re, and add
them together, they would be found to bear a very small, or rather an
infinitesimal proportion to the passages in which these supreme masters
have attained absolute perfection. Therefore it is that all posterity,
whose judgment envy herself cannot impeach, has brought and bestowed on
them the crown of glory, has guarded their fame until this day against
all attack, and is likely to preserve it

"As long as lofty trees shall grow,
And restless waters seaward flow."

3
It has been urged by one writer that we should not prefer the huge
disproportioned Colossus to the Doryphorus of Polycletus. But (to give
one out of many possible answers) in art we admire exactness, in the
works of nature magnificence; and it is from nature that man derives the
faculty of speech. Whereas, then, in statuary we look for close
resemblance to humanity, in literature we require something which
transcends humanity.

4
Nevertheless (to reiterate the advice which we gave at the beginning of
this essay), since that success which consists in avoidance of error is
usually the gift of art, while high, though unequal excellence is the
attribute of genius, it is proper on all occasions to call in art as an
ally to nature. By the combined resources of these two we may hope to
achieve perfection.

Such are the conclusions which were forced upon me concerning the points
at issue; but every one may consult his own taste.

XXXVII

To return, however, from this long digression; closely allied to
metaphors are comparisons and similes, differing only in this * * *[1]

[Footnote 1: The asterisks denote gaps in the original text.]

XXXVIII

Such absurdities as, "Unless you carry your brains next to the ground in
your heels."[1] Hence it is necessary to know where to draw the line;
for if ever it is overstepped the effect of the hyperbole is spoilt,
being in such cases relaxed by overstraining, and producing the very
opposite to the effect desired.

[Footnote 1: Pseud. Dem. de Halon. 45.]

2
Isocrates, for instance, from an ambitious desire of lending everything
a strong rhetorical colouring, shows himself in quite a childish light.
Having in his Panegyrical Oration set himself to prove that the Athenian
state has surpassed that of Sparta in her services to Hellas, he starts
off at the very outset with these words: "Such is the power of language
that it can extenuate what is great, and lend greatness to what is
little,