Logic
What a metaphor? Well, it’s for describing characters quickly, efficiently and vividly, for one thing. For instance, upon reading this description of one of the ladies making up the trivium of the liberal arts education make it hard to hear the word “logic” ever again without the image coming to mind:
“Her hair, struggling in a kind of dispute, twists is way far down and unruly strands indulge in a tasteless brawl.”
Barely in the Job
After securing a soul for the body built by the Virtues and Nature, the New Man is set to take his role as the defender of the good against the evils that have previously been unleashed on the world. No sooner has he been equipped with the weaponry of defense than the darkness is unleashed:
“Already the plagues of Erebus, the contaminators of crime, the monsters of the underworld, Pluto’s subjects, the fosterlings of the night, Tartarean Chaos, come forth, pour over the earth; already they are wrapping our day in the thick darkness of night and struggle to extinguish the bright light of the world.”
Demons
A descriptive passage informing the reader of the history of demons is vivid with metaphorical imagery. In fact, one comes to know of these entities almost entirely through metaphor which is entirely appropriate since the key to their sinister influence is the presentation of one thing as symbol of another:
“These confounders of truth with falsehood, equipped with a kind of aerial body, counterfeit a likeness to us and with many phantoms delude dull men. They feign light in darkness, agreement in contention; they conceal treachery under the mantle of peace; they represent the bitter as sweet.”
The Reflection of Heaven
The description of heaven uses metaphor heavily to convey the sense of the glory and grandeur of God. At the same time, it also attempts to create a sense of clarity regarding the issue of the trinitarian construction of the overlords of heaven:
“Here can be seen in what way the Son is the mirror, light, splendor, image of the Father, one and the same God from God the Father, beginning from beginning, light from light, sun shining from sun, glow produced by fire.”
The New Man, Completed
The New Man constructed received what is termed the gift that surpasses all others and brings everything together. The bestowal of this integrating glue that holds it all together may be surprising to some readers:
“Modesty, the mold and guardian of purity, add her special endowment…but in giving she does not forget due measure…She integrates the whole man…earnestly urges him to do nothing that would give rise to disgrace, that would cause shame to mark his brown.”
