Institutio Oratoria

Domitius Afer was in the habit of transferring words at the cadence of the sentence solely for the purpose of harshening his rhythm, more especially in his exordia, as, for example, in his defence of Cloatilla, where he says gratias again continuo, [*](I will thank you at once.) and in his defence of Laelia, where he says, eis utrisque apud te iudicem periclitatur Laelia. [*]( Owing to both of these circumstances Laelia runs the risk of betng condemned with you for judge. ) To such an extent did he avoid the voluptuous effect of soft and delicate rhythm, that he actually interposed obstacles to break the natural harmonies of his language.

There is a further drawback resulting from the faulty arrangement of words, with which we are all familiar, namely, that it leads to ambiguity. The above remarks will, I think, suffice as a brief summary of the points which require notice in connexion with order. If the order is