Praise (eulogia), beauty and “continuous speech” in Isocrates’ Encomium of Helen
Noël, Marie-Pierre
Praise (eulogia), beauty and “continuous speech” in Isocrates’ Encomium of Helen - 2023.
55
Whereas the Greek words for “eulogy” are either enkômion or epainos, the article chooses to focus on the noun “eulogia” instead. The verb from which it derives, eulogein, literally means “to speak well (eu + legein, logos)”, with its first specialized meaning being “to speak well of”, hence “to praise, to celebrate, to speak highly of”. By going back to this verb, our aim is not so much to study the epidictic genre as to get to the root of a problem that is essential to rhetoric: what is “to say well” or “to speak well”? In terms of source, Isocrates’ work is foundational. For him, “eulogia” is closely linked to “koinos logos” or “common discourse”. It is that link, unobserved though major, which we propose to shed light on.
Praise (eulogia), beauty and “continuous speech” in Isocrates’ Encomium of Helen - 2023.
55
Whereas the Greek words for “eulogy” are either enkômion or epainos, the article chooses to focus on the noun “eulogia” instead. The verb from which it derives, eulogein, literally means “to speak well (eu + legein, logos)”, with its first specialized meaning being “to speak well of”, hence “to praise, to celebrate, to speak highly of”. By going back to this verb, our aim is not so much to study the epidictic genre as to get to the root of a problem that is essential to rhetoric: what is “to say well” or “to speak well”? In terms of source, Isocrates’ work is foundational. For him, “eulogia” is closely linked to “koinos logos” or “common discourse”. It is that link, unobserved though major, which we propose to shed light on.
Réseaux sociaux