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The De Oratore: Cicero and the Culture of Speech

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The De Oratore: Cicero and the Culture of Speech EPILOGUE THE DE ORATORE: CICERO AND THE CULTURE OF SPEECH Ah! boy, Cornelia never with more care Read to her sons than she hath read to thee Sweet poetry and Tully's orator. Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus 4. I The sweetness of the lips increaseth learning. Bacon, The Awanmnent if Learning ( 1605) 6. 3 (from Proverbs 16. 21) Cicero's ideal of rhetorical education is a very broad subject. To study this question, one can focus on the central notion of the orator, 1 or place Cicero's views within the context of Greek thought/ or even, enlarging the scope, examine the relationship between philosophy and rhetoric. 3 Another starting point is offered by a study of the De Oratore, looking closely at its educational aims and the culture of speech it stands for. Cicero's ideal of rhetorical education will be illustrated: first by comparing the De Oratore and the De Re Publica; then by discussing Cicero's view of Socrates in the De Oratore; and, finally, by dealing with the importance of rhetorical education for the present time. 1 On the De Oratore, Leeman/Pinkster (commentary): l\1acKendrick (Phil.) 36-44: 325 (bib!.); Schulte, Oratm; Leeman, 'De integratie.' Most recendy, Narducci. Eloquen;:a; Narducci, (ed.), Cicerone: Prospettiva 2000 and Cambiano in Narducci (ed.) lnterpretare Cicerone: Wisse. On vir bonus dicendi peritus, Petersmann. On the influence of Cicero's ideal, Quadlbauer, 'Optimus orator.' ' Barwick, Bildungsideal. 3 1\fichel, A., Rhetorique et philo.rophie chez C'iceron (Paris, 19~0); id., 'La theorie de Ia rhetorique chez Ciceron: eloquence et philosophic,' in Eloquence et rhitorique che::. Cichon (= Entretiens Fondation Hardt, 28, Vandcruvres-Geneve, 1981), 109-139 (with discussion 140-14 7). 220 EPILOGUE I. Cicero's Ideal cif Rhetorical Education+ The following concepts (nos. 1-4) mark the political and intellectual background, the requirements Cicero expects an orator to meet: 1. Princeps: Cicero considered the orator identical with the politician and the sage. This element of his thought is expressed in the close resemblance of both form and outlook of two of his main works: the De Oratore and the De Re Publica. Cicero's dialogue De Oratore is an important, though unfortunately much neglected, counterpart to the De Re Publica. The concepts of the ideal orator and of the ideal politician explain and complement each other. Both the De Oratore and the De Re Publica stand out as masterpieces in Cicero's cruvre, marked by their sublime literary form as well as by the exceptional practical knowledge of the author: Cicero's philosophical talent may be subject to discussion, but his competence as an orator and a Senator remains beyond doubt. Both works date from the same period in Cicero's life, the time of his so-called otium after his return from exile. There are also close resem­ blances between the ideas expressed in both works, and these par­ allels can contribute much to our understanding of the De Re Publica. 5 To Cicero, the orator is simultaneously a politician and a sage (philosopher). Cicero's ideal orator is primarily concerned with the active management of life and of public affairs; this is a quintes­ sentially Roman conception, but it also points back to Pre-Socratic­ or rather Pre-Sophistic-thought, inasmuch as the philosopher and the orator are considered one and the same person. Virtues cannot be possessed in an abstract sense, they can only be realized through corresponding actions: virtus in usu sui lola posita est 'virtue consists entirely in its application' (De RePublica 1. 2). 6 Rather than theoretical ' To render these 12 concepts somewhat more graphic, they are each headed by a Latin or Greek lemma. 5 Since the De Oratore is less known than the De Re Publica, it might be helpful to quote some parallels: a) the central figures (Scipio and Crassus, respectively) are in some way compared to Socrates (see below, II), and both to a large extent direct the dialogue; moreover, both works are set shortly before the death of the main speaker (as is for instance Plato's P!taedo). b) A comparison of the t>ducation and qualities oftht> statesman in the De Re Publica and of the orator in the De Oratore should be extremely rewarding. c) The proems of the De Re Publica and the De Oratore and the relationship of vita activa and vita contemplativa would provide another theme for examination. 6 Roman and Jewish thought share this view: one may compare the Epistle qf St. James. which, in accordance with Jewish tt>ndencit>s, dt>nounct's faith without pious works as invalid. .
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