On the basis of questions, a member of De Jonge Akademie offers us a glimpse into their personal fascination with science in general and their own research topic in particular, and how it came about. This time Bé Breij on the art of persuasion…
How do you tell what kind of research you do at a party? I don't often talk about my work at parties… but well, if anyone really wanted to know, I study ancient rhetoric, the art of persuasion. I analyze political and legal speeches, especially from the ancient Romans, as well as the ancient theories and methods associated with them.
I have long been occupied with declamations, which were written by young Romans to practice in court. They would write indictments and defenses in fictional cases that were often very exciting:murder, torture, cannibalism, sorcery, piracy… such texts are great fun in themselves, but they also say a lot about what people thought and thought at the time.
Lately I've been working on how to convey messages in an indirect way. What do I mean by that? I recently asked a colleague:do you want a peppermint? He replied with a question in return:is it necessary? How did he come to the conclusion that my question was an indirect criticism of his bad breath? They already thought about that in ancient times. They didn't have peppermint yet, but they did have all kinds of ideas and theories about indirect messages, and methods of communicating them. They have been somewhat forgotten and it was only from 1970 that linguists started thinking about such things again. So I want to make a connection between ancient rhetoric and modern linguistics.
How did you end up in this field? I am hereditary! My mother and father were both Latin and Greek teachers. I used to always say that I wanted to do something different, but apparently the blood is crawling where it can't go.
What do you like most about doing research? That I learn to understand how something works, and then be able to convey it to others.
Do you ever lie awake at night because of your research? Yes, when I'm really busy. Because then it stays busy in my head at night. I'm almost asleep, suddenly all kinds of things come to my mind. So there is always a notebook next to my bed. Sometimes it helps me when I read it back in the morning, other times I think:man, better make sure you get a decent sleep… Hmm, and sometimes I worry because I don't have enough time for my research.
What do you want your research to mean for new generations? How pompous! I hope to help my colleagues and my students by sharing my detailed knowledge about ancient texts with them. I would like to show others, for example students, how much antiquity resembles our time, and at the same time how different it is.