The semantic field of the vision, intented in a complete sense as the
Latin word spectaculum, plays a central role in the panegyric dedicated
to Gordius. Τό θαῦμα τοῦ μαρτύρος, the wonder of the martyr, or
preferably, τὸ θαυμαστὸν θέαμα, the amazing sight, which we contemplate
(θαυμάζομεν), is constructed on a brilliant ἔκφρασις. Αs the Sophistics
tradition had transmitted, it was "a descriptive account which brings
what is illustrated vividly before one’s sight, such that one can almost
see what is narrated (Theon, Progymnasmata, 118)".
Basil applies this rethorical rule to provide his faithfuls, during the homily, a vivid image of the competition the athlete (i.e. the martyr) must have faced previously, that means, a recontextualization of the past, as J. Leemans as remarked: “the homily in praise of the martyr [...] was the medium par excellence through which this recontextualization took place”.
The στάδιον turns itself into a θέαθρον, and the competition (ἀγῶν) into a spectacle (θεά). This rhetoric manifold instrument allows therefore the preacher to display the image of the scene as if it was really happening live.
Basil applies this rethorical rule to provide his faithfuls, during the homily, a vivid image of the competition the athlete (i.e. the martyr) must have faced previously, that means, a recontextualization of the past, as J. Leemans as remarked: “the homily in praise of the martyr [...] was the medium par excellence through which this recontextualization took place”.
The στάδιον turns itself into a θέαθρον, and the competition (ἀγῶν) into a spectacle (θεά). This rhetoric manifold instrument allows therefore the preacher to display the image of the scene as if it was really happening live.
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