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Prolegomena in Aphthonii progymnasmata

PROLEGOMENA OF JOHN THE DEACON, ARGYROPOULOS, TO THE RHETORICAL PRELIMINARY EXERCISES

Since it is our purpose to speak about the preliminary exercises, it is necessary

to discuss first who their father is and from what cause he was led to their composition. The father, then, of the present book of Preliminary Exercises is Aphthonius of Antioch in Syria, the student of Libanius of Phasganius. And the cause which spurred him to the composition of the Preliminary Exercises is this. To the emperor Marcus, who was both a jurist and most learned, Hermogenes the sophist was a very close friend; to whom, gratifying his earlier request, he encompassed and handed over the entire art and power of rhetoric in four books, which are the so-called Staseis, the Heureseis, the Ideai and the Methodoi; which he also named Rhetoric, being useful to all and especially to those diligent in the laws. but since this four-book work, composed for the sake of exercise in the art of the orators, was formidable for the young who were just encountering it and in need, as it were, of some 14.157 introduction, this same aforementioned Hermogenes again composed other preliminary exercises, twelve in number, contributing to this purpose, which are these: fable, narrative, chreia, maxim, refutation and confirmation, commonplace, encomium, comparison, characterization, description, thesis and introduction of a law. But since these seemed somewhat unclear and difficult to grasp, being without examples, many other rhetoricians, and indeed also the present sophist Aphthonius, set forth others in their place, which were preferred for reading as being clearer. And while there were twelve, as we said, which Hermogenes composed, this man divided them into fourteen; for while that one taught both encomium and invective in one and the same lesson, this man assigned a separate lesson to each, one for encomium and again another for invective, and similarly concerning refutation and confirmation. But since we have explained both the father of the book and the cause, let us go through the remaining points and first say why they are called preliminary exercises and what the definition of a preliminary exercise and an exercise is. Exercises, then, are properly called the practices of fictitious political hypotheses, so that through them we may be exercised in the speeches of true (sic) h(mw½n-iam sequuntur in brevius contracta verbis identidem mutatis ex Doxapatris Prolegomenis 9: 137, 6- 138, 11. 143, 11-144, 8. 127, 22-128, 8. 134, 10. 135, 3-141, 21ὡς ἔν τισι τῶν ἄλλων. Hic explicit V; et in Pn maior pars paginae (f. 7v) vacua est. Qui codicem Pn exaravit, cum statim sibi proposuisset occasione data supplementa addere, multa 14.158folia vacua insuper insuenda curaverat. Pergitur igitur f. 8r: τι δὲ πρὸς τὸ δηλωθῆναι ὅτι ἡ ῥητορικὴ πρᾶγμα ἐστὶν ἔμμεσον usque ad f. 10rτοὺς νόμους ἐκάλουν, ex Dox. 9109, 8-127, 5. Litterarum ductus non est idem atque f. 7, idem tamen erat librarius, qui non uno tenore et priora et haec scripsit. Haec igitur non sunt Ioannis Argyropuli

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Prolegomena in Aphthonii progymnasmata

ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ ∆ΙΑΚΟΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΑΡΓΥΡΟΠΟΥΛΟΥ ΠΡΟΛΕΓΟΜΕΝΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΑ ΤΗΣ ΡΗΤΟΡΙΚΗΣ ΠΡΟΓΥΜΝΑΣΜΑΤΑ

Ἐπειδήπερ ἡμῖν πρόκειται περὶ τῶν προγυμνασμάτων εἰπεῖν, ἀναγκαῖον

διαλαβεῖν πρῶτον, τίς ὁ τούτων πατὴρ καὶ ὅθεν πρὸς τὴν τούτων προήχθη συγγραφήν. Ἔστι τοίνυν πατὴρ τῆς παρούσης τῶν Προγυμνασμάτων βίβλου Ἀφθόνιος Ἀντιοχεὺς ὁ Σύρος, ὁ Λιβανίου τοῦ Φασγανίου μαθητής. Ἡ δὲ αἰτία, ἣ πρὸς τὴν τῶν Προγυμνασμάτων αὐτὸν ἔνυξε συγγραφήν, ἔστιν αὕτη. Μάρκῳ βασιλεῖ, νομοτριβεῖ τε ὄντι καὶ φιλολογωτάτῳ, φίλος ἦν ἐς τὰ μάλιστα Ἑρμογένης ὁ σοφιστής· ᾧ καὶ χαριζόμενος αὐτῷ πρότερον αἰτήσαντι ἅπασαν τὴν τῆς ῥητορικῆς τέχνην καὶ δύναμιν ἐν τέσσαρσι βιβλίοις συμπεριλαβὼν παραδέδωκεν, ἅπερ εἰσὶν αἱ καλούμεναι Στάσεις, αἱ Εὑρέσεις, αἱ Ἰδέαι καὶ αἱ Μέθοδοι· ἃ καὶ Ῥητορικὴν ὠνόμασε, λυσιτελῆ τε οὖσαν πᾶσι καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς περὶ νόμους σπουδάζουσιν. ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ τὸ τετράβιβλον τουτὶ σύνταγμα, γυμνασίας χάριν συντεθὲν πρὸς τὴν τῶν ῥητόρων τέχνην, δεινὸν ἦν πρὸς τοὺς ἄρτι τῶν νέων ἐντυγχάνοντας αὐτῷ καὶ ὡσπερεί τινος εἰσ 14.157 αγωγῆς δεόμενον, αὐτὸς οὗτος καὶ αὖθις ὁ δηλωθεὶς Ἑρμογένης ἕτερα συνέταξε προγυμνάσματα τὸν ἀριθμὸν ὄντα δυοκαίδεκα πρὸς τοῦτο συντείνοντα, ἃ καὶ εἰσὶ ταῦτα· μῦθος, διήγημα, χρεία, γνώμη, ἀνασκευὴ καὶ κατασκευή, κοινὸς τόπος, ἐγκώμιον, σύγκρισις, ἠθοποιία, ἔκφρασις, θέσις καὶ εἰσφορὰ τοῦ νόμου. ἐπεὶ δὲ ταῦτα ἀσαφῆ πως ἐδόκουν καὶ δύσληπτα ἅτε ὄντα ἀπαραδειγμάτιστα, ἕτερα ἀντὶ τούτων ἐξέθεντο ἄλλοι τε πολλοὶ τῶν ῥητόρων καὶ δὴ καὶ ὁ παρὼν σοφιστὴς Ἀφθόνιος, ἃ καὶ μᾶλλον προὐκρίθησαν ἀναγινώσκεσθαι ὡς σαφέστερα. δώδεκα δὲ ὄντα, ὡς ἔφημεν, ἅπερ ὁ Ἑρμογένης συνέταξεν, οὗτος εἰς δεκατέσσαρα ταῦτα διεῖλε· ἐκείνου μὲν γὰρ ἐν μιᾷ καὶ τῇ αὐτῇ διδασκαλίᾳ τό τε ἐγκώμιον καὶ τὸν ψόγον διδάσκοντος, οὗτος ἰδίαν ἀπένειμεν ἑκάστῳ διδασκαλίαν, ἰδίαν μὲν ἐγκωμίῳ καὶ αὖ ἰδίαν ψόγῳ, καὶ περὶ ἀνασκευῆς δὲ καὶ κατασκευῆς ὁμοίως. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τόν τε πατέρα τῆς βίβλου καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν ἀποδεδώκαμεν, φέρε καὶ περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν διέλθωμεν καὶ πρῶτον εἴπωμεν, διὰ τί τε προγυμνάσματα καλοῦνται καὶ τίς ὅρος προγυμνάσματος καὶ γυμνάσματος. γυμνάσματα μὲν οὖν λέγονται κυρίως αἱ τῶν πολιτικῶν ὑποθέσεων μελέται τῶν πλασματικῶν, ὡς δι' αὐτῶν εἰς τοὺς τῶν ἀληθεινῶν (sic) ὑποθέσεων λόγους γυμναζομένωνh(mw½n-iam sequuntur in brevius contracta verbis identidem mutatis ex Doxapatris Prolegomenis 9: 137, 6- 138, 11. 143, 11-144, 8. 127, 22-128, 8. 134, 10. 135, 3-141, 21ὡς ἔν τισι τῶν ἄλλων. Hic explicit V; et in Pn maior pars paginae (f. 7v) vacua est. Qui codicem Pn exaravit, cum statim sibi proposuisset occasione data supplementa addere, multa 14.158folia vacua insuper insuenda curaverat. Pergitur igitur f. 8r: τι δὲ πρὸς τὸ δηλωθῆναι ὅτι ἡ ῥητορικὴ πρᾶγμα ἐστὶν ἔμμεσον usque ad f. 10rτοὺς νόμους ἐκάλουν, ex Dox. 9109, 8-127, 5. Litterarum ductus non est idem atque f. 7, idem tamen erat librarius, qui non uno tenore et priora et haec scripsit. Haec igitur non sunt Ioannis Argyropuli