Hercules, Silenus and the Fly: Lucian’s Rhetorical Paradoxes in Erasmus’ Ethics

Abstract

Starting from the fierce conflict between Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther, my contribution aims to show the rhetorical genesis of Erasmus’ reflection on ethics. Specifically, I will focus on the fact that some of most significant and recurrent metaphors in Erasmus’ moral and theological meditation (e.g.Hercules, Silenus and the fly) trace their roots back to the work of Lucian of Samosata. Against this background, it will be possible to investigate the fundamental role of the Lucianic attitude in defining some key-concepts of Erasmus’ thought, such as the rhetorical concepts of festivitasand persona. Moreover, I will demonstrate how these concepts become the starting point of Erasmus’ silenic moral, modelled on the sophistic ability to transform relations and proportions between things by using words.