The Wrath sing, Goddess, thou;[103]
and
The sun leapt up, as he left;[104]
and other lines of the same kind, where the nouns lead the way and the verbs follow. The principle is attractive, but I came to the conclusion that it was not sound. At any rate, a reader might confront me with other instances in the same poet where the arrangement is the opposite of this, and yet the lines are no less beautiful and attractive. What are the instances in point?
1 δὲ PV 3 ἀγνοία F 6 ἐκείνηι βεβούληται P 7 πρῶτα post ὀνόματα om. PMV || ἡγούμην PMV: ἠξίουν F || πρὸ ante τῶν add. PMV 8 οὐσίαν FV: αἰτίαν PM || δηλοῖ F 9 δε P, V || τῇ φύσει om. F 10 ταυτί om. PMV 18 παράσχοιτ’ ἄν τις PMV: παράσχοι τις ἂν F 19 τ(ω) αυτ(ω) P 20 δὲ Sauppius: τε libri
5. There seems to be a touch of quiet humour in Dionysius’ retrospection (during this causerie of his) on the simplicity which had led him to think that he could frame a priori rules as to Nature’s Order. Cp. [102] 15 in particular.
7. F’s reading, πρῶτα τῶν ῥημάτων, receives some support from [174] 18 infra. But cp. Steph. s.v. πρῶτος.—F’s reading ἠξίουν is probably due to some corrector who was unaware that there is good classical authority for ἡγοῦμαι = ἡγοῦμαι δεῖν.
The following passage of Quintilian (ix. 4. 23-27) illustrates this chapter in many ways: “est et alius naturalis ordo, ut viros ac feminas, diem ac noctem, ortum et occasum dicas potius quam retrorsum. quaedam ordine permutato fiunt supervacua, ut fratres gemini; nam si gemini praecesserint, fratres addere non est necesse. illa nimia quorundam fuit observatio, ut vocabula verbis, verba rursus adverbiis, nomina appositis et pronominibus essent priora. nam fit contra quoque frequenter non indecore. nec non et illud nimiae superstitionis, uti quaeque sint tempore, ita facere etiam ordine priora; non quin frequenter sit hoc melius, sed quia interim plus valent ante gesta ideoque levioribus superponenda sunt. verbo sensum cludere, multo, si compositio patiatur, optimum est. in verbis enim sermonis vis est. si id asperum erit, cedet haec ratio numeris, ut fit apud summos Graecos Latinosque oratores frequentissime. sine dubio erit omne, quod non cludet, hyperbaton, et ipsum hoc inter tropos vel figuras, quae sunt virtutes, receptum est. non enim ad pedes verba dimensa sunt, ideoque ex loco transferuntur in locum, ut iungantur, quo congruunt maxime. sicut in structura saxorum rudium etiam ipsa enormitas invenit, cui applicari et in quo possit insistere. felicissimus tamen sermo est, cui et rectus ordo et apta iunctura et cum his numerus opportune cadens contigit.”
8. πρότερον: probably adverbial; cp. Hom. Il. vii. 424 and ix. 551.
15. The completed line (Odyss. iii. 1) is: ἠέλιος δ’ ἀνόρουσε, λιπὼν περικαλλέα λίμνην κτλ.