Cicero, "De oratore" and the rhetoric of the progymnasmata

Abstract

Recent studies have reconsidered the question of the origins of the progymnasmata and the record of their existence ain first-century BCE rhetoric. A crossexamination of Cicero’s De oratore alongside evidence from Quintilian and Theon reveals numerous points of contact between the programme of exercitatio through writing outlined by Crassus (1.147-159) and the teaching of the progymnasmata, in terms of content, didactic methodology, and pedagogical principles. This investigation allows for a more precise definition of teaching methods adopted in Rome between the first century BCE and the first century CE, catching in fieri the
processes that would eventually lead to a well-structured curriculum articulated on two levels: the preparatory course and the practice of declamation.