Cicero and Quintilian on the Formation of an Orator. INSTITUTION Southern Connecticut State Coll., New Haven

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AUTHOR Golden, James L. TITLE Cicero and Quintilian on the Formation of an Orator. INSTITUTION Southern Connecticut State Coll., New Haven. Dept. of Speech. PUB DATE 69 NOTE 6p. JOURNAL CIT Speech Journal; n6 p29-34 1969

EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS Communication (Thought Transfer); *Composition Skills (Literary); *Discourse Analysis; Information Theory; Literary Analysis; *Persuasive Discourse; Public Speaking; *Rhetoric; *Rhetorical Criticism; Textual Criticism IDENTIFIERS Cicero; Quintilian

ABSTRACT The contributions of Cicero and Quintilian, the two leading Roman rhetoricians, were based on their acceptance of the prior philosophical theories of Isocrates, which emphasized a cultural approach to rhetoric. Cicero and Quintilian, drawing from Isocrates sought prospective orators who had a natural talent for eloquence and who could adopt a cultural approach to rhetoric that emphasized the worth of reading and writing as important to forming the abilities of the model speaker. Their particular contributions were their emphases on the relationships between writing and speaking ability and their construction of systems ofrhetoric which viewed the orator as the prime motivator of a group of listeners on a specific occasion. Their writer-speaker centered rhetoric anticipated the tradition of rhetoric and letters that flourished in later centuries, with special relevance for mid-twentieth century students of communication theory. (Author/RN) Speech Journal, n6, 1969 Published by Dept. of Speech, Southern Connecticut State College.

cicero and quintilian on the formation of an orator by James L. Golden

The theory of culture approach to rhetoric of scholarship which could serve as a frame- has long been identified with the name of work for producing rhetorical works that Isocrates. For decades: in his highly success- have artistic form. In his Tusculan Disputa- ful school ‘vhich attracted potential orators. tions, written a few weeks'before the Ides historians. and• political leaders, he taught of March in 44 B.C., Cicero observed that an that rhetoric "ought to be a work of art as author who publiAes his thoughts expressed complete and as substantive us the•utterance in faulty content, arrangement. and style Of poety . . .'." In doing so he demonstrated is guilty' of "an unpardonable abuse of let- faith in prose rhythm as a literary form ters and retiremen t." A few months later, and recommended its use as a means of pre- following the murder of Caesar, Cicero paring the student of communication to take .sought to protect the scholarly reputation part in political affairs. SS well as the physical safety of his friend Isocrates, who described his system as Brutus. In a letter to Atticus he noted: philosophical. built his concept of oratory "Brutus has sent me his speech that he de- around four major characteristics. To 'be livered before the Assembly on the Capitol. effective, he argued a speaker or writer Ile wants me to' correct it frankly' before must have a broad view of nature and so- he publisfies it." Cicero then added : "1 ciety; he must root his ideas in an elevated should like to read the speech...andto moral tone; he must adhere to a thorough let me know what you think of it:"' The in- and well structured method of practice and terest which both Brutus and Cicero ex- . scholarship; and he. should strive to•create 'pressed on this occasion concerning the need world that would have permanent rather for careful Fcrntiny of speeches designed to than ephemeral value; The communicator be nulilished doubtless epitomizes the pre- who hoped to achieve these ends would, of vailing fear which gripped the real andtsuk- necessity, have a firm grasp of the humani- peeled opponents of Caesar. But more im- ties and social sciences, project a strong portantly it reveals the high status of Latin moral dimension, and reveal a commitment scholarship during the generation of Cicero to scholarship. He would, in short, have an and the immediately subsequent Augustan appreciation for culture. Age. As a man of letters who was, accord.- ing to Chester Starr, "the most important This cultural, and pragmatic emphasis in single cultural leader in the thousand years rhetorical instruction held a special appeal of Roman development,'". Cicero conducted for Cicero. and Quintilian. "The brilliancy a lifelong campaign to create a philosophical of Isocrates" which, observes Jebb, came vocabulary in Latin and to establish stand- "to Cicero through the school o'f Rhodes" ards for a concise, varied, vivid, and infor- contributed significantly to the development mal style which would appeal to the literati. of Cicero's rhetorical theory and practice; But he also set for himself the task of en- and this, in turn, helped shape the philosophy riching his native tongue so that it could of Quintilian. With Isocrates the two leading become suitable as a spoken language.' ills Roman rh&oricians saw the relationship of conscious attempt to mobilize the Latin lan- art, nature, reading, and practice in produc- guage led Cicero to write numerous letters, ing the orator. To sketch this correlation essays, dialogues, poems, and speeches that and to show some of its implications is the were filed for publication. Moreover it burden of this essay. prompted him to see strong similarities be- An important.tirst step in tinders:tamling tween a speaker's devotion to careful schol- Cicero's method of formitrg an orator is to arship and his ability to exprelss ideas orally note his interest in constructing a philosophy and in writing. This Isocratic tendency to view rhetoric of merit." said Cicero. "who has not attained and other prose forms as an artistic produc- a knowledge of all important subjects and tion which should win the approval of men arts. For it is from knowledge thatoratory of culture not only influenced Cicero's De must derive its beauty and fullness, and un- Oratore but constitutes a major thrusi in. less there is such knowledge, well-grasped Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria. But the ideal and comprehended by the speaker. there orator both men sought to create must meet must be something empty and almost child- three additional requirements. lie should ish in the litterance."• As the seat ch for the have an inherent ability to speak a compre- perfect orator unfolds in the subsequent hensivereading knowledge of philosophy.and pages of De Oratore, Cicero strives mightily other liberal arts. and intense practice in to show that learning And eloquence must writing. So closely related are these forms go together. of communication, Quintilian held, that if In formulating; a pragmatic educational one were separated the others would lose view of rhetoric based on a theory of eul- their power. lie observed in his Institutio hire which stressed the value of nature and Oratoria: knowledge, Cicero and Quintilian, standing They are so intimately aml inseparably squarely in the tradition of Isocrates, said connected, that it' any one of them be ne- little that was new. As they turned to the glected, we shall but waste the labor which function and importance of writing as a tool we' have devoted to the others. For elo- for developing an orator they were refresh- quence will never attain to its full devel- ingly innovative and influential. in the early opment or robust healtIL'unless it acquires stages of an orator's preparation, Quintilian strength by frequent practice in writing, held that an endowed speaking talent is first while such practice without the models in importance, while •reading ranks second. supplied by reading will be like a ship As the student of rhetoric progresses, how- drifting aimlessly without a steersman. ever..the relative value of these points will Again, he who knows what he ought to say shift. With the maturing of the educational and how he should say it, will be like a process, writing assumes a steadily sig- miser brooding over his hoarded treasure, • nificant role. in his De Oralore and Brutus, unless he has the weapons of his eloquence Cicero asserted that writing is not only an ready for battle and prepared to deal with "eminent . . . teacher of eloquence,"" but every emergency." the most impressive single influence on Largely because of the high standards in- speaking practices." herent in a cultural view of rhetoric, Cicero Cicero and Quintilian were not content to and Quintilian, like their Greek predecessors. give testimonials concerning the general concluded that nature was a more influential value of writing in relation to speech.. They force than nurture in shaping an orator. For proceeded to ekamine the specific contribu- it is nature which gives to the speaker his tion of the pen as an implement of oratory. inventive ability, his talent to arrange and This was especially evident in the area of adapt arguments in a judicious manner, his extemporaneous speech. Some Roman speak- potential power in language control, and his et•s frequently wrote out their addresses in basic vocal and physical mechanism. With- complete manuscript form, then committed out these innate essentials one cannot appre- the language to memory. But they attempted date the role of culture in rhetoric, nor can to deliver the oration in such an off-hand he develop a facility in the arts of reading manner that even the judge could•not detect and writing which form the essence of the amount of labor which went into the oratory. construction of the work. Such a practice, But if nature is needed to provide the raw however, failed to fortify the speaker against materials for effective rhetorical perform- unpredictable emergencies. Moreover, par- ance it is nurture that takes the materials ticularly in forensic speaking, it was often and moulds them into a meaningful pattern. too time consuming to be useful, Cicero and One of the fruits of nurture is to open the other successful pleaders before the bar, doors of knowledge through a thorough and therefore, usually wrote certain portions of steady program of reading and study. "No their orations, such as the introduction, con- man can be an orator complete in all pointsclusion, and select passages in the discus- sion. The effectiveness of the speech, then, Hortensius, Sulpicius, Galba, and Pericles depended largely upon their ability to im- were articulate speakers, yet, they either lacked the ability to provise. write or the 'will to do l'hrough his experiences as a performer so. Hortensius,contemporary a of Cicero, and an observer of forensic opponents, early in his career mastertd the. Asiatic Cicero also had come to believe that When- style, and developed a dynamic delivery. As ever in person can express unpremeditated he cultivated these talents, he became one thoughts, in a style that resembles what is of the leading orators of Home. Indeed his written, he may be considered a master of prestige remained unchallenged until Ci- extempore speech. That the means of gain- cero's eloquence reached maturity. Notwith- standing his success as a speaker, Horten- ing this facility is through diligent practice sius was a deficientwriter. "His writings," in writing is also clear. As Cicero put it in De Oratore: said Quintilian. "tall so far short of the repu- tation which for so long secured him the ...he too who approachesby way oratoryfirst place among orators..". of long practice in writing, brings this an effective advantage to his task. that even if he is Sulpicius likewise was speak- extemporizing. whatever he may say bears er who had an elevated and flowing style, a. a likeness to the written word; and more- vibrant and resonant voice, and a graceful over if ever, during a speech, he has intro- and theatrical manner., Yet he failed to duced a written note, the rest of his dis- achieve permanent distinetion as an orator, course. when he turns away from, the writ- for. as Cicero regretfully observed: "No ing, will proceed in unchanging style. Just oration from the mind of Sulpicius. . . is as when a boat is moving at high speed, extant. I often heard him comment on the if the crew rest upon their oars, the craft fact, that he had never cultivated the habit herself still keeps her way and her run. of writing and found it impossible."15 though the driving force of the oars has That Pericles was similarly a persuasive ceased, so in an unbroken discourse, when speaker, Socrates, Plato, and Cicero con- written notes are exhausted. the rest of the curred. For forty years the Athenians ap- speech still maintains a like progress, un- plauded his eloquence. But when Quintilian der the impulse given by the similarity examined Pericles' written works, he eon- and energy of the written word.' eluded that some other pen had composed Quintilian echoed a similar sentiment when them. "I have been unable to discover any- he said: thing," he said, "in the least worthy of his For without the consciousness of such. great reputation for eloquence. and and con- preliminary study our powers of speak- sequently the less surprised that there should ing extempore will give us nothing but an he some who hold that he never committed empty flow of words, springing from the anything to writing and that the writings lips and not from the brain. It is in writ- circulating under his name are the works ing that the eloquence has its roots and. of others."'16 foundations, it is writing that provides Cicero, when asked by Brutus to explain the holy of holies where the wealth 'of how Galba's reputed speaking effectiveness oratory is stored, and whence it is pro- was not apparent in his printed works, sug- duced to meet the demands of sudden gested three reasons why certain orators emergencies." did not write 'as well as they spoke 'or did If writing skill contributes significantly not write at all. Since it Was often custom- to one's extemporaneous speaking style, it is ary, first of all, to write out speeches after also useful as a means of measuring the they had been delivered, the orators. when, validity of an orator's reputation and long writing., were in a different physical envir- range effectiveness. In fulfilling this chal- onment and psychological. mood. The inspi- lenge of rhetorical criticism, Cicero and ration which they had -received from the Quintilian classified Greek and Roman ora- cheering multitudes in the forum was not tors into three categories: (1) persuasive present in their private studies at home. speakers who wrote little or ineffectively; Hence they no longer had the urge to call (2) good writers who spoke rarely or inade- forth the necessary energy that is needed quately; and (3) scholarly writers who to write with vividness and 'force. Under spoke well. such circumstances the written composition doubtless was inferior to the spoken word. analysis of their published speeches demon- Secondly, since some orators were primarily strates that the touch of the hand was equal concerned with their immediate audience to the power of the voice. In short, they did they .had no compulsion to influence poster- what all good orators should do. They wrote ity. Others. finally. refrained from writing. as they spoke and spoke as they wrote. as we have seen, becausethey recognized Such, observed Quintilian, is the essence of their natural deficicncy or inadequate train- oratory. ing,''• Once they had become convinced of the If Cicero‘and Quint man were disappointed interrelationship between writing' and speak- in orators who lacked training or talent in ing Cicero and Quintilian, as proponents of writing. they also criticized writers who the philosophical educational view of rhe- could not or did not communicate ideas toric, established guidelines for gaining fa- orally. The two leading members of. this cility in writing manuscripts that contain group were Isocrates and Lysias. Although "the best thoughts in the choicest lan- Cicero called Lysias an almost perfect or- guage."22 Quintilian began his discussion of ator, and described Isocrates as a "consom- this theme by exhorting his students to avoid' mate orator" and "an ideal teacher," he de- spending excessive time on the first draft. plored the tendency of these speakers to But he also warned them not to compose too shrink "from the broad daylight of the rapidly. Thirdly he criticized the 'common forum."'" implicit in Cicero's description, of procedure of dictating speeches to an aman- Isocrates and Lysias was an indictment of uensis. To these prescriptive statements em- logographers who observed rather than ex- phasizing what should not be done, he next perienced the rhetorical strategy they had presented positive suggestions, for improve- created. Despite his enormous talents Isoc- rate.: could not. be included "in the class of ment. One should know "when, where, and perfection," noted by Cicero in his De Op. how fast to write; and he should, when nec- essary, employ timo Genere Oratorum. "For his oratory does the three methods' of revi- not take part in the battle nor use steel, but sion—"addition, excision, and alteration." plays with a wooden sword ..."" Of the possible exercises that may he used . Thee ideal orator sought by Cicero and to help develop writing skill the most im- Quintilian would most likely be found in portant are imitation. translation, and para- the third category of communicators who phrasing. Whenever there practices are com- achieved excellence hoth in writing and Wiled they stimulate the memory, .increase speaking. Not the least of those who approx- the understanding and enhance tile flexibil- imated this high standard of eloquence were ity and ease of expression. Hopefully what Aeschines, Demosthenes, and Cicero himself. is learned from these exercises will tend to The following, statement' drawn from the produce an eloquence which is similarly ef- Brutus standsas testimony of Demosthenes' fective in the written and spoken word. The accomplishments: "For the perfect orator value of this approach is described in' the and the one who lacks absolutely nothing following passages taken 'from Cicero's De you would without hesitUtion name Demos- thenes„ Ingenuity however. acute, however Optimo Genere Oratorum: subtle, however shrewd, would fail to dis- I translated the most famous orations cover any point in the orations from his of the two most eloquent Attic' orators, hand which he has overlooked."'' In other Aeschines and Demosthenes, orations rhetoricarworks Cicero was less laudatory, which they delivered against each other. arguing that his Greek predecessor fell short And I did not translate them as an inter- of perfection, but he never'altered his judg- preter, but as an orator, keeping the same ' mem that Deniosthehess was unsurpassed in ideas and the forms, or as one might say, the history of Oratory. It remained for Quin- the "figures" of thought ( but in language tilian in Book X of Institutio Oratoria to es- which conforms to our usage. And in so t abl ish the, precedent of drawing. a compari- doing, I did not hold it necessary to render son between Demosthenes and Cicero. These word for word, but I presented the gen- two orators, Quintilian held, had two im- eral style and force of the language. . . . portant points in common. They knew how The result of my labour will be that our to write as well as how to speak. A close Romans will know what to demand from those who claim to be the atticists and to ness, as well as immediate inTact. is an es- what rule of speech, as it were_ they are sential measurement of rhetorical success, to be held.24 they wished to elevate oratory to the level Cicero also found it rewarding to translate of literature. This prompted them to give a and paraphrase the works of enephon and preeminent position not only to invention Plato.25 but to style which, in turn, made them wary of publishing manuscripts that had not been It would appear from this brief survey polished and honed to meet the taste of an that the two leading Roman rhetoricians educated populace. For this reason they al- wanted prospective orators who had a na- luded with approval to the'great confronta- tural talent for eloquence to . embrace a tion hetween Aeschines and Demosthenes in theory of culture approach to rhetorical per- 338B.C. as an example which both instructed formance which emphasized the worth of and inspired the Romans of the first cot- reading and writing as important elements tury B.C. and, A.D. not merely because of in forming the model speaker. Notwithstand- the historic message and the renowned pro- ing, the fact that this philosophy was de- tagonists but because of the elegant and sub- rived largely from Isocrates, Cicero and lime style that gave the extant manuscripts Quintilian are to be commended for their permanince. In fashioning his own eloquence creative suggest ions concerning the relation- Cicero (*mite clearly kept One eye on his im- ship between writing and speaking ability. mediate audience and another on posterity. The practitioner who. stresses one of these Thus he, like Demosthenes, provided models communication forms and neglects the other which could be imitated. translated.. and maY achieve temporary fame as a persuasive paraphrased during subsequent centuries. speaker or an enduring influence as an ac- Perhaps the author of Ad Herennium,had complished manuscript writer. But he can the youthful Cicero in mind when he said: never approximate the ideal orator who "Let orators devote their artistic power to must excel in both areas. The implications this purpose--to win esteem as worthy them- of this analysis are not without significance. selves to be chosen as models by others, rat h- First, in arguing that a facility in writing er than as good choosers of others who entdd is needed to produce the necessary momen- serve as models for them."27 tum for an extemporaneous speaker to ad- dress his immediate audience with rhyth- Not to be overlooked is another influence mical smoothness and force, Cicero and Quin- derived from • a writing-speaking centered tilian, conscious of the importance of effect, rhetoric conceived by Isocrates and perpetu- constructed a practical. system of rhetoric ated by Cicero and Quintilian. In giving sim- which viewed the orator as the prime mo- ilar emphasis hi the need for instructing tivator of a group of listeners on a specific students in the two forms of communication occasion. and in describing the effect each has upon the other, they, despite their attachment to Oratory, however, must have a larger goal an oral. society which moulded them, antic- than to stimulate a listener in a particular ipated the tradition of rhetoric and belles situation at a designated moment in history. lettres that flourished in the eighteenth cen- It should also address itself to a long range tury. Adam Smith in his popular lectures in audience not bound by time and locale. In a Edinburgh and later in his classroom' dis- sense, therefore, Cicero and Quintilian were cussions at the University of Glasgow, and not_only rhetorical critics but literary critics Hugh Blair in his celebrated book in I783 as well. It is instructive at this point to re- combined rhetoric with polite literature and tall Wichelns' classic treatise, "The Literary criticism as a basis for teaching their stu- Criticism, of Oratory." The literary critic, he observed, l and writ- views a "work as the voice of dents to develop profic i eney in ora ten communication. the human spirit addressing itself to men of all ages and times..."26 This tradition Similarh Post-World War II courses com- of criticism which 11'icheIns found prevalent bining units on reading, writing, speaking, in the nineteenth century received an early and listening are at least indirectly trace- impetus in the writings 'of Cicero and Quin- able to Cicero and Quintilian. In maintain- tilian. Convinced that long range effective- ing, therefore, an abiding concern for ere- ating an ideal orator who could produce 14. Ibid., X1 ;. 8. works of immediate and permanent value., 15. Brutus, 1‘.1 205. the Roman rhetoricians pointed the way to- ward a rhetoric of relevance for mid-twen- - 16. 10. III 1 12. tieth century students of communication 17. Brutus, 23. 91-95. theory.28 18. H. M. Hubbell, tr., Cicero DeOptimo Genere Ora- torum. (Cambridge, Mass.,1960), V. 17, Cited here- after as De OptimoGenere Oratorum. Also see Brutus, REFERENCES viii, 32 and 35. 19. De OptimoGenere Oratorum, v. 17. 1. R. C. Jebb,The Attic Orators from Antiphon to 2 Vols. (New York, 1962), 11, 56. 20.Brutus,Viii. 35.

2. Ibid.,36.53. 21. I.O., Book7. 7.X.

3.Ibid.,73. 22. Orator,lxvii. 227.

4. Cicero,Tusculan Disputations, ed. C. D. Yonge, I. 3 23. I.O., Book, X 3 and 4.

5. Ciceroto Atticus, Sinuessa, May 18, 14 B.G., in Moses 21. De Optimo Genere Oratorum,V. 1•1•15. Hadas,.ed.. The Basic Works ofCicero(New York. 1951), pp. 418-19. 25. Cicero was particularly impressed with Plato's ability to communicate.In essay "On Moral Duties," he 6. Chester Starr, AHistoryof the Ancient World (New observed "I indulge the fancy that Plato,had he chosen York, 1965). p. 526. to practise oratory, would have made an impressive and eloquent pleader. . ." The Basic Works of 7. See H.M. Hubbell. tr.. Orator (Cambridge. Mass., Cicero, p. 6.reinforces He this idea in De Oratore. 1942), p. 298; Hadas, The Basic Works of Cicero, Here he suggests that after reading the Gorgias "what x, xyii; H. J. IlaskcIl.This Was CiceroiNcw'York. impressed me most deeply about Plato in that book 1912). p. 301; and Charles Baldwin, Ancient Rhetoric was, that it was when making fun of orators that he and Poetic(Gloucester, Kiss.. 1959), p. 39. himself seemed to me the consummate orator." De Oratore, I. xi. .11 8. H. E. Butler: tr..The InstitutioOratoria of Quintilian (London, 1933), Book X, 1, 2, Hereafter citedas 10. 26. Herbert Wichelns, "The Literary Criticism of Oratory," in Studies in Rhetoricand Public Speaking in Honor 9. E. W. Sutton and H: Rackham, tr.. CiceroDe Oratore of James Albert Winans (New York, 1925), p. 213. (Cambridge, Mass.,• 1950). Book I.' vi. 20. 27. H. Caplan. tr., Ad Herennium (Cambridge, Mass., 10. Ibid., I. 33. 150. 196I), iv. 7. 11. G. L. Hendrickson. tr..Brutus (Cambridge. Mass.. 28. They would have endorsed enthusiastically the strategy 1942); xxiii. 92, Cited hereafter as Brutus. of John F. Kennedy who confessed that he prepared 12. De Oratore, I. 33. 152.53. his inaugural address with the thought in mind that it would achieve a high place in United States history. 13. I.O.,Book X, 3.2-3. See New York Times,January 13, 1961.