The rhetorical device of the “commonplace” (κοινὸς τόπος) in Basil of Caesarea

Abstract

This paper deals with the resource of the “common place” with the aim of demonstrating the rhetorical invoice used by Basil of Caesarea in two homilies on greed. We proceed in its development through three stages: 1) Disambiguation of “commonplace”, 2) The Greek rhetorical theory and 3) The “commonplace” in Basil of Caesarea. Through these sections, the resource in Greek rhetorical theory is explained and Basil’s mastery of
the structure and its argumentation is verified. To this end, the elaboration is exemplified in “Homilia in illud:
Destruam horrea mea et maiora aedificabo” (HDestr. 7) and “Homilia in divites” (HDiv. 6). The “common place”
is, among the preparatory exercises, one of the most complex in terms of discerning the places of argumentation,
which is why we rely on the rhetorical theory of the Progymnasmata, which facilitates understanding by its
simplicity and speeds up the comparison of structures in both profane and Christian thought. In turn, the
ancient rhetoricians prove to us that the “commonplace” is equivalent to an amplification.
The comparative tables summarize, in an overall view, the results that certify that, although each homily is of
a different style, the schemes of the rhetors Theon and Pseudo Hermogenes prevail, and at the same time they
evidence the originality of the orator. There are no rhetorical studies of this resource on our author, so we hope that this contribution will give rise to similar writings.