in a general sense, denotes the act of enlarging or extending the compass of a thing.

On a medal of the emperor Antoninus Pius, we find the title *Ampliator civium* given him, on account of his having extended the *jur civitatis*, or right of citizenship, to many states and people before excluded from that privilege. In effect, it is generally supposed to have been this prince that made the famous constitution, whereby all the subjects of the empire were made citizens of Rome.

in Roman antiquity, was the deferring to pass sentence in certain causes. This the judge did, by pronouncing the word *amplius*; or by writing the letters N. L. for *non liquet*: thereby signifying, that, as the cause was not clear, it would be necessary to bring further evidence.

Vol. I. Part II.

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in rhetoric, part of a dis-Amplification course or speech, wherein a crime is aggravated, a praise or commendation heightened, or a narration enlarged, by an enumeration of circumstances; so as to excite the proper emotions in the souls of the auditors. Such is the passage in Virgil, where, instead of saying merely that Turnus died, he amplifies the circumstances of his death.

*Aft illi salvuntur frigore membra, Vitaque cum gemitu fugit indignata sub umbrae.*

The matters of eloquence make amplification to be the soul of discourse. See **ORATORY**, n° 39.