[Niall_Livingstone]_A_Commentary_on_Isocrates'_Busiris

This passage is a good example of Isocrates' technique in constructingperiods (cf. Usher 1973 pp. 42 f.). Suspense is maintained by theconstant use of anticipatory constructions. The opening absolute construction,with its dependent antithesis, leads up to the firstfinite verb (line 6), which begins a correlative construction. Within each part of this antithesis the thought iscarried along by forward-pointing constructions. In the first, we findir\v . . . c,, and TCOV aXXcov, which,participles in lines 17 and 18 require the finite verb in line 19 forthe completion of their sense, and this clause in turn requires theexplanation provided by the antithesis in lines 20-21. Figuresof sound are not especially prominent. Inthereis an instance of homoeoteleuton; the clauses in lines 9 and 11 balanceeach other in quantity, and attention is drawn to this by the correspondencein sound and sense betweenx^a