After the assassination of Julius Caesar, a series of civil wars ensued among the Romans, setting the stage for the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. During this time, many men rose to power and either helped unite the Romans or further divided them. It was through speech and rhetoric that these men rose to prominence. By appealing to the people and the Roman Legions, men like Marc Antony were able to rally Romans to a common cause in the midst of the chaos. However, other rhetoricians were cautious of these men and the tumultuous times that they were living in. The most notable rhetoricians, Cicero and Quintilian, focused their work and concern on this subject. They asserted that rhetoric should be practiced by men of virtue, courage, and other desirable qualities, lest they use their persuasion for personal power.

The Roman society was heavily based on class status. On the bottom of the social hierarchy were the slaves, then the plebeians or ordinary citizens, then on the top were the patricians. The patricians were thought to have been born with natural virtue and talent. Much like how Plato believed that rhetoric should be primarily practiced by the Greek aristocracy due to their birth with natural virtue, Cicero and Quintilian thought that rhetoric should be primarily practiced by the patricians. Cicero and Quintilian thought having natural qualities, such as courage and virtue, allowed the patricians to more easily use speech and rhetoric for persuasion and to be able to do so for the good of Rome. They also believed that it was also important that the audience recognizes the orator’s virtue, making a patrician an ideal candidate seeing as how he would command respect among his fellow Romans based on his social class.

Cicero and Quintilian’s focus on a virtuous man when regarding the practice of rhetoric is a clear indicator of the political situation in Rome at the time of their works. During a period of uncertainty and division among the Roman people, Cicero and Quintilian looked towards patricians with natural virtue to quell the fighting and unite Rome with the power of speech, rather than the force of Legions.

Help Received: Cicero and Quintilian Readings