Education

This paper will explore the imitatio of Cicero’s renowned Catilinarian Orations (63 BCE) in the little-known second century CE compilation of controversiae, pseudo-Quintilian’s Minor Declamations. The Latin rhetorical exercise of the controversiae were a mock legal exercise which became the dominant and final stage of a Roman student’s education as well as an elite cultural institution in Rome during the first century CE.

Rome's First Professores

In his Commentary on the Republic, Proklos Diadochos (c.412-485) addresses the value of myths
in the education of youths, and, in particular, he evaluates their traditional sources, drama and
epic (Baltzly et al. 2018). Drama, as Proklos determines, is a totally mimetic genre (In remp. I
14.20), and, at its best, it presents characters who imitate their station in life appropriately (In
remp. I 15.13). Through these considerations of literary genres, however, Proklos dismisses

“THE TEACHER: Wield the rod to your heart’s content – instruct through chastisements”. To readers familiar with the rituals and rhythms of late antique elite education, this advice harps on a familiar tune. Beatings were an accepted and well documented part of late antique pedagogy. They were imagined as a critical tool supporting the formation of a powerful future governing class (Bloomer 1997, Richlin 2011, Bernstein 2012).

The surviving portion of the Satyricon famously starts in the middle of Encolpius’ diatribe against declamation. His objections are about declamation’s tumid style and its alleged corrupting influence on young students. His interlocutor is Agamemnon, a teacher of rhetoric. Agamemnon interrupts Encolpius (non est passus Agamemnon me diutius declamare) and in his own speech largely agrees while shifting the blame from teachers to parents.

"Similium alia facies in alia ratione": Farming, oratory, and education in Cicero and Quintilian

The Flavian dynasty found itself in power by unprecedented means during the Roman imperial period. Armies could make emperors, and Vespasian became imperator after the rapid disposal of three emperors in 69 CE. From the beginning, then, it was imperative that Flavian efforts were concerned with creating a sense of unity and stability while also bolstering their authority. Vespasian, as an emperor without prestigious lineage (Suet., Vesp.

It is well known that Augustine’s dialogue De ordine deals with questions of metaphysics. This text treats the problem of evil: how a good God can govern a world which is perfectly ordered and yet contains disorder.

In this paper I offer a comparative analysis of the concept of aequitas in Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria (IO) and the Minor Declamations (MD) ascribed to Quintilian. I argue that the author of the MD knew Quintilian’s discussion of the concept, but deliberately moved away from Quintilian’s morally problematic deployment of it. Instead, he gave it new ethical meaning to suit his own purposes.

Every university department has one today: A 'chair'. The first academic chairs were established in Greek and Latin rhetoric in Rome by Vespasian (69-79 AD). Before its institutionalization, the physical chair (thronos) was, however, already a set component of educational space.