La rhétorique comme misdirection : l’art du bien parler et les tours de magie

Abstract

This contribution bears on the metaphor of the conjurer applied to rhetoric. The art of delusion was not transmitted through writings ; it can therefore be reconstituted only in an indirect way by means of occasional quotations or metaphors. In Latin, the chief words that refer to the conjurer are : magus, circulator, and praestigiator. Circulator and praestigiator are used as negative metaphors of the orator. Synonymous as they may be, they yet cover somewhat different semantic areas. About the circulator, the indictment is aesthetic, in the case of the praestigia the implications are chiefly ethical.

Keywords

• latin
• magic
• Romilly
• tricks