§8.4.1prima est igitur amplificandi vel minuendi species in ipso rei nomine: ut cum eum, qui sit caesus, occisum, eum, qui sit improbus, latronem, contraque eum, qui pulsavit, attigisse, qui vulneravit, laesisse dicimus. utriusque pariter exemplum est pro M. Caelio: si vidua libere, proterva petulanter, dives effuse, libidinosa meretricio more viveret, adulterum ego putarem, si qui hanc paulo liberius salutasset? §8.4.2nam et impudicam meretricem vocavit, et eum, cui longus cum illa fuerat usus, liberius salutasset. hoc genus increscit ac fit manifestius, si ampliora verba cum ipsis nominibus, pro quibus ea posituri sumus, conferantur: ut Cicero in Verrem, non enim furem sed ereptorem, non adulterum sed expugnatorem pudicitiae, non sacrilegum sed hostem sacrorum religionumque, non sicarium sed crudelissimum carnificem civium sociorumque in vestrum iudicium adduximus.
Therefore, the first species of amplifying or diminishing is in the very name of the thing: as when we call a man who has been beaten "killed," an unprincipled man a "robber," and on the contrary, say that one who struck "touched" and one who wounded "hurt." An example of both equally is found in *Pro Caelio*: "If a widow were living freely, a wanton woman petulantly, a rich woman expensively, a lustful woman after the manner of a courtesan, should I think a man an adulterer if he had greeted her a little too freely?" For he both called a shameless woman a "courtesan," and said that he who had had long intimacy with her had "greeted her a little too freely." This class grows and becomes more manifest if the grander words are compared with the actual names for which we are going to substitute them, as Cicero in *In Verrem*: "For we have not brought before your judgment a thief, but a plunderer; not an adulterer, but a ravisher of chastity; not a sacrilegious man, but an enemy of sacred things and religions; not an assassin, but a most cruel executioner of citizens and allies." For in that former way it is effected that it is much, but in this way that it is even more.
§8.4.3illo enim modo ut sit multum, hoc etiam plus ut sit efficitur. quattuor tamen maxime generibus video constare amplificationem, incremento, comparatione, ratiocinatione, congerie.
Yet I see that amplification consists chiefly of four kinds: increment, comparison, reasoning, and accumulation.
incrementum est potentissimum, cum magna videntur etiam quae inferiora sunt.
Increment is the most powerful when even things that are inferior seem great.
id aut uno gradu fit aut pluribus et pervenit non modo ad summum sed interim quodammodo supra summum.
It is effected either by one step or by several, and reaches not only to the summit but sometimes in a way even beyond the summit.
omnibus his sufficit vel unum Ciceronis exemplum: §8.4.4facinus est vincire civem Romanum, scelus verberare, prope parricidium necare: quid dicam in crucem tollere? nam et, si tantum verberatus esset, uno gradu increverat, ponendo etiam id esse facinus, quod erat inferius; §8.4.5et, si tantum occisus esset, per plures gradus ascenderat; cum vero dixerit, prope parricidium necare, supra quod nihil est, adiecit quid dicam in crucem tollere? ita, cum id, quod maximum est, occupasset, necesse erat in eo, quod ultra est, verba deficere.
For all of these, even a single example from Cicero is sufficient: "It is a misdeed to bind a Roman citizen, a crime to scourge him, almost parricide to put him to death; what shall I say of crucifying him?" For even if he had only been scourged, the act had increased by one step, by posing that even that which was inferior was a misdeed; and if he had only been killed, he would have ascended through several steps; but when he said "almost parricide to put to death," above which there is nothing, he added "what shall I say of crucifying him?" Thus, when he had occupied that which is greatest, it was necessary that words should fail for that which is beyond.
§8.4.6fit et aliter supra summum adiectio, ut apud Vergilium de Lauso:
"
quo pulchrior alter
non fuit, excepto Laurentis corpore Turni. "
Summum est enim, quo pulchrior alter non fuit; huic deinde aliquid superpositum.
An addition beyond the summit is made also in another way, as in Vergil concerning Lausus: "than whom there was no other more beautiful, except for the body of Laurentine Turnus." For "than whom there was no other more beautiful" is the summit; on this, then, something is superimposed.
§8.4.7tertius quoque est modus, ad quem non per gradus itur et quod non est plus maximo, sed quo nihil maius est; matrem tuam cecidisti.
There is also a third way, to which one does not go by steps, and which is not more than the greatest, but than which nothing is greater: "You have struck your mother.
quid dicam amplius? matrem tuam cecidisti. nam et hoc augendi genus est tantum aliquid efficere, ut non possit augeri.
What more shall I say? You have struck your mother." For this genus of amplifying also consists in making something so great that it cannot be amplified.
§8.4.8crescit orati minus aperte, sed nescio an hoc ipso efficacius, cum citra distinctionem in contextu et cursu semper aliquid priore maius insequitur: ut de vomitu in Antonium Cicero, in coetu vero populi Romani, negotium publicum gerens, magister equitum. singula incrementum habent.
Style increases less openly, but I do not know whether for this very reason more effectively, when without any separation in the context and course, something greater than the preceding always follows, as Cicero concerning the vomiting of Antony: "and that in an assembly of the Roman people, while conducting public business, the master of the horse." Each single detail has an increment.
per se deforme vel non in coetu vomere, in coetu etiam non populi, populi etiam non Romani vel si nullum negotium ageret, vel si non publicum vel si non magister equitum.
It is in itself disgraceful to vomit, even not in an assembly; or in an assembly, even not of the people; or of the people, even not Roman; or if he were conducting no business, or if not public, or if he were not the master of the horse.
§8.4.9sed alius divideret haec et circa singulos gradus moraretur; hic in sublime etiam cucurrit et ad summum non pervenit nisu, sed impetu.
But another would have divided these and lingered around the single steps; he, however, rushed even to the sublime and reached the summit not by effort, but by impetus.
verum ut haec amplificatio in superiora tendit, ita, quae fit per comparationem, incrementum ex minoribus petit.
But as this amplification tends toward higher things, so that which is made by comparison seeks its increment from lesser things.
augendo enim, quod est infra necesse est extollat id quod supra positum est: ut idem atque in eodem loco, §8.4.10si hoc tibi inter cenam et in illis immanibus poculis tuis accidisset, quis non turpe duceret? in coetu vero populi Romani—.
For by amplifying that which is below, it must of necessity elevate that which is placed above, as the same author in the same speech: "If this had happened to you during dinner and amidst those monstrous cups of yours, who would not deem it shameful?
Et in Catilinam: servi mehercules mei si me isto pacto metuerent, ut te metuunt omnes cives tui, domum meam relinquendam putarem.
But in an assembly of the Roman people—" And in *In Catilinam*: "If my slaves, by Hercules, feared me in the same manner as all your fellow-citizens fear you, I should think that I must leave my house."