LA 1300 · Trivium: The School of Rhetoric — Module 3: The Progymnasmata

Led by Marcus Fabius Quintilianus Simulacrum

The most successful writing curriculum ever devised, by the plain measure of how long it lasted. Fourteen graduated exercises, eight worked — and the eight-part procedure that turns four words into a composition.

1. Module 3

   The Progymnasmata

   Led by Marcus Fabius Quintilianus Simulacrum

   The question

   Eight sittings. You begin with a fable, the smallest thing that is a

   Outcome

   The student can compose to a set exercise rather than waiting for

   Sub-units

   1. ○ 3.1 Fable: The Smallest Complete Composition Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   2. ○ 3.2 Narrative: The Six Circumstances Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   3. ○ 3.3 The Chreia: Eight Ways to Say More Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   4. ○ 3.4 Proverb, and Amplification Without Padding Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   5. ○ 3.5 Refutation and Confirmation Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   6. ○ 3.6 Encomium, and the Heads of Praise Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   7. ○ 3.7 Impersonation Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   8. ○ 3.8 Thesis, and Imitation Open this unit → ✓ ↻
   Begin the course → Print certificate of completion

   Practice scenarios

   The Blank Page

   A capable colleague must produce three pages by tomorrow and has written four sentences in six hours. He knows the subject thoroughly and can tell you in conversation, fluently and at length, exactly what he thinks. On the page he produces one flat paragraph and stops, and has concluded that he is simply not a writer.

   Your goals

   • Determine what is actually wrong, which is not knowledge and not ability
   • Use one of the module's procedures to generate three pages from his four sentences
   • Show him the difference between his output being *longer* and being *fuller*
   • Identify which exercise would fix this permanently
   • Say why he can do it in conversation and not on the page

   Practise this scenario →