Logic and Theory of Knowledge 115
omicron, upsilon, omega; and six mutes: beta, gamma, delta, kappa, pi,
tau. Utterance and speech differ in that utterance also includes echoes,
while only what is articulate [counts as] speech. And speech differs from
rational discourse in that rational discourse is always significant, and
speech [can] also [be] meaningless, like the 'word' blituri, while rational
discourse cannot be. There is a difference between saying and verbalizing.
For utterances are verbalized, while what is said are facts (which [is why
they] are also 'things said' [lekta]).
There are five parts of rational discourse, as Diogenes says in On
Utterance and also Chrysippus: name, noun, verb, conjunction, article.
And Anti pater also adds the participle in his On Speech and Things Which
are Said.
- According to Diogenes, a noun is a part of rational discourse which
signifies a common quality, for example 'man', 'horse'; a name is a part
of rational discourse which reveals an individual quality, for example
'Diogenes', 'Socrates'; a verb as Diogenes says, is a part of rational
discourse which signifies an incomposite predicate, or as others [say], it
is an undeclined element of rational discourse which signifies something
put together with [lit. of] some thing or things, for example 'write',
'speak'; a conjunction is an undeclined part of rational discourse which
joins together the parts of rational discourse; an article is a declined
element of rational discourse which distinguishes the genders and num-
bers of names, for example ho, he, to, hoi, hai, ta.^7
- There are five virtues of rational discourse: good Greek, clarity,
brevity, propriety, elaboration. Good Greek, then, is diction which is in
conformity not with any common usage but one sanctioned by the art
[of grammar]; clarity is speech which presents what is thought in a
recognizable fashion; brevity is speech which includes exactly what is
necessary for the revelation of its object; propriety is speech which is
appropriate to its object; elaboration is speech which has transcended
ordinariness. Of the vices, barbarism is a [form of] speech which violates
the normal usage of reputable Greeks; solecism is rational discourse which
is put together incongruently.
- According to Posidonius in his Introduction to Speech, a poem is
metrical speech, or rhythmical speech together with elaboration which
escapes being prosaic. The rhythmical is:^8
Greatest Earth and Zeus' sky.
- The six nominative forms of the Greek article 'the', given in singular and plural numbers
and masculine, feminine and neuter genders.
- The metre of the Greek (fr. 839 ofEuripides inNauck) cannot be reproduced in translation.
