A belief in the ultimate supremacy of intelligence over
brute force, is conveyed in a more concrete, and therefore more
realizable form, if we substitute _the pen_ and _the sword_ for the
two abstract terms. To say, "Beware of drinking!" is less effective
than to say, "Beware of _the bottle!_" and is so, clearly because
it calls up a less specific image.
36. The Simile is in many cases used chiefly with a view to
ornament, but whenever it increases the _force_ of a passage, it
does so by being an economy. Here in an instance: "The illusion
that great men and great events came oftener in early times than
now, is partly due to historical perspective. As in a range of
equidistant columns, the furthest off look the closest; so, the
conspicuous objects of the past seem more thickly clustered the
more remote they are."
37. To construct by a process of literal explanation, the thought
thus conveyed would take many sentences, and the first elements
of the picture would become faint while the imagination was busy
in adding the others.
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