11
In all such cases our nature is drawn towards that which affects it most
powerfully: hence an image lures us away from an argument: judgment is
paralysed, matters of fact disappear from view, eclipsed by the superior
blaze. Nor is it surprising that we should be thus affected; for when
two forces are thus placed in juxtaposition, the stronger must always
absorb into itself the weaker.

12
On sublimity of thought, and the manner in which it arises from native
greatness of mind, from imitation, and from the employment of images,
this brief outline must suffice.[17]

[Footnote 17: He passes over chs. x. xi.]


XVI

The subject which next claims our attention is that of figures of
speech. I have already observed that figures, judiciously employed, play
an important part in producing sublimity. It would be a tedious, or
rather an endless task, to deal with every detail of this subject here;
so in order to establish what I have laid down, I will just run over,
without further preface, a few of those figures which are most effective
in lending grandeur to language.

2
Demosthenes is defending his policy; his natural line of argument would
have been: “You did not do wrong, men of Athens, to take upon yourselves