Institutio Oratoria

or

I might say, etc.

If I were to plead on this point as though there were some real charge to refute, I should speak at greater length.

1. Go!
2. Follow the winds to Italy;

or when we concede to our opponents qualities which we are unwilling that they should seem to possess. This is specially effective when we possess these qualities and they do not, as in the following passage, [*](Aen. xi. 383. Turnus addresses Drances, who has been attacking him as the cause of the war and bidding him fight himself, if he would win Lavinia for his bride. )

1. Brand me as coward, Drances, since thy sword
2. Has slain such hosts of Trojans.

1. 'Twas I that led the Dardan gallant on
2. To storm the bridal bed of Sparta's queen!

Aen. x. 92. Juno ironically pretends to have brought about the rape of Helen, which was in reality the work of Venus.

Further, this device of saying the opposite of what

Forsooth,

ye great gods!

1. Fit task, I ween, for gods!

Aen. iv,. 379. Dido mocks the excuse of Aeneas that he had received the direct command of heaven to leave Carthage.

Another example is provided by the following passage from the pro Oppio,

What wondrous love! what extraordinary benevolence!

You have now, Tubero, the advantage most desired by an accuser: the accused confesses his guilt

The commander of a ship from a distinguished city paid down a sum of money to rid himself of the fear of a scourging which hung over his head; it shows Verres' humanity

Let it prevail in the public assembly, but be silent in the courts of law

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

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. )

1. Whom I—
2. But better first these billows to assuage.

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.

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

Cominius, however— nay, pardon me, gentlemen.

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. ) ;

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

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

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.'

We may, however, imitate our own words and deeds in a similar fashion by relating some

I said that they had Quintus Caecilius to conduct the prosecution.

Thus we may feign repentance for what we have said, as in the pro Caelio, [*](xv. 35.) where Cicero says,

But why did I introduce so respectable a character?

I didn't mean to say that.

What else is there?

Have I left anything out?

One more charge, too, of this sort still remains for me to deal with,

One thing suggests another.

Such methods will also provide us with elegant transitions, although transition is not itself to be ranked among figures: for example, Cicero, [*](Ve err. IV. xxvi. 57. ) after telling the story of Piso, who ordered a goldsmith to make a ring before him in court, adds, as though this story had suggested it to him,

This ring of Piso's reminds me of something which had entirely slipped my memory. How many gold rings do you think Verres has stripped from the fingers of honourable men?

But who was the sculptor who made those statues? Who

v7-9 p.413

was he? Thank you for prompting me, you are right; they said it was Polyclitus.

This device may serve for other purposes as well. For there are means of this kind whereby we may achieve an end quite other than that at which we appear to be aiming, as, for example, Cicero does in the passage just quoted. For while he taunts Verres with a morbid passion for acquiring statues and pictures, he succeeds in creating the impression that he personally has no interest in such subjects. So, too, when Demosthenes [*](De Coron. 263. He argued that defeat in such a cause could bring no shame. Athens would have been unworthy of the heroes of old had she not fought for freedom. ) swears by those who fell at Marathon and Salamis, his object is to lessen the odium in which he was involved by the disaster at Chaeronea.

We may further lend charm to our speech by deferring the discussion of some points after just mentioning them, thus depositing them in the safe keeping of the judge's memory and afterwards reclaiming our deposit; or we may employ some figure to enable us to repeat certain points (for repetition is not in itself a figure) or may make especial mention of certain things and vary the aspect of our pleading. For eloquence delights in variety, and just as the eye is more strongly attracted by the sight of a number of different things, so oratory supplies a continuous series of novelties to rivet the attention of the mind.

Emphasis may be numbered among figures also, when some hidden meaning is extracted from some phrase, as in the following passage from Virgil:

1. Might I not have lived,
2. From wedlock free, a life without a stain,
3. Happy as beasts are happy?

Aen. iv. 550.

1. O mother, happy in thy spouse!

Met. x. 422.

Similar, if not identical with this figure is another, which is much in vogue at the present time. For I must now proceed to the discussion of a class of figure which is of the commonest occurrence and on which I think I shall be expected to make some comment. It is one whereby we excite some suspicion to indicate that our meaning is other than our words would seem to imply; but our meaning is not in this case contrary to that which we express, as is the case in ironq, but rather a hidden meaning which is left to the hearer to discover. As I have already pointed out, [*](IX. i. 14.) modern rhetoricians practically restrict the name of figure to this device, from the use of which figured controversial themes derive their name.

This class of figure may be employed under three conditions: first, if it is unsafe to speak openly; secondly, if it is unseemly to speak openly; and thirdly, when it is employed solely with a view to the elegance of what we say, and gives greater pleasure by reason of the novelty and variety thus introduced than if our meaning had been expressed in straightforward language.

The first of the three is of common occurrence in the schools, where we imagine conditions laid down by tyrants on abdication and decrees passed by the senate after a civil war, and it is a capital offence to accuse a person with what is past, what is not