The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

from clauses. 2.Acomma is the marking off of a speechjuncture,
as (cf. Cicero, Defense of Milo1): “Although
Ifear,judges,...”–thereisonecomma, and another
comma follows – “. . . that it may be unseemly to speak
for the bravest of men, . . .” and this makes up a clause
(colon), that is, a member, that makes the sense intelligible.
But still the utterance is left hanging, and in this way
finally from several clauses the sentence’s period (periodos)
ismade, that is the last closing-off of the thought,
thus: “. . . and so they miss the traditional procedure of
the courts.” But a sentence should not be longer than
what may be delivered in one breath.
xix. Faults to be avoided in letters, words, and expressions
(De vitiis litterarum et verborum et sententiarum
cavendis) 1. Again,thepure and chaste speech
of an orator should be without all faults, as much in letters
as in words, and indeed in expressions (sententia).
2. Inletters, their adjoining should be apt and proper,
and thus care must be taken to ensure that the final
vowel ofthe preceding word is not the same as the initial
vowel of the following word, as feminae Aegyptiae
(“of an Egyptian woman”). This construction would be
better if consonants were adjoined to the vowels. One
should also avoid the adjoining of the three consonants
which comingtogetherseemtobegratingandasitwere
to clash, that is r, s, andx, as: ars studiorum (“the art of
study”), rex Xerxes (“King Xerxes”), error Romuli (“the
wandering of Romulus”). Also to be avoided is the consonant
m dashing against vowels, as verum enim (“but
indeed”).
xx. Combinations of words (De iuncturis verborum)
1. Also we should be wary of faults in words, so that we
don’t position words improperly, which the Greeks call
acyrologia. Therefore propriety should be cherished, so
that sometimes because of the meanness of a foul and
nasty word one should use terms in a transferred sense,
yet not fetched from far away, but such as seem neighbors
and cognates to the true ones. 2.Veryfar-fetchedhyperbatons
(see I.xxxvii.16), which cannot be employed without
confusion with other meanings, should be avoided.
Ambiguity (ambiguitas) isalso to be avoided, as well
7 See I. xxxvi–xxxvii above; Donatus, Ars Grammatica, ed.Keil
4.397–402.
8 Many manuscripts omit the remainder of this chapter.
The Etymologies II.xviii.2–xxi.4 75
as that fault when, carried away by the excitement of
oratory, some people conclude, in a long and roundabout
rambling (ambages) withemptysounds interposed,
what they could have expressed in one or two
words. This fault is called perissologia. 3.Tothis the opposite
guilty fault is to rob the speech of even essential words
in one’s zeal for brevity. To be avoided also are the faults
of expressions (sententia) aswellasthoseof letters and
words; these are recognized as among the first studies
of grammarians. 4. Theseare cacemphaton, tautologia,
ellipsis, acyrologia, macrologia, perissologia, pleonasm,
and ones like these. But contrariwise enargeia (energia)
as well as emphasis, which causes something to be understood
beyond what one has said, elevate and adorn an
oration, as if you were to say, “He rises to the glory of
Scipio,” and Vergil (Aen. 2.262):
Sliding down the lowered rope.
Forwhen he says ‘sliding down’ he suggests the image of
height. To this the opposite virtue is to diminish in one’s
wordsthings that are in their nature great.
xxi. Figures of words and of expressions (De figuris
verborum et sententiarum) 1. Aspeech is amplified
and adorned with figures of words and of expressions.
Because a straight and continuous oration makes for
weariness and disgust as much for the speaker as for
the hearer, it should be inflected and varied into other
forms, so that it might refresh the speaker and become
more elaborate, and deflect criticism with a diversity of
presentation and hearing. Of these figures most, from
Donatus, have been noted above in the schemes of the
art of grammar. 7 2.Hencehereitis fitting to insert only
those that never or with difficulty occur in poetry, but
freely in oratory. 8
3.[Anadiplosis is a doubling of words, as (Cicero, Catiline
Oration 1.2): “Still he lives. Lives! He even comes
into the Senate!” 4. Climax (climax) isan‘ascending
series’ (gradatio), when the second notion begins at the
point where the first leaves off, and from here as if in
steps (gradus) theorderofspeechismanaged, as in
the speech of Africanus: “From innocence arises esteem;
from esteem, preferment; from preferment, sovereignty;
from sovereignty, liberty.” Some call this figure the
‘chain’ (catena), because one term is as it were linked
to another, and in this way more ideas are conveyed
in the doubling of the words. Moreover, this scheme