Institutio Oratoria

There is a still more striking example in the passage describing the death of Polydorus [*](Aen. iii. 55. ) :

1. All faith he brake and Polydorus slew
2. Seizing his gold by force. Curst greed of gold,
3. To what wilt thou not drive the hearts of men?

1. What do I say? Where am I?

Aen. iv. 595.

Virgil has combined apostrollphe and parenthesis in the well-known passage: [*](Aen. viii. 642. )

1. Next Mettus the swift cars asunder tore,
2. (Better, false Alban, hadst thou kept thy troth!)
3. And Tullus dragged the traitors' mangled limbs. . .

addition, omission, and the order of words, serve to attract the attention of the audience and do not allow it to flag, rousing it from time to time by some specially striking figure, while they derive something of their charm from their very resemblance to blemishes, just as a trace of bitterness in food will sometimes tickle the palate. But this result will only be obtained if figures are not excessive in number nor all of the same type or combined or closely packed, since economy in their use, no less than variety, will prevent the hearer being surfeited.

There is a more striking class of figure, which does not merely depend on the form of the language for its effect, but lends both charm and force to the thought as well. The first figure of this class which calls for notice is that which is produced by addition. Of this there are various kinds. Words, for instance, may be doubled with a view to amplification, as in

I have slain, I have slain, not Spurius Maelius

1. Ah! Corydon, Corydon.

Ecl. ii. 69.

The same figure may also sometimes be employed ironically, with a view to disparagement. Similar to such doubling of words is repetition following a parenthesis, but the effect is stronger.

I have seen the property alas! (for though all my tears are shed,

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my grief still clings to me deep-rooted in my heart), the property, I say, of Gnaeus Pompeius put up for sale by the cruel voice of the public crier.

You still live, and live not to abate your audacity, but to increase it.

Again, a number of clauses may begin with the same word for the sake of force and emphasis.

Were you unmoved by the guard set each night upon the Palatine, unmoved by the patrolling of the city, unmoved by the terror of the people, unmoved by the unanimity of all good citizens, unmoved by the choice of so strongly fortified a spot for the assembly of the senate, unmoved by the looks and faces of those here present to-day?

Who demanded them? Appius. Who produced them? Appius.

This last instance, however, comes under the head of another figure as well, where both opening and concluding words are identical, since the sentences open with

who

Appius.

Who are they who have so often broken treaties? The Carthaginians. Who are they who have waged war with such atrocious cruelty? The Carthaginians. Who are they who have laid Italy waste? The Carthaginians. Who are they who pray for pardon? The Carthaginians.

Again, in antitheses and comparisons the first words of alternate phrases are frequently repeated to produce correspondence, which was my reason for saying a little while back [*]( IX. ii. 100. The passage is from pro Murena, ix. 22. ) that this device came under the present topic rather than that which I was then discussing.

You pass wakeful nights that you may be able to reply to your clients; he that he and his army may arrive betimes at their destination. You are roused by

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cockcrow, he by the bugle's reveillé. You draw up your legal pleas, he sets the battle in array. You are on the watch that your clients be not taken at a disadvantage, he that cities or camps be not so taken.

But the orator is not content with producing this effect, but proceeds to reverse the figure.

He knows and understands how to keep off the forces of the enemy, you how to keep off the rainwater; he is skilled to extend boundaries, you to delimit them.

A similar correspondence may be produced between the middle and the opening of a sentence, as in the line:

1. te nemus Angitiae, vitrea te Fucinus unda.

Aen. vii. 759 [*](Thee did Angitia's grove bewail,Thee too the glassy waves o' the Fucine lake. The correspondence is to be found in te (coming first in one and second in the other clause). )

This ship, laden with the spoil of Sicily, while it was itself a portion of the spoil.

Many grievous afflictions were devised for parents and for kinsfolk many.

There is also another form of repetition which simultaneously reiterates things that have already been said, and draws distinctions between them.

1. Iphitus too with me and Pelias came,
2. Iphitus bowed with age and Pelias
3. Slow-limping with the wound Ulysses gave.

Aen. ii. 435.

Nor are words only repeated to reaffirm the same meaning, but the repetition may serve to mark a contrast, as in the following sentence.

The reputation of the leaders was approximately equal, but that of their followers perhaps not so equal.

Great is the toil of speaking, and great the task, etc.

This figure may also be effected solely by change of cases, a proceeding which the Greeks call πολύπτωτον It may also be produced in other ways, as in the pro Cluentio: [*]( lx. 167. But what was the time chosen for giving the poison? Was it on that day? Amid such a crowd? And who was selected to administer it? Where was it got? How was the cup intercepted? Why was it not given a second time? ) Quod autem tempus veneni dandi? illo die? illa frequentia? per quem porro datum? unde sumptum? quae porro interceptio poculi? cur non de integro autem datum?