HARVARD UKRAINIAN STUDIES - See also - Harvard University

SMOTRYC'KYJ'S THRENOS OF 1610 477According to Cicero, the peroratio is the end and conclusion of thewhole speech. It has three parts: the summing-up, the indignatio or excitingof ill-will against the opponent, and the conquestio or arousing of pityand sympathy. 48 Smotryc'kyj's peroration, which extends from 20r to 21v[36-38] ("Ty sam Krolu wieczney chwaly. . . y do Starszego z nichrzeke"), is a variation on this scheme. It is a prayer to God, as the judgewho is hearing the case, to redress the wrong and to render just, though notimmediate, punishment: the Mother-Church intercedes with the judge onbehalf of her children with the promise that she will go to them and admonishthem once more to repent before they are condemned. (The admonition,it will be recalled, is contained in chapter 2.)I have emphasized the fact that Smotryc'kyj made the structure andmanner of argumentation in his lament of the Eastern church conform to therules governing judicial oratory. Within these general limits, however, hecreated a kind of Orthodox Christian variant of the genus iudicale. In thisregard, it is worth noting that Smotryc'kyj's source-book for the topoi andimages prescribed by inventio was often the Bible. In his exordium andnarratio, for example, he drew on the allegorical reading of Lamentationsin presenting the Mother-Church as "one of the lamenting widows." Forthe confirmatio, St. Paul's descriptions of the priesthood (cf. 1 Th. 5: 14; 1Pet. 5: 1 -4; 2 Tim. 4: 2) provided material suited to arguing his case againstthe Ruthenian clergy.In the context of this Orthodox Christian forensic oratory, Smotryc'kyjcould give certain key words and concepts added resonance. For example,in chapter 2 the Eastern church urges the elder of the apostates, usuallyidentified with Ipatij Potij, to confess his sins and to seek God's mercy. Theconcepts of confession and mercy function in two spheres in Smotryc'kyj'srhetoric. They are, of course, central to the religious aspect of the work; butthey also function in the judicial sphere: Smotryc'kyj urges Potij and othersto confess their crimes and thereby to throw themselves upon the mercy ofthe court.bez grzechu, a ludzie wszyscy grzechowi podlegli, Ktoz tego nie wie. . . . lam was pod tasksporodzila, a nie pod zakonem.... A dla tego godzito sie warn iako synom swiattoscisprawowac. . . . Y mowicie, Zaden cztowiek bez grzechu oprocz samego tego ktory swiatagrzechy zgiadzit, bye nie moze. .. dobrze, przyznawam to y ia: Ale tez y to opowiadam, ze siesprawiedliwy predko z posliznienia porywa. ... A przetoz y mnie nedzna., nie grzechy waszena taki sztrofowania sposob poruszyty, ale vstawiczne w grzechach trwanie wasze...."48Cicero, De inventione (I lii 98): "Conclusio est exitus et determinatio totius orationis.Haec habet partes tres: enumerationem, indignationem, conquestionem."