as Sophocles said that he drew men as they ought to be; Euripides, as
they are. In this way the objection may be met. If, however, the
representation be of neither kind, the poet may answer,--This is how men
say the thing is.' This applies to tales about the gods. It may well be
that these stories are not higher than fact nor yet true to fact: they
are, very possibly, what Xenophanes says of them. But anyhow, 'this is
what is said.' Again, a description may be no better than the fact:
'still, it was the fact'; as in the passage about the arms: 'Upright upon
their butt-ends stood the spears.' This was the custom then, as it now is
among the Illyrians.

Again, in examining whether what has been said or done by some one is
poetically right or not, we must not look merely to the particular act or
saying, and ask whether it is poetically good or bad. We must also
consider by whom it is said or done, to whom, when, by what means, or for
what end; whether, for instance, it be to secure a greater good, or avert
a greater evil.

Other difficulties may be resolved by due regard to the usage of
language. We may note a rare word, as in {omicron upsilon rho eta alpha
sigma / mu epsilon nu / pi rho omega tau omicron nu}, where the poet
perhaps employs {omicron upsilon rho eta alpha sigma} not in the sense of
mules, but of sentinels. So, again, of Dolon: 'ill-favoured indeed he was
to look upon.' It is not meant that his body was ill-shaped, but that his
face was ugly; for the Cretans use the word {epsilon upsilon epsilon iota
delta epsilon sigma}, 'well-favoured,' to denote a fair face. Again,
{zeta omega rho omicron tau epsilon rho omicron nu / delta epsilon /
kappa epsilon rho alpha iota epsilon}, 'mix the drink livelier,' does not
mean `mix it stronger' as for hard drinkers, but 'mix it quicker.'