Rhetorical Exercises from Late Antiquity: A Translation of Choricius of Gaza's Preliminary Talks and Declamations

336 Pages·2009·2.29 MB·English

by  Choricius

RHETORICAL EXERCISES FROM
LATE ANTIQUITY
Producedbyateamofeightscholars,thisisthefirsttranslationofthe
DeclamationsandPreliminaryTalksofthesixth-centuryADsophist
Choricius of Gaza. Declamations, deliberative or judicial orations
onfictitiousthemes,werethefundamentaladvancedexercisesofthe
rhetoricalschoolsoftheRomanEmpire,ofinterestalsotoaudiences
outsidetheschools.SomeofChoricius’declamationsareongeneric
themes (e.g., a tyrannicide, a war-hero), while others are based on
specific motifs from Homeric times or from classical Greek history.
The Preliminary Talks were typical prefaces to orations of all kinds.
ThisvolumealsocontainsadetailedstudyofChoricius’receptionin
ByzantiumandRenaissanceItaly.Itwillbeofinteresttostudentsof
lateantiquity,ancientrhetoric,andancienteducation.
robert j. penella isProfessorofClassicsatFordhamUniversity,
NewYork.HeistheauthorofTheLettersofApolloniusof Tyana(1979);
Greek Philosophers and Sophists in the Fourth Century AD: Studies in
EunapiusofSardis(1990);ThePrivateOrationsofThemistius(2000);
andManandtheWord:TheOrationsofHimerius(2007).

RHETORICAL EXERCISES
FROM LATE ANTIQUITY
A Translation of Choricius of Gaza’s
Preliminary Talks and Declamations
withanepilogueonChoricius’receptioninByzantium
edited by
ROBERT J. PENELLA
withEugenioAmato,MalcolmHeath,GeorgeA.Kennedy,
TerryL.Papillon,WilliamW.Reader,
D.A.Russell,andSimonSwain
cambridge university press
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(cid:2)c CambridgeUniversityPress2009
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noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithout
thewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2009
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata
Choricius,ofGaza,6thcent.
[Selections.English.2009]
Preliminarytalksanddeclamations/ChoriciusofGaza;acollaborativetranslation,withanepilogue
onChoricius’receptioninByzantiumeditedbyRobertJ.Penella.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-521-84873-2(hardback)
1.Choricius,ofGaza,6thcent. 2.Choricius,ofGaza,6thcent.–TranslationsintoEnglish.
3.Rhetoric,Ancient. I.Penella,RobertJ. II.Title.
pa5303.c613 2009
885(cid:3).02–dc22 2009015408
isbn978-0-521-84873-2hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceor
accuracyofURLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredto
inthispublicationanddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch
websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Listofcontributors pagevii
Foreword xi
Introduction 1
RobertJ.Penella
i choricius, preliminarytalks
1 PreliminaryTalks 35
RobertJ.Penella
ii choricius, declamations
2 Declamation1[X]:<Polydamas> 61
D.A.Russell
3 Declamation2[XII]:<Priam> 74
D.A.Russell
4 Declamation3[XIV]:<TheLydians> 87
SimonSwain
5 Declamation4[XVII]:<Miltiades> 96
SimonSwain
6 Declamation5[XX]:<TheYoungWar-Hero> 110
D.A.Russell
7 Declamation6[XXIII]:<TheMiserlyOldMan> 125
D.A.Russell
v
vi Contents
8 Declamation7[XXVI]:<TheTyrannicide> 142
MalcolmHeath
9 Declamation8[XXIX]:<ASpartanCitizen> 158
GeorgeA.Kennedy
10 Declamation9[XXXV]:<TheChild-Killer> 177
MalcolmHeath
11 Declamation10[XXXVIII]:<Patroclus> 200
WilliamW.Reader
12 Declamation11[XL]:<TheWar-Hero> 222
TerryL.Papillon
13 Declamation12[XLII]:<AnOrator> 241
GeorgeA.Kennedy
Epilogue:ThefortuneandreceptionofChoriciusandof
hisworks 261
EugenioAmato
Bibliography 303
303
Abbreviationsandconventions
304
Choricianeditionsandtranslations
304
Otherworkscited
Index 320
Contributors
eugenio amato is Professor of Greek at the University of Nantes.
HisbooksincludeStudisuFavorino(1995);IlcodicegrecodellaBiblioteca
Communale“Can.A.Avallone”(1997);Alleoriginidel“corpusDioneum”:
per un riesame della tradizione manoscritta di Dione di Prusa attraverso
le orazioni di Favorino (1999); Pseudo-Dione Crisostomo, De Fortuna
(or.LXIII)(criticaleditionwithintroduction,translation,andcommen-
tary,1998);DionisiodiAlessandria,DescrizionedellaTerraabitata(Ital-
iantranslationwithannotationsandcommentary,2005);andFavorinos
d’Arles,Oeuvres,Vol.I:Introductiong´en´erale,T´emoignages,Discoursaux
Corinthiens, Sur la Fortune (2005). He is co-editor of Cardo: Collection
d’´etudes et texts pour l’identit´e culturelle de l’Antiquit´e Tardive and is
currently completing an annotated translation of the orations of Dio
Chrysostom and a critical edition of the rhetorical works of Procopius
ofGaza.
malcolm heath is Professor of Greek Language and Literature at
the University of Leeds. His publications on ancient rhetoric include
HermogenesonIssues:StrategiesofArgumentinLaterGreekRhetoric(1995)
andMenander:ARhetorinContext(2004).HeisalsotheauthorofThe
PoeticsofGreekTragedy(1987);PoliticalComedyinAristophanes(1987);
Unity in Greek Poetics (1989); and Interpreting Classical Texts (2002).
He has translated Aristotle’s Poetics for Penguin Classics (1996). He is
currentlyworkingonastudyofAristotle’santhropologyofpoetry,asa
preliminarysteptowardsthelong-termgoalofatheoreticalcommentary
onthePoetics.
george a. kennedy isPaddisonProfessorofClassicsandProfessorof
Comparative Literature Emeritus at the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences,amemberoftheAmericanPhilosophicalSociety,andformer
vii
viii Listofcontributors
President of the American Philological Association and of the Interna-
tional Society for the History of Rhetoric. His books include The Art
of Persuasion in Greece (1963); The Art of Rhetoric in the Roman World
(1972); Greek Rhetoric under Christian Emperors (1983); Comparative
Rhetoric(1998);ClassicalRhetoricanditsChristianandSecularTradition
from Ancient to Modern Times (2nd edn., 1999);Invention and Method:
TwoRhetoricalTreatisesfromtheHermogenicCorpus(2005);andAristotle
OnRhetoric:ATheoryofCivicDiscourse(2ndedn.,2006).
terry l. papillon isProfessorofClassicsatVirginiaPolytechnicInsti-
tute and State University (Virginia Tech). He received his BA from St.
Olaf College (Northfield, Minn.) and his PhD from the University of
NorthCarolinaatChapelHill.Heformerlytaughtatthelast-mentioned
institution, the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and Marquette Uni-
versity.HeistheauthorofRhetoricalStudiesintheAristocrateaofDemos-
thenes(1998)andIsocratesII(2004)fortheseriesTheOratoryofClassical
GreecefromtheUniversityofTexasPress.Heisalsoeditoroftheonline
classicsjournalElectronicAntiquity.
robert j. penella isProfessorofClassicsatFordhamUniversity,New
York. His principal publications are The Letters of Apollonius of Tyana:
A Critical Text with Prolegomena, Translation and Commentary (1979);
Greek Philosophers and Sophists in the Fourth Century AD: Studies in
EunapiusofSardis(1990);ThePrivateOrationsofThemistius(introduc-
tion and annotated translation, 2000); and Man and the Word: The
Orations of Himerius (introduction and annotated translation, 2007).
HeisapastholderoffellowshipsfromtheNationalEndowmentforthe
Humanities (1993) and from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial
Foundation(2002).
william w. reader has been Professor of Biblical Studies in the
DepartmentofPhilosophyandReligionatCentralMichiganUniversity
since1976.PreviouslyhewasawissenschaftlicherAssistentontheThe-
ologischeFakulta¨tattheUniversityofGo¨ttingen(1972–6).Heisauthor
ofTheSeveredHandandtheUprightCorpse:TheDeclamationsofMarcus
AntoniusPolemo(introduction,text,translation,andcommentary,1996)
and Kostas Karyotakis, Battered Guitars: Poems and Prose (introduction,
translation,andnotes,2006).Twomainresearchinterestsofhisarethe
continuityoftheGreeklanguagefromancienttomoderntimesandthe
HellenizationofHebrewculturaltraditions.Heiscurrentlyworkingon
Listofcontributors ix
asixteenth-centuryJewishGreektranslationoftheHebrewPentateuch,
aByzantine-OttomanGreekversionwritteninHebrewcharacters.
d. a. russell isEmeritusProfessorofClassicalLiteratureattheUniver-
sityofOxfordandFellowofSt.John’sCollege,Oxford.HeisaFellowof
theBritishAcademy.HispublicationsincludePlutarch(1973);Criticism
in Antiquity (1981); Greek Declamation (1983); Libanius, Imaginary
Speeches (translation, 1996); editions of Longinus (1964); Dio Chrysos-
tom Orations 7, 12, 36 (1992); and Quintilian (Loeb Classical Library,
2001); and, in collaboration with others, Ancient Literary Criticism
(translation,1972);MenanderRhetor(edition,translation,andcommen-
tary, 1981); and Heraclitus, Homeric Problems (edition and translation,
2005).
simon swain is Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the Uni-
versity of Warwick and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He is
theauthororeditorofHellenismandEmpire:Language,Classicism,and
PowerintheGreekWorld,AD50–250(1996);Portraits:BiographicalRep-
resentationintheGreekandLatinLiteratureoftheRomanEmpire(1997);
Oxford Readings in the Greek Novel (1999); Dio Chrysostom: Politics,
Letters, and Philosophy (2000); Bilingualism in Ancient Society (2002);
ApproachingLateAntiquity(2004);SeeingtheFace,SeeingtheSoul:Pole-
mon’s Physiognomy from Classical Antiquity to Medieval Islam (2007);
andSeveranCulture(2007).AsaLeverhulmeMajorResearchFellowhe
iscurrentlyworkingonGreekethicsandtheirreceptioninIslam.