Read the excerpt below from act 3.2 of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar and answer the question that follows. ANTONY:But here’s a parchment with the seal of Caesar. . . .‘Tis his will.Let but the commons hear this testament—Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read . . . . All the Plebeians:The will, the will! We will hear Caesar’s will. ANTONY:Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it.It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you. . . .It will inflame you; it will make you mad.‘Tis good you know not that you are his heirs . . . . Which rhetorical device does Mark Antony use in this excerpt?
Antony repeatedly says he will not read Caesar’s will, while drawing attention to it and hinting at what it contains. This lets him bring the will and Caesar’s generosity to the crowd’s attention while pretending to withhold them—a rhetorical device called paralipsis. Epimone is repetition for emphasis, but the key here is the pretense of passing over information.
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