[11,25] τοῦτο δὲ ἰδεῖν ἔστι καὶ ἐν τοῖς δικαστηρίοις καὶ παρ´ ἄλλοις
γιγνόμενον, οἳ μετὰ τέχνης ψεύδονται. οἱ δὲ βουλόμενοι τὰ γενόμενα
ἐπιδεῖξαι, ὡς ξυνέβη ἕκαστον, οὕτως ἀπαγγέλλουσι, τὸ πρῶτον
πρῶτον καὶ τὸ δεύτερον δεύτερον καὶ τἄλλα ἐφεξῆς ὁμοίως. ἓν
μὲν τοῦτο αἴτιον τοῦ μὴ κατὰ φύσιν ἄρξασθαι τῆς ποιήσεως·
ἕτερον δέ, ὅτι τὴν ἀρχὴν αὐτῆς καὶ τὸ τέλος μάλιστα ἐπεβούλευσεν
(26) ἀφανίσαι καὶ ποιῆσαι τὴν ἐναντίαν δόξαν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν.
ὅθεν οὔτε τὴν ἀρχὴν οὔτε τὸ τέλος ἐτόλμησεν εἰπεῖν ἐκ τοῦ εὐθέος, οὐδὲ
ὑπέσχετο ὑπὲρ τούτων οὐδὲν ἐρεῖν, ἀλλ´ εἴ που καὶ μέμνηται,
παρέργως καὶ βραχέως, καὶ δῆλός ἐστιν ἐπιταράττων· οὐ γὰρ
ἐθάρρει πρὸς αὐτὰ οὐδὲ ἐδύνατο εἰπεῖν ἑτοίμως. συμβαίνει δὲ
καὶ τοῦτο τοῖς ψευδομένοις ὡς τὸ πολύ γε, ἄλλα μέν τινα λέγειν
τοῦ πράγματος καὶ διατρίβειν ἐπ´ αὐτοῖς, ὃ δ´ ἂν μάλιστα κρύψαι
θέλωσιν, οὐ προτιθέμενοι λέγουσιν οὐδὲ προσέχοντι τῷ ἀκροατῇ,
οὐδ´ ἐν τῇ αὑτοῦ χώρᾳ τιθέντες, ἀλλ´ ὡς ἂν λάθοι μάλιστα,
καὶ διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ὅτι αἰσχύνεσθαι ποιεῖ τὸ ψεῦδος καὶ ἀποκνεῖν
(27) προσιέναι πρὸς αὑτό, ἄλλως τε ὅταν ᾖ περὶ τῶν μεγίστων. ὅθεν
οὐδὲ τῇ φωνῇ μέγα λέγουσιν οἱ ψευδόμενοι, ὅταν ἐπὶ τοῦτο ἔλθωσιν· οἱ δέ τινες
αὐτῶν βατταρίζουσι καὶ ἀσαφῶς λέγουσιν· οἱ
δὲ οὐχ ὡς αὐτοί τι εἰδότες, ἀλλ´ ὡς ἑτέρων ἀκούσαντες. ὃς δ´ ἂν
ἀληθὲς λέγῃ τι, θαρρῶν καὶ οὐδὲν ὑποστελλόμενος λέγει. οὔτε
οὖν τὰ περὶ τὴν ἁρπαγὴν τῆς Ἑλένης Ὅμηρος εἴρηκεν ἐκ τοῦ εὐθέος οὐδὲ
παρρησίαν ἄγων ἐπ´ αὐτοῖς οὔτε τὰ περὶ τῆς ἁλώσεως
τῆς πόλεως. καίτοι γάρ, ὡς ἔφην, ἀνδρειότατος ὢν ὑποκατεκλίνετο
καὶ ἡττᾶτο, ὅτι ᾔδει τἀναντία λέγων τοῖς οὖσι καὶ τὸ κεφάλαιον
αὐτὸ τοῦ πράγματος ψευδόμενος.
(28) ἢ πόθεν μᾶλλον ἄρξασθαι ἔπρεπεν ἢ ἀπ´ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἀδικήματος
καὶ τῆς ὕβρεως τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου, δι´ ἣν συνέστη ὁ πόλεμος, ἐπειδὴ συνωργίζοντο
ἂν πάντες οἱ τῇ ποιήσει ἐντυγχάνοντες καὶ συνεφιλονίκουν ὑπὲρ τοῦ τέλους
καὶ μηδεὶς ἠλέει τοὺς Τρῶας ἐφ´ οἷς ἔπασχον· {οὕτω γὰρ εὐνούστερον
(29) καὶ προθυμότερον ἕξειν ἔμελλε τὸν ἀκροατήν.} εἰ δ´ αὖ ἐβούλετο τὰ
μέγιστα καὶ φοβερώτατα εἰπεῖν καὶ πάθη παντοδαπὰ καὶ συμφοράς, ἔτι δὲ ὃ
πάντων μάλιστα ἕκαστος ἐπόθει ἀκοῦσαι, τί μεῖζον
ἢ δεινότερον εἶχεν εἰπεῖν τῆς ἁλώσεως; οὔτε ἀνθρώπους πλείους
ἀποθνήσκοντας οὐδὲ οἰκτρότερον τοὺς μὲν ἐπὶ τοὺς βωμοὺς τῶν
θεῶν καταφεύγοντας, τοὺς δὲ ἀμυνομένους ὑπὲρ τῶν τέκνων καὶ
τῶν γυναικῶν, οὔτε γυναῖκας ἢ παρθένους {ἄλλοτε} ἀγομένας {βασιλίδας} ἐπὶ
δουλείᾳ τε καὶ αἰσχύνῃ, τὰς μὲν ἀνδρῶν, τὰς δὲ πατέρων,
τὰς δὲ ἀδελφῶν ἀποσπωμένας, τὰς δέ τινας αὐτῶν τῶν ἀγαλμάτων,
ὁρώσας μὲν τοὺς φιλτάτους {ἄνδρας} ἐν φόνῳ κειμένους καὶ μὴ δυναμένας
ἀσπάσασθαι μηδὲ καθελεῖν τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς,
| [11,25] This is just what may be seen happening
in courts of justice and in the case of others who lie
skilfully; whereas those who wish to present each
fact as it really occurred do so by reporting the
first thing first, the second next, and so on in like
order. This is one reason why Homer did not begin
his poem in the natural way. Another is that he
planned especially to do away with its beginning
and its end as far as possible and to create the
very opposite impression concerning them. That
is why he did not dare to tell either the beginning
or the end in a straightforward way and did not
bind himself to say anything about them, but if he
does make mention of them anywhere, it is incidental
and brief, and he is evidently trying to confuse.
For he was ill at ease with respect to these parts and
unable to speak freely. The following device, too,
is usually employed by those who wish to deceive :
They mention some parts of the story and dwell
upon them, but what they are particularly anxious
to conceal they do not bring out clearly or when
their auditor is paying attention, nor do they put it
in its proper place, but where it may best escape
notice. They do this, not only for the reason just
mentioned, but also because lying makes them
ashamed and reluctant to go on with it, especially
when it is about the most important matters. And so
liars do not speak aloud when they come to this part.
Some of them falter and speak indistinctly, others
as if they themselves did not know but spoke from
hearsay. He, however, who speaks the truth, does
so without fear or reserve. Now Homer was not
straightforward or frank when telling of the abduction
of Helen or the fall of Troy. Nay, with all
that boldness which I have said he had, he nevertheless
flinched and weakened because he knew he
was telling the reverse of the truth and falsifying
the essential part of his subject.
(28) Or at what point of the story might Homer have
more properly begun than with Paris' wanton crime
itself, which caused the war, since all the readers
of his poem would then have joined in indignation
and would have been eager for the outcome, and
no one would have pitied the sufferings of the
Trojans? For by so doing Homer would have been
assured of a more sympathetic and interested audience.
If, on the other hand, he wished to describe
the greatest and most terrible things, all forms of
suffering and calamity, and, further, to tell what
everybody was yearning above all things to hear,
what greater or more awe-inspiring subject could he
have chosen than the capture of the city ? He could
not have found an event in which a greater number
of people met their death or where with greater
pathos men fled to the altars of their gods or fought
to save their children and wives, where royal matrons
and maidens were dragged away to slavery and disgrace
in foreign parts, some torn from their husbands,
some from their fathers, others from their brothers,
and some even from the holy images, while they
beheld their beloved husbands weltering in their
blood and yet were unable to embrace them or to
close their eyes,
|