Wilson, Rhetorique, f9S

be applied to mannes lifet. Sometymes in a worde appereth a similitude, which being dilated helpeth wel for amplification. As thus. You striue against the streme, better bowe then breake. It is euil runnyng againste a stone wall. À man maie loue his house well, & yet not ride vpon the ridge. By alwhiche, any one maie gather a similitude, and enlarge it at pleasure. The prouerbes of Hewode helpe wonderfull well for this purpose... Yea, brute beastes minister greate occasion of right good matter, considering many of them haue shewen vnto vs, the paternes and Images of diuers vertues. Doues seyng an Hauke, gather all together, teaching vs none other thyng, but in aduersitie, to sticke one to an other. Craines in the night haue their watche, warnyng vs neuer to bee carelesse, for 1f their watche faile theim, thei all neuer leaue, till thei haue killed that one Craine, teaching vs that no traitours are worthie to liue vpon yearth. Thei watche for his saufegarde, and bicause he would not slepe : holdeth a stone in his foote, the whiche falleth from hym, when he beginneth to waxe heauie, and so kepeth hymself still waking ?.

Examples gathered out of histories, and used in this sort, helpe moche towardes perswasion…

The saiying of Poetes, and all their fables, are not to bee forgotten, for by them we maïie talke at large, and win men by perswasion, if we declare before hand, that these tales wer not fained of soche wisemen without cause, neither yet continued vntill this tyme, and kepte in memorie without good consideracion, and therevpon declare the true meaning of al soche writing.

(Suit une liste d'exemples comprenant Danaé, Isis, Tantale, Icare, Midas et Hercule) #.

1. Cicéron avait dit : « Sed inventio similium facilis erit, si qui sibi omnes res, animantes et inanimas, mutas et eloquentes, feras et mansuetas, terrestres [cetes] maritimas, artificiosas casu natura comparatas, usitatas atque inusitatas, frequenter ponere ante oculos poterit et ex his aliquam venari similitudinem, quæ aut ornare, aut docere, aut apertiorem rem facere, aut ponere ante oculos possit » (Ad Herennium, IV, xlviii).