Monday, March 23, 2015

Great Orators | 8. Alcibiades

Lundi, 23 Mars, 2015
Verse of the Day« Heureux l'homme qui supporte patiemment la tentation; car, après avoir été éprouvé, il recevra la couronne de vie, que le Seigneur a promise à ceux qui l'aiment.» Jacques 1.12

Quote of the Day“If they are bigger than us…they have their feet as low as ours.”—Blaise Pascal
«S’ils sont plus grands que nous…ils ont les pieds aussi bas que les notres.»—Blaise Pascal

French Fun Fact: France ruled the second largest colonial empire in the world controlling 8.6% of the world’s land. (confessedtravelholic.com)

What’s Really Happening Over Here:
Weather – Mostly Cloudy, Precip. 0%
Temperature – 40⁰F, high of 47⁰
News – Paris ends smog-fighting curbs as air clears (thelocal.fr)
More News – http://www.lefigaro.fr/

A Day In the Life:
I had too much work to catch up on yesterday to catch the service at church, but I was still able to learn a bit. I watched and analyzed a sermon by Chuck Swindoll given in 2012 at Dallas Baptist Seminary, where he is currently the Chancellor. Although my notes were specifically on his speaking style, you can watch the video for yourself here:




For those few of you who might be interested, here are my notes on his speaking style!

Observations
Chuck Swindoll
-          Powerful quote: “My job is to get grown men to do what they do not enjoy doing, so that they can do what they always dreamed of doing.”—Tom Landry
-          Humor – intellectual/dry/self-depricating
-          Voice – almost like a grandfather: calming; makes you feel you can trust him; commanding when he raises it
-          Body movement – very dynamic: leans forward; backward; side to side; but stays behind the pulpit
-          Hand/arm movement – expressive: a lot of top-down movement; and self to crowd movement, often reaching out towards the audience (subconsciously identifying with them, placing himself level with rather than above them); controlled
-          Artistic proofs – ethos (the chancellor of the school, but the speaker who introduced him did a good job of highlighting who he is and what he has done for those who might not know), pathos (always ‘you and I’, ‘we’, ‘struggle’, consistent use of voice inflection to express the gravity of what he is speaking about)
-          Inartistic proofs – Scripture: completely based on Scripture
-          Rhythm – overall slow paced: does not necessarily speed up, just raises and lowers his voice
-          Language – articulate: speaks like an academic (as he is); uses repetition, ‘It is a race run…’

Alcibiades
Alcibiades, son of Cleinias, from the deme of Scambonidae (/ˌælsɨˈbaɪ.ədiːz/;[1] Greek: Ἀλκιβιάδης Κλεινίου Σκαμβωνίδης, transliterated Alkibiádēs Kleiníou Skambōnidēs; c. 450 – 404 BC), was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War. He
Alcibiades
played a major role in the second half of that conflict as a strategic advisor, military commander, and politician.

During the course of the Peloponnesian War, Alcibiades changed his political allegiance several times. In his native Athens in the early 410s BC, he advocated an aggressive foreign policy and was a prominent proponent of the Sicilian Expedition, but he fled to Sparta after his political enemies brought charges of sacrilege against him. In Sparta, he served as a strategic adviser, proposing or supervising several major campaigns against Athens. In Sparta too, however, Alcibiades soon made powerful enemies and felt forced to defect to Persia. There he served as an adviser to the satrap Tissaphernes until his Athenian political allies brought about his recall. He then served as an Athenian general (Strategos) for several years, but his enemies eventually succeeded in exiling him a second time.

The Sicilian Expedition was the idea of Alcibiades, and scholars have argued that, had that expedition been under Alcibiades's command instead of that of Nicias, the expedition might not have met its eventual disastrous fate. In the years when he served Sparta, Alcibiades played a significant role in Athens's undoing; the capture of Decelea and the revolts of several critical Athenian subjects occurred either at his suggestion or under his supervision. Once restored to his native city, however, he played a crucial role in a string of Athenian victories that eventually brought Sparta to seek a peace with Athens. He favored unconventional tactics, frequently winning cities over by treachery or negotiation rather than by siege. Alcibiades's military and political talents frequently proved valuable to whichever state currently held his allegiance, but his propensity for making powerful enemies ensured that he never remained in one place for long; and by the end of the war which he had helped to rekindle in the early 410s, his days of political relevance were a bygone memory.

(The above information on Alcibiades is a direct quote from the Wikipedia.com article detailing his life.)

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