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Comic Somatisation and the Body of Evidence in Aeschines’ Against Timarchus

  • Thomas K. Hubbard
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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

Several distinctive stylistic features in Aeschines 1 mark a rhetorical strategy that focuses on the corporal appearance of the defendant Timarchus in a manner that echoes comic treatment of politicians’ bodies. Although Aeschines claims that Timarchus is now wasted due to sensual over-indulgence, T.K. Hubbard argues that, at age 45, Timarchus was still in fact physically impressive, much younger in appearance than his age peer Misgolas, a successful adulterer, athletic in his gestures and delivery. By calling upon the judges to scrutinise Timarchus’ body (which for his age was probably well-preserved), Aeschines encourages them to imagine how attractive he must have been when he was really in his prime, and thus how likely he was to have taken advantage of his good looks in a way that Aeschines frames as immoral and disqualifying. As an experienced actor and new orator, Aeschines relied on dramatic techniques of characterisation to make up for the weakness of his case in regard to both evidence and law. The dokimasia rhētorōn on which he relies for his prosecution was never a formal law used by other orators or whose text Aeschines could cite, and the law on hetairēsis only applied to certain limited public offices.

Abstract

Several distinctive stylistic features in Aeschines 1 mark a rhetorical strategy that focuses on the corporal appearance of the defendant Timarchus in a manner that echoes comic treatment of politicians’ bodies. Although Aeschines claims that Timarchus is now wasted due to sensual over-indulgence, T.K. Hubbard argues that, at age 45, Timarchus was still in fact physically impressive, much younger in appearance than his age peer Misgolas, a successful adulterer, athletic in his gestures and delivery. By calling upon the judges to scrutinise Timarchus’ body (which for his age was probably well-preserved), Aeschines encourages them to imagine how attractive he must have been when he was really in his prime, and thus how likely he was to have taken advantage of his good looks in a way that Aeschines frames as immoral and disqualifying. As an experienced actor and new orator, Aeschines relied on dramatic techniques of characterisation to make up for the weakness of his case in regard to both evidence and law. The dokimasia rhētorōn on which he relies for his prosecution was never a formal law used by other orators or whose text Aeschines could cite, and the law on hetairēsis only applied to certain limited public offices.

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/10.1515/9783110735536-009

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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