9. Appease. Literally, appease means to make peace. It also means to satisfy, and is derived directly from the Latin. We try to appease those who are in passion and try to calm those who are in trouble or apprehension. Does Macaulay use the word properly when he speaks of appeasing indignation?
10. Fluency. The Latin word from which fluency is derived means to flow. Accordingly, a fluent person is one from whom speech flows smoothly and readily. To lack fluency Macaulay considers an unfortunate defect in Francis.
11. Asperity. The Latin word asper means rough or harsh, and was applied to things which had a rough surface. Macaulay uses the word as we now know it, in the same figurative sense in which we now sometimes use the word roughness.
12. Lapse. This word from the Latin means sliding or following. In speaking of the lapse of years Macaulay intimates that they gradually slid away.
13. Pharisaical. The Pharisees were a sect of the Jews who were noted for the strict way in which they followed the rites and ceremonies that had been handed down to them by tradition, and who believed themselves superior in sanctity to the other Jews. They held themselves apart and were charged with being hypocrites. The word Pharisaical has now come into common English use, and means hypocritical.
14. Ostentation. This is a Latin word meaning show or parade. Ostentation and parade both imply effort, but the former refers to the intent rather than to the manner. Ostentation may be shown by parade.
From The Death of Caesar
(Volume IX, page 143)
As preliminary to the intensive study of the speech alluded to below, read to the class or have them read all of the three selections, namely: The Death of Caesar, from Plutarch (page 126); The Death of Caesar, from Shakespeare (page 143), and Julius Caesar, from Froude (page 155). As an example of selections worthy of close reading, take the speech of Cæsar as given on page 153, beginning, “I could be well mov’d, if I were as you.”
Bring out by questions these facts: