es to
see if Homer also first invented these. Figure is a method of expression
divergent from ordinary custom for the sake of ornament or utility,
altered by a kind of fiction. For beauty is added to narrative by
variety and change of expression, and these make the style more
impressive. They are also useful because they exalt and intensify innate
qualities and powers.

Among the figures Pleonasm is sometimes used for the sake of the metre;
as in (I. xix. 247):--

Odysseus adding all ten talents of gold,--

for the word "all" is added without contributing to the sense. It is
done for the sake of ornament, cf. (I. xviii. 12).--

Certainly the strenuous son of Menoetius is quite dead,--

for the word "quite" is pleonastic after the Attic fashion.

Sometimes by several forms of speech he unfolds his meaning. This is
called Periphrasis. As when he says "Sons of the Achaeans" for Achaeans,
and the "Herculean might" for Hercules.

Things are said figuratively by Mutation when the ordinary order is
inverted. But he puts in an expression in the midst which is called
Hyperbaton, as in this (I. xvii. 542):--

Just as a lion feeds on an eaten bull,--

instead of saying the lion eats up the bull. And so he passes the limits
of the sentence (I. ii. 333):--

He said, and loudly cheered the Greeks--and loud
From all the hollow ships came back the cheers--
In admiration of Ulysses' speech.

The order is the Argives applauded with a great shout the speech of
divine Odysseus.

Of the same kind is the figure called Parembole, or interposition, when
something outside having nothing to do with the subject is introduced.
If it is removed, the construction is not affected (I. i. 234):--

By this I say and with an oath confirm
By this my royal staff, which never more
Shall put forth leaf nor spray, since first it left
Upon the mountain side its parent stem
Nor blossom more; since all around the axe
Hath lopped both leaf and bark--...

and the rest as much as he has said about the sceptre, then joining what
follows with the beginning (I. i. 340):--

The time shall come when all the sons of Greece
Shall mourn Achilles' loss.

He uses also Palillogia--that is the repetition of some part of
a sentence, or several parts are repeated. This figure is called
Reduplication, such as (I. xx. 371):--

Encounter him well! Though his hands were hands of fire,