M. CORNELIUS FRONTO
here we have a second; kin against kin embattled: that will be a third; guilt that was shared by all: he tells off his fourth; and standards set against standards: he piles up a fifth to boot; eagles with eagles snatched: here's the sixth! why, this is a labour of Hercules; and javelins poised against javelins: a seventh! a bull's hide from the shield of Ajax. Wilt never be done, Annaeus? Or if no end or limit is ever to be kept, why not add clarions also alike? And you might go on, and the well-known blare of the bugles. Yes, and follow up with cuirasses and helmets and belts and all the paraphernalia of a soldier.
6. Apollonius, however—for Homer's openings are not equally skilful—Apollonius, I say, who wrote the Argonautica, describes five quite distinct facts explicitly in five lines: κλέα φωτῶν,[1] the heroes who sailed; οἶ Πόντοιο κατὰ στόμα, the route by which they sailed; βασιλῆος ἐφημοσύνῃ Πελίαο, at whose hest they sailed; χρυσεῖον μετὰ κῶας, on what quest they sailed; ἐύζυγον ἤλασαν Ἀργώ, the ship on which they were carried.
These writers, as well rhetoricians as poets, do just what harpers are wont to do, who dwell with many varied intonations on some single vowel from Ino or from Aedon.[2]
7. What shall I say of meanness and slovenliness in words? What of words rhythmically arranged and effeminately fluent? . . . . . . . . . . . . and from dislike regard with a critical eye
- ↑ Glories of heroes,—who by the Pontic strait,—as their monarch Pelias bade them,—seeking the Golden Fleece,—rowed forth in the well-built Argo.
- ↑ Musical plays so named from their subjects; but the names are by no means certain, and various others have been proposed instead.
