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‘Another way (of clearing oneself) is to meet the charge on any of these issues’ (στάσεις or ἀμφισβητήσεις, status, the turning-point of the case, on which issue is joined: on these see Appendix E to Book III in Introd. p. 397 seq. where the various classifications of them are given;) ‘either by denying the fact (τὸ ὅτι, status coniecturalis); or admitting that, and asserting that the alleged act was not injurious (ab utili, Victorius); or at any rate not to him (the complainant); or that the amount of injury is overstated; or that it was either no wrong at all (not unjust: not a legal crime), or a slight one; or, (taking the other view of morality, supposing it to be strictly speaking unjust, at any rate) not disgraceful, or a mere trifle, of no importance at all’. οὐ μέγα differs in this from οὐκ ἔχον μέγεθος: the former qualifies merely the wrong of the ἄδικον, the latter is “no great matter”; of greatness, in the sense of magnitude or importance in general. ‘For these are the points upon which the issue (of a case) turns, as in that between Iphicrates and Nausicrates: for he admitted the fact and the injury, but said it was no wrong’. Nausicrates or (always in the Latin Rhetoricians) Naucrates, is mentioned by Cicero, Orat. L 172, de Orat. II 23. 94, and III 44. 173, as a pupil of Isocrates. Quint., III 6. 3, stating the same fact, tells us also that some attributed to him the first systematic division of these στάσεις or status. See Art. in Biogr. Dict. s. v. Westermann's Gesch. der Gr. ü. Röm. Beredtsamkeit, 50. 5, comp. 83. 10. Spalding, on Quint. III 6. 60, retains the vulgata lectio τοῦτο (instead of τούτῳ) in the sense of ὁρικὴ στάσις or finitio. On the redundant ὥστε in τρόπος ὥστε ἀπαντᾷν, add to the examples from the Tragic poets collected by Monk ad Eur. Hippol. 1323, Κύπρις γὰρ ἤθελ᾽ ὥστε γίγνεσθαι τάδε, Thuc. I 28, ἑτοῖμοι εἶναι ὥστε (provided δέ be retained), Ib. c. 119, δεηθέντες ὥστε ψηφίσασθαι, VIII 45, ἐδίδασκεν ὥστε, Ib. c. 79, δόξαν ὥστε διαναυμαχεῖν, Ib. 86, ὥστε...πάνυ ἐπαινεῖν. Pind. Nem. V 64, κατένευσεν ὥστε πρᾶξαι. Herod. I 74, συνήνεικε ὥστε...νύκτα γενέσθαι, Ib. III 14, συνήνεικε ὥστε...παριέναι. Plat. Protag. 338 C, ἀδύνατον ὥστε, where see Heindorf's note, and also on Phaedr. 269 D, τὸ δύνασθαι ὥστε...γενέσθαι. Phaedo 93 B and 103 E, ἔστιν...ὥστε...ἀξιοῦσθαι (Stallbaum's note), Isocr. Archid. § 40, γέγονεν ὥστε...κρατηθῆναι. Dem. de F. L. § 124 μηδ᾽ ἦν ὥστ̓ ἰδεῖν ἅπαντας (with Shilleto's critical note). Aesch. de F. L. p. 49 § 158, ἐάσετε...ὥστε...ἀναστρέφεσθαι. Ar. Pol. II 2, 1261 a 34, συμβαίνει... ὥστε πάντας ἄρχειν, Ib. VIII (V) 9, 1309 b 32, ἔστιν ὥστ᾽ ἔχειν. Ib. VI (IV) 5, 1292 b 12, συμβέβηκεν ὥστε...τὴν πολιτ. εἶναι. Soph. Oed. Col. 570, Ib. 1350 (Dind.), δικαιῶν ὥστ᾽ ἐμοῦ κλύειν, Philoct. 656, ἆρ᾽ ἔστιν ὥστε κἄγγυθεν θέαν λαβεῖν. Eur. Iph. T. 1017, πῶς οὖν γένοιτ᾽ ἂν ὥστε μήθ̓ ἡμᾶς θανεῖν. ‘Or (in justifying oneself), admitting a wrong done, to balance (or compensate) it (by something else which may be taken as a set-off, or drawback, in diminution of the wrong); for instance you say, what I did was injurious no doubt, but honourable; or painful, but serviceable; or anything else of the same sort’. The comparison of a few passages will best illustrate the meaning of ἀντικαταλλάττεσθαι. Ar. de part. Anim. 1 5. 3, 644 b 22. The author is comparing the interest and value in natural philosophy of the objects of sense, things that we can see and touch and handle, and so examine and satisfy our curiosity about, with those that are beyond the reach of our senses, οὐσίας ἀγενήτους καὶ ἀφθάρτους τὸν ἅπαντα αἰῶνα. Though the latter are in themselves higher and more excellent, “yet by their greater nearness to us, and more immediate connexion with our nature, there is a sort of compensation, ἀντικαταλλάττεταί τι, when they are compared with the things divine as objects of study.” Dem. de Cor. § 138, τῆς ἐπὶ ταῖς λοιδορίαις ἡδονῆς καὶ χάριτος τὸ τῆς πόλεως συμφέρον ἀνταλλαττόμενοι, ‘bartering, exchanging for, compensating by.’ Plat. Phaedo 69 A, ἡδονὰς πρὸς ἡδονάς, καὶ λύπας πρὸς λύπας, καὶ φόβον πρὸς φόβον καταλλάττεσθαι...ὥσπερ νομίσματα: and other passages collected by Wyttenb. ad loc. Dinarch. adv. Dem. § 2, μηδὲ τὴν κοινὴν σωτηρίαν ἀντικαταλλάξασθαι τῶν τοῦ κρινομένου λόγων. Aesch. c. Ctesiph. § 92, ῥῆμα μόνον ἀντικαταλλαξάμενος ἀντὶ τούτων. Isocr. Phil. § 135, ὑπὲρ ἄλλου μὲν ου:δενὸς ἂν τὸ ζῇν ἀντικαταλλαξαμένους. (Ernesti Lex. Techn. Gr. s. v., excusare reum!)
Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle. Edward Meredith Cope. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1877.
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