The Rhetorical Juvenilia of Cicero and the artes dictaminis

Auteur: Alessio, Gian Carlo
Titre: The Rhetorical Juvenilia of Cicero and the artes dictaminis
Revue/Collection: in: Cox, V. & Ward, J. O. (Ed.), The Rhetoric of Cicero in its Medieval and Early Renaissance Commentary Tradition (Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition, 2)
Lieu èdition: Leiden & Boston
Éditeur: Brill
Annèe edition: 2006
Mots-clès: Héritage - Fortuna - Legacy, Rhétorique - Retorica - Rhetorics
Description: The relevance of Ciceronian rhetorical doctrine to the teaching and practice of the ars dictaminis has traditionally been regarded as marginal, despite the allusions to Ciceronian rhetoric we find in medieval dictamina textbooks. This view, however, needs modification. It is important to recognize, first, that for the theorists of the ars dictaminis as for all other practitioners of medieval communication theory down to the advent of humanism, the principal sources for classical rhetorical doctrine were the De inventione and the Rhetorica ad Herennium. Second, it must be noted that the theorists of the ars dictaminis used their classical sources selectively. Their utilization of classical rhetorical doctrine is, in fact, limited to those partes orationis still recognizably present within the structure of the letter (exordium, narratio and, more rarely, conclusio), and, more generally, to what might be regarded as functional to the needs of dictamen as a primarily stylistic art oriented towards the production of written texts. Elocutio was consequently privileged as the portion of classical doctrine most relevant to the ars dictaminis, while those parts of classical rhetoric that related to forensic and deliberative discourse were generally regarded as dispensable [Author].
Oeuvres:
Liens: http://www.brill.nl/rhetoric-cicero-its-medieval-and-early-renaissance-commentary-tradition
Sigle auteur: Alessio 2006