The Speeches of Scipio Africanus in the Third Decade of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita

[摘要] The Introduction includes a review of the salient literature. This shows thatmany of the studies amount to an unimaginative treatment; little attention hasbeen paid to the psychagogic aspects and their influence. The study starts fromthis point vis-a-vis Quintilian's judgment, cum personis tum rebus accommodatasunt (X.l.lOl).Chapter 1 outlines the applicable tradition of rhetoric. The starting-point isdocere (didactic) and delectare (epideictic). Emphasis is put on the Hellenisticdoctrines Livy inherited from Cicero. The elements traced are the individual'sposition in historiography, the didactic moral aspects underlying form and presentation,the concept of suitability, and the influence of epideictic.Polybius' relevant programme for political historiography (11.56.1 0) is consideredvis-a-vis tragic history. Livy' s germane attitudes are then culled from Cicero'ssynthesized canons.Chapter 2 is a discussion of the sources for the speeches. The approach adoptedis that Livy's epic techniques of characterization can be assessed only if itis established for which of the speeches Polybius was the indisputable primarysource.The structural allocation of the speeches is considered in Chapter 3. Attentionis given to Scipio's position at the centre of the decade and to Hellenistic techniquesof presentation (accelerating or retarding the action, increasing the tension,intensifying the psychagogy). The findings are assessed against Quintilian's judgment(X.l.lOl ). Chapter 4 is a detailed discussion of the major speeches. Livy's vividcharacterization of Scipio is considered· in the light of the underlying psychagogy,as set off against the formal rhetorical background (the genera causarum, thegenera dicendi, the various topoi, and the technical formulation of the linguisticelements). The lively total portrayal is favourably assessed against Quintilian'sjudgment (X.l.1 01 ).Livy's and Polybius' respective presentations of Scipio in the relevant speeches(Liv. XXVIII.27 -29 = Pol. XI.28-29; Liv. XXX.30 = Pol. XV.6-7. Liv. XXX.31= Pol. XV.8) are analysed in Chapter 5. Especial attention is given to the differencesof portrayal based on general programmatical divergences in the outlookof the two historians (the moral element as against the political, the oratoricalstyle as against the plain). The palm goes to Livy for his tnore vivid, itnpressive,and specifically Roman portrait.Chapter 6 embodies the conclusions. The portrait is reviewed against the backgroundof Livy's conception of historiography, the position allotted to the speeches,the portrayal they embody, and the use made of Polybius. The effect of thesalient features in the framework of the whole study - history as an oratoricalconcept having a moral value; the arresting allocation of the speeches; the dispositionof the topoi, the influence of the rhetoric and psychagogy; the effect ofthe source-divergences - is related to the overall presentation, which is then brieflyvindicated.

[发布机构] University of Pretoria