The mysterie of rhetorique unveil'd wherein above 130 the tropes and figures are severally derived from the Greek into English : together with lively definitions and variety of Latin, English, scriptural, examples, pertinent to each of them apart. Conducing very much to the right understanding of the sense of the letter of the scripture, (the want whereof occasions many dangerous errors this day). Eminently delightful and profitable for young scholars, and others of all sorts, enabling them to discern and imitate the elegancy in any author they read, &c. / by John Smith.

AENigma, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 [ainigma] oratio verborum involucris tecta: A riddle or dark saying, derived from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, [ainitto] obscure loquor, aut rem involucris tego, to speak obscurely, or to hide a thing in dark sayings: But it is rather derived from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, [ainos] which (inter alia) denotes a saying worthy of praise and admira∣tion.

Aenigma is a kinde of an Allegory, differing only in obscurity, and may not unfitly be com∣pared to a deep myne, the obtaining of the me∣tall whereof requires deep digging; or to a dark night, whose stars are hid with thick clouds.

If there be a singular obscurity in a Trope con∣tinued, it is called an Ae••igma, for that it renders a question obscure, or a speech knotty, and as it were wrapped in: or,

It is a sentence or form of speech, whereof for the darknesse, the sense may hardly be ga∣thered.

Aenigma obscuris latitur sentencia verbis. Filiolas Cadmi profert Nilotis arundo,* 1.1 Quas serit è Cnidio distillans sepia nodo.

In English thus.

Cadmus his daughters fram'd Nilotis quill,Whilst Sepia doth from Cnidian knot distill. (i. e.) he writes love-letters in Greek.

Explained thus:

Cadmus being the first finder out of divers of the Greek Letters, they are by a Metonymie of the Efficient called his Daughters: And Cad∣mus his daughters here by a Catachrestical Me∣taphor signifie the Greek Letters.

Nilotis Quill fram'd Greek letters; for Ni∣lotis Pen, &c. by a Metonymie of the Matter.

Nilus is the name of a River in Egypt; by the side whereof Reeds grow; which are here called Nilotis Quill by a Catachrestical Meta∣phor: also Sepia a fish, whose blood is as black as ink, also black liquor, &c. here put for ink by Synecdoche Speceii or a Metaphor.

Cnidus a City where Venus the Goddess of Love was worshipped; here put for Venus by Antonomasia, or Synecdoche Generis, and Venus for Love, by a Metonymie of the Efficient.

Mitto tibi a 1.2Lunam, b 1.3Solem simul & * 1.4canis iram, Quae reddas à te, dulcis amice, precor.

id est, ex Corde te saluto.

Auri ^b Sacra ^c fames mortalia ^d pector a perdit.

^a Aurum pro aureis nummis, per Metonymi∣am Materiae.

^b Sacrum pro exsecrando, per Ironiam seu Anti∣phrasin.

^c Fames pro desiderio, per Metaphoram.

^d Pectus pro homine, per Synecdochen partis.

Quid hoc esse censes? Non ego de toto mihi corpore vendico vires, At Capitis pugnâ nulli certare recuso; Grande mihi Caput est, totum quo{que} pondus in ipso. Malleus est Fabrilis. Dic quibus in terris & eris mihi magnus Apollo, Tres pateat Coeli spacium non amplius ulnas. Quid hoc esse existimas? Sum nondum dira confectus morte, sepultus Haud urnâ, haud saxum, non humus ulla tegit: Et loquor, & supio, & vitalibus abdicor auris, Me{que} capit vivus m••{que} vehit tumulus. Hic modus nihil nobis facesset negotii amplius si Jonae historiam diligenter excusserimus, & cum hoc Aenigmate contulerimus: Is enim ex ventre Orcae (piscis) seu, ut ipse existimavit, ex medio Orci hoc sibi epitaphium vere ponere potuisset.

English Examples of Aenigma.

I consume my mother that bare me, I eat up my nurse that fed me, then I die, leaving them all blind that saw me.

This is meant of the flame of a Candle, which when it hath consumed both wax and wicke, goes out, leaving them in the dark that saw by it.

Ten thousand children beautiful of this my body bred, Both sons and daughters finely deckt; I live, and they are dead. My sons were put to extreme death by such as lov'd them well, My daughters dy'd in extreme age, but where I cannot tell.

By the Mother, understand a Tree, by the sons and daughters understand the fruit, and leaves; by the sons being put to death by such as loved them well, understand those that ga∣thered and eat the fruit; by the daughters death in age, understand the leaves falling off by the returning of the sap to the Root in Autumn, &c.

Anatomie of wonders great I speak, and yet am dead; Men suck sweet juyce from these black veins which Mother Wisdome bread.

By Anatomie of wonders, &c. understand a book; by the sweet juice, instruction; and by the black veins, the letters and lines in the book.

An Arithmetical Aenigma.

Suppose 30 Malefactors, viz. 15 English men, and 15 Turks are adjudged to be executed for Piracie, and that the Sheriff hath (after this sentence) power given him to save one half of these Malefactors, but must execute every ninth man, I demand how he may place them in such order and rank, as that he may execute all the Turks, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••erve the English men?

Let him place them by this verse following; and for that he would save the English, let him begin with them; for that o is the first vowel mentioned here, let him place or ranck four of the English men, it being the fourth vow∣el, &c.

Let o signifie the English man, and 1 the Turk.

Populeam Virgam mater Regina tenebat. 45.2.1. 3. 1. 1.2. 2.3.1. 2 2.1.

But if the Sheriff had been to have executed every tenth man:

He should place them by this verse, Rex Paphi cum Gente bona dat signa Serena. 2. 1. 3. 5. 2.2.4.1. 1. 3. 1. 2.2.1.

But if the Sheriff were to execute every 2.3. or any number of the men between two and six∣teen, I shall (since Art is silent herein) insert a Mechanical way for the ready performing the same: and shall give one President; which fol∣lowed (mutatis mutandis) will lead to the ac∣complishment of your desire in any the rest of these questions: viz. Suppose the Sheriff had been to have executed every fifth man: first re∣present the 30 Malefactors by 30 ciphers, or what characters you please, then cancel with your pen every fifth of them, till you have cancelled half of them, then have you the di∣rect order of placing the men before your eye;

for the ciphers or characters c••ncelled represent the Turks to be executed, and the other uncan∣celled those that are to escape.

Scriptural Examples of Aenigma.

Gen. 40. & 41. chap. The dreams and visi∣ons there of Pharaohs chief Butler and chief Ba∣ker, as likewise Pharaohs own dreams were Ae∣nigmatical; The significations whereof were expounded by the Spirit of wisdome and Reve∣lation in Joseph, as appears by Gen. 40.12, 13.18, 19. Gen. 41.26, 27. &c.

Dan. 4.10, 11. &c. We have Nebuchadniz∣zars vision, which is also Aenigmatical.

Thus were the visions of mine head in my bed: I saw, and behold a Tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great, the tree grew and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight there∣of to the ends of the earth; the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had sha∣dow under it, and the sowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, &c. which Daniel by the Spirit of the Lord opens in the same chapter.

In Judg. 14.14. we have Sampsons Riddle, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong, sweetnesse.

Isa. 11.1, 2. And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots: and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom, and might, &c.

See Ezek, 17.2. & 26. chap. of the Proverbs,

and divers other chapters in that Book, you shall find divers riddles and dark sayings, and the same opened and explained, in the demonstrati∣on of the same Spirit of wisdome they were pro∣posed.

Figures of a word: see pag. 5. & 6.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Farnaby.
• a 1.2

  ☽
• b 1.3

  ☉
• * 1.4

  〈☐〉〈☐〉.