A treatise on rhetoric and style |
Unknwon |
One column of a text discussing features of style and composition followed by the
left edge of another column. The fragmentary Greek of col. I, 2-4 includes mention
of rhythm. Col. I, 4-7 seems to discuss how "onoma <to te>tupemenon" (a problematic
term) possesses forcefulness, conciseness, and meaning. In col. I, 7-9 a sequence
which seems to begin as an explanatory relative clause referring to things that are
"commonplace with respect to discourse", may have suffered some textual corruption.
Col. I, 9-14, apparently a single sentence, discusses how "metaphor, in addition to
being contrary to custom and to "sullogismos", in which "epilexeis" especially take
delight, is...". Here the text once again becomes lacunose, but it seems that the
discussion of metaphor now relates the figure in some manner, probably by way of contrast,
to the "ordinary things". The fragmentary state of col. II obscures most of the sense
for us there, but metaphor is probably mentioned in col. II, 2-3. That metaphor was
dealt with quite extensively in this section of the treatise, with perhaps a direct
continuation of the discussion from column I, is suggested as well by a probable Homeric
quotation illustrating metaphorical usage in col. I, 8. |
Renner T, PBingen, 43-46, no 9, 2000, Pl. 5 (recto) -- Morelli, CE 77, 2002, 314,
l. 4 "prosh" (already in app. c rit. and note ad loc.) |
P.Mich. inv. 3800 |
1 papyrus ; 11.5 x 7.7 cm |
Medium-brown scrap, incomplete at both top and bottom. |
Col. I, 15 lines; col. II, 12 lines |
Source of description: Recto |
The verso of the papyrus was used for another, more informally written prose text
of which there survive the right edge of one column and the final five lines of another
-the latter followed by a blank area which should indicate that this is the final
column. The subject matter of this verso text includes a possible discussion of geography
or itinerary and a mention of prophets and, perhaps, orders of priests. Although not
a deluxe quality, the hand and the overall execution of the recto text show considerable
skill as well as concern for presenting a pleasing visual appearance. Lettrs are separately
formed in a professional book hand into which cursive forms intrude only occasionally.
The line filler in col. I, 7 is part of the writer's strategy for keeping the right
edge of the column even, although he does not always attain this goal. There are no
accents, breathings, or punctuation. the standard rules for syllabification at line
end appear to have been broken in col. I, 14. Of three possible iota-adscripts, the
scribe wrote one while executing the original text, but he or someone with similar
to slightly lighter ink added the other two supralinearl. The changing of epsilon
to omicron in col. II, 8 by means of a diagonal cancellation stroke and supralinear
addition may be due to the same source, as is perhaps the marginal diagonal mark at
col. II, 2.;Despite these outward signs of formal care lavished on the book, flaws
are apparent even in the short strech of text preserved. In col. I, 5-6 the writer
appears to have inverted the first two vowels of a participial phrase and to have
spelled "deinon" as "denon". Moreover, although we can follow the topics being discussed
in col. I in a general way, on at least one occasion the syntax is diificult to construe.
thw writer or someone before him may have introduced confusion into what the format
and surviving contents would lead us to assume to have been a formal treatise. |
unknown
|
Greek |
IInd century A.D.
|
Location: Ann Arbor |
Pub. status: Recto; Verso is described |
-; Literary; Papyrus |
Recto thumbnail |
Recto medium |
Recto large |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License. |