ABSTRACT
Accumulatio Stringing together words, phrases, or clauses that say essentially the same thing. The author of Rhetorica ad Herennium used accumulatio in explaining, "He [the defendant] is the be-- trayer of his own self-respect, and the waylayer of the self-respect of others; covetous, intemper-- ate, 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 humor-- ously in Henry IV, Part 2 when Shallow an-- swers 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).
