Institutio Oratoria

or

I might say, etc.

[*](pro Cael. xxii. 53. ) Such kinds of irony may even be sustained at times through whole sections of our argument, as, for instance, where Cicero [*](pro Cluent. lx. 166. ) says,

If I were to plead on this point as though there were some real charge to refute, I should speak at greater length.

It is also irony when we assume the tone of command or concession, as in Virgil's [*](Aen. iv. 381. Dido to Aeneas. She continues by praying for his destruution. )

1. Go!
2. Follow the winds to Italy;

or when we concede to our opponents qualities which we are unwilling that they should seem to possess. This is specially effective when we possess these qualities and they do not, as in the following passage, [*](Aen. xi. 383. Turnus addresses Drances, who has been attacking him as the cause of the war and bidding him fight himself, if he would win Lavinia for his bride. )

1. Brand me as coward, Drances, since thy sword
2. Has slain such hosts of Trojans.

A like result is produced by reversing this method when we pretend to own to faults which are not ours or which even recoil upon the heads of our opponents, as for example,

1. 'Twas I that led the Dardan gallant on
2. To storm the bridal bed of Sparta's queen!

Aen. x. 92. Juno ironically pretends to have brought about the rape of Helen, which was in reality the work of Venus.