Our sighs, and they shall lodge the corn, And make a dearth in this revolting land." 326. HYPERBOLES are improper, when they may be turned against the argument of the author who uses them. Illus. Isocrates, it is said, had employed many years in composing a panegyric on the Athenians, to assert their pretensions to precedency in the management of the affairs of Greece. It was delivered at the Olympic games, attended by citizens from all the states of that country; and in the beginning of it he introduced the subsequent exaggerated compliment to eloquence. Example. "Eloquence can reverse in appearance the nature of things. It can impart to illustrious deeds the air of lowliness and insignificance, and exhibit inconsiderable, and even trifling actions, with the dignity of magnificence and heroism. It can bestow on antiquity the garb of novelty, and attire novelty with the respect and veneration due to antiquity." Analysis. Longinus pertinently remarks, the author did not observe, that by this unseasonable encomium he was dispersing among his hearers an antidote against the operation of all the arguments he had to advance in behalf of his countrymen, the Athenians. Would the other Greek states be persuaded to do what they disliked by an orator who had told them that his eloquence could reverse in appearance the nature of things? Might they not, in doing what he advised, perform the very opposite of what was right? CHAPTER VIII. CLIMAX, OR AMPLIFICATION. 327. CLIMAX, OR AMPLIFICATION, is nearly related to hyperbole, and differs from it chiefly in degree. The purpose of HYPERBOLE is to exalt our conceptions beyond the truth; of CLIMAX, to elevate our ideas of the truth itself, by a series of circumstances, ascending one above another in respect of importance, and all pointing toward the same object. Illus. This figure, when properly introduced and displayed, affords a very sensible pleasure. It accords with our disposition to enlarge our conceptions of any object we contemplate; it affords a gratification similar to what we receive on ascending an eminence situated in the centre of a rich and varied landscape, where every step we proceed presents a grander and more extensive prospect. Example. Shakspeare exhibits specimens of almost every poetical beauty, and is not deficient in instances of climax. "The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all that it inhabits, shall dissolve, And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, 328. The effect of this figure is peculiarly pleasant, when the gradation of the sentiment is denoted by members, which rise with an analogous swell in point of sound; and in this view the following examples from Cicero have much merit. Example. Speaking of the power of language, in the first book De Oratore: "Quæ vis alia potuit, aut dispersos homines unum in locum congregare; aut a fera agrestique vita ad hunc humanum, cultum, civilemque deducere; aut jam constitutis civitatibus, leges, judicia, jura describere." 329. Examples are sometimes found of an anti-climax, that is, of a gradation downward in the sentiment; and if the expression also present a correspondent descent in the sound, the sentence will possess uncommon merit. Example. Horace affords a pertinent and curious instance in the following line : "Parturinnt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus." Analysis. The sinking in the sentiment, from the labour of the mountain to the birth of the mouse, is admirably imitated by a similar expression of the words. The verb, the most dignified word both in meaning and sound, is placed first, contrary to the common arrangement. The merit of the words, in point of sound, decreases to the last, which is the most diminutive in the sentence, partly on account of its being a monosyllable, and almost a repetition of the last syllable of the preceding word, but chiefly on account of the contrast between the insignificance of the word, and the dignity of the situation it occupies. 330. Climax appears with grace in the calmer parts of oratory, in essays, and in all compositions which address the imagination, but attempt not much to interest the passions. Illus. It is employed by the orator with advantage, in impressing the hearers with strong conceptions of a cause; in procuring favour to the argument he espouses; or in exciting disapprobation of that of his antagonist. It is also convenient in communicating sentiments that are striking or sublime, but it is too artificial to express any high degree of passion. The time and reflection necessary to arrange the sentiments according to their importance; the minute attention requisite to form the expression corresponding to the elevation of the thought, are all operations of a composed frame of mind, very different from that tumultuary state which is the attendant of violent passion. 331. It is, however, consistent with moderate agitation; and accordingly Longinus takes notice of the utility of it in managing a low degree of passion with address. In this case, however, the artificial arrangement of the words is relinquished. The swelling passion seizes the expressions most proper to denote it, and the phraseology is altogether artless. The best tragedies afford examples. Example 1. Oronooko thus utters his recollection of past happiness: 2. Almeria, in the Mourning Bride, expresses a similar sentiment in a similar manner: "How hast thou charm'd The wildness of the waves and rocks to this? That thus relenting, they have given thee back 3. Another example in the same tragedy exhibits a beautiful picture of the gradual influence of passion, in prompting the mind to believe what it wishes to be true. "Let me not stir nor breathe, lest I dissolve 'Tis life, 'tis warm, 'tis she, 'tis she herself." Analysis. The apparition is first painted air, and has some resemblance to Almeria. It descends, and appears to be seizable. life, animal life, it is "she herself." It gets CHAPTER IX. THE ANTITHESIS. 332. AS the design of a climax is to improve our conceptions of an object, by placing it at the head of a rising series; so the business of ANTITHESIS is to produce a similar effect, by placing one object in opposition to another of the same kind. Illus. 1. Comparison is one of the capital operations which the understanding performs upon its ideas, and is a prelude to the arrangement of them in different classes, or the deducting from them important conclusions. When we communicate our thoughts, or hear, or read the thoughts of others, we receive pleasure, if similar ideas are exhibited in similar expression, and dissimilar ideas in contrasted expression; and in all cases of the latter kind, antithesis is the most natural and proper phraseology. Antithesis possesses all the advantages of climax or amplification, with which different things of the same kind impress the mind when placed in juxta-position; and it adds to these the pleasures derivable from unexpected difference and surprise. Periods constructed to denote by their arrangement these oppositions of the thought, are generally the most agreeable, as well as the most perspicuous. They possess the original light derived from the natural melody and propriety of the words; and they are further illuminated by the additional rays reflected from their contrasted members. (Art. 212. Ex. and Anal.) 2. The same rule must be observed in the use of antithesis which was found necessary in good comparisons resulting from contrast. They must take place between things of the same species. Substantives, attributes, qualities, faculties of the same kind, must be set in opposition. To constitute an antithesis between a man and a lion, virtue and hunger, a figure and a colour, would be to form a contrast where there was no opposition. But to contrast one man with another, virtues with virtues, figures with figures, is pertinent and proper, because in these cases there may be striking opposition. Example 1. Lord Bolingbroke furnishes the following beautiful example: If Cato may be censured, severely indeed, but justly, for abandoning the cause of liberty, which he would not, however, survive; what shall we say of those, who embrace it faintly, pursue it irresolutely, grow tired of it when they have much to hope, and give it up when they have nothing to fear?" Analysis. The capital antithesis of this sentence is instituted between the zeal of Cato for liberty, and the indifference of some others of her patrons. Cato abandoned liberty, but he would not live without her; and even with all this merit he deserved censure. How different the conduct of other politicians, who pretend attachment to her, though they are never resolute to support her; who, instead of risking inconvenience or detriment, relax their efforts when they may hope for success, and relinquish them when they have no danger to apprehend. But, besides the leading antithesis, there are two subordinate ones in the latter member: "Grow tired of it when they have much to hope, and give it up when they have nothing to fear." The chief fault of this example is the neglect of opposition in the construction of the members which denote the contrast. Example 2. This species of merit is discernible in other quotations from the same author. "He can bribe, but he cannot seduce; he can buy, but he cannot gain; he can lie, but he cannot deceive.” Example 3. Speaking of the materials of his Letters on Patriotism: "The anecdotes here related were true, and the reflections made on them were just, many years ago. The former would not have been related, if he who related them had not known them to be true; nor the latter have been made, if he who made them had not known them to be just; and if they were true and just then, they must be true and just now and always.' 333. ANTITHESIS makes the most brilliant appearance in the delineation of characters, particularly in history. Illus. The historian, in the performance of this delicate part of his task, has a good opportunity of displaying his discernment and knowledge of human nature, and of distinguishing those nice shades by which virtues and vices run into one another. It is by such colours only that a character can be strongly painted, and antithesis is necessary to denote these distinctions. Example. Pope's character of Atticus, supposed to be Addison, dictated by the keenest resentment against the improper part which the Essayist was then represented to have acted relative to the translation of Homer, is an example that cannot fail to attract attention. "Should such a man, too fond to rule alone, Damn with faint praise, || assent with civil leer, Who would not smile, if such a man there be? 334. The beauty of genuine antithesis is so considerable, that we cannot wonder that many unsuccessful attempts have been made to acquire it. Lord Bolingbroke, though frequently happy in the use of it, is sometimes unfortunate. Example 1. His Treatise on Patriotism contains the subsequent example : "Eloquence that leads mankind by the ears, gives a nobler superiority than power, which every dunce may use; or than fraud, which every knave may employ, to lead men by the nose." Analysis. The antithesis is instituted between leading men by the ears, which is the business of eloquence, and leading them by the nose, which is said to be the office of power or fraud. That eloquence should lead by the ears is natural and intelligible, but where is the connection between fraud or power and the nose? To make out the figure, the author is obliged to have recourse to a vulgar and metaphorical sense of the words "leading by the nose," in which they denote leading in an ignominious manner, without conviction. Deny this resource, and the antithesis vanishes, or consists merely in words. Example 2. Shakspeare, in the Merchant of Venice, furnishes another instance merely verbal: "A light wife doth make a heavy husband." Analysis. There is in the thought not only no opposition, but on the contrary, a very close connection, that of cause and effect; because it is the folly of the wife which produces the dejection of the husband. Put words significant of these ideas instead of light and -heavy, and the shadow of a figure vanishes-" A foolish wife afflicts a good husband." 335. A climax and antithesis are sometimes conjoined and carried on through several sentences. Example. Thus Pope, in the Essay on Man: "Pride still is aiming at the blest abodes, MEN would be ANGELS, || ANGELS would be gods; Aspiring to be ANGELS, || MEN rebel." Scholium. No figure has, perhaps, been so anxiously sought, and with so little success, as antithesis. It is much suited to impose on an unskilful reader. An author is very apt to employ it, who abounds not with solid and important matter. Many readers consider the surprise and brilliancy it presents as certain marks of genius; and they are inclined to believe that they have been amused and instructed, because they have been made to wonder. It is not easy in an enlightened age to shine in writing, by solidity and novelty of matter, and by simplici *Prologue to the Satire. |