Conclusion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2011
Summary
Thereafter introduce the point that marriage is essential for us, humans as we are: for it is the salvation of the family; everything that is good springs from marriage. Then proceed to describe the facial appearance of those who are coming together in marriage. In this part, you will speak of their family and upbringing, their physical beauty and their youth; what fortune has supplied them with, and what their own efforts have. Mention that they themselves were enthusiastic to unite in marriage, and also what their relatives think of the marriage, as well as people outside the marriage, and even the entire citizen body. Say that the marriage is captivating everyone, and that the marriage seems like a holiday, a new moon party, or a public festival for the city.
This passage, which comes from an anonymous Art of rhetoric from the imperial period, formulates advice for the student who wishes to give an epithalamium, a speech celebrating a marriage that has taken place. It is striking how much it also resembles a recipe for the romance. Marriage is to be presented as indispensable (anagkaios) to human life, the foundation of familial and social existence. The egregious beauty of the couple should be stressed, as well as their ancestry and their virtue. Most strikingly of all, it should be claimed that the couple's desire for marriage is matched by that of ‘the entire citizen body’ (polis autē dēmosiai).
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- Narrative and Identity in the Ancient Greek NovelReturning Romance, pp. 253 - 260Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011