The Progymnasmata in Imperial Greek Education

Robert J. Penella

Classical World, Volume 105, Number 1, Fall 2011, pp. 77-90 (Article)

Published by Classical Association of the Atlantic States

DOI: 10.1353/clw.2011.0097

For additional information about this article

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/clw/summary/v105/105.1.penella.html

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The Progymnasmata in Imperial Greek Education

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ABSTRACT: The progymnasmata were graded prose compositional exercises, often begun under the grammarian and continued under the sophist
or rhetor. They were preliminary to exercises in declamation. This paper
examines their content and role in education in the Roman Empire. Considerable attention is paid to their discussion in theoretical treatises, almost
entirely in Greek. Appreciation of these modes of discourse is important
to the student of antiquity, not only because of their role in education, but
also because they continued to surface in the writings of adults into whose
heads they had been ingrained during their school days.

In the Hellenistic period, a literary-rhetorical curriculum was

developed by the Greeks. It was adopted, mutatis mutandis, by the
Latin West, remained standard in the whole Roman world to the
end of late antiquity, and had a Nachleben beyond that time. Going
through the entire course of this curriculum is what made a person
fully pepaideumenos, a fully educated man. All other ancient studies may be viewed as variously technical, specialized, enriching,
or capping experiences. The literary-rhetorical curriculum varied in
content, length of study, and methods of delivery; the methods of
delivery were affected by local resources. That having been said,
it is still valid to think of this ancient curriculum as divided into
three stages, even if those three stages were not all experienced by
every student and did not always align with three distinct sequential
teachers. The first or elementary stage had as its goal the acquisition of basic reading and writing skills along with some arithmetic.
The second or intermediate stage, typically and traditionally thought
of as the province of the grammatikos or grammarian, focused on
the close reading and explication of classical poetic texts, especially
Homer, Hesiod, Euripides, and Menander. Here the literary part
of the literary-rhetorical curriculum dominated. The completion of
this stage made one a cultured individual, but full closure was not
reached until completion of the third or advanced stage, typically
and traditionally thought of as the province of the sophist, who in
the Latin West was commonly called the rhetor. This third stage
was predominantly rhetorical. Reading continued, here mostly in
the classical orators and historians. But prose composition was the
central task and ideally the compositions were to be orally delivered.1
The most advanced compositional exercise that students engaged
in at the third educational stage was declamation. Declamations, called
1
For this educational system, in both its Greek and Latin forms, see the classic
exposition by H. I. Marrou, A History of Education in Antiquity, tr. G. Lamb (Madison, Wisc., 1982) 150205, 26591, and the excellent more recent discussion, updated
and enriched with Egyptian material, by R. Cribiore, Gymnastics of the Mind: Greek
Education in Hellenistic and Roman Egypt (Princeton and Oxford, 2001) 160 244.
For a fin de sicle assessment of Marrous classic, see Y. Lee Too in Y. Lee Too,
ed., Education in Greek and Roman Antiquity (Leiden 2001) 121; compare L. Pernot,
Aspects mconnus de lenseignement de la rhtorique dans le monde grco-romain
lpoque imperiale, in H. Hugonnard-Roche, ed., Lenseignement suprieur dans
les mondes antiques et mdivaux (Paris 2008) 28384.

77

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R obert J. P enella

meletai, that is, exercises, in Greek, were full deliberative or forensic orations on imaginary themes, in which the speaker impersonated
a specific character. They could be generic and anonymous, set in
that vague but usually clearly classical place that D. A. Russell calls
Sophistopolisfor example, A tyrant abdicates on condition of immunity for himself; he is slain by one whom he has caused to be made
a eunuch, and the latter is on his defense for the murderor they
could have a specific historical themefor example, Artabazus tries
to dissuade Xerxes from making a second expedition against Greece.
In the declamation, the student attempted to bring together into a symphonic whole all the skills he had acquired over the years and was still
perfecting: use of correct high-register Attic Greek, a range of stylistic
and rhetorical embellishments, proper organization of the oration, argumentative inventiveness, memorization, and effective oral delivery. 2
Before students began to compose declamations, they worked on
a series of less demanding compositional exercises called progymnasmata. 3 Gymnasmata, like meletai, means exercises, although in
the former term the metaphor is explicitly athletic; indeed, athletic
metaphors continued to be applied to the seasoned orator, who, when
ascending the speakers platform, was said to be stripping for the
contest.4 The prefix pro- in progymnasmata indicates that they are
preliminary to declamation. There is nothing new about any of the
progymnasmatic modes of discourse. The ancient rhetorical theorists
cite examples of them from as far back as Homer and in the authors
of the classical period, even though they may not be elaborated in
those texts precisely in the manner in which a later schoolteacher
would have expected. 5 What is new is that, in the Hellenistic period
and the early Empire, these modes of discourse were singled out to
become part of an educational curriculum that would have a very
long duration.
The great fourth-century sophist Libanius of Antioch has left us
not only model declamations, but also models of all the progymnasmatic modes of discourse. That might suggest that the teaching of
the progymnasmata belonged exclusively to the sophist. In fact, the
easier progymnasmata were sometimes taught by the grammarian.
2
On Greek declamation, D. A. Russell, Greek Declamation (Cambridge 1983),
is fundamental. For Sophistopolis, see his p. 22. The two sample themes are taken
from Philostr. VS 569 (Loeb trans.), 575.
3
They were also called simply gymnasmata (e.g., Theon, Prog. 1 [59], 2 [70]
Patillon; ps.-Hermog. Prog. 10.7, ed. M. Patillon in Corpus rhetoricum: Anonyme,
Prambule la rhtorique; Aphthonios, Progymnasmata; pseudo-Hermogne, Progymnasmata [Paris 2008]). Compare the variants protheria/theria, the term for the
explanatory comment sometimes attached to an oration, the former version of the
term underscoring the fact that the comment was prefixed to the oration (see R. J.
Penella, ed., Rhetorical Exercises from Late Antiquity: A Translation of Choricius
of Gazas Preliminary Talks and Declamations [Cambridge 2009] 15, always with
attention to the apparatus criticus of the texts cited).
4
See, e.g., Philostr. VS 601 (); Himer. Or. 38.3 Colonna.
5
See esp., Theon, Prog. 2 [6669] Patillon; note also, e.g., ps.-Hermog., Prog.
1.2, 2.2, 9.1, 10.2; Aphthon. Prog. 1.1, 11.1, 12.12 (ed. Patillon in Corpus rhetoricum [above, n.3]).

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The more difficult ones were commonly agreed to be the exclusive

province of the sophist.6 But Quintilian complains of Latin rhetors,
the equivalent of Greek sophists, who wrongly forced the teaching
of the more difficult progymnasmata onto the grammarians.7 Those
rhetors were like modern English professors who do not want to teach
freshman composition. Quintilian praises the Greeks for maintaining the proper boundaries between the grammarians and the rhetor/
sophists curricula (Inst. 1.9.6). The progymnasmata, then, were a
bridge between the second and third levels of education as well
as an entre, at level three, to declamation. The rhetorical theorist
Theon chastises those students who proceed to [declamation] without having been practiced in the proper wayas the proverb says,
learning pottery-making by starting with a big jar. 8 The proper
thing to do was to start with the small jar of the progymnasmata.
The theorist Nicolaus of Myra remarks that young men found rhetoric
to be beneficial, but difficult; for it did not seem to be easy, he
writes, for those taking it up to see, straight off from the beginning,
all that was contained in it. As a result, the use of progymnasmata
came about; for in them we do not practice ourselves in the whole of
rhetoric, but in each part individually (Progymn. p. 2 Felten). John
of Sardis, in his commentary on Aphthonius Progymnasmata, refers
to the exercises as footprints, shadows, and images of rhetoric, and
as miniature rhetoric, (pp. 23 Rabe).
The best and easiest place to go for a collection of elaborated
progymnasmata is to Libanius. We are fortunate now to have an
English translation of Libanius progymnasmata by Craig Gibson.9
Other examples of elaborated progymnasmata survive from late
antiquity and Byzantium, eventually on Christian as well as traditional classical themes.10 A number of theoretical discussions of
the progymnasmata also survive from the Roman imperial and the
Byzantine periods. The earliest datable comments of any length on
6
See Marrou (above, n.1) 17273, 201; R. Webb, The Progymnasmata as
Practice, in Too, Education (above, n.1) 296 98.
7
Inst. 1.9.6; T. Viljamaa, From Grammar to Rhetoric: First Exercises in Composition according to Quintilian, Inst. 1, 9, Arctos 22 (1988) 18384. For grammarians
teaching progymnasmata, see also Suet. Gram. 4.46, with the comments of R. A.
Kaster, ed., C. Suetonius Tranquillus, De Grammaticis et Rhetoribus (Oxford 1995).
8
Progymn. 1 [59] in the translation by G. A. Kennedy in Progymnasmata:
Greek Textbooks of Prose Composition and Rhetoric, Society of Biblical Literature,
Writings from the Greco-Roman World 10 (Atlanta 2003). All translations of Theons,
ps.-Hermogenes, Aphthonius, and Nicolaus Progymnasmata and of John of Sardis commentary on Aphthonius are from this volume, unless otherwise indicated.
I introduce alterations in Kennedys translations when I deem them necessary. All
references hereafter to Theon, ps.-Hermogenes, Aphthonius, and Nicolaus are to their
Progymnasmata. For the Greek editions I use, see n.3 above and nn.11 and 14 below.
All other translations are my own.
9
C. A. Gibson, tr., Libanius Progymnasmata: Model Exercises in Greek Prose
Composition and Rhetoric, Society of Biblical Literature, Writings from the GrecoRoman World 27 (Atlanta 2008).
10
H. Hunger, Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner, Erster
Band, Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft XII.5.1 (Munich 1978) 92120.

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these exercises are in Quintilians Institutio Oratoria 1.9, 2.4, 10.5.

Quintilians comments, though, are quite short compared to what we
have in five theoretical treatises in Greek. One is by Theonmainly
in Greek, although a portion of it has survived only in Armenian.
It has been common to put him in the first century, but Malcolm
Health has recently made an attractive argument that he should be
put in the fifth century.11 A theoretical treatise ascribed either to the
second-century rhetorician Hermogenes or to Libanius and referred
to by modern scholars as the work of ps.-Hermogenes is perhaps
from the third century.12 Another surviving treatise is by Aphthonius,
who is likely to have been a pupil of Libanius, hence f lourishing
in the late fourth century.13 Nicolaus of Myras treatise is from the
fifth century, and that of John of Sardisactually a commentary
on Aphthonius treatiseis of a later Byzantine date, perhaps the
ninth century.14 We know of other rhetoricians who published either
examples of elaborated progymnasmata or theoretical treatises on
them, but they have not survived.15 The surviving treatises by Theon,
ps-Hermogenes, Aphthonius, Nicolaus, and (in part) John of Sardis
have conveniently been translated into English by George Kennedy.16
In Libanius and in the inf luential treatise by his probable pupil
Aphthonius, there are fourteen progymnasmatic exercises, presented by
both in the same order.17 The first four are mythos or fable ( fabula),
digma or narration (narratio), chreia or anecdote (usus), and gnm
or maxim (sententia). In each of these four cases, the compositional
exercise consists of a telling and a discussion of the item in question.
A fable is a fictitious story, but with a moral truth; the examples of
11
I use the edition by M. Patillon (with G. Bolognesi), Aelius Thon, Progymnasmata (Paris 1997). See M. Heath, Theon and the History of the Progymnasmata,
GRBS 43 (20022003) 14158.
12
I use the edition by Patillon, Corpus rhetoricum (above, n.3) 16570. Heath
(above, n.11) ventures to identify ps.-Hermogenes with the second-century (not the
third-century) Minucianus 13132, 15860.
13
I use the edition by Patillon, Corpus rhetoricum (above, n.3), in which one
may find a discussion of Aphthonius relationship to Libanius (4952).
14
J. Felten, ed., Nicolai Progymnasmata (Leipzig 1913); H. Rabe, ed., Ioannes
Sardianus, Commentarium in Aphthonium (Leipzig 1928). For a recent argument from
the text of Nicolaus Progymnasmata that he was a Christian, see C. A. Gibson, Was
Nicolaus the Sophist a Christian? Vigiliae Christianae 64 (2010) 496500. Rabe (Ioannes Sardianus, Commentarium in Aphthonium xvixvii) and Hunger (above, n.10)
77, 82 put John in the ninth century. But see The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
(New York and Oxford, 1991) s.v. John of Sardis. This article, by A. Kazhdan,
wrongly reports Rabe as placing John in the second half of the tenth century.
15
See Heath (above, n.11) 129 41. We commonly cannot know whether the
ascription of to a rhetorician implies a theoretical treatise or model
elaborated exercises. Aphthonius work, in fact, contains both theory and model
elaborated exercises.
16
See above, n.8.
17
The exercises are conveniently discussed in G. A. Kennedy, Greek Rhetoric
under Christian Emperors (Princeton 1983) 5473; B. Schouler, La tradition hellnique chez Libanios, 2 vols. (Paris 1984) 51138; Gibson (above, n.9). The Latin
names of the progymnasmata are from Priscian, Praeexercitamina, in H. Keil, ed.,
Grammatici Latini III (Leipzig 1859) 430 40.

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this exercise in Libanius are all animal fables. A narration tells of

something that has happened or that could have happened. The chreia
or anecdote is an instructive saying, a simple action that is instructive in some way, or a combination of action and saying. A popular
example of a plain instructive saying is, Plato said that the twigs of
virtue grow by sweat and toil. An example of a chreia consisting of
an instructive action is, When Pythagoras was asked how long is the
life of men, he hid himself after appearing briefly, making his appearance a measure of life.18 The maxim is a wise saying that is normally
reported abstractly, with no circumstantial details attached to it.
Next come anaskeu and kataskeu, refutation and confirmation
(refutatio and confirmatio). Refutation is a rebuttal of something
open to argument; confirmation, a corroboration. The subjects set are
commonly mythological assertions. Refutation and confirmation are
followed by koinos topos, common topic (locus communis); this is an
attack on an acknowledged criminal or support of an acknowledged
benefactor, the former option being exclusive or at least favored in
some circles.19 The individuals attacked or supported are always
anonymous and generic (for example, the murderer, or the tyrannicide).
Next come enkmion and psogos, encomium and invective (laus and
vituperatio). These are praise or vilification of people, other living
things, objects, places, occasions, activities, or abstract concepts. From
encomium and invective, one proceeds to synkrisis or comparison
(comparatio)of anything with anything. Then comes thopoiia, the
exercise in speech-in-character (allocutio). This is a speech put into the
mouth of someone or something in a specific situation; it attempts to
represent character convincingly. Some theorists differentiated speech
put into the mouth of a living person (thopoiia proper), speech put
into the mouth of a dead person (eidolopoiia), and speech put into the
mouth of something personified ( prospopoiia). 20 Next we move on
to ekphrasis or description (descriptio)of anyone or anything. The
modern scholarly focus on ancient description of works of art might
obscure the rhetorical theorists insistence on the thematic catholicity of this progymnasma. 21 Ps.-Hermogenes 10.12, for example, says
that one describes persons and things/occurrences () and
periods and places and times and many other things. He mentions
specifically descriptions of Thersites (in Homer); land and naval battles;
peace and war; harbors, beaches, and cities; spring, summer, and a
festival; and the mixed ekphrasis of a night battle (i.e., night + battle).
The final two progymnasmata are thesis and what Aphthonius
calls nomou eisphora, thesis and introduction of law ( positio and
18
Aphthon. 3.2. For these two chreiai, see R. F. Hock and E. N. ONeill, The
Chreia in Ancient Rhetoric: Vol. I. The Progymnasmata, Society of Biblical Literature
Texts and Translations 27, Graeco-Roman Religion Series 9 (Atlanta 1986) 33335.
19
Aphthon. 7, Nicolaus pp. 36 38.
20
Ps.-Hermog. 9.12, Aphthon. 11.1. Compare Nicolaus pp. 6465 and contrast
Theon 8.
21
See D. Westberg, Celebrating with Words: Studies in the Rhetorical Works
of the Gaza School (Uppsala 2010) 144.

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R obert J. P enella

legis latio). Thesis is an investigation of a general proposition, such

as should a person marry, with no reference to the specific circumstances of an individual case. And introduction of law, according to
Aphthonius 14.12, supports or attacks a proposed law. Some theorists allow also for the support of, or attack on, an already existing
law (Theon 12, where the progymnasma is called simply nomos; see
Nicolaus p. 78). For all fourteen progymnasmata, the ancient handbooks suggest appropriate heads of discussion or argumentation. 22
The list of fourteen progymnasmata found in Libanius and Aphthonius is identical to that of ps.-Hermogenes and of Nicolaus. It is
also found in the late ancient Latin grammarian Priscian. 23 Laurent
Pernot has judiciously warned that this should not delude us into
assuming that there was absolute uniformity throughout the Roman
world in the progymnasmatic scheme and in the teaching of these
intermediate exercises. Indeed, Theons treatise and passing remarks
on the other progymnasmatic theorists (see below) alone attest to a
diversity of opinion and practice, although Theon also shares a good
deal with those other theorists as well. Pernot urges, though, that
we look for evidence, such as it may be, beyond the progymnasmatists themselves; and he persuasively unveils a progymnasmathe
eikn or extended metaphorthat is uniquely attested in Fronto. 24
Nonetheless, it would not be rash to assume that the scheme found
in ps.-Hermogenes, Libanius, Aphthonius, Nicolaus, and Priscian was
widely regarded as authoritative in the middle and late Roman Empire.
Let us turn now to divergences from the classic Libanian
Aphthonian list. Some excluded comparison as a separate category
on the ground that there was adequate exercise in it in common
topic and encomium (Nicolaus p. 59). Some excluded description
as a separate category because of its use in fable, narration, common topic, and encomium (ps.-Hermog. 10.7). Some were hesitant
to include introduction of law among the progymnasmata because it
was so close to a full hypothesis or declamation (ps.-Hermog 12.1,
; Aphthon. 14.1,
). Although Quintilian alludes to description in connection
with narration (Inst. 2.4.3), both description as a distinct entry and
speech-in-character are missing from his list of progymnasmata, apparently because he regarded them as too advanced to be included
among the progymnasmatic exercises. 25 In Theon, in whom we find
the most important deviation from the LibanianAphthonian list of
progymnasmatic exercises, refutation and confirmation (anaskeu
22
For studies dedicated to individual progymnasmata, one might begin with
the bibliography in H. Fruteau de Laclos, Les Progymnasmata de Nicolaos de Myra
dans la tradition versicolore des exercices prparatoires de rhtorique (Montpellier
1999) 44954, to which add E. Amato and J. Schamp, eds., : La reprsentation de caractres entre fiction scolaire et ralit vivante l poque impriale et
tardive, Cardo 3 (Salerno 2005).
23
See above, n.17.
24
Pernot (above, n.1) 292301.
25
See Viljamaa (above, n.7) 18586.

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83

and kataskeu) are frequently mentioned, but they are not treated as
discrete progymnasmata. Contradiction (antirrhsis), not unrelated to
refutation (anaskeu), is discussed by Theon at the end of his treatise
along with reading, listening, paraphrase, and elaboration, all five of
which Michel Patillon calls les exercices daccompagnement, following
anecdote, fable, narration, common topic, description, speech-incharacter, encomium and invective, comparison, thesis, and law. 26
Some placed common topic after description, some before refutation and confirmation, others somewhere else than in its place in the
Libanian-Aphthonian list (Nicolaus p. 35). On some lists comparison appeared before encomium (p. 59). Some put description after
comparison and speech-in-character after thesis (p. 63). Theon put
chreia or anecdote first, before fable and narration 27; and in a move
exactly the reverse of Quintilians (see previous paragraph), he placed
speech-in-character and description earlier than other theorists. Since
the exercises are graduated, these placements represent a difference
in pedagogical thinking. Heath has recently argued that Theons placing of anecdote in first place may represent an Alexandrian tradition
that was in competition with an Athenian one. 28
The progymnasmata moved the student from study under the
grammarian to the composition of declamations. The early progymnasmata, especially fable and maxim, offered a comfortable transition
into the exercises, since the student had been exposed to fables and
maxims in elementary school as well as under the grammarian. 29
Indeed, Libanius uses Homeric themes in many of his progymnasmata, which would have reminded the student of his grammatical
studies. 30 On the high end of the ladder, introduction of law offered
an easy transition to the next level, for it is almost a full deliberative declamation; according to ancient theorists, the only thing that
prevents it from being so is the absence of adequately specified
circumstances (ps.-Hermog. 12.1, Aphthon. 14.1).
What happened as the student climbed from fable to introduction
of law is that he learned, in steps, how to argue under increasingly
complex headings. If a very young student, who was still mastering
Attic morphology and grammar, was assigned a fable or a chreia, he
26
Patillon (above, n.11) xcviiicxiv. See Pernot (above, n.1) 28593, who uses
the term exercices supplmentaires. Pernot understands Theons contradiction as a
response to a pre-existing oration: il sagit de manipuler le texte dautrui (290 92).
27
Heath asserts that Suetonius also put chreia first because, in a list of some
exercises preliminary to declamation (Gram. 25.4), he begins with dicta praeclare
(Heath [above, n.11] 143 44; on dicta praeclare understood as chreiai, see Kaster
[above, n.7] 280). But we should not exclude the possibility that dicta praeclare
means maxims rather than chreiai. Patillon recognizes this ([above, n.11] xi, n.14,
[c]ela peut correspondre la maxime ou la chrie de parole ou aux deux); Heath,
who cites Patillon, gives only the option chreiai.
28
Heath (above, n.11) 150 51.
29
Cribiore (above, n.1) 17879, 202203.
30
Note Cribiore (above, n.1) 226, Homer never lost his grip on the practitioner
of rhetoric. See R. Webb, Between Poetry and Rhetoric: Libanios Use of Homeric
Subjects in his Progymnasmata, QUCC 95 (2010) 13152.

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might do nothing more than rewrite a text that had been given to him,
using different forms of the nouns and verbs (Theon 3 [101103], 4
[7475]). That is a very elementary use of a progymnasma. Otherwise,
according to Theon, a student might interweave fable and narrative,
expand or compress the fable, or add a moral to it (4.7476; see ps.Hermog. 1.57). Similar kinds of manipulation were prescribed for the
remaining elementary progymnasmata, the narration, the chreia, and
the maxim (Theon 5 [8696], 3 [101104]; Aphthon. 3.3, 4.3). The fifth
and sixth progymnasmata, refutation and confirmation, took the student
to a more advanced level of discourse. They were so fundamental to
the contentious core of rhetoric that Aphthonius said of both of them
that they contain in themselves all the power of the art of rhetoric
(5.2, 6.2). In refuting and confirming, one practiced arguing under the
so-called telika kephalaia, the final headings or, better, the headings
that are concerned with the ends of human actions. Ps.-Hermogenes
lists them as justice, advantage, possibility, and appropriateness and
their opposites (11.89). Aphthonius has legality, justice, advantage,
possibility, honor, result (7.2) or legal, just, advantageous, possible
(13.3). Nicolaus list is the advantageous, the just, the legal, the possible, the honorable, the necessary, the easy and their opposites (p.
44). Lists of the telika kephalaia vary,31 and we should not assume that
any given list is intended as exhaustive. Ps.-Hermogenes, Aphthonius,
and Nicolaus mention these headings under thesis or common topic,
explicitly using the term telika kephalaia; but the theorists introduce
these headings under refutation and confirmation, and they are recommended for other progymnasmata as well. 32 After the student had
learned refutation and confirmation, he could return to the first four
progymnasmata, now to refute or confirm them 33 although some
theorists were opposed to the refutation of fables, chreiai, and maxims
(Nicolaus pp. 2122; John Sard., Comment. in Aphthon. pp. 6162,
69 Rabe). For encomium, and its reversal, invective, the student was
introduced to a distinctive set of headings; here was the distinctive
31
See R. Volkmann, Die Rhetorik der Griechen und Rmer in systematischer
bersicht, 2nd ed. (Leipzig 1885) 299307; J. Martin, Antike Rhetorik: Technik
und Methode, Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft II.3 (Munich 1974) index, s.v.
; L. Pernot, Rhetoric in Antiquity, tr. W. E. Higgins (Washington,
D.C., 2005) 225.
32
Under refutation and confirmation: ps.-Hermog. 5.23, Aphthon. 6.2, Nicolaus
p. 32. See under Theons contradiction (antirrhsis) 17. Under speech-in-character:
Theon 8 [11617]. Under introduction of law: Theon 12 [129], Aphthon. 14.2, Nicolaus
pp. 7778. For thesis see, in addition to ps.-Hermog. 11.89, Theon 11 [12122]. Such
lists may occasionally include headings that are not strictly among the telika kephalaia.
33
Theon 1 [60, 6465], 3 [101], 4 [74], 5 [86]. Kennedy (above, n.8) 19 translates Theon 3 [101] and in addition (at a later stage in study) we refute and confirm
[chreiai], but the words at a later stage do not actually occur in Theons Greek
text. But note Theon 1 [6465]: We begin with the chreia. . . . Then come fable
and narration, except for their refutation and proof; for that would seem to come
after the others. When one is ready to refute chreiai and fables, one can use the
telika kephalaia: Theon 3 [104], 4 [76]. The telika kephalaia also appear at Theon 5
[93.594], in his discussion of narration. For the confirmation of maxims, see John
Sard., Comment. in Aphthon. pp. 6062 Rabe.

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preparation for panegyric, which was such a common type of discourse in the Empire. Thesis and introduction of law provided the
most advanced progymnasmatic exercises in contentious discourse.
According to Aphthonius 13.3and see Nicolaus pp. 7475thesis
was the first to include antithesis and solution, two of the standard
five parts of an oration (see below). 34
In addition to teaching argumentation, one of the progymnasmata,
speech-in-character, trained the student to personify a generic or
specific person, something he had to do in any declamation. 35 And
besides training generally in argument and character-representation,
many of the progymnasmata could be used as parts or passages in
declamations: for example, a fable, anecdote, or maxim; a narration;
an encomiastic or vituperative digression; a comparison or description. Even speech-in-character might appear as a short passage in a
declamation, which as a whole was a sustained speech-in-character;
thus, for example, in Declamation 2 [XII] Choricius of Gaza is
personifying Priam, but in sections 8689 he has Priam represent
Polyxena in oratio recta.
The ancient rhetorical theorists are constantly differentiating
one progymnasma from another; this is in response to the fact that
there are similarities between some progymnasmata and others. The
theorists try to justify the autonomy of the up to fourteen distinct
exercises of the classic list. For example, fable contains instructive
sayings and narrative; but we are told that it differs from anecdote
or chreia and maxim in that its themes are fictitious, and it differs
from narrative because it seeks to benefit rather than to inform (John
Sard., Comment. in Aphthon. pp. 4, 31 Rabe). Fable differs from common topic, although both exercises exhort against crime and evil,
in that fable urges avoidance of them, whereas common topic urges
punishment of them (p. 105 Rabe). Why should maxim be differentiated from chreia, which commonly takes the form of an instructive
saying? The answer, according to the ancient theorists, is that, unlike
the chreia, the maxim is not always attributed to a person, it always
gives universal advice, it is always about something useful for life,
and it can only be a saying and never the report of an instructive
action (Theon 3 [9697]; see Aphthon. 4.4, Nicolaus pp. 19, 25).
Common topic, an attack on an acknowledged criminal or support of
an acknowledged benefactor, appears to have a connection with invective or encomium; therefore the theorists must explain that common
topic urges that a person be punished or rewarded, whereas invective
or encomium merely attacks and incites hatred or praises and incites admiration. When no law has been broken, one uses invective,
not common topic. Furthermore, common topic discusses a general
type, whereas invective and encomium normally name their subjects
34
But Nicolaus p. 29 notes that refutation and confirmation already teach us
in greater detail how to engage in debate in reply to antitheseis.
35
For the importance of this in declamation, see Chor. Dialex. 12 [XXI], 21
[XXXIV] Foerster-Richtsteig.

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R obert J. P enella

(ps.-Hermog. 7.4; Aphthon. 9.1; Nicolaus pp. 38, 54; John Sard., Comment. in Aphthon. p. 90 Rabe). Encomium and thesis both praise, but
the former praises a person, the latter an action (John Sard., Comment.
in Aphthon. p. 247 Rabe). Occasionally, the ancient theorists make
distinctions based, not on content or purpose, but on argumentative
grounds: narrative is more argumentative than fable; chreia requires
more logical divisions than fable or narrative; we may refute chreia
and maxim, but not fable (Nicolaus pp. 11, 17; John Sard., Comment.
in Aphthon. p. 4 Rabe). 36
Differentiating the exercises can go hand in hand with conceding
the porosity of the boundaries between them. I have already noted, in
the words of ps.-Hermogenes, that some of the more exact teachers
do not make description a [progymnasmatic] exercise, on the ground
that it has already been included in fable and narrative and common
topic and encomium; for there too, they say, we describe places and
rivers and actions and persons (10.7). It was also acknowledged that
narration can include encomium (John Sard., Comment. in Aphthon.
p. 118 Rabe), that comparison has elements of encomium or invective (ps.-Hermog. 8.5, Aphthon. 10.1), that speech-in-character and
description may occur in or be similar to other progymnasmata (John
Sard., Comment. in Aphthon. pp. 19495, 216 Rabe). But the more
pronounced tendency of ancient theory was to underscore the differentiated autonomy of the various exercises. Occasionally, noting
the similarities and differences between the progymnasmata seems
to have become a game played for its own sake: consider John of
Sardis comparison of the first and the last progymnasmata (Comment. in Aphthon. p. 261 Rabe):
,
, ,
. ,
,
,
,
.

You should know that fable resembles introduction

of law in that in a fable too we require students not
to speak ill of parents and not to dishonor gods. It
differs in that in fable we offer advice solely through
the subject, but in introduction of law there is enforcement by law; and in fable we impart the moral
as generally agreed upon, whereas in introduction of
law we debate first about the ratification of the law.
Fable and introduction of law seem to me rather far apart from one
another; but John of Sardis apparently enjoys the ring-compositional
36
But Nicolaus pp. 2122 disagrees with John of Sardis in disallowing refutation of chreia.

T he P rogymnasmata in I mperial G reek E ducation

87

link. Similarly, when John says that fable is assigned first as being
something encompassing the seeds of the whole art [of rhetoric] (Comment. in Aphthon. p. 11 Rabe) because it has something of all three
species of rhetoric in it, he may be inspired as much by the sheer
elegance of this theoretical formulation as by objective assessment.
If there is a certain amount of the tail of theory wagging the
dog of practice in the ancient insistence on the autonomy of each
of the progymnasmatic exercises, we find an effusion of theory in
Nicolaus of Myra. In what seems to be a second stage of progymnasmatic theorizing, coming after the establishment of the number
of exercises and of their differentiation and autonomy, and apparently appearing for the first time in late antiquity, Nicolaus relates
the progymnasmata both to the three species of rhetoric ( judicial,
deliberative, and panegyrical oratory) and to the five parts of the
oration (prooemium, narration, antithesis, solution, and epilogue). We
find this same theoretical move in a number of Byzantine texts. 37
This is taking a broader view of the role of the progymnasmata in
rhetorical theory. As Nicolaus moves through the list of progymnasmata, he tells us which rhetorical species and which parts of the
oration the exercise trains the student for. The progymnasmata train
for the species and the parts either because they have a (greater or
lesser) affinity to or utility for various species and parts, or because
an elaborated progymnasma may itself make use of the parts. For
example, the second progymnasma, narration, prepares for all three
species of rhetoric because some narration is needed in all three species; as for the five parts of the oration, the progymnasma narration
obviously trains the student primarily for the oratorical narration of
the case, but it may also be helpful for the other parts of the oration
(except the prooemium), where some narration might also be needed
(p. 15). The third progymnasma, anecdote or chreia, mainly prepares
the student for the deliberative species, but is also of some help for
the other two species; and it exercises the student in all parts of the
oration, since it employs all those parts itself (pp. 2324). Refutation
and confirmation, the fifth and sixth progymnasmata, prepare the
student mainly for the judicial species and help with all parts of the
oration except the epilogue (pp. 3334). The seventh progymnasma,
common topic, trains for the judicial species if it attacks evil; if
it also praises the good, it is useful for the panegyrical species. It
exercises the student only for one part of the oration, the epilogue
(pp. 3536, 46 47). As a final example, consider the thirteenth
progymnasma, thesis: it helps prepare for two of the species, the
deliberative and the panegyrical, because it is deliberative and also
uses the argumentative headings of panegyric; and it also provides
exercise in all five parts of the oration (pp. 72, 76).
In the schema I just reviewed, which relates the progymnasmata to
the species and the parts, we begin and end with the progymnasmata:
37
E.g., John Sard., Comment. in Aphthon. pp. 4, 11618, 18889, 200, 215, 230,
256, 268 Rabe, and texts 811 in H. Rabe, ed., Prolegomenon Sylloge (Leipzig 1931)
7475, 12834, 156 57 (reusing passages from text 9), 167 69.

88

R obert J. P enella

Nicolaus asks what species and what parts each of them trains the
student for. But in the course of his discussion of common topic,
Nicolaus interjects a different schema, one that begins and ends with
the five parts of the oration and asks what progymnasmata train for
each of the parts. Exercises three and four (chreia or anecdote and
maxim), he says, prepare for the first part of the oration; exercise
two (narration) prepares for the second part and also for narration
required in the third and fourth parts; exercises five and six (refutation and confirmation) prepare for the third and fourth parts; and
exercise seven (common topic) prepares for the fifth part (pp. 3536).
This scheme is not fully consistent with what Nicolaus says elsewhere
(see above); it is a distinct formulation, driven by the five parts of
the oration. A variant of Nicolaus scheme appears in John of Sardis, Commentarium in Aphthonii Progymnasmata pp. 8990 Rabe:
exercise one (fable), in Johns view, aligns with the first part of an
oration, the prooemium; exercise two (narration) with the second,
narration; exercises three through six (chreia, maxim, refutation,
and confirmation) with an orations proofs (agnes), the equivalent
of the third and fourth parts of an oration, namely antithesis and
solution, in the five-part scheme; 38 and exercise seven (common
topic) with epilogue, the last part of the oration. The symmetry of
Johns schema, moving sequentially from exercises 1 through 7 and
from parts 1 through 4 in his four-part oration, must have appealed
to him. Not surprisingly, theorists also devised a schema driven by
the three species and asking which progymnasmata are correlated
which each of them. This schema makes fable, chreia, maxim, and
thesis deliberative exercises (though thesis may also be regarded as
panegyrical in its subject matter); refutation, confirmation, common
topic, and introduction of law judicial exercises; encomium, invective, comparison, and speech-in-character panegyrical exercises; and
narration and description common to all three species of rhetoric. 39
So far we have been considering the progymnasmata as preparatory exercises for declamation in the schools. But their inf luence
remained alive beyond the schools and in all subsequent areas of
composition. The words of Theon 2 [70] are relevant here:

,

.
,
,
.

Training in the [pro]gymnasmata is absolutely necessary

not only for those who are going to practice rhetoric,
See John Doxapatres in the Prolegomenon Sylloge (Rabe [above, n.37] 131).
See C. Walz, ed., Rhetores Graeci vol. 1 (Stuttgart and Tbingen, 1832)
12122, 12728; vol. 2 567.
38
39

T he P rogymnasmata in I mperial G reek E ducation

89

but also if one wishes to undertake the function of

poets or historians or any other writers. These exercises are, as it were, the foundation of every kind of
discourse, and, depending on how one instills them in
the minds of the young, necessarily the results make
themselves felt in the same way later.
This is why I urge my students to read all Roman imperial literature progymnasmatically, that is, conscious of the abiding influence of
these rhetorical exercises on the ancient mind. This injunction would
doubtless receive the endorsement of Graham Anderson, who makes
the striking observation that almost the whole of [Lucians] output
can be related to the elementary exercises, the progymnasmata, of
the rhetorical schools.40 Passages in the progymnasmatic modes can
be found almost anywhere in imperial literature, not only in oratory.
A whole ancient work could be in a single progymnasmatic mode,
elaborated, of course, in a freer and more sophisticated way than a
student would have done;41 one thinks here, for example, of encomia,
of theseis or theseis-like essays found among Plutarchs Moralia (e.g.,
439a440c, 776b779c, 827d832a), of his synkrisis or comparison
of Aristophanes and Menander (Mor. 853a854d), or of how Pliny
can build a letter around an ekphrasis (e.g., Ep. 8.8) or a narration
(Ep. 9.33). Whole works could consist of a collection of pieces in
a single mode. Thus, for example, Ovids epistolary Heroides is a
collection of exercises in speech-in-character, a mode that Theon 8
[115] and Nicolaus p. 67 specifically associate with letter-writing.
Plutarchs Lives may be thought of as a collection of synkriseis or
comparisons, and most have explicit synkriseis attached to them. Lucians Demonax is largely a collection of unelaborated chreiai. The
Imagines of the two Philostrati and the Statuarum descriptiones by
Callistratus are collections of ekphraseis or descriptions. A history
could be thought of as a collection of discrete narrations; this is
not my own conception, but that of the ancient rhetorical theorists
themselves (Theon 1 [60]; see ps.-Hermog. 2.2; John Sard., Comment.
in Aphthon. p. 30 Rabe).
The inf luence of the progymnasmata may be observed elsewhere
than in literary composition. Henry Maguire, in his book Art and
Eloquence in Byzantium, has suggested that standard literary ekphraseis had an inf luence on painting in Byzantium, where knowledge of
the progymnasmata remained alive and well. 42 Another Byzantinist,
40
See Lucian: A Sophists Sophist, YCIS 27 (1982) 61. See J. Elsner in E.
Bowie and J. Elsner, eds., Philostratus (Cambridge 2009) 8: Rhetorically, it [i.e.,
Philostratus Life of Apollonius] takes a set of schoolboys exercises (in the technique
of synkrisis, as Imagines takes ecphrasis) and turns them to dazzling effect on an
exceptionally extended canvas.
41
See Westberg (above, n.21) 146: Gradually, however, the ecphrasis as well
as the other progymnasmata were viewed less as preparations for full-scale works,
but became independent genres in their own right.
42
H. Maguire, Art and Eloquence in Byzantium (Princeton 1981) 3 4.

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R obert J. P enella

Romilly Jenkins, links the Byzantine reputation for trickery and

instability to the practice of refutation and confirmation, the equally
eager arguing of both sides of the question. 43 The bipolarity found
in refutation and confirmation was reinforced by encomium and
invective. The agonistic spirit was encouraged in a number of the
progymnasmata. And the progymnasmatic exercises highlighted the
distinction generic vs. circumstantially specific in the contrast
between maxim and anecdote, between common topic and an encomium
or invective that praised or vilified a specific person, and between
thesis and hypothesis or declamationa distinction that itself can
be subsumed under the bipolar. In the words of Thomas Frazel, in
a recent book that asks us to pay more attention to the inf luence of
the progymnasmata on Ciceros orations, these exercises developed
a set of skills to be internalized, utilized, and, most importantly,
adapted to particular situations, and for this reason they are essential
for developing more abstract ways of organizing thought and communicating it.44 It is essential for us to bear in mind the curriculum
of the school in attempting to understand the ancient mind and its
self-expression. 45
Fordham University
Classical World 105.1 (2011)

ROBERT J. PENELLA
rpenella@fordham.edu

43
R. J. H. Jenkins, The Hellenistic Origins of Byzantine Literature, DOP
17 (1963) 45.
44
T. D. Frazel, The Rhetoric of Ciceros In Verrem, Hypomnemata 179 (Gttingen 2009) 33.
45
I am grateful to Craig A. Gibson for his comments on an earlier draft.

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