Rhetorical Defence, Inter-Poetic *Agon* and the Reframing of Comic Invective in Plato?s *Apology of Socrates*

BUIS, EMILIANO JERÓNIMO

Comic Invective in Ancient Greek and Roman Oratory

De Gruyter

Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2021; p. 81 - 105

In his chapter I identify some common features shared by Aristophanic comedy and Plato?s Apology of Socrates. Those similarities include specific rhetorical arguments employed by the main characters in order to criticise their enemies in front of a civic audience willing to enjoy the pleasures of vituperation and verbal violence. Paying close attention to the staging of comic invective in each genre reveals some of the elaborate methods employed by Plato to confront comedy and its influence by means of the consolidation of an efficient *inter-poetic agon*. The chapter shows that a close examination of the *Apology* based on the importance of the rhetorical construction of Socrates? defence can greatly profit from a comparison with Aristophanes? *Acharnians*. In that regard, while Clouds is often quoted in order to trace the root of the offences included in the judicial indictment against Socrates, a comparative approach to the defence strategies employed in *Acharnians* can reveal new links and contribute to a better understanding of Plato?s verbal hostility towards Socrates? adversaries.