Worlds collide

[rivkat]

Law blog Concurring Opinions posts a four-part interview with BSG's Ron Moore & David Eick.

In other news: Still around, just very busy and tired. Running the ballot desk at a thousand-student speech tournament is a young woman's game, and I'm not quite recovered. More reviews to follow when I get a chance to write them up.

In the meantime, has anyone but me ever heard this story about rhetoric? If you have, could you provide a reference? It's a comparison of two classical orators. "When X spoke, the people said, 'How well he speaks!' When Y spoke, the people said, 'Let us go to war.'" I have determined that, in my reading, I want to go to war. Sure, you don't always have to choose, but often enough those are the options, and 99 times out of 100 I will choose story.

Comments

[cryptoxin.livejournal.com]

"When X spoke, the people said, 'How well he speaks!' When Y spoke, the people said, 'Let us go to war.'" I have determined that, in my reading, I want to go to war. Sure, you don't always have to choose, but often enough those are the options, and 99 times out of 100 I will choose story.

As a reader, I generally choose X myself -- though I'm thinking that with your stories, I don't have to choose.

Now I'm worrying about what the orator comparison portends for the presidential election....

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I will occasionally choose X -- David Foster Wallace comes to mind. (And -- *looks down bashfully* -- thanks!)

I'm not sure the comparison really says much about the election -- people seem to find Obama inspiring enough to take some action, and I'm not sure Americans really want to go to war (again/for 100 years). At least that's what I hope.

[elizabeth perry (from livejournal.com)]

I've heard it, although I can't recall the names of the speakers referred to any more than you can. I'm honestly not sure if it's a Greek or Roman oratory feat, but it's one or the other -- I have a very clear memory of my classics teacher telling me the anecdote.

[aynatonal.livejournal.com]

You've misquoted it slightly, which may be impairing your Google search. I believe the second phrase is, "Let us march." Of course, when you put in that set of terms, Google has conflicting suggestions. Some say, "When Aeschines spoke, they said, "How well he speaks." But when Demosthenes spoke, they said, "Let us march against Philip." A few suggest, "When Pericles speaks, the people say, 'How well he speaks.' But when Demosthenes speaks, the people say, 'Let us march!'" One even suggests the reverse, although that's probably incorrect: "When Demosthenese speaks, People say ‘How well he speaks,' but when Pericles spoke, people said "Let us March.'"

Hope this helps!

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I have been wondering about this for years. Demosthenes does seem like the right choice for option #2. I'm not sure I mind uncertainty about the identity of #1 now that I have something to go on.

hello

[sapphoq.livejournal.com]

spike q. dropping by.
We are having a snow here.
I haven't heard the quote before.
spike

[soigneusement.livejournal.com]

You're still a young woman!

I'll have to dig into that Moore and Eick interview later when I'm done with work.

We had someone post at Beacon Broadside (http://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2008/03/the-sound-of-si.html) today whom you may know slightly, since he was clerking for Ginsburg at the same time you were at SCOTUS. I asked him if he would blog about Clarence Thomas being an apparent mute, and he came at it from a different angle than I was expecting, but it's pretty great. I'd love to hear what you think.