ABSTRACT
Although the Characters were not written primarily for a rhetorical purpose, Theophrastus’ character portraits could be of great help to ancient rhetoricians in three ways: firstly, in demonstrating how to indicate character using precise examples of behaviour, speech, and gesture; secondly, as a practical illustration of Theophrastus’ theory of style and delivery; and thirdly, in providing a set of character portraits that could be incorporated into rhetorical arguments for or against particular propositions. An example is Theophrastus’ comical character portrait of the ‘typical wife’, which is incorporated into an argument against the wise man entering into marriage.
