Shame, laugther and decorum: Cicero and the art of insult
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/isegoria.2015.053.01Keywords:
Cicero, laughter, humor, decorum, verecundia, aggressivenessAbstract
One can speak about laughter in many ways; one can take, for example, a physiological approach, or a psychological one, or even a third sociological one, which the ancients did not completely disregard. Cicero, however, preferred to focus on the rhetorical possibilities of laughter and humor. The relevance of jest and jokes in order to get an audience’s favor or to ridicule an adversary is undeniable; but, despite their effectiveness and given their effectiveness, that jest and jokes can also exceed the limits of what is acceptable or advisable is also undeniable. An issue that is all the more serious since the orator can and should make joke of matters which, taken in themselves, are not funny. Cicero's rhetoric on laughter raises the issue of, and flows into, the ethics and the tactics that are attentive to the study and possible codification of the guiding principles in using such a powerful resource as humor. It is a resource that should be used in an advisable, appropriate, and dignified manner (for all these manners can be translated the Greek prepon and the latin decorum), which presupposes that it is not always so used, and, with respect to this at the following pages, presupposes that there is laughter that inappropriate, that is almost shameful, and that can result in difficulties for whoever causes the laughter and uses that humor, since it is always dangerous to laugh at the powerful. Undoubtedly, Cicero was an individual who very much insulted others, with wit, humor, and sometimes with extraordinary aggressiveness.
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