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II. Besides this, Epic poetry must divide into the same species as
Tragedy; it must be either simple or complex, a story of character or
one of suffering. Its parts, too, with the exception of Song and
Spectacle, must be the same, as it requires Peripeties, Discoveries,
and scenes of suffering just like Tragedy. Lastly, the Thought and
Diction in it must be good in their way. All these elements appear in
Homer first; and he has made due use of them. His two poems are each
examples of construction, the _Iliad_ simple and a story of suffering,
the _Odyssey_ complex (there is Discovery throughout it) and a story
of character. And they are more than this, since in Diction and
Thought too they surpass all other poems.
There is, however, a difference in the Epic as compared with Tragedy,
(1) in its length, and (2) in its metre. (1) As to its length, the
limit already suggested will suffice: it must be possible for the
beginning and end of the work to be taken in in one view--a condition
which will be fulfilled if the poem be shorter than the old epics, and
about as long as the series of tragedies offered for one hearing.
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