17. Dilemmas Of Pietas In Roman Declamation

Breij, B.M.C.

doi:10.1163/ej.9789004194120.i-415.92

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Moreover, the fantasy of the underdog's victory is always potent; and to some degree the rhetor, because his power rested not on resources but on his personal skill, could represent himself as the voice of the oppressed'. Of course, this negative example also provided a stimulus for the students to explore and (re)con rm Roman civil values: an important exercise for the future elite (Beard 1993;Bloomer 1997aBloomer , 1997bImber 2001;Breij 2011;Bernstein 2013).…”

Section: P 242mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Secondly, therefore, as Son a student could rebel and achieve a kind of catharsis; as Father, he could get a foretaste of his future power, and practise wielding it responsibly. The extreme character of some of the cases contributed to this educational goal in a paradoxical manner: by bringing up excesses to clamp down upon, declaimers tacitly condoned and reinforced the status quo (Gunderson 2003;Breij 2006Breij , 2011Bernstein 2013).…”

Section: P 244mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Quintilian and Declamation

Breij¹

2021

The Oxford Handbook of Quintilian

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This chapter explores Quintilian’s views on declamation, which are rather more nuanced than it is sometimes assumed, against various backgrounds. After an introduction which presents the essential features of suasoriae and especially controversiae to the reader, it zooms in on the conflicting theories with which our ancient sources present us on the origins of declamation. It then offers an extensive tour of Sophistopolis, the fictitious Graeco-Roman city-state in which declamatory conflicts unfold. After a survey of what ancient critics wrote about declamation, the chapter assesses Quintilian’s position among them. What exactly are we to make of the phrase, so often quoted without further comment, that ‘so long as they are adapted to real life and resemble real speeches they are very useful’ (10.5.14)? It will turn out that Quintilian appears to take contradicting positions about this throughout his Institutio, and that this does not harm his teaching but rather enriches it. The chapter concludes with a brief survey of the four extant collections of Roman declamations.

show abstract