Cicero's Brutus or History of Famous Orators; also His Orator, or Accomplished Speaker.Cicero, Marcus Tullius
Philosophy
Cicero's Brutus or History of Famous Orators; also His Orator, or Accomplished Speaker.
Cicero, Marcus Tullius
Oratory -- Early works to 1800
But there are several other cadences which will have a numerous and
pleasing effect: for even the _cretic_, which consists of a long, a short,
and a long syllable, and it's companion the _paeon_, which is equal to it
in quantity, though it exceeds it in the number of syllables, is reckoned
a proper and a very useful ingredient in harmonious prose: especially as
the latter admits of two varieties, as consisting either of one long and
three short syllables, which will be lively enough at the beginning of a
sentence, but extremely flat at the end;--or of three short syllables and
a long one, which was highly approved of by the ancients at the _close_ of
a sentence, and which I would not wholly reject, though I give the
preference to others. Even the sober _spondee_ is not to be entirely
discarded; for though it consists of two long syllables, and for that
reason may seem rather dull and heavy, it has yet a firm and steady step,
which gives it an air of dignity, and especially in the _comma_ and the
_colon_; so that it sufficiently compensates for the slowness of it's
motion, by it's peculiar weight and solemnity. When I speak of feet at the
close of a period, I do not mean precisely the last. I would be
understood, at least, to include the foot which immediately precedes it;
and, in many cases, even the foot before _that_. The _iambic_, therefore,
which consists of a long syllable and a short one, and is equal in time,
though not in the number of it's syllables, to a _choree_, which has three
short ones; or even the _dactyl_, which consists of one long and two short
syllables, will unite agreeably enough with the last foot of a sentence,
when that foot is either a _choree_ or a _spondee_; for it is immaterial
which of them is employed. But the three feet I am mentioning, are neither
of them very proper for closing a period, (that is, to form the last foot
of it) unless when a _dactyl_ is substituted for a _cretic_, for you may
use either of them at pleasure; because, even in verse, it is of no
consequence whether the last syllable is long or short. He, therefore, who
recommended the _paeon_, as having the long syllable last, was certainly
guilty of an oversight; because the quantity of the last syllable is never
regarded. The _paeon_, however, as consisting of four syllables, is
reckoned by some to be only a _number_, and not a _foot_. But call it
which you please, it is in general, what all the ancients have represented
it, (such as _Aristotle, Theophrastus, Theodectes_, and _Euphorus_) the
fittest of all others both for the beginning and the middle of a period.
They are likewise of opinion, that it is equally proper at the end; where,
in my opinion, the _cretic_ deserves the preference. The _dochimus_, which
consists of five syllables, (i.e. a short and two long ones, and a short,
and a long one, as in _amicos tenes_) may be used indifferently in any
part of a sentence, provided it occurs but once: for if it is continued or
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