realization of poetic is untrammeled by fact, while the imagination of the
orator is bound by the actual; it is always practical.

Because the imaginative realization of poetry is characterized by passion,
intensity, and immediacy, the author of the treatise feels with Aristotle
that the dramatic is the most characteristically poetic. On this basis he
judges the _Odyssey_ to be less great than the _Iliad_. It is narrative
instead of dramatic; fable prevails over action; passion has degenerated
into character-drawing. This grouping of drama, action, and passion as the
qualities of great poetry is significant. Bald narrative can never realize
character or situation as can the dramatic form, either in narrative or
for the stage, when the whole action takes place before the mind's eye
instead of being told.

The treatise makes this point exceedingly clear by two quotations which
bear repeating.

"The author of the _Arimaspeia_ thinks these lines terrible:

"Here too, is mighty marvel for our thought:
'Mid seas men dwell, on water, far from land:
Wretches they are, for sorry toil is theirs;
Eyes on the stars, heart on the deep they fix;
Oft to the gods, I ween, their hands are raised;
Their inward parts in evil case upheaved.

"Anyone, I think, will see that there is more embroidery than terror in it
all. Now for Homer:

"As when a wave by the wild wind's blore