Montana White Help Received: classical roman empire
November 6, 2017
Cicero and Quintilian are concerned with “vir bonus” or “good man” because this theory allows rhetoric and ethics to coincide with the orator. They both believed that it was important for orators to speak well and know the science of speaking well, as well as knowing how to speak correctly. This theory closely relates to that of Aristotle and Isocrates because they believed rhetoric to be important based on civic virtue. The theory relates because it is based on civic ethics and morality. This theory is a concern to the Roman rhetoricians because if speaking well and speaking correctly are requirements of vir bonus, how do you know that they are using this knowledge and science for good? It is possible that being able to speak well and correctly would allow you to argue for a case in which the person is guilty. It presents an issue because it shows that rhetoric is still capable of being deceptive, even though their intent is for it to be used for good.