same
story the result is very disappointing. This is shown by the fact that
all who have dramatized the fall of Ilium in its entirety, and not part
by part, like Euripides, or the whole of the Niobe story, instead of a
portion, like Aeschylus, either fail utterly or have but ill success
on the stage; for that and that alone was enough to ruin a play by
Agathon. Yet in their Peripeties, as also in their simple plots, the
poets I mean show wonderful skill in aiming at the kind of effect they
desire--a tragic situation that arouses the human feeling in one, like
the clever villain (e.g. Sisyphus) deceived, or the brave wrongdoer
worsted. This is probable, however, only in Agathon's sense, when he
speaks of the probability of even improbabilities coming to pass. (7)
The Chorus too should be regarded as one of the actors; it should be an
integral part of the whole, and take a share in the action--that which
it has in Sophocles rather than in Euripides. With the later poets,
however, the songs in a play of theirs have no more to do with the Plot
of that than of any other tragedy. Hence it is that they are now singing
intercalary pieces, a practice first introduced by Agathon. And yet what
real difference is there between singing such intercalary pieces, and
attempting to fit in a speech, or even a whole act, from one play into
another?

19

The Plot and Characters having been discussed, it remains to consider
the Diction and Thought. As for the Thought, we may assume what is
said of it in our Art of Rhetoric, as it belongs more properly to
that department of inquiry. The Thought of the personages is shown in
everything to be effected by their language--in every effort to prove
or disprove, to arouse emotion (pity, fear, anger, and the like), or
to maximize or minimize things. It is clear, also, that their mental
procedure must be on the same lines in their actions likewise, whenever
they wish them to arouse pity or horror, or have a look of importance or
probability. The only difference is that with the act the impression has
to be made without explanation; whereas with the spoken word it has to
be produced by the speaker, and result from his language. What, indeed,
would be the good of the speaker, if things appeared in the required
light even apart from anything he says?

As regards the Diction, one subject for inquiry under this head is the
turns given to the language when spoken; e.g. the difference between
c