"tioner was to be paid. O intolerable grief! O "wretched and bitter fortune! The father was obliged to pay, not for saving the life of his child, "but for dispatching his death." Milo was of a character that would not permit him to descend to mean supplications. Cicero puts a great and noble, and at the same time, a soft and moving speech into his mouth: [m] Valeant, inquit, valeant cives mei. Sint incolumes, sint florentes, sint beati. Stet hæc urbs præclara, mihique patria carissima, quoquo modo merita de me erit. Tranquilla republicâ cives mei (quoniam mihi cum illis non licet) sine me ipsi, sed per me tamen, perfruantur. Ego cedam atque abibo, &c. "Farewel, perhaps he will say, "farewel, my fellow-citizens; may you be happy, safe, and flourishing. May this famous city, so "dear to me, ever remain, whatever be its conduct "towards me. Let my fellow-citizens enjoy that tranquillity without me, which they have obtained "by me, if I am not admitted to partake. Yes, I "will give up my claims," &c. [n] The effect of this Figure is, to make those persons who are introduced speaking, to be present, as it were, to the auditors; and to write in such a manner, that we may imagine we see and hear them. 4. The orator goes still farther. He sometimes opens graves, and makes the dead rise out of them, to admonish or reprimand the living. We have two fine examples of this Figure in [o] Cicero's plea for Coelius, to which I refer the reader. At other times, the orator directs his discourse to the dead: [p] Great queen, I gratify your most "affectionate wishes, when I celebrate this monarch; and this heart, which never lived but for him, "awakens, though it be dust, and becomes sensible, even under this pall, at the name of so dear a "consort." [m] Pro Mil. n. 92. [] Non audire judex videtur aliena mala deflentes, sed sensum ac vocem auribus accipere miserorum, quorum etiam mutus aspectus la- Το [q] To make these fictions pleasing, it is requisite, that the utmost strength of eloquence should be employed, as Quintilian observes; for things that are extraordinary and incredible, and, as it were, out of nature, do not produce an indifferent effect. They must therefore necessarily either make a very strong impression, because they go beyond the bounds of truth, or be looked upon as puerilities, because they are false. [r] The hypotyposis is a Figure which paints the image of the things we are speaking of, in such lively colours, that we think we see them, instead of hearing them barely related: and in this chiefly consists the force and power of eloquence, which has not sufficient authority, nor all the effect it ought to have, if it only strikes the ear, without moving the imagination, and reaching the heart. 1. These images are sometimes formed with a few words, and are not the least affecting. [s] Virgil paints, in a verse and a half, the consternation of Euryalus's mother the instant she heard of his death: Miseræ calor ossa reliquit : Excussi manibus radii, revolutaque pensa. "Chill horrors seiz'd her frame, "And from her hands the housewife's spindle fell.' [t] Cicero paints in two lines Verres's anger, or rather madness: Ipse inflammatus scelere ac furore in forum venit. Ardebant oculi; toto er ore crudelitas eminebat. "He himself inflamed with guilt and "madness, came into the forum. His eyes burned [9] Magna quædam vis eloquentiæ desideratur. Falsa enim & incredibilia naturâ necesse est aut magis moveant, quia supra vera sunt; aut pro vanis accipiantur, quia vera non sunt. Quint. 1. 9. c. 2. [r] Yorimos dicitur, proposita quædam forma rerum ita expressa verbis, ut cerni potiùs videatur, quam audiri. Ibid. Magna virtus est, res, de quibus loquimur, clarè, atque ut cerni vi- [s] Æn. 1. 9. v. 475. "with rage, and his face all over spoke nothing but cruelty. He elsewhere draws another picture of Verres, still more beautiful, and in as few words, though it does not strike so much at first: as it happens sometimes with pictures, whose beauty is only perceived by the skilful. [u] Stetit soleatus prætor populi Romani cum pallio purpureo tunicúque talari, mulierculâ nixus in littore."The Roman prætor stood in his slippers covered with a purple cloak, and an effemi 66 nate robe, leaning upon a woman on the shore." Quintilian explains, in an admirable manner, the force and energy of that short description. He recites the very words, because they may serve as a model to masters for the better understanding and explaining of authors. [] An quisquam, says he, tam procul à concipiendis imaginibus rerum abest, ut cum illa in Verrem legit, stetit soleatus, &c. non solùm ipsum os intueri videatur, & locum & habitum, sed quædam etiam ex iis, quæ dicta non sunt, sibi ipse astruat? Ego certè mihi cernere videor & vultum, & oculos, & deformes utriusque blanditias, et eorum qui aderant tacitam aversationem, ac timidam verecundi"Is there any of so dull a conception as not to be struck with this image of Verres; does he not only behold his face, his dress, the place where "he stands, but also many things not mentioned ? "For my part, I think I see his countenance, his am. eyes, and all their detestable ogling, together "with the silent aversion, and fearful bashfulness "of all present." If we change some words in Cicero's description, and change the place of others, making it, stetit Verres in littore... cum muliere colloquens, this excellent picture will lose a great part of its vivacity and colouring. The chief beauty consists in painting a Roman prætor in the attitude Cicero represents him, leaning in a careless and indolent manner on a woman. These two words, muliercula nirus, are a speaking picture, which presents to the [u] In Verr. 7. n. 160. [x] Quint, 1. 8. c. 3. eye eye and the mind all that Quintilian sees in it, in littore reserved for the close, adds the last touch, as we have already observed in another place; and displays the ungovernable licentiousness of Verres, who, by appearing in so indecent a posture upon the shore, and before a multitude of spectators, seemed insolently to set all decency and public decorum at defiance. Our poets are full of these short and lively descriptions. [y] Son coursier, écumant sous son maître intrépide, Nage tout orgueilleux de la main qui le guide. "His foaming steed, beneath his dauntless rider, "Swims, proud of the glorious hand which guides "him. And again, Quatre bœufs attelés, d'un pas tranquille & lent Promenoient dans Paris le monarque indolent. "Four harnessed oxen, with an easy pace, "Drag the lethargic monarch about Paris." But nothing is more perfect than the following picture: La mollesse opressée Dans sa bouche à ce mot sent sa langue glacée, 66 "This word oppresses sloth; "Instant her tongue is frozen in her mouth: Now, dead to speech, sinking beneath her efforts, "She stretches, sighs, she shuts her eyes, and sleeps." 2. The descriptions I have hitherto given are short, and, only exhibit a single object. But there are others of a greater length, and more circumstantial, which resemble those pictures where several Figures are represented, all the attitudes of which strike, and command our attention. Such is that description of a riotous entertainment, mentioned in an harangue of [y] Despreaux. Cecero which is lost. Videbar mihi videre alios intrantes, alios autem exeuntes, partim ex vino vacillantes, partim hesterná potatione oscitantes. Versabatur inter hos Gallius unguentis oblitus, redimitus coronis. Humus erat immunda, lutulenta vino, coronis languidulis & spinis co-operta piscium. "I fan"cied to myself that I saw some entering, others going out; some staggering in drunkenness, others yawning from last night's debauch. Among them "was Gallius employed, crowned with a garland, "and smeared with unguents. The pavement was "indecent to be seen, moist with wine, and covered He over with faded garlands, and the bones of fishes." Quintilian, who preserved this beautiful fragment, displays its beauty and value by a very lively expression, which comprises the whole. [z] Quid plus videret, qui intråsset? "If a man had actually "entered, what could he have seen more?" himself gives an excellent description of a town taken by storm, and plundered, which is well worth reading. We find a great number of this kind in Cicero, which will not escape the observation of a diligent master. Our French poets as well as orators, abound also with a multitude of these. Josabeth, in Racine's Athaliah, gives us a wonderful description of the manner in which she saved Joas from the slaughter. [a] Hélas! l'état horrible où le ciel me l'offrit, [x] Quint. 1. 8. c. 3.. [a] Racine. Je |