Book 8
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Illustrative examples also involve allegory if not preceded by an explanation; for there are numbers of sayings available for use like the Dionysius is at Corinth, The allusion must be to the fact that Dionysius II, tyrant of Syracuse, on his expulsion from the throne, migrated to Corinth and set up as a schoolmaster. Its application is uncertain, but it would obviously be a way of saying How are the mighty fallen I which is such a favourite with the Greeks. When, however, an allegory is too obscure, we call it a riddle: such riddles are, in my opinion, to be regarded as blemishes, in view of the fact that lucidity is a virtue; nevertheless they are used by poets, as, for example, by Virgil Ecl. iii. 104; the solution is lost. in the following lines: Say in what land, and if thou tell me true, I'll hold thee as Apollo's oracle, Three ells will measure all the arch of heaven. Even orators sometimes use them,
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as when Caelius The references are to the licentious character of Clodia. Coa was probably intended to suggest coitus, while nola is best derived from nolle, and is to be regarded as the opposite of coa. speaks of the Clytemnestra who sold her favours for a farthing, who was a Coan in the dining-room and a Nolan in her bedroom. For although we know the answers, and although they were better known at the time when the words were uttered, they are riddles for all that; and other riddles are, after all, intelligible if you can get someone to explain them.
