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καὶ...τὰ συγγενῆ δέ] Note on I 1. 11, p. 20. συγγενῆ are things that belong to the same γένος or family, congeners of all kinds, ‘all things akin to and resembling one another’: the συγγενῆ, besides the examples given directly, man, horse, youth, are also indirectly illustrated by the things mentioned in the proverbs: they are ‘class fellows’, any thing of the same kind with another. All that is natural is pleasurable—by the definition—things belonging to the same class have a natural connexion, (‘κατὰ φύσιν inter se esse dicit quod eiusdem naturae participes sint,’ Vict.) —therefore all συγγενῆ are ἡδέα; but only ‘for the most part’, not always: for sometimes ‘a man's greatest foes are those of his own household’, and ‘two of a trade can never agree’; κεραμεὺς κεραμεῖ κοτέει καὶ τέκτονι τέκτων, Hes. Op. et D. 25. The two sides are given, Eth. Nic. VIII 2 init. ἧλιξ ἥλικα τέρπει] Crabbed age and youth cannot live together. Hence ἡλικιώτης is ‘a companion and friend’, as Arist. Nub. 1006. The Schol. on Plat. Phaedrus 240 C, ἥλικα γὰρ καὶ ὁ παλαιὸς λόγος τέρπειν τὸν ἥλικα, gives the remainder of the line, ἧλιξ ἥλικα τέρπε, γέρων δέ τε τέρπε γέροντα. The proverb occurs again in Plato, Gorg. 510 B, Symp. 195 B, Lys. 214 A, and is alluded to Rep. I 329 A, πολλάκις γὰρ συνερχόμεθά τινες εἰς ταὐτὸ παραπλησίαν ἡλικίαν ἔχοντες, διασώζοντες τὴν παλαιὰν παροιμίαν. Eth. Nic. VIII 14, 1161 b 35, μέγα δὲ πρὸς φιλίαν...τὸ καθ᾽ ἡλικίαν: ἧλιξ γὰρ ἥλικα, καὶ οἱ συνήθεις ἑταῖροι. Eth. Eudem. VII 2, 1238 a 34, where another of these proverbs of association is quoted from Eur. Belleroph. Fr. VIII (Dind.) κακῷ κακός τε συντέτηκεν ἡδοναῖς. Cic. de Senect. c. 3. Ast and Stallbaum's notes, ad ll. cc. ὡς αἰεὶ τὸν ὁμοῖον] ἄγει θεὸς ὡς τὸν ὁμοῖον, Hom. Od. ρ́ (XVII) 218. Eth. N. VIII 2, init. IX 3, 1165 b 17, Eth. Eud. VII 1, 1235 a 7, Magn. Mor. II 11, 1208 b 10, Theophrastus περὶ φιλοπονηρίας, ult. καὶ ἀληθές ἐστι τὸ τῆς παροιμίας, τὸ ὁμοῖον πρὸς τὸ ὁμοῖον πορεύεσθαι. ἔγνω δὲ θῆρ θῆρα] Eth. Eud. u. s., ἔγνω δὲ φώρ τε φῶρα καὶ λύκος λύκον. κολοιὸς παρὰ κολοιόν] Birds of a feather flock together. Eth. Eud., u. s., καὶ γὰρ κολοιὸς παρὰ κολοιόν. Magn. Mor. II 11, 1208 b 9, καὶ γὰρ κολοιὸς παρὰ κολοιὸν ἱζάνει (‘perch together’), Eth. N. VIII 2, u. s. Theocr. Id. IX 31, τέττιξ μὲν τέττιγι φίλος, μύρμακι δὲ μύρμαξ, ἵρηκες δ᾽ ἵρηξιν. Epicharmus, apud Diog. Laert. III 1. 16 (quoted by Gaisford), καὶ γὰρ ἁ κύων κυνὶ κάλλιστον εἶμεν φαίνεται, καὶ βοῦς βοΐ, ὄνος δ᾽ ὄνῳ κάλλιστόν (ἐστιν Gaisford; Mullach, Fragm. Phil. Gr. p. 142; ὗς δὲ θὴν ὑΐ, Cobet, Diog. L.), ὗς δ᾽ ὑΐ. Three of these proverbs are illustrated by Erasmus, Adagia, pp. 1642—44.
Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle. Edward Meredith Cope. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1877.
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