The Tabula Claudiana or Tabula Lugdunensis, unearthed at Lyon in 1528, preserves part of a speech delivered to the senate in AD 48 by Claudius. The emperor pleads to admit the elites of Gallia... Show moreThe Tabula Claudiana or Tabula Lugdunensis, unearthed at Lyon in 1528, preserves part of a speech delivered to the senate in AD 48 by Claudius. The emperor pleads to admit the elites of Gallia Comata to the Roman senate. This article presents a rhetorical analysis of the speech. Modern readers have labeled the style of the speech ‘bombastic’ and ‘pedantic’, while criticizing its many historical examples. An examination of the speech in terms of inventio, dispositio and elocutio, however, demonstrates that Claudius carefully constructs the ethos of a knowledgeable and open-minded authority. It is argued that two moments of rhetorical persuasion could be distinguished: the senate meeting in Rome and the publication of the bronze inscription at the sanctuary of the Three Gauls at Lugdunum. Not much deliberative rhetoric was perhaps needed to persuade the senators to agree with their emperor; the display of the inscription, on the other hand, could be interpreted as a form of epideictic rhetoric, which may have given a significant boost to the confidence of Roman citizens in Gaul. While some senators in Rome may have disliked the lengthy historical exempla as part of the oral speech, visitors of the sanctuary in Lugdunum may have appreciated seeing Gaul included in the long history of Rome. Show less
This article takes a discourse pragmatic approach to the Latin text of the Tabula Lugdunensis. The speech by the emperor Claudius from 48 CE is known for its syntactical complexities. By explaining... Show moreThis article takes a discourse pragmatic approach to the Latin text of the Tabula Lugdunensis. The speech by the emperor Claudius from 48 CE is known for its syntactical complexities. By explaining Claudius’s Latin, I aim to illustrate that a discourse pragmatic approach is more fruitful than a strictly syntactical analysis. First, I discuss the outline of the speech, addressing the way in which both the organisation at the text level and Claudius’s actio may have helped his live public in processing the speech. Then, I use the concept of discourse act to approach Claudius’s actio and segmentation of his speech at the sentence level. I make a distinction between central, orientational, supporting and digressive discourse acts to analyse the nature of the sequences in Claudius’ brief biographies of Numa, Tarquinius Priscus and Servius Tullius. Show less
Dans le contexte multilingue des Provinces-Unies, le français devient progressivement seconde langue des élites néerlandaises. Au cours du 18e siècle, la critique des valeurs culturelles françaises... Show moreDans le contexte multilingue des Provinces-Unies, le français devient progressivement seconde langue des élites néerlandaises. Au cours du 18e siècle, la critique des valeurs culturelles françaises va de pair avec l’intérêt croissant pour l’allemand et l’anglais, et la revalorisation du néerlandais. Nous étudions l’influence de ce multilinguisme sur la construction identitaire de Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp (1762-1834) : identité sociale et culturelle façonnée par sa mère Carolina van Haren, puis par un mentor qui consolide ses connaissances des langues classiques et l’initie à l’allemand et à l’anglais. Alors que se diffuse l’idée qu’une nation est une communauté liée à une langue, on constate chez Van Hogendorp, une prise de conscience de son identité nationale liée à une maîtrise de plus en plus affinée du néerlandais. Show less
