ANTITHESIS, in Rhetoric, a contrast or opposition of words or sentiments. Such is that of Cicero, in the second Catilinarian: "On one side stands modesty, on the other impudence; on one fidelity, on the other deceit; here piety,
there sacrilege; here continence, there lust." A judicious use of this figure imparts much force and spirit to style; but its ostentatious recurrence becomes tedious. The poetry of Pope may be cited as an example.