Institutio Oratoria

It is the task of collocation to link together the words which have been selected, approved and handed over to its custody. For even harsh connexions are better than those which are absolutely valueless. None the less I should allow the orator to select certain words for their euphony, provided always that their force and meaning are the same as those of the alternative words. He may also be permitted to add words, provided they are not superfluous, and to omit them, provided they are not essential to the sense, while he may employ figures to alter case and number, since such variety is attractive in itself,

Again if reason demand one form and usage another, the claims of rhythm will decide our choice between the two, e.g. between vitavisse and vitasse or between deprehendere and deprendere. Further I do not object to the coalescence of syllables or anything that does no injury either to sense or style.

The most important task, however, is to know what word is best fitted to any given place. And the most accomplished artist will be the man who does not arrange his words solely with a view to rhythmic effect. On the other hand the management of feet is far more difficult in prose than in verse, first because there are but few feet in a single line of verse which is far shorter than the lengthy periods of prose; secondly because each line of verse is always uniform and its movement is determined by a single definite scheme, whereas the structure of prose must be varied if it is to avoid giving offence by its monotony and standing convicted of affectation.

Rhythm pervades the whole body of prose through all its extent. For we cannot speak without employing the long and short syllables of which feet are composed. Its presence is, however, most necessary and most apparent at the conclusion of the period, firstly because every group of connected thoughts has its natural limit and demands a reasonable interval to divide it from the commencement of what is to follow: secondly because the ear, after following the unbroken flow of the voice and being carried along down the stream of oratory, finds its best opportunity of forming a sound judgement on what it has heard, when the rush of words comes to a halt and gives it

Consequently all harshness and abruptness must be avoided at this point, where the mind takes breath and recovers its energy. It is there that style has its citadel, it is this point that excites the eager expectation of the audience, it is from this that the declaimer wins all his glory. Next to the conclusion of the period, it is the beginning which claims the most care: for the audience have their attention fixed on this as well.

But the opening of the sentence presents less difficulty, since it is independent and is not the slave of what has preceded. It merely takes what has preceded as a starting point, whereas the conclusion coheres with what has preceded, and however carefully constructed, its elegance will be wasted, if the path which leads up to it be interrupted. Hence it is that although the rhythmical structure adopted by Demosthenes in the passage τοῖς φεοῖς εὔχομαι πᾶσι καὶ πάσαις; [*](De Cor. I. I pray to all gods and goddesses. ) and again in another passage (approved by all, I think, except Brutus) κἄν μήπω βάλλῃ μηδὲ τοξεύῃ, [*](Phil. iii. 17. Even though he neither shoots at me nor strikes me as yet. )

is regarded as severely correct, Cicero is criticised for passages such as familiaris coeperat esse balneatori [*](Pro Cael. xxvi. 62. He had hegnn to be intimate with the bathkeeper. ) and for the not less unpleasing archipiratae. [*](Verr. xxvii. 70. ) For although balneatori and archipiratae give exactly the same cadence as πᾶσι καὶ πάσαις and μηδὲ τοξεύῃ the former are more severely correct.

There is also something in the fact that in the passages from Cicero two feet are contained in one word, a practice which even in verse produces an unduly effeminate effect, and that not merely when the line ends with a five-syllable word as in fortissima Tyndaridarum [*](Hor. Sat. I. i. 100. ) but also in four-syllable endings such