Pseudo-Dionysius 'Art of Rhetoric' 8-11: Figured speech, declamation, and criticism

Abstract

This paper considers the date and authorship of chapters 8-11 of the "Art of Rhetoric", falsely attributed to Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Analysis of the two chapters on "figured speech" suggests that chapter 9 is an unfinished attempt by the author of chapter 8 to rework the material into a more radical (but, in fact, conceptually flawed) refutation of those who rejected the concept. Distinctive common features indicate the chapters 10-11, on declamation and criticism are by the same author. The texts probably date to the early second century A.D.; the author was perhaps the Aelius Serapion attested in the "Suda".