Demosthenes' Oratory-Dionysius' Ear

Kiso, Akiko

Demosthenes (384-322 B. C.) has kept the unchallenged name as first and foremost of the ancient Greek orators, which means that his speeches well deserve attention not only as delivered "live" to the citizens of the democratic Athens of the fourth century B. C., but also as literary works which stand up to various demands of artistic criticism of different ages and cultures. Among the ancient critics who appreciated Demosthenes' speech was Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who arrived at Rome around 30 B. C. to become a tutor of declamation. Declamation at that time not only constituted part of the educational program for the youth of the upper class Romans but also was very popular as a sort of entertainment in which the performances of professional declamators attracted the audience just as the recitals of popular singers did. In such circumstances Dionysius who used the speeches of Greek orators as model material in his tutorial of declamation was in a favorable position to discover one of the keys to the miraculous power of Demosthenes' speech---euphony. Dionysius examined how his sentences were composed and found that the word arrangement in the composition was the secret of the phonetical beauty and charm of Demosthenes' speech. The orator proved to be the best exploiter of the linguistic characteristics of Greek language which allows considerable license in word order without contravening grammar. The orator could provide euphony in his speech as in poetry without losing clarity of speech which is the vital prerequisite in persuasion.

Demosthenes' Oratory-Dionysius' Ear

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