tion 16]. But the saying, as the Telephus of Euripides does, “that he lords it o’er the oars, and landing in Mysia,” etc., is out of taste; for the expression, “lording it over,” is above the dignity of the subject; [the rhetorical artifice] then, is not palmed 11, off!7. There will also be a fault in the syllables, fii. The euphony must be attended to.
iv. Must not be farfetched.
unless they are significant of a grateful sound; for instance, Dionysius, surnamed Chalcous!*, in his elegies, calls poetry, “the clangor of Calliope,” because both are vocal sounds; the metaphor, however, is a paltry one, and couched in uncouth expressions!°.
Again, our metaphors should not be far-fetched; but we should make the transfer, on the principle of assigning names out of the number of kindred objects, and such as are the same in species, to objects which are unnamed, of which however it is clear, simultaneously with their being uttered, that they are akin, as in that approved enigma, “Α man I once beheld, [and wondering view’d, | Who, on another, brass with fire had glued*:” TWINING.
for the operation is undesignated by any name?”’, and both are species of attaching; wherefore the writer called the application of the cupping instrument, a gluing. And, generally speaking, it is possible out of neatly constructed enigmas to extract excellent metaphors: because it is on the principles of metaphor 17 Ts too glaring, is seen through.
18 Were it not that Plutarch attributes this surname of Dionysius (‘‘ the Brazen”’’) to a suggestion of his for employing brass currency at Athens, the specimen here quoted might lead us to suppose that he derived the appellation from some characteristic harshness of style.
19 "Aonpuos φωνὴ, vox que vel forma vel significatione turpis est. Ern. Lex. Tec.
30 This enigma is ingenious, and means the operation of cupping, performed in ancient days by a machine of brass. Philolog. Ing. P. ii. c. 10.
21 Metaphor took its rise from the poverty of language. Men, not finding upon every occasion words ready made for their ideas, were compelled to have recourse to words analogous, and transfer them from their original meaning, to the meaning then required.” Philolog. Inq. P. ii. ο. 10, CHAP. il. RHETORIC. 213 that men construct enigmas; so that it is evident, that [if the enigma be a good one] the metaphor has been properly borrowed.
The transfer also should be made from objects 13. which are beautiful; beauty however of words con- Sn sists, as Licymnius observes, in the sound or in the borrowed idea conveyed; as does also their inelegance. And ΦΡΈΣ, 3:: eautiful there is moreover a third™, which does away the 80- chiccts. phistical doctrine; since it is not the fact, as Bryso Beauty of argues, “that no one speaks inelegantly, if indeed Miia the using one expression instead of another, carries jn the with it the same meaning:” for this is a fallacy; sound. because some words are nearer in their ordinary 188 idea.
. PEM The apacceptations, more assimilated, and have more pecu- plication. liar force of setting the object before the eyes than ὁ others. And what is more, one word represents the object under different circumstances from another; so that we may even on this principle lay it down, that one word has more or less of beauty and inelegance than another: for although both words, [at the same time, | express [ properties which are] beaue tiful, as well as such as are inelegant; yet they either express them not gua they are beautiful, or not gua they are inelegant; or granting they do, yet they express them, the one in a greater, the other in a less degree. But we are to deduce our metaphors from these sources;—from such as are beautiful either in sound, in meaning, or [in the image they present ] to the sight, or any other sense. And there is a difference, in the saying, for instance, “ the rosy-fingered Aurora;” rather than “the purple-fingered;” or, what is still worse, “ the erimson-fingered.”
Also in the case of epithets, it is very possible to 14. Epiderive one’s epithets from a degrading or disgraceful ἘΜΈΟ used in view of the case; for instance, “the murderer of his the same mother??:” and we may derive them from a view on WY: 22 ‘We may perhaps term this third beauty of words, delicacy tn their application. %3 Nominibus mollire licet mala; fusca vocetur Nigrior Ulyrica cui pice sanguis erit, etc. Ovid. Ar. Am. 1, ii the better side; as, the avenger of his father.” And Simonides*4, when the victor in a race by mules offered him a trifling present, was not disposed to write, as though feeling hurt at writing on demiasses; when, however, he offered a sufficient present, he composed the poem— Hail! Daughters of the generous Horse, That skims, like wind, along the course, etc. HarRIs. 15, ὑπο- and yet they were daughters of asses as well. Again, κορισμός. it is possible to express the self-same thing diminutively. And it is the employment of diminutives which renders both good and evil less; just as Aristophanes jests in “The Babylonians;” using, instead of gold, “a tiny piece of gold;” instead of “a garment,” “a little garment;” instead of “ reproach,” ἐς puny reproach;” and instead of “sickness,” “ slight indisposition.” We ought, however, to be careful, and always keep to the mean in both cases.
On Frigidity of Style.
1. Four Fricrprry!, as dependent on the style, consists in ere i four points. In the use of compound words; like Revie Lycophron?, where he says, “the many-faced heai. Com- ven,” and “the mighty-topped earth,” and “the narpound yow-pathed shore.” And as Gorgias used the expression, “a beggarly-mused flatterer,” and “the strictly-bound-by-oath and fully-sworn men.” Or like Alcidamas, [who talks οἵ] “ the soul replete with anger, and the visage waxing fire-coloured.” Again, _** See Bentley on Phalaris, p. 156. Zancleans and Messenians.
1 Having in the last chapter discussed the beauties of style as dependent on single words, he now pruceeds to consider itg defects, as they arise from the single words employed: see note on chap. ii. ᾧ 2.
? This Lycophron was a sophist, and is not to be confounded with the poet who flourished under Ptolemy Philadelphus.
‘*he supposed their zeal would be completion-working;” and “he settled a completion-working persuasiveness of speech;” and “the azure-hued level of the main.” For all these expressions, by reason of their being compounded, appear poetical®, | This, then, is one cause: also the employment of 2. ii. Usa foreign idioms is one; as when Lycophron calls 9 freiga Xerxes, “prodigious hero,” and Sciron, “ baneful man‘;” or Alcidamas, when he says, “ gambollings in poetry,” and “‘ nature’s improbity,” and “ whetted by unrestrained rage of soul.”
A third description of frigidity consists in the em- 3. iii. Epi plyment of epithets either too long, out of place, or po poe too frequent; for in poetry, indeed, it is becoming: frequent, enough to say “white milk;” in prose, however, it is et of rather bad taste. Some also, should there be a su- το perabundance of them, betray [the rhetorician’s art], and make it evident that the whole is a mere made-up thing; this, however, you may occasionally avail yourself of, since it produces a departure from the ordinary style, and renders the diction foreign. Yet ought we to aim at the mean; for [the too free indulgence in the licence] does more harm than the speaking carelessly; for the one has no beauty, the other has [ positive] fault. Hence it is that the writings of Alcidamas appear frigid; for he employs epithets noé as the seasoning, bué as the food, with such profusion does he seatter them, and those both too long, and where the meaning is self-evident: thus, he does not say the sweat, but “‘the motst sweat®:” nor to the 8 Take the following specimen: “To so vast a height did the never-too-much-to-be-ertolled reputation of this eximious man,” etc. Sir Thomas Urquhart’s Jewel. See also “ The Rejected Addresses;°** Art. “ Address of the Editors of the Morning Post.”
* The expression in the original alludes to Sinnis, a famous rebber, whose peculiar methed of torture it was to bind his victims to the boughs of trees forcibly bent together, and suddenly loosened, so that the violence of their reflex tore the limbs from their bodies. However a Σέννες ἀνὴρ was probably not more elegant in Greek, than the expression “a Turpin” is considered in English.
δ᾽ Victorius thinks that Boccaccio, m his Decameron, has Compound words suited to Dithyrambic poetry; exotic to Isthmian games, but “to Isthmus’ full assemblage:” nor does -he speak of laws; but of “the laws, the sovereigns of states:” nor, of the race; but of “the soul’s rapid impulse:” nor of a museum; but of “taking nature’s museum with you:” and of “rueful care of the soul.” Nor does he speak of favour; but of “the fabricator of a whole people’s favour:” and of “a dispenser of the pleasure of his audience.” [He would not tell you} of branches; but “amid the branches of the wood did he conceal it:” nor, that he covered his person; but “the nakedness of his person:” and of “ desire the counter-rival of the soul:” (for this is at once a compound word and an epithet, so that it becomes poetry:) and of “such an illomen’d excess of improbity.” Hence those who express themselves with this poetic air, produce by their want of taste both the ridiculous and the frigid, and from their loquacious prosing, become deficient in clearness; for whenever one unnecessarily obtrudes any thing on an auditor who already apprehends him, putting an end to all perspicuity, he produces obscurity.
People, however, do employ compounds, when the subject is without a proper appellative, and the composition is easily effected: for instance “pastime;” but if it occur frequently, it is decidedly poetical. Wherefore a style characterized by compounds, is most available to the Dithyrambic poets; for such words are sonorous: exotic words are most useful to epic poets®; for they have something dignified and superb: metaphor however to iambic verse; for [ dramatists ] now employ it, as has been already stated.
Moreover, fourthly, frigidity originatesin metaphor; for there are even metaphors which are unbecoming: some, from their being ridiculous’; for the writers of employed too profusely this poetical ornament. Comment. in Demet. Phal.
6 May we not instance Milton’s Hebraisms?
7 A striking instance of this occurs in two well-known lines, im which Winter is said, “ To glaze the lakes, and bridle up the floods, And perriwig with wool the bald-pate woods.”
CHAP. 111. RHETORIC.: 217 comedy employ metaphor: others, from their being too dignified, and having too great an air of tragedy; and should they be far-fetched, they become indistinct 5 like Gorgias, [ when he talks of | things as wan, and [again] as ruddy. “You have sown in shame, and reaped in ruin;” for this has too much the air of poetry. And as Alcidamas, [who calls] “ philosophy the rampart of the laws;’ and “ the Odyssey a beautiful mirror of human life’.” Again, “introducing no such gambolling in poetry:” since all these expressions, for the reasons above-mentioned, are destitute of persuasive efficacy. But what Gorgias said on a swallow, when in its flight it had muted on him, was in the best style of tragedy; for he exclaimed, ‘Oh! fie Philomela;” for to a bird, indeed, the act was not unbecoming, toa young lady, however, it would have been. So that he reproached her neatly enough, speaking of her as what she had been, not as what she then was.
Of Simile, THE simile, too, is in fact metaphor; for the difference is trifling: for when [the poet] says of Achilles, “ Like a lion he leaped on them,” it is a simile; but when he says, ‘‘ A very lion he leaped on them,” it is a metaphor: for since both are brave, [the poet, | 8. Such was the language of the poet who, describing the footmen’s flambeaux at the end of an opera, sung or said, Now blazed a thousand flaming suns, and bade Grim night retire.
Harris, Philolog. Ing ® However correct Mr. Harris’s taste may be in considering this an elegant metaphor, it seems extraordinary that he should quote the passage thus: “‘ According to Aristotle, the Odyssey of Homer was elegantly called by Alcidamas, καλὸν ἀνθρωπίνου βίου κατόπτρον, etc.’ Philolog. Ing. P. ii. c. 10. Surely Aristotle does not consider this as an e/egant metaphor.
"» . Simile: how it differs from a metaphor.
2. Is useful in prose.
stances of similes, 218 ARISTOTLE’S [Book mt.
making the transfer, has spoken of Achilles as a lion. The simile is useful too in prose, though seldom, since it carries with it the air of poetry. And you must introduce them just as you would metaphors; for they are metaphors differing in that particular which has been stated.
The following are similes; viz. that which Androtion employed against Idrieus, that “he was like puppies loosed from their chain;” for they rushing at people bite them, and Idrieus, too, now that he was discharged, was a dangerous person. Again, as Theodamus, in a simile, compared Archidamus to Euxenus, without his knowledge of geometry; on the principles of similar ratios: for [conversely] Euxenus would be Archidamus, had [the latter] a knowledge of geometry. Also the instance which occurs in the Politeia of Plato, that those who spoil the dead are like young dogs, “which bite the stone, without touching the person who throws it.” Also the [ simile] which he employed against the populace, “ that it was like a pilot, strong indeed, but rather deaf.” And of the metres of poets, “" they are like those in the prime of youth who are without beauty;” for the latter having lost their freshness, and the former their numerical arrangement, are no longer like the same thing. Also the simile of Pericles against the Samians, [who said ] “they were like young children, who indeed accept the sop, but still cry:” and against the Boeotians, that “they were like holm-oaks; for these holm-oaks are cut down by their own means?, as were also the Beotians, in their contests with each 1 Viz. the insertion of the particle denoting similitudé, ‘QS λέων instead of λέων ἐπόρουσεν.
? Victorius’s conjecture as to the means whereby these trees destroy themselves appears rather forced. May there not be some allusion to the original of the lately discovered fable of Phedrus; in which the trees, having been made to dispute about providing a handle for the woodman’s axe, after seeing the fatal use he makes of the present, acknowledge that they deserve that destruction which they had provided for themselves? The Latin fabulist himself seems to think that his master, Ausop, had carried matters too far in making trees speak, since he deerss it necessary to apo.ogize; CHAP. IV.] RHETORIC, 219 other.” And what Demosthenes used before the populace, that “‘it is like those who are sea-sick when on board.” So, too, Democritus likened the orators to nurses, “ who, swallowing the sop themselves, besmear the infants with spittle.” And in the same way Antisthenes likened Cephisidotus the slim to frankincense, for “in its consumption it spreads universal delight.”
[ Thus the simile is metaphor], for it is free to you | to enunciate all these both as metaphors and as similes. So that it is plain that as many as, when enunciated as metaphors, are approved, will also become similes; and [vice versd| the similes, when without the note [of similitude|, will become metahors. But the metaphor, which is constructed on he principle of similar ratios, ought always to admit of paying back [the borrowed term]; as also in other cases, and in that of [metaphor ], from species to species: for instance, if a cup be called “the shield of Bacchus,” it is also proper to call a shield “the cup of Mars.” Of these materials, then, is a discourse made up.
On the Necessity of speaking the Language with Purity.
Bort purity in speaking your language! is the foundation of all style; and this depends on five particulars. First, on the connective particles’, whether * Calumniari si quis autem voluerit, Quod arbores loguantur,” etc. Pheed. Prol. lib. i.
3 A metaphor is said ἀνταποδίδοσθαι, when it may be inverted: for instance, just as you would call a pilot, “ the ruler of his vessel;”? so may you call a ruler, ‘‘ the pilot of the state.” -Ern. Lex.
Aristotle having in the last three chapters given us the necessary information respecting the materials of style, its sin gle words, proceeds now to treat of the arrangement of those materials in whole sentences.
3 One is surprised to find another great critic of antiquity 4. Metaphors must admit of payin. back the borrowed term, 1, Purity of style depends on five points, the connective particles.
3. ii. In using terms distinct, and not vague, 4, iii, In terms not ambiguous.
220 ARISTOTLE’S [BOOK Ill one pay them back or not, just as they are of a nature to precede or follow, and as each requires; thus, although and on my part, require yet and on his part [to follow them]. And it is necessary to make a return of the one to the other while it is yet recollected, and not to susp2nd them at too great intervals: neither should we [insert another] connective before making a return to the connective which already has a claim on us; for in very few instances is this appropriate. “But I, after he spoke to me, for Cleon came up beseeching me and putting it to me, went, taking them along with me:” for in these words many connectives are thrown in before the first connective has been paid back; and if the interval between the words “J” and “went” be great, a want of clearness takes place. One source then of correctness originates in the connectives. And a second, in the expressing yourself in the appropriate terms, and not in generals®, A third, in terms which are not ambiguous: this, however, only when you do not deliberately choose the opposite; the very thing which they do, who, whilst they have nothing to say, yet affect to say something marvellous; for such persons, in their invention of somewhat to say, give vent to these terms, just as Empedocles did. or the circumlocution by its length imposes on people, and the auditors are affected in the very self-same way as the populace in transactions with soothsayers; for when they utter their ambiguities, they yield assent as they go on; [as in the famous oracle], “ Croesus having crossed the Halys will overthrow a mighty empire.” And it is because the chance of mistake is less, that soothsayers express themselves in generals on their subject: for in “even and odd*” he will more frequently be right who cries [only generally ] declaring it unnecessary to be very particular in this respect:— ρὴ δὲ Kal τοὺς cuvdécpous μὴ μάλα ἀνταποδίδοσθαι ἀκριβῶς, οἷον τῷ μὲν, τὸ δέ. Demet. Phal. περὶ ἑρμηνείας, § 53.
3 By τοῖς περιέχουσιν is meant, not cireumlocutions, but the use of a general instead of a particular term, as ἐρυθρὸς in the place of φοῖνιξ, which of course much weakens the idea. 4 Ludere par impar. Hor. Sat. lib. ii. 3, 248.
CHAP. vis RHETORIC. 221 either “even” or “ odd,” than one who would [ specify] the exact number; and so one who predicts simply that a thing will happen, than he who would subjoin when®. On which account the soothsayers never add the further divéinction of when.” All these errors then are similar; so that, unless it be with a view to some such end, they are to be avoided.
The fourth essential is the preserving the distinction which Protagoras marked out between the genders of nouns, viz. masculine, feminine, and neuter; for it will be necessary to make these correspond correctly, Thus, “She, having come and having conversed, departed.”
The fifth consists in correctly quoting the plural, dual, and singular numbers. “They, coming up, commenced beating me.”
In a word, the written style ought to be easily read and understood; and in these requisites it is the same [as that of recitation]; the very qualities however these which numerous connectives do not possess: neither the compositions which it is not easy to point, as those of Heraclitus. For the pointing of Heraclitus’ works is quite a task, from its being far from clear whether words refer to those which precede or those which follow them®. For example, in the beginning of his work, “ Of reason existing always men are ignorant:” for it is not clear to which branch of the sentence we should point off the “ always.”
This moreover produces a solecism; the failure in paying back the idea, if, [in the case of two words, | you do not bring each under an expression adapted to both’: for example, to the words “ colour 5 Hence the distinguishing superiority of the prophecies of our Saviour’s coming; for in them not the simple fact alone, but the very period at which it shouid occur was specified.
§ We can no where find a more striking instance of the want of clearness to which a neglect of these cautions gives rise, than in book ii. chap. 18, of the worthy Stagyrite’s own work.
7 Or, to take his own illustration, in speaking of the objects of different senses, be careful not to annex a verb which denotes the operation of one sense alone. This is well exposed 5. iv. In the proper genders, the propet numbers.
Four gener; rules, i. Style ought to be easy to read and to understand.
ii, It must not depend on. the punotuation.
iii. In an expression of more than one werd we must use ἃ verb or sound,” the expression “seeing” has not a coms x espe mon reference; whereas the expression “ perceiving” iv. There has. Again, sentences become indistinct, if, delaymust be ing to thrust in many intermediate remarks, you do Je:. not put first and state [what naturally comes first]. Bes, For example, “ For I intended, after I had conversed with him on this and that subject, and so on, to depart:” not, [stating it naturally thus,] “For I intended to depart;” and afterwards introducing, “after I had conversed on this and that, and so on.”
1. Eleva- CHAP, VI. tion produced by On Elevation of Style.
seven expee Tue following expedients contribute to elevation of the def the style, viz.—the employing the definition instead nition in of the noun; saying, for instance, not “a circle,” piace of _ but “a plane superficies, whose circumference is at The re- all points equidistant from the centre.” The reverse, verse pro- however, viz. the use of the noun instead of the ded b- δ τὰ. sept 34 3 finition, contributes to abruptness.
εν 2. Again, [the avoiding either, | if it be indelicate or oe Natl unbecoming; i. e. using the noun, if the indelicacy ifoutof be in the definition; or the definition, if it be in the ie) yp. noun. lustration so, the illustration of the subject by metaphor by meta- and epithets, guarding, however, against what savours phorand of poetry. And the putting what is but single as 4. iy. By Many, the thing which the poets do: though the ing the haven be but one, yet they tell you of “ Grecian Also, the not bringing all your words under a in the Spectator:—‘‘I have known a hero compared to a thunderbolt, a lion, and the sea; all and each of them proper metaphors for impetuosity, courage, or force. But by bad management it hath so happened, that the thunderbolt hath overflowed its banks; the lion hath been darted through the skies; and the billows have rolled out of the Libyan desert.” Νο, 595. ? Eurip. Iph. in Taur. 727.
OHAP. VI. | RHETORIC. 223 common particle, but assigning to cach its own: signing “ This woman, this my wife.” And the expressing ἴθ each yourself with a connective; but if abruptly, without distinct a connective indeed, though not unconnectedly; for particle.
instance, “ Having departed and having spoken to “- Σ ξ: vi. Usin him;” or, “having departed, I spoke to him.” Mate: fi τ The precept of Antimachus, too, is of service, viz. tives, but the drawing your expressions from absent qualities”, phere which he does in celebrating the hill Teumessus, out them.
[commencing, | “ There is a certain little hill visited 7. vi. By by the winds®;” for thus the subject is carried on to qualities.
infinity. And this expedient holds good alike in the case of qualities which are good, and such as are bad‘, just as the subject has them not, in whichever way it may be of service. Hence the poets deduce their expressions®, the “stringless” and the “lyreless melody;” for they build their epithets on privatives. And this expedient is also approved in analogical metaphors; for instance, the saying of “a trumpet,” that it is a “lyreless harmony.”
- 3 How much may be made of a mere summary of negations, will readily be acknowledged by those who have read Rochester’s poem on Nothing; and another in Latin on the same subject (if subject it may be called), by Passerat, a poet and critic of the sixteenth century,in France. This last is usually subjoined to Johnson’s Life of Rochester.
3 These words, it will be observed, do not in themselves afford an instance of the precept here recommended; but, as it appears that the work of Antimachus was well known, they were probably intended as a hint at a passage in which an illustration was to be found. Of Aristotle’s quotations in general, it may be remarked that, however naturally we might expect to meet with beautiful passages, in illustration of the several beauties of style which he successively discusses, they present but a series of allusions (now obscure and scarcely intelligible), to passages which were easily accessible to his audience, but which have been lost to us amid the general wreck of ancient literature. See Victorius’s remark, cap. 111. § 3.
4 Whether in praising or blaming.
5 It should be remembered that these negative epithets are very common to the Greek poets. Victorius points out many instances: as, κῶμον ἀναυλότατον, Eurip. Phen. 818; Oiacoy ἀβάκχευτον, Orest. 319; μηνυτῆρος ἄφθεγκτου, ANsch. Eumen. 245; ἀπτεροῖς πωτήμασιν, ibid. 250, etc. There is a fine instance of this negative mode of explaining a metaphor in Isaiah, li. 21 —“ Thou drunken, but not with wine.’ Twining. _ 1. What constitutes good taste in style is, that it be παθητικὴ, ἠθική: suitably to the subjectmatter.
8. παθη- τικὴ renders the audience sympathetic.
6. ἠθικὴ renders thespeech appropriate to the audience, Of the becoming in Style, STYLE will possess the quality of being in good taste, if it be expressive at once of feeling and character, and in proportion to! the subject-matter. This proportion, however, is preserved, provided the style be neither careless on questions of dignity, nor dignified on such as are mean: neither to a mean word let ornament be superadded; otherwise it appears mere burlesque; as Cleophon uses to do; for he has expressed some things equally ridiculously, as though he were to say, ‘‘ August fig-tree.”
But [the style] expressive of feeling, supposing the case be one of assault, is the style of a man in a passion; if, however, it be one of loathsomeness and impiety, the expressing yourself with disgust and painful caution; if, however, the case demand praise, with exultation; if pity, with submission; and so on . in the other cases. Andastyle which is appropriate, moreover, invests the subject with persuasive efficacy. For the mind is cheated into a persuasion, that the orator is speaking with sincerity, because, under such circumstances, men stand affected in that manner. So that people suppose things to be even as the speaker states them, what though, in reality, they are . not: and the hearer has a kindred feeling with the orator, who expresses himself feelingly, even should he say nothing to the purpose; availing themselves of which, many bear down their hearers in the storm of passion.
But moreover, this mode of showing by means of signs is expressive of character; because, on every condition and habit of life, is consequent a language suited to it. I use the expression condition, in reference to the stage of life; as youth, manhood, or age; and [to the sex], as man, or woman; and [to na- 1 Might we borrow an expression from the language cf the painter, we should say. “in proper KEEPING with.”
CHAP. ViI.] RHETORIC. 225 tion}, as Lacedemonian, or Thessalian. [I mean] by habits, those conformably to which one is of a certain character in life; for it is not according to every habit that the life assumes a certain character: if then one express himself in the language appropriate to the habit, he will produce the effect of being characteristic; for a rustic and a man of education, will express themselves neither in the same words, nor in the same manner. And the auditors are affected, in some way, by that feeling of which the declaimers avail themselves, till it nauseates; [putting it to their audience thus |, “ who knows not?”— “all men know it.” For the auditor acknowledges with a kind of confusion, that he participates [in that information | which all the rest of the world possess. The employment of them opportunely, or inopportunely, is, however,.a consideration common to every species | of ornament |; but for every excess | in them ], there is that corrective which is in the mouth of every body; for, of yourself, you should append a reproof on yourself; for it appears in reality [an ornament], at least since the use of it does not escape the notice of the speaker himself. Further, the speaker is not at once to employ every thing which is proportionate; for thus the hearer has the deceit passed off on him.
I mean that, if the terms be harsh, he is not to employ a harsh tone and expression of countenance, and the other peculiarities [of harshness |: if this caution be not observed, [our artifices | severally appear what they really are. But if he employ some and not others, without observation he produces the same effect. Still, if expressions of softness be uttered | harshly, and such as are harsh with softness, they become divested of eflicacy to persuade. But compound words, and a plurality of epithets, and foreign idioms, are appropriate chiefly to one who speaks under the excitement of some passion;—for with one, [for instance, | who is affected by anger, we have a fellow-feeling in his calling his wrongs ‘‘heavenmeasuring,” or “prodigious:” they are so, too, when one is already master of his audience, and has 7.
8. General rules.
9. We must correct ourselves as it were.
must occasionally neglect. the rules ofart., must not use compound words except wher excited 1. The style must have rhythm, but not metre, wrought them up to enthusiasm, either by panegyric or invective, by [the excitement ] of anger or friendly feeling; the which Isocrates does in “The Panegyric,” near the conclusion; “—the record and remembrance;” and, “men who had the spirit—.” For. the speaker, in a transport of enthusiasm, gives utterance to expressions such as these; so that the audience also, being forsooth similarly affected them-. selves, readily welcome them, Wherefore they are adapted to poetry; for poetry is the language of enthusiasm.
It is, then, either in this way [that we are to employ poetical expressions], or a irony; as Gorgias: was in the habit.of doing; and [as Socrates does | in the Phedrus [of Plato].
Of Rhythm.