of those words of
Demosthenes:[16] "Supposing, now, at this moment a cry of alarm were
heard outside the assize courts, and the news came that the prison was
broken open and the prisoners escaped, is there any man here who is such
a trifler that he would not run to the rescue at the top of his speed?
But suppose some one came forward with the information that they had
been set at liberty by the defendant, what then? Why, he would be
lynched on the spot!"

[Footnote 16: _c. Timocrat._ 208.]

10
Compare also the way in which Hyperides excused himself, when he was
proceeded against for bringing in a bill to liberate the slaves after
Chaeronea. "This measure," he said, "was not drawn up by any orator, but
by the battle of Chaeronea." This striking image, being thrown in by the
speaker in the midst of his proofs, enables him by one bold stroke to
carry all mere logical objection before him.

11
In all such cases our nature is drawn towards that which affects it most
powerfully: hence an image lures us away from an argument: judgment is
paralysed, matters of fact disappear from view, eclipsed by the superior
blaze. Nor is it surprising that we should be thus affected; for when
two forces are thus placed in juxtaposition, the stronger must always
absorb into itself the weaker.

12
On sublimity of thought, and the manner in which it arises from native
greatness of mind, from imitation, and from the employment of images,
this brief outline must suffice.[17]

[Footnote 17: He passes over chs. x. xi.]

XVI

The subject which next claims our attention is that of figures of
speech. I have already observed that figures, judiciously employed, play
an important part in producing sublimity. It would be a tedious, or
rather an endless task, to deal with every detail of this subject here;
so in order to establish what I have laid down, I will just run over,
without further preface, a few of those figures which are most effective
in lending grandeur to language.

2
Demosthenes is defending his policy; his natural line of argument would
have been: "You did not do wrong, men of Athens, to take upon yourselves
the struggle for the liberties of Hellas. Of this you have home proofs.
_They_ did not wrong who fought at Marathon, at Salamis, and Plataea."
Instead of this, in a sudden moment of supreme exaltation he bursts out
like some inspired prophet with that famous appeal to the mighty dead:
"Ye did not, could not have