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EPIDEICTIC ANDREW FITZMAURICE a Thesis Submitted to the University EPIDEICTIC ANDREW FITZMAURICE A thesis submitted to the University of New South Wales in fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Arts (Honours) Degree. February 1991 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My greatest debts are to Professor Conal Condren and Gina Bloom Fitzmaurice. A.F. ABSTRACT This thesis is concerned with the nature of the epideictic g~_11_u~ of rhetoric. It focuses upon the relation between a number of formal characteristics of epideictic and its social and political contexts. The analysis is conducted in relation to the concept of epideictic in the work of Gorgias, Isocrates, and Aristotle. From these elements the thesis questions whether a coherent concept of epideictic can be constructed, or whether, as Cicero suggests, epideictic is not a genu_§l. CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter 1 8 Chapter 2 - Gorgias 27 Chapter 3 - Isocrates 63 Chapter 4 - Aristotle 108 Conclusion 144 Bibliography 154 INTRODUCTION An epideictic genus is distinguished in rhetorical tradition as one of three kinds of rhetoric. 1 The other two genera are deliberative and forensic rhetoric. Deliberative, or 'political' , rhetoric evolves from the oratory of political forums. Forensic rhetoric is concerned with the practice of defence or accusation in law courts. The identity of epideictic, however, is not determined by a specific practice or institution. And yet although epideictic lacks an institutional focus the idea of an epideictic oratory has maintained an important and, at times, dominant place in the history of rhetoric. On the identification of an epideictic genus in classical rhetoric see, for example: Aristotle The Art of Rhetoric transl. J .H. Freese (Loeb Classical Library), Harvard U.P., Cambridge Mass. 1926, I, iii.3; Cicero De Inventione transl. H.M. Hubbell (Loeb Classical Library), Harvard U.P., Cambridge Mass. 1949, I, 7; and Quintilian Institutio Oratoria transl. H.E. Butler (Loeb Classical Library), Harvard U.P., Cambridge Mass. 1920, III, iv. On the identification of epideictic in modern theories of rhetoric see Kenneth Burke A Rhetoric of Motives California U.P., Berkeley 1969, pp.70- 72; and Chaim Perelman and L. Olbrechts-Tyteca The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation transl. John Wilkinson and Purcell Weaver, Notre Dame U.P., Notre Dame Ind., 1969, pp.47-57. 2 The rhetoric we call epideictic was the creation and passion of the fifth and fourth century Greeks. 2 Elements of rhetoric that we associate with epideictic were also important in the practice of declamation in Imperial Rome. 3 Epideictic assumes even greater importance in the Greek (language) 'Second Sophistic' of late antiquity, in the progymnasmata of rhetorical pedagogy and in the Christian rhetoric of the Eastern empire. This renewed interest in epideictic is reflected in the two treatises on epideictic attributed to Menander, in the consideration given to epideictic in the progymnasmata of Hermogenes and Apthonius, in the christian epi~eictic of Gregory Thaumaturgus, and in the panegyrical sermons of Eusebius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and John Chrysostom. 4 The pedagogical and 2 George Kennedy observes that "This [epideictic] is a form of literature which has relatively few admirers today, but if we are to understand the Greeks thoroughly it seems necessary to understand, if not to share, their love for it", see Kennedy The Art of Persuasion in Greece Princeton U.P., Princeton 1963, p.153. In this thesis I follow the practice of referring to centuries after Christ in capitals. Centuries before Christ are uncapitalised. 3 See, for example, Quintilian Inst., II, x.12-13: "it [declamation] also uses an element of display", "display" is in fact Butler's translation of the Greek word 'epideiktikon' which Quintilian uses here. On epideictic and declamation see also S.F. Bonner Roman Declamation Liverpool U.P., Liverpool 1969, p.61; M.L. Clark Rhetoric at Rome Cohen and West, London 1953, p.131; and Charles Sears Baldwin Ancient Rhetoric and Poetic Macmillan, New York 1924, p.100. It is clear from Bonner's discussion that declamation has a common emphasis with epideictic upon display and also employs the epideictic loci or topoi. 4 For 'Menander's' treatises on epideictic see Menander ed. W.G. Arnott (Loeb Classical Library), Harvard U.P., Cambridge Mass.; and D.A. Russell and N.G. Wilson Menander Rhetor Clarendon, Oxford 1981. On the progymnasmata see George Kennedy Greek Rhetoric Under Christian Emperors Princeton U.P., Princeton 1983, pp.54-72. On Christian epideictic and the panegyrical sermon see George Kennedy Classical Rhetoric and its Christian and Secular Tradition 3 religious associations of epideictic continue through the medieval period. 5 In the Renaissance epideictic reaches the peak of its popularity and importance. Jacob Burckhardt observed that: "Bartolomeo Facio complained that the orators of his time were at a disadvantage compared with those of antiquity; of three kinds of oratory which were open to the later only one was left to the former, since forensic oratory was abandoned to the jurists, and the speeches in the councils of the Government had to be delivered in Italian"; and Paul Oskar Kristeller states that: "unlike ancient rhetoric, Renaissance rhe~oric was not primarily concerned with the political and even less with the judiciary speech". 6 But do we detect in these statements a reluctance to identify epideictic other than as what it is not? A consciousness that rhetoric has an epideictic dimension is also evident in modern philosophies of rhetoric, notably in the work of Chaim Perelman and L. Olbrechts-Tyteca, Kenneth Burke, and John L. Austin. 7 Epideictic has also been From Ancient to Modern Times Croom Helm, London 1980, pp.135- 146. 5 On medieval epideictic see James J. Murphy Rhetoric in the Middle Ages California U.P., Berkeley 1974, pp.35-36 and ch.6; and Kennedy Greek Rhetoric Under Christian Emperors, p.293. 6 Jacob Burckhardt The Civilisation of the Renaissance in Italy 2 vols, Harper and Row, New York 1958, I, 239; and P.O. Kristeller Renaissance Thought and its Sources ed. M. Mooney, Columbia U.P., New York 1979, p.242. Both cited in John F. Tinkler "Renaissance Humanism and the genera eloguentiae" Rhetorica vol.5, no.3 1987, p.282. 7 See Burke Rhetoric of Motives, pp.70-72; Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca The New Rhetoric, pp.47-57; and John L. Austin How to do things with words Clarendon, Oxford 1962. The relation between epideictic and Austin's concept of 4 one of the principal reference points for analysis in the extensive and expanding modern histories of rhetoric. 8 Throughout this history epideictic has been seen as related to disciplines which include history, philosophy, literature and poetry, and political thought. 9 A number of critics of epideictic have noted that this third kind of rhetoric is a rather slippery category. Cicero, for example, argues that the idea of epideictic was too broad and diffuse to come within the "sphere of art"; Quintilian questions whether epideictic fragments into an infinite number of species; Kenneth Burke comments that "this kind really becqmes a catch-all"; and George Kennedy points out that its qualities are manifold. 10 But with the exception of Cicero each of these critics proceed to use epideictic as a stable performatives has been brought out by Walter H. Beale "Rhetorical Performati ve Discourse: A New Theory of Epideictic" Philosophy and Rhetoric vol. 11 , no.4 1978, pp.221- 246. 8 There are a large number of works on various aspects of the history of rhetoric. Almost all of these histories discuss the relation of epideictic rhetoric to their subject. A useful bibliography of the history of rhetoric is Winifred Bryan Horner (ed. ) The Present State of Scholarship in Historical and Contemporary Rhetoric Missouri U.P., Columbia 1983. , 9 See Cicero Orator transl. H.M. Hubbell (Loeb Classical Library), Harvard U.P., Cambridge Mass. 1939, 37. On the relation of epideictic to poetry, philosophy, and history see also Theodore C. Burgess Epideictic Literature in University of Chicago Studies in Classical Philology 3, 1902; and on the relation of epideictic to political thought see John F. Tinkler "Praise and Advice: Rhetorical Approaches in More's Utopia and Machiavelli' s The Prince" The Sixteenth Century Journal vol.19, No.2, 1988. 1° Cicero De Oratore transl. E.W. Sutton (Loeb Classical Library), Harvard U.P., Cambridge Mass. 1942, II, 48; Inst., III, iv.2; Burke Rhetoric of Motives, p.70; Kennedy The Art of Persuasion, p.29. 5 and coherent oratorical and analytical category. 11 In their acceptance of epideictic, and to a lesser extent in their misgivings, these critics are in agreement with the majority of discussions of this genus. 12 Perhaps most critics are sympathetic with Quintilian's resolution of the problem by arguing that: "The safest and most rational course seems to be to follow the authority of the majority". 13 In this thesis I examine the nature of epideictic. In particular I address the problem of defining characteristics or sources of coherence for this genus. We might simply agree with Aristotle that epideictic can be defined as the oratory of Qraise and blame. However the closer one looks at the tradition of epideictic and its development the more problematic this answer becomes. My analysis is focused upon epideictic examples from Gorgias' and Isocrates' oratory and upon Aristotle's theory of epideictic. In addition to being attributed with the invention of epideictic, the fifth and fourth century Greek sophists are regarded in the rhetorical tradition as models of epideictic oratory. Frequently discussions of epideictic appeal to these models and to Aristotle's theory of epideictic to demonstrate the coherence of the genus and to legitimise the idea of an epideictic 11 Although Cicero dismisses epideictic in De Oratore he accepts it in his earlier work, De Inventione, and, to an extent in Orator (see my discussion in Chapter 1).
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