Greeks, who were witnesses against his client. Effectually to do this, he depretiates the Greeks, in general, as men far from being confcientious in matters of truth and integrity; but obferve how his oration glides, as it were, through a stream of profuse praises to this harsh point, a point fo injurious to the characters of the Greeks, but yet fo very important to the interests of his friend. "But this I fay concerning all the "Greeks; I grant them learning, the knowledge of many sciences; I don't deny but they have wit, fine genius, and eloquence: <6 nay, if there are any other excellencies to which they lay claim, I fhall not contest their title. But that nation never ftudied religion and sincerity in giving evidence, and are total ftrangers to the obligation, authority, and im"portance of truth *." Such an appearance of candor and veracity evidently tends to remove the fufpicion of partiality, and to give the speaker weight and credit in what he says.

There is an amazing force in a passage in CATO'S fpeech, concerning the punishment of the traitors in CATILINE'S confpiracy, which manifeftly arises from the Figure upon which we

are

Vero tamen hoc dico de toto genere Græcorum : tribuo illis litteras, & multarum artium difciplinam; non adimo fermonis leporem, ingeniorum acumen, dicendi copiam. Denique etiam, fiqua fibi alia fumunt, non repugno: testimoni. orum religionem & fidem nunquam ifta natio coluit; totiusque hujufce rei quæ fit vis, quæ auctoritas, quod pondus, ignorant. CICER. pro FLACCO, § 4.

are treating.
"Let them, since our manners
<i are fo corrupted, be liberal out of the for-
"tunes of our allies; let them be compassionate
"to the thieves of the treasury: but let them
"not throw away our blood, and, by fparing a
few abandoned villains, go to destroy all good

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66 men

Strong indignation may fometimes be expressed by this Figure; and perfons may provoke others, with whom they are concerned, to proceed to ftill greater degrees of unkindness or barbarity, that fuch lively reprefentations of their conduct may strike them with shame and horror, and as it were compel them to relent.

ARISTEUS, in his fpeech to his mother CyRENE, upon the losses he had fuftained, thus fpeaks,

Mother, do you yourself destroy my woods,
Spread murrain thro' my fheep, blight all my corn,
Burn up my fields, and bend the fharp'ned ax
Againft my fruitful vines, if thou art grown
So careless of thy fon's fuccess and praise †.

Sometimes

Sint fane, quoniam ita fe mores habent, liberales ex fociorum fortunis; fint mifericordes in furibus ærarii: ne ille fanguinem noftrum largiantur, &, dum paucis fceleratis parcunt, bonos omnes perditum eant. SALLUSTIUS de Bello Catilinario, p. 31. edit. MATTAIRE.

+ Quin age, & ipfa manu felices erue fylvas:

S

Fer ftabulis inimicum ignem, atque interfice messes
Ure fata, & validam in vites molire bipennem,
Tanta mea fi te cœperunt tædia laudis.

VIRGIL. Georgic. lib. iv. ver. 329..

Sometimes this Figure may be made use of to excite compassion. In this view we may consider the following pafsages from CICERO, in his difcourfe upon it. "Since I am deprived of "every thing to foul and body, I yield up thefe,

which is all of my large pofsefsions that re“main to me, to your difpofal: you may use <¿ me, you may abufe me, juft as you think fit, "without any thing to apprehend from me. "Determine my fate as you please: do but speak, " and I'll obey. This Figure, adds CICERO, "though it may be employed for other purposes, 4 yet is most powerfully adapted to move com pafsion *."

«

What heart must not foften into tenderness, when the Ambassador from the Campanians, who were pressed by the Samnites, and implored the afsiftance of the Romans against their enemies, thus replied to the Roman Conful? « Since, fays

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he, you are not willing, by a righteous oppo"sition to our enemies, to defend our proper"ties against violence and injury, certainly, "Romans, you will defend your own. There"fore, confcript Fathers, we furrender the Campanian

<<

Permiffio-fic; quoniam omnibus rebus ereptis, fupereft animus & corpus, hæc ipfa, quæ mihi de multis fola relica funt, vobis & veftræ condono poteftati. Vos me, quo pacto vobis videbitur, utamini, atque abutamini licebit impunè: in me, quicquid libet, ftatuite; dicite, atque obtemperabo. Hoc genus tametfi alias quoque nonnunquam tractandum eft, tamen ad mifericordiam commovendam vehementiffime eft accommodatum. CICER. ad HERENNIUM, lib. iv. n. 29.

"panian people, the city Capua, the fields, the "temples of the Gods, and all' that we have, "both human or divine, into the hands of the "Roman people. Consider that whatever we "fhall hereafter fuffer, that we, who have "furrendered ourselves to you, are the fuf

ferers t." If it be faid, that this speech was ́an actual furrender, and fo may not be proper to be produced as an instance of the Synchorefis as a Figure in Rhetoric, I grant indeed the justice of the remark; but yet may observe from this paisage, how well adapted conceffion, though different from the view in which we have been considering it, is to excite compassion.

3. Scripture affords us feveral inftances of this Figure. SOLOMON, being desirous to imprefs the minds of young perfons with the fenfe of the future judgment, addresses them in a Synchorefis, and thus furprises them with the awful truth he would inculcate, and arms it with an amazing force. Eccles. xi. 9. Rejoice, O SO young man, in thy youth, and let thine ss heart chear thee in the days of thy youth, and ss walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight

SS

1

+ Ad ea princeps legationis (fic enim domo mandatum attulerat.) Quandoquidem, inquit, noftra tueri adverfus vim atque injuriam jufta vi non vultis, veftra certe defendetis. Itaque populum Campanum, urbemque Capuam, agros, delubra Deûm, divina humanaque omnia in veftram, Patres confcripti, populique Romani ditionem dedimus; quicquid deinde patiemur, dedititii veftri paffuri. Livii Hift. lib. vii.

J

D.

sight of thine eyes.""Can any advices be "more agreeable," fays the young Libertine, than thefe advices of SOLOMON? His name fhall be ever endeared to me on the account! "I will ever join in his general praise, that he "was indeed the wifeft of men." "But know thou, that for all these things, GOD will bring thee into judgment." The pleasing concefsions end in a voice more terrible than that of thun der: the fond expectations of an uncontrolled licence for fenfual pleafures are at once dissolved, and the apprehensions of a future judgment spoil all the promised fweets of sin, and embitter them with worse than gall and wormwood. I am sensible that this passage of SOLOMON may be underftood as a permiffion, under fuch restraints as are mentioned at the end of the verse; but why fhould it not be taken in the fense I have given, as the expressions of walking in the ways of our hearts, and in the fight of our eyes, feem not fo well adapted to defcribe lawful and innocent enjoyments?

8

JA

The Apostle JAMES fets himself to evince the infufficiency of faith without works; and how forcibly does he do this by the following concefsion? James ii. 19. Thou believeft that there ss is one Gon; thou doft well: the Devils alfo " believe, and tremble."

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I fhall conclude with a remarkable inftance of the Synchorefis from Joshua xxiv. 14, 15. Now therefore fear the LORD, and ferve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the Gods

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which