SEMIDUPLEX
SEMIDUPLEX
SEMIDUPLEX ORATIO is that species of abbreviated mode of expression, when the relation of two members to one another is such, that the reader is to understand, that the one member is to be supplied from the other, and vice versa, i.e. MUTUALLY. The difference of Concisa Locutio (Abbreviated expression; see above) and Semiduplex Oratio consists mainly in this: that the Protasis needs to be supplied from the Apodosis, OR the Apodosis from the Protasis, in Abbreviated Expression (Concisus Sermo); on the contrary, in Semiduplex Oratio, that the one member of the Protasis needs to be supplied from the other member of the Apodosis, and AT THE SAME TIME the one member of the Apodosis must be supplied from the other member of the Protasis. In a word, Concisa Locutio puts one member, and implies the other: Semiduplex Oratio puts two members, and implies two others, either in a direct or inverse relation. [Comp. my Fathers Evang. Fingerzeig, Tom. VI. p. 2, Vorr. 194, 195.] To any one who will attend with some degree of earnestness to this distinction, it will be evident, that it is not wholly without foundation, and that it has been observed not without good reason, by the Author of the Gnomon in arranging accurately the Index of subjects. [See Titles, Concisa Locutio-Semiduplex Oratio.] It is not, however, to be disguised, that the Gnomon (such is the proneness of the human memory to make slips in the case of more refined distinctions) marks at some passages of the New Testament Concisa Locutio, though they evidently contain a Semiduplex Oratio; e.g.-Rom 4:4, Rom 15:18; 1Co 10:13; just as likewise a Semiduplex Oratio is often marked with the name of Concisus Sermo: e.g.-Mat 13:49, , i.e. (1) the bad and (2) the unjust from the midst (3) of the just and (4) good. Thou seest, Reader, two members are employed, (1) and (3); but two others are implied, (2) and (4).-Also Mar 1:4. Also Mar 14:8, , , that is, (1) what she had (2) she bestowed; and (3) what she could (4) she did. But let us see some examples of double-membered speech, or of Semiduplex Oratio, observed by the Author of the Gnomon:-Joh 5:21, , . The double-membered sentence is equivalent to this: In the same way as the Father raises the dead (whom He will), and quickens them; so also the Son (raises the dead) whom He will, (and) quickens them.-Joh 8:28, , , Of Myself (1) I do nothing, (2) nor speak; but-(3) I speak these things, (4) and I do them. The one is to be supplied from the other. [Comp. a kindred passage, Joh 8:38.]-Joh 10:25; Joh 14:10; Joh 17:26. A remarkable passage and one very apposite for the purpose of explaining the weight of expressions of this kind, is Act 7:16, where comp. the Gnom.-Heb 12:20, , The apostle, as aiming at brevity, quotes the twofold Divine edict in such a manner, as that he expresses the subject taken from the one sentence, the predicate from the other, leaving the rest of the words to be understood from these very words that are expressed. The Gnomon on the passage expressly observes, that the language may be termed Semiduplex. (Comp. Ordo Temp. Ed. ii. pp. 73, 77, 187.) The sacred writers, as we have so far seen (especially Solomon in the Proverbs), use frequently both kinds of elliptical expression.