Laurent Pernot

Greek “Figured Speech” on Imperial Rome

Under the Roman Empire, the Greek elites expressed the greatest respect for the emperors and celebrated the advantages of Roman domination. But behind the brilliant façade, certain factors of complexity were at work. This article uses the notion of “figured speech” to detect covert advice or reservation in the works of Dio of Prusa, known as Dio Chrysostom, and Aelius Aristides, two important representatives of Greek literature and the so-called Second Sophistic (first to second century CE). By “figured speech” ancient rhetoricians meant the cases in which orators resorted to ruses to disguise their intentions, by using indirect language to get to the points they wanted to make. Our method consists of linking certain texts by Aristides and Dio and passages from theoretical treatises together to make clear the precise procedure of figured speech that is used in each case: eloquent silence, “the hidden key,” blame behind praise, generalization, and speaking through a mask. Figured speech is an avenue of research that is opening up to interpret Greek rhetoric and literature better. The Greek case is particularly rich, and it could help analyze the return of the same phenomenon in other epochs and other cultures.

Callinicos de Pétra, sophiste et historien

Callinicos de Petra fut un sophiste de la seconde moitie du IIIe siecle apres J.-C. Une notice lui est consacree dans les Fragmente der griechischen Historiker de F. Jacoby (FGrHist 281) ainsi que dans le « Nouveau Jacoby » (FGrHist Cont 1090). Cependant le dossier n’est pas clos∞∞∞ ; il est possible de completer ces notices par l’ajout de nouveaux temoignages et d’enrichir la liste des ouvrages attribues a l’auteur. Sur cette base, se laisse reconstituer un parcours de sophiste, marque par l’enseignement, la rivalite avec les collegues et la composition de discours et de traites de rhetorique, ainsi que d’un ouvrage historique quelque peu circonstanciel. Sophiste et historien, Callinicos de Petra offre un interessant exemple de rencontre entre rhetorique et histoire. Par ailleurs, son cas est instructif pour l’histoire de la rhetorique, car il appartient a une epoque pour laquelle les documents concernant la theorie et la pratique de l’eloquence grecque sont rares. Il demontre qu’il ne faut pas conclure trop vite a un declin de la rhetorique et de la sophistique au cours du IIIe siecle apres J.-C.

Au-delà de Babel: le langage de la louange et de la prière

In the first centuries of the Roman Empire, there was a rhetorical language of religious experience that was common to both pagan and Christian texts. After all, this is not altogether surprising, as Christians and pagans lived in the same world and used the same languages (Greek and Latin), even if they held different traditions and faiths. It is interesting to try and establish, precisely, the list of essential elements which compose this common rhetorical language. Set forms, argumentation, stylistic devices and phraseology are part of it. The present paper examines certain elements of religious language that are, perhaps, common from one religion to another, or from one culture to another, looking at them from a historical perspective, specifically from that of the beginnings of the Christian era, in the early centuries of the Roman Empire. The demonstration is based on the examples of hymn (defined, in the ancient sense of the word, as a eulogy to a god, accompanied by an invocation and a request), self-praise, and prayer. Parallels are drawn between pagan practice of these forms and several passages of the New Testament. The question that arises is whether, all in all, there are universal aspects of religious rhetoric, anthropological and psycholinguistic constants, or at least essential and invariable rules. This would include, for example, in the case of praise addressed to a god, eulogy to his acts, eulogy to divine power and hymns of thanksgiving. The rhetoric of religion allows us to go beyond the differences between particular religions (beyond Babel) and to identify fundamental rhetorical forms. In this way, we can hope that, thanks to the rhetorical approach, a new angle can be brought to the study of religion. Au-delà de Babel: le langage de la louange et de la prière 77