Comic Invective in Attic Forensic Oratory: Private Speeches
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Andreas Serafim
Abstract
This chapter aims to examine the features and functions of comic invective in private speeches, with the purpose of indicating whether or not the generic dichotomy between public and private orations has any impact upon how comicness in the invective is used as a means of influencing the verdict of the judges. The patterns that Serafim explores in private speeches are, specifically: incongruity; inversion of tragedy into comedy; language or vivid descriptions that draw on, or have implications for, the features of stock comic characters; references to the (ab)use of the human body that also point to comic types of figures (e.g. kolax); carrying out menial jobs; being sexually deviant or militarily useless. Three conclusions have been drawn: the first is that the patterns of comic invective in private speeches are largely the same as those used in public speeches; the second is that the dichotomy between public and private speeches affects the frequency of using patterns of comic invective; and the third conclusion is that the other generic dichotomy between private defence and prosecution speeches also affects the use of comic invective, but not in a coherent and consistent way in all private speeches: techniques differ from orator to orator.
Abstract
This chapter aims to examine the features and functions of comic invective in private speeches, with the purpose of indicating whether or not the generic dichotomy between public and private orations has any impact upon how comicness in the invective is used as a means of influencing the verdict of the judges. The patterns that Serafim explores in private speeches are, specifically: incongruity; inversion of tragedy into comedy; language or vivid descriptions that draw on, or have implications for, the features of stock comic characters; references to the (ab)use of the human body that also point to comic types of figures (e.g. kolax); carrying out menial jobs; being sexually deviant or militarily useless. Three conclusions have been drawn: the first is that the patterns of comic invective in private speeches are largely the same as those used in public speeches; the second is that the dichotomy between public and private speeches affects the frequency of using patterns of comic invective; and the third conclusion is that the other generic dichotomy between private defence and prosecution speeches also affects the use of comic invective, but not in a coherent and consistent way in all private speeches: techniques differ from orator to orator.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Acknowledgements VII
- Killing with a Smile: Comic Invective in Greek and Roman Oratory 1
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Part I: Intertextual and Multi-genre Invective
- Comedy and Insults in the Athenian Law-courts 25
- Comic Invective and Public Speech in Fourth-Century Athens 43
- Comic Invective in Attic Forensic Oratory: Private Speeches 65
- Rhetorical Defence, Inter-poetic Agōn and the Reframing of Comic Invective in Plato’s Apology of Socrates 81
- “You are Mad!” Allegations of Insanity in Greek Comedy and Rhetoric 107
- Comic Invective in Cicero’s Speech Pro M. Caelio 125
- How to Start a Show: Comic Invectives in the Prologues of Terence and Decimus Laberius 147
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Part II: The Cultural Workings of Invective
- Comic Somatisation and the Body of Evidence in Aeschines’ Against Timarchus 171
- Comic Invective, Decorum and Ars in Cicero’s De Oratore 191
- No Decorum in the Forum? Comic Invective in the Theatre of Justice 211
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Part III: Invective in Ancient Socio-political Contexts
- Political Rhetoric and Comic Invective in Fifth-Century Athens: The Trial of the Dogs in Aristophanes’ Wasps 235
- Democracy, Poverty, Comic Heroism and Oratorical Strategy in Lysias 24 257
- Notes on Editors and Contributors 273
- General Index 275
- Index Locorum 279
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Acknowledgements VII
- Killing with a Smile: Comic Invective in Greek and Roman Oratory 1
-
Part I: Intertextual and Multi-genre Invective
- Comedy and Insults in the Athenian Law-courts 25
- Comic Invective and Public Speech in Fourth-Century Athens 43
- Comic Invective in Attic Forensic Oratory: Private Speeches 65
- Rhetorical Defence, Inter-poetic Agōn and the Reframing of Comic Invective in Plato’s Apology of Socrates 81
- “You are Mad!” Allegations of Insanity in Greek Comedy and Rhetoric 107
- Comic Invective in Cicero’s Speech Pro M. Caelio 125
- How to Start a Show: Comic Invectives in the Prologues of Terence and Decimus Laberius 147
-
Part II: The Cultural Workings of Invective
- Comic Somatisation and the Body of Evidence in Aeschines’ Against Timarchus 171
- Comic Invective, Decorum and Ars in Cicero’s De Oratore 191
- No Decorum in the Forum? Comic Invective in the Theatre of Justice 211
-
Part III: Invective in Ancient Socio-political Contexts
- Political Rhetoric and Comic Invective in Fifth-Century Athens: The Trial of the Dogs in Aristophanes’ Wasps 235
- Democracy, Poverty, Comic Heroism and Oratorical Strategy in Lysias 24 257
- Notes on Editors and Contributors 273
- General Index 275
- Index Locorum 279
