Social Media and Integrated Marketing Communication by Jeanne M. Persuit

Author:Jeanne M. Persuit
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780739171141
Publisher: Lexington Books

Cicero, Decorum, and Rhetoric

Cicero outlines the specifics of decorum in Book III of his earlier work De Oratore, but he is more instructive on the relationship between decorum and rhetoric in Book I, where he argues for elevation of rhetoric to an art. Cicero attends to the tension between style and substance that informs rhetorical theory from the pre-Socratics with care, because it is here that he explains the connection between wisdom and eloquence. He gives good reasons for why we should try to be better orators and why being wise and eloquent is a challenge for all humans, even those who speak well.

Cicero explains that while no one can force an audience to sit through a terribly acted play, the courts can force an audience to listen to a poorly given speech:

For there are no lawsuits or contentions to compel mankind to sit through bad acting on the stage, as they would bear with indifferent oratory in Court. Therefore our orator must carefully see to it, that he not only contents those whom it necessary to satisfy, but is wonderful as well in the eyes of such as have the right to judge freely.48

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