Deck 5: Rhetoric at Rome

Question 1

What are Cicero's five canons of rhetoric?

Answer 1

Invention (inventio): The discovery of valid or seemingly valid arguments.Arrangement (dispositio): The distribution of arguments in the proper order.Expression (elocutio): Using the proper language for arguments.Memory (memoria): Having a firm mental grasp on the words and matter of a speech.Delivery (pronuntiatio): Control over voice and body in a manner fitting to the style and subject matter of the speech.

Question 2

Into what two general categories did Cicero divide his loci of judicial pleading?

Answer 2

Cicero's two general categories of loci for judicial pleading included: the attributes of the person and the attributes of the act. Roman culture valued personal character, so addressing the attributes of a person was persuasive in a courtroom. Secondly, the attributes of the act were aimed at addressing the nature of a particular act, its consequences, how it was performed, etc. The attributes of an act resemble issues that might be brought up in a modern courtroom.

Question 3

How were Greek and Roman understandings of the citizen different?

Answer 3

Greek concepts of the citizen were based largely on equality. Roman ideas of the citizen posited a distinct gap between rulers and ruled. In Greek society, the gap between the poor and the powerful was bridged by isegoria, the right of a citizen to speak in the assembly. Rome had no such right, and while the opinion of the people mattered, individual citizens had little power.

Question 4

According to Cicero, what must speakers be wary of when using humor?

Question 5

Cicero held that eloquence had been separated from some other crucial factor in Roman rhetoric. What is that other factor? Why was he concerned to bring these two qualities together?

Question 6

What were the five parts of a speech that Quintilian taught to his students?

Question 7

What did Quintilian mean by suggesting that an orator must be a good person?

Question 8

What were the qualities and skills that Longinus suggested helped an author to achieve the quality of sublimity?

Question 9

In what three ways did Longinus extend the rhetorical tradition?

Question 10

What factors characterized the Second Sophistic?

Question 11

For Cicero, the complete orator represented Roman civic values. Is such a conception of a public figure-whether speaker or writer-possible today? Which persons in our society might take on such a role? Who comes closest? Why?

Question 12

Skill in argumentation was crucially important to courtroom pleading and civic life generally in Rome. Is skill in argumentation still highly regarded? Is argumentation widely taught in our schools? If not, is it assumed that skill in this art is either natural, learned through studying other subjects, or just not important?

Question 13

Longinus found in rhetoric an avenue to more beautiful and expressive writing. Can studying examples of great writing, particularly the rhetorical figures employed by great writers, help you to improve your writing? Is great writing still valued, or has visual expression overshadowed writing in contemporary society?

Question 14

If rhetorical practices and democratic forms of government tend to flourish together, how would you characterize the present state of rhetoric and democracy in U.S. culture? Are both flourishing? Are both in decline?

Question 15

Roman culture placed less value on the individual citizen than in the collective response of the _________________, the Latin term for the citizenry and its legitimate rights and concerns.

Question 16

Cicero's third canon of rhetoric ________________, the Latin term for expression, focused on "the fitting of the proper language to the invented materials."

Question 17

Throughout his rhetorical theory, Cicero sought the union of _______________ and eloquence, believing that without having each of these components rhetoric was either useless or dangerous.

Question 18

________________ is the Latin term for Cicero's complete orator, who was a leader that manifested the values of the state and must understand law, politics, economics, military affairs, poetry, and philosophy.

Question 19

________________ was the Roman rhetorician who is credited as the inventor of literary criticism and emphasized rhetoric's application to good writing.

Question 20

________________ is the name Cicero gives to the part of a judicial speech that acts as an introduction and is designed to capture the audience's attention.

Question 21

Which of the following was the focus of a system developed by Cicero to discover arguments by identifying where points of conflict or disagreement would take place in a case or debate?

A) Loci
B) Portus
C) Stasis
D) Topoi

Question 22

Which of the following was the name Quintilian gave to the part of a judicial speech that was designed to offer evidence to support the claims of the speech?

A) Narratio
B) Peroratio
C) Confutatio
D) Confirmatio

Question 23

Which of the following is not one of the five sources of great writing outlined in On the Sublime?

A) Understanding of audience
B) Vigor of mental conception
C) Strong and inspired emotion
D) Nobility of diction

Question 24

Which of the following works did Cicero write when he was nineteen, was a collection of notes and musings on the art of oratory, and outlines his five canons of rhetoric?

A) On the Sublime
B) De Inventione
C) De Oratore
D) Institutes of Oratory

Question 25

Which of the following options expresses the three functions Cicero assigns to oratory?

A) To teach, to delight, and to persuade
B) To invent, to succeed, and to persuade
C) To teach, to succeed, and to legislate
D) To achieve, to attack, and to defend

Question 26

Which of the following did Quintilian classify as admissible proof for orators to use?

A) Proof from senses
B) Proof from rulers
C) Proof from common beliefs
D) Both A and C

Question 27

The Romans were entranced by Greek culture and adopted many of their concepts and systems, especially the Athenian belief in democracy and that all free men should be politically equal.

Question 28

Quintilian believed that an accomplished orator was necessarily a good citizen using their rhetorical powers for the benefit of Rome, and that someone of poor moral character could not fake eloquence.

Question 29

Cicero believed that rhetoric, like all great arts, was most excellent when it was farthest removed from the mental capacity of the untrained, meaning he thought orators should avoid tailoring their rhetoric to the masses.

Question 30

The Second Sophistic marked rhetoric's prominence as a means of shaping policy and legislation in the Roman Empire.

Question 31

Cicero believed there was "great and frequent utility" in humor, but that an orator must be careful not to look foolish, or to make light of topics the audience considers serious.

Question 32

The Roman's legal code was vastly more complex than that used by the Athenians, and therefore Roman orators had a particular interest in judicial argument.

Question 33

Provide the term for the following definitions:
-Latin term for "to delight"; one of Cicero's three functions or goals of rhetoric.

Question 34

Provide the term for the following definitions:
-The distribution of arguments thus discovered in the proper order, one of Cicero's five canons of oratory.

Question 35

Provide the term for the following definitions:
-Latin term for "to teach"; one of Cicero's three functions or goals of rhetoric.

Question 36

Provide the term for the following definitions:
-The fitting of the proper language to the invented material of a speech, one of Cicero's five canons of rhetoric.

Question 37

Provide the term for the following definitions:
-Gatherings of citizens in the Forum.

Question 38

Provide the term for the following definitions:
-The discovery of valid or seemingly valid arguments.

Question 39

Provide the term for the following definitions:
-Systems for discovering arguments.

Question 40

Provide the term for the following definitions:
-Latin term for "to persuade, or to move an audience's emotions"; one of Cicero's three functions or goals of rhetoric.

Question 41

Provide the term for the following definitions:
-The orator as a leader who embodied and articulated the society's values.

Question 42

Provide the term for the following definitions:
-The control of voice and body in a manner suitable to the dignity of the subject matter and the style.

Question 43

Provide the term for the following definitions:
-System for discovering arguments by identifying points where clash or disagreement was likely to occur in a case or debate.

Question 44

Comment briefly but specifically on the relationship between education and rhetoric in Rome.

Question 45

What were Cicero's five canons of rhetoric as discussed in De Inventione? Briefly describe each.

Question 46

List and briefly describe the four basic types of issues that characterize Cicero's stasis system as discussed in Book I of De Inventione.

Question 47

Cicero discussed the loci of judicial argument under which two broad headings in De Inventione? Provide an example of one question about which arguments might be advanced under each heading.

Question 48

Eloquence by itself, according to Cicero, was little more than a "ridiculous swirl of words." With what must eloquence be joined to avoid this fate? What was required of an orator to ensure that these two things were joined?

Question 49

What were, for Cicero, the three basic functions of oratory identified in works such as Brutus and Orator?

Question 50

For Cicero, who was the "complete orator" (perfectus orator), and what role did this individual play in society?

Question 51

Based on his "cardinal rules of humor," what did Cicero apparently believe about the relationship of the rhetor and the audience?

Question 52

How did Roman and Greek conceptions of the citizen differ?

Question 53

Briefly describe what was for Quintilian the relationship between oratory and good citizenship.

Question 54

What are the five parts of a judicial speech as described in works such as Cicero's De Inventione and the Rhetorica ad Herennium? Identify and briefly describe each part.

Question 55

What was the difference between a definite and an indefinite question in Quintilian's system?

Question 56

Identify and briefly describe what for Longinus were the sources of great writing.

Question 57

Identify two defining characteristics of the Second Sophistic.

Question 58

Cicero was the most famous and influential orator of the Roman period. He was also an astute theorist of rhetoric from a very early age. Cicero's conception of rhetoric centered on the union of two capacities or abilities. What were they, and why was this union important to Cicero? What did this joining of capacities have to do with the concept of the "complete orator"? What was the social significance of such a person to Cicero?

Question 59

Compare and contrast Cicero's two major works on rhetoric, De Inventione and De Oratore. About when in Cicero's lifetime was each written? With what kinds of issues is each concerned? In which does Cicero develop his canons of oratory? In which does he develop a theory of humor? How are these two works on rhetoric different?

Question 60

Overview Cicero's treatment of humor in De Oratore. What were some of his reasons for commending humor in oratory? What limits did he see for the use of humor, and what cautions did he suggest for the orator employing humor? How did he divide the various types of humor? What does his treatment of humor tell us about his conception of the place of the audience in the orator's calculations about what to include in a speech?