Exam 5: Rhetoric at Rome

Identify two defining characteristics of the Second Sophistic.

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

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?

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?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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.

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?

What factors characterized the Second Sophistic?

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

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

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

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

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

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?