A Dialogue Concerning Oratorical Partitions

A Dialogue Concerning Oratorical Partitions (also called De Partitione Oratoria Dialogus, Partitiones Oratoriae, or De Partitionbus Oratoriae, translated to be "On the subdivisions of oratory") is a rhetorical treatise, written by Cicero. According to the method of the Middle Academy, the treatise is sometimes described as a "catechism of rhetoric," for it is presented in the form of questions and answers. Cicero wrote it as a handbook for his young son, Marcus, and structured the text as a dialogue between the two of them.

Scholars debate exactly when the text was written, presumably in 54 BCE or in 46 BCE.

Around 54 BCE, Cicero was extremely interested in his son Marcus’ education, and he was not satisfied with the boy’s teacher. He expressed interest in teaching Marcus himself. At this time, Marcus was eleven years of age; the simple structure of the treatise of questions and answers would have been very appropriate for this age. Furthermore, Cicero relates in his letters at this earlier point that he is very interested in Marcus’ education.

However, some scholars believe boys of this age were too young to be taught rhetoric. Thus, the treatise would have been written in 46 BCE, just before then 19-year-old Marcus left for Athens to study rhetoric. By this time in his life (from the year 56 onwards), Cicero could no longer voice his political principles without the risk of exile. “He had lost his freedom of speech and speech was his life.” A Dialogue Concerning Oratorical Partitions would thus be one of Cicero’s treatises in this period of his life, written after his most famous dialogue on rhetoric, De oratore.

The treatise begins when Cicero’s son asks his father, “I wish…to hear the rules concerning the principles of speaking…Into how many parts is the whole system of speaking divided?”

His father replies, “Is there anything, my Cicero, which I can be more desirous of than that you should be as learned as possible?”

Cicero then undertakes a systematic discussion of eloquence. He says rhetoric is arranged under three headings – “first of all, the power of the orator; secondly, the speech; thirdly, the subject of the speech.” The power of the orator consists of ideas and words, which must be “discovered and arranged.” “To discover” applies mostly to ideas and “to be eloquent” applies more to language. There are five “companions of eloquence” - “voice, gesture, expression of countenance,…action,…and memory.”. There are four parts of a speech: two of them explain a subject – “narration” and “confirmation;” two of them excite the minds of the hearers – “the opening” and “the peroration” (the conclusion). The narration and confirmation add credibility to the speech while the opening and conclusion should produce feelings.

...
Wikipedia