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[9] There is, however, a form of propriety of speech which deserves the highest praise, that is to say, the employment of words with the maximum of significance, as, for instance, when Cato1 said that “Caesar was thoroughly sober when he undertook the task of overthrowing the constitution,” or as Virgil2 spoke of a “thin-drawn strain,” and Horace3 of the “shrill pipe,” and “dread Hannibal.”

1 Suet. Caes. 53.

2 Ecl. vi. 5.

3 Odes I. xii. 1, and III. vi. 36.

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