05_Biblica_Aletti_Layout 1 01/04/14 12:04 Pagina 92 92 JEAN-NOËL ALETTI The maxim (gnw,mh) differs from the chreia (creia) in four ways: the , chreia is always attributed to a person, the maxim not always; the chreia sometimes states a universal, sometimes a particular, the maxim only a universal; furthermore, sometimes the chreia is a pleasantry not useful for life, the maxim is always about something useful in life; fourth, the chreia is an action (pra/xij) or a saying (lo,goj), the maxim is only a saying. The reminiscence (avpomnhmo,neuma) is distinguished from the chreia in two ways: the chreia is brief, the reminiscence is sometimes extended, and the chreia is attributed to a particular person, while the reminiscence is also remembered for its own sake. A chreia is given that name par excellence, because more than the other (exercises) it is useful (creiw,dhj) for many situations in life, just as we have grown accus- tomed to call Homer ‘the poet’ because of his excellence, although there are many poets 12. This distinction is pertinent, but the maxim and the reminiscence, like the chreia, have the same dispositio, which generically bears the name of chreia. This term will be used to designate an argumentation generally introduced by a question, which is responded to by a thesis, and which, in turn, is contrasted to an objection that is refuted with the help of examples, principles and recourse to authorities (laws or well-known authors). The argumentation then generally concludes with the repetition of the thesis or with an aphorism. By following what is said of the chreia in the progymnasmata of ancient rhetors, it is thus possible to describe its dispositio 13: 12 THEON, Progymnasmata, 96.24‒97.10. The translation is that of G. KENNEDY, Progymnasmata. Greek Textbooks of Prose Composition and Rhetoric (Leiden 2003) 15. 13 Here I am repeating the presentation made by B.L. MACK, Rhetoric and the New Testament (Guides to Biblical Scholarship; Minneapolis 1991) 42: this dispositio was also called thesis, “a simple outline for the development of an argument”. See also D.F. WATSON, “The Rhetoric of James 3:1-12,” 51. The Rhetorica ad Herennium 4.43.56sq is a supplementary witness to this dispositio becoming in some way standard: (Sed) de eadem re cum dicemus, plurimis utemur commutationibus. Nam cum rem simpliciter pronuntiamus, rationem poterimus subicere; deinde dupliciter vel sine rationibus vel cum rationibus pronuntiare; deinde afferre contrarium – de quibus omnibus diximus in verborum exornationibus-; deinde simile et exemplum – de quo suo loco plura dicemus-; deinde conclusionem, de qua in secundo libro, quae opus fuerunt, diximus, demonstrantes argumentationes quemadmodum concludere oporteat: in hoc libro docuimus, cuiusmodi esset exornatio verborum, cui conclu- sioni nomen est.