ethopoeia

A rhetorical technique in which the speaker or author presents an imaginary speech by a real person, portraying that person's known characteristics and propensities.

The situation envisioned is the contest for a prize described in Herodotus 8.123 and cast in the form of ethopoeia.

In ancient narrative literature, ethopoeia is a frequently used literary tool.

An instance of this technique.

In their ethopoeias of the ideal lover, de la Torre, Ribera, and Luduefia emphasize, as we have seen, eloquence, good physical proportions, youth, elegance, discretion and honesty.

The speeches in the De Gelesuintha all can be described as ethopoeiae, that is speeches intended to communicate the emotional condition of their speakers.