Rhetorical Resources– Part Five

Last updated on: February 19, 2023 at 1:47 am by Ben Witherington

Rhetorical Resources– Part Five 2022-12-16T08:35:49-05:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus (i.e. Bodrum) arrived in Rome in A.D. 30 sick and tired of Asiatic rhetoric as propagated by his fellow orators in the province of Asia. Unlike some Greek Dionysius saw in Romans a more appropriate and sober and disciplined style of rhetoric. Dionysius is what one could call an armchair rhetorician by which I mean a person who did not himself declaim but taught many Romans to do so, and he wrote treatises about the art of persuasion. At the same time, Dionysius was not a one trick pony, he was also an historian. “The two aspects of Dionysius’ literary activity were complementary, since he regarded his historical work as an exemplification of his rhetorical theory.” (Bowersock, p. 84 in the Cambridge History of Classical Literature Vol. I Part 4). Dionysius gave himself to a detailed study of both the Greek orators and the Greek historians. In Dionysius’s view the ancient sober rhetoric of Aristotle and others had been revived by the Romans, and the new Rhetoric of the Sophists should be ignored and allowed to pass into obscurity. He thanks the Romans for helping to make this happen. He says in his Of Ancient Oration 2-3: “The ancient sober rhetoric has been restored to her former rightful place of honor, while the brainless new rhetoric has been restrained from. enjoying a fame which it does not deserve and from living in luxury on the fruits of another’s labors. And this is perhaps not the only reason for praising the present age and the men who guide its culture….I think that the cause and origin of this great revolution has been the conquest of the world by Rome…And since this great revolution has taken place in so short a time, I should not be surprised if that craze for a silly style of oratory fails to survive another single generation.” This deserves a wow. Rome’s wars saved the world from Asiatic rhetoric! Of course he was wrong, not least because as the Empire and dictatorial rule rose in power, flattery and flamboyance, especially in praise of rulers was hardly going to disappear. To the contrary, it only ramped up. Safe rhetoric gave increasing attention to style, to beauty in discourse, with the purpose of the rhetoric to please the audience, rather than mainly to persuade. It is not surprising that in this period manuals on style became to crop up, like the anonymous volume, ‘On the Sublime’ or Demetrius’ On Style.

All along, one of the main concerns of Greek rhetoric was ‘propriety’. One had to choose a proper subject, one needed to use proper arguments, one need to form proper sentences etc. and this rhetorical concern was applied to the writing of history as well. For example, polymath Plutarch a reader and writer on a vast range of subjects censures Thucydides for choose a poor, nay improper subject for his history. The great rhetorician of the era, Dionysius of Halicarnassus is even more critical of Thucydides for the same reasons. Plutarch also has a rhetorical approach to bioi that is biographies. The focus is on revealing the character of the person in question, and more particularly things that reveal his virtues or vices. In other words, the focus is not on historic events, but on whatever material reveals whether the person was a scoundrel or a moral athlete. Even the slightest turn of phrase or jest could better reveal the character (not just the personality but the moral character) of a person, and that is what the biographer should focus on. G.W Bowersock in The Hellenistic Period and the Empire, helpfully points out, when on rare occasion, Plutarch chose a bad Greek to write about (say Demetrius) he would pick a bad Roman (e.g. Antony) to pair him with, because his goal was not entertainment or amusement but “to illuminate morality by its opposite, and…to emphasize that various features of mankind are not confined to one nation” (p. 108). But where was rhetoric headed as the Empire kept expanding, and autocracy kept expanding with it? In our next post we will say more.

History and Religion

Education and Religion

Uncategorized

Previous Post

February 18, 2023

Rhetorical Resources-- Part Four

Next Post

February 20, 2023 Rhetorical Resources-- Part Six

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz