Ethopoeic ExerciseἨθοποιία
Epic Work Anonymous Ethopoeic Exercise PDF
The Ethopoeic Exercise is an anonymous rhetorical composition in verse, representing the standard progymnasma known as ethopoeia. This educational genre required students to compose a speech appropriate to a prescribed character and situation, typically drawn from mythology or historical tradition. The work is cataloged as an ethopoeia in the Perseus Digital Library, where it is noted to consist of two passages. Its description as an exercise "by Epic Work" indicates its subject matter is derived from epic poetry, likely involving a heroic figure. The primary aim of such an exercise was the portrayal of character, or ethos, crafting a speech that reveals the speaker's inner disposition and personality while adhering to the rhetorical principle of decorum, whereby style and argument are suitably matched to the speaker and context.
The work survives only through its catalog entry, which provides no information concerning its manuscript tradition or the source of the text; the notation of two passages suggests a fragmentary state. While the specific influence of this anonymous exercise cannot be traced, the genre of ethopoeia itself was a fundamental component of ancient rhetorical education. These exercises trained students in invention and the nuances of appropriate speech, techniques that profoundly shaped the representation of character discourse in subsequent Greek and Roman literature, including oratory, historiography, and the novel.
| unit_1 | []ε̣λ̣λ̣[] []δει[] .[......]η̣σ̣ωδ[.....].ρ̣ν̣ο̣ι[..]ε̣ρ̣[..]ε̣τη̣[.]λ̣[] δύσμ̣ο̣ρ[ο]ς Ἐλπήν̣ωρ τ̣[ὸ]ν ἀφή̣ρπασε δώματα Κίρκης ἴκελ[α] Ἀ̣ν̣[τ]ι̣φάτῃ καὶ ἀνδ̣ρ̣οφάγῳ Πολυφήμῳ. ἀθανά[τ]ο̣υ̣ .εσ[..]ψ̣ατ̣[.....]ρ̣ητην ἀγορεύσω α̣ἰγὸς Ἀμαλ̣θεία̣ς σ̣[έ]λ̣[α]ς̣ [..].[..]εν αἰγίοχος Ζεύς [ο]ὔριος̣ ὁρμ̣α̣[ί]ν̣ουσι̣ν ο̣τει̣ο αρουρ̣[....].π̣ι̣ς̣ οὐ ρ̣α̣.[.].θ..ο̣υθο..[.]υ̣κ̣...[...].[.]ε̣ς̣ [οὐ]δὲν ἐο̣ῦ̣σιν ειμ̣[] ἀ̣νδρῶν []ι̣ []ο̣ι̣μ̣ων []ε̣ μάκελλαν []ε̣ ποθ’ ὕδωρ []η̣ν ἐπὶ βώλῳ []θιος ἀνήρ []β̣[..]ρες []κα.[] |
| unit_2 | []..ρ̣α̣τ̣ι̣[] []μ̣ω̣ι̣[] [.]ι̣κ̣.[.]τ̣...κ̣ι̣ο̣.....[.. ἀ]θ̣λ̣ήματ̣α̣ [Πη]ν̣ελοπείης. μὴ σύ γ’ ἄπιστος ἔῃς ὡς ο̣ὐ̣ νόσ̣τ̣ησ̣εν Ὀδυσσεύς, οὐλὴν εἰσοράᾳς τὴν μηδ’ ἴδε Πηνελόπεια; παύεο νῦν σταθμοῖο Φιλοίτιε, κ̣[α]ί̣ σ̣ε̣ μ̣εθή̣σ̣ω μνηστῆρας τρομέοντα τεαῖς σὺν βουσὶν ἀλᾶσθαι, στήσω σοι τεὸν οἶκον ἐλεύθερον. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀμφ’ ἐμὲ θωρήσσεσθε κατ’ Εὐρυμάχοιο καὶ ἄλλων μνηστήρων· κακότητος ἐ̣π̣ε̣ιρήθη̣τ̣ε̣ κ̣α̣ὶ̣ ὑ̣μεῖς εἴκελα Τηλεμάχῳ καὶ [ἐχέφρονι Πηνελοπείῃ.] βουκόλε κάτθεο̣ [] γείνεο μὲν ποτι[] ⟦..μ̣⟧ ἄ[λλο?] μ̣αψιδί̣ω̣ς εμα[] ἐξ̣ό̣τ̣ε̣ τ̣ῶ̣ν ἀγέλης ἐπ̣[] μνηστήρων κακο̣τ̣[ητ] δεῦρ’ ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ σωθ[] δ̣[.]..σ̣[] |