Analysis Of De Oratore

De Oratore is text written in 55 BCE by Marcus Tullius Cicero. Using a key dialogue, Cicero is able to explain the role of an orator, as well as describe the ideal candidate for the role. De Oratore uses its text to claim that a speaker must be knowledgeable as well as virtuous in order to be a true orator, and gives further guidelines to being a good rhetorician. Cicero uses a dialogue between men he had known in his youth to make claims and expand upon the topic of orators. The text describes an argument over the ideal rhetor as well as the parallels between philosophy and rhetoric. The subjects of the dialogue make frequent references to past philosophers throughout their debate on the eloquence of speakers. De Oratore is a powerful text that ponders the role of rhetoric in the state in a complete manner through its dialectic presentation. Cicero begins the text with an address to his brother Quintus before describing a conversation that occurred in his youth. One point that Cicero makes in his address is that it is more difficult to find a good rhetor than it is to find a good poet. This upsets the author, as he feels that many men have

Antonius argues that in order to be a good rhetor, you must have be experienced.. One’s rhetoric must have have pace and be graceful in order to be successful. A good orator needs to studied enough rhetoric to draw inspiration from others’ work, as rhetoric is a strenuous and expansive study. Antonius implies that good rhetoric is more of a behavior and a study than it is a science. As a proponent of an expansive knowledge, Antonius argues that “(the rhetor) must be a shrewd sort of man, and no stranger or sojourner in his sphere of action.” Antonius establishes that a rhetor must extensively study in order to avoid being bested in rhetoric, as the courts and senate are where the rhetor should