The Rhetoric of Seeing in Attic Forensic Oratory by Peter A. O'Connell (review)

Study of the performance of classical oratory has seen an upsurge in popularity in recent years. In this successful contribution to the subject, Peter O'Connell investigates the theme of "the rhetoric of seeing" with reference to the Athenian lawcourts: how in the performance of their speeches orators employed appearance, gesture, changes in the tone of voice and emotional appeals to influence both what jurors actually saw in court and what they saw in their mind's eye when listening to the description of events which, in the regular run of things, they had not witnessed themselves. Drawing on modern legal discourse analysis as well as ancient rhetorical theory, O'Connell offers close readings of passages from a broad range of speeches within and outside the classical canon, focusing on the language of seeing (and to some extent hearing). This visual discourse then emerges from the shadows as a key factor in the persuasive potential of the speeches.

A helpful Introduction, which will be of especial benefit to the nonspecialist reader, sets the context of ancient trials and draws comparisons with the modern American courtroom. The study is then divided into three parts. Part One, "Physical Sight," consists of two chapters which are devoted to the roles played by personal appearance and gesture in establishing the credibility of the speaker and discrediting his opponent. O'Connell strikingly makes his point concerning appearance, and also cultural assumptions, by starting with a well-known homicide case from 1920s America, the Sweet Trial, where eleven black men and women were accused of murdering a white man (not that skin color necessarily played any role in the Athenian courts, as O'Connell notes (27), though he perhaps underestimates the effect of the thrice repeated epithet "the Egyptian," said of the opponent's former friend Melas, i.e., "Black," in Isaeus 5). After briefly discussing ancient trials where appearance certainly played a part, which include Lysias 16 (Mantitheos) and 10 (Theomnestos), and Aristotelian theory on the subject, O'Connell offers a first set of more in-depth case studies, which are a strength of the book. Here, he discusses Lysias 20 (For Polystratos, who does not look like an oligarch); Lysias 31 (Against Philon, whose physical strength is used against him); Demosthenes 21 (Against Meidias, whose violent character is contrasted with that of the silent Straton); and Demosthenes 37 (Against Pantainetos, whose slave can hardly have had money taken from him by the speaker's weak slave Antigenes). O'Connell moves on in Chapter Two to appropriate and inappropriate gestures, the ethical interpretation of gesture in Plato and Aristotle, and arguments based on physiognomy, where the key texts are Aeschines' attacks on Ktesiphon (Aesch. 3) and Timarkhos (Aesch. 1). In this society restrained gestures tended to be the most effective, bearing in mind that "gestures have connotations and meanings that may lead the audience to the opposite of the intended conclusion" (79). But in some ways, this may be considered one of the weaker parts of O'Connell's study, given that there is so little evidence for gesture in the Greek speeches, as compared with the Roman context (especially Quintilian 11.3), which does not necessarily reflect Athenian practice.

Part Two, "The Language of Demonstration and Visibility," commences with a chapter on "Showing and Seeing," which emphasises the importance of eyewitness testimony in Athenian law (which has not been fully appreciated by all scholars). The vocabulary associated with witnesses is in particular that of demonstration (deiknumi and compounds) and visibility (phaino, phainomai, phaneros), and reflects the Greek idea that seeing is more trustworthy than hearing. Texts discussed here include Antiphon 6, Lysias 1 and 9, Demosthenes 27 and 47, and Gorgias' Palamedes, and O'Connell does well to extend the discussion to medicine and philosophy. Again, this is a positive feature of the book, though it perhaps results...