his sister reveals who she is by the
letter, Orestes is made to say himself what the poet rather than
the story demands. This, therefore, is not far removed from the
first-mentioned fault, since he might have presented certain tokens
as well. Another instance is the 'shuttle's voice' in the _Tereus_ of
Sophocles. (3) A third species is Discovery through memory, from a man's
consciousness being awakened by something seen or heard. Thus in _The
Cyprioe_ of Dicaeogenes, the sight of the picture makes the man burst
into tears; and in the _Tale of Alcinous_, hearing the harper Ulysses is
reminded of the past and weeps; the Discovery of them being the
result. (4) A fourth kind is Discovery through reasoning; e.g. in _The
Choephoroe_: 'One like me is here; there is no one like me but Orestes;
he, therefore, must be here.' Or that which Polyidus the Sophist
suggested for _Iphigenia_; since it was natural for Orestes to reflect:
'My sister was sacrificed, and I am to be sacrificed like her.' Or that
in the _Tydeus_ of Theodectes: 'I came to find a son, and am to die
myself.' Or that in _The Phinidae_: on seeing the place the women
inferred their fate, that they were to die there, since they had also
been exposed there. (5) There is, too, a composite Discovery arising
from bad reasoning on the side of the other party. An instance of it is
in _Ulysses the False Messenger_: he said he should know the bow--which
he had not seen; but to suppose from that that he would know it again
(as though he had once seen it) was bad reasoning. (6) The best of all
Discoveries, however, is that arising from the incidents themselves,
when the great surprise comes about through a probable incident, like
that in the _Oedipus_ of Sophocles; and also in _Iphigenia_; for it was
not improbable that she should wish to have a letter taken home. These
last are the only Discoveries independent of the artifice of signs and
necklaces. Next after them come Discoveries through reasoning.

17

At the time when he is constructing his Plots, and engaged on the
Diction in which they are worked out, the poet should remember (1) to
put the actual scenes as far as possible before his eyes. In this way,
seeing everything with the vividness of an eye-witness as it were,
he will devise what is appropriate, and be least likely to overlook
incongruities. This is shown by what was censured in Carcinus, the
return of Amphiaraus from the sanctuary; it would have pass