But on the other hand, the gathering of plurals into singulars is sometimes most sublime in effect. ‘Then the whole Peloponnese was at variance,’ he says. ‘And when Phrynichus produced his drama, the Capture of Miletus, the theatre fell to weeping.’ To compress the number from divided into united things gives a more bodied feel. §1
The cause of the ornament is the same in both, I think. Where words are singular, to make them many beyond expectation belongs to passion; where they are plural, to bring the many into one well-sounding crest is, by the surprise of the change, to give a stronger thrust to the matter. §2