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
Of what consequence it is to regulate the structure of our language, may
be easily tried by selecting a well-wrought period from some Orator of
reputation, and changing the arrangement of the words; [Footnote:
Professor _Ward_ has commented upon an example of this kind from the
preface to the Vth volume of the Spectator:--"_You have acted in so much
consistency with yourself, and promoted the interests of your country in
so uniform a manner; that even those, who would misrepresent your generous
designs for the public good, cannot but approve the steadiness and
intredipity, with which you pursue them_." I think, says the Doctor, this
may be justly esteemed an handsome period. It begins with ease, rises
gradually till the voice is inflected, then sinks again, and ends with a
just cadency, And perhaps there is not a word in it, whole situation would
be altered to an advantage. Let us now but shift the place of one word in
the last member, and we shall spoil the beauty of the whole sentence. For
if, instead of saying, as it now stands, _cannot but approve the
steadiness and intrepidity, with which you pursue them_; we put it thus,
_cannot but approve the steadiness and intrepidity which you pursue them
with_; the cadency will be flat and languid, and the harmony of the period
entirely lost. Let us try it again by altering the place of the two last
members, which at present stand in this order, _that even those who would
misrepresent your generous designs for the public good, cannot but approve
the steadiness and intrepidity, with which you pursue them_. Now if the
former member be thrown last, they will run thus, _that even those cannot
but approve the steadiness and intrepidity, with which you pursue them,
who would misrepresent your generous designs for the public good_. Here
the sense is much obscured by the inversion of the relative _them_, which
ought to refer to something that went before, and not to the words
_generous designs_, which in this situation of the members are placed
after it. WARD'S Rhetoric. Vol. 1, p. 338, 339.] the beauty of it would
then be mangled and destroyed. Suppose, for instance, we take the
following passage from my Defence of _Cornelius,--"Neque me divitae
movent, quibus omnes Africanos et Laelios, multi venalitii mercatoresque
superarunt._" "Nor am I dazzled by the splendor of wealth, in which many
retailers, and private tradesmen have outvied all the _Africani_ and the
_Lelii_" Only invert the order a little, and say,--"_Multi superarunt
mercatores, venatitiique_," and the harmony of the period will be loft.
Try the experiment on the next sentence;--"_Neque vestes, aut celatum
aurum, & argentum, quo nostros veteres Marcellos, Maximosque multi eunuchi
e Syria Egyptoque vicerunt_:" Nor do. I pay the least regard to costly
habits, or magnificent services of plate, in which many eunuchs, imported
from Syria and Egypt, have far surpassed the illustrious _Marcelli_, and
the _Maximi_.
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