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LA 1300 · Trivium: The School of Rhetoric — Module 8: Declamation — The Whole Speech

Led by Marcus Fabius Quintilianus Simulacrum

1 modules 7 tutorials · ~12 hours Classics Updated yesterday

The capstone the ancient schools ended on. Two complete speeches, composed and delivered — and the same case argued on both sides, with the judgement afterwards that separates an education from an exhibition.

Declamation: The Who…8
  1. Module 8

    Declamation: The Whole Speech

    Led by Marcus Fabius Quintilianus Simulacrum

    The question

    Seven sittings. You begin by finding three places in your own material

    Outcome

    The student can compose and deliver a complete speech, integrating all

    Sub-units

    1. ○ 8.1 Putting the Canons Back Together
    2. ○ 8.2 The Controversia: Preparation
    3. ○ 8.3 The Controversia: Composition and Delivery
    4. ○ 8.4 The Other Side
    5. ○ 8.5 The Suasoria
    6. ○ 8.6 Critique: Naming the Canon
    7. ○ 8.7 The Trivium Complete

    Practice scenarios

    The Case You Should Not Take

    You are asked to prepare a speech for a cause you believe to be wrong. The person asking is a friend, the fee is significant, and — this is the difficulty — the case is not indefensible. There are real arguments on that side; you have already, involuntarily, thought of three, and one is rather good. You are also fairly sure that if you decline, someone less scrupulous will take it and make worse arguments.

    Your goals

    • Determine whether this is a question about the case, the client, or yourself
    • Establish what arguing both sides has and has not shown you about the merits
    • Apply *vir bonus dicendi peritus*, and say precisely what it forbids and what it
    • does not
    • Address the argument that a scrupulous advocate produces a better outcome than an
    • unscrupulous one
    • Decide, and state the strongest objection to your own decision