Comedy is, as we have said, an imitation of characters of a lower

type- not, however, in the full sense of the word bad, the ludicrous

being merely a subdivision of the ugly. It consists in some defect

or ugliness which is not painful or destructive. To take an obvious

example, the comic mask is ugly and distorted, but does not imply

pain.

The successive changes through which Tragedy passed, and the authors

of these changes, are well known, whereas Comedy has had no history,

because it was not at first treated seriously. It was late before

the Archon granted a comic chorus to a poet; the performers were

till then voluntary. Comedy had already taken definite shape when

comic poets, distinctively so called, are heard of. Who furnished it

with masks, or prologues, or increased the number of actors- these and

other similar details remain unknown. As for the plot, it came

originally from Sicily; but of Athenian writers Crates was the first

who abandoning the 'iambic' or lampooning form, generalized his themes

and plots.

Epic poetry agrees with Tragedy in so far as it is an imitation in

verse of characters of a higher type. They differ in that Epic

poetry admits but one kind of meter and is narrative in form. They

differ, again, in their length: for Tragedy endeavors, as far as

possible, to confine itself to a single revolution of the sun, or

but slightly to exceed this limit, whereas the Epic action has no

limits of time. This, then, is a second point of difference; though at

first the same freedom was admitted in Tragedy as in Epic poetry.

Of their constituent parts some are common to both, some peculiar to

Tragedy: whoever, therefore knows what is good or bad Tragedy, knows

also about Epic poetry. All the elements of an Epic poem are found

in Tragedy, but the elements of a Tragedy are not all found in the

Epic poem.

POETICS|6

喜剧在, 如同我们说, 字符的模仿更低

输入不是, 然而, 词坏, 可笑的充分的感觉

仅仅是细分丑恶。它包括在某一瑕疵

或不是痛苦或破坏性的丑陋。采取明显

例子, 可笑的面具是丑恶和变形, 但不暗示

痛苦。

悲剧通过的连续变动, 和作者

这些变动, 是知名的, 但是喜剧没有历史,

因为它不是起初严重对待。以前是晚

Archon 授予了可笑的合唱诗人; 执行者是

直到然后义务。喜剧已经需要确定形状当

可笑的诗人, 特别地所谓, 被听说。谁装备了它

以面具, 或序幕, 或增加演员的数量这些和

其它相似的细节依然是未知。至于剧情, 它来了

最初从西西里岛; 但亚典人作家条板箱是一

谁摒弃'iambic' 或lampooning 形式, 被推断他的题材

并且剧情。

史诗与悲剧一致只要这是模仿

更高的型的字符诗歌。他们不同由于史诗

诗歌承认但一米和是叙事的以形式。他们

不同, 再, 在他们的长度: 为悲剧努力, 就

可能, 限制自己对太阳的一次唯一革命, 或

但轻微地超出这个极限, 但是史诗行动有没有

时间极限。这, 然后, 是第二个问题的区别; 虽则在

首先同样自由被承认了在悲剧和在史诗。

他们的构成部分一些对两个, 一些是共同奇怪

悲剧: 谁, 知道因此什么是好或坏悲剧, 知道

并且关于史诗。所有一首史诗诗的元素被发现

在悲剧, 而是悲剧的元素不是所有被发现在

史诗诗。