The Major Declamations, Volume II

Mock trial—Roman style.

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 ...