A New History of Classical Rhetoric (ebook)

Argumento de A New History of Classical Rhetoric (ebook)

George Kennedy's three volumes on classical rhetoric have long been regarded as authoritative treatments of the subject. This new volume, an extensive revision and abridgment of The Art of Persuasion in Greece, The Art of Rhetoric in the Roman World, and Greek Rhetoric under Christian Emperors, provides a comprehensive history of classical rhetoric, one that is sure to become a standard for its time.

Kennedy begins by identifying the rhetorical features of early Greek literature that anticipated the formulation of "metarhetoric," or a theory of rhetoric, in the fifth and fourth centuries b.c.e. and then traces the development of that theory through the Greco-Roman period. He gives an account of the teaching of literary and oral composition in schools, and of Greek and Latin oratory as the primary rhetorical genre. He also discusses the overlapping disciplines of ancient philosophy and religion and their interaction with rhetoric. The result is a broad and engaging history of classical rhetoric that will prove especially useful for students and for others who want an overview of classical rhetoric in condensed form.

"The panoptic vision, the reliable accounts, and deeply conservative view of what constitutes rhetoric and rhetorical theory have justly made these books standard for classicists and other disciplines. . . . Many of the qualities admired in the three volumes are transferred elegantly to the briefer format. There are few scholars who could construct such a compilation."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review0Preface Ch. 1 Introduction: The Nature of Rhetoric 3 Ch. 2 Persuasion in Greek Literature before 400 B.C. 11 Ch. 3 Greek Rhetorical Theory from Corax to Aristotle 30 Plato's Gorgias 35 Plato's Phaedrus 39 Isocrates 43 The Rhetoric for Alexander 49 Aristotle 51 Ch. 4 The Attic Orators 64 Lysias 65 Demosthenes 68 Ch. 5 Hellenistic Rhetoric 81 Theophrastus 84 Later Peripatetics 87 Demetrius, On Style 88 The Stoics 90 The Academics 93 The Epicureans 93 Asianism 95 Hermagoras and Stasis Theory 97 Ch. 6 Early Roman Rhetoric 102 Cato the Elder 106 Roman Orators of the Late Second and Early First Centuries B.C. 111 Latin Rhetoricians 115 Cicero's On Invention 117 The Rhetoric for Herennius 121 Ch. 7 Cicero 128 Cicero's Orations in the Years from 81 to 56 B.C. 129 On the Orator 140 For Milo and Cicero's Later Speeches 147 Brutus and Orator 151 Ch. 8 Rhetoric in Augustan Rome 159 Greek Rhetoricians of the Second Half of the First Century B.C. 160 Dionysius of Halicarnassus 161 Declamation and Seneca the Elder 166 Ch. 9 Latin Rhetoric in the Silver Age 173 Quintilian 177 Discussions of the "Decline of Eloquence" 186 Pliny the Younger 192 Fronto and Gellius 196 Apuleius 199 Ch. 10 Greek Rhetoric under the Roman Empire 201 Progymnasmata 202 Hermogenes and the Formation of the Hermogenic Corpus 208 Prolegomena 217 Other Greek Rhetorical Treatises 224 Ch. 11 The Second Sophistic 230 Dio Chrysostom 233 Polemon and Herodes Atticus 237 Aclius Aristides 239 Sophistry from the Late Second to the Early Fourth Century 241 The Sophistic Renaissance of the Fourth Century 242 Prohaeresius 243 Himerius 245 Libanius 248 Themistius 251 Synesius 252 The "University" of Constantinople 254 The School of Gaza 255 The Decline of the Schools 256 Ch. 12 Christianity and Classical Rhetoric 257 Christian Panegyric 260 Gregory of Nazianzus 261 Other Major Figures of the Fourth Century 263 The Latin Fathers 264 Saint Augustine 265 Ch. 13 The Survival of Classical Rhetoric from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages 271 The Decline in the East 271 The Decline in the West 273 Latin Grammarians of Later Antiquity 274 The "Minor" Latin Rhetoricians 275 Martianus Capella 279 Cassiodorus 279 Isidore of Seville 280 Other Late Latin Works on Rhetoric 280 Bede and Alcuin 281 Boethius 282 Bibliography 285 Index 297