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ΤὸτίἦνεἶναιAuthor(s): Philip MerlanSource: Classical Philology, Vol. 61, No. 3 (Jul., 1966), p. 188Published by: The University of Chicago Press

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188 NOTES ANDDiscussioNs

suppose that the hiss with which Arriuspronounced hinsidias and Hionios could beheard orinterpretedas a Greek x,2 perhapsa x pronouncedas only Arrius or his family

would have pronounced it. The nuntiushorribilis s almost literally one that makesthe hair stand on end :3horribilispreparesus for the chill of the "Sea of Snow."

Ch for c in c(h)ommodaand hi for i in(h)insidia8 prepare us for Ch for I in thefinishing thrust Hionios (= XLOVMOI));

as the preceding syllable remains short wemust suppose that the H representsa gut-tural spirant, which could be understoodas x and written as h:

The two words commodaand insidiasand the loudness with which hinsidiaswaspronounced, not to mention his satisfac-tion in so pronouncing it, suggest thatArrius was an orator. Insidiae would refer

to the maneuvers of the other party, com-moda to what those maneuvers imperiled,perhaps the interests of his client, moreprobably the interests of the state. They

were key words in his speeches and pro-nounced with becoming emphasis. Theloudness and hissing pronunciation wasdoubtless part of the chill. But the 4uxp6vwas also of Aristotle's fourth kind (Rhet.3. 1406b5-19): hinsidiae was tragic andobscure and metaphorical, in view of thetrivial reality to which it referred, andchommodawas perhaps a little too sweep-ing and grandiose. The same sort of exag-geration in diction and locution turned the

Ionian Sea into the Chionean, and in thisinstance Arius unwittingly characterizedhimself.

BENEDICT EINARSON

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

NOTES

1. The play on Xt6vzoqwas pointed out by E. Harri-son, "Catullus LXXXIV," CR, XXIX (1915), 198f. Fora bibliography of the discussion of the poem cf. D.Geissend6rfer, Der Ursprung der Gorgia Toscana (Diss.,Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat zu Erlangen-Ntirnberg,

1984 [?]), pp. 88-92.

2. So x represents the Hebrew cheth in rdaxac,Xocppdv,XwptO and other words.

3. Cf. Harrison, toe. cit.

TrO ITL ~VetVocL

Much has been written concerning theconstructionand the meaning of the phrase'r6 rLv etvoa in Aristotle.' It seems that theshortest and safest way to understandeither is by discussing the present perfectas often used in English. "I have been his

friend" is often equivalent to "I was hisfriend in the past and I still am his friendat present"-or, under circumstance, "Iwas always, and still am, his friend." Inother words, the present perfect is oftenused to indicate a quality unaffected by

the lapse of time, or as we could equallywell say, a permanent quality.2 In Aristo-telian terms, it is the essence of a thing orthat which remains, while accidents maychange. Thus, the English translationwhich comes closest to the Greek phrase

in both construction and meaning wouldbe "The-what-has-been."It is, of course,a very awkward expression, but so is theGreek.

PHILIP MERLAN

SCRIPPS COLLEGE

NOTES

1. An excellent suirvey can be found in S. Owens, The

Doctrine of Being in the Aristotelian "Metaphysics"'(Toronto, 1963), pp. 180-87.

2. See, e.g., G. 0. Curme, A Grammarof the English

Language, III (London, 1931), 359f., esp. p. 360 sub a;or 0. Jespersen, Essentials of English Grammar Alabama,

1964), P. 241, 23. 54 ("Inclusivepresent").

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