Classical Decadence or Christian Aesthetics?

Christian rhetoric veered off pagan classical rhetoric, but this phenomenon in my opinion started earlier and not only in Christian milieus. The new eloquence was the result of a trend to acquire education with a minimum amount of effort that was visible already in the writings of pagan rhetors such as Libanius. John Chrysostom and Augustine had a profound knowledge of rhetoric, yet they became aware that the observance of the principles of eloquence had become less rigorous and accepted that. There were profound changes in the transmission of knowledge and technical literature flourished. To properly understand the condition of rhetoric we cannot divorce it from the state of other disciplines and from the cultural changes that had taken place.

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