About Plots - Greek Translation Excerpt from Aristotle's Poetics Ch. 8

NGE 2024 Excerpt from Aristotle's Poetics ch. viii.

1 μῦθος δ᾽ ἐστὶν εἷς οὐ δίοτι ἐστὶν περὶ ἕνος ἀνθρώπου: 

2 πολλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἄπειρα τῷ ἑνὶ ἀνθρώπῳ συμβαίνει, ἄπειρος, ἄπειρον: boundless συμβαίνω: happen

3 οὕτως δὲ καὶ ἔργα ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου πολλά ἐστίν.

4 διὸ πολλοὶ ποιηταὶ δόκουσιν ἁμαρτάνειν: ἐπεὶ εἷς ἦν ὁ Ἡρακλῆς, 

5 ὁ μῦθος εἶναι οὐ προσήκει εἷς.

6 ὁ δ᾽ Ὅμηρος ὥσπερ καὶ μάλιστα διαφέρει καὶ τοῦτ᾽ δοκεῖ

7 καλῶς ἰδεῖν, ἢ διὰ τέχνην ἢ διὰ φύσιν: ἐπεὶ γὰρ Ὀδύσσειαν ποιεῖ,

8 οὐκ ποιεῖ πάντα ἃ τῷ Ὀδυσσεῖ συνέβη ἀλλὰ περὶ ἓν ἔργον

9 ὃ λέγομεν τὴν Ὀδύσσειαν συνίστανει, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὴν Ἰλιάδα. …

10 φανερὸν δὲ ἐκ τῶν λόγων οὓς ποιῶ: τὸ τοῦ ποιητοῦ ἔργον

11 οὐκ ἐστίν λέγειν πάντα ἅ γίγνεται, ἀλλ᾽ οἷα ὁ ἄνθρωπος ποιεῖν ἔχει. 

A Literal Translation of the NGE Passage

But the plot of a story is not one because it is about one man: For many and boundless things happen by one man, but in this way and of one man many words are. 

Thus many poets seem to err: Since one was Heracles, the story does not happen to be one. 

But just as Homer both is differing especially and this seems best to know of the beautiful, or through skill or through talent: For since he makes The Odyssey, he doesn't make all that happened to Odysseus but concerning one work which we say he constructs The Odyssey, and but the same the Iliad. ...

But I make clear out of the words which: The work of the poet is not all which he happens to say, but the sorts of things the man is able to make. 

An English Translation of the Passage

Just because there is one character does not mean there's one plot. 

Poets make this mistake a lot. Look at Heracles, he was one man, but in many plots. 

But Homer is especially different from those who err and seems to know the beautiful best, through skill or talent: For he makes The Odyssey, he doesn't make all that happened to Odysseus, but makes one work in constructing The Odyssey, the same with the Iliad. 

I make this clear by saying: The work of the poet is not to present everything the characters happens to say, but the story the man is able to construct. 

The Actual Un-adapted Passage from Poetics 8

μῦθος δ᾽ ἐστὶν εἷς οὐχ ὥσπερ τινὲς οἴονται ἐὰν περὶ ἕνα ᾖ: πολλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἄπειρα τῷ ἑνὶ συμβαίνει, ἐξ ὧν ἐνίων οὐδέν ἐστιν ἕν: οὕτως δὲ καὶ πράξεις ἑνὸς πολλαί εἰσιν, ἐξ ὧν μία οὐδεμία γίνεται πρᾶξις. διὸ πάντες ἐοίκασιν [20] ἁμαρτάνειν ὅσοι τῶν ποιητῶν Ἡρακληίδα Θησηίδα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα ποιήματα πεποιήκασιν: οἴονται γάρ, ἐπεὶ εἷς ἦν ὁ Ἡρακλῆς, ἕνα καὶ τὸν μῦθον εἶναι προσήκειν. ὁ δ᾽ Ὅμηρος ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ ἄλλα διαφέρει καὶ τοῦτ᾽ ἔοικεν καλῶς ἰδεῖν, ἤτοι διὰ τέχνην ἢ διὰ φύσιν: Ὀδύσσειαν [25] γὰρ ποιῶν οὐκ ἐποίησεν ἅπαντα ὅσα αὐτῷ συνέβη, οἷον πληγῆναι μὲν ἐν τῷ Παρνασσῷ, μανῆναι δὲ προσποιήσασθαι ἐν τῷ ἀγερμῷ, ὧν οὐδὲν θατέρου γενομένου ἀναγκαῖον ἦν ἢ εἰκὸς θάτερον γενέσθαι, ἀλλὰ περὶ μίαν πρᾶξιν οἵαν λέγομεν τὴν Ὀδύσσειαν συνέστησεν, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὴν [30] Ἰλιάδα. χρὴ οὖν, καθάπερ καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἄλλαις μιμητικαῖς ἡ μία μίμησις ἑνός ἐστιν, οὕτω καὶ τὸν μῦθον, ἐπεὶ πράξεως μίμησίς ἐστι, μιᾶς τε εἶναι καὶ ταύτης ὅλης, καὶ τὰ μέρη συνεστάναι τῶν πραγμάτων οὕτως ὥστε μετατιθεμένου τινὸς μέρους ἢ ἀφαιρουμένου διαφέρεσθαι καὶ κινεῖσθαι τὸ ὅλον: ὃ γὰρ προσὸν [35] ἢ μὴ προσὸν μηδὲν ποιεῖ ἐπίδηλον, οὐδὲν μόριον τοῦ ὅλου ἐστίν.

φανερὸν δὲ ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων καὶ ὅτι οὐ τὸ τὰ γενόμενα λέγειν, τοῦτο ποιητοῦ ἔργον ἐστίν, ἀλλ᾽ οἷα ἂν γένοιτο καὶ τὰ δυνατὰ κατὰ τὸ εἰκὸς ἢ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον. ὁ γὰρ ἱστορικὸς καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς οὐ τῷ ἢ ἔμμετρα λέγειν ἢ ἄμετρα διαφέρουσιν

Perseus Translation of Un-adapted Passage

A plot does not have unity, as some people think, simply because it deals with a single hero. Many and indeed innumerable things happen to an individual, some of which do not go to make up any unity, and similarly an individual is concerned in many actions which do not combine into a single piece of action. [20] It seems therefore that all those poets are wrong who have written a Heracleid or Theseid or other such poems.2 They think that because Heracles was a single individual the plot must for that reason have unity. But Homer, supreme also in all other respects, was apparently well aware of this truth either by instinct or from knowledge of his art. For in writing an Odyssey he did not put in all that ever happened to Odysseus, his being wounded on Parnassus, for instance, or his feigned madness when the host was gathered (these being events neither of which necessarily or probably led to the other）, but he constructed his Odyssey round a single action in our sense of the phrase. And the Iliad the same.

What we have said already makes it further clear that a poet's object is not to tell what actually happened but what could and would happen either probably or inevitably.