[21]
there is no more effective method of exciting
the emotions than an apt use of figures. For if the
expression of brow, eyes and hands has a powerful
effect in stirring the passions, how much more
effective must be the aspect of our style itself when
composed to produce the result at which we aim?
But, above all, figures serve to commend what we
say to those that hear us, whether we seek to win
approval for our character as pleaders, or to win
favour for the cause which we plead, to relieve
monotony by variation of our language, or to indicate
our meaning in the safest or most seemly way.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.
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