Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.

This last form of figure becomes more striking when we agree to something which is really likely to tell in our favour; but such an opportunity can only occur through weakness on the part of our opponent Sometimes we may even praise some action of our opponent, as Cicero does in his prosecution of Verres [*](Verr. xvii. 37. i.e. Apollonius deserved it. ) when dealing with the charge in connexion with

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Apollonius of Drepanum:

Nay, it is a real pleasure to me to think that you took something from him, and I say that you never did a juster action in your life.

At times we may exaggerate charges against ourselves which we can easily refute or deny; this device is too common to require any illustration. At other times we may by this same method make the charges brought against us seem incredible just because of their gravity: thus Cicero in his defence of Roscius, [*](Roscius of Ameria was accused of parricide.) by the sheer force of his eloquence, exaggerates the horror of parricide, despite the fact that it requires no demonstration.

Aposiopesis, which Cicero [*](See quotation in IX. i. 31.) calls reticentia, Celsus obticentia, and some interruptio, is used to indicate passion or anger, as in the line: [*](Aen. i. 135. Neptune rebukes the winds for raising a storm, but breaks off without actually saying what he would do to them. )

Whom I—
But better first these billows to assuage.

Or it may serve to give an impression of anxiety or scruple, as in the following: [*]( Now frequently inserted in pro Mil. xii. 33. But it is quite possible that the words formed part of the speech actually delivered, and do not belong to the existing speech, from the MSS. from which they are absent. The law proposed to give freedmen the right to vote in all thirty-five tribes and not as before in the four city-tribes only. )

Would he have dared to mention this law of which Clodius boasts he was the author, while Milo was alive, I will not say was consul? For as regards all of us—I do not dare to complete the sentence.

There is a similar instance in the exordium of Demosthenes' speech in defence of Ctesiphon. [*]( § 3. ἀλλ᾽ ἐμοὶ—οὐ βούλομαι δὲ δυσχερὲς εἰπεῖν οὐδέν. )

Again it may be employed as a means of transition, as, for example, [*]( From thepro Cornelio. )

Cominius, however— nay, pardon me, gentlemen.

This last instance also involves digression, if indeed digression is to be counted among figures, since some authorities regard it as forming one of the parts of a speech. [*](cp. xv. iii. 12. ) For at

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this point the orator diverges to sing the praises of Gnaeus Pompeius, which he might have done without any recourse to aposiopesis.

For as Cicero [*](From the passage quoted IX. i. 28.) says, the shorter form of digression may be effected in a number of different ways. The following passages will, however, suffice as examples:

Then Gaius Varenus, that is, the Varenus who was killed by the slaves of Ancharius:—I beg you, gentlemen, to give careful attention to what I am about to say [*]( From the lost pro Varcno. ) ;

the second is from the pro Milone [*](xii. 33.) :

Then he turned on me that glance, which it was his wont to assume, when he threatened all the world with every kind of violence.

There is also another kind of figure, which is not aposiopesis, since that involves leaving a sentence unfinished, but consists in bringing our words to a close before the natural point for their conclusion. The following is an example [*](pro Lig. iii. 9. ) :

I am pressing my point too far; the young man appears to be moved

; or [*]( A free quotation from Verr. v. xliv. 116 )

Why should I say more? you heard the young man tell the story himself.

The imitation of other persons' characteristics,

which is styled ἠθοποιί͂α or, as some prefer μίμησις may be counted among the devices which serve to excite the gentler emotions. For it consists mainly in banter, though it may be concerned either with words or deeds. If concerned with the latter, it closely resembles ὑποτύπωσις while the following passage from Terence [*](Eun. I. ii. 75. ) will illustrate it as applied to words:

I didn't see your drift. 'A little girl was stolen from this place; my mother brought her up as her own daughter. She was known as my sister. I want to get her away to restore her to her relations.'