Book 8
2.14
A greater source of obscurity is, however, to be found in the construction and combination of words, and the ways in which this may occur are still more numerous. Therefore, a sentence should never be so long that it is impossible to follow its drift, nor should its conclusion be unduly postponed by transposition or an excessive use of hyperbaton. See viii. vi. 62. Still worse is the result when the order of the words is confused as in the line Aen. i. 109. The awkwardness of the order cannot be brought out in English. In the midmost sea Rocks are there by Italians altars called. Again,
2.15
parenthesis, so often employed by orators and historians, and consisting in the insertion of one sentence in the midst of another, may seriously hinder the understanding of a passage, unless the insertion is short. For example, in the passage where Vergil Georg. iii. 79–83. describes a colt, the words Nor fears he empty noises, are followed by a number of remarks of a totally different form, and it is only four lines later that the poet returns to the point and says, Then, if tile sound of arms be heard afar, How to stand still he knows not. Above all, ambiguity must be avoided,
