travagant. Some of these fay *, that Alexander fhould content himfelf with conquering where the planet of the day is content to fhine'; that it is time for Alexander to cease his conquefts, where the world ceafes to be, and the fun to give its light. Others, that fortune affigned the fame limits to his victories, as nature affigned to the world; that Alexander is great in comparison of the world, and the world little in comparison of Alexander? that there is nothing beyond Alexander, no more than beyond the Qcean. What a certain hiftorian fays of Pompey is fcarce lefs extravagant than the paffages above cited. P Such, fays he, was the end of Pompey, after three confulships, and as many triumphs, or rather, after fubduing the world; fortune being fo inconfiftent with herself, with regard to this great man, that the earth, which before did not fuffice for his victories, was now wanting to him for a grave. The following paffage in Malherbe is still more extravagant; he speaks of St. Peter's repentance. C'est alors que ses cris en tonnerre s'éclattent. Thus englished. "Then Peter's moan is like the thunder's voice, "His fighs are winds and rend the sturdiest oaks. * Satis fit hacterus viciffe Alexandro, qua mundo lucere fatis eft. Tempus eft Alexandrum cum orbe & cum fole definere. Alexandrum novimus, quàm ultra oceanum. Suafor 1. P Hic poft tres confulatus & totidem triumphos domitumque terrarum orbem, vitæ fuit exitus m Eundem fortuna v.&toriæ tuæ, in tantum in illo viro à fe difquem natura, finem facit. ■ Alexander orbi magnus eft: Alexandro orbis anguftus eft. Non magis quicquam ultra cordante fortuna, ut, cui modò ad victoriam terra defuerat, deeffet ad fepulturam. Vell. Paterc. lib. 2. "His "His tears which filently ftole down his cheek, "Now are like torrents, which from higheft "mountains "Rufhing, drown all the country in their courfe, As once again to deluge all the globe. This excellent poet vifibly departs from himfelf in this place, and fhews us how eafy it is for bombaft to ufurp the place of the grand and fublime. This piece was, no doubt, writ in Malherbe's youth, and feems unworthy of a place amongst his other poems. VII. Figures are not the leaft part of the fublime, and they give the greateft vivacity to a difcourfe. Demofthenes endeavouring to juftify his conduct after the lofs of the battle of Cheronea, and to revive the courage of the Athenians, who were caft down and frighted at that defeat, tells them, No, gentlemen, you have not erred. And this I fwear, by the fhades of thofe illuftrious men who fell for the fame glorious caufe in the plains of Marathon, at Salamis, and before Platea. He might have barely faid, that the example of thofe great men juftified their conduct; but by changing the natural air of the proofs, into that grand and pathetic manner of affirming by fuch new and extraordinary oaths, he raifes thofe ancient citizens above the condition of mere mortals; he infpires his auditors with the fpirit and fentiments of thofe renowned deceafed perfons; and equals, in fome measure, the battle they loft against Philip, with the victories formerly gained at Marathon and Salamis. Cicero imputes the death of Clodius to the juft anger of the Gods, who at length revenged their temples and altars, which the crimes of that impious wretch had profaned. He does it after a very fublime manner, by appealing to the altars and the Gods, and Longin. ch. 14. . Cicero's Oration for Milo. 85. making ufe of the loftieft figures in rhetoric. Albani tumuli atque luci vos, inquam, imploro atque obtestor; vofque Albanorum obrutæ aræ, facrorum populi Romani focia & aquales, quas ille præceps amentia, cafis proftratifque fanctiffimis lucis, fubftru&tionum infanis molibus opprefferat: veftræ tum ara, veftræ religiones viguerunt veftra vis valuit, quam ille omni fcelere polluerat. Tu Tuque, ex tuo edito monte, Latialis fancte Jupiter, cujus ille lacus, nemora, finefque, fæpe omni nefario ftupro & fcelere macularat, aliquando ad eum puniendum oculos aperuifti. Vobis illæ, vobis, veftro in confpectu, fera, fed juftæ tamen & debita pana foluta funt. M. Flechier defcribes a death very different from that of Clodius in a very fublime manner, by employing alfo the most lively figures. O terrible God, but juft in your councils over the children of men, you difpofe both of the victors and victories! To accomplish your will, and make us fear your judgments, your power overthrows those whom your power had raifed. You facrifice great victims to your fovereign greatness; and you Atrike, when you think fit, thofe illuftrious beads which you have fo often crowned. This paffage is certainly great, and would perhaps be more so, if it had fewer antithefes. Do not expect, gentlemen, to fee me open a tragical fcene in this place, which shall reprefent this great man ftretched out and extended on his own trophies; that I 85. Cicero's Oration for Milo. f I call to witnefs and implore you, holy hills of Alba, which Clodius has profaned ! venerable woods, which he has cut down facred altars! the band of our union, and ancient as Rome itself, upon the ruins of which that abandoned wretch had raised those enormous piles of building. your religion violated, your worship abolished, your myfteries polluted, your Gods treated outragiously, have a length difplayed their power and vengeance. And thou, divine Jupiter Latialis, whofe lakes and woods he had fo often defiled with fo many crimes and impurities, the u haft, at last, from the fummit of thy holy hill, looked down up on this wicked wretch, in order to punish him. It is to thee, and before thine eyes; it is to thee that a flow, but juft vengeance, has facrificed this victim, whofe blood was thy due. M. Turenne's funeral oration, fall Shall uncover the pale and bloody coarse, near which the thunder that ftruck him still smokes; that I shall make his blood cry out like Abel's; and that I am fetting before your eyes the fad images of your weeping religion and country. BE ARTICLE the THIRD. Etween the two fpecies of eloquence, of which we have hitherto treated, viz. the fimple and the fublime, there is a third, which holds, as it were, the mean, and may be called the embellished and florid kind; becaufe in this eloquence difplays her greatest fplendor and beauty. It therefore remains for us, to make fome reflections on this kind of ftile, which may affift youth in difcerning between true and folid ornaments, and thofe that have nothing but falfe glitter and empty fhew. I fhall give no examples of this kind, becaufe thofe I cited before when I treated of compofition, and many of thofe I fhall cite hereafter are of the florid kind, and may ferve for the prefent fubject. I. Ornaments in eloquence are certain turns and modes of fpeech which contribute to make an oration more agreeable, more engaging, and even more perfuafive. The orator does not fpeak only to be underfood, for then it would be fufficient to relate things in the moft fimple manner, provided it was clear and intelligible. His principal view is to convince and to move, in which he cannot fucceed, if he does not find out the art of pleafing. He endeavours to reach the understanding and the heart; but he cannot do this, otherwise than by paffing through the imagination, which confequently must be addreffed in its own language, viz. that of figures and images, because nothing can ftrike or move it but fenfible ob jects. 2 jects. This made" Quintilian fay, that pleasure is a help to perfuafion, and that the auditors are always difpofed to believe what they find agreeable. It is not enough then, that the difcourfe be clear and intelligible, or abounding with a great number of reafons, and juft thoughts. Eloquence adds to that perfpicuity and juftnefs, a certain beauty and luftre, which we call ornament, whereby the orator fatisfies both the understanding and the imagination. He gives to the former, truth, juftnefs of thoughts, and proofs; which are, as it were, its natural nourishment; and prefents to the latter, beauty, delicacy, the grace of expreffions and turns, which belong more peculiarly to it. II. Some people are averfe to all ornaments of dif courfe, and think no eloquence natural, but that in, which the fimple ftile refembles the language of converfation; thefe look upon every thing as fuperfluous that is not abfolutely neceffary; and think it a difhonour to truth to give her a foreign drefs, which they fancy fhe does not want, and can ferve to no other end than to disfigure her. If we were to speak before philofophers only, or people free from all paffion and prejudice, this notion might perhaps appear reafonable. But it is far otherwife; and if the orator wanted art to win his auditors by the pleasure he gives them, and to lead them with a kind of gentle violence, justice and truth would often be borne down by the induftruous arts of wickednefs. This, Rutilius, a man of the greatest juftice "Multum ad fidem adjuvat audi-, entis voluptas. Quintil. 1. 5. c. 14. Nefcio quomodo etiam credit faciliùs quæ audienti jucunda funt, & voluptate ad fidem ducitur. lib. 4. cap. 2. Quidam nullam effe naturalem eloquentiam putant, nifi quæ fit quotidiano fermoni fimilima, .... contenti promere animi voluntatem, nihilique accerfiti & elaborati requirentes: quicquid huc fit adjectum, id effe affectationis, &ambitiofæ in loquendo jactantiæ, remotam que à veritate. Quintil. 1. 12. c. 10. * Cùm effet ille vir (Rutilius) exemplum, ut fcitis, innocentia .... noluit ne ornatiùs quidem aut liberiùs caufam dici fuam, quàm fimplex ratio veritatis ferebar..... Quod fi ribi, Craffe, pro P. Rutilio, non philofophorum more, fed tuo, licuiflet dicere; quamvis fcelerati illi fuiffent, ficuti fuerunt peftiferi cives fuppliciifque digni, tamen omnem eorum importunitatem ex intimis mentibus evelliffet vis orationis ture. Nunc talis vir amiffus eft, dùm caufa ita dicitur, ut fi in illa commentitia Patonis civitate res ageretur. 1. de Orat. n. 229, 230. and |