- 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-grc2:6.13-6.28
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
Aristotle argues that the plot is the essence and soul of tragedy, being more crucial than character, illustrated with an analogy to painting. He further ranks and defines the six components of tragedy: plot, character, thought, diction, song-making, and spectacle.
οὔκουν ὅπως τὰ ἤθη μιμήσωνται1 πράττουσιν, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἤθη συμπεριλαμβάνουσιν διὰ τὰς πράξεις· ὥστε τὰ πράγματα καὶ ὁ μῦθος τέλος τῆς τραγῳδίας, τὸ δὲ τέλος μέγιστον ἁπάντων.
Therefore, they do not act in order to imitate characters, but they include characters for the sake of actions; so that the incidents and the plot are the end of tragedy, and the end is the greatest of all.
ἔτι ἄνευ μὲν πράξεως οὐκ ἂν γένοιτο τραγῳδία, ἄνευ δὲ ἠθῶν γέ νοιτ’ ἄν·
Furthermore, without action tragedy could not exist, but without characters it could.
αἱ γὰρ τῶν νέων τῶν πλείστων ἀήθεις τραγῳδίαι εἰσίν, καὶ ὅλως ποιηταὶ πολλοὶ τοιοῦτοι, οἷον καὶ τῶν γραφέων Ζεῦξις πρὸς Πολύγνωτον πέπονθεν· ὁ μὲν γὰρ Πολύγνωτος ἀγαθὸς ἠθογράφος, ἡ δὲ Ζεύξιδος γραφὴ οὐδὲν ἔχει ἦθος.
For the tragedies of most of the modern poets are characterless, and generally many poets are of this sort, as is also the case among painters with Zeuxis in comparison with Polygnotus; for Polygnotus is a good portrayer of character, whereas the painting of Zeuxis has no character.
ἔτι ἐάν τις ἐφεξῆς θῇ ῥήσεις ἠθικὰς καὶ λέξει καὶ διανοίᾳ εὖ πεποιημένας, οὐ ποιήσει ὃ ἦν τῆς τραγῳδίας ἔργον, ἀλλὰ πολὺ μᾶλλον ἡ καταδεεστέροις τούτοις κεχρημένη τραγῳδία,2 ἔχουσα δὲ μῦθον καὶ σύστασιν πραγμάτων.
Furthermore, if one were to put in order speeches expressive of character, well crafted in diction and thought, he would not produce what was the function of tragedy, but much more so would a tragedy which uses these in a more deficient way, but has a plot and arrangement of incidents.
πρὸς δὲ τούτοις τὰ μέγιστα οἷς ψυχαγωγεῖ ἡ τραγῳδία τοῦ μύθου μέρη ἐστίν, αἵ τε περιπέτειαι καὶ ἀναγνωρίσεις.
In addition to these, the most important devices by which tragedy sways the soul are parts of the plot—namely, reversals and recognitions.
ἔτι σημεῖον ὅτι καὶ οἱ ἐγχειροῦντες ποιεῖν πρότερον δύνανται τῇ λέξει καὶ τοῖς ἤθεσιν ἀκριβοῦν ἢ τὰ πράγματα συνίστασθαι, οἷον καὶ οἱ πρῶτοι ποιηταὶ σχεδὸν ἅπαντες.
A further sign is that those who attempt to write poetry are able to achieve precision in diction and characters earlier than in arranging the incidents, as was indeed the case with almost all the earliest poets.
ἀρχὴ μὲν οὖν καὶ οἷον ψυχὴ ὁ μῦθος τῆς τραγῳδίας, δεύτερον δὲ τὰ ἤθη (παραπλήσιον γάρ ἐστιν καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γραφικῆς· εἰ γάρ τις ἐναλείψειε τοῖς καλλίστοις φαρμάκοις χύδην, οὐκ ἂν ὁμοίως εὐφράνειεν καὶ λευκογραφήσας εἰκόνα)·
The plot, then, is the principle and, as it were, the soul of tragedy, and second is character. (For it is similar also in painting; for if someone were to smear on the most beautiful colors at random, he would not give as much pleasure as one who has drawn an image in monochrome.)
ἔστιν τε μίμησις πράξεως καὶ διὰ ταύτην μάλιστα τῶν πραττόντων.
And tragedy is an imitation of an action, and through this, most of all, of the performing agents.
τρίτον δὲ ἡ διάνοια· τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν τὸ λέγειν δύνασθαι τὰ ἐνόντα καὶ τὰ ἁρμόττοντα, ὅπερ ἐπὶ τῶν λόγων3 τῆς πολιτικῆς καὶ ῥητορικῆς ἔργον ἐστίν·
Third is thought; and this is the ability to say what is possible and appropriate, which in the case of speeches is the function of the art of politics and rhetoric.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀρχαῖοι πολιτικῶς ἐποίουν λέγοντας, οἱ δὲ νῦν ῥητορικῶς.
For the ancient poets made their characters speak like politicians, whereas those of today make them speak like rhetoricians.
ἔστιν δὲ ἦθος μὲν τὸ τοιοῦτον ὃ δηλοῖ τὴν προαίρεσιν, ὁποία τις διόπερ οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἦθος τῶν λόγων ἐν οἷς μηδ’ ὅλως ἔστιν ὅ τι προαιρεῖται ἢ φεύγει ὁ λέγων—
Character is that sort of thing which reveals choice, of what kind it is; wherefore those speeches do not have character in which there is nothing at all that the speaker chooses or avoids.
διάνοια δὲ ἐν οἷς ἀποδεικνύουσί τι ὡς ἔστιν ἢ ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ἢ καθόλου τι ἀποφαίνονται.
Thought, on the other hand, is found in those parts where they prove that something is or is not, or declare some general maxim.
τέταρτον δὲ † τῶν μὲν λόγων † ἡ λέξις· λέγω δέ, ὥσπερ πρότερον εἴρηται, λέξιν εἶναι τὴν διὰ τῆς ὀνομασίας ἑρμηνείαν, ὃ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἐμμέτρων καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λόγων ἔχει τὴν αὐτὴν δύναμιν.
Fourth of the verbal aspects is diction; and I mean, as has been said before, diction to be expression through the use of words, which indeed has the same power both in verse and in prose.
τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν ἡ μελοποιία μέγιστον τῶν ἡδυσμάτων, ἡ δὲ ὄψις ψυχαγωγικὸν μέν, ἀτεχνότατον δὲ καὶ ἥκιστα οἰκεῖον τῆς ποιητικῆς· ἡ γὰρ τῆς τραγῳδίας δύναμις καὶ ἄνευ ἀγῶνος καὶ ὑποκριτῶν ἔστιν, ἔτι δὲ κυριωτέρα περὶ τὴν ἀπεργασίαν τῶν ὄψεων ἡ τοῦ σκευοποιοῦ τέχνη τῆς τῶν ποιητῶν ἐστιν.
Of the remaining parts, song-making is the greatest of the embellishments. The spectacle, though soul-swaying, is the most inartistic and least proper to the art of poetry; for the power of tragedy exists even without performance and actors, and furthermore, the art of the property-manager is more sovereign in the production of the spectacle than that of the poets.
- 1450aὅπως τὰ ἤθη μιμήσωνται
The subjunctive μιμήσωνται introduced by ὅπως expresses purpose. Combined with the negative οὐκουν at the beginning, it denotes the negative purpose: 'they do not act for the purpose of imitating characters.'
- 1450a30πολὺ μᾶλλον ἡ καταδεεστέροις τούτοις κεχρημένη τραγῳδία
In this contrastive structure, the affirmative verb ποιήσει (will perform [the function of tragedy]) is contextually supplied for the nominative noun phrase tragedy (τραγῳδία) in the second clause, in contrast to the negative οὐ ποιήσει of the first clause.
- 1450b5τῶν λόγων
The genitive τῶν λόγων is a partitive genitive. Supplying the antecedent modified by the relative clause ἐν οἷς... (those in which...), it is understood as 'those of the speeches in which there is nothing at all that the speaker chooses or avoids.'