Question

what literary device is cicero referring to in De Oratore when he describes dissimulation as "saying one thing and signifying another"?

Answer 1

Answer:

Irony.

Explanation:

Irony is the literary device that refers to the use of words to express one thing by using the opposite or words contrary to the literal meaning. In other words, the irony is when one thing is said but it means the opposite thing.

In his "De Oratore", Cicero states that "dissimulation [is] the humor of saying one thing and signifying another, which steals into the minds of men in a peculiar manner, and which is extremely pleasing when it is well managed, not in a vehement strain of language, but in a conversational style." And in this expression, the phrase "saying one thing and signifying another" refers to the literary device of irony.