| Abstract: | Although mythological exemplum was frequently used in poetry, it has never been the subject of a comprehensive inquiry in ancient theory. The scope of its application, however, appears to be relatively broad and even the greatest Roman orator did not hesitate to employ it. The objective of the present thesis was an analysis of those passages in Cicero’s public speeches in which there is a traceable allusion to Greek myth.
The dissertation has been divided into three sections: it begins with an introduction (chapter I) where the terminological issues and the methodological choices are discussed. Then follows the first part in which Cicero’s possible sources of inspiration (chapter II) and the questions of reception of Greek mythology in the late republican Rome (chapter III) are taken into consideration. The main, second part of the thesis, is focused on the interpretation of the collected research material (chapters IV – VI). Since an investigation as stated above has never been attempted so far, it seemed necessary to establish analytical tools appropriate for studying the mythological exemplum within the field of rhetoric. We opted to base our inquiry on the so-called ‘law of
metamorphosis’ (E. Cassirer, N. Frye), framing it additionally to Quintilian’s well-known system (fabula poetica). Then the classification of paradigms was put forward regarding their origin, i.e. school exercises (progymnasmata), literature (fabula poetica [sensu stricto]), mythological landscape (fabula propria), and theatre (fabula scaenica), as well as their elaboration (according to K. Demoen’s scheme), i.e. narration, short mention, and allusion. The analysis of the passages we have studied showed that mythological exemplum in
the Speeches by Cicero is a rhetorical strategy which aims at developing a symbolical relations between a mythological character (point of reference) and one of the persons participating in the communication situation in the 1st century BC (designate), arousing certain emotions in the third parties both who have direct (judges) and indirect (the audience) impact upon the course of the trial. Moreover, three tables were appended in order to present the results in a more transparent way and a bibliography singling out the primary literature (more important editions of Cicero and the editions with commentary) and the secondary literature (general
and detailed studies) was attached. |