Peter France
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263181
- eISBN:
- 9780191734595
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263181.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter focuses on academic eulogy, a component of biography that urges to celebrate. It also examines how biography developed in the eulogies of the various French academies. Epideictic ...
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This chapter focuses on academic eulogy, a component of biography that urges to celebrate. It also examines how biography developed in the eulogies of the various French academies. Epideictic speeches, such as funeral oration or hagiography, are close relatives of written biography. In this type of biography, the biographer is tasked to provide moral lessons through a narrative that offers examples to be followed or avoided. Funeral orations are governed by praise or blame in the writing of lives; however, most of the eulogies are overshadowed by praises. In this form of biography, the focus is on celebration and the praise of a Carlylean hero. In addition to the celebration of life, eulogy has other important functions as well. One of these is to pay a debt of gratitude, whether on the part of humanity, nation, or some limited group. To praise the dead also means to empower the living; during this period, eulogies paved the way for laudatory biographies of various groups such as writers, artists, and scientists. They also helped form an edifice of corporate self-representation.Less
This chapter focuses on academic eulogy, a component of biography that urges to celebrate. It also examines how biography developed in the eulogies of the various French academies. Epideictic speeches, such as funeral oration or hagiography, are close relatives of written biography. In this type of biography, the biographer is tasked to provide moral lessons through a narrative that offers examples to be followed or avoided. Funeral orations are governed by praise or blame in the writing of lives; however, most of the eulogies are overshadowed by praises. In this form of biography, the focus is on celebration and the praise of a Carlylean hero. In addition to the celebration of life, eulogy has other important functions as well. One of these is to pay a debt of gratitude, whether on the part of humanity, nation, or some limited group. To praise the dead also means to empower the living; during this period, eulogies paved the way for laudatory biographies of various groups such as writers, artists, and scientists. They also helped form an edifice of corporate self-representation.
Malcolm Heath
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199259205
- eISBN:
- 9780191717932
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199259205.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book reassesses the late 3rd-century Greek rhetorician Menander of Laodicea (Menander Rhetor). Menander is generally regarded as a specialist in epideictic, as such, he is often considered an ...
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This book reassesses the late 3rd-century Greek rhetorician Menander of Laodicea (Menander Rhetor). Menander is generally regarded as a specialist in epideictic, as such, he is often considered an exemplary rhetorician of an age which saw the triumph of epideictic eloquence. But detailed examination of the fragments shows that he was an expert on judicial and deliberative oratory whose most influential work was a commentary on Demosthenes. Source-critical analysis of the Demosthenes scholia shows that his commentary can be partially reconstructed. The book presents its reassessment of Menander’s significance in the context of a new reconstruction of the history of later Greek rhetoric, ranging from the theoretical innovations of the 2nd century AD to the comparatively unknown sophists of 5th-century Alexandria. Particular attention is given to the evolving structure of the rhetorical curriculum and to the practices of the rhetorical education, with an emphasis on the practical orientation of training in rhetoric and its predominant focus on techniques of forensic and deliberative oratory. These characteristics of rhetorical teaching raise questions about the nature and functions of rhetoric in this period. It is argued that rhetoric was concerned fundamentally with teaching students how to devise arguments and articulate them in a persuasive way, and that these skills still had a direct application in the subsequent careers of the rhetoricians’ pupils.Less
This book reassesses the late 3rd-century Greek rhetorician Menander of Laodicea (Menander Rhetor). Menander is generally regarded as a specialist in epideictic, as such, he is often considered an exemplary rhetorician of an age which saw the triumph of epideictic eloquence. But detailed examination of the fragments shows that he was an expert on judicial and deliberative oratory whose most influential work was a commentary on Demosthenes. Source-critical analysis of the Demosthenes scholia shows that his commentary can be partially reconstructed. The book presents its reassessment of Menander’s significance in the context of a new reconstruction of the history of later Greek rhetoric, ranging from the theoretical innovations of the 2nd century AD to the comparatively unknown sophists of 5th-century Alexandria. Particular attention is given to the evolving structure of the rhetorical curriculum and to the practices of the rhetorical education, with an emphasis on the practical orientation of training in rhetoric and its predominant focus on techniques of forensic and deliberative oratory. These characteristics of rhetorical teaching raise questions about the nature and functions of rhetoric in this period. It is argued that rhetoric was concerned fundamentally with teaching students how to devise arguments and articulate them in a persuasive way, and that these skills still had a direct application in the subsequent careers of the rhetoricians’ pupils.
Malcolm Heath
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199259205
- eISBN:
- 9780191717932
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199259205.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter assembles all the testimonia and fragments in which Menander is explicitly named; the Greek text is accompanied by an English translation and commentary. The collection is overwhelmingly ...
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This chapter assembles all the testimonia and fragments in which Menander is explicitly named; the Greek text is accompanied by an English translation and commentary. The collection is overwhelmingly dominated by the fragments of Menander’s commentary on Demosthenes. He may also have written commentaries on Aeschines and Aelius Aristides. Commentaries on works of rhetorical theory by Minucianus and Hermogenes are also attested. Two works on epideictic oratory have been transmitted under his name, and it is argued that only the second of the two was actually written by Menander.Less
This chapter assembles all the testimonia and fragments in which Menander is explicitly named; the Greek text is accompanied by an English translation and commentary. The collection is overwhelmingly dominated by the fragments of Menander’s commentary on Demosthenes. He may also have written commentaries on Aeschines and Aelius Aristides. Commentaries on works of rhetorical theory by Minucianus and Hermogenes are also attested. Two works on epideictic oratory have been transmitted under his name, and it is argued that only the second of the two was actually written by Menander.
Malcolm Heath
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199259205
- eISBN:
- 9780191717932
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199259205.003.0009
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter addresses the social functions of rhetoric in late antiquity. Although it is widely believed that oratory in this period was primarily epideictic, the dominant focus of rhetorical theory ...
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This chapter addresses the social functions of rhetoric in late antiquity. Although it is widely believed that oratory in this period was primarily epideictic, the dominant focus of rhetorical theory and teaching was on forensic and deliberative oratory. Evidence from many sources, including Plutarch and Libanius, shows that the careers of students emerging from the schools of rhetoric would often have involved advocacy or local politics. The use of declamation in rhetorical training does not imply a retreat from reality; declamation was practised primarily (though not exclusively) as a preparation for real oratory. This continuing practical relevance is reflected in the persistence of rhetoric: the subject was still flourishing in 5th-century Alexandria. Adaptability also helped: changes in curriculum structure provided a flexibility which could meet the needs of those who became advocates in low-level courts as well as the social elite for whom cultural prestige was paramount.Less
This chapter addresses the social functions of rhetoric in late antiquity. Although it is widely believed that oratory in this period was primarily epideictic, the dominant focus of rhetorical theory and teaching was on forensic and deliberative oratory. Evidence from many sources, including Plutarch and Libanius, shows that the careers of students emerging from the schools of rhetoric would often have involved advocacy or local politics. The use of declamation in rhetorical training does not imply a retreat from reality; declamation was practised primarily (though not exclusively) as a preparation for real oratory. This continuing practical relevance is reflected in the persistence of rhetoric: the subject was still flourishing in 5th-century Alexandria. Adaptability also helped: changes in curriculum structure provided a flexibility which could meet the needs of those who became advocates in low-level courts as well as the social elite for whom cultural prestige was paramount.
Meriel Jones
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199570089
- eISBN:
- 9780191738760
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199570089.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This concluding chapter summarizes some of the major issues highlighted by the book as a whole, such as the extent to which Dionysius stands as an embodiment of masculine ideals in Chariton’s novel, ...
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This concluding chapter summarizes some of the major issues highlighted by the book as a whole, such as the extent to which Dionysius stands as an embodiment of masculine ideals in Chariton’s novel, and the way in which Achilles Tatius uses Cleitophon as the very opposite of such ideals. It is concluded that Cleitophon’s misperformances of gender are the author’s means of subverting traditional ideologies of masculinity, but that there is no way to determine whether Cleitophon himself is conscious of those misperformances. The chapter argues that the novels’ masculinities are presented as epideictic – as things to be performed, whether well or badly. The novels’ authors draw on and reflect on both earlier and contemporary gender ideologies, and while the men examined are not ‘real’, they are nonetheless evidence of very real masculine concerns.Less
This concluding chapter summarizes some of the major issues highlighted by the book as a whole, such as the extent to which Dionysius stands as an embodiment of masculine ideals in Chariton’s novel, and the way in which Achilles Tatius uses Cleitophon as the very opposite of such ideals. It is concluded that Cleitophon’s misperformances of gender are the author’s means of subverting traditional ideologies of masculinity, but that there is no way to determine whether Cleitophon himself is conscious of those misperformances. The chapter argues that the novels’ masculinities are presented as epideictic – as things to be performed, whether well or badly. The novels’ authors draw on and reflect on both earlier and contemporary gender ideologies, and while the men examined are not ‘real’, they are nonetheless evidence of very real masculine concerns.
Antoinina Bevan Zlatar
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199604692
- eISBN:
- 9780191729430
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199604692.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
English dialogists valued their chosen genre for its didactic power over the ‘unlearned’. Construed in Horatian terms, dialogues gave readers pleasure alongside instruction and, by exerting power ...
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English dialogists valued their chosen genre for its didactic power over the ‘unlearned’. Construed in Horatian terms, dialogues gave readers pleasure alongside instruction and, by exerting power over the emotions, moved them to do good. By means of a detailed discussion of a selection of Erasmus's Colloquia familiaria, and his defence of their satire in De utilitate colloquiorum, this chapter explores the ways in which ‘pleasure’ sugars the doctrinal pill. It delineates the gamut of ostentatiously imaginary interlocutors often presented satirically, the realism of place and time, and the plot of conversion. It showcases the polemical dialogue's constant and deliberate slippage between the fictional and the topical, and suggests that the English dialogists — predominantly puritan clerics — valued this hybridity as a license to radicalism.Less
English dialogists valued their chosen genre for its didactic power over the ‘unlearned’. Construed in Horatian terms, dialogues gave readers pleasure alongside instruction and, by exerting power over the emotions, moved them to do good. By means of a detailed discussion of a selection of Erasmus's Colloquia familiaria, and his defence of their satire in De utilitate colloquiorum, this chapter explores the ways in which ‘pleasure’ sugars the doctrinal pill. It delineates the gamut of ostentatiously imaginary interlocutors often presented satirically, the realism of place and time, and the plot of conversion. It showcases the polemical dialogue's constant and deliberate slippage between the fictional and the topical, and suggests that the English dialogists — predominantly puritan clerics — valued this hybridity as a license to radicalism.
Alan J. Ross
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198784951
- eISBN:
- 9780191827174
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198784951.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book presents a re-examination of Ammianus Marcellinus’ agenda and methods in narrating the reign of the emperor Julian (355–63). Ammianus’ Res Gestae provides the fullest extant narrative of ...
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This book presents a re-examination of Ammianus Marcellinus’ agenda and methods in narrating the reign of the emperor Julian (355–63). Ammianus’ Res Gestae provides the fullest extant narrative of Julian, and holds a prominent position in modern studies of the last ‘pagan’ emperor. This book suggests that the Res Gestae presents a Latin-speaking, western audience with an idiosyncratic and ‘Romanized’ depiction of the philhellene emperor. Consciously exploiting his position as a Greek writing in Latin, and as a contemporary of Julian, Ammianus wished the Res Gestae to be considered a culminating and definitive account of Julian. The volume examines several key episodes from Books 14–25—Gallus and Silvanus, Julian’s appointment as Caesar, the battle of Strasbourg, his acclamation as Augustus, and the Persian campaign of 363. Building on recent advances in literary approaches to historical texts, it evaluates Ammianus’ presentation of Julian in each episode by considering the Res Gestae within three interrelated contexts: as a work of Latin historiography, which sets itself within a classical and classicizing tradition; in a more immediate literary and political context, as the final contribution by a member of an ‘eyewitness’ generation to a quarter century of intense debate over Julian’s legacy by several authors who had lived through the reign and had been in varying degrees of proximity to Julian; and as a narrative text, in which narratorial authority is closely associated with the persona of the narrator, both as an external narrating agent and an occasional participant in the text.Less
This book presents a re-examination of Ammianus Marcellinus’ agenda and methods in narrating the reign of the emperor Julian (355–63). Ammianus’ Res Gestae provides the fullest extant narrative of Julian, and holds a prominent position in modern studies of the last ‘pagan’ emperor. This book suggests that the Res Gestae presents a Latin-speaking, western audience with an idiosyncratic and ‘Romanized’ depiction of the philhellene emperor. Consciously exploiting his position as a Greek writing in Latin, and as a contemporary of Julian, Ammianus wished the Res Gestae to be considered a culminating and definitive account of Julian. The volume examines several key episodes from Books 14–25—Gallus and Silvanus, Julian’s appointment as Caesar, the battle of Strasbourg, his acclamation as Augustus, and the Persian campaign of 363. Building on recent advances in literary approaches to historical texts, it evaluates Ammianus’ presentation of Julian in each episode by considering the Res Gestae within three interrelated contexts: as a work of Latin historiography, which sets itself within a classical and classicizing tradition; in a more immediate literary and political context, as the final contribution by a member of an ‘eyewitness’ generation to a quarter century of intense debate over Julian’s legacy by several authors who had lived through the reign and had been in varying degrees of proximity to Julian; and as a narrative text, in which narratorial authority is closely associated with the persona of the narrator, both as an external narrating agent and an occasional participant in the text.
Colleen Derkatch
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226345840
- eISBN:
- 9780226345987
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226345987.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
Chapter Two examines how medical commentators on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) situate their texts in medical journals, on subjects not typically under the purview of such journals, in ...
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Chapter Two examines how medical commentators on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) situate their texts in medical journals, on subjects not typically under the purview of such journals, in relation to the historical-professional dynamics that have shaped biomedicine. It examines a set of coordinated journal theme issues on CAM as textual artifacts within the context of professional discourse as instances of constitutive rhetoric, calling forth a medical community that places research on CAM as already under its purview. The chapter examines peer review practices and shows how the theme issues define and categorize CAM in terms that preserve biomedicine’s historical coherence as a firmly defined discipline while simultaneously stretching its limits to reach practices formerly beyond its scope. This process functions as a form epideictic rhetoric, reinforcing conventional community values and the perceived borders separating health practices, even while some community members ostensibly seek to eradicate those borders.Less
Chapter Two examines how medical commentators on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) situate their texts in medical journals, on subjects not typically under the purview of such journals, in relation to the historical-professional dynamics that have shaped biomedicine. It examines a set of coordinated journal theme issues on CAM as textual artifacts within the context of professional discourse as instances of constitutive rhetoric, calling forth a medical community that places research on CAM as already under its purview. The chapter examines peer review practices and shows how the theme issues define and categorize CAM in terms that preserve biomedicine’s historical coherence as a firmly defined discipline while simultaneously stretching its limits to reach practices formerly beyond its scope. This process functions as a form epideictic rhetoric, reinforcing conventional community values and the perceived borders separating health practices, even while some community members ostensibly seek to eradicate those borders.
Kathryn Tempest
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199654314
- eISBN:
- 9780191751370
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654314.003.0014
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Cicero's Pro Marcello was delivered in exceptional circumstances as Cicero made his first speech to the dictator Caesar after the civil war. In particular, scholars have vigorously debated its ...
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Cicero's Pro Marcello was delivered in exceptional circumstances as Cicero made his first speech to the dictator Caesar after the civil war. In particular, scholars have vigorously debated its rhetorical form and persuasive goal. This chapter suggests that the form and function of the Pro Marcello may best be explained as an example of ‘Hellenistic oratory’ at Rome. By looking at the themes, topoi, and argumentative strategy of the Pro Marcello, it considers a number of features in the speech that can be traced back through the Greek and Hellenistic symbouleutic tradition: e.g., a focus on Caesar's virtues, divinity, and an increased awareness of the paradoxon. Thus, the Pro Marcello, which stands at a half-way mark in the history of Greek and Latin panegyric, may be seen to offer evidence for both the appropriation of the Greek oratorical tradition and its subsequent Romanization.Less
Cicero's Pro Marcello was delivered in exceptional circumstances as Cicero made his first speech to the dictator Caesar after the civil war. In particular, scholars have vigorously debated its rhetorical form and persuasive goal. This chapter suggests that the form and function of the Pro Marcello may best be explained as an example of ‘Hellenistic oratory’ at Rome. By looking at the themes, topoi, and argumentative strategy of the Pro Marcello, it considers a number of features in the speech that can be traced back through the Greek and Hellenistic symbouleutic tradition: e.g., a focus on Caesar's virtues, divinity, and an increased awareness of the paradoxon. Thus, the Pro Marcello, which stands at a half-way mark in the history of Greek and Latin panegyric, may be seen to offer evidence for both the appropriation of the Greek oratorical tradition and its subsequent Romanization.
Bruce Gibson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199644094
- eISBN:
- 9780191745010
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199644094.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines Statius’ use of hymnic features across his works. In the Siluae, Statius exploits the epideictic dimension of hymns, with hymnic passages addressed to gods. The language of hymn ...
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This chapter examines Statius’ use of hymnic features across his works. In the Siluae, Statius exploits the epideictic dimension of hymns, with hymnic passages addressed to gods. The language of hymn is also employed in dealing with the emperor Domitian, though such praise is offered not in the poet’s own voice, but in the mouths of characters within the poems. By contrast, in the epics, Statius does address Domitian in his own voice in the proems to the Thebaid and Achilleid, while at the same time using the device of recusatio as a means of declining to undertake substantial epic composition about the emperor. The representational genre of epic also allows Statius in the Thebaid to use hymnic features as a means of characterisation, and as a means of offering ironic comment on the wider action of the gods in the poem.Less
This chapter examines Statius’ use of hymnic features across his works. In the Siluae, Statius exploits the epideictic dimension of hymns, with hymnic passages addressed to gods. The language of hymn is also employed in dealing with the emperor Domitian, though such praise is offered not in the poet’s own voice, but in the mouths of characters within the poems. By contrast, in the epics, Statius does address Domitian in his own voice in the proems to the Thebaid and Achilleid, while at the same time using the device of recusatio as a means of declining to undertake substantial epic composition about the emperor. The representational genre of epic also allows Statius in the Thebaid to use hymnic features as a means of characterisation, and as a means of offering ironic comment on the wider action of the gods in the poem.
Christos Kremmydas
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199654314
- eISBN:
- 9780191751370
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199654314.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines the relatively understudied Hellenistic rhetorical exercises preserved on papyri which demonstrate the continued influence of Attic oratory across the Hellenistic world. The ...
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This chapter examines the relatively understudied Hellenistic rhetorical exercises preserved on papyri which demonstrate the continued influence of Attic oratory across the Hellenistic world. The contemporary rhetorical schools seem to have laid emphasis on the close study of the Attic orators and the imitation of their style in fictitious exercises historical themes. And while Demosthenes' influence as an oratorical paradigm emerges clearly from certain papyri, it cannot be maintained that he monopolized the syllabi of rhetorical schools. These papyri also suggest that the broad range of performative occasions (forensic, deliberative, and epideictic) did not change, even though certain types of discourses (encomia) may have gained in currency in this period.Less
This chapter examines the relatively understudied Hellenistic rhetorical exercises preserved on papyri which demonstrate the continued influence of Attic oratory across the Hellenistic world. The contemporary rhetorical schools seem to have laid emphasis on the close study of the Attic orators and the imitation of their style in fictitious exercises historical themes. And while Demosthenes' influence as an oratorical paradigm emerges clearly from certain papyri, it cannot be maintained that he monopolized the syllabi of rhetorical schools. These papyri also suggest that the broad range of performative occasions (forensic, deliberative, and epideictic) did not change, even though certain types of discourses (encomia) may have gained in currency in this period.
George A. Kennedy
- Published in print:
- 1984
- Published Online:
- July 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780807841204
- eISBN:
- 9781469616261
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9780807841204.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Archaeology: Classical
This chapter explores epideictic rhetoric which is defined as a speech or writing commonly referred to as oratory of praises or blames. Also known as ceremonial discourse, epideictic rhetoric ...
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This chapter explores epideictic rhetoric which is defined as a speech or writing commonly referred to as oratory of praises or blames. Also known as ceremonial discourse, epideictic rhetoric includes birthday speeches, wedding speeches, funeral orations, obituaries, graduation and retirement speeches, letters of recommendation, and nominating speeches at political conventions. Interpreted more broadly, epideictic rhetoric may also include works of literature. The chapter states that there are a number of passages in the New Testament which seem primarily epideictic. Furthermore, the chapter focuses on redaction criticism and various other important forms of epideictic rhetoric studies in biblical texts.Less
This chapter explores epideictic rhetoric which is defined as a speech or writing commonly referred to as oratory of praises or blames. Also known as ceremonial discourse, epideictic rhetoric includes birthday speeches, wedding speeches, funeral orations, obituaries, graduation and retirement speeches, letters of recommendation, and nominating speeches at political conventions. Interpreted more broadly, epideictic rhetoric may also include works of literature. The chapter states that there are a number of passages in the New Testament which seem primarily epideictic. Furthermore, the chapter focuses on redaction criticism and various other important forms of epideictic rhetoric studies in biblical texts.
Olympia Morata
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226536682
- eISBN:
- 9780226536712
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226536712.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Women's Literature
This chapter states that Caelius Secundus Curio preserved a number of Olympia Fulvia Morata's juvenilia from his brief stay in Ferrara between April and October 1541. These include the prefaces to ...
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This chapter states that Caelius Secundus Curio preserved a number of Olympia Fulvia Morata's juvenilia from his brief stay in Ferrara between April and October 1541. These include the prefaces to the public readings on Cicero's Stoic Paradoxes, and an epideictic oration in praise of the Roman hero Mucius Scaevola. Although these juvenilia are works of the schoolroom, they show an astonishing command not only of Latin and Greek, but of a wide range of authors, including Cicero, Horace, Lucretius, and Juvenal in Latin; Homer, Isocrates, Xenophon, Lucian, and Plutarch in Greek. Morata translates Homer into Latin and then Propertius into Greek. Although she mixes in an Old Testament example with classical allusions, there is an interesting total absence of the church fathers. The chapter examines what Cicero himself has to say in this new philosophy, which does not differ much from Christianity.Less
This chapter states that Caelius Secundus Curio preserved a number of Olympia Fulvia Morata's juvenilia from his brief stay in Ferrara between April and October 1541. These include the prefaces to the public readings on Cicero's Stoic Paradoxes, and an epideictic oration in praise of the Roman hero Mucius Scaevola. Although these juvenilia are works of the schoolroom, they show an astonishing command not only of Latin and Greek, but of a wide range of authors, including Cicero, Horace, Lucretius, and Juvenal in Latin; Homer, Isocrates, Xenophon, Lucian, and Plutarch in Greek. Morata translates Homer into Latin and then Propertius into Greek. Although she mixes in an Old Testament example with classical allusions, there is an interesting total absence of the church fathers. The chapter examines what Cicero himself has to say in this new philosophy, which does not differ much from Christianity.
Sheldon Brammall
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780748699087
- eISBN:
- 9781474412384
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748699087.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The complete translation of the Aeneid by Thomas Phaer and Thomas Twyne was the most influential English Renaissance Aeneid. This chapter looks at the different stages of its development and how it ...
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The complete translation of the Aeneid by Thomas Phaer and Thomas Twyne was the most influential English Renaissance Aeneid. This chapter looks at the different stages of its development and how it attained a reputation for exceptional ‘loftiness’. The first section thus focusses on Thomas Phaer’s rendition of Books 1–9, demonstrating that his epideictic reading of the epic stresses the virtues of the Roman nobility and the lofty potential of man. The second section argues that Twyne’s continuation was undertaken with reverence for Phaer’s achievement and faithfully imitates Phaer’s reading of the epic. The final section of the chapter explores the influence of the Phaer-Twyne Aeneid on its first successor, Richard Stanyhurst. Stanyhurst’s distinctive style of translation can be better appreciated by understanding how it emerged from his emulation of his chief predecessors.Less
The complete translation of the Aeneid by Thomas Phaer and Thomas Twyne was the most influential English Renaissance Aeneid. This chapter looks at the different stages of its development and how it attained a reputation for exceptional ‘loftiness’. The first section thus focusses on Thomas Phaer’s rendition of Books 1–9, demonstrating that his epideictic reading of the epic stresses the virtues of the Roman nobility and the lofty potential of man. The second section argues that Twyne’s continuation was undertaken with reverence for Phaer’s achievement and faithfully imitates Phaer’s reading of the epic. The final section of the chapter explores the influence of the Phaer-Twyne Aeneid on its first successor, Richard Stanyhurst. Stanyhurst’s distinctive style of translation can be better appreciated by understanding how it emerged from his emulation of his chief predecessors.
Michael Winterbottom
Antonio Stramaglia, Francesca Romana Nocchi, and Giuseppe Russo (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198836056
- eISBN:
- 9780191873423
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198836056.003.0011
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This paper originated as a contribution to a colloquium in Cambridge in honour of C. O. Brink (1987); it was published in a shorter form in 1989. It explores certain problems raised by the Orator. ...
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This paper originated as a contribution to a colloquium in Cambridge in honour of C. O. Brink (1987); it was published in a shorter form in 1989. It explores certain problems raised by the Orator. Cicero there passes from one picture of the Middle Style, as a colourless style in between the Grand and the Plain, to something quite different, bright and ornamented like the ‘sophistic’ epideictic that Cicero has earlier rejected but now allows to play an important role in forensic oratory. The paper argues that Cicero makes this shift in order to give his own varied oratory a place in his theoretical model.Less
This paper originated as a contribution to a colloquium in Cambridge in honour of C. O. Brink (1987); it was published in a shorter form in 1989. It explores certain problems raised by the Orator. Cicero there passes from one picture of the Middle Style, as a colourless style in between the Grand and the Plain, to something quite different, bright and ornamented like the ‘sophistic’ epideictic that Cicero has earlier rejected but now allows to play an important role in forensic oratory. The paper argues that Cicero makes this shift in order to give his own varied oratory a place in his theoretical model.
