Consolatio Literary Genre

The Consolatio or consolatory oration is a type of ceremonial oratory, typically used rhetorically to comfort mourners at funerals. It was one of the most popular classical rhetoric topics, and received new impetus under Renaissance humanism.

The Consolatio literary tradition ("consolation" in English) is a broad literary genre encompassing various forms of consolatory speeches, essays, poems, and personal letters. This literary tradition flourished in antiquity, and its origins date back to the fifth century BC. Orators in antiquity often delivered consolatory speeches to comfort mourners at funerals or in cases of public mourning. Friends wrote personal letters consoling each other on the loss of a loved one. These were often highly personal and emotional. In addition to personal offerings of solace, Consolatio works also include philosophical treatises on grief. These works are usually more detached in tone, and many are written in essay format. Many ancient poets even wrote verse in this distinct Consolatio style. These consolatory works are all called Consolatio because of their similar arguments, topoi, and distinctive rhetorical appeals. Only fragments of early Consolatio works survive, and it is not until Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, Seneca's Ad Marciam, and Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy that a unified character appears. Scholars often view these works as the bedrock of the formal Consolatio tradition. (Fournier, introduction)

All Consolatio works draw from a relatively narrow range of arguments aimed at offering solace, to allay the distress caused by the death of a loved one, a matter of ill fortuna. The conventional opening of a Consolatio was All must die. The most typical arguments characterizing the Consolatio genre were: "All must die; even the oldest must die; the youngest too must die, and this is as one with the death of the old."

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