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previous: IV.19‑46 This webpage reproduces part of a complete English translation of the Rhetorica ad Herennium published in the Loeb Classical Library, 1954 The text is in the public domain. This page has been carefully proofread and I believe it to be free of errors. If you find a mistake though, please let me know!

Rhetorica ad Herennium

 p347  Book IV

[34] [46] This is substantially all I have thought it necessary to say on the Figures of Diction. Now the subject itself directs me to turn next to the Figures of Thought.

35 47 Distribution​1 occurs when certain specified rôles are assigned among a number of things or persons,​2 as follows: "Whoever of you, men of the jury, loves the good name of the Senate, must hate this man, for his attacks upon that body have always been most insolent. Whoever of you wishes the equestrian order​3 to be most resplendent in the state, must want this person to have paid the severest penalty, so that he may not be, through his personal shame, a stain and disgrace to a most honourable order. You who have parents, must prove by your punishment of this creature that un­dutiful men do not find favour with you. You who have children, must set forth an example to show how great are the punishments that have been provided in our state for men of that stamp." Again, "The Senate's function is to assist the state with counsel; the magistracy's is to execute, by diligent activity, the Senate's will; the people's to choose and support by its votes the best measures and the most suitable men." Again, "The duty of the prosecutor is to bring the charges; that of the counsel for the defence to explain them away and rebut them; that  p349 of the witness to say what he knows or has heard;​4 that of the presiding justice to hold each of these to his duty. Therefore, Lucius Cassius, if you allow a witness to argue and to attack by means of conjecture, passing beyond what he knows or has heard, you will be confusing the rights of a prosecutor with those of a witness, you will be encouraging the partiality of a dishonest witness, and you will be ordaining for the defendant that he defend himself twice."​5 This figure has richness, for it embraces much in little and, by assigning to each his duty, severally distinguishes a number of entities.

36 48 It is Frankness of Speech​6 when, talking before those to whom we owe reverence or fear, we yet exercise our right to speak out, because we seem justified in reprehending them, or persons dear to them, for some fault. For example: "You wonder, fellow citizens, that every one abandons your interests? That no one undertakes your cause? That no one declares himself your defender? Blame this upon yourselves; cease to wonder. Why indeed should not every one avoid and shun this situation of your making? Bethink yourselves of those whom you have had for defenders; set their devotion before your eyes, and next consider what has become of them all. Then remember that thanks to your — to speak aright — indifference, or cowardice rather, all these men have been murdered before your eyes, and  p351 thanks to your own votes their enemies have reached the highest estate."​7 Again: "Now what was your motive, men of the jury, in hesitating to pass sentence on this abominable man, or in allowing him a new trial?​8 Were not the facts charged as plain as day? Were they not all proved by witnesses? Was not the answer, on the other hand, feeble and trifling? Did you at this point fear that in condemning him at the first hearing you would be considered cruel? While avoiding a reproach for cruelty, which you would have been far from incurring, you have incurred another reproach — you are considered timid and cowardly. You have met with very great losses, private and public, and now when even greater losses seem to impend, you sit and yawn. During the day you wait for night, at night you wait for day. Every day some troublesome and unpleasant news is announced — yet even now will you temporize longer with the author of these our ills, and nourish him for the destruction of the republic; will you keep him in the commonwealth as long as you can?"

37 49 If Frank Speech of this sort seems too pungent, there will be many means of palliation, for one may immediately thereafter add something of this sort: "I here appeal to your virtue, I call on your wisdom, I bespeak your old habit," so that praise may quiet the feelings aroused by the frankness. As a result, the praise frees the hearer from wrath and annoyance, and the frankness deters him from error. This precaution in speaking, as in  p353 friendship, if taken at the right place, is especially effective in keeping the hearers from error and in presenting us, the speakers, as friendly both to the hearers and to the truth.

There is also a certain kind of frankness in speaking which is achieved by a craftier device, when we remonstrate with the hearers as they wish us to remonstrate with them, or when we say "we fear how the audience may think" something which we know they all will hear with acceptance, "yet the truth moves us to say it none the less."​9 I shall add examples of both these kinds. Of the former, as follows: "Fellow citizens, you are of too simple and gentle a character; you have too much confidence in every one. You think that every one strives to perform what he has promised you. You are mistaken, and now for a long time you have been kept back by false and groundless hope, in your fatuity choosing to seek from others what lay in your power, rather than take it yourselves."​10 Of the latter kind of Frank Speech the following will be an example: "I enjoyed a friendship with this person, men of the jury, yet of that friendship — although I fear how you are going to receive what I shall say, I will yet say it — you have deprived me. Why? Because, in order to win your approval, I have preferred to consider your assailant as an enemy rather than as a friend."

 p355  50 Thus this figure called Frankness of Speech will, as I have shown, be handled in two ways: with pungency, which, if too severe, will be mitigated by praise; and with reticence, discussed above, which does not require mitigation, because it assumes the guise of Frank Speech and is of itself agreeable to the hearer's frame of mind.

38 Understatement​11 occurs when we say that by nature, fortune, or diligence, we or our clients possess some exceptional advantage, and, in order to avoid the impression of arrogant display, we moderate and soften the statement of it, as follows: "This, men of the jury, I have the right to say — that, by labour and diligence I have contrived to be no laggard in the mastery of military science." If the speaker had here said "be the best" he might have spoken the truth, but would have seemed arrogant. He has now said quite enough both to avoid envy and to secure praise. Again: "Was it then because of avarice or of need that he entered upon the crime? Avarice? But he was most generous to his friends, and that is a sign of generosity, a virtue opposed to avarice. Need? But his father left him a patrimony that was — I do not wish to exaggerate — not the smallest."​12 Here again, calling the patrimony "large" or "very large" was avoided. This, then, is the precaution we shall take in setting forth the exceptional advantages which we or our clients enjoy. For  p357 things of this sort, if you handle them indiscreetly, in life provoke jealousy and in a speech antipathy. Therefore just as by circumspection we escape jealousy in life, so by prudence we avoid antipathy in speaking.

39 51 Vivid Description​13 is the name for the figure which contains a clear, lucid, and impressive exposition of the consequences of an act, as follows: "But, men of the jury, if by your votes you free this defendant, immediately, like a lion released from his cage, or some foul beast loosed from his chains,​14 he will slink and prowl about in the forum,​15 sharpening his teeth to attack every one's property, assaulting every man, friend and enemy, known to him or unknown, now despoiling a good name, now attacking a life, now bringing ruin upon a house and its entire household, shaking the republic from its foundations. Therefore, men of the jury, cast him out from the state, free every one from fear, and finally, think of yourselves. For if you release this creature without punishment, believe me, gentlemen, it is against yourselves that you will have let loose a wild and savage beast."

Again: "For if you inflict a heavy penalty upon the defendant, men of the jury, you will at once by a single judgement have taken many lives. His aged father, who has set the entire hope of his last years on this young man, will have no reason for wishing to stay alive. His small children, deprived of their father's aid, will be exposed as objects of scorn and contempt to their father's enemies. His entire household will collapse under this undeserved  p359 calamity. But his enemies, when once they have won the bloody palm by the most cruel of victories, will exult over the miseries of these unfortunates, and will be found insolent on the score of deeds as well as of words."

Again: "For none of you, fellow citizens, fails to see what miseries usually follow upon the capture of a city. Those who have borne arms against the victors are forthwith slain with extreme cruelty. Of the rest, those who by reason of youth and strength can endure hard labour are carried off into slavery, and those who cannot are deprived of life. In short, at one and the same time a house blazes up by the enemy's torch, and they whom nature or free choice has joined in the bonds of kinship or of sympathy are dragged apart. Of the children, some are torn from their parents' arms, others murdered on their parents' bosom, still others violated at their parents' feet. No one, men of the jury, can, by words, do justice to the deed, nor reproduce in language the magnitude of the disaster."16

With this kind of figure either indignation or pity can be aroused, when the consequences of an act, taken together as a whole, are concisely set forth in a clear style.

 p361  40 52 Division​17 separates the alternatives of a question and resolves each by means of a reason subjoined, as follows: "Why should I now reproach you in any way? If you are an upright man, you have not deserved reproach; if a wicked man, you will be unmoved." Again: "Why should I now boast of my deserts? If you remember them, I shall weary you; if you have forgotten them, have been ineffective in action, and therefore what could I effect by words?" Again: "There are two things which can urge men to illicit gain: poverty and greed. That you were greedy in the division with your brother we know, that you are poor and destitute we now see. How, therefore, can you show that you had no motive for the crime?" There is the following difference between the present kind of Division and that other which forms the third part of a discourse, and which I treated in Book I,​18 next after Statement of Facts: the former Division operates through the Enumeration or Exposition of the topics to be discussed throughout the whole discourse; whereas here the Division at once unfolds itself, and by briefly adding the reasons for the two or more parts, embellishes the style.

Accumulation​19 occurs when the points scattered throughout the whole cause are collected in one place so as to make the speech more impressive or sharp or accusatory, as follows: "From what vice, I ask, is this defendant free? What ground have you for wishing to acquit him of the suit? He is the betrayer of his own self-respect, and the waylayer of  p363 the self-respect of others; covetous, intemperate, irascible, arrogant; disloyal to his parents, ungrateful to his friends, troublesome to his kin; insulting to his betters, disdain­ful of his equals and mates, cruel to his inferiors; in short he is intolerable to every one."

53 Of the same kind is that other Accumulation, which is very useful in city council cases, when the implications, which were petty and weak because expressed separately, are collected in one place and so seem to make the subject evident and not dubious,​20 as follows:​21 "Do not, therefore, men of the jury, do not consider singly the things I have said, but join them all together and combine them into one.

41 "If the defendant profited from the victim's death; if also his life is full of dishonour, his heart most avaricious, and his family fortune very meagre; and if that crime benefited no one but him;​22 and if no one else could have done the deed with equal skill, or he himself could not have done it by methods more apt; if he neglected nothing that was necessary for the crime, and did nothing that was not necessary; and if he not only sought the most suitable place, but also a favourable occasion for entering upon the crime, and the most opportune moment for undertaking it; if he spent the longest period of time in executing it, and not without the greatest hope of concealing and completing it; and besides, if, before the victim was murdered, the defendant was seen, alone, in the place in which the murder was committed; if soon afterward, during the very  p365 commission of the crime, the voice of the victim was heard; if it is established that then, after the murder, the defendant returned home, at dead of night; that on the next day he spoke of the man's murder haltingly and inconsistently​23 — if all these indications are proved, partly by witnesses, and partly by the confessions upon torture​24 which have been adduced in confirmation, and by public opinion, which, born of evidence, must necessarily be true; then, gentlemen, it is your duty to gather all these indications into one, and arrive at definite knowledge, not suspicion, of the crime. To be sure, some one or two of these things can by chance have happened in such a way as to throw suspicion upon this defendant; but for everything to coincide from first to last, he must have been a participant in the crime. This cannot be the result of chance." This figure has force, and in a city council issue is almost always essential; in the other types of causes and indeed in all discourse it is to be used occasionally.

42 54 Refining​25 consists in dwelling on the same topic and yet seeming to say something ever new. It is accomplished in two ways: by merely repeating the same idea, or by descanting upon it. We shall not repeat the same thing precisely — for that, to be sure, would weary the hearer and not refine the idea — but with changes. Our changes will be of three kinds: in the words, in the delivery, and in the treatment.

Our changes will be verbal when, having expressed the idea once, we repeat it once again or oftener in  p367 other, equivalent terms, as follows: "No peril is so great that a wise man would think it ought to be avoided when the safety of the fatherland is at stake. When the lasting security of the state is in question, the man endowed with good principles will undoubtedly believe that in defence of the fortunes of the republic he ought to shun no crisis of life, and he will ever persist in the determination eagerly to enter, for the fatherland, any combat, however great the peril to life."

Our changes will reside in the delivery if now in the tone of conversation, now in an energetic tone, and now in variation after variation of voice and gesture, repeating the same ideas in different words, we also change the delivery quite strikingly. This cannot be described with complete effectiveness, and yet it is clear enough. Hence there is no need of illustration.

55 The third kind of change, accomplished in the treatment, will take place if we transfer the thought into the form of Dialogue or into the form of Arousal.

43 Dialogue — which I shall soon more fully discuss in its place​26 and shall now touch upon briefly, as far as may be sufficient for the present purpose — consists in putting in the mouth of some person language in keeping with his character, as follows (for the sake of greater clarity, to continue the same theme as above): "The wise man will think that for the common weal he ought to undergo every peril.​27 Often he will say to himself:​28 'Not for self alone was I born, but also, and much more, for the fatherland.29  p369 Above all, let me spend my life, which I owe to fate, for the salvation of my country. She has nourished me. She has in safety and honour reared me even to this time of life. She has protected my interests by good laws, the best of customs, and a most honourable training. How can I adequately repay her from whom I have received these blessings?' According as the wise man often says this to himself, when the republic is in danger, he on his part will shun no danger."

Again, the idea is changed in the treatment by means of a transfer to the form of Arousal,​30 when not only we ourselves seem to speak under emotion, but we also stir the hearer, thus: "Who is possessed of reasoning power so feeble, whose soul is bound in such straits of envy, that he would not heap eager praise upon this man and judge him most wise, a man who for the salvation of the fatherland, the security of the state, and the prosperity of the republic eagerly undertakes and gladly undergoes any danger, no matter how great or terrible? 56 For my part, my desire to praise this man adequately is greater than my power to do so, and I am sure that this feeling of inadequacy is shared by all of you."

The theme, then, will be varied in speaking in these three ways: in the words, in the delivery, in the treatment. In the treatment we shall vary the theme by two means: by Dialogue and by Arousal.

But when we descant upon the same theme, we shall use a great many variations. Indeed, after having expressed the theme simply, we can subjoin the Reason, and then express the theme in another form, with or without the Reasons;​31 next we can present the Contrary​32 (all this I have discussed under  p371 Figures of Diction); then a Comparison and an Example (about these I shall say more in their place);​33 44 and finally the Conclusion (the essential details of which were discussed in Book II,​34 when I showed how one should bring arguments to a close; in this Book​35 I have explained the nature of that figure of diction which is called Conclusion). A Refinement of this sort, which will consist of numerous figures of diction and of thought, can therefore be exceedingly ornate.

The following, then, will illustrate a treatment in seven parts — to continue the use of the same theme for my example, in order that you may know how easily, by the precepts of rhetoric, a simple idea is developed in a multiple manner:​36

57 "The wise man will, on the republic's behalf, shun no peril,​37 because it may often happen that if a man has been loath to perish for his country it will be necessary for him to perish with her. Further, since it is from our country that we receive all our advantages, no disadvantage incurred on her behalf is to be regarded as severe.​38

"I say, then, that they who flee from the peril to be undergone on behalf of the republic act foolishly,​39 for they cannot avoid the disadvantages, and are found guilty of ingratitude towards the state.​40

"But on the other hand they who, with peril to themselves, confront the perils of the fatherland, are to be considered wise, since they render to their country the homage due her, and prefer to die for  p373 many of their fellow citizens instead of with them. It is extremely unjust to give back to nature, when she compels, the life you have received from nature, and not to give to your country, when she calls for it, the life you have preserved thanks to your country;​41 and when you can die for fatherland with the greatest manliness and honour, to prefer to live in disgrace and cowardice; and when you are willing to face danger for friends and parents and your other kin, to refuse to run the risk for the republic, which embraces all these and that most holy name of fatherland as well.​42

"He who in a voyage prefers his own to his vessel's security, deserves contempt. No less blameworthy is he who in a crisis of the republic consults his own in preference to the common safety. For from the wreck of a ship many of those on board escape unharmed, but from the wreck of the fatherland no one can swim to safety.​43

"It is this that, in my opinion, Decius​44 well understood, who is said to have devoted himself to death, and, in order to save his legions, to have plunged into the midst of the enemy. He gave up his life, but did not throw it away; for at the cost of a very cheap good he redeemed a sure good, of a small good the greatest good. He gave his life, and received his country in exchange. He lost his life, and gained glory, which, transmitted with highest praise, shines more and more every day as time goes on.​45

 p375  "But if reason has shown and illustration confirmed that it is fitting to confront danger in defence of the republic, they are to be esteemed wise who do not shrink from any peril when the security of the fatherland is at stake."46

58 It is of these types, then, that Refining consists. I have been led to discuss it at rather great length because it not only gives force and distinction to the speech when we plead a cause, but it is by far our most important means of training for skill in style. It will be advantageous therefore to practise the principles of Refining in exercises divorced from a real cause, and in actual pleading to put them to use in the Embellishment of an argument, which I discussed in Book II.47

45 Dwelling on the Point​48 occurs when one remains rather long upon, and often returns to, the strongest topic on which the whole cause rests. Its use is particularly advantageous, and is especially characteristic of the good orator, for no opportunity is given the hearer to remove his attention from this strongest topic. I have been unable to subjoin a quite appropriate example​49 of the figure, because this topic is not isolated from the whole cause like some limb, but like blood​50 is spread through the whole body of the discourse.

 p377  Through Antithesis contraries will meet. As I have explained above, it belongs either among the figures of diction,​51 as in the following example: "You show yourself conciliatory to your enemies, inexorable to your friends"; or among the figures of thought, as in the following example: "While you deplore the troubles besetting him, this knave rejoices in the ruin of the state. While you despair of your fortunes, this knave alone grows all the more confident in his own." Between these two kinds of Antithesis there is this difference: the first consists in a rapid opposition of words; in the other opposing thoughts ought to meet in a comparison.

59 Comparison​52 is a manner of speech that carries over an element of likeness from one thing to a different thing. This is used to embellish or prove or clarify or vilify. Furthermore, corresponding to these four aims, it has four forms of presentation: Contrast, Negation, Detailed Parallel, Abridged Comparison. To each single aim in the use of Comparison we shall adapt the corresponding form of presentation.

46 In the form of a contrast, in order to embellish, Comparison is used as follows: "Unlike what happens in the palaestra, where he who receives the flaming torch is swifter in the relay race than he who hands it on, the new general who receives command of an army is not superior to the general who retires from its command. For in the one case it is an exhausted runner who hands the torch to a fresh athlete, whereas in this it is an experienced commander who hands over the army to an inexperienced." This could have been expressed quite  p379 simply, clearly, and plausibly without the Comparison, as follows: "They say that usually it is inferior generals who take over the command of armies from superior." But the Comparison is used for embellishment, so as to secure a certain distinction for the style. It is moreover presented in the form of a contrast. For a Comparison in the form of a contrast is used when we deny that something else is like the thing we are asserting to be true.

In the form of a negation and for the purpose of proof, Comparison will be used as follows: "Neither can an untrained horse, however well-built by nature, be fit for the services desired of a horse, nor can an uncultivated man, however well-endowed by nature, attain to virtue."​53 This idea has been rendered more plausible, for it becomes easier to believe that virtue cannot be secured without culture, when we see that not even a horse can be serviceable if untrained. Thus the Comparison is used for the purpose of proof, and moreover is presented in the form of a negation, as is clear from the first word of the Comparison.

47 60 A comparison will be used also for greater clarity — the presentation being in abridged form — as follows: "In maintaining a friendship, as in a foot-race, you must train yourself not only so that you succeed in running as far as is required, but so that, extending yourself by will and sinew, you easily run beyond that point." Indeed this Comparison serves to make more obvious the poor reasoning evinced by the detractors of those who, for example, are  p381 protectors of a friend's children after his death; for a runner ought to have enough speed to carry him beyond the goal, and a friend so much good will that in the devotion of friendship he may reach even beyond what his friend is capable of perceiving. The Comparison is moreover presented in abridged form, for one term is not detached from the other as in the other form, but the two are conjoined and intermingled in the presentation.

A Comparison will be used for vividness, and be set forth in the form of a detailed parallel,​54 as follows: "Let us imagine a player on the lyre​55 who has presented himself on the stage, magnificently garbed, clothed in a gold-embroidered robe, with purple mantle interlaced in various colours, wearing a golden crown illumined with large gleaming jewels, and holding a lyre covered with golden ornaments and set off with ivory. Further, he has a personal beauty, presence, and stature that impose dignity. If, when by these means he has roused a great expectation in the public, he should in the silence he has created suddenly give utterance to a rasping voice, and this should be accompanied by a repulsive gesture, he is the more forcibly thrust off in derision and scorn, the richer his adornment and the higher the hopes he has raised. In the same way, a man of high station, endowed with great and opulent resources, and abounding in all the gifts of fortune and the emoluments of nature, if he yet lacks virtue and the arts that teach virtue, will so much the more forcibly in derision and scorn be cast from all association with good men, the richer he is in the other advantages, the greater his distinction, and the higher the hopes he has raised." This Comparison, by embellishing both  p383 terms, bringing into relation by a method of parallel description the one man's ineptitude and the other's lack of cultivation, has set the subject vividly before the eyes of all. Moreover the Comparison is presented in the form of a detailed parallel because, once the similitude has been set up, all like elements are related.

48 61 In Comparisons we must carefully see to it that when we present the corresponding idea for the sake of which we have introduced the figure we use words suited to the likeness. The following is an example: "Just as when the swallows are with us in summer time, and when driven by the frost retire, . . ." Keeping the same comparison, and using Metaphor, we now say: "so false friends are with us in a peaceful season of our life, and as soon as they have seen the winter of our fortune, they fly away, one and all." But the invention of Comparisons will be easy if one can frequently set before one's eyes everything animate and inanimate, mute and articulate, wild and tame, of the earth, sky, and sea, wrought by art, chance, or nature, ordinary or unusual, and can amongst these hunt out some likeness which is capable of embellishing or proving or clarifying or vivifying. The resemblance between the two things need not apply throughout, but must hold on the precise point of comparison.

49 62 Exemplification​56 is the citing of something done or said in the past, along with the definite naming of the doer or author. It is used with the  p385 same motives as a Comparison. It renders a thought more brilliant when used for no other purpose than beauty; clearer, when throwing more light upon what was somewhat obscure; more plausible, when giving the thought greater verisimilitude; more vivid, when expressing everything so lucidly that the matter can, I may almost say, be touched by the hand. I would have added individual specimens of each type had I not under Refining demonstrated the nature of Exemplification,​57 and, under Comparison, made clear the motives for its use.​58 Therefore I have been unwilling to make my discussion of it either too brief for it to be understood, or too long once it is understood.

Simile​59 is the comparison of one figure with another, implying a certain resemblance between them. This is used either for praise or censure. For praise, as follows: "He entered the combat in body like the strongest bull, in impetuosity like the fiercest lion."​60 For censure, so as to excite hatred, as follows: "That wretch who daily glides through  p387 the middle of the Forum like a crested serpent, with curved fangs, poisonous glance,​61 and fierce panting, looking about him on this side and that for some one to blast with venom from his throat — to smear it with his lips, to drive it in with his teeth, to spatter it with his tongue." To excite envy, as follows: "That creature who flaunts his riches, loaded and weighed down with gold, shouts and raves like a Phrygian eunuch-priest of Cybele​62 or like a soothsayer." To excite contempt, as follows: "That creature, who like a snail silently hides and keeps himself in his shell, is carried off, he and his house, to be swallowed whole."

63 Portrayal​63 consists in representing and depicting in words clearly enough for recognition the bodily form of some person, as follows: "I mean him, men of the jury, the ruddy, short, bent man, with white and rather curly hair, blue-grey eyes, and a huge scar on his chin, if perhaps you can recall him to memory." This figure is not only serviceable, if you should wish to designate some person, but also graceful, if fashioned with brevity and clarity.

50 Character Delineation​64 consists in describing a person's character by the definite signs which, like distinctive marks, are attributes of that character;  p389 for example, if you should wish to describe a man who is not actually rich but parades as a moneyed man, you would say: "That person there, men of the jury, who thinks it admirable that he is called rich, see now first with what an air he surveys us. Does he not seem to you to be saying: 'I'd gladly give you clients' doles, if you didn't try my patience!' Yes, once he has propped his chin on his left hand​65 he thinks that he dazzles the eyes of all with gleam of his jewelry and the glitter of his gold. When he turns to his slave boy here, his only one​66 — I know him, and you do not, I think — he calls him now by one name, now by another, and now by a third: 'Ho there, you, Sannio,' says he, 'come here, see that these barbarians​67 don't turn things upside down,' so that unknowing hearers may think he is selecting one slave from among many. Whispering in the boy's ear he tells him either to arrange the dining-couches at home, or to ask his uncle for an Ethiop​68 to attend him to the baths, or to station the Asturian thoroughbred before his front door, or to make ready some other flimsy stage property which should set off his vainglory. Then he shouts, that all may hear: 'See to it that the money is carefully counted before nightfall,​69 if possible.' The boy, by this time well knowing his master's character, says: 'You had better send more slaves over there if you want the counting done today.' 'Go then,' he  p391 answers, 'take with you Libanus and Sosia.' 'Very good, sir.'

"Then by chance come guests, whom the rascal had invited while travelling abroad in splendour. By this event the man is, you may be sure, quite embarrassed, but he still does not desist from his natural fault. 'You do well,' says he, 'to come, but you would have done better to go straight to me at my house.' 'That we would have done,' say they, 'had we known your house.' 'But surely it was easy to find that out from anyone. Still, come with me.'

"They follow. In the meanwhile all his conversation is spent in boasting. He asks: 'How are the crops in the fields?' They say that because his villas have been burnt, he cannot go to them, and does not yet dare rebuild them, 'although on my Tusculan estate, to be sure, I have commenced an insane undertaking — to build on the same foundations.'

51 64 "While saying this he comes to a certain house in which a banqueting club was to meet on that very day. As if in fact he knew the owner, the rascal now enters the house with his guest. 'Here,' says he, 'is where I live.' He scrutinizes the silver which had been laid out, inspects the dining-couch which had been spread, and indicates his approval. A little slave boy comes up. They say aloud to the man that the master is about to arrive; would he wish to leave? 'Indeed?' says the man. 'Let us be off, my friends. My brother has arrived from the Falernian country. I shall go to meet him. Do come here at four o'clock.'​70 The guests depart. The rascal rushes posthaste to his own home. They, as he had bidden, come at four o'clock. They ask for him, discover  p393 whose house it is, and, hoodwinked, betake themselves to an inn.

"They see the man the next day, tell him their story, make their complaint and their accusation. He assures them that they had been deceived by the similarity of the place and had missed their way by a whole street;​71 he had, to the prejudice of his health, waited for them late into the night. To his boy Sannio he had given the job of borrowing vessels, coverings, and servants, and the little slave, not wanting in cleverness, had quite energetically and artfully procured all these. The rascal leads his guest to his home. He says he has accommodated one of his friends with the loan of his largest mansion for a wedding. The boy reports that the silver is being recalled; the lender had misgivings. 'Off with you,' says our man, 'I have obliged him with a mansion, I have given him my household of slaves. Does he want the silver,​72 too? And yet, although I have guests, let him use it; we shall be content with Samian.'73

"Why should I tell what he next brings to pass? Such is the character of the man that what he effects by empty boasting and showing-off in one day I could hardly recount if I talked a whole year."

65 Character Delineations of this kind which describe the qualities proper to each man's nature carry very great charm, for they set before our eyes a person's whole character, of the boastful man, as I undertook to illustrate, or the envious or pompous man, or the  p395 miser, the climber, the lover, the voluptuary, the thief, the public informer — in short, by such delineation any one's ruling passion can be brought into the open.

52 Dialogue​74 consists in assigning to some person language which as set forth conforms with his character, for example: "When the city overflowed with soldiers, and all the citizens, oppressed by fear, kept themselves at home, this fellow appeared in military cloak, armed with a sword, in his hand a javelin. Three young men, equipped like him, follow behind.​75 Suddenly he bursts into the house, and in a loud voice shouts: 'Where is he, the wealthy owner of this house? Why has he not appeared before me? Why are you silent?' At this all are struck dumb with terror. The wife of the unhappy man, bursting into tears, throws herself at this creature's feet, and says: 'By all that is dearest to you in life, I pray you, pity us.​76 Destroy not anew them that are destroyed.​77 Use your good fortune kindly. We too have enjoyed good fortune. Remember that you are human.'​78 'Why do you not surrender him to me and cease wailing into my ears? He shall not escape.'

"Meanwhile word of this person's arrival and of his clamorous threats of death is brought to the master of the house. Immediately upon receipt of these  p397 tidings, 'Hark, Gorgias,' he says to the attendant of his children, 'hide them, defend them, see that you bring them up safe to young manhood.' Hardly had he uttered these words when, behold, this person appears, and says: 'You are still here, rash fool? Has not my voice frightened you to death? Appease my enmity and sate my wrath with your blood.' The master, with proud spirit, replies: 'I feared I might really be conquered. Now I see: You do not wish to contend with me in a trial at law, where failure brings shame, and success glory. You wish to kill me. True, I shall be killed, but I will die unconquered.' 'Sententious​79 even at the point of death! You do not wish to beg your life of me when you see I have you in my power?' Then the woman: 'Nay, truly he begs and implores you. I plead with you, be moved to pity. And do you, in heaven's name, clasp his knees. He has you in his power. He has prevailed over you, and do you now prevail over your spirit.' 'Why do you not cease, my wife,' says he, 'to utter words unworthy of me? Be silent, and attend to your tasks.​80 And you, why do you not, once for all, rob me of life, and yourself, by my death, of every hope of enjoying life?' The intruder thrust the weeping woman from him, and as the master began to say something or other, worthy, I am sure, of his manliness, buried the sword in his side."81

 p399  I think that in this example the language assigned to each person was appropriate to his character — a precaution necessary to maintain in Dialogue.

There are likewise Hypothetical Dialogues, as follows: "Indeed what do we think those people will say if you have passed this judgement? Will not every one say as follows: –––––?" And then one must add what they will say.

53 66 Personification​82 consists in representing an absent person as present, or in making a mute thing or one lacking form articulate, and attributing to it a definite form and a language or a certain behaviour appropriate to its character, as follows: "But if this invincible city would now give utterance to her voice, would she not speak as follows? 'I, city of renown, who have been adorned with numerous trophies, enriched with unconditional triumphs, and made opulent by famous victories, am now vexed, O citizens, by your dissensions. Her whom Carthage with her wicked guile, Numantia with her tested strength, and Corinth with her polished culture, could not shake, do you now suffer to be trod upon and trampled underfoot by worthless weaklings?' " Again: "But if that great Lucius Brutus should now come to life again and appear here before you, would he not use this language? 'I banished kings; you bring in tyrants. I created liberty, which did not exist; what I created you do not wish to preserve. I, at peril of my life, freed the fatherland; you, even  p401 without peril, do not care to be free.' "​83 Personification may be applied to a variety of things, mute and inanimate. It is most useful in the divisions under Amplification and in Appeal to Pity.84

67 Emphasis​85 is the figure which leaves more to be suspected than has been actually asserted. It is produced through Hyperbole, Ambiguity, Logical Consequence, Aposiopesis, and Analogy.

The emphasis is produced through Hyperbole​86 when more is said than the truth warrants, so as to give greater force to the suspicion, as follows: "Out of so great a patrimony, in so short a time, this man has not laid by even an earthen pitcher wherewith to seek a fire for himself."87

The emphasis is produced through Ambiguity​88 when a word can be taken in two or more senses, but yet is taken in that sense which the speaker intends; for example, if you should say concerning a man who has come into many legacies: "Just look out, you, who look out for yourself so profitably."​89 54 Even as we must of those ambiguities which render the style obscure, so must we seek those which produce an emphasis of this sort. It will be easy to find them if we know and pay heed to the double and multiple meanings of words.

 p403  Emphasis by Logical Consequence​90 is produced when one mentions the things that follow from a given circumstance, thus leaving the whole matter in distrust; for example, if you should say to the son of a fishmonger: "Quiet, you, whose father used to wipe his nose with his forearm."91

The emphasis is produced through Aposiopesis​92 if we begin to say something and then stop short, and what we have already said leaves enough to arouse suspicion, as follows: "He who so handsome and so young, recently at a stranger's house — I am unwilling to say more."

The emphasis is produced through Analogy, when we cite some analogue and do not amplify it, but by its means intimate what we are thinking, as follows: "Do not, Saturninus, rely too much on the popular mob — unavenged lie the Gracchi."93

This figure sometimes possesses liveliness and distinction in the highest degree; indeed it permits the hearer himself to guess what the speaker has not mentioned.

68 Conciseness​94 is the expressing of an idea by the very minimum of essential words, as follows: "On his way he took Lemnus, then left a garrison at Thasus, after that destroyed the Bithynian city,  p405 Cius; next, returning to the Hellespont, he forthwith occupies Abydus."​95 Again: "Just recently consul, next he was first man of the state; then he sets out for Asia; next he is declared a public enemy and exiled; after that he is made general-in‑chief and finally consul for the seventh time."​96 Conciseness expresses a multitude of things within the limits of but a few words, and is therefore to be used often, either when the facts do not require a long discourse or when time will not permit dwelling upon them.

55 It is Ocular Demonstration​97 when an event is so described in words that the business seems to be enacted and the subject to pass vividly before our eyes. This we can effect by including what has  p407 preceded, followed, and accompanied the event itself, or by keeping steadily to its consequences​98 or the attendant circumstances,​99 as follows: As soon as Gracchus saw that the people were wavering, in their fear that he might, by the Senate's decree, be moved to change his mind, he ordered a convocation of the Assembly. In the meanwhile, this fellow, filled with wicked and criminal designs, bounds out of the temple of Jupiter. In a sweat, with eyes blazing,​100 hair bristling, toga awry, he begins to quicken his pace, several other men joining him. While the herald is asking attention for Gracchus, the fellow, beside himself, plants his heel on a bench, breaks off a leg of it with his right hand, and orders the others to do likewise. When Gracchus begins a prayer to the gods, these creatures in a rush attack him, coming together from all quarters, and a man in the crowd shouts: 'Fly, Tiberius, fly! Don't you see? Look behind you, I say!' Then the fickle mob, stricken with sudden fear, take to flight. But this fellow, frothing crime from his mouth, breathing forth cruelty from the depth of his lungs, swings his arm, and, while Gracchus wonders what it means, but still does not move from the place where he stood, strikes him on the temple. Gracchus does not impair his inborn manliness by a single cry, but falls without uttering a sound. The assassin, bespattered with the pitiable blood of the bravest of heroes, looks about him as if he had done a most admirable deed, gaily extends his murderous hand to his  p409 followers as they congratulate him, and betakes himself to the temple of Jupiter."​101 69 Through this kind of narrative Ocular Demonstration is very useful in amplifying a matter and basing on it an appeal to pity, for its sets forth the whole incident and virtually brings it before our eyes.

56 I have here carefully collected all the principles of embellishing style. If, Herennius, you exercise yourself diligently in these, your speaking will possess impressiveness,​102 distinction, and charm.​103 As a result you will speak like a true orator, and the product of your invention will not be bare and inelegant, nor will it be expressed in commonplace language.

Now let us again and again jointly insist (for the matter will concern us both) upon our seeking, constantly and unremittingly, by study and exercise, to master the theory of the art.​104 Others find this difficult for three main areas: they have no one with whom it is a pleasure to practise, or they lack self-confidence, or they do not know the right path to follow. For us none of these difficulties exists. We practise together gladly because of our friendship, which, originating in blood relation­ship, has in addition been strengthened by the study of philosophy. We are not without self-confidence, both because we have made no little progress, and because there are other and better studies which we pursue in life more intently, so that even if, in public speaking, we have not reached our goal, we shall miss but  p411 a little of the wholly perfect life.​105 And finally, we know the path to follow, because from these books no principle of rhetoric has been omitted.

Indeed I have shown how in every type of cause one ought to find ideas. I have told how it is proper to arrange these. I have disclosed the method of delivery. I have taught how we can have a good memory. I have explained the means by which to secure a finished style. If we follow these principle our Invention will be keen and prompt, our Arrangement clear and orderly, our Delivery impressive and graceful, our Memory sure and lasting, our Style brilliant and charming. In the art of rhetoric, then, there is no more. All these faculties we shall attain if we supplement the precepts of theory with diligent practice.106

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The Loeb Editor's Notes:

1 διαίρεσις, μερισμός. Cf. the distributio of 1.x.17, the distributio (Broken Tone of Debate) of 3.xiii.23, and the figure, divisio, in 4.xl.52.

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2 Of πράγματα or of πρόσωπα. Cf. the distinction in the third kind of narratio, 1.viii.13 above.

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3 In accordance with the Lex Plautia Iudiciaria of 90/89 B.C. both senators and knights (and also some of the plebs) served as iudices in the criminal courts. Sulla restored the senatorial monopoly in 82/81 B.C.

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4 On the admission of hearsay evidence in Roman Law see J. L. Strachan-Davidson, Problems of the Roman Criminal Law, Oxford, 1912, 2.123 ff.; cf. 2.viii.12 above.

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5 From the celebrated speech delivered in 113 B.C. (or at the end of 114) by L. Licinius Crassus in defence of Licinia, accused with other Vestals of unchastity and condemned. L. Cassius Longinus Ravilla (whose rule was to insist on the question of the motive: Cui bono? — "for whose advantage was the crime?") was the examining magistrate.

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6 παρρησία, oratio libera. Quintilian, 9.2.27 and 9.3.99, denies that this is a figure. Cf. Isocrates, De Pace 72 f.: "While hating those who revile you to your hurt as bearing malice to the state, you ought to praise those who admonish you for your benefit, and think them the best of your fellow-citizens, and think that best of all is the man who can demonstrate most vividly the defects of your practices and the misfortunes that arise from them."

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7 Whether this passage derives from a speech actually delivered we do not know. The sentiments are appropriate to a tribune of the time of Marius.

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8 The renewal (ampliatio) of a case followed the verdict non liquet by the jury, and the president's pronouncement amplius (cognoscendum). Renewals had to be repeated until the verdict of fecisse videtur or non fecisse videtur was rendered. The Lex Aelia Repetundarum (123/2 B.C.) provided against the abuses of this power by juries; it permitted the jury no more than one renewal in a single case at penalty of a fine.

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9 Cf. Plato, Phaedo 91B: "And I would enjoin upon you to be giving only little thought to Socrates, but much more to the truth"; and the saying attributed to Aristotle by Cervantes: Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas. (See James Condamin, Répertoire Alphabétique des Citations, Lyons and Paris, 1926, pp26 ff.).

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10 It has been suspected (see Friedrich Ellendt in Meyer-Dübner, Orator. Rom. Fragm., 2nd ed., p235, and Kroehnert, p30) that this may be a fragment from the speech De legibus promulgatis delivered (in 122 B.C.) by Gaius Gracchus, the words here being directed against M. Livius Drusus; but there is no real evidence to substantiate the conjecture. Rutilius Lupus, 2.18 (Halm, pp20‑21), uses as an example of this figure the following passage from Demosthenes (Fragm. Orat. Att., ed. Baiter-Sauppe, fragm. 54, p257): "But shall I refrain from speaking the truth frankly before you? No, I say. I shall not be silent, because the common welfare demands speech. It is by your own doing, men of Athens, that the state is in such great peril. For you have failed to defend yourselves, by recklessly believing every one and by esteeming as most useful the opinions of those whose counsels are most cowardly."

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11 ἀντεναντίωσις. Sometimes also μείωσις, λιτότης.

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12 It has been conjectured (see Ellendt in Meyer-Dübner, Orator. Rom. Fragm., 2nd ed., p256, and Kroehnert, p31) that this passage may have its source in the speech delivered by Marcus Antonius, in 98 B.C., in defence of Manius Aquilius, accused of extortion; cf. Cicero, Pro Flacco 98: "Aquilius, who had been convicted of extortion on many charges and by many witnesses." But there is no real evidence for the ascription.

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13 διατύπωσις. Cf. demonstratio (Ocular Demonstration), 4.lv.68 below, and consequentium frequentatio in Cicero, Part. Orat. 16.55. The figure is useful for exciting emotions; cf. the tenth commonplace of Amplification in 2.xxx.49 above.

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14 Cf. the example of Comparison in Aristotle, Rhet. 3.3 (1406B): "Androtion said of Idrieus that he was 'like a cur let loose from his chain, that flies at you and bites'; so Idrieus, let loose from his chains, was vicious."

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15 Cf. the second example of Simile, 4.xlix.62 below, and the passage of Demosthenes cited in note.

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16 The example is Greek in origin; see the similar example (illustrating διάλυσις) in Herodian (Walz 8.603). Notice that the speaker addresses the hearers as Quirites at first, and as iudices at the end. For content and diction cf. the example of the grand style, 4.viii.12 above. Cf. also in Homer, Il. 9.591 ff., Cleopatra's description of the woes that come to men whose city is captured: "The warriors are slain, the city is wasted by fire, and strangers lead captive the children and deep-girdled women"; the example of Metathesis from an unknown author in Isidore, Rhet. 21.34 (Halm, p521): "Recall your minds to the spectacle of an unhappy city that has been stormed, and imagine that you see all the burning, the killing, the plundering, the pillaging, the bodily injury done the children, the taking captive of the matrons, the slaying of the old men"; Dio Chrysostom 32.89; and Caesar in Sallust, Cat. 51.9.

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17 προσαπόδοσις, Distributive Reply. In distributis supposita ratio in De Oratore 3.54.207; Quintilian, 9.3.93, doubts whether distributis subiecta ratio is a figure. The figure is related to Dilemma (duplex conclusio), used in argumentation; see 2.xxiv.38 above. Cf. distributio (4.xxxv.47) and ratiocinatio (4.xvi.23). Cf. also Trimalchio on Agamemnon's controversia in Petronius 48: "If the business took place, there is no argument; if it did not, it is all nonsense."

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18 1.x.17.

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19 συναθροισμός. Cf. enumeratio in 2.xxx.47 above, and consummatio in Quintilian, 9.2.103.

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20 For the same idea see Cicero, Part. Orat. 11.40.

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21 The example that follows is a summary of a city council case (with its dependence on the topics of circumstantial evidence) according to the principles set forth above in 2.ii.3 ff.

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22 Cf., in 2.iv.6 above, the prosecutor's use of Comparison, and for this whole passage Quintilian, 7.2.42‑44, on Intention (consilium).

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23 Cf. 2.v.8 above, on Subsequent Behaviour.

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24 All these considerations are discussed above in 2.vi.9 ff.

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25 A χρεία, a thought (usually ethical) developed in detail in accordance with definite rules; a favourite type of progymnasma.

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26 4.lii.65 below.

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27 A quaestio infinita (θέσις); see Quintilian, 3.5.5 f.

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28 Cf. Julius Rufinianus 20 (Halm, pp43‑4): "διαλογισμός occurs when someone discusses with himself and ponders what he is doing or what he thinks ought to be done."

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29 Cf. Plato, Epist. 9, 358A: "Yet this, too, you ought to bear in mind — that none of us was born for self alone, but our existence is shared by our country, our parents, and our friends"; Demosthenes, De Corona 205: "Every one of those men considered himself to have been born, not to his father and mother alone, but also to his fatherland."

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30 ἀνάστασις.

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31 Cf. 4.xvii.24.

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32 Cf. 4.xviii.25.

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33 4.xlv.59‑xlix.62.

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34 2.xxx.47 ff.

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35 4.xxx.41.

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36 The tractatio (ἐξεργασία) of the chria is freer than that of the epicheireme in 2.xix.28 ff. This is our oldest extant illustration of a chria. Cf. the tractatio in Hermogenes, Progymn. 3 (ed. Rabe, pp6‑8).

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37 The Theme expressed simply (χρεία).

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38 The Reasons (αἰτίαι).

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39 Expression of the theme in a new form.

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40 The Reasons.

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41 Cf. Cicero, Phil. 10.10.20: "But since through the days and nights every kind of fate surrounds us on all sides, it is not a man's part, certainly not a Roman's, to hesitate to give to his country the life he owes to nature."

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42 The argument from the Contrary (ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου).

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43 The argument by Comparison (ἐκ παραβολῆς).

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44 The national hero P. Decius Mus, in 295 B.C. at Sentinum in the war against the Samnites, flung himself upon the weapons of the enemy, and by this act of devotion brought victory to the Romans. The like act was attributed to his father (who bore the same name) in a battle against the Latins in 340 B.C. This story was a favourite historical example (see Exemplification, 4.xlix.62 below) of patriotism.

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45 The argument from Example (ἐκ παραδειγμάτων), and the testimony of antiquity (μαρτύρια τῶν παλαιῶν).

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46 Conclusion (ἐπίλογος).

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47 2.xviii.28, 2.xxx.47 ff.

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48 ἐπιμονή. Cf. also διατριβή, as, for example, in Aristotle, Rhet. 3.17 (1418A).

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49 Anon., Schemata Dianoeas, in Halm, p72.7, cites in illustration of this figure the famous beginning of Cicero's first oration against Catiline: "How long, in heaven's name, Catiline, will you abuse our patience? How much longer yet will that madness of yours make mock of us? To what limit will your unbridled audacity vaunt itself?"

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50 The basis is the common comparison of a discourse with the human body. Cf. ἁδρόν (4.viii.11 above), ἰσχνόν (4.x.14 above), and esp. sufflata (4.x.15 above), and dissolutum (sine nervis et articulis) and exile (4.xi.16 above); Cicero, Brutus 9.36 and 16.64, and Orator 23.76; Horace, Serm. 2.1.2; in Plato, Phaedrus 264C, Socrates' principle that every discourse is constructed like a living creature, with a body of its own and a head and feet, and Aristotle, Poet., ch. 7 (1450B). See also La Rue Van Hook, The Metaphorical Terminology of Greek Rhetoric and Literary Criticism, Chicago diss., 1905, pp18 ff.

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51 4.xv.21. The ancient rhetoricians differed widely, some regarding Antithesis as a figure of diction, others as a figure of thought, and still others as belonging to both classes; see Cousin, Études sur Quintilien, 2.46‑8.

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52 παραβολή. This figure and the next form a common triad in post-Aristotelian rhetoric. In Cicero, De Inv. 1.xxx.49, they are divisions of comparabile (= ὁμοίωσις). Cf. Metaphor and Allegory, 4.xxxiv.45, 46 above, among the figures of diction. Comparisons are invented, but drawn from real life; see note on Exemplification, 4.xlix.62 below.

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53 Cf. Xenophon, Memorabilia 4.1.13; "Such as believed themselves good by nature and looked down upon learning, Socrates would teach that the greater the natural endowments, the greater is the need of education, pointing out that spirited and impetuous thoroughbreds, if they are tamed when young, become useful and excellent horses, but if not broken in, become intractable and worthless;" also Quintilian, 5.11.24 f.

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54 See note on Exemplification, 4.xlix.62 below.

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55 The story of Evangelus of Tarentum at the Pythian games; see Lucian, Adv. Indoctum 8‑10. Cf. also Socrates in Xenophon, Memorabilia 1.7.2, on the bad flute-player considered in connection with imposture and the life of virtue.

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56 παράδειγμα. Examples are drawn from history. Aristotle, Rhet. 2.20 (1393A ff.), divides Examples into this type and also that which is invented (but drawn from real life), and the latter again into the Comparison (see 4.xlv.49 above) and the Fable. Cf. Rhet. ad Alex., ch. 8 (1429A‑1430A), and Quintilian, 5.11.1 ff. and 8.3.72 ff. Examples are recommended especially in deliberative speaking, 3.v.9 above; cf. Isocrates, Ad Demonicum 34, Aristotle, Rhet. 1.9 (1368A) and 3.17 (1418A). Both embellishment (cf. 2.xxix.46 above) and proof (cf. 3.iii.4 above) are here included among the functions of Example by our author. In 4.iii.5 above the function is declared to be demonstratio, not confirmatio or testificatio; see note. For facti et dicti in the definition cf. Quintilian's recommendation in 12.2.29 that the speaker know and ponder the noblest things "said and done" in the past, and the title of Valerius Maximus' work, Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium Libri IX; also Thucydides' division of his material into λόγοι and ἔργα. See Karl Alewell, Über das rhetorische παράδειγμα, Kiel diss., Leipzig, 1913, especially pp18 ff. Marius Plotius (Keil, Gramm. Lat. 6.469) and Apsines, Ars Rhet. 8 (Spengel-Hammer 1[2].281.10 ff.) treat four methods of drawing examples: from the like, the contrary, the greater, the less; cf. 4.xlv.49 above.

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57 4.xliv.57 above.

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58 4.xlv.59 above.

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59 εἰκών. Puttenham's "Resemblance by Imagerie or Pourtrait." Cf. Aristotle, Rhet. 3.4 (1406B ff.). In post-Aristotelian rhetoric this appears as a special figure, separate from similitudo (Comparison), 4.xlv.59 above, to which it is yet closely akin; Minucianus, De Epich. 2 (Spengel-Hammer 1[2].342) attributes greater vividness to εἰκών. Quintilian, 5.11.24, advises that this kind of comparison should be used less often than the kind which helps to prove our point. Cf. Cicero, De Inv. 1.xxx.49. Polybius Sard. (Spengel 3.108) gives nine figures related to εἰκών.

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60 Cf. Aristotle, Rhet. 3.4 (1406B): "When Homer [cf. Il. 20.164] says of Achilles, 'Like a lion he rushed to meet his foe,' that is εἰκών."

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61 βάσκανος ὀφθαλμός. For the example cf. Demosthenes, Adv. Aristogeit. 1.52: "But he moves through the market-place like a snake or scorpion with sting raised, darting here and there, looking about for someone upon whom to bring down misfortune or calumny or evil of some kind."

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62 The Galli derived their name from a river Gallus in Phrygia; who drank of it went mad (Ovid, Fasti 4.366). The worship of the Phrygian Mother Goddess was characterized by extreme wildness.

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63 χαρακτηρισμός, favoured in comedy; e.g., Terence, Hecyra 439‑41: "Well, I'll describe him so that you will recognize him — he is tall, ruddy, curly-headed, heavy-set, blear-eyed, and has a face like a corpse." Quintilian, 9.3.99, excludes this from the figures.

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64 ἠθοποιία. Morum ac vitae imitatio in Cicero, De Oratore 3.53.204. Cf. Theophrastus, Characters, especially XXIII, "Pretentiousness." Theophrastus developed the type; Roman comedy favoured it (cf. the narratives in Terence, and, for the theme, the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus). Of the orators Lysias employs Ethopoeia with special skill. ἠθοποιία may be connected with the simple style (see 4.x.14 above), although the example of the figure shows an artificial elegance which sermo rarely had. Quintilian, 9.3.99, excludes ἠθοποιία from the figures.

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65 This gesture, used by Palaestrio in Plautus, Miles Gloriosus 209, is interpreted by Periplecomenus as indicating thought. Cf. the statue of Polyhymnia, No. 195 in A. Baumeister, Bilder aus dem griech. und röm. Altertum, Munich, 1889.

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66 Cf., in Athenaeus, 6.230, the bragging beggar who owned in all only a drachm's weight of silver, and would shout to his one and only slave — but using names as many as the sands in number: "Boy! Strombichides! Don't set before us the silver we use in winter, but that which we use in summer!"

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67 Unlike Sannio, who was doubtless home-born.

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68 In Theophrastus, Characters 21.4, the Man of Petty Ambition "sees to it that his attendant shall be an Ethiop."

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69 Cf. Calpurnius Siculus 3.63 f.: "Let him only vie in feeding kids in number equal to my bulls as these are counted at nightfall."

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70 The dinner hour; cf. Martial, Epigr. 4.8.7, 7.51.11.

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71 Cf. the situation in Plautus, Pseud. 960‑2.

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72 Cf. Plautus, Asin. 444 ff.: [Leonida:] "The cups I lent Philodamus — has he brought them back?" [Libanus:] "Not yet." "Oh? He hasn't? Give things away, if you wish — accommodate a friend with them."

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73 In this ware metal shapes were imitated. By no means the humblest ware, Samian yet represents the inferiority of earthen vessels as against those of metal. See F. O. Waagé, Antiquity 11 (1937), 46‑55.

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74 διάλογοι. Quintilian, 9.2.29 ff., joins this figure and Personification (next below) as one. Cf. 4.xliii.55 above.

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75 Cf. Plautus, Rud. 315: "Who had three men with him, wearing cloaks and swords (chlamydatos cum machaeris)."

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76 The style is Greek. Cf., for example, Euripides, Androm. 892‑3: πρός σε τῶνδε γουνάτων οἴκτειρον ἡμᾶς ("I implore you by these knees, take pity on me"), and Medea 324; Sophocles, Oed. Col. 250, and Philoct. 468.

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77 Cf. Euripides, Alc. 1065: "Take me not captive who am already captive"; Sophocles, Antig. 1030: "What feat is it to slay the slain anew?"; Ovid, Epist. ex Ponto 4.16.51: "What pleasure do you find, Malice, in driving the steel into limbs already dead?"

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78 Cf. Isocrates, Ad Demonicum 21: "You will achieve self-control if, when in trouble, you regard the misfortunes of others and remind yourself that you are human"; the verse ascribed in Stobaeus, 3.22.25, to the poet Hippothoön (or Hippothoüs): "Since you are human, remember the common lot of humanity" (see Nauck, Trag. Graec. Fragm., 2nd ed. [1889], p827); Theseus in Sophocles, Oed. Col. 567 f.: "I know well that I am mortal and have no greater share in the morrow than you do."

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79 γνωμολογεῖς.

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80 Cf. in Homer, Il. 6.490, Hector's words to Andromache: "But go thou to thine house and attend to thine own tasks."

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81 Whereas the example of Character Delineation next above is in the spirit of comedy, this example is tragic in nature. As the notes indicate, it is probably of Greek origin, despite certain of its distinctively Roman features. Marx, Proleg., p108, thinks that it may perhaps be referred to the controversia concerning the murder of Sulpicius, 1.xv.25 above.

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82 προσωποποιία. Representing an absent person as present would not today be regarded as strictly within the meaning of Personification. Cf. Cicero, De Oratore 3.53.205 (personarum ficta inductio); Quintilian, 9.2.29‑37. See George Reichel, Quaestiones Progymnasm., diss. Leipzig, 1909, pp75‑88, on this figure as a progymnasma. Making the dead speak was sometimes called εἰδωλοποιία. Cf. Cicero, Orator 25.85: "The [unaffected Attic speaker] will not represent the commonwealth as speaking, or call the dead from the lower world." Volkmann, p490, excludes Personification from the figures of thought; see also pp280 and 312 on its uses.

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83 Such sentiments as are expressed in these two passages might have been uttered by tribunes of the plebs in the time of Marius; see Kroehnert, p32. L. Junius Brutus liberated Rome from the Tarquins and founded the Roman consulate.

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84 See 2.xxx.48‑xxxi.50.

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85 ἔμφασις. Meaning conveyed by implication. Really more a trope than a figure. Cf. Quintilian, 8.3.83: "There are two kinds of Emphasis; one means more than it says, the other often means something it does not say."

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86 See 4.xxxiii.44 above (superlatio).

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87 This passage is in the spirit of the excerpts, in Cicero, De Oratore 2.55.223‑6, from the speech delivered in probably 91 B.C. by L. Licinius Crassus on behalf of Cn. Planc(i)us against M. Junius Brutus, who had squandered his patrimony. Kroehnert, p31, thinks it may come from this speech, but there is no real evidence for the ascription.

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88 Quintilian, 6.3.47 ff., considers the play on double meanings only rarely telling, unless helped out by the facts.

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89 The play is upon the double meaning of cernere: to "discern" and, in judicial language, "to enter upon an inheritance;" thus: "you who know exceedingly well how to enter upon bequests."

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90 ἐπακολούθησις.

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91 The saying is common, e.g., with reference to the freedman father of the poet Horace, in Suetonius, De Viris Illustribus, Vita Horatii, and to the freedman father of Bion of Borysthenes (first half, third century B.C.), in Diogenes Laertius 4.46. Cf. also Plutarch, Quaest. Conviv. 2.4 (631D), and, illustrating σκῶμμα (contumelia celata), Macrobius, Sat. 7.3.6.

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92 See 4.xxx.41 above (praecisio).

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93 L. Appuleius Saturninus, of praetorian descent, after being removed from the quaestor­ship by the Senate, joined the populares, and thereafter by demagoguery and violence fought the Senate until he was, in 100 B.C., declared a public enemy by that body and slain, the mob participating; see note on 4.xxii.31 above. Saturninus was influenced by the political ideas of C. Gracchus. On his grain-bill see 1.xii.21 above.

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94 βραχυλογία. Also, from another point of view, ἐπιτροχασμός. Cf. distincte concisa brevitas and percursio in Cicero, De Oratore 3.53.202. Quintilian in 9.3.99 denies that βραχυλογία is a figure, yet in 9.3.50 treats it as a form of Asyndeton.

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95 Text and reference are uncertain. Friedrich Muenzer (Philologus 89 [1934], 215‑25) believes that the expedition made in 202‑200 B.C. by Philip V of Macedon (Rome declared war in 200) is indicated. Cius was the city on the Propontis in Bithynia. The Rhodians were active against Philip; this passage may come from an actual oration, perhaps delivered, Muenzer thinks, by Apollonius Molo or Apollonius ὁ μαλακός. W. Warde Fowler, Class. Rev. 29 (1915), 136‑7, and Roman Essays and Interpretations, Oxford, 1920, pp95‑99, thinks the reference is to Lucullus and his fleet in 84 (85) B.C., when he was clearing the Hellespont and Aegean of the forces of Mithridates for Sulla. Marx (Viminacium), Rhein. Mus. 47 (1892), 157‑9, doubts the possibility of establishing the reference. For other conjectures, see A. von Domaszewski, Jahreshefte der oesterr. archaeol. Inst. in Wien, Hermes 8 (1874), 75‑7 (Lysimachia, and Antiochus III after his defeat in 191 B.C. by the Romans at Thermopylae).

Alexander Numenii, De Schemat. (Spengel 3.22), cites in illustration of ἐπιτροχασμός Demosthenes, Phil. 3.27: "He has gone to the Hellespont; formerly he marched against Ambracia; Elis — that important city in the Peloponnese — he holds; against the Megarians he plotted lately." If our author's example does not come from a speech actually delivered, it may be an imitation of this passage.

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96 The reference is to Marius; see W. Warde Fowler, Journ. of Philol. 10 (1882), 197‑205, and Roman Essays and Interpretations, pp91‑95. Marius was consul for the first time in 107 B.C., and for the fifth in 101; in 100, during his sixth consul­ship, spent at Rome, he was in complete control of the state; he departed for Asia in voluntary exile in 99; when, after the contest with Sulla in 88, he was declared a public enemy by the Senate and exiled, he fled to Africa; he returned to Italy in the middle of 87, and soon thereafter received from Cinna the proconsular imperium and the fasces; he held the consul­ship for the seventh time in January 86 for a few days until his death. The career of Marius was a common theme in the rhetorical schools; cf. Seneca, Contr. 1.1.5, Valerius Maximus, 6.9.14.

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97 ἐνάργεια. To Quintilian, 8.3.61, 9.2.40, evidentia, repraesentatio, sub oculos subiectio. Sometimes Hypotyposis (ὑποτύπωσις). Cf. descriptio, 4.xxxix.51 above; Kroll, "Rhetorik," coll. 1111 f.

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98 τὰ παρεπόμενα.

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99 τὰ παρακολουθοῦντα, τὰ συμβαίνοντα.

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100 Cf. Cicero, Verr. 2.5.62.161: "He [Verres] came into the Forum burning with criminal fury; his eyes blazed, and cruelty stood out on every feature of his face;" cited by Quintilian, 9.2.40, and by Gellius, 10.3.9.

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101 This is a partisan narrative, probably from a controversia, of the murder of Ti. Gracchus in 133 B.C. by P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio and his followers. On the accounts that we have in the ancient historians see Friedrich Muenzer, P.‑W. 4.1503.

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102 μεγαλοπρέπεια.

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103 τὸ ἡδύ.

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104 Cf. 1.1.1 above.

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105 Philodemus, Rhet., ed. Sudhaus, 1.250, says that the art of rhetoric does not conduce to a life of happiness.

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106 Cf. Dionysius Halic., De Composit. Verb., ch. 26, Conclusion: "Here, Rufus, is my gift to you. It will be 'worth many others' if only you will . . . exercise yourself in its lessons every day. For the rules in textbooks of rhetoric cannot by themselves make expert those who are eager to dispense with study and practice."

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