Author: Gaines, Robert N.
Title: Roman Rhetorical Handbooks
Review/Collection: In : Dominik, William & Hall, Jon (ed.), A Companion to Roman Rhetoric, Oxford/Malden/Carlton, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2007, 528 p. [Dominik & Hall 2007]
Year edition: 2007
Pages: 163-180
Keywords: Rhétorique - Retorica - Rhetorics
Description: The purpose of this essay is to provide an introduction to Roman rhetorical handbooks, especially the Latin handbooks characteristic of early first century BCE, namely, Cicero’s De Inventione and the anonymous Rhetorica ad Herennium. My approach will be historical, for it is almost impossible to understand either of these works apart from earlier developments in rhetoric, particularly within the handbook traditions that arose to impart rhetorical principles to students at advanced stages of their formal education. Accordingly, I shall arrange my comments in three roughly chronological segments. The first sketches three handbook traditions that shaped the contours of rhetorical theory and instruction from late fifth through late second century BCE. The second describes the handbook tradition that fused these traditions and dominated rhetorical thinking from late second century up to the time of our Latin handbooks. The third addresses the contents of the Latin handbooks, considering their relation to previous handbook traditions and other intellectual forces that influenced rhetorical thought in the first century BCE. [Author] This chapter contains section titled: The Greek Background ; The Eclectic Theory ; Early Latin Handbooks
Works:
Author initials: Gaines 2007
Title: Roman Rhetorical Handbooks
Review/Collection: In : Dominik, William & Hall, Jon (ed.), A Companion to Roman Rhetoric, Oxford/Malden/Carlton, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2007, 528 p. [Dominik & Hall 2007]
Year edition: 2007
Pages: 163-180
Keywords: Rhétorique - Retorica - Rhetorics
Description: The purpose of this essay is to provide an introduction to Roman rhetorical handbooks, especially the Latin handbooks characteristic of early first century BCE, namely, Cicero’s De Inventione and the anonymous Rhetorica ad Herennium. My approach will be historical, for it is almost impossible to understand either of these works apart from earlier developments in rhetoric, particularly within the handbook traditions that arose to impart rhetorical principles to students at advanced stages of their formal education. Accordingly, I shall arrange my comments in three roughly chronological segments. The first sketches three handbook traditions that shaped the contours of rhetorical theory and instruction from late fifth through late second century BCE. The second describes the handbook tradition that fused these traditions and dominated rhetorical thinking from late second century up to the time of our Latin handbooks. The third addresses the contents of the Latin handbooks, considering their relation to previous handbook traditions and other intellectual forces that influenced rhetorical thought in the first century BCE. [Author] This chapter contains section titled: The Greek Background ; The Eclectic Theory ; Early Latin Handbooks
Works:
Author initials: Gaines 2007
