Il χαρακτηρισμός nella tradizione retorica antica

The ancient rhetorical manuals give two meanings to the term ¯·Ú·ÎÙËÚÈÛÌfi˜: now it is the description of the physical appearance of a character (cf. Tryphon, Diomedes, ecc.), now it is his moral portrait (cfr. Rutilius Lupus). Both of these values develop forms of writing that cause a vivid and visual representation of the subject described. My paper seeks to reconstruct the doctrine associated with this technical term through a study of the complete tradition of rhetoric, both by analyzing the stylistic procedures and mechanisms that realize the figure, and by looking into the origin and development of the theory, without neglecting the influence of the literary models (in particular the comedy). In this way we will be able to recognize two different school trends which correspond to the two values of ¯·Ú·ÎÙËÚÈÛÌfi˜: one trend is properly grammatical, the other is rhetorical. In this articulated doctrine we find new explanation for two figures described by the Rhetorica ad Herennium, the effictio and the notatio, and for some peculiar values of characterismos whom we read in some rhetorical commentaries (Eugrafio and Cassiodorus)