La construction de l’ « autre » et la contestation du « soi »: L’invective et l’elenchos dans l’art oratoire athénien

Athenian forensic orators of the fourth century draw upon “negative representations of the other”, especially in the form of invective narrative and name-calling. While both the “absolute other” (e.g. non-Athenian birth) and the “bad citizen” (e.g. the bribe-taker, sycophant or ‘counterfeit orator) are crucial categories for the winning of the case at hand, their deployment in invective is not just a reflection or reinforcement of a pre-existing Athenian democratic mentalité. Rather, the lawcourts were a major conduit for the refreshment and refinement of values, categories and distinctions. I suggest that this ongoing process of refreshment and refinement allowed for certain categories of the “negative other” and their associated behaviours to be re-negotiated and re-evaluated. My example is the status and character of the trained actor who is also an ambassador or rhētōr (Aeschines On the Embassy). With reference to the representation of loidoria in Demosthenes’ On the Crown and Against Androtion, I also suggest that the medium of oratorical invective itself was subject to evaluative refinement, re-negotiation and scrutiny in the light of its associations with categories of “the other” and its uncertain position in relation to legitimate standards of forensic proof.