But we’ll begin Wednesday with a discussion of Chap. 8 in Elaine Fantham’s The Roman World of Cicero’s De Oratore (Oxford 2005), on ‘Wit and Humour as the Orator’s Combat Weapons’ (pp. 186-208). Be prepared to give a short critique of what you see to be the strengths and weaknesses of the chapter...or if you prefer, to identify what you most liked and/or disliked about it.
As I mentioned, I’ve left two photocopies of this on our reserve shelf in Denny 210 (the seminar room): feel free to remove one to make a copy for yourself, but please return it asap whence it came.
You may recall that at the beginning of the quarter I suggested you read Zetzel’s recent Bryn Mawr Classical Review piece on this book as a way to get some sense of the current status of work on the De orat. If you haven’t read that yet, you might – after reading this chapter – find it interesting:
We’ll spend most of Monday translating that big chunk in Book 2 mentioned above (2.216-290) – Caesar’s disquisition on humor and wit, which is also the subject of Fantham’s chapter. So lots to think about there. But as far as Book 3 goes, I’d like you to ponder in particular its beginning and its end. Specifically:
· Each Book begins, as you will have noticed, with a brief preface that ‘breaks’ the illusion of the dialogue – it brings us, that is, back into the ‘present’ before returning us to the ‘past’ of the dialogue. But why at this juncture does Cicero choose to discuss the deaths of the characters involved? What do you see as the purpose and effect of such a decision?
· Endings, of course, are just as important as beginnings: think about how the De oratore ends. Does it seem to you a reasonable, even logical ending? Is it effective...or not? How does it contrast with the way the work begins?