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.

HOW TO EMPLOY SIMILES AND METAPHORS

We must be exceedingly cautious in regard to similitudes, that we do not
use such as are either obscure or unknown. For that which is assumed for
the sake of illustrating another thing, ought indeed to be clearer than
that which it so illustrates.

In speaking of arguments I mentioned a kind of similitude which, as an
ornament to a discourse, contributes to make it sublime, florid,
pleasing, and admirable. For the more far-fetched a similitude is, the
more new and unexpected it will appear. Some may be thought commonplace,
yet will avail much for enforcing belief; as, "As a piece of ground
becomes better and more fertile by cultivation, so does the mind by good
in