First Year Seminar: Persuasion and Law in Antiquity

Fall 2014

University of Richmond
Walt Stevenson
NC 214
Office Hours: TR 3-4 and by appointment

Course Syllabus

Description of Course

The sudden institution of democratic courts in Athens 2500 years ago spawned a new direction in speech. Since by law each citizen spoke for himself before juries of hundreds of his peers under time restraints, successful speakers needed to learn how to arrange broadly attractive arguments and narrate their case economically while consistently maintaining maximum clarity. By the Roman period changes in courts and law called for new strategies, but the Athenian model speeches, written down and savored for centuries, continued to be studied. This course will focus on several specific speeches from each of these historical developments in an attempt to become familiar with the origins of legal speech and its application to education. But more important than historical discovery will be the opportunity for students to enter into this tradition of clear, persuasive language as they focus on improving their own writing and speaking.

Requirements

Each student will be expected to read all assigned texts carefully and participate frequently and effectively in class discussion. Students will compose six papers of increasing challenge and length while also working on a short, eight minute oral presentation to be given near the end of the semester. Finally, students will demonstrate their mastery of the course material and methods by passing a midterm and final exam.

Grading

Class Participation: 10 percent

Papers: 40 percent (each page worth roughly 2 percent of final grade: 20 pages total)

Midterm: 15 percent

Oral Presentation: 20 percent

Final: 15 percent

Assignments and Daily Schedule

August 26: Introductions

Part 1: Birth of (ancient) eloquence in Athenian courts

Aug 28: read Lysias 1 and recreate prosecution

September 2: previous history of law (read Early Courts handout and Gortyn Law Code) -- discuss how humans come to law; define law and courts (writing assignment 1: compose 1 page paper/250 words as prologue for prosecution using Lysias' proem as your model)

Sept. 4: read article on legal background and reconstruct basics of legal system and courts from details in Lysias 1 (electronic reserve "S.D. Todd")

Sept 9: read/discuss Wasps (on electronic reserve)

Sept 11:choose a detail from the narrative and explain its position in the speech while employing the understanding of Athenian law and courts gained in the previous week's reading (2 page paper due)

Sept 16: prepare a chronology of the main narrative in Lysias 1 and ponder why Lysias ordered the events as he did

Sept 18: read and critique Porter's "Adultery by the Book" and Gagarin's "Telling Stories in Athenian Law" (on electronic reserve)

Sept 23: Read Lysias Speech 3

Sept 25: Read Cohen's "Crime, Punishment, and the Rule of Law in Classical Athens" (on electronic reserve)and compose a 2 page paper of criticism.

Sept 30: Library Orientation: meet at B2 computer in room in Boatwright Library

October 2: Read Lysias 24

Oct 7: 3 page paper due: how do law and persuasion interact in the speeches of Lysias and/or Athens itself?

Oct 9: MIDTERM EXAM

Part 2: Eloquence in Roman courts:Cicero's Example

Oct 16: read the Pro Archia and recreate the prosecution

Oct 21: Roman myth and justice: early Roman law/courts (read The Twelve Tables)

Oct 23: recreate courts from evidence in Cicero's speech (these resources may help: an overview of Roman juries and an exhaustive catalog of all trials in the Late Republican period)

Oct 28: Roman Constitution: read Polybius Book 6 on the Roman Constitution

Oct 30: choose detail and explain why Cicero placed it there in his speech (3 pager due)

November 4: read and critique W.M. Porter's article "Cicero's Pro Archia and the Responsibilities of Reading" (on electronic reserve)

Nov 6: read selection on legal education in the De Oratore then compose a 2 page paper on what it tells us about strategies for persuasion in Roman courts

Nov 11: Read Cicero's Pro Caelio

Nov 13: Research Paper Due (7 pages)

Nov 18: Read Cicero's Pro Milone

Nov 20: Oral Presentations

Nov 25: Oral Presentations

December 2: Lecture: the Afterlife of Greco-Roman Oratory and Law

Dec 4: Concluding discussion

Dec 12: FINAL EXAM (9 AM)

Texts

S.C. Todd (translator), Lysias, U. of Texas Press, 2000.

D.H. Berry (translator), Cicero: Defense Speeches, Oxford U. Press, 2000.

Course Policies

Portable Devices: all electronics must be powered down and put away during class periods (phones, laptops, ipods, ipads, etc.). We are trying to reconstruct the calm clarity of ancient life.
Attendance: Since class participation is a significant graded percentage of this course, each class a student misses will detract from this grade. Several absences will not do permanent damage, but more than 5 (out of 28 meetings -- i.e. almost 20%) will be serious.
Honor Policy: Like any academic work at UR all work done for this course falls under the honor code. If you have any doubt what constitutes "unauthorized assistance," please come and talk to the instructor before trying it.
Late Work: the instructor does not allow make up tests or late work.

Last edited: November 3, 2014