Kitap 8
3.82
The praise awarded to perfect brevity is well-deserved; but, on the other hand, brachylogy, which I shall deal with when I come to speak of figures, that is to say, the brevity that says nothing more than what is absolutely necessary, is less effective, although it may be employed with admirable results when it expresses a great deal in a very few words, as in Sallust's description of Mithridates as huge of stature, and armed to match. But unsuccessful attempts to imitate this form of terseness result merely in obscurity.
3.83
A virtue which closely resembles the last, but is on a grander scale, is emphasis, which succeeds in revealing a deeper meaning than is actually expressed by the words. There are two kinds of emphasis: the one means more than it says, the other often means something which it does not actually say.
3.84
An example of the former is found in Homer, Od. xi. 523. where he makes Menelaus say that the Greeks descended into the Wooden Horse, indicating its size by a single verb. Or again, there is the following example by Virgil: Aen. ii. 262. Descending by a rope let down, a phrase which in a similar manner indicates the height of the horse. The same poet, Aen. iii. 631. when he says that the Cyclops lay stretched throughout the cave, by taking the room occupied as the standard of measure, gives an impression of the giant's immense bulk.
