ABSTRACT
Notwithstanding the importance of metaphor in their discussions of forensic style, classical rhetoricians also singled out other sentence-level rhetorical devices for special consideration. To make their arguments clearer and more persuasive, classical rhetoricians recommended using similitudo. Similitudo is a general term used to describe comparisons of all sorts, including parallelism and antithesis.1 Because both devices make arguments more coherent, memorable, and emotionally appealing, they were especially favored for juxtaposing and contrasting rulings, facts, and policies.2 Neither device was regarded as merely ornamental. Under classical theory, style serves a dual function. It is both a sentence-level technique for proving or refuting arguments and an emotion-generating technique for reinforcing and embellishing important points.
