A Dialogue Concerning Oratorical Partitions

By this time in his life (from the year 56 onwards), Cicero could no longer voice his political principles without the risk of exile.

[8] There are five “companions of eloquence” - “voice, gesture, expression of countenance,… action,… and memory.”[9] 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).

[13] Of these causes, Cicero goes deepest into judicial oratory, therefore emphasizing “the desirableness of maintaining the laws, and the danger with which all public and private affairs are threatened.

“And without a knowledge of these most important arts how can an orator have either energy or variety in his discourse, so as to speak properly of things good or bad, just or unjust, useful or useless, honourable or base?”[15] The text may show the first sign of Cicero's mature view of rhetoric, later expanded in De Oratore.

“Specifically, Cicero suggest[s] ascending from the [restrictive] to the [general] in a speech.”[16] This work thus merges rhetoric as a more simplistic, teachable art with the themes of De Oratore, praising the ideal orator who appreciates and utilizes expansive education and training.