Suchergebnisse

"Coming to terms with the rhetorical arts of antiquity necessarily illuminates our own ideas of public discourse and the habits of speech to which they have led. Tacitus wrote the Dialogus at a time (ca. 100 CE) when intense scrutiny of the history, the definitions, and the immediate relevance of public speech were all being challenged and refashioned by a host of vibrant intellects and ambitious practitioners. This book challenges the notion that Tacitus sought to explain the decline of oratory under the Principate. Rather, from examination of the dynamics of argument in the dialogue and the underlying literary traditions there emerges a sophisticated consideration of eloquentia in the Roman Empire. Tacitus emulates Cicero's legacy and challenges his position at the top of Rome's oratorical canon. He further shows that eloquentia is a means by which to compete with the power of the Principate"--

"It is well known that Thomas Hobbes wrote his political theory multiple times. 'This little MS. treatise [The Elements of Law: Natural & Politic] grew to be his Booke De Cive, and at last grew there to be the so formidable LEVIATHAN.' The first work circulated in manuscript in 1640; the second, Latin version was published in 1642 and in a second edition in 1647; Leviathan came out four years later, with a Latin edition following in 1668. In composing De Cive and Leviathan, Hobbes drew on the earlier text(s), re-using, expanding, re-organizing, and adding to material that had appeared previously"--