we have a winner!

["Carl W. Glover" <glover@msmary.edu>]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
	Thank you for all the witty and creative answers to the my latest
quiz question.  (If the truth be known, I received only one answer, which
coincidentally happened to be correct.)  Judy Olson correctly identified
the Gorgias passage as "chiasmus."
	Just to refresh your memory, chiasmus is a grammatical
"criss-crossing" pattern, and the term is derived from the Greek letter
"chi," which looks like an "X."  According to Corbett, the chiasmus
entails a "reversal of grammatical structures in successive phrases or
clauses"  (and it is especially appropriate to talk about the Clause at
this time of year.)  The chiasmus follows the ABBA pattern (for those of
you into Swedish rock and roll).  In the passage from the *Encomium of
Helen,* ("But if it is a diesase of human origin and a fault of the soul,
it should not be blamed as a sin, but regarded as an affliction.")

	A=disease of human origin   B=fault of the soul
	
	B=blamed as a sin           A=regarded as an affliction
"Human origin and affliction" are related as are "sin" and "soul." 
If you draw connecting lines between the A's and the B's, you will form
the letter X (chi).  I hope my feeble attempt to lillustrate this
graphically is as clear as mud.  A specialized kind of chiasmus is called
"antimetabole," which involves the exact repetiton of words, in successive
clauses, in reverse grammatical order, as in "When the going gets tough,
the tough get going."  I think antimetabole also refers to the wrong rate
at which to digest food.

	Now, my question is this:  How did Judy Olson so quickly identify
this figure of speech?  She must have studied with my Greek aunt, 
Ana Diplosis.  Ana Diplosis was married to my Uncle Red Green, but they
are now divorced.  Go figure.
	In any case, congratualtions, Judy.  You have won a swell prize,
which I will present to you at the Annual "Ask Carl" Awards night at CCCC in
Washington next March.

					Warm regards,




					Carl W. Glover
					glover@msmary.edu