The Reception of paradeigma in Late Greek Rhetorical Theory

Abstract

It seems that from its inception rhetoric generated treatises where technical advice was given about the use of that techne. Although many of these treatises are lost, a good number of them are still preserved, and through them it is possible to understand the development of the rhetorical art and also to catch a glimpse of ancient reflections on the art of rhetoric and of the discussions that were probably raised about certain of its aspects. Among the rhetorical proofs, the paradeigma or example surely had an essential role from the very beginning, since it is one of the most salient proofs in the preserved rhetorical handbooks of the Classical period, that is, in the Rhetoric to Alexander and in Aristotle’s Rhetoric. Although not exclusively, there are essentially three aspects of the paradeigma which hold the attention of the authors of rhetorical treatises, namely its function, its contents (including the relation between paradeigma or example and parabole or comparison) and the methods of refutation. In comparison with the handbooks of the Classical period, the methods of refutation are expanded in the treatises of the Late period. The relation between paradeigma and parabole, announced by Aristotle but omitted in the Rhetoric to Alexander, is discussed, and the paradeigma’s function, which in the Classical period was mainly argumentative, is maintained in the late treatises, but with time its exhortative function, which will prevail in the medieval period, develops.