Institutio Oratoria

depend on the fact that they are transferred from one context to another Crispus, in his defence of Spatale, whose lover had made her his heir and then proceeded to die at the age of eighteen, remarked:

What a marvellous fellow to gratify his passion thus!

[*](sibi indulsit would seen to mean his appointing S. his heir and then being kind enough to die so soon! But the point is uncertain. )

Another type of reflexion may be produced by the doubling of a phrase, as in the letter written by Seneca for Nero to be sent to the senate on the occasion of his mother's death, with a view to creating the impression that he had been in serious danger:—

As yet I cannot believe or rejoice that I am safe.

Better, however, is the type which relies for its effect on contrast of opposites, as

I know from whom to fly, but whom to follow I know not;

[*]( Cic. ad Att. VIII. vii. 2. ) or,

What of the fact that the poor wretch, though he could not speak, could not keep silence?

[*]( Probably from the lost in Pisonem, since St. Jerome in a letter to Oceanus says postea vero Pisoniano vitio, cum loqui non post, tacere non poterat. But here again the point is obscure. ) But to produce the most striking effect this type should be given point by the introduction of a comparison, such as is made by Trachalus in his speech against Spatale, where he says:

Is it your pleasure, then, ye laws, the faithful guardians of chastity, that wives should receive a title [*]( By the lex Julia et Papia Poppaea childless wives were only entitled to a tenth of their husband's estate. ) and harlots a quarter?

In these instances, however, the reflexion may equally well be good or bad.

On the other hand, there are some which will always be bad, such as those which turn on play upon words, as in the following case:

Conscript fathers, for I must address you thus that you may remember the duty owed to fathers.

Worse still, as being more unreal and far-fetched, is the remark made by the gladiator mentioned above in his prosecution of his sister:

I have fought to the last finger.

[*]( The exact meaning is uncertain. The allusion may be to the turning up of the thumb as a sign of defeat. See sect. 12. )

There is another similar type, which is perhaps the worst of all, where the play upon words is combined with a false comparison. When I was a young man I heard a distinguished pleader, after handing a mother some splinters of bone taken from the head of her son (which he did merely to provide an occasion for his epigram), cry:

Unhappiest of women, your son is not yet dead and yet you have gathered up his bones!