The insinuatio as resource of axiological subversion in the proem of Lysias III

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the guiding mechanisms behind one of the most evasive and subtle persuasive resources of ancient Rhetoric: the insinuatio. To this end, we take the proemium of Lysias III as an ideal example: in fact, this defence speech can be placed within the turpe genus, that is to say, the lowest degree of defensibility. Lysias has to cause a volte-face in the Jury’s prejudices by means of a thorough captatio beneuolentiae, avoiding any direct allusion to his client’s many weak points. Lysias’ proemium is entirely based on a negative or silent rhetoric, which is typical of insinuatio: these tacit means of persuasion and a subtle pragmatics of implication enable Lysias to influence the subconscious of his audience and change the polarity of their many prejudices. All these goals can be achieved by means of an implicit game of identification with certain fictional entities emanating from the polyphony of the speech. Dissimulatio and insinuatio come together in order to shape a rhetoric of non-utterance, a kind of negative oratory, whose unquestionable modernity could be easily revealed by a careful study.