This volume is a collection of essays, written by authorities in the field, on many aspects of ancient rhetoric. These essays deal both with the theory of rhetoric and the practice of oratory and are quite diverse both in tone and audience envisioned. Some of them deal with very basic questions such as how good an orator should appear to be; others deal with very technical matters such as theoretical considerations of issue theory or "figured speeches." Some are focussed on the actual practice of oratory in speeches such as those of Cicero and Caesar; others deal with manifestations of...

Although Cicero's Phillipics are his most mature speeches, they have received little attention as works of oratory. On the other hand, scholars in this century have considered Cicero's attitudes toward and dependence on Demosthenes to be an issue of importance. Cecil Wooten brings together these two concerns, linking Cicero's use of Demosthenes as a model in the Phillipics to precise analyses of style, rhetorical modulation, and narrative technique. In doing so he defines and demonstrates the effectiveness of a type of oratory that he terms "the rhetoric of crisis."...