Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- PART I THE PLACE OF SENECA THE ELDER IN LITERARY HISTORY
- PART II SENECA THE ELDER ON THE HISTORY OF ELOQUENCE
- 1 Oratory and rhetorical theory up to his own time
- 2 The history of declamation
- 3 The decline of rhetoric in the early Empire
- PART III FIVE ASPECTS OF DECLAMATION: THE ELDER SENECA'S EVIDENCE
- PART IV THE PLACE OF EARLY IMPERIAL DECLAMATION IN LITERARY HISTORY: THE ELDER SENECA'S EVIDENCE
- Indexes
1 - Oratory and rhetorical theory up to his own time
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Abbreviations
- PART I THE PLACE OF SENECA THE ELDER IN LITERARY HISTORY
- PART II SENECA THE ELDER ON THE HISTORY OF ELOQUENCE
- 1 Oratory and rhetorical theory up to his own time
- 2 The history of declamation
- 3 The decline of rhetoric in the early Empire
- PART III FIVE ASPECTS OF DECLAMATION: THE ELDER SENECA'S EVIDENCE
- PART IV THE PLACE OF EARLY IMPERIAL DECLAMATION IN LITERARY HISTORY: THE ELDER SENECA'S EVIDENCE
- Indexes
Summary
The extent of the elder Seneca's familiarity with the classics of Greek and Roman oratory and rhetorical theory cannot be estimated with any hope of accuracy but if, as seems probable, he had not nearly the same depth of knowledge as Cicero of the rhetorical traditions of Greece and the Roman Republic, this is nothing to be wondered at in view of the contrast between the kinds of education which the two men received in their youth. Seneca the Elder, confined in his formative years to a remote and war-torn western province, and unfortunate in having to learn the elements of rhetoric from the uninspired Marullus, had none of the educational experiences which were to enable Cicero to write about oratory with his air of incontrovertible authority. Not for him, unless our information is grossly misleading, anything comparable to the old-fashioned tirocinium fori, the prolonged study of Greek philosophy, the travels around the schools of distinguished rhetoricians in Greece and Asia Minor, which Cicero describes in the autobiographical section of the Brutus (89.304ff.).
Nevertheless Seneca the Elder was able to overcome to a certain extent the limitations of his formal education. As an adult enthusiast in the auditoria of the declaimers he had the chance to learn much, just by listening to the discussions and quips of the rhetoricians and distinguished members of their audience, which would sharpen his critical sensitivity. His study of history must have further broadened his outlook. On the other hand it is questionable whether he ever made any considerable study of the works which we consider the classics of rhetorical theory, or of the speeches of Greek, or pre-Ciceronian Roman orators.
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- Seneca the Elder , pp. 77 - 103Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1981