Facilitas is facility in devising appropriate language to fit any speaking or writing situation. [1]
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Facilitas is facility in devising appropriate language to fit any speaking or writing situation. [1]
The art of facilitas was most notably taught by Quintilian, the Roman rhetorician, in the latter part of the first century A.D. (c. 35 – c. 100). [2] In Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria, Quintilian summarizes the Roman educational system. In this system, students, generally young boys, were trained daily from the age of six to about eighteen. There were two levels of masters who taught the children: the grammaticus, who helped children with imitations, speaking and writing exercises, and the rhetor, who prepared students for the final stage of declamation, when they gave fictitious speeches. [3] The ultimate goal of Quintilian's curriculum was for men to have facilitas: the ability to speak extemporaneously on any subject at any time. [4] Quintilian taught the art of rhetoric, or effective communication, to his students in order for them to gain knowledge, as well as develop their analytical and political skills, in efforts to make them "good citizens." [5]
Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse (trivium) along with grammar and logic/dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or writers use to inform, persuade, and motivate their audiences. Rhetoric also provides heuristics for understanding, discovering, and developing arguments for particular situations.
Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Roman educator and rhetorician born in Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quintilian, although the alternate spellings of Quintillian and Quinctilian are occasionally seen, the latter in older texts.
Digression is a section of a composition or speech that marks a temporary shift of subject; the digression ends when the writer or speaker returns to the main topic. Digressions can be used intentionally as a stylistic or rhetorical device.
Dispositio is the system used for the organization of arguments in the context of Western classical rhetoric. The word is Latin, and can be translated as "organization" or "arrangement".
Elocutio is a Latin term for the mastery of rhetorical devices and figures of speech in Western classical rhetoric. Elocutio or style is the third of the five canons of classical rhetoric that concern the craft and delivery of speeches and writing.
Pronuntiatio was the discipline of delivering speeches in Western classical rhetoric. It is one of the five canons of classical rhetoric that concern the crafting and delivery of speeches. In literature the equivalent of ancient pronuntiatio is the recitation of epics.
Progymnasmata are a series of preliminary rhetorical exercises that began in ancient Greece and continued during the Roman Empire. These exercises were implemented by students of rhetoric, who began their schooling between ages twelve and fifteen. The purpose of these exercises was to prepare students for writing declamations after they had completed their education with the grammarians. There are only four surviving handbooks of progymnasmata, attributed to Aelius Theon, Hermogenes of Tarsus, Aphthonius of Antioch, and Nicolaus the Sophist.
George Alexander Kennedy was an American scholar of classical rhetoric and literature.
Institutio Oratoria is a twelve-volume textbook on the theory and practice of rhetoric by Roman rhetorician Quintilian. It was published around year 95 AD. The work deals also with the foundational education and development of the orator himself.
Marcus Antonius Gnipho was a grammarian and teacher of rhetoric of Gaulish origin who taught in ancient Rome.
Education in ancient Rome progressed from an informal, familial system of education in the early Republic to a tuition-based system during the late Republic and the Empire. The Roman education system was based on the Greek system – and many of the private tutors in the Roman system were enslaved Greeks or freedmen. The educational methodology and curriculum used in Rome was copied in its provinces and provided a basis for education systems throughout later Western civilization. Organized education remained relatively rare, and there are few primary sources or accounts of the Roman educational process until the 2nd century AD. Due to the extensive power wielded by the pater familias over Roman families, the level and quality of education provided to Roman children varied drastically from family to family; nevertheless, Roman popular morality came eventually to expect fathers to have their children educated to some extent, and a complete advanced education was expected of any Roman who wished to enter politics.
English studies is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries. This is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which is a distinct discipline. An Anglicist is someone who works in the field of English studies. The English studies discipline involves the study, analysis, and exploration of texts created in English literature.
The Rhetoric to Alexander is a treatise traditionally attributed to Aristotle. It is now generally believed to be the work of Anaximenes of Lampsacus.
The gens Caepasia or Cepasia was an obscure plebeian family at Ancient Rome. It is known primarily from two brothers, Gaius and Lucius Caepasius, who obtained the quaestorship through their oratorical skill. Cicero describes them as contemporaries of Quintus Hortensius, and says that they were hard workers, although their rhetorical style was relatively simple. Several members of this gens are known from early Christian inscriptions at Rome, including a number of children.
Cypriano Soarez y Herrera, S.J. (1524–1593) was a sixteenth-century Spanish Jesuit who wrote De Arte Rhetorica, the first Jesuit rhetoric textbook.
In classical rhetoric, figures of speech are classified as one of the four fundamental rhetorical operations or quadripartita ratio: addition (adiectio), omission (detractio), permutation (immutatio) and transposition (transmutatio).
Antonius Rufus was a Latin grammarian who was quoted by the rhetorician Quintilian and the grammarian Velius Longus. The scholiast on Horace who was historically called Cruquianus speaks of an Antonius Rufus who wrote plays both praetextatae and togatae, but whether he is the same as the grammarian is uncertain. This reference is considered by some scholars altogether unreliable.
Eloquentia perfecta, a tradition of the Society of Jesus, is a value of Jesuit rhetoric that revolves around cultivating a person as a whole, as one learns to speak and write for the common good. Eloquentia perfecta is a Latin term which means "perfect eloquence". The term connotes values of eloquent expression and action for the common good. For Jesuits, the term eloquentia perfecta was understood as the joining of knowledge and wisdom with virtue and morality.
Areius or Areius Didymus or Arius was an Alexandrian philosopher of the Pythagorean or Stoic schools who lived in the 1st century BCE. He was the "personal philosopher" of the Roman emperor Augustus for a time.
James Louis Kinneavy was an American scholar and teacher of rhetoric and composition. Since the publication of his best-known work, A Theory of Discourse, he has been widely considered “one of America's major rhetorical theorists.” The book's main contribution to the field of contemporary discourse is the case Kinneavy made for the importance of rhetoric throughout Western history. He authored seven books and over thirty articles on rhetorical theory and composition pedagogy, and his work has been the “cornerstone of dozens of textbooks on composition, many university and college programs, and entire state language arts programs.” Throughout his career, Kinneavy was heavily involved with teaching, working with the Texas Department of Education and as a consultant to school districts in Texas and other states.