"A controversia is a speech purporting to be delivered on behalf of either the prosecution or the defense in an imaginary trial. Slightly simpler is the suasoria, a speech of advice addressed to a mythological or historical character on the verge of making an important decision. Learning how to compose and deliver such speeches, known collectively as declamations (Lat. declamationes, Gk. meletai), was the final stage in the traditional Greco-Roman rhetorical training, which was considered the necessary preparation for public activity throughout the Roman imperial age. Although criticized for the often far-fetched nature of its subjects, declamation remained for more than six centuries the keystone of education for any young citizen who could afford a 'high-school' training. At the same time, this school practice quickly earned the favor of a large audience of professional rhetoricians, enthusiasts, and people of average education: by the 1st century AD, public performances of fictive speeches were among the most popular events in the cultural life of the Roman empire. With its fictional universe of characters, laws, and recurring situations, declamation shaped a cultural background common to the writers and readers of the Greco-Roman world, who all shared the same--more or less standardized--rhetorical education. Among all the extant sources, the nineteen 'Major declamations' wrongly ascribed to Quintilian stand out for their contribution to our understanding of ancient declamation. They are virtually the only fully developed controversiae surviving from pre-medieval Latinity, invaluable because they show how a student was expected to handle the themes, the recurring situations and arguments, the technical rules. And what is more, they lay bare the mistakes that were often made in the process."--
The Major Declamations, attributed to Quintilian in antiquity, exemplify the final stage of Greco-Roman rhetorical training, in which students delivered speeches for the prosecution and defense at imaginary trials. A wide variety of fascinating ethical, social, and legal details animate the fictional world conjured up by these oratorical exercises.
The Major Declamations stand out for their unique contribution to our understanding of the final stage in Greco-Roman rhetorical training. These exercises, in which students learned how to compose and deliver speeches on behalf of either the prosecution or the defense at imaginary trials, demonstrate how standard themes, recurring situations and arguments, and technical rules were to be handled by the aspiring orator. And what is more, they lay bare the mistakes that students often made in this process.
The practice of declamation was already flourishing in Greece as early as the fifth century BC, but nearly all of its vast tradition has disappeared except the present anthology, whose nineteen declamations are almost the only substantial examples surviving from pre-medieval Latinity. They seem to represent that tradition reasonably well: although attributed to the great master Quintilian in antiquity, internal features indicate multiple authorship from around AD 100 to the mid- or late third century, when the collection was assembled.
A wide variety of fascinating ethical, social, and legal details animates the fictional world conjured up by these oratorical exercises, and although the themes of declamation can be unrealistic and even absurd (often reminiscent of ancient novel and tragedy), they seem to provide a safe space in which a student could confront a range of complex issues, so as to attain both the technical knowledge necessary to speak persuasively and the soft skills needed to manage the challenges of adult life under the Roman empire.
