Book 9
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There are, however, certain kinds of this figure which have no connexion with tropes. In the first place, there is the figure which derives its name from negation and is called by some ἀντίφρασις. Here is an example: I will not plead against you according to the rigour of the law, I will not press the point which I should perhaps be able to make good Verr. v. ii. 4. ; or again, Why should I mention his decrees, his acts of plunder, his acquisition, whether by cession or by force, of certain inheritances? Phil. II. xxv. 62. or I say nothing of the first wrong inflicted by his lust ; or I do not even propose to produce the evidence given concerning the 600,000 sesterces ;
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or I might say, etc. pro Cael. xxii. 53. Such kinds of irony may even be sustained at times through whole sections of our argument, as, for instance, where Cicero pro Cluent. lx. 166. says, If I were to plead on this point as though there were some real charge to refute, I should speak at greater length. It is also irony when we assume the tone of command or concession, as in Virgil's Aen. iv. 381. Dido to Aeneas. She continues by praying for his destruution. Go! Follow the winds to Italy;
