PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
The following Text and Translation of the Poetics form part of the volume entitled Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, second edition (Macmillan and Co., 1898). In this edition the Critical Notes are enlarged, and the Translation has been carefully revised. The improvements in the Translation are largely due to the invaluable aid I have received from my friend and colleague, Professor W. K. Hardie. To him I would express my warmest thanks, and also to another friend, Professor Tyrrell, who has most kindly read through the proof-sheets, and talked over and elucidated various questions of interpretation and criticism. In making use of the mass of critical material which has appeared in recent years, especially in Germany, I have found it necessary to observe a strict principle of selection, my aim still being to keep the notes within limited compass. They are not intended to form a complete Apparatus Criticus, still less to do duty for a commentary. I trust, however, that no variant or conjectural
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