ποιητικός. [70] 2, 4, [108] 11, [206] 20, [208] 8, 19, [252] 20, 23, 29, etc. Poetical. Lat. poëticus. In [136] 11 the meaning is ‘productive of.’
ποικιλία. [130] 13, [192] 18, [196] 17, 25, [198] 5. Variety, decoration. Lat. varietas. So ποικίλλειν [132] 13, [192] 20, [196] 9; and ποικίλος [110] 11, [154] 19, [160] 10, etc. ποικίλος may be rendered by such adjectives as ‘elaborate,’ ‘curious,’ ‘laborious,’ ‘multifarious,’ ‘kaleidoscopic,’ ‘ever-varying.’
πολιτικός. [64] 15, [72] 17, [124] 21, [130] 10, [214] 1, 5, [254] 25, [266] 7, [272] 20. Civil, parliamentary, political, public. Lat. civilis. See D.H. p. 203 for an explanatory note on πολιτικός. In [72] 17, P has ῥητορικοῖς ἀνδράσι, which is an unlikely periphrasis for ῥήτορσι ([104] 8), but may well indicate the general meaning of πολιτικοῖς ἀνδράσι: cp. de Demosth. c. 23 ταῦτα δὲ πολιτικοῖς καὶ ῥήτορσιν ἀνδράσι μελήσει. Compare generally, in Aristot. Poet. c. vi., the words τῆς πολιτικῆς καὶ ῥητορικῆς ἔργον ἐστίν, and οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἀρχαῖοι πολιτικῶς ἐποίουν λέγοντας, οἱ δὲ νῦν ῥητορικῶς.
πολύμετρος. [272] 5. Of many measures or metres. Lat. qui multis constat metris.
πολύμορφος. [160] 12. Of many forms. Lat. multiformis. Cp. πολυειδής [196] 25, πολυειδῶς [270] 11.
πολυπραγμονεῖν. [264] 6. To bother about. Lat. summa cura elaborare.
πολυσύλλαβος. [126] 14, [132] 5. With many syllables. Lat. qui syllabis pluribus constat.
πολύφωνος. [160] 23. Of many voices. Lat. qui multas voces emittit. Used of the variety of tones in Homer’s ‘composition.’ In the de Sublim. c. xxxiv. the term is applied to Hypereides, who οὐ πάντα ἑξῆς καὶ μονοτόνως [i.e. at one sustained high pitch] ὡς ὁ Δημοσθένης λέγει.
πούς. [86] 1, [168] 12, [172] 20, [174] 22, 24, [178] 7, [184] 1, [256] 9, 12, [258] 19, [260] 3. Metrical foot. Lat. pes. τὸ δ’ αὐτὸ καλῶ πόδα καὶ ῥυθμόν [168] 11. Aristoxenus, Ῥυθμικὰ στοιχεῖα ii. 16, writes: ᾧ σημαινόμεθα τὸν ῥυθμὸν καὶ γνώριμον ποιοῦμεν τῇ αἰσθήσει, πούς ἐστιν εἷς ἢ πλείους. Cope (Introduction to Aristotle’s Rhetoric p. 383) thinks that Dionysius neglects the important distinction between βάσις, the unit of rhythm, and πούς, the unit of metre. Goodell (Greek Metric p. 47) thus paraphrases a passage of Marius Victorinus (p. 44 K.): “Between foot and ‘rhythmus’ there is this difference, that a foot cannot exist without rhythm, but a ‘rhythmus’ moves rhythmically without being divisible into feet.” [It is this kind of ‘rhythmus’ that counts in rhythmical prose.]
πραγματεία. [68] 8, 14, 17, [70] 8, etc. Inquiry, treatise, work. Lat. studium, commentatio, opus. So πραγματεύεσθαι [106] 5, 10, [140] 22, [268] 7.