[4]
It is the same with asyndeta: “I came,
I met, I entreated.” For here delivery is needed, and the words should
not be pronounced with the same tone and character, as if there was only one
clause. Further, asyndeta have a special characteristic; for in an equal space
of time many things appear to be said, because the connecting particle makes
many things one, so that, if it be removed, it is clear that the contrary will
be the case, and that the one will become many. Therefore an asyndeton produces
amplification: thus, in “I came, I conversed, I besought,”
the hearer seems to be
surveying many things, all that the speaker said.1 This also
is Homer's intention in the passage “
Nireus, again, from Syme . .
.,
Nireus son of Aglaia . . .,
Nireus, the most beautiful . . . ;2
” for it is necessary that one of whom much has been said should be often
mentioned; if then the name is often mentioned, it seems as if much has been
said3; so that, by means of this fallacy,
Homer has increased the reputation of Nireus, though he only mentions him in one
passage; he has perpetuated his memory, though he never speaks of him again.
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1 Spengel's reading here is: πολλὰ δοκεῖ: “ὑπερεῖδεν ὅσα εἶπον,” πολλὰ δοκεῖ being parenthetical, and ὑπερεῖδον ὅσα εἶπον part of the quotation. Jebb translates: “I came, I spoke to him, I besought” （these seem many things）; “he disregarded all I said” （which certainly gives a more natural sense to ὑπερεῖδον）.
3 Cope translates: “they think that, if the name is often repeated, there must be a great deal to say about its owner”; but can this be got out of the Greek （ εἰρῆσθαι）?
Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vol. 22, translated by J. H. Freese. Aristotle. Cambridge and London. Harvard University Press; William Heinemann Ltd. 1926.
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