Complete Works of Plutarch Part 47

There is besides another Trope, Autonomasia, when an epithet or co-t.i.tle is used for a proper name, as in this example (I. viii. 39):--

The son of Peleus again attacked the son of Atreus with petulant words.

By this he indicates Achilles and Agamemnon respectively. And again (I.

xxii. 183):--

Be of good cheer, Tritonia, dear daughter,--

and in other places (I. xx. 39):--

Shorn Phoebus.

In the one case he means Athene and in the other Apollo.

There is, too, Antiphrasis, or an expression signifying the opposite from what it appears to do (I. i. 330):--

Seeing these Achilles did not rejoice.

He wishes to say the contrary, that seeing them he was disgusted.

There is also Emphasis, which through reflection adds vigor to what is said (O. xi. 523):--

But descending into the home which Epeus constructed.

In the word "descending" he reveals the great size of the house. Of the same kind is the line (I. xvi. 333):--

The whole sand was hot with blood,--

for in this he furnishes a more intense description, as if the sand was so bathed with blood that it was hot. These kind of Tropes were invented by Homer first of all.

Let us look at the changes of construction which are called figures to see if Homer also first invented these. Figure is a method of expression divergent from ordinary custom for the sake of ornament or utility, altered by a kind of fiction. For beauty is added to narrative by variety and change of expression, and these make the style more impressive. They are also useful because they exalt and intensify innate qualities and powers.

Among the figures Pleonasm is sometimes used for the sake of the metre; as in (I. xix. 247):--

Odysseus adding all ten talents of gold,--

for the word "all" is added without contributing to the sense. It is done for the sake of ornament, cf. (I. xviii. 12).--

Certainly the strenuous son of Menoetius is quite dead,--

for the word "quite" is pleonastic after the Attic fashion.

Sometimes by several forms of speech he unfolds his meaning. This is called Periphrasis. As when he says "Sons of the Achaeans" for Achaeans, and the "Herculean might" for Hercules.

Things are said figuratively by Mutation when the ordinary order is inverted. But he puts in an expression in the midst which is called Hyperbaton, as in this (I. xvii. 542):--

Just as a lion feeds on an eaten bull,--

instead of saying the lion eats up the bull. And so he pa.s.ses the limits of the sentence (I. ii. 333):--

He said, and loudly cheered the Greeks--and loud From all the hollow ships came back the cheers-- In admiration of Ulysses' speech.

The order is the Argives applauded with a great shout the speech of divine Odysseus.

Of the same kind is the figure called Parembole, or interposition, when something outside having nothing to do with the subject is introduced.

If it is removed, the construction is not affected (I. i. 234):--

By this I say and with an oath confirm By this my royal staff, which never more Shall put forth leaf nor spray, since first it left Upon the mountain side its parent stem Nor blossom more; since all around the axe Hath lopped both leaf and bark--...

and the rest as much as he has said about the sceptre, then joining what follows with the beginning (I. i. 340):--

The time shall come when all the sons of Greece Shall mourn Achilles' loss.

He uses also Palillogia--that is the repet.i.tion of some part of a sentence, or several parts are repeated. This figure is called Reduplication, such as (I. xx. 371):--

Encounter him well! Though his hands were hands of fire, Of fire, his hands, his strength as burnished steel.

Sometimes certain insertions are made and they are repeated, as in (O.

i. 22):--

Howbeit Poseidon had now departed for the distant Ethiopians, the Ethiopians that are sundered in twain, the uttermost of men.

This is a figure revealing the feeling of the speaker and at the same time affecting the hearer.

Of the same kind is Relation; when at the commencement of several members of a sentence the same part is repeated. An example of this from the poet is (I. ii. 671):--

Nireus three well-trimmed ships from Syme brought.

Nireus to Charops whom Aglaia bore.

Nireus the goodliest man of all the Greeks.

This figure is likewise adapted to excite the emotions and give sweetness to the expression.

He has also Regression. This is when one puts forward two names of objects. When the sense is not yet complete, the poet returns to both of the names, completing what is lacking in the sense, as (I. v. 518).--

Followed the thronging bands of Troy, by Mars and fierce Bellona led: she by the hand wild uproar held; while Mars a giant spear brandished aloft.

The characteristic of this figure is variety and perspicuity.

He has also the figure called h.o.m.oioteleuton in which the parts of the sentence have endings similar in sound and have the same syllables at the end (O. xv. 74):--

Men should love a guest while he is with them, and send him on his way when he would depart,--

and in the following (O. vi. 42):--

And she departed to Olympus, where they say is the seat of the G.o.ds that standeth fast forever. Not by the wind is it shaken nor ever wet with rain nor doth the snow come nigh thereto, but most clear air is spread about it cloudless and the white light floats over it.

When periods or their members end in nouns which are of the same declension this is properly called h.o.m.oioptolon, as the following (I.

ii. 87):--