From The Harvard University Press Blog:
In spring 2019 the Loeb Classical Library significantly expands its coverage in an area central to public life in both Greece and Rome: the theory and practice of formal speech. Already in Homer’s Iliad, heroism required prowess in public speaking as well as in battle—Achilles’ fiery speech in Iliad Book 9 always ranked high among classic examples—and by the fourth century BC, oratory, along with its formal study, rhetoric, had overcome principled suspicion by the likes of Aristophanes and Plato as being fundamentally dishonest and manipulative and took their place at the heart of law, politics, education, and literature.
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As in Greece, oratory was an important element of Roman life from the earliest times, essential for conducting public affairs and for advancing individual careers long before it acquired literary dimensions, which happened once orators decided to write up and circulate written versions of their speeches after delivery. The Romans recalled how in 494 BC Agrippa Menenius Lanatus, a former consul with the common touch, persuaded the plebs to end their secession with a speech “in the quaint and uncouth style of that age” that stressed the importance of the belly to the body politic as a whole (Livy 2.32).
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Over time, oratory became professionalized, and by the second century BC (the time of the Scipios and the Gracchi, all represented here), formal training under the influence of Greek rhetoric had taken hold despite some resistance, and later developed into the practice of declamation.
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All three [new publications] provide instruction on how to compose epideictic (display) speeches for a wide variety of occasions, both public and private. What were the best ways for the aspiring orator to praise a god? A city? A victorious athlete? Menander and pseudo-Dionysius offer answers, thus providing students of the ancient world with valuable insight into the religious, civic, and social realities of their times, and well illustrating the position of Greek rhetoric under Rome. But much of their advice also remains engagingly perennial: contemporary readers seeking guidance on everything from wedding toasts to welcoming government officials will likewise derive considerable value from these works, reminding us once again that in the rhythms of human life, some things never change.
Still, those connoisseurs of eloquence who suffer through our era of memes, sound bites, and tweets will perhaps find this season’s generous sampling of old-time speechifying a most welcome antidote.
Link to the rest at The Harvard University Press Blog