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‘A period may be either divided into clauses, or simple (confined to one)’. Ar. himself defines what he means here by ἀφελής, viz. μονόκωλος, a sentence consisting of a single member, without the complication, or elaborate construction of the period. ἀφελής properly denotes smooth and level, without inequalities or irregularities, as Arist. Eq. 527, διὰ τῶν ἀφελῶν πεδίων ἔῤῥει. It is therefore ‘plain’ as opposed to ‘mountainous’, literally and metaphorically, level, easy to be traversed, simple, plain; whereas the mountain is suggestive of difficulty. It is applied by Dionysius, de admirabili vi dicendi in Demosthene [c. 2], to Lysias' style, which is said to be λιτὴ καὶ ἀφελής, ‘smooth and plain or simple’. Lysias' style is in fact a medium between the εἰρομένη λέξις of Hecataeus and Herodotus, and the complex periods of Isocrates and Demosthenes: and a comparison of the sentences of Lysias with those of Demosthenes will clearly shew the difference between the ἀφελής and ἡ ἐν κώλοις περίοδος. Quint. IX 4. 124, 12. 5. Genera eius (periodi) duo sunt: alterum simplex, quum sensus unus longiore ambitu circumducitur; alterum, quod constat membris (ἐν κώλοις) et incisis, quae plures sensus habent. Habet periodus membra minimum duo: medius numerus videntur quattuor (so Cic. Orat. § 221), sed recipit frequenter et plura. ‘The period in clauses or divisions must be complete in itself, duly divided (its members distinct and definite), and such as can be easily delivered without stopping to draw breath’ (lit. easily breathed, well adapted to the limits of the breath). εὐανάπνευστος] Cic. de Or. III 44. 175, Rudis orator incondite fundit... spiritu non arte determinat. Orat. § 228, Non spiritu pronunciantis... debet insistere. ‘Not however (μή, if, provided, it be not) by the mere (arbitrary) division (as if the speaker might pause for breath, wherever he pleases,) as (in) the period already cited (Καλυδὼν μὲν ἥδε...), but as a whole. A member or clause is one of the two parts of this. By simple I mean a period of a single member’. It appears from this that a period, according to Ar., is a sentence that includes a complete sense1, and is thereby distinguished from a κῶλον or member of it: which is a member or part of a whole, and therefore incomplete until the whole has been expressed. The period therefore is twofold, simple, μονόκωλος, and compound, ἐν κώλοις. The phrase τὸ ἕτερον μόριον divides the compound period primarily or essentially into two parts, which stands for, and may be extended to, division in general. Cicero, as Vater observes, acknowledges the compound alone to be a true period. Τὸ δὲ κῶλον Ἀριστοτέλης οὕτως ὁρίζεται, “κῶλόν ἐστι τὸ ἕτερον μέρος περιόδου”: εἶτα ἐπιφέρει, “γίνεται δὲ καὶ ἁπλῆ περίοδος.” οὕτως ὁρισάμενος “τὸ ἕτερον μέρος” δίκωλον ἐβούλετο εἶναι τὴν περίοδον δηλονότι. ὁ δὲ Ἀρχέδημος συλλαβὼν τὸν ὅρον τοῦ Ἀρ., καὶ τὸ ἐπιφερόμενον τῷ ὅρῳ σαφέστερον καὶ τελεώτερον οὕτως ὡρίσατο, “κῶλόν ἐστιν ἤτοι ἁπλῆ περιόδος, ἢ συνθέτου περιόδου μέρος” [Demetrius π. ἑρμηνείας, § 34]. On κῶλα and κόμματα in general, see Introd. pp. 312, 3, note 1. μονόκωλος appears in a totally different sense, Pol. IV (VII) 7, 1327 b 35, τὰ μὲν γὰρ (ἔθνη) ἔχει τὴν φύσιν μονόκωλον, one-sided, ill-balanced, like a man with one arm or leg; opposed to the Athenian, in se totus teres atque rotundus.
Commentary on the Rhetoric of Aristotle. Edward Meredith Cope. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1877.
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