Our enemies will tell the rest § 3. VIRGIL brings in one of his thepherds faying to another, We know who faw you + And again; NEPTUNE, in his rage against the winds, for having raised a tempest without his orders, fays, Whom I-but let me ftill the boiling waves t So TERENCE, But I, you tyburn-villain, if I live - 1 QUINTILIAN furnishes us with an example of this Figure from CICERO. But would CLO"bius have made any mention of this law, "which he boasts to be his own invention, while MILO was living, not to fay while he was Con"ful? As to all ourselves -- I durft not say all §.” L 4 CICERO FLEETWOOD'S Preface to his Four Sermons on public Ge cafions. + Novimus & qui te — Eclog. iii. ver. 8. Quos ego-fed motos præftat componere fluctus, Æneid. lib. i. ver. 135, Ego te, furcifer, Si vivo Eunuch. a&t. 5. fc. 6. An hujus legis quam Clodius à fe inventam gloriatur mentionem facere aufus effet vivo Milone, ne dicam Confule De noftrum enim omnium-non audeo totum dicere. QUINT. lib. ix. cap. 2. § 2. CICERO, in a letter to ATTICUs, makes use of this Figure in a great perturbation of mind." I "know nothing of POMPEY, and believe he "must be taken, if he has not got on fhipboard. "O incredible fwiftnefs! But of our friend --"Though I cannot accuse him without forrow, "for whom I feel fuch pain and anguish *" The fame Figure is alfo employed by him to express his gloomy anxiety, when he thus writes to his friend CASSIUS: "BRUTUS Could scarce fup port himself at Mutina. If he is fafe, the day "is ours but if not (may Heaven avert the "omen!) all must have recourse to you †." He means, if BRUTUS is defeated. JUVENAL Concludes his eighth fatire, in which he lashes the Romans for priding themselves in their high birth, with an Apofiopefis : Better that from THERSITES' + loins you came, Your De Pompeio fcio nihil; eumque, nifi in navim fefe contulerit, exceptum iri puto. O celeritatem incredibilem! hujus autem noftri. Sed non poffum fine dolore accufare eum, de quo angor & crucior. CICER. ad ATTICUM Epist. lib. vii. epift. 22. + Brutus Mutinæ vix jam fuftinebat. Qui fi confervatus erit vivimus, fin, quod Dii omen avertant! omnis omnium curfus eft ad vos. CICER. ad Familiar. lib. xii. epift. 6. The name of a worthlefs fellow, mentioned by HOMER. Your boafted pedigree up to its fource; What find you there? Th'offscouring of mankind. §4. The Scripture makes use of this Figure upon the following occasions: In a way of promife. 2 Sam. v. 8. " And SS DAVID faid, On that day whofoever gets up to the gutter, and fmiteth the Jebusites, and the s lame and the blind, that are hated of DAVID'S "foul "--- Here the fpeech ftops; but what is understood is, that he who does this fervice hall be chief captain, as we learn from comparing this place with 1 Chron. xi. 6. In like manner, Dan. iii. 15. Now if ye be ready," the words of NE BUCHADNEZZAR, ss that at what time ye hear the ss found of the cornet, flute, harp, fackbut, pfaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music" Here the speech is broken; but our Translation fupplies the word well, which undoubtedly is understood. I This Figure is ufed in Scripture in a way of anger or commination. Gen. iii. 22. " And snow left he," that is, ADAM," put forth his hand, * Malo pater tibi Therfites, dummodo tu fis Eacidæ fimilis, Vulcaniaque arma capeffas, hand, and eat, and live for ever." As a fupplement to the words, which are the threatning of the Almighty against ADAM for his sin in eating the forbidden fruit, we are to add, "I "will banish him from paradise, and guard the "pafsage against his re-admission there." In like manner, James iii. 5. "My brethren, says "the Apostle, be not many masters, knowing s that ye fhall receive the greater condemna"tion" that is, unless we cease from a cenforious and arrogant judgment of others. This Figure is fometimes employed in the facred Writings to give vent to forrow and complaint. Pfalm vi. 3. " My foul is fore vexed, " but thou, O LORD, how long?" that is, "how "long wilt thou continue the tokens of thy displeasure against me? or, how long will it be "ere thou wilt attend to my cry, and relieve "me?" So again, Luke xix. 42. " If thou hadst "known," the words of our LORD lamenting over Jerufalem," even, thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace! Ss but now are they hid from thine eyes:" that is, "how happy hadft thou been if thou hadst "known the things that belong to thy peace." This Figure is made use of in facred Writ in folemn oaths and appeals to Heaven. I Sam. iii. 17. " GOD do fo to thee, and more also, if 66 thou hide any thing from me :" that is, "I adjure thee, by an imprecation of the divine "vengeance upon thee if thou refuseft my de"sire, that you tell me the whole matter." Thus Thus Heb. iii. 10. " To whom I fware in my wrath, if they fhall enter into my reft;" that is, "if they do enter into my rest, I am not God, "and my truth is pledged in vain.” § 5. The use of this Figure is to communicate our passions in public speaking, just in the fame manner as they are found to operate in nature, and hereby we may expect to engage and inflame the minds of our audience. These fupprefsions are the genuine products of anger, forrów, fear, and the other pafsions, wrought up to violence in the soul, which are too mighty and vehement for utterance. But let us take heed that this Figure does not become too common, and thereby lofe its efficacy; and let us álfo beware that the Apofiopefis does not obfcure our meaning, for when this Figure is properly managed, though our fenfe is not exprefsed, yet it is readily understood; and the fubfequent thought is so obvious, that it strikes the mind, notwithstanding it is not uttered by words. Nay, when the Apofiopefis is well conducted, there may be weight and energy given to the fentiment, which words are not able to represent; and our silence fhall, it may be, have more power upon our hearers than a diffusive eloquence. "An Apofiopefis," fays DEMETRIUS PHALAREUS," infufes a ftrength into our dif"courfes *." "This Figure," the words of HERMOGENES, * Η ειρημενη δε Αποσιώπησις δεινότερον ποιήσει τον λόγον. De Elocutione, 276. |