§3.11.8ἐν ἅπασι δὲ τούτοις, ἐὰν προσηκόντως τὸ ὄνομα ἐνέγκῃ ὁμωνυμίᾳ ἢ μεταφορᾷ, τότε τὸ εὖ.
In all these cases, if one brings in the word appropriately by homonymy or by metaphor, then we have what is good.
οἷον
Ἀνάσχετος οὐκ ἀνασχετός
ὁμωνυμίᾳ ἀπέφησε, ἀλλὰ προσηκόντως, εἰ ἀηδής.
For instance, "Anaschetos is not bearable (anaschetos)" negated by homonymy, but appropriately, if he is an unpleasant person.
καὶ
"
οὐκ ἂν γένοιο μᾶλλον ἤ σε δεῖ ξένος· "
ξένος
γὰρ
οὐ μᾶλλον ἤ σε δεῖ
τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ
οὐ δεῖ τὸν ξένον ξένον ἀεὶ εἶναι
· ἀλλότριον γὰρ καὶ τοῦτο.
And: "You would not become a stranger (xenos) more than you ought to" for a "stranger (xenos) more than one ought to" is the same as "a guest (xenos) ought not always to be a stranger (xenos)"; for this also is alien.
τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ τὸ Ἀναξανδρίδου τὸ ἐπαινούμενον,
"
καλόν γʼ ἀποθανεῖν πρὶν θανάτου δρᾶν ἄξιον· "
ταὐτὸ γάρ ἐστι τῷ εἰπεῖν
ἄξιόν γʼ ἀποθανεῖν μὴ ὄντα ἄξιον ἀποθανεῖν
, ἢ
ἄξιόν γʼ ἀποθανεῖν μὴ θανάτου ἄξιον ὄντα
, ἢ
μὴ ποιοῦντα θανάτου ἄξια
. §3.11.9τὸ μὲν οὖν εἶδος τὸ αὐτὸ τῆς λέξεως τούτων· ἀλλʼ ὅσῳ ἂν ἐν ἐλάττονι καὶ ἀντικειμένως λεχθῇ, τοσούτῳ εὐδοκιμεῖ μᾶλλον.
The same holds also for the celebrated line of Anaxandrides: "It is beautiful to die before doing anything worthy of death (thanatou)" for this is the same as saying: "It is worthy to die when one is not worthy of dying," or "it is worthy to die when one is not worthy of death (thanatou)," or "when one is not doing things worthy of death (thanatou)." Therefore, the form of the expression in these cases is the same; but the more briefly and antithetically it is spoken, the more highly esteemed it is.
τὸ δʼ αἴτιον ὅτι ἡ μάθησις διὰ μὲν τὸ ἀντικεῖσθαι μᾶλλον, διὰ δὲ τὸ ἐν ὀλίγῳ θᾶττον γίνεται.
The reason is that learning becomes greater through the antithesis, and faster through the brevity.
§3.11.10δεῖ δʼ ἀεὶ προσεῖναι τὸ πρὸς ὃν λέγεται ὀρθῶς λέγεσθαι, εἰ τὸ λεγόμενον ἀληθὲς καὶ μὴ ἐπιπόλαιον ἔσται·
And there must always be present the condition that it is spoken correctly to the person to whom it is addressed, if what is said is to be true and not superficial.
ἔστιν γὰρ ταῦτα χωρὶς ἔχειν, οἷον
ἀποθνῄσκειν δεῖ μηθὲν ἁμαρτάνοντα
,
τὴν ἀξίαν δεῖ γαμεῖν τὸν ἄξιον
, ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἀστεῖον, ἀλλʼ ἢ ἐὰν ἅμα ἄμφω ἔχῃ· ἄξιόν γʼ ἀποθανεῖν μὴ ἄξιον ὄντα τοῦ ἀποθανεῖν
. ὅσῳ δʼ ἂν πλείω ἔχῃ, τοσούτῳ ἀστειότερον φαίνεται, οἷον εἰ καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα μεταφορὰ εἴη καὶ μεταφορὰ τοιαδὶ καὶ ἀντίθεσις καὶ παρίσωσις, καὶ ἔχοι ἐνέργειαν.
For it is possible to have these qualities separately, as "one ought to die committing no error," or "the worthy man ought to marry the worthy woman," but these are not clever, unless they possess both at the same time: "it is worthy to die when one is not worthy of dying." And the more qualities a saying has, the cleverer it appears, as for instance, if the words were metaphorical, and of this particular kind of metaphor, and if there were antithesis and balanced clauses (parison), and if it had activity.
§3.11.11εἰσὶν δὲ καὶ αἱ εἰκόνες, ὥσπερ εἴρηται καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄνω, αἱ εὐδοκιμοῦσαι τρόπον τινὰ μεταφοραί· ἀεὶ γὰρ ἐκ δυοῖν λέγονται, ὥσπερ ἡ ἀνάλογον μεταφορά, οἷον
ἡ ἀσπίς
, φαμέν,
ἐστι φιάλη Ἄρεως
, καὶ
τὸ τόξον φόρμιγξ ἄχορδος
. οὕτω μὲν οὖν λέγουσιν οὐχ ἁπλοῦν, τὸ δʼ εἰπεῖν τὸ τόξον φόρμιγγα ἢ τὴν ἀσπίδα φιάλην ἁπλοῦν.
And similes also, as has been said in what preceded, are in a way highly esteemed metaphors; for they are always spoken of two things, just like analogical metaphor, as we say, for example, that "the shield is the bowl of Ares," and "the bow is a chordless lyre." When they speak in this way, it is not simple, but to call the bow a "lyre" or the shield a "bowl" is simple.
§3.11.12καὶ εἰκάζουσιν δὲ οὕτως, οἷον πιθήκῳ αὐλητήν, λύχνῳ ψακαζομένῳ μύωπα· ἄμφω γὰρ συνάγεται.
And they make comparisons in this way: for example, they compare a flute-player to an ape, and a short-sighted man to a sputtering lamp; for in both cases there is a bringing together.
§3.11.13τὸ δὲ εὖ ἐστὶν ὅταν μεταφορὰ ᾖ· ἔστιν γὰρ εἰκάσαι τὴν ἀσπίδα φιάλῃ Ἄρεως καὶ τὸ ἐρείπιον ῥάκει οἰκίας, καὶ τὸ τὸν Νικήρατον φάναι Φιλοκτήτην εἶναι δεδηγμένον ὑπὸ Πράτυος, ὥσπερ εἴκασεν Θρασύμαχος ἰδὼν τὸν Νικήρατον ἡττημένον ὑπὸ Πράτυος ῥαψῳδοῦντα, κομῶντα δὲ καὶ αὐχμηρὸν ἔτι.
But it is good when there is a metaphor; for one can compare the shield to the "bowl of Ares," and a ruin to the "rag of a house," and say that Niceratus is a "Philoctetes bitten by Pratys," as Thrasymachus compared him when he saw Niceratus, after being defeated by Pratys in rhapsodic recitation, still keeping his hair long and looking squalid.
ἐν οἷς μάλιστά τʼ ἐκπίπτουσιν οἱ ποιηταὶ ἐὰν μὴ εὖ, καὶ ἐὰν εὖ, εὐδοκιμοῦσιν· λέγω δʼ ὅταν ἀποδιδῶσιν· "
ὥσπερ σέλινον οὖλα τὰ σκέλη φορεῖ. ὥσπερ Φιλάμμων ζυγομαχῶν τῷ κωρύκῳ. "
καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα πάντʼ εἰκόνες εἰσίν.
In these matters poets fail most of all if they do not do it well, and are highly esteemed if they do it well; I mean when they make the comparison fit: "He wears his legs curled like parsley." "Like Philammon wrestling with the punching-bag." And all such things are similes.
αἱ δʼ εἰκόνες ὅτι μεταφοραί, εἴρηται πολλάκις.
And that similes are metaphors has been said many times.
§3.11.14καὶ αἱ παροιμίαι δὲ μεταφοραὶ ἀπʼ εἴδους ἐπʼ εἶδος εἰσίν· οἷον ἄν τις ὡς ἀγαθὸν πεισόμενος αὐτὸς ἐπαγάγηται, εἶτα βλαβῇ,
ὡς ὁ Καρπάθιός
, φασιν,
τὸν λαγώ
· ἄμφω γὰρ τὸ εἰρημένον πεπόνθασιν.
And proverbs also are metaphors from species to species; as when someone, expecting to get some good, brings something upon himself and then is harmed, people say, "Like the Carpathian and the hare"; for both have suffered the said fate.
ὅθεν μὲν οὖν τὰ ἀστεῖα λέγεται καὶ διότι, σχεδὸν εἴρηται τὸ αἴτιον·
From what sources clever sayings are spoken, and why, the cause has now been nearly explained.
§3.11.15εἰσὶν δὲ καὶ αἱ εὐδοκιμοῦσαι ὑπερβολαὶ μεταφοραί, οἷον εἰς ὑπωπιασμένον
ᾠήθητε δʼ ἂν αὐτὸν εἶναι συκαμίνων κάλαθον
· ἐρυθρὸν γάρ τι τὸ ὑπώπιον, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο πολὺ σφόδρα.
And highly esteemed hyperboles are also metaphors, such as, concerning a man with a black eye, "You would have thought him to be a basket of mulberries"; for the black eye is something reddish-purple, but this is extremely exaggerated.
τὸ δὲ
ὥσπερ τὸ καὶ τὸ
ὑπερβολὴ τῇ λέξει διαφέρουσα. "
ὥσπερ Φιλάμμων ζυγομαχῶν τῷ κωρύκῳ,
"
ᾠήθης δʼ ἂν αὐτὸν Φιλάμμωνα εἶναι μαχόμενον τῷ κωρύκῳ
. "
ὥσπερ σέλινον οὖλα τὰ σκέλη φορεῖν
,
"
ᾠήθης δʼ ἂν οὐ σκέλη ἀλλὰ σέλινα ἔχειν, οὕτως οὖλα
. §3.11.16εἰσὶ δʼ αἱ ὑπερβολαὶ μειρακιώδεις· σφοδρότητα γὰρ δηλοῦσιν.
And the expression "like this and that" is a hyperbole differing only in its wording: "Like Philammon wrestling with the punching-bag" becomes "You would have thought him to be Philammon wrestling with the punching-bag." "To wear his legs curled like parsley" becomes "You would have thought he had not legs but parsley, so curled they were." Hyperboles are youthful; for they show vehemence.
διὸ ὀργιζόμενοι λέγουσιν μάλιστα· "
οὐδʼ εἴ μοι τόσα δοίη ὅσα ψάμαθός τε κόνις τε.
Therefore, people speak them most of all when they are angry: "Not even if he were to give me as many things as there are sand and dust.
κούρην δʼ οὐ γαμέω Ἀγαμέμνονος Ἀτρεΐδαο,
οὐδʼ εἰ χρυσείῃ Ἀφροδίτῃ κάλλος ἐρίζοι,
ἔργα δʼ Ἀθηναίῃ· "
διὸ πρεσβυτέρῳ λέγειν ἀπρεπές· χρῶνται δὲ μάλιστα τούτῳ Ἀττικοὶ ῥήτορες.
And the daughter of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, I will not marry, not even if she were to rival golden Aphrodite in beauty, and Athena in her handiwork." Therefore, it is unbecoming for an older person to speak them; but Attic orators use this device most of all.