Rhetoric in the Fourth Academy

Bibliographic Data

ID9666249
AuthorsTobias Reinhardt (Corpus Christi College, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume50
Issue2
Pages531-547
Publication date2000-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Classical Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0009-8388 • E-ISSN: 1471-6844
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1093/cq/50.2.531
OpenAlexW2168543920
LanguageEN
Citations received34
References cited26

Around 87 b.c. during the turmoil of the first Mithridatic war, Philo of Larissa, head of the so-called Fourth Academy, fled from Athens to Rome. There he gave lectures on philosophical topics and taught rhetoric. His classes were attended by a young man called Cicero, who was inspired by him to include in a work on rhetorical theory, somewhat inappropriately, a fervent confession of scepticism to which he stuck for the rest of his life. Later Cicero claimed to be—as an orator—not a product of the workshops of the teachers of rhetoric, but of the spacious walks of the Academy. And he developed the ideal of the philosopher-orator. Scholars disagree whether the idea to bring philosophy and rhetoric together is Cicero's own invention or an adaptation from someone else, for instance Philo

Art · Cicero · Confession (law · Epistemology · Ideal (ethics · Linguistics · Literature · Political science · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Skepticism · Theology · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Classics · Law · Philosophy

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