Add to this that Ariphrades
used to ridicule the tragedians for introducing expressions unknown in
the language of common life, _doeaton hapo_ (for _apo domaton_),
_sethen_, _hego de nin_, _Achilleos peri_ (for _peri Achilleos_), and
the like. The mere fact of their not being in ordinary speech gives
the Diction a non-prosaic character; but Ariphrades was unaware of
that. It is a great thing, indeed, to make a proper use of these
poetical forms, as also of compounds and strange words. But the
greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one
thing that cannot be learnt from others; and it is also a sign of
genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the
similarity in dissimilars.
Of the kinds of words we have enumerated it may be observed that
compounds are most in place in the dithyramb, strange words in heroic,
and metaphors in iambic poetry. Heroic poetry, indeed, may avail
itself of them all. But in iambic verse, which models itself as far as
possible on the spoken language, only those kinds of words are in
place which are allowable also in an oration, i.
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