I will look first at general uses of the body metaphor, or in some cases, the body analogy. As several scholars have noted, the body was a common topos in antiquity in political speeches arguing for unity in the form of homonoia, or “concord” speeches. Martin contends that these speeches were so common that they were practically a genre unto themselves. Some famous examples of these speeches include Antiphon's Περὶ ὁμονοίαςς and Isocrates' Panegyricus.

The homonoia speeches often had predictable patterns and examples, and rhetoricians employed common topoi such as the body or the household to argue for political unity. According to this use, the group, which was not limited to formal political associations, was like a body in that it was composed of various parts which needed to cooperate in order to survive, or for the “common good.”

But the metaphor was not limited to homonoia speeches. Its significance varied according to its use by orators of different philosophical backgrounds. Even in the context of the homonoia speeches, there was a multiplicity of uses. It will be helpful to begin the present study by delving deeper into the different ways in which the orators applied it.

Basic structure

The image was often used to make a simple and direct statement. The following passage is from Cicero, using an example from rhetoric: “In an enumeration we have, as it were, parts, as (ut) for example a body has head, shoulders, hands, sides, legs, feet and so forth.”