These ornaments of speech, therefore, may be thought to contribute not a
little to the success of a cause, for they who hear willingly are more
attentive and more disposed to believe. Most commonly it is pleasure
that wins them over, and sometimes they are seized and carried away with
admiration. A glittering sword strikes the eyes with some terror, and
thunder would not so shock us if its crash only, and not its lightning,
was dreaded. Therefore Cicero, with good reason, says in one of his
epistles to Brutus: "The eloquence which does not excite admiration, I
regard as nothing." Aristotle, too, would have us endeavor to attain
this perfection.
But this embellishment, I must again and again repeat, ought to be
manly, noble, and modest; neither inclining to effeminate delicacy, nor
assuming a color indebted to paint, but glistening with health and
spirits.
Let none of those who build up their reputation on a corrupt manner of
eloquence, say that I am an enemy to such as speak with elegance. I do
not deny that it is a perfection, but I do not ascribe it to them. Shall
I think a piece of ground better laid out and improved, in which one
shall show me lilies and violets and pleasing cascades, than one where
there is a full harvest or vines laden with grapes? Shall I esteem a
barren planetree and shorn myrtles beyond the fruitful olive and the elm
courting the embraces of the vine? The rich may pride themselves on
these pleasures of the eye, but how little would be their value if they
had nothing else?
But shall no beauty, no symmetry, be observed in the care of fruit
trees? Undoubtedly there should, and I would place them in a certain
order, and keep a due distance in planting them. What is more beautiful
than the quincunx, which, whatever way you look, retains the same direct
position? Planting them out so will also be of service to the growth of
the trees, by equally attracting the juices of the earth. I should lop
off the aspiring tops of my olive; it will spread more beautifully into
a round form, and will produce fruit on more branches. A horse with
slender flanks is considered handsomer than one not framed in that
manner, and the same quality also shows that he excels in swiftness. An
athlete whose arms from exercise show a full spring and play of the
muscles, is a beautiful sight, and he, likewise, is best fitted as a
combatant. Thus the true species is never without its utility, as even a
meager judgment easily may discern.