Imitation Fueling the Rise of Demosthenes -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 18:39:28 04/20/08 Sun
Author: JPJ II
Subject: Imitation Fueling the Rise of Demosthenes

In the beginning of the course, Girard wrote that Western Society was less shy about imitation than modern society. This, among other things, blinds modern readers to the imitation in Don Quixote, for instance. Plutarch is completely unashamed of the imitation he sees in the Ancient World. Often he attributes to imitation the source of conflict or virtue. In his Life of Demosthenes, Plutarch accredits the rise of Demosthenes, the great orator, to his subjects imitation of Callistratus. Plutarch writes that Demosthenes witnessed Callistratus speaking in the law courts as a boy and even saw him win a case through his speech. Plutarch tells us that "From this moment [Demosthenes] he abandoned all other studies and all the normal pastimes of boyhood, and threw himself wholeheartedly into the practice of declamation, in the hope that he would one day take his place among the orators." Rather than arguing against the unoriginal thinking that our modern world would attribute to Demosthenes, Plutarch sees it only natural that a young boy would seek to become the great man he sees before him.

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