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.[17] Occasions such as the Kalends of January, dedications of public buildings, imperial accessions, visits, birthdays, and anniversaries were all regularly marked by orations of praise from local rhetors.Panegyrics were required so often that rhetoric professors taught students formulae for writing praise for different events.The frequency of these civic panegyrics is clear from the handbooks for orators.[18]Panegyrics, like declamations, were also given in contests.D.A.Russell points out that although no specific competition piece survives, hundreds of them must have been written and much of rhetoric teaching was aimed at winning these contests.[19] Teachers of rhetoric were conscious of the general public and did not teach their students to write only to please other rhetoric experts.For example, Menander Rhetor advised students to be very clear about the structure of their speeches so as not to lose their listeners’ attention.Aside from civic displays, rhetors also found audiences in family ceremonies such as weddings, birthdays, farewells, and funerals.[20]Because of the classical references and elevated prose of rhetoricians such as Libanius, the high regard for rhetorical speeches is often attributed solely to the tastes of highly educated listeners or readers.[21] But references by Libanius and his peers about their own audiences indicate that stylized rhetoric appealed to a wider range of people.Although he often displayed a customary disdain for the lower classes, Libanius’ interests were not confined to literary conversations in the parlors of the city’s elites.He took up the causes of the city’s bakers and the peasants of the countryside and proudly referred to the laborers having a high opinion of him when he walked by their workshops.[22] His role as public advocate does not in itself mean that his rhetoric was popular among bakers and peasants, but this aspect of his career indicates that the rhetor was concerned with the world beyond sophists and upper-class students.Although it is risky to take a rhetorician’s words at face value, especially when he is describing his own popularity, his work as a public advocate lends credence to his claim that when he spoke in public, many people came to listen and, like Chrysostom, he faced the task of quieting too much applause.[23] In other words, it is significant that he wished to be seen as popular.Rhetors’ presentations were, of course, affected by what people wanted to hear.Without admitting to doing this themselves, speakers criticized their rivals for playing to their audiences.Plutarch had warned young men against speaking to large audiences because “to please the multitude is to displease the wise.”[24] Later, Themistius observed about such speakers: “Since they are so courteous and agreeable to their audiences, their audiences salute them in turn and consequently the earth and sea are teeming with these men.”[25] Claims that rivals won popularity by diluting the content of their speeches or by flattering their audiences can be interpreted as further evidence that speakers wanted to be popular, and that they were envied when they succeeded in gaining popularity.Public speaking in julian’s misopogonEvidence of several specific occasions of public speaking in Antioch can be found in Emperor Julian’s (361–3) Misopogon (“Beard-Hater”) and the writings that it inspired.The scandal began after some Antiochenes composed parodies of the philosopher-emperor, making fun of his restrained habits and unkempt appearance, which they recited in the marketplaces.Julian, in his response, seemed particularly unsettled by the Antiochenes’ suggestion that he should twist rope from the strands of his long beard.The satires also compared him unfavorably with the previous emperor Constantius Ⅱ (337–61), mocked him for fighting against Christ, and ridiculed his choice of Helios the sun-god as the image for his coins.[26] Libanius, in an oration criticizing the Antiochenes for their disrespectful behavior, reveals that the parodies were part of holiday festivities of the Kalends of January.[27] The rhetor acknowledged that the expectation of satires during the holiday provided a possible excuse for the writers and audience of the offensive material.But their insults, he explained, were too bitter for good-natured holiday jokes.Libanius defined the proper limits to this fun according to how his own slaves insulted him during the festival, and how he expected them to do so only in good humor.[28]These satires gave voice to the agitation in the city caused by the emperor’s policies.Julian had attempted to resolve a dispute over high grain prices by mandating a lower price, which in the end drove the grain dealers out of the city and led to a scarcity of food.This crisis, coupled with the festival allowing satires, led to the expression of widespread discontent with the emperor.Julian himself described how the populace was unhappy with his abstemious ways, particularly his neglect of the theater, and acknowledged that the general population disliked him.[29] Not surprisingly, the Christians held an even greater grudge against him for his policies attacking their religion.[30]The poems, or songs, were performed in anapaestic verse among the crowds in the marketplace.Julian reminded the Antiochenes: “You abused me in the marketplace, in front of the general population, with the help of enough citizens who were witty enough to compose such things.”[31] Julian was not specific about what sort of person composed the offensive poems [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]