Institutio Oratoria

I have found some who call this also by the name of πλοκή: but I do not agree, as only one figure is

involved. We may also find a mixture of words, some identical and others different in meaning; of this figure, which the Greeks style διαλλαγή, the following will provide an example:

I ask my enemies whether these plots were investigated, discovered and laid bare, overthrown, crushed and destroyed by me.

[*]( From the lost speech in Q. Metullum. ) In this sentence

investigated,

discovered

and

laid bare

are different in meaning, while

overthrown,

crushed

and

destroyed

are similar in meaning to each other, but different from the three previous.

But both the last example and the last but one involve a different figure as well, which, owing to the absence of connecting particles, is called dissolution ( asyndeton ), and is useful when we are speaking with special vigour: for it at once impresses the details on the mind and makes them seem more numerous than they really are. Consequently, we apply this figure not merely to single words, but to whole sentences, as, for instance, is done by Cicero in his reply [*](Only a few fragments remain.) to the speech which Metellus made to the public assembly:

I ordered those against whom information was laid, to be summoned, guarded, brought before the senate: they were led into the senate,

while the rest of the passage is constructed on similar lines. This kind of figure is also called brachylogy, which may be regarded as detachment without loss of connexion. The opposite of this figure of asyndeton is polyxyndeton, which is characterised by the number of connecting particles employed.