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a subject beyond the necessary limits for its enunciation by an accumulation of facts, circumstances, or evidence, in order to produce an overwhelming conviction of the truth of the subject which they are intended to illustrate. Thus, Cicero in his second Catalinarian addresses the party against whom that harangue was directed: (Nihil agis, nihil moliris, nihil cogitas, quod ego non modo audiam sed etiam videam, planeque sentiam.) "You do nothing, you attempt nothing, you plan nothing, which "I not only hear, but even see, and clearly comprehend." And the same consummate orator inveighing against Antony (Orat. 2da cont. Ant.) for the mischiefs that he had brought on the Roman Commonwealth, thus addresses him and the senate: "As the growth of trees and vegetables shoots from the seeds, 66 so you are the seed of this most calamitous war. You mourn "for the slaughter of three Roman armies: they were slaugh"tered by Antony. You bewail the loss of our most illustrious "citizens: their loss was occasioned solely by Antony. The "authority of this order is abolished: it was abolished by An"tony. All the scenes of calamity which we have beheld (and "what scenes of calamity have we not beheld?) were, if we

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judge rightly, owing entirely to this Antony. As Helen was "the destruction of the Trojans, so Antony has been the cause "of war, calamity, and destruction to the Commonwealth."

St. Paul exhibits a splendid specimen of this figure: "For "I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to 66 come, nor height, nor depth, nor any creature shall be able

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to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

But an excess of this figure often gives a bombastic effect to composition. Thus, the beautiful passage in the 104th Psalm,

"He looks on the earth, and it trembles. He touches the hills, " and they smoke,” when amplified in the following manner by the author of "The Creation," is rendered perfectly feeble and insipid :

"The hills forget they're fix'd, and in their fright

Cast off their weight, and ease themselves for flight :
The woods, with terror wing'd, outfly the wind,
And leave the heavy panting hills behind."

THE ECPHONESIS, OR THE EXCLAMATION.

The exclamation, or, according to Greek terminology, the ecphonesis, expresses the strong passions or emotions of the mind in vehement language. Thus, St. Paul exclaims with triumph and exultation: "O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory?" Paradise is very affecting and beautiful :—

That of Eve on her leaving

"Oh! unexpected stroke, worse than death!
Must I thus leave thee, Paradise? thus leave
Thee, native soil; these happy walks and shades,
Fit haunt of Gods."

The exclamation of Cicero (second Catalinarian), after congratulating the Roman senators on the detection of Cataline's conspiracy, is a fine exemplification of this figure:-"Therefore, "O Romans, since a thanksgiving is decreed before all the "shrines of the Gods, celebrate with your wives and children “the day of your deliverance. Many and merited are the "expressions of gratitude which we owe to the immortal gods; "but surely never were they paid with greater justice than at

"this period. From dismal, from deplorable ruin, you have "been snatched without slaughter, without bloodshed, without

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a skirmish. In your peaceful robes, under me, your con❝ductor, you have gained the victory." In his defence of Cœlius his exclamation, "Oh! the great and mighty force of "truth, which so easily supports itself against all the wit, craft, "subtlety, and artful designs of men,” is an admirable exposition of the designs of his client's accusers. In his oration for Balbus, when he thus derides the accuser of his client, "O "excellent interpreter of our law! master of antiquity! cor"rector and amender of our constitution !" he happily unites the exclamation and the irony.

THE EROTESIS, OR THE INTERROGATION.

The design of the erotesis or interrogation is to awaken attention to the subject of discourse, and is a mode of address admirably calculated to produce a powerful impression of the truth of a subject, as it challenges the impossibility of contradiction. Thus, "How long, Cataline," exclaims Cicero, "will you abuse our patience?" (Quousque tandem, Catalina, abutere patientiâ nostrâ ?) His interrogations to Tubero, in his oration for Ligarius, have the same irresistible effect.

The Scripture furnishes many beautiful examples of this figure. "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?"—" To "what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? I ❝ am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of beasts. "Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination "to me. Your new moons and your appointed fasts my soul "hateth. They are a trouble to me. I am weary to bear them."

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Satan's address to Eve is wonderfully heightened by the interrogations with which it is interspersed.

"Queen of the Universe! do not believe

Those rigid threats of death; ye shall not die :
How should you? by the fruit? It gives you life
To knowledge. By the threat'ner? Look on me,
Me who have touched and tasted, yet both live,
And life more perfect have attained than Fate
Meant me, by venturing higher than my lot."

The following passage in that most noble of descriptive poems, "The Seasons," contains a series of the most beautiful interrogatories.

"Falsely luxurious, will not man awake,
And springing from his bed of sloth, enjoy
The cool, the fragrant, and the silent hour
To meditation due and sacred song?

For is there aught in sleep can charm the wise?

To lie in dead oblivion, losing half

The fleeting moments of too short life:
Total extinction of the enlighten'd soul!

Or else to feverish vanity alive,

Wilder'd and tossing through distemper'd dreams?
Who would in such a gloomy state remain
Longer than Nature craves; when ev'ry muse
And every blooming pleasure waits without,

To bless the wildly devious morning walk?”

THE EXPOSTULATION.

The expostulation is a figure by which the speaker argues the case with his opponent or his hearers, or by which an

injured person, in order to convince the offender of his injustice or ingratitude, pleads with him from all the topics of reason and propriety, that he may convince him of his injustice or make him ashamed of his folly and ingratitude. Thus, "Were it your case, what would you answer? Tell me: I "appeal to your inmost thoughts."

THE REJECTION.

The rejection is when the speaker either refuses entirely a place in the discourse to things which immediately relate to the subject, or that he defers the mentioning of them to another time or place. Cicero's Oration pro Posthumo furnishes an instance of the former: "I sought, indeed, at all times to "defend the interests of the senate; but that is not the case "at present, nor hath it any thing to do with the cause of "Posthumus." And the Oration pro Lege Manilia affords us an example of the latter: "But I defer speaking of Lucullus "to a more proper place; and what I shall then say of him, "shall neither detract from his real praises, nor add any "thing that he does not deserve."

Nor are the two following specimens of parliamentary eloquence indifferent illustrations of this figure. "I shall not "waste the time of the House by dwelling on this point of the "learned member's speech, for it is a doctrine that philosophy "has long since abrogated." "I have occasion only to notice "this strange hypothesis of the honourable member, for I am "confident that every man in the committee will find his own 66 powers of reason suggest a sufficient store of argument to "refute and nullify it."

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