§1.2.3ποιητὴν γὰρ ἔφη πάντα στοχάζεσθαι ψυχαγωγίας, οὐ διδασκαλίας.
For he said that every poet aims at entertainment, not instruction.
τοὐναντίον δʼ οἱ παλαιοὶ φιλοσοφίαν τινὰ λέγουσι πρώτην τὴν ποιητικήν, εἰσάγουσαν εἰς τὸν βίον ἡμᾶς ἐκ νέων καὶ διδάσκουσαν ἤθη καὶ πάθη καὶ πράξεις μεθʼ ἡδονῆς· οἱ δʼ ἡμέτεροι καὶ μόνον ποιητὴν ἔφασαν εἶναι τὸν σοφόν.
On the contrary, the ancients say that poetry is a kind of primary philosophy, introducing us to life from our youth and teaching characters, emotions, and actions with pleasure; and our school said that the wise man alone is a poet.
διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τοὺς παῖδας αἱ τῶν Ἑλλήνων πόλεις πρώτιστα διὰ τῆς ποιητικῆς παιδεύουσιν, οὐ ψυχαγωγίας χάριν δήπουθεν ψιλῆς, ἀλλὰ σωφρονισμοῦ·
For this reason, the cities of the Greeks educate their children first of all through poetry, surely not for the sake of mere entertainment, but for the sake of correction.
ὅπου γε καὶ οἱ μουσικοὶ ψάλλειν καὶ λυρίζειν καὶ αὐλεῖν διδάσκοντες μεταποιοῦνται τῆς ἀρετῆς ταύτης· παιδευτικοὶ γὰρ εἶναί φασι καὶ ἐπανορθωτικοὶ τῶν ἠθῶν.
Indeed, even musicians, when teaching to sing, to play the lyre, and to play the flute, lay claim to this virtue; for they say they are educators and correctors of characters.
ταῦτα δʼ οὐ μόνον παρὰ τῶν Πυθαγορείων ἀκούειν ἐστὶ λεγόντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἀριστόξενος οὕτως ἀποφαίνεται.
And these things can be heard not only from the Pythagoreans saying them, but Aristoxenus also declares so.
καὶ Ὅμηρος δὲ τοὺς ἀοιδοὺς σωφρονιστὰς εἴρηκε, καθάπερ τὸν τῆς Κλυταιμνήστρας φύλακα
ᾧ πόλλʼ ἐπέτελλεν Ἀτρείδης Τροίηνδε κιὼν εἴρυσθαι ἄκοιτιν,
τόν τε Αἴγισθον οὐ πρότερον αὐτῆς περιγενέσθαι πρὶν ἢ
τὸν μὲν ἀοιδὸν ἄγων ἐς νῆσον ἐρήμην κάλλιπεν· τὴν δʼ ἐθέλων ἐθέλουσαν ἀνήγαγεν ὅνδε δόμονδε.
And Homer too has called singers correctors, just like the guardian of Clytemnestra, to whom the son of Atreus, when departing for Troy, gave many commands to protect his wife; and Aegisthus did not get the better of her before he took the singer to a desert island and left him there, and then, he willing and she willing, led her to his own home.
χωρὶς δὲ τούτων ὁ Ἐρατοσθένης ἑαυτῷ μάχεται· μικρὸν γὰρ πρὸ τῆς λεχθείσης ἀποφάσεως ἐναρχόμενος τοῦ περὶ τῆς γεωγραφίας λόγου φησὶν ἅπαντας κατʼ ἀρχὰς φιλοτίμως ἔχειν εἰς τὸ μέσον φέρειν τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν τοιούτων ἱστορίαν.
Apart from these things, Eratosthenes is at war with himself; for a little before the aforementioned assertion, at the beginning of his discourse on geography, he says that all in the beginning are eager to bring into the open the history concerning such matters.
Ὅμηρον γοῦν ὑπέρ τε τῶν Αἰθιόπων ὅσα ἐπύθετο καταχωρίσαι εἰς τὴν ποίησιν καὶ περὶ τῶν κατʼ Αἴγυπτον καὶ Λιβύην, τὰ δὲ δὴ κατὰ τὴν Ἑλλάδα καὶ τοὺς σύνεγγυς τόπους καὶ λίαν περιέργως ἐξενηνοχέναι, πολυτρήρωνα μὲν τὴν Θίσβην λέγοντα, Ἁλίαρτον δὲ ποιήεντα, ἐσχατόωσαν δὲ Ἀνθηδόνα, Λίλαιαν δὲ πηγῇς ἔπι Κηφισσοῖο, καὶ οὐδεμίαν προσθήκην κενῶς ἀπορρίπτειν.
Homer, at any rate, inserted into his poetry whatever he had learned about the Egyptians and Libyans, and he set forth the things in Greece and the neighboring places even with excessive care, calling Thisbe 'abounding in doves', Haliartus 'grassy', Anthedon 'boundary', and Lilaea 'at the sources of Cephisus', and did not throw away any epithet in vain.
πότερον οὖν ὁ ποιῶν ταῦτα ψυχαγωγοῦντι ἔοικεν ἢ διδάσκοντι;
Does then the one who does these things seem like one who entertains, or one who instructs?
νὴ Δία, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν οὕτως εἴρηκε, τὰ δʼ ἔξω τῆς αἰσθήσεως καὶ οὗτος καὶ ἄλλοι τερατολογίας μυθικῆς πεπληρώκασιν. οὐκοῦν ἐχρῆν οὕτως εἰπεῖν, ὅτι ποιητὴς πᾶς τὰ μὲν ψυχαγωγίας χάριν μόνον ἐκφέρει τὰ δὲ διδασκαλίας·
Yes, by Zeus, but he might say: 'He said these things in this way, but the things outside direct perception both he and others have filled with mythical marvel-mongering.' Should he not then have spoken thus: 'Every poet sets forth some things for the sake of entertainment alone, and others for instruction'?
ὁ δʼ ἐπήνεγκεν ὅτι ψυχαγωγίας μόνον, διδασκαλίας δʼ οὔ.
But he added that it is for entertainment alone, and not for instruction.
καὶ προσεξεργάζεταί γε, πυνθανόμενος τί συμβάλλεται πρὸς ἀρετὴν ποιητοῦ πολλῶν ὑπάρξαι τόπων ἔμπειρον ἢ στρατηγίας ἢ γεωργίας ἢ ῥητορικῆς ἢ οἷα δὴ περιποιεῖν αὐτῷ τινες ἐβουλήθησαν;
And he even elaborates further, asking what it contributes to the virtue of a poet to be experienced in many places, or in generalship, or in agriculture, or in rhetoric, or such things as some have wished to attribute to him.
τὸ μὲν οὖν ἅπαντα ζητεῖν περιποιεῖν αὐτῷ προεκπίπτοντος ἄν τις θείη τῇ φιλοτιμίᾳ, ὡς ἂν εἴ τις, φησὶν ὁ Ἵππαρχος, Ἀττικῆς εἰρεσιώνης κατηγοροίη καὶ ἃ μὴ δύναται φέρειν μῆλα καὶ ὄγχνας, οὕτως ἐκείνου πᾶν μάθημα καὶ πᾶσαν τέχνην.
Now, to seek to attribute everything to him might be considered as belonging to one who falls into excessive zeal—just as if, says Hipparchus, one should accuse the Attic eiresione of not bearing apples and pears, which it cannot bear, so Eratosthenes accuses him of every branch of learning and every art.
τοῦτο μὲν δὴ ὀρθῶς ἂν λέγοις, ὦ Ἐρατόσθενες· ἐκεῖνα δʼ οὐκ ὀρθῶς, ἀφαιρούμενος αὐτὸν τὴν τοσαύτην πολυμάθειαν καὶ τὴν ποιητικὴν γραώδη μυθολογίαν ἀποφαίνων, ᾗ δέδοται πλάττειν, φησίν, ὃ ἂν αὐτῇ φαίνηται ψυχαγωγίας οἰκεῖον.
In this indeed you would speak correctly, Eratosthenes; but in those other things you do not speak correctly, when you deprive him of such great learning and declare poetry to be an old wives' mythology, to which, he says, it is permitted to fashion whatever seems appropriate for entertainment.
ἆρα γὰρ οὐδὲ τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις τῶν ποιητῶν οὐδὲν συμβάλλεται πρὸς ἀρετήν;
For does it not contribute anything to virtue even for those who listen to the poets?
λέγω δὲ τὸ πολλῶν ὑπάρξαι τόπων ἔμπειρον ἢ στρατηγίας ἢ γεωργίας ἢ ῥητορικῆς, ἅπερ ἡ ἀκρόασις, ὡς εἰκός, περιποιεῖ.
I mean being experienced in many places, or in generalship, or in agriculture, or in rhetoric, which listening, as is natural, provides.
§1.2.4Ἀλλὰ μὴν ταῦτά γε πάντα ὁ ποιητὴς Ὀδυσσεῖ προσῆψεν, ὃν τῶν πάντων μάλιστα ἀρετῇ πάσῃ κοσμεῖ· οὗτος γὰρ αὐτῷ
πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω,
οὗτος δʼ ὁ πτολίπορθος ἀεὶ λεγόμενος καὶ τὸ Ἴλιον ἑλὼν
βουλῇ καὶ μύθοισι καὶ ἠπεροπηίδι τέχνῃ· τούτου γʼ ἑσπομένοιο καὶ ἐκ πυρὸς αἰθομένοιο ἄμφω νοστήσαιμεν,
φησὶν ὁ Διομήδης.
Moreover, the poet has attached all these things to Odysseus, whom of all men he especially adorns with every virtue; for according to him, 'he saw the cities of many men and knew their minds', and he is always called 'the city-sacker', having taken Ilium by counsel and words and deceitful art; 'if this man follows, even from burning fire we both might return', says Diomedes.
καὶ μὴν ἐπί γε τῇ γεωργίᾳ σεμνύνεται· καὶ γὰρ ἐν ἀμητῷ
ἐν ποίῃ δρέπανον μὲν ἐγὼν εὐκαμπὲς ἔχοιμι, καὶ δὲ σὺ τοῖον ἔχοις
καὶ ἐν ἀρότῳ,
τῷ κέ μʼ ἴδοις, εἰ ὦλκα διηνεκέα προταμοίμην.
Furthermore, he prides himself on agriculture; for both in harvesting, 'in the spring season, would that I had a well-curved sickle, and you had one like it', and in plowing, 'then you would see me, if I should cut a continuous furrow'.
καὶ οὐχ Ὅμηρος μὲν οὕτω φρονεῖ περὶ τούτων οὐχὶ δὲ πάντες οἱ πεπαιδευμένοι μάρτυρι χρῶνται τῷ ποιητῇ ὡς ὀρθῶς λέγοντι περὶ τοῦ τὴν τοιαύτην ἐμπειρίαν εἰς φρόνησιν συντείνειν μάλιστα.
And not only does Homer think thus about these things, but all educated men use the poet as a witness, as speaking correctly about how such experience contributes most to wisdom.