The World of Tacitus' Dialogus de Oratoribus: Aesthetics and Empire in Ancient Rome PDF
Preview The World of Tacitus' Dialogus de Oratoribus: Aesthetics and Empire in Ancient Rome
THE WORLD OF TACITUS’ DIALOGUS DE ORATORIBUS Coming to terms with the rhetorical arts of antiquity necessarily illuminates our own sense of public discourse and the habits of speech to which it has led. Tacitus wrote the Dialogus at a time (c.100ce)whenintensescrutinyofthehistory,thedefinitions,and theimmediaterelevanceofpublicspeechwereallbeingchallengedand refashionedbyahostofvibrantintellectsandambitiouspractitioners. This book challenges the notion that Tacitus sought to explain the declineoforatoryundertheprincipate.Rather,fromexaminationof thedynamicsofargumentinthedialogueandtheunderlyingliterary traditionsthereemergesasophisticatedconsiderationofeloquentiain the Roman empire. Tacitus emulates Cicero’s legacy and challenges hispositionatthetopofRome’soratoricalcanon.Hefurthershows thateloquentiaisameansbywhichtocompetewiththepowerofthe principate. christopher s. van den bergisAssistantProfessorofClassics atAmherstCollege,Massachusetts. THE WORLD OF TACITUS’ DIALOGUS DE ORATORIBUS Aesthetics and Empire in Ancient Rome CHRISTOPHER S. VAN DEN BERG UniversityPrintingHouse,Cambridgecb28bs,UnitedKingdom CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge. ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof education,learningandresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence. www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107020900 ©ChristopherS.vandenBerg2014 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2014 PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata VandenBerg,ChristopherSean,author. TheworldofTacitus’DialogusdeOratoribus:aestheticsandempireinancient Rome/byChristopherS.vandenBerg. pages cm Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. isbn978-1-107-02090-0(hardback) 1.Tacitus,Cornelius.Dialogusdeoratoribus–Criticism,Textual. 2.Dialogues, Latin–Historyandcriticism. 3.Oratory,Ancient. I.Title. pa6706.d5v36 2014 808.5(cid:2)10937–dc23 2014008495 isbn978-1-107-02090-0Hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof urlsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication, anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain, accurateorappropriate. mke,aworld,always Contents Prefaceandacknowledgments pageix Abbreviations,texts,andtranslations xii Introduction:Rhetoricalbeginningsandrhetoricalends 1 1 TheDialogusanditscontexts 17 2 Interpretations 52 3 Interstitialstrategiesandreadingaroundthespeeches 98 4 Aworldofeloquentia 124 5 Anaetiologyofcontemporaryeloquentia 165 6 FromdeOratoretodeOratoribus 208 7 Literarycriticismandhistory:Cicero,Horace,andQuintilian intheDialogus 241 Conclusion 294 Appendix:DetailedoutlineofTacitus’DialogusdeOratoribus 304 Bibliography 314 Generalindex 338 Indexlocorum 342 vii
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