[Sidenote: Amplificacio] A greate parte of eloquence is set in increasing and diminyshing, and serueth for thys purpose, that the thyng shulde seme as great as it is in dede, lesser or greater then it seemeth to manye. For the rude people haue commonly a preposterous iudgem[en]t, and take the worst thynges for the beste, and the beste for the worst. Al amplificacion and diminucion is taken eyther of thinges, or of wordes. Of thynges ryse effeccions, of words those fashions that nowe I wyll shewe. The first waye of increasyng or diminishing is by chaungynge the worde of the thynge, when in encreasynge we vse a more cruell worde, and a softer in diminyshynge, as when we call an euyll man a thiefe, and saye he hathe kylled vs, when he hathe beaten vs. And it is more vehem[en]te if by correccion we compare greater wordes wyth those that we put before: As thou haste broughte not a thyefe, but an extorcioner, not an adulterer, but a rauysher. &c. ¶ Lyke vnto this is _Hyperbole_, whyche say the more then the truthe is in deede, as when we saye: The crye was hearde to heauen, meanyng it was a greate crye. An other kynde is by increase, whyche is when the thynges goyng before beynge exaggerate, we come from them to the hyeste: As agaynste Verres. It is a myscheuous deede to bynde a Citizen of Rome, haynous to beate hym, what? shall I saye to hange hym? An other waye of increase is, when wythoute distinccion in the context and course of the oracion, the circumstaunces sette in order, somewhat alwayes is added bygger then the fyrste, and that we come to the hyest by a swyfte pace. As he was not ashamed to playe at dyce wyth iesters in the common cokerye, beynge a prieste, a Person, a Diuine, and a Monke. There is another kynde of amplyfienge that is by comparison contrary to increase. For as in increase the thynges that go before beyng exaggerat, we go from them to the hyest, so comparison taketh increase of the lesser, whych if they be greater in all mens opinions, that must nedes appeare verie greate that we wyll haue amplified: And comparison is made by ficcion, & by puttynge to an example. By ficcion, eyther in one degree, or in many. As in the fyrst part of the amplifiyng of Antonies vomite, for he fayneth it had happened vnto hym at supper beyng but a priuate person. If at supper in these great bowles of thine thys happened vnto thee, who wolde not haue counted it a shame: But now in y^e syght of the people of Rome beynge a cõmon officer, master of the horse, to whom it was shame once to belch, he wyth hys gobbets of meat that stanke al of wyne, fylled al his lap, and the iudgement seate. Here amplificacion is taken of smaller thinges, and is made by one degree of many degrees, this maye be an example. If a mã gaue the euery yere .xl. po[un]d, woldest y^u not thanke him? If a friend had redemed the out of prison w^t hys money, woldest thou not loue hym? If eyther in battell or shypwracke a man by hys valiantnes had saued the, woldest thou not worshyp hym as God, and saye thou were neuer able to make hym amendes? What ingratitude is it then that Christ God & man, which hathe made the, to whom thou dost owe al that thou hast, &c. so to dispyse hym, so wyth dayely fautes to anger him, & for so great beniuol[en]ce to geue hym agayn so great contumelye and despyte? Neyther skylleth it that we haue rehearsed ficcion and comparicion amonge argumentes, for there is no cause why that amplificacion and oruacion shuld not be taken out of the same places from whence ther commeth probacion. Nor it is no newes the selfe same thynges to be applyed to diuerse vses. As of all circumstaunces both of the thyng, and of the person are taken argumentes, but euen oute of the selfe same are set affeccions and exaggeracions, whych is manifest in the kynde demonstratiue: As when we prayse chastitie in a yonge man, we go not aboute to perswade that he was chaste, but that that vertue shulde appeare greater in floryshyng age. To lyke vse serue examples and similitudes, as in Esaye: The Oxe knewe hys owner, and the Asse the maunger of hys master, but Israel hathe not knowen me. The example of the Oxe & the Asse is not vsed for this to proue that the Hebrewes dyd not knowe their God, but that the impietie and folishnes of that nacion shulde be amplified. The same may be applied to profe after thys maner. If the Oxe and Asse knowledge theyr masters, of whõ they are norished and do serue them, how much more conueniente is it, that mã shuld knowledge hys maker and norisher, and serue him bothe in bodye and mynd.