BR
65
1336
C3 -1 PATRISTIC STUDIES
UC-NRLF
VOL. II
THE INFLUENCE OF
THE SECOND SOPHISTIC ON
THE STYLE OF THE SERMONS
OF ST. BASIL THE GREAT
A DISSERTATION
Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Letters of the Catholic
University of America in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of DC or of Philosophy
BY
JAMES MARSHALL CAMPBELL A. M.
J
CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
WASHINGTON, D. C.
1922
EXCHANGE
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP iirt
STUDIES
VOL. II
JTHE INFLUENCE
OF THE SECOND SOPHISTIC ON THE
STYLE OF THE SERMONS OF
ST. BASIL THE GREAT
BY
JAMES MARSHALL CAMPBELL A.M.
M
A DISSERTATION
CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA
D. c.
1922
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Table of Contents iii
Bibliography v
Preface ix
Chronological Table xiv
Abbreviations xvi
Chapter I. Outline History of Greek Rhetoric 1
Chapter II. The New or Second Sophistic 14
Chapter III. Minor Figures of Rhetoric 20
Chapter IV. Figures of Redundancy 25
Chapter V. Figures of Repetition 32
Chapter VI. Figures of Sound 39
Chapter VII. Figures of Vivacity. Other Devices of Composition 44
Chapter VIII. Minor Figures especially characteristic of the Second
Sophistic 65
Chapter IX. Figures and Devices of the Second Sophistic ... 76
Chapter X. Gorgianic Figures and Allied Devices of Parallelism 80
Chapter XI. The Metaphor 96
Chapter XII. The Comparison 110
Chapter XIII. Ecphrasis 128
Chapter XIV. Conclusion 146
Index 151
Vita , ... ,156
.9770
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
a) LITERARY HISTORY.
BARDENHEWER, 0., Geschichte der altkirchliclien Literatur, Bd. Ill, Frei-
burg i. Breisgau, 1912.
BATTIFOL, P., La Litterature Grecque, Paris, 1905.
CHRIST, W. VON, Griechische Literaturgeschichte, Miinchen, 1913.
CROISET, M., Histoire de la Litterature Grecque, Paris, 1899.
JORDAN, H., Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, Leipzig, 1911.
LEBLANC, H. J., Essai sur 1'enseignement des lettres profanes dans les pre-
miers siecles de 1'Eglise, Paris, 1852.
NIRSCHL, J.,Lehrbuch der Patrologie und Patristik, Bd. 2, 149 ff., Mainz, 1883.
ROGER, M., L'Enseignement des lettres classiques d'Ausone a Alcuin, These,
Paris, 1905.
SUSEMIHL, F., Geschichte der griechischen Literatur in der Alexanderzeit,
Leipzig, 1891-1892.
TIXERONT, J., Precis de Patrologie, Paris, 1918.
b) BIOGRAPHICAL.
AGRESTA, APOLL., Vita del propatriarca S. Basilio Magno, Messina, 1681 .
ALLARD, P., Saint Basile, Paris, 1903.
BAERT, FR., De S. Basilio Magno: Acta Sanctorum, lunii 2, 807-958, Ant-
verpiae, 1698.
BAYLE, A., Saint Basile, archeveque de Cesaree, Avignon, 1878.
DUCHESNE, L., Histoire ancienne de 1'Eglise, Paris, 1906.
EIRENIDES, D., Bfos TOV v aylOis irarpos ^Cov fiounXdov TOV MrydXov, Athens, 1881.
FARRAR, F. W., Lives of the Fathers, Edinburgh, 1889.
FEISSER, I. ELIAS, De Vita Basilii Magni, Dissertationes Historicae Theo-
logicae, Groningae, 1828.
HERTZBERG, G. FR., Die Geschichte Griechenlands unter der Herrschaft
der Romer, Bd. 3, 345 ff., Halle, 1875.
KLOSE, C. R. W., Ein Beitrag zur Kirchengeschichte. Basilius der Grofie
nach seinem Leben und seiner Lehre dargestellt, Stralsund, 1835.
MARAN, PR., Vita S. Basilii Magni in Benedictine edition of St. Basil's
works, 3, XXXVII-CXCII; also in Migne, Patrologia Graeca 29,
V-CLXXVII.
SMITH, R. T., Saint Basil the Great, London, 1879.
TILLEMONT, Memoires pour servir a 1'Histoire Ecclesiastique des six pre-
miers siecles, IX, 628-691, Paris, 1714.
vi SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
c) RHETORICAL
AMERINGER, T. E., The Stylistic Influence of the Second Sophistic on the
Panegyrical Sermons of St. John Chrysostom, "Washington, 1921.
ABISTOTELES, Ars Rhetorica ed. Ad. Roemer, Bibliotheca Teubneriana,
Lipsiae, 1898.
ARNIM, H. VON, Leben und Werke des Dio von Prusa, Berlin, 1898.
BAUMGART, H., Aelius Aristides als Reprasentant der sophistichen Rhetorik
des zweiten Jahrhunderts der Kaiserzeit, Leipzig, 1874.
BLASS, F., Die attische Beredsamkeit, Leipzig, 1887-1893.
Antiphontis Orationes, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, Lipsiae, 1908.
CHAIGNET, A., La Rhetorique et son histoire, Paris, 1888.
Ciceronis Rhetorica recognovit A. S. Wilkins, II, Brutus, Oxonii, 1903.
DELAHAYE, H., S. I., Les Passions des Martyrs et les Genres Litteraires,
Bruxelles, 1921.
Dionysii Halicarnassei Opuscula ed. H. Usener et S. Radermacher, Biblio-
theca Teubneriana, Vol.' II, Lipsiae, 1904.
GUIONET, M., Saint Gregoire de Nazianze et la Rhetorique, Paris, 1911.
JUTTNER, H., De Polemonis Rhetoris vita, operibus, arte, Breslau, 1898.
LIBANIUS, Orationes ed. Reiske Vol. IV, Altenburg, 1791-1797.
ME"RIDIER, L., L'Influence de la seconde Sophistique sur 1'oeuvre de Gregoire
de Nysse, Paris, 1906.
NAVARRE, 0., Essai sur la Rhetorique Grecque avant Aristote, Paris, 1900.
NORDEN, E., Die antike Kunstprosa, 2 Bde., Leipzig, 1898.
Platonis Opera recognovit lohannes Burnet, Tomi V., Oxonii, 1903-1910.
ROBERTSON J. C., The Gorgianic Figures in Early Greek Prose, Balti-
more, 1903.
ROBINSON, C. A., The Tropes and Figures of Isaeus, Princeton, 1901.
ROHDE, E., Der griechische Roman und seine VoiTaufer, Leipzig, 1900.
Die asianische Rhetorik und die Zweite Sophistik, Rheinisches Mu-
seum, XLI, (1886) 179 ff.
SCHMIDT, W., Der Atticismus in seinen Hauptvertretern, Stuttgart, 1887.
Bericht iiber die Literatur aus den Jahren 1894-1900 zur Zweiten
Sophistik, in Bursian's Jahresbericht XXIX (1901).
Bericht iiber die Literatur aus den Jahren 1901-1904 zur Zweiten
Sophistik, in Bursian's Jahresbericht, XXXIV (1906).
SIHLER, E. G., A Study of Dinarchus, Transactions and Proceedings of the
American Philological Association, Vol. 16, (1885), 120-132.
SPENGEL, L., Rhetores Graeci ed. C. Hammer, Bibliotheca Teubneriana,
III Vol. Lipsiae, 1894.
TRUNK, J., De Basilio Sermonis Attici Imitatore, Progr. Stutgardiae,
1911.
TRYPHO, ed. Spengel, Rhetores Graeci.
VILLEMAIN, Tableau de 1'eloquence chretienne au IV e Siecle, Paris, 1850.
VOLKMANN, R., Die Rhetorik der Griechen und Romer, Leipzig, 1885.
Rhetorik und Metrik, in Muller's Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft,
Miinchen, 1901.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY yii
WiLAMOwrrz-MoELLENDORF, U. VON, Asianismus und Atticismus, Hermes,
XXXV, (1900) 1-52.
WEISSENBACH, J., De Eloquentia Patrum, Libri XIII. Augustae Vindeli-
corum, 1775.
d) EDITIONS OP ST. BASIL.
Editio Princeps Basel, 1532; Venedig, 1535; Basel, 1551.
DUCAEUS, FRONTO et MORELLUS, F., Ill Vol., Parisiis, 1618, 1638.
GARNIER, J. et MARAN, P., Editio, III Vol. in fol.,' Parisiis, 1720-1730.
DE SINNER, L., Editio Parisina Altera, III Vol. Parisiis, 1839.
MIGNE, Eeprint of the Garnier-Maran Text, Patrologia Graeca, Tomi XXIX
to XXXII, Parisiis, 1857.
KAPLANIDES, Reprint of Migne, Athens, 1900.
e) SPECIAL WORKS ON ST. BASIL.
BESSIERES, ABB J., La Tradition manuscrite de la Correspondance de
Saint Basile. The Journal of Theological Studies, XXI (1919), No. 81, 1.
CLARK, W. K. L., St. Basil the Great, a Study in Monasticism, Cam-
bridge, 1913.
DEFERRARI, R. J., St. Basil's Letters, Introduction, vol. I. Loeb Classical
Library. In manuscript.
FIALON, E., Etude historique et litteraire sur S. Basile, Nancy, 1864.
JACKSON, B., The Treatise De Spiritu Sancto, the Nine Homilies of the
Hexaemeron, and the Letters of St. Basil the Great. Translation with
notes, London, 1885.
MORISON, B. F., St. Basil and his Rule, Oxford, 1912.
Roux, L., Etude sur la predication de Basile le Grand, Strasbourg, 1867.
SCHAFER, J., Basilius des Grofien Beziehungen zum Abendlande, Miinstor
i. W., 1909.
VASSON, Saint Basile le Grand,ses oeuvres oratoires et ascetiques, Paris, 1894.
PREFACE
Since M. Puech proposed the question of the indebtedness of
patristic eloquence to the contemporary sophistic in the Revue
de synthese historique for June 1901, three dissertations have
been published bearing directly on phases of that ample
problem. M. Meridier has studied the influence of the Second
Sophistic upon St. Gregory of Nyssa; Guignet has studied
St. Gregory of Nazianzus in his contacts with the contemporary
rhetoric ; Father Ameringer, out of the vast bulk of St. John
Chrysostom, has traced the sophistic influence on the style of
the panegyrical sermons of that orator. The following study aims
to furnish such a paragraph in answer to M. Puech's question
as will result from a careful study of the style of the 46 ser-
mons of St. Basil that are found in the Benedictine edition.
My study differs from theirs, however, in method, and to a
slight degree in purpose. They have devoted their efforts largely
towards establishing the fact of sophistic influence in their
respective orators. I have been concerned more with the extent
of that influence on St. Basil. It is true that the extent of
influence is inextricably bound up with the fact of influence,
but, had the extent of influence been their chief concern, they
probably would have used a method differing somewhat from
that which obtains among them. However this may be, my
method is different. It is an attempt to make use of something
declared by them to be highly desirable but not practicable
in such studies, i. e. statistics.
Guignet gives the case against the use of statistics. 1 He
objects to them because of the uncertain state of the patristic
texts. Even if the present state of the text of Basil should
finally call for radical changes, which the work of Bessieres 2
1 12.
2 Abbe J. Bessieres, La Tradition manuscrite de la correspondance de
Saint Basile. The Journal of Theological Studies, Vol. XXI, 1919 (Several
installments, beginning No. 81, 1).
X PREFACE
and Deferrari 3 does not indicate, the variant statistics would
not change the conclusions in this study because of the very
pronounced tendencies which the statistics gathered from the
present text reveal. Further on in his study G-uignet 4 protests
the futility of statistics in determining sophistic influence in
the comparison. The same objection, if valid, applies to the
metaphor as well. It is worth considering therefore at some
length. Guignet's objection may be stated somewhat as follows.
The mere total of the comparisons will indicate the extent of
profuseness in the use of the figure, and profuseness is a
sophistic eccentricity. But such a total will not indicate
precisely the sophistic profuseness, not necessarily the profuseness
due to the sophistic manner of the times. The Fathers of the
Fourth Century realized and acknowledged the utility of the
comparison for illuminating the obscure. 5 There will thus be
much in such a total (how much is indeterminable) to be
attributed to Christian inspiration, and not to the sophistic.
Thus far Guignet. I do not think that Guignet's objection is a
valid one here. The studies which he himself has made, together
with those of M. Meridier and Father Ameringer, 6 show that
most of the comparisons of the two Gregories and Chrysostom
"may be reduced to a limited number of stereotyped forms,
slightly modified to suit the occasion" 7 and that these stereo-
typed forms are characteristic of the sophists. The indefinite
results alleged against, a mere count may therefore be remedied
by carefully classifying all the sophistic figures found under
their proper heads. A comparison of the totals of the sophistic
and non-sophistic categories will show us how often St. Basil
resorted to genuinely sophistic categories. In any case, whether
the disciple of the sophists or the Christian preacher and
expounder is the dominating personality in these results
interferes not at all with the value of the results themselves. If
sophistic display is the leading motive that called forth a given
3 St. Basil's Letters, Vol. I, Loeb Classical Library.
* 159.
s Of. P.G.Gregory ofNyssa 45, 345 A; 352 A; 585 D: Chrysostom 56,
165; 32; 57, 199.
6 Cf. Meridier, 117; Guignet, 161; Ameringer, 69.
i "Ameringer, 69.
PEEFACE Xi
comparison, then St. Basil is revealing his sophistic training. If
the preacher's anxiety to clarify his point is the leading motive,
then again St. Basil reveals himself the pupil of the sophists,
employing familiar pagan devices to an anti-pagan purpose.
Besides the evident value of statistics there is another
consideration which makes their use really necessary in a
study of this kind. The very strength of some sophistic figures
impresses the mind of the reader so deeply that he is blinded
to their possible infrequency, and the relative frequency of a
given figure is always an index of sophistic influence, if the
character of the figure is valued aright. It has been my
purpose therefore to consider the manner of the figures found
in St. Basil's sermons and the frequency of each figure, dividing
the statistics on a figure into appropriate groups where its
nature seemed to demand it. From these two view-points,
equally important in a study of the Second Sophistic, I have
constructed my conclusions.
In gathering statistics much circumspection has been necessary.
As has been said above, the nature of each figure had to be
taken into account. Three examples of arsis and thesis and
three examples of prosopopoiia, for instance, are not equivalents
in rhetorical value. Arsis is capable of many repetitions
without becoming obtrusive, while prosopopoiia need recur
only a very few times to become a very marked element of
style. Figures also differ in the readiness with which they
may be recognized as such. Arsis and thesis and rhetorical
questions, for instance, have only to be seen to be justly
accounted figures. In the Figures of Sound, however, much
care is needed. In a language so highly inflected as the Greek,
rhetorical design must be very obvious before one is justified
in calling what appears to be a figure of sound truly such.
To a lesser extent antithesis must be closely examined because
of the antithetical bent of the Greek language. Metaphors
too present some difficulties because of our meagre lexico-
graphical knowledge of Fourth Century Greek. Because of
the problem raised by these three figures it is sometimes said
that rhetorical design must be evident in every apparent
figure and that therefore the whole process of gathering
figures is a purely, or highly, subjective one. To this I do not
XII PEEFACE
agree. Such a view rests upon a misconception of the nature
of the Sophistic. The Second Sophistic in its rhetorical aspect
is not one phase of the rhetoric of the Empire. Contrariwise
it includes all the rhetoric of its day. The term describes an
epoch in the history of rhetoric, when narrowed to its rhetorical
meaning. It includes the present and all of the past that has
come down to it. Outside of the figures mentioned aboTe, then,
rhetorical design need not be established in every case. The
form of the figure St. Basil derived from contemporary rhetoric
and its heritage, regardless of any conscious purpose on his part.
In this study, under Figures of Parallelism, names are
employed not found in the progymnasmata or elsewhere.
St. Basil's alleged lack of preparation and its possible effect
on the Figures of Parallelism have led me into these distinctions.
These distinctions the results have justified I believe.
Many figures included in this study go back to the Atheni-
an law-courts. At the outset of this investigation it was
thought worth while to keep in mind all the figures of rhetoric,
so far as might be, even the unimportant. This seemed only
consistent with the essential connection of the Sophistic with
earlier epochs of rhetoric. There thus would be revealed any
little rhetorical mannerism that Basil might possess, liable to
be ignored in the exclusive consideration of the more usual
figures. While the results in this small province have yielded
little in proportion to the attention given it, while the results
are almost negative in figures associated with the law-courts,
yet this much is not without value as illustrating what Basil
did not do, or what unusual device he sometimes used. Thus
am I enabled to present his art more nicely and more completely
than would otherwise be -possible.
Despite the uncertainties that may be due to the state of
the text, to the exigencies of prose-rhythm, to personal
predilection, I thought that scrupulous care would give an
approximation in statistics which, coupled with a study of the
manner of development of the figures themselves, would be
decidedly worth while. In this I do not feel disappointed.
Despite the lack of data on other orators and sophists of
the time precise enough to allow for detailed comparisons, I
have been able, by constant reviews of the text and by the
PREFACE xiii
aid of general conclusions on other orators and sophists, to
come to very definite conclusions on St. Basil's use of most of the
figures and, consequently, on the extent of influence exercised by
pagan rhetoric on his homiletical style. These statistics are so
pronounced in their testimony that even with a less detailed
knowledge of the period than is actually available, I could
arrive at positive conclusions.
Sophistic dialectic has not been treated in this study.
Dialectic borders too dangerously on theological studies for a
thorough study here, and the superficial account that I could
give would be inconsistent with the character and purpose
of this dissertation. Although many evidences of sophistic
dialectic appear in the sermons, especially in the comparisons,
so difficult a subject is here left to the thorough treatment
of a special monograph. The question of prose-rhythm is so
unsatisfactory and so extensive that rhythmical clausulae are
also excluded.
To explain fully the Second Sophistic I have prefixed
some account of its precursors. All the material used in
the first chapter of this dissertation and much in the second
chapter is familiar to students of rhetoric. An explanation
of the Second Sophistic in English, however, seems highly
desireable and such a narrative must necessarily include
some account of the Sophistic's, precursors. Besides if an
historical account always explains a movement, this is all the
more true in the case of the Second Sophistic and its disciples,
because of its attempt on its Attic side to cling exclusively
to the traditions of the past. Moreover, my account of the
development of rhetoric has led me to a definition of the
Second Sophistic historically considered a definition not
given heretofore.
The Benedictine text has been used. Migne is a very poor
reprint of the Benedictine and contains many errors.
The author wishes to express his gratitude to Dr. Roy
Joseph Deferrari, Chairman of the Greek and Latin Departments
at the Catholic University of America, who suggested the
subject and directed its development. Thanks are also due
to Dr. Romanus Butin S. M. of the Catholic University for
several valuable suggestions.
CHRONOLOGICAL
BASIL
RHETORICAL
306 circa. Julian of Cappadocia begins lec-
tures at Athens.
310 circa. Himerius born.
314 Libanius born at Antioch.
317 Themistius born.
330 circa. Born in Caesarea in Cappadocia ,
apparently. [Tillemont, 9, 628 ; Maran 1,2;
All aid in Dictionnaire de Theologie Ca-
tholique, art. tf Basile" conclude that 329
is the year. Batiffol, 292, defends 331],
Studies in Neo-Caesarea under his father,
in Caesarea in Cappadocia) and in Con-
stantinople.
334-8 LibaniuB student at Athens
337 Themistius student at Athens.
340 Prohairesius of Caesarea succeeds Julian
of Cappadocia at Athens.
341 Libanius opens his school at Constan-
tinople.
344 circa. St. John Chrysostom born at
Antioch.
345 circa. Julian student at Constantinople.
346 Libanius transfers school to Nicomedia.
351 circa. Goes to Athens.
356 circa. Return to Caesarea.
357 circa. Visit to Egypt, Palestine, Meso-
potamia.
358 circa. First retirement to Pontns.
354 Libanius opens school at Antioch.
355 Julian student at Athens Themistius
member of Senate at Constantinople.
357 Themistius at Rome.
360 circa. Attends Council of Constantinople.
362 circa. Ordained priest. Nine Homilies
on the Hexaemeron. Homilies on the
Psalms [Bardenhewer, 3, 148-9].
362 Himerius at Antioch.
370 Bishop of Caesarea.
368 Himerius at Athens.
379 January I, Death.
388 circa. Death of Themistius.
393 circa. Death of Libanius.
TABLE
POLITICAL
323 Constantine sole Emperor.
330 Dedication of new city of Constantinople.
337 Death of Constantine.
340 Death of Constantino II. Constans su-
preme in the West.
350 Assassination of Constans. Accession of
Magnentius.
353 Suicide of Magnentius. He-union of em-
pire under Constantius.
361 Accession of Julian.
363 Death of Julian. Accession of Jovian.
364 Death of Jovian. Valentinian, emperor of
the West. Valens, emperor of the East.
365-6 Revolt of Procopiua.
375 Death of Valentinian. Gratian andValen-
tinian II, emperors in the West.
378 Eevolt of Goths and death of Valena.
379 Theodosins, emperor in the East.
ECCLESIASTICAL
325 Council of Nicaea.
335 Council of Tyre.
336 Death of Arius.
341 Dedication Council of Antioch.
343 circa. Council of Sardica.
351 Council of Sirmium.
S57 Second Declaration of Sirmium.
359 Council of Ariminum. Council of Seleucia,
360 Council of Constantinople.
362 Eusebius consecrated Bishop ofCaesarea.
367 Council of Tyana.
370 Death of Bishop Eusehius.
371 Modestus and Valens vs. Basil.
372 Gregory consecrated to see of Sasima.
331 Council of Constantinople.
ABBREVIATIONS
Hex. 1 = Homily on Hexaemeron 1
20
55 33 77
33 3 = 3
4 4
37 * 33 33
33 5 = 77 73 33 5
33 ^ 33 33 73
7 7
3? 33 33 33
37 ^ = 8
55 ^ =
Ps. 1= Psalm 1
77
33 33 n
14= 14
28= 28
29= 29
32= 32
33= . 33
A A A\
33 37 73 33
45= 45
48= 48
,, 59= 59
Ci~\ 43"1
55 01=
114= 114
De Grat. Act. = Homily De Gratiarum Actione.
In Fam. et Siccit. = Homily In Famen et Siccitatem.
Deus non est auct. = Homily Deus non est Auctor Malorum.
Advers. Iratos = Homily Adversus Iratos.
In Princip. Proverb. = Homily In Principio Proverbiorum.
In Sanct. Baptisma = Homily In Sanctum Baptisma.
In Princip. erat V. = Homily In Principio erat Verbum.
Quod Mundanis. = Homily Quod Mundanis non Adhaerendum sit.
Contra Sabellianos = Homily Contra Sabellianos, et Arium et Anomoeos.
The number in parenthesis after the name of each sermon in the statistical
tables refers to the number of lines occupied by the sermon in the Bene-
dictine edition.
CHAPTER I
OUTLINE HISTORY OF GREEK RHETORIC 1
In iambic and elegiac poetry the reflective mind of Hellas
first found extended literary expression. The passage from
poetry to literary prose largely paralleled the progress of
reflection. The fragments of the old philosophers, chrono-
logically considered, show a long hesitation in abandoning the
more familiar medium, poetry, for the more congenial medium,
prose. In the field of narration was a like reluctance. From
poetic legend to prose legend, from prose legend to historio-
graphy, from historiography to history might be three chapters
in an account of the advance of criticism. Narrative was
passing from historiography to history, philosophy was already
deep in a metaphysical conflict before oratory, as an art, began
'to develop among the Greeks. Eloquence abounded in the
Homeric poems of a kind unsystematic, and the property of
of the gifted few. Natural eloquence was the weapon of talented
demagogues in the early democracies, but oratory, known and
studied as an art, and not merely admired as the offspring of
natural fire and fluency, came to life in Greece only after the
Persian Wars in a movement which may be called, on analogy
with its descendant, the "First Sophistic."
This name may be applied to the whole of that curious in-
tellectual revolution which profoundly influenced all intelligent
Athenians living around 450 B.C. Its beginnings are bound
up in the current problems of philosophy. Its opportunity is
found in contemporary society and politics. Originally it
includes all branches of knowledge is a popular exposition
of contemporary culture a system of studies designed to make
* On the subject of Greek rhetoric, cf. especially Blass, Chaignet,
Navarre, Norden.
1
2 THE CATHOLIC UNIVEBSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
its devotees leaders in the state or at least ideal members
of the state. In origin non-Athenian, it finds in the first city
of the Greek world and under a democratic form of government
conditions that make it eminently profitable as a profession
but eminently narrow as an art.
Prosperity came to Athens after the Persian wars; and with
prosperity, leisure; and with leisure, a vague desire for "culture,"
such as the Ionian Greeks of Asia had been developing since
the Seventh century. This desire, confined not alone to Athens,
forthwith created a class called sophists men who proposed
to give the people (or that part of the people who could pay
for it) just exactly what they wanted in the way of o-o^ta.
<ro<ta, which among the lonians had been largely given to
speculation, now became a practical culture. All Greece was
weary of the metaphysical tangle in contemporary philosophy.
The hard-headed Athenians in particular welcomed the negative
epistemology of Protagoras with its convenient repudiation of
all research not immediately connected with practical life.
The comprehensiveness of this program varied with the locality,
but in Ionian Greece dialectic was its basis, sometimes combined
with a wide variety of erudition; sometimes, with literary and
grammatical studies.
In Sicily meanwhile the first methodic study of persuasive '
discourse had been developed. In 465 B.C. the tyrants
had been expelled and many lawsuits had arisen over their
confiscations of property. Out of this experience came a
theory of pleading first formulated and taught by Corax and
his pupil Tisias. Caring little for style, their instruction
concerned itself solely with the production of plausibility in
speech. Commercial relations and consequent commercial
disputes brought the art of Corax to Athens sometime before
Gorgias.' arrival in 427 B.C. 2
The practical turn which under-lay the Sophistic from the
beginning soon centered its energies in the study of effective
speech-making. The sophists, in responding to the desires of
their rich and ambitious clients, found in contemporary philo-
sophy materials suited to their purpose. Starting with the
2 Navarre, 22.
OUTLINE HISTORY OF GREEK RHETORIC' ^ .
tenet that all knowledge is relative, that the only reality is
appearance, they combine with it eristic, psychology, their own
linguistic studies, and the practiced art of Sicily to form that
science with which the name sophistry is generally associated.
The Sophistic, then, in the very beginning developed one
characteristic which never left it. ' It was born of the desire
of the Athenians for instruction. It was opportunistic. It-
arose to eminence on a wave of philosophical reaction. It
emphasized oratory more than other branches of knowledge
because the popular government and the popular will placed
the emphasis there. It elaborated, adorned, and embellished;
employing other sciences and arts only in so far as they
furthered the art stamped by popular approval. Other
movements, literary and philosophical, have been conditioned
by the popular will; popular approval was the very life-blood
of the Sophistic.
In practice it was a school of scepticism, manifesting supreme
indifference to truth, impatient of research, anxious to persuade
above all things because in effective persuasion lay the immediate
means to political power. Thus, from the first, the Sophistic
was superficial. It aimed to please. It gradually pushed aside
matter to worship form. Hence, the invention of all those
devices that perfected and beautified eloquence ; hence, further
on in its course, that jingle of words and ideas that degraded
it. The sensitive ear of the Greek, once indulged in the
beauties of form, must be pampered ever after. He must
never grow weary of ingenious display and musical combi-
nations. Hence the progress in artificiality that marked the
course of the Sophistic the continuous parade of form-device
rather than the elaboration of matter.
Protagoras of Abdera, the first leading sophist, specialized
on the teaching of eristic and founded Greek grammatical
science. The Sicilian Gorgias, the second sophist to appear
in Athens, also included subtle reasoning in his curriculum,
but he devoted himself mainly to a beauty of expression
attained through the conscious study of vocabulary and
sentence-structure. Despite his Sicilian -Ionic origin, he
adopted the Attic dialect the shrewd sophist's infallible in-
stinct for the trend of the times but an Attic made from the
4 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMEKICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
sonorous words of poets and from new words created for fine
shades of meaning. With Gorgias Attic Oratory really begins.
From his school flow influences that are never effaced in all
the changes to which Greek rhetoric was subsequently subject.
The teaching of rhetoric persisted from the Fifth century
down. Social and political conditions of succeeding ages at
times repressed its practical manifestation in oratory, but on
its academic side it was always a discipline of the schools.
The sophistic profession lasted as long as antiquity.
The First Sophistic as a distinct literary and intellectual
revolution may be said to end with the close of the Fifth
Century with Gorgias, Antiphon, and their schools. By that
time the Sophistic has become definitely rhetorical. The Fourth
Century Sophistic is but a continuation of the Fifth Century
tradition the theoretical training of men for the practical
use of oratory in the struggles of the agora.
Of the Ten Attic Orators, Antiphon alone belongs entirely
to the Fifth Century. Of the rest, Andocides, Lysias, Isaeus,
and Isocrates overlap the two centuries, while Demosthenes.
Aeschines, Hyperides, Lycurgus, and Dinarchus belong to the
Fourth. The three types of oratory which developed in Greece
grew to perfection in succession. Judicial oratory, cultivated
first in Sicily, attained its highest perfection with Lysias. The
oratory of declamation, inaugurated by Gorgias, reached its
high mark in Isocrates. Political oratory, out of the turmoil
of the latter Fourth century, was at its best in Demosthenes.
It is sufficient here to call attention to the exquisite artistry
of their work; the polished products of sophistic training,
inborn genius, and mighty, or at least moving, subjects. Lysias
studied in Sicily. Isocrates was probably the disciple of
Gorgias. Under Isocrates the long periodic sentence was
developed, and declamatory oratory looked to grand themes
and glorious occasions for its display. He followed his master
Gorgias in his efforts to ennoble diction, but produced a
revolution in Greek prose by the use of the purest Attic, by
smoothly-running rhythm, by the absolute avoidance of the
hiatus, by substituting variety and flexibility for the stiff
artistry of his master.
The last Attic orator worthy of the name and the first to
OUTLINE HISTOEY OF GKEEK KHETOR10 .
suffer from a lack of great national subjects was Demetrius
of Phaleron, who grew to maturity during the Macedonian
ascendency and later flourished at Ptolemaic Alexandria. He
was an Atticist of the purest type and a pupil of Theophrastus,
but even these assurances did not save his art from the
charges of slackness and effeminacy. With him Attic oratory
came to an end. Athens lost her liberty and with her liberty,
the only support of civil eloquence. There was no longer
political power in the spoken word. Judicial oratory became
a mere barrister's trade. Political oratory was crushed under
the ascendency of Philip and Alexander. Epideictic orato"ry
went back to the schools and class-room exercises to await
another hey-day. Rhetoric did not die. It was merely eclipsed
for a while.
From about 300 B. C. the decline of oratory goes hand-in-
hand with the extinction of Attic life and liberty, and the
darkening of purely Greek originality. What the Grecian
language gained in territory, it lost in content. The cos-
mopolitan thought of Alexandrian times is utterly non-Greek,
although the Alexandrians did their best to preserve the
Greek ideal. This period of oratorical decadence merits our
attention, for in it are contained the elements that join the
Second Sophistic with the First. In an age devoted to artistry
and erudition, the rhetorical tradition lives on in the schools,
developing characteristics that explain historically features of
later Hellenic eloquence.
The rhetorical activity in the schools now developed a form
of school-declamation that reveals significantly the course of
rhetoric after the death of Alexander the diatribe. We see
its fore-runner in the dialogue; in those passages of Plato,
for instance, where Socrates abandons his customary dialectic
and introduces a feigned antagonist or a personified thing
with whom or which he disputes. 3 Such introductions and
conversations are characteristic forms of the diatribe of
Alexandrian times. The declaimer, reciting this school-
declamation, places himself and a feigned party in place of
two persons speaking in dialogue. With this feigned party,
3 Of. Protagoras, 352 ff.; Crito, 50 Aff.; Phaedo, 87 A; Centiphon, fr. 131.
6 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
ttie declainier engages in a logomachia. The diatribe of the
schools was nothing but dialogue in the form of declamation.
We observe here one characteristic of the Alexandrian period
the prosaic present harking back to a brilliant past for
suggestion and inspiration.
In style the diatribe was not so intimately connected with the
glorious past. Its diction was slovenly. In it the period
created by Isocrates was dissolved into short sentences. In the
emptiness of the times it took to moralizing; pouncing upon
the follies of men, reprehending them or ridiculing them. In
tMs declamatory censoriousness it often hit upon a pathetic
tone which now reminds one of comedy and now of tragedy.
Erom this came the second characteristic of its style, a leaning
towards theatrical pathos. This form of school-exercise became
typical of declamations and blended in the later rhetorical
schools with Asianism, an eccentric offshoot of the old-time
rhetoric that developed in another part of the Orient after
the breaking-up of Alexander's empire.
The dissolution of Alexander's empire saw political oratory,
the tradition of Demosthenes, crushed along with the political
life of the Greeks; forensic oratory, the tradition of Lysias,
pursuing a useful, quiet career in the Athenian Law-courts;
and declamatory oratory, the tradition of Isocrates and
Gorgias, forced back into the schools. For a while this last-
named ventured forth in the form of epideictic and panegyric
speeches; then it became a tradition in the schools. Its active
practice passed from Athens to the flourishing, populous
cities of Asia Minor, now again immensely rich in the new
order of things.
To appreciate thoroughly that literary movement in history
called "Asianism," it is necessary, first of all, to recall
characteristics of the peoples of Asia Minor; for eloquence is
an immediate expression of the national character. Aristotle
traced the non-serious character of Sicilian diction from the
ingenious, waggish originality of the Sicilian people. In Attic
eloquence the moderateness and gracefulness of the Athenians
is hypostasized. Only by reviewing the characteristics of the
Asiatics is it possible to understand a school of eloquence so
completely at odds with the Attic.
OUTLINE HISTORY OF GREEK RHETORIC 7
In Asia arose those orgiastic cults whose passionate music
was at once an expression and an aggravation of Asiatic
hollowness and effeminacy. The dithyrambic songs of Asia
were soft and sad melodies typical of a national enervation
deep-seated and long-established. The very prevalence of the
soft sound "e" in the Ionian dialect of Asia is sometimes
called an index of the softness of the people who used it.
Protestantism in art, superficiality, ages of luxury, intellectual
energy, a habit of dabbling in philosophy, the mild climate of
the Eastern Aegean conspired to produce a softness and
hollow pathos in Asiatic character that was re-echoed in
Asiatic eloquence.
An Ionian from Sicily, Gorgias, had first dislodged nature
by fashion. Now lonians from Asia Minor took a further
step along the same path. They neglected the strict laws of
rhetorical rex^ and, in place of the regularity hitherto existing,
substituted personal choice. But with all its individualism
Asiatic eloquence falls readily enough into two classes of
style, corresponding to the two sides of the Asiatic character:
its effeminacy and wantonness are revealed in the sensuality
and voluptuousness of a style whose chief characteristics are
elegant short sentences and soft rhymes; its emptiness, its
tendency to inflation, stand out in the pompousness of the
other style. Although both these styles appear with the
beginnings of Asianism, the elegant style is more pronounced
in the man who is generally known as the "archegetes" of
Asianism, Hegesias of Magnesia.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus 4 dates Asianism from the death
of Alexander the Great. Hegesias was flourishing not long
after this event. The elegant style, as represented by Hegesias,
contained the following innovations:
1. The long, flowing period of Isocrates and Demosthenes
was abolished. Short, choppy sentences were substituted.
This feature became an important factor in the history of
style.
2. These short sentences were so constructed that every
sentence had a marked cadence, oft-times of a lascivious
4 De Antiquis Oratoribus 1 if.
8 THE, CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
character. Hegesias was over-fond of the ditrochaeus ( ^ w)
at the end of the sentence. 5 In order to attain the desired
rhythm, the Asiatics did not scruple to employ expletives and
to use word -arrangements unwarranted from any standpoint,
linguistic or practical. These rhythmical speeches, recited in
a modulated voice, frequently took on the regularity of a chant,
3. The phraseology in every case put a premium on the
exceptional. Meaningless metaphors and insipid circumlocutions
abounded, fj KO.T ovpavbv /xe/us, for instance, was used for simple
ovpavos. Verbal witticisms found frequent employment. Hegesias
made the Olynthians, on the occasion of the destruction of
their city, say; "ovo/xa KarcAa/So/xci/ noKiv KaraAiTroi/Tes" and Alexander,
at the destruction of Thebes: "rov yap yueyto-ra fatvfyravra TOTTOV
afawov f) crvfjiffiopa. 7riroir)K."
These eccentric characteristics indicate from what elements
of the old heritage Asianism drew. The short, equi-syllabled,
carefully -measured, strongly -rhythmed sentences; the verbal
witticisms readily assuming an antithetical form; the highly
poetic words; the audacious metaphors all are found earlier
in Gorgias and his comrades.
The Second Asiatic style is thus described by Cicero: 6
"aliud genus est non tarn sententiis frequentatum quam verbis
volucre atque incitatum, quali est nunc Asia tota, nee flumine
solum orationis sed etiam exornato et facto genere verborum;
in quo fuit Aeschylus Gnidius et meus aequalis Milesius
Aeschines, in eis erat admirabilis orationis cursus, ornata
sententiarum concinnitas non erat." This pompous output of
rhetorical agility has been described as a dithyramb in prose 7 ,
a strange, ranting kind of grandiosity which finds expression
in a lofty style and yet withal is not outspoken. Specimens
of this style 8 teem with words highly poetic or newly constructed;
the hiatus is avoided with a severity that tries to outdo Iso-
crates; the position of the words is completely at the mercy
of the rhythm.
* Of. Cicero, Brutus 288; Dionysius, De Compositione Verborum,
Chapter XVIII.
e Brutus, 325.
7 Norden I, 145.
For examples cf. Norden I, 141-145.
OUTLINE HISTORY OF GREEK RHETORIC 9
Distinct threads of the Second Asiatic style lead back to
the old sophistic prose. It is not that the rhetors of Asia
deliberately chose certain of the earlier sophists as models,
but these Asiatics were pressed by their own predispositions
into the display of passionate pathos and fantastic grandness.
They used the weapon already forged for such expression by
G-orgias, Hippias, and Alcidamus bacchantic, dithyramb-like
prose, varying in its degree of abuse according to the personality
employing it. One needs but to compare the turbulent, dithy-
rambic bombast in the speech of Hippias 9 and the insufferable
flourishing in the fragments of Alcidamus 10 with the remains
of the Asiatic style, both First and Second, * * to appreciate the
connection of Asianism with the old sophistic prose. Asianism
was the school of Gorgias and his fellows descended upon
and adapted to the times and temper of Third Century
Asia Minor.
Asianism spread so rapidly that by 300 B. C., or only 23 years
after Alexander's death, it prevailed in rhetoric. In so short
a period of time it could not have developed so completely.
The germs had been there since Gorgias' day and in the
character of the Asiatic Greeks. When Demosthenes was
still delivering his Philippics, Asianism was gathering force.
With the loss of liberty and forensic opportunity the
tradition of Gorgias picked up its belongings and went to
Ionia where an effete, superficial people welcomed it and
moulded it to their own sensuous pattern. One must not get
the impression that Asianism went blazing through the world
soon after its triumph in the field of rhetoric. The Alexandrian
Age was a learned age primarily, and rhetoric was under an
eclipse. It lived in schools throughout the Greek world even
as the Classics live in modern schools as a discipline of
education. It flourished quietly in Asia Minor and gathered
strength in the rest of the world as the luxury and leisure of
Alexandrian days drew men from the realities of existence
and made the Hellenic world progressively superficial. With
Plato, Protagoras, 336 ff.
10 Aristotle, Rhetoric, III, 3.
11 Norden, I, 135139, 141-145; Susemihl II, 448516.
10 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMEEICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
the coming of prosperity to the later Eoman republic, the
Romans flocked to Asia Minor for instruction. For a short
time this show-oratory was transplanted to Rome, but unable
to cope with the problems of the Republic, it withdrew to the
East. With the coming of the Empire, however, and the loss
of liberty of speech at Rome, Asianism swept over the world
of culture, feeding on those elements of social and political
degeneration that had fostered its growth in Asia Minor. By
the middle of the First Century A. D., Ephesus, Smyrna,
Miletus, and Mytilene were become world- centers for the in-
struction of rhetoric, and the sophist was a great economic
asset to his city. But in the full tide of its new success, the
extravagant excesses of Asianism brought to a head a reaction
which had been gathering long before.
Formal Asianism is dated from the death of Alexander,
or from around 300 B. C. It had run its course about a century
before a counter-current was distinctly felt. Shortly after
200 B. C. that reaction set in known as Atticism to literary
history. And yet its beginnings were not so ^much a natural
reaction from an extreme as a natural love for the old Attics
and all their works. Asianism, despite its extravagance, was
not dispersed enough in the beginning, and national disintegration
and Alexandrian softness had not spread far enough to awaken
that violent recoil which these characteristics afterwards caused.
The learned Alexandrian Age lived on the products of classical
Greece. The germs of an Atticistic reaction were bound up
in the very tissue of Alexandrian times, ufao-is was the watch-
word imitation of those creative epochs that ended with
Demetrius of Phaleron. In its beginnings Atticism was probably
unconscious of its reactionary character. It proceeded almost
necessarily from that classical movement which, as a result of
the exertions of the great savants at the courts of the Greek
Orient, spread to every province of literature. That at
Alexandria, where men had so sentimental an interest in the
old Attic poets, men should have ignored the old Attic
orators is unthinkable. In the beginning then the extremes
of one movement did not call forth the other. There was
nothing of propaganda about them. The courts of Alexandria
and Pergamus applied themselves passionately to that archaic-
OUTLINE HISTORY OF GREEK RHETORIC 11
classical tendency that featured all their intellectual activities.
The Asiatics moulded the heritage of Gorgias into the natural
expression of a brilliant, frivolous people. About 200 B. c. their
purposes for the first time formally cross when Agatharchides of
Alexandria and Neanthes of Pergamus attacked Asiatic rhetoric.
About the middle of the First Century B.C. this reaction,
by means of which uniformity of rule took the place of indi-
vidual preference and Attic moderation took the place of
unbridled emotion, had gained the victory in the learned
circles at least. Asianism, that "drunken," "frenzied," "sick,"
"vulgar," "whorish" eloquence, in the words of its opponents,
was pronounced the worst of literary and linguistic abuses.
The Atticists believed that they possessed the exact pattern
of the Attic manner. In this it may be seen that the reaction
against Asianism in its developed form was only partially a
protest against the violation of good taste: sentiment was also
a factor a sighing for the glories of the past.
Asianism did not die out under these attacks. Asianism
had an interior authorization. It was the natural expression
of a people, no matter how superficial they might be. Its
existence was in accord with the highest law of literary
development, the law of continuous progress. Whether this
progress was for better or for worse militates not at all
against its authority. This interior sanction Atticism did not
have. It sprang from a learned antiquarianism. It grew on
the excesses of Asianism. It finally triumphed because the
literature became dominantly antiquarian. But in its triumph
Asianism had a part, as we shall see. And pure Asianism
still continued to be cultivated long after Atticism had become
the vogue. For it had an interior authorization which could
only fail with a change of taste in the people who first
fashioned it.
A long war now followed between the two movements. By
the time of the empire these two stylistic tendencies were
clearly differentiated. The Atticists were properly enough
called ol apxaloL and the Asiatics, ot vtwrcpoi. Each of these
two schools had gradations. Among the Atticists Demosthenes
held the highest place as an orator and Plato rather than
Isocrates became the model for the panegyric style. Even
12 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
the historians copied the old patterns ; Xenophon, Herodotus,
Thucydides, and in extreme cases even Hecataeus. There
were thus all variations from the Moderates to the Hyper-
Atticists. The modernistic Asiatics were all of them influenced
by the new rhetoric, but differed in the measure wherewith
they abandoned themselves to it. The extremists were veritable
continuators of the old Gorgian "Sophistic" with all its Asiatic
out-growths. The most temperate wrote in the Asiatic style,
but restrained themselves from its degeneracy. A third
group even sought to compromise between the old and the
new styles. To this last group belonged the better represen-
tatives of what became the Second Sophistic.
All this time Asianism had been practiced in the East and,
upon the restoration of peace under Augustus, it enjoyed great
popularity. If anything the study of rhetoric became more
superficial. The Asiatics swarmed through the Orient, putting
practice before theory and facility before taste. In the peace
and leisure which began to settle over world-society in the
latter half of the First Century A. D., these traditional
exercises first awoke to a quickened intellectual life and took
on a new brilliance in the rich commercial Greek cities of
Asia; especially at Smyrna, Ephesus, Miletus, and Myti-
lene. Important orators and oratorical teachers came for-
ward to whom auditors and disciples streamed. Mutual
commercial jealousies ages old now found a new opportunity,
and the Greek cities of Asia strove to outdo one another in
in the splendor and fame of their schools. To dabble in
rhetoric became the fashion and passion of this rich and idle
people. To their schools came men for instruction from all
parts of the world. It was the extravagance that attended
the second revival of Asianism that produced so violent a
reaction in Atticism. At the juncture of the First and Second
Centuries A. D v Quintilian and Pliny the Younger raised the
banner of classicism at Rome. They gathered together all the
pent-up protests and archaistic tendencies that had come
down from Alexandrian times and, drawing new strength from
the ever-increasing abuses of Asianism, began to strive for a
return to the essentials of rhetoric and a study of classic
models in other fields. Disgust at the Asiatic excesses now
OUTLINE HISTORY OF GREEK RHETORIC 13
fostered a tendency which led straight back to the golden
days of Attic culture; a wide- spread worship of Attic purism
and everything connected therewith.
As a preliminary to understanding why archaistic Atticism
could make headway against modernistic Asianism, it is well
to recall at this point the divorce between the language of the
courts and the language of the people which Alexandrian days
had brought about. The higher Alexandrian poetry, through
its formal, superficial, pretentious treatment of even popular
materials, had produced a cleft between it and the common
people. The literature of early Greece was essentially popular.
But when Atticism became more and more the vogue, the
artistic prose drew away from the people with a romanticized
and learned superciliousness which later became the main-
spring of Byzantine literature. The people became more and
more themselves for themselves. They became resigned to
influences essentially distinct from contemporary culture.
Fostered mainly in the court circles and in circles equally
learned emanating from the courts, the literary ideals of the
time were peculiarly adapted to the encouragement of Atticism.
This style-ideal, therefore, finally carried its point. It produced
a fateful dualism between the language of literature and that
of everyday life which has endured to the present day. Atticism,
like Alexandrianism generally, was the language of books, the
natural expression of sterility. It was an artistic mimesis;
archaistic collections of literary reminiscences patched-up and
repaired with the help of purists. This forcing back of the
literary language for several centuries was not accomplished
without varying degrees of violence to good taste. Thus many
authors of the time threw poetic expressions and phrases
profusely about because they were Attic and stood in the
lexica. Atticism gradually grew down to and into the Empire,
when the revival of Asianism gave it its opportunity. All
literary norms were now set up at court, the center of absolute
authority. Atticism was favored there, and thus the imperial
patronage reinforced the possibilities presented by the excesses
of Asianism.
CHAPTER II
THE NEW OR SECOND SOPHISTIC 1
The world of Hadrian and the Antonines was a peaceful
world. Its quiet was rarely disturbed. Greece beckoned men
as the fountain-head of culture. Northern Italy afforded
pleasant landscapes for country homes. The charms of
Athens, Naples, Rome were the mainsprings of a pleasing
cosmopolitanism. Greeks lived in Rome and in the provinces.
The emperors regularly courted the favor of Grecian authors,
caused them to dedicate their works to them, appointed them
as secretaries and as tutors of their children. Men turned their
eyes backward and over the prosaic present was spun the
web of a brilliant past.
The conflict between the old and the new styles proceeded
with the old style in the ascendency. But between the extremes
of Asianisrn and Atticism, at the beginning of the Second
Century A. D., a third intermediate course developed. In a
sense the Second Sophistic was Asianism crowned with Atticism;
the reduction of Asiatic exuberance to the discipline of Atticized
grammar; the mingling of incompatible with incompatible; a
brilliant hodgepodge in which Atticism dominated, but Atticism
permeated with the rhetorical fireworks of Asia. Hadrian
found pleasure in the works of Ennius, and then composed in
the style of the novelli poetae. This was a far cry from the
Fifth Century B. C., but it was probably the best compromise
that could be struck between the desire to be Attic and the
Asiatic temper of the day.
As far as oratory is concerned, the Second Sophistic may
be described as the epideictic show-oratory of Asia upon which
i On the New or Second Sophistic, cf. Norden I, 351391, Schmid 1 27ff;
Rohde310ff; Meridier, 747: Susemihl, II 448516; Arnim, 4114.
THE NEW OR SECOND SOPHISTIC 15
a romantic Atticism had been super-imposed. It is very
doubtful whether this Atticism alone could have developed
the astounding parade-speeches of the Second Sophistic. The
Atticists were vain enough for such a venture, but their vanity
would probably have found an outlet in written discourses.
The virtuoso-declaimer is a product of Asia Minor.
But it is an error to confine the Second Sophistic to oratory
or style. It is because all its exertions are subordinated to
this higher one of style and because of its traditional connection
with the old sophistic art-prose that one may make this mistake.
It seizes and conquers wider fields. It pursues all branches
of culture in speech and written discourse, religion and art
and habits of life, that seem to revive the idealized past. It even
gives an impetus to the old religion in the Second Century A. D.
by artificially awakening old forms of faith and worship. Neo-
Platonism, the fairest product of this reactionary religious
phase, shares a characteristic common to the whole Sophistic :
it is too burdened with all the heritage of Greek literature
and culture.
The Second Sophistic, so far as it is concerned with science,
without producing anything new, lives on the treasures of
Alexandrian research. It owes its abundance of Attic purisms
solely to the philology extant in Alexandrian traditions. Thus
it is easy to understand how many Hellenistic elements crept
into, or remained in, this classicized culture.
The important position enjoyed by the Sophistic in the time
of the Empire is almost too much for the modern mind. But
if we try to transpose ourselves back into the feelings of a
company which had nothing better to do than to discourse,
which saw the accepted intellectual amusement in the charm
which the spoken word exercised upon the ear, which possessed
a considerably higher average of culture than is found today;
which was predisposed by long prosperity, progressive
degeneration, and traditional rhetorical training to welcome
the show-oratory of revived Asianism, which inherited from
the Alexandrian age a sentimental veneration for Periclean
Athens, then our surprise vanishes.
In the newly awakened school life of the Second Century,
the Sophists assume leading positions. Besides their school-
16 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATEISTIC STUDIES
courses, they hold travel-lectures not as the old sophists,
for objective instruction, but solely as a medium of display.
Thus they execute a carefully polished parade-speech upon
an imaginary subject from classical times. Improvisations are
offered on subjects which the audience suggests. At times
two sophists come to an aywv in such exercises. The delivery,
in voice and gesticulations, is thoroughly theatrical and
exercises even upon an audience knowing no Greek a strange
fascination.
On the other hand, sophists gradually rise to occupy public of-
fices in communities and at court. From the fees of pupils, from
the steady municipal or civil salary for their teaching activity,
from special privileges showered upon them by the emperors,
enormous incomes come to them. The more the rhetorical
activity penetrates the center of intellectual life, the higher
becomes the social position of the rhetorical professors. Their
munificence manifests itself variously in foundations and
donations, public buildings, and festivals. Even in their philan-
thropy vanity and a desire for display move them more than
actual social needs.
Thus while Asianism and Atticism still flow along as two
distinct streams, their side-currents mingle to form in the
time of Trajan a river whose sweep in an increasing degree
becomes the master- current down to the close of antiquity. The
brilliancy, the artificiality, the long-developed parade-speech
of Asia Minor crossed with the romantic yearnings of decadent,
subjugated Greece for a taste of her former glories men
forgetting that the glories of Greece arose from the strife of
real life; that their imitation of these glories depended upon
the laborious exactness of Alexandrian research; that research,
however exact, is a record, not a reality.
We can understand, then, how these people with all their
energy and brilliancy went to such extremes. Life was so
orderly, the administration of the provinces so strict and
excellent, the activities of the cultured classes so circumscribed,
the world so artificial that people, starving for self-expression,
went mad. Kept from action, they concentrated on form, and
wealth of phrase and poverty of thought presented the illusion
of a pure Attic that was always a phantom of the study-room.
THE NEW OB SECOND SOPHISTIC 17
The reformed oratory of the Asiatics had certainly an object
noble and honorable enough and a field useful and serious
enough for its legitimate development in legal trials, municipal
and provincial business, and serious lectures. But to this
matter of fact field it could not confine itself. The sentimental,
imaginative, repressed Hellenist, in looking back and longing
for Greek eloquence in her hey-day, also longed for the mighty
occasions that had called forth the Philippics of Demosthenes,
and these mighty occasions were not to be had in the prosperous,
well - governed Second Century. Since the mighty occasions
did not exist, he did the next best thing. He imagined them
in his intense desire to become a new Demosthenes, a new
Isocrates, a new Thucydides, a new Herodotus. So he combated
tyrants dead four hundred years, mourned over the fall of
cities which were enjoying a second lease of life, lashed and
tore and raved about in an oratorical Utopia before leisurely
audiences who came as to the theater. Oratory became a
theatrical fiction, an empty pageant that strove more and more
to dazzle as it became less and less a novelty. In their
improvising the sophists oft-times trotted out on parade well-
decked common-places previously prepared and everywhere
applicable. By rapidly linking these together and with the
proper voice and gestures they convinced their hearers that
this was the way that Demosthenes damned Philip or Lysias
lashed Eratosthenes.
The Sophistic had two periods of brilliancy, separated from
each other by a period of eclipse. The first floruit extended
from Hadrian or Trajan to Gordianus III. After the latter's
reign all Greek culture for almost a century was jeopardized
by the stirring of political strife: The second period of
brilliance begins with Constantino and endures to the end of
antiquity. The historian of the earlier period is the second
Philostratus ; of the latter, Eunapius. Their biographies are
our only compensation for the great losses in artistic prose
literature of these. times. Of most of the Sophists, nothing has
come down to us and several of the most celebrated are for
us mere names. In the canon of the Ten Sophists, corresponding
to the number of the canonical Attic orators, were placed Dio
Chrysostom, Nicostratus, Polemo, Herodes Atticus, Philostratus,
2*
18 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMEEICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
Aelius Aristides, and probably Libanius, Themistius, Himerius,
and Eunapius.
Despite its extravagances, the Second Sophistic was of
incalculable value. By it the tradition of the old classical
Greek literature was conserved down and past the Fourth
Century in the schools of rhetoric where Basil, Gregory, and
Chrysostom studied. It made for a purer Atticism. It
preserved many classics which would otherwise have perished.
Hardly a line of Aristophanes would now be available, had
not the sophists considered him a classic. On the other hand,
witness the mutilated condition of the immensely popular
Menander, whom the sophists passed by as non-classical.
The most curious result of the Second Sophistic is that it
furnished the ground- work for the romance. The sophists, in
their striving for over-nicety, drew upon the gorgeous diction
of the Alexandrian poets, the elegy, idyll, toy-epic. To furnish
a new setting for their oratorical display they frequently
borrowed the amorous themes of Alexandrian poetry laudatory
speeches of gods and heroes, intricate descriptions of pastoral
scenes, roses, hyacinths, nightingales, swans, muses, swallows,
flutes, rivers, springs, the laurel, the sun, the stars, the Nile,
works of art. Averse to treating practical subjects and bent
upon stirring the emotions and imagination, they introduced
themes of a passionate, violent, or bloody nature. The rhetors
gloated over scenes portraying the wildest conflicts of unbridled
passion and violence and over themes of a highly pathetic, sen-
timental, even suggestive turn; varying these at times with
accounts of imaginary long travels involving a vast display of
geographical allusion. From these discourses on seductions,
rapes, separations, attacks of pirates, recognitions, the Greek
mind acquired a taste for improbable adventures and multiplied
incidents and conflicts extraordinary. The long love-romance
was the result of a union of fabulous travels with all the hair-
raising incidents of adventurous love-stories.
From erotic themes borrowed by the Sophistic the rhetors
developed the fictitious love-letter a very suitable vehicle for
the portrayal of excited love -passion and the author's skill.
These love-letters were a recognized convention of later Greek
novels. Indeed they played the major role in many novels, the
THE NEW OR SECOND SOPHISTIC 19
love-plot being a mere framework whereon the sophist displayed
all the extravagances of the Sophistic in epistolary elegance.
Of the three periods of the Sophistic, the third, beginning with
Constantine, has a special interest for us. The representative
sophists of this period are Libanius, Himerius, Themistius, and
Julian of Cappadocia. Although it was diffused through all the
provinces of the East and officially established in the imperial
capitol at Byzantium, Athens, where rhetorical training had
continued from the days of Gorgias, was the chief center of the
movement. Libanius, the most celebrated Sophist of the time,
the teacher of Basil, Gregory, and John Chrysostom, wrote that
"Athens and Antioch held aloft the torch of rhetoric ; the former
illuminating Europe, and the latter, Asia." At the University of
Athens Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa were
fellow-students.
By the end of the Fourth Century Athens had totally declined,
and with it declined the Sophistic. Though historically bound
up with paganism, the advent of the first Christian emperors
did not injure the exterior condition of the sophists. Of the
Emperor Julian, with his pagan leanings, the friends of sophistry
entertained high hopes. After Julian's death, 363 A. D., appear
many laments over the decline of culture and rhetoric. Libanius
mourns over the desertion of young students to the law school
of Berytos, over the diminishing influence of parents in the
intellectual development of their sons, over the possibility that
people uneducated and incapable of oratory may be placed in
high public offices. In his thirty-first oration, he addresses himself
to the Council of Antiochaea to obtain an improvement in the
material lot of the lesser rhetorical masters. Thus the Sophistic
passes with the Fourth Century. Jn the Fifth Century there
was an unimportant revival in the school founded by Procopius
at Gaza, but long before Justinian closed the schools of heathen
philosophy (529 A. D.) it had run its feeble course.
The Second Sophistic is not then a phase of a rhetorical epoch.
It is itself an epoch of pagan rhetoric, a lineal descendant of
Gorgias and the Fifth Century B. c. operative in the Fourth
Century A. D. in all circles of culture, Christian and Pagan.
The extent of its influence on the style of St. Basil's sermons
is the quest of the following pages.
2*
CHAPTER III
MINOR FIGURES OF RHETORIC
From what has gone before, an obvious division of the figures
of rhetoric suggests itself. The Second Sophistic, which dominates
literature so thoroughly in the time of St. Basil that its name
describes the epoch, has its antecedents in the Fifth century B. C.,
and howsoever the First Sophistic may differ from the Second,
the tradition of the First is represented in the Second by
those devices at least which constitute the one the ancestor
of the other. The Second Sophistic created some new devices,
others already existing it made its own by its peculiar devel-
opment of them, while a still larger group it simply included
as embellishments of style. These facts indicate the following
division of the figures for purposes of exposition:
I. Minor Figures of Rhetoric (including minor figures receiving
a peculiarly sophistic development).
II. Figures and Devices peculiar to the Second Sophistic 1
as either its creations or adaptations.
On the basis of a common characteristic, the Minor Figures
of Rhetoric may be grouped as follows:
1. Figures of Redundancy.
2. Figures of Repetition,
a. Figures of Sound.
4. Figures of Vivacity.
5. Devices of the Court-room and the Public Assembly.
6. Minor Figures Sophistically Developed.
1. Figures of Redundancy in some way represent the para-
phrase of an idea through more words than are necessary,
This second groui) will be discussed in Chapter IX.
MINOE FIGUEES OF EHETOEIC 21
for purposes of ornament and amplification. The following
classification is used here:
a) Periphrasis redundancy proper the distribution of an
idea over unnecessary words without elaborating the thought
TO ijAtaKov or<u/m Hex. 6, 510.
b) Pleonasm the joining of several words or phrases which
have about the same meaning. Two words thus joined constitute
the commonest variety. vo>0/>os \<m /cat OKVOV TrA^s Hex. 9, 87A.
c) Arsis and Thesis the presentation of an idea first negatively
and then positively, the positive idea being introduced by aAAa-
OVK els rov rvxovra TOTTOV, aAA' as rov vabv Ps. 44, 169 A.
d) Arsis and Thesis (positive-negative) the presentation of
an idea first positively and then negatively. ycAon-a dyovo-rjs Iv
TO) TraAateii/, ov <rrc<f>avov. Quod Mundanis, 166E.
2. Figures of Repetition refer to the intentional repetition
of entire words in certain well-defined places. Such devices
have little to do with emphasis. Their purpose is rather
artistic. Their skillful employment produces something of a
musical quality.
a) Anadiplosis the repetition of the same word within the
same clause. TOT S?j, Tore Advers. Iratos, 84D.
b) Epanaphora the repetition of the same word or words
at the beginning of two or more consecutive cola. vvv , vvv ,
Hex. 1, 3B.
c) Antistrophe consecutive clauses end with the same word
or words. ^KO&TO TopSw l0i>/o6To To/oSios In Gordium, 145 D.
d) Anastrophe one clause begins with the last word of the
preceding clause. KCU 7T/>6s rov Oebv tuv <ov, ov^t Tr/oocryevo/zei/o?.
De Fide, 132A.
e) Kuklos the repetition of the initial word of a sentence
or period as the concluding word of either the succeeding
clause or the succeeding sentence. ere/>ov ylvos TO /OJTW&S KCU
TO TWV AeTTTWV l\QvlJ)V T/)OV HCX., 7, 64 C.
f) Climax the repetition of the last word of the preceding
clause through several succeeding clauses of a period. pfpe ovv
6 n-Aovcrios rov irevrp-a VTrep^avemo, /MJTC 6 Trevrys rfy 5wao-Ttav TWV
V7ro/)owTwv v7TOTrTr)<ro~T<a ' iirfre ol viol TWV av^/oa>7ro>v TOVS yrjyevefe
e^ov^i/ciTwo-av, /AIJTC ot yrjyevcis etc. Ps. 48, 1780.
g) Repetitive Paronomasia the rhetorical repetition of the
22 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
same word in the same sense. faep woXXaxov p.w r&
TToXXa^ov Se TuJv irapaXiiov TOTTWV c^eortv i&ropfjorai. Hex. 4, 39 A.
3. Figures of Sound also have an element of repetition, but
here the words need only approximate one another in sound,
and their position is not precisely fixed.
a) Paronomasia a similarity in the sound of words of the
same root, plus a dissimilarity of sense. Their relative position
in the cola is not important. ITT* o-v/A/AaxtW cA0u>v TroAe/uov cvpw.
dAc^d/o/AaKa Trc/nCryrwv, Ps. 14, 108 B.
b) Polyptoton a repetition of the same word in different
cases, either directly or after an interval. tWov /xev yap tWov
iroteiTot . . . /cat AeovTa AOVTOS Hex. 9, 81 B.
c) Alliteration the recurrence of the same initial letter or
letters in succeeding words. Only rarely the succession is not
immediate. traXw iravSrj^l irdrrcs Hex. 7, 67 B.
d) Assonance succeeding words end in similar sounds.
rrjv dvaTTava-iv X ovariv Hex. 2, 17D.
e) Parechesis a similarity in the sound of the words of
different roots plus a dissimilarity of sense. vv fiaGfta KCU voo-o?
papeia In Divites, 60 D.
4. Figures of Vivacity in this study include all those figures
whose chief mission is to lend a vivacious and sometimes
dramatic effect to a passage.
a) Asyndeton the ellipsis of grammatical connectives to
attain energy of Style. r) ^cwca/ota <vo-is, 1} a<j>Qovos dyaflorr/?,
TO aycwr^Tov 7ra(rt rots Xoyov fJL6TiXr)<f>6<ri t TO iroXv7r66r)Tov KaAAo?,
?) dpxrj TWJ/ 6i>T(i)V 9 f) Trrjyrj rrjs Cto^?, TO voepov <a)s, rj aTT/ooo-tTos cro^ta,
ovros etc. Hex. 1, 3E.
b) Polysyndeton the repetition of conjunctions for cumulative
effect. T<J Koo-jjAp Kal ayyeXois K<U dv^/wuTrois. In XL Martyres,
1560.
c) Rhetorical Questions questions asked for effect and not
for information. Troi'a <KO^ rov peyWovs T<UV Aeyo/xcvcDV aia
Hex. 1, 1A.
d) Exclamatio an exclamatory utterance w rov OavpaTos.
In XL Martyres, 155B.
e) Parenthesis the interruption of the development of a
sentence by intervening clause or clauses, sentence or sentences.
yap ol Karafidvres 's fSov;) Deus non est auct., 7 7 A.
MINOE FIGURES OF EHETOEIC 23
f) Hypostrophe the orator catches up the thread of the
narrative after a parenthesis and makes a fresh start by
either repeating the subject or adding the demonstrative.
6 yap wroKet/Aevos rip (f>v\\(p KOKKOS ( ) TOVTO crirepfJiaTos %t SvvafJLiv
Hex. 5, 45 B.
g) Litotes the emphatic affirmation of an idea through the
negation of its opposite. ov /ziK/aws In Barlaam, 138 E.
h) Irony and Sarcasm-: irony, wherein the speaker clothes
his thought in a form that literally expresses its opposite;
sarcasm, irony plus personal enmity or scorn. Scwo/vraxrai/ r^tv
ol ra Travra Seivoi. Hex. 3, 29 B.
5. Devices of the Court-room and the Public Assembly here
refer to those peculiar devices of the old rhetors forged for
a practical rather than an artistic effect. Their manner of
development affects the style of a passage wherein they are
used, adding something of the dramatic to it.
a) Diaporesis a pretended doubt as to where to begin,
where to leave off, especially what to say. ri ovv TTOOJO-O/WV
In Mamantem, 1850.
b) Epidiorthosis the correcting or restricting of a previous
assertion /iSAAov & avrb TO KOKOV Hex. 2, 150.
c) Prokataleipsis a real argument is seriously anticipated
or Overthrown. Kal TTWS Swarw, </>ao-t, TOVTO yeveo-flai, -^vxty
orvfiffropais , K<U oiovet 7T/)i/<j/Tovfivr?v rf) ai<r6ri<rci r<av
fw) TT^OS Opfyovs K(f>cpcrOai Kal 8aj<pva t dAA* ev)(apt(TTiv ws
TT' dya^ois TOIS aTrcvKratots KaTa dA^ctai/; In Julittam, 360 D.
d) Paraleipsis while pretending to pass the point over in
silence, the speaker manages to say all that he desires. K<U
TI Set TOVS aAAovs aTrapiOfjiL(r6ai ovs at 'PtTrat ycvvwort T<X inrep rrfc
evSoTaTO) 2icv^tas 0/077; Hex. 3, 28 A.
e) Prosopopoiia that form of statement in which the speaker
places a long or short speech in the mouth of another, whether
that person is actually before him or is merely feigned.
TTWS ovv KaTct yo/o?, (f>a<riV) f) yrj irpcxfrcpci ra o~7T/o/iaTa, OTTOTC O-ITOV 7roAAaKt$
KaTa/?aAoi/Tes, rov peXava TOVTOV vrvpbv crvyKOpCo/xev; Hex. 5, 43 E.
f) Dialektikon the speaker elucidates a point by a combi-
nation of question and answer. TTWS S TT/OWTOV o-o>0rjv<u evx^rat
K TWV SiwKovTtov, iTa /5vo-^vat; rj SiacrroXr) (ra<j>fj iro6>]O-ci TOV Aoyov
Ps. 7, 99 A.
24 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMEBICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
g) Hypophora the raising of an objection for the sake of
immediate refutation. rrA^KT^s; dAA' dvrjp. Trdpowos] dAA' ^vw/xevos
Kara, rrjv <f>v<riv. rpa)(y<s KCU 8vvdpt(rTOS ] dAAa /*eAos 178^ crov, /cat /xeAwv
TO Tt/uwTctTov. Hex. 7, 68 B.
h) Prodiorthosis a promise to be brief. TroAAot rexyiTai ....
o? TOV Aoyov rjfuv crwTe/Avouo'tv, tVa p,rj tiri iroKv rfjs epyaa-ias d(f>\K(Dvrai.
Hex. 3, 22 C.
6. Under Minor Figures receiving a peculiarly sophistic
development are here grouped those figures whose use in
St. Basil's time admits of that extravagance and poor taste
which characterize largely the Second Sophistic.
a) Hyperbaton a transposition of words from their natural
order, sometimes for emphasis, but generally for elegant
affectation. 17 rfs crwayo>yf)<s fJL<j>atva irpocnrjyopia Hex. 4. 36 C.
b); Hendiadys the placing on an equal grammatical plane
two expressions, one of which is logically subordinate to the
other. o/Aot SOKOVCTI p) o-wctSoTes Ttvcs, Tra/aaywyais TUTI /cat T/aoTroAoytai?
Ttya IK T^S otKeta? avT<3v Siavotas TT)(eipr)(rav TOIS yey/oa/x/xevots
.Hex. 9, 80E-81A.
c) Adjective Substantive Abstract an idea properly ad-
jectival is raised to substantive rank as an abstract noun.
717)05 TOVS <avAov? TWV Aoywv Ad Adolescentes, 175 D.
d) Paradox and Oxymoron an expression self-contradictory
when separated from its context. avev yjs <j>vTVis- avev o-iropas
0/>&is Ps. 14, 1130.
e) Hyperbole emphasis and comparison through exag-
geration. ftovvot Ttves o-dpKwoi (likening elephants to hills of
flesh). Hex. 9, 86 A.
f) Antonomasia the designation of a person by one of his
qualities or accomplishments. TOV /mcravTos. (for God) Attende
Tibiipsi, 24A.
g) Antimetathesis the repetition of the same word in a
sentence, with a different meaning. dAA* d fo>5? (life on earth)
is f toty (life in heaven). In Gordium 148 C.
CHAPTER IV
FIGURES OF REDUNDANCY
a) PEBIPHE A sis .
Periphrasis in prose the representation of an idea through
deliberate verbal turgescence goes back to Gorgias at least. 1
Isocrates, in his development of the period, gave periphrasis
a sanction which the excesses of Gorgias had denied to it.
This unnecessary fullness of expression, this "padding" for grand
effects, became incorporated into the tradition of the schools.
In the rhetoric of the Empire the vanity of the rhetors and
the poverty of real themes emphasized the tendency of the
times to out-do Attic masters in many of their collective
peculiarities. One must not forget that other tendency equally
characteristic of the times towards loss of inflection and simpli-
fication of syntax. This fact accounts for many expressions
which, judged from Attic standards, are decidedly pleonastic. 2
Thus, of the multitude of examples found in Basil's sermons,
a careful review has eliminated many. The uncertain line
separating the grammatical from the rhetorical makes any
treatment of the figure, at best, subjective.
The following are representative examples:
OVK d/xa/OTTJa-ts rov irpoovjKOvros Hex. 2, 15E. ^ OVK d/za/arTJo-ets.
TWV TrorajutW vSdruv Hex. 4, 39 A. ^ TWV Trora/xwv.
rots ev o-a/o/a (oxri Ps. 7, 103 A. <> rot? Caxri.
ck X^Orjv T/A&re Ps. 29, 127B. O 7reAa0ecr0.
rots fyovcrw (ora Kara rov etra) avOpUTrov Ps. 44, 159D.
TY)v (rvvrfloptav rov Xoyov TrATy/xuo-a) In Julittam, 35D. Q ow>/yo/j(ra>.
ts Zwoiav epxofuu Contra Sabellianos, 194E.
1 Of. Plato; Gorgias 456 A 457 C and the fragments of Gorgias in
Blass, Antiphontis Orationes, 150 ff.
2 Of. Trunk, 29.
26 THE CATHOLIC UNIVEESITY OF AMEEICA PATEISTIC STUDIES
Excellent examples may be found in the following places.
Hex. 1, 60; Hex. 2, 140; Hex. 4, 38E; Hex. 5, 45B; Hex. 6,
590; De Jejunio 2, 11A; In Julittam, 136D; In Gordium, 143B;
Ad Adolescentes, 184E.
FBEQUENCY OF PEBIPHBASIS IN THE SEKMONS.
Hex. 1 (530) 14 De Jejunio 2 (330) 3
2 (507) 12 Attende Tibiipsi (480) 5
3 (579) 25 De Grat. Act. (459) 2
4 (393) 7 In Julittam (580) 6
5 (570) 17 In Illud Lucae (406) 3
6 (746) 24 In Divites (601) 5
7 (425) 8 In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 4
8 (572) 9 Deus non est auct. (598) 7
9 (507) 11 Adyers. Iratos (452) 2
Ps. 1 (449) 5 De Invidia (359) -
7 (541) 14 In Princip. Proverb. (895) 5
14 (372) 3 In Sanct. Baptisma. (522) 1
28 (636) 10 In Ebriosos (423) 3
29 (418) 5 De Fide (185)
32 (651) 7 In Princip. erat V. (248) 3
33 (963) 1 In Barlaam (141) 3
44 (687) 5 In Gordium (425) 1
45 (407) In XL Martyres (392) 3
48 (682) 4 De Humilitate (353) 3
59 (242) 1 Quod Mundanis. (633) 5
61 (336) Ad Adolescentes (627) 1
114 (276) 1 In Mamantem (244)
De Jejunio 1 (475) 1 Contra Sabellianos (444) 2
The preponderance of examples found in the Hexaemeron
and in some of the homilies on the psalms may be due in
part to the demands of the subject-matter in each case treated.
Beyond a certain pompousness, the fullness of expression which
this figure affords was a necessary vehicle in voicing fine philo-
sophical distinctions. Such distinctions abound in the Hexae-
meron. The above table shows a liking for the figure in
exegetical passages. But whether Basil was restrained or
FIGURES OF REDUNDANCY 27
generous in his use of it we cannot tell, for we have not the
materials for a comparison with his contemporaries on this
point and, did we possess statistics of the other Christian
orators of the time, their value would be questionable in
drawing conclusions because of the highly subjective character
of such statistics on periphrasis.
b) PLEONASM.
A far more tangible evidence of Basil's tendency towards
diffuseness is his generous employment of pleonasm the
juxtaposition of synonyms, whether of words, phrases, or clauses.
This very rudimentary device had been used by Athenian
advocates to concentrate the attention of the juries more
clearly upon a desired point. It produced a kind of pause in
the development of the thought and emphasized the desired
point by the very time consumed in synonymous repetition.
Ideas not readily grasped by a single enunciation frequently
justified the use of synonyms in all epochs of Greek rhetoric.
The growing tendency towards turgescence in the Isocratic
tradition explains a third use of this figure.
Examples.
Cumulative emphasis : <rwapn&ovra KOL TO iraiv o^oAoyov tavrcp
Kal arvp.<j>o)vov KOL tvapfjiovius %X OVm Hex. 1, 8 A.
Metaphorical pleonasm: 77 ftpvowa mfyr), rj a<f>Qovos x"/ 015 *
aScwravijTOS Qyaravpos. Ps. 1, 92 C.
The first phrase is amplified by its synonym: ofirporepov &<* TO
ffjiftaOvvew rri Ka/aa Kal rats a/ca^a/otrtais r^js crap/cos fJL(JLO\vve<r@ai t
Ps. 29, 127B.
Synonymous clauses: orav ij/icts ri rbv Kvpiov a7ro/3A7ro>/Av KOL
GKTIV i^utav ot o(f>@a\fji.ol irpos avrov. Ps. 32, 141 B.
orv Se Karris rov Trapappeovra Kal 7T/OK/>ao-<reis ras
In Illud Lucae, 47 D.
Time distinction:
rrotwv elprfvyv Kal ei/^voTroiijcras. Ps. 33, 153 E.
Exceedingly empty are: avros o i/o?yvo7rotos, 6 TTOIWV
Ps. 33, 148 A.
K\oyrjv rov <rvfJL<f>tpovTOS KO! aTroo-rpo^rfv rov fiXafiepov. De
Act, 27 A.
28 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMEEICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
ore $Tts Tra/oot TOV KV/MOV rrjv V7rai8tav, ore r)iov ytvecrOcu
Trcmjp. In Divites, 59 C.
For farther examples consult Hex. 2, 16 A; Hex. 8, 73 E;
Ps. 38, 121 A; Ps. 44, 162B; De Jejunio I, 8 A; Attende
Tibiipsi, 16E; In Julittam, 39E; In Fam. et Siccit., 70B;
Advers. Iratos, 88 D; In Princip. Proverb., 100 E; In XL
Martyres, 1550; Contra Sabellianos, 194E.
FKEQUENCY OP PLEONASM IN THE SERMONS.
Hex. 1 (530) 42 De Jejunio II (330) 9
2 (507) 39 Attende Tibiipsi (480) 24
3 (579) 41 De Grat. Act. (459) 26
4 (393) 14 In Julittam (580) 33
5 (570) 13 In Illud Lucae (406) 9
6 (746) 23 In Divites (601) 9
7 (425) 27 In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 35
8 (572) 23 Deus non est auct. (598) 15
9 (507) 14 Advers. Iratos (452) 17
Ps. 1 (449) 26 De Invidia (359) 6
7 (541) 27 In Princip. Proverb. (895) 21
14 (372) 11 In Sanct. Baptisma (522) 9
28 (636) 31 In Ebriosos (423) 22
29 (418) 17 De Fide (185) 3
32 (651) 33 In Princip. erat V. (248) 9
33 (963) 50 In Barlaam (141) -
44 (687) 23 In Gordium (425) 13
45 (407) 23 In XL Martyres (392) 9
48 (682) 16 De Humilitate (353) 4
59 (242) 7 Quod Mundanis (633) 11
61 (336) 9 Ad Adolescentes (627) 16
114 (276) 8 In Mamantem (244) 2
De Jejunio I (475) 11 Contra Sabellianos (444) 7
Dignity and emphasis and verbal splendor are alike attained
by the varying employments of pleonasm. The examples in
Basil, with rare exceptions, are designed for the last of these
three effects. Their number, 837 in all, bespeaks a generous
but not excessive use of the figure as a whole.
FIGURES OF REDUNDANCY 29
c) ARSIS AND THESIS.
A third form of amplification, very common in all epochs
of Greek rhetoric and designed for the same general purposes
as the figures immediately preceding, is arsis and thesis
the presentation of the idea first negatively and then positively.
A less common form, wherein the positive statement precedes
the negative, is not mentioned by the rhetoricians, although
it is often more rhetorical. 3 Unless designated "positive-negative",
all references hereafter refer to the more common form.
Examples.
In four successive sentences occur the following: OVK Iv rots
toYois avrov /ie/oeo-iv, aAA' ev TO> 7iy>os TYJV ctyav dAwr^) OVK IK rrjs
TWI> fjifpwv (rv/A/XTpias, dAA' /c Trj<s eu^/ooias /zoV^s. ov 8ia TO dva-
Aoyowra e^ctv TO, pepf] l wv trw(rr^Kv, dAAa Sia TO aXvrrov rtva /cat
rjSeiav rrjv aTr' avrov avyty ov Travrws TT/OOS TO Iv
a7TO/?A7rovTos, dAAa KCU TT/OOS Tr/v eis vcrrtpov aTr'
Hex. 2, 19 D E.
A prolonged example: /*?) yiVov /c/>m)s avto-os
\dpw l^eTaCe ' et juev TL SOKCIS ^tv KaAov, TOUTO kv
TTTato-ftaTWi/ Ktov eTTtAav^ai'd/AC^os , /xr^Se c^ 5 ofs fiV
KOiTOpOoTs fJicyaXwofJievo^ c<' ofs Se Trpwrjv Kal TraAat KaKW?
(ru 7X < ^/ 37 ? criv o"avTa> SiSovs ' dAA* 6Vav o~e TO irapbv Traipy 9 TO
TraXatbv els a.vdfjivr]0-iv dyeTW, Kat iravo-y T}S wanrO-ffrov ^XeyfAovrjs
De Humilitate, 160E.
A fivefold example of the positive-negative variety. wi>, ovx*
7r/3oa~ycvd/zevos * vTrd/a^wv TT/OO TWV aiwvwv, ov^i TT/aoo-KTiy^ets VO-TC/OOV.
VIOS, O^X' KTrjfJLd' TTOtr^T^?, OV^t 7TO7/>ia' KTtO"TryS, OV^(l KTMTjLta.
De Fide, 131 E 132 A.
For further examples of the positive-negative variety, consult
Hex. 1, 8E; Ps. 1, 91D; Ps. 29, 130D; De Jejunio 2, HE;
Deus non est auct., 78 E; Quod Mundanis, 163 B; Ad Adoles-
centes, 179C; In Mamantem, 188C; Contra Sabellianos, 191 B.
Of the negative-positive variety representative examples may
be found in Hex. 3, 23C; Hex. 6, 52B; Ps. 1, 95E; Ps. 48, I860;
3 Of. Robinson, 13.
30 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMEBICA PATEISTIC STUDIES
De Grat. Act, 320; In Julittam, 36 B; In Sanct. Baptisma,
116A; In Gordium, 144D; Contra Sabellianos, 190 B.
FBEQUENCY or ARSIS AND THESIS IN THE SERMONS. 4
Hex. 1 (530) 16; p-n. 2 De Jejunio II (330) 9;p-n.2
2 (507) 24; p-n. 6 Attende Tibiipsi (480)15;
3 (579) 10; p-n. 1 De Grat. Act. (459) 18; p-n. 1
4(393) 8; p-n. 2 In Julittam (580) 31; p-n. 1
5(570) 9; In Illud Lucae (406)13;
6 (746) 27; p-n. 1 In Divites (601) 17; p-n. 1
7 (425) 10; In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 14;
8 (572) 18; Deus non est auct. (598) 23; p-n. 3
9 (507) 20; p-n. 1 Advers. Iratos (452) 12;
Ps. 1 (449) 10; p-n. 1 De Invidia (359) ll;p-n.l
7 (541) 13; InPrincip.Proverb. (895) 22; p-n.3
14 (372) 10; p-n. 2 In Sanct. Baptisma (522) 17; p-n.2
28 (636) 19; In Ebriosos (423) 5;p-n.l
29(418) 8; p-n. 1 De Fide (185) 13;p-n.5
32 (651) 20; In Princip. erat V. (243) 7;
33 (963) 28; p-n. 2 In Barlaam (141) 7;
44 (687) 24; p-n. 2 In Gordium (425) 12;
45(407) 7; In XL Martyres (392)12;
48(682)27; De Humilitate (353)17;
59(242) 8; p-n. 1 Quod Mundanis (633) 9; p-n. 3
61(336) 9; Ad Adolescentes (627)21;p-n.4
114(276)14; In Mamantem (244) 10; p-n. 6
De Jejunio I (475) 16; p-n. 1 Contra Sabellianos (444) 18; p-n. 6
A certain precis eness is attained by the sharp, clear-cut
juxtaposition of the positive and negative. In discussing theo-
logical questions before popular audiences, arsis was oft-times
indispensable to an orator. In its cumulative form Basil shows
arsis capable of great rhetorical power and efficacious for
strong emphasis. But a perusal of the examples of the figure
found in his pages shows that, for the most part, arsis is for
Basil merely a rhetorical mannerism, a third manifestation of
4 p-n. refers to the positive-negative variety.
FIGURES OF REDUNDANCY 31
that leaning towards turgescence which the parade-orators
of the Second Sophistic considered elegant.
The varying purposes of the dissertations on the rhetoric
of the Empire so far produced deprive us of a standard where-
by to judge the pleonastic aspects of St. Basil's style. A
distinct tendency in the direction of turgescence is established,
but at all events not an excessive tendency. When we consider
that 1836 examples (if we include all of the somewhat uncertain
instances of periphrasis in this total) occur in 563 pages of
text, we are justified in characterizing St. Basil's use of the
Figures of Redundancy as generous. A glance at the tables
shows his use of these figures consistent on the whole. They
do not, however, partake of that excess which our knowledge
of the Second Sophistic leads us to expect in a faithful disciple,
whose taste for grandiloquence is evident,
CHAPTER V
FIGURES OF REPETITION
a) ANADIPLOSIS.
Anadiplosis the repetition of the same word within a clause-
comes down from the poets. In Homer it is merely a device
of cumulative emphasis. In the lyric and tragic poets it
represents excitation or pathos. It was thus used moderately
by Demosthenes. 1 Its intense, passionate feeling is generally
reinforced by asyndeton. Only one example occurs in the
sermons. TOTC 8>j, Tore, rot ovT Aoy(p prjra, OVT />yy (fropfjTa, rt8iv
ecru OfdfULTa. Advers. Iratos, 84 D.
The same effect is produced by the following, wherein two
successive sentences begin with the same words. 86s /xot re/cva,
IVQ. irapaKOvaro) TWV evroAwi/ orov 805 fiot Tcva, iva p) <0a<rco ts TTJV
/JatriAetav rwv ov/oavwv. In Divites, 590.
b) EPANAPHORA.
As a mechanism of style, epanaphor athe repetition of the
same word at the beginning of two or more succeeding cola
makes for emphasis by putting the repeated word first; for
clearness, by forecasting the construction of the succeeding
colon and thus allowing the mind of the hearer to concentrate
the more upon the thought. 2 In its artistic repetition, it
exercises a certain charm upon the ear. Even with unim-
portant words like TOTC /xv , TOTC 8 , the figure has some
rhetorical value, and this value increases with the increase
1 Sihler. Volkmann 2, 4667.
2 Rehdantz, 6.
FIGURES OF REPETITION 33
of successive repetitions. It is found in literature from Homer
down. In this study the repetition of the same word at the
beginning of two or more succeeding clauses is called clause
epanaphora; of two or more succeeding sentences, sentence
epanaphora. The following are noteworthy examples of Basil's
use of the figure:
In clause epanaphora the very common ov is not without
rhetorical effect, as in the five-fold arsis o^x VTTCXOVO-I, ras
aKoas Xoyois &ov y ov Xafj,j3dvovo~w aicrOrjarw rrjs eavrwv <vo-e<os, ov
Xwrovvrat . . . VTTO rjs a/xa/cmas* ov Xwrovvrat. ets iwr\\M}v TWV apapruav
d<f>iKvovfjievoi, ov Tpepovo-i rrjv KpLo~w. Ps. 28, 123 A. For a seven-
fold example with ov consult Ps. 1, 910; for a four-fold with
TO, Quod Mundanis, 172E; for a five-fold with 7rSr), In Fam.
et Siccit, 66 D.
A very artificial example with parison, asyndeton, and paro-
nomasia. Xidos eo-rlv 6 xpvo-6<s, Xfflos 6 a/yyv/oos, Xi0o<$ d /xa/>-
-ya/otTijs, XtOos TWV XiOw Kao-ros. In Divites, 58 E.
Epanaphora Of two WOrds: o-v yap /*6Vos eWo-as <Aoya JUT)
X ty a ' < /*oVos KT>]0-(o 6vo-iao~Tif)piov Se^idv <rv //.dvos Se^
TO. TWV SaifjLovwv ppa.7Ti(ras TT/odo-awra. In Barlaam, 141 A.
With paronomasia: o-o^>os o*v Sia rrjv oiKetav o/a/A^v, o-o<J>toTpo<i yeyovc
Sta TYJV IK TT}S 8i8oo-KaAxs reAetWtv. In Princip. Proverb., 110E.
For a like example with polyptoton consult, In Mamantem,
185 C.
Of sentence epanaphora, the following contain interesting
variations from the usual two-fold or three-fold variety:
Ps. 28, 151 D and E, wherein four succeeding sentences begin
with the word e?ra; Quod Mundanis, 163D-E, wherein six
succeeding sentences begin with MOC.
A whole clause is used as epanaphora in the following sentences,
already quoted under anadiplosis: 86s /xot TKva, ha TrapaKova-otrQv
IvroAwv ami; Sds pot, roci/a, wa pr) <$aarco ets rrjv ^aortActav TWV
dvpavwv;^-In Divites, 59C-D.
Two corresponding clauses of two succeeding sentences begin
with the same words:
et yap ra Trpoo-Katpa rotainra, TroTarra ra atcuvta;
KCU i ra op<i>p.va ovra> /caAa, TroraTra ra ddpara; Hex. 6, 50D-E.
Consult also Hex. 8, 79B; Ps. 1, 92E; Ps. 28, 144B; 150A;
Ps. 61, 197E; 198E.
34 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
Sentence and clause epanaphora with polyptoton:
ovSas Kp<uira.\.ij<rv arro vSaros*
ovSevos K<j>a\r) uSvvrjOr) TTOTC vSan f$apr)dtura..
ovScis aAA.OT/5iW TroSwv ISe^r;, vSpoTroo-iq. crvCwv.
ovSevos cBWrj&av ^roSes,
ovSa/os X '/ es mryXP U 'Mty rav 9 ^art Kara/oSo/Aevat. De Jejunio 1, 7 C.
FEEQUENCY or EPANAPHOEA IN THE SEEMONS.
De Jejunio 2
Attende Tibiipsi
De Grat. Act.
In Julittam
In Illud Lucae
In Divites
In Fam. et Siccit.
Deus non est auct.
Advers. Iratos
De Invidia
In Princip. Proverb.
In Sanct. Baptisma.
In Ebriosos
De Fide
In Princip. erat V.
In Barlaam
In Gordium
In XL Martyres
De Humilitate
Quod Mundanis
Ad Adolescentes
In Mamantem
Contra Sabellianos
The elaboration of the examples quoted above and the
consistent use of the figure throughout the sermons, excepting
in Ps. 114 show, that St. Basil had a liking for epanaphora.
Its beauty, its clarity, its emphasis alike appealed to him.
Its frequency 565 examples in all does not, however, indicate
Clause
Sen-
tence
Hex. 1
(530)
10
3
2
(507)
8
1
3
(565)
7
1
4
(393)
4
2
5
(570)
9
1
6
(746)
8
7
(425)
14
3
8
(572)
10
5
9
(507)
5
2
Ps. 1
(449)
13
2
7
(541)
6
1
14
(372)
18
6
28
(636)
10
29
(418)
5
1
32
(651)
14
5
33
(963)
10
6
44
(687)
4
2
45
(407)
7
2
48
(682)
11
3
59
(242)
5
61
(336)
7
2
114
(276)
1
De Jejunio 1
(475)
30
5
Clause
Sen-
tence
(330) 3
1
(480) 15
2
(459) 9
1
(58U) 15
1
(406) 15
1
(601) 39
8
(584) 16
4
(598) 11
(452) 5
1
(359) 7
(895) 17
(522) 22
4
(423) 11
2
(185) 7
1
(248) 10
1
(141) 4
(425) 15
(392) 6
(353) 8
(633) 4
6
(627) 4
(244) 16
1
(444) 9
4
FIGURES OF REPETITION 35
an excessive use of the figure, judged from standards of taste
far less exuberant than the Asiatic.
c) ANTISTBOPHE.
Antistrophe the repetition of the same word at the end
of two or more succeeding clauses is called by Hermogenes
a device of beauty. 3 Very rarely does it occur in Basil.
The following are representative examples:
r) oSbs OVK ZCTTI <rrj dAA' ovSe ra irdpovra, <rd Ps. 1, 94 E.
-^dXfiov fxs, irpoo~(j>r)Ttav exit's Ps. 28, 123B.
vvv SaKpvfis, dAA' lyeAacras irporepov
vvv 7rra>xeveis, dAA' iTrAovT^o-as Trporepov Quod Mundanis, 172 D.
The remaining instances in the sermons are to be found in
Hex. 8, 700; Ps. 32, 137E; Ps. 32, 138D; Ps. 45, 176E;
Ps. 114, 203A; In Ebriosos, 128A; In Ebriosos, 129D; In
Gordium, 145 D.
The eleven examples found are excellent representatives of
this highly artificial device. Their quality bespeaks St. Basil's
adaptability to the requirements of the figure. Their rarity
in so ample an expanse of text argues restraint even in the
use of a figure unsuited to prolonged or frequent development.
d) ANASTBOPHE.
Anastrophe the repetition of the final word of one clause
at the beginning of the next clause occurs not at all in the
early Attic orators, although Homer and the Tragic Poets
exemplify it. Isaeus and Demosthenes use it only rarely.
St. Basil too is very sparing in his employment of it. An
excellent example was not found in his sermons.
Typical of its use in his pages are: laO^ev 810, T}S jueravoias
/*Tai/ota 8t x^pis v^crretas dpyrj. De Jejunio 1, 3B.
fjLTa rrjv Ka.piro<f>opiav TWV 7rtCryTov/>cva)v, dvay/cata rf trpocrKVvrjaris.
Trpo<TKvvTf]orL<s Be rj OVK ga> r/Js eK/cA^crtas. Ps. 28, 116D.
The remaining examples in the sermons, some of them presenting
merely the form of the figure, in all probability, are to be
found in Hex. 1, 10 C; Hex. 6, 580; Ps. 48, 182 A; In Illud
3 II, 335.
3*
36 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
Lucae, 48B; De Invidia, 92D; In Sanct. Baptisma, 116E;
De Fide, 131 E.
The infrequency of its occurrence, even allowing for dubious
examples, and the uncertain quality of many of the examples
found reveal anastrophe as still less an element of St. Basil's
style than antistrophe.
e) KUKLOS.
Kuklos wherein the first clause of a period begins, and
the next or last clause ends, with the same word is obviously
so artificial a figure that its frequent use would blight the
style it tried to embellish. Only one instance of its use occurs
in the sermons. trcpov yci/os TO KiyrwScs K<U TO r<3v ATT<OV
. Hex. 7, 640.
f) CLIMAX.
Climax a repetition of the last word of the preceding
clause through several successive clauses of a period is also
too artificial for extended use.
Examples: opa Try oKoXovOiav tyvxrjs irpbs <u/*a, at/xaros irpbs
cra/OKos TT/OOS TTJV yrjv KCU. iraXw aVaAvcras Sta TWV avrwv
aTTo yvjs ets cra/)Ktt, airo crapKos eis af/xa, (XTTO at/xaros cts
v/)^<ras ort yfj Icrrt TWV KT^VWV 17 ^X 1 ?- Hex. 8, 710.
6vfj,o<s fJ.v yap eyetpci /xa^v, f^o.\r] Sc yevvy. AotSo/oiias, ol 8 XoiSopicu
TrAr/yas, at 8 irXrjyal rpav/xara, IK 8c rpavfj-dratv TroAAa/as Odvaroi.
Advers. Iratos, 85 C.
Of scriptural origin is the following: tpyaUpwat VTTO/XOI^V, KO!
BiO. T^S VTTO/XOV^S SoKt/Xljl/, KCU 8ttt T^S 6oKt/Al}s lATTtiStt. - Ps. 45, 171 E.
The only other examples of climax in the sermons occur in
Ps. 48, 178D; Ps. 59, 192D; De Invidia, 940; In Sanct.
Baptisma, 1180; Contra Sabellianos, 196 E.
g) REPETITIVE PARONOMASIA.
The phrase "Repetitive Paronomasia", not found in the
rhetoricians, I have borrowed from Robinson. 4 It designates
the rhetorical repetition of the same word in the same sense.
* 25.
FIGUKES OF BEPETITION 37
The examples found in the sermons are built upon the forced
repetition of very ordinary words, such as ov, oV, u>s, Sta, or
upon less usual words twice or thrice repeated. Its skillful
use lends great vigor to the style of a passage.
Examples: aAAot /zev yap oy*v TraiSes, Kal aAAot (j)ri/3oi KOL
av6*/3(0#VTS TpOL .... KOL aAAoi fJ,V V Tttl? <atS/OOT
KaTao~Tao-o~t TWV TrpayfJidraiV aAAot Se eg aAAoji/ ywoptOa,
crui>TV)(ta Kat/owv K\prjfji,voi aAAot VOO~OWTCS Kai aAAot
aAAot Iv ya/tots Kat aAAot ev Trev^eo-tv. Ps. 59, 190 C-D.
Three-fold repetition: ai'Tt TWV /xwAw7ro;i/, TWV eTravto-Ta/zeVwv T^>
o"o>/iaTt, <f>(OTtvbv evSvfia rjfuv ev ry avao'Taa'ct eTrav^cref avrt TT)S
art/ztas, o"T^>avof aVrt StarfJuoTrjpioV) Tra/oaSctcros * avrt rijs ytiCTa TWV
KaKov/oywv KaraStK^?, 17 ^er' ayycAwv Staywyi}. In GordlUm,
146 B- C.
Sta rt Adyos; tVa Setx^ 6Vt IK TOV vov Trpo^A^e- 8ta Tt Adyos;
ort aTra^ws lyei/vij^* Sta rt Adyos; ort etKx)v TOV ycvvijo-avTO? oAov
ev Jai^-^ SetKvvs TOV yewjjcravTa . .. In Princip. erat V., 136 D.
An example based on the eleven-fold repetition of ov/c occurs
in Ps. 114, 204 A-B; a four-fold repetition of dVo in
Ps. 45, 176C; the three-fold repetition of /*eTa in Ps. 48, 1790;
the six-fold repetition of ov in De Jejunio 1, 7E; a four-
fold repetition of ^ra, in In Princip. Proverb., 112C. For
further examples consult Hex. 5, 41 A; Ps. 1, 90 B; Ps. 28,
115 C-D; Ps. 44, 163 E; Attende Tibiipsi, 18 A; In XL
Martyres, 149 B.
FREQUENCY or REPETITIVE PARONOMASIA IN THE SERMONS.
Hex. 1 (530) 3 De Jejunio 2 (330) 3
2 (507) 2 Attende Tibiipsi (480) 2
3 (565) 5 De Grat. Act. (459) 3
4 (393) 3 In Julittam (580) 3
5 (570) 5 In Illud Lucae (406) 3
6 (746) 6 In Divites (601) 5
7 (425) 2 In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 2
8 (572) 3 Deus non est auct. (598) 4
9 (507) 1 Ad Iratos (452) 2
Ps. 1 (449) 5 De Invidia (359) 3
38 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
Ps. 7 (541) 5 In Princip. Proverb. (895) 3
14 (372) 5 In Sanct. Baptisma (522) 8
28 (636) 7 In Ebriosos (423) 7
29 (418) 1 De Fide (185) 4
32 (651) 8 In Princip. erat V. (248) 3
33 (963) 4 In Barlaam (141)
44 (687) 2 In Gordium (425) 6
45 (407) 2 In XL Martyres (392) 10
48 (682) 5 De Humilitate (353) 4
59 (242) 4 Quod Mundanis (633) 1
61 (336) Ad Adolescentes (627) 3
114 (276) 1 In Mamantem (244)
De Jejunio 1 (475) 3 Contra Sabellianos (444) 1
Of repetitive paronomasia St. Basil is far more sparing than
of epanaphora, the one other figure of its kind deserving even
moderately the adjective "frequent". 162 examples of repetitive
paronomasia are found in the sermons a total surprisingly
small in so vigorous an orator. The cumulative character of
many of the examples off-sets this small number to some extent
and explains the reader's impression that repetitive parono-
masia is a constant favorite with St. Basil. The very strength
of the figure in St. Basil's hands attracts the attention to its
use rather than its neglect, and thus blinds the casual reader
to its infrequency.
St. Basil certainly does not exhibit Asiatic excessiveness
in the repetitious features of his rhetorical heritage. The
elaborate length of some of his examples of epanaphora and
repetitive paronomasia are an index of his possibilities in the
direction of Asiatic exuberance rather than a general realization
of that exuberance. Of antistrophe, anastrophe, kuklos, and
climax I had not expected to find many examples. An
oration studded with such unnatural gems would be a very
flaring product indeed. But the pathetic anadiplosis might
well re-appear many times in an unrestrained Asiatic. Its
single exemplification here is in harmony with that moderateness
which all the Figures of Repetition, each in their peculiar
character, exhibit in St. Basil.
CHAPTER VI
FIGURES OF SOUND
a) PARONOMASIA.
Although paronomasia is treated by some authorities as
one of the Gorgianic Figures, 1 the facts that the Greek
rhetoricians do not mention it among the Gorgianic Figures
and that it does not receive the enthusiastic treatment in
St. Basil that the undoubtedly Gorgianic Figures receive
suggest its inclusion among the minor figures of rhetoric.
Paronomasia a figure based on a similarity in the sounds
of words plus a dissimilarity in sense is produced either by
(a) the use of the same root with change of the prefixes or by
(b) a word followed by its negative or by (c) a change in the
voice of the verb or by (d) a word followed immediately or at an
interval by another word of the same root. Obviously rhetorical
design must be clearly established here in each case before
a suspected case may be called genuine paronomasia.
The following examples illustrate St. Basil's use of the figure :
StO TTp&TOV fJLV KafJ.a.TO) (TVV)(Tai \V TT] O"UVt\U KlVT)(r6l TO, CTVV0Ta.
Hex. 1, 11B. Compare also Ps. 7, 105A; Ps. 28, 116C; Ps. 32,
137 E; Ps. 48, 182C; De Fide, 133 A.
<rvp.pa.wzi (rot KaTOpv<r<rovTi TOV irXovrov crvyKaTopvercretv KCU rty
/ca/ooYav. In Divites, 54 B. Compare also De Jejunio 1, 5B;
In Sanct. Baptisma, 115C; In Princip. erat V., 135C.
airoypd(f>Tr)Ot ev ravTQ ry /2t/3A<), iva pTaypa(f>fj<s eis TYJV avto. In Sanct.
Baptisma, 120 B. Compare also Hex. 5, 46 C; Ps. 114, 201 C.
cTravio-Ta/zej/wv ov0rTa/Avos. De Humilitate, 161C. Compare
also Ps. 29, 127 D; De Humilitate, 16 ID.
1 Bias s II, 66; Robertson, 7; Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Epistula ad
Ammaeum II.
40 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
\opevcis dxopevra. In Ebriosos, 129C. Compare also Ps. 14,
108B; Ps. 28, 116A; De Jejunio 2, 150; In Ebriosos, 130 A.
FBEQUENCY or PAEONOMASIA IN THE SEEMONS.
Hex. 1 (530) 7 De Jejunio 2 (330) 1
2 (507) 1 Attende Tibiipsi (480) 1
3 (565) 4 De Grat. Act. (459)
4 (393) In Julittam (580)
5 (570) 2 In Illud Lucae (406) 1
6 (746) 2 In Divites (601) 1
7 (425) 3 In Earn, et Siccit. (584) 4
8 (572) Deus'jnon est auct. (598)
9 (507) 1 Advers. Iratos (452) 2
Ps. 1 (449) 1 De Invidia (359) 1
7 (541) 3 In Princip. Proverb. (895) 1
14 (372) 6 In Sanct. Baptisma (522) 4
28 (636) 3 In Ebriosos (423) 3
29 (418) 1 De Fide (185) 4
32 (651) 3 In Princip. erat V. (248) 3
33 (963) In Barlaam (141) 1
44 (687) 1 In Gordium (425) 2
45 (407) 2 In XL Martyres (392)
48 (682) 5 De Humilitate (353) 10
59 (242) Quod Mundanis (633)
61 (336) Ad Adolescentes (627) 1
114 (276) 2 In Mamantem (244)
De Jejunio 1 (475) 1 Contra Sabellianos (444) 1
A figure whose form is so readily confused with the mere
accidents of inflection must yield numerous and striking in-
stances to constitute a noteworthy element in an author's style.
Eighty-nine examples in forty-six sermons, most of the examples
rather common-place, with only one sermon yielding as many
as ten examples, with eleven sermons yielding none, make not
a remarkable contribution to the style of St. Basil.
b) POLYPTOTON.
A form of paronomasia whose rhetorical design is far more
patent is polyptoton a word followed immediately, or after a
short interval, by the same word in a different case. The
FIGURES OF SOUND 41
formula s TOV? olwi/as T&V atwvwv, which concludes most of the
sermons, is of course not included here. It is a scriptural
idiom and is considered more a formula than a figure.
The following examples illustrate St. Basil's use of Polyp to-
ton: Trdvra Iv Trao-t /ze/jwcrai Hex. 1, 8B. Compare also Hex. 3,
26 B; Hex. 8, 78 B; In Princip. Proverb., 109 E.
fua T}S /uas rfpryvTcu Hex. 8, 77D. Compare also Hex. 3, 27 B;
In Fam. et Siccit., 68 B.
(partly Biblical) iTrtKara/aaros ai/0/xowros 6 rrjv ZXirtSa eyvv *"' & v ~
Bp(D7rov y tiri n TWV dvOponrivwv Ps. 45, 171 B. Compare also
Ps. 28, 114 D; In Princip. erat V., 135 C; De flumilitate,
160 D;
TToAAai yap apx<u TroXAwv irpaypaTw In Princip. erat V., 135 A.
Compare also Ad Adolescentes, 180 C.
FREQUENCY OF POLYPTOTON IN THE SEEMONS.
Hex. 1 (530) 4 Ps. 45 (407) 2
2 (507) 2 De Grat. Act. (459) 1
3 (565) 5 In Divites (601) 1
4 (393) 2 In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 1
5 (570) 2 De Invidia (359) 1
6 (746) 4 In Princip. Proverb. (895) 2
7 (425) 2 In Ebriosos (423) 1
8 (572) 3 In Princip. erat. V. (248) 4
9 (507) 1 In Barlaam (141) 1
Ps. 14 (372) 3 In Gordium (425) 1
28 (636) 2 De Humilitate (353) 1
32 (651) 3 Ad Adolescentes (627) 1
44 (687) 1 Contra Sabellianos (444) 2
Even less numerous than paronomasia fifty-three examples
in all, with only one sermon containing as many as six ex-
amples, and with twenty sermons containing none polyptoton,
despite its greater artificiality, contributes scarcely more to
the style of St. Basil than paronomasia. The opportunities
were there however. In a highly inflected language any practiced
pupil of the Schools could use polyptoton in excess, even as
St. Basil did in extreme moderation. Our orator leaves to
other figures the proof of his inherent, perhaps unconscious,
sophistic sympathies.
42 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
c) ALLITEEATION AND ASSONANCE.
Alliteration the recurrence of the same initial letter(s) in
succeeding, usually immediately succeeding, words requires
great circumspection in treatment, because of accidental al-
literative combinations bound to arise in language. At best
the examples and statistics on this figure and on assonance
are highly subjective.
The following are representative examples of alliteration as
found in the sermons: ejraviwv 7rto-v/>o/jvos kirtyOovos Hex. 5, 41 E.
SovAos rov SeSaveiKOTOs 6 Saveicra/zcvos Ps. 14, 109 C.
arptTTTOV, dvaAAoaoTov, a7ra6rj t an-A^v, acrw$Tov, aSiai/oerov De Fide,
131 D.
Trarrjp TrapeSiSov iraffia In Gordium, 144 A.
The only other examples found occur in Hex. 2, 210; Hex. 3 ?
32 C; Hex. 4, 35B; Hex. 7, 68 B; 680; Ps. 1, 95D; Ps. 33,
146 E; In Illud Lucae, 49 D; In Fam. et Siccit, 660; 68 E;
72 A; Deus non est auct., 76E; In Sanct. Baptisma, 121A;
In XL Martyres, 152 E; De Humilitate, 160 D.
Assonance the intentional succession of words ending in
similar sounds is very rare in the sermons. The following is
typical of its infrequent use: ry vircppoXy rov KaAAovs TOVS o<j>0a\-
p>vs, Hex. 2, 12B. The only other examples occur in Hex. 1,
70; 11 B; Hex. 2, 17D. Nineteen instances of alliteration and
four instances of assonance make a total almost negligible.
But their very rarity in a product of the Second Sophistic is
a noteworthy fact.
d) PAKECHESIS.
Parechesis a similarity in the sound of words of different
roots plus a dissimilarity of sense may take any one of three
forms: (a) words differing in accent or in a single letter;
(b) combined in pairs; (c) not in pairs, not even necessarily
in the same colon, but the assonance produced evidently de-
signed. The first two forms are almost bound to be intentional.
The third alone calls for scrupulous care. 2
Examples.
Differing in accent TOUTO fyuov TO 5/oa T# a/o Contra Sabel-
lianos, 195 A.
2 Robertson, 23-24.
FIGURES OP SOUND 43
Differing both in accent and letter Ocas rov Ocou Hex. 1, 2D
Differing in letter arid wor d- length (rwnpSfav avrwv /ecu a-vfjujxavtav
vow Ps. 32, 133 B.
KardppVTOS, Sia. TIJV apprjrov <ro</>iav Hex. 3, 28 C.
\varcrwcrw {.TTOVO-LV Sa/ci/ovo-tv Advers. Iratos, 83 D.
The only other examples found occur in Hex. 1, 2D; Hex. 5,
44D; Hex. 6, 510; 55B; Hex. 9, 83 E; 880; 88E; Ps. 32,
1390; Attende Tibiipsi, 17 B; In Divites, GOD; Advers. Ira-
tos, 87 D; In Sanct. Baptisma, 1200; In Gordium, 1420.
These nineteen examples show only the traces of the sophistic
predilection for devices of sound an indication that Basil knew
the figure, but not fondly.
An excessive use of paronomasia and allied figures, the em-
ploying of them merely for tonal effects gave to the language
of Gorgias a stiffness, a lack of spontaneity that was a precept
to his successors as to what must be avoided. With the revival
of rhetoric under the Empire the figures of sound were again
abused; so much so that the sense of many fine-sounding
phrases of that time is dubious. With many sophists it became
a fixed mental habit that when they must choose between
clarity of expression and resonnance of expression, they in-
variably chose the latter. This convention, so strongly in-
trenched in the schools, is very marked in the works of
St. Gregory Nazianzus, 3 St. Gregory of Nyssa, 4 and in St. John
Chrysostom's panegyrical use of alliteration, polyptoton, and
parechesis at least. 5 St. Basil, compared with them, is far
more restrained. In both the quality and number of sound-
figures he shows a surprising indifference to the fashion of
the times. 6 Viewed by itself the evidence of this chapter is
almost negative. But viewed in connection with the extreme
fondness of the Second Sophistic for figures of sound, a fond-
ness reflected in some of its Christian disciples, the negative
results become a positive contribution.
3 Guignet, 197.
4 Meridier, 161.
5 Ameringer, 33-35.
* Although neither Meridier nor Guignet nor Ameringer give statistics
on these figures, their wealth of examples in each case and their comments
and conclusions warrant the above statement.
CHAPTER VII
FIGURES OF VIVACITY;
OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION
a) ASYNDETON.
Asyndeton a figure arising from the omission of conjunc-
tions produces a nervous warmth of tone suited to practical
eloquence, to the stormy debates of republican politics and,
by analogy, to any discourse inspired by a clash of principles.
The absolute avoidance of asyndeton tends to produce mono-
tony in a discourse. Its skillful use produces on the ear the
sensation of rapidity. In its cumulative form it emphasizes
the elements thus disconnected by setting them off sharply
and clearly, by forcing a brief mental pause between them
and thus driving the significance of the elements so set off
more deeply into the mind. It also serves to reinforce the
effect of other figures by the mere elimination of conjunctions
which otherwise would claim so*me share of the attention.
Noteworthy among a wealth of examples in St. Basil's ser-
mons are the following: Two asyndeta followed by one asyn-
deton, with polysyndeton: TTOJTOS E^feivos K<U XI/ooTrovrts, 'EAArjo-Trov-
TOS, Aiyaios /cat lojvtos, 2a/o8ovtKov TTcAayos /<at SwccAt/cov KCU Tv/)/o/i/M<ov
fapoi, Hex. 4, 36E-37 A.
Two -fold: aAAa Od\acr(rav,
aAAa /coATTOV,
aAAa i^o-twrat Hex. 7, 64D.
Three asyndetic clauses, the first clause containing a two-fold
example in addition:
ot yctyioi rots (XTratSia?, ras ^petas, T<XS 8ia<#o/oas '
at yeo>/oyu rrjv a,Kap7TLav ' at t l/ATroptat Ta vavayta*
01 TrAovrot ras 7fi/2ovAdV Ps. 33, 150 C-D. Compare also In
Mamantem, 188 A; Contra Sabellianos, 194 C.
FIGURES OF VIVACITY ; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 45
Two two-fold examples in succession:
17 fjLoi\eLa 9 f) KAoTnj, rj iropveia. JJLZTO. T^S VVKTOS, /Aera TOV T/OOTTOV^ /xera
TWV x a P aKTr iP l ^ VT(1)V a VTr)V i8to>/iaT(uv Ps. 48, 179C.
Fourteen-fold: CaWwv IKC^ x^P a * v V ov/c * vl v ^> ^ K * vl ^ 7rv ' 5 T0
TOV 6a.va.Tov fufi^fut* tv y OVK eVt /fywcrts, OVK vi TTOO-IS, rot T^S a<r-
^cj/etias ^wv v7T/oet(r/*aTa, OVK l^t vocros, OVK en aAy^ftara, OVK
ov SiKacr'nj/Dta, OVK ifjarofdat, ov rcxvat, ov xprjpara, TWV KaKwv
17 TWV TToAe/XWV V7TO^0-t?, f) p&O. TTJS \6pa<S - Ps. 114, 204 A-B.
Seven asyndetic clauses containing one group of two asyndeta
and one group of eight asyndeta: a<es TO a-w/xa o-eavrov, a^>es
ras (T(j)fj,aTLKas alo-OrjoreiS) KaraAetTre TTJV yfjv, KaraAetTre rrjv Oa.Xa(rcrav t
Kara) Qfcavrov irofycrov rov ae/aa, 7rapa8pa/xe (Spas, KCU/QWV evragtas, ras
7T/)i y7jv 8t<xKoo-/A^o-as ' v7T/> Tov aiBtpo, ya/ov 8ia/3r)0t TOVS
ra ircpt avrovs ^avyotara, T^V cvKoo-^tav avrwv, ra fifykd^ ra?
ocras 7rap)(ovTai ry Travrt, T^V VTatav, T-^V Xa^Trporrjra^ rrjv
T^V Kivrja-w De Fide, 131 C.
Compare also Ps. 1, 91A; In Julittam, 40C-D; In Divites,
58B; Deus non est auct., 75D-E; In Barlaam, 140A-B; In
Gordium, 1440; De Humilitate, 162A-B.
FEEQUENCY or ASYNDETON IN THE SERMONS. *
1|2|3
4|5|6
7
8|9
10
11|12
13
14
15
16
17
Hex. 1 (530)
2
3
1
2 (507)
1
6
2
3 (565)
1
1
4 (393)
1
1
5 (570)
1
8
3
2
6 (746)
2
1
1
1
7 (425)
4
5
1
1
1
8 (572)
4
1
9 (507)
3
3
1
Ps. 1 (449)
3
5
2
1
1
1
1
1
7 (541)
1
14 (372)
2
6
3
1
3
1
28 (636)
3
2
2
1
29 (418)
1
1
32 (651)
1
5
2
2
1
1
i The numbers that head the columns indicate the degree of multi-
plicity of asyndetic ommissions ; the number 3 for instance indicates that
all examples tabulated in the column below the number are of the three-
fold variety.
46 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
1
2
3
4
5
6|7
Q
9 |10|11|12J13|14|15|16|
Ps. 33 (963)
3
6
3
1
1
2
44 (687)
1
2
45 (407)
1
3
2
48 (682)
1
7
1
59 (242)
4
61 (336)
1
1
I
1
H4 (276)
1
2
1
1
De Jejunio 1 (475)
9
3
2
3
1
2
De Jejunio 2 (330)
2
3
2
1
2
1
1
Attende Tibiipsi (480)
4
5
8
3
4
De Grat. Act. (459)
4
2
1
1
In Julittam (580)
3
3
1
1
1
In Illud Lucae (406)
1
6
2
3
1
1
In Divites (601)
3
9
5
4
1
4
1
1
In Fam. et Siccit. (584)
1
5
10
2
2
Deus non est auct. (598)
1
2
1
1
1
1
Advers. Iratos (452)
3
1
1
2
1
De Invidia (359)
4
2
1
In Princip. Proverb. (895)
7
2
1
1
In Sanct. Baptisma (522)
2
8
2
4
2
1
In Ebriosos (423)
4
3
7
1
2
1
1
De Fide (185)
2
5
1
1
1
1
1
In Princip. erat V (248)
1
1
1
In Barlaam (141)
o
1
1
In Gordium (425)
1
8
2
1
2
2
1
In XL Martyres (392)
3
5
5
2
2
1
De Humilitate (353)
6
2
1
1
Quod Mundanis (633)
1
Ad Adolescentes (627)
1
1
In Mamantem (244)
4
2
4
2
1
Contra Sabellianos (444)
1
1
3
Of the larger combinations, one sermon contains an example
of seventeen successive asyndeta; one sermon, an example of
fifteen successive asyndeta; three sermons, an example of four-
teen successive asyndeta; two sermons, an example of thirteen
successive asyndeta. Arranging the less numerous combinations
in succession from simple asyndeton to the twelve-fold variety,
we obtain the following table. Each number above the line
refers to the degree of multiplicity in each case; the number
below the line to the frequency of occurrence in the sermons.
12345678910 11 12
66 173 98 44 28 14 18 10 2 6 2 3
FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 47
This table clearly shows St. Basil's marked preference for the
less elaborate varieties. The two-fold and three-fold varieties
more than double the combined totals of the more cumulative
kinds. That the two-fold out-number the one-fold is in harmony
with the comparative ineffectiveness of the latter. That the
discrepancy between them is not greater is surprising.
Considering the opportunities for its display which the ser-
mons afford, St. Basil is moderate in his employment of asyn-
deton, and remarkably so in his use of the more elaborate
forms. In these more than in the less elaborate varieties
sophistic extravagance would manifest itself. The cumulative
outbursts occur, but only rarely. The traces of the sophistic
manner are evident, but only the traces. The utility of the
figure for forceful exposition, its adequateness as a vehicle of
expression for a vigorous personality largely account for its
extensive but moderate use.
b) POLYSYNDETON.
Polysyndeton the artistic multiplication of connectives im-
presses on the style a calm movement, a character of grandeur
proper to academic eloquence. The accumulation of con-
junctions makes for deliberateness. It draws attention to each
separate element thus connected. Only instances of two or
more successive conjunctions may be considered figures. The
following are interesting and typical of the more elaborate
examples.
Followed by asyndeton: o-n-Xa Kal appara Kal MTTTOVS Kal V
Kal y&pav V7ro<o/3ov, rr]v 3 Apa/3tav Trcurav, rrjv 3?owiKr]v 9 r
TTOTcyuov; Ps. 59, 189 E. Compare also De Fide, 131 E.
K&V , Kav , Kav , Kav , /cay . In Sanct. Baptisma, 113 E.
Compare also Ps. 32, 134B.
Eleven-fold: IO-TCD o-ot Kal oyvjpa Kal tfttmov Kal /3dSurua Kal KaOcSpa
Kal T/oo</>7S KaTcwrrcKris Kal <TT/oa>/xv}s irapa<TKvr) Kal O?KOS Kal ra ev owc<$>
<TKvrj irdvra irpos eureAeiav ^ovoy/Aei/a 1 Kal Aoyos Kat tpSr) Kal rj TOV ir\rj(rtov
IvrcWfts Kal TaZra. De Humilitate, 161E-162A.
Four-fold followed by five-fold: o-eto-/W TC Kal KA.VO-CIS Kal
crTpaTOTreStov^ dirtoXciai Kal vavdyia Kal Tracrat TroXvdvdpWTroL (frOopal tre IK
yijs eiT K 6aXd<T<ri)s etre l ae/oos r TTV/OOS 17 e oiroia<rovv atrtas DeuS
non est auct., 76 D.
48 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
Eight-fold*. At#ots KOL <a/>ayt /cat KprjfJLVois KOI (TKOTreAots Kat <TKO-
Xoijnv Tprov /cat Oypiois KCU e/JTreTots /cat cwcav$ats Kat ricrw aAAots.
Compare also Hex. 3, 32 D; Hex. 8, 70E-71A.
FEEQUENCY OE POLYSYNDETON IN THE SEEMONS.
I 1
2 | 3
4|5|6|7|8
Q
10] 11
Hex. 1 (530)
7
3
2
1
1
2 (507)
5
2
1
3 (565)
9
4
2
1
1
4 (393)
2
1
1
5 (570)
7
8
4
1
1
6 (746)
8
3
1
7 (425)
7
4
3
1
8 (572)
8
6
1
1
9 (507)
4
5
2
1
Ps. 1 (449)
5
6
1
1
7 (541)
10
3
1
14 (372)
5
1
1
28 (636)
6
5
3
29 (418)
4
2
1
32 (651)
7
4
33 (963)
7
6
3
44 (687)
7
2
2
45 (407)
6
1
48 (682)
8
2
59 (242)
2
4
3
61 (336)
4
1
H4 (276)
De Jejunio 1 (475)
4
1
De Jejunio 2 (330)
6
1
Attende Tibiipsi (480)
4
3
1
1
De Grat. Act. (459)
6
3
2
In Julittam (580)
11
9
1
In Illud Lucae (406)
5
1
In Divites (601)
8
6
1
In Pam. et Siccit. (584)
5
2
Deus non est auct. (598)
5
3
! i
1
Advers. Iratos. (452)
5
1
1
De Invidia (359)
5
3
4
In Princip. Proverb. (895)
11
7
1
1
In Sanct. Baptisma (522)
3
1
In Ebriosos (423)
8
4
2
1
De Fide (185)
3
1
1
In Princip. erat V. (248)
5
2
In Barlaam (141)
FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 49
| 1 | 2 ; 3 . 4 : 5
6
7|8
Q
10
11
In Gordium (425)
3
4
1
In XL Marty res (392)
6
1
1
De Humilitate (353)
9
6
1
Quod Mundanis (633)
11
10
2
1
Ad Adolescentes (627)
11
5
1
In Mamantem (244)
4
Contra Sabellianos (444)
4
2
A more concise summary of the above table is the following.
Each number above the line refers to the degree of multipli-
city in each case; the number below the line to the frequency
of occurrence in the sermons.
11
270 143 41 22 6 3 1 1
Here, as in asyndeton, the tendency to more examples of the
less elaborate type is the rule. The most ambitious example
is an eleven-fold polysyndeton. The three-fold and two-fold
varieties outnumber all the rest combined by a ratio of nearly
six to one, while the two-fold alone outnumbers all the rest
easily. These statistics show that the tendency toward less
multiplex figures is far more pronounced in polysyndeton than
in asyndeton. The deliberateness caused by the large accumu-
lation of conjunctions is less suited to the vigorous delivery
of St. Basil than the swiftly-moving asyndeton. This to some
extent explains what would otherwise be attributed merely
to restraint in rhetorical indulgence. Despite its more ex-
tensive variation and more extended use, asyndeton outnumbers
polysyndeton by only forty- eight examples.
St. Basil, due to his sophistic education or to the solemnity
inspired by the grandeur of his theme, becomes almost pon-
derous on occasion. But this is not an abiding characteristic.
Vigor of thought and vigor of delivery preclude the elaborately
cumulative polysyndeton. St. Basil's numerous but restrained
examples arise chiefly from the exigencies of exposition, em-
ploying a time-proven device in his rhetorical heritage.
c) RHETOBICAL QUESTIONS.
The rhetorical question a form of interrogation put not for
information but for effect in its several uses is an excellent
4
50 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
index to an author's style. Its generous employment imparts
an unmistakable liveliness to an oration. Hatred, compassion,
astonishment, indignation, pathos find the rhetorical question
an ideal vehicle. In its cumulative form it is a powerful means
of emphasis through the repetition of the same thought from
several angles differing but slightly. For glossing over a weak
point in an argument, a rapid fire of questions is an effective
weapon. The orator, by an avalanche of bold, challenging
questions, gives the illusion of having successfully established
a weak point. The single rhetorical question gives a statement
more vividness than its simple enunciation. In passages heavy
with thought this device holds the hearer's attention by its
challenge and stimulates his curiosity by its suggestion. It
may also be used in place of a conditional clause. The follow-
ing are noteworthy examples.
An appeal: ri paKpav dwroTpexet? rrJ9 aXr^etas, av#pco7re, a<op/zas <reavT$
T^S dVwAetas ITTIVOWI/; Hex. 2, 15 E. Compare also Hex. 7, 680.
A challenge: rreTroi&xs ITTI Kvptov; Hex. 9, 86 D. Compare also
Advers. Iratos, 86 C.
Question proposing a Subject: TTOIOS lo-rt /3ovXa StT/y^o-o/zcu;
Ps. 33, 151 C-D. Compare Ps. 44, 160 A.
- f3ov\l (TOt KO.I TpOV 7T\OVV 8t^y^(TO/Xat, 7T/9OS OV avayKCUOV f)fMV CTTt
TO 8<opov rrjs Kvfiepvrjo-ews. In Princip. Proverb., 112 A.
Addressing the?Dead: ri o-e, qj ycwxile TOV Xpurrov o-iyxmwra, trpo-
o-cwro); avS/oiavra /caXeo-w; In Barlaam, 141 A.
Vivid presentation of details: TTOV Se at ^oAo/?$es; TTOV Se at
/iaa-rtyes; In Gordium, 145E.
Conditional: TrAovo-ios cf; pr) 8aviov. Trei/rjs ?; ^ Savetfov. Ps.
14, noc.
4Aoioo/t)7yo~as ; vAoyryo*oi/. eTrAcove/cT^o-as; aTroSo?. I/XC^TJO-^S; vrjcrrevcrov.
r)Xaovvo-<a ; TairavtoOrjri. (f>06vr)(ras ; Trapa/caAca'ov. l^oveuo'as; fiaprv-
p W ov. Ps. 32, 133 A. Compare also Ps. 33, 152 E; Ps 59,
192 E.
. In Julittam, 39 D.
Compare also Ps. 14, 110B; HOE; 112C; Ps. 33, 157C;
Ps. 45, 171 A; De Jejunio 1, 10B; De Jejunio 2, 11D; De
Grat. Act., 32 C; In Julittam, 35 E; In Fam. et Siccit, 67 E;
In Mamantem, 188 E.
FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 51
Exclamatory: o> rrjs axa/otcrrias OVK 7rtTp7Ti9; Hex. 9, 88 D.
<u Trotrov? avrajAeo-e TO, aAXorpta aya0a; Trocrot ova/o TrAovr^trai/Tes virep-
?S try/was; Ps. 14, 1120.
ras 1/07 r)ypvirvri<ra.T ; TTOOVXS rjfj,epa<s iKrj (rvvr)dpotcrdrjr' }
In Ebriosos, 122E.
Compare also Hex. 4, 34A; Hex. 5, 43 D; Hex. 8, 78 E; Ps. 45,
174D; In Illud Lucae, 480; In Sanct. Baptisma, 1160.
FKEQUENCY or RHETOEICAL QUESTIONS IN THE SERMONS.
1
2
3
4|5|6
7
8
9
10
11|12|13|14
15
16
Hex. 1 (530)
3
3
2 (507)
6
1
1
1
3 (565)
7
3
4 (393)
4
1
5 (570)
14
2
6 (746)
8
a,
2
2
1
7 (425)
8
i
3
8 (572)
6
4
1
9 (507)
14
7
Ps. 1 (449)
2
2
1
1
7 (541)
2
14 (372)
17
4
28 (636)
1
1
29 (418)
4
4
32 (651)
6
2
1
1
2
33 (963)
10
2
44 (687)
7
45 (407)
8
1
48 (682)
4
2
1
2
59 (242)
3
1
61 (336)
2
1
H4 (276)
1
1
De Jejunio 1 (475)
4
6
2
2
1
De Jejunio 2 (330)
3
3
2
Attende Tibiipsi (480)
5
1
2
1
1
1
De Grat. Act. (459)
5
4
2
In Julittam (580)
9
3
1
1
In Illud Lucae (406)
10
4
3
1
1
In Divites (601)
21
10
3
1
2
1
1
1
In Fam. et Siccit. (584)
5
3
4
2
1
Deus non est auct. (598)
6
1
1
1
1
Advert. Iratos (452)
13
2
3
1
De Invidia (359)
8
7
3
In Princip. Proverb. (895)
8
1
1
1
4*
52 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
1
2
3|4
5|6|7
8
9|10[ll|12jl3jl4jl5|
In Sanct. Baptisma (522)
22
5
3
2
3
In Ebriosos (423)
12
6
2
2
8
De Fide (185)
2
In Princip. erat V. (248)
5
4
In Barlaam (141)
3
In Gordium (425)
7
5
2
1
In XL Martyres (392)
9
2
1
1
De Humilitate (353)
4
Quod Mundanis (633)
8
3
Ad Adolescentes (627)
14
1
In Mamantem (244)
4
2
1
Contra Sabellianos (444)
6
7
2
1
A more concise summary of the above table illustrates force-
fully the tendency toward more examples of the less multiplex
type. In the following summary each number above the line
refers to the degree of multiplicity; each number below the
line to the frequency of a given type in the sermons.
12345678 16
332 123
43
23
14
The single question, and the sets of two successive questions
outnumber all the rest by a ratio of nearly five to one, while
the single question alone outnumbers all the rest easily. These
statistics, as in asyndeton and polysyndeton, show the same
tendency towards more examples of the less multiplex kinds.
In its cumulative form, St. Basil exhibits traditional restraint
in his use of the figure. He shows a desire for emphasis, but
not over-emphasis. The one sixteen-fold example is especially
prominent in its loneliness. St. Basil resorts to the figure
six hundred and fifty -one times in all its forms. It thus
becomes a prominent feature of his style and further empha-
sizes that liveliness in discourse which his use of asyndeton
indicates.
d) EXCLAMATIO.
Scarcely differing in form from the exclamatory rhetorical
question and producing the same effect is exclamatio.
Examples: o> TTJS crocks einvoias TOV StSaovcaAoi; ! Ps. 1, 91 B.
rj's droTrtas TWV Aoyan/! In Sanct. Baptisma, 116C.
FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 53
o> \opbs aytos! w o-vvrayfj.a tepovl w crwa<r7rtcr/xo? appayrjsl a> Kotvot
<uAaKes TOV ywovs TWV aV0/>d>7rwv ! In XL Martyres, 156B.
The other examples occur in Ps. 14, 113 B; In Illud Lucae,
46 E; 48 A; In Earn, et Siccit., 65 B; In Sanct. Baptisma, 116 A;
116B; 121E-122A; In XL Martyres, 151A; 155A; 155B;
In Barlaam, 140 C; HOD.
Formal exclamatio, in its very nature, could not appear
frequently without giving a very eccentric stamp to an authors
style. The same effect is attained more naturally by the
rhetorical question. Exclamatio is almost negligible in St. Basil.
e) PABENTHESIS AND HYPOSTBOPHE.
Parenthesis the interruption of the development of a sen-
tence's thought by an intervening clause or clauses is here
treated merely for the sake of completeness. Most of the
examples found are dubious as purposed figures and the total
is not large enough in any case to warrant positive conclusions.
Examples: ovSe yap 6 KVK\OS ovros (TO eTTtVeSov Aeyto cr^rj/za TO wo
/xtas ypafJLprj'S Trepie^oaevov) fireifir) 8ta<f>evyi, rrjv r)fj.Tpav aicrOrj&iv.
Hex. 1, 4 A. Compare also Ps. 28, 121 B; Ps. 114, 203 E.
Kal COO-TTC/D Iv rfj fj.yd\rj oi/ap TO /XCVTOI \pvcrovv earn CTKCVOS .....
(rrjs 7rpoaip<r(D<s CKCWTTOV rrjv irpbs Tas vXas 6fj,oi6rr)Ta TrapexpfJLevrjS'
Kal \pvcrovv i*.kv lo"Tt (TKfvos, 6 Ka6apb<s rbv rpoirov KOL aSoAos* apyv-
povv 8, 6 vTroSeeo-TC/oos Kwov Kara TYJV aiav' ocrrpaKLVov 8c, 6 T<X
yijtva <j>pov(ov Kal TT/OOS CTWT/H/?I)J/ ZiriTrpfios ' /cat ^vAtvov, 6
8ta T^S a/xa/OTiias Karappv7rovfJLvo<s Kal v\r) ywoucvos T<p atwvta)
Kal opyfy cr/ccvos Deus non est auct., 77 B-C.
FBEQUENCY OF PABENTHESIS IN THE SEBMONS.
Hex. 1 (530) 3 Ps. 32 (651) 1
2 (507) 1 44 (687) 4
4 (393) 1 48 (682) .2
5 (570) 1 ,,114 (276) 1
7 (425) 1 De Jejunio 2 (330) 1
8 (572) 4 Attende Tibiipsi (480) 1
9 (507) 1 In Julittam (580) 5
Ps. 14 (372) 1 In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 2
28 (636) 2 Deus non est auct (598) 3
29 (418) 1 Advers. Iratos (452) 1
54 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
De Invidia (359) 1 De Humilitate (353) 1
In Princip. Proverb. (895) 4 Ad Adolescentes (627) 4
In Sanct. Baptisma (522) 1 In Mamantem (244) 2
In Gordium (425) 1 Contra Sabellianos (444) 4
In XL Martyres (392) 1
Of hypostrophe the resumption of thought after a paren-
thesis by either repetition or a demonstrative only two ex-
amples were found in the sermons : 6 ya/> vfroKa^vos r$ <^v\\^
KOKKOS, ov fJiicr^ov Ttves T<3v irpl rots oi/o^aTOTTOttas Icr^oAaKOTtov TTpoa-ayo-
pevovari, TOVTO cnrepf^aTos c^ei Bvvafuv. Hex. 5, 45 B.
VTrcp r^Aioi>, virlp ras TWJ/ avreptov \opaa<s TTifJ,r)(J,vos (ris yap ra>v
ov/oavwv etKtav eipyrai TOV 6tov TOV v^jsiarTov, ) vrrp ovv TavTa.
TCMS TIJJ.OLI<S Trporfypevos 6 avOptoiros Ps. 48, 185 A-B.
Parenthesis is a phenomenon whose frequent appearance is
not to be expected. At its best it is a stylistic mannerism.
Fifty-three examples in the forty-six sermons, most of the ex-
amples short and not followed by hypostrophe, do not make a
striking total either in number or quality. These examples may
more reasonably be attributed to an absence of finished pre-
paration than to the cultivation of a device of the older rhetoric.
f) LITOTES.
Litotes the emphatic affirmation of an idea through negation
of its opposite derives some rhetorical emphasis from the
double negative thus arising.
Examples: ovSe f s . Hex. 1, 3A. Compare also Ps. 114, 199B;
In Sanct. Baptisma, 117 A; In Barlaam, 138 E.
vx afia/cmjcreis rrjs aA??0etas. Hex. 2, 12E. Compare also
Hex. 9, 83 E; Ps. 59, 190 E; In Princip. erat V., 134C.
KCU Xpto-Ttavwv Se TrA^os OVK oXtyov. In Gordium, 144 E. Com-
pare also Hex. 8, 79 B ; Attende Tibiipsi, 1 7 C ; De Invidia, 95 D.
FREQUENCY or LITOTES IN THE SERMONS.
Hex. 1 (530) 1 Hex. 6 (746) 6
2 (507) 4 7 (425) 2
3 (565) 5 8 (572) 8
4 (393) 1 9 (507) 4
5 (570) 1 Ps. 1 (449) 1
FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 55
Ps. 7 (541) 1 In Divites (601) 1
14 (372) 1 De Invidia (359) 1
28 (636) 1 In Princip. Proverb. (895) 4
29 (418) 1 In Sanct. Baptisma (522) 1
44 (687) 3 In Princip. erat Y. (248) 1
59 (242) 1 In Barlaam (141) 1
114 (276) 3 In Gordium (425) 3
De Jejunio 2 (330) 3 De Humilitate (353) 1
Attende Tibiipsi (480) 1 Ad Adolescentes (627) 10
In Julittam (580) 1 In Mamantem (244) 1
Seventy-three examples do not constitute litotes a prominent
feature of St. Basil's style. His love of pleonasm took another
form. When he wished to be emphatic he sought more vigorous
modes of expression. There are merely enough examples here
to show the influence of rhetoric unconsciously working.
g) IRONY AND SARCASM.
Of irony and sarcasm there is very little in St. Basil's
sermons. This is rather surprising in so vehement a champion
of the church. Apparently he preferred direct, open blows to
the fine thrusts of covert verbiage.
Examples: SeiKvurwo-ai/ ^/uv 01 TO. irdvra Scivoi. Hex. 3, 29 B. (re-
ferring to certain contemporary scientists). Compare also
Ps. 14, 113 A; 113 B.
T! (TOt X */ 315 T *? S </>tA.OTt/AiaS OTl (.V TO) /XV^/XttTt Kt)llVOS KOL 1$ yf}v
, aSpbs yeyovas rats (SaTravcus xat fj,6ya\6"^rv\o<s. In Divites,
60B-C. Compare also In Sanct. Baptisma, 121 D.
The only other examples occur in Hex. 8, 71 D; In Fam. et
Siccit., 66B-C.
The figures which follow grew out of the practical needs of
early eloquence. Their more subtle uses were developed in the
uncertain struggles of the agora and court-room. Their later
use indicates a revival of the form more than the spirit of the
figures, as a whole. Elements of clearness, however, which in
the earlier periods of rhetoric served only a secondary pur-
pose, became for certain figures the justification of their later
employment. The history of prosopopoiia illustrates such an
evolution.
56 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
h) DlAPOEESIS.
Diaporesis an uncertainty, largely feigned, as to where to
begin, where to leave off, what to say is a convention origi-
nally designed to win the good will of the audience by a saving
modesty. It also serves to awaken the audience's attention
by pointing out the difficulty and grandeur of the theme to
be developed. Its favorite position is therefore in the intro-
duction to an oration or to some new phase of an oration
already partially delivered. While St. Basil was undoubtedly
affected by convention in his use of the figure, there is yet to
be discerned in his examples a devout Christian's awe of the
splendor of his themes.
Examples: L<rrir)<TL JJLOV TOV Aoyov TO Oav/JLa Trjs Siavoias' TL irp&Tov
cwrw; iroOev ap^ofMi rfjs If ijyijorcws ; Hex. 1, 2E.
rt's ^apK(T(. \povos irdvTa elirew KOI 8ir)yr)<racr6cu TOV TCXVLTOV TO.
Oavfrnra. Hex. 9, 83 C.
OTTCDS 8t 8vcr6ripaTos rrjs A&fetos ravrrfs 6 vovs, iravrl yv&pipov T< KO.I
fUKpbv eirwmjo-am. In Princip. Proverb., 97 E.
A remarkable instance of the figure occurs at the beginning
of In Mamantem, 185 A, where the orator finds thirty- two lines
of Benedictine text necessary for the expression of his un-
worthiness to pronounce the panegyric. The only other ex-
amples in St. Basil occur in Hex. 2, 12 A; 19 D; Hex. 5, 42 E;
Hex. 8, 74E; In Divites, 58D; In Sanct. Baptisma, 114E; In
Mamantem, 185 C.
The sparsity of examples only eleven in all points to some-
thing else than the mere following of a convention. The gran-
deur of his themes is a matter of concern to St. Basil. The
only glaring example measuring up to a truly sophistic standard
(In Mamantem, 185 A) is in this figure as in so many other
figures in St. Basil significant for its solitude a reflex of that
scholastic rhetoric whose extravagances St. Basil generally
repressed.
i) EPIDIOETHOSIS.
Confined chiefly to the Hexaemeron, epidiorthosis the cor-
recting or restricting of a previous assertion occurs in St. Basil
so infrequently and so imperfectly that it is almost without
rhetorical significance in the sermons. Its original purpose
FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 57
was to present the illusion of great scrupulousness on the part
of the speaker. This purpose is not to be discerned in St. Basil's
use of it. The instances found in his pages probably spring
from a lack of thorough preparation.
Examples: u>s dvOpwirw ISav 8vvar6v 9 /AaAAov 8e <os ovSfvl TWV aAAwi/
virfjpg*. Hex. 1, 2 C. Compare also Hex. 2, 15 C.
17 fj.ev (fitovr) rov Tr/xxTTay/xaros fUKpd, poiXXov 8e ovSe (fxjwr), dAAo
poTrr) povov KCU 6/op? rov 0eXr)fj,aro<s. Hex. 7, 63 C. Compare also
Quod Mundanis, 170C.
The only other instances of its use occur in Hex. 1, 3D;
7 A; 7D; Hex. 2, 18B; 19 A; 21 A; 22 A; Hex. 6, 60 A; Hex. 8,
79A; De Jejunio 1, 3D; Attende Tibiipsi, 24C; In Julittam,
33 B.
j) PKOEATALEIPSIS.
Of prokataleipsis a device for breaking the force of possible
objections by anticipating or refuting them all examples save
four were found in the Hexaemeron.
Examples: dAA' ol irapaxapaKrai rrjs dA^ewx? .... rrjv vXrjv faarl Sia.
TWV Aegewv TOVTWV TrapaSrjXovarOai. Hex. 2, 13B.
7rai>TO>s 8 ovSets V/AWV ovSe TWV rrdvv KaTfja-KTfjfJLfvow rbv vovv
kTTL(TKrf^rL rfj 8o^y, a>s aSwara TJ 7rAao-/*aTc687y vTrort^e/jiei/wv Kara rov
Ao'yov. Hex. 3, 26 E.
Acat TTWS o-vjj,<j>(j)va ravra, <^ao-i, rw, IIavTOT XCM/>T ; De Grat. Act., 28 B.
The remaining examples of the figure may be found in Hex.
1, 13B; Hex. 2, UD; 15 C; Hex. 3, 25 A; 31 B; Hex. 4, 34B;
35E; 36 A; Hex. 5,43E; 45 A; Hex. 6, 51E; 51E; Ps. 1,92D;
In Julittam, 36C-D; Deus non est auct, 75 A.
Prokataleipsis is almost negligible in the sermons.
k) PAEALETPSIS.
Paraleipsis in a strict sense the insinuation of all one wishes
to say while pretending to pass the point over in silence is
not found in St. Basil. Very infrequently a weaker, allied form
of the figure is represented the hint of an abundance of ar-
guments held in reserve.
Examples: rot //,ev ovv irtpi a/ox^ ? 5 ^ oAtya (wro TroAAwv et7ret>, kirl
TOO-OVTOV, Hex. 1, 7 B.
K<U rt Set Acyeiv TWV \OLTTWV Traflwv rbv oxAov; (and then there
follows an enumeration of them). In Ebriosos, 125 A.
58 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
The only other examples found occur in Hex. 1, 8D; Hex.
3, 28 A.
1) PROSOPOPOIIA.
Prosopopoiia the representation of a person speaking direct-
ly depends for its highest effects upon the histrionic talents
of the orator. Such a reproduction under any circumstances
lends vivacity to the discourse. The rhetorical exercises of the
schools encouraged the device in professional practice. A figure
allowing so rich an opportunity for the display of dramatic
talent was not to be lost on the sophists of the Second So-
phistic.
The large number of examples found in the sermons includes
many so closely allied with other figures that a careful excision
has been necessary. All scriptural excerpts in the first person
have been excluded in virtue of that distinction which obtains
between a quotation from an author and the representation
of him speaking directly. For the same reason the recon-
structions of Prodicus of Ceos and of Pythagoras, in Ad
Adolescentes, 177 E and 182 D, respectively, have been omitted.
Examples exegetical in character have been included, parti-
cularly those found in the homilies on the various psalms, but
it has been thought well to present them separately in the
statistics below. While not as a rule excellent examples of
prosopopoiia, the exegetical instances certainly come under its
definition. To exclude them would be to ignore a few elaborate
examples of the figure and to over-look the most important
device in St. Basil's development of the Homilies on the Psalms.
The best examples were found in the homilies on the martyrs
in the midst of ecphrases. Indeed prosopopoiia constitutes
the major portion of some ecphrases.
Examples. Short: /cat TTOIOV, ^(rt, TOVTO Savt(r//,a a> Tr}s aTroSoo-ews
eAvris ov o-we&vKTai; Ps. 14, 112E. Compare also Hex. 9, 87 E;
In Illud Lucae, 44E; In Divites, 57 B; Contra Sabellianos,
192A; 195A.
Dialogue Or Debate: e'xeis x a ^ K( *>f JiaTa y c<r6rjra, vTrofuyiov, (TKfvr) irav-
ToSaTra; ravra diroSov Trdvra Trpo<rOai KaraSefcu, 7rAr)i> -njs eAev#e/otas.
dAA' aion^vi/o/aai aura S^juocrtevetv, c^o-iV. ri ovv OTL /UK/OOV varrepov
aAAos avra. Tr/aoKo/xiVct /cat airoKrjpv^ti ra era KCU li> 6<f>Oa\fJLOis
v avra Sut&rjcreTai Ps. 14, 109 A.
FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 59
Compare also Hex. 6, 550; Ps. 14, 112 C; In Illud Lucae,
49 B; In Divites, 53 A; Deus non est auct., 81 A; In Sanct.
Baptisma, 119D.
Exegetical: 1/oe?' 17 /?07J0etd [1.0V OVK IK TrAourov, ov8e IK o-a>//,aTtKt3v
a^o/o/iwv, ovSe IK 8wd//,a>s Kai tVxvos I/XTJS, ovSe IK o-vyya/eeas di/fl/owTRi/^s,
dAA' 'H ftorjQttd fj.ov irapa TOV Oeov. Ps. 7, 1040.
Compare also Ps. 7, 103E; Ps. 33, 146B-C; 149A; 149B;
Ps. 114, 201 C-D; Quod Mundanis, 171 D-E.
In Ecphrasis: KaAct, (7707, Srj/Aiovs. irov Se at /AoAv/?i8es ; TTOV 8e
ai /udcrTtyes; ITTC Tpo\ov KaraTtv<r^a>, ITT* TOV v\ov (TT/oc/JAovor^to, <e/>(r$w
ra KoXaarrrjpia' ra Oijpfa,, TO TTV/O, TO ^o?, 6 orav/oos, 6 /360po<$ evT/)-
Trifccr^o). dAAa yap ota Ke/o8aivt, <^^criV, aVaf /AOVOV aTro^vija-KCuj/ 6 dAc-
r>j/3ios; In Gordium, 145 E.
Compare also In Fam. et Siccit., 69 A; In Sanct. Baptisma,
122 A-B; In Barlaam, 1400; In Gordium, 145 D-E; USE;
146A; 146B-C; 147B; 147 C-D; 147D-148E; In XL Mar-
tyres, 151 A; 151 B-C; 153B-E; 154A; 156 A.
Other interesting examples are the prosopopoiia of fish in
Hex. 7, 67 A-C; of a dog, Hex. 9, 84 D; of the hearts of St. Basil's
auditors in Hex. 9, 86 E; of the musings of a bankrupt father
forced to sell one of his children in In Illud Lucae, 46D-47 A;
of personified procrastination in In Sanct. Baptisma, 118 C-D.
Ps. 14 abounds in excellent examples of a stingy man forging
an excuse against giving aid, 108A; of a man oppressed with
debts and his prudent counsellor, 109 A-B; of a disillusioned
debtor crying out upon the usurer, 1090; of a hard-pressed
man beholding the opulence of others, HOD; the wife of a
debt-ridden man states her extravagant needs, ,112 A.
FEEQUENCT or PBOSOPOPOIIA IN THE SEEMONS.
Non-
exegetical
Exegetical
Non-
exegetical
I
Hex. 1 (530)
2 (507)
3 (565)
4 (393)
5 (570)
6 (746)
2
2
Hex. 7 (425)
* 8 (572)
9 (507)
Ps. 1 (449)
7 (541)
14 (372)
1
4
1
9
4
60 THE CATHOLIC UNIVEKSITY OF AMEEICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
3
If
H
Exegetical I
Non-
czegetical 1
Ps. 28 (636)
1
In Fam. et Siccit. (584)
1
29 (418)
3
Deus non est auct. (598)
2
32 (651)
2
Ad Iratos (452)
33 (963)
2
6
De Invidia (359)
1
44 (687)
4
In Princip. Proverb. (895)
45 (407)
3
In Sanct. Baptisma (522)
6
48 (682)
7
In Ebriosos (423)
59 (242)
2
De Fide (185)
61 (336)
7
In Princip. erat V. (248)
2
144 (276)
7
In Barlaam (141)
1
De Jejunio 1 (475)
2
In Gordium (425)
7
De Jejunio 2 (330)
1
In XL Martyres (392)
6
Attende Tibiipsi (480)
1
De Humilitate (353)
De Grat. Act. (459)
2
Quod Mundanis (633)
4
In Julittam (580)
2
Ad Adolescentes (627)
In Illud Lucae (406)
7
In Mamantem (244)
o
In Divites (601)
11
1
Contra Sabellianos (444)
4
So artificial a figure needs but a few recurrences to become
a marked element in an orator's style. In the sermons the
figure occurs one hundred and thirty times. Only ten sermons
do not contain instances of its use. Although the exegetical
homilies swell the total, more than half the examples are to
be found elsewhere. Prosopopoiia, then, is a favorite device
with St. Basil in elucidating a complicated question through
the give and take of an imaginary debate, in a dramatic re-
presentation of the passions of the martyrs, in a simple, direct
exposition of the scriptural text, occasionally even in bringing
forcefully before his audience exemplary habits in irrational
beings. The multitude of examples is accounted for by the
utility of the figure; the lengthy or dramatic examples, by the
tradition and practice of the schools. The sophistic stamp is
upon them. The sophistic training is very marked in the
panegyrics on the martyrs but, apart from any display of
powers sanctioned by the custom of the times, a practical
purpose underlay even these instances the vivid, vigorous por-
trayal of illustrious example. And this vividness and this viva-
city attend all the employments of prosopopoiia in St. Basil.
FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 61
m) DlALEKTIKON.
Akin to the dialogue of prosopopoiia is dialektikon a com-
bination of question and answer. Like prosopopoiia it lends
liveliness to a passage by its form and analyzes the speaker's
thought forcefully and clearly, even minutely in some cases.
At a new turn in a speech it is an efficacious means for com-
pelling attention.
Examples: TI'S 6 o>0a>i/ l/c ruv \ayov<av TT}S y>?S rovro TO v8<ap] TI'S
6 JTiyo>v rt TO, 7T/3ocra>; Trota rajueta oQev irpotpytrai') rts 6 TOTTOS
e<' 6V eTret-yerat; TTWS KOU TOLVTO. OVK e/cAeiTra, Ka.Kiva. OVK a.Tro7rifj,ir\a-
TCU; ravra T?}S TrpWTrjs e/cea^s <jka>vrjs r.pTrjrai. Hex. 4, 3 5 A. Com-
pare also Ps. 29, 125 A.
ofSas rt 7TOi^(rcts TW TrA^ortov KaAov; o crcavra) j3ov\i Trap' krtpov
yV<rOai. o'Sas ort TTOTC lo-T6 TO Ka/cov; o OVK av avro? Tra^eiv e'Aoto
7ra/>' T/oov. Hex. 9, 830. Compare also Ps. 7, 99A; Ps. 114,
201 C-D; Deus non est auct., 80 B; In Mamantem, 187 A.
TI ovv 7rt Tourots; dpa eSeAcao-^ TW TrAovT^); rj ry irpbs rbv
KOVVTO. (f>i\ovu<iy. TO crvfJL^pov Tra/oetSev 5 17 TOI/ l/c TWV Swcao'Twi' ki
T^evov KivSwov ^TrXdyrj] In Julittam, 34A-B. Compare also
Hex. 5, 47D; Ps. 1, 95E; Ps. 28, 115B; Ps. 33, 156C-D; In
Julittam, 36 C-D; Deus non est auct., 82 A.
FREQUENCY OE DIALEKTIKON IN THE SERMONS.
Hex. 1 (530) Ps. 33 (963) 8
2 (507) 8 44 (687) 3
3 (565) 7 45 (407) 1
4 (393) 4 48 (682) 2
5 (570) 4 59 (242) 1
6 (746) 4 61 (336) 4
7 (425) 4 114 (276) 4
8 (572) 3 De Jejunio 1 (475) 1
9 (507) 5 De Jejunio 2 (330) 2
Ps. 1 (419) 8 Attende Tibiipsi (480) 2
7 (541) 4 De Grat. Act. (459) 4
14 (372) 2 In Julittam (580) 4
28 (636) 6 In Illud Lucae (406) 7
29 (418) 3 In Divites (601) 2
32 (651) 5 In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 1
62 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
Deus non est auct. (598) 10 In Barlaam (141)
Ad Iratos (452) 4 In Gordium (425) 1
De Invidia (359) 1 In XL Martyres (392) 3
In Princip. Proverb. (895) 2 De Humilitate (353) 2
In Sanct. Baptisma (522) 1 Quod Mundanis (633) 3
In Ebriosos (423) 1 Ad Adolescentes (627) 2
De Fide (185) In Mamantem (244) 6
In Princip. erat V. (248) 4 Contra Sabellianos (444) 5
Somewhat more numerous than prosopopoiia, dialektikon
serves to re-inforce the functions of the former in its force-
ful elucidation of involved thought and in the endowment of
long passages with a saving sprightliness. When the not too
obtrusive character of the figure is considered in connection
with the above table, St. Basil's one hundred and fifty-eight
recurrences to dialektikon may be styled a consistent and
generous, but not an excessive use of the figure even for Western
taste. Dialektikon is a marked element of St. Basil's style,
but not eccentrically so.
n) HYPOPHORA.
Hypophora the raising of an objection for the sake of im-
mediate refutation lends peculiar liveliness to the discourse.
The orator's willingness to bring up a view opposed to his
own gives him an air of eager confidence that always compels
attention. Only two examples were found in the sermons.
While abbreviated forms of the figure, they achieve its effects.
TrA^KTrys; aAA' dvrjp. Trdpowo<S' } dAA' ^vto/xcvos Kara TYJV <f>v(rw. r/oa-
Xy$ KOL Sv(rdp<rTO<S) aAAa /zcAos rfirj <rbv KOL jUcAwi/ TO rifJLuaTarov.
Hex. 7, 68 B.
dvTp(Drd<rO(j)(rav ol ra roiavra eTrtCqTovvrcs iroOev votroi ; TroOev at TTI^
TOV crw/AaTOSj ovr yap dyevvrjTos i) vocros ovre fJLrjv 8rjp.iovp-
TOV Oeov, etc. Deus non est auct., 78 D.
o) PKODIOETHOSIS.
In the sermons prodiorthosis takes the form of a promise
to be brief. Only two examples were found.
aAAa yap ov AcAr^e p on TroAAot TeyyiTai TWV f^avava-^v TtyyutV) aya-
!/>yao~ias rrjv
FIGURES OF VIVACITY; OTHER DEVICES OF COMPOSITION 63
Tre/otea-nJKad-tv i^as, o? TOV Aoyov r^iv orvvrefJivova-Lv^ tva p) eirl TroAv
rrjs e/oyao-tas d^AKWVTat. Hex. 3, 220.
a>S av 8e pr) ITU TrAeiov TrapaKaTe^ovTes v/za? avta>//v, f3pa\a eg ot
KaT\d/3ofJLv (f,8ofJLvov vfuv T/raA/Aov SiaXe^evTes Kat T< Aoy(> TT}?
Tra/OttKA^crccos Kara rqv irpovovcrav TJ/JLW Swa/ziv ras yjrv\a<s vfjL&v 6p-
>/ravTs, 7Tt T^V TOV (TW/xaros eTTt/jtcAeiav eKacTTOv Sta<^<ro/Av. Ps. 1 14,
199 D.
This concludes those minor figures whose generous use im-
parts a vivacity to the style or recalls the manner of the
Attic court-room still living on in the traditions of rhetoric.
In his use of these figures St. Basil is certainly generous.
Asyndeton and the rhetorical question enliven his discourse
at every turn, give the appearance of a forceful, rapid delivery,
and drive home the thought vigorously. Polysyndeton, dia-
lektikon, prosopopoiia, each in their way, emphasize and, in
the case of the last two, even dramatize the development of
thought. All these figures enjoy a use considerable in number
but restrained in character the restraint being only emphasized
by a few striking exceptions. Those echoes of the court-room-
diaporesis, prokataleipsis, hypophora, prodiorthosis have an
interest historical rather than rhetorical, showing how the old
devices lived on in a time that had little real use for them
but clung to them for their Attic associations. Parenthesis
and epidiorthosis bear witness to that lack of thorough pre-
paration long suspected of many of St. Basil's sermons. 2 The
very little sarcasm and irony is a pleasant discovery, bespeak-
ing an orator who was vehement without being vicious.
Considering the opportunities for display that the grand
themes of St. Basil's discourses afforded, restraint is the general
conclusion on his use of the minor figures of composition a
restraint not in number but in quality, and large totals are
here accounted for on practical grounds. Although detailed
reports are not available for comparing St. Basil with con-
temporaries, we nevertheless know that a pupil of the sophists
could and generally would turn any occasion and any lively
figure into an orgy of rhetorical abuse. Such a description
does not fit St. Basil.
2 Jackson, 51.
64 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
But while restraint is the general characteristic of St. Basil
in his use of these figures, a man trained in the schools where
ecphrasis was popular could not always utterly forego an extra-
vagant prosopopoiia or an occasional disproportioned outburst
of asyndeta or rhetorical questions. The practical aims of
the Christian preacher and the tendencies of the pupil of the
sophists here mingle, with the polemical purpose easily in the
ascendant.
CHAPTER VIII
MINOR FIGURES ESPECIALLY
CHARACTERISTIC OF THE SECOND SOPHISTIC
In their own natures there is nothing that warrants the
grouping together of hyperbaton, hendiadys, paradox, hyper-
bole, antimetathesis, antonomasia. But each of them in its
way possessed characteristics which appealed to the extravagant
artificiality of the Second Sophistic and enjoyed so marked a
development among the rhetors that this fact alone calls for
their consideration apart from the groups to which they
naturally belong.
a) HYPERBATON.
Hyberbaton the transposition of words from their natural
position for artistic purposes was zealously cultivated by the
disciples of the Second Sophistic. Originally a means of em-
phasis, hyperbaton gradually became transformed into a vehicle
for the display of an affected elegance which the sophists saw
in the forced removal of words from their logical order. The
following variations of it are found in St. Basil.
1) The article is separated from its noun by a long inter-
val: Ot TTCfJLTTTrjV (TW/ZaTO? <f>V(TW tS Tr]V OVpOLVOV Kttfc TWV /COT* CtVTOV
aorTC/awv yei/ecrtv UTrort^e/xevot. Hex. I, 1 1 C.
2) The noun is separated from its possessor or explanatory
modifier: ws rwv LKO(nT(r<rdp(Dv w/owv /uas rjfjifpas KTT\r]pov(r<j)v
SiaoTiflMa. - Hex. 2, 20 E.
3) A verb or several words is placed between a noun and its
adjective: TO rty /^(rTjv rov iravrbs ei\r)<f>vat \&pav. Hex. 1, 10 A.
4) Of two co-ordinate adjectives, the second is placed as if
it were an after- thougth: wapxov rbv Kooytov KCU
TOI;. Hex. 1, 4B.
66 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
5) An important word is placed at or near the beginning
or end of a clause or sentence for emphasis: oW- TTCIVTOS
loTtv aXyOto-repov TO e/cao-T<> TWI/ (j>vo[*v<i>v rj a-Trepfia efi/at Hex. 5,
41 B.
From the uncertain quality of many of the examples collected,
accurate statistics on St. Basil's use of hyperbaton are impos-
sible. From a lack of statistics on other orators of the period
I could not determine the extent of sophistic influence in
St. Basil, even if statistics on St. Basil himself were satisfac-
tory. That he did use hyperbaton, that he used it constantly,
every page of the text shows. But in a figure so peculiar to
the time, we cannot pronounce upon its degree of frequency
save from the standard use of the time itself. Such a standard
is not available either from the period as a whole or from
individual representatives.
b) HENDIADYS.
Hendiadys the placing on an equal grammatical plane of
two expressions, one of which is logically subordinate to the
other has a tendency to emphasize the less important. Some-
times its purpose is pleonastic. In any event it is not a marked
element of St. Basil's style in the sermons.
.Examples: npos rty ctyw /cat TO repirvov (TO repirvov logically
modifies ofti/). Hex. 2, 19 E.
TrA^yats KOL /*ao-Tit. Hex. 9, 86 B.
\oyio-fibv /cat rbv vow. In Ebriosos, 129 B.
The remaining examples in the sermons occur in Hex. 1, 3 C;
Hex. 2, 19 E; flex. 5, 45 E; Hex. 8, 78B; Hex. 9, 80 E;
86 D; Ps. 7, 105 D; De Grat. Act, 27 E; In Julittain, 42 E;
In Fam. et Siccit, 63 C; 640; In Ebriosos, 129 B; 1370.
c) ADJECTIVE SUBSTANTIVE ABSTRACT.
Adjective Substantive Abstract a name not found in the
rhetoricians is here employed to designate that figure of
emphasis wherein a phrase properly adjectival is raised to
substantive rank as an abstract noun.
Examples: dAq&tas /fy/xaTan/. Hex. 1, 2D;
TO c/c TTJS fji\(p8ia<s Tcpirvov. Ps. 1, 900;
MINOR FIGURES ESPECIALLY CHARACTERISTIC ETC. 67
pr} h ry ira\aLOTr)Ti TOV ypafj.fj.aTOS aAV kv ry Kcuvorryri TOV Trveu-
fjiaros.Ps. 32, 133 C.
rr)v xawoT^ra rrjs Siavotas. Attende Tibiipsi, 21 A.
a> Trjs aroTTtas TCOV Aoyw! In Sanct. Baptisma, 116C.
Compare also Hex. 7, 650; Hex. 9, 860; Ps. 7, 105 A;
Ps. 61, 199 A; In Julittam, 350.
FREQUENCY OF ADJECTIVE SUBSTANTIVE ABSTRACT
IN THE SERMONS.
Hex. 1 (530) 4
3 (565) 2
7 (425) 2
fl
9
(507)
1
Ps.
1
(449)
3
n
7
(425)
1
n
32
(651)
1
n
33
(963)
1
w
44
(687)
1
45
(407)
7
51
48
(682)
2
61
(336)
3
junio
1
(475)
3
2
(330)
3
Attende Tibiipsi (480) 4
De Grat. Act. (459) 2
In Julittam (580) 6
In Illud Lucae (406) 6
In Divites (601) 11
In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 5
Deus non est auct. (598) 5
De Invidia (359) 1
In Sanct. Baptisma (522) 1
In Ebriosos (423) 2
In Princip. erat V. (248) 1
In Barlaam (141) 1
In Gordium (425) 3
De Humilitate (353) 1
Quod Mundanis (633) 4
Ad Adolescentes (627) 9
In Mamantem (244) 1
Contra Sabellianos (444) 1
Neither the above table nor the total (98) makes Adjective
Substantive Abstract a prominent feature of St. Basil's style.
Fourteen sermons contain not an instance of its use. The
remaining thirty-two show no constant recurrence to it. In
Divites shows the most frequent use of the figure and here the
average of its recurrence is only once about every fifty-four
lines of text. Such infrequency in so mild a figure constitutes
Adjective Substantive Abstract almost negligible.
d) PARADOX (OXYMORON).
Rarely used in classical times, paradpx a combination of
words self-contradictory apart from the context was a favo-
rite device among the sophists of the Empire. They welcomed
5*
68 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
it as a vehicle especially rich in opportunities for linguistic
jugglery. The fact that its full meaning depends on a know-
ledge of the context suggests the most popular form of this
figure the combination of a term in its literal sense with a
term in a figurative sense, the figurative meaning being intel-
ligible only in the light of the context. Christians educated
in pagan schools found in paradoxes of the Faith abundant
material for satisfying this convention of contemporary rhe-
toric.
Another name for paradox is oxymoron. It is sometimes
suggested that a distinction is to be made between the two
terms. Although the rhetoricians are not precise in the matter,
the examples given by them point to oxymoron as a neater,
more pithy form of paradox.
Examples: wa TOV eW prj Tra/oaScgwvTai, yuv/novs eiorayovcr6. (i. e. the
Hebrews, in order that they may not accept Christ as the
Second Person of the Trinity [TOV eva] say that God's phrase,
"Let us make man", is addressed to the attendant angels).-
Hex. 9, 87 E.
avev y^s </>VTvas' avev (nropas Qepibis. Ps. 14, 113C. Compare
also In Sanct. Baptisma, 116 A.
iva T7JM66S ry eKeivov irnoxetp (of Christ) TrAoimJaw/iev (spiritual
wealth). Ps. 33, 147 E. For the same words in the same sense
compare In Divites, 61 E.
Kat VTTO faXrfiovtas T?)V rjSovrjv d^avi'Cwv (i. e. destroying the pleasure
of eating in the insipidity which results from gluttony).
De Jejunio 1, 7 A.
fjifra Ttov a^apicrroiv 6 tvepyerrjs' TT/OOS TOV<S KaQr)[j.evovs Iv (TKoret
6 r/Aios T^S SiKatocrvvr)<s ' errt TOV (rravpbv o aTraOi^s' ITTI TOV 6a.va.rov rj
(aj* ITTI TOV fySrjv TO <jf>ws* ^ avdurracris 8ta TOVS vreaovTas. In
Julittam, 40C-D. Compare also Ps. 33, 144 A; In Divites,
53 A.
o-wuTTwo-a j3o$. In Princip. Proverb., 99 E. Compare also
Hex. 3, 28 C.
a7ro0avuyiv ow, Tva ^ffw/Aev. In Sanct. Baptisma, 113 D. The
same words in the same sense occur in In XL Martyres,
153 D; the same thought in different words occurs in In
Gordium, 148 D.
KCUVOV TOVTO T7JS dfJLfTpia'S TO /AT/)OV. In EbnOSOS, 128 D.
MINOR FIGURES ESPECIALLY CHARACTERISTIC ETC. 69
The remaining examples in the sermons occur in Hex. 1, 2 A;
6 C; 8 C; Hex. 2, 140; Ps. 33, 144 A; Ps. 61, 196 0; In Julittam,
33 B; Deus non est auct, 76 B; In Sanct. Baptisma, 113D;
117E; In Ebriosos, 127D; In Barlaam, 1390; In Gordium,
147 A; 148 D; In XL Martyres, 151 C; 151 C; Quod Mundanis,
172 B-C.
A total of thirty-two examples in forty-six sermons, with
only four sermons containing as many as three examples and
twenty-eight sermons containing no examples, illustrates force-
fully the restraint of St. Basil in a figure dear to the sophists
and their Christian contemporaries alike. 1 But there can be
no doubt on the other hand of the high artificiality of the
examples found. The scarcity of examples in a field so favorable
to paradox as the Christian religion and the unmistakable quality
of the examples found indicate a trait in St. Basil's rhetorical
manner frequently noted in these pages the education strongly
sophistic breaking through, on occasion, a stronger restraint.
e) HYPERBOLE.
Originally hyperpole was a kind of metaphor. The element
of exaggeration was a necessary constituent, but basically hyper-
bole was a spezialized form of implied comparison the com-
parison of an object to the same characteristic in another
object magnified many times. In the typical hyperbole of the
later rhetoric the element of exaggeration obscures the basic
metaphor. In its striving for startling effects, the hyperbole
takes on a sensational quality closely akin to the contemporary
paradox. The bounds of good taste are thus easily over-step-
ped; the insignificant and commonplace are thus systematically
and flaringly inflated in order that the show-artist may have
more opportunities for displaying his versatility than the subject-
matter itself allows. This does not necessarily imply a conti-
nual recurrence to the figure throughout the uneven pitch of an
oration, although orators so excessive are extant. It refers more
to the astounding hyperbolical manner of the sophists on the
unimportant phases of themes in themselves exalted enough to
permit a measured flight of fancy on occasion. Hermogenes
Meridier, 13; Guignet, 95.
70 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
approves of such exaltation of the insignificant. 2 Aristides,
Himerius, and Libanius all frequently abuse this figure. 3 The
panegyrical oration became a favorite occasion, and among the
Christian orators 4 the extravagant hyperbole appears to have
been an established convention of panegyrical sermons. In the
panegyrics on the martyrs especially the language of ordinary
good taste was insufficient for the enthusiasm of the orator.
.Examples: d\X 3 lireiS?) rots /Jteytcrrois o/>e<ri T oy/oj) TOV o-(Ujttaros
irapuraer<u (likening whales to mountains) Hex. 7, 68 E.
/fowot rives o-dpKivot (likening elephants to hills of flesh).
Hex. 9, 86 A.
(rvjfuepov cavrovs ry \u$'Q KaTaj3(nrTi<r(j)fj.v (Since a five days fast
has been proclaimed, let us drown ourselves in drink). De
Jejunio 2, 12 D.
cts vK/>as a/coots ("dead" ears used here for "drunken" ears)
In Ebriosos, 124 A.
ov)(i 8e </>#(, 6 ovpavos avwOev, ov (rucrKOTaaei Se CTT' eymot ra acrr/oaj
fl yvj 8e /AC vTroo-njaerat o'Aws (will not the heavens above shudder
etc. i. e. if I betray my god.). In Gordium, 148 A. Com-
pare also In Ebriosos, 123 C.
The remaining examples in the sermons occur in Hex. 1, 2D;
Hex. 2, 12 A; Hex. 8, 79 B; In Illud Lucae, 45 A; In Divites
55 C; In Gordium, 143 E; 147 A; In XL Martyres, 149 C.
There are only sixteen hyperboles in the sermons, and of
these three only approach startling disproportion. While the
element of exaggeration is always pronounced, it is due rather
to a vigorous orator seeking vigorous expression than a show-
artist seeking an opportunity. In no instance are the insigni-
ficant aspects of a subject dragged forth for a wanton display
of virtuosity. Every hyperbole is inspired by something large
and important in St. Basil's eyes. The size of elephants, the
excess of drunkards, the indifference of drunkards to the word
of God, the utter repugnance of the very thought of denying
God (In Gordium, 148 A), the excesses of gluttony (In Illud
Lucae, 45 A), the insatiableness of an extravagant wife (In
2 Hepl Kewv 396, 5.
3 Aristides I, XII 203, 210; Himerius II, 408; XXIII, 772; Libanius 1, 542.
^ Meridier 2930; Delahaye, 207.
MINOR FIGURES ESPECIALLY CHARACTERISTIC ETC. 71
Divites, 55 C), the prowess of the Forty Martyrs (In XL Mar-
tyres, 149 C) are subjects calling forth Basil's admiration or
indignation, and in his desire to be emphatic he becomes
picturesque. The panegyric on Gordius bears unmistakable
traces of the abandoned extravagance of the schools, wherein
the very thought of renouncing God is so repulsive to the Martyr
that St. Basil makes him cry out (In Gordium, 148 A). "Will
not the heavens above shudder; will not the stars grow dim
on my account, will the earth, finally, support me" (i. e. if I
betray my god). An approach to the foregoing in the sophistic
manner occurs in In Ebriosos, 1230 where, in utter disgust
at the conduct of women attending the festival that called
forth his address, he cries out, "They defiled the air with their
adulterous songs; they defiled the earth with their adulterous
feet". But even in these instances much is to be accounted
for by the importance of the subject-matter in St. Basil's eyes.
In In Gordium 148 E the orator's enthusiasm at the conclusion
of his dramatic ecphrasis on the death of Gordius sweeps him
into the following extravagance on the uproar of the people
witnessing the martyrdom, "What clap of thunder ever sent
forth so great a sound from the clouds as then from those
below went up to heaven!" This outburst, while not so imagi-
native as some others, is nevertheless the best instance of the
genuinely sophistic manner in that the subject itself is insigni-
ficant. The shout of the people, of itself not important, is a
detail contributing powerfully to the dramatic recital preceding.
It belongs to an ecphrasis, wherein sophistic peculiarities, from
the nature of ecphrasis, have fullest play. In ecphrasis, then,
alone and in only one ecphrasis of the several to be found in
his sermons 5 is St, 'Basil's mildness in hyperboles completely
swept aside. Even here vehemence and not mere display is
the main-spring of the figure, vehemence in driving home with
a dramatic punch the edifying martyrdom of Gordius.
Sixteen instances, with only one of these strongly sophistic,
with only two mildly so, when considered in connection with
the fact that four panegyrics are included among the sermons
and countless other opportunities for the indulgence of the
Cf. ch. 13.
72 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMEKICA PATKISTIC STUDIES
figure, argue a marked restraint in number, especially when
compared to St. Gregory Nazianzus, 6 and in quality, when
compared with St. Chrysostom 7 and St. Gregory of Nyssa 8 .
f) ANTONOMASIA.
Antonomasia the designation of a person or thing by one
of his or its qualities or archievments is considered by some
rhetors 9 a subdivision of synechdoche. Since one's qualities
or achievments generally call for more words than are con-
tained in one's name, antonomasia could be discussed as one
of those periphrastic forms in this study treated under the
head of Figures of Redundancy. But since this device became
an almost universally observed convention in the extravagant
rhetoric of the Empire, its consideration in this chapter apart
from either of the above groups is justified. A striking proof of the
prevalence of antonomasia in the literary work of the time is
the fact that Eusebius, in his Life of Constantine, avoids the
name of Arius, Bishop Alexander, and four Roman emperors in
a manner not to be explained except on the ground of scrupulous
adherence to this eccentric habit of the later rhetoric. 10
Examples :
Cumulative: eav ravra fjid0o)fiv TOV KTi&avTa TrpocrKw^o-o/xev, T<
SovAevVo/uv, rbv HaTepa. Soacro^v, TOV T/oo<ea fjfiwv aya-
, TOV evpyTrjv atoW^fyoro/K^a, TOV apxyyov TT^S Cw^s I^/AWV Trjs
irapovcrrjs KOL TTJS ^eAAovV^s irpo(n<vvovvTs OVK a,7roXr)gofjjv 9 TOV 6V ov
7rap<j\TO rfirj irXovrov /cat TO, 4v 7rayycAiats TTLO-TOV^CVOV KOL Tr)
7Tlp<jL TWV TTdpOVTlOV ^CjSatOWTa ^fJiLV TO, TTpOO-SoK^fJifVa. HeX. 6, 50 D.
Prerogatives of God: TOV KTto-avTos. Hex. 6, 51 E.
-6 "Y^ao-Tos Hex. 6, 61 D.
TOV Sc TOV xp vov Totr^T^v In Prmcip. erat. V., 136 A.
TOV dXrjBivbv ^aonXka. In XL Martyres, 153 D.
6 KpiTrjs TYJS avQpuirivrjs Cwrjs Quod Mundanis., 173 B.
Antonomasia followed by antonomasia: TOV virep ^
TOV TO KpOLTOS \OVTa TOV OaVUTOV. PS. 29, 126D.
6 Guignet, 244.
^ Ameringer, 3940.
s M6ridier, 158161.
9 Trypho, Spengel III, 204; Charis, ibid. 273.
o Delahaye 208-209.
MINOR FIGURES ESPECIALLY CHARACTERISTIC ETC. 73
Names of Satan: o Svo-pwris Quod Mundanis, 171 E,
6 TroAc/uos. Quod Mundanis, 172 A.
A martyr: TOV aOX^v. Quod Mundanis, 172 A.
of city: drro r/}s iroAetos ravTiqs, oOev Kal /xaAAov avrbv aya-
Sm oiKeios ^pv 6 KooyAos ecrTti/ In Gordium, 143 B.
Name of ruler: o Tore rvpawos In Gordium, 143 D.
The Church: f KOIVYJ prjrrip Quod Mundanis, 170B.
FREQUENCY or ANTONOMASIA IN THE SERMONS.
Hex. 1 (530) 26 De Jejunio 2 (330) 3
2 (507) 16 Attende Tibiipsi (480) 17
3 (565) 28 De Grat. Act. (459) 8
4 (393) 9 In Julittam (580) 35
5 (570) 6 In Illud Lucae (406) 10
6 (746) 42 In Divites (601) 18
7 (425) 5 In Fam. et Siccit. (584) 12
8 (572) 14 Deus non est auct. (598) 13
9 (507) 23 Ad Iratos (452) 12
Ps. 1 (449) 8 De Invidia (359) 11
7 (541) 10 In Princip. Proverb. (895) 8
14 (372) 5 In Sanct. Baptisma (522) 15
28 (636) 13 In Ebriosos (423) 5
29 (418) 12 De Fide (185) 18
32 (651) 16 In Princip. erat V. (248) 14
33 (963) 14 In Barlaam (141) 8
44 (687) 14 In Gordium (425) 24
45 (407) 14 In XL Martyres (392) 10
48 (682) 27 De Humilitate (353) 6
59 (242) 4 Quod Mundanis (633) 44
61 (336) 11 Ad Adolescentes (627) 2
114 (276) 9 In Mamantem (244) 10
De Jejunio 1 (475) 10 Contra Sabellianos (444) 2
Varying with the individual sermon, St. Basil resorts to an-
tonomasia throughout his homilies. 641 examples in 569 half-
pages of Benedictine text seem excessive to Western taste, but
judged from the standards of the Fourth Century, this total is
not remarkable. A glance at the table, however, shows St. Basil
at times generous and at times very sparing of antonomasia.
74 THE CATHOLIC UNIVEKSITY OF AMEKICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
Hex. 3, Hex. 6, In Jullittam, De Fide, In Princip. erat V.,
In Barlaam, Quod Mundanis contain a wealth of examples
that measure up to sophistic notions of a proper frequency.
The moderate use of antonoinasia in most of the sermons, the
very frequent recurrence to it in a few sermons suggest that here
again that restraint which generally characterizes St. Basil's
use of the Minor Figures of Ehetoric is subject to an occa-
sional relapse into the manner of his contemporaries.
g) ANTIMETATHESIS.
Antimetathesis the repetition within a sentence of the same
word with a different meaning is a species of verbal jugglery
dear to the heart of the Asiatic sophist.
The first sentence of the Hexaemeron furnishes a mild
example: Trpen-ovcra dpxrj (beginning of speech) apxty (beginning
of creation).
Noteworthy examples are: Kpt&v OVK ler&'as (meat you do not
eat) aAV lo-0tas rbv dSeA^oV (but you eat your brother, i. e. you
persecute him.). De Jejunio I, 9B.
ov IK -n}s ya(rr/oos (womb) 7r/oo??yaye, TraAtv ry yaa-rpl (stomach)
Ka*<ws V7ro8efa(r0ai. In Fam. et Siccit., 70 A.
lav yap /xryScTrore iTrivvcrTa^r/s rots oiaw ecus ef Iv T< J3up rovrfp KCU
TT)V Tra/oa TOU TLvevfMTOs crwepyctav Aij^ Kat Tr/aaciais avpais
Kal elprjviKatis ao-</>aA.ws are StaKO/xtCovro?. In Princip. Proverb.,
113A-B.
Compare also Ps. 29, 130 E. The remaining examples in the
sermons occur in Hex. 2, 210; Attende Tibiipsi, 24 D; In
Divites 54 B; 610.
10 cases of antimetathesis in 46 sermons constitute an example
of restraint surprising in an Asiatic educated in the sophistic
schools. That Basil's temper was thoroughly Asiatic in the pro-
vince of word-play is convincingly established by the examples
given above, particularly by the rather startling pun last quo-
ted wherein the word TOV nmymros is made to do service not
only for its proper meaning, Holy Spirit, but is forced by the
context to likewise signify TOV Trvev/Aaros, wind. 1
.! The elaborateness of the word-play here points to Sophistic rather
than Biblical inspiration.
MINOR FIGURES ESPECIALLY CHARACTERISTIC ETC. 75
In these minor figures of rhetoric so peculiarly a part of the
sophistic tradition we have an excellent index of the extent
of the influence of that tradition on St. Basil, at least in so
far as the Minor Figures are concerned. In this chapter more
than in any chapter so far developed, we look for the sophistic
manner to show its strongest manifestations in our orator both
in quality and number. The sophistic quality is very palpable
but its extensiveness is remarkably moderate. Evidences so
thoroughly Asiatic yet so few in number suggest the possi-
bility that St. Basil resolutely determined not to follow the
pagan manner; that in this determination he was not uni-
formly successful ; that these richly sophistic examples mentioned
above are indices of that Basil of the school days in contact
with other Asiatics at C^esarea, Nicomedia, Athens; a Basil
whose innate Asianism the resolute Archbishop of Caesarea,
for all his protests, could not quite suppress.
CHAPTER IX
FIGURES AND DEVICES
OF THE SECOND SOPHISTIC
The figures and devices reserved lor classification here in a
special manner are characteristic of the Second Sophistic. The
following may be taken as a working division:
1. Gorgianic Figures and Allied Devices (contributing to- the
symmetry of the period).
2. The Metaphor and its Subdivisions.
3. The Comparison.
4. Ecphrasis.
Of the above groups ecphrasis alone is a child of the Second
Sophistic. The rest are adaptations from the past but so
thoroughly imbued with the sophistic manner that they deserve
a place along side of ecphrasis in a study of the rhetoric of
the times. Besides the many examples of Gorgianic figures
which the sermons of St. Basil yield, there are other devices
not precisely corresponding to the scholastic definitions of the
Gorgianic figures, yet bearing so close a resemblance to them
and occurring in such numbers that it was thought that to
ignore them would be to leave out of account an important
element of St. Basil's sentence parellelism. Therefore, after the
figures found in the canon given below, will be found names
strange to the rhetors but used here to designate devices which
show a kinship to the traditional figures.
1. Gorgianic Figures and Allied Devices here include all those
figures upon which depends the most notable characte-
ristic of Greek prose i. e. parallelism.
a) Isocolon a successsion of cola of about equal
length. TI TW XP V( P fJ-a>p<*-v0els TJ vocrw <5iaAv$ts. Hex. 5,
41 E.
FIGURES AND DEVICES OF THE SECOND SOPHISTIC 77
b) Perfect Parison successive cola whose structural
similarity extends to an exact correspondence in the
position of words. olov xaAKevTtK?) ^GV ircpl TOV crty/>oi>,
TeKTOvwa) Be Trepl TO, v\a. Hex. 2, 13 D.
c) Parison successive cola having the same general
Structure. os TOV oy/cov rvjs rvpavviSos /u<rj<ras, KOI TT/OOS
TO TaTretvov TWJ/ ofj,o(f>v\<Dv avaS/oa/xwv. Hex. 1, 2 B.
d) Chiastic Parison similarity in the general structure
of the succeeding cola varied by a chiastic arrange-
ment of the final words. KOI ovopan n\v 6/xoAoyowres
YioV, /oy<> Se KCU aAij&ta rrjv V7rapw a&TowTes. Contra
Sabellianos, 190 A.
e) Homoioteleuton (Paromoion) a parison whose cola
end in similar sounds. T<XS l/n^ta? ourftct, TO,? ayo/oas
o-a>^>/)ovtfet.~Ps. 1, 91 A.
f ) (a) Antithesis parison plus an opposition of thought
between the Cola. vvv fJ^v v^ov/JLevrj oY aAaCovetai/, vvv
Se TairewovfJievr) Sia AvTra? /cat o-vo-ToAa?. Ps. 7, 104 E.
(b) Chiastic Antithesis successive cola antithetical
in thought and containing a chiasmus somewhere
in the corresponding succession of words. TO
juev ACTTTOV Kat SivjOovfjievov ITTI T<X ava> Sttcj/Ta, TO 8e
Tra^yrarov KCU yewSes Iva^tevTa TO?S KCITOO. Hex. 3, 28 D.
g) (a) Chiasmus two or more successive cola wherein
the succession of words in the first colon is re-
versed in the second and the succession of words
in the second is reversed in the third, etc. 6
veos rrjv ^AtKtav, Kat Tas </>/oeras ve<uT/oos. De Humili-
tate, 157 C.
(b) Antithetical Chiasmus a chiasmus whose corre-
sponding parts are opposed in thought.
SwUG>0ts Ty crtavrov i/oj<<j>, ry TOV Ocov Ka
De Humilitate, 160 C.
h) Sentence Parison two or more successive sentences
whose corresponding clauses are of similar structure.
aAAws yap 8taTt'0Tat //.etou/xei/^s av-njs, Kat aAAco? ato-
pcvrjs TO, o-w/AttTa. Hex. 6, 60 E.
i) Parallelism two or more successive sentences in
which one or more but not all the corresponding
78 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIE S
clauses are of similar structure. Kav&Tw 6 irov? Ivo.
irappTfja-tav irpbs TOV AeoTrorqv iraip<rOai. In XL Mar-
tyres, 153 C.
2. Metaphor and its Subdivisions here include the metaphor
under its various aspects and characteristics. The di-
vision given below is necessary in any study that beyond
the mere compilation of totals looks for sophistic influence
in the several forms that metaphor may assume.
a) Prolonged Metaphor the elaborate, prolonged deve-
lopment, clause on clause, sentence on sentence, of
an implied comparison between two objects. "A
river is our life, ever- flowing and filled with waves
one upon another. One has already flowed by, another
is still passing, another has just emerged from its
sources, another is about to do so, and all of us
hasten to the common sea of death" Quod Mundanis,
172 E.
b) Metaphor one object is likened to another object
by asserting it to be that other object, the com-
paritive words being omitted. It is the shorter,
more usual form of metaphor. "Men who thus write
spin a spider's web." Hex. 1, 3B.
c) Redundant Metaphor the presentation of the same
aspect of an object under many metaphors based on
varied provinces of thought and experience. "A
piteous sight it was for the just to see that soldier
become a runaway, that most valiant man a captive,
that lamb of Christ snatched off by the wolf." In
XL Martyr es, 1540.
3. The Comparison, like the metaphor, is divided for pur-
poses of demonstrating the extent of sophistic influence
into the subdivisions which follow.
a) Short Comparison a property, or properties, of one
object is formally attributed to another object. It
is a metaphor completed by a grammatical form.
"For just as a shadow clings to the body, so does
sin cling to our souls." In Divites, 58 C.
FIGUKES AND DEVICES OF THE SECOND SOPHISTIC 79
b) Long Comparison -an elaborate, detailed instance
of the foregoing. "Eor just as tbe goal of the road
is different (i. e. for travellers) but their dwelling
together arises as an accident of their journeys, so
for those united in marriage or in any other com-
munion of this life, the end of their lives is clearly
pre-ordained for them, and this pre-ordained end
of their lives necessarily separates and makes to
part those thus joined." In Julittam, 38D-E.
c) Redundant Comparison the heaping up of com-
parisons about one central theme. "What the foun-
dation is to the house and the keel to the ship and
the heart to the body of an animal, this short pre-
face is to the general purport of the psalms."
Ps. 1, 91 E.
4. Ecphrasis a word-picture. For example compare page 146.
CHAPTER X
GORGIANIC FIGURES
AND ALLIED DEVICES OF PARALLELISM
Parison, paromoion, and antithesis 1 are called Gorgianic
figures because of some connection, not precisely defined by
the ancients, with the Sicilian sophist, Gorgias of Leontini. Of
these antithesis at least existed in Greek prose before Gorgias,
time and under influences non-Sicilian in the works of the
Ionian philosopher Heraclitus 2 . But Gorgias introduced these
figures to Fifth-century Athens and Fifth-century Athens be-
came the centre of intellectual Greece. For Greek literature,
therefore, Gorgias may be considered their inventor, for he
first used them extensively in prose purposely artistic. His
excessive use of these figures became a precept to his fellows
and followers as to what to avoid, but the Gorgianic figures,
with him and after him, became the basic instruction of all
technical training which had for its object the production of
artistic prose.
When rhetoric became confined to the school-room after
Alexander's exploits, the Gorgianic figures, of course, passed
from the field of political action. In the first century of the
Empire these figures lost their ancient prestige, but in the
Attic triumph of the second century they returned to their old
preeminence. 3 In the ancient treatises of rhetoric the Gorgianic
figures always receive the most attention. Their professed pur-
pose to reduce the idea and its expression to a regular design
appealed to the beauty-loving Greek; made them the foremost
* Paronomasia, usually considered a Gorgianic figure , has been treated
under the Figures of Sound, cf. page 39.
2 Robertson, 8.
3 Hermogenes, II 437; Diodorus XII, 53; Philostratus, Epist. 364.
GORGIANIC FIGURES ETC. 81
devices for artistic expression in all periods of rhetoric at
Athens, and therefore especially cherished of the Second Sophi-
stic. All three achieve their effects hy producing symmetry and
parallelism: parison, by a parallelism in structure; paromoion,
by a parallelism of structure and sound; antithesis, by a parallel-
ism of structure and sense. Temperament and predilection
easily account for the varying popularity of other figures with
disciples of the sophistic schools. A marked indifference to the
Gorgianic figures in such disciples would be inexplicable on
grounds at all creditable.
a) ISOCOLON.
Isocolon a succession of cola of equal length, the syllable and
not the letter being taken as the basis of measurement from
the nature of the case logically precedes the Gorgianic figures.
Parison and its refinements and variations are but isocola where-
in the parallelism is extended from mere length to structure
and sound and sense. In studies of the Attic Orators, iso-
colon as a distinct figure is often avoided as "an unnecessary
refinement of terminology". Only two Greek rhetoricians define
it 4 and they apparently disagree, but an example cited by
Demetrius and the name of the figure itself indicate that it
has to do with equality of cola. Such a parallelism in Attic
prose-writers may be largely the result of chance. It is rare
at all events. 5 Although this stricture obviously applies to
examples of isocolon in the Second Sophistic orators, the results
attained by Guignet, 6 particularly in connection with paren-
thesis, and the obvious abuse of the figure by some of the
sophists, as Dion of Prusa, lead us to look sharply for similar
manifestations in St. Basil.
166 examples of successive, equi-syllabled cola were found an
insignificant total if every instance found were free from the
limitations noted above, and we must not forget the element
of chance. No examples interrupted by parenthesis were found.
Unusual types that may have some rhetorical design are:
u>S yap f) oipx*] rfs oSov OVTTO) 68os,
* Anon. Ill, 155; Demetrius, III, 267.
5 Robertson, 16.
6 108 ff.
82 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
KOL 17 a/>X*) T ^5 OIKtaS OVK OlKta,
ovreu /cat ry TOU xpovov a-px*) oirrra) XP vo< *i
d\\' ovSe fJLtpos avrov TO \d\L<nov. Hex. 1, 7 A. Compare also
Ps. 32, 134 A.
KOI Tore <x/>a/zi/ov,
*at s T&OS SeftoV. Hex. 9, 81 A. Compare also Ps. 59, 190 B5
De Fide, 133 B-C; In Gordium, 146E-147A.
aAAoi vocroiWes KCU aAAot cvTra^owres,
aAAot Iv yajaot? /cat aAAot Iv Trei/fleo-tv. Ps. 59, 190 C-D. Compare
also De Jejunio 1, 6C; In Barlaam, 140 D.
Neither the number nor the quality of isocola found in the
sermons are significant save in showing that the figure is not
a characteristic of St. Basil's style.
b) PARISON.
Parison two or more successive cola having the same
general structure is the first of the Gorgianic figures. It may
also be isocolon and frequently is such in St. Basil, but its
chief purpose is the organization of successive cola in such a
way that their elements correspond in structure and sequence.
Parison is to be found, with varying popularity, in all the
orators and rhetoricians from Gorgias' time down. "We have
seen its importance in the schools of the Second Sophistic.
Among the eminent sophists Himerius was distinguished for
his extensive and refined use of parison. With Themistius and
Libanius parison was a favorite device. 7 .
An excessive use of perfect parison wherein the correspon-
dence in structure is exact unmistakably gives monotony to a
passage. The sophists found several ways of avoiding this. By
leaving out a word here and there, by the insertion of an
occasional chiasmus in the word-sequence, by a chiastic arran-
gement of the clause elements as a whole, the effect produced by
parallelism of structure was still maintained, while the variations
allowed a greater indulgence in the figure than would other-
wise be possible. Hermogenes 8 praises Demosthenes for thus
^ Meridier, 3435.
8 II, 332335.
GOEGIANIC FIGURES ETC. 83
avoiding monotony, but with Demosthenes monotony was not so
formidable a problem as it became for the sophists of the Second
Sophistic, precisely because of the excessive use of highly- wrought
parisa in that epoch. Besides examples of exact structural corre-
spondence, consequently, we have also to look for those varia-
tions which a well-trained orator of the Fourth century must
have at his command to follow the fashion of the time in his
indulgence of parison and to avoid the inevitable monotony of
such indulgence unvaried. In my investigation, therefore, 1
have separated the parisa into groups corresponding to the
structure employed. Where the parallelism applies to successive
sentences or to successions of two clauses and not to successive
clauses, I have prefixed the epithet "sentence". My treatment
of parison, thus divides into the following well-marked groups:
1. Perfect Parison two or more successive clauses whose
structural similarity extends to an exact correspondence
in words, save for a particle, article, conjunction, or in-
troductory word whose intrusion is lost in the general
perfection of the periods.
2. Parison two or more successive clauses having the same
general structure.
3. Chiastic Parison parison varied by a chiastic arran-
gement, usually of the final words.
4. Sentence Parison two or more successive complex or
compound sentences having the same general structure.
The number of perfect parison and the variations from it
found will be an index to St. Basil's ingenuity in avoiding
monotony.
PERFECT PARISON (EXAMPLES).
Followed by less perfect parison:
d>S yap 07 apx*] T ^ ? ooov OVTTCO 6Sos,
Kat f) ap\rj T ^? OMCtas OVK oi/aa,
ovT<i) KOL rj TOV \povov ap\rj owrft) x/oovos
aXX 3 ovSe /xepos avTov TO kXayivrov. Hex. 1, 7 A. Compare also
Ps. 32, 137 E; De Humilitate, 156 D.
Monotonous regularity :
aAV 17 fJLv yrj
TO 8e vSwp vypov
6*
84 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
6 B arjp BepfMos /cat vypos,
TO Se Trvp Oepfjiov /cat ^rjpov. Hex. 4, 38 A.
Obvious effort at correspondence:
u>S yap TO Aoyt/cov t'Stov Icrrt TOV av0/oo>7rov,
rj Se avOpwiros <f>(*>vr) crryjaavTi/CTy ivrt TOV Cwov. Hex. 4, 37 D.
Compare also in Julittam, 37 B; In Princip. Proverb., 99 B;
In Gordium, 144 A.
Series with a variant:
V(TTa0r)<s p^v yap 6
v(j)6r)<s Se o ovos.
Se 6 TTTTTOS irpos
dcrvtvTOS o XVKOS,
8o\pov rj dAwTT^'
17 eAac^os. Hex. 9, 82 A. Compare also Ps. 1, 91 B:
Ps. 32, 134 A; De Humilitate, 162 A-B.
Cumulative, with asyndeton:
Tas ayo/oas
Ps. 1, 91 A. Compare also Advers. Iratos,
85 C; In Princip. Proverb., 105 E; In Sanct. Baptisma, 120 C.
Simple:
v6r)(rov TTJV SvvafJLLV TOV prjTov
KCU, $av/Aduret? TT)V <$>i\av6 '/DWTTWXV TOV vofMoOerov. Ps. 14, 112 E.
Compare also Attende Tibiipsi, 23 E; In Sanct. Baptisma,
121 C; In Ebriosos, 128 B; In Gordium, 145 D.
With epanaphora and asyndeton:
ITTI TOV crravpbv 6 aTraOrjs'
7Tt TOV OaVOLTOV r) Cw^*
ITTI TOV '<fir]v TO <ws. In Julittam, 40 D. Compare also In
Divites, 59 A; In Ebriosos, 122 E; In Princip. Proverb.,
136E; In Gordium, USE; In Mamantem, 186 C.
With assonance:
/cat 7ravTa)(ov Trapco-Ti,
/cat ovSafiov Trepte^eraL. De Fide, 133 E.
With Isocolon:
yap Trio-TCvo/xcv as
GOEaiANIC FIGTJBES ETC. 85
8e 6/AoAo-yov/iev ets cnorrjpiav. In Gordium, 147 D. Com-
pare also Advers. Iratos, 86 B; In Gordium, 148 C.
PABISON (EXAMPLES).
With Isocola:
ov
OTJ yfjpas atSeo-ifjiov ry. In Gordium, 143 E. Compare also In
Divites, 58 E; De Fide, 131 D.
With epanaphora:
KOl 7T/)OS Ct 7T/0(XTTC6 TV7TOVTO.L
K<U Trpbs ravTo. cr^/wmCWat. De Humilitate, 161 E. Compare
also Ps. 14, HID; Ps. 32, 138A; Ps. 33, 149 E.
Clauses differing by only one word:
-rdpyiav aTroStcoKet,
7ri0v/Acas aroTTous KoAatei. In Princip. Proverb., HOD. Compare
also Hex. 2, 19 C; Hex. 3, 28 C; Hex. 5, 46 C; In Fam. et
Siccit., 65 B; Deus non est auct, 76 B.
ort ocrov 6 ^d)0ev avOpioTTOS 8ia(f>@apT(u,
TOCTOVTOV 6 ta-wBev dvoKawovrai' De Jejunio 1, 8 B. Com-
pare also Hex. 5, 41 C; Hex. 6, 55 A.
Introductory word omitted in the second clause:
v 8rj TOIS Totovrots Aoyots ^ToAu fj.lv TO avo^rov,
TroAAaTrAaatoi/ 8e TO acre/3es. Hex. 6, 56 C.
Compare also Ps. 33, 154 C; Contra Sabellianos, 196 C.
Only the skeleton of the first clause maintained in the follo-
wing clauses:
ITTTTOV /xev yap ITTTTOV 7Tot?Tat
KOI AeovTa
. Hex. 9, 81 B. Compare also In Princip.
Proverb., 108 B; In Mamantem, 186 B.
Variation in the position of the article.
ov (ru)<f>pocrvvir]s TO areftvov,
OV TO Tljs (j>pOV^Cr(DS T\LOV. - Ps. 1, 91 B.
CHIASTIC PAEISON (PEBEECT) (EXAMPLES).
OTI aAAo pkv Tt TOT; (fxarbs rj Aa//,7T/DOT^s,
aAAo Se Tt TO vTroKdpevov ru> <am o-tu/*a. Hex. 6, 51 E. Com-
pare also Hex. 8, 75 E; Ps. 33, 154 C; Contra Sabellianos,
196 C.
86 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
ira<rav e <j
/cat ai/xart ras /ua)(as Avetv SeSiSay/ievot. Ps. 7, 102 E. Com-
pare also Hex. 5, 47 D; Ps. 32, 134 E; De Jejunio 1, 5 A;
In Sanct. Baptisma, 121 B.
Two-fold variety.
ovSets rpavfWTa Tpavpan Oepairevti,
ov8e /caKO) TO KCLKOV tarat
o$> Trevtav To/cots 7ravopOovT<Li. Ps. 14, HOC. Compare also
In Gordium, 144 A.
CHIASTIC PAKISON (EXAMPLES).
rjfj.iv TWI> tIprjfJLevow jucrObv KO!
vfjitv KapTrbv o)v rjKovo-are Ps. 1, 97 C. Compare also Hex. 4,
38 A; Ps. 1, 97 B.
rfv rj fiesta ^a/^iCerat rov 'Y^rrTOv
^s KOI 6 /AaKayotos Aa/3tS eTrrjo-^ero Ps. 44, 159 D. Compare
also Ps. 33, 148 E; De Jejunio 2, 11 A.
SENTENCE PAEISON (EXAMPLES).
(1) Perfect.
JJLCV rty afjapriav, toanrep TO. a\oya favyet, TUV
ra
Se rrjv Si/cato(rw^v, wcrirep Ka 5 K?va //.CTaSwoKet T^S Troa?
TO T/OO(/>t/XOV.
Attende Tibiipsi, 17 E. Compare also Ps. 1, 95 D.
OTI OVK direOave TO TratSt'ov, dAA' aTrfSodrf
ovSe aTTCTeAeuT^o-ei/ 6 </>6Aos, aAA* aTreS^/z^o-c In Jlllittam, 36 E.
Compare also In Divites, 51 C.
lav <^rAao-o~7^5, OVK egets
lav o-Ko/97rtVr;s, OVK aTroAets. In Divites, 53 A. Compare also
Deus non est auct., 76 B.
(2) Not Perfect.
v yap T< TrAcoT^pt eto-o) At/xei/wy KaTe^eti/ TO o-Ka^os, TOVS
l/c TWV Trvev/zaTcov Kti/ovt/ovs 7rpovp(*>fJiV(p
TW oSotTTopa) Tro/o/ow^ey eK/cAiVeiv Tots /2Aa/?as,
l/c T^S o-TvyvoT^TOS Tou ae/>os T^V fj,Taf3oXrjV
Hex. 6, 53 E. Compare also Ps. 59, 190 C.
ofov, Ka&uSeis /cat 6 x/aovos o~e ira.parpi\i\
cyprjyopas K<U acrxoAos c? T^V Stcmuav; Ps. 1, 94 C.
GORGIANIC FIGURES ETC. 87
fJLv, ct KOtvioviKos Ko.
6 Sc, ct evxa/oto-TOS /cat p) TOwavTtov pXdor^rjpos. In Fam. et Siccit.,
67 A. Compare also Advers. Iratos, 86 E.
ct /xev yap ayevv^Tov, Tlarr/p'
et 8e ycvv7?Tov, YtoV
ci 8e /zrjS' CTC/OOV TOVTWV, KTtoyza. Contra Sabellianos, 194D.
Compare also Ps. 7, 104 D.
(3) Chiastic.
The only examples found were:
orav epTrXycrOf), irepl tyKpartias <tAocro<er
OTOLV Sia7rvevcr#>7, iTTtAav^averat TWV Soy/zarwv. De Jejunio I, 6 D.
6 /caTaa-^Trwy TOV (rtrov, TOV? TretvaWas ov T/O<^IS*
6 TOV XP V(r ov Karopvorcriov, TOV dyxopevov Karacj>povLS ; In Divites,
55 E.
/6et ya/o 6 ^/oovos, Kat OVK e/cSe^erat TOV fipaSvvovTa '
IvretyovTat at ^/xe/aat, TOV OKvrjpov Traparpexoww. In Fam. et.
Siccit, 70 C.
Postponing a conclusion on this section to the end of the
chapter, where the results obtained here will gain more
significance from a comparison with the results of other sections,
I may only note in passing that in a figure so fundamental to the
art of rhetoric, 997 examples of all kinds of parison certainly
constitute a m0derate use of the figure in so broad an expanse
of text. 9
C) HOMOIOTELEUTON (PAEOMOION).
Homoioteleuton wherein the symmetry of cola structurally
corresponding is further emphasized by similarity of sound in
the concluding word or words of each was a device challen-
ging the ingenuity of sophists and therefore dear to them as a
means of display. In the search for symmetry it follows natur-
ally from parison. When used to excess, it gives to a passage
a character highly poetic. In all figures of sound rhetorical
design must be very evident. The more numerous and more
closely concentual the concluding syllables are, the greater is
the probability of design As a rule I did not look for rhetorical
design unless the concluding words of corresponding clauses
cf. table on p. 93ff.
88 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
showed a correspondence in accent and a correspondence in
sound in the last syllable at least.
Examples.
Isocolon:
r? vovy 8ia\v0Ls. Hex. 5, 41 E. Compare also Hex, 7, 64 B;
In Sanct. Baptisma, 116 A.
Marked assonance.
orav Xoi8opovfJt,voi ev
, Ps. 33, 144 A. Compare also
In Illud Lucae, 44D; Quod Mundanis, 172 D.
/cat axrTTfp eTrerat TW aya$< rj a<0ona,
ovrtos oKoXovOei T< 8iaj36X<p 97 fiao-Kavta. De Invidia, 91 B.
Compare also Ps. 1, 93 E.
Correspondence in only the final syllable, but evidently designed :
TOV 8ta(TKeSaCoi/Ta j3ov\a<s e^i/wv,
Kat d&TOwra Aoyt(T/xovs; Aa5v. Ps. 32, 138 E.
49 examples in 46 sermons, with 24 sermons containing no
assured examples and only five sermons containing more than
two examples, argue an acquaintance and an occasional use
of the figure on St. Basil's part, but no predilection for it.
This exhibition of restraint is in harmony with what I observed
about his use of the Figures of Sound. 10
(d) ANTITHESIS.
Antithetical structure is so inherent in the Greek language
that in the search for antithesis i. e. a parison formulating an
opposition of ideas circumspection is needed in detecting
rhetorical design. Antithesis, we have seen, antedates Gorgias
in Greek literature. Aristotle A J calls attention to the efficacy
of the figure for the clear presentation of ideas through the
juxtaposition of opposed parts. Its architectural beauty, its
very utility gave it a vogue in Attic Greece beyond the Athenian's
natural bent for its undesigned employment. We look for its
excessive use in the Second Sophistic not alone because of its
to c f. p. 43.
11 Rhet. Ill, 9.
GOEGIANIC FIGURES ETC. 89
Attic stamp but because of that peculiar penchant of the later
sophist for antithetical display so forcefully illustrated by his
abuse of oxymoron. And in point of fact it is so employed.
Polemo, Dion of Prusa, Himerius, Libanius alike use and abuse
antithesis.
The antithesis, both in the earlier prose 12 and in the Se-
cond Sophistic, is liable to one misuse especially. Ideas anti-
thetically expressed sometimes do not belong to that rigid
cast, but the orator, in his love for the figure, diffuses the
thought through unnecessary words to achieve a verbal balancing.
This obviously results in a loss of conciseness. Again the orator,
in his search for impeccable symmetry, may establish a struc-
tural opposition between the words which is not justified by
their meanings.
The concerns of Christianity contain much that readily lends
itself to antithetical presentation the antitheses between things
as they are and things as they should be. The paradoxes of
the Faith furnish materials that could accentuate in a Christian
orator sophistically trained the sophistic predilection for anti-
thesis. St. Gregory of Nazianzus, 13 St. Gregory of Nyssa 14
and St. John Chrysostom 15 find abundant opportunity in this fact.
In frequency and elaborateness St. Basil falls behind St. Gregory
of Nazianzus and St. John Chrysostom in his use of antitheses
arising from Christian sources. The following are typical:
Body and soul:
on OvrjTov fiev crov TO cr<o//,a,
dOdvaros Se 17
rj fJLV owceta ry (rapid ra^y
f] Se o-vyyevrjs ry faxfl /**? ^^X9^ r l TTpiypa<j)yv. Attende Tibiipsi,
18 E. Compare also De Grat. Act., 32 E.
Earthly dishonour and heavenly reward:
dnfJiLav Se KaTaSiKaCo/jevry,
iva TWV o-T(f>dv(Dv rfjs 86r)s KaTafitoOy. In Julittam, 34 B. Com-
pare also In Gordium, 148 B.
12 Robertson, 15.
13 Guignet, 123 ff.
1 * Meridier, 174.
is Ameringer, 49 ff.
90 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
Punishment of sinners and reward of the Just:
/xev T<o rots
7riOvfj,iav (5e ra)i> rots StKatots rjTOi/xaa/jtei/cov. In Princip. Proverb.,
HOB.
TT)V fatSpoTrjTa TOW Si/caicov li/ rf) XaftTrpy. Siavo/xr) T<3i> Sw/xoj/,
/cat T^V KaT-rjfaiav TWI/ a/ia/3To>Awv Iv T O-KOTCI T< fia.Ovra.T<i). In
Sanct. Baptisma, 122 A. Compare also Ps. 45, 170B.
The Father and the Son:
OVKOVV Yios juei> 6 7ra/9oucaAojv,
Harrjp 8e 6 Tra/oaKaAov/iei/os. Contra Sabellianos, 191 D.
Truth and science:
- OTt OVTCOS 6v 7Tpl TO, fJLOLTaLa y8Ae7TOVTS,
KWTs TT/aos T^V (TvvfcrLV T^S dXrjOeias aTrerv^XioOrjcrav. Hex. 1, 4 D.
Young trees and old trees:
rots /xev yap veots Kat eu&xAecriv 6 ^>Aoios Tre/DiTCTarat
rois Se yrjpdo-KOVcrw olov pvcra-ovrai KOI tKTpoyyviTai. Hex. 5, 46 E.
Soul in temptation:
8ov\ay<ayiav
K6L vrymuuF*
wSe yeAcoras aK/oarets, exe? SaKpvov
avAovs oJSe, Kaxet
w6e TTO/avetW, KCXKC? 7ro,p0viav. Ps. 1, 95 D.
Usurer and debtor:
TOV /xev }(ai)oovTos ITTC Try av^cret TWV TOKWV,
TOV 0-TVaoi/TOS 7Tt TT/ 7T/3OO-^7JK^ TWV (TiyA<o/3Wl>. - Pg. 14, 108 E
to 109 A.
Our moral acts:
Ka<TT?7 ow 7r/oajts ^ 7rt TCI /cttTO) rjfJLois Karayei,
fiapvvovcra r)[
7) 4:rt TO, avw
7TTe/)oucra ^/xas TT/OOS TOV ^cov. : Ps. 29, 126 D-E.
Pleonastic antithesis:
/cat o-eavroi/ KaraK/oiVets. Advers. Iratos, 86 E. Compare also
Deus non est auct., 79 C; In Princip. Proverb., 106 E.
Chiastic:
(OS
GOKGIANIC FIGURES ETC. 91
Sia rrjv eAAa^tv KareT/ruy^ev^v avrty KOL ayovov
Hex. 6, 60 B.
TT/OOS Se rr)i/ lATrt'Sa TWV aiawtov dwroretveof rr)v eWotai/. De Grat.
Act, 32 E. Compare also Hex. 3, 28 D; Ps. 29, 126 C-D;
Deus non est auct., 76A-B.
14 sermons do not contain an antithesis. While we have
not the facts for accurately comparing St. Basil's use of anti-
thesis with that of his contemporaries a total of only 161 examples
of a figure in such constant use in his time in so ample an ex-
panse of text as the 46 sermons cover is remarkable. The
undoubted quality of most of the examples cited alone saves him
from the charge of indifference.
e) CHIASMUS.
Chiasmus wherein the succession of the elements of one
clause is reversed in the next is one of the devices used by
the sophists to preserve symmetry while counteracting the
monotony of the oft-repeated parison. It is a form of parallelism
less obvious and more subtle than parison. It calls for a nice
skill in avoiding the destruction of symmetry. The sophist
Himerius and, after him, St. Gregory of Nazianzus were eminently
successful in its use. 16
Examples: l/A/?e^Kora ry overig, TWI/ oAcoi/, KCU
ra KaB 3 acao-TOv pep?) Trpbs a\\r)Xa (rwa/o/xofoi/ra, Hex. 1, 8 A. Com-
pare also Hex. 2, 14 A; Hex. 8, 77D.
oire SiKatoorvvrjs Tt/xtu/xev^s,
ovre KaraKpivo{JLvr)s TTJS a/m/m'as, Hex. 6, 57 A. Compare also
Hex. 8, 73 E.
!r/3<ovTo ot Treti/w i/res, Kal
6 rp(f><Dv iTToAep-iro, De Lividia, 93 E-94 A. Compare also In
Princip. Proverb., HOD.
, . . , 'i, In Sanct. Baptisma, 122 C. Compare also
Ps. 1, 90 B; De Jejunio 1, 7D; In Illud Lucae, 49 B.
While not using chiasmus to excess there are only 190 in-
16 Guignet, 112.
92 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
stances in all St. Basil shows a consistent liking for the
figure throughout his sermons. Only three sermons do not yield
examples.
f) ANTITHETICAL CHIASMUS.
Antithetical chiasmus an antithesis of thought cast in the
structure of a chiasmus is rare.
ovre SiKaiocrvvrjs rtjuco/jiei/^s,
ovre KOLTaKpivopevris rrj<s a/m/mas, Hex. 6, 57 A.
- OVT6 7T6/HTTOV T6 6 KTICTO.S 7r/)OOT^KV,
OVTZ a^etAc T<3v di/ayKcuW. Hex. 9, 85 B.
7rpo<J>ir)TVi TO, fJifXXovra-
. lorropias vTrofAinvrjo-Ket. Ps. 1, 90 B.
The only other examples found occur in Ps. 33, 148 A; In
XT. Martyres, 151 C; De Humilitate, 160 C.
g) PAKALLELISM.
In addition to the formal cases of parallelism previously con-
sidered in this chapter, I frequently ran upon traces of parallelism
not fully developed i. e. corresponding phrases and clauses of
a parallel construction in succeeding sentences not otherwise
bearing traces of parallelism. Such correspondences seemed
not without importance in a chapter on St. Basil's parallelism,
and I have therefore included them. The frequency of their oc-
currence seems to indicate something of the thoroughness where-
with the disciples of Second Sophistic rhetoric were trained in
the use of its devices.
Examples :
rj K(f>a\rj avrwv lirt yrjv TT/oocrvevcvKev, rt yacrrepa /3Ae7Tfc, KCU
TO TdVTrjS rfiv K TTaVTOS TpOTTOV 8l(UKt.
rj <rrj K(j>a\r) Trpos ovpavov 8tav(rrrjKV ol o^OaX^oi arov ra ai/a>
p\Trov<riv. Hex. 9, 81 E. Compare also Ps. 45, 175 A; De Je-
junio 1, 6 B.
8e KCU Kara ras opyas, OrjpuaSrj TWO. Karaa-racrtv
Kal Kara ras 7rt^v/Atas, KT^vwScts ytyvo/zcvoi Sia rov
/ScW Ps. 44, 159 A. Compare also Ps. 1, 94 D; In
Julittam, 34 A; In Divites, 59 C.
GOB.GIANIC FIGUEES ETC.
93
- OV j3\T7U TOVS KwSvVOVS, ttAAtt TOVS CTT(f>a.VOVS 6
ov (f>piTTt T<XS TrA^yas, aAA' dpiOftei ra /?/oa/5eia'
Kara) fJLa<myovvTa<$ tfy/ztovs, aAAa TOVS avto$ev
OV <TKO7TL TO) I/ Kil/Svi/OiV TO TrpOCTKaipOV, aAAa TO TWV 7Ta^A(OV tttCOI/tOV. -
In Barlaam, 139 A. Compare also De Humilitate, 158 A.
Note the following parallelism interspersed amid scriptural
quotations.
Sia TrpoffrfjTuv StSao-KO/xei/os-
Sta, i/raA/Awi/ vov#Tov/zevos. (Psalm 33, 6.)
6Y aTroo-ToAwi/ evayyeAtCo/xei/os. (Acts 2, 38.)
VTT' avTOV TOV Kv/3tov TrpocrXafJLJSavo^evos- (Matthew 11, 28.) In
Sanct. Baptisma, 114 B-C. Compare also In Fam. et Siccit.,
65E-66A; In Barlaam, 139 D.
FEEQUENCY OE THE YABIOUS DEVICES OE PARALLELISM
IN THE SERMONS.
g
I
I
TO
g
1
a
o
CO
s
Parison
i*
o
1
o
1
moioteleui
a
j
if
fljj o
"S
(2
i
5
Chiastic
tence Pari
Lntithetica
Chiasmus
S
2
!S
M
CCS
o
a
g
i
o
H
i
o
02
Hex. 1 (530)
4
3
2|6
6
7
6
2 (507)
2
12
4
4
7
3 (565)
5
5
1
3
7
3
1
5
1
4 (393)
7
3
1
2
2
2
1
5 (570)
2
10
3
4
6
7
9
1
1
6 (746)
6
19
1
1
1
2
1
4
4
1
7 (425)
3
9
4
2
6
1
1
8 (572)
4
13
1
1
7
4
9 (507)
11
9
3
1
6
1
1
Ps. 1 (449)
17
19
3
2
11
16
2
2
1
7 (541)
7
8
1
2
1
2
1
14 (372)
24
13
3
1
3
8
28 (636)
7
16
1
5
1
2
1
29 (418)
2
9
1
2
1
1
32 (651)
10
4
1
1
1
6
4
3
33 (963)
8
10
2
1
1
1
5
1
44 (687)
2
7
1
1
2
45 (407)
4
7
1
2
1
2
2
48 (682)
3
13
3
1
59 (242)
2
2
1
2
1
94 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
Perfect Parison |
I
1
"8 S
S^
.2
PH-
2
o
c
i
_o
1
2
o
Homoioteleuton
Antithesis
Chiastic Antithesis
1 1
Chiasmus
Perfect
Sentence Parison 1
Sentence Parison 1
Chiastic
Sentence Parison 1
Antithetical
Chiasmus
Ps. 61 (336)
3
11
1
4
H4 (276)
3
2
1
De Jejunio 1 (475)
18
27
7
12
1
De Jejunio 2 (330)
6
11
1
1
4
Attende Tibiipsi (480)
7
16
1
5
5
1
De Grat. Act. (459)
4
13
2
1
2
1
In Julittam (580)
9
12
2
1
5
14
1
In Illud Lucae (406)
12
18
2
1
3
4
1
1
In Divites (601)
27
29
1
1
2
5
1
1
In Fam. et Siccit. (584)
6
14
9
2
1
Deus non est auct. (598)
3
13
1
2
3
Advers. Iratos (452)
12
5
1
5
1
2
De Invidia (359)
15
9
1
1
7
InPrincip.Proverb. (895)
11
10
1
2
1
7
5
1
In Sanct. Baptisma (522)
29
9
1
2
2
10
1
3
In Ebriosos (423)
13
12
1
1
6
De Fide (185)
11
7
2
2
1
In Princip. erat V. (248)
9
3
In Barlaam (141)
2
1
2
1
1
In Gordium (425)
16
13
2
1
3
4
In XL Martyres (392)
15
6
1
2
1
1
1
De Humilitate (353)
6
5
3
2
1
Quod Mundanis (633)
4
2
1
4
1
Ad Adolescentes (627)
1
3
1
1
In Mamantem (244) 11
8
1
Contra Sabellianos (444) 1 13 13
2
1
2
7
1407 instances of parallelism of all kinds bespeak a frequent
but not excessive use of the Figures of Parallelism. When I
consider that the text of the sermons covers 563 half-pages of
the Benedictine edition, I feel justified in characterizing Basil's
use of parallelism as restrained. We have not at hand detailed
materials for comparison with his contemporaries, but we are
assured of the excessive employment of the Gorgianic figures
by Libanius and Himerius, and we know that upon devices of
parallelism more than upon any other group of figures the Se-
cond Sophistic leaned in its extravagant pursuit of the Attic
ideal. These amply attested facts attest in turn the moderation
GORG1ANIC FIGUKES ETC. 95
of St. Basil. Consistent with this generalization is his compari-
tively moderate use of antithesis and his remarkable restraint
in using sophistic homoioteleuton. The very few examples of
sentence parison is another instance of his moderation. The
following table summarizes the disposition of parallelism in the
sermons.
Clause parison of all kinds Homoioteleuton
940 ~~49~~
Antithesis of all kinds Sentence parison of all kinds
114 62
Chiasmus
~T94~*
Since St. Basil is so restrained in his employment of the
recognized figures of parallelism, the avoidance of monotony
is not a large problem for his art. He shows merely traces of
sophistic training in his occasional use of the variations of more
usual parallelism. The frequency of these variations relative to
their orthodox forms is shown in the following summary.
Parison and Homoioteleuton Qhiastic Parison Antithesis
905 84 101
Chiastic Antithesis Sentence Parison Chiastic Sentence Parison
13 57 ~5~
St. Basil's ready skill in the moderate range he allowed these
figures is shown not only by the excellence of the examples
quoted above but also by the following ratio:
Perfect Parison Parison Chiasmus
~381~~ 475 194 ~
This chapter again shows St. Basil deserving the adjective
restrained on the whole; again using a figure with ease and
skill, with an occasional instance of elaborate art, with here
and there a sermon approaching sophistic frequency, 17 but even
thus emphasizing the more his general moderation.
!7 Ps. 1 contains 74 examples in 10 pages; Ps. 14, 51 examples in
12 pages; De Jejunio 1, 67 examples in 12 pages; In Divites, 70 examples
in 15 pages; In Sanct. Baptisma, 59 examples in 12 pages; In Gordium,
41 examples in 10 pages.
CHAPTER XI
THE METAPHOR
The metaphor is not a device peculiar to the sophists. Its
germs at least are found among even the most unimaginative
of peoples, reflected in every epoch of their literature. But
this trope, like so many other figures in the heritage of the
Second Sophistic, receives a treatment and bears a stamp un-
mistakably evincing the sophistic manner. This treatment and
this stamp are best understood by recalling some facts about
the nature of the metaphor.
First of all, the metaphor is useful in illuminating vividly
and suddenly a point not easily understood by the audience
from its subtle or esoteric nature; for the emphatic expression
of emotions; for effective brevity in any case. If the brevity
is dispensed with, if the action is prolonged, the very strength
of the figure palls and the prolonged metaphor becomes a
strain on the imagination of the auditor, and in excessive cases,
an enigma.
The pleasure which the metaphor gives to the auditor, if
analyzed, will be found to rest partly on the intellectual acti-
vity it calls into play in the effort necessary to establish logical
relations between two ideas; partly on the element of surprise
thus invoked; partly on the originality of connections suddenly
revealed. For a very imaginative people its strongest appeal
lies in the new world suddenly flashed upon the retina of the
mind, in the transportation of the auditor from the trivialities
of ordinary language and the trivialities of ordinary existence. *
These possibilities of the metaphor have only to be con-
nected with the known tendencies of the Second Sophistic to
foresee the career of the figure in the hands of the sophists.
i cf. Chaignet, 483 ff.
THE METAPHOR 97
Display of skill, excessive ornamentation, the search for the
novel and unreal these moving traits of the Second Sophistic
transform a figure useful and beautiful in its proper sphere
into an extravagance that jades the taste by its ornateness,
clouds the idea by its elaborateness, fatigues the intellect by
its frequency. An idea is good in the sophist's eyes which is
capable of being richly treated and of multiple variations
which gives the sophist an opportunity, in other words. The
beauty founded upon harmony and proportion of ideas, natural
associations, clear connections, true analogies is here sacrificed
to effects that are shocking in the most pronounced sophists
and that do frequent violence to good taste in the mildest.
Under the patronage of the sophists there grew up a verit-
able technique of the metaphor; a formidable, complex bag
of tricks to a cursory glance at the results of its employment,
but resolvable into a few well-defined constituents on close
inspection. As to subject-matter most of the sophistic meta-
phors may be assigned to one of the following four classes:
(1) metaphors based on war and its associations; (2) metaphors
based on athletic games; (3) metaphors based on the hippo-
drome; (4) metaphors of the sea. Characteristics especially
sophistic are: (1) the meticulous correspondence of the objects
compared and the attempt to justify this comparison in all
the details of the two objects; (2) a theatrical manner of
development; (3) metaphors of pathos; (4) redundancy of meta-
phors, i. e. the presentation of the same aspect of an object
through many metaphors based on varied provinces of thought
and experience; (5) the elaborate, prolonged development given
to certain metaphors, clause on clause, sentence on sentence.
Sometimes the sophist leaves the figure and returns to it after
a space, drawing out all the possibilities of the metaphor that
a most fertile imagination can suggest.
With the serious purpose of the Christian orators, the
practical properties of the metaphor were again invoked as
a vehicle of clarity. The theological conflicts of the Fourth
century affected even the laity so intimately that the abstract
terms, the specialized language of philosophy and theology,
necessarily found entrance into popular sermons and, in clari-
fying ideas so represented, the metaphor was a most efficacious
98 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
instrument. The abundance of metaphors in the Old and New
Testaments likewise contributed to the Christian use of that
figure. In the Christian orators of the Fourth century the
likening of martyrs to athletes; the personification of abstract
ideas; the metaphors based on tempests, medicine, a shepherd
and his flock, a debtor and creditor are more Christian than
pagan in subject matter. 2 But even so, St. Gregory of Nyssa
is a veritable sophist in his use of metaphor; 3 St. Gregory of
Nazianzus shows a sophistic facility only a little less remark-
able, 4 while St. John Chrysostom surpasses both in prodigal
exuberance. 5 In seeing how St. Basil measures up to them
we shall first review examples that seem more closely joined
to the Christian tradition either in content or purpose, keeping
a sharp outlook, however, for evidences of a sophistic manner
in their development. We shall then pass on to categories
undoubtedly pagan. Such a division is artificial, of course.
Much to be found in one group will also be found in the
other. The exigencies of exposition alone justify their dis-
tinction.
As a vehicle of clarity and emphasis by substituting the
concrete for the abstract. Note redundancy. "In the few
words which have occupied us this morning we have discovered
a depth of thought so profound that we utterly despair of the
sequel. If the fore-court of the sanctuary is such, if the fore-
gates of the temple are so awful and splendid, if its surpassing
beauty thus astounds the eyes of the soul, what will be the
holy of holies? Who will presume to dare its innermost shrine?
Who will gaze upon its secrets? Forbidden is the view of them,
and the expression of one's thought on them is extremely
difficult." Hex. 2, 12 A~B.
Compare also De Jejunio 2, 15 C.
Note correspondence of details:
"Blessed is the man who has not tarried in the way of
sinners, but with wiser counsel has betaken himself to pious
conversation. For two are the roads and opposed are they
2 cf. Meridier, 97 ff.; Guignet, 131 ff.; Delahaye, 211 ff.
s Meridier, 115.
* Guignet, 157.
5 Ameringer, 67.
THE METAPHOR 99
to each other. One is broad and spacious; the other, narrow
and confined. Two also are the guides, each of them trying
to draw on the traveller. The gentle downward path has a
deceitful guide, the wicked demon, who draws those who
follow him through pleasure to destruction. The rough and
up-hill highway holds a good angel, who leads those who fol-
low through laborious virtue to a happy consummation."
Ps. 1, 95B-C.
Compare also Attende Tibiipsi, 19 C.
"But, if forsaking the narrow road that leads to safety, you
travel the broad highway of sin, I fear lest even to the end
travelling that broad highway, you find a lodging in harmony
with your journey." In Sanct. Baptisma, 120 E.
"Straightway the winnowing-shovel separates the chaff from
the wheat, the light and unstable it divides from the fruitful,
and what is fit for spiritual food it turns over to the farmers."
In Mamantem, 187 E.
A poetic touch:
"Thus, to the psalmist not to be spurned is the deep which
the inventors of allegory consign to the ranks of evil. The
psalmist welcomes it to the general choir of creation and the
deep, in its own tongue, sings a harmonious hymn to the
creator." Hex. 3, 32 A. Compare also De Invidia, 96 B-C.
"Let us all hasten on to attain it (i. e. the consummation
of all things), full of fruit and good works; and thus planted
in the house of the Lord, we shall flower in the courts of our
God." Hex. 5,49 D.
Dramatic and redundant, almost an ecphrasis, is the follow-
ing:
"For again, as you know, the^ devil made clear his rage
against us and, having armed himself with the flame of fire,
made war upon the sacred enclosures of the church. But
again our Common Mother was' victorious and turned his
weapon against the enemy himself; nor did he accomplish
ought but the display of his hatred. Grace blew against the
attacks of the devil and the temple remained unharmed. The
storm raised by our enemy could not shake the rock upon
which Christ had built the fold for his flock. Imagine how
the devil is groaning to-day, not having achieved what he
100 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMEEICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
planned. For lie set fire to the neighboring pyre of the church
that he might harrass our success. And everywhere the flames,
fanned by the violent blasts of the devil, spread over the
edifice and fed upon the air, forced to touch the dwelling
of the gods and drag us into a community of misfortune,
But the Savior turned it back on the sender and bade him
turn his anger against himself. The enemy prepared the arrow
of his cunning, but was kept from releasing it, or rather he
did release it, but it turned against his own head." Quod
Mundanis, 170B. Remarkable beyond the redundancy and
dramatic qualities of the above passage is his reference to
the church as the temple of the gods. Not only does he speak
of a plurality of divine beings but he uses a purely pagan word
in referring to their dwelling.
Compare also In Barlaam, 141 A-B.
Biblical phraseology (referring to the famine and drought in
Cappadocia).
u New Isrealites, seeking a new Moses and his miraculous
staff, that the rocks stricken anew may minister to the wants of
the thirsty people and strange clouds may rain down manna."
In Fam. et Siccit, 63 A. Compare also Hex. 1, 2D; Ps. 1, 94C;
Ps. 33, 150 A; In Sanct. Baptisma, 118D; Quod Mundanis, 168E.
(referring to the desertion of a martyr from the place of tor-
ture and a centurion taking his place). "Judas departed and
Matthias took his place." In XL Martyres, 154E.
Spiritual food:
"Instead of extravagant dishes of manifold delicacies, em-
bellish and sanctify your tables with the memory of my words."
Hex. 9, 88 E.
"Wherefore the church^ from afar, with high-raised cry,
summons her nurslings in order that of whom she travailled
before, she may now bring forth and, having weaned them from
the instruction of catechumens, may furnish for their palates the
solid food of dogma." In Sanct. Baptisma, 114 A.
"I shall exhort each soul to recall these events (i. e. the
scenes of martyrdom) for himself and to depart nourished by
his own food and gladdened with his own viaticum." In Ma-
mantem, 185C. Compare also Ps. 33, 149B; De JejunioS, 15E;
In XL Martyres, 156B; Ad Adolescentes, 179E.
THE METAPHOR 101
Personification :
"But while I am discussing with you the first evening of the
world, evening surprises me, stopping my discourse." Hex. 2, 21 E.
"Instead of violently buffeting the neighboring shore, she
(i. e. the sea) embraces it with peaceful caresses." Hex 4, 38 E.
"And they (i. e. the virtues) do not willingly abandon us in
our labors on earth, unless we, having willingly and violently
introduced vices, avoid them. And they go before us, hastening
on to the future life, and place their possessor among the angels,
and shine forever under the eyes of the creator." Advers.
Iratos, 830. Compare also De Jejunio 1, 4D; In Ebriosos,
129 B; In Barlaam, 140 C-D; In XL Martyres, 1510.
Travail:
"'Let the earth bring forth'. Behold, I pray you, how the
chilled and barren earth at this brief command travailled and
hastily brought forth its fruit, casting aside its sad, mournful
coat and wrapping itself in more joyous coverings, glad of its
proper adornment and showing forth its fruits of countless
kinds." Hex. 5, 410. Compare also Hex. 2, 15 B; Hex. 7, 62E;
Ps. 14, 111B; Ps. 33, 150E-151A; Ps. 114, 201 A; In Julittam,
36 D.
Eedundant:
(referring to the return of fish to the Euxine sea after breed-
ing time.) "Who set them off? What royal command? What
edict in the market-place proclaims the appointed day? Who
guides them on their journey." Hex. 7, 66 E. Compare also
Hex. 1, 3E.
"A psalm puts devils to flight, facilitates the aid of angels,
is a weapon against the fears of the night, a relief from the
toil of the day, a security for children, a decoration for youth,
a consolation for elders, for women an ornament most proper.
It peoples the deserts; it calms the market-places; is a text-
book for beginners, a means of increase for advanced students;
the support of the learned, the voice of the church. It gladdens
the festal-day; it creates divine melancholy; for the psalm forces
tears from the heart of stone. The psalm is the work of angels,
spiritual incense." Ps. 1, 91 A. Compare also De Jejunio 1, 6B;
10B; 13C; 14D-E; In Princip. erat V., 138 B-C; In XL Mar-
tyres, 149 C-D; 153 D; 156 B.
102 THS CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMEEICA PATKISTIC STUDIES
"We must needs, then, if we wish to run in safety the road
of this life and offer our soul and body alike free from the
wounds of shame and receive the crown of victory, have the
eyes of our soul ever on the watch. We must look askance at
all things of pleasure and pass them hy." Quod Mundanis,
163D. Compare also 170A-B.
"Schism is proper to the Jews, but let not the Church of
God, who has received a seamless garment, woven of heavenly
texture and preserved by her soldiers without a rent, the gar-
ment that clothed Christ, let not the Church rend it." In
Mamantem, 188 A.
The curing of souls:
"Rejoice, for an efficacious remedy has been given you by
the physician for ridding yourself of sin." De Jejunio 1, 2B.
"If reason is the physician of sorrow, drunkenness must be
the worst of evils, since it hinders the curing of the soul."
In Julittam, 43 B.
"For if with calm reason you can cut out the bitter root of
wrath, you will eliminate many vices in the same act." Advers.
Iratos, 90 D.
"Therefore he neither admits a physician nor can he find a
remedy for his passion, and yet the scriptures are filled with
such remedies." De Invidia, 92 A. Compare also Ps. 1, 93 B;
Deus non est auct., 80 C; De Humilitate, 156E.
A shepherd and his flock:
"What grievous wolves dispersing the flock of God have not
taken their departure from these words (i. e. 'Darkness was
upon the face of the deep') to assault souls." Hex. 2, 15 D.
"But Death was the shepherd from Adam's time up to the
government of Moses, until the True Shepherd came who laid
down his life for his sheep, who gathered them to himself, led
them from the guard-house of Hades into the morning of the
resurrection, and gave them over to the righteous, his holy
angels, that they might shepherd them." Ps. 48, 186 A. Com-
pare also In Mamantem 187B; 187C; 188C.
St. Basil, like the Gregories and Chrysostom, appreciated the
practical utility of the metaphor, but the research for identity
of correspondence in the objects compared, as exhibited in the
above examples, the theatrical quality of some, the poetic calm
THE METAPHOR 103
of others, the excessive redundancy become almost a litany in
some cases, all bear witness to the manner of the sophist im-
printed on St. Basil as on his Christian contemporaries. Com-
mingled with this pagan stream are Biblical influences, seen in
the metaphors on curing souls, of a shepherd and his flock, of
the rock of the church of God. The frequent use of w&Vw in
him recalls a convention of Christian oratory very wide-spread
in the Fourth century.
In the above examples occur metaphors belonging to the four-
fold source from which spring most of the pagan metaphors, those
based on war, athletics, the hippodrome, the sea. Further examples
will illustrate Basil's use of metaphors undoubtedly pagan:
1. War:
"The cranes in night-time keep watch in turn; some sleep,
while others, making the rounds, gain all security for those in
slumber; then, when the time of his watch is finished, the sentry,
having cried out, goes to sleep and the one succeeding him re-
pays the security which he himself enjoyed. You will observe
the same good order in their manner of flight. For a time
one assumes the leadership and, when he has guided the flight
for a fixed time, passing to the rear, he consigns to the one
coming after him the guidance of the march." Hex. 8, 74 E.
"Let the stomach grant a truce to the mouth. Let it strike
a. five days' truce." De Jejunio 1, 6D.
(Speaking of irascible men.) "Whatever comes into sight
becomes a weapon for their wrath. But if they find an evil
equal to their own coming from their opponent's camp, taking
the field against them, they find another cause for wrath and
madness. Thus they fall together, giving and taking such treat-
ment as men have reason to, experience who are generalled by
such a devil." Advers. Iratos, 84D-E.
"These words ('In the beginning was the Word 7 ) will be the
strongest wall against the onsets of the besiegers. These are
a fortification for souls, secure for those who advance using
them as shields." In Princip. erat V., 138 B-C.
"Let us get together about these matters. Let us pursue
the arts of peace. Let us cease the long war against holiness,
casting aside the sharpened weapons of wickedness, turning our
spears into ploughs and our swords into scythes." Contra Sabel-
104 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
lianos, 190 E. Compare also Hex. 1, 5D; Ps. 1, 90B-C; Ps. 7,
105E; Ps. 14, 109B; De Jejunio 2, 12 A; Quod Mundanis, 170 D.
2. Athletics:
"But I think that the strenuous athletes of god, who have
wrestled valiantly with invisible enemies all their life long,
after they have escaped the pursuit of their enemies, are
examined by the Prince of Time, so that if they are found to
have retained wounds from their struggles, stains, or traces
of sin, they are held back; but if they are found scatheless and
spotless, like invincible and free men, they are carried by Christ
to everlasting peace." Ps. 7, 99B-C.
"Contend fittingly that you maybe crowned." De Jejunio 2, 12 A.
"Let us increase the strength of our souls in order that we
may snatch victory from the passions through fasting and may
be crowned with the crown of abstinence." De Jejunio 2, 12 C-D.
"Look to yourself, athlete, lest you transgress some rule of
athletics. No one is crowned unless he contend according to
the rules. Take Paul as your model in running and wrestling
and boxing; and like a good boxer keep the eyes of your soul
ever on the alert. Protect your vital parts by the address of
your fists. Keep a watchful eye on your opponent. Strain
yourself for the foremost position in the races. Run that you
may win the prize. Wrestle with your invisible enemies."
Attende Tibiipsi, 20 B.
"For a brave athlete, I think, once having stripped for the
stadium of piety, must steadfastly endure the blows of adversa-
ries in the hope of achieving a glorious crown. For those who
are accustomed to the labors of the paelestra do not flinch
from the bitterness of the blows, but grapple with their enemy,
in their anxiety for the herald's pronouncement contemning
their present exertions." De Grat. Act., 2 7 C-D. Compare also
De Jejunio 1, 10 B.
The term "athlete" is applied so often to the martyrs in the
Christian orators of the time that the term is almost a synonym,
for one who has died for the Faith.
Examples:
"Job, that invincible athlete" In Illud Lucae, 43 E; "the
wrestler" InBarlaam, 141 C; "the crowned athlete" InGor-
dium, 148 E.
THE METAPHOR 105
(The Forty Martyrs are speaking.) "As forty we entered this
stadium, as forty let us be crowned." (The stadium in question
is a frozen stream in which the martyrs are being tortured.)
In XL Martyres, 154 A. Compare also Ps. 1, 93 E; Deus non
est auct., 81 E; Advers. Iratos, 88 B; In Princip. Proverb.,
106E-107A; In Grordium, 1456; In XL Martyres, 150D.
3. Metaphors of the hippodrome are neither numerous nor
striking:
In Divites, 55 B a vain wife applies the goads to empty pleasures.
In Princip. Proverb. HOD the Book of Proverbs puts a bridle
on the unjust tongue.
"Are you a young man? Strengthen your youth with the
bridle of baptism." In Sanct. Baptisma, 1170.
"0 beloved, I was thinking that while I apply the goad of my
discourse so frequently, I seem to you harsh" Quod Mundanis,
163 A. Compare also Hex. 4, 35 C; In Sanct. Baptisma, 118 C;
Quod Mundanis, 163 D; Ad Adolescentes, 182 A.
4. The Sea:
"But let us, arising from the deeps, take refuge on the land.
For somehow the marvels of creation, engaging us one after
another, like waves of the sea in continuous procession, have
submerged my discourse." Hex. 7, 69 B.
"Here bringing our discourse to anchor, let us await the
day for the exposition of the rest." Hex. 7, 69 D.
"Like the noble Job, be patient for a space beneath adversity.
Do not avoid the storm nor cast over-board the cargo of virtue
which you are carrying." In Fam. et Siccit, 68 D.
"In prosperity look for the storms of adversity. Disease will
come and poverty will come, for the wind does not always rise
against the stern." In Princip. Proverb., 111C.
"Hold the rudder as firmly as you can. Pilot your eyes lest
sometime a turbulent wave of pleasure wash upon you through
your eyes. Pilot your ear and your tongue lest some harm be-
fall them, lest forbidden things be spoken. Look to it lest the
surges of wrath capsize you, lest fears flood you, lest heavy
grief sink you. The waves are our passions. If you raise your-
self above them, you will be a pilot secure of life. But if you do
not with constant care steer clear of them, like a bark without
ballast, tossed about by the fortunes of life ever on-coming, you
106 THE CATHOLIC UNIVEKSITY OF AMEKICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
will sink in the sea of Sin. Learn, then, how a knowledge of
pilotry will help you. It is the practice of sailors to look up
to heaven and thence take guidance for their course; in the
daytime, from the sun; at night, from the Bear or some other
of the eternal stars, and under the guidance of these, they always
estimate correctly. Do you then look towards heaven. Look to
the sun of justice . . . For if you never sleep over the tiller, as
long as you live in this uncertain state of earthly things, you
will have the aid of the Spirit, who will lead you forward,
transporting you securely with gentle, peaceful breezes until
you are brought safely into that 'serene and tranquil harbor
of the will of God." In Princip. Proverb., 112D-113B.
"Beware lest like things befall you and, in sin too great for
forgiveness, before the harbor of your hope you suffer ship-
wreck." In Sanct. Baptisma, 118 A-B.
u Let him (i. e. the man who clings to earthly things) throw
overboard the most of his tonnage and, before the boat sinks,
let him cast overboard the baggage which he needlessly col-
lected." Quod Mundanis, 168 B-C. Compare also Hex. 3, 31 C;
Ps. 1, 90E; Advers. Iratos, 84D; In Princip. Proverb., HID;
In Princip. erat V., 138D; Quod Mundanis, 170 A; Ad Adoles-
centes, 180 A.
FKEQUENCT or METAPHOR IN THE SEEMONS.
(To which is added a conspectus of the most numerous groups
according to subject-matter.)
1
o
s,
4.
fl i
*0,
4
g
'S
r
^
2
cS
CO
o
Metapho
I
uudant Me
1
Athletic
W
2
CQ
t
c
6
a>
1
r,
'S.
Agricultu
i
I
Luminari
1
12
a
o
O
Personifica
1
"2
02
Hex. 1 (530)
18
1
1
1
5
2 (507)
13
7'
1
1
1
10
3 (565)
14
1
1
4
1
4 (393)
16
3
1
1
7
5 (570)
22
13
1
2
4
6 (746)
24
7
1
13
2
7 (425)
14
4
2
1
1
7
THE METAPHOR
107
Metaphor
Long Metaphor
.Redundant Metaphor
I
Athletic
Hippodrome
g
x
p
o
oc
ao
.2
5
Shepherd
Spiritual Debtors
Agriculture
1
-e
s
cS
1
PH
Luminaries
1
S
H
|
1
<a S
03
P<
Hex. 8 (572)
10
5
2
1
7
9 (507)
12
2
1
1
3
Ps. 1 (449)
26
3 4
2
2
1
1
4
14
7 (541)
10
7
1
1
2
14 (372)
24
1
2
1
1
1
28 (636)
29
4
1
1
1
2
1
3
29 (418)
16
3 !
2
1
1
2
32 (651)
21
i
2
1
5
33 (963)
31
1
4
1
1
1
6
44 (687)
29
5
1
2
1
2
45 (407)
17
3
4
2
1
1
48 (682)
29
1
1
3
1
59 (242)
4
61 (336)
11
2
1M (276)
11
2
2
1
1
De Jejunio 1 (475)
38
2|3
6
3
1
1
1
18
2 (330)
39
4j 5
6
2
1
1
1
4
1
13
Attende Tibiipsi (480)
34
13
1
2
1
1
5
De Grat. Act. <459)
18
1
2
1
4
In Julittam (580)
13
2
1
1
1
I
2
In Illud Lucae (406)
17
2
1
I
6
1
In Divites (601)
19
1
3
1
1
3
8
In Fam. et Siccit. (584)
18
3
5
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
7
Deus non est auct. (598)
9
3
1
1
Advers. Iratos (452)
23
2
3
4
1
1
1
1
7
De Invidia (359)
8
1
2
1
1
1
4
1
InPrincip.Proverb. (895)
28
7
2
1
1
3
3
14
In Sanct. Baptisma (522)
37
3
4
3
4
2
1
3
1
1
2
5
1
In Ebriosos (423)
30
1
2
5
1
1
De Fide (185)
7
2
1
In Princip. erat V. (248)
7
1
3
1
In Barlaam ' (141)
14
3
2
5
2
1
1
In Gordium (425)
28
1
5
1
1
1
In XL Martyres (392)
32
1
5
13
4
1
1
4
De Humilitate (353)
7
2
Quod Mundanis (633)
41
8
5
9
4
3
3
4
1
3
Ad Adolescentes (627)
13
2
2
1
1
2
2
In Mamantem (244)
12
1
1
1
1
5
i
1
1
1
Contra Sabellianos (444) 6
1
2
1
1
I
108 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
1069 metaphors in 46 Fourth- century sermons point to a
frequent but not excessive recurrence to this figure. The 110
long metaphors and the 51 redundant metaphors indicate a
greater predilection for the figure than the total of all the
metaphors indicates, but again not an excessive use of the
device, as that adjective would be understood by the Second
Sophistic. The Sophistic manner is seen more in the develop-
ment of the metaphor than in its frequency. The examples
given show a well-defined tendency toward an elaborate and
meticulous correspondence of the subjects of the comparison,
on rare occasions a bent towards the dramatic, a very great
fondness for the redundant exposition of the fsame thought in
metaphorical variations, 6 an occasional, but only occasional,
use of metaphors excessively long.
One of the noteworthy facts in the above table is the com-
paritive infrequency of the so-called technical metaphors, i. e.
those based on war, the stadium, the hippodrome, the sea, We
have no statistics on the proportionate part these "technical
figures" play in the sophists. We only know that a large part
of the sophistic metaphors may be grouped in subject-matter
under one or another of these four heads. This tells us nothing
about the relative amount of other metaphors in the sophists.
But despite this vagueness, this much may be drawn safely from
the above table that a large part, in fact most, of St. Basil's
metaphors may not be grouped under one or another of these
four heads. Only about one metaphor in every six may be so
grouped. Almost equally striking is the infrequency of meta-
phors based on the hippodrome. To the sophists the hippo-
drome more than any other source furnishes sophistic metaphors.
St. Gregory of Nazianzus 7 is again a sophist in his wealth of such
metaphors, St. John Chrysostom 8 exhibits some very elaborate
examples. St. Basil's use of the hippodrome is never remarkable
and the instances are surprisingly few.
The practical use of the metaphor is seen in the not numerous
but consistent use of personification; the Christian sources, in
the metaphors based on the curing of souls, on a shepherd and
6 51 examples of such a character clearly show this fondness.
. i Guignet, 143.
8 Ameringer, 61.
THE METAPHOR 109
his flock, on spiritual debtors, on w&W None of the above
groups are very numerous and their combined totals are some-
what less than that of the technical figures.
A sophistic influence undoubted in manner can be traced
through St. Basil's metaphors, but the most sophistic examples
found do not equal the elaborateness of some of Meridier's 9 and
Ameringer's 10 discoveries and do not suggest the occasional
bad taste of Nyssa and Chrysostom. The more chastened treat-
ment of Nazianzus at times outstrips the most sophistic efforts
of Basil. 1 1 His most ambitious examples In Princip. Proverb.
112D-113B and Quod Mundanis, 170 B are but further proof
of a general characteristic so often noted in these pages of
a training deeply sophistic breaking through a determined mo-
deration.
9 109, 115.
10 66.
11 cf. Guignet, 155-156.
CHAPTER XII
THE COMPARISON
The comparison, like the metaphor, is an expression of a
resemblance perceived by the writer or speaker between two
objects. It draws largely on the same sources and is subject
to the same rules. A good comparison may be turned into
a metaphor, and a good metaphor may be turned into a com-
parison. Mechanically they differ. A comparison is a meta-
phor completed by a grammatical form that calls attention
to the resemblance. In the metaphor this resemblance is im-
plied. The context must be known before the figure is evident.
In the comparison the word of comparison, usually the intro-
ductory word, warns us of the figure. The real strength of
the metaphor lies in the striking, almost immediate illumination.
If prolonged, it palls. It ceases to be useful and even orna-
mental. The comparison may develop its theme either briefly
or at length. Its illumination may be either immediate or
deliberate. If prolonged, it too becomes wearisome, but it
allows a more elaborate development of its theme because of
the clear-cut, easily grasped mechanics of its make-up.
In Isocrates' time the comparison began to assume a noti-
ceable place in rhetoric, and those conditions in politics and
literature that subsequently fostered the Isocratic tradition
maintained the comparison, especially the elaborate comparison,
in rhetoric. Its poetic kinship, its possibilities for elaborate
display were not lost upon the sophists of the Empire. So
striking a development in frequency and manner did the com-
parison receive in the sophistic schools of the Empire that,
like metaphor, it merits a special chapter in a study of the
rhetoric of either the sophists or their pupils.
THE COMPARISON 111
All the sophistic comparisons may be divided into two main
groups; those borrowed from natural phenomena and those
borrowed from the technical arts. Because of its kinship with
the metaphor we are not surprised to find that the divisions
under these main groups include, among others, the same
sources from which the sophistic metaphors were borrowed;
i. e. military science, the sea, athletic games, the hippodrome.
After taking notice of the comparison used as an introduction
to sermons, we shall pass on to examples of the elaborate
comparison, the redundant comparison, and then observe its
use in the several sophistic categories.
One convention of the sophists was to begin a discourse
occasionally with an elaborate comparison. The display of
skill thus afforded was a kind of "try-out" for both speaker
and auditors. Typical of this convention in the sermons is
the following:
"At the athletic games the spectator himself must join the
efforts of the contestants. This fact one gathers from the laws
of the game which prescribe that all have the head uncovered
when they gather in the stadium. The purpose of this law in
my opinion is to see to it that each one be not a mere spec-
tator of the contending athletes but that he be in a measure
an athlete himself. Thus it is equally necessary that an in-
vestigator of the great and admirable spectacle of creation, a
hearer of supreme and ineffable wisdom, bring a personal light
for the contemplation of the wonders about to be detailed to
you and that he be an ally with me to the utmost of his
powers in this struggle wherein he is not so much judge as
fellow-combatant, for fear lest the discovery of the truth pass
beyond us and my error turn to the common prejudice."
Hex. 6, 49 E. Compare also Hex. 4, 33 A-C; Ps. 14, 107 B; De
Jejunio 2, 10 D; Advers. Iratos, 83A-B; In Ebriosos, 122 D;
In Gordium, 141 D.
The structure of the comparison lends itself more easily
than the metaphor to elaborate development. Basil's elaborate
comparisons are far more numerous and more complex than
his elaborate metaphors. From a great wealth of instances
gathered from every sermon, random examples will illustrate his
facility in justifying his frequently far-fetched resemblances.
112 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OP AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
"For just as a potter, after having made with the same
skill a great number of vessels, has not exhausted his skill
nor his power; so the Artisan of the Universe, whose creative
power is not co-extensive with one world, but extends to the
infinite, through the impulse of his will alone brought the im-
mensities of the visible world into being." Hex. 1, 3 C.
u He (i. e. God) wishes that we be attached to our neigh-
bors by the claspings of love, like the tendrils of the vine,
and that we take our rest on them, so that in our continual
impulses towards heaven we may imitate those vines which
raise themselves to the tops of the tallest trees." Hex. 5, 46 A.
"For just as a ball, when some one has pushed it and it
comes upon an incline, is carried downward both because of
its own form and because of the nature of the ground, not
stopping until it reaches a level surface, so nature, impelled
by one divine command, traverses creation with an equal step,
through birth and destruction, maintaining the successions of
kinds through resemblance, until it arrives at the end of all
things." Hex. 9, 81 A-B.
"Just as the reed is the instrument of writing of the in-
telligent hand moving it to the expression of things written;
so also the tongue of the just man, the Holy Spirit moving
it, writes the words of eternal life upon the hearts of the faith-
ful."-Ps. 44, 161D-E.
"For just as a bowman directs his arrow at the mark, if
on neither side of the mean he follows the art of archery; so
the judge aims at justice, not considering the personality in-
volved, (for it is not well in passing sentence to know per-
sonally the one accused) nor acting on any prejudice, but
layicg down just and straightforward decisions." In Princip.
Proverb., 105D.
"Just as excessive brilliance dims the eyes and just as those
who are startled by a sudden crash are made deaf, so these
(i. e. drunkards) by their excessive indulgence destroy their
pleasure." In Ebriosos, 126 A.
"And just as wicked and avaricious men, whose work and
purpose is to grow wealthy at other men's expense but who are
prevented from using open violence, are accustomed to lie in wait
for their victims on the highways and if they observe in the
THE COMPAEISON 113
neighborhood any spot, either cut-off by deep galleys or shaded
with thick foliage, they betake themselves there and keep tra-
vellers from seeing afar off their hiding-places and then suddenly
rush upon them and thus no traveller can see the meshes of peril
before he falls into them; so he who has been bitter towards us
from the beginning and is our enemy, hiding himself behind the
shadows of this world's pleasures, which are usually well-adapted
for concealing the robber and his attacks on the highway of life,
unexpectedly and of a sudden, throws the meshes of destruction
about us. Therefore, if we wish to run the road of this life in
safety to the end and to offer our soul and body to Christ free
from the wounds of shame, if we wish to receive the crowns
of victory, we must ever be on the alert, training our eyes on
everything. We must suspect all pleasing aspects and straight-
way pass them by and think not of them, not if gold were to
appear on the highway, scattered before us and ready to be
taken up by any one desiring it. (There follow five scriptural
quotations, naming the sources of dangerous pleasure. Then
St. Basil resumes the comparison proper.) For under all these
things lurks our common enemy, waiting to see if, enticed by
appearances, we shall leave the road of righteousness and ap-
proach his traps. And we ought especially to be wary lest,
running upon these heedlessly and thinking that pleasure in
their enjoyment is not harmful, we swallow the hook of guile
concealed in the first tasting and then partly willingly, partly
unwillingly, be dragged by them, even without our perceiving
it, to the dread hospice of the robber-death." Quod Mundanis
163B-164B. The research of the above comparisons, especially
the last example, the far-fetched metaphors, the appeal to the
provinces of war and athletics and fishing, the studied antono-
masia, combine to produce a remarkable exhibition of sophistic
eloquence.
The elaborate comparison is usually met with in examples
which illustrate other characteristics, but the following places
may be consulted for elaborateness alone: Ps. 14, 108 C the
farmer praying for rain and the usurer hoping for the poverty
of his neighbor ; Ps. 14, 112B man with the cholera always
emitting what he has swallowed and promptly eating again,
and debtors running through one loan and seeking another ;
114 THE CATHOLIC UNIVEESITY OF AMEKICA PATKISTIC STUDIES
Ps. 28, 119D-E the cedars of Lebanon prominent on a high
mount and those men who are made prominent through earthly
works alone ; Ps. 32, 139 A-B those who write on wax first
make it smooth, and the heart, before receiving divine rea-
sonings, necessarily cleared of human ; Ps. 33, 149 B fasti-
dious diners, whose appetites are sharpened by an actual trial
of a disdained food, and those who, at first indifferent to the
word of God, long for it more and more, after one experience
of its spiritual joy ; Ps. 33, 157 A bones of the body that
prop up the soft flesh and men strong in the faith propping
up the weak in the church; De Jejunio 2, 12B-C the difference
between the instruments of war and those of faith, and the
difference between the food of the soldiers of this world and
that of the soldiers of Christ.
Redundancy the heaping of figures around one theme is
not so marked in St. Basil's comparisons as in his metaphors.
Most of the examples found were of the two-fold variety and
therefore not particularly striking. No examples were found in
the Hexaemeron.
"Just as the eagle is called aycos because of its distance
from the earth; and the sheep, because of its gentleness and
kindness; and the ram, because of its leadership; and the dove,
because of its innocence, so the hind is called aytos because
of its hostility to what is baneful." Ps. 28, 121 E.
"Just as smoke puts bees to flight and ill smells rout doves, so sin
drives away the angels guardian of our life." Ps. 33, 148 C-D.
"Play your part like a noble athlete who shows his strength
and courage not only in buffeting his adversaries but also in
withstanding the blows inflicted by them in turn; and like a
pilot, who, prudent and undisturbed because of his deep know-
ledge of sailing, keeps his mind straight and safe and above
every peril." In Julittam, 370. "Angry people go mad like
dogs, dart like scorpions, bite like snakes." Advers. Iratos,
83 D. "Just as vultures are attracted toward the stinking,
passing by the sweet fields, and just as flies, passing by clean-
liness, are attracted towards wounds, so the envious look not
on the glorious aspects of life, but concentrate upon the
rotten." De Invidia, 95 B. (describing Barlaam in torture)
"Rejoicing in dangers as if in crowns, pleased with the blows
THE COMPAEISON 115
as if they were honors, leaping with joy at the harsher tortures
as if they were prizes more illustrious, embracing the block of
punishment as if it were a means to safety, thinking the hands
of the executioner softer than wax, rejoicing in the confines of
the prison as if in meadows, gladdened by the instruments of
torture as if by flowers." In Barlaam, 140 A-JB. The extra-
vagance of the above example is also sophistic in the far-fet-
ched appeal to aspects of nature.
For further examples of redundant comparisons compare
Ps. 1, 91 E the foundations of a house, the keel of a ship, the
heart of a person are compared to the prooemium of the psalms;
Ps. 1, 92 A comparison of the inn for the weary traveller,
wealth for the merchant, harvest for the hard-working farmer
with promises of the gospel to those fighting spiritual battles;
Ps. 48, 185 B comparison of the baseness of man to a lust-
mad horse, the thieving wolf, the knavish fox.; In Julittam,
41C-D comparison of the physician who, instead of curing
others, becomes ill himself; of the pilot who, instead of guiding
his ship, himself becomes sea-sick to people who instead of
giving consolation, themselves mourn.
Turning from the methods of development that show sophistic
influence, we may find in the sophistic categories a further in-
dex of the extent of this influence on his comparisons.
THE SUN.
The sun is not a favorite source of sophistic comparisons for
St. Basil. The following are typical instances of its infrequent
occurrence.
"For just as the sun has arisen but not for bats nor other
creatures that feed by night, so the light is in its own nature
radiant, but not all share in its radiance/' Ps. 33, 147 A.
"Just as the sun, shining on bodies and variously shared
by them, is not diminished by those who share it, so the Spirit,
furnishing its own grace to all, remains undiminished and
undivided.' 7 De Fide, 133 B.
"If a man strives to examine the sun closely, he will not see
it. Some such thing I expect my mind to experience, striving
to make an accurate examination of the words, 'In the beginning
was the Word'." In Princip. erat V., 134D.
8*
116 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
THE STABS.
As a source of comparisons, the stars were found only once
in the sermons. "Look to the sun of righteousness and, guided
by the commandments, as if by the stars shining around, keep
your eye sleepless." In Princip. Proverb., 113 A.
THE SEA, EIVEES, NAVIGATION.
The sea has a fascination for St. Basil. Beautiful scenes are
often suggested by his use of this sophistic source. Picturesque
emphasis is also attained.
"And yet our thought, having come in contact with these
innumerable marvels, has utterly forgotten all proportion and
we experience the same fortune as they who navigate the seas
without a fixed point to mark their course and know not how
much space they have traversed." Hex. 7, 690.
"For just as those who are asleep on boats are carried by
the wind towards port straightway and, even if the sleepers do
not perceive it, are being hurried to their journey's end, so
also we, while the time of our life is flowing by, are hurried,
each of us, by a continuous unceasing movement, on an un-
known course, to our life's end." Ps. 1, 940.
"But just as those who stand upon the shore do not loose
their own security while they suffer for those who are drown-
ing, so those who weep over the sins of their neighbors,
destroy their own contentment not at all." De Grat. Act,
28C-D.
"Just as a transit through a rich land is given to a great
river by means of many canals, so are you too, if you allow
your wealth to be split up into countless avenues leading to the
homes of the poor." In Illud Lucae, 48 A.
". . . the mind as if a pilot, seated high above the passions
and mounted on the ship of the flesh." In Princip. Proverb.,
HIE.
"One who has sailed straight in the commerce of the com-
mandments is like a wealthy merchant who, joyful in the abun-
dance of his goods while his ship sails with a favoring wind,
later sails in a sea of terror and his ship is torn to pieces at
the harbor's mouth and he is stripped of all his possessions.
Like such a one is the pious man who, after many labors, has
THE COMPARISON 117
acquired a spiritual treasure and looses it all to one assault
of the devil, drowned in sin, as it were, by an angry hurri-
cane." In Princip. Proverb., 112 C.
Somewhat ludicrous to Western ears is the following ela-
boration:
"For just as mountain-torrents, as long as winter streams
flow into them seem full but when the exundation has passed,
are dry, so the mouths of these drunkards, while the wine forms
a pool, seem full, but soon are dry and without moisture."
In Ebriosos, 126 D-E.
"For just as those on the sea, when they ride between two
anchors, contemn the tempest, so will you laugh at this wicked
storm (which has struck the life of man with blasts of infamy
and which disturbs the faith of many), if in the security of these
words you keep your soul in harbor." In Princip. eratV., 136 A-B.
"But the just man (i. e. Job) like a promontory stood, ac-
cepting the buffets of the storm and changing into foam the
force of the waves, and he cried out to the Lord that gracious
sentence, 'The Lord has given, the Lord has taken away. As
the Lord wills it, so let it be'." Quod Mundanis, 171 C.
Compare also Hex. 4, 39 D-E comparison of the assembly
of the church in which Basil is preaching to the ocean; Hex. 4,
39 E comparison of the voices of men to waves beating on
the shore; Ps. 33, 149 E comparison of the uncertainties of
wealth to the uncertainties of the waves whipped by the winds;
Ps. 61, 198 A comparison of the flux of wealth to the flow of a
swift torrent; De Jejunio 1, 3 D-E comparison of a heavily-
fed body to an over-crowded ship; Attende Tibiipsi, 16D com-
parison of the carriage of thought by speech to transportation
on a ferry-boat; In Divites, 55 D comparison of the action of
a storm on sail-ropes to the results of the captious ways of
wives upon their husbands; In Princip. erat V., 136 E com-
parison of the heart of man to a fountain.
AGRICULTURE, GARDENING.
"Let no one who has passed his time in sin despair of
himself when he recalls that if husbandry changes the juices
of plants, the efforts of the soul towards virtue can conquor
all infirmities." Hex. 5, 46 E.
118 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
"As mildew is the disease of grain, so envy is the disease
of friendship." De Invidia, 940.
"Just as the virtue proper to the tree is to blossom with
the season's fruit and just as the tree bears a decoration of
leaves that wave around the branches, so preeminently the fruit
of the soul is truth." Ad Adolescentes, 175 B-C. Compare also
In Illud Lucae, 45 D the benefits of sown grain for the sower
are compared to those of alms-giving for the giver; In Fam.
et Siccit., 69 E comparison of eyes lying glassy in their sockets
to fruit frozen in the sheaths of hard-shelled coverings.
ANIMALS.
Animals are not a favorite standard of comparison in the
sermons.
"How have not they who give themselves over to empty
wisdom the eyes of owls. For the sight of the owl, so piercing
during the night time, is dazzled by the shining sun and the
intelligence of these men is sharpest in the contemplation of
vanities, but is blinded in trying to perceive true light."-
Hex. 8, 77 D.
"As a dog follows a shepherd, so wrath follows a reasonable
man." Advers. Iratos, 88 D.
"Why do you shrink from the yoke of baptism like a young
calf unused to the yoke of the stable?" In Sanct. Baptisma,
114D.
"Just as the polypod, they say, adapts its coat to the color
of the surrounding earth, so the popularity-seeker tunes his
opinions to the thought of those around him." Ad Adoles-
centes, 184 A.
Compare also Hex. 9, 87 E enraged Jews are compared
to animals vainly raging in their cages; Ps. 33, 155 E com-
parison of those hurled to earth by sin to crawling serpents;
Ps. 48, 186 B comparison of a fallen man snatched away by
the devil to a sheep without a shepherd; De Invidia, 91 C
comparison of envy destroying the soul to vipers who tear
their mother on being born; In Princip. Proverb., 103 E
comparison of a deceiving hypocrite to a deceitful fox, hares,
and dogs.
THE COMPARISON 119
FlKE.
Figures based on fire are very few in the sermons despite
the obvious opportunity for rhetorical pyrotechnics that would
thus be afforded. This category is almost negligible in the
sermons.
"Pain tries the soul as fire does gold." In Fam. et Siccit.,
67 E. Compare Ps. 7, 1 05 D comparison of fire created for
burning wood to arrows of God created for souls spiritually
burning.
CLOUDS.
The clouds form another insignificant category in the sermons.
"Just as a cloud becomes a shower of rain, so the vapor,
gathering (about the eye), becomes a tear." De Grat. Act.,
29D-E. d
"Sadness, like a heavy cloud, enveloped everything.' 7 In
Gordium, 144A.
WAE.
Metaphors drawn from war are more numerous in the ser-
mons than comparisons derived from that source. Not an
example was found in the Hexaemeron. The examples are
mostly commonplace.
"Just as men thrown about the walls of a city insure pro-
tection on every side against the enemy, so the angel fortifies
your soul in front and in the rear, and on neither side leaves
it unguarded." Ps. 33, 148E.
"For just as a general equipped with a strong force of
soldiers is always ready to go to the aid of any part of his
army hard-pressed, so God is our helper. He is the ally of
any one fighting against the cunning of the devil, dispatching
ministering spirits for the security of those needing them."
Ps. 45, 171D-E.
"Just as in a battle to join one portion of the line makes
another portion weaker, so a man who allies himself with the
flesh destroys the spirit, and he who crosses over to the spirit
reduces the flesh to servitude." De Jejunio 1, 8B.
"For just as arrows hurled with great force are turned back
upon the thrower when they hit a hard substance, so the mo-
tions of jealousy, in no wise hurting the object of jealousy,
become plagues to the envious." De Invidia, 94 D.
120 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
"Our soul's wrath is fit and useful for many works of virtue,
when, like a soldier, having deposited its arms with its com-
mander, it brings aid to whatsoever it is commanded, and is
an ally to reason against sin." Advers. Iratos, 88 C.
Compare also Ps. 7, 104 C a psalmist is compared to a
warrior seeking help; Ps. 28, 116 C the Lord and the devil
alternately victorious compared to two generals alternately
victors; Ps. 45, 170D a troubled soul rushing to God for con-
solation compared to a man rushing to a high-walled place for
safety; Advers. Iratos, 850 insults are compared to falling
arrows; In Princip. Proverb., 1080 words of scripture likened
to armor for life's struggles; In Ebriosos, 1280 drunken youths
are likened to a man wounded in war.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
Scarcely more fruitful than fire, animals, and clouds as a source
of comparisons are musical instruments. In Hex. 9, 86 D the
sting of a scorpion is likened to that of a hollow flute, and
in Ps. 29, 130E occurs: "The flute is a musical instrument
employing wind as its co-worker in the production of melody.
Wherefore I think that every holy prophet may be figuratively
styled a flute, because of the movement of the Holy Spirit
within him." This amazing comparison depends upon a pun
contained in the double meaning of irvev^an. As such it is an
excellent example of sophistic extravagance despite biblical
parallels.
PAINTING AND SCULPTURE.
Painting and Sculpture are a category dear to the sophists.
Six examples were found in the sermons. "And somehow we
seem to resemble painters. For they, whenever they copy one
painting from another, probably fall far short of the original
and, since we did not see the events which we are about to
narrate, there is not a little danger lest we fall short of the
truth." In Gordium, 143 B. "He who conforms by his actions
to the philosophy that in other men exists in words only, alone is
wise. Other men are truly gliding shadows. And this to me
seems somewhat as if a painter had represented his subject
as a marvel of manly beauty and he then proved to be in rea-
lity what the artist had painted him on the canvas." Ad
THE COMPARISON 121
Adolescentes, 178 B-C. "And Milo was not wrenched from
his anointed shield but stood his ground no less valiantly than
statues mortised in lead." Ad Adolescentes, 180 B. Compare
also De Invidia, 95 C envious people and their outlook on life
are compared to wretched painters, who, from the distorted
aspects of nature, gather the forms for their pictures; In
XL Martyres, 149 D Basil's manner of describing the mar-
tyrdom of the Forty is compared to the tale told by a picture;
Ad Adolescentes, 179A Socrates, in writing a sentence on
the forehead of the man who is buffetting him, is likened to
an artist putting an inscription on a statue. Although few in
number, the unjustified resemblances above invoked reveal a
significant trace of sophistic rhetoric.
THE DRAMA.
The drama contributes to four of St. Basil's comparisons.
"An actor is one who assumes in the theater a personality
differing from his own: if he is a slave, oft-times taking the
part of the master; if a private citizen, assuming the role of
the king. And so in this life as on the stage, most men play
the actor, bearing one sort of standards in their hearts and
exhibiting another sort to their fellows." De Jejunio 1, 2D.
"And just as peculiar are the conventions and trappings of
tragedy wherewith men invest the theater, so you think that
mourning too has a proper mode." De Grat. Act., 31 A.
"The angry man shows his wrath in his altered appearance,
changing his customary demeanor like an actor on the stage."
Advers. Iratos, 840.
"For to praise virtue in the assembly and to stretch out
long orations about her, but in private life to prefer indul-
gence to self-denial and gainfulness to justice, I would liken
to those who enact dramas on the stage; who often enter as
kings and rulers, although they are neither kings nor rulers
nor perhaps free men even." Ad Adolescentes, 178C.
ATHLETICS.
Again from the province of athletics St. Basil has no com-
parisons in the Hexaemeron and very few examples elsewhere.
Of their sophistic quality, however, there can be no doubt.
122 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
"No boxer so eagerly avoids the blows of his opponent as
the debtor avoids meeting his creditor." Ps. 14, 111C-D.
"For in reality, afflictions like certain kinds of athletic nourish-
ment and exercises, are for those well-prepared and instructed,
and they lead the athlete toward ancestral glory." Ps. 33, 143 E
to 144 A.
"He who says that tribulation does not befit a just man says
nothing else than that an antagonist is not a proper object for
an athlete." Ps. 33, 156 A-B.
"The leaders of this age . . . were disturbed at the fortitude
of Christ, which he displayed in his struggle on the cross
against him who has command over death. For stripped like a
noble athlete, he over-came the magistracies and authorities."
Ps. 45, 172E.
"Perceiving himself, like an athlete, sufficiently excercised and
anointed for the contest by fastings, vigils, prayers, continuous
and unceasing meditations on the oracles of the Holy Spirit,
he waited for that day when the whole city, about to celebrate
the feast of the war-god and witness chariot-races, gathered in
the theater." In Gordium, 144D-E.
"Just as those in the stadium who are approaching for the
contest proclaim their names and forthwith advance to the
place of conflict, so too these, casting aside the names assig-
ned to them from their nativity, each named himself after the
name of the our common savior." In XL Martyres, 151 A.
Compare also Ps. 29, 125 D-E God lifting up a sinner is
likened to a man saving a wrestler about to fall; De Grat.
Act., 27 C a veteran athlete closing bravely with his anta-
gonist and a zealous Christian cheerfully enduring hardships
are compared.
CHARIOT RACES.
Chariot races are almost negligible as a source of com-
parisons in St. Basil's sermons. In Ad Adolescentes, 182 D a
man given over to his pleasures is likened to a charioteer
dragged off by his unrestrained horses. This was the only
figure found bearing directly on the subject of chariot races.
That so popular a category receives such scant treatment
from St. Basil is remarkable.
Beyond the sophistic categories there are other groups of
THE COMPARISON 123
comparisons numerous enough to call for some attention. Most
of what follows is probably to be traced to Christian in-
fluences.
MEDICINE AND DISEASE.
A small number of examples were found outside the Hexae-
meron.
"Just as if a physician coming to those who are ill, instead
of restoring them to health, should take away the feeble
traces of their strength, so you too (i. e. the usurer) would
make the mishaps of the wretched an occasion of gain."
Ps. 14, 108 B-C.
"Just as a physician is a benefactor, even if he creates pains
or labors in his patient, (for he is fighting the disease and not
the patient) so God is good, achieving the safety of all of us
through particular punishments." Deus non est auct., 74 D.
"Just as in the precepts of physicians, whenever they are
formulated accurately and in accordance with the rules of the
art, their utility is demonstrated through experience, so in
spiritual exhortations, when the warnings have results bearing
testimony to their truth, then their wisdom and usefulness for
correcting and perfecting the lives of the faithful are revealed."
Advers. Iratos, 83A-B.
"Perhaps just as in pestilential diseases the guardians of
bodies fortify those who are well with certain preventatives
but do not place their hands on those overcome by the disease,
so this sermon will be useful for some of you as a safeguard
and antidote for the spiritually sound, but not a relief for
those spiritually sick." In Ebriosos, 124 A-B. Compare also
Ps. 32, 135 A God's attitude toward sinners is compared to
a physician trying to reduce a patient's swelling by gentle
treatments and finally applying the knife; Deus non est auct.,
80 E habits begun in evil generating evil in our souls are
compared to breath gradually inhaled producing a lurking
disease; In Ebriosos, 126 C-D comparison of drunkards to
those suffering from phrenitis.
HIGHWAYS.
"We are forgetful like travellers who, unmindful of some
important object, are obliged, though far on their journey, to
124 THE CATHOLIC UNIVEESITY OF AMEEICA PATKISTIC STUDIES
retrace their steps, punished for their negligence by the labor
of the return."(St. Basil has forgotten part of his theme) Hex. 8,
72 A. Compare also In Julittam, 38D-E the goal of married
life is compared to the goal of a journey; Quod Mundanis,
164 B-C the efforts of Christians on the road of this life are
compared to travellers girding themselves for the journey and
reducing their baggage as much as possible.
MISCELLANEOUS.
"Just as one who knows not a town is taken by the hand
and led through it, thus I am going to lead you, as strangers r
through the mysterious wonders of this great city of the uni-
verse." Hex. 6, SOB.
"For just as the bodily vestment is woven of warp and weft,
so if good deeds follow exhortations, a most reverent garment
is woven for the soul of him whose life is filled with virtuous
words and deeds." Ps. 44, 168 D-E.
"For just as in the case of our bodily eyes great distances
cloud the comprehension of those objects that fall within the
eye's scope, but the approach of the observers makes clear
the recognition of the objects of observation, so in the mind's
contemplation, he who does not join himself through good works
to God nor approach Him, cannot perceive His works with the
pure eyes of the intellect." Ps. 45, 175 A.
"For just as a shadow follows the body, so does sin follow
the soul." In Divites, 58 C.
"Let the passions be ashamed before your reason, even
as mischievous boys before venerable men." Advers. Iratos,
88 B.
"Just as small boys who are negligent in their studies be-
come more attentive after they have been flogged by their
teacher, and just as they do not hear the instruction before the
flogging but after it receive and remember instruction as if their
ears had been opened, so those who neglect divine doctrine
also spurn divine precepts." In Princip. Proverb., 101 D-E.
FREQUENCY or COMPARISON IN THE SERMONS
(to which is added a classification according to subject-
matter of the categories most frequently represented).
THE COMPARISON
125
Short Comparison
1
60
1
Redundant Comparison j
02
72
rt
0)
CQ
Agriculture
Animals |
2
S
| Clouds ||
1
Musical Instruments 1
J
ac
_B
"H
1
rt
Athletics
Chariot Races
Medicine
Highways
Hex. 1 (530)
8
2
1
*
1
2 (507)
6
1
3 (565)
8
1
1
4 (393)
4
4
2
1
5 (570)
9
3
1
4
6 (746)
7
4
1
1
7 (425)
8
3
1
5
1
2
8 (572)
8
5
4
1
9 (507)
8
8
3
4
1
Ps. 1 (449)
4
5
2
1
2
1
1
7 (541)
8
4
1
2
2
14 (372)
10
9
7
2
1
28 (636)
5
4
1
1
1
2
1
29 (418)
1
6
1
1
1
1
1
32 (651)
9
3
1
2
1
1
33 (963)
15
11
1
2
1
4
1
3
1
44 (687)
4
3
1
45 (407)
5
4
1
5
1
48 (682)
4
1
4
59 (242)
1
2
61 (336)
5
1
1
2
1
1
n H4 (276)
1
1
1
1
De Jejunio 1 (475)
16
5
3
1
2
1
1
1
2 (330)
10
3
1
4
2
Attends Tibiipsi (480)
12
4
3
4
1
2
De Grat. Act. (459)
15
6
2
1
1
1
1
1
In Julittam (580)
2
5
2
1
1
1
1
In Illud Lucae (406)
5
5
4
1
2
1
In Divites (601)
9
3
1
3
1
In Fam. et Siccit. (584)
19
4
1
3
1
3
1
1
Deus non est auct. (598)
5
5
1
1
1
4
Advers. Iratos (452)
27
5
1
6
8
2
4
1
2
De Invidia (359)
11
2
1
4
2
1
2
1
1
InPrincip.Proverb. (895)
28
8
1
14
2
1
1
In Sanct. Baptisma (522)
4
7
2
3
1
In Ebriosos (423)
19
8
8
1
4
1
2
De Fide (185)
5
2
1
1
1
1
In Princip. erat V. (248)
5
4
1
2
2
2
2
In Barlaam (141)
4
1
126 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
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c
13
"
1
QQ
1
1
S
3
^
i
a
_"c
'3
1
I
.2
1
|
w
S
'C
p
5
In Gordium (425)
12
3
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
In XL Martyres (392)
11
2
1
1
4
1
1
De Humilitate (353)
7
1
Quod Mundanis (633)
9
5
4
1
1
1
1
i
3
Ad Adolescentes (627)
28
6
2
5
3
6
1
3
1
1
1
1
In Mamantem (244)
2i
1
1
Contra Sabellianos (444)
8 !
On the three counts of abundance, variety, and elaborateness
St. Basil reveals his sophistic training. While 582 examples
constitute a moderate use of the figure, this conclusion is chan-
ged somewhat by the facts that the distribution of the com-
parisons is very uneven, as a glance at the table shows, and
that the long, elaborate comparisons are almost one-third of the
total. The prominence of the long comparison is not surprising
in view of the untrammeled development which the figure allows.
The insignificant number of redundant comparisons is an un-
looked-for result. This very sophistic trait is less pronounced
here than in his use of the metaphor. St. Basil is more emphati-
cally sophistic in the variety of his figures. While not all nor
nearly all of his comparisons fall under the conventional cate-
gories, a majority of them do (about three-fifths). In any case
St. Basil's themes are not taken from a great variety of sub-
jects. In both of these facts he resembles, only to a lesser
degree, the sophists and his Christian contemporaries. It is
in the elaboration of his comparisons that St. Basil comes
closest to the sophists. The studied correspondence of details;
the frequently unjustified resemblances; the pictures of beauti-
ful or stirring scenes included or suggested by the comparisons,
particularly those based on the sea; the comparison used as an
introduction to sermons some of these are evident in every
type of sermon and in almost every theme that invoked the figure.
But not even so may St. Basil be called excessive in his use
of the figure. The Hexaemeron exhibits a great scarcity of
THE COMPAEISON 127
comparisons clearly sophistic. The homilies on the psalms are
more prolific, but 65 examples are not many in so ample a
space of text. Two-thirds of the sophistic comparisons are to
be found in the last 24 homilies. In many sermons, therefore,
St. Basil is rather indifferent to the conventional forms. More-
over, unlike Gregory of Nyssa *, Gregory of Nazianzus, 2 or John
Chrysostom 3 St. Basil's comparisons, so far as I have observed,
rarely exist entirely for themselves. They may be developed to
unnecessary lengths; they may be far-fetched, bizarre, puerile;
the resemblance asserted may be entirely unwarranted, the
element of display may be only too obvious, but behind even
the most studied and unjustified of them, the didactic purpose
is evident. The love of display does not obscure the longing
to instruct forcefully and picturesquely. A thorough sophist in
his materials and in his use of them, St. Basil turns his pagan
resources to Christian purposes. This purpose may be discerned
even in his most astonishing comparisons. His sophistic training
had been too thorough for him to perceive clearly the boundaries
of propriety and it confined him too closely to its deeply groo-
ved conventions for him to seek elsewhere often the illumination
necessary for presenting a theme. But not even this close re-
lationship leads him into that consistent extravagance that is
summed up in the word "excessive".
1 Meridier, 188.
2 Guignet, 186.
s Ameringer 85.
CHAPTER XIII
ECPHRASIS 1
In many metaphors and comparisons presented in the pre-
ceding chapters, the very categories to which they belong sug-
gest, however remotely, a picture. War, the sea, the race-
course, the highway, the arts, all contain materials capable
of graphic development. In the more ambitious attempts of
Basil, especially in his figures drawn from the sea, a picture
is presented to the mind the lofty promontory turning the
anger of the sea into whitest foam, the endless succession of
waves sweeping over the beach, the struggle of a ship in a
storm. The vividness, the studied amassing of details, which
the sophistic training fostered in metaphors and comparisons,
inevitably produced graphic descriptions in orators keenly re-
sponsive to pagan standards. This love for the picturesque
which the later rhetoric carried to such extremes was not
satisfied by even so untrammeled a figure as the sophistic
comparison. Accordingly it developed a new device, described
at length in the rhetoricians and receiving its name from them. 2
The ecphrasis aimed to portray a proper object in such ela-
borate and forceful detail that a vivid picture resulted in the
minds of the audience. Such a picture might have little to
do with the development of the subject under discussion, for
the audiences of the Fourth Century loved ecphrasis for its
own sake. A sophist, therefore, on a very thin pretense, fre-
quently turned aside from the main current of his theme to
paint a word-picture drawn from some one of the categories
established for the device by convention. These included various
1 Selections from the Hexaemeron in this chapter are taken from
Jackson's translation.
2 cf. Rhetores Graeci III, 491-3.
ECPHRASIS 129
aspects of nature as seen in the sea, mountains, meadows, caves,
seasons, birds, animals, distant prospects, rivers, vineyards, the
human body; various works of art such as paintings, monuments,
temples, statues, gardens, feasts. Almost all of these categories
are found in one or another of the Fathers of the Fourth Cen-
tury. 3 But in St. Gregory of Nazianzus and in St. John Chry-
sostom and, to a less extent, in St. Gregory of Nyssa the pro-
vince of ecphrasis is enlarged. Like much else in the pagan
heritage, it becomes ancillary to Christian projects. Biblical
scenes, the sufferings of the martyrs, the grandeur of creation,
descriptions of churches objects whose forceful presentation
calls forth feelings of reverence and pious enthusiasm are
added to the well-worn themes of paganism.
St. Basil acknowledges the utility of the ecphrasis in the
introductory sentences of his panegyric on the Forty Martyrs. 4
"Come let us recall thus publicly the deeds of these men and
confer the benefits to be derived from them on those here
present by describing their courageous exploits, as if in a
picture. Orators and painters describe great deeds of war;
the one group setting them forth in words, the other depicting
them on canvasses, and both groups incite many men to
courage. For what the word of narrative gives us through
the ear, the silent painting tells us through imitation. Thus
let us recall to the audience the prowess of these men and in
causing their deeds to pass before the eyes of the spectators ?
so to speak, let us move the nobler souls, those more akin to
the martyrs, to emulation." This utility we expect to find
illustrated frequently in St. Basil. What is the manner of his
ecphrasis and what proportion do the edifying or instructive
ecphrases of Christianity bear to those peculiarly pagan?
DESCRIPTIONS or PERSONS. -
The sophists delighted in ecphrases of physical beauty, es-
pecially of young men and young women carried off by death.
The details of such descriptions are always the same. The
person described is merely an occasion for indulging in some
3 cf. Delahaye, 214; Meridier, 141; Guignet, 189; Ameringer, 86-87.
4 149D-150A.
9
130 THE CATHOLIC UNIVEESITY OF AMEKICA PATKISTIC STUDIES
readily recognized commonplaces, extravagant and full of false
pathos. Ecphrases of persons are relatively rare in the Fathers. 5
Earthly beauty thus idealized is not in harmony with Christian
thought. The pages of Basil's sermons yield no examples re-
vealing the genuine sophistic spirit. The ecphrasis of St. Gor-
dius, as he burst in upon the amphitheater, and of a human,
body suffering from the famine in Cappadocia are his only
descriptions of persons, and the latter is a type rather than
an individual. Both descriptions are ugly. Neither approaches
remotely the true sophistic manner.
"Famine drys up the natural moisture, it chills the natural
heat, it reduces the body's bulk. It wears away its strength.
The flesh is stretched over the bones like a spider's web. The
color is gone. The red is gone, since the blood has wasted
away. The white does not remain, since the surface of the
body is blackened in its thinness. Livid is the body, its pallor
and blackness commingled from disease. The knees no longer
carry, but are themselves dragged along and with difficulty.
The voice is thin and feeble; the eyes are glassy in their
sockets, to no purpose stored up in their cases like fruits frozen
in their skins." In Fam. et Siccit., 69D-E.
"Straightway the theater turned upon this unlocked for
spectacle: a man savage in appearance; his head squalid through
his prolonged sojourn in the mountains; his beard long; his
clothing slovenly; his whole body become a skeleton. He car-
ried a staff and was equipped with a pouch. To all these
parts there clung a spirituality, illuminating his person from
an unseen source." In Gordium, 145 B-C.
THE SEA.
The sea, which played so prominently and vividly in St. Basil's
metaphors and comparisons, is also represented in a few ec-
phrases and suggestions of that device. The first of the fol-
lowing is a mere suggestion.
"Thus we often see the furious sea raising mighty waves to
heaven, and, when once it has touched the shore, break its
impetuosity in foam and retire." Hex. 4, 35 B. A poetic
Delahaye, 214.
ECPHRASIS I 1
quality characterizes the following ecphrasis in the same
sermon.
"A fair sight is the sea, all bright in a settled calm; fair
too, when ruffled by a light breeze of wind, its surface shows
tints of purple and azure, when, instead of lashing with violence
the neighboring shores, it seems to kiss them with peaceful
caresses." Hex. 4, 38 D-E. In the following argumentative pas-
sage is a brief but vivid picture. "If, from the top of a com-
manding rock looking over the wide sea, you cast your eyes over
the vast expanse, how big the greatest islands appear to you?
How large did one of those barks of great tonnage, which un-
furl their white sails to the blue sea, appear to you?" Hex.
6, 59 C. A brief suggestion of the sea's changing moods is
held out by the following parenthesis. "For you behold the
sea, now calm and still, after a space stirred up by violent
winds, and even while it rages and tosses about, a deep calm
quickly spreads over it." In Princip. Proverb., 111B, These
are the utmost that the sermons of Basil yield in descriptions
of the sea. The best example is very brief, but enough is
revealed in the above quotations to show Basil's graphic skill,
to give a hint of what might have been if he had chosen to
indulge his known predilection for maritime scenery.
WAE.
The category of war gives one brief hint of ecphrasis:
"Imagine, I pray you, a city engaged by besieging enemies.
Many nations are now investing her, and kings who divide by
lot the sceptres of nations. Then a general, invincible in
resources, suddenly appears bearing aid to this city. He breaks
up the siege. He scatters the assembly of the nations. He
puts the kings to flight by merely crying out on them with all
his might. He terrifies their hearts by the strength of his
voice. What confusion does he certainly stir up, with the
nations pursued and the kings in headlong flight? What an
unceasing noise and uproar rolls up the disorder of their
retreat? Are not all places choked up with those who
flee through fear? Even to the cities and villages, which on
every side receive them, the commotion spreads." Ps. 45,
174 C-D.
9*
132 THE CATHOLIC UNIVEKSITY OF AMEEICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
VABIOUS ASPECTS or NATUBE AND THE UNIVEESE.
A touch of ecphrasis is seen in the following sweeping view
of creation: "Shall we not rather stand around the vast and
varied workshop of divine creation and, carried hack in mind
to the times of old, shall we not view all the order of creation?
Heaven poised like a dome, to quote the words of the prophet;
earth, this immense mass which rests upon itself, and the air
around it, of a soft and fluid nature, a true and continual
nourishment for all who breathe it, of such tenuity that it
yields and opens at the least movement of the hody, opposing
no resistance to our motions, while, in a moment, it streams
back to its place behind those who cleave it; water, finally
that supplies drink for man or may be designed for other
needs, and the marvellous gathering together of it into definite
places which have been assigned to it: such is the spectacle
which the words just read will show you." Hex. 4, 33 C-D.
Here was an opportunity for a gorgeous ecphrasis, wherein
sophistic display and Christian reverence for the handiwork
of God could blend readily. St. Basil gives us only a sketch.
A like splendid prospect merely outlined by St. Basil is his
brief description of the concourse of heaven at the conclusion
of In Sanct. Baptisma, 122 C: "There the unnumbered host
of the angels, the assemblies of the first-born, the thrones of
the apostles, the seats of the prophets, the sceptres of the
patriarchs, the crowns of the martyrs, the praises of the just."
A nearer approach to the sophistic ecphrasis is the brief
and vivid description of the earth's first harvest before the
Fall of Man, Hex. 5, 44 C-D: "In a moment earth began by
germination to obey the laws of the creator, completed every
stage of growth, and brought germs to perfection. The mea-
dows were covered with deep grass, the fertile plains quivered
with harvests and the movement of the corn was like the
waving of the sea. Every plant, every herb, the smallest shrub,
the least vegetable, arose from the earth in all its luxuriance."
Less effective but equally capable of sophistic treatment is
the account of the growth of fruit at the words of the Creator.
"Immediately the tops of the mountains were covered with
foliage; paradises were artfully laid out, and an infinitude of
ECPHEASIS 133
plants embellished the banks of the rivers. Some were for
the adornment of man's table; some to nourish animals with
their fruits and their leaves; some to provide medical help by
giving us their sap, their juice, their chips, their bark, or fruit."
Hex. 5, 48 E. Still another index of St. Basil's possibilities
with the same theme is the following brief outline of natural
beauties:
"For the proper and natural adornment of the earth is its
completion: corn waving in the valleys meadows green with
grass and rich with many coloured flowers fertile glades and
hill-tops shaded by forests." Hex. 2, 15B. Of similar themes,
whose possibilities St. Basil seems to appreciate, but leaves un-
developed, may be mentioned: flex. 2, 19 A -of light as it first
flashed through the universe; Hex. 3, 27 E- 28 B the rivers of
the earth; Hex. 5, 44E-45A the first development of flowers,
trees, plants; Hex. 6, 50 B stars of the night and light by day;
Hex. 6, 50 E the sun; Hex. 9, 82 E oxen in their stalls; De
Fide 131 C-E grand prospect of the earth.
The foregoing exhaust the categories of ecphrasis purely
pagan. St. Basil shows an indifference to them that is remark-
able even for one of his restrained nature. Of aspects of
nature favored by the sophists such as caves, seasons, birds,
animals, rivers, vineyards; of works of arts such as paintings,
monuments, temples, statues, gardens, we are given not a taste,
although many of the first group lay directly in the path of
his sermon's development and any of the second group could
readily have been incorporated in that loose arrangement of
subject-matter permitted in the conventions of Second Sophistic
rhetoric. In the sophistic categories used by him, how frequently
I have mentioned sketches and hints rather than ecphrasis
proper! When we consider the unlimited opportunities for the
device offered by the Hexaemeron's theme, alike from the stand-
point of sophistic love of grand prospects and that of the
Christian's admiration for the story of the Creation, St. Basil's
reticence stands out uniquely among his contemporaries. 6 The
ecphrases and hints of ecphrasis found in the above examples
e Meridier, 142-144; 147-150; Guignet, 188-191; 192-193; 195-196; Ame-
ringer, 87-91; 94-96.
134 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMEEICA PATRISTIC STUDI
testify unmistakably to descriptive powers of a high order.
That St. Basil did not employ them amid such rich opportu-
nities farther re-inforces that characteristic of restraint which
this study has thus far found to be the chief trait of his St. Basil's
rhetoric.
Turning to fields not strictly pagan, we strike a richer vein.
The examples found here roughly divide into descriptions of
victims of vice, descriptions of repugnance or terror, and the
struggles of the martyrs. All have to do with the office of
preaching and St. Basil acknowledges the efficacy of vivid por-
trayals 7 as a stimulus to the emulation of noble deeds. How
far does the sophistic manner contribute to such vividness in
his sermons?
VICTIMS or VICE.
Two men are thus described in a passage devoted to the
exposition of the uncertainties of material prosperity, 8 in Hex.
5, 41D-42A. "Truly the rapid flow of life, the short grati-
fication and pleasure that an instant of happiness gives a
man, all wonderfully suit the comparison of the prophet. To-
day he is vigorous in body, fattened by luxury, and in the
prime of life, with complexion fair like the flowers, strong and
powerful and of irresistable energy; to-morrow and he will be
an object of pity, withered by age or exhausted by sickness.
Another shines in all the splendor of a brilliant fortune, and
around him are a multitude of flatterers, an escort of false
friends on the track of his good graces; a crowd of kinsfolk,
but no true kin; a swarm of servants who crowd after him
to provide for his food and for all his needs; and in his
comings and goings this innumerable suite, which he drags
after him, excites the envy of all whom he meets. To fortune
may be added power in the state, honours bestowed by the
imperial throne, the government of a province, or the command
of armies; a herald who precedes him is crying in a loud
voice; lictors right and left also fill his subjects with awe,
blows, confiscations, banishments, imprisonments, and all the
7 cf. p. 145 above.
s The first description bears traces of the ecphrasis of person. It is
included here because of its didactic purpose.
ECPHRASIS 135
means by which he strikes intolerable terror into all whom he
has to rule. And what then? One night, a fever, a pleurisy,
an inflammation of the lungs, snatches away this man from
the midst of men, stripped in a moment of all his stage ac-
cessories, and all this, his glory, is proved a mere dream."-
A gambling den is thus sketched for the audience in Hex. 8,
79C-D. "If I let you go and if I dismiss this assembly, some
will run to the dice, where they will find bad language, sad
quarrels, and the pangs of avarice. There stands the devil, in-
flaming the fury of the players with the dotted bones; trans-
porting the same sums of money from one side of the table to
the other; now exalting one with victory and throwing the
other into despair; now swelling the first with boasting and
covering his rival with confusion." The picture is effective but
is more a flash-light a theme suggested, but not executed.
The appearance of a man in a revengeful rage is thus por-
trayed in Advers. Iratos, 84C-E. "For in the hearts of those
longing for revenge the blood boils about as if stirred up and
made to splutter by a violent fire. Wrath is seen in the altered
appearance of the blushing countenance, the accustomed cast
so familiar to all changing like the face of an actor. The eyes
lose their natural and better-known expression. Their glance
is frenzied and they flash fire. The teeth are whetted in the
manner of swine closing for a struggle. The face is livid and
blood-red; the body is swollen, the veins burst from the spirit
of the internal tempest. The voice is harsh and strained to the
uttermost. The speech is inarticulate, tumbling out rashly,
coming forth without sequence, without order, unintelligibly.
But when this wrath has been aroused to a desperate pass by
torments that resemble a flame [feeding on an abundance of
wood, then, you may behold sights neither to be told in words
nor to be borne in the doing: hands raised against one's neigh-
bor and brought on all parts of the body; feet kicking the
vital parts unsparingly; in short whatever is in sight becomes
a weapon for insane rage". In De Jejunio 1, 90 the angry
man is again described: "He is not master of himself. He
does not know himself. He does not know those around him.
He attacks every one, just as in a brawl at night he falls upon
and strikes everyone in his path. He cries out rashly. He
136 THE CATHOLIC UNIVEKS1TY OP AMEKICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
cannot control himself. He reviles, he abuses, he threatens, he
curses, he shouts, he bursts." -
The evils of usury are thus held up to his hearers in Ps. 14,
HOD: "The man in debt is both poverty-stricken and af-
flicted with many worries. He is sleepless by night, sleepless
by day. At all times he is pre-occupied. Now he appraises his
own property; now sumptuous homes, the fields of wealthy men,
the garments of those whom he meets, the table-ware of diners.
4 If these were mine 7 , he says, 'I should sell them for so much
and I should pay that interest.' Such thoughts besiege his heart
by night and engage his thoughts by day. If you were to knock
at his door, the debtor would get under the bed. Some one
runs swiftly towards him and his heart palpitates. If a dog
barks, he is bathed in sweat in his anguish, and looks where
he may flee. As the day of reckoning approaches he wonders
what lie he shall tell; what excuse he may fashion to hold off
his creditor." In Ps. 14, 107D-108B is a detailed description
of a usurer and his victim. "But Greed beholds Want before
his knees beseeching him, what abject act not doing, what
abject word not saying. He does not pity him for his undeser-
ved ill-fortune. He does not take his nature into account. He
is not moved by prayers. He stands unbent and unsoftened,
conceding nothing to his request, unmoved by his tears, per-
sistently refusing him, swearing and taking oath that he is him-
self without money and that he too is looking for a money-
lender. Thus sealing his lie with oaths, he gains perjury as
the profit of his inhumanity. But when Poverty mentions
interest and names sureties, then letting down his eyebrows,
Greed recalls his friendship with Poverty's father and calls
Poverty too his friend, and says, 'Let's see if I have any money
laid up anywhere. Yes. A friend of mine has given me a sum
of money as a working capital. He demanded heavy interest
for it but I shall at all events part with some of it, loaning
it to you at less interest'. Inventing such lies and fawning upon
him with such words and enticing wretched Poverty, he binds
him down with mortgages, and after thus adding slavery to his
pressing circumstances, he departs." There are touches of
ecphrasis in the foregoing, but very little of the sophistic manner
which the character of the subject treated allows.
ECPHEASIS 137
More vivid is the following picture of abandoned women at
the festival commemorating the Resurrection: "Unchaste wo-
men, losing their fear of God, contemning eternal fire on that
very day when in memory of the Resurrection they ought to
stay at home and bethink themselves of that time day when the
heavens shall be opened and the judge from heaven shall appear
and the trumpets of God and the resurrection of the dead and
the just judgment and the awarding to every man in accord-
ance with his works instead of pondering on such themes
and cleansing their hearts of wicked thoughts and washing
away their sins in tears and preparing themselves to meet
Christ on the great day of his coming, instead of all these,
they shake off the yoke of Christ's service, they cast from their
heads the veils of decorum. They spurn His messengers. They,
put to shame every man's glance, shaking their heads, letting
their tunics trail, making lascivious motions with their feet to
the accompaniment of wanton glances and bursts of laughter.
In their mad dancing they draw all the licentiousness of youth
to their persons. In the shrines of the martyrs, before the
city's gates, they establish their choruses and make of holy
places a brothel for their shamelessness. They defile the earth
with their libidinous feet, they sully the air with their licentious
songs. They gather about them as an audience a throng of
youths. Thus truly insolent and beside themselves, they ne-
glect no excess of madness." In Ebriosos, 123 A-C.
The following description of a bankrupt father is largely
prosopopoiia and is counted as such under that figure in this
study, but it is also a striking instance of the indistinct line that
oft-times separates the two devices. "Gold's fair gleam too
much delights you (i. e. the avaricious man). You do not think
upon the great and many cries of the needy man that follows
at your back. How may I place before your eyes this man's
sad plight? He looks at his household resources. He perceives
that now has he no gold and that he cannot acquire any.
Clothing and raiment he has, but all told it is worth only a
few obols. What then? At length he turns his eyes upon his
children. How putting them up for sale in the market, may
he find relief from threatening death? Behold the battle that
then took place between pressing hunger and a father's love.
138 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
Starvation promises a death most cruel but nature stays his
resolution and persuades him to die with his children. After
many advances and many withdrawals, at length he gives in,
forced hy necessity and implacable want. But what thoughts
course through that father's mind? 'Whom shall I sell first?
Which one will delight the merchant's eye? Shall I have re-
course to the eldest? But I am ashamed before his years. Shall
it better be the youngest? But I pity his youth that knows
not yet adversity. The latter is the very image of his parents;
the former is most apt in his studies. Alas for my resource-
lessness! Whither shall I turn? Which of them shall I take?
What manner of beast shall I become? How can I forget my
nature? If I spare them all, I shall see them all wasted away
with hunger. If I sell one of them, how shall I dare look
upon the rest, I, who am already suspected by them of be-
traying them? How shall I dwell in my house, that am the
author of its childlessness? How shall I approach the table
whose abundance has such a cause'?" In Illtid Lucae,46C-47A.
SCENES OP REPUGNANCE OB TEEEOE.
The description of the famine and drought in Cappadocia
is an effective ecphrasis, despite the fact that its details are
personally known to the audience.
"We see the heavens hard, naked, cloudless, producing a
calm that is hateful and harmful in its clarity. This we longed
for once, when the heavens over- cast with clouds made us sun-
less and sad. But the earth now utterly parched is an ugly
sight for the eye, sterile and unproductive for farming and
receiving the shining rays into its very depths. The wealthy
and perennial fountains have abandoned us and the streams
of great rivers have been consumed. The smallest children
crawl in them and pregnant women cross them. Drinking-
water has failed many of us and we are in want. We are
the new Isrealites seeking a new Moses and his marvelous
staff, that the stricken rocks may minister to the needs of a
thirsty people and that the mysterious clouds may shower down
manna, a strange food for men. Farmers brood over their
fields; hold their knees with their hands (such is the attitude
of those in anguish); weep for their own vain labors; gaze upon
ECPHEASIS 139
their infant children, mourning; look earnestly at their wives,
lamenting. They feel and touch their dried-up produce; and
wail like those who have been bereft of sons in the flower of
their age." In Fam. et Siccit, 62D-63C.
The appearance of habitual drunkards is thus described in
In Ebriosos, 1250:
"Their eyes are livid, their skin sallow, their breathing checked,
the tongue hanging, they give out an indistinct noise. Their feet
are unsteady like those of children. They belch out their ex-
cesses as involuntarily as lifeless things." In Ebriosos, 127 D
to 128 B, a drunken orgy is described in great detail.
The death-bed scenes of a duped rich man is thus depicted
in In Divites, 60D-E:
"Why await that hour when you will no longer be master
of your faculties. Black night and mortal sickness come then
and nowhere is there any one to help you. But he (heir) stands
ready and waiting for your estate, managing all things to his
own advantage and leaving unfulfilled your wishes. Then gazing
hither and thither, and beholding the loneliness that besets
you, you will come to know your madness. You will mourn
your folly in that you have delayed until now when your tongue
is dumb and your tremulous hand is helpless with involuntary
contractions, so that neither with voice nor writing may you
signify your intentions." The death of one unbaptized is thus
held up to the audience in In Sanct. Baptisma, 121 C-D: "Be-
ware lest unexpectedly you come to that day when the re-
sources of life will fail you and on every side will be helplessness
and affliction above all relief, your physicians despairing, your
neighbors despairing. Oppressed by pantings close and hard,
a violent fever burning and consuming your internal parts, you
will groan out of the depths of your heart but you will find
no one to sympathize. You will speak a thin and feeble some-
thing, but there will be no one to hear you. Everything you
say will be put down to delirium. Who will give you baptism
then? Who will remind you, stupefied with suffering? Your re-
latives loose heart. Strangers make little of your illness. Your
friend shrinks from reminding for fear of disturbing you. Your
physician deceives you and you yourself do not despair because
of your natural love of life. Night comes and there is no one
140 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
to help you. There is no one to baptize you. Death stands near.
They hasten to carry you off."
The judgment-court of God and the horrors of Hell are thus
depicted in Ps. 33, 151 D-E:
"Whenever you feel yourself drawn to some sin; imagine to
yourself that horrible and unendurable court of Christ, where
the judge sits upon a high and lofty throne, and all creation
stands trembling before his splendid personality. We are about
to be led forward one by one to an examination of our lives.
For him that has done much wickedness fearful and gloomy
angels wait, glancing fire, breathing fire in the bitterness of
their purpose, with countenances like the night in their dark
hostility to man. Picture to yourself a deep pit and impene-
trable darkness and a black fire that burns in darkness and
gives no illumination. Imagine a tribe of worms poisonous and
carnivorous, eating insatiably and never filled, inflicting un-
endurable agony in their devourings. Then picture the hea-
viest punishment of all, the eternal disgrace and shame." Com-
pare also In Divites, 58 C. After-death and Hell is further
described in In Sanct. Baptisma, 121E-122B. "For destruction
will suddenly be upon you and ruin, like a hurricane, will
be at hand. A sable angel will come, dragging you off vio-
lently and drawing your soul thus bound to your sins and
frequently turning towards whatever is at hand and groaning
without a voice, the organ of your lamentations having been
sealed. 0! how will you rend yourself! How will you groan!
Futile will be your laments for your plans, when you behold
the joy of the just in the brilliant array of their rewards and
the dejection of sinners in the deepest darkness. What will
you then say in the agony of your heart? 'Ah, me, that I did
not cast aside this heavy load of sin, when to lose it was so
easy; that instead I have drawn to me this train of evils. Now
would I be with the angels, now would I enjoy the delights of
heaven. 0! my wicked counsels. Because of the fleeting joys
of sin I am to be tortured forever; because of the pleasures
of the flesh I am given over to eternal fire. Just is the sen-
tence of God. I was called and I did not hearken. I was
told and I gave no heed. They begged me earnestly and I
laughed at them'."
ECPHEASIS 141
The panegyrics on martyrs developed into a distinct literary
type during the Fourth century. The cause for which the mar-
tyrs died had finally triumphed and the anniversary of a mar-
tyr's death thus became an occasion for expressing this triumph
in a solemn, official manner. One phase of this thanksgiving
was an eloquent discourse on the martyr's exploits. The character
of the sufferings of the martyrs, the edification of the faithful
that would result from a forceful presentation of their exploits,
the sophistic education of many of the orators called into play,
and for useful purposes, the sophistic ecphrasis.
In St. Basil ecphrases on the martyrs and other early
Christians occur in the following places: In Julittam, 34C-E;
In Barlaam, 139B-140D; In Gordium. 143D-144C; In Gor-
dium, 144E-148E; In XL Martyres, 150C-155A; Quod Mun-
danis, 171A-173A.
The longest and most vivid of the above group are the ec-
phrases on the Forty Martyrs and on Gordius, respectively.
We shall take the latter as an example.
"When therefore all the people had been collected into that
high place, not a Jew was absent, not a Greek. Moreover a
great multitude of Christians had joined with them, men who
were living carelessly and sat with the council of vanity and
did not decline the companionship of the wicked nor to watch
fast horses and skilled charioteers. Even masters had dismis-
sed their slaves and children were running from their studies
to behold the games and even women of the lower classes were
present. The stadium was now filled and all were intent on
watching the races.
"Then that noble man, great of soul and great of purpose,
came down from the mountains on high. He did not tear the
populace. He did not reckon against how many adversaries
he was pitting himself, but with a bold heart and a lofty spirit
he strode by those seated in the theater as if they had been
so many rocks and trees, and stopped in the center of the
stadium, confirming thus that statement that a just man is as
bold as a lion. And of so bold a spirit was he that in that
exposed place in the theater, with stout courage, he cried out
that sentence which some men still living remember to have
heard. 'I was inquired of by them that asked not for me. I am
142 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMEEICA PATEISTIC STUDIES
found of them that sought me not.' With these words he signi-
fied that he had not been dragged by force to dangers, but
that voluntarily he offered himself for the battle in imitation
of his master, who, when he was least of all visible in the sha-
dows of the night, gave himself up to the Jews.
"Immediately the whole theater turned to this unusual sight:
a man wild in appearance, because of his prolonged stay in the
mountains, his head squalid, his beard long, his clothes soiled,
his whole body withered away. He carried a staff and was
equipped with a pouch. About all his person there clung a
grace inspired by an unseen source. But as soon as he was
recognized, a confused clamor arose from the multitude, the
friends of the Faith applauding for joy, the enemies of truth
calling on the judge for the death penalty and condemning him
beforehand to death. The whole region was filled with the
clamor and tumult. The horses were ignored. The chariots were
ignored. The display of the chariots became a meaningless
uproar. No man's eyes saw ought but Gordius. No ear would
hear ought but his words. And a murmuring, indistinct like a
breeze, spread through all the theater and quelled the noise
of the race.
"Now when silence had been proclaimed by the heralds and
the flutes were hushed and instruments of many tones were
quiet, Gordius was heard, Gordius was seen. And straightway
he was taken before the governor who was seated there presid-
ing over the games. In mild and gentle tones the governor
asked him who he was and whence he came. When he had
told his country, his race, the rank which he enjoyed, the cause
of his flight, his return, he continued, 'I am here in contempt
of your decrees and to show openly by my deeds my faith in
God in whom I trust. I have heard that you excel many men
in brutality. Wherefore I have chosen this occasion for the
fulfillment of my vow.' At these words the wrath of the governor
flamed up like fire and all his latent spleen was poured on
Gordius. 'Get the executioners,' he cried. 'Where are the blades?
Where the whips? Let him be stretched upon the wheel. Let
him be wrenched in the equulus. Bring forth the tortures, wild
beasts, fire, sword, the cross. Let a pit be dug. What will the
knave gain, having only once to die?' 'What do I loose,' Gordius
ECPHRASIS 143
quickly responded, 'unable to die many times for Christ?' The
governor, beyond his savage nature, was still more enraged at
beholding the dignity of the man whose great sublimity of soul
he thought a reflection on himself. And the more he beheld his
intrepid spirit, the more enraged he became and the more eager
to overcome his fortitude by thoughts of tortures. But Gordius r
looking up to God, calmed his soul in the words of the holy
psalms, 'The Lord is on my side, I will not fear what man
may do to me, 7 'I will fear no evil for thou art with me', and
in like sayings which he had learned from the Holy Scriptures,
calculated to awaken fortitude. He was so far from giving in
to threats or terror that he even summoned the punishments
to his person. 'Why do you. delay?,' he asked. 'Why do you
stand there? Let my body be mangled, let my limbs be twisted,
let them endure whatsoever you will. Do not begrudge me this
blessed aspiration. The greater the torments, the greater reward
you will gain for me. This is my covenant with the Lord. In
place of bruises standing out on my body, a radiant garment
will blossom at my resurrection; in place of ignominy, crowns;
instead of prison, paradise; instead of condemnation with crimi-
nals, fellowship with angels. Sow generously in me that the
harvest may be the richer.'
"Since they could not win him over through fear, they changed
their tact to flattery. This is the method of the devil. He
frightens the timid; he softens the courageous. Such tactics
that wicked governor now used. When he saw that he would
not yield to his threats, he tried to win him with deceit and
blandishments. Some gifts he offered him on the spot, others
he promised would be forthcoming from the king; a high com-
mission in the army, a large income, whatsoever he wished.
"But when he failed in this attempt too (for the blessed man,
on hearing his promises, laughed at his folly that he should
think himself able to offer anything comparable to the kingdom
of heaven) then his wrath broke all bounds and he whipped
out his sword and stood by the executioner. By hand and tongue
soiling himself with murder, he condemned that blessed man to
death. Then the whole theater passed over to that spot and
all the inhabitants who had tarried in the city poured out be-
fore the walls to view that great struggle a sight admired of
144 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMEKICA PATKISTIC STUDIES
angels and all creation but distressing to the devil and wicked
spirits. The city was emptied of its inhabitants and, like a river,
the multitude flowed ceaselessly to that spot. Not a woman
wished to be absent from that spectacle, not a man, eminent
or obscure, was absent. The guards left their garrisons; wares
were left scattered around the market-place; all property had
one garrison and surety the fact that all alike had gone forth.
Not even a criminal was left in the city. Slaves left the tasks
of their masters. Foreigners and natives alike went forth to
gaze upon Gordius. Virgins dared the gaze of men; the old
and the sickly, doing violence to their weakness, went out
beyond the walls. Friends standing about that blessed man,
now hastening through death to Life, with many laments were
embracing him and giving him a last farewell and, bathing
him in hot tears, were begging him not to give himself over
to the fire, not to throw away his young years, not to leave
this sweet earth. Others, with persuasive counsels, tried to mis-
lead him. 'Deny God with your lips alone. Cherish your faith,
as you will, in your heart. God does not look to the tongue
but to the heart of the speaker. Thus you will be able to
appease the governor and God.*
"But he remained inflexible and unmoved, invulnerable to
every assault of temptation. (There follows a long speech in
which Gordius bids them weep not for him but for the enemies
of Christ; regrets that he can die once only for Christ; pro-
fesses his emulation of the centurion Cornelius, and, in a series
of questions and answers, shows the advantages of martyrdom
superior to recantation.) After he had spoken thus and signed
himself with the sign of the cross, he advanced to the block,
his color changing not a whit, his countenance not losing its
eagerness. His attitude was not that of one going to meet the
executioner, but of one about to give himself into the hands
of angels who, taking up his body, would transfer him like
Lazarus to a life of blessedness. Who will describe the cry of
that multitude? What thunder ever sent forth such a sound
from the clouds as then from those below went up to heaven?' 7
The ecphrasis on Gordius and that on the Forty Martyrs
are the high-water mark of St. Basil's use of the device. There
are many conventional points in the martyrdom of Gordius
ECPHRASIS 145
described above. The incidents are obviously not entirely
historical. The defiance, the mental struggle, the conflict with
the governor, the amazingly long speech just before the exe-
cution are clearly commonplaces filled in by St. Basil for the
edification of the multitude. And yet there were old men present
who could have told St. Basil from personal observation some
facts about the martyrdom that would have added a certain
freshness to his narrative, whatever might thus have been lost
of sophistic brilliance. That despite this fact St. Basil follows
the fashion is a significant commentary on the strength of the
sophistic tradition in him 9 . But even so this ecphrasis is not
excessively sophistic. Basil has a good opportunity in the actual
death of Gordius to paint a bloody scene. He barely suggests
the execution in strange contrast to the dramatic details pre-
ceding and following the event.
St. Basil's use of ecphrasis is sophistic in manner, but not
extremely so. Unlike St. Gregory of Nyssa, who included most
of the categories found in the Progymnasmata, 10 St. Basil is
very indifferent to the conventional themes. St. Gregory of
Nazianzus and St. John Chrysostom are more restrained than
St. Gregory of Nyssa, but Chrysostom can wax redundant over
a scene of torture * * and Nazianzus can break off his discourse
to describe the dance of the Menads. 12 St. Basil exhibits
descriptive powers of the highest order, but they are always
at the service of his preacher's purpose. The element of dis-
play is subordinated in him as it is not always in Nazianzus and
Chrysostom. St. Basil's use of ecphrasis is consistent with his
use of devices less peculiarly sophistic. He uses it liberally
and skilfully, but for serious purposes and, considering the
taste of the times, with restraint.
Delahaye, 224.
10 Meridier, 141.
11 Delahaye, 218.
12 Or. IIP. G. 36, p.
10
CHAPTER XIV
CONCLUSION
In common with his Christian contemporaries 1 St. Basil
emphatically proclaims his complete divorce from that pagan
culture which engaged his student years. From his sermons
alone can be culled enough statements to present the appearance
of an unvarying attitude.
In Hex. 6, 51 C he stops in the midst of a difficult piece
of exegesis to deliver himself of this parenthesis: "Now do
not laugh at the homeliness of my diction, for we do not
approve of your high-spun phrases and care not a jot for your
harmonious arrangements. Our writers do not waste their time
in polishing periods. We prefer clarity of expression to mere
euphony." In discussing the intellectual pursuits of the time
and their efficacy for salvation, after protesting against the
study of geometry and astrology to the exclusion of religious
education, he has this to say of what was largely his own
curriculum in his youth: "But poetry and rhetoric and the
invention of sophisms engage the energies of many men, and
the materials of these pursuits are a tissue of unrealities, for
neither may poetry be developed without fables, Dor rhetoric
without the art of speaking, nor sophistry without sophisms."
In Princip. Proverb., 102 C. That he could thus baldly place
the art of speaking by the side of fables and sophisms is a
valuable index of opinion in Christian circles. Compare also
in the same sermon 103 C-D and 103 E. Speaking on the
attainment of humility in De Humilitate 162 A, St. Basil thus
mentions artistic speech among the pursuits to be avoided:
"Do not, I pray you, display sophistic vanities in your speech."
Meridier, 58-68; Guignet, 43-70; Ameringer, 20-28.
CONCLUSION 147
The pagan encomium was a literary type fast and fixed.
The rhetorician Menander in his Tlepl ri8ei/m/c<oi/ 2 describes it
in detail. In his panegyrics on the martyrs St. Basil makes
several references to the laws of the encomium. In In Gor-
dium, 142D-143A he expresses himself thus frankly on the
utility of some of its commonplaces: "The school of God does
not recognize the laws of the encomium, but holds that a mere
telling of the martyr's deeds is a sufficient praise for the saints
and sufficient inspiration for those who are struggling towards
virtue. For it is the fixed habit of encomia to search out
the history of the native city, to find out the family exploits,
and to relate the education of the subject of the encomium,
but it is our custom to pass over in silence such details and
to compose the encomium of each martyr from those facts
which have a bearing on his martyrdom. How could I be an
object of more reverence or be more illustrious from the fact
that my native city once upon a time endured great and heavy
battles and after routing her enemies erected famous trophies?
What if she is so happily located that in summer and winter
her climate is pleasant? If she is the mother of heroes and
is capable of supporting cattle, what gain are these to me?
In her herds of horses she surpasses all lands under the sun.
How may these facts improve us in manly virtue ? If we talk
about the peaks of near by mountains, how they out top
the clouds and reach the farthest stretches of the air, shall
we deceive ourselves into thinking that drawing praise from
these facts, we give praise to men? Of all things it is most
absurd that when the just despise the whole world, we cele-
brate their praises from those things which they contemned."
Compare also In XL Martyres, 150 A. In In Mamantem,
185 D he again discusses encomia in no uncertain terms:
"The true encomium of a martyr is his wealth of spiritual
graces. We cannot adorn his memory with the ways of pagan
encomia. We cannot discuss his parents and ancestors. For
it is a shameful thing to adorn with other ornaments him
whose chief adornment was his own virtue."
Statements so positive bespeak an uncompromising opposition
Spengel, III, 368-377.
10*
148 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
to paganism in all its works and pomps. As to the pomps St.
Basil was not entirely successful. It is worth noting for instance
that in the very first of the above declarations, i. e. in Hex. 6,
510, St. Basil registers his protest in a carefully constructed
chiasmus. In In XL Martyres 150 B, almost immediately after
emancipating Christian panegyrics from "slavishly following the
laws of the encomium," he touches upon two of its rmroi in a
figurative way, those of 71-0X1? and yevos, while the descriptions
of martyrdoms found in his panegyrics are but another TOTTOS
of the conventional encomium. Here and there in the sermons,
moreover, are to be found figures and devices whose rarity and
isolation only re-inforce their glaring sophistic character. I
refer to the excessive elaborateness in structure, the astounding
paradox, the atrocious pun, the far-fetched metaphor that one
occasionally finds in his pages. They are exceptional in their
class but they too demonstrate Basil's want of success in at-
taining that complete divorce from pagan rhetoric whereat he
professed to aim.
The testimony of every chapter, however, is uniform in calling
St. Basil restrained. In Figures of Redundancy there is a
tendency towards turgescence but not an excessive tendency;
of Figures of Repetition he gives us a few elaborate examples
of a device otherwise restrained and never very numerous in
his sermons; of Figures of Sound he is surprisingly sparing in
both number and quality; Figures of Vivacity and Court-room
Devices are considerable in number but restrained in character,
a restraint emphasized by a few striking exceptions. In those
Minor Figures especially characteristic of the Second Sophi-
stic antimetathesis, antonomasia, hyperbole, paradox, hendia-
dys, hyperbaton the sophistic quality is very palpable, but the
recurrences to these devices singularly rare. Figures of Paral-
lelism are frequently found, examples clearly showing St. Basil's
easy mastery of these devices, but not in the numbers to be
expected in a product of the Sophistic. In antithesis, at least,
he is very restrained; in homoioteleuton, remarkably so. There
occur at great intervals prolonged examples of rhetorical
questions, asyndeton, polysyndeton, metaphors, comparisons all
of them showing what St. Basil could have done, had he been
so minded. Distinguishing for the moment the inflexible forms
CONCLUSION 149
of the sophistic rhetoric from their manner of development,
we perceive that in the metaphor, comparison, and ecphrasis
St. Basil cared little for conventional sophistic themes, but that
he gives ample proof of a sophistic manner in developing the
figures, being most sophistic in non-sophistic categories. This
sophistic manner is most palpable in metaphors and comparisons,
prosopopoiia and ecphrasis in the meticulous correspondences
worked out in the first two and the dramatic development of
the second. But even here the preacher's purpose largely
accounts for the sophistic quality. St. Basil must drive home
his points with all the resources at his command and these
resources were sophistic, acquired in the school-days at
Nicomedia, Caesarea, and Athens.
Compared with the two Gregories and Chrysostom, St. Basil,
so far as we may judge from his sermons,' 1 is the least sophistic
of them all. On the grounds of frequency of figures the judgment
is not in every case certain, but on the grounds of quality, from
the most basic minor figures to ecphrasis, St. Basil is less ex-
cessive, less extravagant than they and he follows to a far less
degree the conventional sophistic . themes. Moreover, display
is never the chief motive of any figure. And many of St. Basil's
figures occur so rarely relative to the text that in the light
of only general statements on the sophists of the epoch we are
enabled on the grounds of frequency too to pronounce him
moderate on the whole.
If Basil is so restrained among a people who loved rhetorical
excess, how are we to account for his reputation as an orator
in his own time? His serious purpose is probably the answer.
A pagan sophist kept ever trying to out do himself and other
sophists in progressive extravagance simply because there was
nothing else for him to do. He had no new materials. There-
fore, to maintain his reputation and retain his audience, he
must rely on rhetorical ingenuity. The Christian religion, and
particularly the theological battles of the Fourth Century, eli-
minated the necessity for such measures to a large extent. A
vigorous personality, thoroughly trained and with important
themes, did not need to resort to the excesses of the sophists
to make and preserve a reputation.
Towards the conclusion of Quod Mundanis, 170 C to be
150 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY QF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
precise, occurs a splendid opportunity for one who was only
a sophist. Basil has just referred to a fire in a near by
church. Here is an opportunity for a gorgeous ecphrasis
on the fire, but Basil passes by, contenting himself with
an elaborate metaphor, sophistic in manner, to be sure, but
Christian in purpose. The opportunities for display and extra-
vagance that the wide range of the sermons afford and his
almost complete renunciation of such occasions, the sophistic
manner most appearing when ancillary to the preacher's office,
the undoubted quality of his purely sophistic departures compel
us to concede to him a large measure of success in realizing
an objective whose complete realization was impossible, a larger
success, in fact, than can be granted the Gregories and Chry-
sostom. His serious purpose in all devices could well be sum-
med up by his attitude toward the use of allegory in Hex. 9,
80B-C: "I know the laws of allegory, though not from my
own works but from the works of others. Some preachers do
not concede the common sense of the Scriptures. They will
not call water water, but some other nature. They interpret a
plant or fish as their fancy wishes. They change the nature
of reptiles and wild beasts to fit them in their allegories, like
those who explain phenomena that appear in dreams to suit
their own ends. When I hear the word grass, I understand
that grass is meant. Plant, fish, wild beast, domestic animal
I take all in a literal sense. 'For I am not ashamed of the
Gospel V
This serious purpose in contact with pagan excesses was be-
trayed in the heat and sweep of delivery into statements that
of themselves admit of no compromise. Is not St. Basil more
just to the pagans and to his own use of their devices in his
sermons when he says of their culture in the excellent and
dispassionate essay, Ad Adolescentes, 175B-C, "The fruit of
the soul is pre-eminently truth, yet to clothe it with external
wisdom is not without merit, giving a kind of foliage and
covering for the fruit and an aspect by no means ugly?"
Abbreviations, xvi.
Adjective Substantive Abstract, 24;
description of, 66; use of in the
sermons, 67.
Aelius Aristides, 17.
Aeschines, 4.
Agatharchides of Alexandria, 11.
Alexander, 5; 7.
Alexander, Bishop, 72.
Alexandria, 10; 13.
Alexandrian Age, 5; 9; 10; 15.
Alexandrianism, 13.
Alexandrian Poetry, 13; 18; research
in, 16; 18.
Alexandrian Poets, 18.
Alliteration, 22; 42.
Ameringer, ix; x; 109.
Anadiplosis, 21 ; in the sermons, 32.
Anastrophe, 21; in the sermons, 35;
38.
Andocides, 4.
Antimetathesis, 24; description of,
74; in the sermons, 74.
Antioch, 19; Council of, 19.
Antiphon, 4.
Antistrophe, 21; in the sermons, 35;
38.
Antithesis ; care needed in treatment
of, xi; 77; 80; symmetry and, 81;
explanation of, 88; in the ser-
mons, 89; 93.
Antithesis, Chiastic, 77.
Antonines, the, 14.
Antonomasia, 24; 65; description
of, 72; in the sermons, 73.
dpxouoi, ol, 11.
Aristides, 70.
Aristophanes, 18.
Aristotle, 6; on antithesis, 88.
Arius 72.
Arsis and Thesis, xi; 21; 29; 30.
Asia Minor, parade-speech of, 17.
Asianism, 6; 6-10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 16.
Asiatics, 11.
Assonance, 22; in the sermons, 42.
Asyndeton, 22; description of, 44;
in the sermons, 44-47; 49; 63;
148.
Athens, 14; Periclean, 15; 23; Uni-
versity of, 19; Basil at, 75; Fifth
Century, 80.
Atticism, 10-12; 13; 14; 15; 16.
Augustus, 12.
Basil, St., 18; 19; 20; his anti-
thesis compared to that of Nazi-
anzus and Chrysostom, 89; so-
phistic manner of in metaphors,
102; sophistic subject-matter of his
metaphors in, 108; the sea and,
116; acknowledges utility of ec-
phrasis, 129; indifference of to pa-
gan ecphrasis, 133; protests of
against pagan culture, 146; on
encomia, 147; inconsistencies of
in very declarations against pagan
culture, 148; restraint of, 148;
i Ordinarily reference is made neither to examples of a figure nor to its
frequency. Tnese regularly follow the "explanation of" or "description of".
152 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
comparison of to the Gregories
and Chrysostom, 149; his re-
putation as an orator, 149; his
renunciations of occasions for dis-
play, 150; his serious purpose seen
in his attitude towards allegory,
150; his opinion of the value of
pagan culture, 150.
Benedictine edition, ix; why used,
xiii.
Berytos, 19.
Bessieres, ix.
Bibliography, Select, v-vii.
Byzantine Literature, 13.
Byzantium, 19.
Butin, Romanus, acknowledgment
to, xiii.
Caesarea, 75; 149.
Chiasmus, 77; 91; explanation of,
91; in the sermons, 93.
Chiasmus, Antithetical, 92; ex-
planation of, 92; in the sermons,
93.
Chronological Table, xiv-xv.
Chrysostom, Dio, 17.
Chrysostom, St. John, ix; x; 18;
19; Figures of Sound in, 43; hy-
perbole in, 72; antithesis in, 89;
metaphor in, 98; 102; metaphors
of hippodrome in, 108; 127; ec-
phrasis in, 145; compared to St.
Basil, 149; 150.
Cicero, 8.
Climax, in the sermons, 21; 36.
Comparison, 78; explanation of, 110;
contrasted with metaphor, 110 ;
division of, 111; sophistic cate-
gories of, 111; comparison of
to St. Basil's metaphors, 111; in
the sermons, 124 ff.; 128; 149.
Comparison, Long., 78-79; 113 if.;
126.
Comparison, Redundant, 79; 114 ff;
126.
Composition, Figures of, in time of
the Empire, 55.
Constantine, 17; 19.
Corax, 2.
Court-room, Devices of, why inclu-
ded, xii; 20; 23.
Declamation, Oratory of, 4; 6.
1 Deferrari, studies of text of letters
of St. Basil x; acknowledgment to,
xiii.
Demetrius, 81.
Demetrius of Phaleron, 5 ; 10.
Demosthenes, 4; 6; 9; 11; Philip-
pics of, 17; anadiplosis and, 32;
anastrophe and, 35; monotony of
parallelism and, 82.
Dialectic, why omitted, xiii.
Dialektikon, 23; description of,
61; in the sermons, 61-62; 63.
Diaporesis, 23; description of, 56;
in the sermons 56; 63.
Diatribe, 5, 6.
Dinarchus, 5.
Dion of Prusa, isocolon in, 81 ; anti-
thesis, 89.
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 7.
Early Greece, literature of, 13.
Ecphrasis, prosopopoiia and, 58;
60; 76; 79; explanation of, 128;
categories of, 128-129; of persons,
129 ; non-pagan varieties of, 134 ff.,
use of in the sermons, 144-145.
Elegiac poetry, 1.
Ennius, 14.
Epanaphora, 21 ; 32 ; in the sermons,
33; 38.
Epanaphora, Sentence, 33; Clause,
33.
Ephesus, 10; 12.
Epideictic Oratory, 4; of Asia, 14.
Epidiorthosis, 23; description of, 56;
in the sermons, 57; 63.
Eratosthenes, 17.
Eunapius, 17,
Eusebius, Life of Constantine of, 72.
Exclamatio, 22; description of, 52;
in the sermons, 52.
INDEX
153
s, a topic of encomia, 148.
Gordianus iii, 17.
Gordius, Martyrdom of, 141-144.
Gorgias, 2; 4; 6; 7; 9; 11; 19; 25;
excess of sound figures in, 43;
80; 82; antithesis and, 88.
Gorgianic Figures, and paronomasia,
39; variations of, 76; 80 ff.,; in the
sermons, 93-95; in Libanius and
Himerius, 94.
Greece, 14; subjugated, 17.
Greek Novels, 18.
Gregories, the, x; 18; 102; com-
pared to St. Basil, 149, 150.
Gregory of Nazianzus St., ix; 19;
Figures of Sound in, 43; hyper-
bole in, 72; antithesis and, 89;
chiasmus in, 91; metaphor in,
98; metaphors of the hippo-
drome in, 108 ; his metaphor
compared to St. Basil's, 109;
127; new use of ecphrasis in,
129; use of ecphrasis in, 145.
Gregory of Nyssa, ix; 19; Figures
of Sound in, 43; hyperbole in, 72;
antithesis and, 89; metaphor in, 98 ;
127; new use of ecphrasis in, 129;
ecphrasis in, 145.
Guignet, ix; isocolon and, 81; ob-
jection to use of statistics, ix-x.
Hadrian, 14; 17.
Hecataeus, 12.
Hegesias of Magnesia, 7.
Hellenist, of Second Century, 17.
Hendiadys, 24; 65; description of, 66;
in the sermons, 66.
Heraclitus, 80.
Hermogenes, on antistrophe, 35; on
hyperbole, 69; his praise of De-
mosthenes, 82.
Herodes Atticus, 17.
Herodotus, 12; 17.
Hexaemeron, sparsity of sophistic
comparisons in, 126.
Himerius, 18; 19; 70; antithesis in,
89; chiasmus in, 91.
Hippias, 9.
Hippodrome, indifference of St. Basil
to, 108.
Homer, 32; 35.
Homeric Poems, 1.
Homilies, on the Martyrs, 58; on the
Psalms, 58; prosopopoiia in, 58.
Homoioteleuton, 77; 80; symme-
try and, 81 ; explanation of, 87-88 ;
in the sermons, 88.
Hyperbaton, 24; 65; description of,
65; in the sermons, 65-66.
Hyperbole, 24; 69; description of,
69; in the sermons, 70-71.
Hyperides, 4.
Hypophora, 24; description of, 62;
63.
Hypostrophe, 23; description of, 54;
in the sermons, 54.
Iambic poetry, 1.
lonians, 2.
Irony, 23; in the sermons, 55 ; 63.
Isaeus, 4; anastrophe and, 35.
Isocolon, 76; explanation of, 81; in
the sermons, 81-82.
Isocrates, 4; 6; 11; 17; 25; 110.
Isocratic Tradition, 27; 110.
Italy, Northern, 14.
Judical Oratory, 4; 5.
Julian of Cappodocia, 19.
Julian, Emperor, 19.
Justinian, 19.
, 21; in the sermons, 36; 38.
Libanius, 18; 19; parison in, 82;
antithesis in, 89.
Litotes, 23; description of, 54; in
the sermons, 55.
Love-letter, Fictitious, 18.
Lycurgus, 4.
Lysias, 4; 6; 17.
Menander, 18.
Menander Rhetor, 147.
Meridier, ix; x; 109.
154 THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PATRISTIC STUDIES
Metaphor, difficulty in treatment of,
xi; 76; 78; 96ft 7 .; explanation
of, 96-98; categories of, 97;
characteristics of sophistic, 96;
Christian uses of, 97-98: sophi-
stic manner of in the sermons,
103; in the sermons, 108-109; in-
frequency of technical, 108; prac-
tical use of, 108; contrasted with
comparison, 110; 126; 148.
Metaphor, Prolonged, 78; 108.
Metaphor, Redundant, 78; 108.
Method of dissertation, ix.
Migne, xiii.
Miletus, 10; 12.
lilfiipist 10.
Minor Figures, 20-24.
Minor Figures Sophistically Deve-
loped, 20; 24; grouping of, 65;
in the sermons, 74-75.
Mytilene, 10; 12.
Naples, 14.
Neanthes of Pergamus, 11.
Neo-Platonism, 15.
Nec6rcpoi, o/, 11.
Nicomedia, 75; 149.
Nicostratus, 17.
Novelli Poetae, 14.
<65kw, 103; 109.
Olynthians, 8.
Oratory, see rhetoric, epedeitic, ju-
dicial etc.
Oxymoron, 24; paradox and, 67; 89.
Panegyrics on Martyrs, ecphrasis
and, 141-145.
Paradox, 24; 65; description of, 67;
oxymoron and, 68; in the ser-
mons, 68; 148.
Paraleipsis, 23; description of, 57;
in the sermons, 58.
Parallelism, variations of, xii; 77;
explanation of, 92.
Parechesis, 22; 42; in the sermons,
43.
Parenthesis, 22; description of, 53;
in the sermons, 53; 54; 63.
Parison; 77; 82; symmetry and, 82;
isolon and, 82 ; 83 ; explanation of,
82; classification of, 83; in the
sermons, 87; chiasmus and, 91.
Parison, Ghiastic, 77.
Parison, Perfect, 77; 83.
Parison, Sentence, 77; 86.
Paromoion, 87.
Paronomasia, 22; 39; in the sermons,
40.
Pergamus, 11.
Periphrasis 21; 25; 26; 27.
Philip, 17.
Philo stratus the Second, 17.
Plato, 5; 11.
Pleonasm, 21; 27; 28.
Pliny the Younger, 12.
Polemo, 17; 89.
7r6Xts, a topic of encomia, 148.
Political Oratory, 4; 5; 6.
Polyptoton, 22; 40; in the sermons,
41.
Polysyndeton, 22; description of, 47;
in the sermons, 48-49; 63; 148.
Procopius of Gaza, 19.
Prodicus of Ceos, 58.
Prodiorthosis, 24 ; description of, 62 ;
in the sermons, 63.
Prokataleipsis, 23; description of,
57; in the sermons, 57; 63.
Prosopopoiia, xi; 23; description
of, 58; examples of, 58; in the
sermons, 60.
Protagoras, 2; 3.
Puech, ix.
Pun, 148.
Pythagoras, 58.
Quintillian, 12.
Redundancy, Figures of, 20; 25 ff.;
in the sermons, 31; antonomasia
and, 72.
Repetition, Figures of, 20; 32 ff.;
in the sermons, 38.
Repetitive Paronomasia, 21; 36; in
the sermons, 38.
Revue de synthese historique, ix.
INDEX
155
Rhetoric, beginnings of, 1; of Em-
pire, 25; Figures of Sound in, 39;
antonomasia in, 72.
Rhetoric, Figures of, classification
of, 20.
Rhetorical Questions, 22; descrip-
tion of, 49; in the sermons, 52;
63; 148.
Robinson, 36.
Romance, Sophistic, 18.
Romans, 10.
Rome, 14.
Sarcasm, 23; in the sermons, 55; 63.
School Life, in the Second Century,
15.
Sicily, 2.
Society, under the Empire, 14; 16.
ffo<f>ia, 2.
Sophistic, First, Iff.; 20.
Sophistic, Second, ix; xi; an epoch
in the history of rhetoric, xii;
xiii; 5; 12; 14; 19; periods of,
17; 19; 20; Figures of Sound
and, 43; Minor Figures and, 65;
hyperbaton and, 65; ecphrasis
and. 76; Gorgianic Figures and,
80; 94; parison in, 82; antithesis,
89; metaphor and, 96; 108.
Sophistic, Second, Figures and De-
vices, classification, of, 76.
Sophists, 2; of Second Century,
15; 17; canon of, 17; Figures of
Sound in, 43; prosopopoiia and,
58; hyperbaton in, 65; paradox
and, 67; hyperbole and, 69; anti-
metathesis and, 74; innovations
with parison, 82; antithesis and,
89; metaphor and, 96-97; com-
parison and, 110; figures of the
studio and, 120; ecphrasis and,
128; reason for artificiality of,
149.
Sound, Figures of, 20; 22; 39; in
the sermons, 43; 148; care in
collecting of, xi.
Statistics, ix; the case against, ix
to x; the case for, x; necessity
of, xi; considerations in case of,
xi-xii; use of especially appro-
priate in this study, xii.
Smyrna, 10; 12.
Synechdoche, antonomasia and, 72.
Themistius, 18; 19; parison and, 82.
Theophrastus, 5.
Thucydides, 12; 17.
Tisias, 2.
Tragic Poets, anastrophe and, 35.
Trajan, 16; 17.
Vivacity, Figures of, 22-24; 44; 63.
Western Taste, St. Basil's use of
dialektikon and, 61; his use of
antonomasia and, 73.
Xenophon, 13.
VITA
James Marshall Campbell was born at Warsaw, New York,
September 30, 1895. He received his elementary education at the
Warsaw Union and High School. In June, 1917 he received
the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Hamilton College. The
following September he entered the Princeton Graduate School
on the Locke fellowship in Greek that had been awarded him
by Hamilton College. At Princeton he pursued courses under
Professor Edward Capps, Associate Professor F. L. Hutson,
Dr. Paul Van den Yen, and Dr. Roy J. Deferrari. These
studies were interrupted by the Great War. In September,
1919, still enjoying the Locke Fellowship and thereafter a
Knights of Columbus Fellowship, he entered the Catholic Uni-
versity of America. There he pursued courses under Professors
R. J. Deferrari, James Joseph Fox, Charles A. Dubray, S. JVl!.,
Ignatius Smith, 0. P. and Charles H. Me Carthy. In June 1920
he received the degree of Master of Arts from the Catholic
University.
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