Ilysteron Proteron , inasmuch as Sacred Scripture (1) either main- tains the order of the things in opposition to the order of time, — (2) or else uses an inverted Chiasmus , which has in it nothing of the nature of a blemish, nay, even somewhat of elegance, as we have demonstrated above : e.g. — (1.) Phil. iii. 19, uv rh reXog a< r&Xuu — a The mention of the end , which, one might think, ought to have been put in the last place, is put before the other things, in order that these latter may be read with the greater horror.” — Gnom. on the passage. (2.) Heb. iii. 8, etc., is not a Hysteron Proteron, as Junius calls it, but an inverted Chiasmus. See Gnom. — Rom. xiii. 9, Paul recounting the commandments in a somewhat free order, places the sixth after the seventh. Comp. Bauer’s Philol. Thucyd. Pauli, ch. xiii. 3, p. 280, etc.
IDIOMA or IDIOTISMUS. — The term Idiom is taken in more than one sense. u For at one time it denotes the native and peculiar usage of any language ; at another time, the peculiar phrase- ology or usage of speech in any author ” [G. H. Ursini, Institt. Lat. linguae, P. ii. pp. 582, 583]. — See Gnom. on Matt. xvi. 13, note, rbv Tibv rou uvQpunov, at the end ; Luke vii. 30 ; Rom. vi. 17.
IRONY is a Trope, arising from the disjunction of things, and is applied to the case where a word or phrase is employed contrary to that which ought to be understood ; or, where the sense of a word or phrase employed is contrary to the strict signification. Moreover, Irony is twofold : The one, which has in it nothing of mockery, but, on the contrary, very much of suavity, — John ix. 27, xai ii/jjsTg 6eXe rt avrov fiaOrjrai yevzodui ; u A becoming and sweet Irony.” See Gnom. The other, which is employed in mockery, — Mark XV. 29, ova/ o xaraXvwv rbv vaov , xai s v rp/oiv ^utpu/g o/xodo/jvuv.
H0O2. — See the Title Ethos, above.
LITOTES is, when we say less than we wish to be understood : and so far, indeed, Litotes does not seem to differ from that kind of Hyperbole which has the effect of diminishing a thing ; but in this, generally, Litotes , and Hyperbole that diminishes , differ, in that the former has the effect of imparting Ethos, the latter, Pathos. [See the Titles Ethos and Pathos!] Therefore Litotes , when it seems to diminish, often has the effect of increasing a thing : as, when negative terms are put for their contraries, which are affirma- tive ; for we signify more than we express, as Vossius rightly ob- serves, by the negation of a contrary. It may be also ironical : hence it is that some refer it universally to Irony , but with less ac- curacy.
Litotes, Milucig, Ta-re/W/c, Extenuatio, which are severally