Princeps rhetoricus or Pilomachia· ye combat of caps. Drawn forth into arguments, general and special. In usum Scholæ Masonensis : et in gratiam totius auditorii mercurialis.

Princeps Rhetoricus, The schoole Captaine.

BUt why Princeps, and why Rhetoricus? that fals in next to be scand, for non est in promptu ubique O Edipus, all teeth are not nut-crackers. Therefore observe, that the whole allusion bran∣cheth it self, into five strains of Rhetorick, or Acts Oratoricall distringued here by 5 titles:

The first Act we call Inauguratio, the Instalment, The second, Pompa, the Entertainment. The third, Criticus, the Linguist. The fourth, the Disputant. The fifth, the Judge or Moderator.

And in order to these is personated a Prince thus qualified:

In the first, Princeps legitime inauguratus. In the second, Princeps Pompaticus. Third, Philologicus.

Fourth, Philosophicus. Fifth, Judicialis.

And in the Catastrophe of the scene, Princeps Religiosus: and through the whole Acts, Princeps Heroicè moratus: of noble de∣portment; alluding to the seven fold buckler of Ajax, under which Ʋlysses lay protected. Homers Prince of Eloquence: and thus much for our Prince, Quatenùs Princeps: invested with Title, Authority, Quality; now view him quatenus Rhetoricus.

His Prince-part was a notion assumed, faigned, and allegori∣cally borrowed: but the Rhetorick part and title are in earnest, & (ex professo) opus loci & Personae. For now One was to make good in himself (by way of president to the rest) the Character of a compleat Rhetorician, and that by the exact Test of our two Rhetoricall Text-men, Aristotle and Quintilian: for one while he cunningly insinuates; as at his first Ascent to the Chaire. Detur, ait, Dignori, ego enim (comparativè) non merui.

Like Caesar in Tacitus, waving finely his new imposed dignity; and yet at the same instant, policetur abundè, promiseth moun∣tains, to rule like an Angel. Again, sometimes his speech be∣comes demonstrative, praising and inveigling: sometimes delibe∣rative, pondering the future good: sometime Juciciall; accor∣ding as the Lost-Cap finds Argument through the five Acts, oc∣casionally, & ex Ansâ datâ: for still the matter is before the Iudge, coram Judice lis. And still the Parsons Cap makes work for all. Argumentativè.

Then next, touching those three Aristotelian Requisites, 1. Na∣tura, 2. Ars, 3. Exercitatio. they were better there seen, then here spoken. As candid spectability, a Tongue well hung, firm sides, retentive memory, fancy clear, a princely undanted pre∣sence, & cujus ex ore melle dulcior s••uebat Oratio, &c.

But to compleat the matter, after some faire Essayes of 1. In∣vention, 2. Disposition, 3. Elocution, and 4. Pronunciation, he falls upon the moderating part of Oratory; and exhibits a Rhe∣toricall skill in the Bee-like use of Authours, culling out for his own Hive, the flowers inservient to his present purpose, mutatis mutandis 3 tèr, i. e. Alterum, Alteratum, or Aliud.

Sometimes again he leaves moderating, and falls to debating,

syllogysticè, upon the Argument, till being victor in the truth, he concludes by a double power, Argumento

• 1. recti.
• 2. sceptri.

And so becomes in fine, both Princeps and Rhetoricus, co-incident in nature and title, the Rhetoricall Princesse: for, in vero conve∣niunt Rex & lex.

Notes

• Princeps.
• Rhetoricis.