Attempting to flesh out the history of rhetoric at Rome through a consideration of speakers other than Cicero is a task rendered extremely difficult by the loss of their works. There are interesting remains from the second century BCE, and some entertaining fragments of invective from the late republic; from the empire, virtually nothing. There is very little with which to test the critical judgments of writers on rhetoric. What such a survey can show, however, is the extent and importance of rhetoric among the governing class, which bridges the divide between republic and empire. The opportunities for oratory change, but the skill remains at the heart of a civilian public career.
FURTHER READING
Fundamental for this topic are the collections of fragments. For the republican period, these are gathered in Malcovati (19764). The orators of the Augustan period are collected in Balbo (2004); a volume on the Tiberian period is to follow. Meyer (1832) provides a collection from the beginnings down to Symmachus. Kennedy (1972) covers many of the individuals mentioned in this chapter at greater length. Some of the issues arising from dealing with fragments are discussed in Most (1997).
There is an edition of Cicero’s Brutus by Douglas (1966). Important reference works for late republican oratory are Sumner (1973) and Alexander (1990). Alexander (2002) is a systematic attempt to recreate what Cicero’s opponents said in a number of trials. Bibliographies for the elder Seneca (chapter 22), Quintilian (chapter 23), Tacitus (chapter 24), and Suetonius (chapter 21) can be found elsewhere. On Gellius there is Holford-Strevens (2003); a translation by Rolfe (1927) is available in the Loeb series. Valerius Maximus is available in the Teubner edition of Briscoe (1998) and there is a translation in Shackleton Bailey’s Loeb (2000); see also Skidmore (1996) and Bloomer (1992).
A Companion to Roman Rhetoric Edited by William Dominik, Jon Hall Copyright © 2007 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
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