Section 12: Figures

SECTION XII.

OF FIGURES.

1. A FIGURE is an elegantly uncommon way of speaking.

2. All the sorts of Grammatical Figures may be reduced to three, — an Ellipsis, a Pleonasm, and an Enallage.

3. An Ellipsis is a defect; a Pleonasm, a redundance; an Enallage, a change of letters or words.

4. The most common sorts of Ellipses and Pleonasms are contained in the following verses: —

Demit Aphaeresis 1 initio, sed Prothesis 2 addit:

Syncope 3 de medio tollit, sed Epenthesis 4 infert:

Detrahit Apocope 5 fini, sed dat Paragoge 6

5. The most common sorts of Enallage are, Tmesis, which divides a word into two parts; as, cum quibus erat cunque.

6. Hypallage, which changes Cases for each other; as, in nova mutatas corpora formas.

7. Antiptosis, which puts one Case for another; as, ipsum ut vivat optant: And,

8. Enallage, strictly so called which puts one Voice, Mood or Tense for another; as, tum prora avertit, for avertitur; tum omnes fortunas meas laudare, for laudabant.

9. The most common Poetical Figures are, Synaeresis, which contracts two syllables into one; as, alveo for alveo.

10. Diaeresis, which divides one syllable into two; as, evoluisset, for evolvisset.

11. Systole, which makes a long syllable short; as, steteruntque comae: And,

12. Diastole, which makes a short syllable long; as, exceret Diana choros.

13. The most common Rhetorical Figures are, a Metaphor, which puts one word for another resembling it; as ridet ager.

14. A Metonymy, which puts one word for another that bears a relation to it: Suppose, the effect for the cause; as, poenas dedit illud opus; that is, Ovidus, autor operis: The adjunct for the subject; as, ternos necte colores; that is licia trium colorum: The time for the thing done; as, secula mitescent; for homines in seculo: The place for that which is placed in it; as, vina coronant; for pocula: Or the abstract for the concrete, or vice versa; as, ubi illic scelus est? for scelestus.

15. A Synecdoche, which puts a general word for a particular; as, perniciosum animal perdidimus; that is, Catilinam: The whole for the part, vice versa, part for the whole; as, fontemferebant; that is, aquam fontis: The Plural Number for the Singular, or vice versa; as, obtulimus nos perculis; obtuli me.

16. An Hyperbole, which expresses more than is true; as, ocyor Euro.

17. A Chatachresis, which is the abuse of a word; as, vir gregis, for a ram. 18.An Allegory, which is a continued Metaphor; as, O navis, referent in mare te novi fluctus!

19. A Climax, which is a gradation of several sentences, rising each above the other: and,

20. A Prosopspoeia, which represents a thing as if it were a person; as, tecum, Catilina, patria sic aget?