§25.17τὸ δὲ κατὰ μεταφορὰν εἴρηται, οἷον
πάντες μέν ῥα θεοί τε καὶ ἀνέρες εὗδον παννύχιοι· ἅμα δέ φησιν
ἦ τοι ὅτ’ ἐς πεδίον τὸ Τρωικὸν ἀθρήσειεν, αὐλῶν συρίγγων τε ὅμαδον· τὸ γὰρ πάντες ἀντὶ τοῦ πολλοί κατὰ μεταφορὰν εἴρηται, τὸ γὰρ πᾶν πολύ τι.
Other things are spoken in accordance with metaphor, as for instance: 'Now all the gods and men slept all night long'; yet at the same time he says: 'Indeed, whenever he looked at the Trojan plain, [he marveled at] the din of flutes and pipes'; for 'all' is spoken in accordance with metaphor instead of 'many', since the 'all' is a kind of 'many'.
καὶ τὸ
οἴη δ’ ἄμμορος
κατὰ μεταφοράν, τὸ γὰρ γνωριμώτατον μόνον.
And: 'who alone has no share' is in accordance with metaphor, since the most well-known is called the only one.
§25.18κατὰ δὲ προσῳδίαν, ὥσπερ Ἱππίας ἔλυεν ὁ Θάσιος, τὸ
δίδομεν δέ οἱ εὖχος ἀρέσθαι
καὶ
τὸ μὲν οὗ καταπύθεται ὄμβρῳ.
Other things are solved in accordance with accent (prosody), just as Hippias of Thasos solved: 'we grant (didomen) him to win glory' and: 'part of which (hou) rots with rain'.
§25.19τὰ δὲ διαιρέσει, οἷον Ἐμπεδοκλῆς
αἶψα δὲ θνήτ’ ἐφύοντο τὰ πρὶν μάθον ἀθάνατ’ εἶναι ζωρά τε πρὶν κέκρητο. §25.20τὰ δὲ ἀμφιβολίᾳ,
παρῴχηκεν δὲ πλέω νύξ· τὸ γὰρ πλείω ἀμφίβολόν ἐστιν.
Other things are solved by division (punctuation), as in Empedocles: 'And immediately things grew to be mortal that previously had learned to be immortal, and things unmixed before were mixed.' Other things are solved by ambiguity, as: 'and more of the night has passed'; for 'more (pleio)' is ambiguous.
§25.21τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἔθος τῆς λέξεως.
Other things are solved in accordance with the custom of language.
τὸν κεκραμένον οἶνόν φασιν εἶναι, ὅθεν πεποίηται
κνημὶς νεοτεύκτου κασσιτέροιο· καὶ χαλκέας τοὺς τὸν σίδηρον ἐργαζομένους, ὅθεν εἴρηται ὁ Γανυμήδης Διὶ οἰνοχοεύειν, οὐ πινόντων οἶνον.
People call mixed drink 'wine', whence has been written: 'greave of newly-wrought tin (kassiteros)'; and they call those who work iron 'bronze-smiths (chalkeas)', whence Ganymede is said to pour wine (oinocheuein) for Zeus, though they do not drink wine.
εἴη δ’ ἂν τοῦτό γε καὶ κατὰ μεταφοράν.
But this also might be in accordance with metaphor.
§25.22δεῖ δὲ καὶ ὅταν ὄνομά τι ὑπεναντίωμά τι δοκῇ σημαίνειν, ἐπισκοπεῖν ποσαχῶς ἂν σημήνειε τοῦτο ἐν τῷ εἰρημένῳ, οἷον τῷ
τῇ ῥ’ ἔσχετο χάλκεον ἔγχος
And also when a word seems to signify some contradiction, one must examine in how many ways it might signify in the passage spoken, as for instance: 'there the bronze spear was stayed (escheto)'.
§25.23τὸ ταύτῃ κωλυθῆναι ποσαχῶς ἐνδέχεται, ὡδὶ ἢ ὡδί, ὡς μάλιστ’ ἄν τις ὑπολάβοι· κατὰ τὴν καταντικρὺ ἢ ὡς Γλαύκων λέγει, ὅτι ἔνιοι ἀλόγως προϋπολαμβάνουσί τι §25.24καὶ αὐτοὶ καταψηφισάμενοι συλλογίζονται, καὶ ὡς εἰρηκότος ὅ τι δοκεῖ ἐπιτιμῶσιν, ἂν ὑπεναντίον ᾖ τῇ αὑτῶν οἰήσει.
Its being hindered 'in this way' can be taken in several ways, either in this way or in that, as one might best understand it; whether it was stopped straight against the surface, or as Glaucon says, that some people pre-suppose something unreasonably, and having themselves passed a vote, they draw inferences, and they censure as if he had spoken whatever they think, if it is contradictory to their own opinion.
§25.25τοῦτο δὲ πέπονθε τὰ περὶ Ἰκάριον.
This has happened in the case of Icarius.
οἴονται γὰρ αὐτὸν Λάκωνα εἶναι· ἄτοπον οὖν τὸ μὴ ἐντυχεῖν τὸν Τηλέμαχον αὐτῷ εἰς Λακεδαίμονα ἐλθόντα.
For they think he is a Laconian, and so it is strange that Telemachus did not meet him when he went to Lacedaemon.
τὸ δ’ ἴσως ἔχει ὥσπερ οἱ Κεφαλλῆνές φασι· παρ’ αὑτῶν γὰρ γῆμαι λέγουσι τὸν Ὀδυσσέα καὶ εἶναι Ἰκάδιον ἀλλ’ οὐκ Ἰκάριον· δι’ ἁμάρτημα δὲ τὸ πρόβλημα † εἰκός ἐστιν †.
But perhaps it is as the Cephallenians say; for they say that Odysseus married from among them, and that his father-in-law was Icadius and not Icarius; and it is likely that the problem exists because of an error.
§25.26ὅλως δὲ τὸ ἀδύνατον μὲν πρὸς τὴν ποίησιν ἢ πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον ἢ πρὸς τὴν δόξαν δεῖ ἀνάγειν.
In general, the impossible must be referred to the requirements of poetry, or to what is better, or to opinion.
§25.27πρός τε γὰρ τὴν ποίησιν αἱρετώτερον πιθανὸν ἀδύνατον ἢ ἀπίθανον καὶ δυνατόν· . . . τοιούτους εἶναι οἷον Ζεῦξις ἔγραφεν, §25.28ἀλλὰ βέλτιον· τὸ γὰρ παράδειγμα δεῖ ὑπερέχειν.
For in respect to poetry, a plausible impossible is preferable to an implausible possible;... that they should be such as Zeuxis used to paint, but it is better, for the pattern (paradigm) must surpass [reality].
πρὸς ἅ φασιν τἄλογα· §25.29οὕτω τε καὶ ὅτι ποτὲ οὐκ ἄλογόν ἐστιν· εἰκὸς γὰρ καὶ παρὰ τὸ εἰκὸς γίνεσθαι.
To those things which they say are irrational, [one must refer to what people say]; and in this way, and also because sometimes it is not irrational; for it is likely that things also happen contrary to likelihood.
§25.30τὰ δ’ ὑπεναντίως εἰρημένα οὕτω σκοπεῖν ὥσπερ οἱ ἐν τοῖς λόγοις ἔλεγχοι εἰ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ πρὸς τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ ὡσαύτως, ὥστε καὶ † αὐτὸν † ἢ πρὸς ἃ αὐτὸς λέγει ἢ ὃ ἂν φρόνιμος ὑποθῆται.
Contradictions in language should be examined in the same way as refutations in arguments, to see whether the same thing is said, and in relation to the same thing, and in the same way, so that [one must refer] either to what the poet himself says or to what a prudent man would assume.
§25.31ὀρθὴ δ’ ἐπιτίμησις καὶ ἀλογίᾳ καὶ μοχθηρίᾳ, ὅταν μὴ ἀνάγκης οὔσης μηθὲν χρήσηται τῷ ἀλόγῳ, ὥσπερ Εὐριπίδης τῷ Αἰγεῖ, ἢ τῇ πονηρίᾳ, ὥσπερ ἐν Ὀρέστῃ τῇ τοῦ Μενελάου.
But censure of both irrationality and depravity is correct when, there being no necessity, the poet makes no [good] use of the irrational, as Euripides with Aegeus, or of depravity, as in the Orestes that of Menelaus.
§25.32τὰ μὲν οὖν ἐπιτιμήματα ἐκ πέντε εἰδῶν φέρουσιν· ἢ γὰρ ὡς ἀδύνατα ἢ ὡς ἄλογα ἢ ὡς βλαβερὰ ἢ ὡς ὑπεναντία ἢ ὡς παρὰ τὴν ὀρθότητα τὴν κατὰ τέχνην.
The censures, then, are brought from five classes: either as being impossible, or irrational, or harmful, or contradictory, or contrary to the correctness of art.
αἱ δὲ λύσεις ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων ἀριθμῶν σκεπτέαι. εἰσὶν δὲ δώδεκα.
And the solutions must be examined from the mentioned numbers; there are twelve.