.p
\f8Simile and metaphor\f6 are employed sparingly.
Simile is often introduced by an ``as though'' word
with a particularly colloquial and non-poetic feel, especially \f7putares\f6.\c
.f "\f7putares\f6, vv. 129, 190; \f7putes\f6, v. 148; \
\f7quasi\f6, v. 65; \f7ceu\f6, v. 258."
Comparisons introduced in this way usually describe a natural phenomenon,
such as the disappearance of the sun (v. 129)
or the illusion of the sky falling away from a precipice (v. 148).
Such comparisons are often made in a rather forced way:
the poet does not really expect the reader
to believe the explanations which he puts forward,
hence the use of a second-person subjunctive hedge.
The addition of \f7iussa putares\f6 (v. 190) lends further incredibility to
what in Beck's opinion is the
``floundering and over-elaborate description in the \f7Bellum Civile\f6
of the alternate thawing and freezing of the Alpine passes.''\|\c
.f "Beck (1979) 252."
.p
There are two places in the text where simile is employed in a more compelling way.
The description of Caesar coming down from the Alps
makes use of a double-barreled simile,
comparing Caesar first to Hercules, then to Jupiter (vv. 205–8).
The comparison with Hercules strengthens
the associations already made between the demigod and the crossing of the Alps
(\f7Graio numine\f6, v. 144; \f7Herculeis\f6, v. 146),
while the comparison with Jupiter brings up the Gigantomachy
(in which Hercules also participated) and so symbolizes
the ordering of the cosmos, in the form of Empire,
which the Civil War would ultimately bring.\c
.f "Connors (1998) 122–3."
The other simile of import is the closest Eumolpus gets to a classical epic simile;
it compares the reactions of the Romans, who are threatened by civil war,
to those of sailors threatened by a raging storm:
.bl

.nf
\f7ac uelut ex alto cum magnus inhorruit auster
et pulsas euertit aquas, non arma ministris,
non regimen prodest, ligat alter pondera pinus,
alter tuta sinus tranquillaque litora quaerit:
.fi
hic\ dat\ uela\ fugae\ Fortunaeque\ omnia\ credit.\f6 (vv.\ 233–7)\p

.ck
The comparison does not quite achieve the multiple correspondences
which characterize a true epic simile;
rather it makes the point that the different reactions of the Romans
were as many, as varied, and as useless as those of the sailors.
The language of the simile is poetic,
the various technical nautical terms described by metonymy:
\f7alto\f6 for the sea, \f7arma ministris\f6 for the rigging,
\f7regimen\f6 for the rudder, \f7pinus\f6 for the ship, \f7uela\f6 for the sails.
A simile to do with the weather is also a traditionally epic construct,
and the vivid imagery brings to mind famous literary shipwrecks
such as Aeneas' or Odysseus'.
The description of the flight from Rome certainly represents a high point
in Eumolpus' skilful use of the language of comparison.
.p
Metaphor is not as well represented as simile,
though there are a few examples of it.
Indeed, of the two devices, metaphor often seems the more effective:
the captured tiger is a powerful image; representing it as a ``foreign hunger''
(\f7fames … aduena\f6, v. 16), 
cleverly evokes both the beast's defining characteristic
and the decadent Romans' insatiable lust for the exotic.
Another metaphor used to describe the sad state of affairs at Rome
is the characterization of debt and usury as twin whirpools:
.bl

\f7praeterea gemino deprensam gurgite plebem
.br
faenoris\ inluuies\ ususque\ exederat\ aeris.\f6 (vv.\ 51–2)\p

.ck
The language of comparison is also used in the description of things which rage:
usury is compared to a silently rampant disease
(\f7ueluti tabes tacitis concepta medullis /
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intra membra furens curis latrantibus errat\f6, vv. 54–5);\c
.f "cf. Verg. \f7A.\f6 4.66–7."
raging Fury is compared to a wild horse, \f7abruptis ceu liber habenis\f6 (v. 258);
and Fama strikes at the statues of the gods with a ``Roman thunderbolt'' (v. 212),
a metaphorical use of language not unlike the English term ``newsflash''.
.p
In addition to simile and metaphor proper, Eumolpus also makes some use of
the similar but more nuanced techniques
of synecdoche, metonymy, hypallage, and personification.
Synecdoche of the \f7pars pro toto\f6 variety is very rare.
In the phrase \f7sunt qui coniugibus maerentia pectora iungant\f6 (v. 229)
the word \f7pectora\f6 stands for whole people and not only their chests,
but this is a common enough device.
Metonymy is more prevalent,
as has already been noted in respect of the shipwreck imagery.
To those examples may be added the following:
.bl

\f7orbem\ iam\ totum\ uictor\ Romanus\ habebat\f6, (v.\ 1)\p

.ck
where the Roman stands for Rome herself and her dominion;
.bl

\f7quaesitus\ tellure\ nitor\ certauerat\ ostro\f6, (v.\ 10)\p

.ck
where the sought-after glitter, \f7quaesitus … nitor\f6,
stands not for the glitter itself but for the precious material which produces it,
and also where the purpleness of the earth, \f7tellure … ostro\f6,
represents not its colour but its richness; in the phrase
.bl

		\f7fames\ premit\ aduena\ classes\f6 (v.\ 16)\p

.ck
it is not hunger itself which presses the fleet,
but greedy Romans hungering after exotic spoils;
\f7Parthus\f6 (v. 63) stands for \f7Parthia\f6
just as \f7Romanus\f6 (v. 1) stood for \f7Roma\f6;
and \f7potestas\f6 (v. 79) refers to Fortuna herself by one of her qualities,
whereas \f7Iuppiter\f6 (v. 140) is used to refer not to that deity
but to his dominion, the sky, and by the implication of the word \f7descendit\f6, rain.
.p
Hypallage, or the transferred epithet is frequently combined with prolepsis
to colour a description with a sense of foreboding.
The following examples are particularly
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striking:
.bl

\f7heu\ pudet\ effari\ perituraque\ prodere\ fata\f6 (v.\ 19)\p

\f7praemia\ correptis\ miles\ uagus\ esurit\ armis\f6 (v.\ 32)\p

\f7sanguineoque\ recens\ descendit\ Iuppiter\ imbre\f6 (v.\ 140)\p

.ck
It is not the \f7fata\f6 which are \f7peritura\f6 but the Romans,
not the \f7armis\f6 which are \f7correptis\f6\c
.f "Or \f7corruptis\f6; Baldwin (1911) \f7ad loc.\f6"
but the \f7miles\f6,
and not the rain (\f7Iuppiter\f6) that is \f7recens\f6 but the blood.
By preventing the adjectives from agreeing syntactically
with the nouns which they more appropriately describe,
Eumolpus draws attention to his technique of foreshadowing.
This contributes to the building up of a negative atmosphere
around the subject of the Civil War.
.p
Finally, personification, like metaphor, is used to create a more vivid image.
Two examples have already been mentioned
where a place is characterized as a person:
the \f7Romanus\f6 of the first verse comes across as particularly human
when he is described as an insatiable conqueror (\f7nec satiatus\f6, v. 3),
and the image on the surface of \f7Crassum Parthus habet\f6 (v. 63)
is of a Parthian personally detaining Crassus.
In the line which follows this last example,
Roma is given a particularly human epithet: \f7ingratam\f6 (v. 64).
This is a simple and common device in poetry of which Eumolpus makes great use,
so: wars are \f7tristia\f6 (v. 6), structures are \f7insanis\f6 (v. 91),
and the slopes of the Appenine are \f7nobilis\f6 (v. 279).
In a similar way, non-human things sometimes perform actions
usually reserved for humans, so: caverns groan (\f7antra gemunt\f6, v. 92),
swords drink (\f7bibit ensis\f6, v. 98),
the ground does not fight (\f7non pugnauit humus\f6, v. 186),
and the earth feels (\f7sentit terra deos\f6, v. 264).
In addition, the Alps are presented as having the human attribute of shoulders:
\f7totum ferre potest umeris minitantibus orbem\f6 (v. 151).
.p
Eumolpus demonstrates an ability to use a wide range of metaphorical techniques.
While his comparisons are for the most part unoriginal,
at times they evoke a particularly striking and poetic image.
Moreover, by drawing on a stock of effects which has a long tradition in epic,
the poet remains true to his conservative tastes.