E. M. Cope, Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle

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καὶ τὸ μὴ βίαιον] ‘and freedom from constraint, freedom of action’ by the same rule; because all external force, compulsion or violence, is unnatural. ‘And therefore all necessity (of every kind) is painful’. This marks the distinction of ἀναγκαῖον and βίαιον. Fate, for example, is ἀναγκαῖον, and Necessity (Ἀνάγκη herself).

There is a chapter on τὸ ἀναγκαῖον which includes βίαιον as a species, in Metaph. Δ 5. There are four kinds of ‘necessary’ things’. The first is physical necessity, as breath and food are necessary to life: the second class consists of things necessary as means to an end, as taking medicine to get well, to take a voyage to Ægina to recover a sum of money: under this head comes βία (and τὸ βίαιον), an external force that controls us, something independent of ourselves and our own will, (here the external compulsion or violence is the necessary means to the attainment of its end, control). βίαιον is thus described, 1015 a 26, τοῦτο δ᾽ ἐστι τὸ παρὰ τὴν ὁρμὴν καὶ τὴν προαίρεσιν ἐμποδίζον καὶ κωλυτικόν. τὸ γὰρ βίαιον ἀναγκαῖον λέγεται, διὸ καὶ λυπηρόν, ὥσπερ καὶ Εὔηνός φησι, ‘πᾶν γὰρ ἀναγκαῖον πρᾶγμ̓ ἀνιαρὸν ἔφυ.’ καὶ ἡ βία ἀνάγκη τις, ὥσπερ καὶ Σοφοκλῆς λέγει ‘ἀλλ̓ ἡ βία με ταῦτ̓ ἀναγκάζει ποιεῖν’ (this is incorrectly quoted; memoriter, as Bonitz thinks; the line runs, ἀλλ᾽ ἡ βία γὰρ ταῦτ̓ ἀναγκάζει με δρᾷν, Electr. 256). The third species of ἀναγκαῖον includes τὰ μὴ ἐνδεχόμενα ἄλλως ἔχειν; and the fourth, which is somewhat unnecessarily distinguished from this, is the necessity of demonstration, ἀπόδειξις, of which the conclusion ‘can only be in one way’—which shews that it ought to be included in the preceding. See also Waitz, ad Organ. 83 b 38, Comm. II p. 358.

καὶ ὀρθῶς εἴρηται] ‘Pentameter statim subsequens laudatur quoque ab Arist. in Met. IV 5, et in Ethic. ad Eud. II 7; necnon a Plutarcho in l. quod non suaviter vivi possit secundum Epicurum, 1102 C. Tribuitur utrobique Eveno Pario, poetae Elegiaco, Philisti historici praeceptori. Le-gitur tamen idem versus unica voce immutata ap. Theogn. 470 (472 Bergk, Fragm. Lyr. Gr. p. 382) πᾶν γὰρ ἀναγ<*>αῖον χρῆμ̓ ἀνιαρὸν ἔφυ.’ Buhle.

‘And all acts of attention or study, serious effort, vigorous exertion are painful’ (supply ἀνάγκη εἶναι λυπηράς), ‘for all these imply necessity and constraint, unless they become habitual; but then the habit makes them pleasant. The opposites are of course pleasant; all states of ease and comfort, and idleness and inattention, carelessness and indifference, and sports, and recreations, and sleep, belong to the family (or class) of things pleasant; for none of these is related to (or has a tendency to, πρός) necessity’.

τῶν ἡδέων (τι）] Comp. I 9. 25, νίκη καὶ τιμὴ τῶν καλῶν, I 11. 16 and 17. These are examples of a mode of expression, not unknown to earlier and contemporary writers, but more familiar to Aristotle. It is the substitution of a genitive case with τί omitted, for the direct predicate in apposition or agreement with the subject. In Aristotle τί or ἕν τι is sometimes expressed. I have not noted it in any writer earlier than Plato, but have no reason to suppose that he was the first to use it. Protag. 319 C, τῶν γενναίων. Theaet. 164 B, τῶν ἀδυνάτων τι ξυμβαίνειν φαίνεται. Phaed. 68 D, Rep. II 376 E (Stallbaum's note), Ib. IV 424 C, θὲς τῶν πεπεισμένων, 437 B, IX 577 B, ἡμεῖς εἶναι τῶν δυνατῶν ἂν κρῖναι. Æsch. c. Tim. § 143, ἕν τι τοῦτο τῶν λυπηροτάτων. Demosth. c. Lept. sub init. ἀφαιρεῖσθαι τὴν δωρεὰν τῶν ἀδίκων ἐστίν, Olynth. I 16, τῶν ἀτοπωτάτων ἂν εἴη, Olynth. II p. 18. 13, ὡς ἔστι τῶν αἰσχρῶν, μᾶλλον δὲ τῶν αἰσχίστων, de Fals. Leg. § 345, τῶν ἀπιστούντων. Isocr. κατὰ τῶν Σοφιστῶν § 2, ἓν τοῦτο τῶν ἀδυνάτων ἐστι. § 16, οὐκ εἶναι τῶν πάνυ χαλεπῶν. Ar. Eth. Nic. VI 7, 1141 b 3, τῶν τιμιωτάτων, VI 12, sub init. 1152 b 4, VIII 1 ult. τῶν καλῶν ἕν τι. Polit. I 2, 1253 a 2, τῶν φύσει ἡ πόλις ἐστί, Ib. 5, 1254 a 22, c. 9, 1257 a 36, VI (IV) 4, 1291 a 9, ἕν τι τῶν ἀδυνάτων, Ib. c. 8, 1294 a 1, VIII (V) 3, 1303 a 19, τῶν ἀρχόντων γενομένου Ἡρακλεοδώρου, Ib. 7, 1306 b 28, IV (VII) 6, 1327 a 27, Ib. c. 9, 1329 a 9, Ib. c. 14, 1332 b 32, ἕν τι τῶν ἀδυνάτων. de Anima A 1. 2, 402 a 10, c. 5, 411 a 15, τῶν παραλογωτέρων (comparative, very unusual). de Caelo, I 5. 1, sub init. II 12. 4, 292 a 12, τῶν ἀναριθμήτων εἶναι. Hist. An. III 11. 4, 518 a 2, τῶν συνεχῶν δὲ τὸ δέρμα ἐν ἅπασι τοῖς ζῴοις. Topic. B 9, 114 b 18, 19, 21, Γ 6, 119 b 11, Z 3, 141 a 5, τῶν ἀτόπων, Θ 2, 157 a 25. Waitz ad Org. 121 b 36, Vol. II p. 473.