The Mood of Persuasion: Imperatives and Subjunctives in Attic Oratory

Abstract This paper aims to examine whether imperatives are used in the same or a similar way in forensic, symbouleutic, and epideictic orations, what the semantic differences are between addressing the audience in the imperative and the so-called mandative subjunctive (which conveys requests, suggestions, and recommendations) or prohibitive subjunctive (which instructs the audience to avoid actions), and what impact these two moods are intended to have upon the judges and onlookers. It will be argued that subjunctives, when used in main clauses (those in subordinate clauses are not examined), take their level of forcefulness (i. e., how polite and discreet they are) from their immediate context, and that, in some instances, they may have a similar semantic force and persuasive potential to imperatives.