- Source
- Aristotle. Aristotelis De arte poetica liber. Kassel, Rudolf, editor. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1965 (printing).
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0086.tlg034.humanitext-grc2:15.1-15.12
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
Aristotle lists the four requirements for character (ethos) in tragedy—goodness, appropriateness, likeness, and consistency—illustrating each with examples. He also argues that the resolution of a play should arise naturally from the plot itself rather than from artificial devices like a crane.
περὶ δὲ τὰ ἤθη τέτταρά ἐστιν ὧν δεῖ στοχάζεσθαι, ἓν μὲν καὶ πρῶτον, ὅπως χρηστὰ ᾖ.
As for characters, there are four things that one should aim at. The first and most important of these is that they should be good.
ἕξει δὲ ἦθος μὲν ἐὰν ὥσπερ ἐλέχθη ποιῇ φανερὸν ὁ λόγος ἢ ἡ πρᾶξις προαίρεσίν τινα ἥ τις ἂν ᾖ,1 χρηστὸν δὲ ἐὰν χρηστήν.
A character will be revealed if, as has been said, the speech or action makes manifest some choice, whatever it may be; and it will be good if the choice is good.
ἔστιν δὲ ἐν ἑκάστῳ γένει· καὶ γὰρ γυνή ἐστιν χρηστὴ καὶ δοῦλος, καίτοι γε ἴσως τούτων τὸ μὲν χεῖρον, τὸ δὲ ὅλως φαῦλόν ἐστιν.2
This is possible in every class; for even a woman can be good, and so can a slave, although perhaps of these the former is inferior, and the latter is completely base.
δεύτερον δὲ τὸ ἁρμόττοντα· ἔστιν γὰρ ἀνδρείαν μὲν τὸ ἦθος, ἀλλ’ οὐχ ἁρμόττον γυναικὶ οὕτως ἀνδρείαν ἢ δεινὴν εἶναι.
The second is appropriateness. For a character can be brave, but it is not appropriate for a woman to be brave in this way or to be formidable.
τρίτον δὲ τὸ ὅμοιον. τοῦτο γὰρ ἕτερον τοῦ χρηστὸν τὸ ἦθος καὶ ἁρμόττον ποιῆσαι ὡς προείρηται.
The third is likeness. For this is different from making the character good and appropriate, as has been said before.
τέταρτον δὲ τὸ ὁμαλόν. κἂν γὰρ ἀνώμαλός τις ᾖ ὁ τὴν μίμησιν παρέχων καὶ τοιοῦτον ἦθος ὑποτεθῇ, ὅμως ὁμαλῶς ἀνώμαλον δεῖ εἶναι.
The fourth is consistency. For even if the person being represented is inconsistent, and such a character is assumed, still he must be consistently inconsistent.
ἔστιν δὲ παράδειγμα πονηρίας μὲν ἤθους μὴ ἀναγκαίας οἷον ὁ Μενέλαος ὁ ἐν τῷ Ὀρέστῃ, τοῦ δὲ ἀπρεποῦς καὶ μὴ ἁρμόττοντος ὅ τε θρῆνος Ὀδυσσέως ἐν τῇ Σκύλλῃ καὶ ἡ τῆς Μελανίππης ῥῆσις, τοῦ δὲ ἀνωμάλου ἡ ἐν Αὐλίδι Ἰφιγένεια· οὐδὲν γὰρ ἔοικεν ἡ ἱκετεύουσα τῇ ὑστέρᾳ.
An example of an unnecessarily bad character is, for instance, Menelaus in the Orestes; of the inappropriate and unsuitable, the lament of Odysseus in Scylla, and the speech of Melanippe; of the inconsistent, Iphigenia in Aulis; for the girl who supplicates is not at all like the one who appears later.
χρὴ δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἤθεσιν ὁμοίως ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν τῇ τῶν πραγμάτων συστάσει ἀεὶ ζητεῖν ἢ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ τὸ εἰκός, ὥστε τὸν τοιοῦτον τὰ τοιαῦτα λέγειν ἢ πράττειν ἢ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ εἰκὸς καὶ τοῦτο μετὰ τοῦτο γίνεσθαι ἢ ἀναγκαῖον ἢ εἰκός.
One must always seek either the necessary or the probable in the characters just as in the structure of the events, so that it is either necessary or probable that a person of a certain character says or does things of a certain character, and it is either necessary or probable that one thing happens after another.
φανερὸν οὖν ὅτι καὶ τὰς λύσεις τῶν μύθων ἐξ αὐτοῦ δεῖ τοῦ μύθου συμβαίνειν, καὶ μὴ ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ Μηδείᾳ ἀπὸ μηχανῆς καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰλιάδι τὰ περὶ τὸν ἀπόπλουν.
It is clear, therefore, that the resolutions of the plots should also arise from the plot itself, and not as in Medea by a crane (deus ex machina) or in the Iliad the events concerning the departure.
ἀλλὰ μηχανῇ χρηστέον ἐπὶ τὰ ἔξω τοῦ δράματος, ἢ ὅσα πρὸ τοῦ γέγονεν ἃ οὐχ οἷόν τε ἄνθρωπον εἰδέναι, ἢ ὅσα ὕστερον, ἃ δεῖται προαγορεύσεως καὶ ἀγγελίας· ἅπαντα γὰρ ἀποδίδομεν τοῖς θεοῖς ὁρᾶν.
Rather, the crane should be used for things outside the drama—either for events that happened before, which a human being cannot know, or for those that happen later, which require foretelling and announcement; for we attribute to the gods the power to see all things.
ἄλογον δὲ μηδὲν εἶναι ἐν τοῖς πράγμασιν, εἰ δὲ μή, ἔξω τῆς τραγῳδίας, οἷον τὸ ἐν τῷ Οἰδίποδι τῷ Σοφοκλέους.
There should be nothing irrational in the events, or if there is, it must be outside the tragedy, like the irrational element in Sophocles’ Oedipus.
ἐπεὶ δὲ μίμησίς ἐστιν ἡ τραγῳδία βελτιόνων ἢ ἡμεῖς, δεῖ μιμεῖσθαι τοὺς ἀγαθοὺς εἰκονογράφους· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι ἀποδιδόντες τὴν ἰδίαν μορφὴν ὁμοίους ποιοῦντες καλλίους γράφουσιν· οὕτω καὶ τὸν ποιητὴν μιμούμενον καὶ ὀργίλους καὶ ῥᾳθύμους3 καὶ τἆλλα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἔχοντας ἐπὶ τῶν ἠθῶν τοιούτους ὄντας ἐπιεικεῖς ποιεῖν † παράδειγμα σκληρότητος οἷον τὸν Ἀχιλλέα ἀγαθὸν καὶ Ὅμηρος †.
Since tragedy is an imitation of people who are better than we are, one should imitate good portrait-painters. For they, while rendering the individual form and making the portrait like, paint them more beautiful. So too the poet, when imitating people who are irascible or lazy or who have other such traits in their characters, should make them such and yet decent; as, for example, Homer made Achilles good, though a model of harshness.
ταῦτα δὴ διατηρεῖν, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τὰ παρὰ τὰς ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἀκολουθούσας αἰσθήσεις τῇ ποιητικῇ· καὶ γὰρ κατ’ αὐτὰς ἔστιν ἁμαρτάνειν πολλάκις· εἴρηται δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν ἐν τοῖς ἐκδεδομένοις λόγοις ἱκανῶς.
One must observe these things, and in addition to these, the effects which of necessity accompany poetic art and are related to the senses; for in respect of these too it is often possible to make mistakes. But enough has been said about them in the published writings.
- 1454aἥ τις ἂν ᾖ
A generalizing relative clause with ὅστις, ἄν, and the subjunctive, meaning "whatever it may be." It emphasizes that any manifest choice, regardless of its specific quality, is sufficient to reveal some form of character.
- 1454a20τούτων τὸ μὲν χεῖρον, τὸ δὲ ὅλως φαῦλόν ἐστιν
The pronoun τούτων functions as a partitive genitive referring back to women and slaves (γυνή... καὶ δοῦλος). The phrases τὸ μὲν χεῖρον (the former is inferior) and τὸ δὲ ὅλως φαῦλον (the latter is completely base) represent the status of women and slaves respectively, reflecting the socio-philosophical hierarchy of Aristotle's era.
- 1454b10μιμούμενον καὶ ὀργίλους καὶ ῥᾳθύμους
The participle μιμούμενον governs the accusative plural adjectives ὀργίλους and ῥᾳθύμους (referring to irascible or lazy people). The subsequent circumstantial participle phrase τούτους ὄντας (while being such as they are) indicates that the poet, while retaining their inherent character flaws, should nonetheless present them as decent or noble (ἐπιεικεῖς).