Saturday, June 12, 2021
Abusive Language
Demosthenes 54.19 (Against Conon; tr. A.T. Murray):
Newer› ‹Older
The least of these evils, namely abusive language, has, I think, been provided for to prevent the last and most grievous, that murder may not ensue, and that men be not led on step by step from vilification to blows, from blows to wounds, and from wounds to murder...This is a good example of the rhetorical device known as ladder or climax or gradatio. For other examples see:
τὸ φαυλότατον, οἶμαι, τὸ τῆς λοιδορίας, πρὸ τοῦ τελευταίου καὶ δεινοτάτου προεώραται, τοῦ μὴ φόνον γίγνεσθαι, μηδ᾿ ὑπάγεσθαι κατὰ μικρὸν ἐκ μὲν λοιδορίας εἰς πληγάς, ἐκ δὲ πληγῶν εἰς τραύματα, ἐκ δὲ τραυμάτων εἰς θάνατον...
- The Ladder of Divine Ascent
- The Ladder of Happiness
- Stop Laughing
- A Climax in St. Jerome
- The Long and the Short of It
- A Climax in Epicharmus
- Two Passages from Plutarch
- The Ladder Revisited
- Ladder
- Rhetorical Device
