Institutio Oratoria

I would not even allow the name of aposiopesis to all cases where what is omitted is left to be understood, as for example the following phrase from Cicero's letters, [*]( Lost. The sense is, Despatched on the day on which Antony offered Caesar the crown. ) Data Lupercalibus quo die Antonius Caesari: for there, there is no real suppression: the omission is merely playful, for there is but one way of completing the sentence, namely with the words diadema imposuit.

Another figure produced by omission is that of which I have just spoken, [*](§ 50.) when the connecting particles are omitted. A third is the figure known as ἐπεζευγμένον in which a number of clauses are all completed by the same verb, which would be required by each singly if they stood alone. In such cases the verb to which the rest of the sentence refers may come first, as in the following instance: Vicit pudorem lilido, timiorem audacia, rationem amentia. [*](Pro Cluent. vi. 15. Lust conquered shame, boldness fear, madness reason. ) Or it may come last, closing a number of clauses, as in the following: [*](Cat. i. ix. 22. For you are not the man, Catiline, to be deterred from vile acts by shame, from peril by fear, or from madness by reason. ) Neque enim is es, Catilina, ut te aut pudor unquam a turpitudine ant meites a periculo aut ratio a furore revocaverit.

The verb may even be placed in the middle so as to serve both what precedes and what follows. The same figure may join different sexes, as for example when we speak of a male and female child under the comprehensive term of

sons

But these devices are so common that they can scarcely lay claim to involve the art essential to figures. On the other hand it is quite obviously figure, when two different constructions are combined as in the following case:

1. Sociis tunc arma capessant
2. Edico et dira bellum cum gene gerendumn.

Aen. iii. 234; participio = gerundive ( gerendum ).

1. The miser lacks
2. That which he has no less than what he has not.

Syrus 486 (Ribbeck).

To this figure is opposed distinction, which they call παραδιαστολή, by which we distinguish between similar things, as in this sentence: [*](Rutil. i. 4. )

When you call yourself wise instead of astute, brave instead of rash, economical instead of mean.

1. I labour to be brief, I turn obscure,

Hor A.P. 25.

There is a third class of figures which attracts the ear of the audience and excites their attention by some resemblance, equality or contrast of words. To this class belongs paronomasia, which we call adnominatio. This may be effected in different ways. It may depend on the resemblance of one word to another which has preceded, although the words are in different cases. Take the following passage from Domitius Afer's defence of Cloatilla: Mulier omnium rerum imiperita, in omnnibus rebus infelix. [*](A woman unskilled in everything and in everything unhappy.)

Or the same word may be repeated with greater meaning, as quando homo, hostis homno. [*]( The meaning is obscure. As punctuated, the sense is since he is a man, the man is an enemy, i. e. the utterance of some misanthrope. Or a question-mark may be placed after homo and the meaning will be since he is a man, can he be an enemy? ) But although I have used these examples to illustrate something quite different, one of them involves both emphasis and reiteration. The opposite of parononasia occurs when one word is proved to be false by repetition; for instance,

This law did not seem to be a law to private individuals.

where the same word is used in two different meanings. When Proculeius reproached his son with waiting for his death, and the son replied that he was not waiting for it, the former retorted, Well then, I ask you to wait for it. Sometimes such difference in meaning is obtained not by using the same word, but one like it, as for example by saying that a man whom you think dignus supplicatione (worthy of supplication) is supplicio adficiendus. [*]( In old Latin supplicium was used as equivalent to suppliratio, and this use survives in Livy and Sallust. But in Augustan and post-Augustan language the normal meaning of supplicium was punishment, and the natural translation would be worthy of punishment. )

There are also other ways in which the same words may be used in different senses or altered by the lengthening or shortening of

Amari iucundum est, si curetur ne quid insit amari,[*]( Auct. ad Herenn. iv. 14: It is pleasant to be loved, but we must take care that there is no bitterness in that love. ) and Avium dulcedo ad avium ducit; [*](Birds' sweet song leads us into pathless places.) and again this jest from Ovid, [*]( Probably from a collection of epigrams: Furia, why should I not call you a fury? )

1. Cur ego non dicam, Furia, te furiam?

that is the transference of the meaning of one word to another. It has, however, greater elegance when it is employed to distinguish the exact meanings of things, as in the following example:

This curse to the state could be repressed for a time, but not suppressed for ever;

A more trivial effect is produced by the following: Non Pisonum, sed pistorum, [*](Not of the Pisos, but of the bakers.) and Ex oratore arator, [*](Phil III. ix. 22: Orator turned ploughman. ) while phrases such as Ne patres conscripti videantur circumscripti, [*]( Auct. ad Herenn, iv. 22. That the conscript fathers be not cheated. ) or raro evenit, sed vehenenter venit, [*](Meaning uncertain.) are the worst of all. It does, however, sometimes happen that a bold and vigorous conception may derive a certain charm from the contrast between two words not dissimilar in sound.

I do

The old orators were at great pains to achieve elegance in the use of words similar or opposite in sound. Gorgias carried the practice to an extravagant pitch, while Isocrates, at any rate in his early days, was much addicted to it. Even Cicero delighted in it, but showed some restraint in the employment of a device which is not unattractive save when carried to excess, and, further, by the weight of his thought lent dignity to what would otherwise have been mere trivialities. For in itself this artifice is a flat and foolish affectation, but when it goes hand in hand with vigour of thought, it gives the impression of natural charm, which the speaker has not had to go far to find.

There are some four different forms of play upon verbal resemblances. The first occurs when we select some word which is not very unlike another, as in the line of Virgil

1. vuppesque tuae pubesque tuorum,

Aen. i. 399. [*](Your ships and the flower of your young warriors.)