XXXVII. " You require of me," said Craaaua, "to speak on matters which are very well known, and with which you, Sulpicius, are not unacquainted; for what rhetorician has not treated of this subject, has not given instructions on it, has not even left something about it in writing! But I will com- ply with your request, and briefly explain to you at least such points as are known to me; but I shall still think that you ought to refer to those who are the authors and inventors of tltese minute precepts. All speech, then, is formed of words, which wo must first consider singly, theu in composition; for there is one merit of language which lies in single words, tnother whioii ia produced by words joined and compounded. J on KHB OHARAOTER OY THE ORATOR.
We shall therefore either use Buch words as are the proper and fixed riH.li> AH as it were of things, aod apparently almost bom at the some time with the things themselvee; or such aa are xaetaphorical, and placed as it were in & situation foreign to them; or snch as we invent and make ourselvee. In then to words token in their own proper sense, it is a merit in the orator to avoid mean and oheolete ones, and to use such iiB are choice and Druamental; such as have in them some luluesH aiid force of sound. But in this kind oi proper words, selection is neoesBory, which mnst be decided ii meftsure by the judgment of the ear; in which point the mere habit of speaking well is of great effect. Even what is vulgarly said of orators by the illiterate multitude, ffe usea proper words, or Such a one UKi improper teordt, is not the result of any acquired ^11, but is a judgment arising £-om a natural sense of what is Tight; in which respect it is no great merit to avoid a fault, (though it is of great im- porttince to do so,)| jet this is the ground-work, as it were, and foundation of the whole, namely, the use and oommuid of proper words. But the superetruoture which the orator himself ia to raise upon this, and in which he is to displary his art, appears to be a matter for us to examine &^ illustrate.
XXXVIII. " There are three quaiitiea, then, in a simple word, which the oratoj- may employ to illnstrate and adorn his language; he may choose either an untimal word, or one that is Tiew or metaphorical. Umisval words are generally of ancient date and fashion, and such as have been loug out of use in daily conversation- these are allowed more freely to poetical licence than to outb; yet a poetical word gives occasionally dignity also to oratory; nor would I shrink from saying, wilii Ccelius, Qv& tempesiate Pienui in Italiam venit, ' At the season when the C^'thaginian came into Italy:' jus proles, 'progeny;' nor aubolee, 'offspring;' nor effari, 'to utter;' nor nuncupari, 'to declare;' nor, as you are in the habit of saying, Catulus, won, rebar, 'I did not deem;' nor nort opinahar, 'I did not opine;' nor many others, from which, if properly introduced, a speech assumes an air of greater grandeur. I^ev) words are such aa are produced and formed by the speaker; either by joining words together, as these, DB OBATOBE; Turn jKtvOT lapienliam omnsnt m Then fear Bipala all wiadom from the breast Of meaatonialied; Nvim mm vit hvjia me vtmUSognai maliiiai t Wonld you not bava me dread hia cunning malice 1 see that versvMloqvae and expeetoral are words not newly produced, but merely formed by composition. But words are often invented, without composition, as the ei- presBion of Ennius,^ JKi genitalea, ' the genial gods; ' or bae- carum ubertate ineurvitcere, ' to bend down with the fertile crop of berries.'
" The third mode, that of using words in a iHelaphoriad aense, is widely prevalent, a mode of which necessity was the parent, compelled by the sterility and narrowness of language; but afterwards delight and pleasure made it frequent; for as a dress was first adopted for the sake of keeping off the cold, but in process of time began to be mode an ornament of the body, and an emblem of dignity, so the metaphorical use af words was originally invented on account of their paucity, but became common from the delight which it afforded. For even the countrymen say, gemmare rntee, that ' the vines are budding;' luxuriem esae in kerbis, tbat ' there is a luxurian(7 in the grasa;' and l<Et(U segetes, that 'there is a bountiM crop;' for when tbat which can scarcely be signified by its proper word is expressed by one used in a metaphorical sense, the similitude taken from that which we indicate by a foreign term gives clearness to that which wa wish to be imderstood. These metaphors, therefore, are a species of borrowing, as you take from something else that which you have not of your own. Those have a greater degree of boldness which do not show poverty, but bring some accession of splendour to our lan- guage. But why should T specify to you either the modes d their production or their various kinds!
XXXIX. " A metaphor is a brief Mnulitude contraeted ii a single word; which irord being put in the place of anoth * All the editions retain Ule aeaive, though univerBall j ackncnvlsd to bo corrupt. The conjecturo of Turnebua, Ule Eimias. has found a favour; that of OralliuB, ilbid Eartti, is approved by EUondt That ^ vordi dt genitalit were used bv Enniiu appears from Servina o: J THE OHARACTEB OF 1 as if it were ia its own place, conveyaj if the reBemblauce be acknowledged, delight; if there is no reBemblance, it is con- demned. But Buch words sboiild be metaphorically used as may make the subject clearer; as all these:' InJiOrreicit mare, Ifcarfn'iE cmiduplieitntUT, Kocfisjue el nimiflm occaaat nigror. Mamma inter nubet coTviaat, iaiian tomtm (xratrtmit, Ormdo mixta imbri largifiao mbita jmsdpiiani cadil; Uitdiqtit omnM rmii enmpuni, «m exaturd iurbinea j Femil aatit pelage.
The B«a b«^tiH to shudder, DaAaeaa ia doubled; and ike black of night And of tbs tempest thicicena; £ra gleuna vivid Amid the cloade; the heavens with thunder shake; Hail mixed with ocpious raia sudden descends Precipitate; from ^1 aides every blast Breaks forth; fierce whirlwinds gather, and the flood Boils with fresh tumult.
Here almost everything is expressed in words metaphori- cally adapted from something similar, that the description may be heightened. Or metaphors are employed that the whole nature of any action or design may be more signi- ficantly expressed; as in the case of him who indicates, by two metaphorical words, that another person was designedly obscure, in order that what he intended might not be under- stood, Qaandaqiiidem it le drcumvealil dKlu, aispic aedald. Since thus he clothes himself aroond with words. And hedgoa constantlj.
"Sometimes, also, brevity is the object attained by meta- phor; as, Si telum mamifugit, 'If from his hand the javelin fled.' The throwing of a missile weapon unawares could not be described with more brevity in the proper words than it ia signified by one used metaphorically. On this head, it often appears to mo wonderful why all men are more delighted with words used in a metaphorical or foreign sense than in their own proper and natural Bigaification, XL. For if a thing has not a name of its own, and a term peculiar to it, — as the pei, or ' hawser,' in a ship; nexum, a ' bond,' which is a ceremony performed with scales;' dirortiMm, a 'divorce,' with.
DE OKATORG i OB, [u. JU.
a wife,-' — necessity compelB yOQ to borrow from another wliat you have not yourself; but, even ia lie greatvt abimdancQ of proper wools, meu are much more chamaed with such as are utioonuaoii, if they are used metaphori- cally with judgment. ThiB happens, I imagine, either liecause it is some manifeetation of wit to jump over euch expree- raona as lie before you, and. catch at others from a greater diatanoe; or because he who listens is led another way in thought, and yet does not wander from the subject, which ia a very great pleoeurej or becauBO a subject, and entire com- parisou, is dospatohed in & single word; or because every metaphor that is adopted witii judgment, is directed imme- diately to our aenaeH, and principally to the seuse of sight, which is the keenest of them alL For such expresetona aa the odour of urbanity, the *itftnas of humanity, the murmur of the sea, and sweetness of laoguagc, are derived from the other senses; but those which relate to the sight are mutdi more striking, for they place almost in the eye of the mind such objects as we cannot see and discern by the natural eyes. There is, indeed, nothing in universal nature, the proper name and term of which we may not use with regai-d to other matters; foe whencesoever a simile may bo drawn (and it may be drawn from anything), from thence a single word, which contains the resemblanoe, metaphorically applied, may give illustration to our lajiguage. In such metaphorical ex- pressions, dissimilitude is principally to be avoided; as, CMi ingttiUs fomicei.
The arch irameoaa of beaven; for thou^ EnniuB ^ ia aaid to have brought a globe upon stage, yet the semblance of an arch can never be inherent the form of a globe.
Fine, UivKs, dtmi lictt: OctUia poslretnKm Zunun rrtdiatwn rape ^ Live, live. Ulyaaes, while you may, and enatdi. Snatch with thine oyos the lust light eliining on them.
* JTitvrtHnn, in ita proper setiae, denoted the «opan ' In his tngodj of Heouha, ne IR supposed by HBrmaon, ad Eniip. Hec p. 16T. See Vorro, L. h. v. p. 8.
' Supposed by Botho,Trag.Lttt.Pr(teni. p. 278, to beftem the Niplia of Pacnriua. See Cic. QufflsL Acad. iL 28.
He did aot say, eape, ' take,' nor ptte, ' seek,' for Buch ea- jweBaiODB might have implied delay, as of one hoping to live longer; but rapt, ' snatch,' a word which ■waa peculiarly suit- able to what he hud said before, dum licet, 'while you may.'
XLI. " Care is next to be takeu that the simile be not too &r-fetdiQd; us, for ' the Syrtia of his patrimony,' I should rather have said, ' the roek;' for ' the Charybdie of hi Rons,' rather ' the gulf:' for the eyea of the mind a easily directed to those objeoia which we hare seen, than ti thoae of which we have only heard. And since it is &i greatest merit in a metaphorical word, that what is phorical should strike the senses, all offenarveness la to be avoided in those objects to which the comparison must naturally draw the minds of the audience. I wo\J.d not have ■, it said that the republic was 'castrated' by the death of Africanusj I would not have Glaacia eaUed 'the excrement rf the senate; ' for though there may be a resemblance, yet it is a depraved imagination in both cases that gives rise to fluch a comparison. I would not have the metaphor grander than the subject requires, as 'a tempest of revelling;' nor meaner, aa ' the revelling of the tempest.' I would not have the metaphca^cal be of a more confined senae than the proper and peculiar term would have been; as, Qaidnam est, t^cro, qiad te adwi atmsiaa t ' Wty ifi it, pryttee, tliat thou nodd'st UB,back FroiQ eoming to thee!
VeUu, pTohibes, ahsterres, ' forhid,' ' hinder," ' terrify,' had been better, because he had before said.
Also, if you apprehend that the metaphor may appear too harsh, it may frequently be softened by prefixing a word or ■words to it; as if, in old times, on the death of Mareua Cato, any one had said that the senate was left 'an orphan,' the ex- pression had been rather bold; but, ' so to speak, an orphan,' isBomewhat.milder; forametaphor ought not to bo too daring.
' Prom tbe Thyaates of Enniua. Cio. Tiisc. m. IS ' Orelliua'B taut has isUm, which U considered t inc. See Victorlua ad Cic, Ep; ad Div. ri. 8.
SE OBATOBE j OB, \S,Bb but of BQch a natare that it may appear ta have been introduced into tbe place of naother expression, not to have aprung into it; to have come in by entreaty, and not by violence. And there is no mode of embeUiBhoient more effective as r^ards ' single words, nor any that throws a greater lustre upon lao* guagej for tbe ornament that flows from this figure does not conaist merely in a single motapborioal word, but may be connected by a continuation of many, so that one thing may be expressed and another uuderstood; as, Nor will I allow Myself agaia to strike the Grecian fieet On the Buae rock and inatnimeut of ruin.' And this, You err, yon air, for the atrocg reins of Uw Shall hold you bact, esulting and ooafiding Too much in your own self, and makfi jou bow - Beneath the joke of ompire.
Something being assumed as similar, tbe words which are proper to it.are metaphorically transferred (as I termed it before) to another subject, XLII. " This is a great ornament to language, but obacuritj ia to be avoided in it; for from this figure arise what are called lenigmas. Nor is this rule to be observed in single words only, but in phrases, that is, in a continuation of wotde. Nor have metonymy and hypallage^ their form from a single word, but from a phrase or sentencB; as, Grim Afrio tramblea with an awful tumult;' where for the Africam is used Afric; not a word newly compounded, aa in Mare aaxifragia nndis, 'The sea with its rock-breaking waves;' nor' a metaphorical one, as, Mollitw mare, ' The sea is softened;' but one proper name exchanged for another, for the sake of embellishment. Thus, 'Cease, Rome, tby foes to cherish,' and, 'The spacious plains are witnesses.' This figure contributes eiceedingly to tbe ornament of style, and ia frequently to be used; of whjcb kind of espression these are eiamples: that tbe Mars, or fortune, of war ia cot and to say Ceres, for com; BaceJms, for wine; Nepti ' Whence thia and the following quoteUon are taken ia ' TradiKlio alque imimUalvi. Sea Cio. OraU 27; Qumc. vm. ej ' From the AnnalB of EnniuB, SeaCicEp. adDiv. ii.T; Oitiu^x Fentus v. intionjmiia.
aXLin,] OS THE CHiKAOTER OP THE ORATOR. 381 the Bea; the curia, or house, for the sennte; the campus, for theoomitia or elections; fhegmun, for peace; arms aneeapom, for war. Under this figure, the virtues and vices are used for the peraona in whom they are inherent: ' Lvurary has broken into that house;' or,* 'whither avarice has penetrated;' or, 'honetty has prevailed;' or, 'j'tiMice has triumphed.' You per- ceive the wholo force of this kicd of iigiire, when, ^y the i' l variation or change of a word, a thing is eipressed more elegantly; and to this figure is closely allied another,^ which, though less ornamental, ought uot to bo unknown; as when wfi would have the whole of a thing understood from a part; as we Bay walls or roof for a whole building; or a part from the whole, as when we call one troop the cavalry of the Boman people; or when we signify the plural by the ain- gular, as.
But Btill the Komon, though thB at&ic haa bean Conducted well, ia aniious in hie heart;' or when the singular is underetood from the plm:al, We that were Rudiana once are Somalia nowi or in whatever way, by this figui'e, the sense is to be under- Btood, not as it is expressed, but as it is raeant.
XLIII, "We often also put one word catachreatieally for another, not with that elegance, indeed, which there is in a metaphor; but, though this is done licentiously, it is some- times done inoffensively; as when we say a great speech for a long one, a mmufc soul for a httle one.
" But have you perceived that those elegances which arise from the connexion of several metaphors, do not, as I ob- served,^ lie in one word, but in a series of words) But all those modes of eipression which, I said, lay ia tha change of a word, or are to be undei-atood differently fi^m what is expressed, are in some measure metaphorical. Hence it hap' pens, that all the virtue and merit of single words consists in three particulars: if a word be antique, but such, however, as usage will tolerate; if it he formed by eompoaition, or newly invented, where regard is to be paid to the judgment of tha ear and to custom; or if it be used mttaphorically; pecure from the ^'""'l' of Gimliu* SB orators; OB, [a, to.
linritiea whiob eminentlj distingiiiah and brighten language^ SK with so many stara.
" Tile oompoaition of words followa nest, whiob principally Tequires atteutiou to two things; first, colloeation, and, next, a certain modulaiuya and form. To collocation it boloi^ to compose and arrange the words in such a way that their junction may not be rough or gaping, but compact, aa it wero, and smooth; in reference to which qualities of style, the poet Luciliiis, who could do so most elegantly, has expreaaed him' self wittily aud aportively in the chaiacter of my father- ia-law;^ How elegantly ore tiis words atranged I AH like squate eto'iteg iniierteii ekilfull; In paTBmento, with vermiculatBd embleias!
And after saying this in ridicule of Albuciua, he does not re&ain from touching on me: Tve CmaauB for a son-in-law, nor think Tourself mora of an orator.
What then! this Craaaus, of whose name you, Lucilius, make Bueh free use, what does he attempt) The very same thing indeed as Scavola wished, and aa I would wish, but with aoioe- what better efieot than Albucius. But Luciliue apoke jestingly with regard to me, according to hia custom. However, sooh an arrangement of words ia to be observed, as that of whioh 1 was apeakiug; such a one as may give a compactne^ and coherence to the language, and a sraootli aud equal flow; this you will attain if you join the estremities of the antecedent words to the commencements of those that follow iu such a manner that there be no rough clashing in the coneooajitB, nor wide hiatua in the vowels.
XLIY. " Neit to diligent attention to this particular, follows modulatioa and harmonious atructure of the words; a point, I fear, that may aeem puerile to our friend Catulua here. The ancients, however, tmagioed in prose a harmony almost like that of poetry; that is, they thought that we ought to adi^ ft sort of numbera; for they wished that there should be ahort pUraaea in speeches, to allow us to recover, and not lose our breath; and that tbey should be diatinguisbed, not by the marka of transcribers, but according to the modulatioa ' Hocloa BomvoIb. He accoud Albudua of extortion.
r O. ZL7.] OIT THE OHAaAOTKR 01" THH ORATOR. 383 of the words and Hentenees;' aad this practice Isoca^tea is aoid to have been the firat to introduce, that he might (as hia scholar Naucratea writes) ' confine the rude manner of speaking among thoee of antiquity witbin certain numberB, to g^ve pleasure and captivate the ear.' For muaiciiina, who -qrere aUo the poets of former ages, contrived these two things as the ministers of pleasure, ver3e, and song; that they might banish satiety from the sense of hearing by grnt)6ca- tion,ariBii]g from the numbers of language and the modulation of notes. These two things, therefore, (I mean the musical management of the voice, and the harmonious structure of words,) should be transferred, they thought, as far as the strictness of prose will admit, from poetry to oratory. On this head it is remarkable, that if a verse is formed by the composition of words in prose, it is a iault; and yet we wish such composition to have a harmonious cadence, roundness, and finish, like verse; nor is there any single quality, out of many, that more distinguishes a true orator from an un- skilful and ignorant speaker, than that he who is unpractised pouiB forth all he can without discrimination, and measures out the periods of his speech, not with art, but by the power of his breath; but the orator clothes bis thoughts in such a. manner as to comprise them in a flow of numbers, at once confined to measure, yet free from restraint; for, after reatriot- ing it to proper modulation and struoture, he gives it an ease and freedom by a variety in the flow, so that the words are neither boujid by strict laws, as those of verse, nor yet have such a degrea of liberty aa to wander without control.
XL V. " In what manner, then, shall we pursue so important on object, so as to entertain hopes of being able to acquire ilm talent of speaking in harmonious numbers? It is not a. matter of so much difficulty as it is of necessity; for there ia nothing so pliant, nothing so flexible, nothing which will so easily follow whithersoever you incline to lead it, as lan- guage; out of which verses are composed; out of which all the variety of poetical numbers; out of which also prose of various modulation and of many di&rent kinds; for there is not one set of words for common discourse, and another for oratorical debate; nor are they taken from one clasa for daily ConvarBation, and from another for the stage and for display; j^ Weait aptly refers to Cic Orat. c 63; AnsCotle, Bhet. iil 9. S.
DB ORATOBE j 01^ ve have made our selection from those that lio o form and ilishioii them at our pleasure like the According, therefore, as we oiusolves are gn\e, or eubtle, or hold a middle course between both, ao the form of our language follows the nature of our thoaghta, and is changed and varied to suit every method by which we delight the ear or move tho passiona of mankind. But as in most things, so iu language, Nature herself has woniierfiilly coil* trived, that what carries in it the greatest utility, ^ould have at the same time either the most dignity, or, u it often happens, the moat beauty. We perceive the vay system of the universe and of nature to be constituted with a view to the safety and preservation of the whole; so tbit the firmament should be round, and the earth in the middle and that it should be held iu its place by its onm. nature and tendency;' that tho sun should go round, that it should approach to the winter sigu,^ and thence gradually ascend to the opposite region; that tho moon, by her advance and retreat, should receive the light of the sun; and that the five planets should perform the same revolutions by different motions and courses. This order of things has such force, that, if there were the least alteration in it, they could not possibly subsist together; and such beauty, that no feirer appearance of nature could even bo imagined. Turn your thoughts now to the shape and figure of man, or even that of other animals; you will find no part of the body fashioned without some necessary use, and the whole frame perfected as it were by art, not by chance. XLYI. How is it with regard to trees, of which neither the trunlt, nor the boughs, nor even the leaves, are formed otherwise than to maiutfti" and preserve their own nature, yet in which there is no part that is not beautiful! Or let ua turn from natural object^ and cast our eyes on those of art; what is so neceasaiy y a ship as the sides, the hold,' the prow, the stem, the y " ' NiHk. Comp»re Cia De Nat, Dear, iu 39. EUendt thi by nutue is meuit Boraethmg BiioUar to onr centripetal force.
' SramtUt mjnum. The tropic of CBprioom. Da Nat Deor. iiL It" ^ Cavemte, Some editianB h&ve cariTUe, BJid LombinuB reads carwi. If we retWD cara-na, it is not easy to ia.y einctlj in what gense it ebould be takeu. Seirias, on Virgil, ^i. ii. 19, obBervea that tho fatta ctarvi •aaxiwn, gutiu* estriinecia fabatce afffunliir, were called cavemiE,- bnt In this BCDBe, as Ellendt ob^ervea, it is much the >>ame wiih li iiLl*™ Ji the sails, the masts 1 which yet have so cQuch heauty in their appearaiice, that they aeem to have heen invented not for safety only, but also for the delight afforded by the spectacle. Pillara support temples and porticoes, and yet have not more of utility than of dignity. It was not regard to beauty, but necessity, that contrived the cupola of the Capitol, and other buildings; for when a plan was contemplated by which the water might run off from each aide of the roo^ the dignity of the cupola waa added to the utility of the temple; but in such a manner, that should the Capitol be built in heaven, where no rain can fall, it would appear to have no dignity without the cupola. It happens likewise in all parts of lan- guage, that a certain agreeahleness and graco are attendant on utility, and, I may say, on necessity; for the stoppage of the breath, and the confined play of the lungs, introduced periods and the pointing of words. This invention gives such gratification, that, if unlimited powers of breath were graated to a person, yet we could not wish him to speak without stopping; for the invention of stops is pleasing to the ears of mankind, and not only tolerable, but easy, to the lungs.
XLVII. "The Ini^eat compass of a period, then, is that which can be rounded forth in one breath. This is tha bound set by nature; art has other limits; for as there is a great variety of numbers, your favourite Aristotle, Catulus, inclines to banish from oratorical language tha frequent use of the iambus and the trochee; which, however, fall of them- selves naturally into our common discourse and conversation; but the strokes of time^ in those numbers are remarkable, and the feet short. Ho therefore principally invites us to the heroic measure, [of the dactyl, the anapcest, and the spondee;]^ in which we may proceed with impunity two which precedes. Ellendt himself, therefore, iuoUnes to take it In tbs Benae of eavilaa atvei, " hold " or " keel," wbioh, aa it is divided into parts, ma;, he thinks, be eipresBed in the plural nomher.
' Pereitmovei. The Uiua mttrici; so called, bacause the musicuui. In beating time, ttruch the ground with his foot.!□ a senarius he ■truck the ground three times, oqob far every two feet; whenoe thoro were said to be in such a verse three I'cftw or peretmitmei. But on pro- nouncing those syllables, at which the musician atruclt the ground, tha actor raised his voice; and henaa pemaiio was in Grerft Spjis, and the taised or accented syllables were said to be it Kpo-w, the otbera being eaid to be in «(r«. Sea Beutley de Metr. Terentian. init, Ernetli.
' Madvig and Ellendt juatlj regard tha words in brackets as spu- I feet only, or a litUe more, lest we plainly fall into vevae, ot the reaembknce of verse; AllB I jiinJ jjltn^nie juffiils