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

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σημεῖον εὐεργετικῆς δόξης] ‘a sign or mark’ (in the recipient of the honour) of a reputation for beneficence, of a capacity for or tendency (-ικὸς) towards doing good’. All these ‘marks of honour’ here specified, being intended for the use of the public speaker, have themselves a public or national character. Eth. Nic. IX 16, 1163 b 4, τῆς μὲν γὰρ ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἡ τιμὴ γέρας...οὕτω δὲ ἔχειν τοῦτο καὶ ἐν ταῖς πολιτείαις φαίνεται. οὐ γὰρ τιμᾶται ὁ μηδὲν ἀγαθὸν τῷ κοινῷ πορίζων: τὸ κοινὸν γὰρ δίδοται τῷ τὸ κοινὸν εὐεργετοῦντι, τιμὴ δὲ κοινόν.

οὐ μὴν ἀλλά] ‘not but that’, ‘though at the same time’, marks a qualification of, or exception to, too large and unlimited an assertion: οὐ μὴν (ὅλως) ἀλλὰ (τόδε). ‘Those who have already done good are fairly and more than all others entitled to such signs of reputation—not however that this need be understood absolutely, so as to exclude the capacity or inclination to do good as a title to honour.’

ἢ ὅλως ἢ ἐνταῦθα ἢ ποτέ] ‘either entirely, absolutely, or at particular places or times’.

πολλοὶ γὰρ διὰ μικρὰ δοκοῦντα κ.τ.λ.] Trifles acquire importance, and confer honour, on special occasions, under special circumstances of time and place. Thus what is in ordinary cases a very trifling and unimportant action, as the gift of a cup of cold water, becomes under the circum stances in which Sir Philip Sidney gave it at the battle of Zutphen a renowned act of self-denial and heroism. And under other and different circumstances the same cup of water may assume an importance which does not naturally belong to it. ‘For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.’ Mark ix. 41, Matth. x. 42.

μέρη τιμῆς] Some of these are enumerated in Homer, Il. M 310, Γλαῦκε, τίη δὴ νῶϊ τετιμήμεσθα μάλιστα ἕδρῃ τε κρέασί τ̓ ἠδὲ πλείοις δεπαεσσι ἐν Λυκίῃ; πάντες δὲ, θεοὺς ὥς, εἰσορόωσι; καὶ τέμενος νεμόμεσθα μέγα Ξάνθοιο παῤ ὄχθας,—καλὸν, φυταλιῆς καὶ ἀρούρης πυροφόροιο; comp. Z 194, Θ 161.

θυσίαι] as those that were instituted by the Amphipolitans in honour of Brasidas, Eth. Nic. v 10, 1134 b 24, οἷον τὸ θύειν Βρασίδᾳ, Thuc. V II, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οἱ Ἀμφιπολῖται περιέρξαντες αὐτοῦ τὸ μνημεῖον ὡς ἥρωΐ τε ἐντέμνουσι καὶ τιμὰς δεδώκασιν ἀγῶνας καὶ ἐτησίους θυσίας κ.τ.λ. Victorius quotes from Plutarch, Vit. Flam. c. 16, p. 378 B, the honours paid by the Chalcidians to T. Quinctius Flamininus, ἔτι δὲ καὶ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἱερεὺς χειροτονητὸς ἀπεδείκνυτο Τίτου, καὶ θύσαντες αὐτῷ τῶν σπονδῶν γενομένων ᾁδουσι παιᾶνα πεποιημένον.

μνῆμαι ἐν μέτροις καὶ ἄνευ μέτρων] ‘Memorials in prose and verse’, possibly epitaphs; but rather, as these may be included in τάφοι, to be understood (as Vict.) of poems and prose compositions in memoriam, such as the English work that bears this title, poems in honour of the illustrious dead, and panegyrics in prose, like some of Isocrates' speeches and Xenophon's Agesilaus. Philosophical dialogues too were sometimes inscribed to the memory of departed friends and named after them, as Aristotle's Gryllus and Eudemus, and Theophrastus' Callisthenes, &c. Introd. p. 53.

γέρα] gifts of honour; as μισθοί, ‘rewards of merit’, not money, for mere use; such as privileges conferred on princes and persons of distinction ἐπὶ ῥητοῖς γέρασιν πατρικαὶ βασιλεῖαι, Thuc. I 13; constantly in Homer, (pars praecipua, donum praecipuum, principi prae aliis datum, Damm, Lex. Homer.) as the prime of the spoils, the fairest of the captives, κούρην, ἣν ἄρα μοι (Achilles) γέρας ἔξελον υἷες Ἀχαιῶν, Il. Π 56, the largest portion of meat, or drink, at the banquet, Il. M 312 (quoted above). Eth. Nic. V. 10, 1134 b 8, μισθὸς ἄρα τις δοτέος, τοῦτο δὲ τιμὴ καὶ γέρας. Fritzsche, ad h. l., quotes Plato, Rep. VII. 516 C, τιμαὶ καὶ ἔπαινοι καὶ γέρα, and Legg. XI 922 A.

τεμένη] From τέμνειν, something ‘cut off’ and appropriated, as a portion of land, to the special service of a God or hero; also to chieftains and kings during their lifetime for their own use. Frequent in Homer, as Il. M 313 (u. s.). Z 194, καὶ μὴν οἱ Λύκιοι τέμενος τάμον ἔξοχον ἄλλων, Υ 184, 391.

προεδρίαι, τροφαὶ δημόσιαι] The privilege of the ‘foremost or front seat’ at public spectacles, public assemblies, games, the theatre, &c. (Herod. I 54, IX 73 &c.), and ‘maintenance at the public expense’; at Athens in the Prytaneumor Θόλος (Dem. de F. L. §§ 279, 361), σίτησις ἐν Πρυτανείῳ, Arist. Ran. 764, Pac. 1084, Acharn. 125, Dem. u. s. and §§ 35, 259; both of these privileges were conferred in acknowledgment of meritorious public services, and are often named together, Arist. Equit. 573, καὶ στρατηγὸς οὐδ᾽ ἂν εἷς | τῶν πρὸ τοῦ σίτησιν ᾔτησ᾽ ἐρόμενος Κλεαίνετον: | νῦν δ᾽ ἐὰν μὴ προεδρίαν φέρωσι καὶ τὰ σίτια, | οὐ μαχεῖσθαί φασιν. Ib. 702, Κλέων ἀπολῶ σε νὴ τὴν προεδρίαν τὴν ἐκ Πύλου. Ἀλ. ἰδοὺ προεδρίαν: οἷον ὄψομαί σ᾽ ἐγὼ | ἐκ τῆς προεδρίας ἔσχατον θεώμενον. 709, Ἀλ. ἀπονυχιῶ σου τἀν Πρυτανείῳ σίτια.

τὰ βαρβαρικά, οἷον προσκυνήσεις] προσκύνησις, from πρὸς, and κυνεῖν, ‘to kiss’, denotes the oriental and ‘barbarous’ custom of saluting by ‘kissing the hand to’ another, in token of inferiority and subjection, and thence is applied to any act of servile obeisance or homage, or to worship and adoration in general: in the last or metaphorical sense it is found in most of the best Greek writers. This practice may very likely have been accompanied by the analogous one of prostration, as the two are often found associated together in one expression. It was distinctive of Oriental barbarism; and prevailed amongst the Medes, Herod. I 119, of Harpagus and Astyages, the Persians, Id. I 134, ἐντυγχάνοντες δ᾽ ἀλλήλοισι ἐν τῇσι ὁδοῖσι, τῷ δὲ ἄν τις διαγνοίη εν̓ ὁμοῖοί εἰσι οἱ συντυγχάνοντες. ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ προσαγορεύειν ἀλλήλους, φιλέουσι τοῖς στόμασι. ἢν δὲ ᾖ οὕτερος ὑποδεέστερος ὀλίγῳ τὰς παρειὰς φιλέονται: ἢν δὲ πολλῷ ᾖ οὕτερος᾿ ἀγεννέστερος, προσπίτνων προσκυνέει τὸν ἕτερον, and the Egyptians II 80, ἀντὶ τοῦ προσαγορεύειν ἀλλήλους ἐν τῇσι ὁδοῖσι προσκυνέουσι κατιέντες μέχρι τοῦ γούνατος τὴν χεῖρα. Obeisance by prostration, the salâm or kotoo, differs from this, though they probably were often used together. It is the latter that is referred to, as a barbarous practice and unworthy of a free Greek, by Aeschylus, Agam. 919 (Dind.), and Pers. 594, comp. 152. They appear to be confounded by Euripides, Orest. 1507, προσκυνῶ σ᾽ , ἄναξ, νόμοισι βαρβάροισι προσπιτνῶν. Plato distinguishes them, Legg. X 887 E, προκυλίσεις ἅμα καὶ προσκυνήσεις. Stallb., in his note on this passage of Plato, cites, in illustration of the προσκύνησις, Lucian. Encom. Demosth. § 85, καὶ<*> τὴν χεῖρα τῷ στόματι προσάγοντας, οὐδὲν ἄλλ̓ ἡ προσκυνεῖν ὑπέλαβον. [Cf. Isocr. Paneg. § 151, (οἱ βάρβαροι) ἐξεταζόμενοι πρὸς αὐτοῖς τοῖς βασιλείοις καὶ προκαλινδούμενοι καὶ πάντα τρόπον μικρὸν φρονεῖν μελετῶντες, θνητὸν μὲν ἄνδρα προσκυνοῦντες καὶ δαίμονα προσαγορεύοντες, κ.τ.λ. S.]

ἔκστασις is the abstract conception of ‘getting out of the way’. This ‘making way or room’ for the passage of a person of rank seems also to have been characteristic of Persian manners. Victorius quotes Plutarch, Artax. c. II, p. 1016 C, ἐπαιρόμενος δὲ (ὁ Κῦρος) τῇ νίκῃ, καὶ μεστὸς ὢν ὁρμῆς καὶ θράσους, διεξήλαυνε βοῶν, ‘ἐξίστασθε πενιχροί’: (‘out of the way, beggars’,) τοῦτο δὲ Περσιστὶ πολλάκις αὐτῷ βοῶντος, οἱ μὲν <*>ἐξίσταντο προσκυνοῦντες. Herodotus, II 80, says of the Egyptians, συμφέρονται δὲ καὶ τόδε ἄλλο Αἰγύπτιοι Ἑλλήνων μούνοισι Λακεδαιμονίοισι: οὶ νεώτεροι αύτέων τοῖσι πρεσβυτέροισι συντυγχάνοντες εἴκουσι τῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ ἐκτράπονται: καὶ ἐπιουσι ἐξ ἕδρης ὑπανιστέαται. So Simonides to Hiero (Xenoph. Hiero VII 2, comp. § 9), in enumerating his privileges as a tyrant, ὑπανιστῶνται δ᾽ ἀπὸ τῶν θάκων ὁδῶν τε παραχωρῶσι: and Aristotle of the respect due from youth to age, Eth. Nic. IX 2, 1165 a 28, καὶ παντὶ δὲ τῷ πρεσβυτέρῳ τιμὴν τὴν καθ᾽ ἡλικίαν, ὑπαναστάσει καὶ κατακλίσει καὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις. Cic. Cato Maior 18. 63. On the deference paid to old age, enjoined by law at Athens, see Aesch. c. Tim. § 24. Xen. Symp. 31, ὑπανίστανται δέ μοι ἤδη καὶ θάκων, καὶ ὁδῶν ἐξίστανται οἱ πλούσιοι: and de Rep. Lac. XV 6, of the customs at Sparta, καὶ ἕδρας δὲ πάντες ὑπανίστανται βασιλεῖ, πλὴν οὐκ ἔφοροι κ.τ.λ. Another illustration of ἔκστασις is the custom, once generally prevalent, of ‘giving the wall’ to a superior, as a mark of respect, céder le haut du pavé. (Dict. Acad. Fr.) [Ovid, Fasti, V 67, (senex) et medius iuvenum, non indignantibus ipsis, ibat, et interior, si comes unus erat and Horace, Sat. II 5. 17, ‘comes exterior’. S.]

προσκυνήσεις, ἐκστάσεις] The plural of abstract nouns denotes the various individual acts or moments or states included under the general conception.

δῶρα τὰ παρ᾽ ἑκάστοις τίμια] ‘quae apud singulas gentes in pretio sunt’, Victorius: who illustrates by the olive crown as a prize in the Greek games, and quotes Horace, Ep. II 2. 32, clarus ob id factum donis ornatur honestis, of the prize of valour, bearing a special value in the Roman Military service, assigned to ‘Lucullus' soldier’. Of the words by themselves this interpretation is perfectly fair and natural; but in connexion with what follows (as Aristotle seems to have intended, καὶ γὰρ τὸ δῶρον...) they may be understood somewhat differently, and the παρ᾽ ἑκάστοις referred to ‘the individuals of the two classes’ mentioned immediately after, the φιλοχρήματοι and φιλότιμοι.