Le Declamazioni Maggiori e la prassi declamatoria greca

Since Greek declamation from Hellenistic and early imperial times is almost completely lost, it is difficult to be sure whether some key features of Latin declamation – and especially of [Quintilian]’s Major Declamations – are in continuity with Greek declamatory practice, or represent an original innovation. When compared to the surviving examples of Greek declamations from late antiquity, the Latin ones show some differences of inspiration and style: but this might be largely due to the different criteria of selection underlying the transmission of these speeches in the East and the West. This contribution aims at drawing a tentative balance of this entangled matter by highlighting in Greek declamatory texts a number of features usually considered typical of their Latin counterparts, in primis the Maiores. The evidence examined ranges from the few Greek fragments preserved in Seneca the Elder to the late antique examples of the genre.