Edward S. Forster, Isocrates Cyprian Orations

ποιῆσαι, ‘represent.’ ποιεῖν has the generic meaning of ‘to do’, ‘to make’, and the specific meaning of to ‘compose’, ‘represent in poetry’, see note on § 36 ποιησάμενος.

περὶ τούτων δηλῶσαι, ‘treat of these subjects.’

τεταγμένοις ὀνόμασι, ‘current’ or ‘ordinary language’, also called κύρια or πολιτικὰ ὀνόματα (see below).

ξένοις, ‘out-of-the-way,’ i. e. either antiquated words or words taken from some other dialect; such words were often called γλῶτται (see below).

καινοῖς, ‘newly coined,’ called also πεποιημένα ὀνόματα.

εἴδεσι: sc. κόσμων, ‘different kinds of embellishment.’

With the whole of this passage cp. Aristot. Poet. 1457^{b} 1 ἅπαν ὄνομά ἐστιν ἢ κύριον ἢ γλῶττα ἢ μεταφορὰ ἢ κόσμος ἢ πεποιημένον, ‘every word is either current or strange or metaphorical or ornamental or newly-coined.’ Thus κύριον or τεταγμένον or πολιτικὸν (see below) ὄνομα is the ordinary name for a thing. The rest are ἀλλότρια ὀνόματα. γλῶτται or ξένα ὀνόματα are foreign or obsolete words and, according to Aristotle, must not be used in prose. καινά or πεποιημένα ὀνόματα are newly-coined words, such as the strange compounds—ῥήματα γομφοπαγῆ, ‘words pinned together with nails’—in which Aeschylus delighted. Of μεταφοραί Aristotle enumerates several kinds, of which the most common is that from analogy; if you want a metaphor for ‘old age’, he says, you must reflect that old age : life :: sunset : day; accordingly you may call old age δυσμαὶ βίου, or the sunset γῆρας ἡμέρας. Compare also Dionys. de comp. verb. 25 καὶ ἡ ἐκλογὴ τῶν ὀνομάτων μέγα τι δύναται, καὶ ἔστι τις ὀνομασία ποιητική, γλωττηματικῶν τε καὶ ξένων καὶ τροπικῶν καὶ πεποιημένων, ‘the choice of words also is important and poetry has its own vocabulary, consisting of strange, out-of-the-way, figurative and newly-coined words.’

παραλιπεῖν: cp. the Latin praetermittere.

διαποικῖλαι, ‘diversify.’ ποικίλος is properly used of things of varied pattern or colour, e.g. embroidery (Aesch. Agam. 923), a fawn's skin (Eur. Bacch. 249), and a peacock (Athen. 397 C).