The paper focuses on Livy’s description (23.2-3) of the speech made in a popular assembly in Capua by Pacuvius Calavius in 216 BC. When Hannibal invades Italy and the Roman army seems unable to stop him, the Capuan plebs aims to deliver the city to the Carthaginians, and is ready to rise up and put all the senators to death. The noble Pacuvius Calavius, who is the main authority in the city (the medix tuticus) and has great influence over both the senate and the plebs, takes advantage of the situation to strengthen his power. He asks the senators to trust him: he will tell the plebeians that he is ready to put the senators to death, but he will also tell them that, for each senator to be executed, they will have to elect a new one, better than his predecessor. He knows that the plebeians will never come to an agreement. Thus, Calavius fictitiously arrests the senators and confines them in the curia. Then he speaks to the plebeians, calls one of the senators and proposes to put him to death after the election of a substitute. The plebeians, exactly as Calavius has foreseen, do not reach an agreement about who deserves to become a new member of the senate, and soon leave the assembly, placing the political life of the city in Calavius’ hands. More than a simple persuasive speech, Calavius’ rhetorical performance is represented by Livy as the climax of an elaborate strategy of persuasion and deception, which has something in common with a theatrical play, with a main character (Calavius), a tumultuous audience (the plebeians), and minor partners of the speaker, who play a walk-on role (the senators). Such a strategy is considered indispensable by the orator before an assembly whose intention is clearly hostile: a simple, even excellent, speech would be absolutely insufficient. The speech is analyzed in the context of the Livian work, together with some relevant Greek intertextual references, in particular Clearchus’ speeches in Xenophon, Anabasis 1.3, where a similar (even more complex) strategy is carried out.

Persuasion through deception in Livy. Pacuvius Calavius’ rhetorical strategy before the Capuan assembly / Miletti, Lorenzo. - (2015). (Intervento presentato al convegno 20th Biennial Congress of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric tenutosi a Tübingen nel 28-31 luglio 2015).

Persuasion through deception in Livy. Pacuvius Calavius’ rhetorical strategy before the Capuan assembly

MILETTI, LORENZO
2015

Abstract

The paper focuses on Livy’s description (23.2-3) of the speech made in a popular assembly in Capua by Pacuvius Calavius in 216 BC. When Hannibal invades Italy and the Roman army seems unable to stop him, the Capuan plebs aims to deliver the city to the Carthaginians, and is ready to rise up and put all the senators to death. The noble Pacuvius Calavius, who is the main authority in the city (the medix tuticus) and has great influence over both the senate and the plebs, takes advantage of the situation to strengthen his power. He asks the senators to trust him: he will tell the plebeians that he is ready to put the senators to death, but he will also tell them that, for each senator to be executed, they will have to elect a new one, better than his predecessor. He knows that the plebeians will never come to an agreement. Thus, Calavius fictitiously arrests the senators and confines them in the curia. Then he speaks to the plebeians, calls one of the senators and proposes to put him to death after the election of a substitute. The plebeians, exactly as Calavius has foreseen, do not reach an agreement about who deserves to become a new member of the senate, and soon leave the assembly, placing the political life of the city in Calavius’ hands. More than a simple persuasive speech, Calavius’ rhetorical performance is represented by Livy as the climax of an elaborate strategy of persuasion and deception, which has something in common with a theatrical play, with a main character (Calavius), a tumultuous audience (the plebeians), and minor partners of the speaker, who play a walk-on role (the senators). Such a strategy is considered indispensable by the orator before an assembly whose intention is clearly hostile: a simple, even excellent, speech would be absolutely insufficient. The speech is analyzed in the context of the Livian work, together with some relevant Greek intertextual references, in particular Clearchus’ speeches in Xenophon, Anabasis 1.3, where a similar (even more complex) strategy is carried out.
2015
Persuasion through deception in Livy. Pacuvius Calavius’ rhetorical strategy before the Capuan assembly / Miletti, Lorenzo. - (2015). (Intervento presentato al convegno 20th Biennial Congress of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric tenutosi a Tübingen nel 28-31 luglio 2015).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11588/634519
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