Complete Works of Plutarch Part 46

He has also much fertility in epithets; these being fitted to their objects properly and naturally have the force of proper names, as when he gives to the several G.o.ds each some proper designation, so he calls Zeus the "all-wise and high thundering," and the Sun, Hyperion, "advancing aloft," and Apollo, Phoebus, that is, s.h.i.+ning. But after the Onomatopoeia let us examine other Tropes.

Catechresis, which changes a word from a customary signification to another not recognized. This is to be found in the poet when he says golden chain [Greek omitted], but [Greek omitted] properly means a rope, and when he says a goat helmet [Greek omitted]; now a helmet is [Greek omitted] in Homer, because it used to be made of dog's skin, not of goat's skin.

Metaphor, so-called because it transfers a thing from its proper significance to another with an a.n.a.logous likeness to both, occurs in many and varied forms in verse, as is the line (O. ix. 481):--

He comes, having broken off the crown of a great mountain,--

and (O. x. 195):

An island which the sea laves and crowns.

For the relation a crown has to him whom it encircles, the same the sea has to an island. By making use of related but not usual words he makes his speech not only more beautiful but more picturesque.

There are in Homer various kinds of metaphors; some applied from animate things to animate, as, "the driver of the caerulean s.h.i.+p spoke" instead of the sailor, and "he went to Agamemnon the son of Atreus, the shepherd of the people" instead of king. Some are applied from animate to inanimate, as (I. ii. 824):--

Under the extreme foot of Ida,--

that is, the rising ground. Also (I. ix. 141):--

The breast of the field,--

that is, the fertility. Others, on the contrary, from inanimate to animate, as (I. xxiv. 205):--

The iron breast.

From inanimate to animate, as (O. v. 490):--

Preserving the seed of fire,--

instead of the generating origin. Then he has metaphors of verbs as well as substantives (I. xvii. 265):--

As the sh.o.r.es bellow with the smiting salt and gale,--

instead of "resound."

Another Trope which is called Metalepsis, signifying a different thing by a synonym (O. xv. 299):--

I beached the s.h.i.+p in the sharp islands,--

for he wishes to signify islands properly called jagged. Both words in Greek are synonyms. For in Greek sharp not only signifies swiftness of motion, but also in a figure that which rises into a slender shape. Such is the quotation (O. ix. 327):--

accompanied him and sharpened my pace.

Another Trope is named Synecdoche, called from this reason; that from what is properly meant, another of the like kind is understood. This Trope has also many varieties. For either we perceive the part from the whole, as (I. xii. 137):--

They advanced straight to the walls the burning bulls,--

for he wishes to indicate by the appellation "bulls" the leather out of which s.h.i.+elds are wont to be made. Or from a part the whole (O. i.

343):--

I long for such a head,--

for from the head he signifies the man. And when for beautiful he says "endowed with beautiful cheeks," and for well armed he says "well greaved." Or from one the many, as when he speaks of Odysseus (O. i.

2):--

When he wasted the sacred citadel of Troy.

Not he by himself took Troy, but along with the rest of the Greeks. From the many one, as (I. iii. 397), "happy b.r.e.a.s.t.s," i.e. breast. From the species the genus, as (I. xii. 380):--

Casting on the hard marble,--

for marble is a species of rock. From the genus the species (O. ii.

159).--

To know the birds and to say many fitting things.

He wishes to say not all birds, but only the birds of auspices. From the instruments the action, as (I. ii. 827):--

Pandorus to whom he gave the bow of Apollo.

By the bow he indicates the skill in using it. And (O. xii. 172):--

Sitting they made the water white,--

and (O. iii. 486):--

Now others moved the whole day the thong of their sandal.

This comes from an accidental feature; in the first case "they were rowing," in the next "they were running," is to be implied. Besides there is the consequent to the precedent, as (O. xi. 245):--

She loosed the virgin zone.

It follows that she defiled it. From the consequent the precedent, as when instead of saying "to kill" he says "to disarm," that is, to spoil.

There is another Trope called Metonymy, i.e. when an expression applied properly to one thing indicates another related to it, such as (I. ii.

426):--

But the young men proceed to grind Demeter,--

for he means the crop of grain named from its inventor, Demeter. And when he says (O. xix. 28):--

They held the transfixed entrails over Hephaestus.

By the name Hephaestus he signifies fire. Like what has previously been mentioned is this (I. i. 223).--

Whoever shall touch my choenix,--

for what is contained in the choenix is intended.