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Contents 1 Stylistic Features of Latin Verse and Prose 1.1 Alliteration 1.1.1 Example 1 1.2 Hyperbaton 1.2.1 Example 2 1.3 Hendiadyon 1.4 Parallelism 1.4.1 Example 3 1.5 Chiasmus 1.5.1 Example 4 1.6 Litotes 1.6.1 Example 5 1.7 Anaphora 1.7.1 Example 6 1.8 Epiphora 1.9 Asyndeton 1.10 Polysyndeton 1.11 Pluralis modestiae

[edit] Stylistic Features of Latin Verse and Prose

This is a brief glossary of stylistic features often found in Latin especially in rhetoric and poetry.

[edit] Alliteration

Alliteration is a common poetic technique used in Latin from the earliest surviving fragments to the latest literary age. In alliteration there is a repetition of the initial consonantal letter.

[edit] Example 1

Latin	English
Caesar cum Cicerone	Caesar, with Cicero
Veni,Vidi,Vici	I came, I saw, I conquered
bellum bonum	good war

[edit] Hyperbaton

Hyperbaton is the arranging of words in a particular manner to produce an effect. Hyperbaton is used often in Latin literature because Latin syntax is far more flexible than English.

[edit] Example 2

Latin

magnae periculo opes

Analysis: The word 'periculo' separates the words 'magnae' and 'opes'.

[edit] Hendiadyon

Hendiadyon is a rhetorical and poetic technique that uses the juxtaposition of two or more words with a similar meaning to reinforce an idea.

[edit] Parallelism

Parallelism is a stylistic device common in Latin in which two sentences have similar syntax.

[edit] Example 3

Latin	English
Italia in Europa est.	Italy is in Europe.
Marcus ad scholam currit.	Marcus runs to school.

Analysis: In both sentences the nominative is placed first and the principal verb is last.

[edit] Chiasmus

Chiasmus is the reverse of parallelism, because syntactic structures are inverted. The name is from the Greek letter Chi which resembles an X and illustrates symmetrical crossing. A good example is the aphorism quod cibus est aliis, aliis est venenum, "What is food to some, to others is poison." The pattern is: noun, verb, pronoun; pronoun, verb, noun.

[edit] Example 4

Latin	English
Claudiam laudo	I praise Claudia.
Venio ad Marcum.	I come to Marcus.

[edit] Litotes

The negation of a verb instead of using an antonym is a poetical device known as litotes. Litotes is much weaker than simply using an antonym. Litotes is often used as underestimation.

[edit] Example 5

Latin	English
non ignorare	to not be ignorant of
As opposed to...
tenere	to be knowledgable of

[edit] Anaphora

The rhetorical figure called anaphora is often used in conjunction with parallelism where the first word in the first sentence of a paragraph or stanza is repeated in the following sentences. It is sometimes used where the initial word in a sentence must be understood in the clauses or sentences that follow.

[edit] Example 6

Latin	English
timeo, ne non pueri essent boni in schola	I dread that the boys are not good in school
[timeo is assumed], ne non puellae essent bonae domi	I dread that the girls are not good at home.

[edit] Epiphora

An epiphora is a rhetorical device like anaphora except at the end of a sentence.

[edit] Asyndeton

Latin	English
Veni,vidi,vici	I came, I saw, I conquered

As you can see, an Asyndeton is a multiple nummeration without the "et (and)"

[edit] Polysyndeton

This is a nummeration with et:

veni et vidi et vici

This means loads of conjuctions

[edit] Pluralis modestiae

This is a advanced technique, often used in ancient fabulae, by Aesop and others.

It means that the Plural is used to show "modestia", for example

"officium magnum e nostro est."