Book 9
2.27
and include it among figures of speech. When, however, such exclamations are genuine, they do not come under the head of our present topic: it is only those which are simulated and artfully designed which can with any certainty be regarded as figures. The same is true of free speech, which Corificius The author of Auct. ad Herennium, iv. 36. calls licence, and the Greeks παῤῥησία. For what has less of the figure about it than true freedom? On the other hand, freedom of speech may frequently be made a cloak for flattery.
2.28
For when Cicero in his defence for Ligarius says, After war had begun, Caesar, and was well on its way to a conclusion, I deliberately, of my own free will and under no compulsion, joined the forces of your opponents, iii. 7. he has in his mind something more than a desire to serve the interests of Ligarius, for there is no better way of praising the clemency of the victor.
2.29
On the other hand, in the sentence, What else was our aim, Tubero, than that we might secure the power which he now holds? iv. 10. We = the Pompeian party. He = Caesar. he succeeds with admirable art in representing the cause of both parties as being good, and in so doing mollifies him whose cause was really bad. A bolder form of figure, which in Cicero's opinion Orat. xxv. 85. demands greater effort, is impersonation, or προσωποποιΐα This is a device which lends wonderful variety and animation to oratory.
