Institutio Oratoria

Further with regard to the time-lengths, which are of such importance where rhythm is concerned, what standard is there by which they can be

Consider the following example: neminem vestrum ignorare arbitror, iudices, hunc per hosce dies sermonem vulgi atque hanc opinionem populi Romani fiisse. [*](Verr. I. i. 1. I think that none of you, gentlemen, are igroraint that during these days such has been the talk of the common folk and such the opinion of the Roman people. ) Why is hosce preferable to hos, although the latter presents no harshness? I am not sure that I can give the reason, but none the less I feel that hosce is better. Why is it not enough to say sermonem vulgifuisse, which would have satisfied the bare demands of rhythm? I cannot tell, and yet my ear tells me that the rhythm would have lacked fullness without the reduplication of the phrase.

The answer is that in such cases we must rely on feeling. It is possible to have an inadequate understanding of what it is precisely that makes for severity or charm, but yet to produce the required effect better by taking nature for our guide in place of art: none the less there will always be some principle of art underlying the promptings of nature.

It is, however, the special duty of the orator to realise when to employ the different kinds of rhythm. There are two points which call for consideration if he is to do this with success. The one is concerned with feet, the other with the general rhythm of the period which is produced by their combination. I will deal with the latter first. We speak of commata, cola and periods.

A comma, in my opinion, may be defined as the expression of a thought lacking rhythmical

A colon, on the other hand, is the expression of a thought which is rhythmically complete, but is meaningless if detached from the whole body of the sentence. For example O callidos homines [*]( From the lost pro Cornelio. O the cunning of those men! O what careful forethought! I ask you did one of us fail to note that such would be your action? ) is complete in itself, but is useless if removed from the rest of the sentence, as the hand, foot or head if separated from the body. He goes on, O rein excogitatam. At what point do the members begin to form a body? Only when the conclusion is added: quem, quaeso, nostrum fefellit, id vos ita esse facturos? a sentence which Cicero regards as unusually concise. Thus as a rule commata and cola are fragmentary and require a conclusion.

The period is given a number of different names by Cicero, [*]( Orat. lxi. 204. ) who calls it ambitus, circuitus, comprehensio, continuatio and circumscriptio. It has two forms. The one is simple, and consists of one thought expressed in a number of words, duly rounded to a close. The other consists of commata and cola, comprising a number of different thoughts: for example, aderat ianitor carceris, carnriex praetoris [*](Verr. v. xlv. 118. There stood the jailer, the praetor's executioner. ) and the rest.

The period must have at least two cola. The average number would appear to be four, but it often contains even more. According to Cicero, [*](Or. lxvi. 222. Cicero says hexcameters, not senarii. ) its length should be restricted to the equivalent of four senarii or to the compass of a single breath. It is further essential that it should complete the thought which it expresses. It must be clear and intelligible and must

Wherever it is essential to speak with force, energy and pugnacity, we shall make free use of commata and cola, since this is most effective, and our rhythmical structure must be so closely conformed to our matter, that violent themes should be expressed in violent rhythms to enable the audience to share the horror felt by the speaker.

On the other hand we shall employ cola by preference when narrating facts, or relax the texture of our periods by considerable pauses and looser connexions, always excepting those passages in which narration is designed for decorative effect and not merely for the instruction of the audience, as for example the passage in the Verrines where Cicero [*](Verr. IV. xlviii. 106.) tells the story of the Rape of Proserpine: for in such cases a smooth and flowing texture is required.

The full periodic style is well adapted to the exordium of important cases, where the theme requires the orator to express anxiety, admiration or pity: the same is true of commonplaces and all kinds of amplification. But it should be severe when we are prosecuting and expansive in panegyric. It is also most effective in the peroration.