Institutio Oratoria

Quintilian

Quintilian. Institutio Oratoria, Volume 1-4. Butler, Harold Edgeworth, translator. Cambridge, Mass; London: Harvard University Press, William Heinemann Ltd., 1920-1922.

The following also may be

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regarded as belonging to the same genus. The first is called interpositio or interclusio by us, and parenthesis or paremptosis by the Greeks, and consists in the interruption of the continuous flow of our language by the insertion of some remark. The following is an example: ego cum te (mecum enim saepissime loquilur ) patriae reddidissem. [*](pro Mil. xxxiv. 94. When I had restored you—for he often enters into conversation with me—to your country. )

To this they add hyperbaton, [*](See VIII. vi. 67.) which they refuse to include among tropes. A second figure of this kind is one closely resembling the figure of thought known as apostrophe, [*](See IX. ii. 38.) but differing in this respect, that it changes the form of the language and not the sense. The following will illustrate my meaning:

  1. The Decii too,
  2. The Marii and Camilli, names of might,
  3. The Scipios, stubborn warriors, aye, and thee,
  4. Great Caesar.
Georg. ii. 169. (Rhoades' translation).

There is a still more striking example in the passage describing the death of Polydorus [*](Aen. iii. 55. ) :

  1. All faith he brake and Polydorus slew
  2. Seizing his gold by force. Curst greed of gold,
  3. To what wilt thou not drive the hearts of men?
'Those terminologists who delight in subtle distinctions call the last figure μετάβασις (transition), and hold that it may be employed in yet another way, as in Dido's
  1. What do I say? Where am I?
Aen. iv. 595.

Virgil has combined apostrollphe and parenthesis in the well-known passage: [*](Aen. viii. 642. )

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  1. Next Mettus the swift cars asunder tore,
  2. (Better, false Alban, hadst thou kept thy troth!)
  3. And Tullus dragged the traitors' mangled limbs. . .
These figures and the like, which consist in change,

addition, omission, and the order of words, serve to attract the attention of the audience and do not allow it to flag, rousing it from time to time by some specially striking figure, while they derive something of their charm from their very resemblance to blemishes, just as a trace of bitterness in food will sometimes tickle the palate. But this result will only be obtained if figures are not excessive in number nor all of the same type or combined or closely packed, since economy in their use, no less than variety, will prevent the hearer being surfeited.

There is a more striking class of figure, which does not merely depend on the form of the language for its effect, but lends both charm and force to the thought as well. The first figure of this class which calls for notice is that which is produced by addition. Of this there are various kinds. Words, for instance, may be doubled with a view to amplification, as in

I have slain, I have slain, not Spurius Maelius
[*](Cic. pro Mil. xxvii. 72. ) (where the first I have slain states what has been done, while the second emphasises it), or to excite pity, as in
  1. Ah! Corydon, Corydon.
Ecl. ii. 69.

The same figure may also sometimes be employed ironically, with a view to disparagement. Similar to such doubling of words is repetition following a parenthesis, but the effect is stronger.

I have seen the property alas! (for though all my tears are shed,
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my grief still clings to me deep-rooted in my heart), the property, I say, of Gnaeus Pompeius put up for sale by the cruel voice of the public crier.
[*](Phil. II. xxvi. 64. )
You still live, and live not to abate your audacity, but to increase it.
[*]( Cat. I. ii. 4. )

Again, a number of clauses may begin with the same word for the sake of force and emphasis.

Were you unmoved by the guard set each night upon the Palatine, unmoved by the patrolling of the city, unmoved by the terror of the people, unmoved by the unanimity of all good citizens, unmoved by the choice of so strongly fortified a spot for the assembly of the senate, unmoved by the looks and faces of those here present to-day?
[*]( Cic. Cat. I. i. 1. ) Or they may end with the same words.
Who demanded them? Appius. Who produced them? Appius.
[*](pro. Mil. xxii. 59. )