MASTER NEGA TIVE NO. 93-81450 M]CROhlLMt:Dvl993 CX)LUMBI.\ UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as pai'i of I lie "Foundaiions of Western Civi 01 UiC . _ ilizaiion Preservation Project Funded by the ,„„, , x-.-rrrc NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMAiM I IhS Reproductions im. not be made. wnhout permission from Columbia Lniversny LiDiary s COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The coDvriqht law of the United States - Title 17, United other reproductions of copyrighted materiai. purpose other than private study, scholarsh p or research " If a user makes a request for, or 'ater uses a nhotocoDV or reproduction for purposes in excess of air would involve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR: MOOR, JAMES TITLE: ON THE END OF TRAGEDY ACCORDING PLACE: GLASGOW DATE: 1763 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES PRESERVATION DEPARTMENT DIDLIOGRArillCMTrROrORM i Al^nrr Master Negative H 1 Original Material as Filmed - Existing Bibliographic Record .<»» ' II ' m iii iw i i i i i oi'i nii n Restrictions on Use: w^m^^^gm I » liHtum i iB j p^ J ip ^ f ii.. H'w^»WlNWe*«wi^«»!«i;9Ss^9?.*tJii :» 88Ar6i DM2 Moor, James, 1712-1779 • On the end of tragedy according to Aristotle; an essay, in two parts, read to a literary society | in Glasgow ''^ ..---._._ ,«.„ I 43 p. ( « f Glasgow, Foulis, 1763« 16^- cm. BOOi : ' L. FILM SIZE: ^5 .y TECHNICAL MICROFORM DATA REDUCTION RATIO: TA" IMAGE PLACEMENT: lA (11^ ID IID ^ DATE FILMED: ^_^^'_li?__ INITIAIS *Sb FILMED BY: RESEARCH PUBLICATION.S, INC WOODnRrnnfrrr V lUllil Association for information and Image IManagement 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter l--'--J--l--|:nilii.J- •' I MiMBmiBiiipwittiiii I I I I I Inches liiiriBJMBirt t \\]\ 1 5 ■da 6 7 8 9 10 I 2 TTTl liiail 1.0 I.I .25 TT 11 12 Mil ||45 2.8 2.5 ||M "" 5 f: 3.2 36 2.2 ■ 90 4.0 2.0 1.8 1.4 1.6 1 I Mil 11 13 iilii 14 15 mm TT MRNUFflCTURED TO fillM STFINDflRDS BY RPPLIED IMAGE, INC. •,.{',«,"..- . .■,,'.; IJ ■•)- i\f i ^t .i\\: ■/ ^ '•>. . ■•!|?; 11/ ■'*■'■ THE LIBRARIES mn'« CIR^ 7 H '"I ■i- 1 IT I ■ I ' "li! I! fi 're! 1 I ' .JL^ ON THE N D A, v> O F A G E D Y, ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE^ A N E S S A Y, IN TWO PARTS; \$'>i READ TO A LITERARf SOCIETY IN GLASGOW, AT THEIR WEEKLY MEETINGS WITHIN THE COLLEGE. #.,. By JAMES MOOR LLD. Professor of Greek * \v IN THE UNIVERSITY OF Glasgow. i» ■^ GLASGOW, miNTED BY ROBERT AND ANDREW TOULIS PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY M.DCC.LXIII. Jj ;■: ^'^ '1^ ' -i"^" A N ESSAY ( ) 6 nt o \ o rl > n e h- ^ ON THE E ^ I N O F D TRAGEDY, ACCORDING TO ARISTOTLE. THERE is nothing in Criti- cism more celebrated than Ari- stotle's definition of Tragedy. Po- ets, Critics, and Commentators, \ave made it their particular stu- Jy; and laboured to understand, explain, and illustrate, those parts of it which appear obscure, of !ihese, they declare the last pare of the definition to be, both the most important of all, and, at A 2 END OF TRAGEDY, AS the same time, the most difficult to understand; that part, to wit, in which Aristotle defines the FINAL end of Tragedy, or the effect it is intended to produce on the audience, this pare of the definition, in the Greek, is in these words ; c/a EAg« x) 4>oC5i TTiPcufHcrx ryp rav roi that is, according to the Latin translation of Victorius, * per misericordiam et metum * conficiens hujusmodi pcrturba- ' tionum purgationem ;' or, according to Dacier's French translation, i ' Tragedie — par le moyen de laj ' Terreur, et de la CompassionJ * acheve de purger en nous ces * Poetic, vi. 2* 1 li DEFINED BY ARISTOTLE. 3 ' < sortes des passions, et toutes les ' autres semblables.* Now the difficulty which they find here is, to explain in what manner Tragedy, by exciting the two passions of Terror and Pity, at the same time refines and pu- rifies them ; or, in what sense we arc to understand that Tragedy proposes to refine and purify these two passions by the very means of exciting them. Thus says Dacier, ' En premier lieu il faut voir, ' comment la Tragedie peutpur- ' ger la Terreur et la Compassi- ' on, en les excitant.** This he considers as the grand difficulty, which none of the nu- merous Critics before him had been able to clear. • Remarques p. 78. edit. Paris. 410. 1692. A 2 '() 4 END OF TRAGEDY, AS , * Voicy; says he, * ce qu'il y a de ' plus important dans la definiti- ' on, et en meme temps, ce qu'il ' y a de plus difficile, car tous les ' efforts que les commentateurs ' ont faits pour I'expliquer, ne *servent qua I'obscurcir. on * trouve chez eux plusieurs ex- * plications difFerentes j il n'y a * que la veritable que Ton n'y ' scjauroittrouver*; then he pro- ceeds to give this veritable expli- cation : and no Critic since, so far as I know, has called it in question, or advanced any thino- new on the subject, they seem indeed, particularly the Abbe du Bos, rather to take the thino- for granted; without either attempt- ing any explication of their own, or adopting that given by Da- * Ibid. p. 77. ! DEFINED BY ARIST^ cier ; which is this : ' voyons,'says he, 'present- n ' comment la Tragedie excite en * nous la Tcrreur et la Compas- ' ^xon pour les purger*.' then, after mentioning how it excites these two passions, he subjoins, that it purifies them by render- ing the calamities which it exhi- bits familiar to us ; and, by that means, teaches us not to be too much afraid of them, and not to be too much affected when they happen in real life. ' elle les purge, * en nous rendant ces memes mal- * heurs familiers ; car elle nous * apprend par la a ne les pas trop * craindre, et a n'en etre pas trop ' touchez quand ils arrivent veri- * tablement.' f According to this account, ♦ Ibid. pag. 78. t Ibid. p. 79. f T) OF TRAGEDY, AS m , of the design of Tragedy, when, in the Oedipus Tyran- Nus of Sophocles, Jocasta hangs herself, and Oedipus, in the fren- zy of horrour, tears out his own eyes, the effect which the poet intended, by this representation, to work upon his audience, was, to familiarize such accidents to them, and prevent their being too much affected when such things happen in real life among them- selves ; that is , not to be too much affected, when, among themselves, any one really hangs himself, or tears out his eyes, and when, at the theatre, we see Ca- to fallen on his sword, the poet proposes to teach us by that, not to be too much affected when any very worthy man among our- selves is driven to stab himself. 1 I 1^ DEFINED BY ARISTOTLE. J But the absurdity of this ex- plication is, I think, too manifest to need being insisted on. no- thing indeed can be more ridi- culous, in my opinion, except what he advances next, for, where- as he sets out with professing to shew how Tragedy purifies or moderates our passions, by the very means of exciting these pas- sions ; he comes at last to con- fess the very contrary; viz. that, indeed, while one is at the the- atre, and his passions raised by the representation, tragedy can- not THEN operate its effect of purifying and refining them; but only does it afterwards; when he goes home, and cools, and be- gins to reflect. ' il est vray,' says he, ' et Aristote en convient, que, ' dans ce moment, elle reveille ec 3 END OF TRAGEDY, AS * excite les passions. Mais Ari^ ' stote r a considere dans le * fond, et il en a juge par les ef- * fees qu' elle produit, apres que ' la representation est finie ♦, car ' il est certain qu alors, tous les ' mouvemens que 1' action avoit * excitez etant ralentis, on est ' naturellement dispose a profi- ' ter &c. * ' I should not have mentioned this explication of Dacier's, as it appears to me so ridiculous, inconsistent, and contradictory, had I met with any better expli- cation of Aristotle's words. The celebrated French poet Corneille, who wrote himself so many admired tragedies, could never be reconciled to this noti- on of the End proposed by Tra- * Ibid. p. 80. / DEFINED BY ARISTOTLE. 9 gedy. he had long studied this part of the definition, given by Aristotle ; but could never un- derstand how tragedy was to pu- rify or correct the passions by ex- citing them ; and therefore he gave it up altogether, at last, as a mcer ivbiin of Aristotle's, so Dacier informs us. ' Ce qui a si ' fort embarasse M. Corneille, ' qu' apres une longue recherche, •il doute si cette purgation dcs ' passmis se fait dans les Trage- ' dies meme qui ont toutes les ' conditions que demande Ari- * stote. J'ay h'len peiir, dit il, que ' le ra'isonnement cie ce Thilosophe ' stir ce point ne soit qiiunc belle ' idee , qui nait jamais son cffet ' dans la vcriti *. And I imagine this explication of Dacier's, had Corneille been alive to see it. » Ibid. p. 77. B I O END OF TRAGEDY, AS would have contributed very lit- tle to cure him of his scepticism 111 this point. Nor would he, I fancy, have been at all better re- conciled to Aristotle, by reading that chapter of Du Bos, which has for its title * ^/e les poeines dramat'tques pur^ent les passions; who does not, indeed, advance a- ny thing ridiculous or inconsi- ' stent, as Dacier has done, he a- dopts this notion as long and commonly received. ' on a dit,' says he, 'dans tous les temps, que ' la Tragcdie purgeoit les passi- * ons.' he mentions one kind of objection, that Tragedy cannot be said to purify the passions, as its aim and end is to excite themj which he treats as trifling. * Les ecrivains/ says he, ' qui * Reflex. Critiq. part.i. feet. 45. Edit. Paris. 1 7 1 9. DEFINED BY ARISTOTLE. I I ne veulent pas comprendre com- ment la Tragedie purge les pas- sions, alleguent, pour justifier leur sentiment, que le but dela Traixedie est de les exciter, un peu de reflexion leur auroit faic trouver 1' eclaircissement de cecte ombre de difficulte, s'ils a- voient daigne le chercher.' His answer to this is, that Tragedy excites and cherishes the good passions, but raises ab- horrence at the vicious and wick- ed passions. But he does not at all touch on the chief difficulty, viz. how Tragedy purifies any passion by the means of exciting that very passion. Now, after all the pains and labour, which the critics, com- mentators, and poets, have taken about this same purgation des B 2 I 2 END OF TRAGEDY, AS , passions par la Tragedie •, and , nocwidistanding the Abbe du Bos fancies ' que I'on a die dans tous ' ks temps que la Tragedie pur- ' aeoicles passions;' 1 am going to venture to assert, that at least Aristotle never said so; and shall prove, if I am not much mis- taken, that there is not m his words the smallest foundation tor imagining he maintained that this purgation des passions was the proper effect intended to be produced by Tragedy; and that the whole of this specious fancy is no more than a chimera of the moderns, arisen from this, that the words of Aristotle have been totally mistranslated; which these critics, amidst all their study of the passage, have never given themselves the trouble to enquire j DEFINED BY ARISTOTLE. I 3 into; though a very little atten- tion to the propriety of the Greek language would, in this case, have saved them a vast deal of pains, and freed them from a world of embarrassment. I mean, that, in the sentence hoi EXg« xa/ 4>oC« Trs^cufdo-a. rnv ruv TOiircov TiaJ^ny-OLTOdv xoi^aoaiu, the three last words, TOf^ruv 7ra9>j|uarwf xtxGa^- Gtv, have been, each of them, al- together mistaken, for rotouruy does not refer to the preceeding words eXs'y xa/ (po€« ; nor does 7ra- ^Yifj^diTavme^n passions; nor xa9a^- (Tiv a purification or refinement, the mistaking of TraBj^^aTwc has drawn in along with it the mis- take of the other two words, the translators have not attended to the propriety of the language in the different acceptation of the i / I 4 END OF TRAGEDY, AS two words 7ra9o$ and 7ra9-/^^a. Aristotle no where calls che Passions 7raO)ijua?(x. the word which he uniformly uses for the Passions,every where in his works, is TraO/j. thus, in his Ethics to Ni- comachus, B. ii. § 5. >^«Vw ^«' riaB>7, aoi, 4>9o!'Oj', XaoctV, 4>/A/a.i', Mro-o?, llo- 9oK, 'IyM, "EXiov. And, in his E- thics to Eudemus, B. ii. § 2. Xe- yw St- IlaGv? f/ei/ ret roiciZra. • 0u^oc, 4>oCoy, A/3w, 'ETT/Oyju/aK. but by Tta- i^YifjioiTa. is always meant Su fferin j^s, oijCalamltles . in this sense the word is constantly used by all the chief Greek writers. Thus Herodotus, in the viii. B. § 136. mentioning that the Persian general understood the Athenians to be the Grecian cate which had chiefly occasi- DEFINED by ARISTOTLE 7 I oned all the defeats or Calami- ties of the Persians by sea, expres- ses these defeats or sufferings by TraOi^jUa ra. — ret. v.cLra. tw ^dXcLfrcav cvvruyovrcL <7(pi IlaOj^uara xareoya.aot.-' jufj/yj juaA/fo. A^n^'cuHi '/\7tl7. thus, in his Ethics to Ni- coniachus, B. ii. § 5. X/yco 3f riaB)?, 9oj'or, XcLodv, /^/ai', MT(TOi, Ho- 60V, Z)?Xoc, "EKiov. And, in his E- thics to Eudemus, B. ii. § 2. Xf- yw ^e riaO/j juec to, Toixura. • Qvyiov, ^'oQov, A/^w, 'E7rSo[u.ia.y, but by rra- Bi^juara is always meant Su^rlngs, 01 Ca lamities , in this sense the word is constantly used by all the chief Greek writers. Thus Herodotus, in the viii. B. § 136. mentioning that the Persian general understood the Athenians to be the Grecian state which had chiefly occasi- - ^ defined by ARISTOTLE. oned all the defeats or Calami- ties of the Persians by sea, expres- ses these defeats or sufferings by 7:a.%ixara. — ra. xctra. tyiv ^dKonrcra.v (TwruyovrcL ^«roc rm iKiuK^^M n:thjuuruv: and tl:ese 'l\/axa Uaf^^- f^xTct were the common subjects cf anciun Tragedy. t This is exactly what Mr. Addison aeclarcs to be the end and design of liis Tragedy of Cato ; ' From hence let fierce coincnding nations know ♦ What dire effects [/wa Ila9;;^«7-a] from civil ' discord ilow.' &c. c I 8 END OF TRAGEDY, AS rooLyudlcL And thus I will venture to as- sert, that Aristotle has, in as plain and precise words, as the Greek language could possibly have enabled him to do, defined that to be the final end and aim of Tragedy, which I believe, every body readily enough apprehends it to be, and even those very Cri- tics themselves, when they are not immediately under the bias and warp of imagination, with which they had been preposses- sed by that false unexamined translation which I have just now been endeavouring to rectify. DEFINED BY ARISTOTLE. I ^ PART SECOND. B U T it may not be improper to illustrate the nice propriety with which Aristotle uses the word xaOa^ci? here; which will at the same time point out the occasi- on of this mistake; first commit- ted by Victorius, in his Latin translation and com^mentary on this part of the definition; and which has ever since been impli- citely followed, without further examination, by all editors, cri- tics, and readers. KaHal^u, it is very true, signi- fies often to clean, purge, or pu- rify ; but then this is only a se- condary signification ; arising, indeed, by a very easy and natu- ral transition, from the original, C 2 2 END OF TRAGEDY, AS which is to remove something en- tirely, for the verb is compound- ed of xara, alon/J, and a^'^w, to take away ; and, when developpcd to the full, h'W xafis.'^w means exact- ly lyu y.cLToi-iav cu^co, going along I take axvay ; that is, going along the -whole extent of a thing, I re- move -what IS improper. For example; "/.aO;nify the clean- ing of clothes from stains or any foulness, the clothes he calls ^7- jL/iara, the Stains . ^'jtto.. I clean clothes from their stains, expres- sed with tliC syntax completely filed up, and separating the two paves of the compound verb, would be this ; xarx ra clbiaTO. ixi' , aTTo ojjToov cw^'iJ Tx si^Tra. but, as it is the genius of the Greek Liiiguage to avoid prolixity of I ■if & , DEFINED BY ARISTOTLE. 2 1 words in common and easy ex- pressions, all the three nouns are seldom, if ever, expressed; al- most always one, and most com- monly two, of them are left to be understood, thus, Homer would only say ycxHou^a rd outzcl' where the Accusative is govern- ed by the simple verb cuoo)' or, ■aoScu^oo ra. e/juara; where the Ac- cusative is governed, not by alocj, but by xocra in the composition with it; or, lastly, he would say, OTTO eiyiiruv %x^cum to. duzcl. To confirm this by examples of each, in the seventh Book of the Odyssey, Nausicaa goes out, with her maids, to wash the clothes of the family ; which the Poet describes at large. they took the clothes in their hands \ &c. 2 2 END OF TRAGEDY, AS — ei[j.aroL Y^?''"''' fXofTo *, cxc. and SO, when they had wash' d them, and clean d off every stain, they spread them out In order on the sea -shore — ^'E^e'im 7c'erai(Ta.v Tra.^'t ^Uva. c/.Xoi X *' An example of the second way occurs, in the very same passage, three verses before, in the de- scription of the washing-place ,5^. there, says he, abundance of jiue water flows, to clean any clothes, thoiiql) even very foul ; ( out: OCOvl OL eif/.ciTOi tO Wit. J An example of the third way occurs in the fourteenth Book of *V.^i. tv.93. 1:V.94. »V,86. I DEFINED BY ARISTOTLE. 23 the Iliad *, in the description of Juno dressing herself, frst, says the Poet, from her /air skin she clean d of every speck ; TtPCOTOU a,7C0 'YPOO5 IfjliOOSi'TO^ AvuaroL TtcLvrcL '/.aJimzv I shall give one other example from Homer of the first of these three w^ays ; in which , to wit , xaOca^o) is joined with the Accusa- tive of the thing taken away, and signifies to remove quite , or to clear away that thing f . upon the death of Sarpedon, Jupiter sends down Apollo to take care of his body, go down, says he, — and xeXcup£(p}c, cclf-ia. y.a.dr/ooi'' clean away the black gore. It is needless to multiply ex- amples in a case so plain; I shall but just mention one more, be- * V. 170. t U. TT. 66t. ♦ / 2 4 END OF TRAGEDY, AS cause it is extremely easy and full, it occurs in the seventh Book of Athenaeus, at the be- ■ ginning of the thirteenth Chap- ter, and is a quotation from an ancient Physician, Dorio, who wrote a book dc pisc'ibus, in which he mentioned a fish called, from a singular property, TvcL? /ca9ag?/jca- or, DEFINED BY ARISTOTLE. IJ when the Indisposition of mind,to be removed by Musick, had any connection with religious opini- on or ceremony, they were cal- led \iiM li^a.. thus, among the an- cients, the violent emotions of Enthusiasm were charmed away, and the mind composed to tran- quillity, by these hi^oi y-iM. and, on the contrary, in the celebra- tion of some of their sacred ce- remonies, or o^yia., which were performed with a high degree of rdiffloiis furor, the ordinary state of sedateness and tranquillity of mind was considered as an indis- position, or inability, for these religious duties; which was there- fore removed, and the mind wrought up to the proper degree of sacred frenzy, by that kind of the /spa ixiXn which they called D 2 2 8 END OF TRAGEDY, AS from thence 'O^y/af/m. and,when the ceremonies were over, this frenzy was, again, in its turn, re- moved, and the mind recompo- sed, and calmed, by an opposite kind of the U^% yLiXn, called 'eH- ooy/a^T/ca. the REMOVAL or cure effected by the charm of the Mu- sic was, equally in both cases, cal- led KaOa^cr/r whether a passion was removed to make way for tranquillity, by the yii'Kvi 'ESc^y/a- ^ixd- or tranquillity was removed to make way for a passion, by the The proper meaning and ac- ceptation of the word Koida^an v/ould have been easily known, had the whole three books of A- ristotle on Poetry been preser- ved ; for, in the last chapter of of his books on Government, he DEFINED BY ARISTOTLE. 29 expressly tells us so. • Musick,* says he, ' is to be employed not ' for the sake of one advantage * only, but of several; even both ' for Educatioti and for Charm, ' at present,' adds he, ' I but just * mention the word charm, Ka- * 8a^(7/$, being to explain it more ' clearly again, in the books on ' Poetry.' his words are these. di-m ym^ax oe/f, aXXa xa/ TcXeioyau •ya'o/i'. xj yoi.0 TTOuoeiai evixiv, xj xaSao- £r£w$. t/ ol Xiyoixiv rrtv KaSaoa/j', vw ix\v o-TrXcji;, ttolXiv 3g ev roii ttspI tto/j?- rmi 'E^y.iv XcL(pi- ' T«$, orav yommrcu roii 'EHo^y/agi- ' (Ti rw •I'^X^''' [xiXidi, we see them, says he,* grow co?77posed and caim, * KoSifOLixsm, as having met with a * Cure, and a Charm, w$7re§ Ur^ei- + Ibid. -• DEFINED BY ARISTOTLE. 3 3 ' as Tw^ovrac, -/.a) Ka^^doaiUi. Now,' continues he, ' those who are un- der the passions of Pity and Terror must needs feci the ve- ry same effect from such mu- sick; TO cLuro dvj rodro a.vcLyy.cuQv C>?T/)c«$: and, upon the whole,' adds he, * likewise those who are possessed by any of the passi- ons; y-cu ri^$ oXui I\Sr,riyAi,' and likewise any of the rest of man- .kind, as far as any thing of a .like kind affects them, though in some inferior depree ; t8<^ 11 aXX'Hi, xaB oVoj- £-^ci.?\? et ri ruy roi' iruv has'f. ( Guch I take to be the meaning of these last words; fq;r" example, men affected with spleen, vapours, low spirits, and the like,) he goes on. * I'bese, * all of them,' says he, • miisi reel 3 4 END OF TRAGEDY, AS a certain Charm, and find a re- lief accompanied with a plea^ sure; x) vroiai ylyvecJcu riiu KaOa^- civ, x) xi: 88Ar51 1. DIE ' Ml iGAYL « Sy. « Sto COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 032142064 \ I { ! 'S '"^ « •il ■ I " 'HI «•» -N ■■M -No ^1 jM'^'^i V,'"-- ■^ 4 \^. ||J»W«'-»._ 1 ^V ^w. ■• m t95S .*»• " ../■' ■M* •V ■'%?■■ f ■: ■?' tV