T he figures in a speech are what most set off a speech. There are two kinds of figures, for there are verbal figures or figures of thought. Among the former are trope and metaphor.1 I employed this figure2 when I applied the word slough to a body in morass, everything rotting. What, however, escapes most people, I should know, that you, a strenuous man and a strong by training, and much more by nature . . . .3
? 162 A.D.
Fronto to Praecilius Pompeianus,4 greeting.