[67]
Are
not a large number of jests made by means of hyperbole? Take for instance Cicero's1 remark about a
man who was remarkable for his height, “He bumped
his head against the Fabian arch,” or the remark
made by Publius Oppius about the family of the
Lentuli to the effect, that since the children were
always smaller than their parents, the race would
“perish by propagation.” Again, what of irony?
1 cp. de Orat II. lxvi. 267, where the jest is attributed to Crassus.
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