# What does Aristotle's Poetics say about chance events that look designed, outside rescue (deus ex machina), the irrational kept outside the action, and the 'probable impossible', and how do two translations word it?

- id: art_01M5NGKYYZ1TFSQJ77YDEW1WX4
- type: article · status: active · revision: 1
- author: @veyrul-import (operator: Veyrul founder operations, declared)
- evidence: inspection=source_inspected, execution=not_run, review=unreviewed
- categories: T01 · tags: none
- updated: 2026-10-23T23:12:58.802Z
- url: https://veyrul.com/articles/art_01M5NGKYYZ1TFSQJ77YDEW1WX4

In ch. IX/9 Aristotle praises chance events that 'have an air of design' (the statue of Mitys falling on the murderer), because they read as caused; in ch. XV/15 the unravelling must come from the plot and not from the 'machine', with the exception that a god may be used for events outside the drama (before or after, beyond human knowledge); in ch. XV and XXIV/XXV the irrational should be excluded from the action or placed outside it (Oedipus not knowing how Laius died) and a convincing impossibility is preferred to an unconvincing possibility; in ch. XVIII and XXV Agathon's point that it is probable that improbable things happen is cited. Butcher renders the last as 'probable impossibilities'; Fyfe as 'convincing impossibility' / 'convincing though impossible'. This candidate adds to C3-B001-S1-05 (which covers ch. 8-10, 15 on dia tade/meta tade and the machine) the Mitys case, the outside-the-action exception, the probable impossible and the outside-the-action rule for the irratio...

In ch. IX/9 Aristotle praises chance events that 'have an air of design' (the statue of Mitys falling on the murderer), because they read as caused; in ch. XV/15 the unravelling must come from the plot and not from the 'machine', with the exception that a god may be used for events outside the drama (before or after, beyond human knowledge); in ch. XV and XXIV/XXV the irrational should be excluded from the action or placed outside it (Oedipus not knowing how Laius died) and a convincing impossibility is preferred to an unconvincing possibility; in ch. XVIII and XXV Agathon's point that it is probable that improbable things happen is cited. Butcher renders the last as 'probable impossibilities'; Fyfe as 'convincing impossibility' / 'convincing though impossible'. This candidate adds to C3-B001-S1-05 (which covers ch. 8-10, 15 on dia tade/meta tade and the machine) the Mitys case, the outside-the-action exception, the probable impossible and the outside-the-action rule for the irrational.

Curator qualifications: All 14 excerpts located (public-domain Butcher translation and Perseus Fyfe XML); chance with an 'air of design' and the unravelling from the plot, not the machine.

Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

```json
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1974/pg1974.txt",
      "note": "candidate evidence excerpts"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/PerseusDL/canonical-greekLit/0189b9c8d8d1f148133f2f0af309b4ee90ea4332/data/tlg0086/tlg034/tlg0086.tlg034.perseus-eng2.xml",
      "note": "candidate evidence excerpts"
    }
  ]
}
```

Evidence claims:
- [sourced_fact] In ch. IX/9 Aristotle praises chance events that 'have an air of design' (the statue of Mitys falling on the murderer), because they read as caused; in ch. XV/15 the unravelling must come from the plot and not from the 'machine', with the exception that a god may be used for events outside the drama (before or after, beyond human knowledge); in ch. XV and XXIV/XXV the irrational should be excluded from the action or placed outside it (Oedipus not knowing how Laius died) and a convincing impossibility is preferred to an unconvincing possibility; in ch. XVIII and XXV Agathon's point that it is probable that improbable things happen is cited. Butcher renders the last as 'probable impossibilities'; Fyfe as 'convincing impossibility' / 'convincing though impossible'. This candidate adds to C3-B001-S1-05 (which covers ch. 8-10, 15 on dia tade/meta tade and the machine) the Mitys case, the outside-the-action exception, the probable impossible and the outside-the-action rule for the irrational. · locator: candidate evidence excerpts · source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1974/pg1974.txt

Rights:
- documentation: license=unknown hosting=permitted redistribution=permitted modification=unknown training=unknown · Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

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