The beginning of periods demands as much care as the closing of them,
for here, also, the auditor is attentive. But it is easier to observe
numbers in the beginning of periods, as they are not depending on, nor
connected with, what went before. But the ending of periods, however
graceful it may be in composition and numbers, will lose all its charm
if we proceed to it by a harsh and precipitate beginning.
As to the composition of the middle parts of a period, care must be
taken not only of their connection with each other, but also that they
may not seem slow, nor long, nor, what is now a great vice, jump and
start from being made up of many short syllables, and producing the same
effect on the ear as the sounds from a child's rattle. For as the
ordering of the beginning and ending is of much importance, as often as
the sense begins or ends; so in the middle, too, there is a sort of
stress which slightly insists; as the feet of people running, which, tho
they make no stop, yet leave a track. It is not only necessary to begin
and end well the several members and articles, but the intermediate
space, tho continued without respiration, ought also to retain a sort of
composition, by reason of the insensible pauses that serve as so many
degrees for pronunciation.
Cicero gives many names to the period, calling it a winding about, a
circuit, a comprehension, continuation, and circumscription. It is of
two kinds; the one simple when a single thought is drawn out into a
considerable number of words; the other compound, consisting of members
and articles which include several thoughts.
Wherever the orator has occasion to conduct himself severely, to press
home, to act boldly and resolutely, he should speak by members and
articles. This manner has vast power and efficacy in an oration. The
composition is to adapt itself to the nature of things, therefore, even
rough things being conceived in rough sounds and numbers, that the
hearer may be made to enter into all the passions of the speaker. It
would be advisable, for the most part, to make the narration in members;
or if periods are used, they ought to be more loose and less elaborate
than elsewhere. But I except such narrations as are calculated more for
ornament than for giving information.