Pseudo-Quintilian's<i>Major Declamations</i>18 and 19: two<i>controversiae figuratae</i>

Breij, B.M.C.

doi:10.1525/rh.2006.24.1.79

Cited by 8 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 6 publications

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“…Resp. 6,Mil. Ahl 1984;Russell 2001;Chiron 2003;Heath 2003;Breij 2006;Breij 2015. minority and would be outvoted. The other possibility is that he knew that Audience B would react in this way and that his speech might imperil Balbus' citizenship or Pompey's reputation, and he chose to compose his speech this way anyway.…”

Section: Cicero's Intentionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Divided Audience and Figured Speech in Cicero's Pro Balbo

Kenty¹

2021

American Journal of Philology

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Ancient rhetorical theorists described figured speech (oratio figurata) as a strategy for expressing criticism safely, through a screen of ambiguity. I argue that Cicero's Pro Balbo can be read as figured, communicating criticism of Pompey. Cicero's panegyric to Pompey in this speech would have appeared to be factually accurate and commendable to pro-Pompeian members of the audience, but factually wrong or even insincere to anti-Pompeians. Multiple readings of Cicero's intentions are latent as possible interpretations of the speech because of political divisions and divergent prejudices at the time of its delivery.

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Section: Cicero's Intentionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Divided Audience and Figured Speech in Cicero's Pro Balbo

Kenty¹

2021

American Journal of Philology

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Bodies, Substances and Kinship in Roman Declamation: The Sick Twins and Their Parents in Pseudo-Quintilian Major Declamations 8

Bernstein

2007

Ramus

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Believe me, good folks, this is not so inconsiderable a thing as many of you may think it;—you have all, I dare say, heard of the animal spirits, as how they are transfused from father to son &c. &c—and a great deal to that purpose:—Well, you may take my word, that nine parts in ten of a man's sense or his nonsense, his successes and miscarriages in this world depend upon their motions and activity, and the different tracts and trains you put them into, so that when they are once set a-going, whether right or wrong, ‘tis not a half-penny matter,—away they go cluttering like hey-go-mad; and by treading the same steps over and over again, they presently make a road of it, as plain and as smooth as a garden-walk, which, when they are once used to, the Devil himself sometimes shall not be able to drive them off it.Claims about the physical substances and the reproductive processes of human bodies underwrite presuppositions about familial identities and roles in many cultures. The claim, for example, that the male is the true parent and the female a mere receptacle becomes part of a brief for justified matricide in Aeschylus'Eumenides(657-673). Roman declaimers often take up the question of whether blood is thicker than water. A would-be adoptive father finds his attempt to adopt a young man criticised as a symptom of the disease of luxury (Sen.Con.2.1), while a foster father finds his argument for retaining his adolescent foster sons rebutted by the birth father's claim that his biological ties are more significant—even though the birth father has not seen the children since he exposed them shortly after birth (Sen.Con.9.3). Depending on the observer, the birth of twins may be viewed as a source of family pride, as evidence of the mother's adultery, or as an abomination.

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Greek “Figured Speech” on Imperial Rome

Pernot

2015

Advances in the History of Rhetoric

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Under the Roman Empire, the Greek elites expressed the greatest respect for the emperors and celebrated the advantages of Roman domination. But behind the brilliant façade, certain factors of complexity were at work. This article uses the notion of “figured speech” to detect covert advice or reservation in the works of Dio of Prusa, known as Dio Chrysostom, and Aelius Aristides, two important representatives of Greek literature and the so-called Second Sophistic (first to second century CE). By “figured speech” ancient rhetoricians meant the cases in which orators resorted to ruses to disguise their intentions, by using indirect language to get to the points they wanted to make. Our method consists of linking certain texts by Aristides and Dio and passages from theoretical treatises together to make clear the precise procedure of figured speech that is used in each case: eloquent silence, “the hidden key,” blame behind praise, generalization, and speaking through a mask. Figured speech is an avenue of research that is opening up to interpret Greek rhetoric and literature better. The Greek case is particularly rich, and it could help analyze the return of the same phenomenon in other epochs and other cultures.

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Pseudo-Quintilian'sMajor Declamations18 and 19: twocontroversiae figuratae

Cited by 8 publications

References 6 publications

Divided Audience and Figured Speech in Cicero's Pro Balbo

Divided Audience and Figured Speech in Cicero's Pro Balbo

Bodies, Substances and Kinship in Roman Declamation: The Sick Twins and Their Parents in Pseudo-Quintilian Major Declamations 8

Greek “Figured Speech” on Imperial Rome

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