rhetoric, Latin

Abstract Rhetoric is the systematic pursuit of eloquence through exercises, study, and theory. The ostensible objective was the ability to persuade an audience, especially in the contexts of forensic and deliberative debates; but the pursuit was consequential also in other ways—social, personal, intellectual, and moral. Rhetoric made its start at Rome sometime during the Second Punic War. It was in the wake of the Third Macedonian War that it began to establish itself in elite education. While rhetoric’s doctrines were unmistakably Greek in origin, social and political factors operative in Rome profoundly shaped rhetoric’s history there. In its early period, it was Greek-speaking foreigners, almost exclusively freedmen, who as house tutors taught rhetoric to their Roman elite patrons. The teaching of rhetoric was doubly marked as a subordinate profession by the low status of its teachers and by its default language of instruction, Greek. Scholastic instruction was complemented by mentorships in the ways of public life from well-positioned aristocrats, and by study abroad. By the 1st century bce, despite vigorous resistance from some nobles, a Latin rhetoric developed and gained acceptance. Rhetorical manuals in Latin were in circulation, and rhetors of somewhat higher social status taught in Latin. Skill in public speaking was potentially life-altering. Successful prosecutions, even from non-elite provincials, were materially rewarding. From the mid-1st century bce through the Augustan Age and beyond, skill in declamation could bring social distinction and elevation. In 71 ce the first state-sponsored chair in Latin rhetoric was established and occupied by the Spaniard Quintilian.