Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The first chapter of King attempts to locate the history we are about to study in a larger timeline. The following terms will give you an idea of the things that will be particularly important to remember as we move into the chapter on medieval Italy
Terms:
In addition, today’s readings include segments of the works of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman and orator par excellence (pictured above), and Marcus Fabius Quintilianus, who wrote a monumental work on the instruction of orators. Both would be the inspiration of Renaissance humanists, who positively revered Cicero as a model for imitation, and regarded the discovery of Quintilian’s work to be a breakthrough. There was a lively debate about their respective merits, and even a cult of Ciceronians in fifteenth and sixteenth century Rome, who believed that Cicero in his use of language had reached the absolute pinnacle of what human excellence could accomplish.
The readings in Bartlett, albeit in translation, give us a chance to see what the fuss was all about. What I'd like you to do with both the Quintilian reading and the Cicero selections is pull together an image of what these two believed was necessary for a good orator. Do their recommendations surprise you in any way? What, for example, is the relationship between speaking and knowledge? Between speaking and virtue? And what is the picture Cicero gives in On Duties of a person who can be called just? Please be able to refer to specific passages. Also, and this holds for all our readings, come prepared to ask questions about anything you don't understand.
Laurel Carrington carringt@stolaf.edu
Most recent update: January 23, 2008