[a] The remark in this place alludes to a passage in the oration
against PISO, where we find a frivolous stroke of false wit.
against PISO, where we find a frivolous stroke of false wit.
Tacitus
As Cowley says,
Jewels at nose and lips but ill appear;
Rather than all things, wit let none be there.
[b] In order to form a good style, the sentence should always be
closed with variety, strength, and harmony. The ancient rhetoricians
held this to be so essentially requisite, that Quintilian has given it
a full discussion. That, he says, which offends the ear, will not
easily gain admission to the mind. Words should be fitted to their
places, so that they may aptly coalesce with one another. In building,
the most ill shapen stones may be conveniently fixed; and in like
manner, a good style must have proper words in proper places, all
arranged in order, and closing the sentence with grace and harmony.
_Nihil intrare potest in affectum, quod in aure, velut quodam
vestibulo, statim offendit. Non enim ad pedes verba dimensa sunt;
ideoque ex loco transferuntur in locum, ut jungantur quo congruunt
maximè; sicut in structurâ saxorum rudium etiam ipsa enormitas invenit
cui applicari, et in quo possit insistere. Felicissimus tamen sermo
est, cui et rectus ordo, et apta junctura, et cum his numerus
opportunè cadens contingit. _ Quintil. lib. ix. cap. 4.
Section XXIII.
[a] The remark in this place alludes to a passage in the oration
against PISO, where we find a frivolous stroke of false wit. Cicero
reproaches Piso for his dissolute manners, and his scandalous
debauchery. Who, he says, in all that time, saw you sober? Who beheld
you doing any one thing, worthy of a liberal mind? Did you once appear
in public? The house of your colleague resounded with songs and
minstrels: he himself danced naked in the midst of his wanton company;
and while he _wheeled_ about with alacrity in the _circular motion_ of
the dance, he never once thought of THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE. _Quis te
illis diebus sobrium, quis agentem aliquid, quod esset libero dignum?
Quis denique in publico vidit? Cum collegæ tui domus cantu et cymbalis
personaret; cumque ipse nudus in convivio saltaret, in quo ne tum
quidem, cum illum suum_ SALTATORIUM VERSARET ORBEM, FORTUNÆ ROTAM
_pertimescebat. Oratio in Pisonem_, prima pars, s. 22. Delph. edit.
vol. iii.
[b] The passage here alluded to, presents us with a double pun.
Jewels at nose and lips but ill appear;
Rather than all things, wit let none be there.
[b] In order to form a good style, the sentence should always be
closed with variety, strength, and harmony. The ancient rhetoricians
held this to be so essentially requisite, that Quintilian has given it
a full discussion. That, he says, which offends the ear, will not
easily gain admission to the mind. Words should be fitted to their
places, so that they may aptly coalesce with one another. In building,
the most ill shapen stones may be conveniently fixed; and in like
manner, a good style must have proper words in proper places, all
arranged in order, and closing the sentence with grace and harmony.
_Nihil intrare potest in affectum, quod in aure, velut quodam
vestibulo, statim offendit. Non enim ad pedes verba dimensa sunt;
ideoque ex loco transferuntur in locum, ut jungantur quo congruunt
maximè; sicut in structurâ saxorum rudium etiam ipsa enormitas invenit
cui applicari, et in quo possit insistere. Felicissimus tamen sermo
est, cui et rectus ordo, et apta junctura, et cum his numerus
opportunè cadens contingit. _ Quintil. lib. ix. cap. 4.
Section XXIII.
[a] The remark in this place alludes to a passage in the oration
against PISO, where we find a frivolous stroke of false wit. Cicero
reproaches Piso for his dissolute manners, and his scandalous
debauchery. Who, he says, in all that time, saw you sober? Who beheld
you doing any one thing, worthy of a liberal mind? Did you once appear
in public? The house of your colleague resounded with songs and
minstrels: he himself danced naked in the midst of his wanton company;
and while he _wheeled_ about with alacrity in the _circular motion_ of
the dance, he never once thought of THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE. _Quis te
illis diebus sobrium, quis agentem aliquid, quod esset libero dignum?
Quis denique in publico vidit? Cum collegæ tui domus cantu et cymbalis
personaret; cumque ipse nudus in convivio saltaret, in quo ne tum
quidem, cum illum suum_ SALTATORIUM VERSARET ORBEM, FORTUNÆ ROTAM
_pertimescebat. Oratio in Pisonem_, prima pars, s. 22. Delph. edit.
vol. iii.
[b] The passage here alluded to, presents us with a double pun.
