His exercise profitable to Rhetorike, is an Ora-
ciō that collecteth and representeth to the iye, that
which he sheweth, so Priscianus defineth it: some
are of that opinion, that descripcion is not to bee
placed emōg these exercises, profitable to Rhetorike. Because
that bothe in euery Oracion, made vpon a Fable, all thyn-
ges therein conteined, are liuely described. And also in euery
Narracion, the cause, the place, the persone, the time, the fact,
the maner how, ar therin liuely described. But most famous
and Eloquente men, doe place descripcion, in the nomber of
these exercises. Descripciō serueth to these things, the person,
as the Poete Lucane describeth Pompei & Cesar: the person
is described, thynges or actes, tymes, places, brute beastes.
Nec coiere pares, alter vergentibus annis
In senium longo que toge, tranquilior vsu.
Dedidicit. &c.
Homer describeth the persone of Thersites, in the second
booke of his Ilias.
Homer setteth out Helena, describing the persone of Me-
nalaus and Ulisses, in the fowerth booke of Ilias.
Thynges are described, as the warres attempted by sea
and lande, of Xerxes.
Lucan describeth the war of the Massiliās against Cesar[.]
Thusidides setteth forthe in a descripcion, the warres on
the sea, betwene the Corcurians, and the Corinthians.
Tymes are described, as the Spryng tyme, Sommer,
Winter, Harueste, Daie, Night.
Places are described, as Citees, Mountaines, Regions,
Floodes, Hauens, Gardeines, Temples: whiche thynges
are sette out by their commoditees, for Thusidides often ty-
mes setteth forthe Hauens and Citees.
Lucane also describeth at large, the places, by the whiche
the armie of Cesar and Pompei passed. The descripcion of a-
ny man, in all partes is to bee described, in mynde and bodie,
what he was.