Book 11
1.176
Again, what of the fact that a change of delivery may make precisely the same words either demonstrate or affirm, express reproach, denial, wonder or indignation, interrogation, mockery or depreciation? For the word thou is given a different expression in each of the following passages: Thou this poor kingdom dost on me bestow. Aen. i. 78. and Thou vanquish him in song? Ecl. iii. 25. and Art thou, then, that Aeneas? Aen i. 617. and And of fear, Do thou accuse me, Drances! Aen. xi. 383. To cut a long matter short, if my reader will take this or any other word he chooses and run it through the whole gamut of emotional expression, he will realise the truth of what I say.
1.177
There is one further remark which I must add, namely, that while what is becoming is the main consideration in delivery, different methods will often suit different speakers. For this is determined by a principle which, though it is obscure and can hardly be expressed in words, none the less exists: and, though it is a true saying de Or. I. xxix. 132 that the main secret of artistic success is that whatever we do should become us well, none the less, despite the fact that such success cannot be attained without art, it is impossible entirely to communicate the secret by the rules of art.
