we haven’t had a rhetorical post in a few days. my sincere apologies. in the meantime, here is something i read today in michael trapp’s collection ‘greek and latin letters’ about letter 42 in his collection–a letter by jerome (letter 23 in his own works, written in 384) to marcella on the death of lea. trapp writes in his commentary:
Using a (very) recent even as his cue, Jerome constructs a letter of consolation…which is also a sermon on the superiority of spiritual over worldly values; central to its rhetorical structure is a comparison (synkrisis, comparatio) that combines eulogy of a recently deceased Christian with invective against a recently deceased pagan. Rhetorical polish is evident also in the attention given to rhythm: e.g. in the double cretic clausulae (ex)isse de corpore, (doce)amus in tartaro, quanta mutatio, cernit inquirere.
i admit my complete ignorance about prose rhthym; if anyone cares to comment on it, please feel free!