fond of; and he has fhewed the use we ought to make of thefe figures, by employing them seldom, and with moderation; and being always careful to heighten them, by the force and juftness of the thoughts, without which they would have very little merit. ▾ Eft enim hæc, judices, non fcripta, fed nata lex; quam non didicimus, accepimus, legimus, verum ex natura ipfa arripuimus, haufimus, expreffimus; ad quam non docti, fed facti, non inftituti, fed imbuti fumus: ut, fi vita noftra in aliquas infidias, fi in vim, fi in tela aut latronum aut inimicorum incidiffet, omnis honefta ratio effet expediendæ falutis ..* Et fine invidia culpa plectatur, & fine culpa invidia ponatur. y Seneca is full of these figures: Magnus eft ille qui fictilibus fic utitur, quemadmodum argento: nec ille minor eft, qui fic argento utitur, quemadmodum fictilibus. Infirmi animi eft, pati non poffe divitias... Tu quidem orbis terrarum rationes adminiftras, tam abftinenter quam alienas, tam diligenter quam tuas, tam religiofe quam publicas. In officio amorem confequeris, in que edium vitare difficile eft. a A man great in adverfity by his courage, and in good fortune by his modefty, in difficulties by his prudence, in danger by his valour, and in religion by his piety. He only changed virtues, when fortune changed her countenance; happy without pride, unhappy with dignity. In his youth he had all the prudence of advanced age, and, in an advanced age, all the vigour of youth. We easily image to ourselves the ardar and perfeve. rance with which a man of genius applies himself to any Study which is his chief pleasure; and a man of virtue, who makes it an effential duty. He poffefed that innocence and fimplicity of manners, which we generally preferve when we converfe lefs with men than with books; and he had nothing of that feverity Pro Mil. n. 10. H 4 z De Brev. vitæ, c. 18. a Fléchier. b Forten. or or favage pride with which the commerce of books, without that of men, is too apt to infpire. One alone is fmitten, and all are delivered. God fmites his innocent Son for the fake of guilty men; and pardons guilty men for the fake of his innocent Son. All these thoughts are very juft and beautiful in themselves; but it must be owned, that the turn and manner in which they are expreffed make them much more graceful. In order to make us more sensible of this, we need only reduce them to a plain and vulgar way of fpeaking. This I will endeavour to display in the two beautiful paffages of Cicero, where the difpofition of words, of which we are fpeaking, appears in a peculiar manner. When the great orator, pleading for Ligarius, had told Cæfar, that Princes refemble the Gods in nothing more, than in doing good to men; he might have barely faid, that his fortune and kind difpofition procured him that glorious advantage: this is the foundation of the thought. But Cicero expreffes it in a much more noble and elegant manner, by obferving separately, by a kind of diftribution, what he owes to fortune, and what fhould be ascribed to his natural inclination. The one gives him the power of doing good, the other the will; and it is in this, that the greatness of his fortune, and the excellency of his good-nature, confift. d Nibil habet nec fortuna tua magis quam ut poffis, nec natura tua melius quam ut velis, confervare quamplurimos. All these words here correfpond with a surprising exactness. Fortuna, natura: majus, melius poffis, velis. Is it poffible to fay more in fewer words, or with more beauty? The elogium of Rofcius the comedian is in the fame taste : * Etenim cum artifex ejufmodi fit (Q. Roscius), ut folus dignus videatur effe qui fcenam introeat; tum vir ejufmodi eft, ut folus videatur dignus qui eo non accedat. Cicero makes a noble encomium upon the fame Rof • Boffuet, d Pro Lig. n. 38. e Pro Quint. Rofc. n. 78. Cius, in another place, which may likewise teach us how the fame thought may be turned different ways: Qui medius fidius (audacter dico) plus fidei quam artis, plus veritatis quam difciplinæ poffidet in fe: quem populus Romanus meliorem virum quam hiftrionem effe arbitratur : qui ita digniffimus eft fcena propter artificium, ut digniffimus fit curia propter abftinentiam. This double encomium is reduced to this, that Rofcius has more of the honeft man than the excellent comedian. In how many fhapes is this thought reprefented to us? Can we imagine any thing has more delicacy than the first turn which Cicero gives it?" Rofcius is so excellent an ac"tor, that he alone feems worthy of mounting the "ftage; but, on the other hand, he is a man of fo "much virtue, that he alone feems worthy of never "appearing upon it." The fecond encomium is as delicate as the former. The last member would perhaps have been more graceful, if a word that ends like abftinentiam had been substituted instead of artificium. For one of the principal beauties of the figures we are here treating of, and which confift in a ftudied and measured order, is, that the words fhould not only anfwer one another in fense, but likewise in found and cadence. Ita digniffimus eft fiena propter artis peritiam, ut digniffimus fit curia propter abftinentiam. But Cicero chofe to renounce that minute elegance, rather than enervate the beauty of the fenfe by an expreffion not fo proper; and he gives us an opportunity of adding in this place fome reflections of Quintilian, on the ufe that is to be made of fuch figures. g Since they confift wholly in certain turns, and a certain difpofition of words; and that these must be employed only to exprefs the thoughts; it would be manifeftly abfurd to apply ourfelves intirely to thofe turns f Pro Quint. Rofc. com. n. 17. g Sunt qui neglecto rerum pondere, & viribus fententiarum, fi vel inania verba in hos modos depravârint, fummos fe judicent artifices, ideoque non definunt eas nectere: quas fiue fententia fectari tam eft ridiculum, quam quærere habitum geftumque fine corpore. Quint. I. 9.c.3. Sed ne hæ quidem denfandæ funt : nimis. Ibid. H 5 and and to that difpofition of words, and at the fame time neglect the very foundation both of thoughts and of things. But, how juft foever we may fuppofe thefe figures to be, they must however be used sparingly; for the more artful and ftudied they appear, the more evident is the affectation, and confequently the more faulty. h To conclude, the nature of the things we treat of must be susceptible of this kind of ornaments. For when it is propofed, for inftance, to affect and melt the auditors, and to terrify them by a view of the evils which threaten them, to raise a just indignation in them against vice, to employ earneft intreaties; would not an orator be ridiculous, fhould he attempt to affect this by regular periods, antithefes, and fuch-like figures, which are proper only to distinguish the paffions, and to expofe the vanity of an orator, folely intent upon himself, and the care of displaying his wit, at a time when he should have no thoughts but to draw tears from his auditors, and fill them with the fentiments of fear, anger, or grief, necessary to his purpose ? Figures of Allufion. I must not conclude this article, which relates to the figures of words, without faying fomething of those that confift in an affected resemblance, and a kind of a play of words: Amari jucundum eft, fi curetur ne quid infit amari. Avium dulcedo ad avium ducit. Ex orato1 arator fallus. The bare name of Verres, which in Latin fignifies a boar, gave rife to a great many allufions: Hinc illi homines erant qui etiam ridiculi inveniebantur ex dolore: quorum alii, ut audiftis, negabant mirandum effe, jus tam nequam effe Verrinum: alii etiam frigidiores erant, fed quia ftomachabantur, ridi confimilibus, irafcentem, flentem, culi videbantur effe, cum facerdotem execrabantur, qui Verrem tam nequam reliquiffet (the prætor of Sicily, whom Verres fucceeded, was called Sacerdos). Qua ego now commemorarem (neque enim perfacete dicta, neque porro hac feveritate digna funt), nifi, &c. * Ex nomine iftius quid in provincia facturus effet perridiculi homines augurabantur ..... ad everrendam provinciam venerat. Quod unquam, judices, hujufmodi everriculum ulla in provincia fuit? At the fame time that Cicero mentions these puns, he informs us how flat and puerile he found them; by which he teaches youth what judgment they are to form of them, and warns against a vicious tafte, which young people are but too apt to give into, who imagine that there is fome wit in this kind of figures. m 1 But we must not, however, condemn allufions in general, fome being really ingenious, and give a grace to a difcourfe; and they must appear fuch, when they are judicious, and founded on a folid thought, and a natural refemblance. Cicero had related the equitable and difinterested conduct of Verres in a certain affair; and adds the following reflection: Eft adhuc, id quod vos omnes admirari video, non Verres, fed 2. Mucius. Quid enim facere potuit elegantius ad hominum exiftima tionem? aquius ad levandam mulieris calamitatem? vehementius ad quæftoris libidinem coercendam? Summe hæc omnia mihi videntur effe laudanda. Sed repenteé veftigio ex homine, tanquam aliquo Circæo poculo, factus eft Verres, Redit ad fe, ad mores fuos. Nam ex illa pecunia magnam partem ad fe vertit: mulieri reddit quantulum vifum eft. Methinks this allufion, which is founded on what fiction relates of Circe, who by certain draughts changed men into boars or fwine (which Verres fignifies in Latin) is happily and very naturally ufed in this place. " It appeared by Cicero's examination of the journals of a certain trader in Sicily, that the last five letters of k Ver. 4. n. 18 & 19. 1 Verr, 6. n. 53. H 6 m Verr. 1. ns 57. this |