THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES VOL. II THE INFLUENCE OF THE SECOND SOPHISTIC ON THE STYLE OF THE SERMONS OF ST. BASIL THE GREAT A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Letters of the Catholic University of America in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy BY JAMES MARSHALL CAMPBELL A. M. Catholic University of America Washington, D. C. 1922 I " I give theft Books fcr the founding ef a College in tftij Colonf e iLiiaiSAisy • THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES VOL. II THE INFLUENCE OF THE SECOND SOPHISTIC ON THE STYLE OF THE SERMONS OF ST. BASIL THE GREAT BT JAMES MARSHALL CAMPBELL A. M. A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Letters of the Catholic University of America in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Washington d. c. 1922 Printed by W. Drugulin, Leipzig (Germany). TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Table of Contents iii Bibliography , v Preface ix Chronological Table xiv Abbreviations • xvi Chapter I. Outline History of Greek Rhetoric 1 Chapter II. The New or Second Sophistic 14 Chapter III. Minor Figures of Rhetoric 20 Chapter IV. Figures of Redundancy 25 Chapter V. Figures of Repetition 32 Chapter VI. Figures of Sound 39 Chapter VII. Figures of Vivacity. Other Devices of Composition 44 Chapter VIII. Minor Figures especially characteristic of the Second Sophistic 65 Chapter IX. Figures and Devices of the Second Sophistic ... 76 Chapter X. Gorgianic Figures and Allied Devices of Parallelism 80 Chapter XL The Metaphor 96 Chapter XII. The Comparison 110 Chapter XIII. Ecphrasis 128 Chapter XIV. Conclusion 146 Index 151 Vita • 156 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY a) LITERARY HISTORY. Bardenhewer, O., Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, Bd. Ill, Frei burg i. Breisgau, 1912. Battifol, P., La Litterature Grecque, Paris, 1905. Christ, W. von, Griechische Literaturgeschichte, Miinchen, 1913. Croiset, M., Histoire de la Litterature Grecque, Paris, 1899. Jordan, H, Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, Leipzig, 1911. Leblanc, H. J., Essai sur l'enseignement des lettres profanes dans les pre miers siecles de l'Eglise, Paris, 1852. Nirschl, J.,Lehrbuch der Patrologie und Patristik, Bd. 2,149 ff., Mainz, 1883. Roger, M., L'Enseignement des lettres classiques d'Ausone a Alcuin, These, Paris, 1905. Scsemihl, F., Geschichte der griechischen Literatur in der Alexanderzeit, Leipzig, 1891-1892. Tixeront, J., Precis de Patrologie, Paris, 1918. b) BIOGRAPHICAL. Aoresta, Apom,., Vita del propatriarca S. Basilio Magno, Messina, 1681. Allard, P., Saint Basile, Paris, 1903. Baert, Fr., De S. Basilio Magno: Acta Sanctorum, Iunii 2, 807-958, Ant- verpiae, 1698. Bayle, A., Saint Basile, archeveque de Cesaree, Avignon, 1878. Duchesne, L., Histoire ancienne de l'Eglise, Paris, 1906. ElRENIDES, D., Bios rod iv aytois Trarpbs ij/iiZv j3acn\ciov rov MeydXou, Athens, 1881. Farrar, F. W., Lives of the Fathers, Edinburgh, 1889. Feisser, I. Elias, De Vita Basilii Magni, Dissertationes Historicae Theo- logicae, Groningae, 1828. Hebtzbero, G. Fr., Die Geschichte Griechenlands unter der Herrschaft der Romer, Bd. 3, 345 ff., Halle, 1875. Klose, C. R. W., Ein Beitrag zur Kirchengeschichte. Basilius der GroCe nach seinem Leben und seiner Lehre dargestellt, Stralsund, 1835. Maban, Pr., Vita S. Basilii Magni in Benedictine edition of St. Basil's works, 3, XXXVII-CXCII; also in Migne, Patrologia Graeca 29, V-CL XXVII. Smith, R. T., Saint Basil the Great, London, 1879. Tillemont, Memoires pour servir 4 l'Histoire Ecclesiastique des six pre miers siecles, IX, 628-691, Paris, 1714. vi SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY c) RHETORICAL Amerinqer, T. E., The Stylistic Influence of the Second Sophistic on the Panegyrical Sermons of St. John Chrysostom, "Washington, 1921. Aristoteles, Ars Rhetorica ed. Ad. Roemer, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, Lipsiae, 1898. Arnim, H. von, Leben und Werke des Dio von Prusa, Berlin, 1898. Baumgart, H, Aelius Aristides als Reprasentant der sophistichen Rhetorik des zweiten Jahrhunderts der Kaiserzeit, Leipzig, 1874. Blass, F., Die attische Beredsamkeit, Leipzig, 1887-1893. — Antiphontis Orationes, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, Lipsiae, 1908. Chaignet, A., La Rhetorique et son histoire, Paris, 1888. Ciceronis Rhetorica recognovit A. S. Wilkins, II, Brutus, Oxonii, 1903. Delahaye, H., S. I., Les Passions des Martyrs et les Genres Litteraires, Bruxelles, 1921. Dionysii Halicarnassei Opuscula ed. H. Usener et S. Radermacher, Biblio theca Teubneriana, Vol. II, Lipsiae, 1904. Guignet, M., Saint Gregoire de Nazianze et la Rhetorique, Paris, 1911. Juttner, H., De Polemonis Rhetoris vita, operibus, arte, Breslau, 1898. Libanius, Orationes ed. Reiske Vol. IV, Altenburg, 1791-1797. MiSridier, L., L'Influence de la seconde Sophistique sur l'oeuvre de Gregoire de Nysse, Paris, 1906. Navarre, 0., Essai sur la Rhetorique Grecque avant Aristote, Paris, 1900. Norden, E., Die antike Kunstprosa, 2 Bde., Leipzig, 1898. Platonis Opera recognovit Iohannes Burnet, Tomi V., Oxonii, 1903-1910. RoBEBTSon, J. O, The Gorgianic Figures in Early Greek Prose, Balti more, 1903. Robinson, C. A., The Tropes and Figures of Isaeus, Princeton, 1901. Rohde, E., Der griechische Roman und seine Vorlaufer, Leipzig, 1900. — Die asianische Rhetorik und die Zweite Sophistik, Rheinisches Mu seum, XLI, (1886) 179 ff. Schmidt, "W., Der Atticismus in seinen Hauptvertretern, Stuttgart, 1887. — Bericht iiber die Literatur aus den Jahren 1894-1900 zur Zweiten Sophistik, in Bursian's Jahresbericht XXIX (1901). — Bericht iiber die Literatur aus den Jahren 1901-1904 zur Zweiten Sophistik, in Bursian's Jahresbericht, XXXIV (1906). Sihler, E. G., A Study of Dinarchus, Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 16, (1886), 120-132. Spengel, L., Rhetores Graeci ed. C. Hammer, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, III Vol. Lipsiae, 1894. Trunk, J., De Basilio Sermonis Attici Imitatore, Prota, which among the Ionians had been largely given to speculation, now became a practical culture. All Greece was weary of the metaphysical tangle in contemporary philosophy. The hard-headed Athenians in particular welcomed the negative epistemology of Protagoras with its convenient repudiation of all research not immediately connected with practical life. The comprehensiveness of this program varied with the locality, but in Ionian Greece dialectic was its basis, sometimes combined with a wide variety of erudition; sometimes, with literary and grammatical studies. In Sicily meanwhile the first methodic study of persuasive discourse had been developed. In 46B B.C. the tyrants had been expelled and many lawsuits had arisen over their confiscations of property. Out of this experience came a theory of pleading first formulated and taught by Oorax and his pupil Tisias. Oaring little for style, their instruction concerned itself solely with the production of plausibility in speech. Commercial relations and consequent commercial disputes brought the art of Corax to Athens sometime before Gorgias' arrival in 427 B. C.2 The practical turn which under-lay the Sophistic from the beginning soon centered its energies in the study of effective speech-making. The sophists, in responding to the desires of their rich and ambitious clients, found in contemporary philo sophy materials suited to their purpose. Starting with the s Navarre, 22. OUTLINE HISTORY OP GREEK RHETORIC 3 tenet that all knowledge is relative, that the only reality is appearance, they combine with it eristic, psychology, their own linguistic studies, and the practiced art of Sicily to form that science with which the name sophistry is generally associated. The Sophistic, then, in the very beginning developed one characteristic which never left it. It was born of the desire of the Athenians for instruction. It was opportunistic. It arose to eminence on a wave of philosophical reaction. It emphasized oratory more than other branches of knowledge because the popular government and the popular will placed the emphasis there. It elaborated, adorned, and embellished; employing other sciences and arts only in so far as they furthered the art stamped by popular approval. Other movements, literary and philosophical, have been conditioned by the popular will; popular approval was the very life-blood of the Sophistic. In practice it was a school of scepticism, manifesting supreme indifference to truth, impatient of research, anxious to persuade above all things because in effective persuasion lay the immediate means to political power. Thus, from the first, the Sophistic was superficial. It aimed to please. It gradually pushed aside matter to worship form. Hencer the invention of all those devices that perfected and beautified eloquence ; hence, further on in its course, that jingle of words and ideas that degraded it. The sensitive ear of the Greek, once indulged in the beauties of form, must be pampered ever after. He must never grow weary of ingenious display and musical combi nations. Hence the progress in artificiality that marked the course of the Sophistic — the continuous parade of form-device rather than the elaboration of matter. Protagoras of Abdera, the first leading sophist, specialized on the teaching of eristic and founded Greek grammatical science. The Sicilian Gorgias, the second sophist to appear in Athens, also included subtle reasoning in his curriculum, but he devoted himself mainly to a beauty of expression attained through the conscious study of vocabulary and sentence-structure. Despite his Sicilian -Ionic origin, he adopted the Attic dialect — the shrewd sophist's infallible in stinct for the trend of the times — but an Attic made from the 4 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES sonorous words of poets and from new words created for fine shades of meaning. With Gorgias Attic Oratory really begins. Prom his school flow influences that are never effaced in all the changes to which Greek rhetoric was subsequently subject. The teaching of rhetoric persisted from the Fifth century down. Social and political conditions of succeeding ages at times repressed its practical manifestation in oratory, but on its academic side it was always a discipline of the schools. The sophistic profession lasted as long as antiquity. The First Sophistic as a distinct literary and intellectual revolution may be said to end with the close of the Fifth Century with Gorgias, Antiphon, and their schools. By that time the Sophistic has become definitely rhetorical. The Fourth Century Sophistic is but a continuation of the Fifth Century tradition — the theoretical training of men for the practical use of oratory in the struggles of the agora. Of the Ten Attic Orators, Antiphon alone belongs entirely to the Fifth Century. Of the rest, Andocides, Lysias, Isaeus, and Isocrates overlap the two centuries, while Demosthenes, Aeschines, Hyperides, Lycurgus, and Dinarchus belong to the Fourth. The three types of oratory which developed in Greece grew to perfection in succession. Judicial oratory, cultivated first in Sicily, attained its highest perfection with Lysias. The oratory of declamation, inaugurated by Gorgias, reached its high mark in Isocrates. Political oratory, out of the turmoil of the latter Fourth century, was at its best in Demosthenes. It is sufficient here to call attention to the exquisite artistry of their work; the polished products of sophistic training, inborn genius, and mighty, or at least moving, subjects. Lysias studied in Sicily. Isocrates was probably the disciple of Gorgias. Under Isocrates the long periodic sentence was developed, and declamatory oratory looked to grand themes and glorious occasions for its display. He followed his master Gorgias in his efforts to ennoble diction, but produced a revolution in Greek prose by the use of the purest Attic, by smoothly-running rhythm, by the absolute avoidance of the hiatus, by substituting variety and flexibility for the stiff artistry of his master. The last Attic orator worthy of the name and the first to OUTLINE HISTORY OP GREEK RHETORIC 5 suffer from a lack of great national subjects was Demetrius of Phaleron, who grew to maturity during the Macedonian ascendency and later flourished at Ptolemaic Alexandria. He was an Atticist of the purest type and a pupil of Theophrastus, but even these assurances did not save his art from the charges of slackness and effeminacy. With him Attic oratory came to an end. Athens lost her liberty and with her liberty, the only support of civil eloquence. There was no longer political power in the spoken word. Judicial oratory became a mere barrister's trade. Political oratory was crushed under the ascendency of Philip and Alexander. Epideictic oratory went back to the schools and class-room exercises to await another hey-day. Rhetoric did not die. It was merely eclipsed for a while. From about 300 B. C. the decline of oratory goes hand-in- hand with the extinction of Attic life and liberty, and the darkening of purely Greek originality. What the Grecian language gained in territory, it lost in content. The cos mopolitan thought of Alexandrian times is utterly non-Greek, although • the Alexandrians did their best to preserve the Greek ideal. This period of oratorical decadence merits our attention, for in it are contained the elements that join the Second Sophistic with the First. In an age devoted to artistry and erudition, the rhetorical tradition lives on in the schools, developing characteristics that explain historically features of later Hellenic eloquence. The rhetorical activity in the schools now developed a form of school-declamation that reveals significantly the course of rhetoric after the death of Alexander — the diatribe. We see its fore-runner in the dialogue; in those passages of Plato, for instance, where Socrates abandons his customary dialectic and introduces a feigned antagonist or a personified thing with whom or which he disputes.3 Such introductions and conversations are characteristic forms of the diatribe of Alexandrian times. The declaimer, reciting this school- declamation, places himself and a feigned party in place of two persons speaking in dialogue. With this feigned party, 3 Cf. Protagoras, 352 ft.; Crito, 50Aff.; Phaedo, 87 A; Centiphon, fr. 131. 6 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES the declaimer engages in a logomachia. The diatribe of the schools was nothing but dialogue in the form of declamation. We observe here one characteristic of the Alexandrian period — the prosaic present harking back to a brilliant past for suggestion and inspiration. In style the diatribe was not so intimately connected with the glorious past. Its diction was slovenly. In it the period created by Isocrates was dissolved into short sentences. In the emptiness of the times it took to moralizing; pouncing upon the follies of men, reprehending them or ridiculing them. In this declamatory censoriousness it often hit upon a pathetic tone which now reminds one of comedy and now of tragedy. From this came the second characteristic of its style, a leaning towards theatrical pathos. This form of school-exercise became typical of declamations and blended in the later rhetorical schools with Asianism, an eccentric offshoot of the old-time rhetoric that developed in another part of the Orient after the breaking-up of Alexander's empire. The dissolution of Alexander's empire saw political oratory, the tradition of Demosthenes, crushed along with the political life of the Greeks; forensic oratory, the tradition of Lysias, pursuing a useful, quiet career in the Athenian Law-courts; and declamatory oratory, the tradition of Isocrates and Gorgias, forced back into the schools. For a while this last- named ventured forth in the form of epideictic and panegyric speeches; then it became a tradition in the schools. Its active practice passed from Athens to the flourishing, populous cities of Asia Minor, now again immensely rich in the new order of things. To appreciate thoroughly that literary movement in history called "Asianism," it is necessary, first of all, to recall characteristics of the peoples of Asia Minor; for eloquence is an immediate expression of the national character. Aristotle traced the non-serious character of Sicilian diction from the ingenious, waggish originality of the Sicilian people. In Attic eloquence the moderateness and gracefulness of the Athenians is hypostasized. Only by reviewing the characteristics of the Asiatics is it possible to understand a school of eloquence so completely at odds with the Attic. OUTLINE HISTORY OP GREEK RHETORIC In Asia arose those orgiastic cults whose passionate music was at once an expression and an aggravation of Asiatic hollowness and effeminacy. The dithyrambic songs of Asia were soft and sad melodies typical of a national enervation deep-seated and long-established. The very prevalence of the soft sound "e" in the Ionian dialect of Asia is sometimes called an index of the softness of the people who used it. Protestantism in art, superficiality, ages of luxury, intellectual energy, a habit of dabbling in philosophy, the mild climate of the Eastern Aegean conspired to produce a softness and hollow pathos in Asiatic character that was re-echoed in Asiatic eloquence. An Ionian from Sicily, Gorgias, had first dislodged nature by fashion. Now Ionians from Asia Minor took a further step along the same path. They neglected the strict laws of rhetorical tcxvij and, in place of the regularity hitherto existing, substituted personal choice. But with all its individualism Asiatic eloquence falls readily enough into two classes of style, corresponding to the two sides of the Asiatic character: — its effeminacy and wantonness are revealed in the sensuality and voluptuousness of a style whose chief characteristics are elegant short sentences and soft rhymes; its emptiness, its tendency to inflation, stand out in the pompousness of the other style. Although both these styles appear with the beginnings of Asianism, the elegant style is more pronounced in the man who is generally known as the "archegetes" of Asianism, Hegesias of Magnesia. Dionysius of Halicarnassus4 dates Asianism from the death of Alexander the Great. Hegesias was flourishing not long after this event. The elegant style, as represented by Hegesias, contained the following innovations: — 1. The long, flowing period of Isocrates and Demosthenes was abolished. Short, choppy sentences were substituted. This feature became an important factor in the history of style. 2. These short sentences were so constructed that every sentence had a marked cadence, oft-times of a lascivious De Antiquis Oratoribus 1 ff. 8 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES character. Hegesias was over-fond of the ditrochaeus (-w -w) at the end of the sentence.8 In order to attain the desired rhythm, the Asiatics did not scruple to employ expletives and to use word-arrangements unwarranted from any standpoint, linguistic or practical. These rhythmical speeches, recited in a modulated voice, frequently took on the regularity of a chant. 3. The phraseology in every case put a premium on the exceptional. Meaningless metaphors and insipid circumlocutions abounded, rj nar' o-ipavbv pepk, for instance, was used for simple ovpavSs. Verbal witticisms found frequent employment. Hegesias made the Olynthians, on the occasion of the destruction of their city, say; "Svopa KareXd^opev ir6\t,v KaTaXnrovres" and Alexander, at the destruction of Thebes: "tov yap piyurTa rvxovra tottov, dW els rbv vabv — Ps. 44, 169 A. d) Arsis and Thesis (positive-negative) — the presentation of an idea first positively and then negatively. — ¦yeAwTa dyovcrjs «v •nji iraXateiv, ov o-Teavov. — Quod Mundanis, 166E. 2. Figures of Repetition refer to the intentional repetition of entire words in certain well-defined places. Such devices have little to do with emphasis. Their purpose is rather artistic. Their skillful employment produces something of a musical quality. a) Anadiplosis — the repetition of the same word within the same clause. — tots SjJ, totc — Advers. Iratos, 84D. b) Epanaphora — the repetition of the same word or words at the beginning of two or more consecutive cola. — vw — , v». — , —Hex. 1, 3B. c) Antistrophe — consecutive clauses end with the same word or words. — ijkovcto TopStos' kdvupAro TopSios — In Gordium, 145 D. d) Anastrophe — one clause begins with the last word of the preceding clause. — Kai Trpbs to Oebv u>v &v, ovyl Trpocryevopevos. — De Fide, 132A. e) Kuklos — the repetition of the initial word of a sentence or period as the concluding word of either the succeeding clause or the succeeding sentence. — h-epov yevos to Krp-ZSes Kai t6 tZv XemZv ixOvmv erepov — Hex., 7, 64 C. f) Climax— the repetition of the last word of the preceding clause through several succeeding clauses of a period. — pjTe olv 6 jrAovo-ios rbv Tivnra virepvcrav, /mjte o_ yrjyevevs etc. — Ps. 48, 178C. g) Repetitive Paronomasia— the rhetorical repetition of the 22 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES same word in the same sense.— Sxep woXXaxov ph rSv v/jo-wv, iroWaxov Se twv rrapaXiw roirmi e&o-rcv knoprjcai. — Hex. 4, 39A. 3. Figures of Sound also have an element of repetition, but here the words need only approximate one another in sound, and their position is not precisely fixed. a) Paronomasia— a similarity in the sound of words of the same root, plus a dissimilarity of sense. Their relative position in the cola is not important. — km vo-is, rj tubOovos dya66np, to dyairqTov iracri rots Xoyov p€Tet,Xrj6o-i, to iroXvirodrp-ov koAAos, r) dpxq twv ovtidv, ij Trr/yrj Trjs Cwrjs, to voepbv Zs, r/ dirpocriTos tov davfiaros. In XL Martyres, 155B. e) Parenthesis— the interruption of the development of a sentence by intervening clause or clauses, sentence or sentences.— (ttws yap ol Karafidvres as yoovy) — Deus non est auct., 7 7 A. MINOR FIGURES OF RHETORIC 23 f) Hypostrophe — the orator catches up the thread of the narrative after a parenthesis and makes a fresh start by either repeating the subject or adding the demonstrative. — o yap wroKa/Kvos T(p vXX(p kokkos ( ) toCto crirep/naTos «x" Svvapiv — Hex. 5, 45 B. g) Litotes — the emphatic affirmation of an idea through the negation of its opposite. — oi puao-t, tovto yevio-Oai, ijwxty KaTiaSwov o-vp. Trj aio-Orjcra tZv dXyavuiv, prj repos dprjvovs fKepto-$ai Kai SaKpva, dXX' tvxapuTTeiv (lis fir' dyaOois tols direvKTamis KaTa. dXrjOuav; — In Julittam, 36 C — D. d) Paraleipsis — while pretending to pass the point over in silence, the speaker manages to say all that he desires. — koI ti Set tovs aAAous dirapiOpeurdai oSs al 'Pwrai yevvZo-i to, vrrlp t»Js IvSoTaTfc) "Zicvdtas opn; — Hex. 3, 28 A. e) Prosopopoiia — that form of statement in which the speaker places a long or short speech in the mouth of another, whether that person is actually before him or is merely feigned. — 7rtos ow KaTa yevos, ao-tv, r/ yrj Trpoepu Ta crrreppaTa, OTTOTe o-itov ttoXXokis KaTa/3aX6vres, tov peXava tovtov Trvpbv o-vyKop&opxv; — Hex. 5, 43 E. f) Dialektikon — the speaker elucidates a point by a combi nation of question and answer. — tZs 8e rrpunov o-u>0rjvai «ix€Tai (K twv SttoKovTiav, tiTa pvo-6rjvai; fj Siao-ToXrj catpr) iroirjO-ei tov Aoyov — Ps. 7, 99 A. 24 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES g) Hypophora — the raising of an objection for the sake of immediate refutation. — ttAijktijs; dAA' avfo. Trdpotvos; dAA' -qvfopevos Kara. Trp> vo-iv. rpaxvs Kai oWdpeo-Tos ; dAAa p.eXos rfSvj o-6v, Kai peXiav to TipiwTaTov. — Hex. 7, 68 B. h) Prodiorthosis — a promise to be brief — iroAAoi T€xra-a. . . . . oi tov Xoyov rjpiv o~vvTepvovoriv, iva p,r) tin. iroXv ttjs epyao-ias aeXKWVTai. — Hex. 3, 22 C. 6. Under Minor Figures receiving a peculiarly sophistic development are here grouped those figures whose use in St. Basil's time admits of that extravagance and poor taste which characterize largely the Second Sophistic. a) Hyperbaton — a transposition of words from their natural order, sometimes for emphasis, but generally for elegant affectation. — fj ttjs crvvayutyrjs kpupawei Trpoo-qyopia — Hex. 4. 36 C. b)[ Hendiadys — the placing on an equal grammatical plane two^ expressions, one of which is logically subordinate to the other. — opoi Sokovo-i prj oweiSoVes Tives, Trapaya/yais Ttcrt Kai Tpo7roAoytais crepMOTrjTa Twa Ik ttjs oiKeias avrSiv Siavoias e7rexeipr)0~av tois yeypappevois eirupr)[u(rai.— Hex. 9, 80E — 81 A. c) Adjective Substantive Abstract — an idea properly ad jectival is raised to substantive rank as an abstract noun. — 7rpo? tovs avXovs twv Xoytav — Ad Adolescentes, 175 D. d) Paradox and Oxymoron— an expression self-contradictory when" separated from its context. — avev y^s cbvreueis- dvev o-iropas dep&m— Ps. 14, 113C. e) Hyperbole — emphasis and comparison through exag geration. — f3owoi Tivts o-dpKivoi (likening elephants to hills of flesh).— Hex. 9, 86 A. f) Antonomasia — the designation of a person by one of his qualities or accomplishments.— tou ktiWtos.— (for God)— Attends Tibiipsi, 24 A. g) Antimetathesis— the repetition of the same word in a sentence, with a different meaning.— dAA' dird Cwijs (life on earth) £is £w)v (life in heaven). — In Gordium 148 C. CHAPTER IV FIGURES OF REDUNDANCY a) Peeiphbasis. Periphrasis in prose — the representation of an idea through deliberate verbal turgescence — goes back to Gorgias at least.1 Isocrates, in his development of the period, gave periphrasis a sanction which the excesses of Gorgias had denied to it. This unnecessary fullness of expression, this "padding" for grand effects, became incorporated into the tradition of the schools. In the rhetoric of the Empire the vanity of the rhetors and the poverty of real themes emphasized the tendency of the times to out-do Attic masters in many of their collective peculiarities. One must not forget that other tendency equally characteristic of the times towards loss of inflection and simpli fication of syntax. This fact accounts for many expressions which, judged from Attic standards, are decidedly pleonastic.2 Thus, of the multitude of examples found in Basil's sermons, a careful review has eliminated many. The uncertain line separating the grammatical from the rhetorical makes any treatment of the figure, at best, subjective. The following are representative examples: — ovk dpapTr/o-eis tov Tpoo-qKovTOs — Hex. 2, 15E. ^ ovk dpapTqcrei'i. — twv rrorapiuiv vSaTwv — Hex. 4, 39 A. Q twv TTOTapmv. — tois iv o-apKl &3o-i — Ps. 7, 103 A. Qtois two-i. — els XJfi-qv %\dere — PB. 29, 127 B. O exeXdeeo-ee. — tois expvo-iv (UTa KaTa tov > 61 (336) — Ad Adolescentes (627) 1 .> 114 (276) 1 In Mamantem (244) — De Jejunio 1 (475) 1 Contra SabelUanos (444) 2 The preponderance of examples found in the Hexaemeron and in some of the homilies on the psalms may be due in part to the demands of the subject-matter in each case treated. Beyond a certain pompousness, the fuUness of expression which this figure affords was a necessary vehicle in voicing fine philo sophical distinctions. Such distinctions abound in the Hexae meron. The above table shows a liking for the figure in exegetical passages. But whether Basil was restrained or FIGURES OP REDUNDANCY 27 generous in his use of it we cannot tell, for we have not the materials for a comparison with his contemporaries on this point and, did we possess statistics of the other Christian orators of the time, their value would be questionable in drawing conclusions because of the highly subjective character of such statistics on periphrasis. b) Pleonasm. A far more tangible evidence of Basil's tendency towards diffuseness is his generous employment of pleonasm — the juxtaposition of synonyms, whether of words, phrases, or clauses. This very rudimentary device had been used by Athenian advocates to concentrate the attention of the juries more clearly upon a desired point. It produced a kind of pause in the development of the thought and emphasized the desired point by the very time consumed in synonymous repetition. Ideas not readily grasped by a single enunciation frequently justified the use of synonyms in all epochs of Greek rhetoric. The growing tendency towards turgescence in the Isocratic tradition explains a third use of this figure. Examples. Cumulative emphasis: — o-wappoiovTa koI to 7rdV 6p6Xoyov «xut6ovos x*Pls> ° dSaTrdvrpros &r)o-avpos . — Ps. 1, 92 C. The first phrase is ampUfied by its synonym: — o? irporepov Sia. to epfiaOvvew Try KaKia Kai Tats aKaOapo-iais Trjs o-apKos eppoXvvecrOai. — Ps. 29, 127B. Synonymous clauses: — oYav rjpeis «ri to Kvpiov dTrofSXerrapev Kai coa-iv fjpwv 01 6(f>9a\p,ol jrpos avroV. — Ps. 32, 141 B. — o-v Se Karexeis tov irapappeovra ko.1 rrepuppdo-o-eis Tas Sie£6Sovs. — In IUud Lucae, 47 D. Time distinction: — ttoiZv elprjvrjv ko.1 elprjvoiroirjo-as. — Ps. 33, 153 E. Exceedingly empty are: — oijt&s 0 elpnvo-n-oios, 6 rroitov elprjvnv — Ps. 33, 148 A. — eKAoy^v toC o-vp•' o-vvicrTrjKev, dAAct Sta to aXmrov Tiva Kai r)8eiav ttjv dir avTov avyr)v ov .rdjTWs rrpbs to iv oyjrei Tepirvbv djro/SAe7rovTos, dAAct Kai wpos ttjv els vcrrepov dw' avrov ixbeXeiav. — Hex. 2, 19 D— E. A prolonged example: — prj yivov KpiT»)s avio-os o-eavTOV, prjSe irpbs Xdpw egeTaCe ' el pev ti 8ok£?s exeiv KaXov, tovto iv ^nj<£y Tide'is, twv Se TTTaio-pdrbiv Iku>v l.riAav#ai>o/_.evos , pijSe i' oh pev o-qpepov KaTopOois peyaXvvopevos, i' ois Se rrpiirfv Kai irdAai KaKaJs elpydo-a), o~vyx<>>p'>]0~iv aeavrui SiSovs ' dAA orav ere to irapbv e-n-aiprj, to TraXaibv els dvdpvrjcriv dyerw, Kai iravcrj; rrjs dvaio-^ijTOv cj>Xeypovrjs De Humilitate, 160E. A fivefold example of the positive-negative variety. — &v, ovxi Trpo els Trpf /JWiAa'av rav ovpavwv. — In Divites, 59 C. b) Epanaphora. As a mechanism of style, epanaphora — the repetition of the same word at the beginning of two or more succeeding cola — makes for emphasis by putting the repeated word first; for clearness, by forecasting the construction of the succeeding colon and thus allowing the mind of the hearer to concentrate the more upon the thought.2 In its artistic repetition, it exercises a certain charm upon the ear. Even with unim portant words like T&re ph>—, tote Se-, the figure has some rhetorical value, and this value increases with the increase i Sihler. Volkmann 2, 466—7. J Rehdantz, 6. FIGURES OF REPETITION 33 of successive repetitions. It is found in literature from Homer down. In this study the repetition of the same word at the beginning of two or more succeeding clauses is called clause epanaphora; of two or more succeeding sentences, sentence epanaphora. The following are noteworthy examples of Basil's use of the figure: — In clause epanaphora the very common ov is not without rhetorical effect, as in the five-fold arsis — ovx w«xovo-i tos ctKods Aoyois deov, ov Aa/x/Sdvovo-iv aicOrjcriv t?js lavraiv (pvcreios, ov XvrovvTai . . . viro Trjs dpaprias- oi Avirovvrai as pvrjprjv T&v apapTuav dcpuivovpei'oi. ov Tpepovcn t^i/ KpiViv. — Ps. 28, 123 A. For a seven fold example with ov consult Ps. 1, 91 C; for a four-fold with . to, Quod Mundanis, 172E; for a five-fold with irreiSrj, In Fam. et Siccit., 66 D. A very artificial example with parison, asyndeton, and paro nomasia. — Xidos eo-Tiv 6 xPvcr°Si XiOos o apyvpos, Xidos 6 pap- yapt-rqs, XiOos tZv Xidutv eKacrTos. — In Divites, 58 E. Epanaphora of two words : — o-v yap p;ovos «reio"as X6ya pfj /3id%eo~9ai X«ipa- (TV pjovos l«T»jcrii) dvo-iao-Trjpiov Segidv o-i) povos Segijit ipXeyopevy Ta tQv SaipAviav ippdmaras irpoo-awra In Barlaam, 141 A. With paronomasia : — o-o<£os wv Sia ttjv oIkcuxv appro1, o-oTepos yeyove Sia Trpi Ik t>}s 8i8ao-KaAias TeXemo-iv. — In Princip. Proverb., 110E. For a like example with polyptoton consult, In Mamantem, 185 C. Of sentence epanaphora, the foUowing contain interesting variations from the usual two-fold or three-fold variety: Ps. 28, 151 D and E, wherein four succeeding sentences begin with the word efra; Quod Mundanis, 163D-E, wherein six succeeding sentences begin with p-nSe. A whole clause is used as epanaphora in the foUowing sentences, already quoted under anadiplosis : — Sos poi Teicva, tva irapaKovo-u> tSv evToXZv o~ov\ Sos poi TeKva, tva p-q s eyewffi-q- Sia. ti Adyos; oti eucuiv tov yewija-avTos oAov Iv eavrtj) Seucvvs tov yewijo-avra . .. — In Princip. erat V., 136 D. An example based on the eleven-fold repetition of ovk occurs in Ps. 114, 204 A-B; a four-fold repetition of aVo in Ps. 45, 176 C; the three-fold repetition of perd in Ps. 48, 179 C; the six-fold repetition of ou in De Jejunio 1, 7E; a four fold repetition of peTa. in In Princip. Proverb., 112C. For further examples consult Hex. 5, 41 A; Ps. 1, 90 B; Ps. 28, 115 C-D; Ps. 44, 163 E; Attende Tibiipsi, 18 A; In XL Martyres, 149 B. Frequency of Repetitive Paronomasia in the Sermons. Hex. 1 (530) 3 De Jejunio 2 (330) 3 „ 2 (507) 2 Attende Tibiipsi (480) 2 „ 3 (565) 5 De Grat. Act. (459) 3 4 (393) 3 In JuUttam (580) 3 „ 5 (570) 5 In Blud Lucae (406) 3 „ 6 (746) 6 In Divites (601) 5 „ 7 (425) 2 In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 2 „ 8 (572) 3 Deus non est auct. (598) 4 9 (507) 1 Ad Iratos (452) 2 Ps. 1 (449) 5 De Invidia (359) 3 38 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES Ps. 7 (541) 5 In Princip. Proverb. (895) 3 >> 14 (372) 5 In Sanct. Baptisma (522) 8 5. 28 (636) 7 In Ebriosos (423) 7 >. 29 (418) 1 De Fide (185) 4 )> 32 (651) 8 In Princip. erat V. (248) 3 ») 33 (963) 4 In Barlaam (141) — ). 44 (687) 2 In Gordium (425) 6 >5 45 (407) 2 In XL Martyres (392) 10 J? 48 (682) 5 De HumiUtate (353) 4 1) 59 (242) 4 Quod Mundanis (633) 1 )J 61 (336) — Ad Adolescentes (627) 3 ). 114 (276) 1 In Mamantem (244) — De Jejunio 1 (475) 3 Contra SabeUianos (444) 1 Of repetitive paronomasia St. BasU is far more sparing than of epanaphora, the one other figure of its kind deserving even moderately the adjective "frequent". 162 examples of repetitive paronomasia are found in the sermons — a total surprisingly small in so vigorous an orator. The cumulative character of many of the examples off-sets this small number to some extent and explains the reader's impression that repetitive parono masia is a constant favorite with St. BasU. The very strength of the figure in St. Basil's hands attracts the attention to its use rather than its neglect, and thus blinds the casual reader to its infrequency. St. Basil certainly does not exhibit Asiatic excessiveness in the repetitious features of his rhetorical heritage. The elaborate length of some of his examples of epanaphora and repetitive paronomasia are an index of his possibiUties in the direction of Asiatic exuberance rather than a general realization of that exuberance. Of antistrophe, anastrophe, kuklos, and climax I had not expected to find many examples. An oration studded with such unnatural gems would be a very flaring product indeed. But the pathetic anadiplosis might well re-appear many times in an unrestrained Asiatic. Its single exemplification here is in harmony with that moderateness which all the Figures of Repetition, each in their peculiar character, exhibit in St. Basil. CHAPTER VI FIGURES OF SOUND a) Paronomasia. Although paronomasia is treated by some authorities as one of the Gorgianic Figures,1 the facts that the Greek rhetoricians do not mention it among the Gorgianic Figures and that it does not receive the enthusiastic treatment in St. Basil that the undoubtedly Gorgianic Figures receive suggest its inclusion among the minor figures of rhetoric. Paronomasia — a figure based on a simUarity in the sounds of words plus a dissimilarity in sense — is produced either by (a) the use of the same root with change of the prefixes or by (b) a word foUowed by its negative or by (c) a change in the voice of the verb or by (d) a word foUowed immediately or at an interval by another word of the same root. Obviously rhetorical design must be clearly established here in each case before a suspected case may be called genuine paronomasia. The following examples illustrate St. Basil's use of the figure : — Sio irpGrrov pev Kapdriiy o~vvexeTai ev Tjj o-vvexei Kivijo"ei Ta (rvvdera. — Hex. 1, 11B. Compare also Ps. 7, 105A; Ps. 28, 116C; Ps. 32, 137E; Ps. 48, 182C; De Fide, 133A. — A, tva peraypaipys els Tr\v dviu. — In Sanct. Baptisma, 120 B. Compare also Hex. 5, 46 C; Ps. 114, 201 C. — eTravioT-a/ievajv dvdio-Tapevos. — De Humilitate, 161 C. Compare also Ps. 29, 127 D; De HumiUtate, 161 D. i BlassII, 66; Robertson, 7; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Epistula ad Ammaeum II. 40 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES _XopeveiS dxopevra. — In Ebriosos, 129 C Compare also Ps. 14, 108B; Ps. 28, 116A; De Jejunio 2, 15C; In Ebriosos, 130 A. Frequency of Paronomasia in the Sermons. Hex. 1 (530) 7 De Jejunio 2 (330) 1 2 (507) 1 Attende Tibiipsi (480) 1 " 3 (565) 4 De Grat. Act. (459) 4 (393) In JuUttam (580) 5 (570) 2 In Illud Lucae (406) 1 „ 6 (746) 2 In Divites (601) 1 7 (425) 3 In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 4 8 (572) Deus^non est auct. (598) „ 9 (507) 1 Advers. Iratos (452) 2 Ps, 1 (449) 1 De Invidia (359) 1 „ 7 (541) 3 In Princip. Proverb. (895) 1 „ 14 (372) 6 In Sanct. Baptisma (522) 4 „ 28 (636) 3 In Ebriosos (423) 3 29 (418) 1 De Fide (185) 4 32 (651) 3 In Princip. erat V. (248) 3 „ 33 (963) In Barlaam (141) 1 44 (687) 1 In Gordium (425) 2 45 (407) 2 In XL Martyres (392) „ 48 (682) 5 De HumiUtate (353) 10 „ 59 (242) Quod Mundanis (633) „ 61 (336) Ad Adolescentes (627) 1 „ 114 (276) 2 In Mamantem (244) De Jejunio- 1 (475) 1 Contra Sabellianos (444) 1 A figure whose form is so readily confused with the mere accidents of inflection must yield numerous and striking in stances to constitute a noteworthy element in an author's style. Eighty-nine examples in forty-six sermons, most of the examples rather common-place, with only one sermon yielding as many as ten examples, with eleven sermons yielding none, make not a remarkable contribution to the style of St. Basil. b) Polyptoton. A form of paronomasia whose rhetorical design is far more patent is polyptoton — a word followed immediately, or after a short interval, by the same word in a different case. The FIGURES OP SOUND 41 formula els tovs alZvas tuv aiuvuv, which concludes most of the sermons, is of course not included here. It is a scriptural idiom and is considered more a formula than a figure. The following examples illustrate St. Basil's use of Polypto ton: — WvTa IV jrdVi pepuxTai — Hex. 1, 8B. Compare also Hex. 3, 26 B; Hex. 8, 78 B; In Princip. Proverb., 109 E. — pla Trjs ptds ^prvvrai — Hex. 8, 77 D. Compare also Hex. 3, 27 B ; In Fam. et Siccit., 68 B. — (partly BibUcal) eWiKaTdpaTos avdpiajros 6 ttjv eAjri'Sa exv imo-vpopxvos eiri6ak- p.ovs, Hex. 2, 12 B. — The only other examples occur in Hex. 1, 7C; 11 B; Hex. 2, 17 D. Nineteen instances of aUiteration and four instances of assonance make a total almost negUgible. But their very rarity in a product of the Second Sophistic is a noteworthy fact. d) Parechesis. Parechesis— a similarity in the sound of words of different roots plus a dissimilarity of sense— may take any one of three forms: (a) words differing in accent or in a single letter; (b) combined in pairs; (c) not in pairs, not even necessarily in the same colon, but the assonance produced evidently de signed. The first two forms are almost bound to be intentional. The third alone calls for scrupulous care.2 Examples. Differing in accent— tovto ipSv Tb apa T^—dpa— Contra Sabel lianos, 195A. J Eobertson, 23-24. FIGURES OP SOUND 43 Differing both in accent and letter— ^eas tov 0eov — Hex. 1, 2D Differing in letter and word-length— o-wySidv avT<3v Kai o-vptpwkv ttoicov— Ps. 32, 133 B. — KaTappvTOS, Sid tjjv dpp-qTov o-oJ/*aTa, tZv kokZv tj dpxq, ¦q twv TToXepxov rnroOeo-is, -q piCa Trjs ex^pas — Ps. 114, 204 A-B. Seven asyndetic clauses containing one group of two asyndeta and one group of eight asyndeta: — &es to o-upa o-eavrov, dcbes Tas o-iopaTiKas alo-OrjO-ets, KaTaXenre ttjv yrjv, KaTaAewre ttjv ddXao-o-av, KaTio o-eavrov iroirjcrov tov depa, rrapdSpape <_>pas, KaipZv evTagias, Tas srepi yrjv SiaKooTiijo-eis " virep tov aWepa yevov- Sidftiqdi tovs darepas, ra irepi avrovs OavpmTa, ttjv evKOo-piav airZv, to, peyedq, Tas yfittas 6a-as irapexovTai TPav v7r6(bopov, ttjv 'Apa/3tav Tracrav, ttjv 4>oiviktjv, ttjv Meo-rjv tZv TrorapZv— Ps. 59, 189 E. Compare also De Fide, 131 E. — Kdv— , k&v — , kov — , kov— , ko.v — . In Sanct. Baptisma, 113 E. Compare also Ps. 32, 134B. Eleven-fold : — eo-Tto o-oi Kai crxrjpa Kai IpaTiov ko.1 /3d8io-pa Kai KaOeSpa Kai Tpo^Tjs KaTaa-Tao-is Kai crTpmpvqs Trapao-Kevq Kai oocos Kai to. iv oiKtj) o-Keurj TrdvTa 7rpds evreAeiav -qo-K-qpeva' ko.1 Adyos Kai <$Sr) Kai r) tov irX-qcriov evrev£is Kai TavVa. — De Humilitate, 161E-162A. Four-fold followed by five-fold: — ceio-pot Te Kai i-nixX-vo-eis koI o-TparoireSav dinoAeiai Kai vavdyuj. Kai rrdcrai voXvdvdpwroi ipOopal ehe he yijs eire iK OaXdo-o-qs etre e£ depos r irvpos rj e£ oroiao-ovv aiTicts — DeUS non est auct., 76 D. 48 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES Eight-fold: — Ai0ois Kai dpay£i Kai xpqpvots Kai o-KOjreAois Kai . 4 n 5 , 6 >, 7 ,, 8 „ 9 Ps. 1 _. 7 „ 14 „ 28 „ 29 „ 32 „ 33 x 44 n 45 » 48 „ 59 » 61 n "4 De Jejunio 1 De Jejunio 2 Attende Tibiipsi De Grat. Act. In Julittam In Illud Lucae In Divites In Fam. et Siccit. Deus non est auct. Advers. Iratos. De Invidia In Princip. Proverb. In Sanct. Baptisma In Ebriosos De Fide In Princip. erat V. In Barlaam (530) (507) (565)(393) (570) (746) (425) (572) (507)(449) (541)(372) (636) (418) (651)(963)(687) (407) (682)(242)(336) (276) (475)(330) (480) (580) (406) (601) (584) (598) (452)(359) (895) (522) (423) (185)(248)(141) 75 927 8 7 8 45 10 56 4 77 76 82 4 4 6 4 6 11 5 855 55 11 3 83 5 FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OP COMPOSITION 49 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 In Gordium (425) 3 4 1 In XL Martyres (392) 6 1 1 De Humilitate (353) 9 6 1 Quod Mundanis (633) 11 10 2 1 Ad Adolescentes (627) 11 5 1 In Mamantem (244) 4 Contra Sabellianos (444) 4 2 A more concise summary of the above table is the following. Each number above the line refers to the degree of multipli city in each case; the number below the line to the frequency of occurrence in the sermons. • 2345679 11 270 143 il- 22 6 3 1 1 Here, as in asyndeton, the tendency to more examples of the less elaborate type is the rule. The most ambitious example is an eleven-fold polysyndeton. The three-fold and two-fold varieties outnumber all the rest combined by a ratio of nearly six to one, while the two-fold alone outnumbers all the rest easily. These statistics show that the tendency toward less multiplex figures is far more pronounced in polysyndeton than in asyndeton. The deUberateness caused by the large accumu lation of conjunctions is less suited to the vigorous delivery of St. Basil than the swiftly-moving asyndeton. This to some extent explains what would otherwise be attributed merely to restraint in rhetorical indulgence. Despite its more ex tensive variation and more extended use, asyndeton outnumbers polysyndeton by only forty-eight examples. St. Basil, due to his sophistic education or to the solemnity inspired by the grandeur of his theme, becomes almost pon derous on occasion. But this is not an abiding characteristic. Vigor of thought and vigor of delivery preclude the elaborately cumulative polysyndeton. St. Basil's numerous but restrained examples arise chiefly from the exigencies of exposition, em ploying a time-proven device in his rhetorical heritage. c) Rhetoeical Questions. The rhetorical question— a form of interrogation put not for information but for effect— in its several uses is an excellent 50 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES index to an author's style. Its generous employment imparts an unmistakable liveliness to an oration. Hatred, compassion, astonishment, indignation, pathos find the rhetorical question an ideal vehicle. In its cumulative form it is a powerful means of emphasis — through the repetition of the same thought from several angles differing but slightly. For glossing over a weak point in an argument, a rapid — fire of questions is an effective weapon. The orator, by an avalanche of bold, challenging questions, gives the illusion of having successfully established a weak point. The single rhetorical question gives a statement more vividness than its simple enunciation. In passages heavy with thought this device holds the hearer's attention by its challenge and stimulates his curiosity by its suggestion. It may also be used in place of a conditional clause. The follow ing are noteworthy examples. An appeal: ti paKpdv drroTp'exeis ttjs dX-qdeias, avSpcarre, dUpoppds o-eaVT$ ttjs d-n-ioXetas IVivowv; — Hex. 2, 15E. Compare also Hex. 7, 68C. A challenge: irewoidas en-i Kvpiov;— Hex. 9, 86 D. Compare also Advers. Iratos, 86 C. Question proposing a subject: — ttoios io-n /JovAei S_Tjyij ttjs dxapio-Tids — ovk en-npen-eis; — Hex. 9, 88 D. — (u ttoo-ovs aTrajAea-e to. dXXoTpia dyaOd; rrou-oi ovap irAovrrjo-avTes iirep- a-rrqXavo-av ttjs Ctjp.ias; — Ps. 14, 112 C. ¦» — to ?rdo-as vv/cras cik^ Tjypv7rvTjo-aTe ; irdcas -qpepas etKTj (Twq6poio-9-qTe; —In Ebriosos, 122E. Compare also Hex. 4, 34A; Hex. 5, 43 D; Hex. 8, 78E; Ps. 45, 174D; In Illud Lucae, 48C; In Sanct. Baptisma, 116 C. Fbequency of Khetoeical Q JESTIONS IN THI Seemons. 1 2 |3 4 5|6 7 8|9 10 n 12 13 14 15 IB Hex. 1 (530) 3 8* „ 2 (507) 6 ill 1 » 3 (565) 7 3 „ 4 (393) 4 1 n 5 (570) 14 2 » 6 (746) 8 3 2 2 1 » 7 (425) 8 1 3 » 8 (572) 6 4 1 » 9 (507) 14 7 Ps. 1 (449) 2 2 1 1 „ 7 (541) 2 _. 14 (372) 17 4 „ 28 (636) 1 1 „ 29 (418) 4 4 „ 32 (651) 6 2 1 1 2 „ 33 (963) 10 2 » 44 (687) 7 » 45 (407) 8 1 „ 48 (682) 4 2 1 2 „ 59 (242) 3 1 „ 61 (336) 2 1 „ 114 (276) 1 1 De Jejunio 1 (475) 4 6 2 2 1 De Jejunio 2 (330) 3 3 2 Attende Tibiipsi (480) 5 1 2 1 1 1 De Grat. Act. (459) 5 4 2 In Julittam (580) 9 3 1 1 In Illud Lucae (406) 10 4 3 1 1 In Divites (601) 21 10 3 1 2 1 1 1 In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 5 3 4 2 1 Dens non est auct. (598) 6 1 1 1 1 Advers. Iratos (452) 13 2 3 1 De Invidia (359) 8 7 3 In Princip. Proverb. (895) 8 1 1 l 4* 52 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIE S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 In Sanct. Baptisma (522) In Ebriosos <&S) De Fide (185) In Princip. erat V. (248) In Barlaam (141) In Gordium (425) In XL Martyres (392) De Humilitate (353) Quod Mundanis (633) Ad Adolescentes (627) In Mamantem (244) Contra Sabellianos (444) A more concise summary of the above table illustrates force fully the tendency toward more examples of the less multiplex type. In the following summary each number above the Une refers to the degree of multiplicity; each number below the line to the frequency of a given type in the sermons. 12345678 16 332 123 43 23 14 The single question and the sets of two successive questions outnumber all the rest by a ratio of nearly five to one, whUe the single question alone outnumbers all the rest easUy. These statistics, as in asyndeton and polysyndeton, show the same tendency towards more examples of the less multiplex kinds. In its cumulative form, St. Basil exhibits traditional restraint in his use of the figure. He shows a desire for emphasis, but not over-emphasis. The one sixteen-fold example is especiaUy prominent in its loneliness. St. Basil resorts to the figure six hundred and fifty -one times in all its forms. It thus becomes a prominent feature of his style and further empha sizes that liveliness in discourse which his use of asyndeton indicates. d) Exclamatio. Scarcely differing in form from the exclamatory rhetorical question and producing the same effect is exclamatio. Examples: — a> ttjs troths imvoias tov SiSao-KdAov! — Ps. 1, 91 B. — & ttjs aromas tZv Adyuv!— In Sanct. Baptisma, 116 C. FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 53 — o-ivTaypa lepov] u> cruvaa-mcrpbs dppayrjs! io Kotvot im-nqSeios ' Kai £vAivov, o evKoAtus Sid ttjs d/xapTias KaTappvTrov/jievos ko.1 vXq yivopevos T kokkos, ov pio~xov Tives tuv rrepl Tas ovopaToiroitas io-xoXaKOTiav irpoo-ayo- pevovar, tovto o-rrepparos e'xei Svvapiv. — Hex. 5, 45 B. — wep r'Aiov, v.rep Tas tuiv dcrrepftjv xopeids TeTip-qp'evos (tis yap t<3v ovpavwv eiKtbv eipqTai tov Oeov tov v^tio-tov, ) wep oiv TavTa Tais Tipais rrpo-qypkvos o dvOpurrros — Ps. 48, 185 A-B. Parenthesis is a phenomenon whose frequent appearance is not to be expected. At its best it is a stylistic mannerism. Fifty-three examples in the forty-six sermons, most of the ex amples short and not followed by hypostrophe, do not make a striking total either in number or quality. These examples may more reasonably be attributed to an absence of finished pre paration than to the cultivation of a device of the older rhetoric. f) Litotes. Litotes — the emphatic affirmation of an idea through negation of its opposite — derives some rhetorical emphasis from the double negative thus arising. Examples:— ovSe els.— Hex. 1, 3 A. Compare also Ps. 114, 199 B; In Sanct. Baptisma, 117 A; In Barlaam, 138 E. — (Sore ovx d.paprqo-eis ttjs dX-q6etas. — Hex. 2, 12 E. Compare also Hex. 9, 83 E; Ps. 59, 190 E; In Princip. erat V, 134 C. — Kai Xpio-TiavaJv Se ttAtj0os ovk dAiyov. — In Gordium, 144E. Com pare also Hex. 8, 79 B; Attende Tibiipsi, 17 C; De Invidia, 95 D. Fbeqdency of Litotes in the Sebmons. Hex. 1 (530) 1 Hex. 6 (746) 6 » 2 (507) 4 » 7 (425) 2 -, 3 (565) 5 » 8 (572) 8 » 4 (393) 1 » 9 (507) 4 „ 5 (570) 1 Ps. 1 (449) 1 Ps. 7 (541) 1 In Divites (601) „ 14 (372) 1 De Invidia (359) „ 28 (636) 1 In Princip. Proverb. (895) „ 29 (418) 1 In Sanct. Baptisma (522) „ 44 (687) 3 In Princip. erat V. (248) „ 59 (242) 1 In Barlaam (141) „ 114 (276) 3 In Gordium (425) De Jejunio 2 (330) 3 De Humilitate (353) Attende Tibiipsi (480) 1 Ad Adolescentes (627) In JuUttam (580) 1 In Mamantem (244) FIGURES OP VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 55 11 4 1 11 31 Seventy-three examples do not constitute litotes a prominent feature of St. Basil's style. His love of pleonasm took another form. When he wished to be emphatic he sought more vigorous modes of expression. There are merely enough examples here to show the influence of rhetoric unconsciously working. g) Ieony and Sarcasm. Of irony and sarcasm there is very little in St. Basil's sermons. This is rather surprising in so vehement a champion of the church. Apparently he preferred direct, open blows to the fine thrusts of covert verbiage. Examples: — 8eiKvvVmo-av -qpiv oi Ta 7rdvTa Seivoi. — Hex. 3, 29 B. (re ferring to certain contemporary scientists). Compare also Ps. 14, 113 A; 113 B. - — ttoAAtj croi X"P'S T'/S (piXoTipias oti ev t pvqpari Keipevos Kai els yrjv SiaXvdeis, dSpos yeyovas Tais Sairdvais Kai peyaXoyb-vxos. — In Divites, 60B-O Compare also In Sanct. Baptisma, 121 D. The only other examples occur in Hex. 8, 71 D; In Fam. et Siccit., 66B-C. The figures which follow grew out of the practical needs of early eloquence. Their more subtle uses were developed in the uncertain struggles of the agora and court-room. Their later use indicates a revival of the form more than the spirit of the figures, as a whole. Elements of clearness, however, which in the earlier periods of rhetoric served only a secondary pur pose, became for certain figures the justification of their later employment. The history of prosopopoiia illustrates such an evolution. 56 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES h) DlAPOBESIS. Diaporesis — an uncertainty, largely feigned, as to where to begin, where to leave off, what to say — is a convention origi nally designed to win the good will of the audience by a saving modesty. It also serves to awaken the audience's attention by pointing out the difficulty and grandeur of the theme to be developed. Its favorite position is therefore in the intro duction to an oration or to some new phase of an oration already partially deUvered. While St. Basil was undoubtedly affected by convention in his use of the figure, there is yet to be discerned in his examples a devout Christian's awe of the splendor of his themes. Examples: — ictttjo-i pov tov Adyov to Oavpa ttjs Siavoids- ti jrp&Tov eimo; rroOev ap£opai ttjs ii-qy-qo-eias ; — Hex. 1, 2E. — tis l£apK«rei XP°V°S navTa ehreiv Kai SirjyqaracrOai tov Texy'iTov to, 6avpaTa.-H.ex. 9, 83 C. — 07Ts dv0pa>7r ISeiv SvvaTov, p.3.XXov SI a>s ovSevi Ttov dAAwv vjrijp£e. — Hex. 1, 2C. Compare also Hex. 2, 15C. — 17 pev tptavq tov TTpoo-Tayparos p.iKpd, pdXXov Se ovSe (fxavq, dXXc poirr) p.6vov ko.1 6pfiq tov OeX-qpaTos. — Hex. 7, 63 C. Compare also Quod Mundanis, 170C. The only other instances of its use occur in Hex. 1, 3D; 7 A; 7D; Hex. 2, 18B; 19 A; 21 A; 22 A; Hex. 6, 60A; Hex. 8, 79A; De Jejunio 1, 3D; Attende Tibiipsi, 24C; In JuUttam, 33 B. j) Pbokataleipsis. Of prokataleipsis — a device for breaking the force of possible objections by anticipating or refuting them — all examples save four were found in the Hexaemeron. Examples: — dAA' oi irapaxapuKTai ttjs dXr)6itas .... ttjv vX-qv c/>ao"i Sid tg.v Aegean/ tovtuv TrapaSTjAovo-^at. — Hex. 2, 13 B. — 7rdvr(i)s Se ovSeis vpS>v ovSe Ttov 7rdvv KaTTjo'KTjjjtevtov tov vovv imo-Kiq^rei Try Sogrj, 6aXpois ow; e7revtt>viio.v aW Sia^Tjo-eTai ¦ Ps. 14 109 A. FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 59 Compare also Hex. 6, 55 C; Ps. 14, 112 C; In Illud Lucae, 49 B; In Divites, 53 A; Deus non est auct., 81 A; In Sanct. Baptisma, 119D. Exegetical: — Ipei- tj /3oij0eid pov ovk Ik ttXovtov, ovSe m o-co/iaTiKWv aopp£yv, ovSe eK Swd/iecos Kai iVxvos iprjs, ovSe iK crvyyeveias dv^panrivTjs, aAA 'H j3oTj0eid pov irapd tov deov. — Ps. 7, 104C. Compare also Ps. 7, 103 E; Ps. 33, 146B-C; 149 A; 149B; Ps. 114, 201 C-D; Quod Mundanis, 171 D-E. In Ecphrasis: — KaAei, cp-qvi, Sqpiovs. wov Se ai poXv/3iSes; ttov Se ai pao-Tiyes; em, Tpoxov KaTaTeiveo-fto, im tov t~6Xov o-Tpe/3Xovar6(D, (pepeo-dia Ta KoAaaTTjpia • Ta dqpia, to 7rvp, to £ios, 6 oravpds, d /366pos evrpe- mieo-Oia. aAAd ydp ota KepSaivei, tp-qo-iv, d.ra£ povov dTroOvr/o-KiDV 6 dXi- Tqpios; — In Gordium, 145 E. Compare also In Fam. et Siccit., 69 A; In Sanct. Baptisma, 122 A-B; In Barlaam, 140 C; In Gordium, 145 D-E; 145E; 146A; 146B-C; 147B; 147 C-D; 147D-148E; In XL Mar tyres, 151 A; 151 B-C; 153B-E; 154A; 156 A. Other interesting examples are the prosopopoiia of fish in Hex. 7, 67A-C; of a dog, Hex. 9, 84 D; of the hearts of St. Basil's auditors in Hex. 9, 86 E; of the musings of a bankrupt father forced to seU one of his children in In Illud Lucae, 46D-47A; of personified procrastination in In Sanct. Baptisma, 118 C-D. Ps. 14 abounds in excellent examples — of a stingy man forging an excuse against giving aid, 108A; of a man oppressed with debts and his prudent counsellor, 109 A-B; of a disillusioned debtor crying out upon the usurer, 109 C; of a hard-pressed man beholding the opulence of others, HOD; the wife of a debt-ridden man states her extravagant needs, 112A. Fbequency of Pbosopopoiia in the Seemons. "3 a a % o tic« o ts a> H m *t3 o ° I M ID '3 oat to tD Hex. 1 (530) Hex. 7 (425) 1 » 2 (507) „ 8 (572) » 3 (565) „ 9 (507) 4 ,, 4 (393) Ps. 1 (449) 1 „ 5 (570) 2 >, 7 (541) 4 , 6 (746) 2 „ 14 (372) 9 60 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES Ps. 28 „ 29 ,, 32 „ 33 „ 44 „ 45 „ 48 „ 59 „ 61 „ 144 De Jejunio 1 De Jejunio 2 Attende Tibiipsi De Grat. Act. In Julittam In Illud Lucae In Divites (636)(418)(651)(963)(687) (407)(682) (242) (336) (276) (475) (330) (480)(459)(580)(406) (601) 22 7 11 In Fam. et Siccit. (584) Deus non est auct. (598) Ad Iratos (452) De Invidia (359) In Princip. Proverb. (895) In Sanct. Baptisma (522) In Ebriosos (423) De Fide (185) In Princip. erat V. (248) In Barlaam (141) In Gordium (425) In XL Martyres (392) De Humilitate (353) Quod Mundanis (633) Ad Adolescentes (627) In Mamantem (244) Contra Sabellianos (444) So artificial a figure needs but a few recurrences to become a marked element in an orator's style. In the sermons the figure occurs one hundred and thirty times. Only ten sermons do not contain instances of its use. Although the exegetical homilies swell the total, more than half the examples are to be found elsewhere. Prosopopoiia, then, is a favorite device with St. Basil in elucidating a complicated question through the give and take of an imaginary debate, in a dramatic re presentation of the passions of the martyrs, in a simple, direct exposition of the scriptural text, occasionally even in bringing forcefully before his audience exemplary habits in irrational beings. The multitude of examples is accounted for by the utility of the figure; the lengthy or dramatic examples, by the tradition and practice of the schools. The sophistic stamp is upon them. The sophistic training is very marked in the panegyrics on the martyrs but, apart from any display of powers sanctioned by the custom of the times, a practical purpose underlay even these instances— the vivid, vigorous por trayal of illustrious example. And this vividness and this viva city attend all the employments of prosopopoiia in St. Basil. FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OP COMPOSITION 61 m) DlALEKTIKON. Akin to the dialogue of prosopopoua is dialektikon— a com bination of question and answer. Like prosopopoiia it lends liveUness to a passage by its form and analyzes the speaker's thought forcefuUy and clearly, even minutely in some cases. At a new turn in a speech it is an efficacious means for com- peUing attention. Examples : — Tis d iLBZv eK tZv Aaydvtov ttjs yijs tovto to vSiop ; tis d erreiyojv ori Ta irpda-(_> ; iroia Tap.eh. oOev irpoepxeTat ; tis d to7tos ! ov IrreiyeTai; 7rti.s Kai TavTa ovk iKAeiirei, KaKeiva ovk aTrompirXa- Tai; Tavra ttjs irptoTTjs eKeivqs (jxovrjs rfiTqrai. — Hex. 4, 35 A. Com pare also Ps. 29, 125 A. — oiSas ti TTOiijo-eis T(£ ttAtjo-iov KaAdv; o o-eavTtji ySovAei 7rap' eTepov yeveo-6ai. oTSas oti rrore io-Ti to kokov; o ovk dv avrds iraOeiv e'Aoio Trap' erepov.— Hex. 9, 83C. Compare also Ps. 7, 99A; Ps. 114, 201 C-D; Deus non est auct., 80 B; In Mamantem, 187 A. — ti ow eiri tovtois; apa eSeXedo-6-q T(3 ttAovtc^; tj tj) irpds tov dSi- kovvto. epov irapeiSev; tj toi/ iK Ttuv SiKao-Toiv ewqp- ¦rqpivov kivSwov igerrXdyq; — In JuUttam, 34 A-B. Compare also Hex. 5, 47D; Ps. 1, 95E; Ps. 28, 115B; Ps. 33, 156C-D; In Julittam, 36 C-D; Deus non est auct., 82 A. Frequency of Dialektikon in the Seemons. Hex. 1 (530) Ps. 33 (963) 8 „ 2 (507) 8 „ 44 (687) 3 „ 3 (565) 7 „ 45 (407) 1 „ 4 (393) 4 „ 48 (682) 2 „ 5 (570) 4 „ 59 (242) 1 „ 6 (746) 4 „ 61 (336) 4 „ 7 (425) 4 „ 114 (276) 4 „ 8 (572) 3 De Jejunio 1 (475) 1 „ 9 (507) 5 De Jejunio 2 (330) 2 Ps. 1 (449) 8 Attende Tibupsi (480) 2 „ 7 (541) 4 De Grat. Act. (459) 4 „ 14 (372) 2 In Julittam (580) 4 „ 28 (636) 6 In Illud Lucae (406) 7 „ 29 (418) 3 In Divites (601) 2 „ 32 (651) 5 In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 1 62 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES Deus non est auct. (598) 10 In Barlaam (141) Ad Iratos (452) 4 In Gordium (425) 1 De Invidia (359) 1 In XL Martyres (392) 3 In Princip. Proverb. (895) 2 De Humilitate (353) 2 In Sanct. Baptisma (522) 1 Quod Mundanis (633) 3 In Ebriosos (423) 1 Ad Adolescentes (627) 2 jje j?jae (185) In Mamantem (244) 6 In Princip. erat V. (248) 4 Contra Sabellianos (444) 5 Somewhat more numerous than prosopopoua, dialektikon serves to re-inforce the functions of the former in its force ful elucidation of involved thought and in the endowment of long passages with a saving sprightUness. When the not too obtrusive character of the figure is considered in connection with the above table, St. Basil's one hundred and fifty-eight recurrences to dialektikon may be styled a consistent and generous, but not an excessive use of the figure even for Western taste. Dialektikon is a marked element of St. BasU's style, but not eccentrically so. n) Hypophoea. Hypophora — the raising of an objection for the sake of im mediate refutation — lends peculiar liveliness to the discourse. The orator's wiUingness to bring up a view opposed to his own gives him an . air of eager confidence that always compels attention. Only two examples were found in the sermons. While abbreviated forms of the figure, they achieve its effects. — ttAtjkttjs; dAA dvTjp. Trdpoivos; aAA -qvcopevos Kara ttjv foiv. Tpa- Xvs Kai 8vo-dpeo-TOs; dAAa peXos t;Stj o-ov Kai /aeAwv to TiputtTaTOV. — Hex. 7, 68 B. — dvrepioTdo-Oioo-av o£ Ta Toiavra erriCTjTovvTes ' rrodev vdo-oi ; irodev al tttj- priio-eis tov o-uparos; ovre yap dyevvqros t) vdo-os ovtc p,qv Sr)pj,ovp- yqpa tov deov, etc. — Deus non est auct., 78 D. o) Pbodioethosis. In the sermons prodiorthosis takes the form of a promise to be brief. Only two examples were found. — dAAd ydp ov AcAtj^I pe oti iroAAoi Texvirai tZv [$avavo-u>v Texvaiv, dya- tttjtSs iK ttjs i' rjpepav Ipyao-ias ttjv Tpo-qv eavrois o-vpnropiCovres, FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 63 jrepieo-TTjKao-iv -qpas, oi tov Adyov ijjLtiv o-vvtI/jvovo-iv, i'va p-q im toXxi ttjs ipyao-ias dcpeXKiDVTai, — Hex. 3, 22 C. — us av Se pr) im TrAeiov xapaKaTexovTes ipas dviZpev, ySpaxea l£ ol KaTeXdfiopev d"8opevov vpiv \jraXpov SiaAex^evTes Kai tuj Adytj) ttjs jrapaKATjo-etos KaTa ttjv irpoo-ovo-av rjpiv Svvapiv Tas ^vx™s vpH>v 8pe- ¦yjravres, erri ttjv tov crtOjiiaTOs IVijueAeiav eTcaorov Sias- tj dvdo-Tao-is Sid tovs Treowras. — In Julittam, 40C-D. Compare also Ps. 33, 144A; In Divites, 53 A. — o-Ko.ri3o-a (3o$.— In Princip. Proverb., 99 E. Compare also Hex. 3, 28 C. — drroedvionev ovv, Tva fyoiopev.— In Sanct. Baptisma, 113 D. The same words in the same sense occur in In XL Martyres, 153 D; the same thought in different words occurs in In Gordium, 148 D. — Kaivdv tovto ttjs dperpias to perpov.— In EbrioSOS, 128 D. MINOR FIGURES ESPECIALLY CHARACTERISTIC ETC. 69 The remaining examples in the sermons occur in Hex. 1, 2 A ; 6C; 8C; Hex. 2, 14 C; Ps. 33, 144 A; Ps. 61, 196C; In Julittam, 33 B; Deus non est auct, 76 B; In Sanct. Baptisma, 113 D; 117 E; In Ebriosos, 127 D; In Barlaam, 139 C; In Gordium, 147 A; 148 D; In XL Martyres, 151 C; 151 C; Quod Mundanis, 172 B-C. A total of thirty-two examples in forty-six sermons, with only four sermons containing as many as three examples and twenty-eight sermons containing no examples, illustrates force fuUy the restraint of St. Basil in a figure dear to the sophists and their Christian contemporaries alike. l But there can be no doubt on the other hand of the high artificiality of the examples found. The scarcity of examples in a field so favorable to paradox as the Christian religion and the unmistakable quality of the examples found indicate a trait in St. Basil's rhetorical manner frequently noted in these pages — the education strongly sophistic breaking through, on occasion, a stronger restraint. e) Hypebbole. Originally hyperpole was a kind of metaphor. The element of exaggeration was a necessary constituent, but basically hyper bole was a spezialized form of implied comparison — the com parison of an object to the same characteristic in another object magnified many times. In the typical hyperbole of the later rhetoric the element of exaggeration obscures the basic metaphor. In its striving for startling effects, the hyperbole takes on a sensational quality closely akin to the contemporary paradox. The bounds of good taste are thus easily over-step ped; the insignificant and commonplace are thus systematically and flaringly inflated in order that the show-artist may have more opportunities for displaying his versatility than the subject- matter itself allows. This does not necessarily imply a conti nual recurrence to the figure throughout the uneven pitch of an oration, although orators so excessive are extant. It refers more to the astounding hyperbolical manner of the sophists on the unimportant phases of themes in themselves exalted enough to permit a measured flight of fancy on occasion. Hermogenes i Meridier, 13; Guignet, 95. 70 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES approves of such exaltation of the insignificant.2 Aristides, Himerius, and Libanius all frequently abuse this figure.3 The panegyrical oration became a favorite occasion, and among the Christian orators4 the extravagant hyperbole appears to have been an established convention of panegyrical sermons. In the panegyrics on the martyrs especially the language of ordinary good taste was insufficient for the enthusiasm of the orator. Examples: — dAA' eVeiSTj tois peylo-TOis opeari Ttji 6yK<$ tov o-toparos irapio-dieTai (likening whales to mountains)— Hex. 7, 68 E. — ySowoi Tives o-dpKivoi (likening elephants to hills of flesh). — Hex. 9, 86 A. — cnjpepov eavTovs ttj peOy KaTaySaTTTtcrtupev (Since a five days fast has been proclaimed, let us drown ourselves in drink). — De Jejunio 2, 12 D. — efe veKpds dKods ("dead" ears used here for "drunken" ears)— In Ebriosos, 124 A. — ovxi Se pt£ei b ovpavbs dvioOev; ov o-va-KOrdo-ei Se err' epol to. ao-rpa; tj yrj Se pe Tjjroo-TTjo-eTai d'Aws (will not the heavens above shudder etc. i. e. if I betray my god.). — In Gordium, 148 A. Com pare also In Ebriosos, 123 C. The remaining examples in the sermons occur in Hex. 1, 2 D ; Hex. 2, 12 A; Hex. 8, 79 B; In Illud Lucae, 45 A; In Divites 55 C; In Gordium, 143 E; 147 A; In XL Martyres, 149 C. There are only sixteen hyperboles in the sermons, and of these three only approach startling disproportion. While the element of exaggeration is always pronounced, it is due rather to a vigorous orator seeking vigorous expression than a show- artist seeking an opportunity. In no instance are the insigni ficant aspects of a subject dragged forth for a wanton display of virtuosity. Every hyperbole is inspired by something large and important in St. Basil's eyes. The size of elephants, the excess of drunkards, the indifference of drunkards to the word of God, the utter repugnance of the very thought of denying God (In Gordium, 148 A), the excesses of gluttony (In Illud Lucae, 45 A), the insatiableness of an extravagant wife (In 2 Ilepl ISeuv 396, 5. J Aristides I, XII 203, 210; Himerius II, 408; XXIII, 772 ; Libanius 1, 542. * Meridier 29—30; Delahaye, 207. MINOR FIGURES ESPECIALLY CHARACTERISTIC ETC. 71 Divites, 55 C), the prowess of the Forty Martyrs (In XL Mar tyres, 149 C)— are subjects calling forth Basil's admiration or indignation, and in his desire to be emphatic he becomes picturesque. The panegyric on Gordius bears unmistakable traces of the abandoned extravagance of the schools, wherein the very thought of renouncing God is so repulsive to the Martyr that St. Basil makes him cry out (In Gordium, 148 A). "Will not the heavens above shudder; will not the stars grow dim on my account, will the earth, finally, support me" (i. e. if I betray my god). An approach to the foregoing in the sophistic manner occurs in In Ebriosos, 123 C where, in utter disgust at the conduct of women attending the festival that called forth his address, he cries out, "They defiled the air with their adulterous songs; they defiled the earth with their adulterous feet". But even in these instances much is to be accounted for by the importance of the subject-matter in St. Basil's eyes. In In Gordium 148 E the orator's enthusiasm at the conclusion of his dramatic ecphrasis on the death of Gordius sweeps him into the foUowing extravagance on the uproar of the people witnessing the martyrdom, "What clap of thunder ever sent forth so great a sound from the clouds as then from those below went up to heaven !" This outburst, while not so imagi native as some others, is nevertheless the best instance of the genuinely sophistic manner in that the subject itself is insigni ficant. The shout of the people, of itself not important, is a detail contributing powerfully to the dramatic recital preceding. It belongs to an ecphrasis, wherein sophistic peculiarities, from the nature of ecphrasis, have fullest play. In ecphrasis, then, alone and in only one ecphrasis of the several to be found in his sermons5 is St. Basil's mildness in hyperboles completely swept aside. Even here vehemence and not mere display is the main-spring of the figure, vehemence in driving home with a dramatic punch the edifying martyrdom of Gordius. Sixteen instances, with only one of these strongly sophistic, with only two mildly so, when considered in connection with the fact that four panegyrics are included among the sermons and countless other opportunities for the indulgence of the « Cf. ch. 13. 72 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES figure, argue a marked restraint in number, especially when compared to St. Gregory Nazianzus,6 and in quality, when compared with St. Chrysostom 7 and St. Gregory of Nyssa 8. f) Antonomasia. Antonomasia — the designation of a person or thing by one of his or its qualities or archievments — is 'considered by some rhetors9 a subdivision of synechdoche. Since one's quaUties or achievments generally call for more words than are con tained in one's name, antonomasia could be discussed as one of those periphrastic forms in this study treated under the head of Figures of Redundancy. But since this device became an almost universally observed convention in the extravagant rhetoric of the Empire, its consideration in this chapter apart from either of the above groups is justified. A striking proof of the prevalence of antonomasia in the literary work of the time is the fact that Eusebius, in his Life of Constantine, avoids the name of Arius, Bishop Alexander, and four Roman emperors in a manner not to be explained except on the ground of scrupulous adherence to this eccentric habit of the later rhetoric.10 Examples:Cumulative: — !dv TavTa pddmpev — tov KTiVavra Trpoo-Kvvrjo-opev, ra AeoTroTTj SovAevo-opev, tov IlaTepa So^dcropev, tov Tpoipea -qpuiv dya- rr-qo-opev, tov evepykrqv alSeo-d-qaropeda, tov dpxqybv ttjs iinqs -qpwv ttjs rrapovo-qs Kai ttjs peXXovo-qs rrpoo-KWOvvres ovk diroX-q^opev, tov Si' ov rrapioxeTO tJStj ttAovtou ko.1 to, iv irrayyeXiais morovpevov koi ttj rre'ipa twv TrapdvTiov fieftaiovvra Tjpiv to. TTpooSoKiopeva. — Hex. 6, 50 D. Prerogatives of God:— tov ktiWvtos. — Hex. 6, 51 E. — d "Yf icttos— Hex. 6, 61 D. —tov Se tov xpbvov ttoitjttjv— In Princip. erat. V., 136 A. — tov dATj#ii/dv /3ao-iAea — In XL Martyres, 153 D. — d KpiTqs ttjs dv8piamvqs Ciorjs — Quod Mundanis., 173 B. Antonomasia followed by antonomasia:— tov wrep fjpuv KaTamtXai- o-avros tov to Kpdros e'xovTa tov ^avctTov. — Ps. 29 126 D. s Guignet, 244. 7 Ameringer, 39 — 40. s Meridier, 158—161. 9 Trypho, Spengel III, 204; Oharis, ibid. 273. m Delahaye 208—209. MINOR FIGURES ESPECIALLY CHARACTERISTIC ETC. 73 Names of Satan:— d Svo-pevTjs— Quod Mundanis, 171 E. — d woXepios. — Quod Mundanis, 172 A. A martyr:— tov ddX-qrqv.— Quod Mundanis, 172 A. Name of City:— drrb ttjs TrdAetus tovttjs, 6'0ev Kai paAAov airbv dya- iriopev, Sion o'tKeios r)pw b Koorpos icniv — In Gordium, 143 B. Name of ruler: — d totc i-vpavi/os— In Gordium, 143 D. The Church: — r koivtj pqrqp — Quod Mundanis, 170 B. Frequency of Antonomasia in the Sermons. Hex . 1 (530) 26 De Jejunio 2 (330) 3 )1 2 (507) 16 Attende Tibiipsi (480) 17 11 3 (565) 28 De Grat. Act. (459) 8 11 4 (393) 9 In JuUttam (580) 35 )) 5 (570) 6 In Illud Lucae (406) 10 11 6 (746) 42 In Divites (601) 18 11 7 (425) 5 In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 12 11 8 (572) 14 Deus non est auct. (598) 13 11 9 (507) 23 Ad Iratos (452) 12 Ps. 1 (449) 8 De Invidia (359) 11 .. 7 (541) 10 In Princip. Proverb. (895) 8 » 14 (372) 5 In Sanct. Baptisma (522) 15 .. 28 (636) 13 In Ebriosos (423) 5 » 29 (418) 12 De Fide (185) 18 » 32 (651) 16 In Princip. erat V. (248) 14 ?J 33 (963) 14 In Barlaam (141) 8 » 44 (687) 14 In Gordium (425) 24 ?> 45 (407) 14 In XL Martyres (392) 10 » 48 (682) 27 De Humilitate (353) 6 .. 59 (242) 4 Quod Mundanis (633) 44 .> 61 (336) 11 Ad Adolescentes (627) 2 ). 114 (276) 9 In Mamantem (244) 10 De Jejunio 1 (475) 10 Contra Sabellianos (444) 2 Varying with the individual sermon, St. Basil resorts to an tonomasia throughout his homilies. 641 examples in 569 half- pages of Benedictine text seem excessive to Western taste, but judged from the standards of the Fourth Century, this total is not remarkable. A glance at the table, however, shows St. Basil at times generous and at times very sparing of antonomasia. 74 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES Hex. 3, Hex. 6, In Jullittam, De Fide, In Princip. erat V., In Barlaam, Quod Mundanis contain a wealth of examples that measure up to sophistic notions of a proper frequency. The moderate use of antonomasia in most of the sermons, the very frequent recurrence to it in a few sermons suggest that here again that restraint which generally characterizes St. Basil's use of the Minor Figures of Rhetoric is subject to an occa sional relapse into the manner of his contemporaries. g) Antimetathesis. Antimetathesis — the repetition within a sentence of the same word with a different meaning — is a species of verbal jugglery- dear to the heart of the Asiatic sophist. The first sentence of the Hexaemeron furnishes a mild example: — irpewovo-a dpxTj (beginning of speech) — dpxTjv (beginning of creation). Noteworthy examples are: — KpeQv ovk io-6leis (meat you do not eat) dAA' !o-0ieis tov dSeX(j>6v (but you eat your brother, i. e. you persecute him.). — De Jejunio I, 9B. — ov iK ttjs yaorpds (womb) Trpoijyaye, irdAiv ttj yacrTpl (stomach) kokcus mro8e£ao-6ai. — In Fam. et Siccit., 70 A. — Idv ydp p-qSerroTe emvvo-Tdgr/s tois oiafiv etos et iv Tai ySt'ij) tovt — Kai ttjv Trapd tov UvevpaTos crwepyeiav Atj^hj — Kai irpaeiais avpaxs Kai etpTjviKafs do- SiaAvfleis. — Hex. 5, 41 E. FIGURES AND DEVICES OP THE SECOND SOPHISTIC 77 b) Perfect Parison — successive cola whose structural similarity extends to an exact correspondence in the position of words. — oibv xa^KevrLKri l^v 7re/0' Tdv o-iS-qpov, TeKTOviKi) Se Trepi Ta £vAa. — Hex. 2, 13 D. c) Parison — successive cola having the same general structure. — ds tov dyKOv ttjs TvpavvtSos pio-Tjo-as, Kai 7rpds to Taireivdv tu!v bpoipvXiov dvaSpapiov. — Hex. 1, 2 B. d) Chiastic Parison — similarity in the general structure of the succeeding cola varied by a chiastic arrange ment of the final words. — Kai dvdpaTi pev dpoAoyovvres Yidv, epya> Se Kai dX-qdeia. ttjv virap^iv dOeTovvTes. — Contra Sabellianos, 190 A. e) Homoioteleuton (Paromoion) — a parison whose cola end in similar sounds. — tos Iprjptds ouciCei, Tds dyopd? o-uxppov&ei. — Ps. 1, 91 A. f) (a) Antithesis — parison plus an opposition of thought between the COla. — vvv pev vtyovpevq Si' dAafoveiav, vvv Se Taireivovpevq Sid AvVas Kai a"vo"ToAds. — Ps. 7, 104E. (b) Chiastic Antithesis — successive cola antithetical in thought and containing a chiasmus somewhere in the corresponding succession of words. — to pev AeirTov Kai 8ir]9ovpevov em Ta dvia Suevra, to Se mxyyraTOV kox yeaSSes iva(f>ievra tois KaTio. — Hex, 3, 28 D. g) (a) Chiasmus — two or more successive cola wherein the succession of words in the first colon is re versed in the second and the succession of words in the second is reversed in the third, etc. — d veos ttjv TjAiKiav, Kai Tas (pp'evas veioTepos. — De Humili tate, 157 C. (b) Antithetical Chiasmus— a chiasmus whose corre sponding parts are opposed in thought.— prproTe SiKaiioOels ttj o-eavrov t/oj<£u, ttj tov Oeov KaraKpiOys. — De Humilitate, 160 C. h) Sentence Parison — two or more successive sentences whose corresponding clauses are of similar structure. dAAtas ydp 8iaTt'(9eTai peiovpevqs avTTjs, Kai dAAcos av£o- pevqs Ta o-dpara. — Hex. 6, 60 E. i) Parallelism — two or more successive sentences in which one or more but not all the corresponding 78 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIE S clauses are of similar structure. — Kav9-qn> b ttovs iva Sitjvekus peT' dyyeAtov x°P£vVi drroppxyrfrio tj xe'i° tva *XV Trappqo-iav 7rpd$ tov Aeo-TTOT-qv iiraipeo-9ai. — In XL Mar tyres, 153 C. 2. Metaphor and its Subdivisions here include the metaphor under its various aspects and characteristics. The di vision given below is necessary in any study that beyond the mere compilation of totals looks for sophistic influence in the several forms that metaphor may assume. a) Prolonged Metaphor — the elaborate, prolonged deve lopment, clause on clause, sentence on sentence, of an implied comparison between two objects. — "A river is our life, ever-flowing and filled with waves one upon another. One has already flowed by, another is stiU passing, another has just emerged from its sources, another is about to do so, and aU of us hasten to the common sea of death"— Quod Mundanis, 172 E. b) Metaphor — one object is likened to another object by asserting it to be that other object, the com- paritive words being omitted. It is the shorter, more usual form of metaphor. — "Men who thus write spin a spider's web." — Hex. 1, 3B. c) Redundant Metaphor — the presentation of the same aspect of an object under many metaphors based on varied provinces of thought and experience. — "A piteous sight it was for the just to see that soldier become a runaway, that most valiant man a captive, that lamb of Christ snatched off by the wolf." — In XL Martyres, 154 C. 3. The Comparison, like the metaphor, is divided for pur poses of demonstrating the extent of sophistic influence into the subdivisions which follow. a) Short Comparison— a property, or properties, of one object is formally attributed to another object. It is a metaphor completed by a grammatical form.— "For just as a shadow clings to the body, so does sin cling to our souls."— In Divites, 58 0. FIGURES AND DEVICES OF THE SECOND SOPHISTIC 79 b) Long Comparison — an elaborate, detailed instance of the foregoing. — "For just as the goal of the road is different (i. e. for travellers) but their dweUing together arises as an accident of their journeys, so for those united in marriage or in any other com munion of this life, the end of their lives is clearly pre-ordained for them, and this pre-ordained end of their lives necessarily separates and makes to part those thus joined." — In Julittam, 38 D-E. c) Redundant Comparison — the heaping up of com parisons about one central theme. — "What the foun dation is to the house and the keel to the ship and the heart to the body of an animal, this short pre face is to the general purport of the psalms." — Ps. 1, 91 E. 4. Ecphrasis — a word-picture. For example compare page 146. CHAPTER X GORGIANIC FIGURES AND ALLIED DEVICES OF PARALLELISM Parison, paromoion, and antithesis 1 are called Gorgianic figures because of some connection, not precisely defined by the ancients, with the Sicilian sophist, Gorgias of Leontini. Of these antithesis at least existed in Greek prose before Gorgias, time and under influences non-SiciUan — in the works of the Ionian philosopher Heraclitus 2. But Gorgias introduced these figures to Fifth- century Athens and Fifth-century Athens be came the centre of intellectual Greece. For Greek Uterature, therefore, Gorgias may be considered their inventor, for he first used them extensively in prose purposely artistic. His excessive use of these figures became a precept to his fellows and followers as to what to avoid, but the Gorgianic figures, with him and after him, became the basic instruction of all technical training which had for its object the production of artistic prose. When rhetoric became confined to the school-room after Alexander's exploits, the Gorgianic figures, of course, passed from the field of political action. In the first century of the Empire these figures lost their ancient prestige, but in the Attic triumph of the second century they returned to their old preeminence. 3 In the ancient treatises of rhetoric the Gorgianic figures always receive the most attention. Their professed pur pose to reduce the idea and its expression to a regular design appealed to the beauty-loving Greek; made them the foremost i Paronomasia, usually considered a Gorgianic figure , has been treated under the Figures of Sound, cf. page 39. 2 Robertson, 8. 3 Hermogenes, II 437; Diodorus XII, 53; Philostratus, Epist. 364. GORGIANIC FIGURES ETC. 81 devices for artistic expression in all periods of rhetoric at Athens, and therefore especially cherished of the Second Sophi stic. All three achieve their effects by producing symmetry and parallelism: parison, by a parallelism in structure; paromoion, by a parallelism of structure and sound; antithesis, by a parallel ism of structure and sense. Temperament and predilection easily account for the varying popularity of other figures with disciples of the sophistic schools. A marked indifference to the Gorgianic figures in such disciples would be inexplicable on grounds at all creditable. a) Isocolon. Isocolon— a succession of cola of equal length, the syllable and not the letter being taken as the basis of measurement— from the nature of the case logically precedes the Gorgianic figures. Parison and its refinements and variations are but isocola where in the parallelism is extended from mere length to structure and sound and sense. In studies of the Attic Orators, iso colon as a distinct figure is often avoided as "an unnecessary refinement of terminology". Only two Greek rhetoricians define it4 and they apparently disagree, but an example cited by Demetrius and the name of the figure itself indicate that it has to do with equality of cola. Such a parallelism in Attic prose-writers may be largely the result of chance. It is rare at all events.5 Although this stricture obviously applies to examples of isocolon in the Second Sophistic orators, the results attained by Guignet,6 particularly in connection with paren thesis, and the obvious abuse of the figure by some of the sophists, as Dion of Prusa, lead us to look sharply for similar manifestations in St. Basil. 166 examples of successive, equi-syllabled cola were found— an insignificant total if every instance found were free from the limitations noted above, and we must not forget the element of chance. No examples interrupted by parenthesis were found. Unusual types that may have some rhetorical design are: — d>S ydp TJ dpXTJ TTJS * Anon, in, 155; Demetrius, III, 267. s Robertson, 16. 6 108 ff. 82 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES Kai tj dpxq ttjs oIkuxs ovk otKta, ovTft) Kai r; tov XP°V0V aPXh °w™ XP°V0$> dAA' ov8£ pepos avTov to eXdxurrov. — Hex. 1, 7 A. Compare also Ps. 32, 134 A. — Kai TOTe dp£dpevov, ko.1 pexpi vvv ivepyovv, koX els tcAos Se£idv. — Hex. 9, 81 A. Compare also Ps. 59, 190 Bi De Fide, 133 B-C; In Gordium, 146E-147A. — dAAoi voctovvtcs Kai dXXoi exnra8ovvTes, dXXoi iv ydpois ko.1 dAAoi Iv Trevferiv. — Ps. 59, 190 C-D. Compare also De Jejunio 1, 6C; In Barlaam, 140 D. Neither the number nor the quality of isocola found in the sermons are significant save in showing that the figure is not a characteristic of St. Basil's style. b) Parison. Parison — two or more successive cola having the same general structure — is the first of the Gorgianic figures. It may also be isocolon and frequently is such in St. BasU, but its chief purpose is the organization of successive cola in such a way that their elements correspond in structure and sequence. Parison is to be found, with varying popularity, in aU the orators and rhetoricians from Gorgias' time down. We have seen its importance in the schools of the Second Sophistic. Among the eminent sophists Himerius was distinguished for his extensive and refined use of parison. With Themistius and Libanius parison was a favorite device.7. An excessive use of perfect parison — wherein the correspon dence in structure is exact — unmistakably gives monotony to a passage. The sophists found several ways of avoiding this. By leaving out a word here and there, by the insertion of an occasional chiasmus in the word-sequence, by a chiastic arran gement of the clause elements as a whole, the effect produced by parallelism of structure was still maintained, while the variations allowed a greater indulgence in the figure than would other wise be possible. Hermogenes 8 praises Demosthenes for thus ' Meridier, 34—35. 8 II, 332—335. GORGIANIC FIGURES ETC. 83 avoiding monotony, but with Demosthenes monotony was not so formidable a problem as it became for the sophists of the Second Sophistic, precisely because of the excessive use of highly- wrought parisa in that epoch. Besides examples of exact structural corre spondence, consequently, we have also to look for those varia tions which a weU-trained orator of the Fourth century must have at his command to follow the fashion of the time in his indulgence of parison and to avoid the inevitable monotony of such indulgence unvaried. In my investigation, therefore, 1 have separated the parisa into groups corresponding to the structure employed. Where the parallelism applies to successive sentences or to successions of two clauses and not to successive clauses, I have prefixed the epithet "sentence". My treatment of parison, thus divides into the following well-marked groups: 1. Perfect Parison — two or more successive clauses whose structural similarity extends to an exact correspondence in words, save for a particle, article, conjunction, or in troductory word whose intrusion is lost in the general perfection of the periods. 2. Parison — two or more successive clauses having the same general structure. 3. Chiastic Parison — parison varied by a chiastic arran gement, usually of the final words. 4. Sentence Parison — two or more successive complex or compound sentences having the same general structure. The number of perfect parison and the variations from it found wUl be an index to St. Basil's ingenuity in avoiding monotony. Perfect Paeison (examples). Followed by less perfect parison: — — (is ydp tj dpx'J T^s dSov ovttu) bSos, KOJ, TJ dpXTJ TTJS OIKIOIS OVK OlKlO, OVTOl Kai TJ TOV XP°V0V dpXV OVTTO) XP0V0<> dAA' ovSe- plpos avTov 7o eXdXio-Tov.— Hex. 1, 7 A. Compare also Ps. 32, 137 E; De Humilitate, 156 D. Monotonous regularity: — — dAA' 17 pev yrj £ijpd Kai TJrvxpd, to Se vSiap vypbv Kai i/rvxpdv, 84 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES d Se d-qp 9eppbs Kai vypos, to Se rzvp Oeppbv ko.1 %-qpbv. — Hex. 4, 38 A. Obvious effort at correspondence: — — irov, ¦q Se o.v6puyjros (fxavfj o-qpavTiK-q io~Ti tov Cioov. — Hex. 4, 37 D. Compare also in JuUttam, 37 B; In Princip. Proverb., 99 B; In Gordium, 144 A. Series with a variant: — — evo-Ta#ijs pev ydp d fSovs, vo>9r)s Se b dvos. 9eppbs Se b tWos Trpds imdvpiav tov 0-qXeios, aTi6do>vq. — Ps. 1, 91 A. Compare also Advers. Iratos, 85 C; In Princip. Proverb., 105 E; In Sanct. Baptisma, 120 C. Simple: — — votjctov ttjv Svvapiv tov pqrov koI Oavpdo-eis ttjv (piXavdpwTriav tov vopoOerov. Ps. 14 112 E. Compare also Attende Tibiipsi, 23 E; In Sanct. Baptisma, 121 C; In Ebriosos, 128 B; In Gordium, 145 D. With epanaphora and asyndeton: — — em tov o-ravpbv b dTra9ris' em tov OdvaTov tj Icotj- eVi t6v £8tjv to ws.— In Julittam, 40 D. Compare also In Divites, 59 A; In Ebriosos, 122 E; In Princip. Proverb., 136 E; In Gordium, 145 E; In Mamantem, I86 0. With assonance: — — Kai iravTaxov irdpeo-Ti, ko.1 ovSapov mpiexerai.— De Fide, 133 E. With Isocolon: — — KapS'ia yap mcrrevopev els SiKaiocrvvrjv, GORGIANIC FIGURES ETC. 85 o-rdpaTi Se bpoXoyovpev etS o-uTTjptav — In Gordium, 147 D. Com pare also Advers. Iratos, 86 B; In Gordium, 148 C. Parison (examples). With Isocola: — — ov veoTTjs eAeeivTj, ov yrjpas alSeo-ipov rv. — In Gordium, 143 E. Compare also In Divites, 58 E; De Fide, 131 D. With epanaphora: — Kat Trpds a 7rparra TV7rovTai Kai Trpds TavTa o-xqpanCeTou. — De Humilitate, 161 E. Compare also Ps. 14, HID; Ps. 32, 138A; Ps. 33, 149 E. Clauses differing by only one word: — — dpyiav drroSuaKei, bridvpias dT07rovs KoAdCei. — In Princip. Proverb., HOD. Compare also Hex. 2, 19 C; Hex. 3, 28 C; Hex. 5, 46 C; In Fam. et Siccit., 65 B; Deus non est auct., 76 B. — oti oo"ov d e£u)#ev dv9ptoTros Sia9eipeTai, toctovtov b eo-io9ev dvaKaivovrai- — De Jejunio 1, 8 B. Com pare also Hex. 5, 41 C; Hex. 6, 55 A. Introductory word omitted in the second clause: — lv Stj tois toiovtois Adyois iroAv pev TO dvOTJTOV, • TroAAairAao-tov Se to dcre/Jes. — Hex. 6, 56 C. Compare also Ps. 33, 154 C; Contra Sabellianos, I96 0. Only the skeleton of the first clause maintained in the foUo wing clauses: — — ittttov pev ydp iirrrov iroieirai SiaSoxov, Kai AeovTa AIovtos, Kai demv derov. — Hex. 9, 81 B. Compare also In Princip. Proverb., 108 B; In Mamantem, 186 B. Variation in the position of the article. — — ov crio(ppoo~6v7]s to o"ep,vov; ov to ttjs (ppovqareios TeAeiov. — Ps. 1, 91 B. Chiastic Parison (peefect) (examples). — on, dXXo pev ti tov (fxarbs tj Xaprrporqs, dAAo Se ti to viroKeipevov Tip (purl o-Zpa. — Hex. 6, 51 E. Com pare also Hex. 8, 75 E; Ps. 33, 154 C; Contra Sabelhanos, 196C. 86 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES — irao-av Se (piXoveiKiav o-iS-qpip Kpiveiv (rvvei9io-pevoi, Kai atpaTi Tas pdxas Aveiv SeSiSaypevoi. — Ps. 7, 102E. Com pare also Hex. 5, 47 D; Ps. 32, 134E; De Jejunio 1, 5 A; In Sanct. Baptisma, 121 B. Two-fold variety. — — ovSeis Tpavpara Tpavpan Oepa-Trevei, ovSe KaKto to kokov iaTai ovSe ireviav tokois imxvopdovrai. — Ps. 14, 110 C. Compare also In Gordium, 144 A. Chiastic Paeison (examples). — ijpiv twv elp-qpevov piir6bv ko.1 vpiv Kapirbv (Sv TjKovo-aTe — Ps. 1, 97 C. Compare also Hex. 4, 38 A; Ps. 1, 97 B. — tjv tj Segid xapH>er0Lt T0^ "Y^iorou • tjs Kai d paKapios AaySiS iirrfrdero — Ps. 44, 159 D. Compare also Ps. 33, 148 E; De Jejunio 2, 11 A. Sentence Paeison (examples). (1) Perfect. — (pevyovres pev ttjv apapriav, mo-rrep to. dXoya (pevyei tZv fipiapaTiov rd SrjXrjTqpia ' SihiKOvres Se ttjv SiKaioo-vvTjv , uiOTrep Ka'Keiva peTaSittwcei ttjs irdas to Tpotpipiov. —Attende Tibiipsi, 17 E. Compare also Ps. 1, 95 D. — oti ovk dirWave to rraiSiov, dAA' d.re8d#Tj' ovSe d7reTeAevTTjo-ev d rrXmTrjpi euro Aipevcov KaTexeiv to o-Ka(pos, tovs e« tcuv 7rvevpaT(ov kivSvvovs irpovpiopevia e£eori Se t$ d8oi7rdp Tr6ppu>9ev eKKXiveiv Tas fiXdfias, eK ttjs o-TvyvoTTjTos tov depos ttjv peTa/3oATjv dvapevovTi. —Hex. 6, 53E. Compare also Ps. 59, 190 C. — oidv, Ka0evSeis Kai d xpdvos (re 7rapaTpexei; eyp-qyopas Kai do"xoAos e? ttjv Sidvoiav; — Ps. 1, 94 C. GORGIANIC FIGURES ETC. 87 — o pev, el koivwvikos Kai iXdSeX(pos • d Se, el evxdpio-Tos Kai pTj TowavTiov /3Xdo-(p-qpos. — In Fam. et Siccit., 67 A. Compare also Advers. Iratos, 86 E. — ei pev ydp dyevvrjTov, rTaTTjp' ei Se yevvTjrdv, Yids' ei Se pqS' erepov tovtwv, KTio-pa. — Contra Sabellianos, 194 D. Compare also Ps. 7, 104 D. (3) Chiastic. The only examples found were: — — oTav epirXqo-drj, irepl eyKpaTet'as poveis ] — In Divites, 55 B. — j5et ydp d xP°voh Ka' 0UK eKSexeTai tov /JpaSvvovTa ¦ erreiyovTai al rjpepai, tov OKvqpbv TrapaTpe\ovo-iv. — In Fam. et. Siccit., 70 C. Postponing a conclusion on this section to the end of the chapter, where the results obtained here will gain more significance from a comparison with the results of other sections, I may only note in passing that in a figure so fundamental to the art of rhetoric, 997 examples of aU kinds of parison certainly constitute a m0derate use of the figure in so broad an expanse of text, s C) HOMOIOTELEUTON (PAROMOION). Homoioteleuton — wherein the symmetry of cola structurally corresponding is further emphasized by similarity of sound in the concluding word or words of each — was a device challen ging the ingenuity of sophists and therefore dear to them as a means of display. In the search for symmetry it follows natur ally from parison. When used to excess, it gives to a passage a character highly poetic. In all figures of sound rhetorical design must be very evident. The more numerous and more closely concentual the concluding syllables are, the greater is the probabiUty of design As a rule I did not look for rhetorical design unless the concluding words of corresponding clauses » cf. table on p. 93 f 88 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES showed a correspondence in accent and a correspondence in sound in the last syllable at least. Examples.Isocolon: — — h TV XP°V

dya9ip tj d(p6ovia, ovnos aKoXov9ei Tip Sia/JdAtu -q f3ao-Kavia. — De Invidia, 91 B. Compare also Ps. 1, 93 E. Correspondence in only the final syllable, but evidently designed : — tov Stao-KeSdCovTa ySovAds idvQv, Kai d9eTovvra Xoyio-povs Xatav. — Ps. 32, 138 E. 49 examples in 46 sermons, with 24 sermons containing no assured examples and only five sermons containing more than two examples, argue an acquaintance and an occasional use of the figure on St. Basil's part, but no predUection for it. This exhibition of restraint is in harmony with what I observed about his use of the Figures of Sound. 10 (d) Antithesis. Antithetical structure is so inherent in the Greek language that in the search for antithesis— i. e. a parison formulating an opposition of ideas — circumspection is needed in detecting rhetorical design. Antithesis, we have seen, antedates Gorgias in Greek literature. Aristotle " calls attention to the efficacy. of the figure for the clear presentation of ideas through the juxtaposition of opposed parts. Its architectural beauty, its very utility gave it a vogue in Attic Greece beyond the Athenian's natural bent for its undesigned employment. We look for its excessive use in the Second Sophistic not alone because of its to cf. p. 43. " Rhet. Ill, 9. GORGIANIC FIGURES ETC. 89 Attic stamp but because of that peculiar penchant of the later sophist for antithetical display so forcefully illustrated by his abuse of oxymoron. And in point of fact it is so employed. Polemo, Dion of Prusa, Himerius, Libanius alike use and abuse antithesis. The antithesis, both in the earUer prose12 and in the Se cond Sophistic, is liable to one misuse especially. Ideas anti thetically expressed sometimes do not belong to that rigid cast, but the orator, in his love for the figure, diffuses the thought through unnecessary words to achieve a verbal balancing. This obviously results in a loss of conciseness. Again the orator, in his search for impeccable symmetry, may estabUsh a struc tural opposition between the words which is not justified by their meanings. The concerns of Christianity contain much that readily lends itself to antithetical presentation— the antitheses between things as they are and things as they should be. The paradoxes of the Faith furnish materials that could accentuate in a Christian orator sophistically trained the sophistic predilection for anti thesis. St. Gregory of Nazianzus, 13 St. Gregory of Nyssa14 and St. John Chrysostom 15 find abundant opportunity in this fact. Infrequency and elaborateness St. Basil falls behind St. Gregory of Nazianzus and St. John Chrysostom in his use of antitheses arising from Christian sources. The following are typical: Body and soul: — — oti dVtjtov pev o"ov to aiopa, d9dvaTos Se r) ^rvXV- r) pev otKeta ttj crapKi Taxp mxpexopevq, r) Se crvyyevr)s ttj ^jrvxfl pq Sexopevq rrepiypaip-qv. — Attende Tibiipsi, 18 E. Compare also De Grat. Act., 32 E. Earthly dishonour and heavenly reward: — — dnpiav Se KaTaSiKaiopkvq, Tva Ta>v o-Tev rfs So£tjs KaTa£iia9fj. — In Julittam, 34 B. Com pare also In Gordium, 148 B. " Robertson, 15. is Guignet, 123 ff. i« Meridier, 174. 15 Ameringer, 49 ff. 90 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES Punishment of sinners and reward of the Just: — — (pofiov pev tZv tois dpapTioXois aTreiXnOevToiv, im9vpLav Se tuJv tois SiKatdis TjToipao-pevtov. — In Princip. Proverb., HOB. — ttjv Se pevqv, heel vqaneiav liSe yeXoiTas aKpareis, Ixei SaKpvov SarjriXes' ivravda opxqo-iv, KoKei Trpoo-evxqv • avAovs o.Se, koikci orevaypovs' toSe rropveiav, Kcucet Trap8eviav. — Ps. 1, 95 D. Usurer and debtor: — — tov pev xa'/°ol/TOS em ttj av^-qcrei Ttov tokwv, tov Se o-revdiovTOs em ttj Trpoo-8-qKrj twv o-vpipoptav. Ps. 14, 108 E to 109 A. Our moral acts: — — eKao-TTj ovv irpo£is tj im, Ta Kara) -qpcis KaTayei, fiapvvovo-a -qpos Sia. ttjs dpapnas, tj em ra avoj Kovipitei, 7TTepoijo-a ijpas Trpds tov 9e6v. — Ps. 29, 126 D-E. Pleonastic antithesis: — — KOKetvov amas dr)TU)V rrpoeSpiai, 0-K.rpTTpa rraTpiapx^v, papTvpiov o-Te9ev €U a 32 (651) r) 33 (963) n 44 (687) n 45 (407) 3) 48 (682) » 59 (242) Jl 61 (336) » 114 (276) De Jejunio 1 (475) » » 2 (330) Attende Tibiipsi (480) De Grat. Act. (459) In Julittam (580) In Illud Lucae (406) In Divites (601) In Fam. et Siccit. (584) Deus non est auct. (598) Advers. Iratos (452) De Invidia (359) InPrincip .Proverb. (895) In Sanct. Baptisma (522) In Ebriosos (423) De Fide (185) In Princip. erat V. (248) In Barlaam (141) 86 84 9 78 88 4 8 10 5 19 15 4 54 15 1 16 101215 2 59 19 5 27 1128 4 19 554 3 B 126 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES el © ao m •c aosos0. CD d DOO o en aftBo 1 A CO a o o B o s o a 0§ 0a 03 u 5 V2 Bo •E t_> "4 a3 E 3O 5 S S o 'to CDbo •2 .2 "3 ft 03aoi M a 1 «.2 « o •1 s w In Gordium (425) 12 3 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 In XL Martyres (392) 11 2 1 1 4 1 l De Humilitate (353) 7 1 Quod Mundanis (633) 9 5 4 1 1 1 1 1 3 Ad Adolescentes (627) 28 6 2 5 3 6 1 3 1 1 1 1 In Mamantem (244) 2 1 1 Contra Sabellianos (444) 8 On the three counts of abundance, variety, and elaborateness St. Basil reveals his sophistic training. While 582 examples constitute a moderate use of the figure, this conclusion is chan ged somewhat by the facts that the distribution of the com parisons is very uneven, as a glance at the table shows, and that the long, elaborate comparisons are almost one-third of the total. The prominence of the long comparison is not surprising in view of the untrammeled development which the figure aUows. The insignificant number of redundant comparisons is an un looked-for result. This very sophistic trait is less pronounced here than in his use of the metaphor. St. BasU is more emphati cally sophistic in the variety of his figures. While not all nor nearly all of his comparisons faU under the conventional cate gories, a majority of them do (about three-fifths). In any case St. Basil's themes are not taken from a great variety of sub jects. In both of these facts he resembles, only to a lesser degree, the sophists and his Christian contemporaries. It is in the elaboration of his comparisons that St. BasU comes closest to the sophists. The studied correspondence of details; the frequently unjustified resemblances; the pictures of beauti ful or stirring scenes included or suggested by the comparisons, particularly those based on the sea; the comparison used as an introduction to sermons — some of these are evident in every type of sermon and in almost every theme that invoked the figure. But not even so may St. Basil be called excessive in his use of the figure. The Hexaemeron exhibits a great scarcity of THE COMPARISON 127 comparisons clearly sophistic. The homilies on the psalms are more prolific, but 65 examples are not many in so ample a space of text. Two-thirds of the sophistic comparisons are to be found in the last 24 homilies. In many sermons, therefore, St. Basil is rather indifferent to the conventional forms. More over, unlike Gregory of Nyssa \ Gregory of Nazianzus, 2 or John Chrysostom 3 Si Basil's comparisons, so far as I have observed, rarely exist entirely for themselves. They may be developed to unnecessary lengths; they may be far-fetched, bizarre, puerile; the resemblance asserted may be entirely unwarranted, the element of display may be only too obvious, but behind even the most studied and unjustified of them, the didactic purpose is evident. The love of display does not obscure the longing to instruct forcefuUy and picturesquely. A thorough sophist in his materials and in his use of them, St. Basil turns his pagan resources to Christian purposes. This purpose may be discerned even in his most astonishing comparisons. His sophistic training had been too thorough for him to perceive clearly the boundaries of propriety and it confined him too closely to its deeply groo ved conventions for him to seek elsewhere often the illumination necessary for presenting a theme. But not even this close re lationship leads him into that consistent extravagance that is summed up in the word "excessive". 1 Meridier, 188. 2 Guignet, 186. 3 Ameringer 85. CHAPTER XIII ECPHRASIS' In many metaphors and comparisons presented in the pre ceding chapters, the very categories to which they belong sug gest, however remotely, a picture. War, the sea, the race course, the highway, the arts, all contain materials capable of graphic development. In the more ambitious attempts of Basil, especially in his figures drawn from the sea, a picture is presented to the mind — the lofty promontory turning the anger of the sea into whitest foam, the endless succession of waves sweeping over the beach, the struggle of a ship in a storm. The vividness, the studied amassing of detaUs, which the sophistic training fostered in metaphors and comparisons, inevitably produced graphic descriptions in orators keenly re sponsive to pagan standards. This love for the picturesque which the later rhetoric carried to such extremes was not satisfied by even so untrammeled a figure as the sophistic comparison. Accordingly it developed a new device, described at length in the rhetoricians and receiving its name from them.2 The ecphrasis aimed to portray a proper object in such ela borate and forceful detail that a vivid picture resulted in the minds of the audience. Such a picture might have little to do with the development of the subject under discussion, for the audiences of the Fourth Century loved ecphrasis for its own sake. A sophist, therefore, on a very thin pretense, fre quently turned aside from the main current of his theme to paint a word-picture drawn from some one of the categories established for the device by convention. These included various i Selections from the Hexaemeron in this chapter are taken from Jackson's translation. 2 cf. Bhetores Graeci III, 491-3. ECPHRASIS 129 aspects of nature as seen in the sea, mountains, meadows, caves, seasons, birds, animals, distant prospects, rivers, vineyards, the human body; various works of art such as paintings, monuments, temples, statues, gardens, feasts. Almost all of these categories are found in one or another of the Fathers of the Fourth Cen tury.3 But in St. Gregory of Nazianzus and in St. John Chry sostom and, to a less extent, in St. Gregory of Nyssa the pro vince of ecphrasis is enlarged. Like much else in the pagan heritage, it becomes ancillary to Christian projects. Biblical scenes, the sufferings of the martyrs, the grandeur of creation, descriptions of churches — objects whose forceful presentation calls forth feelings of reverence and pious enthusiasm — are added to the well-worn themes of paganism. St. BasU acknowledges the utility of the ecphrasis in the introductory sentences of his panegyric on the Forty Martyrs.* "Come let us recall thus publicly the deeds of these men and confer the benefits to be derived from them on those here present by describing their courageous exploits, as if in a picture. Orators and painters describe great deeds of war; the one group setting them forth in words, the other depicting them on canvasses, and both groups incite many men to courage. For what the word of narrative gives us through the ear, the silent painting tells us through imitation. Thus let us recall to the audience the prowess of. these men and in causing their deeds to pass before the eyes of the spectators so to speak, let us move the nobler souls, those more akin to the martyrs, to emulation." This utility we expect to find iUustrated frequently in St. BasiL What is the manner of his ecphrasis and what proportion do the edifying or instructive ecphrases of Christianity bear to those peculiarly pagan? Descriptions of Persons. The sophists delighted in ecphrases of physical beauty, es pecially of young men and young women carried off by death. The details of such descriptions are always the same. The person described is merely an occasion for indulging in some 3 cf. Delahaye, 214; Meridier, 141; Guignet, 189; Ameringer, 86-87. « 149D— 150A. 130 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES readily recognized commonplaces, extravagant and fuU of false pathos. Ecphrases of persons are relatively rare in the Fathers.5 Earthly beauty thus idealized is not in harmony with Christian thought. The pages of Basil's sermons yield no examples re vealing the genuine sophistic spirit. The ecphrasis of St. Gor dius, as he burst in upon the amphitheater, and of a human body suffering from the famine in Cappadocia are his only descriptions of persons, and the latter is a type rather than an individual. Both descriptions are ugly. Neither approaches remotely the true sophistic manner. —"Famine drys up the natural moisture, it chills the natural heat, it reduces the body's bulk. It wears away its strength. The flesh is stretched over the bones Uke a spider's web. The color is gone. The red is gone, since the blood has wasted away. The white does not remain, since the surface of the body is blackened in its thinness. Livid is the body, its pallor and blackness commingled from disease. The knees no longer carry, but are themselves dragged along and with difficulty. The voice is thin and feeble; the eyes are glassy in their sockets, to no purpose stored up in their cases Uke fruits frozen in their skins."— In Fam. et Siccit., 69 D-E. — "Straightway the theater turned upon this unlooked — for spectacle: a man savage in appearance; his head squalid through his prolonged sojourn in the mountains; his beard long; his clothing slovenly; his whole body become a skeleton. He car ried a staff and was equipped with a pouch. To all these parts there clung a spirituality, illuminating his person from an unseen source."— In Gordium, 145 B-C. The Sea. The sea, which played so prominently and vividly in St. Basil's metaphors and comparisons, is also represented in a few ec phrases and suggestions of that device. The first of the fol lowing is a mere suggestion. — "Thus we often see the furious sea raising mighty waves to heaven, and, when once it has touched the shore, break its impetuosity in foam and retire." — Hex. 4, 35 B. A poetic 5 Delahaye, 214. ECPHRASIS 131 quality characterizes the following ecphrasis in the same sermon. —"A fair sight is the sea, all bright in a settled calm; fair too, when ruffled by a light breeze of wind, its surface shows tints of purple and azure, — when, instead of lashing with violence the neighboring shores, it seems to kiss them with peaceful caresses." — Hex. 4, 38 D-E. In the following argumentative pas sage is a brief but vivid picture. — "If, from the top of a com manding rock looking over the wide sea, you cast your eyes over the vast expanse, how big the greatest islands appear to you? How large did one of those barks of great tonnage, which un furl their white sails to the blue sea, appear to you?" — Hex. 6, 59 C. A brief suggestion of the sea's changing moods is held out by the foUowing parenthesis. — "For you behold the sea, now calm and still, after a space stirred up by violent winds, and even while it rages and tosses about, a deep calm quickly spreads over it." — In Princip. Proverb., 111B. These are the utmost that the sermons of Basil yield in descriptions of the sea. The best example is very brief, but enough is revealed in the above quotations to show Basil's graphic skill, to give a hint of what might have been if he had chosen to indulge his known predilection for maritime scenery. War. The category of war gives one brief hint of ecphrasis: — "Imagine, I pray you, a city engaged by besieging enemies. Many nations are now investing her, and kings who divide by lot the sceptres of nations. Then a general, invincible in resources, suddenly appears bearing aid to this city. He breaks up the siege. He scatters the assembly of the nations. He puts the kings to flight by merely crying out on them with all his might. He terrifies their hearts by the strength of his voice. What confusion does he certainly stir up, with the nations pursued and the kings in headlong flight? What an unceasing noise and uproar roUs up the disorder of their retreat? Are not all places choked up with those who flee through fear? Even to the cities and villages, which on every side receive them, the commotion spreads."— Ps. 45, 174 C-D. 9* 132 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES Various Aspects of Nature and the Universe. A touch of ecphrasis is seen in the following sweeping view of creation: — "Shall we not rather stand around the vast and varied workshop of divine creation and, carried back in mind to the times of old, shall we not view all the order of creation? Heaven poised like a dome, to quote the words of the prophet; earth, this immense mass which rests upon itself, and the air around it, of a soft and fluid nature, a true and continual nourishment for all who breathe it, of such tenuity that it yields and opens at the least movement of the body, opposing no resistance to our motions, while, in a moment, it streams back to its place behind those who cleave it; water, finally that supplies drink for man or may be designed for other needs, and the marvellous gathering together of it into definite places which have been assigned to it: such is the spectacle which the words just read will show you." — Hex. 4, 33 C-D. — Here was an opportunity for a gorgeous ecphrasis, wherein sophistic display and Christian reverence for the handiwork of God could blend readily. St. Basil gives us only a sketch. A like splendid prospect merely outlined by St. Basil is his brief description of the concourse of heaven at the conclusion of In Sanct. Baptisma, 122 C: — "There the unnumbered host of the angels, the assemblies of the first-born, the thrones of the apostles, the seats of the prophets, the sceptres of the patriarchs, the crowns of the martyrs, the praises of the just." A nearer approach to the sophistic ecphrasis is the brief and vivid description of the earth's first harvest before the FaU of Man, Hex. 5, 44 C-D:— "In a moment earth began by germination to obey the laws of the creator, completed every stage of growth, and brought germs to perfection. The mea dows were covered with deep grass, the fertile plains quivered with harvests and the movement of the corn was Uke the waving of the sea. Every plant, every herb, the smallest shrub, the least vegetable, arose from the earth in all its luxuriance." —Less effective but equally capable of sophistic treatment is the account of the growth of fruit at the words of the Creator. — "Immediately the tops of the mountains were covered with foliage; paradises were artfully laid out, and an infinitude of ECPHRASIS 133 plants embellished the banks of the rivers. Some were for the adornment of man's table; some to nourish animals with their fruits and their leaves; some to provide medical help by giving us their sap, their juice, their chips, their bark, or fruit." —Hex. 5, 48 E. Still another index of St. Basil's possibilities with the same theme is the foUowing brief outline of natural beauties: — —"For the proper and natural adornment of the earth is its completion: corn waving in the valleys— meadows green with grass and rich with many— coloured flowers— fertile glades and hiU-tops shaded by forests."— Hex. 2, 15 B. Of similar themes, whose possibilities St. Basil seems to appreciate, but leaves un developed, may be mentioned: Hex. 2, 19 A— of light as it first flashed through the universe; Hex. 3, 27E-28B— the rivers of the earth; Hex. 5, 44E-45A— the first development of flowers, trees, plants; Hex. 6, 50 B— stars of the night and light by day; Hex. 6, 50E— the sun; Hex. 9, 82E— oxen in their stalls; De Fide 131 C-E — grand prospect of the earth. The foregoing exhaust the categories of ecphrasis purely pagan. St. BasU shows an indifference to them that is remark able even for one of his restrained nature. Of aspects of nature favored by the sophists such as caves, seasons, birds, animals, rivers, vineyards; of works of arts such as paintings, monuments, temples, statues, gardens, we are given not a taste, although many of the first group lay directly in the path of his sermon's development and any of the second group could readUy have been incorporated in that loose arrangement of subject-matter permitted in the conventions of Second Sophistic rhetoric. In the sophistic categories used by him, how frequently I have mentioned sketches and hints rather than ecphrasis proper! When we consider the unlimited opportunities for the device offered by the Hexae'meron's theme, alike from the stand point of sophistic love of grand prospects and that of the Christian's admiration for the story of the Creation, St. Basil's reticence stands out uniquely among his contemporaries.6 The ecphrases and hints of ecphrasis found in the above examples e Meridier, 142-144; 147-150; Guignet, 188-191; 192-193; 195-196; Ame ringer, 87-91; 94-96. 134 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDI testify unmistakably to descriptive powers of a high order. That St. Basil did not employ them amid such rich opportu nities further re-inforces that characteristic of restraint which this study has thus far found to be the chief trait of his St. Basil's rhetoric. Turning to fields not strictly pagan, we strike a richer vein. The examples found here roughly divide into descriptions of victims of vice, descriptions of repugnance or terror, and the struggles of the martyrs. All have to do with the office of preaching and St. Basil acknowledges the efficacy of vivid por trayals7 as a stimulus to the emulation of noble deeds. How far does the sophistic manner contribute to such vividness in his sermons? Victims of Vice. Two men are thus described in a passage devoted to the exposition of the uncertainties of material prosperity,8 in Hex. 5, 41D-42A. — "Truly the rapid flow of life, the short grati fication and pleasure that an instant of happiness gives a man, all wonderfully suit the comparison of the prophet. To day he is vigorous in body, fattened by luxury, and in the prime of life, with complexion fair like the flowers, strong and powerful and of irresistable energy; to-morrow and he wUl be an object of pity, withered by age or exhausted by sickness. Another shines in all the splendor of a brilUant fortune, and around him are a multitude of flatterers, an escort of false friends on the track of his good graces; a crowd of kinsfolk, but no true kin; a swarm of servants who crowd after him to provide for his food and for all his needs; and in his comings and goings this innumerable suite, which he drags after him, excites the envy of all whom he meets. To fortune may be added power in the state, honours bestowed by the imperial throne, the government of a province, or the command of armies; a herald who precedes him is crying in a loud voice; lictors right and left also fill his subjects with awe, blows, confiscations, banishments, imprisonments, and all the ' cf. p. 145 above. 8 The first description bears traces of the ecphrasis of person. It is included here because of its didactic purpose. ecphrasis 135 means by which he strikes intolerable terror into all whom he has to rule. And what then? One night, a fever, a pleurisy, an inflammation of the lungs, snatches away this man from the midst of men, stripped in a moment of all his stage ac cessories, and all this, his glory, is proved a mere dream." — A gambling den is thus sketched for the audience in Hex. 8, 79 C-D. — "If I let you go and if I dismiss this assembly, some wiU run to the dice, where they wiU find bad language, sad quarrels, and the pangs of avarice. There stands the devil, in flaming the fury of the players with the dotted bones; trans porting the same sums of money from one side of the table to the other; now exalting one with victory and throwing the other into despair; now swelling the first with boasting and covering his rival with confusion." The picture is effective but is more a flash-light— a theme suggested, but not executed. The appearance of a man in a revengeful rage is thus por trayed in Advers. Iratos, 84C-E. — "For in the hearts of those longing for revenge the blood boils about as if stirred up and made to splutter by a violent fire. Wrath is seen in the altered appearance of the blushing countenance, the accustomed cast so familiar to all changing like the face of an actor. The eyes lose their natural and better-known expression. Their glance is frenzied and they flash fire. The teeth are whetted in the manner of swine closing for a struggle. The face is livid and blood-red; the body is swollen, the veins burst from the spirit of the internal tempest. The voice is harsh and strained to the uttermost. The speech is inarticulate, tumbling out rashly, coming forth without sequence, without order, unintelUgibly. But when this wrath has been aroused to a desperate pass by torments that resemble a flame [feeding on an abundance of wood, then, you may behold sights neither to be told in words nor to be borne in the doing: hands raised against one's neigh bor and brought on all parts of the body; feet kicking the vital parts unsparingly; in short whatever is in sight becomes a weapon for insane rage".— In De Jejunio 1, 9C the angry man is again described: — "He is not master of himself. He does not know himself. He does not know those around him. He attacks every one, just as in a brawl at night he falls upon and strikes everyone in his path. He cries out rashly. He 136 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES cannot control himself. He reviles, he abuses, he threatens, he curses, he shouts, he bursts." — The evils of usury are thus held up to his hearers in Ps. 14, HOD: — "The man in debt is both poverty-stricken and af flicted with many worries. He is sleepless by night, sleepless by day. At all times he is pre-occupied. Now he appraises his own property; now sumptuous homes, the fields of wealthy men, the garments of those whom he meets, the table-ware of diners. 'If these were mine', he says, 'I should sell them for so much and I should pay that interest.' Such thoughts besiege his heart by night and engage his thoughts by day. If you were to knock at his door, the debtor would get under the bed. Some one runs swiftly towards him and his heart palpitates. If a dog barks, he is bathed in sweat in his anguish, and looks where he may flee. As the day of reckoning approaches he wonders what lie he shall tell: what excuse he may fashion to hold off his creditor." — In Ps. 14, 107D-108B is a detaUed description of a usurer and his victim. — "But Greed beholds Want before his knees beseeching him, what abject act not doing, what abject word not saying. He does not pity him for his undeser ved ill-fortune. He does not take his nature into account. He is not moved by prayers. He stands unbent and unsoftened, conceding nothing to his request, unmoved by his tears, per sistently refusing him, swearing and taking oath that he is him self without money and that he too is looking for a money lender. Thus sealing his lie with oaths, he gains perjury as the profit of his inhumanity. But when Poverty mentions interest and names sureties, then letting down his eyebrows, Greed recalls his friendship with Poverty's father and caUs Poverty too his friend, and says, 'Let's see if I have any money laid up anywhere. Yes. A friend of mine has given me a sum of money as a working capital. He demanded heavy interest for it but I shall at all events part with some of it, loaning it to you at less interest'. Inventing such lies and fawning upon him with such words and enticing wretched Poverty, he binds him down with mortgages, and after thus adding slavery to his pressing circumstances, he departs." — There are touches of ecphrasis in the foregoing, but very little of the sophistic manner which the character of the subject treated allows. ECPHRASIS 137 More vivid is the following picture of abandoned women at the festival commemorating the Resurrection:— "Unchaste wo men, losing their fear of God, contemning eternal fire on that very day when in memory of the Resurrection they ought to stay at home and bethink themselves of that time day when the heavens shall be opened and the judge from heaven shall appear and the trumpets of God and the resurrection of the dead and the just judgment and the awarding to every man in accord ance with his works— instead of pondering on such themes and cleansing their hearts of wicked thoughts and washing away their sins in tears and preparing themselves to meet Christ on the great day of his coming, instead of all these, they shake off the yoke of Christ's service, they cast from their heads the veUs of decorum. They spurn His messengers. They, put to shame every man's glance, shaking their heads, letting their tunics trail, making lascivious motions with their feet to the accompaniment of wanton glances and bursts of laughter. In their mad dancing they draw all the licentiousness of youth to their persons. In the shrines of the martyrs, before the city's gates, they establish their choruses and make of holy places a brothel for their shamelessness. They defile the earth with their Ubidinous feet, they sully the air with their licentious songs. They gather about them as an audience a throng of youths. Thus truly insolent and beside themselves, they ne glect no excess of madness." — In Ebriosos, 123 A-C. The following description of a bankrupt father is largely prosopopoiia and is counted as such under that figure in this study, but it is also a striking instance of the indistinct line that oft-times separates the two devices. — "Gold's fair gleam too much delights you (i. e. the avaricious man). You do not think upon the great and many cries of the needy man that follows at your back. How may I place before your eyes this man's sad pUght ? He looks at his household resources. He perceives that now has he no gold and that he cannot acquire any. Clothing and raiment he has, but all told it is worth only a few obols. What then? At length he turns his eyes upon his children. How putting them up for sale in the market, may he find reUef from threatening death? Behold the battle that then took place between pressing hunger and a father's love. 138 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES Starvation promises a death most cruel but nature stays his resolution and persuades him to die with his children. After many advances and many withdrawals, at length he gives in, forced by necessity and implacable want. But what thoughts course through that father's mind? 'Whom shall I sell first? Which one will delight the merchant's eye? Shall I have re course to the eldest? But I am ashamed before his years. Shall it better be the youngest? But I pity his youth that knows not yet adversity. The latter is the very image of his parents; the former is most apt in his studies. Alas for my resource- lessness! Whither shall I turn? Which of them shaU I take? What manner of beast shall I become? How can I forget my nature? If I spare them all, I shall see them all wasted away with hunger. If I sell one of theni, how shall I dare look upon the rest, — I, who am already suspected by them of be traying them? How shall I dwell in my house, that am the author of its childlessness? How shall I approach the table whose abundance has such a cause'?" — In Illud Lucae,46C-47A. Scenes of Repugnance or Terror. The description of the famine and drought in Cappadocia is an effective ecphrasis, despite the fact that its details are personally known to the audience. — — "We see the heavens hard, naked, cloudless, producing a calm that is hateful and harmful in its clarity. This we longed for once, when the heavens over- cast with clouds made us sun less and sad. But the earth now utterly parched is an ugly sight for the eye, sterile and unproductive for farming and receiving the shining rays into its very depths. The wealthy and perennial fountains have abandoned us and the streams of great rivers have been consumed. The smallest children crawl in them and pregnant women cross them. Drinking- water has failed many of us and we are in want. We are the new Isrealites seeking a new Moses and his marvelous staff, that the stricken rocks may minister to the needs of a thirsty people and that the mysterious clouds may shower down manna, a strange food for men. — Farmers brood over their fields; hold their knees with their hands (such is the attitude of those in anguish); weep for their own vain labors; gaze upon ecphrasis 139 their infant children, mourning; look earnestly at their wives, lamenting. They feel and touch their dried-up produce; and wail like those who have been bereft of sons in the flower of their age."— In Fam. et Siccit, 62D-63C. The appearance of habitual drunkards is thus described in In Ebriosos, 125 C:— — "Their eyes are Uvid, their skin sallow, their breathing checked, the tongue hanging, they give out an indistinct noise. Their feet are unsteady Uke those of children. They belch out their ex cesses as involuntarily as lifeless things."— In Ebriosos, 127 D to 128 B, a drunken orgy is described in great detail. The death-bed scenes of a duped rich man is thus depicted in In Divites, 60 D-E:— — "Why await that hour when you will no longer be master of your faculties. Black night and mortal sickness come then and nowhere is there any one to help you. But he (heir) stands ready and waiting for your estate, managing all things to his own advantage and leaving unfulfilled your wishes. Then gazing hither and thither, and beholding the loneUness that besets you, you will come to know your madness. You will mourn your foUy in that you have delayed until now when your tongue is dumb and your tremulous hand is helpless with involuntary contractions, so that neither with voice nor writing may you signify your intentions." — The death of one unbaptized is thus held up to the audience in In Sanct. Baptisma, 121 C-D: — "Be ware lest unexpectedly you come to that day when the re sources of life wiU fail you and on every side will be helplessness and affliction above all relief, your physicians despairing, your neighbors despairing. Oppressed by pantings close and hard, a violent fever burning and consuming your internal parts, you wUl groan out of the depths of your heart but you will find no one to sympathize. You will speak a thin and feeble some thing, but there will be no one to hear you. Everything you say will be put down to delirium. Who will give you baptism then? Who will remind you, stupefied with suffering? Your re latives loose heart. Strangers make Uttle of your illness. Your friend shrinks from reminding for fear of disturbing you. Your physician deceives you and you yourself do not despair because of your natural love of life. Night comes and there is no one 140 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES to help you. There is no one to baptize you. Death stands near. They hasten to carry you off." — The judgment-court of God and the horrors of Hell are thus depicted in Ps. 33, 151 D-E: — "Whenever you feel yourself drawn to some sin; imagine to yourself that horrible and unendurable court of Christ, where the judge sits upon a high and lofty throne, and all creation stands trembling before his splendid personality. We are about to be led forward one by one to an examination of our lives. For him that has done much wickedness fearful and gloomy angels wait, glancing fire, breathing fire in the bitterness of their purpose, with countenances like the night in their dark hostility to man. Picture to yourself a deep pit and impene trable darkness and a black fire that burns in darkness and gives no illumination. Imagine a tribe of worms poisonous and carnivorous, eating insatiably and never filled, inflicting un endurable agony in their devourings. Then picture the hea viest punishment of all, the eternal disgrace and shame." — Com pare also In Divites, 58 C. After-death and HeU is further described in In Sanct. Baptisma, 121E-122B. — "For destruction will suddenly be upon you and ruin, Uke a hurricane, will be at hand. A sable angel will come, dragging you off vio lently and drawing your soul thus bound to your sins and frequently turning towards whatever is at hand and groaning without a voice, the organ of your lamentations having been sealed. 0! how will you rend yourself! How will you groan! Futile will be your laments for your plans, when you behold the joy of the just in the brilliant array of their rewards and the dejection of sinners in the deepest darkness. What wiU you then say in the agony of your heart? 'Ah, me, that I did not cast aside this heavy load of sin, when to lose it was so easy; that instead I have drawn to me this train of evils. Now would I be with the angels, now would I enjoy the deUghts of heaven. O! my wicked counsels. Because of the fleeting joys of sin I am to be tortured forever; because of the pleasures of the flesh I am given over to eternal fire. Just is the sen tence of God. I was called and I did not hearken. I was told and I gave no heed. They begged me earnestly and I laughed at them'." — ECPHRASIS 141 The panegyrics on martyrs developed into a distinct literary type during the Fourth century. The cause for which the mar tyrs died had finally triumphed and the anniversary of a mar tyr's death thus became an occasion for expressing this triumph in a solemn, official manner. One phase of this thanksgiving was an eloquent discourse on the martyr's exploits. The character of the sufferings of the martyrs, the edification of the faithful that would result from a forceful presentation of their exploits, the sophistic education of many of the orators called into play, and for useful purposes, the sophistic ecphrasis. In St. Basil ecphrases on the martyrs and other early Christians occur in the following places: — In Julittam, 34C-E; In Barlaam, 139B-140D; In Gordium. 143D-144C; In Gor dium, 144E-148E; In XL Martyres, 150C-155A; Quod Mun danis, 171A-173A. The longest and most vivid of the above group are the ec phrases on the Forty Martyrs and on Gordius, respectively. We shaU take the latter as an example. "When therefore all the people had been collected into that high place, not a Jew was absent, not a Greek. Moreover a great multitude of Christians had joined with them, men who were Uving carelessly and sat with the council of vanity and did not decline the companionship of the wicked nor to watch fast horses and skilled charioteers. Even masters had dismis sed their slaves and children were running from their studies to behold the games and even women of the lower classes were present. The stadium was now filled and all were intent on watching the races. "Then that noble man, great of soul and great of purpose, came down from the mountains on high. He did not tear the populace. He did not reckon against how many adversaries he was pitting himself, but with a bold heart and a lofty spirit he strode by those seated in the theater as if they had been so many rocks and trees, and stopped in the center of the stadium, confirming thus that statement that a just man is as bold as a lion. And of so bold a spirit was he that in that exposed place in the theater, with stout courage, he cried out that sentence which some men still living remember to have heard. 'I was inquired of by them that asked not for me. I am 142 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES found of them that sought me not.' With these words he signi fied that he had not been dragged by force to dangers, but that voluntarily he offered himself for the battle in imitation of his master, who, when he was least of all visible in the sha dows of the night, gave himself up to the Jews. "Immediately the whole theater turned to this unusual sight : a man wfld in appearance, because of his prolonged stay in the mountains, his head squalid, his beard long, his clothes soUed, his whole body withered away. He carried a staff and was equipped with a pouch. About all his person there clung a grace inspired by an unseen source. But as soon as he was recognized, a confused clamor arose from the multitude, the friends of the Faith applauding for joy, the enemies of truth caUing on the judge for the death penalty and condemning him beforehand to death. The whole region was fiUed with the clamor and tumult. The horses were ignored. The chariots were ignored. The display of the chariots became a meaningless uproar. No man's eyes saw ought but Gordius. No ear would hear ought but his words. And a murmuring, indistinct Uke a breeze, spread through all the theater and quelled the noise of the race. "Now when silence had been proclaimed by the heralds and the flutes were hushed and instruments of many tones were quiet, Gordius was heard, Gordius was seen. And straightway he was taken before the governor who was seated there presid ing over the games. In mild and gentle tones the governor asked him who he was and whence he came. When he had told his country, his race, the rank which he enjoyed, the cause of his flight, his return, he continued, 'I am here in contempt of your decrees and to show openly by my deeds my faith in God in whom I trust. I have heard that you excel many men in brutality. Wherefore I have chosen this occasion for the fulfillment of my vow.' At these words the wrath of the governor flamed up like fire and all his latent spleen was poured on Gordius. 'Get the executioners,' he cried. 'Where are the blades? Where the whips? Let him be stretched upon the wheel. Let him be wrenched in the equulus. Bring forth the tortures, wild beasts, fire, sword, the cross. Let a pit be dug. What wiU the knave gain, having only once to die?' 'What do I loose,' Gordius ECPHRASIS 143 quickly responded, 'unable to die many times for Christ?' The governor, beyond his savage nature, was stiU more enraged at beholding the dignity of the man whose great sublimity of soul he thought a reflection on himself. And the more he beheld his intrepid spirit, the more enraged he became and the more eager to overcome his fortitude by thoughts of tortures. But Gordius, looking up to God, calmed his soul in the words of the holy psalms, 'The Lord is on my side, I will not fear what man may do to me,' 'I will fear no evil for thou art with me', and in Uke sayings which he had learned from the Holy Scriptures, calculated to awaken fortitude. He was so far from giving in to threats or terror that he even summoned the punishments to his person. 'Why do you delay?,' he asked. 'Why do you stand there? Let my body be mangled, let my limbs be twisted, let them endure whatsoever you will. Do not begrudge me this blessed aspiration. The greater the torments, the greater reward you will gain for me. This is my covenant with the Lord. In place of bruises standing out on my body, a radiant garment wiU blossom at my resurrection; in place of ignominy, crowns; instead of prison, paradise; instead of condemnation with crimi nals, feUowship with angels. Sow generously in me that the harvest may be the richer.' "Since they could not win him over through fear, they changed their tact to flattery. This is the method of the devil. He frightens the timid; he softens the courageous. Such tactics that wicked governor now used. When he saw that he would not yield to his threats, he tried to win him with deceit and blandishments. Some gifts he offered him on the spot, others he promised would be forthcoming from the king; a high com mission in the army, a large income, whatsoever he wished. "But when he failed in this attempt too (for the blessed man, on hearing his promises, laughed at his folly that he should think himself able to offer anything comparable to the kingdom of heaven) then his wrath broke all bounds and he whipped out his sword and stood by the executioner. By hand and tongue soiUng himself with murder, he condemned that blessed man to death. Then the whole theater passed over to that spot and all the inhabitants who had tarried in the city poured out be fore the waUs to view that great struggle— a sight admired of 144 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES angels and all creation but distressing to the devil and wicked spirits. The city was emptied of its inhabitants and, like a river, the multitude flowed ceaselessly to that spot. Not a woman wished to be absent from that spectacle, not a man, eminent or obscure, was absent. The guards left their garrisons; wares were left scattered around the market-place; all property had one garrison and surety — the fact that al] alike had gone forth. Not even a criminal was left in the city. Slaves left the tasks of their masters. Foreigners and natives alike went forth to gaze upon Gordius. Virgins dared the gaze of men; the old and the sickly, doing violence to their weakness, went out beyond the walls. Friends standing about that blessed man, now hastening through death to Life, with many laments were embracing him and giving him a last farewell and, bathing him in hot tears, were begging him not to give himself over to the fire, not to throw away his young years, not to leave this sweet earth. Others, with persuasive counsels, tried to mis lead him. 'Deny God with your lips alone. Cherish your faith, as you will, in your heart. God does not look to the tongue but to the heart of the speaker. Thus you wUl be able to appease the governor and God.' "But he remained inflexible and unmoved, invulnerable to every assault of temptation. (There follows a long speech in which Gordius bids them weep not for him but for the enemies of Christ; regrets that he can die once only for Christ; pro fesses his emulation of the centurion Cornelius, and, in a series of questions and answers, shows the advantages of martyrdom superior to recantation.) After he had spoken thus and signed himself with the sign of the cross, he advanced to the block, his color changing not a whit, his countenance not losing its eagerness. His attitude was not that of one going to meet the executioner, but of one about to give himself into the hands of angels who, taking up his body, would transfer him Uke Lazarus to a life of blessedness. Who wiU describe the cry of that multitude? What thunder ever sent forth such a sound from the clouds as then from those below went up to heaven?" The ecphrasis on Gordius and that on the Forty Martyrs are the high-water mark of St. Basil's use of the device. There are many conventional points in the martyrdom of Gordius ECPHRASIS 145 described above. The incidents are obviously not entirely historical. The defiance, the mental struggle, the conflict with the governor, the amazingly long speech just before the exe cution are clearly commonplaces filled in by St. Basil for the edification of the multitude. And yet there were old men present who could have told St. Basil from personal observation some facts about the martyrdom that would have added a certain freshness to his narrative, whatever might thus have been lost of sophistic brUliance. That despite this fact St. Basil follows the fashion is a significant commentary on the strength of the sophistic tradition in him9. But even so this ecphrasis is not excessively sophistic. Basil has a good opportunity in the actual death of Gordius to paint a bloody scene. He barely suggests the execution in strange contrast to the dramatic details pre ceding and following the event. St. Basil's use of ecphrasis is sophistic in manner, but not extremely so. UnUke St. Gregory of Nyssa, who included most of the categories found in the Progymnasmata, * ° St. Basil is very indifferent to the conventional themes. St. Gregory of Nazianzus and St. John Chrysostom are more restrained than St. Gregory of Nyssa, but Chrysostom can wax redundant over a scene of torture l 1 and Nazianzus can break off his discourse to describe the dance of the Menads. 12 St. Basil exhibits descriptive powers of the highest" order, but they are always at the service of his preacher's purpose. The element of dis play is subordinated in him as it is not always in Nazianzus and Chrysostom. St. Basil's use of ecphrasis is consistent with his use of devices less pecuUarly sophistic. He uses it Uberally and skUfully, but for serious purposes and, considering the taste of the times, with restraint. a Delahaye, 224. »o Meridier, 141. » Delahaye, 218. u Or. II P. G. 36, p. 260. 10 CHAPTER XIV CONCLUSION In common with his Christian contemporaries1 St. Basil emphatically proclaims his complete divorce from that pagan culture which engaged his student years. From his sermons alone can be culled enough statements to present the appearance of an unvarying attitude. In Hex. 6, 51 C he stops in the midst of a difficult piece of exegesis to deliver himself of this parenthesis: — "Now do not laugh at the homeliness of my diction, for we do not approve of your high-spun phrases and care not a jot for your harmonious arrangements. Our writers do not waste their time in polishing periods. We prefer clarity of expression to mere euphony." In discussing the intellectual pursuits of the time and their efficacy for salvation, after protesting against the study of geometry and astrology to the exclusion of religious education, he has this to say of what was largely his own curriculum in his youth: — "But poetry and rhetoric and the invention of sophisms engage the energies of many men, and the materials of these pursuits are a tissue of unrealities, for neither may poetry be developed without fables, nor rhetoric without the art of speaking, nor sophistry without sophisms." — In Princip. Proverb., 102 C. That he could thus baldly place the art of speaking by the side of fables and sophisms is a valuable index of opinion in Christian circles. Compare also in the same sermon 103 C-D and 103 E. Speaking on the attainment of humility in De Humilitate 162 A, St. Basil thus mentions artistic speech among the pursuits to be avoided: — "Do not, I pray you, display sophistic vanities in your speech." » Meridier, 58-68; Guignet, 43-70; Ameringer, 20-28. CONCLUSION 147 The pagan encomium was a literary type fast and fixed. The rhetorician Menander in his Uepl emSeiKTiKuv* describes it in detail. In his panegyrics on the martyrs St. Basil makes several references to the laws of the encomium. In In Gor dium, 142D-143A he expresses himself thus frankly on the utiUty of some of its commonplaces:— "The school of God does not recognize the laws of the encomium, but holds that a mere telUng of the martyr's deeds is a sufficient praise for the saints and sufficient inspiration for those who are struggling towards virtue. For it is the fixed habit of encomia to search out the history of the native city, to find out the family exploits, and to relate the education of the subject of the encomium, but it is our custom to pass over in silence such details and to compose the encomium of each martyr from those facts which have a bearing on his martyrdom. How could I be an object of more reverence or be more illustrious from the fact that my native city once upon a time endured great and heavy battles and after routing her enemies erected famous trophies? What if she is so happily located that in summer and winter her climate is pleasant? If she is the mother of heroes and is capable of supporting cattle, what gain are these to me? In her herds of horses she surpasses aU lands under the sun. How may these facts improve us in manly virtue ? If we talk about the peaks of near— by mountains, how they out — top the clouds and reach the farthest stretches of the air, shall we deceive ourselves into thinking that drawing praise from these facts, we give praise to men? Of all things it is most absurd that when the just despise the whole world, we cele brate their praises from those things which they contemned." —Compare also In XL Martyres, 150 A. In In Mamantem, 185 D he again discusses encomia in no uncertain terms: — "The true encomium of a martyr is his wealth of spiritual graces. We cannot adorn his memory with the ways of pagan encomia. We cannot discuss his parents and ancestors. For it is a shameful thing to adorn with other ornaments him whose chief adornment was his own virtue." Statements so positive bespeak an uncompromising opposition 2 Spengel, III, 368-377. ^ 148 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES to paganism in all its works and pomps. As to the pomps St. Basil was not entirely successful. It is worth noting for instance that in the very first of the above declarations, i. e. in Hex. 6, 51 C, St. Basil registers his protest in a carefully constructed chiasmus. In In XL Martyres 150 B, almost immediately after emancipating Christian panegyrics from "slavishly following the laws of the encomium," he touches upon two of its toVoi in a figurative way, those of mXis and yivos, while the descriptions of martyrdoms found in his panegyrics are but another tojtos of the conventional encomium. Here and there in the sermons, moreover, are to be found figures and devices whose rarity and isolation only re-inforce their glaring sophistic character. I refer to the excessive elaborateness in structure, the astounding paradox, the atrocious pun, the far-fetched metaphor that one occasionally finds in his pages. They are exceptional in their class but they too demonstrate Basil's want of success in at taining that complete divorce from pagan rhetoric whereat he professed to aim. The testimony of every chapter, however, is uniform in calling St. Basil restrained. In Figures of Redundancy there is a tendency towards turgescence but not an excessive tendency; of Figures of Repetition he gives us a few elaborate examples of a device otherwise restrained and never very numerous in his sermons; of Figures of Sound he is surprisingly sparing in both number and quality; Figures of Vivacity and Court-room Devices are considerable in number but restrained in character, a restraint emphasized by a few striking exceptions. In those Minor Figures especially characteristic of the Second Sophi stic — antimetathesis, antonomasia, hyperbole, paradox, hendia dys, hyperbaton — the sophistic quaUty is very palpable, but the recurrences to these devices singularly rare. Figures of Paral lelism are frequently found, examples clearly showing St BasU's easy mastery of these devices, but not in the numbers to be expected in a product of the Sophistic. In antithesis, at least, he is very restrained; in homoioteleuton, remarkably so. There occur at great intervals prolonged examples of rhetorical questions, asyndeton, polysyndeton, metaphors, comparisons — all of them showing what St. Basil could have done, had he been so minded. Distinguishing for the moment the inflexible forms CONCLUSION 149 of the sophistic rhetoric from their manner of development, we perceive that in the metaphor, comparison, and ecphrasis St. Basil cared little for conventional sophistic themes, but that he gives ample proof of a sophistic manner in developing the figures, being most sophistic in non-sophistic categories. This sophistic manner is most palpable in metaphors and comparisons, prosopopona and ecphrasis — in the meticulous correspondences worked out in the first two and the dramatic development of the second. But even here the preacher's purpose largely accounts for the sophistic quaUty. St. Basil must drive home his points with all the resources at his command and these resources were sophistic, acquired in the school-days at Nicomedia, Caesarea, and Athens. Compared with the two Gregories and Chrysostom, St. Basil, so far as we may judge from his sermons,' is the least sophistic of them aU. On the grounds of frequency of figures the judgment is not in every case certain, but on the grounds of quality, from the most basic minor figures to ecphrasis, St. Basil is less ex cessive, less extravagant than they and he follows to a far less degree the conventional sophistic t themes. Moreover, display is never the chief motive of any figure. And many of St. Basil's figures occur so rarely relative to the text that in the light of only general statements on the sophists of the epoch we are enabled on the grounds of frequency too to pronounce him moderate on the whole. If BasU is so restrained among a people who loved rhetorical excess, how are we to account for his reputation as an orator in bis own time? His serious purpose is probably the answer. A pagan sophist kept ever trying to out — do himself and other sophists in progressive extravagance simply because there was nothing else for him to do. He had no new materials. There fore, to maintain his reputation and retain his audience, he must rely on rhetorical ingenuity. The Christian religion, and particularly the theological battles of the Fourth Century, eli minated the necessity for such measures to a large extent. A vigorous personality, thoroughly trained and with important themes, did not need to resort to the excesses of the sophists to make and preserve a reputation. Towards the conclusion of Quod Mundanis, 170 C to be 150 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES precise, occurs a splendid opportunity for one who was only a sophist. Basil has just referred to a fire in a near — by church. Here is an opportunity for a gorgeous ecphrasis on the fire, but Basil passes by, contenting himself with an elaborate metaphor, sophistic in manner, to be sure, but Christian in purpose. The opportunities for display and extra vagance that the wide range of the sermons afford and his almost complete renunciation of such occasions, the sophistic manner most appearing when ancillary to the preacher's office, the undoubted quality of his purely sophistic departures compel us to concede to him a large measure of success in realizing an objective whose complete realization was impossible, a larger success, in fact, than can be granted the Gregories and Chry sostom. His serious purpose in aU devices could weU be sum med up by his attitude toward the use of allegory in Hex. 9, 80 B-C: — "I know the laws of aUegory, though not from my own works but from the works of others. Some preachers do not concede the common sense of the Scriptures. They wiU not caU water water, but some other nature. They interpret a plant or fish as their fancy wishes. They change the nature of reptiles and wUd beasts to fit them in their aUegories, Uke those who explain phenomena that appear in dreams to suit their own ends. When I hear the word grass, I understand that grass is meant. Plant, fish, wUd beast, domestic animal — I take all in a Uteral sense. 'For I am not ashamed of the Gospel'."— This serious purpose in contact with pagan excesses was be trayed in the heat and sweep of delivery into statements that of themselves admit of no compromise. Is not St. Basil more just to the pagans and to his own use of their devices in his sermons when he says of their culture in the exceUent and dispassionate essay, Ad Adolescentes, 175B-C, "The fruit of the soul is pre-eminently truth, yet to clothe it with external wisdom is not without merit, giving a kind of foliage and covering for the fruit and an aspect by no means ugly?" — INDEX i Abbreviations, xvi. Adjective Substantive Abstract, 24; description of, 66 ; use of in the sermons, 67. Aelius Aristides, 17. Aeschines, 4. Agatharchides of Alexandria, 11. Alexander, 5; 7. Alexander, Bishop, 72. Alexandria, 10; 13. Alexandrian Age, 5; 9; 10; 15. Alexandrianism, 13. Alexandrian Poetry, 13; 18; research in, 16; 18. Alexandrian Poets, 18. Alliteration, 22; 42. Ameringer, ix; x; 109. Anadiplosis, 21 ; in the sermons, 32. Anastrophe, 21; in the sermons, 35; 38. Andocides, 4. Antimetathesis, 24; description of, 74; in the sermons, 74. Antioch, 19; Council of, 19. Antiphon, 4. Antistrophe, 21; in the sermons, 35; 38. Antithesis ; care needed in treatment of, xi; 77; 80; symmetry and, 81; explanation of, 88; in the ser mons, 89; 93. Antithesis, Chiastic, 77. Antonines, the, 14. Antonomasia, 24; 65; description of, 72; in the sermons, 73. ipxaiot, ol, 11. Aristides, 70. Aristophanes, 18. Aristotle, 6; on antithesis, 88. Arius 72. Arsis and Thesis, xi; 21; 29; 30. Asia Minor, parade-speech of, 17. Asianism, 6; 6-10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 16. Asiatics, 11. Assonance, 22; in the sermons, 42. Asyndeton, 22; description of, 44; in the sermons, 44-47; 49; 63; 148. Athens, 14; Periclean, 15; 23; Uni versity of, 19; Basil at, 75; Fifth Century, 80. Atticism, 10-12; 13; 14; 15; 16. Augustus, 12. Basil, St., 18; 19; 20; his anti thesis compared to that of Nazi anzus and Chrysostom, 89; so phistic manner of in metaphors, 102; sophistic subject-matter of his metaphors in, 108; the sea and, 116; acknowledges utility of ec phrasis, 129; indifference of to pa gan ecphrasis, 133; protests of against pagan culture, 146; on encomia, 147; inconsistencies of in very declarations against pagan culture, 148; restraint of, 148; i Ordinarily reference is made neither to examples of a figure nor to its frequency. These regularly follow the "explanation of" or "description of". 152 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES comparison of to the Gregories and Chrysostom, 149; his re putation as an orator, 149; his renunciations of occasions for dis play, 150; his serious purpose seen in his attitude towards allegory, 150; his opinion of the value of pagan culture, 150. Benedictine edition, ix; why used, xiii. Berytos, 19. Bessieres, ix. Bibliography, Select, v-vii. Byzantine Literature, 13. Byzantium, 19. Butin, Romanus, acknowledgment to, xiii. Caesarea, 75; 149. Chiasmus, 77; 91; explanation of, 91; in the sermons, 93. Chiasmus, Antithetical, 92; ex planation of, 92; in the sermons, 93. Chronological Table, xiv-xv. Chrysostom, Dio, 17. Chrysostom, St. John, ix; x; 18; 19; Figures of Sound in, 43; hy perbole in, 72; antithesis in, 89; metaphor in, 98; 102; metaphors of hippodrome in, 108; 127; ec phrasis in, 145; compared to St. Basil, 149; 150. Cicero, 8. Climax, in the sermons, 21; 36. Comparison, 78; explanation of, 110; contrasted with metaphor, 110 ; division of, 111; sophistic cate gories of, 111; comparison of to St. Basil's metaphors, 111; in the sermons, 124 ff.; 128; 149. Comparison, Long., 78-79; 113 if.; 126. Comparison, Redundant, 79; 114 ff; 126. Composition, Figures of, in time of the Empire, 55. Constantine, 17; 19. Corax, 2. Court-room, Devices of, why inclu ded, xii; 20; 23. Declamation, Oratory of, 4; 6. Deferrari, studies of text of letters of St. Basil x; acknowledgment to, xiii. Demetrius, 81. Demetrius of Phaleron, 5 ; 10. Demosthenes, 4; 6; 9; 11; Philip pics of, 17; anadiplosis and, 32; anastrophe and, 35; monotony of parallelism and, 82. Dialectic, why omitted, xiii. Dialektikon, 23; description of, 61; in the sermons, 61-62; 63. Diaporesis, 23; description of, 56; in the sermons 56; 63. Diatribe, 5, 6. Dinarchus, 5. Dion of Prusa, isocolon in, 81 ; anti thesis, 89. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 7. Early Greece, literature of, 13. Ecphrasis, prosopopoiia and, 58; 60; 76; 79; explanation of, 128; categories of, 128-129 ; of persons, 129; non-pagan varieties of, 134 ff., use of in the sermons, 144-145. Elegiac poetry, 1. Ennius, 14. Epanaphora, 21 ; 32 ; in the sermons, 33; 38. Epanaphora, Sentence, 33; Clause, 33. Ephesus, 10; 12. Epideictic Oratory, 4; of Asia, 14. Epidiorthosis, 23; description of, 56; in the sermons, 57; 63. Eratosthenes, 17. Eunapius, 17, Eusebius, Life of Constantine of, 72. Exclamatio, 22; description of, 52; in the sermons, 52. INDEX 153 7&os, a topic of encomia, 148. Gordianus iii, 17. Gordius, Martyrdom of, 141-144. Gorgias, 2; 4; 6; 7; 9; 11; 19; 25; excess of sound figures in, 43; 80; 82; antithesis and, 88. Gorgianic Figures, and paronomasia, 39; variations of, 76; 80 ff.,; in the sermons, 93-95; in Libanius and Himerius, 94. Greece, 14; subjugated, 17. Greek Novels, 18. Gregories, the, x; 18; 102; com pared to St. Basil, 149, 150. Gregory of Nazianzus St., ix; 19; Figures of Sound in, 43; hyper bole in, 72; antithesis and, 89; chiasmus in, 91; metaphor in, 98; metaphors of the hippo drome in, 108 ; his metaphor compared to St. Basil's, 109; 127; new use of ecphrasis in, 129; use of ecphrasis in, 145. Gregory of Nyssa, ix; 19; Figures of Sound in, 43; hyperbole in, 72 antithesis and, 89 ; metaphor in, 98 127; new use of ecphrasis in, 129 ecphrasis in, 145. Guignet, ix; isocolon and, 81; ob jection to use of statistics, ix-x. Hadrian, 14; 17. Hecataeus, 12. Hegesias of Magnesia, 7. Hellenist, of Second Century, 17. Hendiadys, 24; 65; description of, 66; in the sermons, 66. Heraclitus, 80. Hermogenes, on antistrophe, 35; on hyperbole, 69; his praise of De mosthenes, 82. Herodes Atticus, 17. Herodotus, 12; 17. Hexaemeron, sparsity of sophistic comparisons in, 126. Himerius, 18; 19; 70; antithesis in, 89; chiasmus in, 91. Hippias, 9. Hippodrome, indifference of St. Basil to, 108. Homer, 32; 35. Homeric Poems, 1. Homilies, on the Martyrs, 58; on the Psalms, 58; prosopopoiia in, 58. Homoioteleuton, 77; 80; symme try and, 81 ; explanation of, 87-88 ; in the sermons, 88. Hyperbaton, 24 ; 65 ; description of, 65; in the sermons, 65-66. Hyperbole, 24; 69; description of, 69; in the sermons, 70-71. Hyperides, 4. Hypophora, 24; description of, 62; 63. Hypostrophe, 23; description of, 54; in the sermons, 54. Iambic poetry, 1. Ionians, 2. Irony, 23; in the sermons, 55 ; 63. Isaeus, 4; anastrophe and, 35. Isocolon, 76; explanation of, 81; in the sermons, 81-82. Isocrates, 4; 6; 11; 17; 25; 110. Isocratic Tradition, 27; 110. Italy, Northern, 14. Judical Oratory, 4; 5. Julian of Cappodocia, 19. Julian, Emperor, 19. Justinian, 19. k6k\os, 21; in the sermons, 36; 38. Libanius, 18; 19; parison in, 82; antithesis in, 89. Litotes, 23; description of, 54; in the sermons, 55. Love-letter, Fictitious, 18. Lycurgus, 4. Lysias, 4; 6; 17, Menander, 18. Menander Rhetor, 147. Meridier, ix; x; 109. 154 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES Metaphor, difficulty in treatment of, xi; 76; 78; 96 ff.; explanation of, 96-98; categories of, 97; characteristics of sophistic, 96; Christian uses of, 97-98: sophi stic manner of in the sermons, 103; in the sermons, 108-109; in frequency of technical, 108; prac tical use of, 108; contrasted with comparison, 110; 126; 148. Metaphor, Prolonged, 78; 108. Metaphor, Redundant, 78; 108. Method of dissertation, ix. Migne, xiii. Miletus, 10; 12. nlp-qcm, 10. Minor Figures, 20-24. Minor Figures Sophistically Deve loped, 20; 24; grouping of, 65; in the sermons, 74-75. Mytilene, 10; 12. Naples, 14. Neanthes of Pergamus, 11. Neo-Platonism, 15. 'Reibrcpoi, o_, 11. Nicomedia, 75; 149. Nicostratus, 17. Novelli Poetae, 14.