Book 6
3.88
Of a similar nature are jests whose point lies in insinuation. Such was the reply which Cicero ib. lxix. 278. quotes as given to the man who complained that his wife had hung herself on a fig-tree. I wish, said someone, you would give me a slip of that tree to plant. For there the meaning is obvious, though it is not expressed in so many words.
3.89
Indeed the essence of all wit lies in the distortion of the true and natural meaning of words: a perfect instance of this is when we misrepresent our own or another's opinions or assert some impossibility.
