Demosthenes and Cicero seems to have been a favourite topic. Apart from Cicero, not one Roman author is so much as named by the Greek critics, even by Dionysius, who lived in Rome for many years and was a diligent student of Roman history. And yet, in spite of the limitations, whether inevitable or self-imposed, of their outlook, and in spite of a certain under-estimation of the difficulties of their task which sometimes led them to make sweeping statements without adequate examination of the ground, the importance of the Greek critics is very considerable. They enunciated with great clearness, if with an excess of rigour, most of the principles fundamental to literary excellence. They indicated, though they did not always follow up, the main lines of advance in criticism. At their best, they are masters of their craft: at their worst, they are at any rate enterprising and interesting pioneers. BIBLIOGRAPHY IN appreciating criticism, it is helpful to have some knowledge of the object criticised. Many of those who read this book will probably be acquainted, at least through translations, with Homer and the tragedians. But the Greek prose-writers, and in particular the orators, who occupied the attention of the Greek critics so largely, are less widely known. Now, however, thanks to the Loeb library, translations of even the lesser Attic orators are appearing, and it is possible to obtain accurate and readable versions of almost all the writers criticised. For getting some idea of the general development of Greek literature, Professor Gilbert Murray's delightful Ancient Greek Literature may be used: or, if quite a short sketch is required, the section on Greek literature in the Cambridge Companion to Greek Studies. For translations of the Greek literary critics themselves, I may, to avoid needless repetition, refer to the preface. I will add that Bywater's Poetics and Rhys Roberts' Dionysius (On Literary Composition and The Three Literary Letters) are all works on a big scale with introduction, text, translation and notes: but that Bywater's translation of the Poetics is also published separately in a cheap edition. Professor Rhys Roberts' monumental works are of the greatest possible value to all students of the subject: and I may perhaps be allowed to pay my tribute of admiration to the masterly skill with which he has reproduced the peculiar qualities of Longinus' style. It is much to be hoped that he will before long give us a translation of the remaining rhetorical writings of Dionysius. Of modern books on Greek literary criticism the most important are Emile Egger's Essai sur l'Histoire de la Critique chez les Grecs (2nd edition, Paris, 1885) and the first part of the first volume of Professor Saintsbury's History of Criticism. W. P. Johnston's Greek Literary Criticism, the Chancellor's Essay for 1907 (Oxford, B. H. Blackwell), is full of interesting points. The first 119 pages of the late Professor Bernard Bosanquet's History of Aesthetic are invaluable for the study of the philosophical side of Greek criticism. For its rhetorical side the reader may consult Jebb's Attic Orators, especially the first chapter of the first volume and the last of the second. A Contest for the Throne of Tragedy. Frogs 756-1533 II. ANTIPHANES How easy it is to write a Tragedy. Frag. 191 PAGE vii xxxvii Higher and Lower Arts. Gorgias 501-505 Education and the Criterion of Art. Laws 653-660 I 37 Ion 38 42 48 49 50 Republic 53 Republic 68 89 98 The Danger of Musical Innovation. Laws 796-804 The Essential Nature of Comedy. Poetics 5 Comparison between Epic and Tragedy. Poetics 26 The Different Styles of Rhetoric. Rhetoric III. xii. 1-6 V. DIONYSIUS OF HALICARNASSUS The Three Styles of Composition. De Compositione Verborum xxi.-xxiv. . The Decline and Revival of Greek Oratory. Oratoribus 1-4 intiqui De Antiquis The Style of Isocrates. De Isocrate 2 145 150 153 154 De Isocrate 12 156 157 13 VI. LONGINUS The Nature of the Sublime. On the Sublime 1-3 165 169 172 The Greatness of Plato: the Advantages of Imitation. |