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Constructive Rhythm in Cicero's Speeches Der constructive Rhythmus in Ciceros Reden. Th. Zielinski. Leipzig: Dieterich. 1914.
Albert C. Clark
The Classical Review / Volume 30 / Issue 01 / February 1916, pp 22 - 26 DOI: 10.1017/S0009840X00009598, Published online: 27 October 2009
Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0009840X00009598
How to cite this article: Albert C. Clark (1916). The Classical Review, 30, pp 22-26 doi:10.1017/ S0009840X00009598
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Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/CAR, IP address: 128.122.253.212 on 18 Jun 2015 22 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW AUS DER OFFENBARUNG JOHANNIS. A us der Offenbarung Johannis: hellenis- sun traverses each month, cf. Plutarch, tische Studien zum Weltbild der Apoka- de def. or ac. c. 21. lypse. Von FRANZ BOLL. Gr. 8vo., Another example of the author's VIII., 151. Leipzig-Berlin: Teubner, method may be taken from his treat- 1914. Geh. M. 5 : geb. M. 5.60. ment of Apoc. xii., where he shows that the description of the woman in THIS is the first instalment of a new heaven is suggested by the constellation series, entitled Studien zur Geschickte des Virgo. antiken Wdtbildes und der griechischen At times the arguments are weak, and Wissenschaft, of which Franz Boll is to the method of treating a few only of the be the editor. The series opens well passages of the Apocalypse—those that with this lucid and convincing study of fit the theory best—renders caution the popular science that forms the back- necessary in the reader, but the ground of the Apocalypse. value of the book is not seriously im- The author accepts the work of Gun- paired by these criticisms. One im- kel, Bousset and others who find in portant obiter dictum is expressed. Oriental mythology the main key with The astrological myth is at home which to unlock the mysteries of the in the Apocalypse, but in the Synoptic book, and attaches little importance to Gospels we are in another world, where explanations drawn from contemporary such ideas are quite out of place; so history. Where he parts company from there is nothing to be said for the recent theseauthors is in maintaining that many attempts to resolve Jesus into an astro- intervening stages separated the Apoca- logical myth. The question of author- lypse from Babylonia. The immediate ship is not discussed, but if Herr Boll's source was the popular astronomy and results stand, the attribution of the book astrology of the first century. When to a Galilean fisherman seems in the the action is said to take place in heaven, highest degree improbable. Or at least, the writer means what he says, and his if Palestinian Jews were such as this readers would naturally understand him writer must have been, many books on to be speaking of the visible starry the New Testament are ludicrously heavens. It is a veritable kingdom of wrong. heaven that is offered to the faithful. A valuable appendix gives in adjacent Thus, the number 12 (12,000 stades columns the eschatological discourses of in xxi. 16, 144 in v. 17) is the number Mark xiii. and parallels, with illustra- of the signs of the Zodiac. (So in xiv. tions from astrological treatises, from 20 the i,600 stades are the number of which it would appear that the language the stars of heaven as given in Pliny, of the Greek Testament coincides with N.H. ii. no). The precious stones are that in which ancient ' Old Moore's astral; see Hermes Trismegistos, where Almanacks' prophesied ' bad ' years. one precious stone corresponds to each The resemblance is specially close in of the thirty-six divisions of the Zodiac. in the places where Luke introduces his The stream of the water of life is own modifications into the Markan the Milky Way — in Empedocles the matter. It is doubtful if this proves fixed stars are bound together with much. Those who prophesy bad times crystal. The twelve fruits of the tree must always employ more or less similar of life, one for each month, correspond language. to the Zodiac signs, one of which, the W. K. LOWTHER-CLARKE.
CONSTRUCTIVE RHYTHM IN CICERO'S SPEECHES. Der constructive Rhythmus in Ciceros his work upon the Ciceronian clausula, Reden. TH. ZIELINSKI. Leipzig: promised to follow this up by a study Dieterich. 1914. of what he terms the ' constructive' THE eminent Russian scholar, Prof. rhythm, i.e. the rhythm which pervades Thaddaeus Zielinski, of Petrograd, in the sentence. It is not possible here THE CLASSICAL REVIEW to set before the reader the methods S ii.1 In the Ko/ifiara there is nothing adopted by Zielinski in his former en- to notice besides the rhetorical figures quiry, and, as some knowledge of them of antithesis, parallelism and homoeo- is necessary, reference may be made to teleuton. With this we may connect a review which appeared in the pages an interesting passage in Quintilian of this Journal (Vol. XIX., No. 3, April, (IX. 4. 67-8). After saying that the 95)) membra and incisa must begin and end The existence of a pervading rhythm well, he goes on to speak of occulti is affirmed by various ancient authori- gradus, even where there is no break in ties. Thus Cicero (Orat. 203) says, the sense, and the speaker does not si numerus orationis quaeritur quo loco stop to breathe. He takes as an example adhibeatur, in tota continuatione verborum.the beginning of the Cluentiana, which So also Quintilian (IX. 4. 61) remarks, he arranges thus: in omni quidem corpore totoque, ut ita animadverti, iudices, dixerim, tractu numerus insertus est. It omnem accusatoris orationem is to be noticed that illustrations of in duas particular rhythms quoted by ancient divisam esse partes. critics are taken from the body of the He says that these particulae have 'a sentence as well as from the clausula. sort of rhythm' (suos quasi numeros Thus Quintilian (IX. 4. 63) gives as habent, spiritum sustinentes, et sicut apud a specimen of Demosthenes' manly rhythmicos aestimantur). Quintilian goes rhythms (severa compositio) the begin- on to remark that certain clausulae are ning of the de Corona, rolOrator 223-4: in his previous work dealt with the ' Sed quae incisim aut membratim clausula of the period, he is now con- efferuntur, ea vel aptissime cadere de- cerned with that of the K&XOV and bent, ut est apud me, Domus tibi deerat? KOfJL/ia. at habebas. Pecunia superabat? at ege- The difference between these clausulae bas. Haec incise dicta sunt quattuor; is one of quantity, not of kind. This at membratim quae sequuntur duo. distinction is implicit in Quintilian's Incurristi amens in columnas, in alienos analysis of Verr. V, 117. The end of insanus insanisti.' 1 Roman numerals are used in this notice for Here the jca>\a exhibit two well- forms with a Molossus base, and Arabic for known rhythms, viz. Zielinski's iii and those with a Cretic base. 24 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW the sentence is the place for tune; in given at the end of the volume he the KwXa discordant notes are per- enumerates 62, 434 Sa'tze and 124, 790 missible. It follows that in the Kofi/mra Glieder. All of these he has classified, the measures will be harsher still. and he is ready with figures and per- Zielinski puts the point well when he centages on all occasions. His in- compares the final numeri to ' cream,' genuity is inexhaustible, both in meeting those of the major divisions in the sen- difficulties and in inventing new terms tence to the ordinary ' milk' of com- for the phenomena which he discusses. merce, and those of the minor to It must be confessed that there is much 'skimmed milk.' It is obvious that the in his work which will sorely try those difficulties in the way of the present who believe in the validity of his enquiry are very great, not only because method and the value of his results, the material is vast, but because the and still more which will scandalize evidence is blurred and confused as the weaker brethren. compared with that furnished by the Some cola, if we may use the word final clausula. in Zielinski's sense, contain one of the Zielinski's greatest achievement in well-known forms with nothing over, his Clauselgesetz was to shew that Cicero e.g. Lig. 5 : was unconscious of the secret princi- ples which governed his own prose. ipsa legatio (V 2) Rhythmical composition is originally plena desideri (V2). a matter of the ear, and, although in These he terms autonomous. They course of time it becomes partially con- are not common in Cicero, but become scious, it rests in the main on instinct. so in later writers, e.g. Symmachus. The natural laws on which it is based Zielinski says that ' if this autonomy can only be discovered by statistics. were necessary, we should have before Zielinski answers those critics who us not prose, but a poem, and that refuse to recognise his laws, on the possibly as strictly constructed as those ground that the ancients knew nothing of Horace. We are, however, con- of them, by saying that one might as cerned with rhythmical prose.' This well say that the blood of the ancients remark is clearly just. More frequently did not circulate, since they knew the colon contains extra syllables before nothing about the circulation of the the cadence. We may take as examples blood. the first two lines in Quintilian's The first chapter in the present work arrangement of Clu. I., viz.: deals chiefly with what is termed ' Co- lometry.' Zielinski applies the term animadverti, iudices, ( V ii) Satz to the major divisions of the sen- omnem accusatoris orationem (V 3). tence and calls the endings Satzschlusse. The minor divisions (Glieder) are termed Frequently, however, the colon is short of a syllable. Thus, if we were Cola or Binnencola. He seldom men- 1 tions the ancient term Comma (e.g. on to deny hiatus after divisam in the p. 31), and appears to include the com- fourth line of Quintilian's arrangement, mata among the Binnencola. It cannot we should have be said that this nomenclature makes for clarity. In ancient technique there divisam esse partes. is no term exactly corresponding to Here an extra syllable would have to Satz, but K&XOV is the nearest equiva- be supplied in order to complete V iii. lent. Zielinski, however, uses Glied or In such cases Zielinski supplies an colon for the smaller divisions, which extra syllable (Stiitzstlbe) from the pre- the ancients would have called commata. ceding colon. Various difficulties arise, Zielinski's first question is, ' What is e.g. if there is a short syllable at the a Glied or colon V It is obvious that end of the previous colon, or if it ends the answer mast be largely subjective. with a vowel before a vowel at the His own method has been to read aloud beginning of the next colon—which all the speeches of Cicero, and to mark 1 Hiatus appears to be allowed after the the divisions accordingly. In his tables diaeresis in Form 3. Cf. Clauselgesetz, p. 95. THE CLASSICAL REVIEW lead him into a number of subtleties cadences get the mastery over their which it would take time to discuss. rivals, and at the end of the period they It would have been simpler to recog- become predominant. The percentage nise these cola as imperfect. The essen- rises in the case of larger divisions, tial characteristic of prose rhythm is where the pause is more marked, viz. that it is broken and incomplete. If at the end of a paragraph, and at the so, a half rhythm from time to time, end of a speech. Each form has its e.g. a cadence with a base which lacks special value for a final clausula (Schluss- one syllable, or even a cadence with- wert). Zielinski calls those which in- out a base at all, such as Quintilian's crease in frequency, as we advance from the colon to the period, ' positive,' in duas, is not without rhythmical while those which diminish in frequency effect. It produces what Quintilian during the progress are termed ' nega- calls a quasi numerus. The defect of tive.' Thus the V class is strongly posi- this simple method from Zielinski's tive, while the S and P classes are point of view is, without doubt, that strongly negative. The same method the recognition of imperfect cola would is applied to the various types. Thus complicate his figures, and make it in V i and 2 the 7 caesura is positive, difficult to draw conclusions. The diffi- and in V 3 the diaeresis (8). They are culty is real, but it is necessary to enter predominant in the final clausula, but this caveat before stating his results. not in the cola. After this preliminary chapter, the This result agrees with the general rest of the work falls into two parts. principle that in the sentence discordant The first (pp. 36-88) deals with Rhythm notes are succeeded by tune. and the second (pp. 89-283) with Sym- metry. In the first part Zielinski deals with certain laws, which are formulated (3) The Law of Development. thus: We have seen that the Law of Con- stancy prevails within a speech of (1) The Law of Constancy. Cicero. We have now to ask whether If a speech of Cicero is divided into Cicero's system became modified in the equal parts, each consisting of about course of time. Zielinski had already twenty paragraphs, it will be found shewn in his Clauselgesetz that in Cicero's that the various rhythmical forms later speeches the cretic base (V 2) tends {VLMSP) occur in about the same to drive out its rival, the molossus proportion in all the parts. This (V ii). Quintilian (IX. 4. 104) actually Zielinski terms the ' chief secret' of condemns V ii as bad. In later writers Ciceronian prose. It is true not only the cretic base becomes normal in V 3, of the forms, but also of the types, i.e. as well as in V 2. In the present work the varieties of caesura within the form, Zielinski shews that the Law of Develop- e.g. 1 7, 18, etc. Here we are dealing ment is of wider application, and that with something which is wholly uncon- Cicero exhibits a steadily increasing scious. Zielinski says, ' If anyone could preference for the more harmonious exhibit to Cicero his law of Constancy forms and types, alike in the cola, Satz- with all its ramifications, he would be schlilsse, and final clausulae. Thus the somewhat astonished, but not more V class increases in frequency, and in it than an ordinary layman, to whom one the favourite types, viz. V 1 7, V 2 7, wished to shew how many muscles he V 3 8 become predominant. had to set in motion, one after the other, in order to put one foot before the (4) The Law of Collision (Complosion- other.' The enquiry is concerned with gesetz). psychology as well as with philology. This was previously laid down by Zielinski in Philologus LXV. (1906), (2) The Law of Gradation. pp. 610 sqq. The chief point is that In the cola the harsher rhythms com- Cicero seldom places an iambic after pete on equal terms with the more a trochee, which is generally followed musical. In the Sa'tze the musical by a long syllable and two shorts. 26 THE CLASSICAL REVIEW This observation does much to explain is to prepare the way for the clausula, Cicero's use of synonyms: thus his hence we have a discord before the tune. practice is to write multum minari or The most important of all rhythmical multa minitari, not multa minari or figures is that of congeries (Haufung). This is especially appropriate to com- multum minitari. The dactyl appears miseratio, and the list of instances in- to be avoided in Ciceronian prose. cludes some of the finest passages in The second part of Zielinski's volume Cicero. Strong symmetry is incom- is concerned with Symmetry. It is to patible with length, since the effect be noticed that here also he employs would be tedious, and where, the figure the device of Stiitzsilben. His general is extended beyond three cola we find method, when dealing with instances free symmetry, and even a combination of various figures, is to group them of two rhythms. under the heads of (a) strict, [b) free The last chapter deals with the symmetry. Here by ' strict' he means Strophe. In the previous figures we combinations of the same form, e.g. were concerned with the repetition of a V I and V i: by 'free,' combinations of single colon. In the strophe at least a ' strong ' and a ' weak' form, e.g. V ii two cola are repeated. The minimum and V 2, or of a form and a resolution 2 number, therefore, of cola in a strophe of the same form, e.g. V i and V i . is four. In this case the different com- His boldest equation is that of the same binations are : (1) aabb, (2) abab, form in various classes, e.g. V i,S i, P i. (3) abba. Other strophes contain as It is obvious that such points are highly many as seven or more cola. controversial. The strophe is said to be especially It is impossible to discuss here the suited for sententiae, i.e. reflections and various figures which Zielinski discloses. aphorisms. It is concerned with t)0o<;, Two of the most interesting are the while congeries has to do with -nado*;. repetition of a rhythm at the beginning It is assisted by various rhetorical of a sentence (Doppelanschlag) and the figures, e.g. repetition, parallelism and similar repetition at the end (Doppel- antithesis. schluss). Zielinski gives 157 examples Zielinski concludes with a dignified of the first as against 752 of the second. and eloquent address to posterity. He He says that rhythmical figures are sets forth the method which should be comparatively rare at the beginning of followed by anyone who wishes to con- the sentence, since they tend to draw duct a similar enquiry. Cicero is only the attention away from the end, which a subject upon which he has experi- is of chief importance as the seat of mented. It is possible to treat other numeri. On the other hand, the begin- authors in the same way. The laws by ning of the sentence is the proper place which their prose was governed may be for rhetorical figures, or ayjuMTa, as quite different, but they can only be opposed to rhythms. In other words, ascertained by statistics. He indicates the beginning of the sentence is the fascinating problems presented by Livy, realm of Gorgias, and the end that of Seneca, Tacitus, and not least by Plato. Thrasymachus. In the case of the Had Plato a law of development ? If Doppelschluss, it is noted that where the so, we shall be able to fix the order of symmetry is ' free,' the tendency is for the dialogues. His last words are a the harsh rhythm to come first, and to plea that a work which is so serious be succeeded by the smooth. A striking may be taken seriously by his suc- example is Phil. XIV. 38 : cessors. It is to be hoped that this tribute may be granted to so bold and si vivi vicissent (5 I 7) indefatigable a pioneer. qui morte vicerunt ( V1 y). The function of the penultimate colon ALBERT C. CLARK.