δηλώσει ταῦτα μιμητικῶς καὶ κατ’ αὐτὴν τὴν σύνθεσιν τῶν
ὀνομάτων, ἄξιον ἰδεῖν·
καὶ μὴν Σίσυφον εἰσεῖδον κρατέρ’ ἄλγε’ ἔχοντα,
λᾶαν βαστάζοντα πελώριον ἀμφοτέρῃσιν·
ἦ τοι ὁ μὲν σκηριπτόμενος χερσίν τε ποσίν τε 5
λᾶαν ἄνω ὤθεσκε ποτὶ λόφον·
ἐνταῦθα ἡ σύνθεσίς ἐστιν ἡ δηλοῦσα τῶν γινομένων ἕκαστον,
τὸ βάρος τοῦ πέτρου, τὴν ἐπίπονον ἐκ τῆς γῆς κίνησιν, τὸν
διερειδόμενον τοῖς κώλοις, τὸν ἀναβαίνοντα πρὸς τὸν ὄχθον,
τὴν μόλις ἀνωθουμένην πέτραν· οὐδεὶς ἂν ἄλλως εἴποι. καὶ 10
παρὰ τί γέγονε τούτων ἕκαστον; οὐ μὰ Δί’ εἰκῇ γε οὐδ’
ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου. πρῶτον μὲν ἐν τοῖς δυσὶ στίχοις οἷς
ἀνακυλίει τὴν πέτραν, ἔξω δυεῖν ῥημάτων τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς λέξεως
μόρια πάντ’ ἐστὶν ἤτοι δισύλλαβα ἢ μονοσύλλαβα· ἔπειτα
τῷ ἡμίσει πλείους εἰσὶν αἱ μακραὶ συλλαβαὶ τῶν βραχειῶν 15
ἐν ἑκατέρῳ τῶν στίχων· ἔπειτα πᾶσαι διαβεβήκασιν αἱ τῶν
ὀνομάτων ἁρμονίαι διαβάσεις εὐμεγέθεις καὶ διεστήκασι πάνυ
αἰσθητῶς, ἢ τῶν φωνηέντων γραμμάτων συγκρουομένων ἢ τῶν
ἡμιφώνων τε καὶ ἀφώνων συναπτομένων· ῥυθμοῖς τε δακτύλοις
καὶ σπονδείοις τοῖς μηκίστοις καὶ πλείστην ἔχουσι διάβασιν 20
ἅπαντα σύγκειται. τί δή ποτ’ οὖν τούτων ἕκαστον δύναται;
αἱ μὲν μονοσύλλαβοί τε καὶ δισύλλαβοι λέξεις, πολλοὺς τοὺς
μεταξὺ χρόνους ἀλλήλων ἀπολείπουσαι, τὸ χρόνιον ἐμιμήσαντο
τοῦ ἔργου· αἱ δὲ μακραὶ συλλαβαί, στηριγμούς τινας ἔχουσαι
καὶ ἐγκαθίσματα, τὴν ἀντιτυπίαν καὶ τὸ βαρὺ καὶ τὸ μόλις· 25
τὸ δὲ μεταξὺ τῶν ὀνομάτων ψῦγμα καὶ ἡ τῶν τραχυνόντων
worth while to observe how Homer will express this by a mimicry which the very arrangement of his words produces:—
There Sisyphus saw I receiving his guerdon of mighty pain:
A monster rock upheaving with both hands aye did he strain;
With feet firm-fixed, palms pressed, with gasps, with toil most sore,
That rock to a high hill’s crest heaved he.[170]
Here it is the composition that brings out each of the details—the weight of the stone, the laborious movement of it from the ground, the straining of the man’s limbs, his slow ascent towards the ridge, the difficulty of thrusting the rock upwards. No one will deny the effect produced. And on what does the execution of each detail depend? Certainly the results do not come by chance or of themselves. To begin with: in the two lines in which Sisyphus rolls up the rock, with the exception of two verbs all the component words of the passage are either disyllables or monosyllables. Next, the long syllables are half as numerous again as the short ones in each of the two lines. Then, all the words are so arranged as to advance, as it were, with giant strides, and the gaps between them are distinctly perceptible, in consequence of the concurrence of vowels or the juxtaposition of semi-vowels and mutes; and the dactylic and spondaic rhythms of which the lines are composed are the longest possible and take the longest possible stride. Now, what is the effect of these several details? The monosyllabic and disyllabic words, leaving many intervals between each other, suggest the duration of the action; while the long syllables, which require a kind of pause and prolongation, reproduce the resistance, the heaviness, the difficulty. The inhalation between the words and the juxtaposition
8 μέτρου F 9 ὄχλον F 10 μόλις EF: μόγις PMV || ἄλλος F 11 οὐ μὰ Δί’ Radermacher: οὐκ ἂν F: οὐ γὰρ PMV 12 μὲν ἐν Schaefer: μὲν FMV: ἐν P, E 13 ἀνακυλίει EF: ἀνακινεῖ PV 15 μακραὶ om. F 16 ἔπειτα πᾶσαι F: ἔπειθ’ ἅπασαι PMV || διαβεβλήκασιν F 18 γραμμάτων FP: om. EMV 19 τε (post ῥυθμοῖς) F: τε καὶ EPMV 21 ποτ’ οὖν F: om. PMV 22 τοὺς EF: om. PMV 25 βαρὺ EFM2V: βραδὺ PM1 || μόλις EF: μόγις PMV