A Dialogue Concerning Oratory, or the Causes of Corrupt Eloquence

Author(s): Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Arthur Murphy

Genre(s): Classics (greek & Latin Antiquity), Education, Performing Arts

Narrators: Leni

Number of Chapters: 7

Length: 3 hours and 01 minute

Language: English

The scene of the Dialogus de Oratoribus, as this work is commonly known, is laid in the sixth year of Vespasian, 75 a.D. The commentators are much divided in their opinions about the real author; his work they all agree is a masterpiece in the kind; written with taste and judgement; entertaining, profound, and elegant. It is normally considered to have been written by Tacitus, even though some ascribe it to Quintilian. The main subject is the decadence of oratory, for which the cause is said to be the decline of the education, both in the family and in the school, of the future orator. In a certain way, it can be considered a miniature art of rhetoric. (Summary by Leni)