§3πλὴν ὁ Σιμωνίδης τὴν μὲν ζωγραφίαν ποίησιν σιωπῶσαν προσαγορεύει, τὴν δὲ ποίησιν ζωγραφίαν λαλοῦσαν.
And yet, Simonides calls painting silent poetry, and poetry speaking painting.
ἃς γάρ οἱ ζωγράφοι πράξεις ὡς γιγνομένας δεικνύουσι, ταύτας οἱ λόγοι γεγενημένας διηγοῦνται καὶ συγγράφουσιν.
For the actions which painters show as happening, words narrate and record as having happened.
εἰ δʼ οἱ μὲν χρώμασι καὶ σχήμασιν, οἱ δʼ ὀνόμασι καὶ λέξεσι ταὐτὰ δηλοῦσιν, ὕλῃ καὶ τρόποις μιμήσεως διαφέρουσι, τέλος δʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἓν ὑπόκειται, καὶ τῶν ἱστορικῶν κράτιστος ὁ τὴν διήγησιν ὥσπερ γραφὴν πάθεσι καὶ προσώποις εἰδωλοποιήσας.
And if the former manifest the same things with colors and shapes, and the latter with words and expressions, they differ in the material and methods of imitation, but one single purpose lies beneath both; and the best of historians is the one who, like a painting, makes his narration vivid with passions and characters.
ὁ δʼ οὗν Θουκυδίδης ἀεὶ τῷ λόγῳ πρὸς ταύτην ἁμιλλᾶται τὴν ἐνάργειαν αν, οἷον θεατὴν ποιῆσαι τὸν ἀκροατὴν καὶ τὰ γιγνόμενα περὶ τοὺς ὁρῶντας ἐκπληκτικὰ καὶ ταρακτικὰ πάθη τοῖς ἀναγινώσκουσιν ἐνεργάσασθαι λιχνευόμενος.
Thucydides, at any rate, always strives in his language for this vividness, longing to make the hearer a spectator and to produce in his readers those astonishing and disruptive passions which the events wrought upon those who beheld them.
ὁ γὰρ παρὰ τὴν ῥαχίαν αὐτὴν τῆς Πύλου παρατάττων τοὺς Ἀθηναίους Δημοσθένης, καί. ὁ δʼ τὸν κυβερνήτην ἐπισπέρχων Βρασίδας ἐξοκέλλειν καί, χωρῶν ἐπί, τὴν ἀποβάθραν καὶ τραυματιζόμενος καὶ λιποφυχῶν καὶ ἀποκλίνων εἰς τὴν παρεξειρεσίαν, καὶ οἱ πεζομαχοῦντες μὲν ἐκ θαλάττης Λακεδαιμόνιοι, ναυμαχοῦντες δʼ ἀπὸ γῆς Ἀθηναῖοι· καὶ πάλιν
ὁ
ἐν τοῖς Σικελικοῖς
ἐκ τῆς γῆς πεζὸς ἀμφοτέρων, ἰσορρόπου τῆς ναυμαχίας καθεστηκυίας, ἄληκτον ἀγῶνα καὶ ξύντασιν τῆς γνώμης ἔχων
διὰ τὰς συντάξεις, καὶ,
διὰ τὸ ἀκρίτως συνεχὲς τῆς ἁμίλλης καὶ τοῖς σώμασιν αὐτοῖς ἴσα τῇ δόξῃ περιδεῶς συναπονεύων
τῇ διαθέσει καὶ τῇ διατυπώσει τῶν γινομένων γραφικῆς ἐναργείας ἐστίν.
For Demosthenes drawing up the Athenians by the very surf-beaten shore of Pylos, and Brasidas urging on his steersman to run the ship aground, and himself stepping onto the landing-plank, being wounded, fainting, and collapsing onto the outrigger, and the Lacedaemonians fighting a land battle from the sea, and the Athenians fighting a sea battle from the land; and again, the infantry on the land in the Sicilian campaign, while the naval battle is in suspense, having an unceasing struggle and tension of mind because of the formations, and, because of the indecisive continuity of the contest, in their very bodies anxiously swaying along with their opinion—all this, by its arrangement and description of the events, is full of pictorial vividness.
ὣστʼ εἰ τοὺς ζωγραφοῦντας οὐκ ἄξιον παραβάλλειν τοῖς στρατηγοῖς, μηδὲ τοὺς ἱστοροῦντας παραβάλλωμεν.
So, if it is not fitting to compare painters to generals, let us not compare historians either.
τὴν τοίνυν ἐν Μαραθῶνι μάχην ἀπήγγειλεν, ὡς μὲν Ἡρακλείδης ὁ Ποντικὸς ἱστορεῖ, Θέρσιππος ὁ Ἐροιεύς· οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι λέγουσιν Εὐκλέα, δραμόντα σὺν τοῖς ὅπλοις θερμὸν ἀπὸ τῆς μάχης καὶ ταῖς θύραις ἐμπεσόντα τῶν πρώτων, τοσοῦτο μόνον εἰπεῖν,
χαίρετε· νικῶμεν
, εἶτʼ εὐθὺς ἐκπνεῦσαι.
Now, the battle at Marathon was reported, as Heracleides of Pontus records, by Thersippus of Eroiadae; but most say it was Eucles, who ran in his armor, still hot from the battle, and falling at the doors of the magistrates, said only this: "Rejoice, we conquer!" and immediately expired.
πλὴν οὗτος μὲν αὐτάγγελος ἧκε τῆς μάχης ἀγωνιστὴς γενόμενος.
Yet he came as an eye-witness messenger, having been a combatant in the battle.
φέρε δʼ εἴ τις ὑπὲρ λόφου τινὸς ἢ σκοπῆς αἰπόλων ἢ βοτήρων τοῦ ἀγῶνος ἄπωθεν γενόμενος θεατὴς, καὶ κατιδὼν τὸ μέγα καὶ παντὸς λόγου μεῖζον ἐκεῖνο ἔργον ἧκεν εἰς τὴν πόλιν ἄτρωτος ἄγγελος καὶ ἀναίμακτος, εἶτʼ ἠξίου τιμὰς ἔχειν ἃς Κυνέγειρος ἔσχεν, ἃς Καλλίμαχος, ἃς Πολύζηλος, ὅτι τὰς τούτων ἀριστείας καὶ τραύματα καὶ θανάτους ἀπήγγειλεν· ἆρ’ οὐκ ἂν ἐδόκει πᾶσαν ὑπερβάλλειν ἀναίδειαν;
But suppose some spectator from a hill or a watchtower—a goatherd or shepherd far from the contest—having looked upon that great deed beyond all description, had come into the city as an unhurt and bloodless messenger, and then demanded to have the honors which Cynegirus had, or Callimachus, or Polyzelus, because he had reported their brave deeds and wounds and deaths; would he not have seemed to surpass all impudence?
ὃπου γε Λακεδαιμονίους φασὶ τῷ τὴν ἐν Μαντινείᾳ φράσαντι νίκην, ἣν Θουκυδίδης ἱστόρηκεν, εὐαγγέλιον ἐκ φιδιτίου κρέας ἀποστεῖλαι.
Indeed, they say the Lacedaemonians sent to the man who reported the victory at Mantinea, which Thucydides has recorded, a piece of meat from the common mess as a reward for good tidings.
μὴν οἱ συγγράφοντες ἐξάγγελοί τινές εἰσι τῶν πράξεων εὔφωνοι καὶ τῷ λόγῳ διὰ τὸ κάλλος καὶ τὴν δύναμιν ἐξικνούμενοι, οἷς εὐαγγέλιον ὀφείλουσιν οἱ πρώτως ἐντυγχάνοντες καὶ ἱστοροῦντες.
Yet writers are, as it were, clear-voiced messengers of deeds, who carry them far by the beauty and power of their words; it is to them that those who first read and learn history owe a reward for good tidings.
ἀμέλει δὲ καὶ ἐγκωμιάζονται μνημονευόμενοι καὶ ἀναγινωσκόμενοι διὰ τοὺς κατορθώσαντας· οὐ γὰρ οἱ λόγοι ποιοῦσι τὰς πράξεις ἀλλὰ διὰ τὰς πράξεις καὶ ἀκοῆς ἀξιοῦνται.
No doubt they are also praised, being remembered and read because of those who succeeded; for it is not words that make deeds, but because of deeds, words are also deemed worthy of being heard.
§4καὶ γὰρ ἡ ποιητικὴ χάριν ἔσχε καὶ τιμὴν τῷ τοῖς πεπραγμένοις ἐοικότα λέγειν, ὡς Ὅμηρος ἔφη
"ἴσκε ψεύδεα πολλὰ λέγων ἐτύμοισιν ὁμοῖα. "
λέγεται δὲ καὶ Μενάνδρῳ τῶν συνήθων τις εἰπεῖν,
ἐγγὺς οὖν, Μένανδρε, τὰ Διονύσια, καὶ σὺ τὴν κωμῳδίαν οὐ πεποίηκας; τὸν δὲ ἀποκρίνασθαι,
νὴ τοὺς θεοὺς ἔγωγε πεποίηκα τὴν κωμῳδίαν· ᾠκονόμηται γὰρ ἡ διάθεσις· δεῖ δʼ αὐτῇ τὰ στιχίδια ἐπᾷσαι,
ὅτι καὶ αὐτοὶ τὰ πράγματα τῶν λόγων ἀναγκαιότερα καὶ κυριώτερα νομίζουσιν.
For poetry too obtained favor and honor by saying things resembling actual events, as Homer said: "He spoke many falsehoods, making them like to truths." And it is also said that one of Menander's acquaintances said to him: "The Dionysia is near, Menander, and have you not made your comedy?" And he replied: "By the gods, I have indeed made the comedy; for the plot has been arranged; but it is necessary to sing the little verses to it," since they themselves also consider the events more necessary and sovereign than the words.
ἡ δὲ Κόριννα τὸν Πίνδαρον, ὄντα νέον ἔτι καὶ τῇ λογιότητι σοβαρῶς χρώμενον, ἐνουθέτησεν ὡς ἄμουσον ὄντα καὶ μὴ ποιοῦντα μύθους, ὃ τῆς ποιητικῆς ἔργον εἶναι συμβέβηκε, γλώσσας δὲ καὶ καταχρήσεις καὶ μεταφοράσεις καὶ μέλη καὶ ῥυθμοὺς δʼ ἡδύσματα τοῖς πράγμασιν ὑποτιθέντα.
And Corinna admonished Pindar, when he was still young and used his eloquence boastfully, as being unmusical and not making myths, which happens to be the function of poetry, but putting rare words, catachreses, metaphors, songs, and rhythms as mere seasonings to the events.
σφόδρʼ οὖν ὁ Πίνδαρος ἐπιστήσας τοῖς λεγομένοις ἐποίησεν ἐκεῖνο τὸ μέλος
"
Ἰσμηνὸν ἢ χρυσαλάκατον Μελίαν,
ἢ Κάδμον ἢ Σπαρτῶν ἱερὸν γένος ἀνδρῶν,
ἢ τὸ πάνυ σθένος Ἡρακλέους
ἢ τὰν Διωνύσου πολυγαθέα τιμάν. "
δειξαμένου δὲ τῇ Κορίννῃ γελάσασα ἐκείνη τῇ χειρὶ δεῖν ἔφη σπείρειν, ἀλλὰ μὴ ὅλῳ τῷ θυλάκῳ.
Pindar, therefore, paying great attention to what was said, composed that song: "Shall we sing of Ismenus, or Melia of the golden spindle, or Cadmus, or the sacred race of the Sown Men, or the mighty strength of Heracles, or the much-rejoicing honor of Dionysus?" And when he showed it to Corinna, she laughed and said that one must sow with the hand, and not with the whole sack.
τῷ γὰρ ὄντι συγκεράσας καὶ συμφορήσας πανσπερμίαν τινὰ μύθων ὁ Πίνδαρος εἰς τὸ μέλος ἐξέχεεν.
For in truth, Pindar, having mixed and gathered together a whole medley of myths, poured them into the song.
ἀλλʼ ὅτι μὲν ἡ ποιητικὴ περὶ μυθοποιίαν ἐστί καὶ Πλάτων εἴρηκεν.
But that poetry is concerned with myth-making has been said by Plato as well.
ὁ δὲ μῦθος εἶναι βούλεται λόγος ψευδὴς ἐοικὼς ἀληθινῷ· διὸ καὶ πολὺ τῶν ἔργων ἀφέστηκεν, εἰ λόγος μὲν ἔργου, καὶ λόγου δὲ μῦθος εἰκὼν καὶ εἴδωλόν ἐστι.
And myth wishes to be a false discourse resembling a true one; therefore, it stands far from actual deeds, if discourse is the image of a deed, and myth is the image and shadow of discourse.
καὶ τοσοῦτον τῶν ἱστορούντων οἱ πλάττοντες τὰς πράξεις ὑστεροῦσιν, ὅσον ἀπολείπονται τῶν πραττόντων οἱ λέγοντες.
And those who invent deeds fall as far short of those who record history as those who speak of deeds fall short of those who perform them.