Page images
PDF
EPUB

2. To give fpeech to things inanimate.

* Cicero introduces the country, in one of his invectives against Catiline, and makes it fometimes addrefs Catiline, and sometimes himself. Appius likewife, in his beautiful fpeech for continuing the fiege of Veia, introduces the commonwealth declaring to the foldiers, that fince the pays them for the whole year, they ought to ferve her for that time. ad calculos cum refpublica vocet, non merito dicat: Annua æra habes, annuam operam ede? An tu æquum cenfes militia femeftri folidum te ftipendium accipere?

u

3. Speeches put into the mouths of the perfons themfelves, have quite another effect than if they were barely related; and are very well adapted to raise either indignation or compaffion.

'Tis by this figure, that Cicero in his last speech againft Verres paints the cruel avarice of a goaler, who fet a price on the tears and grief of fathers and mothers; made them purchase, at a dear rate, the fad confolation of feeing and embracing their children; and exacted money from them, for the favour of killing at one ftroke thofe unhappy victims of Verres's cruelty. Aderat janitor carceris, carnifex prætoris, mors terrorque fociorum & civium, lictor Sextius, cui ex omni gemitu doloreque certa merces comparabatur. Ut adeas, tantum dabis: ut tibi cibum intro ferre liceat, tantum. Nemo recufabat. Quid, ut uno ictu fecuris afferam mortem filio tuo, quid dabis? ne diu crucietur? ne fæpius feriatur? ne cum fenfu doloris aliquo aut cruciatu fpiritus auferatur ? Etiam ob hanc caufam pecunia littori dabatur. O magnum atque intolerandum dolorem! O gravem acerbamque fortunam! Non vitam liberum, fed mortis celeritatem, pretio redimere cogebantur.

Milo was of a character that would not permit him to defcend to mean fupplications. Cicero puts a great and noble, and at the fame time, a foft and moving fpeech into his mouth: * Valeant, inquit, valeant cives w Verr. 7. n. 117, 118. * Pro Mil. n. 93.

1. Catil. n. 18. & 27. * Liv, 1. 5. D. 4.

mei.

mei. Sint incolumes, fint florentes, fint beati. Stet hæc urbs præclara, mihique patria chariffima, quoquo modo merita de me edit. Tranquilla republica cives mei (quoniam mihi cum illis non licet) fine me ipfi, fed per me tamen, perfruantur. Ego cedam atque abibo, &c. The effect of this figure is, to make thofe perfons who are introduced fpeaking, to be present, as it were, to the auditors; and to write in fuch a manner, that we may imagine we fee and hear them.

4. The orator goes ftill farther. He fometimes opens graves, and makes the dead rife out of them, to admonish or reprimand the living. We have two fine examples of this figure in Cicero's plea for Cœlius, to which I refer the reader.

[ocr errors]

At other times, the orator directs his difcourfe to the dead: Great Queen, I gratify your most af"fectionate wishes, when I celebrate this monarch; " and this heart, which never lived but for him, a"wakens, though it be duft, and becomes fenfible, 66 even under this pall,at the name of fo dear a confort."

To make these fictions pleafing, 'tis requifite that the utmost strength of eloquence fhould be employed, as Quintilian obferves; for things that are extraordinary and incredible, and, as it were, out of nature, don't produce an indifferent effect. They must therefore neceffarily either make a very strong impreffion, because they go beyond the bounds of truth, or be looked upon as puerilities, because they are false.

The bypotypofis is a figure which paints the image of the things we are fpeaking of, in fuch lively colours,

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

that we think we see them, inftead of hearing them barely related: and in this chiefly confifts the force and power of eloquence, which has not fufficient authority, nor all the effect it ought to have, if it only ftrikes the ear, without moving the imagination, and reaching the heart.

1. Thefe images are fometimes formed with a few words, and are not the leaft affecting.

'd.

Virgil paints, in a verse and a half, the confternation of Euryalus's mother the inftant fhe heard of his death:

Miferæ calor offa reliquit: Excuffi manibus radii, revolutaque pensa.

• Cicero paints in two lines Verres's anger, or rather madness: Ipfe inflammatus fcelere ac furore in forum venit. Ardebant oculi: toto ex ore crudelitas eminebat.

He elsewhere draws another picture of Verres, ftill more beautiful, and in as few words, though it does not strike so much at firft: as it happens fometimes with pictures, whofe beauty is only perceived by the skilful. * Stetit foleatus prætor populi Romani cum pallio purpureo tunicaque talari, muliercula nixus in littore. Quintilian explains, in an admirable manner, the force and energy of that fhort defcription. He recites the very words, because they may ferve as a model to mafters for the better understanding and explaining of authors. & An quifquam, fays he, tam procul à concipiendis imaginibus rerum abeft, ut cùm illa in Verrem legit, ftetit foleatus, &c. non folùm ipfum os intueri videatur, & locum, & habitum, fed quædam etiam ex iis, quae dicta non funt, fibi ipfe aftruat? Ego certè mihi cernere videor & vultum, & oculos, & deformes utriuf que blanditias, & eorum qui aderant tacitam averfatio

[ocr errors]

nim fatis efficit, neque, ut debet, plenè dominatur oratio, fi ufque ad aures voler, atque ea fibi judex, de quibus cognofcit, narrari credit, non exprimi, & oculis men

tis oftendi. Quint. 1. 8. c. 3.
En. 1. 9. v. 475.

e In Verr. 7. n. 160.
f In Verr. 7. n. 85.
8 Quint. 1. 8. c. 3.

nem ac timidam verecundiam. If we change fome words in Cicero's defcription, and change the place of others, making it, J.etit Verres in littore.... cum muliere colloquens, this excellent picture will lofe a great part of its vivacity and colouring. The chief beauty confifts in painting a Roman prætor in the attitude Cicero reprefents him, leaning in a careless and indolent manner on a woman. These two words, muliercula nixus, are a fpeaking picture, which prefents to the eye and the mind all that Quintilian fees in it. In littore referved for the clofe, adds the last touch, as we have already obferved in another place; and displays the ungovernable licentiousness of Verres, who by appearing in fo indecent a posture upon the fhore, and before a multitude of fpectators, feemed infolently to fet all decency and publick decorum at defiance. Our poets are full of these short and lively defcriptions,

Son courfier écumant fous fon maître intrepidé, Nage tout orgueilleux de la main qui le guide.

Englished,

"His foaming fteed, beneath his dauntless rider,
"Swims, proud of the glorious hand which guides him.

And again,

Quatre boeufs attelés d'un pas tranquille & lent
Promenoient dans Paris le Monarque indolent.

Englished,

"Four harness'd oxen, with an eafy pace, "Drag the lethargic Monarch about Paris.

But nothing is more perfect than the following picture:

La Molleffe oppreffée

Dans fa bouche à ce mot fent fa langue glacée,
Et laffe de parler, fuccombant fous l'effort,

Soupire, étend les bras, ferme l'oeil, & s'endort.

[blocks in formation]

3

Englished,

"This word oppreffes floth;

"Inftant her tongue is frozen in her mouth:
"Now dead to fpeech, finking beneath her efforts;
"She ftretches, fighs, fhe fhuts her eyes and fleeps.

2. The defcriptions I have hitherto given are short, and only exhibit a fingle object. But there are others of a greater length and more circumftantiated, which resemble those pictures where several figures are reprefented, all the attitudes of which strike and command our attention. Such is that description of a riotous entertainment, mentioned in an harangue of Cicero which is loft. Videbar mihi videre alios intrantes, alios autem exeuntes, partim ex vino vacillantes, partim he fterna potatione ofcitantes. Verfabatur inter hos Gallius unguentis oblitus, redimitus coronis. Humus erat immunda, lutulento vino, coronis languidulis & fpinis cooperta pifcium. Quintilian, who preferved this beau-tiful fragment, difplays its beauty and value by a very lively expreffion, which comprizes the whole. Quid plus videret, qui intraffet? He himself gives an excellent description of a town taken by ftorm and plundered, which is well worth reading, We find a great number of this kind in Cicero, which will not escape the observation of a diligent mafter. Our French poets, as well as orators, abound alfo with a multitude of these.

i

Jofabeth in Racine's Athaliah, gives us a wonderful description of the manner in which the faved Joas from the flaughter.

* Hélas! l'état horrible où le ciel me l'offrit,
Revient à tout moment effraier mon efprit,
De princes égorges la chambre étot remplie.
Un poignard à la main l'implacable Athalie
Au carnage animoit fes barbares foldats.
Et poursuivoit le cours de fes affaffinats.

Quint. 1. 8. c. 3.

* Racine,

Joas

« PreviousContinue »