A _period divided_, is that which not only has perfection and length convenient for respiration, but also _parts_. As, _I wonder you are not afraid of their ends; seeing you imitate their actions_: where in these words, _I wonder you are not afraid of their ends_, is one _colon_ or _part_; and in these, _seeing you imitate their actions_, another: and both together make the period. The _parts or members_, and _periods_, of speech, ought neither be _too long_, nor _too short_. _Too long_, are they which are produced beyond the expectation of the hearer. _Too short_, are they that end before he expects it. Those that be _too long_, leave the hearer behind; like him that walking goes beyond the usual end of the walk, and thereby out-goes him that walks with him. They that be _too short_, make the hearer stumble; for when he looks far before him, the end stops him before he be aware. A _period_ that is _divided_ into parts, is either _divided only_; or has also an _opposition_ of the _parts_ one to another. _Divided only_ is such as this; _This the senate knows, the consul sees; and yet the man lives_. A _period_ with _opposition of parts_, called also _antithesis_, and the parts _antitheta_, is when _contrary parts_ are put together, or also joined by a third. Contrary parts are put together as here; _The one has obtained glory, the other riches; both by my benefit_. _Antitheta_ are therefore acceptable, because not only the _parts_ appear the better for the _opposition_, but also for that they carry with them a certain appearance of that kind of enthymeme, which leads to _impossibility_. _Parts_ or _members_ of a _period_, are said to be _equal_, when they have altogether, or almost, equal number of syllables. _Parts_ or _members_ of a _period_, are said to be _like_, when they _begin_ or _end_ alike: and the more _similitudes_, and the greater _equality_ there is of syllables, the more graceful is the period. ========== CHAPTER IX. OF THOSE THINGS THAT GRACE AN ORATION, AND MAKE IT DELIGHTFUL. Forasmuch as there is nothing more delightful to a man, than to find that he apprehends and learns easily; it necessarily follows, that those _words_ are most _grateful_ to the ear, that make a man seem to see before his eyes the things signified. And therefore _foreign_ words are unpleasant, because _obscure_; and _plain_ words, because _too manifest_, making us learn nothing new. But _metaphors_ please; for they beget in us, by the _genus_, or by some _common_ thing to that with another, a kind of _science_. As when an _old man_ is called _stubble_; a man suddenly learns that he grows up, flourisheth, and withers like grass, being put in mind of it by the qualities common to _stubble_ and to _old men_. That which a _metaphor_ does, a _similitude_ does the same; but with less _grace_, because with more _prolixity_.