1pFFjZK

76 THEORIES OF STYLE IN LITERATURE
effect, whereas the sentence should be cut off by the find
long syllable, and its end be marked not by the scribe nor by
the * marginal annotation but by the natural rhythm.
So much for the proof that the style should be rhythmical and
for the nature and structure of the rhythms which make it so.
The style must be either jointed, i.e. united only by
its
connecting particles, after the manner of modern dithyrambic
CHAP ix P re ludes, or compact, like the antistrophes of the
TWO kinds ancient poets. The jointed style is the original
one, as in f Herodotus, e.g. "The following
is
'ed '
a statement of the researches of Herodotus of
Thurii " ;
it was formerly universal but is now confined
to a few writers. By a "jointed style" I mean one which
has no end in itself except the completion of the subject
under discussion. It is disagreeable from its endlessness
or indefiniteness, as everybody likes to have the end clearly
in view. This is the reason why people in a race do not
gasp and faint until they reach the goal; for while they
have the finishing-point before their eyes, they are insensible
of fatigue. The compact style on the other hand is the
periodic;
and I mean by a " period " a sentence
(2) periodic, f ...... j . v lr
having a beginning and an end in itself, and a
magnitude which admits of being easily comprehended at
a glance. Such a style is
agreeable and can be easily
{ learnt. It is agreeable, as being the opposite
of the
* The "marginal annotation " (Gk. jrapaypcup'/i, Lat. interductus librarii)
would answer to the modern full-stop.
f The opening passage of Herodotus's History, 'Hpo56roi; Qovplov ij8' IffTopiys
d7r65etis, is cited as a case of writing where there is no attempt to build up
a sentence of parts subordinated to each other, but the sentence is a simple
clause or consists of clauses which are merely pieced or jointed by connecting
particles.
I It is to be remembered that the Greek and Roman orators were in the
habit of getting their speeches by heart; hence the importance of nrfM or
mentoria in a treatise on Rhetoric.