλὰ μὴν ὅτι γε καὶ μετασκευὰς δέχεται τῶν κώλων ἔνια 10 τοτὲ μὲν προσθήκας λαμβάνοντα οὐκ ἀναγκαίας ὡς πρὸς τὸν νοῦν, τοτὲ δὲ ἀφαιρέσεις ἀτελῆ ποιούσας τὴν διάνοιαν, ἃς οὐκ ἄλλου τινὸς ἕνεκα ποιοῦσι ποιηταί τε καὶ συγγραφεῖς ἢ τῆς ἁρμονίας, ἵν’ ἡδεῖα καὶ καλὴ γένηται, πάνυ ὀλίγου δεῖν οἴομαι λόγου. τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν ὁμολογήσαι τήνδε τὴν λέξιν ἣν ὁ 15 Δημοσθένης εἴρηκε προσθήκῃ πλεονάζειν οὐκ ἀναγκαίᾳ τῆς ἁρμονίας ἕνεκα; “ὁ γὰρ οἷς ἂν ἐγὼ ληφθείην, ταῦτα πράττων καὶ κατασκευαζόμενος, οὗτος ἐμοὶ πολεμεῖ, κἂν μήπω βάλλῃ μηδὲ τοξεύῃ.” ἐνταῦθα γὰρ οὐχὶ τοῦ ἀναγκαίου χάριν πρόσκειται τὸ τοξεύειν, ἀλλ’ ἵνα τὸ τελευταῖον κῶλον τὸ “κἂν 20 μήπω βάλλῃ” τραχύτερον τοῦ δέοντος ὂν καὶ οὐχ ἡδὺ ἀκουσθῆναι

I will show by an example. If Demosthenes had expressed himself thus in the following passage, “Having spoken thus, I moved a resolution; and having moved a resolution, I joined the embassy; and having joined the embassy, I convinced the Thebans,” would the sentence have been composed with the charm of its actual arrangement,—“I did not speak thus, and then fail to move a resolution; I did not move a resolution, and then fail to join the embassy; I did not join the embassy, and then fail to convince the Thebans”?[123] It would take me a long time to deal with all the modes of expression which clauses admit. It is enough to say thus much by way of introduction.