ἀνθρωπίνην πεσεῖν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἡ χρόνιος ἄσκησις ἰσχὺν
πολλὴν λαβοῦσα τύπους τινὰς ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ παντὸς τοῦ
μελετωμένου καὶ σφραγῖδας ἐνεποίησεν, ἐκ τοῦ ῥᾴστου τε
καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἕξεως αὐτὰ ἤδη ποιεῖν. οἷόν τι γίνεται κἀν
ταῖς ἄλλαις τέχναις, ὧν ἐνέργειά τις ἢ ποίησις τὸ τέλος· 5
αὐτίκα οἱ κιθαρίζειν τε καὶ ψάλλειν καὶ αὐλεῖν ἄκρως εἰδότες
ὅταν κρούσεως ἀκούσωσιν ἀσυνήθους, οὐ πολλὰ πραγματευθέντες
ἀπαριθμοῦσιν αὐτὴν εὐθὺς ἐπὶ τῶν ὀργάνων ἅμα
νοήσει· μανθάνοντες δέ γε χρόνῳ τε πολλῷ καὶ πόνῳ τὰς
δυνάμεις τῶν φθόγγων ἀναλαμβάνουσιν, καὶ οὐκ εὐθὺς αἱ 10
χεῖρες αὐτῶν ἐν ἕξει τοῦ δρᾶν τὰ παραγγελλόμενα ἦσαν, ὀψὲ
δέ ποτε καὶ ὅτε ἡ πολλὴ ἄσκησις αὐταῖς εἰς φύσεως ἰσχὺν
κατέστησε τὸ ἔθος, τότε τῶν ἔργων ἐγένοντο ἐπιτυχεῖς. καὶ
τί δεῖ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων λέγειν; ὃ γὰρ ἅπαντες ἴσμεν, ἀπόχρη
καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτῶν διακόψαι τὴν φλυαρίαν. τί δ’ ἐστὶ τοῦτο; 15
τὰ γράμματα ὅταν παιδευώμεθα, πρῶτον μὲν τὰ ὀνόματα
αὐτῶν ἐκμανθάνομεν, ἔπειτα τοὺς τύπους καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις,
εἶθ’ οὕτω τὰς συλλαβὰς καὶ τὰ ἐν ταύταις πάθη, καὶ μετὰ
τοῦτο ἤδη τὰς λέξεις καὶ τὰ συμβεβηκότα αὐταῖς, ἐκτάσεις
τε λέγω καὶ συστολὰς καὶ προσῳδίας καὶ τὰ παραπλήσια 20
τούτοις· ὅταν δὲ τὴν τούτων ἐπιστήμην λάβωμεν, τότε
ἀρχόμεθα γράφειν τε καὶ ἀναγινώσκειν, κατὰ συλλαβὴν
‹μὲν› καὶ βραδέως τὸ πρῶτον· ἐπειδὰν δὲ ὁ χρόνος ἀξιόλογος
προσελθὼν τύπους ἰσχυροὺς αὐτῶν ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς
ἡμῶν ἐμποιήσῃ, τότε ἀπὸ τοῦ ῥᾴστου δρῶμεν αὐτὰ καὶ πᾶν 25
ὅ τι ἂν ἐπιδῷ τις βιβλίον ἀπταίστως διερχόμεθα ἕξει τε
καὶ τάχει ἀπίστῳ. τοιοῦτο δὴ καὶ περὶ τὴν σύνθεσιν τῶν
ὀνομάτων καὶ περὶ τὴν εὐέπειαν τῶν κώλων ὑποληπτέον
γίνεσθαι παρὰ τοῖς ἀθληταῖς τοῦ ἔργου. τοὺς δὲ τούτου
by human skill were, yet when long training had issued in perfect mastery, and had graven on his mind forms and impressions of all that he had practised, he henceforth produced his effects with the utmost ease from sheer force of habit. Something similar occurs in the other arts whose end is activity or production. For example, when accomplished players on the lyre, the harp, or the flute hear an unfamiliar tune, they no sooner grasp it than with little trouble they run over it on the instrument themselves. They have mastered the values of the notes after much toiling and moiling, and so can reproduce them. Their hands were not at the outset in condition to do what was bidden them; they attained command of this accomplishment only after much time, when ample training had converted custom into second nature.
Why pursue the subject? A fact familiar to all of us is enough to silence these quibblers. What may this be? When we are taught to read, first we learn off the names of the letters, then their forms and their values, then in due course syllables and their modifications, and finally words and their properties, viz. lengthenings and shortenings, accents, and the like. After acquiring the knowledge of these things, we begin to write and read, syllable by syllable and slowly at first. And when the lapse of a considerable time has implanted the forms of words firmly in our minds, then we deal with them without the least difficulty, and whenever any book is placed in our hands we go through it without stumbling, and with incredible facility and speed. We must suppose that something of this kind happens in the case of the trained exponent of the literary profession as regards the arrangement of words and the euphony of clauses. And it is not unnatural that those who
1 πεσεῖν EP: ἐλθεῖν MV 3 σφαγίδας P: σφραγίδας V 4 ᾔδει ποιεῖν E 8 ἅμα Us.: ἀλλὰ PMV1: ἀλλὰ καὶ V2 21 δὲ EM: τε PV 23 μὲν inseruit Sadaeus coll. comment. de Demosth. c. 52 || ἐπειδὰν E: ἐπεὶ PV: ἔπειτα M 25 ποιήση EM1: ποιήσει PM2V 27 τοιοῦτο EM: τοιούτω P: τοιοῦτον V 29 τοὺς ... ἀπείρους E: τοῖς ... ἀπείροις PMV
3. ἐκ τοῦ ῥᾴστου: cp. ἀπὸ τοῦ ῥᾴστου l. 25 infra.
5. Dionysius is thinking of Aristot. Eth. Nic. i. 1 διαφορὰ δέ τις φαίνεται τῶν τελῶν· τὰ μὲν γάρ εἰσιν ἐνέργειαι, τὰ δὲ παρ’ αὐτὰς ἔργα τινά. ὧν δ’ εἰσὶ τέλη τινὰ παρὰ τὰς πράξεις, ἐν τούτοις βελτίω πέφυκε τῶν ἐνεργείων τὰ ἔργα.
8. If ἀλλὰ νοήσει be retained, the meaning will be ‘not with much trouble, but by means of their acquired skill.’ But ἅμα νοήσει derives support from the parallel passages in de Demosth. c. 52 ἅμα νοήσει [νοήσει Sylburg, for the manuscript reading νοήσεις] and ὥστε ἅμα νοήσει κεκριμένον τε καὶ ἄπταιστον αὐτῆς εἶναι τὸ ἔργον.
16. Referring to this description in the Cambridge Companion to Greek Studies p. 507, the late Dr. A. S. Wilkins remarks: “Some have supposed that Dionysius here describes the method of acquiring the power of reading, not by learning the names of the letters first, but by learning their powers, so combining them at once into syllables. But this is hardly consistent with his language, and is directly contradicted by a passage in Athenaeus, which tells how there was a kind of chant used in schools:—βῆτα ἄλφα βα, βῆτα εἶ βε, etc. A terracotta plate found in Attica, doubtless intended for use in schools, contains a number of syllables αρ βαρ γαρ δαρ ερ βερ γερ δερ κτλ.”
26. ἀπταίστως: Usener reads ἀπταίστῳ. But the adverb goes better with διερχόμεθα than the adjective would with ἕξει τε καὶ τάχει. Cp. de Demosth. c. 51 (the later version of the present passage) ἀπταίστως τε καὶ κατὰ πολλὴν εὐπέτειαν, and Plato Theaet. 144 B ὁ δὲ οὕτω λείως τε καὶ ἀπταίστως καὶ ἀνυσίμως ἔρχεται ἐπὶ τὰς μαθήσεις τε καὶ ζητήσεις μετὰ πολλῆς πρᾳότητος, οἷον ἐλαίου ῥεῦμα ἀψοφητὶ ῥέοντος (these last words are echoed in the de Demosth. c. 20).