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[German version] Of the broad spectrum of meanings of the Latin work, including the designation of a Roman rank ( ornamenta ), only the technical rhetorical term, 'rhetorical decoration', is dealt with here. The first systematic treatment of stylistic ornatus is in Theophrastus' teachings on the virtues of speech ( virtutes dicendi ). Here, ornatus appears as the fourth virtue, after Hellēnismós/ Latinitas (linguistic correctness), saphḗneia/ explanatio, perspicuitas (clarity) and prépon/ decorum, aptum (appropriacy) (Cic. Orat. 79; the Stoics later also added brevitas …

[German version] [1] P. Orator, 1st cent. BC C. is mentioned in Cic. Brut. 205 as copyist (ed.?) of the speeches of P. Sulpicius and as an extremely eloquent orator (positive, in Cic. Clu. 29, 50, 73f.), whereas Aper in Tac. Dial. 21,1 regards him as too old. He was not a senator, but appeared in the trial of Oppianicus (Clu. 58). The passive use of admirari in the only quote in Prisc. Gramm. 2,381,12f. leads to the conclusion that C. was an analogist.  Histrio Calboli, Gualtiero (Bologna) Bibliography Edition: ORF4, 371f. Literature: Münzer, s.v. C. 2, RE 3, 1485 A. E. Douglas, Comm. in Cicero…

(γένη τῶν λόγων ῥητορικῶν; génē tôn lógōn rhētorikôn). [German version] A. The Branches of Oratory The doctrine of the genera causarum ( GC) was developed in particular by Aristotle, who divided all oratorical topics into three groups (Rh. 1,3 = 1358b6─8), whereas his predecessors distinguished several types ( eídē, species) and only considered two GC, i.e. the deliberative and the judicial. Two GC are mentioned in Pl. Phdr. 261b [7. 170; 4. 258], and the same two GC together with seven eídē appear in the  Rhetorica ad Alexandrum (1,1 = 1421b6-12), written in c. 340 BC before Aristotl…

[German version] The designation Asiatici for orators occurs for the first time in Cic. De or. 3,43 and is used again with a negative connotation in Brut. 51 and Orat. 27. In Sen. Controv. 1,2,23 and Quint. Inst. 12,10,1 the form Asiani is encountered. This designation arose about the middle of the 1st cent. BC., and derives from its contrast to Attic language and eloquence, when it was fashionable to imitate the old Attic orators (Cic. Brut. 51). Such a devaluation of Hellenistic eloquence, practised in Rome before Atticism, is also f…

[German version] The first systematically composed form of brevitas in expression is the laconism (Pl. Prt. 342bc). In Plato's view, it not only consisted of dart-like short phrases and sentences but even more it reflected Spartan philosophy and view of the world. Demetrius (elocutiones 7; 242f.) explains laconic brevitas as: ‘orders are short and sharp’. This corresponds to the brevitas imperatoria of Tac. Hist. 1,18. Plato also provides the first example of philosophical striving for brevitas; in Prot. 329b; 335a-c and Gorg. 449bc Socrates pokes fun at the macrology …

(χαρακτῆρες τῆς λέξεως, charaktêres tês léxeōs). [German version] A. Concept and Classifications Genera dicendi ( GD) is taken as the usual term for the doctrine of style (as in Cic. Orat. 20; 69; Quint. Inst. 12,10,58; Isid. Orig. 2,17 H.), alongside elocutionis genera (Iul. Vict. rhet. 22 p. 438,8 H., 92,12 Giom.-Celentano; Aquila rhet. 27,10f.H.; Mart. Cap. 479,5 H.; Consultus Fortunatianus 3,8 [5. 510,5f.] as sing. genus e.). In the earliest Latin attestation (Rhet. Her. 4,11), elocutio and genera are linked, albeit separated by twelve words; genera elocutionis does not exist…

[German version] (Rubellius?, see Tac. Ann. 6,27). According to Seneca the Elder, who quotes him on several occasions (Controv. 1,7,10; 1,7,13; 2,5,13ff.; book 7 passim; in detail: Suas. 2,8), B. was probably the first teacher of rhetoric in Rome from the ranks of the equites (Controv. 2, pr. 5) at the end of the 1st cent. BC, probably between 15 and 9 BC. In spite of some Asianic touches -- he imitated a maxim of the Asianist Adaeus (Controv. 10,4,20) -- Flavianus, for instance, turned to him after he had left the school of the Asian  Ar…

Plebeian family name, attested since the 1st cent. BC; also occurred in Praeneste (ThlL, Onom. 354f); the family is politically insignificant [2]. I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] C. Architect in the late republican period Architect of the pons Cestius between the right bank of the Tiber and Tiber Island, probably during the late republican period; otherwise unknown. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 2] C., C. Praetor (?) 44 BC Praetor (?) 44 BC; probably proscribed by Antonius in 43. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [I 3] C., L. Praetor and …

[German version] Stylistic tendency, directed against  Asianism and whose most important characteristic was the imitation of Attic speakers (on the connection to the controversial question of the Hellenistic [Alexandrine] rhetorical canon cf. [7. 131-146; 13. 251-265], on the Latin canonization of orators [2. 1071f]). There is in the rhetorical canon a kind of anticipation of Atticism [14. 138ff], but actual Atticism arose in the time of Cicero (1st half of the 1st cent. BC), who in Orat. 89 speaks of istis novis Atticis [15. 45; 5. 170-174; 16. 76f]. Dion. Hal. also (Opu…

[German version] (λέξις; léxis). When first mentioned (Cic. Inv. 1,9) and discussed (Rhet. Her. 1,3; 4,10ff.) in Latin, elocutio was seen as the third stage of the work of the orator (  officia oratoris ). According to these sources, elocutio consists of four parts, the aretaí tês léxeōs ( virtutes elocutionis): 1. ἑλληνισμός ( hellēnismós), latinitas: grammatical correctness; 2. σαφήνεια ( saphḗneia), explanatio: clarity; 3. πρέπον ( prépon), decorum, aptum (missing in Rhet. Her.; according to Cic. De or. 1,132, it is impossible to teach decere in an ars): aptness; 4. κατασκευή ( katas…

Roman gentilicium. [German version] [1] Historian, 1st cent. BC 1st cent. BC, published a work of history or epic probably about the first Punic war ( bellum Carthaginiense Fest. 158 M), perhaps identical to no. 5 [1]. Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [2] Banker Banker (Hor. Epod. 2,67). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) [German version] [3] Marius, 2nd half of 3rd cent. BC Marius, Campanian, fell in 215 BC fighting against Rome (Liv. 23,35,13; 19). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) Bibliography 1 Schanz/Hosius, 1, 202. [German version] [4] Avitus Latin poet of the 2nd/3rd…

[German version] (φωνασκοί/ phōnaskoí, Latin phonasci). Voice coaches whose professional teaching skills were called upon first of all by heralds, then by singers, actors, choreuts, rhapsodists, orators, itinerant teachers, and people who read out loud in public. Their technique, phōnaskía, is already mentioned at Dem. Or 18,280 and Or. 19,255. The phōnaskoí as a profession are mentioned for the first time at Rhet. Her. 3,20 (cf. [2. 265; 5. 208]), and described as masters of the high, middle and low voice registers in Quint. Inst. 2,8,15. For them, as well as for the oratores, regula…

Name of a Roman plebeian family, probably derived not from hortus but from the place names Hortense, Hortenses [1. 660; 2. 175; 177; 534]. The first definitely attested bearer of the name is H. [4], the most prominent member the orator H. [7]. Family tree: [3. 75]. [German version] [1] H., L. Praetor 170 BC As praetor in 170 BC commanded the fleet in the third Macedonian War (honours in Athens: IG II2 907, and Delos: IDélos III 461 Aa 83). He conquered Abdera, sold its population into slavery, and oppressed Chalcis, but had to rescind his orders by instruction o…

[German version] [1] L. Annaeus S. The Elder, Latin rhetor and historian, first years of Principate (Seneca the Elder, Seneca Rhetor). Calboli, Gualtiero (Bologna) [German version] I. Life Latin orator, born at Corduba (modern Córdoba) between 61 and 55, probably 55 BC (it was only because of the civil war that he was unable to hear Cicero, Sen. Controv. 1 praef. 11). He came from a wealthy equestrian family, and owned estates (wine, olives) in the same region [8. 6]. He made two lengthy sojourns at Rome (Sen. Controv. 4 p…