[B-Greek] Chiasmus
Edgar Foster
edgarfoster2003 at yahoo.com
Wed Feb 23 19:45:46 EST 2011
I'm by no means being dogmatic or taking a staunch position on this issue. I've studied ancient literary devices like chiasmus and have written on the five canons of rhetoric. Heinrich Lausberg comments on the source from LSJ. The following quote is found in sec. 723, note 2 of Lausberg's work Handbook of Literary Rhetoric:
"In [Hermog.] Inv. 4.3 the term XIASMOS relates only to the crosswise exchange (without change of meaning of the whole period) of the cola in their totality in a period consisting of four cola (cf. sec. 933), not to the position of the clause elements within the cola. Similarly Schol. Isoc. 12.51 (47) SUPERASMA XIASMON MH ANASTREFON THN DIANOIAN TOU LOGOU. -Cf. secs. 796, 800; 1244, VICISSIM; 1246, CHIASME."
Lausberg contends that the term "chiasm" is "more modern terminology" (see aforementioned note).
Regards,
Edgar
--- On Wed, 2/23/11, Carl Conrad <cwconrad2 at mac.com> wrote:
> From: Carl Conrad <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
> Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Chiasmus
> To: "Stephen and Amanda" <stephenandamanda at gmail.com>
> Cc: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Wednesday, February 23, 2011, 6:11 AM
>
> On Feb 23, 2011, at 1:41 AM, Stephen and Amanda wrote:
>
> > Does anybody know where any discussion of chiasmus
> occurs in ancient
> > rhetorical literature?
> >
> > To be clear, I'm not asking for examples of chiasmus
> but for ancient's
> > discussing the "device".
> >
> > I once read that there is little to no discussion of
> it in rhetorical
> > literature (can't remember where I read that).
> > Nonetheless, my own reading of rhetorical literature
> confirms this. I am yet
> > to come across any discussion of it.
> >
> > Is there any discussion in rhetorical lit.? If so,
> where?
>
> LSJ s.v. χιασμός:
> χι-ασμός, ὁ,
> placing crosswise, diagonal arrangement, esp. of the
> clauses of a period, so that the 1st corresponds with the
> 4th, and the 2nd with the 3rd, Hermog.Inv.4.3; κατὰ
> χιασμόν Sch.Isoc.12.47.
>
> That's Hermogenes of Tarsus, evidently -- a 2nd-century AD
> rhetorician -- and the treatise would probably be De
> Inventione. See:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermogenes_of_Tarsus
>
> There's a 19th century edition of the Opera Hermogenis and
> a relatively complete French version of the whole, M.
> Patillon, Hermogène. L'art rhétorique. Paris: L'Age
> d'Homme, 1997.
>
>
> Carl W. Conrad
> Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
>
>
>
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek
> B-Greek mailing list
> B-Greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-greek
>
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list