E.g., neither _animo simplici colitur dominus_, nor _simplicitate cordiali dominator summus perfecte veneratur_, but _simplicitate animi perfecte dominus veneratur_. So the _dictator_ will add, subtract, or transpose. E.g., _Vestra amicitia presentium tenore cognoscat_ is relieved by transposing the first two words. He will consider the rhythms of terminations:[22] of adjectives in _-ivus_, _-aris_, _-alis_, _-osus_, _-orus_, _-ensis_, _-atus_ [stressed on the penult], against those in _-icus_ and _-eus_ [stressed on the antepenult]; of verbs, e.g., _nobilitat et coronat_, noticing that participles are available oftener than gerunds. The rule for cadences (_de finibus distinctionum_) is that they must satisfy. “The _cursus_ must not be held up by a crowded or stinted close. Clauses (_distinctiones_) should therefore end on polysyllables, that the whole _cursus_ may be forwarded by the sentence-closes. For style limps and is involved in delay if the end is suffocated by the crowding of contracted speech.... Neither monosyllables nor words of more than four syllables are in place at the end.” The rule is then exemplified in detail. These considerations open the large principle, fundamental in ancient rhetoric and clearly discerned by this writer, that sentence skill consists in composing rhythmical units in a total movement, i.e., in composing by heard clauses. “We have spoken often of _distinctiones_ since no discourse can please that is indistinct.... A _distinctio_, then, is an integral member of one sentence,[23] weaving its words in apt order and releasing its thoughts from any tangle of doubt.... There are three kinds: ... [1] _dependens_ [later styled by its ancient name _comma_, or _cæsum_], [2] _constans_ [a statement complete in itself, but carrying on, _colum_, _membrum_, also called _distinctio media_], [3] _finitiva_, that _distinctio_ in which the whole sentence is finished (_totalis clausula terminatur_), called by the Greeks _periodus_, i.e., _circuitus_, or _finalis_.”[24] In punctuation the author prefers the simple and sparing Roman use, and deprecates applying to _dictamen_ the rules followed in pointing the religious offices.[25] The final consideration of this section is of sentence length. Book I closes with general advice. “Let the _dictator_ be so attentive in weaving his series of sentences as not to obstruct his auditor’s ears with burdensome words, nor to induce prolixity; but by aptness, as well of words as of thought, let all seem to proceed so easily (_expedite_) that each has its place as chosen fitly.” Book II. Figures The second book, on stylistic ornament (_ornatus_, _dignitas_) is devoted to the traditional figures. These are the same list from the _Rhetorica ad Herennium_ as serves for the _poetriæ_, and are rehearsed in the same order.