Isocolon is a figure of speech

Figure of speech

A figure of speech is the use of a word or words diverging from its usual meaning. It can also be a special repetition, arrangement or omission of words with literal meaning, or a phrase with a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning of the words in it, as in idiom, metaphor, simile,...

 in which parallelism

Parallelism (rhetoric)

Parallelism means giving two or more parts of the sentences a similar form so as to give the whole a definite pattern.Parallelisms of various sorts are the chief rhetorical device of Biblical poetry in Hebrew. In fact, Robert Lowth coined the term "parallelismus membrorum Parallelism means giving...

 is reinforced by members that are of the same length. A well-known example of this is Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....

's "Veni, vidi, vici" ("I came; I saw; I conquered), which also illustrates that a common form of isocolon is tricolon

Tricolon

In rhetoric, a bicolon, tricolon, or tetracolon is a sentence with two, three, or four clearly defined parts , usually independent clauses and of increasing power.-Tricolon:...

, or the use of three parallel members.

It is derived from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

  (ísos), "equal" and (kôlon), "member, clause".

Examples

• "They have suffered severely, but they have fought well." Winston Churchill
  Winston Churchill
  Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
  
   Speech to the House of Commons June 18, 1940
• "Let each man search his conscience and search his speeches." Winston Churchill
  Winston Churchill
  Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
  
   Speech to the House of Commons June 18, 1940
• "I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men, and German to my horse." Charles V
  Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
  Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
  
  
• "Many will enter. Few will win" Nabisco
  Nabisco
  Nabisco is an American brand of cookies and snacks. Headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey, the company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Kraft Foods. Nabisco's plant in Chicago, a production facility at 7300 S...
  
  
• "No ifs, ands, or buts." English Proverb
  Proverb
  A proverb is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...
  
  
• "With mirth in funeral, and with dirge in marriage" Claudius, Act 1 Scene 2 of Hamlet
  Hamlet
  The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...