Introduction Introduction to Rhetorical to Rhetorical

Devices & Devices & Figures of Figures of

SpeechSpeech

With With Examples Examples

From Book I From Book I of The of The AeneidAeneid

We’ll start with the easy

ones.

An implied comparison achieved through a figurative

use of words.

metaphor:

1.301Volat ille per aera magnum

remigio alarum ac Libyae citus astitit oris.

comparing wings with oars

* this metaphor will appear again in Book VI – look for it!

simile:a comparison

between two things using 'like' or 'as'.

1.82Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversa cuspide montem

impulit in latus; ac venti velut agmine facto,

The winds are like soldiers in formation.

http://vergil.classics.upenn.edu/images/images.old.html

Now turn to Book 1, lines 430-431. There’s a famous similie here. What are the two words that introduce it?

Qualis apes aestate nova per florea rura

exercet sub sole labor, cum gentis adultos

educunt fetus, aut cum liquentia mella

stipant et dulci distendunt nectare cellas, aut

onera accipiunt venientum,aut agmine facto

Ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent;

Qualis apes aestate nova per florea rura

exercet sub sole labor, cum gentis adultos

educunt fetus, aut cum liquentia mella

stipant et dulci distendunt nectare cellas, aut

onera accipiunt venientum,aut agmine facto

ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent;

Aeneas and Achates on the Libyan Coast c. 1520(Giovanni di Niccolo Luteri)

About the picture on the preceding page, from www.nga.gov

Dosso DossiItalian, active 1512 - 1542

Aeneas and Achates on the Libyan Coast, c. 1520oil on canvas

Samuel H. Kress Collection1939.1.250

National Gallery of Art Brief Guide The obscure iconography of Dosso's canvas has caused much

speculation. In the past it has been titled simply Scene from a Legend and, more often, Departure of the

Argonauts. The present title refers instead to an event in Virgil's Aeneid. Designed to celebrate the origin and

growth of the Roman Empire, the Aeneid tells the story of Aeneas, who after the fall of Troy and seven years

wandering, founded a settlement on the Italian peninsula, establishing the Roman state. The story of Aeneas and

Achates is taken from Book I of the Aeneid, where Aeneas and his faithful companion Achates, their journey just

begun, take refuge on the Libyan coast after their ships are wrecked in a storm.

alliterationThe repetition of the same (usually initial) consonant or sound.

Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversa cuspide montem

Open your book and find further examples of alliteration in lines 1.82 & 1.83 Alliteration is usually the repetition of an initial consonant,

but not always!

1.81 – 1.83

Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversa cuspide montemimpulit in latus; ac venti velut agmine facto,

qua data porta, ruunt et terras turbine perflant.

Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversa cuspide montem

assonancethe repetition of the same vowel sound.

1.217

Amissos longo socios sermone requirunt

onomatopoeia:the use of imitative

and naturally suggestive words for

rhetorical effect.

1.55Illi indignantes magno cum murmure montis

Can’t you just hear the mountains rumbling?

This is also an example of….?

alliteration!

1.124

Interea magno misceri murmure pontum,emissamque hiemem sensit Neptunus,et emis 

stagna refusa vadis, graviter commotus; et altoprospiciens, summa placidum caput extulit unda.

Can you find both alliteration and onomatopoeia in this passage?

1.124

Interea magno misceri murmure pontum,emissamque hiemem sensit Neptunus,et emis 

stagna refusa vadis, graviter commotus; et altoprospiciens, summa placidum caput extulit unda.

What is being described here?

personification:the assigning of

human personality to inanimate objects

1.82Haec ubi dicta, cavum conversa cuspide montem

impulit in latus; ac venti velut agmine facto,

The winds are being compared to soldiers in formation, so not only is this simile, it is also

personification.

These next figures of speech are also

easy to recognize, , but the terminology will be

new to you.

anaphora:

the repetition of a word or phrase at the

beginning of successive phrases,

clauses or lines.

1.16-17

…hic illius arma, hic currus fuit; hoc regnum dea gentibus esse

Turn to 1.418 in your text. Read until you find another example of anaphora in those

lines.

1.421-422

Miratur molem Aeneas, magalia quondam,

miratur portas strepitumque et strata viarum

Book 1. 418-440. Aeneas and Achates, having been made invisible by Venus,

admire the rising city of Carthage

O fortunati, quorum iam

moenia surgunt!

apostrophe:

a sudden turn from the general audience to address a specific group or person or personified abstraction

absent or present.

Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laesoquidve dolens regina deum tot volvereinsignem pietate virum, tot adire laboresimpulerit. tantaene animis caelestibus irae?

1.8-11

Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laesoquidve dolens regina deum tot volvereinsignem pietate virum, tot adire laboresimpulerit. tantaene animis caelestibus irae?

1.8-11

Floor Mosaic from Trier, Germany. Middle 3rd Century AD

zeugma:

two different words linked to a verb or an

adjective in such a manner that it applies to each in a different

sense.

An example in English:He stole her heart, and her wallet.

(This would make a good Country – Western song!)

Come up with one or two of your own.

Now, let’s look at one in Latin…

Aeole (namque tibi divum pater atque hominum rexet mulcere dedit fluctus et tollere vento),gens inimica mihi Tyrrhenum navigat aequorIlium in Italium portans victosque penates:incute vim ventis submersasque obrue puppis           

1.65 - 70

Can you find the example of zeugma in this passage?

"Aeole (namque tibi divum pater atque hominum rexet mulcere dedit fluctus et tollere vento),

gens inimica mihi Tyrrhenum navigat aequorIlium in Italium portans victosque penates:

incute vim ventis submersasque obrue puppis           

1.65 - 70

What does this mean?

aposiopesis:(more fun to say than zeugma!)

“falling silent” this is a breaking off in the middle of a sentence…

aposiopesis:

Why I oughta….

aposiopesis:Go to 1.135 and find the example of

aposiopesis.

Quos ego – sed moto praestat componere fluctus.

Neptune calms the tempest.Image credit: (c)1996 President and Fellows of Harvard College, Harvard University Art Museums,

Courtesy of the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums Alpheus Hyatt Fund.

polysyndeton::

an overabundance of conjuctions.

And so I said…and then he said…and so I said…but he said “oh no she

didn’t”

incubuere mari totumque a sedibus imisuna Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellisAfricus, et vastos voluunt ad litora fluctus.insequitur clamorque virum stridorque rudentum;eripiunt subito nubes caelumque diemque

1.84-88

Can you find the conjunctions?

incubuere mari totumque a sedibus imisuna Eurusque Notusque ruunt creberque procellisAfricus, et vastos voluunt ad litora fluctus.insequitur clamorque virum stridorque rudentum;eripiunt subito nubes caelumque diemque

1.84-88

And then, on the other

hand, there’s…

an omission of conjunctions

asyndeton::

Turn to I.421-422

Miratur molem Aeneas, magalia quondam,

miratur portas strepitumque et strata viarum

You see here an example of ______________ and asyndeton.

anaphora

Now, back to asyndeton. Translate those two lines. What conjunction is missing?

Metonymy:The substitution of

one word for another which it suggests. In

other words, a reference to

something or someone by naming one of its

attributes.

Here’s an example in English…

You all need to be on your best behavior today because the suits from the Central

Office will be roaming the halls today.

Suits refers, of course, to the administrators who can be recognized

by the business suits they wear.

Turn to 1.34-35

Vix e conspectu Sicuae telluris in altum

vela dabant laeti et spumas salis aere ruebunt.

What does salis mean?

What do you suppose it represents here?

Vix e conspectu Sicuae telluris in altum

vela dabant laeti et spumas salis aere ruebunt.

A related figure of speech is

synecdoche

This is defined as a whole represented by naming one of its parts (genus named for species), or vice versa

(species named for genus).

An example of synecdoche in English:

“Nice wheels!” they said, as Maximus rolled into the parking

lot.

(We’ll look for examples in Latin in another book of the Aeneid.)

enallage: the use of one grammatical form in place

of another – also called transferred epithet.

Turn to 1.4

vi superum, saevae memorem Iuonis ob iram,

With what word does memorem agree?

vi superum, saevae memorem Iuonis ob iram,

Memorem,meaning unforgetting, actually describes Juno, but here is agreeing with anger.

The next few devices deal

with word order.

Hyperbaton: separation of words which belong together, often to emphasize the first of

the separated words or to create

a certain image.

Another definition reads: the violent displacement of

words.

tmesis:

the separation of the parts of a compound word by one or more intervening words.

Turn to line 1.412

et multo nebulae circum dea fudit amictu

In this line we see an example of tmesis: circum…fudit

The compound verb means to surround. We see the split word literally surrounding the goddess

(dea) in this line.

Also, the adjective multo modifies the noun amictu, but they are at opposite ends of the line

(hyperbaton), adding to the image of the goddess being at the center of all this.

et multo nebulae circum dea fudit amictu

et multo nebulae circum dea fudit amictu

Anastrophe: transposition of normal word order; most often found in Latin in the

case of prepositions and the words they control.

Anastrophe is a form of hyperbaton.

Turn to 1.29

his accensa super iactatos aequore toto

Which word in this line is a preposition?

his accensa super iactatos aequore toto

If we translate the first three lines as “angered over these things…” this is an

example of anastrophe because we would normally find the preposition

before the noun.

Chiasmus: two corresponding pairs arranged not in parallels (a-b-a-b) but in inverted order (a-b-b-a);

from shape of the Greek letter chi (X).

NOUN – adjective – adjective - NOUN

Take a look at line 1.184

Navem in conspectu nullam, tres litore cervos

Navem nullam

tres cervos

navem nullam

tres cervos

Synchysis:

Interlocked word order

A-B-A-B

Let’s take a look at our example of enallage from a few slides back. This is also an example of interlocked word

order - synchesis

vi superum, saevae memorem Iuonis ob iram,

Hendiadys: use of two words* connected by a conjunction, instead of

subordinating one to the other, to express a single complex idea.

Or, to put it another way:

The definition in Vergil’s Aeneid, by Barbara Weiden Boyd, specifically says NOUNS.

When two nouns are used with a conjunction (storm and rain) instead of combining them as an adjective and a substantive (stormy rain), it’s called hendiadys.

“bread and butter”

You don’t eat bread and then butter separately. What you’re eating is

“buttered bread.”

Gratias to Sister Therese Marie Dougherty, SSND, PhD, Queen of All Things Latin, who explained hendiadys to me using this example – I couldn’t come up with another one!!!

Finding examples of this in English is difficult, although Mr.Shakespeare did use this device quite a bit. But here’s one you

can easily grasp…

Turn to line 1.61

hoc metuens molemque et montes insuper altos

molem et montes

mass & mountains = massive mountains

Litotes:

Understatement, for intensification, by denying the

contrary of the thing being affirmed

An example:

Mrs. Jeffrey is not the tallest member of the

Thomas Stone staff. (In other words, she’s one of

the shortest.)

Look at lines 1.387 - 388

“Quisquis es, haud, credo, invisus caelestibus auras vitales carpis, Tyriam qui

adveneris urbem…”

haud invisus = not at all hated = loved

The following slides contain terms and definitions you should

learn now. Examples of these devices will be pointed out as

we encounter them.

Hysteron Proteron

Inversion of the natural sequence of

events, often meant to stress the event

which, though later in time, is considered the

more important.

Pleonasm

A superfluous and redundant use of extra

words.

Prolepsis (anticipation)

References to events which will occur after the time of

the poem

ecphrasis

An extended description of a work of art or location.

Sources

Boyd, Barbara Weiden. Selections from Books 1, 2, 4, 6, 10 &12 of Vergil’s Aeneid. Illinois: Bolchazy- Carducci, 2004.

Sienkewicz, Thomas and Osburn LeaAnn. Vergil: a Legamus Transitional Reader. Illiois: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2005.

http://www.historywiz.com/aeneidimages.htm

http://www.tabney.com/

http://www.uky.edu/AS/Classics/rhetoric.html