Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 9, chapter 4, section 18

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[18] Under the same class of figure falls that of addition, which, although the words added may be strictly superfluous, may still be far from inelegant. Take, for example,

nam neque Parnasi vobis iuga, nam neque Pindi,
Ecl. x. 11: ¹

[p. 455] where the second nam might be omitted. And we find in Horace,²

Fabriciumcque,
hunc et intonsis Curium capillis.

Similarly, words are omitted, a device which may be either a blemish or a figure, according to the context. The following is an example:

accede ad ignen, iam calesces plus satis;
Ter. Eun. I. ii. 5. ³

for the full phrase would be plus quam satis. There is, however, another form of omission which requires treatment at greater length.⁴

1 “For neither did Parnassus slope, nor yet/ The slopes of Pindus make delay for you.”

2 Hor. Od. I. xii. 40. “And Fabricius, him and Cato with locks unshorn.”

3 “Draw near the fire and you shall be more than warm enough.”

4 The sense is obscure. The words are either an interpolation or illustrative matter has been lost.

Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1922.

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