Περὶ Ὀρχήσεως

Lines

1 – 1 2 – 2 3 – 3 4 – 5 5 – 6 7 – 7 8 – 8 9 – 9 10 – 10 11 – 13 14 – 15 16 – 17 18 – 19 20 – 22 23 – 24 25 – 26 27 – 29 29 – 32 33 – 34 34 – 34 35 – 36 37 – 37 38 – 39 40 – 40 41 – 42 43 – 44 45 – 46 46 – 48 49 – 51 52 – 53 54 – 57 58 – 61 61 – 62 63 – 63 64 – 65 66 – 67 68 – 69 70 – 70 71 – 73 74 – 76 77 – 79 80 – 80 81 – 82 83 – 83 83 – 84 85 – 85

İngilizce İngilizce Yunanca

70 If what PlatoRepublic, IV, 436-441. says about the soul is true, the three parts of it are excellently set forth by the dancer —the orgillous part when he exhibits a man in a rage, the covetous part when he enacts lovers, and the reasoning part when he bridles and governs each of the different passions; this last, to be sure, is disseminated through every portion of the dance just as touch is disseminated through the other senses.Touch was considered not only a separate faculty, but an element in the activity of the other four senses, each of which was regarded as based in some sort upon physical contact; for the method of explanation see Lucretius, IV, 324-721. And in planning for beauty and for symmetry in the figures of the dance, what else does he do but confirm the words of Aristotle, who praised beauty and considered it to be one of the three parts of the chief good?Aristotle, Eth. Nicom., I, 8. Moreover, I have heard a man express an excessively venturesome opinion about the silence of the characters in the dance, to the effect that it was symbolic of a Pythagorean tenet.Cf. Athenaeus, I, 20 p, speaking of the dancer Memphis: “He discloses what the Pythagorean philosophy is, revealing everything to us in silence more clearly than those who profess themselves teachers of the art of speech.”