Kitap 8
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On the other hand, when the transposition makes no alteration in the sense, and merely produces a variation in the structure, it is rather to be called a verbal figure, as indeed many authorities have held. Of the faults resulting from long or confused hyperbata have spoken in the appropriate place. VIII. ii. 14. I have kept hyperbole to the last, on the ground of its boldness. It means an elegant straining of the truth, and may be employed indifferently for exaggeration or attenuation. It can be used in various ways.
6.68
We may say more than the actual facts, as when Cicero says, Phil. II. xxv. 63. "He vomited and filled his lap and the whole tribunal with fragments of food, or when Virgil speaks of win rocks that threaten heaven. Aen. i. 162. Again, we may exalt our theme by the use of simile, as in the phrase: Thou wouldst have deemed That Cyclad isles uprooted swam the deep. Aen. viii. 691.
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Or we may produce the same result by introducing a comparison, as in the phrase: Swifter than the levin's wings; Aen. v. 319. or by the use of indications, as in the lines: She would fly Even o'er the tops of the unsickled corn, Nor as she ran would bruise the tender ears. Aen. vii. 808. Or we may employ a metaphor, as the verb to fly is employed in the passage just quoted.
