ABSTRACT
Accumulatio Stringing together words, phrases, or clauses that say essentially the same thing. The author of Rbetorica ad Herennium used accumulatio in explaining, "He [the defendant] is the betrayer of his own self-respect, and the waylayer of the self-respect of others; covetous, intemperate, irascible, arrogant; disloyal to his parents, ungrateful to his friends" (I.xl). Repetition, the essence of accumulatio, can be used to amplify a contention, as in the above quotation, or to make an audience more comfortable with an unfamiliar idea by allowing them to dwell on it. Shakespeare achieves the latter effect humorously in Henry IV, Part 2 when Shallow answers Falstaff, "I will not excuse you; you shall not be excus'd; excuses shall not be admitted; there is no excuse shall serve you; you shall not be excus'd" (5.1.5).
