ir cover to us the rotten and unguarded sides " of Philip." Had this been uttered simply and without Interrogation, it would have fallen vastly short of the majesty requisite to the subject in debate. But as it is, the energy and rapidity that appears in every question and answer, and the quick replies to his own demands, as if they were the objections of another person, not only renders his oration more sublime and lofty, but more plausible and probable. For the Pathetic then works the most surprising effects upon us, when it seems not fitted to the subject by the skill of the speaker, but to flow opportunely from it. And this method of questioning and answering to one's self, imitates the quick emotions of a passion in its birth. For in common conversation, when people are questioned, they are warmed at once, and answer the demands put to them with earnestness and truth. And thus this Figure of Question and Answer is of wonderful efficacy in prevailing upon the hearer, and imposing on him a belief, that those things, which are studied and laboured, are uttered without premeditation, in the heat and fluency of discourse.[What follows here is the beginning of a sentence now maimed and imperfect, but it is evident, from the few words yet remaining, K remaining, that the author was going to add another instance of the use of this Figure from Herodotus.] SECTION XIX. [The beginning of this section is lost, but the sense is easily supplied from what immediately follows.] Another great help in attaining Grandeur, is banishing the Copulatives at a proper season. For sentences, artfully divested of Conjunctions, drop smoothly down, and the periods are poured along in such a manner, that they seem to outstrip the 'very thought of the speaker.. Then, says 1 66 "The want of a scrupulous connexion draws things "into a lesser compass, and adds the greater spirit and "emotion. For the more rays are collected in a point, "the more vigorous is the flame. Hence there is yet "greater emphasis, when the rout of an army is shewn "in the same contracted manner, as in the 24th of the "Odyssey, l. 610, which has some resemblance to Sal"lust's description of the same thing, agreeable to his "usual conciseness, in these four words only, sequi, "fugere, occidi, capi."- Essay on the Odyssey, p. 2d, 113. Voltaire Xenophon, closing their shields together, "they were pushed, they fought, they slew, 66 they were slain." So Eurylochus in Homer+: We went, Ulysses! (such was thy command) MR. POPE. For words of this sort dissevered from one another, and yet uttered at the same time with precipitation, carry with them the energy Voltaire has endeavoured to shew the hurry and confusion of a battle, in the same manner, in the Henriade. Chant. 6. François, Anglois, Lorrains, que la fureur assemble, Avançoient, combattoient, frappoient, mouroient ensemble. The hurry and distraction of Dido's spirits, at Æneas's departure, is visible from the abrupt and precipitate manner in which she commands her servants to endeavour to stop him: -Ite, Ferte citi flammas, date vela, impellite remos. ENEID II. Haste, haul my gallies out; pursue the foe; DRYDEN. * Rerum Græc. p. 219. ed. Oxon. & in Orat. de Agesil. + Odyss. n. ver. 251. K 2 and and marks of a consternation, which at once restrains and accelerates the words. So skilfully has Homer rejected the Conjunctions. SECTION XX. BUT nothing so effectually moves, as a heap of Figures combined together. For when two or three are linked together in firm confederacy,they communicate strength, efficacy, and beauty to one another. So in 1 1 Amongst the various and beautiful instances of an assemblage of figures, which may be produced, and which so frequently occur in the best writings, one, I believe, has hitherto not been taken notice of; I mean the four last verses of the xxivth Psalm. "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, "ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come "in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong "and mighty, the Lord mighty in battles. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. "Who is the King of glory? "is the King of glory." 66 The Lord of hosts: he There are innumerable instances of this kind in the poetical parts of Scripture, particularly in the Song of Deborah (Judges, chap. v.) and the Lamentation of David over Saul and Jonathan. (2 Samuel, chap. i.) There is scarce one thought in them, which is not figured; nor one Figure which is not beautiful. Demosthenes' 66 Demosthenes' oration against Midias, the Asyndetons are blended and mixed together with the Repetitions and lively Description. "There are several turns in the gesture, in "the look, in the voice of the man, who "does violence to another, which it is impossible for the party that suffers such vio"lence, to express. And that the course of his oration might not languish or grow dull by a further progress in the same track (for calmness and sedateness attend always upon order, but the Pathetic always rejects order, because it throws the soul into transport and emotion), he passes immediately to new Asyndetons and fresh Repetitions—————“ in "the gesture, in the look, in the voice“when like a ruffian, when like an enemy, "when with his fist, when on the face.". The effect of these words upon his judges, is that of the blows of him who made the assault; the strokes fall thick upon one another, and their very souls are subdued by so violent an attack. Afterwards, he charges again with all the force and impetuosity of hurricanes: "When with his fist, when on "the face."—" These things affect, these * Pag. 337. ed. Par. 66 things |