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and to make the oration more harmonious. There is another kind, by which the orator is more intent upon giving ftrength than grace and beauty to his difcourfe. This confifts in difpofing certain expreffions in fuch a manner, that the oration may grow still more vigorous as it goes on; and that the last may have always the most energy, and always add fomething to those which preceded them. Sometimes, certain words are rejected in the conclufion, which have a particular emphafis, and give the greatest strength to a thought or description; in order that being separated, as it were, from the reft, and fet in a stronger light, they may ftrike forcibly on the mind. This kind of order is as remarkable as the former, and deferves the utmost attention of the master. I will give two or three examples of this kind extracted from Cicero, and add Quintilian's reflections, which alone would be fufficient to form our taste, and teach us to understand and explain authors.

1. Tu iftis faucibus, iftis lateribus, ifta gladiatoria totius corporis firmitate, tantum vini in Hippie nuptiis exhauferas, ut tibi neceffe effet in populi Romani confpectu vomere poftridie. Quintilian weighs every word in this description. Quid fauces & latera, fays he, ad ebrietatem? Minime funt otiofa. Nam refpicientes ad hæc poffumus æftimare quantum ille vini in Hippia nuptiis exhauferit, quod ferre & coquere non poffet illa gla, diatoria corporis firmitate.

We are fenfible enough of the effect which is produced by this difpofition of the words, faucibus, lateribus, gladiatoria totius corporis firmitate, which rife to

the end.

We fhould not perhaps have taken fo much notice of the reason which induced Cicero to repeat the word poftridie, in the end, if Quintilian had not made us attentive to it. e © Sæpe eft vehemens aliquis fenfus in verbo: quod fi in media parte fententiæ latet, tranfiri intentione, & obfcurari circumjacentibus folet, in claufula

Philip. 2. n. 63.

Quint. 1. 9. c. 4.

pofitum

pofitum affignatur auditori & infingitur, quale eft illud Ciceronis: Ut tibi neceffe effet in confpectu populi Romani vomere poftridie. Transfer hoc ultimum, minus valebit. Nam totius ductus hic eft quafi mucro, ut per fe feede vomendi neceffitati, jam nihil ultra expectantibus, hanc quoque adjiceret formitatem, ut cibus teneri non poffet poftridie.

But let us hear Cicero explain his own thought, and plainly point out to us the whole extent of it. O rem non modo vifu foedam, fed etiam auditu! Si hoc tibi inter coenam, in tuis immanibus illis poculis accidiffet, quis non turpe duceret? In coetu vero populi Romani, negotium publicum gerens, magifter equitum, cui ruttare turpe effet, is vomens fruftis efculentis, vinum redolentibus, gremium fuum & totum tribunal implevit. It is obvious, that the laft expreffions ftill improve upon the preceding ones. Singula incrementum habet. Per fe deforme, vel non in cœtu vomere: in coetu etiam non populi: populi etiam non Romani: vel fi nullum negotium ageret, vel fi non publicum, vel fi non magifter equitum. Sed alius divideret hæc, & circa fingulos gradus moraretur; hic in fublime etiam currit, & ad fummum pervenit non nixu, fed impetu. This is a beautiful model of explanation for masters.

But how beautiful foever the Roman orator's description of Anthony's vomiting may be, and whatever precaution he may take to advertise us firft of the effect it must produce: O rem non modo vifu fædam, fed etiam auditu; I do not believe our language, which is fo nice and delicate with regard to decency, could bear this detail of circumftances which difgufts and fhocks the imagination, and would never bear thefe words, vomere, ru&tare, fruftis efculentis . Here is an opportunity of making youth obferve the dif ference in the genius of languages, and the indifpu

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practice very common in that age} made thefe expreffions not fo distastesul.

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2. Stetit foleatus prætor populi Romani cum pallio tunicaque talari muliercula nixus in littore. Thefe laft words, in littore, placed in the clofe, add a prodigious ftrength to Cicero's thought, which I will explain in another place, where I endeavour to point out the beauty of this defcription, and relate Quintilian's admirable expofition of the paffage.

mi

3. Aderat janitor carceris, carnifex prætoris, mors terrorque fociorum & civium Romanorum, lictor Sextius. Whoever should put lictor Sextius in the beginning, would fpoil all the dreadful apparatus of this executioner muft go before him. Whoever fhould throw the members of this period into another order, would deftroy all its beauty, which, according to the rules of rhetoric and good fenfe, muft grow more emphatic as it proceeds. Nevertheless, this rule here complies with the delicacy of the ear, which would have been offended had the words been placed thus, terror morfque fociorum, according to their natural order, death making a ftronger impreffion than terror.

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ARTICLE the FIFT H.
Of Figures.

IGURES of rhetoric are certain turns and modes of expreffion which differ a little from the common and plain way of speaking; and are used to give more grace and force to difcourfe. They confift either in the words or the thoughts. I comprize in the former what the rhetoricians call tropes, though there may be fome difference in them.

I Verrem, 7. n. 85.

m Ibid. n. 177.

omnibus altius atque altius infurgentibus. Quint. 1. 8. c. 4.

Crefcere folet oratio verbis

It is of great importance to make youth observe, in reading good authors, the ufe which true eloquence makes of figures; the affiftance it draws from them, not only to please, but to perfuade and move the affections; and that without them, expreffion is weak, and falls into a kind of monotony, and is almost like a body without a foul. Quintilian gives us a just idea of them by a very natural comparison . A ftatue, fays he, quite uniform and of a piece from top to bottom, with the head ftrait upon the fhoulders, the arms hanging down, and the feet joined together, would have no gracefulness, and would feem to be without motion and lifelefs. It is the different attitudes of the feet, the hands, the countenance and head, which being varied an infinite number of ways, according to the diverfity of fubjects, communicate a fort of action and motion to the works of art, and give them, as it were, life and soul.

Figures of Words.

P The metaphor is a figure which substitutes the figurative terms it borrows from other fubjects, as it, were by a kind of exchange, in the room of proper words which are either wanting, or have not energy enough. Thus gemma was called the bud of the vine, there being no proper word to exprefs it: incenfus ira, inflammatus furore, were used instead of

• Recti corporis vel minima gratia eft. Neque enim adverfa ht facies, & demiffa brachia, & jun&i pedes, & à fummis ad ima rigens opus. Flexus ille, & ut fic dixerim motus, dat actum quandam effictis. Ideo nec ad unum modum formatæ manus, & in vulcu mille species... Quam quidem gratiam & delectationem afferunt figuræ, quæque in fenfibus, quæque in verbis funt. Quint. 1. 2. c. 14

P Tertius ille modus transferendi verbi latè patet, quem ne

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iratus, furens, in order to paint the effect of those paffions the better. We fee by this, that what there was at firft invented through neceffity, from the defect or want of proper words, has fince contributed towards embellishing fpeech; much after the fame manner that clothes were at first employed to cover the body, and defend it against the cold, and ferved afterwards to adorn it . Every metaphor therefore muft either find a void in the place it is to fill up, or, at least, (in case it banishes a proper word) must have more force than the word to which it is fubftituted.

9.

This is one of the figures that gives moft ornament, ftrength and grandeur to difcourfe; and the reader may have obferved in the several passages I have cited, that the most exquifite expreffions are generally metaphorical, and derive all their merit from that figure. Indeed, it has the peculiar advantage, according to Quintilian's obfervation, to fhine from its own light in the most celebrated pieces, and to distinguifh itself moft in them: it enriches a language, in fome measure, by an infinity of expreffions, by fubftituting the figurative in the room of the fimple or plain; it throws a great variety into the ftile; it raises and aggrandizes the most minute and common things; ' it gives us great pleasure by the ingenious boldness, with which it ftrikes out in queft of foreign expresfions, instead of the natural ones which are at hand it deceives the mind agreeably, by fhewing it one thing, and meaning another. In fine, it gives a body,

9 Meraphora aut vacantem occupare locum debet; aut, fi in alienum venit, plus valere eo quod expellit. Quint.l. 1. 8. c 6.

Ita jucunda atque nida, ut in oratione quamlibet clara, pro prio tamen lumine eluceat. Quint. 1. 8. c. 6.

f In fuorum verborum maxima copia, tamen homines aliena multo magis, fi funt ratione tranflata, delectant. Id accidere credo,

vel quòd ingenii fpecimen eft quod-
dam tranfilire ante pedes pofira,
& alia longè repetita fumere: vel
quòd is, qui audit, aliò ducitur co-
gitatione, neque tamen aberrat,
que maxima eft delectatio....
vel quòd omnis tranflatio, quæ
quidem fumpta ratione eft, ad fen-
fus ipfos admovetur, maximè ocu-
lorum, qui eft fenfus acerrimus..
Lib. 3. de Orat. n. 159, 160.

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