There can not be a greater perfection than to express the things we
speak of in such lively colors as to make them seem really to take place
in our presence. Our words are lacking in full effect, they assume not
that absolute empire they ought to have, when they strike only the ear,
and when the judge who is to take cognizance of the matter is not
sensible of its being emphatically exprest.
One manner of representation consists in making out of an assemblage of
circumstances the image we endeavor to exhibit. An example of this we
have in Cicero's description of a riotous banquet; he being the only one
who can furnish us with examples of all kinds of ornaments: "I seemed to
myself to see some coming in, others going out; some tottering with
drunkenness, others yawning from yesterday's carousing. In the midst of
these was Gallius, bedaubed with essences, and crowned with flowers. The
floor of their apartment was all in a muck of dirt, streaming with wine,
and strewed all about with chaplets of faded flowers, and fish-bones."
Who could have seen more had he been present?
In this manner pity grows upon us from hearing of the sacking of a town.
Undoubtedly he who acquaints us of such an event, comprehends all the
incidents of so great a calamity, yet this cursory piece of intelligence
makes but a languid impression upon the mind. But if you enter into
descriptive pictures of all that was included in one word, as it were,
flames will appear spreading through houses and temples; the crash of
falling houses will be heard; and one confused noise formed out of all
together. Some will be seen striving to escape the danger, but know not
where to direct their flight; others embracing for the last time their
parents and relations; here the dismal shrieks of women and piercing
cries of children fill one with pity; there the sighs and groans of old
men, lamenting their unhappy fate for having lived so long as to be
witnesses of their country's desolation. A further addition to these
scenes of woe is the plunder of all things, sacred as well as profane;
the avidity of the soldier prowling after and carrying away his prey;
the wretched citizens dragged away in chains before their haughty
conquerors; mothers struggling to keep with them their children; and
slaughter still exercising its cruelties wherever there is the least
expectation of booty. Tho all these details are comprehended in the idea
of the sacking of a town, yet it is saying less to state merely that the
town was sacked than to describe its destruction in this circumstantial
manner.
Such circumstances may be made to appear vivid if they retain a likeness
to truth. They may not have happened in reality, yet, as they are
possible, the descriptive evidence is not objectionable. The same
evidence will arise also from accidents, as in the following examples:
... me horror chills,
Shudd'ring, and fear congeals my curdling blood.
TRAPP.
... to their bosoms press'd,
The frighted mothers clasp'd their crying babes.
TRAPP.
This perfection, the greatest, in my opinion, a discourse can have, is
very easily acquired by only considering and following nature. For
eloquence is a picture of the happenings of human life, every one
applying to himself what he hears, by making the case in some measure
his own, and the mind receives very willingly that with which it has
become familiar.
To throw light, also, upon things, similes have been invented, some of
which by way of proof are inserted among arguments, and others are
calculated for expressing the images of things, the point we are here
explaining.
... Thence like wolves
Prowling in gloomy shade, which hunger blind
Urges along, while their forsaken whelps
Expect them with dry jaws.
TRAPP.
... Thence with all his body's force
Flings himself headlong from the steepy height
Down to the ocean: like the bird that flies
Low, skimming o'er the surface, near the sea,
Around the shores, around the fishy rocks.
TRAPP.