Hendiatris [hen-die-uh-tris] (from the Greek: ‘one through three’) is a figure of speech used for emphasis, in which three words are used to express one idea (e.g. ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’ to capture the life of a rock star). It is an isocolon, a sentence composed of two or more parts (cola) perfectly equivalent in structure, length and rhythm (called a bicolon, tricolon, or tetracolon depending on whether they are two, three, or four parts).
A well-known example of tricolon is Julius Caesar’s ‘Veni, vidi, vici’ (‘I came; I saw; I conquered’), which is also a hendiatris and known in English as a ‘tripartite motto.’ If the units involved are not single words, and if they are not in any way synonyms but rather circumnavigate the one idea expressed, the figure may be described more correctly, precisely, and succinctly as a ‘triad.’
In rhetorical teaching, such triple iterations marked the classic rhythm of Ciceronian style, typified by the triple rhetorical questions of his first ‘Oration Against Catiline’: ‘Until when will you abuse our patience, Catiline? For how long will that madness of yours mock us? To what end will your unbridled boldness toss itself about?’ In ancient Greece and Rome, such abstractions as liberty and justice were theologized. Hence the earliest tripartite mottoes are lists of the names of goddesses: Eunomia, Dike, and Eirene. These late Greek goddesses, respectively ‘Good Order,’ ‘Justice,’ and ‘Peace’ were collectively referred to by the Romans as the ‘Horae.’ The Romans had Concordia (‘Harmony’), Salus (‘Health’), and Pax (‘Peace’), collectively called the ‘Fortunae.’ ‘Peace, Order and Good Government’ is used as a guiding principle in the parliaments of the Commonwealth of Nations.
Shakespeare coined several hendriatrises including: ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears’ in ‘Julius Caesar’ and ‘Be bloody, bold, and resolute’ in ‘Macbeth.’ By the 18th century, the tripartite motto was primarily political. John Locke’s ‘Life, Liberty, and Property’ was adapted by for the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson into ‘Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ which also based on the French motto: ‘Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité’ (‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’). Very often triple mottoes derive from a turn of oratory in a speech; for example Abraham Lincoln’s ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’ in his Gettysburg Address.
These are common throughout Western civilization, but also appear in other cultures. The Japanese said that during their boom years, illegal immigrants performed the work that was ‘Kiken, Kitsui, Kitanai,’ or ‘Dangerous, Difficult, (and/or) Dirty.’ Dravidian parties in southern India use the motto ‘Duty, Dignity and Discipline.’ The form is so well known that it can be played upon, as in the three requisites of Real Estate (‘Location, Location, Location’), and similarly with Tony Blair stating his priorities as a political leader to be ‘education, education and education.’ In German society, the tripartite motto ‘Kinder, Küche, Kirche’ (‘children, kitchen, church’) was first a late-19th-century slogan, and today is used sarcastically by young women to express their disdain for their traditional role in society.
The Daily Omnivore 