Gli schemata dianoeas di Carisio: un unicum tra grammatica, retorica e letteratura
Résumé
The forth book of Charisius’ grammar is devoted to the uitia et uirtutes orationis (flaws and virtues of speech). It contains a first chapter on barbarism, solecism, and other linguistic flaws, followed by three chapters on tropes, metaplasms, and figures of speech, respectively. From a general point of view, this is the structure of the “troisième partie” of the Latin ars grammatica, which is attested not only by Charisius but also by Sacerdos, Diomedes, and Donatus. Yet, Charisius’ text adds a fifth chapter on figures of thought, which no other grammatical text incorporates.
This chapter opens with a preliminary section where Charisius seems to allow himself the freedom to include in his compilation some subjects which were not perfectly canonical in the scholastic curriculum but which were nonetheless deemed valuable for the cultural competence of his readers. He also could treat those subjects succinctly, pretending that his limited otium did not give him the leisure to deal extensively with problems that were situated on the periphery of the pedagogical system.
Aside from a few exceptions, the 15 figures of thought are designated by Greek denominations. The choice of these technical terms, which probably met the competencies of the Hellenophone addressees of the book, is perfectly coherent with the vocabulary of the fourth book (from the de uitiis ceteris section onwards) and suggests the existence of a standard repertory. It would be useless to look for similar lists in the rhetorical literature; likewise, it would be difficult to find similar lists of tropes, metaplasms, and figures of speech there. This proves that the grammatical tradition was already autonomous in such a frontier territory.
Another common feature in the rest of the fourth book is the form of the quotations. Unlike what he does in the first and second books, in the fourth, Charisius gives many literary examples without adding the names of their authors. In the majority of these cases, he quotes Vergil, as was obvious at least from the time of Q. Caecilius, Epirota and Remmius Palaemon (parallel passages in Donatus are particularly revealing). At the same time, Charisius gives plenty of original and uncommon literary examples. In chapters 1–4 he does not forget Cicero’s prose, even if it is in opposition to the definition of the figure as “solecism in verse”. He is also very interested in archaic poetry, particularly epics, with seven quotations from Ennius’ Annales, and also tragedy, with five anonymous quotations, which are not attested elsewhere. The de schemate dianoeas chapter confirms this tendency. First, in line with the grammatical tradition, it contains poetical examples, whereas oratorical texts, which were used by rhetoricians as repositories of figures of thought, are not taken into account. Moreover, archaic authors are given a considerable place, even more than in the previous chapters. Since these quotations are not explicitly attributed to the authors or to the works from which they are taken, the verses that are quoted only by Charisius and not found elsewhere in the literature are necessarily considered as poetica or scaenica adespota, but probably stem from archaic poems, especially those by Ennius.
Parallels with the examples given in the rhetorica ad Herennium for alliteration and homeoptoton show that Charisius could consult repertoires that contained ancient, but still surviving in late Latin, materials. Usually, the teaching of the grammaticus did not go over the figures of speech, so one can understand why Charisius’ lists are not updated with authors like Vergil and Horace; nonetheless, lists including figures of thought are used in grammatical commentaries on literary works, as is the case with Donatus and Servius. Whereas only “Gorgian figures” are illustrated by archaic authors in the majority of late grammatical manuals, Charisius gives a unique testimony of the entire system of the ornatus circulating in the scholastic milieu.
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