"Dominik and Hall have produced a solid, well–structured and accessible piece of work, which not only provides an excellent starting point to newcomers, but also contains a number of original contributions that will be of interest to more advanced scholars." (
Scholia Reviews, June 2010)
This Blackwell Companion successfully communicates the efflorescence of Roman rhetorical practices and the centrality of rhetoric in Roman thought. (
Classical World, June 2009)
"The historical and generic range of these 32 scholarly essays strikingly reflects how rhetoric pervaded Roman literature .Students at all levels will benefit from reading these essays." (Classical Review. 2008)
Students at all levels will benefit from reading these essays, both for their intrinsic scholarship and for the guidance they give, through copious bibliographical reference, towards further research an important contribution to Blackwell s catalogue of classical titles. (The Classical Review, Vol 58 No. 1 2008)
Dominik and Hall′s [book] will be welcomed by those seeking capable introductions to the areas it treats. Through an array of open–minded contributions [it] usefully introduces the main scholarly issues in Roman rhetoric and oratory, outlining how far the field has come and the opportunities and complications that lie ahead. (Bryn Mawr Classical Review)
A significant major contribution that adds further prestige to a very major series. (Reference Reviews)
"A short review cannot begin to do justice to the immense range of material covered here This excellent Companion will tell most readers all they need to know about Roman rhetoric." (Journal of Classics Teaching)
This welcome addition fills a void long empty in classical scholarship .Every library, if not every Classics department, should own a copy. (New England Classical Journal)
Notes on Contributors viii
Preface xii
Texts and Abbreviations xiv
Part I Approaching Rhetoric 1
1 Confronting Roman Rhetoric 3 William Dominik and Jon Hall
2 Modern Critical Approaches to Roman Rhetoric 9 John Dugan
3 Greek Rhetoric Meets Rome: Expansion, Resistance, and Acculturation 23 Sarah Culpepper Stroup
4 Native Roman Rhetoric: Plautus and Terence 38 John Barsby
5 Roman Oratory Before Cicero: The Elder Cato and Gaius Gracchus 54 Enrica Sciarrino
Part II Rhetoric and Its Social Context 67
6 Rhetorical Education and Social Reproduction in the Republic and Early Empire 69 Anthony Corbeill
7 Virile Tongues: Rhetoric and Masculinity 83 Joy Connolly
8 Oratory, Rhetoric, and Politics in the Republic 98 Michael C. Alexander
9 Oratory and Politics in the Empire 109 Steven H. Rutledge
10 Roman Senatorial Oratory 122 John T. Ramsey
11 Panegyric 136 Roger Rees
12 Roman Oratorical Invective 149 Valentina Arena
Part III Systematizing Rhetoric 161
13 Roman Rhetorical Handbooks 163 Robert N. Gaines
14 Elocutio: Latin Prose Style 181 Roderich Kirchner
15 Memory and the Roman Orator 195 Jocelyn Penny Small
16 Wit and Humor in Roman Rhetoric 207 Edwin Rabbie
17 Oratorical Delivery and the Emotions: Theory and Practice 218 Jon Hall
Part IV Rhetoricians and Orators 235
18 Lost Orators of Rome 237 Catherine Steel
19 Cicero as Rhetorician 250 James M. May
20 Cicero as Orator 264 Christopher P. Craig
21 Grammarians and Rhetoricians 285 Charles McNelis
22 Roman Declamation: The Elder Seneca and Quintilian 297 W. Martin Bloomer
23 Quintilian as Rhetorician and Teacher 307 Jorge Fernández López
24 Tacitus and Pliny on Oratory 323 William Dominik
25 Rhetoric and the Second Sophistic 339 Graham Anderson
26 Roman Rhetoric and Its Afterlife 354 John O. Ward
Part V Rhetoric and Roman Literature 367
27 Rhetoric and Literature at Rome 369 Matthew Fox
28 Rhetoric and Epic: Vergil s Aeneid and Lucan s Bellum Civile 382 Emanuele Narducci
29 Rhetoric and Satire: Horace, Persius, and Juvenal 396 Dan Hooley
30 Rhetoric and Ovid 413 Ulrike Auhagen
31 Rhetoric and the Younger Seneca 425 Marcus Wilson
32 Rhetoric and Historiography 439 Cynthia Damon
Bibliography 451
Glossary of Technical Terms 487
Index Locorum 495
General Index 502
William Dominik is Professor of Classics at the University of Otago. He is a contributor to
A Companion to Ancient Epic (2005) and
A Companion to the Classical Tradition (2006). He has also published numerous books, chapters, and articles on Roman literature and other topics.
Jon Hall is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Otago. He is the author of numerous articles and chapters on Cicero s oratory and rhetorical treatises. He has also completed a book on Cicero s correspondence.
This authoritative
Companion of specially commissioned studies, 31 scholars from nine countries have combined to produce a survey of Roman rhetoric that explores its wide–ranging cultural importance. The contributors include not only internationally recognized figures with established reputations in the field of Roman rhetoric but also emerging scholars with fresh perspectives on the discipline.
Among the topics covered by A Companion to Roman Rhetoric are the evolution of Roman rhetoric from its origins to the Renaissance; rhetoric s role in education and acculturation; the seminal importance of rhetoric in statesmanship and politics; the relationship between rhetoric and social identity; the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of rhetoric; the dynamics of rhetoric performance; and rhetoric s interaction with the major genres and figures of Roman literature.
This Companion will be valuable to a wide readership including undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars in Roman culture, as well as scholars in adjacent disciplines seeking an accessible introduction to Roman rhetoric. All Greek and Latin passages are translated. The volume complements A Companion to Greek Rhetoric published in the Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World series.