Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.

I am complaining that a man has been murdered. Shall I not bring before my eyes all the circumstances which it is reasonable to imagine must have occurred in such a connexion? Shall I not see the assassin burst suddenly from his hiding-place, the victim tremble, cry for help, beg for mercy, or turn to run? Shall I not see the fatal blow delivered and the stricken body fall? Will not the blood, the deathly pallor, the groan of agony, the death-rattle, be indelibly impressed upon my mind?

From such impressions arises that ἐνάργεια which Cicero [*]( Perhaps an allusion to Part. Or. vi. 20. ἐνάργεια =clearness. ) calls illumination and actuality, which makes us seem not so much to narrate as to exhibit the actual scene, while our emotions will be no less actively stirred than if we were present at the actual

v4-6 p.437
occurrence. Is it not from visions such as these that Vergil was inspired to write—
  1. Sudden her fingers let the shuttle fall
  2. And all the thread was spilled,
Aen. ix. 474.
Or,

  1. In his smooth breast the gaping wound
ib. xi. 40.
or the description of the horse at the funeral of Pallas,
his trappings laid aside
? [*](ib. xi. 89.) And how vivid was the image of death conceived by the poet when he wrote-
And dying sees his own dear Argive home
? [*](ib. x. 783. ) Again, when we desire to awaken pity,

we must actually believe that the ills of which we complain have befallen our own selves, and must persuade our minds that this is really the case. We must identify ourselves with the persons of whom we complain that they have suffered grievous, unmerited and bitter misfortune, and must plead their case and for a brief space feel their suffering as though it were our own, while our words must be such as we should use if we stood in their shoes.