Here is a sentence Cicero would have recognised, written by the man whose murder he celebrated:

1. Veni, vidi, vici.

2. I came, I saw, I conquered.

It proves that three little words are sometimes enough to convey the most profound thoughts. (And that they can be so much more elegant in Latin.)

Read it aloud a few times and you will notice some patterns. Why does it sound so appealing? What attracts the ear? Why is it remembered when so many of the author's other sentences are not?

Consider:

• each word starts with the same letter

• each ends with the same letter

• each has the same number of syllables

• it has three clauses

• if you rest the sentence on the apex of a triangle – between the i and d of vidi – it will balance

• it says pretty much all you need to know – or all its author wants you to know – about what happened

• it reflects well on the virtue of its subject.