[62]
Such an orator will also exalt his style
by amplification and rise even to hyperbole, as when
Cicero1 cries, “What Charybdis was ever so voracious!” or “By the god of truth, even Ocean's
self,” etc. (I choose these fine passages as being
familiar to the student). It is such an one that
will bring down the Gods to form part of his
audience or even to speak with him, as in the
following, “For on you I call, ye hills and groves
of Alba, on you, I say, ye fallen altars of the
Albans, altars that were once the peers and equals
[p. 487]
of the holy places of Rome.”2 This is he that will
inspire anger or pity, and while he speaks the judge
will call upon the gods and weep, following him
wherever he sweeps him from one emotion to
another, and no longer asking merely for instruction.
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