| Title: | Paralipsis |
| Original Title: | Paralipse |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 11 (1765), p. 902 |
| Author: | Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt (biography) |
| Translator: | Malcolm Eden [University of London] |
| Subject terms: |
Rhetoric
|
| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.851 |
| Citation (MLA): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Paralipsis." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Malcolm Eden. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2007. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.851>. Trans. of "Paralipse," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 11. Paris, 1765. |
| Citation (Chicago): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Paralipsis." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Malcolm Eden. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.851 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Paralipse," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 11:902 (Paris, 1765). |
Paralipsis, a Greek word meaning omission . In the art of oratory, the paralipsis is a figure in which the speaker, to have more impact, pretends he wishes to omit certain facts, only to speak about them in more detail and with greater assurance. “I will not speak to you, gentlemen, of his injustices,” Cicero said of Verres. “I will pass over in silence his excesses; I will not mention his debauchery; I will throw a dark veil over his brutality; I will even suppress the extortions he has been guilty of since his return from Sicily; I only wish to give you a short sketch of some of his minor embezzlements...” This figure of speech is fairly natural, and can be used adroitly for both good and ill.