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Comic Invective, Decorum and Ars in Cicero’s De Oratore

  • Nathan Kish
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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 explores how the discussion of the limits of oratorical humour in Cicero’s De Oratore (55 BC) sheds light on the roles of ars and natura in oratorical success. Although Cicero was criticised by both his contemporaries and later authors for being inappropriately funny, in De Oratore he addressed the importance of decorum and restraint in oratorical humour at some length. In the dialogue the character Julius Caesar Strabo espouses a markedly aggressive brand of humour that accords well with the often turbulent and violent political climate of the Late Republic. Nevertheless, Caesar emphasises that an orator should preserve his dignity and not strive to be funny in the manner of a mime (mimus) or a buffoon (scurra). Caesar attributes success in maintaining such decorum to natura rather than to ars, a reflex of a general question about the role of these elements in the training of an orator which is addressed elsewhere in the dialogue. Caesar’s emphasis on natura, however, obfuscates the fact that for him humour often involves bending or warping how people and things would “naturally” appear through the artful use of language.

Abstract

This chapter explores how the discussion of the limits of oratorical humour in Cicero’s De Oratore (55 BC) sheds light on the roles of ars and natura in oratorical success. Although Cicero was criticised by both his contemporaries and later authors for being inappropriately funny, in De Oratore he addressed the importance of decorum and restraint in oratorical humour at some length. In the dialogue the character Julius Caesar Strabo espouses a markedly aggressive brand of humour that accords well with the often turbulent and violent political climate of the Late Republic. Nevertheless, Caesar emphasises that an orator should preserve his dignity and not strive to be funny in the manner of a mime (mimus) or a buffoon (scurra). Caesar attributes success in maintaining such decorum to natura rather than to ars, a reflex of a general question about the role of these elements in the training of an orator which is addressed elsewhere in the dialogue. Caesar’s emphasis on natura, however, obfuscates the fact that for him humour often involves bending or warping how people and things would “naturally” appear through the artful use of language.

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/10.1515/9783110735536-010

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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