Out of whose fulness all rivers, and every sea, have birth,
And all upleaping fountains,[179]
is, we must admit, Homer. For whatever passage you like to take in him has had its manifold charms brought to perfection by a union of the severe and the polished forms of arrangement. Of the other writers who have cultivated the same golden mean, all will be found to be far inferior to Homer when measured by his standard, but still men of eminence when regarded in themselves: among lyric poets Stesichorus and Alcaeus, among tragedians Sophocles, among historians Herodotus, among orators Demosthenes, and among philosophers (in my opinion) Democritus, Plato, and Aristotle. It is impossible to find authors who have succeeded better in blending their writings into harmonious wholes. As regards types of composition the foregoing remarks will suffice. I do not think it necessary to quote specimen passages from the authors just mentioned, since they are known to all and need no illustration.
Now if any one thinks that these things are worth much toil
8 ἂν om. F || ὅτου EF: ὅπου M: τὸ οὗ P 9 ἅψοιτο EF || ταῖς γλαφυραῖς] ἀνθηραῖς EF 10 αὐτὴν EF: αὐτὴν ἐκείνωι P, MV 11 μὲν] μέντοι EF 13 Στησίχορος ... τραγῳδοποιῶν δὲ om. F 16 γὰρ F: δὲ PMV 19 φέρειν om. F 21 τινι MV (τῳ Demosth.): τι μοι F: τις P
5. Homer is a beacon (a watchtower) set upon a hill.—The close correspondence between Dionysius and Quintilian has often been illustrated in these notes; and with the present page should be compared Quintil. x. 1. 46 “igitur, ut Aratus ab Iove incipiendum putat, ita nos rite coepturi ab Homero videmur. hic enim, quemadmodum ex Oceano dicit ipse amnium fontiumque cursus initium capere, omnibus eloquentiae partibus exemplum et ortum dedit.”
10. Neither here nor elsewhere does Dionysius say anything about the poets of the Epic Cycle. Attention is called to his silence by T. W. Allen in the Classical Quarterly ii. 87.
13. Stesichorus: cp. de Imitat. B. vi. 2 ὅρα δὲ καὶ Στησίχορον ἔν τε τοῖς ἑκατέρων τῶν προειρημένων πλεονεκτήμασι κατορθοῦντα, κτλ.; Long. de Sublim. xiii. 3 (as to Stesichorus, Herodotus and Plato, in relation to Homer) μόνος Ἡρόδοτος Ὁμηρικώτατος ἐγένετο; Στησίχορος ἔτι πρότερον ὅ τε Ἀρχίλοχος, πάντων τε τούτων μάλιστα ὁ Πλάτων ἀπὸ τοῦ Ὁμηρικοῦ κείνου νάματος εἰς αὑτὸν μυρίας ὅσας παρατροπὰς ἀποχετευσάμενος.
14. Alcaeus: de Imitat. B. vi. 2 Ἀλκαίου δὲ σκόπει τὸ μεγαλοφυὲς καὶ βραχὺ καὶ ἡδὺ μετὰ δεινότητος κτλ.; Quintil. x. 1. 63 “Alcaeus in parte operis aureo plectro merito donatur, qua tyrannos insectatus multum etiam moribus confert; in eloquendo quoque brevis et magnificus et diligens et plerumque oratori similis: sed et lusit et in amores descendit, maioribus tamen aptior.”
Sophocles: Σοφοκλῆς δὲ ἔν τε τοῖς ἤθεσι καὶ τοῖς πάθεσι κτλ. (de Imitat., ut supra).
Herodotus: cp. D.H. pp. 10, 11, 12, etc.