Temi e forme della lode di Apollo in Menandro Retore

Abstract

Themes and forms of Apollo’s praise in Menander Rhetor · The two treatises on epidictic discourses attributed to Menander Rhetor by the tradition, although close for various traits, are distant for others, that’s why the question of a single authorship remains unsolved. The paper analyzes the various references to Apollo in both treatis- es, re-examining some philological problems. The references to Apollo are remarkable both for quantity and, especially in the second treatise, for quality. The concreteness and the prominence of the divine figure, presented according to the models oπered by the literary tradition, reaches its peak in the last chapter of the second treatise, devoted to a particular type of speech for Apollo Smintheus, the Sminthiakós. The character- istics of this chapter may in some way already be announced by many reflections on poetry and prose developed around Apollo in the first treatise.