§3.6.1εἰς ὄγκον δὲ τῆς λέξεως συμβάλλεται τάδε, τὸ λόγῳ χρῆσθαι ἀντʼ ὀνόματος, οἷον μὴ κύκλον, ἀλλʼ ἐπίπεδον τὸ ἐκ τοῦ μέσου ἴσον· εἰς δὲ συντομίαν τὸ ἐναντίον, ἀντὶ τοῦ λόγου ὄνομα.
The following contribute to the dignity of style: using a definition instead of a term, for example, not saying ‘circle’ but ‘a plane surface equal from the center’; and for brevity, the opposite, using a term instead of a definition.
§3.6.2καὶ ἐὰν αἰσχρὸν ἢ ἀπρεπές, ἐὰν μὲν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ ᾖ τὸ αἰσχρόν, τοὔνομα λέγειν, ἐὰν δʼ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι, τὸν λόγον.
And if there is something ugly or unseemly, if the ugliness is in the definition, to speak the term, but if it is in the term, to speak the definition.
§3.6.3καὶ μεταφορᾷ δηλοῦν καὶ τοῖς ἐπιθέτοις, εὐλαβούμενον τὸ ποιητικόν.
And to represent by metaphor and by epithets, guarding against the poetic.
§3.6.4καὶ τὸ ἓν πολλὰ ποιεῖν, ὅπερ οἱ ποιηταὶ ποιοῦσιν· ἑνὸς ὄντος λιμένος ὅμως λέγουσι
"
λιμένας εἰς Ἀχαϊκούς
"
καὶ
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δέλτου μὲν αἵδε πολύθυροι διαπτυχαί. " §3.6.5καὶ μὴ ἐπιζευγνύναι, ἀλλʼ ἑκατέρῳ ἑκάτερον,
τῆς γυναικὸς τῆς ἡμετέρας
· ἐὰν δὲ συντόμως, τοὐναντίον,
τῆς ἡμετέρας γυναικός
. §3.6.6καὶ μετὰ συνδέσμου λέγειν· ἐὰν δὲ συντόμως, ἄνευ μὲν συνδέσμου, μὴ ἀσύνδετα δέ, οἷον
πορευθεὶς καὶ διαλεχθείς
,
πορευθεὶς διελέχθην
. §3.6.7καὶ τὸ Ἀντιμάχου χρήσιμον, ἐξ ὧν μὴ ἔχει λέγειν, ὃ ἐκεῖνος ποιεῖ ἐπὶ τοῦ Τευμησσοῦ,
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ἔστι τις ἠνεμόεις ὀλίγος λόφος· "
αὔξεται γὰρ οὕτως εἰς ἄπειρον.
And to make one thing many, which is what the poets do; though there is only one harbor, they nevertheless say ‘into Achaean harbors,’ and ‘here are the many-leafed folds of the tablet.’ And not to yoke them together, but to assign each to each, as ‘of the woman, of ours’; but if briefly, the opposite, ‘of our woman.’ And to speak with a connective; but if briefly, without a connective, yet not unconnected, for example, ‘having gone and having conversed,’ and ‘having gone, I conversed.’ And the method of Antimachus is useful, to describe things by what they do not have, which he does in the case of Teumessus: ‘There is a certain windy, small hill’; for in this way the subject can be amplified to infinity.
ἔστι δὲ τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ ἀγαθῶν καὶ κακῶν, ὅπως οὐκ ἔχει, ὁποτέρως ἂν ᾖ χρήσιμον, ὅθεν καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα οἱ ποιηταὶ φέρουσιν, τὸ ἄχορδον καὶ τὸ ἄλυρον μέλος· ἐκ τῶν στερήσεων γὰρ ἐπιφέρουσιν·
This is applicable both to good and to bad things, by stating how they do not possess something, in whichever way may be useful; hence the poets also fetch their terms, such as ‘the stringless’ and ‘the lyreless melody’; for they bring these in from privations.
εὐδοκιμεῖ γὰρ τοῦτο ἐν ταῖς μεταφοραῖς λεγόμενον ταῖς ἀνάλογον, οἷον τὸ φάναι τὴν σάλπιγγα ἱέναι μέλος ἄλυρον.
For this is well received when spoken in analogical metaphors, for example, saying that the trumpet utters a ‘lyreless melody.’