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ETD Abstract Container
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Masters of Eloquence and Masters of Empire: Quintilian in Context
Author Info
Helms, Kyle
ORCID® Identifier
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0383-9429
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1468335709
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2016, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Arts and Sciences: Classics.
Abstract
This dissertation focuses on the curious situation of the Latin rhetor Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (b.
ca.
35 CE). In the early 70s CE, Quintilian received an annual
salarium
of 100,000 HS from the emperor Vespasian. As a result, Quintilian is commonly cited in classical scholarship as Rome’s “first public professor of rhetoric” or “first state professor.” But while this feature of Quintilian’s biography is often repeated, it is seldom explained. Essentially, previous scholarship has offered two interpretations of Quintilian’s situation, either creating a genealogy for public higher education in the first century CE, or emphasizing imperial euergetism and
liberalitas
. While the latter approach is on the right track, it does not explain why a Latin rhetor in particular should have been the object of such benevolence, and nearly all scholarship on the topic emphasizes the novelty of Quintilian’s situation, but without sustained inquiry into historical precedents. This study reconsiders this problem by examining the relationship between Latin rhetorical education and Roman political power diachronically, beginning with the advent of Latin rhetors in the 90s BCE and concluding with Quintilian himself. I advance the
status quaestionis
with two central arguments. First, I argue that Quintilian’s situation was conditioned by over 150 years of close connections between Latin rhetors and Rome’s governing aristocracy. Second, I argue that the advocates of Latin rhetoric successfully positioned their discipline to appeal to Rome’s ruling elite by constructing a justificatory narrative that claimed that technical rhetoric was crucial for political success and civic flourishing. These arguments combine to provide a more complete and contextualized account of Quintilian’s relationship with Vespasian and the accompanying
salarium
, and they correct previous interpretations by emphasizing the reciprocity involved in this connection. Methodologically eclectic, I integrate close readings of Cicero’s
rhetorica
and Quintilian’s
Institutio
with prosopographical analyses that uncover dense networks of connections between rhetorical educators and Rome’s rulers. This project thus contributes to a new phase in the history of rhetoric, focused less on cataloging rules and tropes, and more on seeing rhetoric as a social and cultural phenomenon embedded in a particular historical context. Taking a broader perspective, this study reveals how rhetoric in this period positioned itself as the master discipline for Rome’s masters.
Committee
Daniel Markovic, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Duncan MacRae, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Peter Van Minnen, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Pages
354 p.
Subject Headings
Classical Studies
Keywords
Quintilian
;
salarium
;
Rhetoric
;
rhetors
;
Latin
;
prosopography
Recommended Citations
Refworks
EndNote
RIS
Mendeley
Citations
Helms, K. (2016).
Masters of Eloquence and Masters of Empire: Quintilian in Context
[Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1468335709
APA Style (7th edition)
Helms, Kyle.
Masters of Eloquence and Masters of Empire: Quintilian in Context.
2016. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1468335709.
MLA Style (8th edition)
Helms, Kyle. "Masters of Eloquence and Masters of Empire: Quintilian in Context." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1468335709
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
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Document number:
ucin1468335709
Download Count:
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Copyright Info
© 2016, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.