Recontextualising the Rhetorica ad Herennium Jennifer Claire Hilder BA

238 Pages·2015·1.69 MB·English

Hilder, Jennifer Claire (2015) Recontextualising the Rhetorica ad
Herennium. PhD thesis

http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6968/

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Glasgow Theses Service
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Recontextualising the
Rhetorica ad Herennium

Jennifer Claire Hilder
BA (Hons), MPhil

Submitting in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of
PhD

School of Humanities
College of Arts
University of Glasgow

September 2015

© Jennifer Hilder

Abstract

This thesis will provide a sustained analysis of the relationship between the Rhetorica ad
Herennium and its context in early first century BCE Rome. Over 250 examples in the
Rhetorica ad Herennium illustrate the text’s rhetorical theory, but in so doing they also
provide a significant insight into the history, law, and politics of this period.

As I demonstrate, these examples show the preoccupations and perspectives of orators who
were not necessarily from the political elite. They illustrate what could and could not be
discussed in speech, and the modes of oratory that were encouraged by the author –
popularis or not. The author’s focus on forensic oratory also has important implications for
understanding the use of the law and legal knowledge.

An important strand of this thesis is to compare the examples in the Rhetorica ad
Herennium to those of Cicero’s contemporary De Inventione. Although the two texts have
often been treated as a pair, there are differences between the two. The contrasts are
noteworthy in themselves, but they also emphasise the independence of the author of the
Rhetorica ad Herennium and the potential to adapt theories and approaches as necessary.
This is also an educational text, and the way it is constructed relates closely to its audience.
I argue that the post-Social War context of the Rhetorica ad Herennium is key to
understanding this audience, who may include newly enfranchised Italians using the
Roman legal system for the first time.

By recontextualising the Rhetorica ad Herennium, it becomes clear that it is a very
different text to the De Inventione in many ways. By highlighting these differences, I show
that the work can stand alone as an object of enquiry and serve as a rich source for Roman
Republican historians.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 7
Author’s Declaration 9
Abbreviations 11
Introduction 13
Chapter 1: Contextualising pre-Sullan Rome 39
Chapter 2: A rhetorical handbook 63
Chapter 3: Exempla and political history 85
Chapter 4: Popularis oratory, invective and licentia 117
Chapter 5: Pathos and maiestas in criminal trials 140
Chapter 6: Civil law and the jurists 165
Chapter 7: Educating the reader 191
Conclusion 207
Bibliography 213

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to all those who have helped me throughout my thesis, including my
supervisors Catherine Steel and Henriette van der Blom first and foremost, whose advice
has been invaluable for developing my ideas and arguments.

The Classics department in Glasgow and the advisory board of the Fragments of the
Republican Roman Orators project have been two other sources of much welcome
guidance and friendship. I would also like to thank the Classics postgraduates, especially
Sarah and Christopher, as well as Christa Gray and Fraser Rowan for moral support and
endless cups of tea.

I am also grateful to have had the opportunity to present my research in Glasgow,
Edinburgh, Warsaw and Turin, and I thank the organisers and audiences for their
comments.

For financial support I am indebted to the European Research Council and the University
of Glasgow’s College of Arts Graduate School, without whom I could not have undertaken
this thesis. I also had the great pleasure of staying at the Fondation Hardt in the latter
stages of my thesis with funding from the Roman Society.

Finally, to friends and family, and to Galen, thank you for the wonderful evenings,
weekends, and holidays that have made these three years more than a thesis.

Needless to say, any mistakes that remain here are my own.

Author’s Declaration

I declare that this thesis is the result of my own work and that I have referenced sources in
cases where ideas are not my own: any omission of an accurate reference is an oversight
on my part and will be corrected. This dissertation is the result of my own work and has
not been submitted for any other degree at the University of Glasgow or any other
institution.

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