this word Verrutius, which were frequently mentioned in those journals, were always obliterated, and that the four first only remained, Verr. This was a fictitious name under which Verres concealed himself, carry on an abominable ufury. Cicero produced those journals on the trial; ut omnes mortales, fays he, iftius avaritiæ non jam veftigia, fed ipfa cubili videre poffint. › Videtis Verrutium? videtis primas literas integras? videtis extremam partem nominis, caudam illam Verris, tanquam in luto, demerfam effe in litura? Can any one condemn fuch a play of words, efpecially on an occafion where the orator thought it was neceffary to divert the judges, and at the fame time intended to make Verres ridiculous and contemptible? Sometimes the refemblance between words, or the bare changing a prepofition, or the fame word ufed in various fign.fications, produces a kind of beauty not to be defpiled Hanc reipublicae peftem paulifper reprimi, non in perpetuum comprimi poffe.... 9 non emiffus ex urbe, fed immiffus in urbem effe videatur.... Civis bonarum artium, bonarum partium. One of the antients faid of a flave that pilfered in a houfe, that every thing was open to him: folum effe cui domi nihil fit nec obfnatum, nec occlufum: which might likewife be faid of a faithful fervant in whom we repose an intire confidence. Figures with regard to thoughts. I fhall only mention fome of the moft remarkable among thefe. The interrogation, apoftrophe, and exclamation, are very common figures; and yet may render difcourse more efficacious, lively, and affecting. Ufque adeo-ne mori miferum eft? With this tone of voice a man fpeaks, who is going to battle; whereas o Verr. 4. n. 190. pn. 191. q 1 Catil. n. 30, r n. 7. Pro Cal. n. 77. t 2. de Orat. n. 2. S. Æn. 1. 12. v. 646. an old man, who is fick, and near death, would fay coldly: nm eft ufque adeo miferum mori. Eneas fays, that, if a certain event had been regarded, Troy would not have been taken: W Trojaque, nunc ftares; Priamique arx alta, maneres. This apoftrophe makes us feel the great love a good I citizen bears to his country. Change a letter, flaret, maneret, and the fentiment is gone. Thus Cicero concludes the narrative he made of the punishment of a Roman citizen: O nomen dulce libertatis! O jus eximium noftræ civitatis! O lex Porcia, legefque Sempronia! O graviter defiderata, & aliquando reddita plebi Romanæ, tribunitia poteftas ! Huccine tan→ dem omnia reciderunt, ut civis R. in provincia populi R. in oppido foederatorum, ab eo qui beneficio populi R. fafces fecures haberet, deligatus in foro virgis cæderetur? These are the juft expreffions of grief and indigna tion. Cicero joins and unites the greatest part of these figures, and adds others to them, in a very lively paffage: Y Quia enim, Tubero, tuus ille diftriétus in acie Pharfalica gladius agebat? cujus latus ille mucro petebat? qui fenfus erat armorum tuorum? quæ tua mens? oculi? manus? arder animi? quid cupiebas? quid optabas? All this is only to declare that Tubero was prefent at the battle of Pharfalia, and had fought againft Cæfar. But what ftrength does this thought receive from fo many and fuch lively figures, crouded one upon the other? Do not they feem to infinuate, that Tubero's fword fought every-where for Cæfar? For Cicero had said immediately before: contra ipfum Cæfarem eft congreflus armatus. O Princefs, whofe deftiny is fo great and glorious, muft you be born in the dominions of those who "are the enemies of your houfe? O eternal God, "watch over her! Holy angels, draw your invifible w Æn. 1. 2. v. 56. * Vert, 7. n. 161 and 162. y Pro Ligar, n. 9. z Boffuet. " fquadrons fquadrons round her, and guard the cradle of "fo great, fo hapless a princefs! Ye gloomy retreats, where fhame obliges poverty to fhrowd herself, how often has fhe made her "confolation and her charity flow even to you; fhe, "who was so strongly affected with your wants and "afflictions, and more induftrious to conceal her be"neficence, than you were to hide your misery !" O fortuné fejour! O champs aimés des cieux ! "O charming fpot! O fields belov'd by Heaven Par cent miracles fignalées ! "O banks of Jordan! fields belov'd by Heaven! "By miracles immortal made! "Muft we for ever be exil'd "From the delicious country of our fathers?" Abner having complained, that no more miracles were seen ; Joab, full of an holy indignation, answers him thus: Et quel tems fut jamais fi fertile en miracles ? Quand Dieu par plus d'effets montra-t-il fon pouvoir? Auras-tu donc toujours des yeux pour ne point voir, a Fléchier, b Despreaux f Racine. Peuple Peuple ingrat? Quoi toujours les plus grandes mer veilles, Sans ébranler ton cœur, fraperont tes oreilles? Englished: "What age, in miracles, fo much abounded? "Whene'er did God fo bright his power difplay? "O wilt thou ftill have eyes, and yet not fee, "Ungrateful people? ftill fhall mighty wonders "Strike strong thine ear, yet not affect thy heart ?” The profopopoeia is a figure that communicates action and motion to inanimate things; makes perfons fpeak, whether prefent or abfent, and fometimes even the dead. It is ufual with the poets to give indignation and admiration to rivers, trees; sadness to beafts, &c. * Atque indignatum magnis ftridoribus æquor. Pontem indignatus Araxes, Miraturque novas frondes, & non fua poma. It triftis arator, Mærentem abjungens fraterna morte juvencum. J'entens déja frémir les deux mers étonnées Englished: "Beneath the fiery courfers, ocean foams, "I hear, already, the two feas, amaz'd, The elder Pliny often paints his descriptions in almost as ftrong colours as a poet would do. He defcribes wonderfully, in a very few words, the grief and shame of a peacock, which, having loft his tail, fought only to hide itself: f Cauda amissa pudibundus * Defpreaux. d Virgil, Lib. 1o. c. 20. ac maerens quærit latebram. In another place he gi a fenfation of joy to the earth, which antiently feen itself cultivated by victorious generals, broke up with a plough-fhare adorned with laure 8 Gaudente terra vomere laureato, & triumphali ara He fays therefore, that the houses, where the fta of heroes nobly defcended were ranged in or ftill triumphed, as it were, after they had chan their fovereigns; and that the walls reproached a c ard who dwelt in them, with daily entering place made facred by the monuments of the vi and glory of others: Triumphabant etiam dominis tatis ipfæ demus; & erat hæc flimulatio ingens, exprob tibus tectis quotidie imbellem dominum intrare in alie triumphum. This paffage was tranflated by Fa Bouhours, who, being unable in French to exp the ingenious brevity of the laft thought, intrar alienum triumphum, employed another turn, which deed is very beautiful, but longer, and confequer not fo lively. Cicero employs the fame thought, but extends as an orator should do ; it is when he fpeaks of the lace of Pompey the Great, which Antony had feiz He afks the latter, if he thought he was enter his own house, when he entered this porch ador with the spoils of the enemies, and the prows of fhips taken from them. He afterwards uses figure we are now fpeaking of, and fays, he pi the very roofs and walls of that unfortunate ho which had neither feen nor heard any thing but w was wife and honourable, when Pompey dwelt der them; but is now become an obfcure retreat Antony's debaucheries: An tu illa in vestibulo ro & hoftium fpolia cum afpexifti, domum tuam te intr putas? Fieri non poteft. Quamvis enim fine me fine fenfu fis, ut es; tamen & te, & tua, & tuos a Me quidem miferet parietum ipforum atque tector* Lib. 35. c. 2. i 2 Phil, n. 63, 69. ... g Lib. 18.0, 3. i |