Page:Aristotle s Poetics Butcher.djvu/24

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THE POETICS OF ARISTOTLE

Rev. 1901, vol. xv. 54):—'Professor Butcher . . . informed me that a continental scholar had asserted that the Arabic read ἐκστατικοί for ἐξεταστικοί in this passage. I had been unable to satisfy myself about the Arabic word intended by the writer of the Paris MS., and therefore could not confirm this; but I must regret my want of perspicacity, for I have now no doubt that the word intended is ‘ajabiyyīna, which is vulgar Arabic for "buffoons," literally "men of wonder." The Syriac translated by this word will almost certainly have been mathh'rānē, a literal translation of ἐκστατικοί, which the Syriac translator probably thought meant " men who produce ecstasies." The verb ἐξίστασθαι is not unfrequently rendered by the Syriac verb whence this word is derived.'

In a few other passages the Critical Notes or Translation contain new matter; e.g. ix. 8. 1451b 23; xvi. 7. 1455a 14; xxiv. 10. 1460b 1; xxvi. 6. 1462b 7.

I cannot in concluding omit a word of cordial thanks to Messrs. R. & R. Clark's accomplished Reader.


Edinburgh, October 1902.