La declamazione e il teatro specchio della vita. Riflessioni sulla Minor 330 dello Pseudo-Quintiliano

Theatre has long been a subject of interest for rhetoricians, as evidenced by Quintilian’s recommendation that future orators should read comedies. In particular, Quintilian emphasised the importance of the works of Menander, who is regarded as a master in the depiction of real life on stage. This study aims to demonstrate how Quintilian’s theorising on the importance of verisimilitude in comedy is reflected in one of the declamations of his school, distinguished by its references, even lexical, to the theatre. In Declamatio minor 330, for instance, the use of comic models plays a fundamental role. The controversy presents a case of adultery: a husband repudiates his wife, leaving her in a state of destitution. The son solicits financial assistance from him, pretending to want to court a harlot, yet using the money to assist his mother in need, and then suffering an abdicatio by his father who has discovered the deception. A close analysis of Minor 330 reveals that the declaimer has assimilated Quintilian’s teachings, structuring the discourse in a way that aligns with Menander’s reflexivity and verisimilitude. However, the contrast between educational models (pater indulgens and pater durus) evokes parallels with Terence’s Heautontimorumenos and Adelphoe. Consequently, Quintilian’s predilection for Menander is replaced by a preference for the palliata, which is given effect according to the constituent elements of the comedy of manners. From the perspective of the master of the Minores, the comedy that is useful to the rhetorician must correspond to the definition of vitae imago, which in Rome is embodied in Terence.