rhetoric, eloquence, orators, diplomats, epigram, Thomas More, temperament, humanist, satirical, vituperative
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show that Brixius is ineloquent and his metre is cumbersome, moreover, he includes an epigram ‘In Hvnc Hendecasyllabvm, imo Tredecim Syllabarvm, Versum Germani Brixii Galli ex ‘‘Antimoro’’ Svmptvm: “Excussisse hominumque in ora protulisse”’ (‘On the Following Hendecasyllabic Verse, Rather the Following Thirteen-Syllable Verse from the ‘‘Antimorus’’ of the Frenchman Germanus Brixius: “To discover and to offer to the gaze of men”’, no. 252).
The presence of competent flyters at court to represent the nation against its rivals was perhaps a matter of some prestige, and not much less important than having competent orators and diplomats well-versed in the arts of rhetoric and eloquence to represent the nation as ambassadors and spokesmen more cordially.
183
No wonder then that More should single out Brixius’s humanist accomplishments for criticism. More, however, was a much better diplomat than patriotic antagonist, and his efforts here are rather lame and unimaginative. In this counter-response to the AntiMorus he explains Brixius’s long lines by the suggestion that they have been measured by the yard, rather than by feet and in other attacks he resorts to equally banal puns. In Epigram 193 (‘In Brixivm Poetam’: ‘To the Poet, Brixius’) he argues that the Chordigera is lacking in its own first syllable, cor (heart). The same accusation might be justifiably levelled at More whose timidity of insult registers a lack of such satirical courage upon which successful flyting depends. He does not seem to have entered fully into the vituperative spirit of flyting, and this is perhaps owing to his lack of conviction in his assaults upon a fellow humanist. He did not lack the irascible temperament necessary for coarse wit and abuse and used ridicule with panache against
183 As Scherb (1998) argues, one of the purposes of domestic flytings between fellow courtiers was to “determine who was most worthy of being the court’s poetic spokesman”, and this would almost certainly involve the pseudo-diplomatic role of castigating the nation’s enemies, p.125.
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