1. Usener’s αὐτῷ (“all his Catalogue is on the same high level”) is perhaps preferable to the manuscript reading αὐτῶν, which, however, may be taken to refer to πόλεσιν ([166] 13). Usener’s suggestion has, it should be pointed out, been anticipated by Toup (ad Longin. p. 296).
5. In this chapter Dionysius seems to have specially in view Aristotle’s Rhetoric iii. 8 (cp. note on [255] 25 infra) and the Ῥυθμικὰ στοιχεῖα of Aristoxenus. But his general standpoint probably comes nearer to that of Aristophanes of Byzantium and Dionysius Thrax: he is, that is to say, primarily a metrist and a grammarian, and at times looks upon the rhythmists and musicians with some distrust.
11, 12. Dionysius agrees here with Aristoxenus, Ῥυθμικὰ στοιχεῖα ii. 16 ᾧ δὲ σημαινόμεθα τὸν ῥυθμὸν καὶ γνώριμον ποιοῦμεν τῇ αἰσθήσει, πούς ἐστιν εἷς ἢ πλείους ἑνός: and § 18 ibid. ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἐξ ἑνὸς χρόνου ποὺς οὐκ ἂν εἴη φανερόν, κτλ.
17. See Introduction (p. [6] supra) for a classified list of the metrical feet mentioned in this chapter. Voss says as to the πυρρίχιος, “nullum ex eo alicuius momenti constitui potest carmen, cum numero et pondere paene careat. aptus dumtaxat ad celeres motus exprimendos, cuius modi erant armati saltus Corybantum apud Graecos, et Saliorum apud Romanos”; see also Hermog. II. ἰδ. i. (Walz iii. p. 293, lines 1-11). Some sensible remarks on the whole question are made by Quintil. ix. 4. 87: “miror autem in hac opinione doctissimos homines fuisse, ut alios pedes ita eligerent aliosque damnarent, quasi ullus esset, quem non sit necesse in oratione deprehendi. licet igitur paeona sequatur Ephorus, inventum a Thrasymacho, probatum ab Aristotele, dactylumque, ut temperatos brevibus ac longis; fugiat molossum et trochaeum, alterius tarditate alterius celeritate damnata; herous, qui est idem dactylus, Aristoteli amplior, iambus humanior videatur; trochaeum ut nimis currentem damnet eique cordacis nomen imponat; eademque dicant Theodectes ac Theophrastus, similia post eos Halicarnasseus Dionysius: irrumpent etiam ad invitos, nec semper illis heroo aut paeone suo, quem, quia versum raro facit, maxime laudant, uti licebit. ut sint tamen aliis alii crebriores, non verba facient, quae neque augeri nec minui nec sicuti modulatione produci aut corripi possint, sed transmutatio et collocatio.”
20. λέγε δὲ σύ κτλ.: source unknown; perhaps the reference is to the tearing of Pentheus limb from limb.—A similar line in Latin would be: “id agite peragite celeriter,” Marius Victorinus Ars Gramm. iii. 1.
ὁ δ’ ἀμφοτέρας τὰς συλλαβὰς μακρὰς ἔχων κέκληται μὲν
σπονδεῖος, ἀξίωμα δ’ ἔχει μέγα καὶ σεμνότητα πολλήν·
παράδειγμα δ’ αὐτοῦ τόδε
ποίαν δῆθ’ ὁρμάσω, ταύταν
ἢ κείναν, κείναν ἢ ταύταν; 5
ὁ δ’ ἐκ βραχείας τε καὶ μακρᾶς συγκείμενος ἐὰν μὲν τὴν
ἡγουμένην λάβῃ βραχεῖαν, ἴαμβος καλεῖται, καὶ ἔστιν οὐκ
ἀγεννής· ἐὰν δ’ ἀπὸ τῆς μακρᾶς ἄρχηται, τροχαῖος, καὶ ἔστι
μαλακώτερος θατέρου καὶ ἀγεννέστερος· παράδειγμα δὲ τοῦ
μὲν προτέρου τοιόνδε 10