Declamatio
A term which came into use first in Cicero's time (
Brut. 90, 310) for the rhetorical exercises employed in the training of
orators. These were of two kinds:
(a) suasoriae; (b) controversiae. The
former were based upon some historical or legendary theme, and the pupil was required to treat
some problem arising thence, as, for instance, whether Sulla should have resigned his
dictatorship (
Juv.i. 16) or Cato have committed suicide (
Pers. iii. 45). These were regarded as suitable for beginners, as not
requiring any wide or minute knowledge of law (
Tac.
Dial. 35). The latter dealt with legal questions, and took the form of
the discussion of an imaginary case, such as might arise in the courts. Marcus
Seneca (q.v.), the father of the philosopher, has left
seven examples of
suasoriae, thirty-five of
controversiae, as well as ten books of
excerpta controversiarum,
which contain many interesting specimens of the kind of questions thus treated. The practice
had at first a real value, and Cicero represents himself as continuing it for a great part of
his life (
Tusc. i. 4, 7), although in his later years he preferred philosophical
topics. But, with the decline of free speech, the exercise sank into a mere occasion for
display. The themes were hackneyed or extravagant, the language affected and full of strained
antithesis and epigram (Quintil. viii. 3, 76; 5, 14, etc.); and what should have been a
preparation for real life became an end in itself. The rage for declamation was at its height
during the first century of the Empire. Quintilian's sober sense did much to check it; and
though the practice did not wholly die out of the schools, it seems to have been confined
within more reasonable limits. (Cf. Bernhardy,
Röm. Lit. 53;
Petron. 1-3; and Mayor's notes on
Juv.i. 16;
vii. 150- 170.)
