Institutio Oratoria

III. Figures of speech have always been liable to change and are continually in process of change in accordance with the variations of usage. Consequently when we compare the language of our ancestors with our own, we find that practically everything we say nowadays is figurative. For example, we say invidere hac re for to

grudge a thing,

But to proceed, figures of speech fall into two main classes. One is defined as the form of language, while the other is mainly to be sought in the arrangement of words. Both are equally applicable in oratory, but we may style the former rather more grammatical and the latter more rhetorical. [*]( These grammatical figures would not be styled figures of speech in English. Figures of language would perhaps be more comprehensive, but figures of speech is the translation and direct descendant of the original Greek σχήματα λέξεως and has therefore been used throughout. ) The former originates from the same sources as errors of language. For every figure of this kind would be an error, if it were accidental and not deliberate.

But as a rule such figures are defended by authority, age and usage, and not infrequently by some reason as well. Consequently, although they involve a divergence from direct and simple language, they are to be regarded as excellences, provided always that they have some praiseworthy precedent to follow. They have one special merit, that they relieve the tedium of everyday stereotyped speech and save us from commonplace language.

If a speaker use them sparingly and only as occasion demands, they will serve as a seasoning to his style and

For abnormal figures lying outside the range of common speech, while they are for that very reason more striking, and stimulate the ear by their novelty, prove cloying if used too lavishly, and make it quite clear that they did not present themselves naturally to the speaker, but were hunted out by him, dragged from obscure corners and artificially piled together. Figures, then,

may be found in connexion with the gender of nouns; for we find oculis capti talpale [*](Georg. i. 183. ) (blind moles) and timidi damae [*](Ecl. viii. 28. ) (timid deer) in Virgil; but there is good reason for this, since in these cases both sexes are covered by a word of one gender, and there is no doubt that there are male moles and deer as well as female. Figures may also affect verbs: for example, we find such phrases as fabricatus est glatdium [*]( Cic. pro Rab Post. iii. 7. He made a sword. ) or inimicum poenitus es. [*](pro Mil. xiii. 33. You punished an enemy. )

This is the less surprising, since the nature of verbs is such that we often express the active by the passive form, as in the case of arbitror (think) and suspicor (suspect), and the passive by the active, as in the case of vapulo (am beaten). Consequently the interchange of the two forms is of common occurrence, and in many cases either form can be used: for example, we may say luxuriatur or luxuriat (luxuriate), fluctuatur or fluctuat (fluctuate), adsentior or adsentio (agree). Figures also occur in connexion with number,

as

1. qui non risere parentes
2. nec deus hunc mensa dea nec dignata cubili est,

Ecl. iv. 62. [*]( Those that have never smiled on their parents, neither does any god honour him by admitting him to his feats nor goddess deem him worthy of her bed." Although there can be no doubt as to the correctness of Politian's emendation in the passage as quoted here, it is against all MSS. authority, both of Virgil and Quintilian, and it is still frequently held that Virgil wrote cui. )

he whom no goddess deems,

those who have never smiled,

In a satire again we read,

1. nostrum istud vivere triste aspxei,

Pers. i. 9. [*](I look at our dreary way of living.)

1. magnum dat ferre talentum,

Aen. v. 248. [*](He gives him a great talent-weight to carry.)

At times, again, there may be some doubt as to the precise error which a figure resembles. Take, for example, the phrase

1. virtus est vitium fugere,

Hor. Ep. I. i. 41. [*]('Tis a virtue to shun vice.)

For example, Timarchides negat esse ei periculum a seuri [*](Verr. v. xliv. 116. Timarchides denies that he is in any danger from the axe of the executioner. ) the present negat is substituted for the past. Or one mood may be used for another, as in the phrase, hoc Ithacus velit. [*](Aen. ii. 104. So wills the Ithacan. On Quintilian's view velit here = vult. But in point of fact this is untrue, since in the context it clearly means would wish. ) In fact, to cut a long matter short, there is a figure corresponding to every form of solecism.

There is also a figure styled ἑτεροίωσις (i.e. alteration of the normal idiom), which bears a strong resemblance to ἐξαλλαγή. For example, we find in Sallust phrases such as neque ea res failsum me habuit [*](Jug. x. 1. Nor did this deceive me. ) and duci probare. [*]( From a lost work. Without the context the meaning is uncertain. ) Such figures as a rule aim not merely at novelty, but at conciseness as well. Hence we get further developments, such as non paeniturum for

not intending to repent,

sent to see,

These may have been figures when Sallust made them; but it is a question whether they can now be so considered, since they have met with such general acceptance. For we are in the habit of accepting common parlance as sufficient authority where current phrases are concerned: for example, rebus agentibus in the sense of while this was going on, which Pollio rebukes Labienus [*](See IV. i. 11; I. V. 8.) for using, has become an accredited idiom, as has contumeliam fecit, which, as is

Figures may also be commended by their antiquity, for which Virgil had such a special passion. Compare his

1. vel cum se pavidum contra mea iurgia iactat

Aen. xi. 400. [*]( The figure consists in the use of vel cum to introduce an independent sentence. Even when he claims, to tremble at my taunts. )

1. progeniem sed enim Troiano a sanguine duci
2. audierat.

An. i. 19. [*](But she had heard that even now a raceWas springing from the blood of fallen Troy. Quintilian refers to the archaic sed enim. )

One word of this type has remained in common use, namely enimvero. I might further quote from the same author

1. nam quis te iuvenum confidentissime,

Georg. iv. 445. [*](For who bade thee, of youths most bold.) The figure consists in the opening of a speech with nam, or perhaps rather in saying nam quis for quisnam.

1. tam magis illa tremens et tristibus etffra flammis,
2. quam magis effuso crudescunt sanguine pugnae.

Aen. vii. 787.

1. The more the strife with bloodshed rages wild,
2. The more it quivers and with baleful fire
3. Glows fiercer.