The Roman Poets of the Republic, 3rd edition

by W. Y. Sellar

Quia nemo ferme sine damno huc devortitur.—Menaech. 264.

Cf. also the play on Chrysalus and Crucisalus; and the following may serve as a specimen of his perpetual puns:—

Non enim es in senticeto, eo non sentis.—Captivi, 857.

[⁴³] Alliterations and assonances:—Vi veneris vinctus. Cottabi crebri crepent. Laetus, lubens, laudes ago. Collus collari caret.

Atque mores hominum moros et morosos efficit, etc., etc.

Asyndeta:—

Laudem, lucrum, ludum, iocum, festivitatem, ferias.

Vorsa, sparsa, tersa, strata, lauta, structaque omnia ut sint, etc., etc.

These are not occasional, but constantly recurring characteristics of his style. The thought and matter they express must, in a great measure, be due to his own invention.

[⁴⁴] Roman formulae:—Quae res bene vortat. Conceptis verbis. Quod bonum, felix, faustum, fortunatumque sit. Ut gesserit rempublicam ductu, imperio, auspicio suo, etc., etc.