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Comic Invective and Public Speech in Fourth-Century Athens

  • Kostas Apostolakis
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Comic Invective in Ancient Greek and Roman Oratory
This chapter is in the book Comic Invective in Ancient Greek and Roman Oratory

Abstract

This chapter examines fundamental topics of comic invective (including ēthopoiia and the language and imagery of abuse) as they appear in fourthcentury oratory, both forensic and deliberative. The increasing rivalry between pro-Macedonian and anti-Macedonian orators fomented fierce invective. It appears that Demosthenes, Hyperides, Aeschines and Dinarchus, who played a leading part in the relevant debates of the time, often draw on comic tradition when using invective. The vitriolic attacks they launch against each other as litigants are no less inventive and imaginative than comic methods. The struggle between Demosthenes and Aeschines, in particular, includes jeering attacks which have implications for the personal satire of Old Comedy or patterns that are used in the surviving fragments of Middle Comedy. A close reading of representative speeches composed in the framework of these political controversies offers insights about recurrent aspects of comic invective, e.g. accusations that are trotted out against opponents of deception and bribery, and attacks against their social status and family.

Abstract

This chapter examines fundamental topics of comic invective (including ēthopoiia and the language and imagery of abuse) as they appear in fourthcentury oratory, both forensic and deliberative. The increasing rivalry between pro-Macedonian and anti-Macedonian orators fomented fierce invective. It appears that Demosthenes, Hyperides, Aeschines and Dinarchus, who played a leading part in the relevant debates of the time, often draw on comic tradition when using invective. The vitriolic attacks they launch against each other as litigants are no less inventive and imaginative than comic methods. The struggle between Demosthenes and Aeschines, in particular, includes jeering attacks which have implications for the personal satire of Old Comedy or patterns that are used in the surviving fragments of Middle Comedy. A close reading of representative speeches composed in the framework of these political controversies offers insights about recurrent aspects of comic invective, e.g. accusations that are trotted out against opponents of deception and bribery, and attacks against their social status and family.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Acknowledgements VII
  4. Killing with a Smile: Comic Invective in Greek and Roman Oratory 1
  5. Part I: Intertextual and Multi-genre Invective
  6. Comedy and Insults in the Athenian Law-courts 25
  7. Comic Invective and Public Speech in Fourth-Century Athens 43
  8. Comic Invective in Attic Forensic Oratory: Private Speeches 65
  9. Rhetorical Defence, Inter-poetic Agōn and the Reframing of Comic Invective in Plato’s Apology of Socrates 81
  10. “You are Mad!” Allegations of Insanity in Greek Comedy and Rhetoric 107
  11. Comic Invective in Cicero’s Speech Pro M. Caelio 125
  12. How to Start a Show: Comic Invectives in the Prologues of Terence and Decimus Laberius 147
  13. Part II: The Cultural Workings of Invective
  14. Comic Somatisation and the Body of Evidence in Aeschines’ Against Timarchus 171
  15. Comic Invective, Decorum and Ars in Cicero’s De Oratore 191
  16. No Decorum in the Forum? Comic Invective in the Theatre of Justice 211
  17. Part III: Invective in Ancient Socio-political Contexts
  18. Political Rhetoric and Comic Invective in Fifth-Century Athens: The Trial of the Dogs in Aristophanes’ Wasps 235
  19. Democracy, Poverty, Comic Heroism and Oratorical Strategy in Lysias 24 257
  20. Notes on Editors and Contributors 273
  21. General Index 275
  22. Index Locorum 279
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110735536-003

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Acknowledgements VII
  4. Killing with a Smile: Comic Invective in Greek and Roman Oratory 1
  5. Part I: Intertextual and Multi-genre Invective
  6. Comedy and Insults in the Athenian Law-courts 25
  7. Comic Invective and Public Speech in Fourth-Century Athens 43
  8. Comic Invective in Attic Forensic Oratory: Private Speeches 65
  9. Rhetorical Defence, Inter-poetic Agōn and the Reframing of Comic Invective in Plato’s Apology of Socrates 81
  10. “You are Mad!” Allegations of Insanity in Greek Comedy and Rhetoric 107
  11. Comic Invective in Cicero’s Speech Pro M. Caelio 125
  12. How to Start a Show: Comic Invectives in the Prologues of Terence and Decimus Laberius 147
  13. Part II: The Cultural Workings of Invective
  14. Comic Somatisation and the Body of Evidence in Aeschines’ Against Timarchus 171
  15. Comic Invective, Decorum and Ars in Cicero’s De Oratore 191
  16. No Decorum in the Forum? Comic Invective in the Theatre of Justice 211
  17. Part III: Invective in Ancient Socio-political Contexts
  18. Political Rhetoric and Comic Invective in Fifth-Century Athens: The Trial of the Dogs in Aristophanes’ Wasps 235
  19. Democracy, Poverty, Comic Heroism and Oratorical Strategy in Lysias 24 257
  20. Notes on Editors and Contributors 273
  21. General Index 275
  22. Index Locorum 279
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