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fhall uncover the pale and bloody corpfe, near which the thunder that truck him ftill fmokes ; that 1 shall make his blood cry out like Abel's; and that I am fetting before your eyes the fad images of your weeping religion and country.

ARTICLE the THIRD.
Of the mediate kind.

BETWEEN the two fpecies of eloquence, of which we have hitherto treated, viz. the fimple and the fublime, there is a third, which holds, as it were, the mean, and may be called the embellished and florid kind; because in this eloquence difplays her greatest fplendor and beauty. It therefore remains for us, to make fome reflections on this kind of ftile, which may affift youth in difcerning between true and folid ornaments, and thofe that have nothing but false glitter and empty fhew. I fhall give no examples of this kind, becaufe thofe I cited before when I treated of compofition, and many of those I fhall cite hereafter, are of the florid kind, and may ferve for the prefent fubject.

I. Ornaments in eloquence are certain turns and modes of speech which contribute to make an oration more agreeable, more engaging, and even more perfuafive. The orator does not speak only to be understood, for then it would be fufficient to relate things in the moft fimple manner, provided it was clear and intelligible. His principle view is to convince and move, in which he cannot fucceed, if he does not find out the art of pleasing. He endeavours to reach the understanding and the heart; but he can. not do this, otherwife than by paffing through the imagination, which confequently must be addressed in its own language, viz. that of ngures and images, becaufe nothing can ftrike or move it by fenfible ob.. jects.

jects. This made " Quintilian say, that pleasure is a help to perfuafion, and that the auditors are always difpofed to believe what they find agreeable. It is not enough then, that the difcourfe be clear and intelligible, or abounding with a great number of reafons and just thoughts. Eloquence adds to that perfpicuity and juftness, a certain beauty and luftre, which we call ornament, whereby the orator fatisfies both the understanding and the imagination. He gives to the former truth, juftness of thoughts, and proofs; which are, as it were, its natural nourishment; and prefents to the latter, beauty, delicacy, the grace of expreffions and turns, which belong more peculiarly to it.

II. Some people are averfe to all ornaments of difcourse, and think no eloquence natural, but that in which the fimple ftile resembles the language of converfation; these look upon every thing as fuperfluous that is not abfolutely neceffary; and think it a dishonour to truth to give her a foreign drefs, which they fancy fhe does not want, and can serve no other end than to disfigure her. If we were to speak before phi lofophers only, or people from all paffion and prejudice, this notion might perhaps appear reasonable. But it is far othewife; and if the orator wanted art to win his auditors by the pleasure he gives them, and to lead them with a kind of gentle violence, juftice and truth would often be borne down by the industrious arts of wickedness. * Rutilius, a man of the greatest

u Multum ad fidem adjuvat audientis voluptas.Quintil. 1. 5. c. 14.

Nefcio quomodo etiam credit facilius quæ audienti jucunda funt,& voluptate ad fidem ducitur. Lib. 4.

C. 2.

Qidam nullam esse naturalem eloquentiam putant, nifi quæ fit quotidiano fermoni fimillima,

contenti promere animi voluptatem, nihilique accerfiti & elaborati requirentes: quicquid huc fit adjectum, id effe affectationis, & ambitiofæ in loquendo jactantiæ, remotamque a veritate. Quintil. 1. 12. c. 10.

x Cum effet ille vir (Rutilius) exemplum, ut fcitis, innocentia ....noluit ne ornatius quidem aut liberius caufam dici fuam, quam fimplex ratio veritatis ferebat. Quod fi tibi, CrafTe, pro P. Rutilio, non philofophorum more, fed tuo, licuiffet dicere; quamvis fcelerati illi fuiffent, ficuti fuerunt peftiferi cives fuppliciifque digni, tamen omnem eorum importunitatem ex intimis mentibus evell ffet vis orationis tuæ. Nunc talis vir amiffus eft, dum caufa ita dicitur, ut fi in illa commentitia Platonis civitate res ageretur. de Orat. n. 229, 230.

justice and virtue at Rome, found to be true in the judgment given against him; because he would employ no other arms for his defence but naked truth, as if he had been an inhabitent of Plato's imaginary common wealth. It would not have been so, says Antony to Craffus, in one of Cicero's dialogues, had you defended him; not after the manner of the philofophers, but your own; and had the judges been ever fo corrupt, your victorious eloquence would have furmounted their wickedness, and preferved fo worthy a citizen from their injuftice.

III. It is this talent of embellishing a discourse, that diftinguishes between a well-spoken and an eloquent man. The former is contented with faying what it is neceffary to say upon any fubject; but to be truly eloquent, we must exprefs it with all the proper graces and ornaments it will admit. The well spoken man, that is, he who expreffes himself in a clear and folid manner only, leaves his auditors cold and fedate; and does not raise those sentiments of admiration and furprize, which, in Cicero's opinion, can only be effected by a difcourfe adorned and enriched with what ever is moft shining in eloquence, as well in regard to thoughts as expreffions.

IV. There is one kind of eloquence which is wholly adapted to oftentation, having no other end than to please the auditors; fuch as academical orations, compliments to potentates, fome fort of panegyrics, and the like, where liberty is given to difplay all the fpendor

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Y M. Antonius ait (1. 1. de Orat. 94.) a fe difertos vifos effe multos, eloquentum autem neminem. Difertis fatis putat,dicere quæ oporteat; ornate autem dicere, proprium effe eloquentiffimi. Quintil, Proœm. 1. 8.

2 In quo igitur homines exhorrefcunt? Quem ftupefacti dicentem audiunt?.... qui distincte, qui explicate, qui abundanter, qui illuminate & rebus & virbis dicunt : id eft, quod dico ornate, 1, 3. de

Orat. n. 53<

a ilud genus oftentationi compofitum folam petit audientium volup'tatem? ideoque omnes dicendi artes aperit, ornatumque orationis exponit. Quare quicquid erit fententius populare, verbis nitidum,figuris jus cundum, tranflationibus magnificum, compofitione elaboratum, velut inftitor quidam eloquentiæ, intuendum & pene per ractandum dabit. Quintil. 1. 8. c. 3.

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and pageantry of art; ingenious thoughts, ftrong expreffions, agreeable turns and figures, bold metaphors; in a word, the orator may not only exhibit whatever s moft magnificent and shining in art, but even make a parade and fhew of it, in order to fatisfy the auditor's expectation; who comes with no other view but to hear a fine difcourfe, and whofe good opinion we can gain by no other means than by the force of elegance and beauty.

V. It is however neceffary, even in this kind, that the ornaments be distributed with a kind of prudence and moderation, and a particular care taken to diverfify them abundantly. Cicero infifts very much on this, as one of the most confiderable rules in eloquence. We muft, fays he, make choice of an agreeable fpecies of writing, which may please the audience; but fo as not to create or give them any difguft: for this effect is generally produced by thofe things which strike us at firft with a lively fenfe of pleasure, without our being very well able to give any reason for it. He gives us many examples of this, from painting, mufic, odours, liquors, meats; and after laying down this maxim that great pleasures are apt to be fucceeded by diftafte and loathing, and that the fweeteft things become foonest tastelefs and infipid; he concludes from thence, that a

In hoc genere, permittitur adhibere plus cultûs, omnemque artem, quæ latere plerumque in judiciis debit, non confiteri modo, fed oftentare etiam hominibus in hoc advocatis. Quintil. I. 12, c. 11.

Ut confperfa fit quafi verborum fententiarumque floribus, id non debet effe fufum æquabilitur per omnem orationem. Genus dicendi eft eligendum, quod maxime teneat eos qui audiant, & quod non folum delectet, fed etiam fine fatietate delectet..Difficile enim dictu eft, quænam caufa fit cur ea quæ maxime fenfus noftros impellunt voluptate, & fpecie prima acerrime commoveant, ab iis celerrime fafti

dio quodam & fatietate abalienemur....Omnibus in rebus volup. tatibus maximis faftidium finitimum eft: quo hoc minus in oratione miremur, in qua vel ex poetis, vel ex oratoribus, poffamus judicare, concinnam, diftinctam ornatam, feflivam, fine intermiffione, fine reprehenfione, fine varietate, quamvis claris fit coloribus picta vel poefis vel oratio, non poffe in delectatione effe diuturna. Habeat itaque illa in dicendo admiratio & fumma laus umbram aliquam & receffum; quo magis id, quod erit illuminatum, extare atque eminere videatur. 3. de Orat. n. 26. 97. 98, 100, 101.

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work, whether in profe or verse, will not please long, if it be too uniform, and always in the fame ftrain, whatever graces or elegance it may boaft in other refpects. An oration which is every-where fet off and decked out without the leaft mixture or variety; where every thing strikes and glitters, or rather dazzles, as it were, than creates true admiration; will grow tedious, and tire us with too many beauties, and difplease at length by pleafing too much. There must be fhadows in eloquence, as well as in painting, to soften attention, relieve the mind, and add boldness to the figures; for which reafon all must not be light.

VI. If this be true, even in that kind of orations which are only intended for parade and ceremony, how much more exactly must the precept be observed, in those that treat of ferious and important affairs, fuch as the eloquence of the pulpit and the bar? When an affair relates to the eftates, repofe, and honour of families, and, what is yet much more confiderable, to eternal falvation; is the orator allowed to be folicitous about his reputation, or to endeavour to display his wit? Not that we pretend to exclude the graces and beauties of ftile from these orations; but the ornaments which are allowed to be employed in them, must be very ferious, modeft and fevere: and arife rather from the matter itself, than from the genius of the orator. I shall have occafion to treat this subject in a more extensive manner hereafter; nor can it be too often repeated that the ornaments of such discourses must be manly, noble, and chafte. The kind of eloquence proper for these must be void of all paint and affectation; must shine however, but with health, if we may ufe theexpreffion, and owe its beauty only to its vigour;

d Neque hoc eo pertinet, ut in his nullus fit ornatus, fed uti preffior & feverior. Quintil. l. 8. c. 3.

e Omnia potius a caufa, quam ab orators, profecta credantur. Quintil. 1. 4. c. 2,

f Sed hic ornatu (repetam enim) virilis, fortis, & fanétus fit: nec effeminatam levitatem, nec fuco eminentem colorem amet. Sanguine & viribus niteat. Quintil. 1. 8. c. 3.

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